Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    Ritual skulls nowadays are quite easy to come across in the world while sailing around, which is great. But they only have two uses, activating the FOTD or selling for some dubloons...but what if there was more we could do with them?

    I would like to put forward an idea to further their use. Player activated world events!

    How many times have you launched the game, got into a server and saw a flameheart up, spewing his nonsense about getting off his seas? What do you do then? I usually hop servers for a better world event. But what if you didn't have to? What if you could collect a ritual skull, go to any of the skeleton forts and activate it with a skull? The skull cloud could be red again to show it's a player activated one.

    The same thing for skeleton ships (if you're really hunting for that awesome title). In the areas that skeleton ship fleets spawn, let there be a partially sunk skeleton ship with a skeleton captain on it, missing it's head. Simply place the ritual skull on its body to activate a skeleton fleet.

    With player activated world events, I think you could partially stop 20%-30% of server hopping for a new world event, and it would encourage people to stay on a server. It would give players a little more freedom on what they want to do, while also providing some more pvp encounters.

    EDIT: People seem to be confusing this post with a post about alliance servers, please make your own posts on that subject. That decision lies with Rare not me.

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  • IllBushido305
    Lord
    Insider

    Not a bad idea

  • mferr11
    Champion
    Insider

    @symbiotic-storm I like it. Should player activated events be different in some way from regular evets?

  • Glennyatta
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    I am into this. The other thought I had is have two classes of world events going on at once. Basically each server would have one "A" grade world event (Flameheart, ashenlords) and one "B" grade (skelly forts and fleet battles).

  • WolfManbush
    Lord

    As someone that does fleets every day all I would do is fleets ALL day

    they drop multiple ritual skulls I'd just farm them the entire time I played

    and I'm one dude either playing by myself or with randoms

    this would be a dream for coordinated farmers especially involving alliances it would just take away a lot of the randomness of the environment and be too controlled by pirates which disrupts the food chain

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    @wolfmanbush You can't develop this game in total opposition to what people might do. Alliance servers exist and will continue to exist even without this feature. It's already easy to set up and farm loot while taking the randomness out of the game, as far as pvp attacks go. But I believe offering players the ability to choose what they would like to do, is really what this game is about. It's a sandbox. The vast majority of players don't farm content like you and me.

  • Uzugijin
    Master
    Insider

    Hmm... how many world events a server can handle?

  • IllBushido305
    Lord
    Insider

    @uzugijin just one I’m pretty sure

  • Xultanis Dragon
    Sailor

    @symbiotic-storm said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @wolfmanbush You can't develop this game in total opposition to what people might do. Alliance servers exist and will continue to exist even without this feature. It's already easy to set up and farm loot while taking the randomness out of the game, as far as pvp attacks go. But I believe offering players the ability to choose what they would like to do, is really what this game is about. It's a sandbox. The vast majority of players don't farm content like you and me.

    Thats exactly how you are suppose to develop a game. Which is why certain features that players request will never happen like the kick function.

    I like the idea but with server alliances being a thing, I would also have to disagree.

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    @illbushido305 I believe they can handle more than one event active at a time.

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    @xultanis-dragon But server alliances are ALREADY a thing, and nothing rare does can stop that. So for them not to develop things just because "alliance servers would take advantage of it", that's just bad development and not how it works.

  • Xultanis Dragon
    Sailor

    @symbiotic-storm said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @xultanis-dragon But server alliances are ALREADY a thing, and nothing rare does can stop that. So for them not to develop things just because "alliance servers would take advantage of it", that's just bad development and not how it works.

    Rare can stop it, just remove the alliance function entirely. The major problem isn't the farming of the actual event itself, its the bonus in rep and gold that players get from each other not to mention the commendation completions.

    It would bother the community a lot less if they weren't getting boosted so insanely. I've seen Pirate legends with like 200k meters sailed or even fully maxed players with less than 2m meters sailed.

    Its crazy.

    Also I just realized that the servers themselves wouldn't even be able to handle the extra event. It can barely handle whats going in game right now.

    Like I said I like the idea, sounds like it could open a lot doors for other ideas that can follow up, but the capabilities of the server aren't and the server alliances would be able to farm even faster and more and that just doesn't sit well with me.

    I'm just letting you know why I disagree and explained why. If you disagree with my points then thats cool. I'm just letting you know where I stand and the possible reasons of why it might not work.

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    @xultanis-dragon I think it's clear by now that Rare has no intention of stopping alliance servers, their game explicitly allows this to occur, because it's a sandbox game. You can be upset by that all you want, but Rare isn't going to stop it from happening.

    As for your second point....."laughs in insider".

  • Xultanis Dragon
    Sailor

    @symbiotic-storm said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @xultanis-dragon I think it's clear by now that Rare has no intention of stopping alliance servers, their game explicitly allows this to occur, because it's a sandbox game. You can be upset by that all you want, but Rare isn't going to stop it from happening.

    As for your second point....."laughs in insider".

    As we aren't allowed to discuss what happens in insider, you are more than welcome to DM me because I don't think you understand the difference between that and what you are asking.

  • Mythrl
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @xultanis-dragon

    The best way for them to fix the alliance problem is legit just make it so loot is split evenly between all crews, and only the crew that hands it in gets the reputation

  • Xultanis Dragon
    Sailor

    @mythrl

    Id be okay if they didn't split anything. Alliance shouldn't split or share loot. Alliance should just be a way for players to realize which ship is part of the alliance and what isn't.

    Even without the sharing of gold or splitting of gold. It should be whichever crew turns it in gets the credit. Alliances are super good even without that too. You have eyes on where your alliance is on the map. If freaking done right where players introduce each other and party together and not a blind alliance farm, you can communicate "hey we are being attacked, heading towards this location is you can meet up and help us"

    On rare occasions my crew and I actually get another ship on the server and we have 2 ships that what we do. "hey I got a ship chasing us, you guys in vicinity to help?" on our way. Majority of the time they don't really need the help but its nice to double team a ship and take advantage of the alliance and what not.

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    I'd like to steer the conversation back to my idea, the alliance "issue" can be discussed elsewhere.

  • Mythrl
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @xultanis-dragon

    Either way, it achieves the same result, what I want is a reason for people to betray one another.

    Think about it, two crews forging an alliance to take on another ship, or a world event, then turning on each other for the greed of wanting all the treasure to themselves

    I really think it'd go a long way into making the game more dynamic and keeping even the most cautious of players a little more on their toes.

  • Mythrl
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @symbiotic-storm
    While I like you idea, it's going to have to wait until the game becomes Xbox series X and PS5 exclusive, the current console hardware cannot handle more than 1 server event at a time, and while that limitation exists, Microsoft isn't going to give rare the funds to increase server capacity.

  • RealStyli
    Vanguard
    Insider

    @uzugijin said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    Hmm... how many world events a server can handle?

    This was my concern as well but if it can handle one event plus a FOTD, I think it could handle two non-FOTD world events. If a block was put on activating a third, including the FOTD, until one was completed it could work and could attract more PvP to events - if the loot was adjusted to match the risk and these player-activated events were uniquely marked.

    Another thing is that, if completing one of these events rewarded you with all you need to activate a FOTD, it could be even more interesting and lead to more FOTD activations. Not a replacement but an interesting alternative to the current "gather all the flames" method.

  • Mythrl
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @realstyli
    The problem isnt neccessrily the servers as much as it is the older hardware on the Xbox 1 and PS4.

    The games are struggling as is to reach the advertised 30fps minimum

  • RealStyli
    Vanguard
    Insider

    @mythrl

    1. it’s not on PS4
    2. as I said, servers can already handle two events simultaneously: a normal event and a FOTD
    3. it’s not rendering events client side unless you are near the event. The console doesn’t render the entire server at once.
  • Mythrl
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @realstyli
    It's a mix of the two, if servers and clients weren't the issues, the Kraken would be a random encounter instead of a world encounter

  • Stundorn
    Castaway
    Insider
    Founder

    Sorry, bad ideas.

    Better accept randomness and have an unpredictable Session, unplable Journey aka Pirate Adventure.

    No sympathy for grinds and Players who hop Server and want more control etc...

    Completely destroy the character of the Game and this is why most Crews you meet is not fun, because they dont play Pirates, but work something off and game the system

  • RealStyli
    Vanguard
    Insider

    @mythrl

    Except the FOTD doesn't stop the Kraken spawning, so that's not a good counter argument. The Kraken is also not a world event as such but, if it was, all it does is support the theory that two events is possible but no more than that.

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    @stundorn said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    Sorry, bad ideas.

    Better accept randomness and have an unpredictable Session, unplable Journey aka Pirate Adventure.

    No sympathy for grinds and Players who hop Server and want more control etc...

    Completely destroy the character of the Game and this is why most Crews you meet is not fun, because they dont play Pirates, but work something off and game the system

    It's almost as if the other players your complaining about are...playing the game the way they want to. Sea of Thieves is a sandbox game, there isn't one way to play it correctly.

  • Vin The Rat
    Marauder
    Insider

    @stundorn said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    Sorry, bad ideas.

    Better accept randomness and have an unpredictable Session, unplable Journey aka Pirate Adventure.

    No sympathy for grinds and Players who hop Server and want more control etc...

    Completely destroy the character of the Game and this is why most Crews you meet is not fun, because they dont play Pirates, but work something off and game the system

    @symbiotic-storm said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @stundorn said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    Sorry, bad ideas.

    Better accept randomness and have an unpredictable Session, unplable Journey aka Pirate Adventure.

    No sympathy for grinds and Players who hop Server and want more control etc...

    Completely destroy the character of the Game and this is why most Crews you meet is not fun, because they dont play Pirates, but work something off and game the system

    It's almost as if the other players your complaining about are...playing the game the way they want to. Sea of Thieves is a sandbox game, there isn't one way to play it correctly.

    I find myself torn between these two sentiments.

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    @vin-the-rat said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @stundorn said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    Sorry, bad ideas.

    Better accept randomness and have an unpredictable Session, unplable Journey aka Pirate Adventure.

    No sympathy for grinds and Players who hop Server and want more control etc...

    Completely destroy the character of the Game and this is why most Crews you meet is not fun, because they dont play Pirates, but work something off and game the system

    @symbiotic-storm said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @stundorn said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    Sorry, bad ideas.

    Better accept randomness and have an unpredictable Session, unplable Journey aka Pirate Adventure.

    No sympathy for grinds and Players who hop Server and want more control etc...

    Completely destroy the character of the Game and this is why most Crews you meet is not fun, because they dont play Pirates, but work something off and game the system

    It's almost as if the other players your complaining about are...playing the game the way they want to. Sea of Thieves is a sandbox game, there isn't one way to play it correctly.

    I find myself torn between these two sentiments.

    The way that Rare (from my understanding) has always described Sea of Thieves is first and foremost a sandbox game where players create their own stories on the seas through open gameplay. I think a lot of people lose sight of this, there is no power progression in this game, it's all based on cosmetics. I find is soo disheartening for people to bash others playstyles in this game.

  • Ragington
    Rogue

    But what you are proposing does not improve anything but worse makes it easier for min/max players to exploit a flawed alliance system.

    Skull forts

    Let's say I want to start my session with a regular skull fort, before I can do that I have to go find and chase a skelly ship or do some random dig map and hope I find a ritual skull. There goes 30 minutes or more before starting my fort. Right now players can load the ship and head right to a fort and start doing what want.

    New players

    How would new players know how to start a world event or how to get a ritual skull and what to do with said ritual skull? Which is why the random world event system works just fine.

    "Sandbox" or "exploit"

    If I wanted to make gold and reputation easy I could just farm flameheart and skelly fleets for endless supply crates ritual skulls and loot for gh,oos,ma or sell everything at reapers. These can be done solo or in an alliance.

    Not every world event needs to be player activated or should require a ritual skull to start up. Fotd is the exception!

  • Stundorn
    Castaway
    Insider
    Founder

    @symbiotic-storm

    But there is a way that is not playing like intended but trying to circumvent the randomness build in by a Gamedesigners intention you dont like and cannot accept.

    Because its possible to endlessly hop Servers it is not a feature of the game , its not an ingame mechanic, it's at best lazy and knowingly have a loophole to game the system. Maybe even extra, but nothing the majority of players playing regularily or the devs need to care for.
    Else you'd not need to ask for an ingame feature or get upset when you have to wait some seconds because of an immersive animation when you login etc...

    Play like you want but if you ask for features that imho arent intended and are straight against the core ideas of the game - and we had tons of these ideas here for 3 or even 4 years - then dont complain if some founders disagree and say no and also explain why.

    May i ask you why do you think its random and not an option from beginn?
    You may consider all the random elements are a design choice some like, especially in combination with horizontal progression and no gamemechanical influence, only titles, cosmetics and such.

    What you dont see is , your type of gamer and many streamers and such destroy communitys, split them , exagerate about gaming and what was there in the beginning of SoT "social experiences" , you refuse to see the roleplay and random aspects and have a meritocracy aproach for gaming?!
    The bad thing is , these gamers are too often jerks , bullies , less empathic , overly agressively trashtalkers etc. ...
    Not all, but a lot!

    To me PvP hopping is like reverseboosting and really pitifull and hopping for events or to create Alliance Servers and grind or to get away from a Server with a Reaper 5 or whatnot is not playing the game and dealing with the hand you got dealed, but to ask for a new Hand until you think that fit's.

    Do it as long as it is possible, i dont bother, but if you ask or make suggestions deal with others disagreeing.

  • JollyOlsteamed
    Captain
    Insider

    @symbiotic-storm said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @xultanis-dragon But server alliances are ALREADY a thing, and nothing rare does can stop that. So for them not to develop things just because "alliance servers would take advantage of it", that's just bad development and not how it works.

    But theres no reason to further incentivize and or increase effectiveness of the alliance servers

    Which is exactly what this suggestion would do

    You can't develop features that people can exploit this is not how game developing works

    And alliance servers is one example

  • Stundorn
    Castaway
    Insider
    Founder

    @jollyolsteamed

    costy cosmetics are another 🙃

  • RTL Saint
    Castaway

    @symbiotic-storm said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @xultanis-dragon I think it's clear by now that Rare has no intention of stopping alliance servers, their game explicitly allows this to occur, because it's a sandbox game. You can be upset by that all you want, but Rare isn't going to stop it from happening.

    As for your second point....."laughs in insider".

    bruh im insider to and i dont think you have ever played insider

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    @rtl-saint See I do play insiders (about to unlock my insider jacket) and it kills me that you can't understand what I'm referring to, I obviously can't state it right here. If you read between the lines, it's pretty easy to figure out.

  • Symbiotic Storm
    Legend
    Insider

    @jollyolsteamed said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @symbiotic-storm said in Lets talk about world events and ritual skulls.:

    @xultanis-dragon But server alliances are ALREADY a thing, and nothing rare does can stop that. So for them not to develop things just because "alliance servers would take advantage of it", that's just bad development and not how it works.

    But theres no reason to further incentivize and or increase effectiveness of the alliance servers

    Which is exactly what this suggestion would do

    You can't develop features that people can exploit this is not how game developing works

    And alliance servers is one example

    Anything they add to this game further incentivizes and helps alliance servers, from the simplest quest to the newest feature, it all helps. You wouldn't be able to add ANYTHING to the game if your goal was to stop that.

    Are people soo upset by alliance servers on here that they wouldn't want ANY feature they might take advantage of? Better not add a new faction, alliance servers might take advantage...oh can't add a new quest...alliance servers are sure to farm that new item...it never ends. I'm sorry it hurts your pirate heart that some people play the game differently than you.

    You cannot add or not add features to this game with the express intention of hurting alliance servers, it would be pointless.

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