Just remember Rare..

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

Open your mind and see the potential for this game. You’re not going to get there by attempting to force people to do something they don’t want to do. You’re not going to get there if you keep allowing your veterans to exploit your new and/or lesser skilled players. You’re not going to get there if you keep putting solo players on high seas servers with full crews. Are you present in reality?

One could easily make the case on the other side of this. That they went too far into serving casual non-challenging play that they lost a lot of the more consistent players in the game.

This game had a variety of appeal to it but one of those was that it wasn't the fast food of a gaming experience. It took time and effort and consistency. It was after they turned the game into the fast food experience and allowed all the cheesing in both pve and pvp that it really started causing a noticeable lack of interest.

Some will say cheating and some will say performance or both and everything plays some part, but I think it was turning something special with significance into a farming simulator where people pretend it is more thrilling than it actually is. Sloop (when fighting) is more of gluttony for punishment and brig/galleon is mind-numbingly easy. Reward is instant and excessive. They try to convince players to stick around with long running cheese events but it doesn't work.

Imo it's not that they stuck to their original vision, it's that they rarely maintained their original vision and tried to cater to people that were never going to stick around, while frustrating a lot of players that showed they would stick around (for a long while).

@wolfmanbush

I agree they made some wrong moves. But I totally disagree that the original vision will result in a mass appeal. It’s been proven false by now based solely on player retention and feedback.

Here’s a simple dare for anyone… do a search on the forum looks for topics asking for a PvE mode and just report back with the total number of topics found with similar feedback created by unique users.

Imagine ignoring the most requested feature because it goes against your original vision and you place your original vision above the potential for a wider appeal and growth.

That’s Rare.

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

@wolfmanbush

I agree they made some wrong moves. But I totally disagree that the original vision will result in a mass appeal. It’s been proven false by now based solely on player retention.

In the first few years it was because they listened to content creators way too much (and they still do sometimes)

Listening to a small group that is cheesing the game while at the top of the food chain is a real quick way to cause a lot of the messes that SoT got into.

Everyone was living large on that bump from people being stuck at home for a couple of years and when that changed everyone had to deal with a lot of unsustainable design in SoT.

A lot of what they have been doing since season 8 is just trying to repair the effects and side effects of decisions they made before season 8.

They never needed pve only, they just needed well balanced risk/reward, something they've never really done well, imo. Because they always leaned into listening to the loudest and most influential in feedback, rather than sticking to the principles and basics of balanced risk/reward.

Look at how long and drawn out the bonus events are now, it's just saying "please please play" at this point. Once again sacrificing organic interest and play for short term bumps.

@wolfmanbush said in Just remember Rare..:

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

@wolfmanbush

I agree they made some wrong moves. But I totally disagree that the original vision will result in a mass appeal. It’s been proven false by now based solely on player retention.

In the first few years it was because they listened to content creators way too much (and they still do sometimes)

Listening to a small group that is cheesing the game while at the top of the food chain is a real quick way to cause a lot of the messes that SoT got into.

Everyone was living large on that bump from people being stuck at home for a couple of years and when that changed everyone had to deal with a lot of unsustainable design in SoT.

A lot of what they have been doing since season 8 is just trying to repair the effects and side effects of decisions they made before season 8.

They never needed pve only, they just needed well balanced risk/reward, something they've never really done well, imo. Because they always leaned into listening to the loudest and most influential in feedback, rather than sticking to the principles and basics of balanced risk/reward.

Look at how long and drawn out the bonus events are now, it's just saying "please please play" at this point. Once again sacrificing organic interest and play for short term bumps.

Why can’t you quote this,

“All that matters is did they enjoy the experience? How can we get more people to enjoy this unique experience we hand crafted with love? Do they want more?

Nothing else matters.”

And do you dispute this statement or agree with this statement?

Do we want players to enjoy playing the game? Simple question.

Are the developers doing everything in their power to make the game fun and enjoyable to as wide an audience as possible?

If the answer is no, there’s work to do.

VIDEO GAMES ARE SUPPOSED TO BE FUN!

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

@wolfmanbush said in Just remember Rare..:

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

@wolfmanbush

I agree they made some wrong moves. But I totally disagree that the original vision will result in a mass appeal. It’s been proven false by now based solely on player retention.

In the first few years it was because they listened to content creators way too much (and they still do sometimes)

Listening to a small group that is cheesing the game while at the top of the food chain is a real quick way to cause a lot of the messes that SoT got into.

Everyone was living large on that bump from people being stuck at home for a couple of years and when that changed everyone had to deal with a lot of unsustainable design in SoT.

A lot of what they have been doing since season 8 is just trying to repair the effects and side effects of decisions they made before season 8.

They never needed pve only, they just needed well balanced risk/reward, something they've never really done well, imo. Because they always leaned into listening to the loudest and most influential in feedback, rather than sticking to the principles and basics of balanced risk/reward.

Look at how long and drawn out the bonus events are now, it's just saying "please please play" at this point. Once again sacrificing organic interest and play for short term bumps.

Why can’t you quote this,

“All that matters is did they enjoy the experience? How can we get more people to enjoy this unique experience we hand crafted with love? Do they want more?

Nothing else matters.”

And do you dispute this statement or agree with this statement?

You think this game was filled with people that enjoyed pvp? it was never that way.

The game was always filled with people that just work around the pvp and enjoyed the game with that just being a thing that happens.

When they they started trying to cater to "my way or the highway" pvers and pvpers is when the game got worse.

This game has always had a lot of pvers that just accept losing sometimes, as it should be.

It's an adventure game above everything, that includes risk.

@wolfmanbush said in Just remember Rare..:

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

@wolfmanbush said in Just remember Rare..:

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

@wolfmanbush

I agree they made some wrong moves. But I totally disagree that the original vision will result in a mass appeal. It’s been proven false by now based solely on player retention.

In the first few years it was because they listened to content creators way too much (and they still do sometimes)

Listening to a small group that is cheesing the game while at the top of the food chain is a real quick way to cause a lot of the messes that SoT got into.

Everyone was living large on that bump from people being stuck at home for a couple of years and when that changed everyone had to deal with a lot of unsustainable design in SoT.

A lot of what they have been doing since season 8 is just trying to repair the effects and side effects of decisions they made before season 8.

They never needed pve only, they just needed well balanced risk/reward, something they've never really done well, imo. Because they always leaned into listening to the loudest and most influential in feedback, rather than sticking to the principles and basics of balanced risk/reward.

Look at how long and drawn out the bonus events are now, it's just saying "please please play" at this point. Once again sacrificing organic interest and play for short term bumps.

Why can’t you quote this,

“All that matters is did they enjoy the experience? How can we get more people to enjoy this unique experience we hand crafted with love? Do they want more?

Nothing else matters.”

And do you dispute this statement or agree with this statement?

You think this game was filled with people that enjoyed pvp? it was never that way.

The game was always filled with people that just work around the pvp and enjoyed the game with that just being a thing that happens.

When they they started trying to cater to "my way or the highway" pvers and pvpers is when the game got worse.

This game has always had a lot of pvers that just accept losing sometimes, as it should be.

No actually I disagree. People working around PvP is actually people avoiding PvP and/or eventually getting fed up and quitting. The turn over rate of players has always been high. If Rare would comment on these things you wouldn’t have to just take me at my word.

This game exists in its current state primarily to feed content creation for streamers at the costs of retaining players and growing the user base.

Streamers literally joke about playing with their food when they are fighting swabbies. Rare gives them and all veterans access to do this.

This is reality.

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

No actually I disagree. People working around PvP is actually people eventually getting fed up and quitting. The turn over rate of players has always been high. If Rare would comment on these things you wouldn’t have to just take me at my word.

This game exists in its current state primarily to feed content creation for streamers at the costs of retaining players and growing the user base.

Streamers literally joke about playing with their food when they are fighting swabbies. Rare gives them and all veterans access to do this.

This is reality.

The reality is that the group that should be the most thankful is the group that tries to make it seem like Rare and people that pvp support toxic behavior.

The one group that has done well through all of this are the players that want a less intense experience with a lot more reward, because that's what SoT has been for seasons now.

Rather than taking the win they stick with the same narrative about the game even though the game has dramatically changed.

This game is entirely different now than it once was. People can go days without even encountering another ship. Instead of getting tucked on daily it might not happen for months. The reward for turning stuff in and just playing is massive.

If anyone won in all of this, it's the players that make threads like this one.

@wolfmanbush said in Just remember Rare..:

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

No actually I disagree. People working around PvP is actually people eventually getting fed up and quitting. The turn over rate of players has always been high. If Rare would comment on these things you wouldn’t have to just take me at my word.

This game exists in its current state primarily to feed content creation for streamers at the costs of retaining players and growing the user base.

Streamers literally joke about playing with their food when they are fighting swabbies. Rare gives them and all veterans access to do this.

This is reality.

The reality is that the group that should be the most thankful is the group that tries to make it seem like Rare and people that pvp support toxic behavior.

The one group that has done well through all of this are the players that want a less intense experience with a lot more reward, because that's what SoT has been for seasons now.

Rather than taking the win they stick with the same narrative about the game even though the game has dramatically changed.

This game is entirely different now than it once was. People can go days without even encountering another ship. Instead of getting tucked on daily it might not happen for months. The reward for turning stuff in and just playing is massive.

If anyone won in all of this, it's the players that make threads like this one.

Nope that’s also not true.

Until streamers and veterans are mostly fighting other skilled crews and not swabbies this game is still completely unbalanced and will suffer from poor retention.

It’s not hard to understand it goes back to did the players enjoy the experience? Did they feel forced to be victims of piracy or did they willingly accept the risk of piracy?

You can’t force people to enjoy being attacked by other players. I promise you. Players need the ability to choose their experience based on what they like and if they choose the high seas they need to land on a server that isn’t being shared with other crews way better than their crew or the experience isn’t going to be very fun for them.

Matchmaking is so important to the experience it cannot be overstated.

@eastthread51441 said in Just remember Rare..:

@wolfmanbush said in Just remember Rare..:

You can’t force people to enjoy being attacked. I promise you.

I'm an extreme player that just happens to have casual player interests.

Nothing about my story has been about winning fights or being some sweaty pvper or some pirate that steals all the time. I could not care less about any of that.

I like vibing and letting things happen and finding rare things and chuckling at silly boat names and goofy pirates. Just like lots and lots of players in the game.

I don't like getting attacked, never have. I like the randomness of adventure. I don't think I am owed, I just want the opportunity to experience. Just like a lot of players that enjoyed this game over the years.

People do not have to win a fight to enjoy this game, that's what I have been about the entire time I've been here. Winning fights is not necessary to enjoy adventure. Losing fights doesn't say anything about anyone, it's just a random happening along the way.