Show how many players that are online on the server

Agree, it could even be visible only when starting the server. You know, with the "You're playing with all players" -text.

@shadyjayp Yeah, yeah, yeah. Like different servers to choose from and then it shows how many ships and players are online! Great idea.

@plebochino

I would not be against a board in outposts highlighting who is in the world with wanted signs for instance. Yet being alone is not going to last all to long as you will be merged.

Additionally the majority of people are not in either group PvE or PvP. Most people are not binary, but engage in both aspects of the game. I have and will do more PvE and PvP while out on the seas and most people I know do the same. We hit the seas and we see where it takes us, sometimes it is quiet and others action packed. People enjoy more than just one aspect of the game.

@archaell I like the idea to have it only at the Sea Dogs tavern and maybe the update similar to barrel fills being daily.

Means it takes effort to see and is never 100% reliable. I like the idea of having a wanted sign with my name and maybe a drawing of my face on it with some random award amount placed on it.

A couple of notes on this. I see a wanted sign suggestion, and while that is cool, I don't want my gamer tag on it. I don't want random messages from people trying to rile me into a frenzy so I will engage in PvP with them. Which you all know would happen. It is bad enough I can't hide my gamer tag currently.

As for finding pirates, I have not been on a server in a very, very long time that I would say I was alone on. There have been times I thought I was alone, only to sail over to another region as part of a quest, or just to see what is out there, and what do you know, there are 3-4 ships in that area.

Rare has done a much better job with their population of servers over the past 6 months. They even changed the merge feature to merge without everyone having to have a dropped anchor and on their ship. Which is good and bad. It forces server mergers without regard to what pirates will do to try and keep it from happening (i.e. avoid dropping anchor unless one or more pirates are not on the ship).

But it is also bad because your screen gets locked, and this sucks if you are sailing in a storm, trying to sail in as close to a straight line as you can, or in mid turn, only to keep turning well past when you should have ended the turn, or running into an island because you can't raise sails or lower the anchor. There are many more of these situations, but you get the point.

Some reasons you might be in an empty server are.

• Server hoppers join your server, don't see the cloud they are looking for, then leave server improperly. Locking up that ship spot for over 10 minutes.
• People have something they are working on and out of site.
• You are on a full server with all others engaged in PvE and actively avoiding everyone, including you, and doing a darn good job of it.
• Occasionally, Rare's server population mechanics do fail, but as often as they used to.

Having said all of that, I would not be apposed to a counter, something you had to go out and find, like the Sea Dog Cavern suggestion above. Heck, you could even do wanted posters, just no gamer tags, please.

@archaell Wouldnt make sense to sail all the way to an outpost just to check how many players are online

let those who love PvP look for their prey without knowing how many ships are on the server, it will be honest

Playing on a server with 0 ships?
Well for starters, no server is empty, you count as one. And follow up your still never alone, map is huge.

If your alone, server will merge.

@plebochino

As a pirate who prefers to steal from others, I disagree with your logic.

The Sea of Thieves is experience is all about not knowing what awaits you in the world. Even the slightest detail being revealed to the player, such as a player count, would spoil this.If there was a player count, people would just start abandoning servers for more active or less active servers based on the type of experience they're looking for...

That's the thing with this game - players should have zero knowledge or control about the world they're stepping into. The world should never reveal itself to the player without exploration. It should always be unpredictable and everyone should be adapting to every condition, player, or threat they're experiencing on the seas.

People always request things that would aid them in having a more predictable experience and more ways to seek and find the type of session that they want to experience... PvE servers for safer sessions, player counts and lists for more PvP heavy servers, matchmaking preferences to encounter like minded crews....

People need to realize that Sea of Thieves is more about presenting the player with what they do not expect, rather than conforming to what the player wants - If players just realized this, more people of all kinds of play styles would come to appreciate Sea of Thieves for what it is...

@targasbr Agree, with you now that I've seen what trouble it may cost it should be like a sign some place around the Sea of Thieves that shows you how many that are online. Eventually the Sea Dog outpost.

Sorry the trouble I caused guys. See you on the seas.