Below is a message written with a feather dipped in salty gamer tears. This type of post is likely very familiar to most of you here. I am new to the Sea of Thieves and I have played 40 hours. You may ignore this post for this reason if you choose.
Do I have to apologize for wasting hours of my day doing voyages under an Emissary flag just to get my ship sunk by a Reaper's Bones Emissary ship? Is this not extremely punishing? Do I HAVE to play the game with other players in my crew to progress my faction reputation? Do I HAVE to learn how to play in PvP combat even when I don't want to?
I could simply not play the game if this is the way things are. I can say, "Yes, I finally made it to the end of the game, level 30 rep in the main three factions!" At that point, there is no choice if you want purely solo gameplay. That, or I have to simply "git gud." Sure thing, maybe in a couple thousand in-game hours and after the hundredth sink. Looking forward to it!
Right. Now that I'm sobered up after many swigs of sarcasm, I would like to say that I hope this doesn't come across as me saying that the game is bad. It isn't and it would be disingenuous of me if I said otherwise. I showed interest upon it's launch and followed a small YouTube series until it died, but I regained that interest since the game went on Steam, as I play on PC. Playing the game, it is beautiful and distinct in it's style, presentation and gameplay. It's a nice experience, one unique from most popular titles out there. I like the game.
Literally my only gripe with it is the fact that the game's always online. I have had positive experiences encountering other players before, but the Reaper's Bones Emissary is a flag waved high giving the middle finger to every pirate out there. They're the poopdeck party poopas (with an "ers" it's a restricted word lol) of the sea, and you can't tell them to not approach you because they won't listen. And hey, that's how they designed the faction. It's part of the lore and it's part of pirating. Hate the pirate, not the game. I know it's not one of those mechanics that adjusts to your skill level or your ship size because that adjustment is other players, and that is not a bug for the dev team to fix.
If you read this to the end, thank you and I hope you understand where I'm coming from.
