I'm a solo player and i think there's a huge problem with the game

@wolfmanbush Ugh i can't stand server hoppers lol. Even more so now with portal hopping.

It's just another tool for large crews to use to prey on solo sloopers and noobs. It's incredibly unfair to be able to jump fresh into a server where people have spent several hours already and are probably tired from the long session. And on top of that you can now do it as reaper 5 and be able to instantly see emissaries on the map as well. It's just so incredibly disheartening at times.

To me, PvP feels like rolling dice and nothing more

As it should. No battle should be quickly determined by anything besides luck. (No such thing as skill)

As a fellow solo sloop. You are in the deep water playing alone. That on us, not the game. We chose to play alone.
But do the other crews know this? No. Some see a sloop and assume, two man crew. Play the role. Act like it. They expect someone to board, someone isn’t at the helm.

Don’t give up until your dying breath. Very simple.

@skritsarn said in I'm a solo player and i think there's a huge problem with the game:

@wolfmanbush Ugh i can't stand server hoppers lol. Even more so now with portal hopping.

It's just another tool for large crews to use to prey on solo sloopers and noobs. It's incredibly unfair to be able to jump fresh into a server where people have spent several hours already and are probably tired from the long session. And on top of that you can now do it as reaper 5 and be able to instantly see emissaries on the map as well. It's just so incredibly disheartening at times.

Portal hopping is fine. They would hop to a new server the old way anyway if that wasn't added. But I agree that reapers get everything way too easy, personally I absolutely hate the emissary GPS (and yes, I play reaper most of the time and server hop often).

As for OP, I can only imagine solo slooping becomes more and more difficult when average skill level gets better. Also the revive system really hurt solo sloopers most, now having a lucky kill with cannon doesn't count for much anymore.

@skritsarn Playing solo requires a lot more preparation and skill when facing other pvp crews. Stock up on chains, throwables, cursed balls and battle meats. Evaluate the crew's cannon accuracy at distance before engaging. Rely on your own long range cannon accuracy to soften them up then immobilize and board. There are a number of great solo pvp'ers who offer tips on managing your ship, positioning and tactics. Just be aware that when playing solo, you will rarely beat a larger crew of similar or higher skill level than you because numbers do matter. Just engage and don't be afraid to loose.

@bizi-betiko I'll probably sound rude but there's most likely nothing you can teach me. I've learned the hard way that skill will only get you so far as a solo player and at a certain point it doesn't matter how much better you get because the outcome of a fight against even remotely capable 2-4 man crews is based on the balance of game mechanics rather than skill. The only reason you would win is if the opposing crew can't handle basic game mechanics and makes one or more crucial mistakes (which is more likely the more crew members there are, which is why duo sloops are the most difficult) that leads to them sinking. So while i really love this game for the fact that there's basically an unlimited skill roof, it's just too bad that skill won't take you very far in PvP if you are solo. And that's extremely frustrating as someone who is obsessed with mastering things and i don't feel like there's barely any reward for the work I put into PvP.

@skritsarn You don't sound rude at all; I hear people with almost 10k hours in the game iterate the same sentiments as you. The game has been balanced around galleons and there has been absolutely zero rebalancing of game mechanics since then. The sloop needs some serious buffs to make it viable against larger crewed, faster ships. PvP mechanics have been in a really poor state for ~18 months and winning cqb feels more like luck than skill. At the end of the day, you can't beat yourself up too badly because technically solo sloopers aren't playing the game as intended...

@wolfmanbush said in I'm a solo player and i think there's a huge problem with the game:

@skritsarn said in I'm a solo player and i think there's a huge problem with the game:
chain shots are incredibly powerful and shouldn't be so easy to acquire imo

tie them to activity and results like wraithballs imo

I agree with this so much. As much as I love having chainshots, they are way too powerful to be as plentiful as they are. And certainly ships shouldn't spawn with them as a standard. I feel the same way about cursed cannonballs.

Tie them to sinking skeleton ships. They could spawn a random number of chainshots and cursed balls in the storage crates that drop.

RNG leaves way too much to chance. I've spent 3+hours on a server and not come across a single cursed ball... Then the next day I'll have 10+ at the outpost I spawn in at.

[Mod Edit]

@slickwillywonka very erm… insightful?

@galactic-geek lol you obviously didn't read my comment properly since you post such a irrelevant and generic comment. I literally said there's an UNLIMITED SKILLROOF. My point is that as a solo player the skill doesn't matter a whole lot.

Honestly, the mindset you have is what i think this community suffers a lot from. This overall casual playerbase that doesn't understand competetive gaming just can't seem to be able to point out any good feedback when it comes to PvP, which is why it has never been high on the priority list for Rare to fix this stuff.

As solo sloopers, the world is skewed against us, but we still persevere. We adapt and learn the wisdom that some things will be beyond our reach or at least take great effort, or luck, to achieve.

Extended damage, chainshots, fire... all purportedly put an end to our way of life, but we still persevere.

We thrive in the impossible challenge, we live for the thrill of overcoming, we alone dictate our course and actions. If you can't fight in the light, live in the shadows.

Because the game is designed in a way that favors non solo crews to a ridiculous degree.

As it should be, in what game should 1 person come out on top against 4? An extremely unbalanced one that is. I'm not trying to sound rude, but you have weird expectations from this game. It is weird to expect to be on an equal playing field in a multiplayer game. Teams will always have an easier time regardless of what game one plays. Just look at any other game on the market, which games put solo's on an equal playing field against groups, skill excluded?

What you ask for is just stupidly hard to make. How do you make it so your solo contributions are equal to a team while still not giving you cheat like powers? At that point can you even claim to be equal?

Sandbox like games reward what you put into it, someone bringing a team in will get more out of it than what typically a solo can. This applies to all games in that genre, Rust and Ark to name some that come to mind.

I love the PvP, but I totally agree, it's pretty bad right now.

Ship combat rarely matters, it's a matter of who can board the enemy ship first. Shooting cannonballs back and forth has very little impact, because repairing is so easy.

Chainshots make this better, except they're so easy to acquire that then the game shifts to whoever can take down the mast first (which is incredibly easy right now). They should be far more rare, like curseballs.

Most of the time, if I board the enemy ship, the fight is guaranteed my victory. I can't remember the last time we sunk a ship just from ship combat. You are forced into close quarters combat, which isn't always bad, it's just annoying that it's essentially the only option (or at least the best meta).

@nabberwar You misunderstand. Im not saying a solo player should by design be stronger than 4 lol. I'm saying that in a game with basically unlimited skillroof, you should logically as a solo player be able to become basically infinitely powerful if you practice enough.

The problem is that the game favors multiplayer crews in many different small ways which in the end creates a brickwall in skill progression for solo players. After a certain point it just doesn't matter anymore if you become better as a solo player, because the game doesnt leave room for you to utilize your skill and instead it forces you to play a defensive game of survival while you hope for the other crews to basically sink themselves by making crucial mistakes.

@skritsarn

I'm saying that in a game with basically unlimited skillroof, you should logically as a solo player be able to become basically infinitely powerful if you practice enough.

This still comes off as an unrealistic expectation. Even games with limitless skill ceilings can still quite easily get overwhelmed by numbers or small little plays. I bring up Rust as the example, that game is very similar to this, but even the most professional players can get grubbed by a well timed cheap Eoka (cheap one-bullet gun).

The problem is that the game favors multiplayer crews in many different small ways which in the end creates a brickwall in skill progression for solo players.

Which is exactly like you would suspect in a multiplayer sandbox environment. I can't think of any other game of similar style that doesn't favor solos.

...instead it forces you to play a defensive game of survival while you hope for the other crews to basically sink themselves by making crucial mistakes.

I mean, that is usually how solo players in any game thrive as is. Using their game knowledge to exploit their crucial mistakes.

The plight you describe here isn't going anywhere. What do you even suggest to work around it without drastically breaking the game or doing what no other developer has achieved so far?

@skritsarn said in I'm a solo player and i think there's a huge problem with the game:

@nabberwar You misunderstand. Im not saying a solo player should by design be stronger than 4 lol. I'm saying that in a game with basically unlimited skillroof, you should logically as a solo player be able to become basically infinitely powerful if you practice enough.

Something about your statement here makes me think that you view yourself to be a better player than you really are.

In your initial post you claim that you've hit them 'numerous times' to no real effect. Surely, you don't believe that's the only necessary condition as a solo sloop to sink a ship, right? Why aren't you elaborating?

There are very few solo sloops that are out there that are good at single handedly sinking skilled crews, and the ones that are good, know very well that the odds are against them and are consistently trying to play perfectly.

If you aren't that kind of player, then either learn to play with friends or put the game down.

Or be food for other ships, that's good for everyone else, too.

@mintharp184509 said in I'm a solo player and i think there's a huge problem with the game:

Solo sloopers getting demolished routinely are likely the root cause for the near constant request for PvE servers which as we all know would harm the game.

First...name calling? C'mon now.

Second...you just confirmed what he said. Solo sloopers getting demolished is the reason for a lot of PvE server requests...If Rare creates a system similar to "Xbox Only" servers where solo sloopers can queue up with other solo sloopers...you're headed down the path of giving PvE servers to solo sloopers because the threat is not as great...and it would become the meta for completionists and lead to harming the game.

Matchmaking based on skill would be a better solution than anything crew-size based...but there's not really a skill-based metric to make those types of matchmaking setups. Sure, you could do it based on faction levels...but that has no real relation to PvP skill, which is what OP is trying to convey as a problem.

In a game where you can choose to either go solo, invite friends, find friends, or team up with randoms, choosing solo-sloop is effectively the "hard mode"...though I'd argue Open Crew Galleon can be equally as hard LOL

@mintharp184509 said in I'm a solo player and i think there's a huge problem with the game:

First off, in basically any other multiplayer game ever made if you want to play solo there’s usually a game mode to pair you up with other solo players but not SoT. Funny thing that is.

Pick one and we can dissect the differences between that and SoT.

Enough said. If Rare doesn’t care about even attempting to solve their player retention issue, why should I?

I spend 4250 ancient coins every season, maybe I should stop doing that too.

I mean...not sure how that has any relation to the perceived problem, but, hey it's you're money nobody is making you spend it on cosmetics.

“A path to PvE servers,” lol what an absolute lie. That’s literally what this is about. The OG players can not stand the idea of new solos having an easier time learning the game amongst other solo players.

It is 100% a path to PvE servers. If I could go grind Athena voyages solo, and know that the only PvP threat to me is another solo sloop, I would. That would 100% become the meta for completing anything in the game. People would go complete whatever the task is to unlock whatever the cosmetic is in the solo sloop servers...and then go flex the cosmetic in the big crew servers. You're lying to yourself if you think that wouldn't happen.

If the goal is to help out newer players and make sure they are retained, I would be in support of a sub 50 hours/sub 1000 nautical miles/sub level 15 in any faction setup. That would allow players to get their feet wet and learn some things before playing with the more time invested players.

@mintharp184509 said in I'm a solo player and i think there's a huge problem with the game:

A lot of new players prefer to learn the game solo, myself included. Give them the opportunity to be paired with equally sized crews as in other solo players. This will give them the best possible odds of having more positive experiences in the game. This is very basic and simple to understand.

As players become more confident and skilled at the game they will naturally want to explore the larger ship sizes and the randomness of mixed crew servers.

I'll go back and quote what I suggested:

If the goal is to help out newer players and make sure they are retained, I would be in support of a sub 50 hours/sub 1000 nautical miles/sub level 15 in any faction setup. That would allow players to get their feet wet and learn some things before playing with the more time invested players.

However, allowing the "easy mode" access to ALL players regardless of how long you've been playing is bad for the game IMO.

@mintharp184509 I'm not sure what you're arguing for or against anymore, so, I'll just leave my opinion at this.

Giving new players a "matchmaking" of some sort based on hours in game/miles sailed/or some other simplistic metric is a good idea. The bar would need to be pretty low, though.

@galactic-geek said in I'm a solo player and i think there's a huge problem with the game:

@skritsarn It can be done!

https://youtu.be/hKbBW0gwQ1k

There is multiple arguments that can be made about these videos, for one, the info provided is limited. For example, what happened to the player's ship? Was it defensive or offensive play? What was the eventual outcome of the confrontation?

Another thing that can be argued is circumstance. Being chased and chasing on ships is different than boarding. The manner that leads to boarding is as important as boarding itself, however boarding by itself does not directly affect the chance of beating a confrontation. The player might have initially boarded stealthily, which is different from being chased, and also different from chasing. Offensive plays are usually better equipped and prepared for the circumstance than defensive plays. These are all things to consider in the argument