Hey guys, I haven't been around the forums too much, so I can't promise anything in this post will be new. However, after 300 hours in the game (In the past month and half, lol) I wanted to give my feedback and share my experiences.
I just wanna say right out the gate, that I recommend this game and will be putting many more hours into it.
I'll start out where most players start out in the game, and that's with 'progression'.
I think the Maiden Voyage is really well executed and does a brilliant job introducing new players to basic mechanics and the overall 'atmosphere' of the SoT. The first couple quests the game tosses your way are extremely easy, but they definitely help build confidence and get the ball rolling. When just starting out, it's nice to have something you can reliably do like questing- because the scope of all the world-events and Tall Tales in the SoT will be mostly unknown to a new player.
This is where my first criticism comes in, however. My friend and I started doing events because the regular quests just didn't really reward a whole lot at all, and this was when the quests were costing us around 150-200. The thing is, even with quests maxed out, they still are just extremely underwhelming. I had hoped questing would be a 'less rewarding alternative' to doing big events, but really it's completely worthless in comparison. Spending 30-40 minutes on an OoS quest, killing 12+ captains, and getting 8-9 disgraced bounty skulls was one of the most underwhelming experiences I had on the seas. I really wish those quests scaled up just a little bit more, not so much to actually be comparable to world events, but enough so that they aren't a complete waste of time.
This is, obviously, barring vault quests and ghost fleets, which are some of the most fun questing opportunities in the game, but I don't think they should outshine their simpler questing options so heavily. Also, I wish there was something for merchants, too, but maybe that's coming at a later date.
With all this said, the lack of interest in questing translated to interest in world events. This may be by design, so I'm not actually too critical of it, but one thing I can't really take so lightly in terms of progression is hitting pirate legend and doing Athena's. I'm going to be blunt: to say Athena's is "extremely disappointing" is an understatement. I'm not talking about the loot or the gold, but I mean the experience of hitting PL and being excited for something new, only to realize "wow, I'm just doing the same thing I've been doing but with less consistency." It's really frustrating the way merchant quests are just thrown into the mix without any thought at all. I mean, you get merchant items- but merchant items only. No Athena emissary value, no chance at athena loot. My friend and I always just pick up the merchant items, drop them immediately, and leave them at the island as they are completely antithetical to the appeal of Athena questing. I feel like the Dev team didn't really know what direction to go with for Athena. To be clear, don't think that the "mix of everything" questing is a bad idea on it's own right- but I don't think it should be the defining characteristic of Athena's questing experience. I think it would've been really beneficial if they further explored the riddle questing types, and committed that to Athena's identity. Something like: Solve riddles on 3-5 islands, with each island rewarding you a piece of an ancient compass or something- among other smaller loot pieces. Anything. I think anything would have been better for the 'end-game' progression, Pirate Legend content. To summarize how I feel about progression, I think it starts out strong and really helps new players get their head on their shoulders, but it quickly becomes a slog and sort of falls apart. This is a lot less of a problem, however, for Gold Hoarders and OoS, which actually have fun, engaging, and properly rewarding specialty quests after 25.
Moving on, I'll talk about PvP.
To be concise, it's fun when people actually engage in it, and it's fun when it works.
The first half of that statement is not really Rare's fault, but I think it's possible for Rare identify this problem and work on it. It's easy to say PvE players should just fight back because it's a pirate game- but I think that dismisses an actual problem with the relationship. PvE favoring players simply have no motivation for killing a PvP'er who just spawned in and has no loot. It's a one sided relationship that only really benefits the PvP player (and usually not even the PvP player, as most PvE players have very little loot). I don't think this is an easy problem to solve, and again, I don't think it's really Rare's fault either- but I do think it's worth paying attention to and noting.
The second half of that statement, however, is very much Rare's responsibility. When I first watched streamers complain about hit-reg, I thought to myself "ah that must suck, having a sniper shot not land every once in a while. But then as my friend and I shifted away from PvE to an almost exclusive PvP focus, it got really obvious, really fast. Watching chain shots fly through masts and not do damage, chainshots exploding on masts and not doing damage, players eating cannonballs point blank and getting knocked back but not taking damage, players tanking 4 sniper shots in a row without eating... etc etc... The PvE'ers reading this might be skeptical, but I know my fellow PvP'ers feel this. Rare, please. It's out of hand. This issue should be priority #1. Combat is the most visceral experience to ANY game, and when it doesn't work, it leaves an extremely bitter taste on the gaming experience. You are lucky your game is as fun as it is, and fits the niche that it does- as it's the only reason players are putting up with the combat being the way it is. But please don't take us for granted, and please fix this issue.
I'll just move on to bugs in general now. UI glitching out is a thing. Loot bugging out is a thing. Ships acting weird in multiple ship combat is a thing. But these are more minor, less visceral, less common, and in my opinion, less of an issue in general- but still worth mentioning.
I'd like to move on to praise now. The world and the atmosphere are nothing less than exceptional. Even after 300 hours I still love looking out from my ship and being greeted with the cool, teal waters. It acts as a very subtle but very important mental break in-between PvP experiences, and is just admirable on it's own right. The art team has really outdone themselves and I hope they are proud of their work.
The same goes for the music in the game. Bosun Bill SLAPS and anyone who tells you otherwise is a no-good scallywag who's getting a one-way ticket to the Brig. From the shanties to the battle music to the atmospheric sound-scaping- it's all exceptional and I think Rare really outdid themselves in this department as well.
I also think Rare made a great decision to make the the bulk of "progression" in this game cosmetic based, and their commitment to make sure that anything combat-related is even, across new and aged players alike. I can't tell you how many games I don't get into these days because I don't want to either a. spend hundreds of hours just to START being competitively viable or b. spend money to become competitively viable. There's something to be said about starting fresh and knowing the only thing between you and someone with 10,000 hours is experience, knowledge, and skill alone. It makes being dominated by other players that much more respectable, and getting to a point where you dominate players that much more rewarding.
There's a lot more I can say, but these are my most pressing thoughts on the game. I hope the Dev team sees this and understands that criticism aside, they have acquired a new fan. I think even with it's faults, the game is leagues above it's competition and it really is a diamond-in-the-rough that is the AAA studio gaming market.
To my fellow pirates reading this...
If you see me on the seas...
You best run.
