Interesting (to me) stats and moving forward

  • strangeness
    Commander
    Insider

    XBox year in review stats just dropped and the results are about what I predicted. I'm sharing here because, while anecdotal, I think it does illustrate my arch with the game and can be indicative of bigger problems.

    So, for context, Sea of Thieves has been my most played game every year since launch, including the launch. Until this year. So, a bit of trends and observations:

    I played 836 hours on xbox this year. Some will see that as a lot, grinders will see that as a little. But I'm a middle-aged man with obligations, and play in my spare time to unwind. I'm in the top 4% of players with time played. So clearly I'm a dedicated game player. Someone who spends money on games when I enjoy them, including emporium purchases.

    My biggest game this year was Diablo 4, coming it at 370 hours. I'm in the top 3% of for time played in D4. That 1% gap between this stat and the overall stat shows a bit how I divide my time, but also what games are pulling other players. And D4 has had a documented up-and-down year.

    Sea of Thieves got bumped to #2 at 300 hours. That's also a HUGE drop from previous years (500+ in some cases) as obviously Diablo 4 took a chunk from my SoT time. And most of that, as I've written before, is the state of the game. When I sit down and think about which grindy game I'd rather grind, the bugs make me less excited to solo in SoT. So now I only play with a crew, that is also less excited to play so we play less often. That's a drastic change from previous years' habits. More interestingly, I'm still in the top 1% of active players in this game. If my activity dropped this drastically and I'm still in the top 1%, that tells me just how badly activity has dropped for others. People who used to chase every season's commendations must not be doing so if I'm still in the top 1%, and that's a big motivator to purchase the plunder pass and/or cosmetics.

    Today is the day I got the proof that my own habits have changed significantly, and some anecdotal evidence that others have as well. I am not surprised at all; I knew I'd see some bad signs given my mindset of the game, but it makes me sad nonetheless.

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  • WolfManbush
    Legend

    The vast majority of my many hours have been solo and in a very specific style that I designed for myself so I guess that's what allowed me to stick around.

    My sessions were never dependent on having a crew and my end date was always gonna be whenever they kill my style off. I didn't know if that was gonna be season 5 or 10 and I don't know if it will be 15 or 20.

    It was always just a situation where I was making the best out of the time it would last, never taking the experience for granted, and seeing how far I could go before there wasn't a spot for me anymore.

    As much as I disagree with decisions and direction and everything in between, it was never allowed on my boat. It's for the spaces that aim to offer discussion about issues.

    I play to find cool stuff and encounters. There is less cool stuff as rarity is embraced less and it's more time consuming to find the types of encounters I enjoy but what I enjoy still currently exists, so I chase it.

    I just keep whittling out an experience that I enjoy out of what they offer till I run outta materials.

  • IX Indi XI
    Marauder
    Insider

    I've stopped playing SoT November of last year, and just got back into it, mostly forced by a friend and another that wants me to play lol, mostly a case to make them happy. I re-downloaded it yesterday.

    Nothing like the Time I committed in the past though, probs a session here and there in the week of chill PvE and that's that. Mind you I have 3k hours in this game Steam +Microsoft store combined.
    I was also in a very good competitive team so I knew the game pretty well, outside of PvE Metas lol.

    Most my friends/crew mates that I've played in the past have all left the game, or the reminder are those once competitive players that are still chronically addicted to Hourglass which I have zero interest in joining. And I suspect are still playing because they have no friends outside of SoT and no common interests outside of the game.

    The Queue times in other games put Hourglass to shame where I'm not wasting 30 minutes fighting a botted crew + waiting in queue, I got better things to do with my time.

    This to say:

    I knew I'd see some bad signs given my mindset of the game, but it makes me sad nonetheless.

    Yep, I would still be playing SoT, if the devs weren't acting weird the past 2 years. They literally driven their most dedicated players away.
    I saw warning flags 2 years ago, and last year I quit when I just got bored, simply bored. I quit at level 970 on reapers Hourglass, that's how much I didn't give a F about the game getting golden bones for the sake of saying I did it.

    Also keeping vaguely updated on the game, somehow RARE managed to out do themselves in making the games performance worse from a year previously.
    So DO NOT believe what they say about improving the games performance, they are lying.

    If me who hasn't touched the game for a year, comes back and experiences a worst state then where I left off, there's something to be said about that.
    Only thing that is midly interesting is figuring out the new stuff, mind you I quit just before guilds where introduced.

  • WolfManbush
    Legend

    Today was a pretty good example of how the game has changed quite a bit. Better for some and not so good for others.

    I fight and sink a pve BB near reapers, not contested, nobody in sight. Sell at reapers nearby.

    Bottle at reapers. Pick it up and it's for wanderer's on the north side, easy find. It's a chest of legends. Was just gonna leave it but felt weird about it so just turned it in. From bottle to selling an athena in a few minutes.

    The thing is, that's not rare. There are so many events and bonuses going on that it's not rare to see and it's not a situation where it requires much effort or defending. Doesn't create thrill because there is no sense of urgency or rarity.

    When there were ashen bottles people were just leaving quality loot 1 tapped in the ground, because there is so much loot that people just wanted to farm a specific chest or just getting quest credit.

    There are people that are perfectly fine with that and there is nothing wrong with that but the potential for thrill and sense of accomplishment is dwindling. It's tough to improve retention when so much has been invested in reward flooding rather than fun building.

    We could of had community meg hunts over the years, community bingo events. Stuff where the community works together in ways other than just picking up a bottle at an island, sailing one island over, digging up one of the best pieces of treasure in the game, sailing to a sell point nearby.

    I'm only level 81 in Athena so it's not like I'm one of the people that rushed or cheesed levels. I still need the rep but the reward is so flooded it feels like cheesing when I'm playing organically and solo in high seas.

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