Crew Management [I can't play with friends??]

It's all a balancing act really you don't want to have crews of several ships just going round dominating the rest of the server just because they have more friends. I get that some people have bigger friend groups but many don't, the best way I could see this being solved is of course a larger sized ship but with more ships per server to attempt to balance it out.

Say a 6-8 man ship but limit it to only 3-4 of them per server but also up the amount of smaller ships to match like 5-6 sloops to "attempt" to balance it out.

@knightx13 links dead boss.

@knightx13 Good that was a great thread. (don't mind me I'm sleep deprived)

I'm split right down the middle on this topic.

I would love to be able to join a server with a few crews of friends in other ships to be able to join up & sail the seas together. This would make for some amazing times & a whole barrel of fun!!

I would hate to be on a server where a group of imbeciles 'friends' join together & decide to destroy, harass & basically troll anything that moves. Say what you will, but this would inevitably happen!!

Like @LogansDadToo , I'm split on this topic.

I understand wanting to play with a big group of friends. The times I've randomly run into friends, or even just people I recognize from the forums in the water have been special.
But, it is ripe for abuse. Apart from the oft mentioned "large fleets terrorizing servers", if multiple crews of 4 are in together communicating it changes PvE as well, for the simple fact you don't have to worry about PvP. The assumption right now is there have been 5 ships per server. That means I know going in I have to worry about 80% of the boats having unknown intentions. If I have 7 friends with me - that becomes 60%. 11 friends? There are only two boats that could possibly be an enemy. That is a pretty significant change.

@erikinthebakery I think my question to this would be, won't this happen regardless? Even if crew management isn't a thing, I believe people will still group up together. We even see it in a video where two sloops are taking on a single galleon. What would happen if the crew on the galleon called over and said "wait wait! We surrender! Now lets go take on the rest of the server!"

Its my opinion that every bad thing you can think of will ultimately happen if you give the internet some time to figure it out. And I believe the case will be the same with this. You also have to think that if there's crew's of evil conniving [mod removed] out there, then there's also a crew of responsible do-gooders willing to protect the innocent. It makes for some very compelling and interesting gameplay. I even have a friend of mine wanting to start a SoT Navy, where he and his small guild (I think 10 players) will patrol the seas making sure people are safe and the seas are kept a fair and free space.

A real crew management system opens the doors to all possibilities, not just the bad ones.

@ethnine

This is a really tough one. I hear both sides of the argument. To make it fair, they could:

A) Allow private games. The problem is that then you won't encounter anyone on the horizon since all ships are your friends so it would be strictly PVE and since there are no NPC ships this would be weak sauce. I suppose you could play against each other if that is appealing.
B) Allow up to 2 of 3 ships of friends to queue up together BUT only if the total number of ships per server goes way up to make the advantage negligible.
C) Have dedicated servers for 2 or 3 ship queues where single ships are not precluded from joining if they want to play with a handicap. This splits the player population a bit but if they have enough adoption it may be ok.

@sprucetexas689 Even though I think some variations of your ideas could work, I think really it should be put more into the players hands. Just like Rare trusts their players to limit griefing, I believe they should trust their players not to group for domination. And again, even when players do unite to try and control a server and the players in it, I imagine that others might come together and group up to try and bring back peace. It would make for some very interesting server dynamics, two sides battling it out. One for the good of all, the other for control and power. I believe this is what most pirate movies are about anyhow :).

@residentapple12 It really depends on how organized the crews are honestly. I have seen more organized crews take down much larger ships with less people. I have also seen equally large crews take out an equally as large ship. It comes down to skill. And again, if there is a ying, there is likely a yang. Meaning if there's one group of 2 or 3 ships causing a problem, then there will naturally form another group to counter them. And in that process an even more epic adventure can be formed.

@ethnine said in Crew Management [I can't play with friends??]:

@sprucetexas689 Even though I think some variations of your ideas could work, I think really it should be put more into the players hands. Just like Rare trusts their players to limit griefing, I believe they should trust their players not to group for domination.

That's kind of like trusting the financial industry to regulate itself LOL. I mean it's a nice idealistic world view that I wish was a reflection of reality, but I think that if it's possible to do something in a game, then inevitably someone out there will want to do it and abuse it.

@sprucetexas689 I mean, I totally agree with you there. But if Rare is willing to trust their players not to grief each other, then I am not sure why they wouldn't allow for grouping. I actually think grouping could be a form of anti-griefing. If you have a group of likeminded players consisting of 3 or 4 ships, and they see someone griefing they could easily put a stop to it. Like I said, a have a friend of mine already trying to get together a SoT Navy, and their whole goal is to patrol and protect. To me it seems like a pretty cool idea, even if I tend to be a bit more on the chaotic evil side of things :).

@ethnine said in Crew Management [I can't play with friends??]:

@sprucetexas689 I actually think grouping could be a form of anti-griefing. If you have a group of likeminded players consisting of 3 or 4 ships, and they see someone griefing they could easily put a stop to it.

Hmm this reminds me of the "good guy with a gun myth" - if only everyone was carrying, there would be less mass shootings. The problem is - it's a big map so the chances of actually being at the right place at the right time witnessing a griefing incident is like predicting where the final circle in PUBG is eventually going to be :-)

@sprucetexas689 Haha, that is very true. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out in the end. Regardless, I simply want to be able to play with my buddies, and right now I can't. Which, to me, is a b****r.

@sprucetexas689 said in Crew Management [I can't play with friends??]:

predicting where the final circle in PUBG is eventually going to be :-)

Off-topic, but that would be amazing LOL

@residentapple12 It is hard sometimes as a solo player, but i have not ever had a prob with it. :)

A very emphatic yes to this! I'm an introvert and a PC gamer, so the more control over grouping I have the happier I am. Well, mostly as an introvert because holy cow does it take from my reserves and drain me to be crewed up with a bunch of strangers. I really do hope (for the umpteenth time) Rare institutes a proper, in-game (Xbox app is atrocious) party/crew management system.

What I'd like to see:

• Current hop into a random crew matchmaking option is still available
• Ability to set party size from 1-8
• Ship limit per party, all on one, split between two, all on their own, or whatever mix suits you
• Crew style: open party invite
• Crew style: friends only party (plus the ability to invite friends from in-game)
• Crew style: invite only party
• Crew style: solo only party (though this is really redundant with an invite only option, but this is again the introvert in me :P )
• Ability to switch party settings on the fly
• Ability to mark players, in-game, as FRIEND, PREFERRED, AVOID, IGNORE
• PREFERRED players are those that random match making will place you with before the general population but after FRIENDs
• AVOIDed players are those that random matchmaking will block from joining your party but if they haven't AVOIDed you, you can still be matched into their party
• IGNOREd players are those that under no circumstances will you be placed in a crew with them or on the same server

@daimyo-dorima Rare has been rather quiet on this subject, which has me a bit concerned. With as much support as this community has thrown at this idea, they surely have to recognize that its something their community desires.

Yeah.. Me and my friends had issues with this aswell.

Where me and two friends would like to go alone on the ship, but we can't.

I hope they make it so we can choose to go as a 3 man squad, 4 man squad or random match making :)