Are you kidding me or is this allowed?

pirates gonna pirate

allowed? this isn't supervised recess in elementary school

these ruthless merchants of death do not abide by rules and regulations. They serve themselves whether that involves treasure or not.

Nobody will stop them other than you. Practice, practice, then practice. Then kill them all.

or

practice, practice, then practice
and outsmart them and outrun them

or realize the servers are a luck of the draw where it typically favors those that want to be left alone and more often than not you'll roll a server where pirates mostly leave you alone for 30 minutes- 3+hours and come to terms with the philosophy of you win some you lose some

I understand the frustration, but I have learned from playing this game since launch two years ago that you have to be aware of your surroundings. As long as you keep an eye on the horizon and weigh your acceptable levels of risk, sailing solo can be peaceful and fun. Using this method, I cleared 5 vaults in a single session.

@ronin20 said in Are you kidding me or is this allowed?:

@stlthynnja44 Is it anoying? yes. Is it allowed? yes. Is it griefing? Disputed by some, but general consensus says no. Is it going to be changed? no.

These debates about whether it's "griefing" is really missing the point: It isn't fun. It makes the game unenjoyable for many people. There are many obvious ways of solving this problem, easily, and declining to do so is nothing short of a myopic failure of game design.

@defendedcub11 said in Are you kidding me or is this allowed?:

These debates about whether it's "griefing" is really missing the point: It isn't fun. It makes the game unenjoyable for many people. There are many obvious ways of solving this problem, easily,

So what are some of these “obvious ways” that you have in mind?

and declining to do so is nothing short of a myopic failure of game design.

You mean the game that has remained popular for more than three years is a failure? What successful titles did you create? The truth is, the game’s design actually depends on the threat of other players. It was primarily designed as a game centered on players striving to steal from one another. The work we put into finding loot is to ensure it has meaning for us. It represents time and effort, but it is not the main point. If Rare removed the danger it might please a small number of players (for a short time as they run through the content) at the expense of the vast majority of us who appreciate the game for what it is. My crew spends most of our time working on PvE content, but we take opportunities as they arise. If you take out the danger then we are basically playing Couriers & Archeologists not Sea of Thieves.

@ghostpaw said in Are you kidding me or is this allowed?:

So what are some of these “obvious ways” that you have in mind?

Don't be disingenuous--This forum is filled with such ideas. You don't need to ask this question.

You mean the game that has remained popular for more than three years is a failure?

Don't be disingenuous. I didn't call the game a failure--I am referring to an aspect of its design as a failure. Plenty of fundamentally broken games still become popular.

What successful titles did you create?

If Rare removed the danger it might please a small number of players (for a short time as they run through the content) at the expense of the vast majority of us who appreciate the game for what it is.

There are ways to make the danger more consensual that would not affect your experience at all.

@defendedcub11 said in Are you kidding me or is this allowed?:

@ghostpaw said in Are you kidding me or is this allowed?:

So what are some of these “obvious ways” that you have in mind?

Don't be disingenuous--This forum is filled with such ideas. You don't need to ask this question.

I will address this below.

You mean the game that has remained popular for more than three years is a failure?

Don't be disingenuous. I didn't call the game a failure--I am referring to an aspect of its design as a failure. Plenty of fundamentally broken games still become popular.

You keep saying I am being disingenuous. I am not. You are saying a key pillar of the game is a failure. It is like saying the need explore and build to improve your chance of survival in Minecraft is flawed. Or that the need to manage resources in Civilization in the face of threats is a broken mechanic. Sure, you can strip those out, but they become much less interesting to most players. The difference is, SoT would actually become segmented into two play styles. This has been discussed to death in countless threads.

What successful titles did you create?
[Appeal to accomplishment](link urlhttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Appeal_to_accomplishment)

Nice attempt to dodge, but no. If you were speaking about your personal preference for a certain type of game, that would be one thing. You are claiming the game is actually broken because your preference is not being adjusted for. That the possibility of you losing and feeling the sting that accompanies it is a sign of bad game design. You are speaking as if you are an authority on game design, not just personal preference. No. You are a consumer who does not like the vision that Rare sought to fulfill. That is okay. But your dislike of something is not a sign of someone else’s failure. Rare’s developers have stated over countless interviews what their intent with the game is, and it includes the things you do not like about it. This includes the feelings of paranoia and sorrow after loss that comes with an open world, tools not rules, PvPvE design. Not everyone likes a horror film, art that disturbs them, or an extra bitter flavor, but others do. Your personal aversion to it is not a sign that it is wrong. You are just not the audience here.

If Rare removed the danger it might please a small number of players (for a short time as they run through the content) at the expense of the vast majority of us who appreciate the game for what it is.

There are ways to make the danger more consensual that would not affect your experience at all.

You are consenting to the danger by playing the game. If you are talking about a passive mode, this idea has been floated by the PvE-only crowd since before the game’s release. As you mentioned earlier, this has been discussed to death. I suggest you head back over to the mega thread devoted to this topic. Private servers are coming. Rare has rightfully disabled progress on them because they know that allowing the population to progress on passive servers would harm the game experience for all players. Then again, you refuse to give specifics here so I am forced to make assumptions about what changes you suggest. If I am off base on my assumption of your meaning, well... who could blame me?

Again, we already have a mega thread devoted to this.

There is no sympathy for self inflicted wounds...

You are choosing to Solo a Multiplayer game.

Your basically setting the Game on Dark Souls difficultly and then getting frustrated.

White sailed solo-sloops are my favorite target practice before taking on a player galley. :)

To the player above me...I can't reply to you because the first word of your name is listed as restricted word. :(

Fear not, I've sunk many a pirate legend with white sails trying to pull a sneaky on me.

In fact, I too use this strat when trying to tuck on my fellow pirates doing a fort! ;)

Ok, to begin with: if someone managed to notice your ship while you parked it near island and left - you are already doing something wrong. Check the horizon, ALWAYS check the horizon before you do anything like this. If there is one side, where your ship is likely to be seen by freshly respawned players, like from the nearby outpost - park the ship on the opposite side. Don't wander on the island aimlessly. Do your job and leave, or at least, check the horizon from time to time.

Always remember - ship near island is VERY likely to do some treasure hunting so there is obviously something to take from it. Or there may be other crew with the voyage, leading to that exact island and they don't want any witnesses in such a private business like digging out chests. Nothing personal - people just being careful.

As you seem to play solo sloop, remember: you are the bottom of the food chain, so it is better to play the game as some multiplayer stealth.

Another example on how not to do things has just happened in my recent game today. I played on the sloop with my friend, we were planning to leave soon but I suggested to drown a skeleton sloop first. We chased it and it led us to the galleon under mark of reaper flag. I decided that sinking skeletons for the loot right in front of other ship with 4 people crew isn't wise and decided to finish session with guns blazing and swords shining. So, yes, we attacked a galleon on the sloop. And sunk it which wasn't even part of plan, I just expected a bright death. Have no idea what the hell were they doing with anchor dropped, but we even got some loot which we miraculously saved while running from the reapers emissary ship, who was very eager to send us right after that galleon.

So yeah, where I lead this... This is a game where every other ship is a threat and every other player would kill you for anything - from your treasures to your supplies. Get over it and enjoy the game.

Sink them first ask questions later.... how are they to know you don't have loot?!