Game Performance vs. New Content

@honeybadger9800

I’ve also been getting random significant fps drops. Also pc, also good build usually playing at 145.

@r3vanns just tested SS for a few hours, same issues. Not even any less often. I too run a machine that should have no problems and SoT is the only game giving me these FPS drops.

@honeybadger9800 said in Game Performance vs. New Content:

I already posted this as a response to someone complaining about poor performance of the new update but I also wanted to make a dedicated post for it.

After this update I'm consistently getting frame drops down to 20-25 frames on a powerful system. SoT is my main game but the consistent release of updates with game breaking bugs or performance issues is getting laughable. I love this game, there is nothing like it, and when they said they were hiring experienced players to test their stuff I was hoping it would fix things (I also laughed because of the implication that they didn't play test their own game already and had to hire players, like the devs don't even play their own game).

Not to throw too much shade, because again, SoT is a great game and unique to anything else out there, but I just can't wrap my head around the consistency of horrible updates. As a player with over a thousand hours I don't get bored playing SoT, there is already so much to do on the seas. I would much prefer updates that make the game work as intended instead of adding new content. And obviously you need the new content to keep the game fresh, but to prioritize that over a functioning game is insane to me.

I am genuinely more excited for "day-of" patches where they hot fix game breaking bugs/performance than I am new content updates.

Feedback and Suggestion:
Make the game work... That's it. After that we would appreciate new content here and there. But I can list off a game breaking problem from almost every update in the last year, and yesterday's update is actually the worst example. I love SoT, please don't kill your game by making it unplayable.

As an update, played tonight and the FPS drop issue is incredibly terrible. I sat at 20-30 FPS for significant portions of time. Completely out of the question that I'd play any game under those circumstances. I won't be playing until I'm sure that issue is fixed, whatever it is. GG GL

Bailing water out of a boat needs to be a sacred command that is prioritized and recognized by servers 100% of the time. Players can cope with most things, but not losing their boat when the server is exhausted from combat activity.

I’m a console player (xbox 1, I know it’s old I’m too broke for fancy new stuff) and I experience the same issues. However, I do want to give credit where credit is due. Rare is doing a great job with being transparent towards their players and community through dev previews(even bigger shout out to drew, poor guy always the bearer of bad news) Changes are happening in order to help the performance of the game, however these changes are still new and are still probably being experimented with. Developing a game is really hard, especially the more you put into it. The fact that we even get updates without the game completely frying is impressive, while there are issues the game is still somewhat playable. And given rare’s track history, the performance is highest priority after an update comes out. So I’m sure all these issues are being worked on rn(pls don’t make me eat those words rare)

As for hiring experienced players, I wouldn’t want to play my game after working on it for 8-10 hours lol

@strikeboy01 Frankly, I disagree with you 100%.

First off, the "transparency" in the dev videos is more of a slap to the face if anything, every single month they come out with a video saying "players are complaining about cheaters, performance, and hit reg, so those things are our top priority." And then it proceeds to never get fixed, and in some cases get worse.

Second, "The fact that we even get updates without the game completely frying is impressive" is the craziest thing I've ever read about video game development. Why would you release and update if it fried your game? That just doesn't make any sense. You would obviously play test it and make sure that it works before scheduling a release date.

As for the hiring players thing, I guess I understand, its just crazy it took 7 years before they started employing play testers.

I'm a huge SoT fan, but I get really frustrated with the amount of glaze the dev team gets for "being transparent"... If performance degradation after updates was a rare thing than I would be happy if they gave explanations to the infrequent game bugs. But that's not the case. Poor performance is constant and it really does the player no good to tell them why because it doesn't fix the problem, it just comes off as either they are held to too tight of timelines by whoever is in charge, they are too lazy to play test, they are incompetent, or some combo of the 3.

This is the least I have played SoT in a long time and its not because I'm bored of it. The game is just in such a horrible place. I want it to be fixed so bad because I have the itch to play.

@honeybadger9800 said in Game Performance vs. New Content:

@strikeboy01 Frankly, I disagree with you 100%.

First off, the "transparency" in the dev videos is more of a slap to the face if anything, every single month they come out with a video saying "players are complaining about cheaters, performance, and hit reg, so those things are our top priority."

This is more of a personal preference than a compliment, but I would much rather have game dev’s say that they are aware of issues and are working on it than for them to not acknowledge them at all and act as if it’s not a problem.

And then it proceeds to never get fixed, and in some cases get worse.

From what I’ve seen, it does get fixed but immediately gets undone in the next update. The release of season 15 was a significant improvement from when I was playing, but it went back to how it was after mid-season update.(referring to performance, when it comes to cheaters I’ve never encountered any on the seas in my 4 years of playing)

Second, "The fact that we even get updates without the game completely frying is impressive" is the craziest thing I've ever read about video game development. Why would you release and update if it fried your game? That just doesn't make any sense. You would obviously play test it and make sure that it works before scheduling a release date.

What I mean by this is that we do actually get updates, instead of development just straight up stopping. And before you say they only keep developing for money. They could very easily only develop pirate emporium stuff and cease development and still make money, development costs a lot of money so stopping it would remove a huge expense.

As for the hiring players thing, I guess I understand, it’s just crazy it took 7 years before they started employing play testers.

I have to agree with you there, this should have been a thing before the game even came out, maybe a year or two after but seven years is kinda ridiculous.

I'm a huge SoT fan, but I get really frustrated with the amount of glaze the dev team gets for "being transparent"... If performance degradation after updates was a rare thing then I would be happy if they gave explanations to the infrequent game bugs. But that's not the case. Poor performance is constant and it really does the player no good to tell them why because it doesn't fix the problem, it just comes off as either they are held to too tight of timelines by whoever is in charge, they are too lazy to play test, they are incompetent, or some combo of the 3.

I understand the frustration, and obviously I can’t tell you how to think, but I choose to think that rare is actually trying to give us their best. They aren’t like other game companies (cough cough EA) that don’t care about their consumers and just ring out the money from them. I think they continue to develop purely because they enjoy it and enjoy us playing it.

This is the least I have played SoT in a long time and it’s not because I'm bored of it. The game is just in such a horrible place. I want it to be fixed so bad because I have the itch to play.

Despite all the glazing I’ve been doing for rare, I’m actually doing the same. I cannot play in the state of the game right now and have gone to some different games while I wait for performance to be fixed.