DEAD GAME? Things Are BAD! …Or are they? Sea of Thieves - State of the Game

I agree pirate legend for hourglass privileges, i think that's a great idea.

As a player who just returned after a 2 year break, I can say that u r right. It took at least 20-30 YouTube videos to understand what has happened in the game and now that I’m actually playing, I’ve noticed that nothings RLLY changed

Love the idea of having to reach a certain level to do hourglass pvp. Even if it's just lvl 25 in each faction, I think would help the cheating problem a lot.

I love sea of thieves and it makes me sad even thinking the game will die. Hope rare will put this behind them and put out a banger update!

Ellie, this video was definitely NOT too long. I could listen to you talk about SoT all day if you ever did. I'm a day-one'r and this game has been a total rollercoaster. I love it to death and couldn't ever convince myself to uninstall. It needs so much more to feel like the world is growing/changing. My post would be a mile long if I shared my thoughts, but the tl:dr is you are spot on. Please keep doing what you do! If we ever cross paths on the seas, go easy on me! ❤

I don't think you've mentioned number 1 (or 2) problem in the game: the server performance. Currently almost every action in the game from combat and bucketing to simply running up the stairs can fail at any moment and it drives players crazy. The game just isn't functioning properly. This video could be 6 hours long and maybe that is what we need. There are countless bugs and problems in the game and an ocean of ideas how Rare could have done better. I can't even wrap my head around all of it and summarize within one post. It's beyond my horizon of focus and concentration.

I have been playing since January 2019 and have logged on once so far this year. I regularly say to my friends if we should log back on but always get 'no content'. Havent played adventures since fate of Golden Sands. I currently have about 2500 hours, and all of these were before 2023. Rare needs to do something to make this work. Excellent video, and everything you have said is spot on!

One thing that also made me uniterested in the game is the loss of pirate theme. With the battle pass so many skins came into the world that doesnt feel like they belong here. I want some pirate hats and stuff and not some grim reaper outfit or whatever

Another thing people tend to gloss over is mini-events. Have the ocean crawlers jump on your ship while your sailing, give skellies on islands voicelines that can lead to something. Have meg or kraken attack a skelly ship. Maybe a ghost ship randomly spawns beside you. Whatever it is we need more small things to pass the time between big things.

I totally agree that something needs to be done about the story of the game to help new players get into the lore of the game. Also locking hourglass behind some kind of achievement would probably be what rare will end up doing once they notice the current banning measures alone aren't enough to keep cheaters out.

Went to play pvp with a friend on a sloop. First game booster who teleported onto our ship, blew up a keg, and killed us. Convinced him to try again, get into second game, same booster.

I would say season 9 was the largest QoL update. It felt like the right direction in a lot of ways, but because it didn't really add anything concerning content I can see how that can be disappointing. I think a new world event would be awesome - SPECIFICALLY one that can be triggered by having a certain amount of loot on your ship (sea hydra that's been hinted at?). It would force ships to stack and if the server is notified when a hydra/ sea monster spawns it would be an amazing battle. Commendations/ Big Hunter's Call rep/ etc. as awards would all be nice. Downside is some people might start selling early to not sell it, but maybe it can be summoned like FOTD?

On the topic of adventures -- I wholeheartedly agree, they really just need to keep those adventures in the game and accessible. Perhaps as a chain of things you can buy from the Bilge Rats. It's like they're focusing too hard on punishing players who take breaks when they think they're rewarding players who don't. It's two sides of the same coin. Give PVE players a chance to play the content they missed and enjoy the Sea of Thieves story, and you'll have players sticking around for longer. Playing Sea of Thieves with your friends is fun. But when you run out of stuff to do you end up logging on and being like "So what do you wanna do?" and the answer inevitably becomes "I dunno, I don't care, whatever." Maybe its Hourglass, Maybe its money farming with a certain faction. Maybe it's just going around to events in the world, if there even are events up at that time. But it all ends up being monotonous because there's no narrative.

Fantastic video, I couldn't have said it any better, you've got a new subscriber outta me! I've played this game for over 4 years and 4300+ hrs, almost a daily player (unless I was sick) yet even I haven't been able to muster playing SOT. The last time I did play, the only boat on the horizon I ever saw was a skellie ship. I'm not much of a pvper, I've done one hourglass battle the day it was released, so I haven't ran into any cheaters but they have kept me from hourglass ever since. I might give it a go on xbox only servers but not a chance on PC. As if spawn camping wasn't bad enough, now I have to worry about flying kegs?? Oh hell no! I'm excited for the Monkey Island tall tales even though I never played the original game because it's a small scrap of new content. Adventure hasn't seen any new content since season 6 with the veil voyages and I'm itching for something, anything new. There's only so many animals and cargo crates a girl can collect before she gets bored to tears...I'm scraping the barrel for commendations!! Every single time I think I'll work on the final merchant commendations I need, I get Rared. I really do hope Rare is listening to the community but unfortunately after the 2nd mystery fiasco, it makes you wonder. At least you can run thru the 1st mystery again 🙄.

This video clearly explains a broad number of issues and things that have worked in the past in such great detail! Thanks for making this video, I am a huge fan of SOT but feel the same feelings about the game. I haven't been able to put into words what you have covered in this video so thanks for creating this!

Well said! As a returning player, I relate so much. Thank you.

Phuzzybond is the canary in the coalmine - the warning that things are now in a deadly state and urgent action is needed. He taught me how to fire cannons when i first started the game. He set a great example of how to play and his videos are the ones i would recommend to any new pirate - and now he is openly taking a stand on twitter and calling Rare out. They dont seem to even recognised that content creators exist, let alone understand just how important they are for supporting the game. Rare are the dog in the burning restaurant that says "this is fine".

Limited time content only works if there is almost always some event currently happening and the old ones routinely return. Using experience from other games, sometimes adding content from limited events as base content will lower the hype or gently boosts overall player counts at best. However, a beloved limited event returning after 6-12 months can drive crazy numbers to flood the game and deliver those memorable experiences we crave. Better yet if a player exclusively played during certain returning events, the time in-between can hopefully have some quality of life improvements or change that might stick out to them and get them to continue afterwards. Gradual minor changes are great for stability but terrible for player retention. Sudden* and multiple 'wait that's new/different' moments can drive a hype for a while. *in the sense of it being sudden to a returning player after 6-12 months.

As someone who's recently bought the game, I like the idea of being able to explore older stories, events and content that rare have already developed. Heck, With the latest update they've added a lady who "sells tours" she would be a PERFECT access point to such content.

Great video, I think you have made some very good points regarding the cheating. I think it would also be a good idea to sell old season progressions if they are in need of funds, other games do it and it gives new players something to work through (hell I even skipped most of season 2) Maybe even open up the season to have a repeating gold and dabloons after level 100) And as someone who has done adventures they have been so spaced out it's a bit hard to get really invested in them, like watching a series on Netflix when an episode gets released every 4 months.