So I decided to jump back into Sea of Thieves and give the game ago, see what's been added and see what's been changed. Well my experience was miserable to say the least. Okay, I know as a mainly solo player this game probably isn't for me at all but jumping in and starting up I was attacked and killed three times in a row at the starting island. Frustrated I decided to exit and wait for another time. A day later I jumped back in and it happened all over again as I was learning the ropes again and starting a simple delivery voyage only to be killed, then respawn and be killed again twice over.

My question is simple, is the game meant to be this way? If so why make it so bloody awful for new players or returning players to jump back in only to quit in frustration before of constant death. I can't even see the new content (if any) they've added because I couldn't get off the starting island? Am I just not understanding some basic mechanic here or something?

Would genuinely like to know as honestly, that was not a pleasant gaming experience. Thanks.

Pirates are assholes. They have even been known to commit crimes. I think it would be good if there were some sort of PvP toggle, but that kind of goes against the basic design philosophy of the game, I guess.

I have to agree to a certain point. The level of griefing in this game exceeds the absurdity I've witnessed in other games, but at the same time, it is the premise of the game so to speak and part of the game mechanics.

This is a fundamental problem of the genre. People, in general, are assholes. Giving them the ability to grief folk, they will

PvP flags are historically the answer. But that tends to result in the only people who engage in PvP/online mode being newbies (who get griefed) and folk who optimize their ship/gameplay for "the meta". This is the main issue with Elite Dangerous and is why folk tend to not engage in MP at all or only do so with private games.

Games like EVE and early MMOs had a pretty nifty system where "newbie areas" have incredibly high security and NPCs who will fuck people's shit up, but that just results in the actual PvP areas being hell on earth and folk actively avoiding them. The Division did a good job of giving people a reason to enter those areas though, and I hope that system can get adapted to more general MMOs.

So in short: Yeah, that is how the game is meant to be played.

Seems that way. Don't get me wrong, it's a game about pirates and pirates are sort of meant to be assholes but it wasn't a pleasant experience at all. I mean I expect a degree of this to happen but not before I can even set sail a simple small ship. It might go against the design of the game a little, but if players can't even get going before they get attacked, it seems fundamentally wrong.

Still, it's uninstalled now and I doubt I'll ever bother to return to it. Shame to, Sea of Thieves had such potential but was released clearly to soon and it still seems to be trying to recover. Hope those playing are having fun though.

Yeah, that sounds like my launch experience.

I think the look, feel, style, and developer lineage of the game are at odds with the pseudo PvP nature of it.

If there was a co-op only mode, I’d be all over that game. It’s an amazing game to just chill out with, until someone murders you and steals your shit.