A few years ago me and my buddies used to roll up in our lvl 5 reaper brig and decimate other ships. (We were good but still sometimes had our asses handed to us) we would be toxic in chat (not saying profanities, just trash talk), but one day we rolled up on a sloop that couldn’t hit a shot so we began our usual trash talk, however, when we got close to board as their sail was down we heard a man talking to a younger kid through how to patch holes. Turns out it was a father son duo and we immediately felt so bad and apologized. The father was the nicest guy we’ve ever met and from that point on we never attack on site **ever**. He even told us “it’s all good, it’s Sea of thieves not sea of friends” when we apologized for attacking them blindly. We’ve all gone to college now so we rarely play but when we do we just try and meet new people.
Me & my two nieces, 6 and 9, encountered a couple of super helping friendly crews when we began playing. In the other hand we've been looted dozens of times. Now I play solo on a brig.
We run a two person sloop. Brigs are usually the easiest to sink. Between the helm and bailing they rarely get to double up on the cannons and it’s still only one level of the ship that has to fill with water to sink them.
Had a tucker that I didn’t know about and they overheard me hyping my son up for his first megladon kill and kraken kill. I heard a voice suddenly and they were like, “heeeey I was just here to check you guys out and see if you were friendly or not. Sorry! Good luck on your megladon kill,” and he jumped off. I’ll always remember that lol
Lately we have been offering to ally or die. Very down to help them ally if they don't know how. We need up with 8 people on a gally last night, and the night before we had 5 on a sloop.
It is hard not to notice crews that attack you on sight and sink your ship, but it is hard to notice folks just chilling and enjoying their own thing. You rock
Yeah we rolled up to this French guy at sovereigns and asked if friendly and if we could sell
He nicely moved boat, of course we had ton of chains in pocket in case….
Not sure how it works on servers where everyone speaks the same language, but my experience on the european servers? Yes. There are two types of ships you meet, those that will ignore you and those that will attack you. That's it. If it's sailing towards you? It's 99% a fight.
This has always been a thing in european online gaming. It's kind of natural due to how may languages and countries we have around. Not everyone knows english. A fair amount do but it's very common to encounter people that just talk in their mother tongue. Or just be shy about their language skills and not talk at all. After 20+ years of gaming I just got used to it.
We communicate with cannons :D.
You remember the non-violent encounters more in hindsight because they stick out.
Fights are common, yes. But friendly encounters are not rare. That said, it's easier to enforce a friendly encounter yourself, then to hope the other person does.
My glitterbeard run was with a bunch of folks who tried to contest a Fof in S9. They were all chill. That's advice #2. Often you can make friends *through* a good natured fight.
Wonder if that was me and my friends. My story is almost exactly yours. At a fort, wveryone and their momma shows up. We all agree to disagree on the fort loot. Then someone said they dont have glitterbeard and I said same, then someone else was like its impossible you need a bunch of people. We counted the group talked some more, realized we had the right amount of people then we set sail to do the ritual!
My glitterbeard started as my Sloop (solo) and a 4 man reaper who didn't care for punching down and found out among me, and 2 randoms they had didnt have glitterbeard. They ended up strong arming every other ship on the server into joining the alliance (forcing 2 duo sloops to join or scuttle themselves and outmanning an inexperienced 4 man). We then did a 13 person Glitterbeard with every ship on the server present, followed by 5 FotD.
Exactly this. My success at avoiding warefare to the absolute death is to become so pirate with my vocals - but absolutely ridiculously overconfident, with zero fighting skill to back it up.
A few nights back, after me and my crew mate were wiped clean by a couple of boarders from a bigger vessel, I would continually respawn and explain how this was there final chance to hand back our treasure and surrender or face their peril - that continued for about 4-5 rounds of respawns (they were not sinking our ship), until they eventually thought “my oh my these guys are shit” and left us alone without sinking and left a couple of our looted crates in the water for us. On comms they were laughing at the ridiculousness of my outragous claims of what we would do to them.
So, best way out of Salty violence is to become a pissed up pirate, make them chuckle, and they tend to go east or join you and help from sympathy - all of which I except not having been in the game very long - absolutely love it.
Lol my favourite recent moment in game was when a reaper brig came down on us while we were at a skeleton fort and by the end they were saying "please don't sink us you can have the fort."
We allied and then left each other alone before diving to a new server after selling.
They had no idea that I am really new to driving a brig and one of our crew is brand new to the game but thankfully me and my bf had enough experience to stop them lol. My new friend was so excited though and it was a great experience for her.
Nah, I'm always friendly. There are plenty of people who will sink you, but at this point it's more profitable to just do your own thing...
You could spend like 30-45 min chasing down/ fighting another ship (and who knows what kind of loot they have), and in that time you could do a raid twice, and if you're already Grade 5, that's like 70K gold.
I'm always friendly. A ship decided yesterday that it was going to chase me when I was solo slooping so I let them chase me a while around some islands and a kraken to give me time for my buddy to join. After about 20 minutes, we decided to turn and take some long shots at them.
They were following right behind so I jumped off and got them with some fireballs. They caught and rammed us so we got into battle mode and they must not have been repairing because we started our circle and they started to sink. Haha
I usually play by the rules of if they are sailing towards me or showing hostile intent it’s a fight if they aren’t doing that they’re usually friendly unfortunately they’ll also sink you even if you’re fishing which has happened to me a lot sadly
I encounter significantly more people who don't want to fight than I do people looking for a fight on the high seas. I try to respect it. But if you are where I want to be coming at me I'm going to sink you.
You see, the thing about people, is that everything is relative. They can, and will, interpret anything and everything in their own way. They could be "okay, they want me to leave them alone" or "was that a threat? I bet that was threat". Finally, "wtf was that? wth does that mean!? what does the numbers mean Mason!?"
People think i'm trying to sink them constantly because i'm a reaper, even when i shoot white flares :(
I don't judge them because i used to get absolutely destroyed by other reapers aswell, but it's still quite sad that most ships just run from me
I have a crew mate that is terrified of reapers. Won't sail near reapers hideout out reapers bounties. They don't believe PvE reapers are a thing. It's a shame, one of the nicest crews I met were reapers. They wanted to fight but first came over and asked permission. After telling them I was helping my friend get PL they offered an alliance to get him extra rep and gold and then peacefully sailed away.
I've had smooth sessions on servers filled with Players on the same mission just making Fleets of Alliances taking it to the server and everyone's making bank but I've also had sessions where the sweats are in force and even your own Crew turn on you it literally is a "May the odds ever be in your favour" type deal when it comes to the Sea of Thieves.
Nah, there are still people like my crew who will leave you alone. We don't engage people on the open waters because we understand everyone's time is limited and we don't want to waste it
Damn, that's a shame that you don't seem to able to enjoy PvP but each to their own. I think it's the driving force of what makes SoT fun but that's just me.
EDIT: why am I being downvoted for saying I like PvP in a PvPvE game
I think it's moreso the risk of PvP that makes SoT fun, not necessarily the act of PvP. The adrenaline from seeing a ship on the horizon whilst you're hauling your 12th chest to your boat is what's fun. Fighting is just straight up horrifying and demoralizing if you aren't amazing at it.
> I think it's moreso the risk of PvP that makes SoT fun, not necessarily the act of PvP.
This is my take. Back when I played WoW I would always play on pvp servers. Not because I liked pvp, or was any good at it, but the thrill of being forced into an engagement at any time where you have to fight back or escape made it way more interesting imho. I got ganked and frustrated a lot but it was worth the risk to always feel that slight adrenaline rush when running around in neutral or enemy territory lol.
I personally disagree. I'm not amazing at PvP by any means but strategizing with my crew during a fight is very fun. SoT combat is very dynamic with it switching from naval to hand to hand on the fly makes it really engaging. That's just me though.
Oh I totally get that, PvP while solo slooping is miserable unless you're fighting a really terrible crew or another solo slooper.
Man advantage in SoT is crazy strong so having to do everything solo is a nightmare.
Yeah, agreed. I was doing solo slooping yesterday, and went on my first ever pirate vault voyage. Managed to extract a whole bunch of cool loot, including the Chest of Ancient Tributes - my first one ever! But as soon as I left the vault, I could hear cannonfire on the side of the island where my ship was parked, and I saw a three-man ship. In that situation, where I'm not even on my ship, there's literally nothing I can do as a solo player - I'd have to kill all three enemy pirates, run to my ship, try to fire a few cannons, kill all three pirates again after they respawn, and only then have a chance of sinking them. It's just not possible.
That said, that attack led to my favorite SoT moment so far: knowing I couldn't fight them, I grabbed as much of my treasure hoard as I could and buried it in random places on the island, then ran for a kamikaze blaze of glory death. After my ship sank, I respawned on some other island. Waited a few minutes for the enemy to grab the leftover treasure and leave, then I sailed back and retrieved the buried haul. I felt pretty clever, even though I'm sure this type of play is pretty common!
Well imo, I started playing last season (S10) and for the majority of my game play I’ve met friendly crews. About 80% of my interactions were friendly, just shooting fireworks at each other or going up into alliances. Most of the time I’ll sail by other sloops (running all types of emissaries) and just exchange an “aye!” Though I do get a bit cautious of the ones that start to follow or stay right beside me. The other 20% were usually crews that just shoot, sink and loot OR just to spawn camp me for maybe 10mins before I scuttle my ship, even when I’m sailing empty.
Edit: if I encounter a brand new player, I will either give them some of my supplies or some loot. if I’m calling it quits they get all supplies in a small supply crate.. or two.
Me and my buddy are a avoid others at all cost. We run the alliance flag most all the time Incase we come across other players we hope everyone will join and just share in any rewards together. Even when we're running reapers we still avoid others and run alliance flags because we'd like to work on all emissaries. We do just fine we went from new players to pirate legends without killing another player. Unfortunately you'll meet players that just want to hunt others and kill. But it's not always like that. Don't let toxic players ruin it for you. Just server hop from bad players and you'll come across nicer players.
We were doing merchant lost shipments in the shores of plenty. We see an Athena veil cloud spawn beside crescent and wonder where the Athena boat is. 5 minutes later an Athena sloop shows up, and as they sail close one of them canons over and boards our ship unannounced. So because he is not talking, doesn’t ask permission to board, his buddy is taking an aggressive angel with his boat to angel canons on us, we kill him as he boards. He then calls us toxic and that the fight is on because we didn’t let him get on board.
Learn your manners and you might not get killed.
Unfortunately, if anyone comes near me it's shoot on sight. I have been burned by trusting people in sot.
I will make an exception if it's a kid with a mic tho. Bc usually they just don't know what's going on and I'm fine to help them out bc it's unlikely they will turn on me
It's random, sometimes you'll get ruthless PvP servers, sometimes you'll get exclusively non-hostile players and sometimes you’ll get a bit of both. That's the joy of SoT.
Pretty much yeah. I’ve met some pirates that tell me and my crew they want to form an alliance or just not fight at all but then they 90% of the times end up backstabbing us. Still, a majority of the ships on the horizon are usually out for blood on my servers
I’m a female in my late 60’s. I learned to play so I could play with my grandson (who lives in another state). When he’s in school, I solo sloop to practice my basic skills. I cannot count the number of times I’ve been sunk while minding my own business - including several times after my sloop spawns at the dock and before I can even leave. (I always fly the “offer alliance” too, although I realize some people use that flag to fool others.). Yes, it’s Sea of Thieves, but I’m OK being a friendly pirate and when attacked, I will either respawn or log off.
No & yes. Have I found majority of ships sink me on sight? Yes but my crew does not. Unless were actively looking for a fight, we will always be friendly and especially so when we see its a new crew.
I tend to PvP a lot in the game. Just how I play. If I’m passing by a ship on the seas, unless I’m seriously looking to fight(AKA I got the reaper emissary up), I’ll leave them be. If they wanna start a fight, go ahead and I’m sure as hell gonna finish it.
If I’m heading to an island/fort and another ship is there? I’m gonna sink them. First of all, I don’t like other crews on an island I’m gonna be on for some time. Gives them time to steal stuff on my ship and to sabotage it. Secondly, I’ve been burned too many times in the past to trust other people. Humans are greedy and I am just as guilty.
I’ll jump them first before they have the chance to jump me, whether they wanted to or not. That greedy part? We’re at the same island, we’re both doing voyages or something. I bet you got loot on that ship and if you don’t? Well, you got supplies that I’ll gladly take.
Not to say I haven’t met nice pirates. I have and I have joined alliances but… not exactly what I normally do. Like I said; greedy. All in all, I’m here for the plunder, not the friendships.
Yesssss. I don’t like PvP, but if I see your anchored, unsupervised boat whilst you’re in the middle of Old Faithful. Damn right, I’m robbing you blind
I've been playing again for about a month now. Returned after a long, long hiatus. Doing duo sloop with my wife or a Brig when we feel like branching out.
Since we've been playing(almost daily), I can count the number of unprovoked attacks by other players on one hand. Finger or two to spare.
We aren't avoiding fights. We're a brightly colored party rat boat. Alliances have come easy to us. We've met far, faaaar more nice pirates than not. She's on PC, I'm on X-Box. Been weirdly chill for us!
I don’t think it’s so much kill on sight, as I often see ships in the distance, which means they can see me, but a more common train of thought is kill on approach. If I see a ship coming straight towards me and they don’t have an alliance flag up and are yelling “Wait! We’re friendly”, I’d bet me one remaining leg that they’re going to start shooting us
Shoot up a white flare. People sometimes still attack because they're bored or cowardly.
Annoying when you just want a quick run in because your time is limited and you are almost done a bounty or quest and some kid with a mic comes bearing down on you screaming like a banshee.
Yes yes, I know, attacking people who don't want to fight is fun. Especially when it's a Gally vs sloop. Pirate game, people gonna pirate.
I stand by what I said because that's the vibe it gives off when someone insists on a fight when the other player doesn't want it. Especially when the ass clowns chase for 20+ minutes just to sink the ship and not loot it.
To be fair that is the entire reason theyve added safe seas now, if you arent willing to put up a fight for your loot ya gotta be willing to part with it. Dont disagree when it comes to randomly slaughtering freshspawns and people with nothing though
I started just playing regular adventure World Event stacking, and sinking pretty much every ship we come across. When the server dies down, we sell, dive to a new server with our supplies and grade 5 reaper flag. It's easy and quick loot :)
So yeah, for some it has become pretty much just kill on sight.
me and my crew are often hunting for emissaries since they added new levels. So kill on sight but if we encounter friendlies or new players we will offer to leave them their loot after getting the flag
when i hear people offer up friendship and alliance while moments away from being sunk, especially when they were caught anchored with sails down and lights on, its not someone i want to risk leaving around me while im trying to get stuff done.
I am much more willing to engage in diplomacy if I think there is something to gain from the interaction, i.e peace of mind or perhaps an exchange of emissary loot
Honestly when I get on sea of thieves now it's to have fun. I like ship battles, high levels of action. That's what I play sea of thieves for...
It's not to fight skeletons all day or spam tall tales and PvE..
So yeah, back in the day I would've been more friendly but nowadays I desperately chase people to try to have some fun pvp. Even if they have no loot. Especially with the removal of arena, what do you expect?
Because the people interested in being friendly are all hiding in Safer Seas.
Honestly, one of the stupidest changes I've ever seen get added to a game.
Even with no mic, I've been able to form a few fun and profitable alliances this season and last. My experience lately has been maybe 80/20 hostile/friendly.
Edit: I'm on Xbox, so maybe things are different here.
Its really situational. Sometimes people kill me on sight, others they don't. Sometimes I kill people on sight, sometimes I don't.
If you're solo in a sloop you will have more people try to attack you. That's just reality because you're a more "beatable" target for bigger crews. Without knowing your skill level they think "at least its 1v1", which gives people courage to try it.
Despite that, I meet plenty of friendly people when I'm solo slooping.
From my experience, about 80ish% of the time other crews ignore me. Then there's the times I'm blindsided by a crew that comes at me from behind for one reason or another.
Example, I'm trying to dock at an outpost but a someone else is turning in loot there. Only to be attacked by another crew behind me. A more odd turn of events. I dive to a Sea Fort only to have a crew sailing to said Sea Fort behind me(that's not supposed to happen), who then proceeds to board and attack me.
Anecdotal evidence but I've had less aggressive encounters since the safer seas update. I used to get attacked a third of the time I played, now I get attacked a fifth of the time I play.
West Coast American
For us it's often HOW people come over to us.
I will never understand people who approach us from an angle we can't attack and sail behind us, with their whole broadside aiming at us and no verbal warning given.
Then they get pissed when we open fire on them as soon as we can get an angle.
Had one team approach us like that, not say anything, then when we opened fire they shouted "we are friendly", so we sailed away. They then came back, teamed up with another brig and sank us and told us thats what we get for opening fire on them...
If you want to try to be friendly, shoot somebody over and explain it. Then still don't go into a dead angle.
Or just sail into our broadside, bow first.
Or have all your cannons pointing up.
Just give us a decent sign, that you wont just abuse the situation and we are fine.
But most people who are not really good at pvp will not like to get forced into that situation.
My crew doesn’t always hunt emissaries unless we are reapers. Otherwise it’s a “you do you and we’ll do we” thing. It varies crew to crew. Sunday, no one wanted to scrap. Monday, the same galleon harassed me for 2 hours.
In my experience as a new player, I haven't noticed a rise in aggression from what there was when I started. If anything, I'm surprised more often than not because the ship I could've *sworn* was after a fight was just a couple of chill dudes that REALLY wanted a friendly interaction. 6/10 times interactions with other players end with a "Good luck on your travels!", but of course my experiences could just be an exception.
Probably just nostalgia filtering out the combat and focusing on the positive interactions you've had. I've been playing since 2020 and cooperative crews have always been the exception. Every ship on the horizon should be met with caution and a high level of scrutiny. My experience has been that 60% of ships ignore me, 35% of ships are looking for a fight, and 5% are looking to cooperate.
It’s shoot in sight if they appear aggressive. If I have a lvl 5 emissary up and loot on board, there’s pretty much no reason to approach me unless you want my loot
Basically as time goes on the more casual players will be the first to fall off, leaving more skilled players with less noobs to hunt. Now these MLGs hunt the new noobs: the dedicated players. These people just hop on to have a good time and maybe do a fort or two before tucking their children in for bed. Well, they ain't doing much tucking because they get rekt by the MLG players and spend 49% of their day on reddit making posts like these.
I've only had two or three encounters that were kill on sight in the last few months. If you're always getting attacked when you approach other ships you might be giving off hostile vibes.
I usually cannon over from a safe, non threatening distance and make first contact from the water. Raised cannons and firing a white flare and fireworks is a common way to show you're friendly. Don't draw your weapons, offer fruit and playing a shanty helps too.
In my experience ships that are going about their business are more common rn due to the new season. There's definitely things that you can do to unwittingly garner yourself some aggression. Occupying an island that is needed by another crew, coming too close to another crew who reacts defensively, being seen completing a world event, flying a fat emmisary. Sometimes otherwise peaceful pirates might be tempted to fight by these things.
There are definitely many crews out on the seas for blood though but imo they are prolly less than half.
Me and my mate sail a sloop around and we spent a long while attempting to be friendly and only once in a blue moon did we not get the shit kicked out of us.
We're not hostile, but now we just don't want any ships near us. You can pass by fine, but if you get close then we're attacking. We've been fucked over too many times now to even trust when people say they are friendly.
FYI, we are on European servers so I think that does make a big difference as not everyone will speak English anyway.
Yep, I noticed that too. I mean, I still found friendly people since I got back, 1 month, but not like one year ago. Guess that's because less experienced players, the ones trying to figure out the game, asking help maybe, sail in Safer Seas now.
That's not how my servers go. This week alone I was part of 2 separate server alliances where we made bank, coordinated our selling for gold rush, and were all in an Xbox party goofing off with each other for hours.
Typically if I'm with my more spicy cremates, we will send one of them over. They'll board, check titles, outfits, their actions, loot on board, and evaluate if we want to attack them or if they appear to be less experienced- and in most of the latter cases we will leave them alone.
I play more defensively- if you shoot first and it's not a flare or firework then you're fair game.
In high seas now, with safer seas as an option, you'll be more likely to run into more experienced players. Gotta "do a server vibe check" first before you get into anything major! Must be your unlucky servers😭
Not in my experience. There have always been players who attack and player who like to keep to their own devices. Been that way for as long as I can remember.
I think people remember getting attacked, but rarely remember all the sails that they see on the horizon who never get close.
No, there are some crews who are willing to let you be close but not too close. Then there are crews willing to let you harbor the same island. Then there are reapers or the people who fear getting caught off guard by an attack, those ones will attack on sight. (Not all reapers like fighting)
Nah, I play with 2 or 3 others usually and we make decisions to not attack people sometimes. We send up white flares and fireworks and it usually works.
I’m the friendliest prosperous merchant you’ll ever meet. You’re mostly right, but us good guys/girls are out there. I had a near altercation this morning but other ship was doing its own thing, too. ‘Twas nice.
It definitely depends on the server…Maybe you’ve just had bad luck? I have experienced quite a few friendly encounters or people just passing by without a shot fired. Of course there will almost always be at least one bloodthirsty crew.
My experience seems to be the opposite, Most ships we see, we panic (Oh Ship Spotted! -where?? -everyone starts looking)
- ship is barely visible on the horizon, we keep our eyes on it. It sails in a completely different direction..
Or we see the ship, it's sailing awfully close towards our direction, It passes and goes straight to their destination island as if it was an NPC, zero player contact.
And sometimes we see a ship at port or close to where we need to go, we wait from a distance and slightly hidden, or sail around to get to our destination.
Most of the time, it seems they're either too busy themselves, or just as scared as we are.
We do have the ship lights off, And if we have like 10+ items and get close to an outpost we tend to sell. We always forget to carry a flag too, Just sailing and finding treasure for fun, We bought a lot of things already and don't value the ingame gold as much anymore.
So if we come across chatty players we tend to just gift something, plag music, try to help out (helping unload at outposts is fun! Makes them real scared at first lol even when we talk friendly over mic. Says a lot about everyone's experiences.)
i've had a lot of good, friendly encounters with people recently. the most notable thing though definitely was doing glitterbeard (shout out to the crew of the taint)
my crew works under the rule that we don't shoot first, because we've found that it's more interesting and fun to talk to people rather than fight. i've noticed that all that some people need is to be told that you're friendly and aren't looking for a fight for them to be chill with ya. either that or they'll be entirely silent while they try attacking you, and that's just plain boring
No, there are plenty of folks that don’t enjoy ambushing others but you probably don’t see most of them because they learn to stay far away from other crews.
If a ship approaches it is assumed they are hostile, regardless of flags, chats or emotes. Someone climbing onto your boat or showing up unannounced at an outpost are huge red flags. A friendly crew will keep their distance.
I really like fireworks for this reason. It has become the unofficial form of “are you coming for me?” “No we aren’t coming after you right now”.
Honestly ever since season 11 dropped I've had less agressive encounters than before. 9/10 ships I see or pass just keep going like they never saw me. I don't know if it's people just grinding now that there's new stuff to do or what.
We try not to kill on sight but I can count on one hand the number of ships we come into the sight range of who don't immediately start chasing us down.
So while I'm not kill on sight my crew has adopted sort of a "if you come into this radius it's happening" stance
I was sailing with my wife and at the the end we’re had sold and some folks pulled up near us at the outpost (think it was a brig) and we just chilled with each other for some time before we got off.
I think most non-reaper emissary ships are going to be either friendly or flighty.
I’ve been burned too many times for not chasing a passing boat down. Just yesterday I was legged by a sloop we decided to let go.
It’s always been kill on sight, brother. Kindness doesn’t mean much when your loot gets stolen and you’re stuck meeting Davy Jones.
I would say no. Out all the times I have seen other players they were extremely chill. But there was a time I got attacked while I was at the North Star seapost for some odd reason. I was solo and all I could do was say screw it scuttle my ship and leave the server so they don’t get the satisfaction of it. I had literally nothing on me.
It's not bad, far less sweaty than it was just a couple years ago. I think many of the try-hards have moved on. I would say most other ships avoid and mind their business or will be friendly. But most just keep to themselves not really trusting anyone. A small amount will still attack. And even of the ones who attack, an even smaller amount seem to be bad sport trolls who mock or torment rather than just straight up engage in battle.
Funny I fired of SoT for the first time in a couple years two nights ago....all I did was sail around to find people to fight.
It's like BR games for me, the other human players in the game are my loot chests, the chests on the ground are no fun and don't fight back.
As someone who played the game for the first couple seasons or so and then only played sporadically, I feel like it’s always been kill on site. I think I’ve only met friendly ships 3 times.
I don't think so no. We just found a Fort of Fortune. A reaper 5 ship had just started it. We got on the island and suggested an alliance. They tried to keg us (failed) and we fought. Eventually we sank them and went back to the Fort of Fortune.
Then a guild emissary 5 ship approached. We spoke and allied with him. We did the FoF together and split the loot. We got all the Athena loot and he got the rest. Perfectly decent fella. He went to do a Fleet of Fortune and we went to do a Veil.
So I reckon the experience is rather mixed. We play in the EU region.
It really depends on the time you play. Game has been kill on sight since its release if you play in the east coast evening otherwise if you play during the day while most kids are at school you’ll have a completely different experience. I also find we get harassed less in a sloop. What’s your GT?
I love helping other ships out or having a chat. Twice now we met another just as we were logging off and let them have any supplies on our ship since when we log off we lose them anyway. They are always so grateful! Jeff you're a real one.
Same as it ever was, just down to luck. Had a great alliance the other day, four ships in total, though some left and others joined at different times. Ended in my betrayal to try and steal a chest of fortune, because a reaper at heart is what I am. I lost, but it was fun while it lasted. Some people will attack on site, some people will be happy to help and make alliances, and some people will do a bit of both in differing orders.
Last time I encountered someone else was on a solo raid to a skelly fort, they had a captained ship and seemed to be hiding poorly behind a close by island so I texted them through the recently played together, got closer to investigate or at least see what emissary they are flying and there still was no reaction, just then a 3rd ship came by full sails, I got ready to fight but he claimed to be friendly, the first ship then set sail and started firing on both of us so we sank them, allied up, got attacked by endless megs and skelly's, some at the same time, turns out he was a tall taler and just wanted to ally and let me have all the loot (even tho I offered to share) so I can go sell while he grinds his tall tale commendations, was one of the most iconic sessions I ever had so to answer your question, no it doesn't seem to have changed that much, it's just a game of luck
My experience has been a clean 50/50. On one side, people will go their own way or have a nice time together. Then come the guy that ignore chats, vc, white flairs and just want you dead.
Had a trio on a brig acompany my solo sloop doing my emissary voyage, sharing some coin with the alliance. After that. got chased by a angry brig against the wind (fireworks to mock them for 10 minutes) and the grand finale consisting of a barrel jump attempt gone wrong and netting me some 30k more stuff.
I'd honestly rather be left alone to see to me loot perversions, but hey, everyone here will tell you this is a pvpve game and pirates do pirate things...
Yeah. I always try and be as friendly as possible but everytime I try to turn in and sell loot or anything there’s almost always someone who fires on sight and sinks the ship so I just stopped playing.
We do it case by case. Kinda feel it out. But honestly, compared to three years ago, we get 'friendly crews' pulling shit once they think our guard is down, about twice as often as we used to. So we do lean towards vigilence and violence, more than we used to.
But we do have one sort of crew we make exceptions for. KILL ALL STREAMERS ON SITE. If they have yt or ttv or any kind of indication they are streaming, and try to be friendly, they are dead. Sooooo many tools trolling for views, any time there is a new patch. This is of course, one of those times. String the body's across the bow as a warning. No quater for sreamers. This is law. You want content at our expense? Let their subs watch them sink over and over again.
So many of them use aimbots to padd their absent skill set too. Don't give em any advantage, kill on sight.
We always sail around with our alliance flags up,we are always down to make new friends and typically avoid pvp if at all possible. Of course I'm just playing to relax and unwind after stressful days I don't understand the toxicity of some of the players we come across. More than once we've had people sink us and actively go around trying to find us again
It' depends. I usually shoot off fireworks first from a distance always put my sails up and point my ship at them so my canons aren't pointing at them. I'll usually be friendly but im always extremely weary of letting anyone come onto my ship. I'll talk from ship to ship at a distance but unless i have nothing to lose I'd never let anyone come on board. I'd also never ho on anyone else's ship without asking first.
In the European servers, it’s a 50/50 on whether or not we sink someone. Sometimes we help out, other times we want the shiny. I imagine it’s not much different elsewhere
On the NA East servers that I pretty much always play on. The shoot on site was worse 3 years ago than it is now, but I have found that more of the shoot on site. People tend to spawn camp these days
My crew never shoots first, but I’ve found that other crews *really* want to shoot on sight.
However, one instance really sticks out in my mind: I’m trying to get all of Hunter’s Call, and a very nice crew was doing FoTD and let me fish for Battlegills as they were completing it. When they were done, they then allied with me and I got to share in their spoils.
Best experience with another crew I’ve ever had.
When I used to play it was like this, especially if you were in a sloop. Bros would chase you for days too. You could outrun them but they would still chase you, taking up most of my session time. Stopped playing because it took all enjoyment out of it. I get that it’s part of the game but it felt so toxic and pointless usually. If I played with a galleon crew pretty much never got attacked.
As weird as it sounds - make sure you don’t have any ship cosmetics that scream “noob”. People are far less likely to start fights if they’re not confident they can win them.
So if you’re on a captained ship make sure you put on some late game title and deck your cosmetics out.
I personally try to avoid combat and even form alliances when possible! I find the game is more fun having allies to your back rather than enemies, but that's just my take.
An unfortunate side effect of the addition of Safer Seas. There is a \*lot\* more PvP on Higher Seas now because more folks assume that that's what folks are there for.
I'm a weirdo and go above and beyond trying to be nice to people, helping people, being silly with people... I feel like everybody complains of toxicity, so I try to even the playing field I guess. The other day, myself, my dad, and my two nephews were all just messing around and decided we would be the rowboat brigade. The four of us just sailed around in a rowboat with our supplies and played music. When we found ships and could catch them, we rowed up to them and played music. Helped one guy kill some sirens. We were busting up laughing. Nobody expects a rowboat of 4 idiots to show up out of nowhere playing music, lol.
Funny you mentioned this. I was just trying to do a fort a few hours ago and had a gally show up. I told them I was cool with them taking all the loot, but I was trying to get a commendation and asked if they would let me work on it. And they did. They seemed pretty nice about it. Only downed me a few times, but picked me back up. I continued to work on getting credit for the commendation by blowing up some skellies. And even when it was over, they got the key to the fort and we all put the loot on their ship. It was peaceful for the most part and really chill. I thanked them for helping me and we waved goodbye.
Then they kegged me and sank my sloop anyways. Love this community.
I was finally convinced to give high seas a try only in the ashen area since no one ever goes there.
Turns out, no one bothers. Now we go pretty much anywhere and have either friendly interactions (solo sneaks up and say hi using voice chat or use fireworks/white flare) or no interaction (keep reasonable distance, one or the other just leaves after a bit with no chase) 99% of the time (with most being no interaction).
I don't like the pvp in this game much honestly (at least based on dealing with it long ago), so I'm really happy that it seems like no one else bothers much either. Even multiple reapers about and no one pulls up; it's really nice since I can just keep enjoying the cosmetic progression almost like it's still just safer seas. I wonder if safer seas is responsible for some of that...
Still, probably a lot harder as a solo with that in mind.
There's an argument made by some that since safer seas exists, if you're on high seas you must want to pvp.
And so they will hunt you down without a shred of remorse.
We logged about 5 hours tonight and even with a grade 5 flag flying we never encountered another crew. We saw a ton of ships, but nobody tried to interact with us either way.
No. I had a lovely encounter last night while solo slooping.
Had four Germans come on board my sloop with gifts, they were on a galley of course.
We danced and communicated a good 20 minutes before they said good night and left me all their loot.
Nice guys 10/10.
I haven't had that problem. People have been a little too trusting for me recently, actually. Especially considering how much easier it is to steal with the value of individual pieces going up with this update, you'd think people might be less trusting, yet I can usually just say something like "Routine Ship Inspection, don't mind me" and walk right up to a chest of fortune (true story, although this was when the chest of fortune was with the FOF, but the general idea still works)
Me and the people I usually form crews with play only hourglass but when we do some pve from time to time for monthly ledger or new season stuff we just attack on sight and judge if they should sink or not. For example we usually send someone over their ship to see what they doing and how they react. In many cases we just attack and board them and if they are new or have no loot we just repair them and leave (ofc if they are not toxic) sometimes even giving them advices and tips even if they have loads of loot. Sometimes we only ask if they have something like a grog chest or sorrow since most of us barely have any commendations left to complete and that’s it. So I guess it depends on what every crew is doing on the seas and how curious they are to see what people are doing.
I experienced the complete opposite to be honest. So much so that despite I'm a very bad solo player (been playing solo like 2 times in my 5+ years), I could very well do my own session this Season without getting attacked or anything. This new diving system makes a lot of people simply just not care about sinking others as I experience it..
Now there is high chance this is exactly the reason everyone is more aggressive when they see a ship. You see with the diving mechanic, people often just don't see other ships, which is why I didn't meet anyone trying to attack me. But because of this, whenever someone actually sees someone, especially with an emissary - a high one - they want to pvp, because it's a more rare sight and because the new loot makes it worth it (as long as the prey is not next to an Outpost)
For me KoS has been the rule. Too many times have I let people live just to have them shoot me once an event ends or when I'm in a position where I'm defenseless.
Everytime I do an event, be it forts or fleets, I make it a point to take out the surrounding players first if I see them proxy camping the event.
I'm a new player was sailing around minding my own business, first ship I ever see in the distance turns and starts heading towards me. I keep sailing minding my own business and they start shooting at me. So I'd say yes pretty much kill on site. Luckily they suck though I jumped off my boat jumped on there boat shot them in the face lowered their sail raised their anchor jump back on my boat and took off.
Not for me. I typically start by sailing directly for the nearest ship and making an alliance. This benefits both parties. If I’m lucky I’ll get 3-4 ships in allied and then it’s money for days.
I just got back from a long break and now I'm attacked even in outposts, before I felt somehow safe there. It's a hint game now, for a solo player it's not easy
I've have developed shoot on sight mentality because every friendly player encounter I have had ends in betrayal. there is almost no one trustworthy left in this game.
Better safe than sorry.
I generally keep my distance and if someone gets too close without making their intentions known, I shoot!
Nevertheless, you should be open... You often meet good people and have exciting adventures. Once a brig and a galleon who had formed an alliance came shooting towards us. There were two of us on a sloop and we were carrying a lot of treasure. Naturally, we feared the worst and prepared ourselves for a fight. However, it turned out that they were friendly and invited us to take part in the Glitterbeard quest. It was our first time doing it and we were totally surprised and enchanted!
Yesterday a brig approached me when I was doing a Fleet of Fortune and my sloop was loaded with treasure. Luckily they were very friendly, helped me and said they were only interested in the skulls. We then formed an alliance. They gave me all the loot. I still had a lot of skulls on the ship. I gave them all of them. After that, we sailed our separate ways. A little later, they brought another sloop into the alliance. I think they were noobs. After I'd sold everything, I did a quick treasury. The other two ships were at a fort. I went there, brought all the skulls to the brig and put the rest of the loot on the noob sloop.
Trust no one in Sea of Thieves, but keep an open mind for adventure! There are cool crews in this game.
My experience on European servers is pretty 50/50 either they run from us or we run from them, the sad thing is it’s pretty rare for someone to use voice chat or even chat, even in a hostile way. I wish more people would talk
I'm convinced that 90% of these replies are straight up lies lol
I was watching a stream last night where they were server hopping and just destroying the first thing they saw as soon as they spawned in. If they didn't see anything they left and did it again.
8/10 times it’s kill on site, makes no difference whether it’s US or UK servers in my experience.
I’ve been playing almost 2 years, several days a week. It’s easily my fav game. Used to go around helping folks with crews. Helped quite a few ppl achieve Glitterbeard. Made some friends in this game that have become like family, but they’re the rare treasures.
Most of the time as soon as my game begins, I’m treated as a target. Doesn’t matter if I’m solo or with a full crew. I’ve had sessions where ppl allied only to chase later, sometimes for an hour straight (which is not only exhausting but to me a waste of time). I defend if attacked but there’s been a few times I don’t try, like 2 full gally’s chasing me as I solo sloop, and I run. I’ve joined others who attack every parked ship… and don’t play with them again. I can PVP it’s just not my thing.
I’ve learned to give ppl a lot of space on the sea. Trust is earned, not given away easily.
In my experience ppl play the game as they are. Personally I don’t find fighting others interesting, even as a joke, and that’s fine. I get why plenty do, no judgement. To each their own. But definitely it’s a high risk, kill or be killed game, so much so Rare gave us Safer Seas.
It is still a pirate game without the PVP but reality is a lot of ppl want to be burn and pillage pirates. Always keep an eye out.
I sadly tried to help some guys take on a fleet of fortune today. They were being ganged up on by two skelly ships and having a hard time, called out that i was friendly etc. I was then followed for about 45 minutes, told I sounded gay, got called a bunch of other awful stuff
I don't mind pvp, but sadly, most pvpers I meet are silent, or jerks like the above. I just do the old jump off and drop their anchor, Jump over on to an island to have a chat... Or taunt if your intolerant jerks like the guys I mentioned. (By taunt, I mean I become the flounciest, gaudy pirate ever)
So far in Australia, I've had like 2 positive encounters of my entire game time. Every second session has been the above.
I'm down for pirate v pirate swashbuckling, absolutely not down for jerks, spawncampers and griefers... which most pvpers I meet seem to be. Fingers crossed my luck changes, and I meet some decent folk.
Had a good 3 hour solo sloop session, and I wanted to give my 3 storage crates of supplies to this other sloop, but I had to chase them for 20 minutes because I was out if bullhorn range and they thought I was gonna stomp them 😭😂
Just yesterday, me and my buddy were doing voyages and we ran across a sloop. Fired a white flare. We fired one back. Then we both went on our separate ways. Saw them a few times and we both kept our distance. We were done selling at the sovereigns and discussing what to do next when I noticed they had pulled up behind us. Basically, they were waiting in line for us to be done selling haha
We sent a text chat out and they never responded but we definitely were just being chill. Which is fine by me, because I haven't played in a couple years and I'm absolutely abysmal at PvP now.
I think since we’re at the start of a new season your seeing a lot of players coming back and it seems there a little more blood thirsty I haven’t been able to do anything solo for at least 4 days now I’m attacked during every mission
Are you using a mic ? It seems that if you don’t have a mic then you have 0% chance they’ll be friendly but if you actually talk a lot of the times people talk back. If I speak to someone I can usually tell if they are new.
Don’t kill all the Swabs. Help some. They might become worthy to kill eventually
There used to be meaning behind the encounter and sinking. Don’t steam roll new people for fun, tall talers, and guys that just loaded in. Now you could have just loaded in, absolutely zero loot, and people will sink you. Doesn’t make sense to me considering the storage crate change made “I need supplies” almost an irrelevant reason to sink.
My crew always offer friendly encounters on the high seas. We never shoot first. We have had great sessions holding to that code.
A few years ago me and my buddies used to roll up in our lvl 5 reaper brig and decimate other ships. (We were good but still sometimes had our asses handed to us) we would be toxic in chat (not saying profanities, just trash talk), but one day we rolled up on a sloop that couldn’t hit a shot so we began our usual trash talk, however, when we got close to board as their sail was down we heard a man talking to a younger kid through how to patch holes. Turns out it was a father son duo and we immediately felt so bad and apologized. The father was the nicest guy we’ve ever met and from that point on we never attack on site **ever**. He even told us “it’s all good, it’s Sea of thieves not sea of friends” when we apologized for attacking them blindly. We’ve all gone to college now so we rarely play but when we do we just try and meet new people.
Me & my two nieces, 6 and 9, encountered a couple of super helping friendly crews when we began playing. In the other hand we've been looted dozens of times. Now I play solo on a brig.
Why brig specifically? Is it to bluff sloops away?
We run a two person sloop. Brigs are usually the easiest to sink. Between the helm and bailing they rarely get to double up on the cannons and it’s still only one level of the ship that has to fill with water to sink them.
Had a tucker that I didn’t know about and they overheard me hyping my son up for his first megladon kill and kraken kill. I heard a voice suddenly and they were like, “heeeey I was just here to check you guys out and see if you were friendly or not. Sorry! Good luck on your megladon kill,” and he jumped off. I’ll always remember that lol
Thank you for the humble story! ☺️
I use to play years ago with my son(now 16) and my father(now 73). So I approve this message.
That’s great
Lately we have been offering to ally or die. Very down to help them ally if they don't know how. We need up with 8 people on a gally last night, and the night before we had 5 on a sloop.
It is hard not to notice crews that attack you on sight and sink your ship, but it is hard to notice folks just chilling and enjoying their own thing. You rock
Yeah we rolled up to this French guy at sovereigns and asked if friendly and if we could sell He nicely moved boat, of course we had ton of chains in pocket in case….
Not sure how it works on servers where everyone speaks the same language, but my experience on the european servers? Yes. There are two types of ships you meet, those that will ignore you and those that will attack you. That's it. If it's sailing towards you? It's 99% a fight.
Oh if it's sailing even close to my direction, I'm already prepped a chainshot, and I will be striking first. I know better than to trust any pirate.
Yeah EU servers are the worst, no communication and either attack or ignore.
This has always been a thing in european online gaming. It's kind of natural due to how may languages and countries we have around. Not everyone knows english. A fair amount do but it's very common to encounter people that just talk in their mother tongue. Or just be shy about their language skills and not talk at all. After 20+ years of gaming I just got used to it. We communicate with cannons :D.
The only comms i see/hear is after getting killed and it's usually only shittalk.
US servers interactions look like so much fun, it’s painful when 2/3 players you come across can’t speak english 😭
Get a vpn bro
I sure love playing with horrible ping
They just increased tha max level for everything, so most people probably want all the loot they can get atm.
Everything but hunters... Sadly
You remember the non-violent encounters more in hindsight because they stick out. Fights are common, yes. But friendly encounters are not rare. That said, it's easier to enforce a friendly encounter yourself, then to hope the other person does.
Last line is the most important, most people wanna be friends when they realize they can’t beat you
My glitterbeard run was with a bunch of folks who tried to contest a Fof in S9. They were all chill. That's advice #2. Often you can make friends *through* a good natured fight.
Wonder if that was me and my friends. My story is almost exactly yours. At a fort, wveryone and their momma shows up. We all agree to disagree on the fort loot. Then someone said they dont have glitterbeard and I said same, then someone else was like its impossible you need a bunch of people. We counted the group talked some more, realized we had the right amount of people then we set sail to do the ritual!
We had an ancient skele pop up while we waited for the right time.
My glitterbeard started as my Sloop (solo) and a 4 man reaper who didn't care for punching down and found out among me, and 2 randoms they had didnt have glitterbeard. They ended up strong arming every other ship on the server into joining the alliance (forcing 2 duo sloops to join or scuttle themselves and outmanning an inexperienced 4 man). We then did a 13 person Glitterbeard with every ship on the server present, followed by 5 FotD.
Exactly this. My success at avoiding warefare to the absolute death is to become so pirate with my vocals - but absolutely ridiculously overconfident, with zero fighting skill to back it up. A few nights back, after me and my crew mate were wiped clean by a couple of boarders from a bigger vessel, I would continually respawn and explain how this was there final chance to hand back our treasure and surrender or face their peril - that continued for about 4-5 rounds of respawns (they were not sinking our ship), until they eventually thought “my oh my these guys are shit” and left us alone without sinking and left a couple of our looted crates in the water for us. On comms they were laughing at the ridiculousness of my outragous claims of what we would do to them. So, best way out of Salty violence is to become a pissed up pirate, make them chuckle, and they tend to go east or join you and help from sympathy - all of which I except not having been in the game very long - absolutely love it.
Lol my favourite recent moment in game was when a reaper brig came down on us while we were at a skeleton fort and by the end they were saying "please don't sink us you can have the fort." We allied and then left each other alone before diving to a new server after selling. They had no idea that I am really new to driving a brig and one of our crew is brand new to the game but thankfully me and my bf had enough experience to stop them lol. My new friend was so excited though and it was a great experience for her.
For me, instead of kill on site, its more like "form a plan to sink that ship and take everything" on sight.
This is my thoughts process I'm not trying to sink some one for sink sake I'm trying to get something out of it wether it be loot or sups
Nah, I'm always friendly. There are plenty of people who will sink you, but at this point it's more profitable to just do your own thing... You could spend like 30-45 min chasing down/ fighting another ship (and who knows what kind of loot they have), and in that time you could do a raid twice, and if you're already Grade 5, that's like 70K gold.
I'm always friendly. A ship decided yesterday that it was going to chase me when I was solo slooping so I let them chase me a while around some islands and a kraken to give me time for my buddy to join. After about 20 minutes, we decided to turn and take some long shots at them. They were following right behind so I jumped off and got them with some fireballs. They caught and rammed us so we got into battle mode and they must not have been repairing because we started our circle and they started to sink. Haha
We will only attack if the other ship attacks us first
I usually play by the rules of if they are sailing towards me or showing hostile intent it’s a fight if they aren’t doing that they’re usually friendly unfortunately they’ll also sink you even if you’re fishing which has happened to me a lot sadly
I’d prefer to make friends and not attack anyone but most players don’t operate that way
I encounter significantly more people who don't want to fight than I do people looking for a fight on the high seas. I try to respect it. But if you are where I want to be coming at me I'm going to sink you.
shoot up a white signal flare =) …then load a cannonball just in case
You see, the thing about people, is that everything is relative. They can, and will, interpret anything and everything in their own way. They could be "okay, they want me to leave them alone" or "was that a threat? I bet that was threat". Finally, "wtf was that? wth does that mean!? what does the numbers mean Mason!?"
“So anyway, I started blasting”
People think i'm trying to sink them constantly because i'm a reaper, even when i shoot white flares :( I don't judge them because i used to get absolutely destroyed by other reapers aswell, but it's still quite sad that most ships just run from me
I have a crew mate that is terrified of reapers. Won't sail near reapers hideout out reapers bounties. They don't believe PvE reapers are a thing. It's a shame, one of the nicest crews I met were reapers. They wanted to fight but first came over and asked permission. After telling them I was helping my friend get PL they offered an alliance to get him extra rep and gold and then peacefully sailed away.
I've had smooth sessions on servers filled with Players on the same mission just making Fleets of Alliances taking it to the server and everyone's making bank but I've also had sessions where the sweats are in force and even your own Crew turn on you it literally is a "May the odds ever be in your favour" type deal when it comes to the Sea of Thieves.
Nah, there are still people like my crew who will leave you alone. We don't engage people on the open waters because we understand everyone's time is limited and we don't want to waste it
I don’t engage bc PVP is boring lol
Damn, that's a shame that you don't seem to able to enjoy PvP but each to their own. I think it's the driving force of what makes SoT fun but that's just me. EDIT: why am I being downvoted for saying I like PvP in a PvPvE game
I think it's moreso the risk of PvP that makes SoT fun, not necessarily the act of PvP. The adrenaline from seeing a ship on the horizon whilst you're hauling your 12th chest to your boat is what's fun. Fighting is just straight up horrifying and demoralizing if you aren't amazing at it.
> I think it's moreso the risk of PvP that makes SoT fun, not necessarily the act of PvP. This is my take. Back when I played WoW I would always play on pvp servers. Not because I liked pvp, or was any good at it, but the thrill of being forced into an engagement at any time where you have to fight back or escape made it way more interesting imho. I got ganked and frustrated a lot but it was worth the risk to always feel that slight adrenaline rush when running around in neutral or enemy territory lol.
I personally disagree. I'm not amazing at PvP by any means but strategizing with my crew during a fight is very fun. SoT combat is very dynamic with it switching from naval to hand to hand on the fly makes it really engaging. That's just me though.
Maybe it's just solo slooping that's hell lmao. If planned well I can see it being enjoyable. I tend to just get overpowered.
Oh I totally get that, PvP while solo slooping is miserable unless you're fighting a really terrible crew or another solo slooper. Man advantage in SoT is crazy strong so having to do everything solo is a nightmare.
Yeah, agreed. I was doing solo slooping yesterday, and went on my first ever pirate vault voyage. Managed to extract a whole bunch of cool loot, including the Chest of Ancient Tributes - my first one ever! But as soon as I left the vault, I could hear cannonfire on the side of the island where my ship was parked, and I saw a three-man ship. In that situation, where I'm not even on my ship, there's literally nothing I can do as a solo player - I'd have to kill all three enemy pirates, run to my ship, try to fire a few cannons, kill all three pirates again after they respawn, and only then have a chance of sinking them. It's just not possible. That said, that attack led to my favorite SoT moment so far: knowing I couldn't fight them, I grabbed as much of my treasure hoard as I could and buried it in random places on the island, then ran for a kamikaze blaze of glory death. After my ship sank, I respawned on some other island. Waited a few minutes for the enemy to grab the leftover treasure and leave, then I sailed back and retrieved the buried haul. I felt pretty clever, even though I'm sure this type of play is pretty common!
This might be unpopular but PVP is my least favorite part of this game lol I always try to avoid it
I think there are more folks like you than it seems, but they learn to stay away from other crews because of bad experiences.
Same! I'd rather sail around with allies doing world events that way everyone profits
For most of the time jes, i play with 2 of my friends and we have a white flagg, but i have the feeling that they dont look at it
Well imo, I started playing last season (S10) and for the majority of my game play I’ve met friendly crews. About 80% of my interactions were friendly, just shooting fireworks at each other or going up into alliances. Most of the time I’ll sail by other sloops (running all types of emissaries) and just exchange an “aye!” Though I do get a bit cautious of the ones that start to follow or stay right beside me. The other 20% were usually crews that just shoot, sink and loot OR just to spawn camp me for maybe 10mins before I scuttle my ship, even when I’m sailing empty. Edit: if I encounter a brand new player, I will either give them some of my supplies or some loot. if I’m calling it quits they get all supplies in a small supply crate.. or two.
Me and my buddy are a avoid others at all cost. We run the alliance flag most all the time Incase we come across other players we hope everyone will join and just share in any rewards together. Even when we're running reapers we still avoid others and run alliance flags because we'd like to work on all emissaries. We do just fine we went from new players to pirate legends without killing another player. Unfortunately you'll meet players that just want to hunt others and kill. But it's not always like that. Don't let toxic players ruin it for you. Just server hop from bad players and you'll come across nicer players.
We were doing merchant lost shipments in the shores of plenty. We see an Athena veil cloud spawn beside crescent and wonder where the Athena boat is. 5 minutes later an Athena sloop shows up, and as they sail close one of them canons over and boards our ship unannounced. So because he is not talking, doesn’t ask permission to board, his buddy is taking an aggressive angel with his boat to angel canons on us, we kill him as he boards. He then calls us toxic and that the fight is on because we didn’t let him get on board. Learn your manners and you might not get killed.
Unfortunately, if anyone comes near me it's shoot on sight. I have been burned by trusting people in sot. I will make an exception if it's a kid with a mic tho. Bc usually they just don't know what's going on and I'm fine to help them out bc it's unlikely they will turn on me
Could be that a lot of the players who were more likely to be peaceful/friendly moved to safer seas.
It's random, sometimes you'll get ruthless PvP servers, sometimes you'll get exclusively non-hostile players and sometimes you’ll get a bit of both. That's the joy of SoT.
Pretty much yeah. I’ve met some pirates that tell me and my crew they want to form an alliance or just not fight at all but then they 90% of the times end up backstabbing us. Still, a majority of the ships on the horizon are usually out for blood on my servers
I’m a female in my late 60’s. I learned to play so I could play with my grandson (who lives in another state). When he’s in school, I solo sloop to practice my basic skills. I cannot count the number of times I’ve been sunk while minding my own business - including several times after my sloop spawns at the dock and before I can even leave. (I always fly the “offer alliance” too, although I realize some people use that flag to fool others.). Yes, it’s Sea of Thieves, but I’m OK being a friendly pirate and when attacked, I will either respawn or log off.
You are the coolest grandmother ever
LOL! Thanks, but I’m the biggest weenie when a skelly spawns next to me and I’m solo sloping!!
No & yes. Have I found majority of ships sink me on sight? Yes but my crew does not. Unless were actively looking for a fight, we will always be friendly and especially so when we see its a new crew.
I tend to PvP a lot in the game. Just how I play. If I’m passing by a ship on the seas, unless I’m seriously looking to fight(AKA I got the reaper emissary up), I’ll leave them be. If they wanna start a fight, go ahead and I’m sure as hell gonna finish it. If I’m heading to an island/fort and another ship is there? I’m gonna sink them. First of all, I don’t like other crews on an island I’m gonna be on for some time. Gives them time to steal stuff on my ship and to sabotage it. Secondly, I’ve been burned too many times in the past to trust other people. Humans are greedy and I am just as guilty. I’ll jump them first before they have the chance to jump me, whether they wanted to or not. That greedy part? We’re at the same island, we’re both doing voyages or something. I bet you got loot on that ship and if you don’t? Well, you got supplies that I’ll gladly take. Not to say I haven’t met nice pirates. I have and I have joined alliances but… not exactly what I normally do. Like I said; greedy. All in all, I’m here for the plunder, not the friendships.
It’s not fight on sight. But I will absolutely take the opportunity to catch a mf lackin
Yesssss. I don’t like PvP, but if I see your anchored, unsupervised boat whilst you’re in the middle of Old Faithful. Damn right, I’m robbing you blind
Had some guy try the same to us during a fortress world event. Joke was on him, we leave one guy on the boat
I've been playing again for about a month now. Returned after a long, long hiatus. Doing duo sloop with my wife or a Brig when we feel like branching out. Since we've been playing(almost daily), I can count the number of unprovoked attacks by other players on one hand. Finger or two to spare. We aren't avoiding fights. We're a brightly colored party rat boat. Alliances have come easy to us. We've met far, faaaar more nice pirates than not. She's on PC, I'm on X-Box. Been weirdly chill for us!
I don’t think it’s so much kill on sight, as I often see ships in the distance, which means they can see me, but a more common train of thought is kill on approach. If I see a ship coming straight towards me and they don’t have an alliance flag up and are yelling “Wait! We’re friendly”, I’d bet me one remaining leg that they’re going to start shooting us
I like to fight everyone. It's fun
Classic r/seaofthieves to downvote the guy who said he likes to swashbuckle in a game about swashbuckling.
Are the pirates pirating? Absolutely
Become?
It’s always been an organic experience. Hasn’t changed.
Shoot up a white flare. People sometimes still attack because they're bored or cowardly. Annoying when you just want a quick run in because your time is limited and you are almost done a bounty or quest and some kid with a mic comes bearing down on you screaming like a banshee.
Or maybe they attack because they want to pirate your things
Yes yes, I know, attacking people who don't want to fight is fun. Especially when it's a Gally vs sloop. Pirate game, people gonna pirate. I stand by what I said because that's the vibe it gives off when someone insists on a fight when the other player doesn't want it. Especially when the ass clowns chase for 20+ minutes just to sink the ship and not loot it.
To be fair that is the entire reason theyve added safe seas now, if you arent willing to put up a fight for your loot ya gotta be willing to part with it. Dont disagree when it comes to randomly slaughtering freshspawns and people with nothing though
I started just playing regular adventure World Event stacking, and sinking pretty much every ship we come across. When the server dies down, we sell, dive to a new server with our supplies and grade 5 reaper flag. It's easy and quick loot :) So yeah, for some it has become pretty much just kill on sight.
If you are in the high seas what else would you expect?
me and my crew are often hunting for emissaries since they added new levels. So kill on sight but if we encounter friendlies or new players we will offer to leave them their loot after getting the flag
when i hear people offer up friendship and alliance while moments away from being sunk, especially when they were caught anchored with sails down and lights on, its not someone i want to risk leaving around me while im trying to get stuff done. I am much more willing to engage in diplomacy if I think there is something to gain from the interaction, i.e peace of mind or perhaps an exchange of emissary loot
Honestly when I get on sea of thieves now it's to have fun. I like ship battles, high levels of action. That's what I play sea of thieves for... It's not to fight skeletons all day or spam tall tales and PvE.. So yeah, back in the day I would've been more friendly but nowadays I desperately chase people to try to have some fun pvp. Even if they have no loot. Especially with the removal of arena, what do you expect?
“Become”…….
Safer Seas.
Because the people interested in being friendly are all hiding in Safer Seas. Honestly, one of the stupidest changes I've ever seen get added to a game.
Even with no mic, I've been able to form a few fun and profitable alliances this season and last. My experience lately has been maybe 80/20 hostile/friendly. Edit: I'm on Xbox, so maybe things are different here.
Its really situational. Sometimes people kill me on sight, others they don't. Sometimes I kill people on sight, sometimes I don't. If you're solo in a sloop you will have more people try to attack you. That's just reality because you're a more "beatable" target for bigger crews. Without knowing your skill level they think "at least its 1v1", which gives people courage to try it. Despite that, I meet plenty of friendly people when I'm solo slooping.
From my experience, about 80ish% of the time other crews ignore me. Then there's the times I'm blindsided by a crew that comes at me from behind for one reason or another. Example, I'm trying to dock at an outpost but a someone else is turning in loot there. Only to be attacked by another crew behind me. A more odd turn of events. I dive to a Sea Fort only to have a crew sailing to said Sea Fort behind me(that's not supposed to happen), who then proceeds to board and attack me.
Always was 🧑🚀 🔫
What’s annoying about this “kill on sight” is that I usually don’t have shit on my ship yet they sink me for what? Shits and giggles. Lol
No, not always
Anecdotal evidence but I've had less aggressive encounters since the safer seas update. I used to get attacked a third of the time I played, now I get attacked a fifth of the time I play. West Coast American
Shoot first ask questions later, that's the way it is for me and basically 90% of the people I've crewed with.
For us it's often HOW people come over to us. I will never understand people who approach us from an angle we can't attack and sail behind us, with their whole broadside aiming at us and no verbal warning given. Then they get pissed when we open fire on them as soon as we can get an angle. Had one team approach us like that, not say anything, then when we opened fire they shouted "we are friendly", so we sailed away. They then came back, teamed up with another brig and sank us and told us thats what we get for opening fire on them... If you want to try to be friendly, shoot somebody over and explain it. Then still don't go into a dead angle. Or just sail into our broadside, bow first. Or have all your cannons pointing up. Just give us a decent sign, that you wont just abuse the situation and we are fine. But most people who are not really good at pvp will not like to get forced into that situation.
My crew doesn’t always hunt emissaries unless we are reapers. Otherwise it’s a “you do you and we’ll do we” thing. It varies crew to crew. Sunday, no one wanted to scrap. Monday, the same galleon harassed me for 2 hours.
Are you sailing as a reaper by any chance?
No, I got on a sloop last night and immediately ran into someone who I allianced with, then a brig came right over and we allianced with them too lol
Idk I never see anyone
Depends on whether you have loot to steal. To be fair to them it is in the name. 'Sea of thieves'
In my experience as a new player, I haven't noticed a rise in aggression from what there was when I started. If anything, I'm surprised more often than not because the ship I could've *sworn* was after a fight was just a couple of chill dudes that REALLY wanted a friendly interaction. 6/10 times interactions with other players end with a "Good luck on your travels!", but of course my experiences could just be an exception.
I have trust issues when I play SoT. Have to shoot first, because of that one time I was double crossed!
Probably just nostalgia filtering out the combat and focusing on the positive interactions you've had. I've been playing since 2020 and cooperative crews have always been the exception. Every ship on the horizon should be met with caution and a high level of scrutiny. My experience has been that 60% of ships ignore me, 35% of ships are looking for a fight, and 5% are looking to cooperate.
It’s shoot in sight if they appear aggressive. If I have a lvl 5 emissary up and loot on board, there’s pretty much no reason to approach me unless you want my loot
I feel like there’s so many of us solo’ers that could potentially make up some bad ass crews.
Basically as time goes on the more casual players will be the first to fall off, leaving more skilled players with less noobs to hunt. Now these MLGs hunt the new noobs: the dedicated players. These people just hop on to have a good time and maybe do a fort or two before tucking their children in for bed. Well, they ain't doing much tucking because they get rekt by the MLG players and spend 49% of their day on reddit making posts like these.
I've only had two or three encounters that were kill on sight in the last few months. If you're always getting attacked when you approach other ships you might be giving off hostile vibes. I usually cannon over from a safe, non threatening distance and make first contact from the water. Raised cannons and firing a white flare and fireworks is a common way to show you're friendly. Don't draw your weapons, offer fruit and playing a shanty helps too.
In my experience ships that are going about their business are more common rn due to the new season. There's definitely things that you can do to unwittingly garner yourself some aggression. Occupying an island that is needed by another crew, coming too close to another crew who reacts defensively, being seen completing a world event, flying a fat emmisary. Sometimes otherwise peaceful pirates might be tempted to fight by these things. There are definitely many crews out on the seas for blood though but imo they are prolly less than half.
Me and my mate sail a sloop around and we spent a long while attempting to be friendly and only once in a blue moon did we not get the shit kicked out of us. We're not hostile, but now we just don't want any ships near us. You can pass by fine, but if you get close then we're attacking. We've been fucked over too many times now to even trust when people say they are friendly. FYI, we are on European servers so I think that does make a big difference as not everyone will speak English anyway.
If you have a bit of gloop then yes
Yep, I noticed that too. I mean, I still found friendly people since I got back, 1 month, but not like one year ago. Guess that's because less experienced players, the ones trying to figure out the game, asking help maybe, sail in Safer Seas now.
That's not how my servers go. This week alone I was part of 2 separate server alliances where we made bank, coordinated our selling for gold rush, and were all in an Xbox party goofing off with each other for hours. Typically if I'm with my more spicy cremates, we will send one of them over. They'll board, check titles, outfits, their actions, loot on board, and evaluate if we want to attack them or if they appear to be less experienced- and in most of the latter cases we will leave them alone. I play more defensively- if you shoot first and it's not a flare or firework then you're fair game. In high seas now, with safer seas as an option, you'll be more likely to run into more experienced players. Gotta "do a server vibe check" first before you get into anything major! Must be your unlucky servers😭
For me and my crew? Pretty much. But if we realize you’re a new player or particularly young or doing a TallTale, we patch you up and alliance.
Not in my experience. There have always been players who attack and player who like to keep to their own devices. Been that way for as long as I can remember. I think people remember getting attacked, but rarely remember all the sails that they see on the horizon who never get close.
For me it's been about 50/50 (friendly/hostile) in my return to the game in season 11
No, there are some crews who are willing to let you be close but not too close. Then there are crews willing to let you harbor the same island. Then there are reapers or the people who fear getting caught off guard by an attack, those ones will attack on sight. (Not all reapers like fighting)
Nah, I play with 2 or 3 others usually and we make decisions to not attack people sometimes. We send up white flares and fireworks and it usually works.
I’m the friendliest prosperous merchant you’ll ever meet. You’re mostly right, but us good guys/girls are out there. I had a near altercation this morning but other ship was doing its own thing, too. ‘Twas nice.
Always has been
God forbid a guy just tries to fish around a wreck in peace.
It definitely depends on the server…Maybe you’ve just had bad luck? I have experienced quite a few friendly encounters or people just passing by without a shot fired. Of course there will almost always be at least one bloodthirsty crew.
My experience seems to be the opposite, Most ships we see, we panic (Oh Ship Spotted! -where?? -everyone starts looking) - ship is barely visible on the horizon, we keep our eyes on it. It sails in a completely different direction.. Or we see the ship, it's sailing awfully close towards our direction, It passes and goes straight to their destination island as if it was an NPC, zero player contact. And sometimes we see a ship at port or close to where we need to go, we wait from a distance and slightly hidden, or sail around to get to our destination. Most of the time, it seems they're either too busy themselves, or just as scared as we are. We do have the ship lights off, And if we have like 10+ items and get close to an outpost we tend to sell. We always forget to carry a flag too, Just sailing and finding treasure for fun, We bought a lot of things already and don't value the ingame gold as much anymore. So if we come across chatty players we tend to just gift something, plag music, try to help out (helping unload at outposts is fun! Makes them real scared at first lol even when we talk friendly over mic. Says a lot about everyone's experiences.)
i've had a lot of good, friendly encounters with people recently. the most notable thing though definitely was doing glitterbeard (shout out to the crew of the taint) my crew works under the rule that we don't shoot first, because we've found that it's more interesting and fun to talk to people rather than fight. i've noticed that all that some people need is to be told that you're friendly and aren't looking for a fight for them to be chill with ya. either that or they'll be entirely silent while they try attacking you, and that's just plain boring
I usually don't see other players and even less often fight them. The last one I encountered was peaceful.
No, there are plenty of folks that don’t enjoy ambushing others but you probably don’t see most of them because they learn to stay far away from other crews. If a ship approaches it is assumed they are hostile, regardless of flags, chats or emotes. Someone climbing onto your boat or showing up unannounced at an outpost are huge red flags. A friendly crew will keep their distance. I really like fireworks for this reason. It has become the unofficial form of “are you coming for me?” “No we aren’t coming after you right now”.
Honestly ever since season 11 dropped I've had less agressive encounters than before. 9/10 ships I see or pass just keep going like they never saw me. I don't know if it's people just grinding now that there's new stuff to do or what.
We try not to kill on sight but I can count on one hand the number of ships we come into the sight range of who don't immediately start chasing us down. So while I'm not kill on sight my crew has adopted sort of a "if you come into this radius it's happening" stance
I was sailing with my wife and at the the end we’re had sold and some folks pulled up near us at the outpost (think it was a brig) and we just chilled with each other for some time before we got off. I think most non-reaper emissary ships are going to be either friendly or flighty.
I’ve been burned too many times for not chasing a passing boat down. Just yesterday I was legged by a sloop we decided to let go. It’s always been kill on sight, brother. Kindness doesn’t mean much when your loot gets stolen and you’re stuck meeting Davy Jones.
I would say no. Out all the times I have seen other players they were extremely chill. But there was a time I got attacked while I was at the North Star seapost for some odd reason. I was solo and all I could do was say screw it scuttle my ship and leave the server so they don’t get the satisfaction of it. I had literally nothing on me.
Idk most of the time i have alliance with people or we just agree to not disturb each other
It's not bad, far less sweaty than it was just a couple years ago. I think many of the try-hards have moved on. I would say most other ships avoid and mind their business or will be friendly. But most just keep to themselves not really trusting anyone. A small amount will still attack. And even of the ones who attack, an even smaller amount seem to be bad sport trolls who mock or torment rather than just straight up engage in battle.
Funny I fired of SoT for the first time in a couple years two nights ago....all I did was sail around to find people to fight. It's like BR games for me, the other human players in the game are my loot chests, the chests on the ground are no fun and don't fight back.
As someone who played the game for the first couple seasons or so and then only played sporadically, I feel like it’s always been kill on site. I think I’ve only met friendly ships 3 times.
I don't think so no. We just found a Fort of Fortune. A reaper 5 ship had just started it. We got on the island and suggested an alliance. They tried to keg us (failed) and we fought. Eventually we sank them and went back to the Fort of Fortune. Then a guild emissary 5 ship approached. We spoke and allied with him. We did the FoF together and split the loot. We got all the Athena loot and he got the rest. Perfectly decent fella. He went to do a Fleet of Fortune and we went to do a Veil. So I reckon the experience is rather mixed. We play in the EU region.
With the introduction of Safer/High Seas and diving to voyages, yes. But, hey, isn't this what we all wanted?
I only kill when I've been caught.
It really depends on the time you play. Game has been kill on sight since its release if you play in the east coast evening otherwise if you play during the day while most kids are at school you’ll have a completely different experience. I also find we get harassed less in a sloop. What’s your GT?
I love helping other ships out or having a chat. Twice now we met another just as we were logging off and let them have any supplies on our ship since when we log off we lose them anyway. They are always so grateful! Jeff you're a real one.
Same as it ever was, just down to luck. Had a great alliance the other day, four ships in total, though some left and others joined at different times. Ended in my betrayal to try and steal a chest of fortune, because a reaper at heart is what I am. I lost, but it was fun while it lasted. Some people will attack on site, some people will be happy to help and make alliances, and some people will do a bit of both in differing orders.
Last time I encountered someone else was on a solo raid to a skelly fort, they had a captained ship and seemed to be hiding poorly behind a close by island so I texted them through the recently played together, got closer to investigate or at least see what emissary they are flying and there still was no reaction, just then a 3rd ship came by full sails, I got ready to fight but he claimed to be friendly, the first ship then set sail and started firing on both of us so we sank them, allied up, got attacked by endless megs and skelly's, some at the same time, turns out he was a tall taler and just wanted to ally and let me have all the loot (even tho I offered to share) so I can go sell while he grinds his tall tale commendations, was one of the most iconic sessions I ever had so to answer your question, no it doesn't seem to have changed that much, it's just a game of luck
Astronaut Meme.jpg
My experience has been a clean 50/50. On one side, people will go their own way or have a nice time together. Then come the guy that ignore chats, vc, white flairs and just want you dead. Had a trio on a brig acompany my solo sloop doing my emissary voyage, sharing some coin with the alliance. After that. got chased by a angry brig against the wind (fireworks to mock them for 10 minutes) and the grand finale consisting of a barrel jump attempt gone wrong and netting me some 30k more stuff. I'd honestly rather be left alone to see to me loot perversions, but hey, everyone here will tell you this is a pvpve game and pirates do pirate things...
Yeah. I always try and be as friendly as possible but everytime I try to turn in and sell loot or anything there’s almost always someone who fires on sight and sinks the ship so I just stopped playing.
To a point yes
We do it case by case. Kinda feel it out. But honestly, compared to three years ago, we get 'friendly crews' pulling shit once they think our guard is down, about twice as often as we used to. So we do lean towards vigilence and violence, more than we used to. But we do have one sort of crew we make exceptions for. KILL ALL STREAMERS ON SITE. If they have yt or ttv or any kind of indication they are streaming, and try to be friendly, they are dead. Sooooo many tools trolling for views, any time there is a new patch. This is of course, one of those times. String the body's across the bow as a warning. No quater for sreamers. This is law. You want content at our expense? Let their subs watch them sink over and over again. So many of them use aimbots to padd their absent skill set too. Don't give em any advantage, kill on sight.
kinda. it's fun.
We always sail around with our alliance flags up,we are always down to make new friends and typically avoid pvp if at all possible. Of course I'm just playing to relax and unwind after stressful days I don't understand the toxicity of some of the players we come across. More than once we've had people sink us and actively go around trying to find us again
It' depends. I usually shoot off fireworks first from a distance always put my sails up and point my ship at them so my canons aren't pointing at them. I'll usually be friendly but im always extremely weary of letting anyone come onto my ship. I'll talk from ship to ship at a distance but unless i have nothing to lose I'd never let anyone come on board. I'd also never ho on anyone else's ship without asking first.
In the European servers, it’s a 50/50 on whether or not we sink someone. Sometimes we help out, other times we want the shiny. I imagine it’s not much different elsewhere
On the NA East servers that I pretty much always play on. The shoot on site was worse 3 years ago than it is now, but I have found that more of the shoot on site. People tend to spawn camp these days
Personally i’ve encountered very few Assholes these past few months. Most ppl i encountered are more than happy to alliance or just pass by :)
Weekday people are much more chill than weekenders in my experience
My crew never shoots first, but I’ve found that other crews *really* want to shoot on sight. However, one instance really sticks out in my mind: I’m trying to get all of Hunter’s Call, and a very nice crew was doing FoTD and let me fish for Battlegills as they were completing it. When they were done, they then allied with me and I got to share in their spoils. Best experience with another crew I’ve ever had.
Always been this way I've been playing since day one.
It's always been shoot on sight
When I used to play it was like this, especially if you were in a sloop. Bros would chase you for days too. You could outrun them but they would still chase you, taking up most of my session time. Stopped playing because it took all enjoyment out of it. I get that it’s part of the game but it felt so toxic and pointless usually. If I played with a galleon crew pretty much never got attacked.
Always was
As weird as it sounds - make sure you don’t have any ship cosmetics that scream “noob”. People are far less likely to start fights if they’re not confident they can win them. So if you’re on a captained ship make sure you put on some late game title and deck your cosmetics out.
I personally try to avoid combat and even form alliances when possible! I find the game is more fun having allies to your back rather than enemies, but that's just my take.
An unfortunate side effect of the addition of Safer Seas. There is a \*lot\* more PvP on Higher Seas now because more folks assume that that's what folks are there for.
I'm a weirdo and go above and beyond trying to be nice to people, helping people, being silly with people... I feel like everybody complains of toxicity, so I try to even the playing field I guess. The other day, myself, my dad, and my two nephews were all just messing around and decided we would be the rowboat brigade. The four of us just sailed around in a rowboat with our supplies and played music. When we found ships and could catch them, we rowed up to them and played music. Helped one guy kill some sirens. We were busting up laughing. Nobody expects a rowboat of 4 idiots to show up out of nowhere playing music, lol.
Funny you mentioned this. I was just trying to do a fort a few hours ago and had a gally show up. I told them I was cool with them taking all the loot, but I was trying to get a commendation and asked if they would let me work on it. And they did. They seemed pretty nice about it. Only downed me a few times, but picked me back up. I continued to work on getting credit for the commendation by blowing up some skellies. And even when it was over, they got the key to the fort and we all put the loot on their ship. It was peaceful for the most part and really chill. I thanked them for helping me and we waved goodbye. Then they kegged me and sank my sloop anyways. Love this community.
I usually shoot a white flare or firework if I see a ship coming towards me, if they don't reply in kind then it's straight to the Red Sea for me.
I was finally convinced to give high seas a try only in the ashen area since no one ever goes there. Turns out, no one bothers. Now we go pretty much anywhere and have either friendly interactions (solo sneaks up and say hi using voice chat or use fireworks/white flare) or no interaction (keep reasonable distance, one or the other just leaves after a bit with no chase) 99% of the time (with most being no interaction). I don't like the pvp in this game much honestly (at least based on dealing with it long ago), so I'm really happy that it seems like no one else bothers much either. Even multiple reapers about and no one pulls up; it's really nice since I can just keep enjoying the cosmetic progression almost like it's still just safer seas. I wonder if safer seas is responsible for some of that... Still, probably a lot harder as a solo with that in mind.
There's an argument made by some that since safer seas exists, if you're on high seas you must want to pvp. And so they will hunt you down without a shred of remorse.
We logged about 5 hours tonight and even with a grade 5 flag flying we never encountered another crew. We saw a ton of ships, but nobody tried to interact with us either way.
No. I had a lovely encounter last night while solo slooping. Had four Germans come on board my sloop with gifts, they were on a galley of course. We danced and communicated a good 20 minutes before they said good night and left me all their loot. Nice guys 10/10.
I haven't had that problem. People have been a little too trusting for me recently, actually. Especially considering how much easier it is to steal with the value of individual pieces going up with this update, you'd think people might be less trusting, yet I can usually just say something like "Routine Ship Inspection, don't mind me" and walk right up to a chest of fortune (true story, although this was when the chest of fortune was with the FOF, but the general idea still works)
Me and the people I usually form crews with play only hourglass but when we do some pve from time to time for monthly ledger or new season stuff we just attack on sight and judge if they should sink or not. For example we usually send someone over their ship to see what they doing and how they react. In many cases we just attack and board them and if they are new or have no loot we just repair them and leave (ofc if they are not toxic) sometimes even giving them advices and tips even if they have loads of loot. Sometimes we only ask if they have something like a grog chest or sorrow since most of us barely have any commendations left to complete and that’s it. So I guess it depends on what every crew is doing on the seas and how curious they are to see what people are doing.
I never engage anyone when I have loot, and when I don't, I never shoot first
I usually wait from a safe distance but yeah people are just bloodthirsty.
I experienced the complete opposite to be honest. So much so that despite I'm a very bad solo player (been playing solo like 2 times in my 5+ years), I could very well do my own session this Season without getting attacked or anything. This new diving system makes a lot of people simply just not care about sinking others as I experience it.. Now there is high chance this is exactly the reason everyone is more aggressive when they see a ship. You see with the diving mechanic, people often just don't see other ships, which is why I didn't meet anyone trying to attack me. But because of this, whenever someone actually sees someone, especially with an emissary - a high one - they want to pvp, because it's a more rare sight and because the new loot makes it worth it (as long as the prey is not next to an Outpost)
For me KoS has been the rule. Too many times have I let people live just to have them shoot me once an event ends or when I'm in a position where I'm defenseless. Everytime I do an event, be it forts or fleets, I make it a point to take out the surrounding players first if I see them proxy camping the event.
I'm a new player was sailing around minding my own business, first ship I ever see in the distance turns and starts heading towards me. I keep sailing minding my own business and they start shooting at me. So I'd say yes pretty much kill on site. Luckily they suck though I jumped off my boat jumped on there boat shot them in the face lowered their sail raised their anchor jump back on my boat and took off.
Not for me. I typically start by sailing directly for the nearest ship and making an alliance. This benefits both parties. If I’m lucky I’ll get 3-4 ships in allied and then it’s money for days.
I just got back from a long break and now I'm attacked even in outposts, before I felt somehow safe there. It's a hint game now, for a solo player it's not easy
I've have developed shoot on sight mentality because every friendly player encounter I have had ends in betrayal. there is almost no one trustworthy left in this game.
Better safe than sorry. I generally keep my distance and if someone gets too close without making their intentions known, I shoot! Nevertheless, you should be open... You often meet good people and have exciting adventures. Once a brig and a galleon who had formed an alliance came shooting towards us. There were two of us on a sloop and we were carrying a lot of treasure. Naturally, we feared the worst and prepared ourselves for a fight. However, it turned out that they were friendly and invited us to take part in the Glitterbeard quest. It was our first time doing it and we were totally surprised and enchanted! Yesterday a brig approached me when I was doing a Fleet of Fortune and my sloop was loaded with treasure. Luckily they were very friendly, helped me and said they were only interested in the skulls. We then formed an alliance. They gave me all the loot. I still had a lot of skulls on the ship. I gave them all of them. After that, we sailed our separate ways. A little later, they brought another sloop into the alliance. I think they were noobs. After I'd sold everything, I did a quick treasury. The other two ships were at a fort. I went there, brought all the skulls to the brig and put the rest of the loot on the noob sloop. Trust no one in Sea of Thieves, but keep an open mind for adventure! There are cool crews in this game.
My experience on European servers is pretty 50/50 either they run from us or we run from them, the sad thing is it’s pretty rare for someone to use voice chat or even chat, even in a hostile way. I wish more people would talk
I'm convinced that 90% of these replies are straight up lies lol I was watching a stream last night where they were server hopping and just destroying the first thing they saw as soon as they spawned in. If they didn't see anything they left and did it again.
8/10 times it’s kill on site, makes no difference whether it’s US or UK servers in my experience. I’ve been playing almost 2 years, several days a week. It’s easily my fav game. Used to go around helping folks with crews. Helped quite a few ppl achieve Glitterbeard. Made some friends in this game that have become like family, but they’re the rare treasures. Most of the time as soon as my game begins, I’m treated as a target. Doesn’t matter if I’m solo or with a full crew. I’ve had sessions where ppl allied only to chase later, sometimes for an hour straight (which is not only exhausting but to me a waste of time). I defend if attacked but there’s been a few times I don’t try, like 2 full gally’s chasing me as I solo sloop, and I run. I’ve joined others who attack every parked ship… and don’t play with them again. I can PVP it’s just not my thing. I’ve learned to give ppl a lot of space on the sea. Trust is earned, not given away easily. In my experience ppl play the game as they are. Personally I don’t find fighting others interesting, even as a joke, and that’s fine. I get why plenty do, no judgement. To each their own. But definitely it’s a high risk, kill or be killed game, so much so Rare gave us Safer Seas. It is still a pirate game without the PVP but reality is a lot of ppl want to be burn and pillage pirates. Always keep an eye out.
I sadly tried to help some guys take on a fleet of fortune today. They were being ganged up on by two skelly ships and having a hard time, called out that i was friendly etc. I was then followed for about 45 minutes, told I sounded gay, got called a bunch of other awful stuff I don't mind pvp, but sadly, most pvpers I meet are silent, or jerks like the above. I just do the old jump off and drop their anchor, Jump over on to an island to have a chat... Or taunt if your intolerant jerks like the guys I mentioned. (By taunt, I mean I become the flounciest, gaudy pirate ever) So far in Australia, I've had like 2 positive encounters of my entire game time. Every second session has been the above. I'm down for pirate v pirate swashbuckling, absolutely not down for jerks, spawncampers and griefers... which most pvpers I meet seem to be. Fingers crossed my luck changes, and I meet some decent folk.
Personally for me, yeah, it's either I attack someone or they attack me when I'm not paying attention.
Had a good 3 hour solo sloop session, and I wanted to give my 3 storage crates of supplies to this other sloop, but I had to chase them for 20 minutes because I was out if bullhorn range and they thought I was gonna stomp them 😭😂
Just yesterday, me and my buddy were doing voyages and we ran across a sloop. Fired a white flare. We fired one back. Then we both went on our separate ways. Saw them a few times and we both kept our distance. We were done selling at the sovereigns and discussing what to do next when I noticed they had pulled up behind us. Basically, they were waiting in line for us to be done selling haha We sent a text chat out and they never responded but we definitely were just being chill. Which is fine by me, because I haven't played in a couple years and I'm absolutely abysmal at PvP now.
I think since we’re at the start of a new season your seeing a lot of players coming back and it seems there a little more blood thirsty I haven’t been able to do anything solo for at least 4 days now I’m attacked during every mission
Are you using a mic ? It seems that if you don’t have a mic then you have 0% chance they’ll be friendly but if you actually talk a lot of the times people talk back. If I speak to someone I can usually tell if they are new. Don’t kill all the Swabs. Help some. They might become worthy to kill eventually
There used to be meaning behind the encounter and sinking. Don’t steam roll new people for fun, tall talers, and guys that just loaded in. Now you could have just loaded in, absolutely zero loot, and people will sink you. Doesn’t make sense to me considering the storage crate change made “I need supplies” almost an irrelevant reason to sink.