370°

Sea of Thieves Cuts Death Tax After Player Uproar

The planned "Death Tax" feature in Sea of Thieves has been axed according to Rare executive producer Joe Neate in a Twitter update apologizing for the messaging around the unpopular, planned update.

Thatguy-3102221d ago

Why on earth would someone be thrilled about this "feature". The combat is trash so it would agitating to say the least

darthv722221d ago (Edited 2221d ago )

Either pay the ferryman to bring you back to the living or fight your way back as a skeleton. Either way you have the choice to use in game currency or your own skills to get your life back. That would be an interesting twist if they did that.

Christopher2221d ago

You're already losing time, which is the most valuable commodity in online games. There doesn't need to be any other price to pay and definitely no additional time lost.

Xenophon_York2221d ago

So either pay with gold or pay with time as a skeleton? Kind of cool. It's basically instant gratification at a price or save your gold but lose a minute or two earning your life back.

IamTylerDurden12221d ago (Edited 2221d ago )

Supposedly the game was originally planned to have legit MTs, so i could at least understand the design choice if they had charged real world money for gold, but obviously that isn't the case so it makes no sense.

mark_parch2221d ago

@IamTylerDurden1
Where is your evidence that the game was going to have LEGIT MT's lol

rainslacker2220d ago

If they made it where you could play as a skeleton against other players, it might be a good way to mix things up. A skeleton crew on a pirate ship would be pretty neat.

+ Show (2) more repliesLast reply 2220d ago
Lamboomington2221d ago

Balance. Making death more costly means you want to avoid it more.

mark_parch2221d ago

I thought this was a good idea but now thanks to all the people who don't even have the game it's getting taken out

KickSpinFilter2220d ago

Welcome to the new world of game pass

Prince-Ali2220d ago

have you seen how people are griefing people for fun!? you thought this would be a good idea now after launch!?

Slurms2221d ago

They need to do something to make death more meaningful though. Getting a new ship needs a bit more pirating to it too.

Hopefully they come up with something meaningful and fun.

darthv722221d ago

It would be cool if they offered a flip side to the game. If you die, you are sent to the side of dead players (skeletons) and have to fight your way back to the living. It might not seem like much but it changes the dynamic a little bit.

OffRoadKing2221d ago

That is a good idea, four years of development you would have thought they could have come up with something better than a death tax. You should apply for a job my dude.

Christopher2221d ago (Edited 2221d ago )

Death translates to lost time. You just wasted an hour to do a quest and failed due to death, why should you pay anything else or be delayed even further from doing the quest and possibly dying again?

Death already has meaning, it's just less meaningful to those who have way more time than everyone else.

Concertoine2221d ago (Edited 2221d ago )

The quests dont reset when you die though. Its basically 30 seconds and a jog back to where you died. The only situation where you start all over is a sunken ship, which pretty much only happens in PvP.

For PvP it is important because then when you board a ship you wont just get overrun by people you killed respawning because they bribed the ferryman. PC players already have a bit of an advantage due to load times being shorter.

I think the time you spend on the ferry of the damned is fine but they should give you something to shoot at or something. Maybe play a game with other pirates there.

Christopher2221d ago (Edited 2221d ago )

***which pretty much only happens in PvP***

You do know that he death expense would have been from PvP deaths, right? That's the issue. And that's what I'm discussing.

***For PvP it is important because then when you board a ship you wont just get overrun by people you killed respawning because they bribed the ferryman.***

I'd rather a person choose to expedite their death than people being penalized over and over because people get off on killing them for no reason than they lose money.

---

Simple solution, don't allow ferryman payments for PvP deaths.

Christopher2221d ago

To add, as far as PvE deaths, it doesn't matter. Everything is time and the gains are all cosmetic. As there is no real reward to be gained other than access to new levels of cosmetics and the biggest issue isn't PvE but other players, who cares if it takes a person little time to get back into the fight if they die in PvE? This game is about teamwork and grinding. Adding to that grind by increasing death time when all you gain is cosmetics? Seems pretty unnecessary.

Again, time is the most valuable commodity. Charging on top of that time lost as well as most often worried quest loot lost, it's petty and would only encourage toxic behavior.

Slurms2221d ago (Edited 2221d ago )

Death is a currently a shortcut back onto your ship, which is usually exactly where you want to be. It is too trivial, whether you are the assailant or the receiver.

Losing your ship can be hugely significant if you have treasure on board, but otherwise it doesn't matter at all. If you fancy griefing players then you simply turn in any treasure that you have, then there is nothing to lose.

Penalising players without harming their enjoyment can be a bit delicate, but it should be the target. For example, it'd be fun if losing your ship meant you had to get a new one and if you can't afford to pay the shipright, then you can get one from one of the trading companies on some contract or 'pirate's promise'. They can take a small cut of your profits for the next hour, and/or leave a representative AI on your ship that just lightly bugs you in some way, and in true pirate style you can choose to break the terms but maybe that'd cost you a little reputation, or make their NPCs hostile to you for a bit.

For player death, World of Warcraft gives you a choice between ghost-wandering to your corpse, or taking essentially a gold cost (through item durability loss) and 10minute penalty to combat effectiveness. Something similar could fit SoT really well. Pay the ferryman in gold or a piece of your soul (taking away your ability to eat for 10 minutes or something), or fend for yourself as a spirit to claw your way back to life via finding your corpse or some other magical creature.

There are loads of things they could do, but then there are also loads of things they need to do. Death mechanics probably shouldn't be right at the top of the list, but if they do it "big" with fun consequences then it could add a significant layer to the game.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2221d ago
PurplePeopleEaters2221d ago

Just goes to show how Rare is out of touch with gamers.

TheCommentator2221d ago

Right, because listening to player feedback is soooooo out of touch with the gamer! Rare even said before launch that the updates would be based off of community feedback which is why they are listening to them now.

PurplePeopleEaters2221d ago

But they were planning on implementing it until the feedback took place... Your reasoning is bunk

Prince_TFK2221d ago

@PurplePeopleEaters

I don’t understand your logic. They were planning it, yes, but they backed down immediately once the community voiced their feedback.

So aren’t they allowed to plan any update at all?

PurplePeopleEaters2221d ago (Edited 2221d ago )

Kun....

Apparently before launch the feature was bc of player feedback....

Now it's feedback that they are taking it away. Perhaps they should make the game with what they want instead of pandering to the community.

RamRod882221d ago

Pandering to the community is how a game like this survives. You're argument holds no weight.

PurplePeopleEaters2221d ago

So was their sample size not good enough the first time to decide whether or not to put the feature in? Before it was a good idea... now it's not?

RamRod882221d ago

It was the hardcore community that feels like it was a good idea, but they are not the majority of players opinion. At the end of the day, the alpha players are going to stick around regardless, but if they lose new players cause of something like this, then it's not worth it.

PurplePeopleEaters2221d ago

So they are pandering to people who aren’t even going to play their game in a month?

RamRod882221d ago

Regardless of how long they play for, it will be even less so if they don't listen to public feedback.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 2221d ago
Simmo3D2221d ago

I just think the Outposts should be safezones... or atleast some of them. Sick of getting treasure, only to get shot in my back at an outpost carrying it.

jokerisalive2221d ago

thank goodness for common sense.

Show all comments (62)
220°

Could Helldivers 2 Be PlayStation’s Sea Of Thieves?

Opinion: Why Helldivers 2 and Sea of Thieves, despite their obvious differences, are very much the same for PlayStation and Xbox

Read Full Story >>
gamersocialclub.ca
Magatsuhi4d ago

Tired of these MS fluff pieces. Sot does not come close to what hd2 does.

danno_omen4d ago

You should probably read the article then, I wasn’t comparing the actual games

Cacabunga4d ago

How can it be PS sea of thieves when SOT is on PS5? Were you just in a hurry to write something??

4d ago
MrNinosan4d ago

Make a less click baiting headline next time, and people might read bwfore judging.

z2g4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

people don't understand nuance or abstract thought. they just hear two games and decide they like one better than the other so the one they don't like can't be anything close to the one they like. I get that you are speaking in a larger context, not a direct comparison. it could be a huge community building game that has a long burn that could also extend to other platforms and or be cross platform. it could be like sea of thieves in that regard etc. never mind the knuckle draggers on this site. its impossible to have a reasonable, objective conversation here.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 4d ago
redknight804d ago

I know the headline is a bit bonkers but it is otherwise a good read apart from that.

InUrFoxHole4d ago

Lol you didn't read it. It's just suggesting that it would be beneficial for gamers if HD2 came to xbox. Like sea of thieves did. Don't get in your feels over it.

Magatsuhi4d ago

Its a click bait article. It benefits only xbox to bring a successful game to their failure of a console.

InUrFoxHole4d ago

Lol you big 😠 😡. Just wait till the showcase!

GamerRN4d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Yeah, this site just constantly has so many positive Xbox sm articles, I'm tired of them also... 🙄

z2g4d ago

what a surprise, more basic thinking from basic gamers. the comparison it could be a huge community building game that has a long burn that could also extend to other platforms and or be cross platform. it could be like sea of thieves in that regard etc.... sorry thoughts get more abstract than what your brain can seem to handle

Sonic18814d ago (Edited 4d ago )

Well Helldivers 2 might be releasing on Xbox in the near future

https://n4g.com/news/259589...

+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 4d ago
Tody_ZA4d ago

I think Helldivers 2 could be PlayStation's Helldivers 2.

Elda4d ago

PS5 gaming console exclusive Helldivers 2 is Helldivers 2 & nothing else.

4d ago
Show all comments (55)
100°

Sea of Thieves on PlayStation 5: the next big Xbox multi-platform game tested

Sea of Thieves stared off life as an Xbox exclusive, growing over time into a genuine hit with a large, committed community. Now, in an effort to increase its audience still futher, it's become a key part of Microsoft's multi-platform push.

Read Full Story >>
eurogamer.net
Einhander19724d ago

So, no one wants to talk about how the PS5 outperforms the xbox version in multiple ways, huh?

purple1014d ago

Draw distance better / shadows better

Also he calls most ps5 “oddity’s” and uses the term “not sure why this is happening” a lot

Ps5 is just more powerful, those 2teraflop difference and Xbox fanatics saying world most powerful console, is worth zip- zero

330°

Sea of Thieves Welcomes 40 Million Players

Joe 'Three Sheets' Neate (Executive Producer): "As I’m sure you can imagine, when it comes to Sea of Thieves my days are full of numbers. Development costs, active servers, days until the next update… Sometimes, though, a truly extraordinary number stands out – a number like 40 million, which I’m incredibly pleased to say is the number of pirates who’ve now set sail in Sea of Thieves!"

Read Full Story >>
seaofthieves.com
darthv727d ago

Garrr... more people to walk the plank and send to Davey Jones locker.

would have been funny to release this on talk like a pirate day.

aaronaton7d ago

I nearly died from cringe reading this...

coolbeans6d ago

Ye wouldn't be any fun on the high seas!

Obscure_Observer7d ago ShowReplies(4)
TrueRican697d ago

I pre-order the premium edition for my PS5 today

Crows907d ago (Edited 7d ago )

40 million have set sail...that's great. How many are sailing now? Monthly active users....when it actually matters. How many people purchased the game is another important number.

Gamingsince19817d ago

You don't get numbers like that from MS mouth pieces, they just like to say stuff like "this game was looked at 129 million time, the biggest amount of people browsing a game of this genre on xbox gamepass ever in the last 3 weeks compared to before gamepass was out (small print only 2 million bothered playing longer than 20 seconds and only 100 people are playing it concurrently)

It's all smoke and mirrors

nibblo7d ago

There are usually around 10,000 concurrent users on Steam not counting Xbox or PS but really it doesn't matter as long as there are enough people on the servers to play which there always were and will be for a long time now with the PS players coming on board. Same goes for how many people bought it and how many are on GP, we aren't the accountants of these console companies so why would we care?

Hofstaderman7d ago

Reporting on MAU stats is very misleading. Other companies publish units sold, MS cannot or will not due to Game Pass. We all know that their prior startegies have not panned out so now they have to actually sell games on other consoles. In any case, SoT is doing impressive preorders on PS5 and will very likely motivate Satya to release more games other than the four indicated games on their competitor's consoles. Take note Phil is radio silent....

Jingsing7d ago (Edited 7d ago )

Yeah Microsoft would tell you the start menu has had 1 billions clicks on Windows 11 to let you know it is beating Windows 10 when the reality is something else. 10,000 concurrent steam users is enough for me to extrapolate there aren't millions playing this on console either. Lets not forget the motivation to bring this to PS5 is already an admission of poor player count. I'd prefer it is Microsoft would just say nothing when it comes to numbers as it makes them look stupid while trying to make everyone else look like an idiot.

+ Show (1) more replyLast reply 6d ago
Abear217d ago

40 Mil across Stream, Windows 10, and Xbox. Healthy numbers for sure, but when PC is the biggest platform, I expected more. It’ll be interesting to see how it does on PlayStation. Very well could be double that player count in 6 months with PS too. It’s crazy for developers to skip the most popular platform, not sure why they’d want to, but they must have had their rea$ons.

Christopher6d ago

PC is the market with the most competition for these type of games as well, so it's actually easier to break in on consoles where these games aren't as prominent.

Show all comments (35)