Sea of Thieves [XO, PC, PS, XGP]

[RancidLunchmeat]

When you sign up or get chosen as a SoT tester, they send you a weekly email update. They occasionally contain surveys along with updates, and this one did. Not sure how much of the content of the survey is under NDA which is why I don't want to get too specific. But the survey isn't really specific as to SoT, but rather the direction MS is taking with the XB1 as a platform and where they are putting their resources and emphasis.

 

[BadTB25]

I'll check my email for the survey. I did get an Insider email recently, but only scanned it.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

https://www.seaofthieves.com/news/AnnouncingOurWindows10TechnicalAlpha

First and foremost, our focus for this test is to validate our new auto-detect settings. Now you might be asking, “what on Earth is ‘auto-detect’?!”, so we shall tell you! When players first load into the game we have some clever technology that detects the GPU and CPU capabilities and will set the graphics settings accordingly. We therefore want to see how effectively the game analyses and assigns low, medium, high, or ultra settings. We also want to see how well those settings perform on players’ machines.

Secondly, we want to get feedback from YOU on our default keyboard and mouse control scheme. As we progress through Technical Alpha we’ll be implementing custom keyboard bindings, but before then we want you to help shape what the default keyboard and mouse control scheme should be. If you receive an invite into the PC Technical Alpha, you can find the control layout in the ESC menu. Please remember to visit the Forums to send us your feedback!

On the downside, I'm guessing that means there won't be an XB1 alpha this Sat.

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Anybody else get invited to the two alpha sessions Saturday?

6-9pm BST and 11pm-2AM BST

The email was in my Outlook junk filter for some reason, the weekly updates from them don't get tagged that way? Maybe check your spam filters if you didn't get an invite. I think only people who previously played a session were invited, the email makes it seem that way "Smaller group, but since you've played before, you are invited..."

 

[BadTB25]

I was.

 

[BRiT]

No invite for me, but then again I hadn't been invited to any play sessions before.

 

[AzBat]

I was.

Me too.

Tommy McClain

 

[eastmen]

still no invite I am sad

 

[BadTB25]

It's a freaking tragedy that Brit and eastmen still haven't gotten in yet...WTH!

 

[bunge]

still no invite I am sad

So sad!

 

[eastmen]

So sad!

Its a covfefe of epic proportions

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

Looks like they're gearing up the play sessions, but it sort of seems like they won't be expanding their testers possibly until the Beta.

I do find those people that have spent hours in this Alpha and have memorized the islands, etc., to be quite remarkable.

https://imgur.com/a/7HvNb

 

[xexuxjy]

Nice to see some more footage last night - human cannonballs open up quite a few options, and the game still looks stunning. Wish they had showed a bit of solo content or wider goal type structure as I do have some concerns about the games legs...

 

[xexuxjy]

Just hopped on to one of the e3 technical alpha play slots that are running this week. New storm cloud effect is very nice, just sat for 10 minutes watching one of those in the distance, then had a play with the human cannonball stuff, could lead to some fun additional crew interactions while you try and make them aim for you ' left a bit, right a bit, no! not into the bl**dy cliff!'

 

[BadTB25]

Now that the devs are streaming so often, I wonder how much more longer the NDA is needed.

 

[Nesh]

Game looks technically fabulous in many areas, but the art style and the fact that its MMO I think will not help the game live up to the selling expectations

 

[xexuxjy]

I think I was probably walking close to (over?) the NDA, but figured I'd comment on a couple of things they'd shown off at e3 so not giving anything away. Agree with Nesh that it's not going to be a big seller as they haven't really explained what you 'do' especially in the long term. I've had a few brilliant hours with it when a crew works and have been fighting a running battle with another crew - but am wondering how they maintain that for years of play time. Fingers crossed anyway.

 

[AlNom]

Fingers skull & bones crossed anyway.

*arrrrrrrr-hem*

 

[RancidLunchmeat]

I think I was probably walking close to (over?) the NDA, but figured I'd comment on a couple of things they'd shown off at e3 so not giving anything away. Agree with Nesh that it's not going to be a big seller as they haven't really explained what you 'do' especially in the long term.

Yeah, I've been trying to not be too specific or too harsh in my criticism of the game because of the NDA, but you've nailed the main problem. It's fun for an hour or so on the first play through to just "screw around", but on subsequent play throughs it takes about 5 minutes to remind me that there's nothing to do in the game. As has been mentioned, due to the constant streaming and E3 vids, I feel a bit more free to discuss:

I think they did an amazing job making it a cooperative effort. The level of technical detail in terms of mastering the ship mechanics to gain advantage in combat is really remarkable. Unfortunately, in practice there's no point in using these mechanics for anything else really such as docking your ship, just drop the anchor and swim to shore. Also, beyond the goal of mastering the ship mechanics (that requires an extreme level cooperation from all 4 crew members), there's not a lot of depth to the game. In fact, here's Rare explaining about player progression, and future plans for the game. (Hint: there aren't any)

https://www.windowscentral.com/sea-thieves-e3-2017

 

[Silent_Buddha]

Something I heard that was interesting, but makes sense, from a person that played it at E3. There is nothing in the game preventing you from gallivanting around with a larger crew. When they played it at E3, I think they said they had 6 or 7 people on their ship while they went around and did stuff.

The ship vs ship combat is certainly going to be a highlight of this game. It's not enough that you go to an island to get the treasure. But you have to be prepared to defend yourself while getting it. And not just that, you have to be prepared to defend your ship while you're on the island getting the treasure.

There's also people I know that are salivating at the thought of the RP potential of this game.

All of that isn't necessarily for me. I want to get the game just to sail around and explore. Nothing else.

I do wonder what their content plans are and whether they'll treat this like a "living world" similar to Warframe (free content added every few weeks with major free content drops [story missions] every few months) or an MMO where there are constant content updates and upgrades.

Regards,
SB