This Isn't the Video You Want [SEASON 9] | Sea of Thieves

[@Blurbs]

Come watch LIVE at twitch.tv/blurbs PvP Tips playlist so you can get better easily: kzbin.info/aero/PLeVtvf69N6wvKqf1UNr5MR2kPn5EUWtck

[@AokiZeto]

04:18 "the last thing i want to be is being postive just for the sake of being positive" i'm sorry to be that guy, but that show how little u know about game devlopment. if a content creator is the origin of a wave of bad coment on tweeter or redit or the forum, even if the comment is bein nice, or trying to be constructive; the guy in charge of the project( no not the dev lead he isnt in charge, not really) will make the dev team in a shorter leash, think battlefield 2042 or battlefront 2 ea eddition. u dont realise the impact the few coment u do in so far in this video could have for the game, and i think ur bein constructive, but a ceo or a lead maketing manager wont see it that way and theyr the guy having the money in hand not the dev team. so to them ur just sayin "we want somthing else we are not happy with this patch" and that could mean more predatory micro transaction, less risky patch, etc... seriously ive seen it all so far and after the cyberpunk shitstorm the gaming comunity give those predatory ceo the reason to do exactly what they shoudlnt do. all that to say, that sentence u got was really naive, and i cant blame you for that...i blame tweeter and the marketing mentality in the game industry

[@JeepTeriyaki]

A new colored chest..... An old ghost ship battle not as good as a veil....... An update for an oversized unused outpost...... Sharks 4 at a time within 2 seconds of being in the water...... Enemies made too easy....... The only thing relevant are the harpoon and flag drops for reapers at outposts. How about scaling for HG instead of pve or an extra frying pan so a meat crate doesnt take 45 min to cook. An update is new things to do, map expansions to limit redundance not a new colored chest for cringy tuckers with neck beards and diapers fed off an IV to fap over while waiting for 17 hrs in a tower to steal daily for 5 years straight thinking in their own dwindled intellect and mental illnesses its funny still

[@fayaflai]

The changes to the world event scaling will make it so that more players will bother interacting with them. This will make running reaper emmisary with the intent of fighting and stealing loot way more fun. Currently if you see a FOF, more often than not there is nobody doing it. I expect this to change with this update.

[@Grandleon]

Agreed. I started a year ago and never get contested at skeleton forts or Ashen Lords. New content is great and all, but any player interactions those spark tend to be a flash in the pan. People do it and move on. But the evergreen content that puts a huge beacon for the entire server to see? They aren't rewarding anymore. They get ignored. Blurbs worries about "cheapening the loop," but hey, reward creep has already long left this content behind. They need to be appealing again.

[@ianbelletti6241]

We have too many Athenas fortune events. The FOF getting its own chest is a good thing but Rare needs to remove the legendary loot from it. The other issue I see is that this chest is going to start out rare like the Athena's Fortune chest was but is quickly going to become very common making you question why people are so focused on stealing the chest like they were with the Athena chest. I don't see necessarily bringing back the reaper rowboat as it was but I could see adding the ability to attach any keg to the back of one. And, as an experienced player, I was always lucky if I could solo a fort undisturbed. Usually it takes a solo player so long to complete just a regular fort that this should help encourage the solos to do them as well. It needs to be balanced, however, that it's not a 15 minute completion without tridents or explosives.

[@ArentTjao]

me and my friend on a sloop took a fof right after the update and it was soooo easy like too easy but suprisingly no one was there even tho we had seen a bunch of ships before

[@PhuzzyBond]

I think this season will be super hype, but only for a short while. And the hype will end after the second day of Community day Ends, that is the 26th of March. As people will be burnt out from all the bonuses we are getting, Rep, Gold , Allegiance, Renown, and Ancient skeleton Spawn rate. and around that time, will be the Diablo 4 Open Beta, which is free access to the game. In addition to the burnout, or break, everyone will be playing Diablo 4.

[@Blurbs]

Seems likely!

[@abandoned__]

it always hurts a little remembering how long the gap is between seasons. i suppose the smaller stuff is alright, definitely brings life to the seas, but this feels like an awfully short list of major events to me. i hope they've got a secret or two stashed away somewhere

[@rambo-cambo3581]

The smaller stuff should happen anyway, fixes, adjustments to balance, quality if life etc Not be saved up and called season content

[@Grev..]

Last qql uodate had a shorter season this will probably too

[@southwardfaun9008]

3300 hours and in season 8 I'm still having a blast interacting with crews and getting into fights in adventure mode. Really hard to get bored in this game and it's not all about needing new content. The players are the content.

[@thebestuser9765]

IOM flag? Do you happen to be a fellow Manx pirate?

[@Kowgan]

As with any game, everything will get old, no matter how many features you put in the game. Player-Player interaction is what keeps any game alive and fresh for years.

[@JeepTeriyaki]

everything gets redundant without new content inside and outside the game. Quit bring an SoT simp and lying

[@corvent62]

As a long time player (a bit over 1k hours, been around on and off since heart of fire) I'm excited for this season, I don't really need constant massive additions, especially after a huge additions like season 8

[@spof465]

While it doesn't feel like a lot, the scaling does mater a lot for groups like me. Low friend count, and my friends don't always come along at the same time. We weren't really a group that could regularly do FOTD or FOFS or even ashen lords without feeling like we're banging our heads against a wall. This'l give us more stuff to do just off the scaling by itself.

[@Jayxe]

Finally someone said it. There's actually 0 new content coming out and that kinda disappointed me. It's just a QoL season, and The QoL isn't all that much at the end of the day.

[@stiixgirl6148]

If we're honest, we haven't had any new content since season 6. Season 7 was captaincy, which allowed us to decorate our ship with trinkets we can earn from doing things we've already been doing, over again. Then came season 8, which gave us pvp on demand, yet again, nothing new in the way of content. Now comes season 9...at least with the season 5 QOL update, we got the ability to bury treasure.

[@t0mbst0neyt]

They're definitely positioning this chest of fortune to be the new funny blue chest

[@mr.mushroom1941]

the funny white chest

[@waffles1004]

@@mr.mushroom1941 YES

[@silvercat18]

Problem is as Blurbs said though - the content creators have been "stealing the funny chest" over and over for far too long. Painting it a new colour doesnt really change anything for them and thats also how a lot of players feel.

[@waffles1004]

@@silvercat18 yes but it’s rarer is valued at 20k not 5-9k and u can get proper rewards for handing them in

[@waffles1004]

@@silvercat18 also that’s how u feel, not a lot of other players. All my friends are hyped for this update

[@TurtleKnite]

Frankly, I think the gameplay is in a fine spot and the changes they're planning on doing help it largely. The thing I really want more than anything else is to have mobile pirate NPCs at outposts. Like it doesn't seem like it would be THAT difficult to have Random base pirates with Skeleton pathfinding going from point to point on the island and doing emotes like sitting and playing an instrument or drinking grog in the tavern, doing weapon poses at the weapon shop etc. I just want the outposts to feel more alive, especially New Golden Sands. It size and visual appeal makes the lack of anyone in it STRIKING I recognize that from a content creation standpoint, this is like, lower than 0 on list of priorities, but I think having the world feel more alive helps hugely with the average player experience, and making that better means more players to be interacting with.

[@exhausting_thoughts]

your last paragraph is the definition on why streamers doesn't like this update, is less content for them, but in the end it's a community's big W at almost every front. Then, no wonder why this season 8 (which was JUST the introduction of a matchmaking system, technichally speaking) is supposedly "the best ever" for most of the content milkers.

[@derpmellow2]

as a long time "casual" player, pve lord, i normally play a hour or 2 and get off, season 9 has greatly increased my player interaction on the seas(at least for now) its been great fun fighting for my loot again.

[@primrose5031]

That’s exactly what I’ve been thinking about this season so far. The only real “new” things are the new chest and an old world event being brought back. Everything else kind of feels like small improvements that would be in the bottom of the patch notes, not 1/3 of the year’s content. It’s especially worrying that the game might dip in player retention because the past few months sot’s been feeling pretty quiet

[@gagelashley6486]

As a solo slooper everything they announces brought me pure joy. This is a great season for solo sloops.

[@WalyMTY]

Amen

[@thevoicestoldmetoagain4627]

Heck yeah it is. Perfect for me actually cause im a solo sloop fisherman main.

[@cordia96]

@@thevoicestoldmetoagain4627 The modest life

[@thevoicestoldmetoagain4627]

@@cordia96 Heck yeah brother lol

[@JPooger]

Iv said it in other videos and I'll say it again. Not every season is gonna be a banger. There will be seasons that are slim on content. They need time and, well rest. That aside. I do think the season method of development was gonna have problems from the start. When it was a mix of small and big updates. Making it based on seasons comes with an expectation that each season will have a bunch of new stuff. When it was the old way, a big update was a big treat and full of excitement. Now a big update is the expectation not the outlier.

[@MrOskiee]

You said it. This update is geared at solos and new players. It fixes a lot of the frustrations us newer players have had that you older players have lived with. I'm more certain than ever that season 10 will be huge and potc is going to make a comeback. A huge season 10 and potc will bring in a ton of new players.

[@dustypirate28]

This would make sense considering they just announced a Deluxe Edition release. Easier play for crews buying the pricier version.

[@MrOskiee]

@@dustypirate28 lol, Yea. I saw that just now. Telling ya, potc2 is coming.

[@nickh.4940]

I really do appreciate the honesty. There's no shame in admitting that the season is not going to be as big as anticipated. However, as someone who enjoys the game through thick and thin and plays solo half the time, I do see this season as a huge update for me. The quality of life changes of the world events and auto harpoons is honestly enough for me personally. It'll make my voyages so much more efficient, and I can actually now do stuff rather than having to keep a low profile all the time. Not to mention the Red Sea patch it's one of the best things I can possibly imagine for people who like organic PVP and are tired of salty runners (my crew included). And even though there's only a handful of new items, I'm more excited for the fact that the Seas will now be more active with stuff to do in general. It's more likely that servers will be populated, which leaves more opportunity for those crazy shenanigans that usually only happened once in a blue moon for me. Well my personal favorites being organic alliance servers. One of my favorite instances was where the alliance (myself included) defended 3 MILLION worth of loot against a severely toxic Good Boy galleon (like they were saying every slur in the book). It took all four of our ships to bring them down. And I can't tell you how satisfying it was seeing their ship sink below the waves and the toxic swabs Alt+F4. It's still one of the most epic battles I have on record of my time playing the game, and I want to have those moments show up more often with this season. And that's what I'm looking forward to. The only thing I'm not looking forward to though is the Kraken being able to spawn at any time now...

[@reneszeywerth8352]

As a solo slooper there are great changes. Currently for me an Ashen Lord or skeleton fort is more than an hour of fighting and at any time some other crew can come in and spoil it all.

[@pali1H]

I solo only so the scaling is really helpful. I just turned 40 so don't have a lot of friends that play the game. I used to play CS 1.6 professionally back in the day against Summit1g. My online friends are all gone lol

[@fulcrum2867]

If this were one of the old monthly updates it'd be great. As a season, it does not hold enough to keep players interested for four months

[@maverick5311]

It’s a 40 dollar game that keeps putting new stuff out just enjoy Jesus

[@gigachirps4848]

Especially considering the fact it’s the 5 year anniversary… just disappointing

[@CGallerine]

I gotta agree, from someone who has been around since year 1 I personally really struggle to keep a positive-when-not-everything-is-ok attitude. It's nice to see people getting excited for the season of course; but I can't help but feel this update is just a whole nothingburger of content filler for the next couple of months. I genuinely hope Rare have something up their sleeve for s10, like said guilds, the ever-requested cosmetic presets, and something actually big that can bring more replayability to the game. I only want to see the best become of this game and Rare as a developing company, don't get me wrong, so I hope they're hearing the criticism from the community regarding seasons like this, cause with no competition in the market for this game, an update like this made them look kind of... lazy. To put it honestly, to me this entire season update feels like what any other game would add in the background to something bigger, but considering what happened with APL tales, there's always potential of something secret being worked on.

[@greenpotat]

I absolutely agree with you. it may be a quality of life update, it may be a great one, it is not worthy of being named a ‘season’ update. The content is really disappointing considering the hype they gave us

[@shippy1001]

There`s nothing "new", also no PvP or balance updates.

[@exhausting_thoughts]

​@@shippy1001 They won't add any new pvp. it's time to accept it folks, they only answered your arena's weepings once, and if the hg falls, they won't do it again, so take care of it. Now cope.

[@ibrokemyownheart4953]

I’m one of the early players that left when there was nothing to do besides voyages for the 3 factions. Coming back and I have been having a ton of fun just doing anything

[@exhausting_thoughts]

Welcome back. First tip is to literally don't pay attention to almost any content creator take except for pvp tips.

[@DuskEalain]

Honestly I'm just excited for the higher frequency of emergent world events. I've had so many sessions where the only event was a skelly fleet that stuck in the air for what felt like hours, never despawning but never being cleared either. More megalodons, more krakens, and more FoFs/FOTDs because they're now less of a headache to activate and tied to a new progression will be nice. Especially given FoFs/FOTD is one of the few things that give decent loot come endgame. I don't mind a smaller update tbh, especially one like this that gives new players and smaller crews more to do. World events like the FoF, Ashen Lord, etc. always felt like a chore to do as a solo because everything was a bullet sponge designed to be fought by four people.

[@rambo-cambo3581]

They're definitely holding back fixes and changes to release them as 'content' Since when were slight gameplay changes and fixes something to put in a trailer? That stuff should be rolling out as and when needed Season content should be CONTENT - skins, maps, tall tales, new ships, I dont care just not fixes and updates that should happen anyway

[@ZonicTheRobot]

Season 9 shouldn't be big, because after Season 9 is Season 10. Now Season 10 of anything gets overblown and out of proportion, but they could be making a huge event out of Season 10 and an underwhelming Season 9 is gonna make Season 10 seem that much better.

[@ImIllITeRaTeAnD]

I've been getting a rip out of Open Crew Brig lately - the key is you have to be the captain/leader - otherwise your stuck with 3 people saying 'what are we doin?'. Pony up for a supplies, state 'we're flying X emissary and getting to level 5 and noone is gonna stop us' 《- this is the easiest way I've discovered to get something going 90%+ of the time.

[@xDracolich]

You're definitely right in that this season is more aimed at the new players. Making the world events easier, making life on the sea more convenient, making Season 1 cosmetics come back in the shop (they accidentally made those purchasable early, then removed them again within an hour), releasing a new Deluxe Edition, updating Sea of Thieves to "Sea of Thieves: 2023 Edition"... They're definitely trying to reel more new players in

[@exhausting_thoughts]

Man that's not hard to understand and you totally nailed it, but it seems like every sweat is going at goblin mode yelling nonsense like this update is trash only because Rare decided to have a break about PVP stuff right now. They better start hitting their teeth with a stone and be actually grateful, cause if the hourglass fails to engage over time even without new rewards, i don't see Rare paying that much attention to the pvp side of the game at all, apart from just polishing the world. The season 8's numbers are not that great to be yelling for more pvp and expect wide audiences.

[@jotarothedixieboo3435]

@@exhausting_thoughts we’re not mad about lack of pvp content, we’re mad that there is a LACK of new content

[@Choom89]

Where are the outfit loadouts? That's the one thing I'm salty about, a QoL season should have that.

[@Foxingg]

You say "This whole update is geared towards the new player experience" as if EVERY update isn't geared towards that. I have a disproportionate amount of interactions with people on their quest for glittering gold. The game entirely subsists on meaningless updates built to attract new players and annoying FOMO to maintain old ones. The devs hate us.

[@whitenight1937]

I'm honestly glad that some people, specially Partners, are being a bit more honest and not afraid to politely criticise Rare's latest decisions. We love the game, we've paid for it and we have the right and very likely the duty of pointing out stuff we don't like. I've seen an insane amount of conformism on Twitter these days. Season 9 is objectively one of the poorest seasons to this date

[@exhausting_thoughts]

if they would've added a new game mechanic i bet you would rant about how it would harm your pvp dogmas. If they would've added a new on-demand world event, you would rant too. If they would've added a new map expansion, you would also rant. My point is that you are not looking onto what makes people go away from SoT, and that thing is not server stability, hitreg or things that veterans we do care, it is mostly the sense of work that this game brings (it's even more a thing than the learning curve). Rare is fixing that matter with this heavily underrated -and falsely tagged as contentless- update. But who im kidding at this point, you with mixel and older LSD's want to make this game a niche game and hoping to have a playercount like Evolve Stage 2, but i have news for your revenues if that's your goal, because your pvp-only-dream-of-status-quo is an illusion, most of the people that comes to this game wants to mind their own business, hoping to not get attacked and their booty stolen. Only hardened enough players turn to pvpers, which is literally less than a 5% of the stable player count, let that sink in.

[@Foxingg]

You're absolutely right and you should say it. The game is in desperate need for new content, the new loot is not new content, just cheap revisions of existing content. ALSO desperately needed though, because after a thousand hours the whole game feels cheap.

[@jotarothedixieboo3435]

I still cant fathom how ppl are praising this season! Yes the changes are nice, but it isnt something that can keep ppl playing for 3 months.

[@faretheewell]

The cosmetics coming with this season have caught my interest the most out of everything. In my opinion, the (free) pass along with the other cosmetics coming with commendations, etc. Are some of the best that have been added to the game in a long time. I'm looking forward to getting them! 🍻

[@r4wr0ck]

It will be interesting to see how it plays out. Thanks for the video Beeb.

[@alhena11]

As a recently new player (montth or so), I was wondering something similar. When I saw the S9 trailer, I was thinking "shouldn't there ve more to this update? When the last season had a huge new mechanic? Especially on aniversary?" But I saw people getting excited so I just assumed it's normal this way.

[@jaywerner8415]

Its a Nice Quality of Life Update, but thats about it. Im sure it would be nice to have SOMETHING new, but Quality of Life is always nice. Plus hay we now have Event Scaling depending on crew size (even solo players) and some of the Tedium got removed.

[@eugenedembowski9380]

I think it is what it is. Clearly, developers are not just skipping work and drinking mojitos instead of building content. If they were not able to deliver "enough" content for season 9 it only means that all their efforts are going into big features for seasons 10 and 11. Which is fair enough. I would only worry about some particular design choices affecting the gameplay loop, but I don't care about the AMOUNT of content. In regard of questionable choices - I am myself concerned that if world events would scale according to the amount of players participating it would basically make alliances pointless since a second ship would just make the event harder. I understand that for sloops world events were not accessible without an alliance but still, having an alliance must have its own reward as well as its risk. So yeah, we'll see

[@inGraffitiWetrust]

i "kinda" agree but yet im super hyped for the new season pass can't wait for the level100 grind and forts being more active means more PVP in the open world so i am down for that! the QoL changed are great for example the harpoon altho ngl the way it worked was just fine but this does make looting as solo slooper so much less of a hussle

[@Zudexa]

i agree 100% on them needing to focus harder on cheaters. its so easy to tell when someone is cheating when you're running away from them and they constantly magically know that you're about to board them when they're too close for a mermaid to give it away and you jump off the front of your ship, and when their console friend is the one left on the ship after the cheater tried to launch off and get on my ship and i'm able to board instantly with no contest, anchoring their ship.

[@NexVoidGaming]

How tf are new players going to get bored a few weeks in? I'm a new player a few weeks in and there is TONS of content I haven't even scratched. Not everyone is a power-gaming streamer, man. Some of us actually slow down to smell the roses.

[@WalyMTY]

Amen

[@exhausting_thoughts]

He's speaking from his position of interest, and looking to milk content. Except from qol changes at pvp, he among streamers like mixel and so on will never be alright with this type of update

[@Nephutis]

sorry beeb this is an L take. you know a big reason why dark and darker feels like absolute crack? the pace of the game loop. you're in, you're out, or you're dead, FAST. season 9 is increasing the pace of the game loop for everyone. more pve with less time wasted at each event, more ships interested in doing events, and less time doing tedious tasks like harpoon grabbing. finding ships to sink will be faster and easier for players who want organic pvp or steals too. this is EXACTLY the kind of season i'd want right before a big content season, which i'm sure 10 will be.

[@BinkleCoolGuy]

In times like this, I love stacking/fighting stackers. While the update was pretty lackluster, people will still play. Nothing is more satisfying than sinking your opponent and seeing their huge pile of loot. Im praying there is a second half of this update.

[@belette85749]

Finally someone to say it, yeah for a big anniversary release, it feels just like a weekly patch. Did I miss something or they said earlier the env team had done something crazy never seen before in a game ? Where is that ??? I was expecting a crowd system to bring life into port Merrick, like the waiting video on youtube before they start talking for hours about this minor update

[@greenpotat]

The crazy stuff they talked alot about is the documentary. It sure means alot to them, but only to a few number of players

[@belette85749]

@@greenpotat oooh ok.... thanks

[@greenpotat]

@@belette85749 i hope im wrong tho

[@bradleyjenkins2271]

Being someone working 7 days a week I only have ~4h to play every day The grappling mechanics overall have been my favorite Not only can I now do 10x the amount of voyages in my 4h, selling at the end isn’t even as bad as I expected I typically would spend 3/4 of my night picking loot up, and it’s now less than 1/4 now It’s just amazing

[@anotuselessmovie]

For me, season 9 is a good incentive to bring players into the game and make them feel rich and have fun with you. Sometimes, it's better not to care too much about yourself and put others ahead. I'm looking to try and RP more in this season, and find the shrouded ghost. Pretty sure they have a big surprise (adventure big choice or season 10 having new mechanics / raid boss to challenge veterans? flameheart dungeon? spitting ideas here xD)

[@LegendOfTy]

I love that you used that Megalodon clip. Forever a true pirate moment!

[@Fenix1o]

As someone whose entire plan is fish,cook,and sell said cooked fish for the whole season, I’m super excited for this season. This one is really up my alley.

[@silvercat18]

Well, as a fisher myself - where are the new fish? Where is the emissary flag for hunters call? Why did they have actual working fishing voyages and then do nothing with them? Thats the problem, there are areas of the game like fishing and the hunters call that have been horribly neglected. Even getting merrick replaced - just restoring the basics of being able to sell there, took over half a year.

[@Fenix1o]

@@silvercat18 fair. But I like taking whatever wins I can get. And the bait cases? Absolutely perfect. Instead of spending time digging for em now I can use the gold I have to just get a Bunch and use that time to fish more. Maybe one day they’ll consider doing more with the hunter’s call, maybe not. I’m personally still content. Plus wouldn’t the hunters call emissary be a bad mix? I fish to relax in the game, why would I want to throw up a hunter’s call emissary to make myself a notable target?

[@Lamb2Lionz]

If u need a fishing buddy I'm down ^_^"

[@sirTyperys]

i have no idea why nobody else is talking about this. all they did was add cosmetics and streamline existing content. that won't keep players interested for four months.

[@TheAuNinja2]

I guarantee you that the drastic dip in content we're seeing is precisely because of all the bugs this game has. Season 7 and Season 8 have both had incredibly rocky launches; When Season 7 launched, your ship cosmetics would literally not save half the time, and that was the HEADLINE FEATURE OF SEASON 7. It's because Rare won't fix their sh**. Their mentality of "new content now, bug fixes later" is catching up with them, and we're starting to see the effects.

[@thevoicestoldmetoagain4627]

Great season for new players and solo sloops. Better yet if youre a fishing solo sloop like myself.

[@littlegoat713]

I agree that this puts serious weight on Season 10. Season 9 just being a filler QoL improvement is good and all, but with only changes, a few improvements, and a couple new items, Season 10 is gonna need to be really good. I'm just expecting Guilds of course, but if it ends up becoming more than that, I'd personally be happy. I wonder what others are hoping for, and if they're not as picky like me. Lmao

[@Kowgan]

"It's clear this season was likely aimed at the new player experience" That's the thing. Rare has been focusing their efforts and updates towards the new player experience for a very long while now. The majority of their updates is aimed at new players and GamePass players, most who only play the game once or twice and then uninstall. I don't know why they do this, I don't know how is this profitable in a business view, but that's what they've been doing.

[@Hyperion9700]

I am a new player 100 hours but I'm seasoned in games as a service and getting underwhelming updates.

[@luplex7567]

im "new" to the game im like 250 hrs in now and at this point did the majority there is to do obviosly the grind is still only at the beginnung but you get the point, i know everything the game has to offer. I think the update makes it a bit more faster pace, like world events go quicker ( at least as sloop or brig) however id have hoped for new voyages including content, yea we got the skull and chest voyagews for dabloons and the powder barrel wich is great but for 3 seasons a year, to little imo. im super hyped fot season ten tho and im sure its gonna be great

[@Schoenmann3]

I got PL in about 200 hrs and am already bored af with SoT unfortunately. I'm like, there's just zero motivation for me. Who cares about gold, who cares about cosmetics lol. Who cares. I like the game, but after having random voices and flying pirates completely hack and ruin the experience for me, I basically don't play anymore 🤷‍♂ Its unfortunate they're not addressing these massively game-breaking features.

[@Schoenmann3]

Also the 'cheapening' and 'reducing in difficulty' is making the game even less appealing. I like a challenge. Not a cakewalk.

[@infinitypeaches3329]

if your that new, I suggest doing PvP if you haven't already. it can be WAY more enjoyable than PvE, or mindlessly chasing chickens

[@chaosmagican]

@@Schoenmann3 Yeah and I don't like how they remove coordination and teamwork. The auto-harpoon should have been a solo-sloop thing imho. And if they keep dumbing down the game they really need to implement a hard mode or it will become too boring. I asked like two dozen people who play this game in my circles and everyone looks with concern to the development of the game. None of them is really happy with the changes and what they focus on (and their routine over reactions)

[@louisreilly5925]

it’s enough.

[@Eidlones]

As an on and off player that solo sloops, this is made for me. World events were basically untouchable content for me before. Why spend a half hour/hour+ doing a world event just to have a crew of 2+ show up and steal my stuff. I know it's a part of the game, but doing something designed for multiple people, as a single person, just to have all that effort be for nothing, is incredibly frustrating, and I'd honestly rather not have it.

[@haise7839]

This is the video I wanted

[@pae913]

So.... Here's what I like about season 9 - I love the set that comes with that new chest. Obviously I have only seen it in the videos, BUT I know others will be after it. So... this is more incentive for me to get better at pvp. I've been trying, but now that I'll have something that I'll have to protect... that sort of puts that at a higher priority

[@MrCodeman2036]

So what are the things you want them to fix? Can you make a list?

[@ardynizunia9709]

YES! I've been saying there are 5 things that Rare needs to work on to make SoT perfect. 1: Make the game brighter Rare, not seeing anything isn't fun. 2: Server stability 3: Anti-Cheat 4: Hit Reg 5: Voyage Variety. The three companies should get 3-5 new voyages each. Nothing as grans as the legend of the veil, but rather stuff on the level of the vaults. This way when you log on it would be a surprise which voyages are on offer right now, as you couldn't just access them all from any any outpost, but just 3 randomized ones at a time. That would force variety into your gameplay instead of stagnating into the same routine, and as long as the voyages are balanced from a money to timeinvestment perfective to all be relatively equal, with the longer ones paying better per minute but being much longer in return, if we got that, the game would be so much better. Right now SoT really doesn't have much to do. Honestly, seen and done it all 100 times and I only play since season 6. Can't imagine how tired of it a season 1 veteran is.

[@infinitypeaches3329]

brighter? I suggest getting your eyes checked if you can't see anything in this game

[@ardynizunia9709]

​@@infinitypeaches3329 I literally have 20/20 vision bro. This is not my subjective take, Blurbs agreed on this in one of his recent videos where he asked people what they wanted for season 9. It's bright enough when you sail in daytime or in clear weather conditions. But in a storm, when there's any fire on your ship or when there are clouds above in the night, the shading in this game becomes VERY EXTREME, to the point you can't see a thing. But I guess you will tell me now that Blurbs, who has thousands of hours in this game and has a career off of being good at it is just wrong in saying this game is, and I quote "entirely too dark"? I recommend you get your eyes checked for super powers if you can see within the above described conditions without a problem. The game is cartoony, noone is here for an accurate fire fighter point of view, we wanna see stuff.

[@infinitypeaches3329]

@@ardynizunia9709 just don't sail in a damn storm, or use the map(assuming your not chasing a ship, but doing a voyage)

[@exhausting_thoughts]

4 out of 5 things you are wishing are definately things that doesn't affect casuals at all, so be ignored as usual. As long as we, veterans of the game understand that Rare wants to polish the game onto making it a wide game for tens/hundreds of thousand people, and if they have to ignore us to reach that goal, they will.

[@ardynizunia9709]

@@exhausting_thoughts I disagree completely, I think every single thing I said affects casuals. SoT doesn't have that high of a player retention, I looked at steam charts a while back for this game, and the game loses way more players than it gains. 1: Brightness is relevant for casualy because annoying visuals are annoying even if you're not a veteran. 2: Server stability affects everyone, the more unstable a game is, the more likely players are gonna drop it. 3: Anti-Cheat is important because players will get frustrated and drop a game if they lose unfairly. 4: Hit Reg is important for the same reason as anti-cheat, you feel cheated when you get a hit marker but the enemy doesnt die, or when your sword block doesn't work and they just hit through it. 5: Voyage variety is the most important thing for player retention. Casual players do NOT want to do the same voyage hundreds of times. They need much more variety than the pitiful 2 voyages each company has at the moment. So yeah, your entire comment is just wrong. Right now Rare is doing nothing to keep casual players around. Casuals aren't invested in the story of the adventures because casuals and new players didn't play most adventures. But 90% of Rares work these days is just adventures that they then remove 2 weeks later. So again, I have no idea what you are talking about mate, but Rare is doing nothing to keep player retention. They aren't even polishing the game, because brightness/visibiltiy, server stability, anti cheat and hit reg are all polishing. And they aren't adressing that. What they are doing is adding little quality of life features that don't change the actual gameplay AT ALL and they present that as an entirely new season. If you are happy with that and think it somehow keeps casual players around, you have super low standards and you know nothing about game design. The game right now is being built almost exclusively for us veterans. Because Rare only adds quality of life stuff that we may appreciate, having played so much that those tiny things really feel like something we wanted a lot. And also we already survived on the same 2 voyages per company for years, so Rare knows most veterans will stick around no matter what. So yeah, you are literally 100% wrong, the game right now is being patched in a way veterans will tolerate, but casuals will just drop it. Rare is being lazy as hell and are putting way too many resources into adventures, which don't change the actual game at all.

[@NoSoupForYouu]

I aint gonna write an essay about it but I agree whole heartedly with you and the fact that Rare included a feature THATS ALREADY IN THE GAME (bait radial wheel) in their update video, it shows how out of touch they are

[@kakashiuzumaki8541]

I'm really excited about season 9 because of the quality of life update to make the game more easy playable and less annoying, but yeah the fact that rare sells this as a brand new season is kinda weak since this could have been just like a patch or something of course the new chest, new commendations and new cosmetics aside...

[@endertuber8300]

I wouldn't be surprised if the original "New Social Options for Crews" in the old 2022 Roadmap for Season 9, or at least a big chunk of its original content, was postponed after the whole roadmap basically went out of the window with Season 6 and 7 being expanded beyond the usual three months duration... so they could be "back on tracks" for the late spring-summer period with bigger updates... I personally think that the whole delays is responsible for such "meager" season, and as such I'm personally fine with waiting more for bigger content, leaving me time to chill and get the Curses I need, the only thing that left me really disappointed is that new, non re-skin, outpost cosmetics and set, and more customization for the Skeleton Curse beside the (maybe) one new set they leaked...

[@950djb]

I've been advocating for a bug fix season ever since they started doing seasons. I think a big update dedicated to introducing a ton of bug fixes would make this game much more enjoyable. I guess advertising a season of QOL and bug fixes isn't as flashy as new features and content.

[@Mr_Klept]

I’m excited for season 9. I’ve been playing for years now and I’m just excited for new cosmetics for stealing a cool chests. I prefer not to steal fotd because it’s too easy but fof has much more randomness to it and hopefully This update brings people to the same island like skelly forts did a long time ago. I personally will probably stop playing after a while or after I get the commendations but I do hope season 10 will be much better now.

[@sdswood3457]

Absolutely feels like a stopgap delay for Flameheart and 'guilds' whatever they are

[@infinitypeaches3329]

''is it enough?'' SPOILERS: no

[@xidears4156]

I feel the same. I wish they would just take a season to pour all of their resources into fixing as much as they can. That would bring in and retain more players then they know.

[@silvercat18]

Big respect for Blurbs saying what needed to be said. Players are going to do a few forts of fortune and realise that ....they have been doing this already for over a year now. Even the fort of fortune was nothing new when it came out...its just a skeleton fort with an ashen lord and some buried items. The game is just....boring and this season lets you harpoon things a bit quicker....while being bored.

[@Thamb0]

I agree that they really are not adding much. All of the quality of life upgrades are on pre-existing things, so I feel like they could've been easy add-ons throughout the season. They should've added in at least a new world event (ghost fleet isn't new) or something more tangible for us to explore. I still love playing the game, but many of my friends are taking a long break after the number of cheaters faced in hourglass battles getting to lvl 100, so I was hoping for something more lucrative being added that would have them come sailing back. I'm still excited, but man the lack of content being spread across a third of a year each season is kinda rough.

[@Norgon_Warrior]

feel the same way love the game just want stuff fixed if not i dont see sot lasting want to see new players coming to the game not getting frustrated and quiting

[@DeadEyes63]

This season feels more or less like a monthly update. Just some quality of life changes and balancing with some new content to work with. It just doesn’t feel like a seasonal update and feels very bare minimum

[@thelordsanguine6383]

as an OCE player, almost all of hourglass battles were just me and my buddy vs hacker-sloops. I've never been one-balled 100% consistently ever... This game sorely needs some form of anti-cheat that stops at least some simple aim-botting... I did notice the drop of popularity with this season.

[@RipplyAnemone67]

I think that stuff like the reaper rowboats can be added in monthly updates and I’d say some stuff like the bait crate would to but also I think world event scaling is good as I’m a solo player and it makes it a lot faster to do them as now I’m not a solo doing a 4 player event but a solo doing a 1 player event

[@totallylegitimate9757]

Honestly I dont care about "NEW" having multiple seasons for a casual game can feel too fast paced. I'm aware that for some people it could drag that there is only 3 season per YEAR but thats why "Updates" exist, sometimes for a casual gamer that doesnt one trick one game it can be very overwhelming having other faced paced games having "Seasons" and "battlepasses" having such a fun time in a sea faring game feels so nice and laid back. Even having ALOT of free content more than premium is VERY NICE you actually pay for the luxury items (SoT and even DRG) instead of having to pay for EVERYTHING and have stress of needing to get it done as a chore than an experience like MANY other game. Lets keep it slow and rolling like a wave and leave sweaty chore grinding paywalls at port. A great idea to keep the game fresh would be to have the sea creatures have a npc ship encounter, or other crossovers too like Raft(abandoned supply rafts), Subnautica(Reaper Leviathan 👀), Lovecraftian cursed artifacts, Assassins Creed and have a Man-O-War Boss ship???!

[@ulfrick11]

We now have 2 chests that do the same thing, cry nonstop. One is in a tall tale the other from a new voyage.

[@KingMell0n]

I feel the season isn’t really “full” all that time for a new chest and easier world events. The qol stuff is great, one of the things I’ve been wanting even, but it’s just not enough for how long each season is.

[@spice_goat6649]

The thing im most excited about is the new skull being easier being activate fotd. Make it popular again

[@bessljo]

As a commendation hunter, I keep getting disappointed that they are getting easier to achieve while Rare mashes the reset button (repeat commendations for ship customization; repeat commendations with PvP skins; I fully expect to repeat commendations with guilds...) And considering I can no longer complete the Arena commendations (which is what I was expecting to return with Season 8) I've lost a lot of drive to even play. New chests? cool, I'll go spend another few thousand of hours looking for the Shrouded.

[@Womtek1]

One thing that I don´t like with this update that I know many pepole loves is the loot spawning in safe water if the ship sinks in the red sea. So for being a sandbox game, they are removing things in the game for pepole to choose on doing. I´m not a red sea runner so I´m not saying this to defend my playstyle. I´m just saying if this is a sandbox game and you are free to do your adventure and story....if I wanna dig up one chest and then sail to the red sea...the chest is not mine since it´s only yours when you turn it in and get gold, but it´s on my ship and should affect whatever I choose to do with the ship, not what the pepole behind the ship wanna have from me. So if a person is a red sea runner, then that is how they wanna play the game and wanna control their play session. The same thing with pepole going for other pepole...they choose to attack others instead of doing the PvE themself and normally the outcome would be less then if you just do it yourself. But it´s how you wanna play it and if you grab a chest from my ship and put it on your ship, then you are in the control of the chest for now. So yeah, they make the game easier for everyone, they exclude pepole grinding from the beginning just to have them grind the same thing again and they strict players option for sandbox to just thing of the pepole that are going for other ships and how they should be rewarded for chasing a ship to red sea. But that is my cent on it, I´ve spent 3400 hours on the game and I´m just sad how the game have become and why I feel less and less joy in playing it if I ever play it.

[@legiongaming99]

I hope they add npc crews especially for captained ships it would revamp PVP and help PvE and help the world feel more alive

[@HororKodStudio]

I just want bug fixes. Make the game playable again, rare.

[@oScandalous]

Nice video man. Thanks for all the videos.

[@heroclix0rz]

I find myself playing the game less and less every season. These "quality of life" changes are the biggest reason. The experience is being cheapened at the cost of player interaction. Feels lose/lose. I really liked the calm of the sea, constantly scanning the horizon, building anticipation for that moment when we spotted sails and had to quickly assess their intent. Now the game feels like a constant barrage of events and shit I need to be doing, and yet none of the loot feels important. But it feels anti-pirate to just ignore loot. I want them to thin the game back out. As the game is, it's not for me.

[@merylsmith5305]

This is my whole problem with seasons. Rare puts themselves on a schedule and builds expectations for content, then fails to deliver. Just release finished updates when theyre ready, and hold broken/in-progress ones until you've ironed out the bugs. The entire Season/Adventure/Regular-Scheduled-Update model seems a lot more driven by investors than the devs. Its designed to create artificial interest in the game on a somewhat regular basis, pulling people back in with a promise that "things are new and different now!", then time-limiting things so that players have no choice but to log in despite the update being a glitchy, unpolished mess. I'll say what I've always said. Take your time, make it good, dont overpromise, and people will be happier in the long run.

[@Hublbupf]

I'm absolutely fine with this season being small, if that means, that they focus on a big one next season. Redesigning the Wilds for example ^^

[@infinitypeaches3329]

when did they ever say they were redesigning the wilds? those green patches of grass were only there for the adventures, the wilds will stay the same. your sun-loving ass just wants everything to be the exact same

[@samshaw3657]

I thought I was going mad. Thankyou for saying all of this

[@cxrsed9070]

I love the changes they’ve already made don’t get me wrong, was just expecting a little more

[@BiO811HazarD]

I’m very excited for season 9, but I totally agree that almost every part of this season feels like it should have already happened in a variety of patches. As a casual player, I also agree that I will likely get bored pretty quick. I should be able to experience all this season has to offer in just a few sessions.

[@cmdrrubbelspritz2115]

If the feature (i.e. guilds...?) isn't ready then they did the right thing not to release it. Y'all have seen what happens if stuff gets released before it's done: BF 2042, Cyberpunk 2077, No Man's Sky...

[@shippy1001]

You summed up all my thoughts on this season 9, feel lackluster.

[@festusfive9157]

bro the bounded sorrow chest is gonna do so much just on its own thats worth noting. kinda sad they didnt promote that thing much at all. I do appreciate not being positive just for the sake of it, thats how apex legends is the husk that it is. Community kept putting up with bullshit over and over for 3+ years

[@C454D]

So valid points. However not every season can be massive game changers and regular quality of life seasons like this are good for an overall balance of pace for the game. Is it the most incredible content season? No. However it shows their want to make older content valid against the newer stuff, bringing it up to par. One could argue it is just a patch wearing a season trenchcoat but often within seasons we see numerous other patches included that add and tweak things, so don't think that when season 9 hits that is all they will do: Rare do care and want to continue to improve things. The fact they are taking a massive L on their roadmap with seasons and pushing content back to make sure it works is something you'd never see from other companies (heck, the fact Microsoft gives them this leeway shows how much they care to keep this game healthy). Going to be a real stickler and give a hot take: I like seasons being up and down with how big they are. Lets other big features from other seasons sink in and settle properly instead of being cast away immediately. It lets us have a more chill time to get loot, have some adventures and not need to be like "I need to do the super cool new feature". This is a nice season of "lets see how they tweaked it" and give feedback on if it worked or not. Is it exciting? No, but if every season was exciting it would quickly burn the game out and mean they have few good ideas and would have to rush them. Again, not saying to be impressed with Season 9, I am saying to understand that not every season will be a banger and pretty sure we will have (and we have HAD) tune-up seasons. Are they the greatest? No. But when all is said and done, those are the updates that added things you couldn't do without. I assure you, season 9 may not be the most welcome guest to bring in but we will certainly be happy they came along.

[@cardboardking577]

Also the last 2 seasons were probably very code heavy for the dev team in that they'd need to code everything almost from scratch, compared to other seasons

[@cardboardking577]

Also they need to balance the casual playerbase and the smaller competitive one. Having an entire season be anticheat and hitreg would *heavily* alienate the casuals.

[@infinitypeaches3329]

this should have been a small mid-season update, not an entire 3 month long season

[@internettuffguy1197]

This is the same patch as the last patch with a small few changes, and we'll still have to wait months at a time for New Adventures and Seasons

[@christomcat1227]

I'll gladly trade all these changes for just a hitreg fix. All long time players I know left the game because of this terrible bug. When 2-3 bullets out of 5 are a miss (plus reload time) and you lose hours of loot or a win streak because of such a basic issue, this really has to piss you off. And their recurent "intense action" excuse in the patch note has been proven wrong by tons of videos, you get missing hits just by shooting a player standing still on the deck...

[@buddhapest]

i was watching this at night and craving a midnight snack and you had to bring up reverse compliment pizza 😮

[@ravenb3048]

I've never even seen a mermaid statue in all the hours of the game and I've spent more time playing it than any other on my laptop with the exception of 2 others. That's how unimportant them dropping gems is.

[@legioinvigilata]

This game would be so much better if they made it a wholehearted MMO. Or at the very least added a more story centric environment. Tall tales should be the meat of the game, and it's bone dry- which is particularly sad considering the amount of things that are hinted at that just never get expanded on.