My little girl seems to attract griefers for some reason. It probably comes down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't help but sympathize with her. She doesn't bring this stuff on herself in any way, it just happens.
Last night, after supper, she played SoT for about 30-45 minutes. After logging in and running around the outpost to collect supplies, she noticed another sloop sailing towards the docks. Once in range, the sloop proceeded to shell her boat. Hoping to avoid a confrontation, she scuttled her ship and went up to the tavern to wait for the guy to leave.
Long story short, he didn't leave. In fact, he anchored his sloop next to her mermaid and camped the spot with his eye of reach (ie, sniper rifle). Whenever she'd come out to see if he was gone, or to try and get to her mermaid, he'd shoot at her. Eventually he shot and killed her.
What the hell kind of sociopathic crap is that? It's not enough to sink someone's sloop before they've even left the dock, but you have to make sure you kill them, too?
I don't think my daughter gets too upset over these things. She's come to accept the possibility, but she doesn't enjoy it when it becomes the reality. She eventually respawned at a small island, then (just to see if she could) swam to another island she saw in the distance (killing two sharks on the way). After that, she went back to her ship and sailed to the secret island at N10 to explore.
I played for about an hour, myself. I managed to complete a profitable Merchant Alliance voyage (thank God for gold snakes!). It took me the whole hour, though, because I couldn't find chickens anywhere. I eventually turned in my snakes just to avoid losing them to some random dweeb before canvassing several islands for poultry products. Eventually I found the birds, but it took more time than I would've liked.
Once again I went sailing, and once again I decided just to do my thing and not worry too much about the minute details of my voyage. I decided to do more Merchant Alliance missions, and my first was to locate and catch four chickens (a white, a gold, and two red-speckled). When I started out, I had no idea how long a process this was going to be.
I went to a number of islands and found no chickens, but I did manage to secure three more chicken coops and a pig crate. Eventually I ended up sailing to Smuggler's Bay, which was crawling with livestock. Only thing is, it was also crawling with skeletons.
As I sailed into the bay, a skeleton on the hillside began shooting a cannon at my ship. I leapt out, ran up the hill, and broke the skeleton up into pieces, but by the time I got back to my ship, it had been sunk. I swam out into the bay and got all my coops and cages back, making a nice little pile on the beach.
In order to save myself the trouble later, I captured the chickens I needed and left them behind while I went to my mermaid in order to get to my replacement ship. It wasn't too far off from Smuggler's Bay, so I set course and figured I'd have it all wrapped up within a few minutes. Wrong.
"Can't we just get along? Hmm?"
I passed near a sloop en route to Smuggler's Bay and its intrepid captain decided to chase me. Not really wanting to deal with a hostile encounter, I proceeded to wave at the guy. Afterwards, I put my sails up and slowed down while he pulled up alongside.
We had a brief conversation (which, in the video, is terribly one-sided, as only his voice was recorded). However, it went something like this:
Me: Hey there. I don't have any loot. I'm just looking for chickens. island3r 808: Chickens? Fried chickens? Me: Any kind of chicken, really. island3r 808: This a merchant quest? Me: Yep. island3r 808: Lookin' for some krakens. Me: Not sure Krakens spawn for sloops. I could be wrong.
At this point he begins to behave erratically, swinging his sword about.
Me: Well, I'm going to go ahead and get my chickens now. See you later. island3r 808: Alright, have a good night.
I see he's moved down to his cannon, and I figured there was a high chance he was going to shoot me. But I also figured I needed to give him the benefit of the doubt, right? I mean... maybe he's just making sure I'm not going to mess with him.
But no. This fellow ("island3r 808") appeals to his baser childlike instincts and shoots me with a cannon just as I begin to weigh anchor. Needless to say, I die.
After a few seconds aboard the Ferry of the Damned (my home away from home), I return to my ship. He'd shot it a few more times, likely boarded to confirm I didn't have anything worth taking, and was sailing away. I patched the many holes in my ship and bailed out the water before raising my anchor and continuing on my merry way.
This dweeb wasn't done with me, though. I guess continuing to follow me around and shoot at me was more fun than, well, just about anything else he could've been doing with his time. He knew I had nothing of value, so I can only assume he was being a jerk.
I decided to take a pot shot at him with my eye of reach. I know I didn't hit him, but it did incentivize him to shoot his cannon at me a few more times. Not one to sit idly by, I took up my own cannon and returned fire. To my sincere surprise, I received the "I Don't See Your Ship" achievement. And there his sloop was, sinking rather quickly into the sea.
All my aggravation at being griefed turned to amusement. He'd gotten exactly what was coming to him. Suddenly there was a God.
In summation, I returned to Smuggler's Bay and picked up my chickens. I left the extra coops behind, as it was late, and delivered the birds. I'd also found a message in a bottle along the way - a single map with five or six Xs on it - so I located the island and dug those bad boys up before heading off to my hammock for the night.
I count the evening a success, overall. My attempts to interact peacefully with another player came to nothing, though he did lose his virtual life in the process.
Last night I went sailing, but I didn't bother to jot anything down. I figured I'd just relax and see how things worked out. The murder rate was rather high again, and I accomplished absolutely nothing as a result. I ended up leaving the game due to being aggravated, but I can't blame my mood solely on Sea of Thieves. After all, I was grumpy in general and that never helps things.
In short, I decided to run a few Merchant Alliance voyages. They're generally pretty straightforward, and if they call for gold animals they can be incredibly profitable. The first voyage called for two black chickens, which is simple enough. I weighed anchor and sailed from island to island, finding no chickens anywhere.
When I finally did find an island with chickens, I dropped anchor, did a quick scan of the horizon, and waded ashore. Some skeletons spawned (and, oddly, kept spawning) which distracted me from the task at hand. As I ran to and fro on the beach hacking skeletons to bits, a galleon with fancy paint, sails, and figurehead pulled up next to my sloop and let fly a deadly broadside.
Not only did these blasts hit my boat, but they also hit me. Between damage sustained fighting skeletons and the cannon blasts, I found myself aboard the Ferry of the Damned pretty quickly. Returning to my ship on respawn, I discovered a pirate steering my sloop. What is it with these people?
I gave him a dose of my blunderbuss, but he survived. He drew his sword and, leaping around like a marine kangaroo, killed me. I found myself aboard the Ferry of the Damned once more. When I respawned, it was on a distant island with a new boat. Obviously, my sloop had been sunk and my chicken cages lost, forcing me to abandon my search for black chickens.
I certainly hope the galleon's crew had fun, because I thought the whole experience sucked. I'd hate to think they might've been disappointed by finding nothing aboard my ship worth stealing.
After abandoning the Merchant Alliance voyage, I figured I'd hunt for treasure with a Gold Hoarder voyage. It ended up with four maps, which I quickly identified and marked on my map. I headed west and dropped anchor near the first location. It was a small island and the treasure (a Seafarer's Chest) was easily located.
After I'd placed the treasure aboard my ship, I noticed another sloop heading my way. I dropped sails, weighed anchor, and was on my way as quick as can be. The other sloop fired a cannon at me, hitting once and knocking a hole in the back of my ship. I adjusted sails and ran away as best I could, but the other sloop decided to follow me.
This lasted quite a while, with me trying to outdistance the sloop. I did put some space between us, but it didn't last. Up ahead a storm was brewing, so I steered in that direction. Maybe I could lose them in the storm. With little else left to do, I grabbed an eye of reach (a sniper rifle, for all intents and purposes) and started taking pot shots at the other boat's crew.
I don't know if I hit anyone (I doubt it), but they must've had a crack shot aboard. The guy handily picked me off despite the rolling waves, rain, and distance.
After an obligatory wait aboard the Ferry of Souls, I returned to my sloop. Someone from the other ship was aboard, and they'd dropped my anchor, grabbed the piddly little Seafarer's Chest I'd found, and were in the process of returning to their own ship which pulled off and left me with a few cannon shots to remember them by. I patched the holes and bailed the water, then gave chase.
I can only assume I followed them because I was irked at losing the only thing of value I'd found in nearly an hour's play time. Maybe I could roll up on them while they docked at a nearby outpost and give a few of their cannonballs back to them, or I could sneak onto the island, find them, and chop them up. Neither plan was realized. I found myself watching them weigh anchor and head back out to sea from the beach of the outpost.
It was at this point I decided I wasn't really in the mood for Sea of Thieves any longer. Playing the game solo is hard enough, but when everyone out there is out for your blood, it makes it even more difficult. I don't think I'll be throwing in the towel just yet, but I'm moving in that direction.
Last night I decided to play a little bit and it turned into a bloodbath. My estimation of the average player in Sea of Thieves has dropped several notches. These people are homicidal sociopaths.
Galleon's Grave Outpost spawn-in.
Starting/Ending Rep - GH 23/23, OS 20/20, MA 20/20
Starting/Ending Gold: 30,945/34,785
Gold Earned: 3,840g
An Evening on the Blood Red Sea: For the Gold Hoarders
"A prize raided by the prominent Cheat Daniels"
Consists of two riddle rhymes, one to the Sunken Grove and the other to the
Crooked Masts.
Leave Galleon's Grave, spot shipwreck WNW and decide to check it out.
Coast is clear, dive on the wreck of the Hangman's Hate. Recover 2 Disgraced Bounty Skulls (291g, 337g), Villainous
Bounty Skull (967g), and Marauders Chest (514g). Pretty good haul.
Return to Galleon's Grave to sell loot. Run aground like and idiot, patch hull. Sell stuff, buy voyage from Henry (80), grab more supplies.
Go to Sunken Grove. Run aground again. Guess it's not my night.
lotrmith, Consummate PvPer
Coast is clear, head to island and follow clues. Find pig crate. And then another. And a third. Sunken Grove is now known as Pig
Crate Island. Also find a gunpowder barrel. Leave the last pig crate and the gunpowder on NW island for later pick up.
Find Captains Chest (786g) just sitting in a cave, not part of the riddle. This is good, because the four clues lead me to a crummy Seafarers Chest (256g). Guess that answers my questions about riddle length corresponding to loot value (apparently it does not).
Return to ship, swing around to NW island to get pig crate and gunpowder barrel. Set course back to Galleon's Grave to sell goods.
Arrive at Galleon's Grave, find banana Crate on beach. Sell loot, then raid all barrels on island for
bananas. Fill crate and sell to Mandy for 427g. Not bad for bananas.
Galleon arrives to my port side as I pull out of the dock. A player, lotrmith, boards me as the galleon
starts to shell my ship. I protest, "Hey, hey, hey! I don't have anything!" but he kills me, anyway.
Re-spawn into sinking ship, my gunpowder and pig crates floating nearby. Craving revenge, I get floating gunpowder barrel and swim
towards galleon, intending to use barrel to destroy or cripple said ship. Intercepted by crew (Oceanrider) and killed again, though I got a few cuts in.
Oceanrider
Of course, Oceanrider was defending her ship from my attempted demolition, but like as not was one of the individuals who shelled my sloop when lotrmith murdered me. She's as guilty as he is. To Davy Jones' locker for both of them!
After my second death, and without a ship to go back to, I respawn on Salty Sands. I spot a shipwreck to the SW. Might as well check it
out given my distance from Crooked Masts. After a short jaunt, I arrive at the wreck of the Devil's Rage. Coast is clear so I dive, find a Seafarers Chest (213g) and
a Foul bounty Skull (129g). Nothing else visible in wreck.
Set course for Crooked Masts by way of Daggertooth Outpost. Long way to go, but I like sailing so it's all good. When I arrive at Daggertooth, I notice a galleon in the distance on other side of the island. Wonder if it's the same group of dweebs that killed me earlier. Too distant to see their sails.
The Wreck of the Devil's Rage
Figure I should sell my stuff in a hurry, then sail to Crooked Masts. As I approach the island, I notice there's a galleon moored there. Sails are up so I can't tell if they're the guys from before. Instead of dropping anchor, I decide to check out Shark Tooth Key for incidental loots and supplies.
Find nothing but supplies and skeletons on Shark Tooth Key. I watch the galleon leave Crooked Masts, wait to see if they notice me. They seem to be moving off, so I head for the island. The galleon (the same one? Can't tell) is still out there.
Spend the next ten minutes running around Crooked Masts solving riddle clues. Get three out of four done before I notice a galleon off shore. It passes around the island, spots my sloop. I watch from shore as it turns sharply and rams my anchored ship. The crash is followed by a couple of cannon shots. I see people leaping into the water from the galleon.
The Galleon what Rammed My Anchored Sloop
I decide to sit down and wait for someone to find and kill me. No one comes. I find out why as both the galleon and my sloop begin to sail away -- they're stealing my ship. Typical.
My mermaid appears, so I dive down into the water and use it to return to my ship. As I spawn in my cabin, the dweeb who stole it (Trappin Dan) blows me away despite my attempts to engage him in conversation.
I respawn on my ship's deck, with Trappin Dan's back to me. Before I can attack him, he climbs the mainmast to the crow's nest. I pursue him, but he leaps down onto the cabin's awning. I don't even know if he's noticed me yet.
I jump to the yard arm, then onto the awning behind him. His back is still to me so I use my blunderbuss to turn him into fish food (and get rewarded with an achievement for my cowardly behavior). He dies and despawns. I look around and spot his galleon a ways off, sailing away.
Trappin Dan, Killer at Large
I'm unsure what the point of stealing someone's ship is given they can just respawn there. Good old Dan had spent time to repair the hull and bail the water out, so he obviously had something in mind.
As much as I would like to go back to Crooked Masts and solve the last riddle, it's way too late and I need to go to bed.
With each encounter I had with a player, I attempted to use voice chat to speak to them in the hope I could avoid further violence. In each case my attempts to parley made no difference at all. For whatever reason they found it more expedient just to kill me. In both cases, I carried no treasure and nothing of any real value, and they gained no profit from attacking me. It was not only a waste of their time, but of mine as well.
Maybe it's a mistake, but I let my son and daughter try Sea of Thieves out. They are both enjoying it immensely, though my daughter gets stressed the moment she has something of value aboard her ship. She's worried someone is going to kill her character and take it away. This is a reasonable concern, and I often share a similar sense of dread once I've accumulated a good amount of loot.
My son was playing last night, solo in a sloop, and came back to port to sell what he'd found. As he did so, a galleon pulled into port. Immediately, one of the galleon's crew swam to my son's boat to see if there was anything worth stealing. My son, being the good-natured fellow he is, followed the guy aboard and said, "How's your day going?"
The guy muttered something in response before murdering my son's character. Afterward, the rest of his crew boarded and took what little loot my son had left aboard: a Castaway's Chest and two Foul Bounty Skulls. Probably about 300g worth of loot, if he was lucky. So, in the end, a group of guys killed his character and stole the least valuable stuff you can find in the game.
As my son respawned aboard his sloop, we could hear the sounds of his anchor being raised. They were stealing his ship. He respawned right behind the guy at the wheel and my immediate suggestion was, "Shoot that jerk in the back of his thick head." Thinking on this for a moment, my son nodded and did just that.
The guy, wounded, let go the wheel and turned around as his friend (who had been raising the anchor) appeared on screen with cutlass at the ready. One of them (not sure which at this point) starts saying, "Don't shoot! Don't shoot! We're just 'borrowing' your ship for a bit."
So, suddenly, the guys who ganked his character and stole 300g in loot are asking my son to allow them to use his sloop for "a bit."
My son doesn't respond. Instead, he goes into the player menu and scuttles the boat, then jumps off and waits for his mermaid to spawn. Meanwhile, Dorkbeard and his first mate get to experience the ship sinking. I assume they had to swim back to the outpost (where their galleon was still docked), as they weren't far enough away to warrant a mermaid.
What boggles me is that they kill him, steal his stuff, then they ask him to not kill them so they can use his ship. Where is the logic there? I suppose by asking nicely (following virtual murder and theft), rather than killing him on respawn, they were hoping to gain his cooperation rather than risk him sinking his own boat. No way, man. You want a sloop, log out and get your own.
My boy was pretty easygoing about the experience. He's such a mellow kid. Just his question when the guy boarded his ship in search of valuables, "How's your day going?" is entirely in character for him and far more friendly than anything I would've said. Had I been in that guy's shoes, looking over the measly haul in my kid's hold, I would've answered, "Great, thanks for asking," before jumping off and returning to my ship.
The next time I play, I think I'm going to forgo voyages and just look for other boats. I'm going to get as close as I can and engage them in conversation and see how many of them kill me on general principles.
So I'm playing this Sea of Thieves game, and I've enjoyed it (for the most part) so far. The PvP aspect isn't really my cup of tea, so I tend to avoid people as best as I can. That said, it seems like the majority of the people playing the game are intent on destroying other players and sinking their ships, despite the fact that it accomplishes nothing and wins them no awards.
I can understand trying to steal other people's stuff, sure. The game has the word "Thieves" in the title, right? But I suppose when you give someone a hammer, everything (including my ship, parked off a remote island, with no one aboard) looks like a nail to them. I dub those people dweebs, and this blog is (at least indirectly) about them.
I've had a couple of what I might call normal interactions with folks. In one instance, some guy (who had apparently just spawned at an outpost) came to me and asked if I knew where he could find some cannonballs. I told him he was free to take any of the ones I had stored on my ship, but he was too conscientious to do so. Heck, I rarely use my cannons at all unless I'm shelling skeletons on the beach.
The second normal interaction was with a bloke who was selling his stuff at an outpost. We came across one another and paused. He pulled out his blunderbuss but didn't immediately shoot me dead (a rarity). In response, I waved. He waved back, then we both went back to ferrying treasure from our ships to the island.
See? Civilized behavior.
Conversely, there was a day early on in my sailing career when I pulled into an outpost. Another ship was docked nearby. Before I could even get off my ship, someone had boarded it and emptied a blunderbuss into my face. Instant death.
When I respawned, the guy (still on my boat, spawn-camping) shot me dead. And again after that. He had his microphone on and was singing (in a dorky teenage voice) "I believe I can fly. I believe I can touch the sky. Think about it every night and day..." as he gunned me down in cold blood aboard my own vessel.
But what I really love is when someone aboard a ship sees me and gives chase, cannons blazing. I tend to sell my booty regularly, so it's rare for me to have more than one valuable item (skull or chest) aboard my ship unless I've gotten particularly lucky. It still amazes me, though, how much time they'll spend trying to sink me, especially when I've got either nothing worth stealing or something incredibly meager (such as a crate of fine sugar) aboard.
In those cases, I actually feel somewhat accomplished if I can keep them busy chasing me for a good long while. They're wasting their time while I'm actually (silently) trolling them.
So that, in a somewhat larger nutshell than I intended it to be, is what this blog is about. I'll likely update it as I play, and if I can get footage or pictures of the various dweebs that haunt the shipping lanes, I'll post it here with an account of their dweeby behavior.
And before you say, "Wait a moment! If you play Sea of Thieves, you're agreeing to be chased down, attacked, spawn-camped, and griefed by said dweebs." And you'd be correct on that account, and I am in no way complaining about the game. I'm merely documenting the amazing behavior of society's best and brightest video gamers.
Like as not I'll post a few entries and then get distracted and stop entirely. If so, enjoy what comes along, conscious of the fact that every post you read could very well be my last.
My little girl seems to attract griefers for some reason. It probably comes down to being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I can't help but sympathize with her. She doesn't bring this stuff on herself in any way, it just happens.
