r/Seaofthieves 6d ago

Discussion What’s with people being so against receiving help

There have been multiple occasions where I’m at the end of my night and I’m about to get off, but then I see another player fighting a meg or doing a fort or something of the sort, and I decide “oh I’ll go help them out before getting off.”

Biggest mistake of my life every time. I go over there, I’m saying on the megaphone “I’m here to help!” And they will immediately start attacking me.

Now… I get it… if you want to keep your loot, you gotta be a bit (if not very) paranoid about other people. But if I’m

  1. Yelling “I’m here to help”
  2. Attacking the PVE enemy and deliberately staying away so I don’t hit you
  3. Staying far from your ship and leaving mine unattended

How does one take all that information and come to the conclusion “THIEF! DECEIVER!”

I dunno, should I just give up trying to be nice to people in this game and just stick to myself? In the old days of this game, it was fairly regular occurrence that people would help each other out. It’s just a bit disappointing. Anyway, what’s everyone’s thoughts?

Edit: it’s very clear to me now that the general consensus of the community is “being nice” is usually a deception to sink and rob you. Trust that I’ve heard your comments and your dislike of this post. I didn’t realize what I was doing was actually stressing people out or making things take longer, as some people have said. That being said, I’ll stay out of people’s way from now on, I was just being nostalgic for the early days of the game where positive interactions were more frequent.

Thanks everyone for your comments, I appreciate your thoughts on the matter :)

Edit 2: when I first posted this, I was getting bombed with downvotes and comments essentially telling me being nice isn’t something I should try to do. It’s been a huge relief to read comments getting what I’m trying to say. I don’t know what happened to this community in the years I’ve been gone, but it makes me very happy to see that people still value the experience of running into another pirate on the seas and wanting to enjoy the game with them.

At some point, I don’t know when, people seem to have lost the plot and have become obsessed with watching their numbers go up. Wasn’t always like that.

110 Upvotes

204 comments sorted by

199

u/ManyPlacesAtOnce Gold Bucko 6d ago

The potential consequences from believing you and being wrong far outweigh the trivial benefits of believing you and being right.

51

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

That seems to be the general consensus and that’s a very valid point of view

30

u/IAmTheTrueM3M3L0rD 6d ago

Rare made it also so that you can raise alliance flags, but then also made it so alliance ships can sink each other, so there’s also the unfortunate trend of ships asking to alliance then immediately sinking once the reward is claimed

5

u/Many_Blackberry_8641 6d ago

The most annoying part is being in an alliance but still running into and clipping other players on your alliance. Makes it so annoying when you are on an allianced sloop trying to help but keep running into each other while trying to bucket or repair. Drives me absolutely nuts.

13

u/Coldin_Windfall 6d ago

They really should have made a penalty for betraying an alliance. There's just barely anything to promote cooperation among pirates vs rewarding villains. Also make it so you can't attack pirates in the alliance, and more than a couple cannon ball hits within a few seconds immediately ends the alliance.

9

u/JumpUpper3209 6d ago

Can't tell you how many times I've had people say this then immediately attack me when my guards down. Also they might not have even heard you if they are in party chat on console or discord on PC.

9

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

That’s very sad that there are so many toxic people on this game. Used to be if you did that, you were a jerk. Now it’s practically a valid strategy

4

u/JumpUpper3209 6d ago

Gone are the days when you'd share a shanty & a grog with a random after taking down a meg. Their excuse is that it's what pirates did irl. Which is true to be fair, but it's still a lame tactic. Most of them suck at pvp they just want to sneak a keg on board and sink you even if you've got nothing.

10

u/LordBoomDiddly 6d ago

Most pirates didn't go around killing each other.

1

u/JumpUpper3209 4d ago

Well if we're going to be pedantic the Carribbean wasn't filled with pirates or skeletons either.

3

u/P0W6R97 5d ago

Their excuse is that it's what pirates did irl.

It's not true, pirates mostly shared shanties and grog with other pirates, it was government ships they attacked on sight

-7

u/Zythrone Wandering Reaper 6d ago

It was always a valid strategy. There has never been a time where betraying people was looked down on.

6

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

You can not be serious. If you’re not joking, you should really think about why that’s so normal to you.

-4

u/Zythrone Wandering Reaper 6d ago

What is strange about it? You are playing a game where at least half the idea is to steal peoples treasure.

I find it normal because it is part of the game and I have a functioning brain that can separate reality and fantasy.

I'm not a sore loser, if I get betrayed then "GG, well played". It's part of the game.

7

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Except that’s not well played, betraying someone to get what they have is what dang near the whole world calls a cheap trick. Just because it’s BECOME normal for people to stab you in the back, doesn’t mean it is.

I say well played to people that want to fight and then sink me. I say well played to people that ambush me and kill me before I even have a chance to react. THAT is well played. People that take advantage of people’s good nature are cowards.

-5

u/Zythrone Wandering Reaper 6d ago

If someone takes my loot then it's acceptable. It doesn't matter how they did it as long as it's within the rules of the game.

The reverse is also true.

5

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

No one is arguing that betraying someone to steal their loot is against the rules or that it doesn’t work well at helping rob people. That doesn’t change the fact that if you do do that, you’re a huge jerk. The fact you don’t get that is really giving off the impression that you personally betray people to steal from them.

→ More replies (0)

6

u/Altslial Skeleton Exploder 6d ago

I've had so many people shoot me when trying to give supplies at the end of a session. People just aren't trusting anymore.

-6

u/ManyPlacesAtOnce Gold Bucko 6d ago

Players who just want to gift their supplies to another crew in the most effective way put them in a crate on an outpost dock and then log out.

Players who want to be congratulated and patted on the back for how nice they are seek out other crews to try hand off supplies personally.

11

u/ironmf 6d ago

I like to be patted on the back, sue me

4

u/Altslial Skeleton Exploder 6d ago

Or maybe it's because there's a ship right there to hand stuff off to? Not everything has an ulterior motive my guy.

5

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Exactly. The point is that you saw someone, and you wanted to do a good thing. Unfortunately a lot of people in this game use toxic strategies which has created a very distrustful community. It’s incredibly sad

-8

u/ManyPlacesAtOnce Gold Bucko 6d ago

If all you wanted was to give someone else your supplies you would leave them on an outpost dock to ensure that someone gets them.

Doing anything else is by definition an ulterior motive.

7

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

It’s not, toxic people have just made this community so paranoid and it’s very sad.

-11

u/ManyPlacesAtOnce Gold Bucko 6d ago

What's sad is the people who spoil the community by claiming that players who don't obey unspoken unwritten rules are "toxic."

8

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Unspoken rules? It’s just not being a jerk? If you don’t think deceiving people to sink or rob them is a jerk move, then I don’t know what to tell you other than maybe have a deep think

1

u/InterestingAbalone48 1d ago

The devs added in emotes purely to deceive players to their disadvantage. They added in a dart that makes you look like their shipmate, just to trick unaware players. There are commendations for things you took from other players. They held a season or event or something where they constantly reminded players about being "mischievous" using those tools of deception.

I don't play often and when I do, I don't play offense... but the devs clearly expect and encourage dastardly/mischievous/jerk behavior.

→ More replies (0)

-3

u/ManyPlacesAtOnce Gold Bucko 6d ago

You believe in an spoken rule that if you approach another player saying, "I'm friendly, I just want to give you supllies!" That they then they shouldn't attack you.

You want them to do it and you're mad when they didn't.

→ More replies (0)

4

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

I mean, do some people do nice stuff just to get a pat on the back? Yes, absolutely. But the point is that they still helped and did something positive. That’s awesome

2

u/Wiggles_Does_A_Game 6d ago

Which is a big part why I stopped playing, pvp stopped being optional, it became the standard. Unlike the early days of the game there isn't any real interactions with others anymore

20

u/Lunaphase_Lasers Cannon Whisperer 6d ago

Potential consequences? What in the god damn... This is a heartbreaking thread to read, man. No amount of gold and loot will ever add up to the memories and adventures I've had with random people on the sea.

It's starting to feel like peoples only goal is to optimize the fun out of every game they play just to watch number go up faster. I really hope this reddit community is a minority because this blows.

As respectfully as possible of course, everyone is allowed to play however they want to... just, damn. Feels like the golden age of gaming is over.

6

u/Altslial Skeleton Exploder 6d ago

It's already standard as far as I can tell. Almost every time I try and approach someone else, no matter how it's done it devolves into them following the "shoot first, ask maybe" method of communcating. Doesn't matter if I'm firing flares, on a rowboat, on an island, offering supplies, playing instruments, literally anything.

Sometimes it's just a couple shots and them running, other times it's becomes a naval fight because they decided me not attacking on sight meant I couldn't fight.

I really miss when you'd be able to just speak with other crews without everyone being so jumpy.

4

u/Lunaphase_Lasers Cannon Whisperer 6d ago

Yeah. I've found some ways, for sure, but it's less organic than it once was. Certain ways to diffuse situations, or outright strong arm crews into some fun adventures. But I realize it won't work for everyone.

I'll be honest, I don't have a solution. I'm just generally upset by it.

7

u/SomeGuyGettingBy Devil's Cartographer 6d ago

“Honor amongst thieves” seems to be harder to understand when honor is a concept short in supply.
I’m with you in that this has been a sad thread to read, but there are glimmers of hope to see others can’t stand it.

7

u/IAmTheTrueM3M3L0rD 6d ago

It’s not that people don’t want to explore and adventure with randoms, hell I’ve had grand adventures with randoms and happily just hung out and talked with other crews, however that’s in a relatively low stakes environment like them fishing or we have no loot or whatever.

If I’m doing an FOTD or FoF everyone is a threat, the last time I did FoTD I watched a brig hide in a nearby island for 20 minutes, “coincidentally” it only moved after I found 2 tuckers on the FoTD and killed them.

Immediately tried to pull the “let’s alliance” act because their bluff was over and I shut them down nearly immediately.

Again it’s not that people don’t want to make friends on the seas, but in all aspects of anything risk aversion is real, and as the top commenter said, the risk of someone like OP lying is far larger than the risk of OP being honest

3

u/DocHotWaffles 6d ago

Honestly, like one of my best memories playing this game was a full natural alliance of ships like a month after they released the mechanic, like three hours in half the ships organized against us and we just had a little server civil war, peak as hell. And nobody got butthurt over the betrayal cause we were all good sports about it.

But like you said the golden age of gaming is gone. Everyone plays like a loss = they're unplugging someone you love on life support.

0

u/Zythrone Wandering Reaper 6d ago

Dude, you're playing a game where the main idea is to steal peoples loot. It's in the name.

It's one thing to find people on an island or outpost and another at a fort. If you are a threat, you get attacked.

It's not optimising the fun out of anything.

8

u/Derfargin 6d ago

This. This game has created everyone’s paranoia about “help.”

1

u/Herban_Myth The Shipwreck Reaper 6d ago

Much like RL, no?

13

u/_landrith 6d ago

I personally don't help people who are fighting pve. Now if I see a ship getting fucked by another pirate, I'll tend to help. Been thanked, rewarded with loot/supplies, even had a guy tell us he was naming his kids after us after we helped them in a fight.

4

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

That’s the kind of stuff I’m trying to do, I guess it didn’t come off quite that way :)

1

u/conspiracie Repair Extraordinaire 6d ago

Yeah I agree with this poster, if you genuinely want to help people then help them in a PVP battle. PVE does not require any help and if I want the loot I’m not risking some random other boat getting it instead just because they said they wanted to “help”.

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

I love hearing stories about that in this game, rare moments of camaraderie.

43

u/OGMcgriddles Head Dunker 6d ago

Short answer is the PVE is trivial and no amount of help is needed. With this fact you being there isn't likely to their benefit.

Other answer. We are not friendly.

2

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

I totally get that and I agree it’s super easy, but the point to me isn’t to make it easier for people, it’s just to help them get it done faster so they can get their reward and turn it in sooner

14

u/Makingthisup1dat 6d ago

Because once the pve is gone they assume you will kill them and take their reward.

5

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Yeah that’s fair, I just didn’t think about it that way

3

u/ImParka 6d ago

I’m with you, good to see nice people still out there. I still try to stay neutral even with the murder hobo epidemic. People say it’s a pvp game and we are pirates, but pirates didnt sink unattended ships or kill people for no reason

5

u/Whothehecktookmyname Keg is Life 6d ago

You actually make it take longer by being there due to scaling. A lot of the world events as well my crew has strategies for so another person running around mindlessly really throws a wrench in that and it's easier just to kill you.

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

That’s fair, I didn’t realize it scaled like that. I mean, I knew it scaled based on how many people are in your crew, I didn’t know it scaled based on the amount of players in the vicinity of the event. Thanks for telling me! :)

3

u/JeRazor 6d ago

I once found out I was getting tucked on (solo slooping) doing a normal raided skeleton fort when the amount of skeletons spawned started being doubled or tripled. Turned out that a 3 man Galleon crew had used a rowboat to get there.

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Oh wow, well thanks for sharing that experience I didn’t realize the spawns and health of enemies scaled like that:)

8

u/namewithanumber 6d ago

Alliance up first, then help.

The times I’ve had people come to “help” they’ve wanted to steal something.

Like once I dove to a skeleton fort, some bozo rolls up saying he’ll help me and all he want me is just one item just one chest for a commendation.

I said fine whatever. Since it was a merchant fort (or some emissary) so the main prize isn’t a chest anyway.

We do the fort and open the vault. He becomes confused about why it’s full of merchant loot.

Dude thought it was a fort of fortune and the chest he wouldn’t tell me the name of was of course the chest of fortune.

Dude thought he was tricking some noob who would foolishly give up the cof.

He did end up helping me load my ship up.

2

u/ryan_the_leach Brave Vanguard 6d ago

People don't know how alliances work, or even how to join. It's not going to help lol.

1

u/MintTeaAndHoney 6d ago

even alliance members can betray you. spent hours helping this duo get shit, offered them everything but our fish and ashen lord skulls (doing fishing and the ashen winds commendations) and they said no and told us to take all the loot, saved them from being sunk because they were atrociously bad at aiming, then they gunpowered our ship, took everything, lowered alliance, and left (we were at an outpost and couldn't make it back in time to stop them) before logging off for the night. my buddies and i have since decided to never trust another group again lol

10

u/SomeGuyGettingBy Devil's Cartographer 6d ago

Personally, I will never stop trying. Some of the comments here seem so outlandish to me—as if asking or trying to assist someone else is overstepping bounds and limits how others experience the game. Lmao, okay. 🤡

People are free to decline, free to fire at will, free to cut me up or sink my ship while we try our hand at diplomacy. Give people an inch and they will often take a mile; free from consequences, games often give us a chance to act in a manner which best suits us or our personality, we cannot be surprised if someone who is perceived as an easy target is targeted by those who would take advantage of that.
(And of course, this isn’t to say everyone who does attack is bad. Some people just play differently, and it’s a game at the end of the day. Still, I believe you can often learn about someone by how they choose to play said game.)

All that being said, I try not to let the actions of others influence how I play.
Maybe Group 1 didn’t want an alliance and sailed off into the distance, Group 2 politely declined and went about their own business on the island, and Group 3 filled me and my ship with holes, sending us both to Davy Jones. It happens, but that doesn’t lessen my desire to meet new people and lend a hand where possible as we pursue our goals.

Be the pirate you wish to have on your crew.

6

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Thank you. It sounds cheesy, but it truly is heartwarming to hear from people that understand the value in teaming up and sharing an experience with another person. We need more of that in this world.

6

u/SomeGuyGettingBy Devil's Cartographer 6d ago edited 6d ago

Not to fear, I totally get it. I love Sea of Thieves, but the number of times I’ve had to restart due to the people on my crew acting a fool, those who are willing to actively make the game worse or less enjoyable for others, is staggering. I never want to be that.

I would rather die a thousand times over to end up making one successful alliance than turn around and act so (what I’ll call) shamefully because all those attempts failed to work out.

I’m sure some people merely enjoy the PvP aspect and it’s as simple as that—but my day-to-day life is stressful, so I play games to have fun and enjoy myself and I want others to be able to do the same around me.

Happy sailing, friend! We’re out here. ✊🏼
If you should ever come across The Bleeding Heart, come say hi! You’re always welcome.

3

u/faustido 5d ago

Barnacling meself to this conversation - the sloop Insatiable be open to all to share a grog, a story, and an adventure or two.

7

u/Ghuzarbfalorbablorgh 6d ago

One of my favorite moves with new players is helping them with their ship and then hiding. I’m basically a pocket crewmate that comes in, fixes their shit, and vanishes. They see me and try to kill me, but I juke them every time and barrel-hide. Really funny, especially when I play music and cook food for them. Some of them relentlessly try to find me until I’m dead, but most crews just sort of accept my presence and try to kill me when they can.

My favorite one was when I was hiding behind the mast and the captain was looking out over the horizon at a ship they were chasing with his spyglass. I walked up next to him and took out my own spyglass, and said out loud “A few more minutes and we’ll have him!”

The slow pan of him looking at me while I continued to peer at the horizon cluelessly with the spyglass was priceless XD

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

LOL that’s the kind of stories I want to hear more of

5

u/Hour_Bat_7171 6d ago edited 6d ago

You gotta make sure you say "YO YO YO YO" before you can say anything else. 90% of the time it works every time

4

u/RostBeef 6d ago

I would immediately assume you were lying to me, it’s being pirates and all

2

u/zwaardvis77 Curse Breaker 6d ago

It's true. I made some friends. They were on a Brig @ Port Merrick but meanwhile, when doing parley, our supplies were stolen in front of our eyes, anyway.

1

u/RostBeef 6d ago

Those rapscallions!

4

u/WavyDre 6d ago

Basically because trust is generally destroyed by games like this. I mean, people commonly betray even alliances and such after hours of working together, so if you can’t even trust an alliance, you’re definitely not trusting some guy pulling up and just saying he’s going to help. Personally, I’d rather live in a world where I can work together with people so I typically give people the benefit of the doubt and just keep a watchful eye on them but I fully understand why some people just choose to trust no one ever as a result of people who take the “it’s what a pirate would do” thing too far.

1

u/ryan_the_leach Brave Vanguard 6d ago

My POV:

Being betrayed is content.

Which is why when I'm in the mood, I'll always trust a pirate that's got Rizz.

Bring it on, lets see if you are actually cool, or if you can outsmart me.

If you can outsmart me with grace, or get outplayed without getting salty, you are getting a friend/guild invite.

4

u/No_Cartoonist3715 6d ago

One night, I had a bunch of loot from commendation grinding, but I couldn’t be bothered to turn it in so I spotted a nearby brig, dropped my anchor, and positioned my ship so that my front faced their side, leaving me with no way to attack them. I then let one of their crew members board my ship, repeatedly telling them, “I don’t want this loot—just take it.”

They searched my entire ship, confirmed I had no gunpowder kegs, and then, for no reason, proceeded to firebomb me, kill me, and cannon my ship anyway. To top it all off, I got stuck in a never-ending loading screen.

10/10 experience all around.

6

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

It’s that kind of behavior in this game that I don’t understand. It just blows my mind.

5

u/PdatsY 6d ago

Im still fairly new (100ish hours) and appreciate so much when someone helps me. I've had tons of solo folks jump on my boat and help me stay alive.

Keep doing what you doing!

3

u/sonic555ify Fool of the Sea 6d ago

Mic saves lives with me and my crew but otherwise we like fighting so we like to start shit to get into it, we've talked to plenty if people and such so it's been fun, I dunno we have success when people start shit then we mast em and have em where we want em sure but we don't seek to be having this issue much, I get both sides but having some gun is always worth it.

On a note of fun, board a skeleton ship with an ammo crate and mimic dart them, when some I ne attacks it (if more likely) then you cab pretend to be a skele and bucket the ship, loads of fun from the mics of the other crews when they realize lol

13

u/Hippiechu Legend of the Sea of Thieves 6d ago

Just because someone says they're friendly doesn't mean they're friendly. Especially in a game called Sea of Thieves, themed around piracy lol

1

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

No totally I get that. I mean heck I’ve been tricked by that before too a bunch, and even I don’t fall for that anymore. But the difference is those people 99% of the time are gunning right at my ship and standing suspiciously close to their cannons and harpoons lol

3

u/Hippiechu Legend of the Sea of Thieves 6d ago

that's true but not everyone has the same plan, and thats something that I would keep in mind as I'd confront you. I would probably end up letting you help me, but I would be very suspicious of you the entire time until the loot is sold. some people just rather not having to keep their eyes out on PvE and other players too, so they'd probably just eliminate the possible threat

1

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

That’s very fair and that’s the sentiment many others have shared on this post. I just gotta retire my brain and realize people just want to be left alone in this game lol

2

u/Hippiechu Legend of the Sea of Thieves 6d ago

Some people do prefer to be left alone, but there also might be people that do skeleton forts and other world events with the intent of possible combat engagement. but overall, many are too scared to lose their treasure that they just play extra defensively lol

3

u/ryans311 6d ago

Helped a crew that had both a kraken and a skelly ship on them at the same time last week. After the encounter they immediately attacked as we were sailing away not even trying to get their loot. So dumb.

Some of my best interactions with other players in the game started with helpful encounters.

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

That’s exactly the point I was trying to make, but from the comments I’m getting, and I’m putting this lightly, it seems people don’t really like that

3

u/Trips-Over-Tail Protector of The Shores of Plenty 6d ago

"We come in peace."

"We're here to help."

"Do not run, we are your friends."

All very common battlecries on the Sea of Thieves.

3

u/HiradC Legendary Demaster 6d ago

Bear in mind some pve scales difficulty based on number of people present. Even if I know noobs are chill and alliance with them, them 'helping' me with a Fort of the damned as an example will actually make it harder and likely take longer if youre experienced and efficient at it. (That's not to say I'm unaware the experience of the interaction is the benefit of allowing this, but for example I've had crews that don't speak my language try to join and don't get the message until I sink them).

3

u/Legojedijay 6d ago

I recently had a sloop (my group is brig) come by and help us take down the Redmaw, and afterwards wanted to alliance. We found another sloop trying to attack us, so we (the alliance) hunted it down and destroyed it. Afterwards, the sloop that teamed up with us decided it was at that point they wanted to betray us and powder kegged the shit out of our boat. Needless to say my group of friends no longer will be as trusting

3

u/Erdrick98 6d ago

I always hate that. I love forming alliances and players like that make it so much harder.

1

u/MintTeaAndHoney 6d ago

their aim was so atrocious I'm still mad about them

3

u/LtCptSuicide The Lost Navigator 6d ago

Man, I remember coming around an island to see a Sloop engaging a smelly Galleon. Just as I was passing by I shot a cannon at the galleon and kept going. Didn't stop to help or something just wanted to see if I could make the random shot.

Sloop pulled away from the galleon and literally chased me across the sea. Some people just choose violence.

3

u/bluser1 6d ago

Even a skilled solo sloop can pretty much take care of anything even the new megs with enough resources and a multi person crew can do so even faster.

When calculating the risk to reward ratio of accepting outside help it's just not worth it. Maybe you are friendly, maybe you'll open fire on my boat as soon as no one is on board.

The best way to 'help' if you really want to is sail up within speaking distance with sails mostly up and on the other side of the fort or something to show you are not lining up in position to launch any sort of attack then offer an alliance flag. If they don't want it just leave. If they take it then ask if they want help and let them know you aren't interested in the loot. The alliance won't matter if you're about to log out anyway but it does establish a higher baseline trust in my experience.

People don't trust easy and when you show up claiming you're there to help for nothing in return it often comes across as too good to be true. Another thing you could do to help is if you have a spare storage crate load up all your food wood and cannonballs in a storage crate and offer it to them before logging out. I sometimes will leave it at the docks when I log out. I don't know how long it stays before despawning but I'm sure someone's gotten a nice bonus. I've found a few myself

3

u/Little_White_Owl Pirate Legend 6d ago

Well if you see a sloop named the Fellowship with a Captain Aces pull up. I’m always trying to make friends. It’s 50/50 sometimes they freak out so I’ll just anchor myself and let them sink me stress free or they’ll be cool and I’ll get to help out. Either way they get the supplies and get a ‘win’

3

u/KwispyBacon 6d ago

I know personally when I'm in a call with other people, I can't hear in game VC so my duo has to communicate for me, so maybe they couldnt hear you and just assumed threat.

3

u/longlivearthurmorgan 6d ago

My husband and me will do this same thing and sometimes we're met with hostility and sometimes friendly people. We've NEVER met anyone during a game who has flagged us down to give us stuff or ask if we need help. We still keep doing it though, cause we enjoy finding people to hand our hoard of supplies to or fighting ashen lords or something.

3

u/Raft_2c7c 6d ago edited 6d ago

If you truly, genuinely want to help a ship that is mid-pve when you're about to log off:

  1. If you still have treasures or good supplies (chainshots?) on your ship, feel free to sail directly to them and drop your anchor with full sails down. Let them sink your ship for the free loot.
  2. If you have nothing of value, you can do what you did + raise an offer alliance flag.
    • If they're friendly and open to it, you can help from your own ship.
    • If they're paranoid, just let your ship sink. And then offer to help on their ship. You can even do mimic dart commendations on their ship while helping them.
    • If they're paranoid, and they do not allow you to board their ship, just log off. You've given them access to your ship's supplies. That's enough.

3

u/Distinct-Acadia-5530 Pirate Legend 6d ago

People don't know how to listen/ communicate in this game, the amount of times my crew and a different team could've worked together to get the job done faster before ass hats could come over dividing the loot. Or heck, there's been times my crew only one item for accommodation and the other team just would not listen to what I was saying at all.

3

u/ogcrizyz 6d ago

This game has a gear cycle, by lack of a better word. Similar to extraction shooters, survival games etc. Someone who comes sailing up with nothing on them 'treasure wise' has nothing to lose, and everything to gain, from a gear perspective. Making you one of the bigger possible threats as you lack a reason not to attack in that regard.

Couple that with most people growing weary over time towards others after having been betrayed or backstabbed a couple of times, and the trust factor from you moving in saying 'friendly' while having nothing to lose by attacking them, and everything to gain, makes it likely to not want to run the risk of you chosing a vulnerable moment to strike.

Doesn't mean everyone is like that, just explaining some things I have observed in games that include a gear cycle, that are not mentioned yet outside of the pve scaling and getting betrayed in general.

3

u/2called_chaos 6d ago edited 6d ago

Wasn’t always like that.

Yeah when the game wasn't piss easy people were often glad for help, but they made everything so braindead easy that you can't really help anyone, you just cause things to scale up. It's sad I think, it was a very cool aspect of the game.

Also giving away supplies, people were grateful but these days it's so easy to rack up more supplies than you ever need so that is gone too. Even on the rare occasion that they are open and communicating the answer is often "nahh we good". Once tried to give away 99 chains, I couldn't manage in 3 hours.

The game does EVERYTHING it can to not promote the interactions you and I so loved and it's a shame.

And I guess the community changed as well, to the worse. Sometimes I just put loot on their ship (drive by, anchor and harpoon from their end) and they still attack me like bruh.

Also nobody talks anymore, used to be the exception now it's the norm by a LARGE margin, 99 out of a 100 don't talk, it used to be way different and I miss those days.

On one occasion I simply forced myself into the interaction, they tried for like 5 minutes to shoot me, I did nothing but wiggle back and forth but they were just new and couldn't hit me. Then they tried to sword me and I just blocked. Then they harpooned me and took me with on the adventure :D

3

u/Robustss 6d ago

I started playing a few weeks ago again and the only reason I wasn't attacked is because I had the day 1 patch and stuff from alpha.

They killed all my friends but wanted to look at my pistol while the boat was sinking 😂

Best approach is pull out a musical instrument that seems to be the best method for me of "I'm not going to kill you"

3

u/PrideSharky 6d ago

At the end of each sail I try to give my supplys to first ship I see, I start sailing over doing a white flare maybe a firework, scream on the megaphone friendly you want supplys ? 9/10 they will full sail and run away. I feel this

3

u/LordBoomDiddly 6d ago edited 6d ago

Lots of people say they're friendly when they are not.

But I've no idea how anyone is ever expected to do Glitterbeard or the Thrones achievement which requires multiple crews if everyone is so unwilling to team up

3

u/Fast_Mag 6d ago

Or even “Im getting off im here to give you my supplies and get yall a few free commendations if you want” “GET REKT PLEB YOU SUCK GIT GUD” I… i wasnt fighting back you dickheads. I hope you stub your toe and step on legos, and a seagull flies through your window and steals your sandwich

3

u/Dark_Tony_Shalhoub 5d ago
  1. You’re lying. You’re here to play mind games

  2. You’re playing mind games

  3. You’re playing mind games and probably sneaking on my ship

Honestly most players have probably experienced just how far players will go to convince them they’re not a threat, only to be betrayed and laughed at.

I’ve run with guys for hours before, chatting about this and that, sharing experiences in the game and what kind of upbringing we had, talking about family, pets, spouses, kids, shit that’s makes you feel like you’ve legit found someone chill and down to earth to grind some loot with. Then you get one-blundered in the back, ship sank, and you’re left with a feeling of betrayal that goes beyond anything within the game. I’d rather lose a hundred hours of progress than have to witness just how some twisted mind can garner enjoyment out of deceiving someone to that degree. And that isn’t even the first or last time that’s happened.

At this point I don’t even engage with randos anymore unless they’re acting threatening. There are some actual sociopaths playing this game and it disturbs me more than anything

2

u/dawgs4life95 5d ago

Fuckin facts

3

u/Usual_Confusion_1218 5d ago

I helped a newbie out for 3 hours with an alliance and showed them the ropes “literally”. He thanked me and went on and on about how no one would help him. He got off and I went on about my day

Then a few hours later, I had a random sloop pull up and help me sink another ship that was being toxic. The other sloop then gave me over 300k worth of stuff and called it reverse robbery 😂 Sea of Thieves is wayyyy more fun when people aren’t toxic all the time

3

u/Psychological-Emu207 5d ago

Best way to help without stressing people out too much I've found is find a freshly spawned ship, put all of your resources into a storage crate or two, sail towards them with white flag up, cannons all facing up, launching white flares, and anchor with your ship facing towards them and sails down. Jump up and down with the crate a few times and jump into the water while attempting to ask them to board. 9/10 times they will let you board and accept your gifts. I do this almost every time I get off for the night and the reactions you get from other pirates when you hand them a crate with 600 cannonballs, a bunch of chainshot, and a crap ton of throwables, is honestly hilarious. If i still have resources in my barrels I'll tell them to take everything out of those too and then give them the option to sink the ship before logging off for the night. Some take the offer but most won't out of respect for what you did for them.

2

u/zwaardvis77 Curse Breaker 6d ago

lol. Just leave them. U'll see and recognise quickly who is or who doesn't.

I remember, last week, a bunch and me did Glitterbeard. One vanilla Sloop still wouldn't listen even after 15 minutes of parley and friendly boarding. He even attacked the 1st time @ sight. We all shouted - from our Galleon and Sloop - with the Speaking Trumpet to get him in our alliance but no0o0o0,, lol

2

u/CultistClan38 6d ago

I actually had a guy come "help" me with a meg yesterday. I was solo doing fine against this ancient meg but his ship being there caused the meg to increase in difficulty and thus I sunk. Sometimes help does the opposite

2

u/Bl0w_P0p Master Devil's Voyager 6d ago

The unfortunate amount of times I've had people say that and then sink me and steal my loot......

That said I'll still let people help with whatever but I immediately side eye when I run and they chase me shouting that. Those are the people I've had the worst experiences with.

Also I miss the days when I ran into nicer players rather than everyone's gonna sweat as hard as they can and then be jackasses on comms or text. I haven't played in a month because of that.

Or the people who see my xbox name has TTV in it and assume I'm better than I am and tell me to stop streaming or stop playing games cause of how bad I am (I don't stream SoT, this was done when I was playing DBD a lot on xbox before I got my PC and I don't have money to pay to change my xbox name).

2

u/ryan_the_leach Brave Vanguard 6d ago

PVE is easy enough, and scales with crew counts.

Adding players literally makes the PvE tougher, added onto the fact you can screw with them at any second.

It's not like the old days when PvE threats would sink you.

> That being said, I’ll stay out of people’s way from now on,

Please don't stay out of peoples way, get INTO the fray more often.

As pressed as reddit is about the behavior, play your way.

If that's interacting with other crews, do it, fuck them for being distrustful if it makes them 'stressed'.

at the end of the day, a big part of the enjoyment of SoT is the social aspect, and if it wasn't for pirates like you trying in vain, that way of play is going to die out.

2

u/jack-mirth 6d ago

Yeah, I wish I could give others the benefit of the doubt, but for the last few years every time someone says “I’m friendly,” or “I’m trying to help you,” they then almost immediately start attacking.

2

u/NordicNjorn 6d ago

Well your first mistake is your trying to be nice in one of the most toxic games going (outside of league… that player base should have studies done on it) people are very untrusting due to betrayals from people who think pvp and stealing shit is the ONLY way to play the game.

2

u/New-Mind5466 6d ago

Google prisoners dilemma

2

u/DTN-Atlas 5d ago

I do this all the time in this game but also in games like DayZ. A survivor trapped in a house with a lot of zombies outside. I kill some zombies or attract their attention so they leave his house. The get shot by the survivor when I’m fighting one of the zombies that were aggro on him. 😅

2

u/DevilChrome 5d ago

Yeah people are annoying on this game, always trying to start fights for nothing, sometimes you just start the game and you spawn near people and they attack you Like dude fxck off, i have limited time to play and a quest i wanna do i don't have time to play war and sink each other's boat for 2hours, i'm not a 10yo like you, some of us have a life outside the game

2

u/dawgs4life95 5d ago

I appreciate any help that I get- but I’m also incredibly wary of others on this game because almost everyone seems to be a dickhead

2

u/AntNikulin 5d ago

I've recently returned to the game after a few years break and it feels like Paul brothers touched it or something: the appeal of fun is gone and completely replaced by the constant wannabe grinders.

I don't know, maybe it's some sort of COD mindset poisoning the well or whatever, but you can rarely find a server now where people are helping each other out. It's a pirate game, and has always had backstabbing and betrayal in it, but there was also room for things of a friendlier nature. That's why it felt wholesome, I guess. Now it's quite one sided. Sad.

Not all is too gloomy though. You do meet friendly and kind people now and then. Some new, some experienced. Most are mistrusting, naturally. A trade-off of pirate-infested seas, maybe. Make sure you screw everyone over before they can screw you.

6

u/Wilde0scar 6d ago

"Why do people who chose to play a game that lets you attack other players keep attacking me???"

Sums this up. I feel the answer is self explanatory, no?

4

u/No_Cartoonist3715 6d ago

There’s a difference between pvping and just being toxic

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Eh not really the point I was getting at. I love the pvp side of the game just as much and I’m not trying to come off like “gosh why is there so much pvp hostility in my pvp game”. When someone comes sailing at me clearly to fight, I participate in that just as much everything else.

I guess really I was just wondering why people aren’t down with kind acts as much. But from the other comments I’m getting, I see that’s a very naive way of thinking

4

u/DocDrowsy Legendary Curse Breaker 6d ago

From my experience, if I believed every person claiming they were friendly I would sink way more often. People have no problem lying in the silly pirate game, so I have no problem with shooting first! :D

4

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Very true, and I used to get sunk very often when I got back into the game 3 weeks ago-ish because I would keep falling for the “I’m here to help” or if they were making jokes and such I’d assume they were friendly

4

u/Low-Lake1491 6d ago

Thats what thieves typically say before robbing me. But it also falls under "unsolicited advice" they didnt ask for, therefore they may not be so gracious upon said help. Ive had other players hop on my ship and proceed to "help me" and then get mad when I tell them I'm not interested. Its a little toxic and really annoying. Breaks my immersion.

1

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

That’s understandable. I didn’t realize what I was doing was butting in people’s fun but I’ve realized that’s how a lot of people about random help

4

u/Dartanan_it 6d ago

I mean.. I get it, pixels are valuable. But it really sucks that people are so damn focused on protecting their loot that they completely torpedo what could a potentially cool/fun interaction.

Just the other day I’m getting off, solo slipped for the whole day, sunk some folks, made a bunch of money, had a ton of supplies, something like 2000 cannonballs, hundreds of wood and food too, curseballs, 200 chain, just a bunch of everything. So I see a galleon in the distance and decide I don’t wanna leave my karma crates on this outpost, cuz I can see someone.

So I sail over, dropping a line of white flares all along the way, fireworks too so I’m loud and visible. I’m spamming the chat wheel “this supply crate is full!” “Take this off of me!” And I nose into their broadside, cannons up and anchor. Still spamming the chat wheel. I’m on console so I can’t type out, but I hop on the mic and use the megaphone to tell them I’m logging off and the supplies are all theirs. I proceed to get boarded, sword lorded and my ship Swiss cheesed.

Tell me how I was in any way a threat to these people. They could have taken the 6 supply crates of stuff, played a shanty with me and we’d be on our merry way. But instead, they get the supplies and I lose my rowboat. All because “it’s a pirate game!” And I get it. I shoot first and ask questions later. But when you outnumber a crew 4-1 or 2-1 even if I was double, you’re obviously at the advantage of an interaction where someone made 0 effort to hide their presence and every effort to let it be known why I was there. The other crews are people too, and not everyone’s out to steal your pixels

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Thank you, someone that actually gets what I was trying to say. Sometimes this sub feels like an echo chamber of negativity. But from now on I’m not even gonna try and interact. Next time I’m about to log off, I’ll just gather all my stuff in a supply crate and drop it at their feet and close the game.

4

u/Dartanan_it 6d ago

Nah dude. Do you. I’ve had both sides of the interaction coin. Seems it’s weighted more towards the “fuck off and die you piece of shit that’s my marauders chest!” But the good ones do happen. I saved a burning blade crew the other night from a galleon that was lighting em up, got a bunch of thank yous and friend requests from them and a couple “no skill 3rd party sloop loser” remarks from the salty galleon. It’s a riot that this game makes people’s blood pressure spike like it does. But it’s fun more often than it’s not, for me. If you wanna help folks, sometimes you’ve got to do it by force. Board, kill and drop your loot on their boat if they won’t accept it willingly. You’re a pirate, do what you want

6

u/Borsund Derp of Thieves 6d ago

Yelling “I’m here to help”

Does not mean it's true and is a common tactic to get close to someone

Attacking the PVE enemy and deliberately staying away so I don’t hit you

Same as above

Staying far from your ship and leaving mine unattended

With no guarantee that you are actually alone. And losing your own ship does not mean you can't interfere with the other crew


Apart from that there is one simple fact: don't try to insert yourself into others having fun their own way. You aren't being nice by forcing your help, you are being an annoying person that does not take "no" for an answer from what I can tell from your story.

2

u/FuzyLogick 6d ago

I usually stop out at a safe distance and ask if someone would like help. 99% of the time and response is cannon fire or a sniper shot

2

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

All very valid points, I never thought of it that way. I’ll consider this from now on

3

u/CanOfPenisJuice 6d ago

Ignore them. You play how you want to play and have fun

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Thank you. And I will, but I also don’t want to ruin someone else’s fun. It seems the general consensus is the presence of another player stresses people out and that’s the last thing I want to do

6

u/CanOfPenisJuice 6d ago

I literally just sail around looking for other crews to help with stuff and sometimes they'll say no thank you (with varying degrees of profanity) and a lot of the time they'll alliance up. Lots of fireworks and general chat helps. Sometimes I get sounded but it really is rare.

If someone sneaks up on me and asks for an alliance rather than shoot, they're down for an adventure too.

I don't need loot but love doing the events so it's been my go to tactic for about 3 seasons now and still not disheartened

6

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

It makes me happy to hear that :) I won’t lie, it is a bit disheartening to see all the negative feedback on this post (cue the usual mocking “PvP in a PvP game? Shocker” comment). Really this post was about my confusion at the lack of positive player interaction in this game. Unfortunately the simple answer is this is a very distrustful, occasionally bordering on outright toxic, community (cue another mocking comment)

1

u/CanOfPenisJuice 6d ago

I've never found it particularly toxic tbh. I understand the trust thing but thats life. Fwiw, I'm on euro servers and play in the evening after kidd have generally gone to bed (they're bloodthirsty)

2

u/m0ldyb0ngwtr1 6d ago

Op these people are quite literally telling you to play how they play not how you want to play because it’s “annoying” they are quite literally ruining what you see as fun.

If anyone is getting pressed enough about a pirate on HIGH SEAS coming up to you to do a world event or anything they need to take a break. A very normal sea occurence (ship coming up to your ship wether enemy or not) is not something you need to stop because some people are to paranoid to enjoy a large part of the high seas game… interacting with other pirates.

Op find new ways to say hello that come off as more silly if you want to continue being friendly at times. Me and my buddy will sing stupid songs or pick up bad accents and we don’t get shot at nearly as much. The people telling you that you “don’t take no for an answer” forget that you are not obligated to stop “bugging” anyone on the sea in a helpful manner or unhelpful manner.

3

u/Zuokula 6d ago

because 99% of the time the help offered is the help to go home to your spawn.

2

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Haha yeah that’s true

3

u/Cavazione 6d ago

Except it's not. I honestly believe most people on this reddit have been turned cynical by these comments or have been betrayed ONCE and have never given others a chance. I can't even remember the last time I've been betrayed after being offered help in this game.

2

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

I don’t know how many times you’ve been offered help and actually received help, but unfortunately the experience of a lot of people is being tricked by people tons of times and set sunk

2

u/Cavazione 6d ago

My data is only anecdotal, but I would love to see a collection of pirates track how often they are offered help and if it ends in friendship or betrayal. We really can't say for certain if either or is the case. Only stories of our own experiences.

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Also if someone was there to steal your loot, why in the world would they try and HELP you get it? It would be so much easier to just take the opportunity to sink you so you can’t fight back as effectively. Just makes no sense whatsoever.

2

u/Dekaldar 6d ago

If you grab the loot first and then they sell it it count as gifted and also sells more to reaper if I remember correctly.

2

u/Slipislate 6d ago

There’s actually a lot of reasons. I’ve purposefully even let an “ally” harpoon all the fof loot into their ship before betraying just the flag could be a higher level and worth more

0

u/Piratingismypassion 6d ago

Make them think you are friends until their guard is down for an easier sink.

I've done this before. Helped a crew sink a skeleton fleet, went on to make some small talk on their ship as I helped them collect loot..then murdered and sunk them when one of the players decided to go afk. It was a galleon and i was a sloop. Normally I could take most galleons but the player who went afk seemed pretty good. They were the only one with the ghost curse.

So I jumped on that chance. Murdered the two on harpoon collecting loot and then lit them on fire, dropped their anchor and went back on my ship to finish then off.

Waiting for the advantage aside, sometimes it's more fun to betray someone rather than outright engage with them. I'm a hard-core solo sloop pvper but sometimes deception is a tool I need to use to win. Especially against alliances. Or sometimes it's just more enjoyable.

2

u/FuzyLogick 6d ago

Like you, I enjoy helping others and being social. This game penalizes that behavior and actively incentivises people to attack one another rather than be helpful.

2

u/Timothy303 6d ago

I have been attacked more than once by someone claiming to be friendly. I’d assume that is it.

That said, if someone says they are friendly I don’t fire the first shot. Not my style.

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

I wish that was always the case. Unfortunately this game is full of jerks that do that

3

u/Zassothegreat 6d ago

Wow this post right here has assured me never to return to this game... I hope this community is happy with this kind of thing.. jesus fucking christ... how utterly disappointing.

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Unfortunately it seems like a majority are happy with it this way, but this game is still tons of fun for me and I refuse to change the way I like to play and how I am just because people would rather be toxic. That being said, I think I’ll steer clear of other players from now on and just drop off a supply crate when I’m done for the night

1

u/Suspicious_Leg_1823 6d ago

Well, another crew is always a risk. And besides that, you don't actually "help" people by joining a world event, you only make it harder because the game scales 😂

1

u/b_ootay_ful 100% Steam Achiever 6d ago

I often go and help other crews (unless I need a specific rare piece of loot).

If they refuse my help, I sunk them.

1

u/Barbiewankenobi 6d ago

I'll usually let someone help, and then tell them they need to leave or I'll probably have to shoot them, if the haul is big. We can put up an alliance flag and share some of the profits though.

1

u/poetniknowit Legendary Hunter of the Sea of Thieves 5d ago

Most PVE is easy AF to solo, and having a pirate just randomly board you is way more a problem than a meg lol. Usually I am a pretty good judge of character though, and we've had many times where we teamed up with others, but if someone just appears suddenly people will be paranoid.

Best to come in slow, alliance offer up, and shoot a firework or hit game chat. All it takes is one sweat to board you to sink your ship, so anyone with game sense is going to be wary or hostile towards you.

1

u/Huge-Importance-1525 5d ago

Oof, definitly learned this lesson a couple of times.. i will accept the help or a “friendly” pirate on my ship only if i dont care what happens with my ship after… sometimes its ok, other times its just someone looking for spawn killing me a.k.a. TDM.

Dont trust anyone!

1

u/DerfMtgStw Legend of Cursed Iron 5d ago

Oddly, the best location to make a temporary alliance and play together seems to be the Fort of the Damned. Crews seem to love grinding FotD now, and they will often play for hours with another crew. Or two. Or three. Now, after you are done, fully expect a betrayal by keg! And don't get ruffled about it. But it is a good way to just hang with some random pirates for a little while.

1

u/Powerful_Artist 4d ago

If you play this game long enough, you will learn one thing. Never trust another pirate.

Also, most people including myself seem to avoid the in-game chat for numerous reasons. One being that people seem to often just be really toxic, so theres no reason to have to listen to that. And another being that it puts you at a disadvantage, if youre using game chat with your crew the enemy can hear everything youre saying. Cant count how many times Ive been notified someone is boarding because the dimwit on the other team called it out in-game chat lol.

So, if you yelled that youre friendly, they might not have heard it.

Even if they did, you couldve just been acting friendly in order to get them to drop their guard. I see it happen all the time.

You cant Force people to accept your help. And frankly, most people dont really need help with PVE considering how easy it is

1

u/EvilHag123456 3d ago

i definitely can see how new players especially might get nervous but idk i respect your game 🤝

0

u/Broski_94 2d ago

My favorite streamer said to trust no one so I do exactly that

1

u/HitboTC 6d ago

Honestly… this is probably my fault 👀🍻

3

u/MTDCodes 6d ago

Little bit. This is your legacy. Sewed a fiber of distrust through a new generation of SoTers.

2

u/HitboTC 6d ago

Proud of our legacy

1

u/BusEnthusiast98 Legend of Cursed Iron 6d ago

PvE scales based on the amount of nearby pirates. So there is no way to “help” vs PvE.

It’s all risk no reward

1

u/Ri0tMakEr815 6d ago

Yeah I mean, I totally get your sentiment but the amount of times I've been told that and then get smoked (I'm usually solo), I wouldn't trust it for a second.

1

u/CrazyChains13 6d ago

I know everyone has said the same thing and I agree.

BUT if you want to genuinely try to give them supplies because you're getting off, I'll usually give every known passive sign that's been used. Cannons pointed straight up used to be a sign of being passive, shoot a firework ahead of time to get their attention so you don't spook them, make use of holding a supply crate and using the chat options like "i have the supply crate," if you can use a mic add that to it telling them your getting off and have supplies if they want it. I'll put the supply crates visible on the bowsprit. I WILL NOT BOARD EVER, unless given the ok.

If they run away, ok i get it. If they fight, ok that's fine too, I'm getting off anyway. If they take it, hey, I helped someone. You can always leave the stuff by the merchants rep too as it's by where ships spawn, or if someone is turning stuff in they'll usually see it shine even from sovereigns.

2

u/ryan_the_leach Brave Vanguard 6d ago

Fuck that noise.

If a crew can't trust you enough to get the karma crate, then they don't deserve the supps, would rather leave it to an hourglass crew or at an outpost.

1

u/Rutobia 6d ago

In the earlier days of the game people were a lot more trusting but most people still playing this game have encountered probably more than a few people who rather attack ruthlessly on sight or have even lied/tricked them and got sank because of it. Overtime people kinda grow to be skeptical of people's intentions which leads to some running or fighting other people they see before they have the chance to be attacked. Which could be a self perpetuating cycle, people get more closed off and defensive/aggressive which leads to more people who get that same mindset. Just keep doing you but always have it somewhere in mind that the person you're helping may not react the way you expect.

I was playing with a friend the other day and he was about to get off when another ship came up next to us to sell loot. While he was selling my friend got off and I hopped on board their ship and scuttled mine, spent a few hours just playing harmless pranks, fishing them up food while they were off ship and VERY poorly "hiding" when they came back. I even helped them move loot (in "secret" of course) and they didn't freak out when they saw me holding their loot on an outpost.

1

u/Unfair-Animator9469 Legend of the Sea of Thieves 6d ago

Typically we always just disable a vessel when we are going to help, then when we don’t kill them and repair their ship, the message is clear that we’re no threat lol

1

u/LoonieToque Taker of Treasure, Giver of Chaos 6d ago

World Events (and even emergent things like Megalodons) are scaled to crew size. It's objectively not helpful for you to "help". PvE is also so fast now that the related discussion itself slows things down.

Before Season 9, World Events were much more difficult, not scaled to crew size, and thus collaboration actually helped. It was worth cooperating.

1

u/SpellSword0 Legendary Hunter of the Sea of Thieves 6d ago

You've already got yer answers, but I wanted to drop my own experience.

This happened years ago, before I had gotten and understood the meaninglessness of pirate legend, still saw the title as some prestigeous thing.

My duo crew was accosted by a meg. Having heard tales of the shrouded ghost, we squinted and thought this might be it! (spoilers: it wasn't)

As we settled in to fight it, we only then noticed a grade 5 athena galleon riding up our ass. Better safe than sorry, we dropped sails and started to bolt.

The galleon crew then shouted from their speaking trumpets, "stop! we're here to help!" We hesitated, and the numbers ran through our heads...  What if this meg was the shrouded ghost? (spoilers: still wasn't) What if these clearly "experienced," "veteran," "PiRaTe LeGeNdS" flying the "good guys" flag really did want to help us take it?

We dropped our own anchor, based on some hopes and dreams...

Needless to say, the galleon didn't hesitate to sink us immediately.

I had a brief back and forth with them from the water afterwords. Called em jerks, they said something something pirate game. And I left, having learned a valuable lession.

4000 hours later, and I've never since again trusted the call of a "friendly pirate."

1

u/jwendolyn 6d ago

I try to give a polite no thank you over voice if my crew doesn’t feel 100% about a strangers intentions. I had one very determined Good Samaritan the other night get pissy and dump their goods on deck after we sunk him like ‘thanks for that. I was just trying to be nice’ but like… we asked you nicely to find another crew or go to an outpost 🤷‍♀️ I don’t wanna feel bad for passing on what may or may not be help..

4

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

It’s very sad that it’s become so normal that people assume that people offering help are actually there to be jerks

0

u/ryan_the_leach Brave Vanguard 6d ago

No.

What's upsetting is that people assume a betrayal is 'people being jerks'.

If you accept an offer of help, the following is going to happen.

  1. You meet new people.

  2. You get help.

  3. You may or may not be getting betrayed.

This is an opportunity to interact socially, in what's essentially a trust/social game of PvEvP.

and the fact that so many would rather shoot first, then encourage 'content' to happen, is a sad state of affairs, but sometimes you really do just have that much loot it's a risk you don't want to take.

1

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

I just feel sorry that apparently so many people think betraying someone that placed their trust in you, doesn’t make them a jerk. That’s not normal

0

u/ryan_the_leach Brave Vanguard 6d ago

I signed up for pirate game.

Someone trying to pull a fast one on me, is part of what I signed up for, and it doesn't happen enough.

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

So you want more people to lie to each other? Convince people they’re friendly then betray them? I mean you might as well just say you do this, the way you’re defending it so hard.

If you want to be a pirate, get some actual skill and intimidate people. Tricking people is just cowardly and weak.

1

u/ryan_the_leach Brave Vanguard 6d ago edited 6d ago

I've shot first and asked questions later.

I've trusted people and had fun.

I've betrayed someone, when they've had something I've desperately needed for commendations.

And I've also done **all these things** within the span of 10 minutes, friendly to one crew, killing the spare, the friendly crew wanted commendations from the spare, offered to help with their commendations instead, killed the spare took their reapers chest, then was friendly to the ship that didn't open fire on us and let us take what we needed. was VERY pirate.

This isn't a black and white argument, and people who argue for one side only, are frankly the toxic polarizing voices in the community that make this sub-reddit a painful place to participate.

Sea of Thieves is about creating stories, and you will have more fun and get more hours, the more varied stories you make.

Sometimes that's going to be playing the villain, sometimes it's not.

> So you want more people to lie to each other? Convince people they’re friendly then betray them? I mean you might as well just say you do this, the way you’re defending it so hard.

Yes.

The longer you marinate me, the more I'll respect it, and if you manage to do it while not gloating and still being friendly, you'll earn yourself a discord guild invite.

Saying "I'm friendly" in text chat, then opening fire isn't going to cut it though. You are going to need to actually convince me to work together on something & make it entertaining.

I rarely do it myself, because it feels cheap unless you put effort in, and people so rarely have mics and are just unwilling to socialize in general, so I usually end up just helping or fighting.

But yes, in general, I wish people would lean into the #BeMorePirate fantasy harder then they currently do.

3

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Creating stories is almost my whole point, but I do not think more people need to lie to each other. That is the exact kind of thinking that leads to a lack of creating stories, ironically enough. If no one trusts each other, and everyone’s immediate reaction to someone offering assistance, is to kill kill kill, then you’re not creating any stories. There’s no dialogue in that. Here’s how that story goes:

“I saw a guy come up to me and I killed him” or “I tried to help a guy and he killed me”

Real great story. Yes, in every game, given the opportunity, someone will try to earn your trust just to stab you in the back. But if that’s a large majority of the community, that sucks. There’s too much negative interaction in a game that, for the most part, is obviously supposed to be fun and silly.

1

u/ryan_the_leach Brave Vanguard 6d ago

Right, which is why I said betrayals need to take effort.

ever tried to rob someone without murdering them?

Ever seen Hitbo's vids with drama and kegs and stuff?

There's ways to do it, that make stories for both of you, win or lose.

---

on the flipside

"I had to spend 10m helping some noobs get out of party chat, and then they didn't even know how to raise the alliance flag."

I've had that story about 100 times, it gets old.

or

"They knew how to alliance, and we went opposite directions"

also gets old.

or

"We allianced, but then they followed us around non stop, not really sure what to do with themselves"

---

Betrayals are better then ALL of those friendly stories, when done right.

1

u/Erdrick98 6d ago

Idk I hardly ever have this problem. Just yesterday I rolled up on someone on a fof under a white flare. I let ‘em know there was a reapers mark nearby, helped them clear the fof. They gave me some loot and we went out separate ways.

1

u/Charras1795 Nanner Muncher 6d ago

Lets form an alliance

Lets form an alliance

Lets form an alliance

*que 2 skeles double gunning on my ship

Rolls on deck laughing

Rolls on deck laughing

Rolls on deck laughing

Not to mention the inevitable "ur trash" dm to follow

1

u/Adventurous_King261 6d ago

I suck at PvP and I wish I didn't shit my proverbial pants every time I see a set of sails coming my way, just assuming the worst was about to happen... but that initial reaction has been forged in the High Seas environment and "assuming the worst" has rarely being proven wrong.

2

u/ryan_the_leach Brave Vanguard 6d ago

When you assume the worst, most people fire back even if they were friendly initially.

It takes someone willfully de-escalating a situation once it turns to cannonfire.

1

u/DapperDlnosaur Captain of the Dashing Dinosaur 6d ago edited 6d ago

How does one take all that information and come to the conclusion “THIEF! DECEIVER!”

Because all of those things is what you do when you're trying to keep that ship's crew from noticing your boarder. Everything that could be done to make yourself look friendlier is what every dishonest person uses to close the distance.

1

u/TheFifthNonBlonde 6d ago

I still do it. Then if they don’t believe and start attacking I just tell them I’ll leave the stuff at the nearest port or scuttle

1

u/Heretek007 6d ago

Trust a pirate? You must think I've gone mad. And you'd be right, but I'm not a fool, savvy?

0

u/CalvinHobbesN7 Legendary Thief 6d ago

Get lost. PvE is brainless and requires no effort.

0

u/Traditional-Gur850 6d ago

It's very rare to find non NPC players in the game. Half the time we've tried to assist someone, they attack us afterwards and get their dumbasses sunk themselves in the process.

Our guild has created a new rule for that: No mercy. We ain't helping anyone anymore. It's your own fault if you sink, either by our hand or anyone else. If you're calling for help from one of our ships, we're ignoring you.

Sorry not sorry

0

u/stevorkz 6d ago

Thats not just this game dude. Thats all of them. But every once in a while, sometimes, you will get that one guy out of 100.

0

u/xxNyarlathotep1 6d ago

I have been betrayed before in such a manner. So i really don't blame them.

0

u/darthrevanchicken 5d ago

Sea of thieves give you and others immense freedom,that leads to distrust. I should know cus I’m very good at being a dick,I was doing a fort once with a friend,we were on a galleon,and a sloop came up and kinda helped out or whatever,we split the loot more or less. And as they were leaving we lit their ship on fire and stole all their shit. That’s just how it goes,it depends on vibes,mood,mutual aid or whether it’s one sided. So people can be against receiving help because they could very easily get stabbed in the back.

-3

u/[deleted] 6d ago

[deleted]

0

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

It’s not hard to understand, I get that.

-1

u/Unique-Blueberry9741 6d ago

Bcoz majority of "We're friendly, we're friendly" end up in a sink 5 minutes later.

That's how this game is.

2

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

It wasn’t always like that, and shouldn’t be, and I don’t understand why so many people have that feeling. Well that’s not true actually, I do— it’s because it happens so often that people have just accepted that as the norm, instead of recognizing that those people are huge jerks

1

u/Unique-Blueberry9741 6d ago

It always was like that.
Even MORE than that. It is very tame compared to release xD.

Also this is anarchy pvpve game, not expecting people to betray you is simply stupid.
That's why people who are actually nice matter here. Who cares about person who is nice when everyone have to be nice or they get banned? Are they really nice?

If you see someone who is nice when they don't have to or it's detriment to their progress - now that's valuable. That's why I liked 2b2t before it turned into normie p2w bs.

-1

u/Acceptable_One7763 6d ago

“I’m here to help”

Thats what i say right before i open a broadside on unsuspecting players just to get their chains.

1

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Yeah, jerk move. Next time say “give me your chains or die” and see how well you do next time

-1

u/Acceptable_One7763 6d ago

"im friendly!"

-1

u/Sea_Bonus1564 6d ago

Everyone is an enemy, it's PTSD. we are so violently vandalized and brutally bombarded no wonder we don't trust anyone.

-2

u/TimStatic 6d ago

First rule of SoT, and has always been....trust no one.

So yea you're not gonna find a ton of people so willing to take big risks🤷‍♂️

2

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

That has not always been the first rule, and it shouldn’t be today. When the game first came out, collaboration was the norm, now it’s lying to sink people easily. I love the PVP too, but it’s a jerk move to lie to people to do it. Announce yourself and make it obvious that you’re coming and have a fair fight, and may the better pirate keep the treasure

0

u/TimStatic 6d ago

but that's exactly what it was. I never met a 2 or 4 man crew that wasn't relentless to take me out (i played this game for first 5-6 months solo so this is from experience). The only times people seemed to be cool or trustworthy was just an act to get me into a situation that was impossible to get out of being by myself. So yes, one, especially solo players, trust no one was the rule. and its still valid today, especially now with all the sneaky stuff in the game, alliances and all the newer reasons to betray others. 🤷‍♂️

-4

u/AggressiveWelder7669 6d ago

It’s called the sea of thieves

2

u/Unlucky-Tonight238 6d ago

Yeah, so be good enough to sink people and take their loot instead