My prediction for 2025 will be this tweet by Rare: "Well, you see - only 2.5% of playerbase are playing hourglass mode so we will sunset it and move our resourses on much needed features of adventure mode! We still have a lot of surprises and this is only the beginning of our journey! Cheers!"
@Springowl_yt the skelly curse is the new pirate legend outfit, all the noobs wear it, golden skelly is better but most people with it got boosted. Verdant and Obsidian bones on top🔥
@@polishpuffer no no rare wouldn’t do that they never in a million years… “Skeleton curse and Ghost curse will now be in the pirate emporium beginning on January 1st 2026 Happy new year -Rare 😁
i've always been wanting something to do on your boat when you have to sail for a while like a card game or being able to duel your teammates something like that would be radical
I agree with the standpoint on the year's preview, it sets a very "carved in stone" plan for the year that creates expectations that might be messed with once the updates are further developed.
@ZebraProductions54 yes, like some of the darts didn't make it in and we know some stuff had to be cut from Season 14's release. A vague overview like 2022 was better!
I still say the way to revitalize Hourglass is to add temporary game modes. Start having new game modes that last something like, a 3 day weekend each month. The main issue with having multiple game modes in Hourglass is splitting an already small pool of players. But we've already seen how the mode jumps in popularity from just community weekends. Make it so fun modes are a treat that isn't always there and you'll have people FLOOD the mode each time. Things like 2v2s, attacking/defending fortresses, or maybe a match made sirens skull voyage that would basically be a return of arena.
I think the Hourglass/Arena format is just not functional for this type of game. I think it'd be better if they added a bounty/infamy system where the more players sink other players the more infamy they gain. Outposts have Wanted posters that players can interact with, upon doing so they obtain a quest that gives a riddle for the last island visited by the crew they're hunting. Reapers gain xp for obtaining infamy and keeping it for extended periods of time, Athena gains xp for hunting down and sinking notorious crews with high infamy.
Top 3 most wanted things: 1) Improved environment, new underground caverns, new uncharted islands, islands changing to freshen up the world. Maybe roaming npc and npc pirate ships across the world. 2) Expanded ship customisation, changing sail and ship shape, interior furniture, choosing between a fast but weak ship and a slow but battle ready ship. 3) A voyage like Skull of Siren Song but more rewarding. How about a chase to a shipwreck full of riches.
The Hunter's call update really gives me hope, but the years start rolling and less time is on the clock for this game in terms of story and where we thought it might go. I'm sure we will get more, but it's sad knowing how much time has been lost already for potential story. Strong themes and story play a larger role in keeping players than many think.
I always will say that this is what hourglass NEEDS to survive…. 1. Matchmaking SBM ratings need to be RESET at the start of every month like with emissaries so that people don’t get hard-locked with sweats and forced to a losing streak because they did well one day. Folks can’t play with their more casual friends because their friend gets punished because you play the mode more, thus Smurf accounts and cheating is made more common because of it. 2. Battle area needs to SHRINK as the fight progresses to prevent hour-long chases and battles that never end. The hourglass should not reward cowardice.10-15 min MAX to make matches quicker. Plus the edge of the arena should be the hard-kill threshold instead of the “oh you’re getting close to it~” 3. Hourglass faction exp should be MASSIVELY increased and time-based, the longer you fight the more exp you get. No more several-hour fights only to get a sliver of exp if you lose! Cosmetics should be a testament to how much you LOVE a game mode, not how much you SUFFERED to get it! Double exp weekend should be what you make AT BASE (but loss exp should still be doubled if the system I listed doesn’t go through) 4. (Optional) Overhaul the level format to match the prestige’s the other factions have, it would make the grind visually less daunting to be a lvl 100, 10th distinction for gold curse rather than lvl 1000 for grinding purposes. (Plus it would make it feel more consistent…..plus new rings for your fingers)
Skill based matchmaking with ELO that starts to look with crews of similar ELO. That should be, if I am playing solo and have 200 elo, that I can get matched with a sloop of two players of 100 elo or a solo of 200 elo (+- a buffer, for example 10% margin each 30 seconds of wait time, capped to 25% so if I wait 90 seconds, a battle that's 200 against 250 could take place). That would reduce wait times and wouldn't match you with sweats, unless you are on a multi crew. Skill based matchmaking would actually be beneficial in wait times, due to new players going into hourglass due to the fact that they don't get instantly crushed. With more new players, less waiting times. To invite more players to do hourglass, more cosmetic rewards are a must. Brigsy and all skeleton pirate cosmetics should be a thing with the skeleton curse. With GH distinction 5, I should be able to purchase the gold hoarder cosmetics, and/or head, although linked to other commendations. Such a missed opportunity to not have linked order of souls commendations with hourglass. Realistically, a hybrid model where the game matches as it does now could be maintained, while integrating the elo model also for matchmaking. Meaning, the game attempts to get you to a match like we have now, but if unavailable matches you as explained earlier. That could reduce wait times by a lot for any crew size, as a galleon could be matched with two or three sloops (depending on the sloop crews elo), and then have the multiship battles people ask for. That would inevitably mean killing the champion battles, but I honestly don't care, and I bet nobody does. The only thing they need to do precisely with this is the elo system. Make sure that when a 200 elo player goes against a sloop of 2 100s, the win statistics are close to 50%, if not that makes the matches unfair. I don't know what is the problem on making you switch servers while getting a game, but if I have a good connection or simply chose to, I should be able to chose to do EU and NA east (for example) in order to shortern wait times.
Hourglass definitely needs a total overhaul. It needs a way to blend into regular gameplay better instead of being this weird system where it takes place on normal servers, but the people already on the server can't benefit in any way from it.
What i would like to see is some hourglass improvements such as matchmaking as well as other modes such as team deathmatch on an island and a way to make old world events something to go for like what the did with the chest of fortune but make a unique item for each world events so there is a reason to go for them
I think the long term effect of dive voyages has been the worst thing for the game health. It’s so rare to naturally encounter players when not hunting them, that it feels like i need to run reapers just to have any human interaction. Which is the most interesting thing about this game.
I think that has more to do with hourglass than dives, as you can't dive with loot, but hourglass wastes 2 slots on the server. Dives just made things less frustrating for everyone because it counteracts the dumb fucks who keep attacking freshly spawned ships with nothing on them. Fewer empty ships sailing around.
It helped a lot to complete commendations with the new system voyage but you´re right now its a bit hard to encounter players if you´re not doing world events or HG
@@bobmcbob49to be honest, I agree with your standpoint on dive voyages. However, I think that they should bring back sea dogs arena to fix the hourglass.
Things I want to see in 2025 1. Reapers Hideout rebuild into Flameheart's kingdom 2. More customizations for Skeleton curse (Dark Adventurer bones, Ancient Skeleton bones or some Ashen lord parts) 3. Old Faithful Isle redesigned 4. Skins for harpoons and ship lanterns 5. More bosses and sea monsters 6. Map expansion (highly unlikely) (And they should end Xbox One support)
@@tylerschmaltz3365 1. Xbox One is the reason why this game is so laggy 2. Not that many people are on Xbox One anymore It's a 12 year old console from last generation with no support from Microsoft anymore, let it die
My little brother can only play with me through my old xbox one s... It's not the best experience but it gets the job done, I do however agree with you. The xbox one is holding the potential of the game down by graphics, features, and a lot more.
id honestly want them to put more counter measures for cheating because how can the game not notice a player quickswapping or fully teleporting around ships, and then not have an ingame kick from the game feature if a player is doing stuff abnormal to the code
Honestly, I think hourglass progression and the story should be the main focus for a while. We already have sea forts, skelly ships and camps, treasuries, shrines, shipwrecks, and world events, but in terms of story, we have 1 fun crossover and 1 mid crossover that add pretty much nothing to the story, a fun 2 quest arc that was much too short, and a grindy, puzzle focused story arc that’s been in the game for years now. We need more tall tales that relate to the main story of SoT, and hourglass needs a major overhaul to keep it from going the way of Arena (Rip). We’ve got enough content for now, we just need a story that’s not time limited or reliant on social media like mysteries and adventures. (Side tangent, the rewards for monkey island tall tales are really lame, they’re just 2 swords and a bunch of bad trinkets.)
I’m buzzing for the Hunter’s Call update, but also fairly confident we’ll have a nice big Summer update too. If the last 5 years have been a sign, we get an on-year and an off-year of content, massive drop in Pirate’s Life, then Captaincy, fairly sizeable Monkey Island, then Season 13, if we continue in that spirit we could be looking forward to another huge content drop or at least another proper Tall Tale campaign in the Summer this year. My bets are either custom servers finally dropping with all the “creating your very own pirate experience” hints that Mike’s been dropping over the years coming to fruition, or a new 6-8 Tall Tales campaign that might tie off some story strings in a satisfying way. Some sort of conclusion to Flameheart and the Pirate Lord’s major conflict in a way that keeps them in opposition but stops the “Ooh what will the other do next” that’s been keeping us in perpetual, unrewarded suspense for YEARS. Maybe tie off where Demarco, Jim and the Ancients are in the SOTD, yanno don’t remove the mystery of it but, again, stop the perpetual “OOH Things are happening in the SOTD” that have just so rarely come to fruition beyond it being used as an excuse to wrap up stories like Tasha
My 2025 list: - a reaper's hideout update - a hunter's call update - some lore that see Hunter's call become a legitimate 3rd party outside of the reapers and the athena alliance - some NPC ship factions that serve as guards around outpost and try to prevent PVP in the immediate area
Bringing back Reaper Runs would really make my day, those sail sets were what I wanted the most for the longest time now, too bad I only started playing in 2020
We need a Tortuga/Nassau type island, like the pirates town from the 3rd POTC tall tale, an ice biome to rival the devils roar would be mental, imagine needing like an icebreaker figurehead to navigate it, also this hunters call update needs whale hunting, like Moby Dick type shit, but seriously a proper populated pirate town is drastically needed
as a bare bones concept, i love the idea of the burning blade crew being able to activate world events that the reapers were responsible for (manning skeleton forts, summoning ashen lords/ghost fleets, etc). It would need a lot of tweaking but would give people a reason the fight the blade again i reckon.
christmas 2025 is gonna be lit. as they have been working hard to kill their game these past few years with a active playerbase of 12,000 people and hunters call being the only trade company to never get a rework.... the next season is a hunters call update. season 15 hunters call, season 16 reapers bones pve quests, season17 end of life update making safer seas the only option with full progression of all kinds unlocked.
I really hope that they give us skeleton parts from already exsisting models like the skely captains and random skeletons i would love to have broken skeleton parts
Another great video. Looking forward to the next pod. Alas, I expect a continuation of '23 and '24. I love SoT; it's far and away my all time favourite game and I'll play it daily until it's no longer supported; but unless they change engines/launch SoT2, I don't see a positive way forward. Rare always says the right thing, makes the right promises, but rarely (pun intended) delivers. How many times can you say to consumers, "We've learned our lesson / we've learned from this" with a straight face? At some point it becomes insulting. I do think the devs are doing the best to patch the holes. I also think Rare is sincere in wanting to right the ship and to deliver their long envisioned roadmap. But too many compromises, shortcuts, abandoned story arcs, confused story arcs, and ever playing catch up has......caught up to them. And I fear genuine recovery might be impossible at this point. Here's to hoping I am wrong!
Happy new year, Mate. I'm hoping for the story to pick up as well as how it affects the SOT world as it continues, it's one of my favourite aspects of SOT. It's one of the aspects I like about adventures when they were a thing and I think with some changes to how adventures work, it could be possible for them to have a place in modern SOT.
What id love so see is some card games. Something like gwent from the witcher. Turn the sea dogs tavern into a games room, arcade. Obviously no gambling due to age rating on game. Just something a bit different
If I could put some ideas forward I would like to see guilds getting some love. Nobody runs guild emissary’s anymore because it doesn’t pay as much as other companies. Burning blade needs to be easier to sink with sloops. Even a due blade can’t be sunk by sloops. We got ship balancing but sloop vs sloop combat is usually 1 sloop chasing another. Both ships with wind and you can’t catch up yet remain an equal distance. Finally remove skeleton camp islands from map voyages as the assets break dig spots so badly
What I want is for seasons to last longer. Both to give upcoming content more time to be developed, tested and polished, and to eliminate the feeling of rushing/grinding being needed to not miss out.
Personally, I think the amount of rewards in our glass could be better I guess but I think they should really focus on the overall progression. It’s downright awful. It is such an insane grind for such a high ceiling game mode that makes it hard for a lot of casual players to break into. Personally, I’m actually quite good at PVP however I have a job and a life outside of games and anything past the normal skeleton curse is just simply going to take years to attain
The problem is that the game has really poor unlocks and your time is not respected as a player, rings being the only high tier rewards outside of hourglass sucks
Hourglass isn’t quite so dead on console where we can mostly avoid the cheating problem! My main problem with the mode is how long it takes to supply up again after a loss.
The fact that order of souls (which is the trading company of killing skeleton lords), does not have any commendation linked to hourglass is stupid. I get maybe narrative-wise it doesn't make much sense now, but it's just a matter of caring. Same as gold hoarders, the fact you can't buy the gold hoarder cosmetics if you are distinction 5 and have the skeleton curse does not make much sense, link it to tall tales AND trading companies ffs. Add new skeleton cosmetics on the trading companies that make sense, only 2 or 3 per trading company is enough. Also let you have rings with the skeleton curse. To be honest, since Rare added the pirate emporium they just don't care anymore to do nice cosmetics to unlock.
Literally all i want other than some bug fixes and world event overhauls is just more damned skeleton cosmetics. Season 13's obsidian cosmetics are a start but there's so much untapped potential that doesn't seem like it'd be too hard to add We have the verdant bones, but not a single plant skeleton cosmetic to our name. They could add a shadow skeleton bone color with the black bones and glowing eyes, and a special colored version tied to doing some of the FotD commendations (one for getting grade 5 in eradicating each color of fated flame skeleton perhaps?) Ashen Lord cosmetics, which i'm shocked weren't the reward for the S13 stuff, like the crystalline orange bone color, torso with the clawed hand and heart, head with the jeweled eyes, and a lower body with the ashen dragon esthetic And several more that they technically would only have to slightly tweak a few models for our pirates to use
I had an idea that could bring some life back in to pvp. why is there only 1v1's? couldn't 3 ship free for all. 4? It could bring a quick way to bring that crazy sea battle feel. Maybe try to alliance with a random ship for the moment and you both turn on each other when it's right. I know that a larger group would just make wait times even longer. it's an idea at least.
Would love to see updates to hourglass, skull of siren song and Burning Blade (especially hourglass) and the lore now I guess is on that list of forgotten/dead features I am PRAYING that with this new content schedule we can just stop calling them seasons, it's getting impossible to remember which number is which release
I really hope they end up doing a lot of changes to the BB, it’s a big sandbox feature that vanished too quickly. And I grinded my ass for the obsidian bones and clothes to RP on the ship only for nothing, crossing my fingers
Fun story regarding HG from a buddy of mine. He and his mates were banned last week for the rest of G&G due to “cheating” just because they got a really high streak on HG due to the server/players they were fighting.
@ yeah not gonna say he WASNT cheating as I cannot verify that, but I’d find it funnier if he wasn’t and Rares detection system just flagged him as winning too many matches lol
Ive loved the game since release, i rock my day one patch constantly but i have lost hope in meaningful updates. We lost arena, we lost adventures, we no longer even get emissary ledger rewards. With the removal of the lore and story section from the official discord i cant see there being any chance of story updates coming back. Currently everything happening at sharkbait is just a tease for season 15, the exact same as the orb secrets for season 13 or the mermaid journals for season 14. I think a hunters call update is a great idea, but its sadly 2-3 years late and even if its an amazing season i cant see it holding interest with the playerbase except for veteran players who are desperate for something new to do, but they will burn themselves out and then never do it again. I hope we get tall tales that revitalize part of the game but we have to remember everyone was sure Flamehearts return was gonna come with tall tales and we got nothing there. 2023 was supposed to be the "Year of Flameheart" as said by Rare themselves and we didnt get anything except a single update where you dont really interact with him at all. I dont think Rare is the same development team they were 8+ years ago when they started making sea of thieves, and any of the old team that are still there are now working on Everwild instead of SoT. I wish the game got a different outcome and i hope i am wrong but i think it might be time to hang up my hook and pegleg and journey to more stable seas.
Either Rare has something big on the horizon, or we're seeing the fall of Sea of Thieves. In the later minths of 2024, there was barely any community activity. Especially during the holidays, when Rare has amazing events for Christmas and New Years. They just put the weight on thr streamers with limited giveaways, and a more complicated gold and glory. We didn't even get a Grogmany this year. So im thinking we may either see a reinstallment for better servers or the seas is coming to an end
More bugs, and for the 10th anniversary, another outside of the game ARG and a ten thousand dollar Gold plated Macguffin prize for the 10th anniversary.
Rare needs to stop making everything have amazing loot, in my opinion only high risk loot like world events/FOTD should have good loot otherwise no one will take the risk if they can just get the same level of loot with no risk.
i honestly think we need new islands, or a new map entirely. they gave us the grap to make moving round islands quicker and easier but i remember when i first did a riddle voyage. it was so exciting and so simple. walking round a tropicle island fighting skeletons and exploring all the caves. getting round the island was fun i was happy. i know theres a lot more work that needs to be done but i know id be happy for new islands, it wpould get me excited
I would hope maybe by season 20 we hopefully get an announcement or tease about a sequel to Sea of Thieves, the game is starting to show its age and a sequel using UE5 would allow for a more expanded map and more tools at their disposal because as you said the game is getting horribly bloated by this point and I imagine they are starting to hit the ceiling on what more that they can add to the game
tbh, i think SoT got almost everything right the last 6 six years. it felt like the game became better and better. But for me i think they should have left the pvp system alone bc its such a core to the game. for me the new wapons just dont feel right, especially the grappling gun( i think it doesnt fit into SoT, just my opinion, but if i think of pirate games i dont think of spiderman action across islands). Thats why for me the last year was dissapointing. the blunderbus change made it just way more annoying and you get i dont like the getting boarded all the time. Nevertheless i still have great hope for 2025
PS5 players messed up water dynamics. Let’s face it, it’s over. The good news is RARE is working on SOT2. Let’s ride this pony out and look towards the future.😄🎉
For the past 2~3 years, all SoT partners and other youtubers have been saying the same thing. The “revival” and rescue of SoT... after each year of deception! Except that... well... you just have to admit that all Rare's senior devs have been assigned to other projects... that SoT is stagnating with its Emporium incomes and that Microsoft is just trying to milk the cow until the game dies, with lowest costs of development. Its compability with old consoles and the server service it is given no longer allow the game to evolve. No new zones, every new mechanic/event breaks the game and pushes it beyond its limits. All they can do is keep adding meagre content, broken tools, and systems like guilds/captaincy to push impulsive collectors to farm skins.
I'm gonna guess they are just gonna reskin a meg and count that as a world event. I have zero confidence in this dev team to put out something that's actually good and doesn't die in the first week.
Id like to see Hourglass removed and instead just incentivize players to pvp on normal servers. As much as they have tried to integrate it, it still feels out of the way and removed from the high seas. I would much rather it be like a grade 5 reaper
How much longer do you think they keep making things for the game? Hourglass needs deleted. You have cosmetics locked behind your skill at the game. Never should have been made. I don't think they go to the length of rework you are talking about. Games don't last forever.
Mysterious updates are not good for the game. We should know what is coming and when. They likely want Fortnite vibes with their mysterious updates, but the game isnt popular enough for it. People en masse want to know what's coming. People need something to look forward to. Not surprised though, since it's the same company that thought saying "We can't stop making content to fix bugs, because that's not how you run a successful business." I mean really. There are plenty of games that ooerate and have ZERO microtransactions and give FREE updates to their players, that are larger in playerbase than SoT. And they seem to be doing fine. If they also said it's impossible for them to fix the game, then why are they making any new content whatsoever? They said making new content only compounds the problem. So. Stop making content, alleviate your technical debt that you supposedly have, even though you don't have any and you're just making up excuses in PR Speak to make your community forgive you, and then make content when the debt is more resolved. Or just stop lying about the problem. Give Microsoft more money for better servers. Hire more people. Communicate better and stop being cryptic and mysterious. UE is one of the most robust engines available. They're feeding us doodoo and telling us it's chocolate. If they're working on a rumored Engine update. Then they should come out and say they are. So at least we would know it'll be fixed at some point. But this isn't even laughable incompetence anymore. It's just sad and pathetic from such a beloved game and company.
I don't think the game will survive 2025 tbh, unless they add full capabilities in Safer Seas. The majority of players who quit do so because of the pvp sweats ruining multiple hours of work and then justifying it with "its a pIrAte game" Well, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news guys, but the pirate way of life died out for a reason. Now if players could accept defeat happily then it'd be better, but the majority of people who attack you will turn on cheats the moment you get the upper hand. They're not in it for the piracy, they're getting a thrill from causing distress and irritation because most of them don't even need/take the gold. You're wondering what the biggest problem is? It's the "og" players. As always.
I cannot for life of me understand wanting another sea monster. What a boring addition. I assure you it's not innovative enough to bring the game back from death. "Things come back mate....aye but that be gamble of long odds, passing on thats dead certain"
@@bfrcrespo and high seas as more people cheating and quitting daily because no one can play it without being ran up on by some idiot with reapers 5 and bored. the game is gonna die this year qoute me on it
@@Tjerty how so? they give safer seas the same thing as high seas and all the casuals will go play it until they get bored of pve and then will come back to high seas for the pvp, then that leaves the sweaty losers on pvp servers to do there thing. not everyone want to learn naval combat and pvp to dig up some treasure
My prediction for 2025 will be this tweet by Rare: "Well, you see - only 2.5% of playerbase are playing hourglass mode so we will sunset it and move our resourses on much needed features of adventure mode! We still have a lot of surprises and this is only the beginning of our journey! Cheers!"
@@vincentflink3499 I'd cry and shid
guess i gotta hurry with getting my skelly curse
@Springowl_yt the skelly curse is the new pirate legend outfit, all the noobs wear it, golden skelly is better but most people with it got boosted. Verdant and Obsidian bones on top🔥
@@polishpuffer no no rare wouldn’t do that they never in a million years…
“Skeleton curse and Ghost curse will now be in the pirate emporium beginning on January 1st 2026 Happy new year -Rare 😁
@@blueseaslug9068 not what I meant, I mean that the curse doesnt require any pvp skill, I keep finding skellies and roll all of them
i've always been wanting something to do on your boat when you have to sail for a while
like a card game or being able to duel your teammates something like that would be radical
Would be perfect if the waves didn't shift you way off course 2.5 seconds into your card game lol
I agree with the standpoint on the year's preview, it sets a very "carved in stone" plan for the year that creates expectations that might be messed with once the updates are further developed.
@ZebraProductions54 yes, like some of the darts didn't make it in and we know some stuff had to be cut from Season 14's release. A vague overview like 2022 was better!
I still say the way to revitalize Hourglass is to add temporary game modes. Start having new game modes that last something like, a 3 day weekend each month. The main issue with having multiple game modes in Hourglass is splitting an already small pool of players. But we've already seen how the mode jumps in popularity from just community weekends.
Make it so fun modes are a treat that isn't always there and you'll have people FLOOD the mode each time. Things like 2v2s, attacking/defending fortresses, or maybe a match made sirens skull voyage that would basically be a return of arena.
I think the Hourglass/Arena format is just not functional for this type of game. I think it'd be better if they added a bounty/infamy system where the more players sink other players the more infamy they gain.
Outposts have Wanted posters that players can interact with, upon doing so they obtain a quest that gives a riddle for the last island visited by the crew they're hunting.
Reapers gain xp for obtaining infamy and keeping it for extended periods of time, Athena gains xp for hunting down and sinking notorious crews with high infamy.
Top 3 most wanted things:
1) Improved environment, new underground caverns, new uncharted islands, islands changing to freshen up the world. Maybe roaming npc and npc pirate ships across the world.
2) Expanded ship customisation, changing sail and ship shape, interior furniture, choosing between a fast but weak ship and a slow but battle ready ship.
3) A voyage like Skull of Siren Song but more rewarding. How about a chase to a shipwreck full of riches.
We already have npc pirate ships and number 2 i would like them to focus on 1 fixing the game 2 improving environments maybe even a new area
The Hunter's call update really gives me hope, but the years start rolling and less time is on the clock for this game in terms of story and where we thought it might go. I'm sure we will get more, but it's sad knowing how much time has been lost already for potential story.
Strong themes and story play a larger role in keeping players than many think.
I always will say that this is what hourglass NEEDS to survive….
1. Matchmaking SBM ratings need to be RESET at the start of every month like with emissaries so that people don’t get hard-locked with sweats and forced to a losing streak because they did well one day. Folks can’t play with their more casual friends because their friend gets punished because you play the mode more, thus Smurf accounts and cheating is made more common because of it.
2. Battle area needs to SHRINK as the fight progresses to prevent hour-long chases and battles that never end. The hourglass should not reward cowardice.10-15 min MAX to make matches quicker. Plus the edge of the arena should be the hard-kill threshold instead of the “oh you’re getting close to it~”
3. Hourglass faction exp should be MASSIVELY increased and time-based, the longer you fight the more exp you get. No more several-hour fights only to get a sliver of exp if you lose! Cosmetics should be a testament to how much you LOVE a game mode, not how much you SUFFERED to get it! Double exp weekend should be what you make AT BASE (but loss exp should still be doubled if the system I listed doesn’t go through)
4. (Optional) Overhaul the level format to match the prestige’s the other factions have, it would make the grind visually less daunting to be a lvl 100, 10th distinction for gold curse rather than lvl 1000 for grinding purposes. (Plus it would make it feel more consistent…..plus new rings for your fingers)
Skill based matchmaking with ELO that starts to look with crews of similar ELO. That should be, if I am playing solo and have 200 elo, that I can get matched with a sloop of two players of 100 elo or a solo of 200 elo (+- a buffer, for example 10% margin each 30 seconds of wait time, capped to 25% so if I wait 90 seconds, a battle that's 200 against 250 could take place). That would reduce wait times and wouldn't match you with sweats, unless you are on a multi crew. Skill based matchmaking would actually be beneficial in wait times, due to new players going into hourglass due to the fact that they don't get instantly crushed. With more new players, less waiting times. To invite more players to do hourglass, more cosmetic rewards are a must. Brigsy and all skeleton pirate cosmetics should be a thing with the skeleton curse. With GH distinction 5, I should be able to purchase the gold hoarder cosmetics, and/or head, although linked to other commendations. Such a missed opportunity to not have linked order of souls commendations with hourglass.
Realistically, a hybrid model where the game matches as it does now could be maintained, while integrating the elo model also for matchmaking. Meaning, the game attempts to get you to a match like we have now, but if unavailable matches you as explained earlier. That could reduce wait times by a lot for any crew size, as a galleon could be matched with two or three sloops (depending on the sloop crews elo), and then have the multiship battles people ask for. That would inevitably mean killing the champion battles, but I honestly don't care, and I bet nobody does.
The only thing they need to do precisely with this is the elo system. Make sure that when a 200 elo player goes against a sloop of 2 100s, the win statistics are close to 50%, if not that makes the matches unfair. I don't know what is the problem on making you switch servers while getting a game, but if I have a good connection or simply chose to, I should be able to chose to do EU and NA east (for example) in order to shortern wait times.
Hourglass definitely needs a total overhaul.
It needs a way to blend into regular gameplay better instead of being this weird system where it takes place on normal servers, but the people already on the server can't benefit in any way from it.
it is cool to do hourglass and find a good server (fotd or somone at an event) but other than that yea
What i would like to see is some hourglass improvements such as matchmaking as well as other modes such as team deathmatch on an island and a way to make old world events something to go for like what the did with the chest of fortune but make a unique item for each world events so there is a reason to go for them
I think the long term effect of dive voyages has been the worst thing for the game health. It’s so rare to naturally encounter players when not hunting them, that it feels like i need to run reapers just to have any human interaction. Which is the most interesting thing about this game.
I think that has more to do with hourglass than dives, as you can't dive with loot, but hourglass wastes 2 slots on the server.
Dives just made things less frustrating for everyone because it counteracts the dumb fucks who keep attacking freshly spawned ships with nothing on them.
Fewer empty ships sailing around.
It helped a lot to complete commendations with the new system voyage but you´re right now its a bit hard to encounter players if you´re not doing world events or HG
@@bobmcbob49 totally agree with hourglass taking up spots on servers
@bobmcbob49 lol it doesn't take slots from the server they have their own slots for the battle.
@@bobmcbob49to be honest, I agree with your standpoint on dive voyages. However, I think that they should bring back sea dogs arena to fix the hourglass.
Things I want to see in 2025
1. Reapers Hideout rebuild into Flameheart's kingdom
2. More customizations for Skeleton curse (Dark Adventurer bones, Ancient Skeleton bones or some Ashen lord parts)
3. Old Faithful Isle redesigned
4. Skins for harpoons and ship lanterns
5. More bosses and sea monsters
6. Map expansion (highly unlikely)
(And they should end Xbox One support)
Yeah, cut off support to a bunch of their players. Yeah that’s smart.😂😂😂
@@tylerschmaltz3365 1. Xbox One is the reason why this game is so laggy
2. Not that many people are on Xbox One anymore
It's a 12 year old console from last generation with no support from Microsoft anymore, let it die
pls not the last one too many memories
My little brother can only play with me through my old xbox one s... It's not the best experience but it gets the job done, I do however agree with you. The xbox one is holding the potential of the game down by graphics, features, and a lot more.
Sea of thieves is a GTAV pirate game don’t worry, it will never die. No games provide this feeling.
id honestly want them to put more counter measures for cheating because how can the game not notice a player quickswapping or fully teleporting around ships, and then not have an ingame kick from the game feature if a player is doing stuff abnormal to the code
Honestly, I think hourglass progression and the story should be the main focus for a while. We already have sea forts, skelly ships and camps, treasuries, shrines, shipwrecks, and world events, but in terms of story, we have 1 fun crossover and 1 mid crossover that add pretty much nothing to the story, a fun 2 quest arc that was much too short, and a grindy, puzzle focused story arc that’s been in the game for years now. We need more tall tales that relate to the main story of SoT, and hourglass needs a major overhaul to keep it from going the way of Arena (Rip). We’ve got enough content for now, we just need a story that’s not time limited or reliant on social media like mysteries and adventures. (Side tangent, the rewards for monkey island tall tales are really lame, they’re just 2 swords and a bunch of bad trinkets.)
I’m buzzing for the Hunter’s Call update, but also fairly confident we’ll have a nice big Summer update too. If the last 5 years have been a sign, we get an on-year and an off-year of content, massive drop in Pirate’s Life, then Captaincy, fairly sizeable Monkey Island, then Season 13, if we continue in that spirit we could be looking forward to another huge content drop or at least another proper Tall Tale campaign in the Summer this year.
My bets are either custom servers finally dropping with all the “creating your very own pirate experience” hints that Mike’s been dropping over the years coming to fruition, or a new 6-8 Tall Tales campaign that might tie off some story strings in a satisfying way. Some sort of conclusion to Flameheart and the Pirate Lord’s major conflict in a way that keeps them in opposition but stops the “Ooh what will the other do next” that’s been keeping us in perpetual, unrewarded suspense for YEARS. Maybe tie off where Demarco, Jim and the Ancients are in the SOTD, yanno don’t remove the mystery of it but, again, stop the perpetual “OOH Things are happening in the SOTD” that have just so rarely come to fruition beyond it being used as an excuse to wrap up stories like Tasha
I'd love proper custom servers!!
My 2025 list:
- a reaper's hideout update
- a hunter's call update
- some lore that see Hunter's call become a legitimate 3rd party outside of the reapers and the athena alliance
- some NPC ship factions that serve as guards around outpost and try to prevent PVP in the immediate area
Would be cool to have some kind of "marine" that "tries" to prevent fights at outposts.
Bringing back Reaper Runs would really make my day, those sail sets were what I wanted the most for the longest time now, too bad I only started playing in 2020
We need a Tortuga/Nassau type island, like the pirates town from the 3rd POTC tall tale, an ice biome to rival the devils roar would be mental, imagine needing like an icebreaker figurehead to navigate it, also this hunters call update needs whale hunting, like Moby Dick type shit, but seriously a proper populated pirate town is drastically needed
THAT WOULD BE SO COOL, I’d love an actual neutral zone town hub
I think port merrick is their attempt at a proper pirate town it’s definitely the best looking outpost but definitely not my favorite to sell to
as a bare bones concept, i love the idea of the burning blade crew being able to activate world events that the reapers were responsible for (manning skeleton forts, summoning ashen lords/ghost fleets, etc). It would need a lot of tweaking but would give people a reason the fight the blade again i reckon.
Classic skeleton coming in to ruin the shot with merrick at 6:30
christmas 2025 is gonna be lit. as they have been working hard to kill their game these past few years with a active playerbase of 12,000 people and hunters call being the only trade company to never get a rework.... the next season is a hunters call update. season 15 hunters call, season 16 reapers bones pve quests, season17 end of life update making safer seas the only option with full progression of all kinds unlocked.
I really hope that they give us skeleton parts from already exsisting models like the skely captains and random skeletons i would love to have broken skeleton parts
Happy new year Mr. Based
@@jarkiplier bad new year Mr sigma chungus
@@AShinyRay tf
I want the bilge rats to become a faction
Another great video. Looking forward to the next pod. Alas, I expect a continuation of '23 and '24. I love SoT; it's far and away my all time favourite game and I'll play it daily until it's no longer supported; but unless they change engines/launch SoT2, I don't see a positive way forward. Rare always says the right thing, makes the right promises, but rarely (pun intended) delivers. How many times can you say to consumers, "We've learned our lesson / we've learned from this" with a straight face? At some point it becomes insulting. I do think the devs are doing the best to patch the holes. I also think Rare is sincere in wanting to right the ship and to deliver their long envisioned roadmap. But too many compromises, shortcuts, abandoned story arcs, confused story arcs, and ever playing catch up has......caught up to them. And I fear genuine recovery might be impossible at this point. Here's to hoping I am wrong!
Well said! The game feels very different from 2022 onwards?
@ Yes. Thinking on it, ‘22 forward is more accurate.
Happy new year, Mate. I'm hoping for the story to pick up as well as how it affects the SOT world as it continues, it's one of my favourite aspects of SOT. It's one of the aspects I like about adventures when they were a thing and I think with some changes to how adventures work, it could be possible for them to have a place in modern SOT.
Happy new year! I hope so too!
What id love so see is some card games. Something like gwent from the witcher. Turn the sea dogs tavern into a games room, arcade. Obviously no gambling due to age rating on game. Just something a bit different
If I could put some ideas forward I would like to see guilds getting some love. Nobody runs guild emissary’s anymore because it doesn’t pay as much as other companies. Burning blade needs to be easier to sink with sloops. Even a due blade can’t be sunk by sloops. We got ship balancing but sloop vs sloop combat is usually 1 sloop chasing another. Both ships with wind and you can’t catch up yet remain an equal distance. Finally remove skeleton camp islands from map voyages as the assets break dig spots so badly
What I want is for seasons to last longer. Both to give upcoming content more time to be developed, tested and polished, and to eliminate the feeling of rushing/grinding being needed to not miss out.
Personally, I think the amount of rewards in our glass could be better I guess but I think they should really focus on the overall progression. It’s downright awful. It is such an insane grind for such a high ceiling game mode that makes it hard for a lot of casual players to break into. Personally, I’m actually quite good at PVP however I have a job and a life outside of games and anything past the normal skeleton curse is just simply going to take years to attain
The problem is that the game has really poor unlocks and your time is not respected as a player, rings being the only high tier rewards outside of hourglass sucks
I would love it if Rare would actually lock-in and focus on fixing the game instead of pumping out an endless cavalcade of content slop.
exactly
Functioning updates hopefully
Hourglass isn’t quite so dead on console where we can mostly avoid the cheating problem! My main problem with the mode is how long it takes to supply up again after a loss.
Bro I miss the CTF elements from the seaforts back in Return of the Damned, that was actually so fun to play
The fact that order of souls (which is the trading company of killing skeleton lords), does not have any commendation linked to hourglass is stupid. I get maybe narrative-wise it doesn't make much sense now, but it's just a matter of caring. Same as gold hoarders, the fact you can't buy the gold hoarder cosmetics if you are distinction 5 and have the skeleton curse does not make much sense, link it to tall tales AND trading companies ffs. Add new skeleton cosmetics on the trading companies that make sense, only 2 or 3 per trading company is enough. Also let you have rings with the skeleton curse.
To be honest, since Rare added the pirate emporium they just don't care anymore to do nice cosmetics to unlock.
Literally all i want other than some bug fixes and world event overhauls is just more damned skeleton cosmetics. Season 13's obsidian cosmetics are a start but there's so much untapped potential that doesn't seem like it'd be too hard to add
We have the verdant bones, but not a single plant skeleton cosmetic to our name.
They could add a shadow skeleton bone color with the black bones and glowing eyes, and a special colored version tied to doing some of the FotD commendations (one for getting grade 5 in eradicating each color of fated flame skeleton perhaps?)
Ashen Lord cosmetics, which i'm shocked weren't the reward for the S13 stuff, like the crystalline orange bone color, torso with the clawed hand and heart, head with the jeweled eyes, and a lower body with the ashen dragon esthetic
And several more that they technically would only have to slightly tweak a few models for our pirates to use
I haven’t played the game in months idk what will bring me back. All the new content seemed forgotten about when I did hop on
2:40 - is that an early stage Lost Gold Fort? This fort looks way more fun than the current one.
It would be nice to have more types and varieties of fish
Really hoping for a quality of life and bug fix update too, hoping we see it sometime this year.
i misheard skull fort and ghost fleet as skell fleet and i was thinking “wait the fleet gives plenty of loot?”
I had an idea that could bring some life back in to pvp. why is there only 1v1's? couldn't 3 ship free for all. 4? It could bring a quick way to bring that crazy sea battle feel. Maybe try to alliance with a random ship for the moment and you both turn on each other when it's right. I know that a larger group would just make wait times even longer. it's an idea at least.
Would love to see updates to hourglass, skull of siren song and Burning Blade (especially hourglass) and the lore now I guess is on that list of forgotten/dead features
I am PRAYING that with this new content schedule we can just stop calling them seasons, it's getting impossible to remember which number is which release
I really hope they end up doing a lot of changes to the BB, it’s a big sandbox feature that vanished too quickly. And I grinded my ass for the obsidian bones and clothes to RP on the ship only for nothing, crossing my fingers
It’s simply time for a sequel. A new map on new servers.
I want a gambling mode like Liars Dice
will you get a shiny ray now that its easy to get in the new pokemon game
@shrogre1337 I need to yes! But I have it from previous games!
I love this game and keen for the HC update, but right now, l can not stop playing Indiana Jones!
Fun story regarding HG from a buddy of mine. He and his mates were banned last week for the rest of G&G due to “cheating” just because they got a really high streak on HG due to the server/players they were fighting.
Seems odd indeed
@ yeah not gonna say he WASNT cheating as I cannot verify that, but I’d find it funnier if he wasn’t and Rares detection system just flagged him as winning too many matches lol
The game needs a total overhaul with new islands or a sea of thieves 2.
Ive loved the game since release, i rock my day one patch constantly but i have lost hope in meaningful updates. We lost arena, we lost adventures, we no longer even get emissary ledger rewards. With the removal of the lore and story section from the official discord i cant see there being any chance of story updates coming back. Currently everything happening at sharkbait is just a tease for season 15, the exact same as the orb secrets for season 13 or the mermaid journals for season 14.
I think a hunters call update is a great idea, but its sadly 2-3 years late and even if its an amazing season i cant see it holding interest with the playerbase except for veteran players who are desperate for something new to do, but they will burn themselves out and then never do it again. I hope we get tall tales that revitalize part of the game but we have to remember everyone was sure Flamehearts return was gonna come with tall tales and we got nothing there. 2023 was supposed to be the "Year of Flameheart" as said by Rare themselves and we didnt get anything except a single update where you dont really interact with him at all.
I dont think Rare is the same development team they were 8+ years ago when they started making sea of thieves, and any of the old team that are still there are now working on Everwild instead of SoT. I wish the game got a different outcome and i hope i am wrong but i think it might be time to hang up my hook and pegleg and journey to more stable seas.
Either Rare has something big on the horizon, or we're seeing the fall of Sea of Thieves. In the later minths of 2024, there was barely any community activity. Especially during the holidays, when Rare has amazing events for Christmas and New Years.
They just put the weight on thr streamers with limited giveaways, and a more complicated gold and glory. We didn't even get a Grogmany this year. So im thinking we may either see a reinstallment for better servers or the seas is coming to an end
Personally i just want more story. I came for the story and i love what we got, but there is still so much more that i want to see
This game used to be so fun, and so easy to introduce people to. Now they have all of these modes, and tutorials, and weird stuff... Go back!
It would be nice if tried to make arena work again like an hourglass rebranding and new content
More bugs, and for the 10th anniversary, another outside of the game ARG and a ten thousand dollar Gold plated Macguffin prize for the 10th anniversary.
Rare needs to stop making everything have amazing loot, in my opinion only high risk loot like world events/FOTD should have good loot otherwise no one will take the risk if they can just get the same level of loot with no risk.
i honestly think we need new islands, or a new map entirely. they gave us the grap to make moving round islands quicker and easier but i remember when i first did a riddle voyage. it was so exciting and so simple. walking round a tropicle island fighting skeletons and exploring all the caves. getting round the island was fun i was happy. i know theres a lot more work that needs to be done but i know id be happy for new islands, it wpould get me excited
its not possible to do that
@FROST-xl7be dang
Of course it is, it would take a lot of work but they could remake islands or the map @@FROST-xl7be
Not a new map, but an extended one would be amazing.
sad what this game has ended up as
I would hope maybe by season 20 we hopefully get an announcement or tease about a sequel to Sea of Thieves, the game is starting to show its age and a sequel using UE5 would allow for a more expanded map and more tools at their disposal because as you said the game is getting horribly bloated by this point and I imagine they are starting to hit the ceiling on what more that they can add to the game
I dont think reaper will get voyage because it's mainly a pvp faction i think its the perfect opportunity for rare to add bounty voyages
i Just want the mermaid to have some sort of consistency
tbh, i think SoT got almost everything right the last 6 six years. it felt like the game became better and better. But for me i think they should have left the pvp system alone bc its such a core to the game. for me the new wapons just dont feel right, especially the grappling gun( i think it doesnt fit into SoT, just my opinion, but if i think of pirate games i dont think of spiderman action across islands). Thats why for me the last year was dissapointing. the blunderbus change made it just way more annoying and you get i dont like the getting boarded all the time. Nevertheless i still have great hope for 2025
2025 people will be playing GTA 6 come fall. SOT better have some top tier content lined up
5:15 bro put on the minecraft music😭😭
PS5 players messed up water dynamics. Let’s face it, it’s over. The good news is RARE is working on SOT2. Let’s ride this pony out and look towards the future.😄🎉
the world events have been nerfed, the only best one is to stack fotd and thats not always safe!
Shiny Ray
Xbox and PC players: “this game is beyond fixing! Rare lost their way”
PS5 players: “haha fun pirate game. Cannon go boom!”
For the past 2~3 years, all SoT partners and other youtubers have been saying the same thing. The “revival” and rescue of SoT... after each year of deception!
Except that... well... you just have to admit that all Rare's senior devs have been assigned to other projects... that SoT is stagnating with its Emporium incomes and that Microsoft is just trying to milk the cow until the game dies, with lowest costs of development.
Its compability with old consoles and the server service it is given no longer allow the game to evolve. No new zones, every new mechanic/event breaks the game and pushes it beyond its limits. All they can do is keep adding meagre content, broken tools, and systems like guilds/captaincy to push impulsive collectors to farm skins.
Cheaters are flooding our seas right now in 2025, please Rare do something
They are invincible and can teleport
I just want One Piece cosmetics man..
I'm gonna guess they are just gonna reskin a meg and count that as a world event. I have zero confidence in this dev team to put out something that's actually good and doesn't die in the first week.
Id like to see Hourglass removed and instead just incentivize players to pvp on normal servers. As much as they have tried to integrate it, it still feels out of the way and removed from the high seas. I would much rather it be like a grade 5 reaper
How much longer do you think they keep making things for the game? Hourglass needs deleted. You have cosmetics locked behind your skill at the game. Never should have been made. I don't think they go to the length of rework you are talking about. Games don't last forever.
No views 😮
It's a shame, I spent so much time learning to be good in this game and now it's unbearable to see it dead
Not dead yet but it's very much in a deep trough
more lag is coming thats for sure
ray
@@danielgerold daniel
Mysterious updates are not good for the game. We should know what is coming and when. They likely want Fortnite vibes with their mysterious updates, but the game isnt popular enough for it. People en masse want to know what's coming. People need something to look forward to.
Not surprised though, since it's the same company that thought saying "We can't stop making content to fix bugs, because that's not how you run a successful business."
I mean really. There are plenty of games that ooerate and have ZERO microtransactions and give FREE updates to their players, that are larger in playerbase than SoT. And they seem to be doing fine.
If they also said it's impossible for them to fix the game, then why are they making any new content whatsoever? They said making new content only compounds the problem. So. Stop making content, alleviate your technical debt that you supposedly have, even though you don't have any and you're just making up excuses in PR Speak to make your community forgive you, and then make content when the debt is more resolved.
Or just stop lying about the problem. Give Microsoft more money for better servers. Hire more people. Communicate better and stop being cryptic and mysterious.
UE is one of the most robust engines available. They're feeding us doodoo and telling us it's chocolate.
If they're working on a rumored Engine update. Then they should come out and say they are. So at least we would know it'll be fixed at some point.
But this isn't even laughable incompetence anymore. It's just sad and pathetic from such a beloved game and company.
Yo what’s crazy?
minecraft ost go wwww
I don't think the game will survive 2025 tbh, unless they add full capabilities in Safer Seas. The majority of players who quit do so because of the pvp sweats ruining multiple hours of work and then justifying it with "its a pIrAte game"
Well, I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news guys, but the pirate way of life died out for a reason. Now if players could accept defeat happily then it'd be better, but the majority of people who attack you will turn on cheats the moment you get the upper hand. They're not in it for the piracy, they're getting a thrill from causing distress and irritation because most of them don't even need/take the gold.
You're wondering what the biggest problem is? It's the "og" players. As always.
Lmao, 2024 was supposed to be the rejuvenation for the game. 2025 ain’t gonna be it.
Hour glass needs other ways to rank up then just pvp because of the bad match making
yeah I went against a 2 player brig with new players then the next match I went against a legendary sea dog crew
They need to add more pvp options into hourglass
@PineappleElephant68 lsd dont mean ur good nga
@@cet_OP shut up
@@kb-nm4uk I like the PvP though
SOT2 when
I really miss this game. I bet Rare misses my constant flow of cash, too. What a shame. Oh, well.
Drop xbox one! Repeat drop xbox one! lets unlock this games potential the xbox series has been out for years now!
rare needs too stop trying to make hunters call better and make SKILL BASED MATCH MAKING IN HOUR GLASS
I cannot for life of me understand wanting another sea monster. What a boring addition. I assure you it's not innovative enough to bring the game back from death. "Things come back mate....aye but that be gamble of long odds, passing on thats dead certain"
Im sure lots of disappointment, and mid-ness
SoT is done. Expand the map or come out with a sequel. Yawn
just worse stability
this game is gonna crashout by the end of 2025 unless they give safer seas the exact same playable features as high seas
its just a lil learning place its not supposed to be a longterm gamemode
@@bfrcrespo and high seas as more people cheating and quitting daily because no one can play it without being ran up on by some idiot with reapers 5 and bored. the game is gonna die this year qoute me on it
It'll take a lot more than safer seas to save this game from crashing out imo.
@@Tjerty how so? they give safer seas the same thing as high seas and all the casuals will go play it until they get bored of pve and then will come back to high seas for the pvp, then that leaves the sweaty losers on pvp servers to do there thing. not everyone want to learn naval combat and pvp to dig up some treasure
Unfortunately it doesn't matter what they add in terms of content if they don't get this rampant cheating problem under immediate control.
The only fix for hourglass is to delete it
New larger map would be nice, and maybe a new map on a yearly basis.
@@derekellisCAN this sot not fortnite💀
Dead game man