Sea of Thieves has caused quite the storm from gamers and reviewers and has a major split on what people think of the game. Whether people love it or hate it, the important thing is that it appears to be a successful new IP from Rare. Topping the UK charts in sales, with over 2 million unique users playing the game as per Microsoft. Even with these successes, however, there has been much concern about the amount of content in Sea of Thieves. The general consensus is that the game is a bit sparse in content and needs more variety in the content it does have. With that in mind, based on my own personal experiences with the game, here are some things I would like to see added to Sea of Thieves in upcoming updates!
Legendary AI Pirates
One of the things that made the period of piracy such a romanticized period of history, was the legends that were the masters of the seas. Pirates like Blackbeard, Sir Francis Drake, Henry Morgan, Captain Kidd and many more are all household names from the golden age of piracy. To capitalize on this rich history, Rare could make bi-weekly or monthly events. Where one of these legendary pirates roams the sea’s and you and your crew have to hunt down and kill these legendary pirates. Of course, these pirates would have to have a large number of chests/rewards for killing them, which would in turn also make them tougher than your average player. Imagine the intensity of your friend shooting you out of a cannon on to the deck of the Queen Anne’s Revenge and having to go toe to toe with the legendary Blackbeard! Sounds amazing right? Also maybe as a reward for defeating a legendary pirate you could get the skin or style of his ship for your own galleon.
More Variety of Enemies
It was noted in most reviews that one of the most disappointing aspects was the lack of variety in enemies that you could fight outside of just other pirates. While my previous point covers one aspect of this issue, there is no doubt that it can get boring simply going island to island fighting skeletons. Now there are a variety of different skeletons that you have to fight, that all have different strengths and weaknesses. There were definitely missed opportunities in regards to other PVE enemies that could have been added. The most obvious would be human tribes on some of the larger islands. If one of the islands was filled with higher end chests but also contained a cannibal tribe that you had to fight, that would give players a different fear then skeletons. This would also go a long way to breaking up the repetitiveness of going island to island and finding treasure if you didn’t know what kind of enemy you might be facing.
More NPCs in outposts
It seems like something really minor, but outposts feel basically deserted with nothing but shopkeepers and the different faction leaders. It leaves an empty feeling to the outposts. If they were to add more “townfolk” NPC’s and maybe even give them minor quests that you could complete at your leisure it would help to fill out the world and make it feel more full.
After the Kraken, more legendary beasts
There is no doubt that the Kraken is a force to reckoned with and can destroy even the most well-coordinated crew. While I hope the Kraken stays as a permanent enemy to face going forward in Sea of Thieves. It would be amazing if you could do battle against Davy Jones and the Flying Dutchmen, or even face off against a giant sea serpent, anything like that would be a welcome addition to the game. Also, defeating these beasts as NPC quests to unlock epic gear for your ship and pirate would make these monsters highly sought after by many players. This would mean players could cooperatively fight these monsters or choose to destroy each other first in an effort to not have to share the loot. This is very similar to the mechanic already employed in the skeleton forts already featured in the game.
Minor activities
Sea of Thieves is considered to be an MMO hybrid, but one of the key things it is missing that most MMO’s have is minor activities. If Rare was to add in a few activities like fishing, for example, would be a great way to pass time while sailing with friends and would also provide a source of food that could be used to restore health. Cooking, it seems very lackluster that plain bananas are the main source of health in this game. It would be awesome if there was a recipe system where you could craft or cook food that restored health faster then the standard banana. Then the more you cooked the more exotic recipes you could make which would give you more health back. This mechanic would be very useful especially while fighting against the Kraken and maybe other such tough bosses down the road.
Summary
I think Sea of Thieves is a fantastic foundation on top of which Rare can truly build a great game! There definitely needs to be more content, however, if Rare can deliver on the promise of more content while listening to their core community. I 100% believe this game could be a real gem, but as of right now it is a diamond in the rough.
What do you think of these ideas? Have some of your own? Let us know in the comments!
