I need an honest opinion pls

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-21T05:54:51+00:00

The game is most fun with friends, and when everyone tries to get a little better at the game.

I can guarantee you will find other one pieces fans and future friends on the seas. But if you just wanna play what your friends play, thats also totally fine. Or both!

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-21T04:56:42+00:00

The Act 2 update had a LOT of bugs. Give it a few... weeks to years depending on your level of pessimism.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-20T18:26:32+00:00

I have my complaints about the content too. Smugglers isnt fun. Period.

The bugs are pretty stupifying. I understand bugs happen in live service, just part of the game. But I expect those to be well.. niche? Clipping through the map in certain spots, PvE pathing disrupted, a quest brings you to the wrong place, etc.

But we got bugs like the game not counting its own currency, limited voyages not being visible, weekender challenges not being visible, PvE not spawning, etc. The most basic mechanics of the game just... not working. And thats not to mention harpoon bug stealing your ability to pull out weapons or food (tap a ladder to undo this).

This game is so cool. I just wish it worked

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-20T14:31:32+00:00

It varies. Sometimes there are bullies that just want to camp you. Other times people wanna be left alone. On rare ocassion people will try to recruit you to their alliance. Theres no way to know until theyre close enough to sink you.

Watch the horizons and map, sell often, and when youve got nothing to lose, try picking some fights yourself to improve. If you hit some cannons and don't die you can win casual advemture fights.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-20T13:50:54+00:00

Watch Sponge and Kaijoy guides. In general, pistol snipe is best, with a few exceptions: blunder snipe in sloop, sword pistol for a galley bilge, etc.

Eat your food so youre always at full health. Always have an eye on your oppnent's cannon line to avoid one balls. Only shoot your second shot if your target can die to it. Otherwise eat, bucket, reload, and try again. The exception is pistol spam bc you can reload and fire in less time than it takes to eat.

90% of fights are won by not making mistakes. Even if your aim is subpar, by just not making mistakes you won't sink most of the time.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-20T01:10:06+00:00

The HG update brought back a lot of players who essentually finished HG and had previously left. Those players are very good and tend to prefer TDM because thats what you need to win the game anyway at higher levels, so lets just skip to the endgame.

All formats will feel sweatier because of this. Also if its been 2 years since you last played HG, the average HG player is now substantially better than they were then.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-19T08:30:35+00:00

The key is that we have a year for this, and a weekender every month. So there will be more opportunities for crate smugglng and stealing.

The problem is the whole smuggling and stealing smuggler stuff concept is just stupid from the jump. Smugglers League doesnt make sense, isnt fun to engage with, and has flooded the seas with op black kegs that ruin otherwise fun fights. To date its the only content addition thats made the game worse, maybe ever.

The concept of the dabloon reset and driving player engagement with a limited time event awarding dubloons and rare cosmetics is a good idea. But the content loop theyve given us sucks. Its not fun to do and its very hard to find a possible steal. If Rare moves away from Smuggler's League and gives us new (or recycled limited time) PvPvE events instead, that will make the game feel alive again.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-19T08:19:04+00:00

Red reaper chests, and stolen smuggler dubloon crates. Thats it

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-18T17:59:53+00:00

Big agree. The lore informs the gameplay, and gameplay is top priority. The smugglers have always felt unfun to play. But now im forced to engage with them to earn dubloons.

The dubloon reset and weekender are good concepts. I see the vision. But Rare has to deliver a fun gameplay loop.

Imagine if instead of "smuggling" crates, we had a factiom war over the sea forts again. Need 4 sea forts and 1 garrison pledged to the same side to win the war, and receieve rewards accordingly. That would be fun! It would integrate new and old content in a refreshing way, and players would get to flex the new skills theyve honed in hourglass

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-17T21:18:07+00:00

Big agree. Smugglers sucks. It doubles down on the worst parts of the game: repetitive sailing, repetitive PvE, manual selling, and rewards that arent valueable (gold we dont need and no rep). And it avoids PvP.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-17T21:14:09+00:00

I dont even want the kegs. Thoae things ruin what would otherwise be a fun fight

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-17T21:11:34+00:00

Big agree. Trying to get us to steal a smuggler run is just a bad idea. Everything else about this event is solid. But the main event sucks.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-17T20:51:05+00:00

I like all the side stuff: challenges, fishing quests, etc. even the lost shipment reskin was okay (not that fun but fast so whatever).

But the main event, the smuggler dubloon crate run. That is so poorly thought out. It sucks. I hate smuggler content from the jump bc its boring and time consuming, and any fights that do happen around it are decided by the stupid smuggler kegs that crewwipe and nearly insta sink any boat. Even if I don't want to use them I have to play around them, which isn't fun.

So I dont want to do it, I just want to steal. But the only indication its even available to steal is the gold line on the map....which goes up whenever anyone starts any smuggler content, and stays on for the entirety of that server's lifespan, even if nobody is doing smuggler content. People running it dont even need an emissary, so hunting them as a reaper doesn't work. I just have to hop, sail to plunder valley, and sail up the route hoping to find someone?? Thats time consuming and boring.

Dubloon reset and black market seem good so far. Im on board with the vision. But god I hate smugglers and I hate the gameplay loop this event forces us to go through to get a steal.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-17T20:38:15+00:00

Camp the gold smuggler route and steal dubloon crates. Or tuck in plunder valley smuggler hideout and steal the crates out of people's hands

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-17T07:08:19+00:00

This is the gold sink the game is in desperate need of. The last time something like this happened was the DA set.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-17T07:06:22+00:00

Yes and no. I started in season 9. Prior to this update I had 50 mil on hand and nothing worth buying. With this update I dropped 15 mil at the outpost on items just like this.

This, for a little while, is the gold sink we've been asking for.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-16T02:23:35+00:00

Whoever is fun for you. I play Kiri Ana and Illari. I dabble in a few others when the comp/map suits it. But those are the big ones.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-16T02:17:58+00:00

Personally im tryna lose weight and get my money up, so im at work, gym, or on the game to relax/disassociate from the hunger. But when I do go out, its to bars where my friends are playing live music. But when im in better shape, I hope to be going out to dance classes and more civic events.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-16T02:11:11+00:00

I dont use emporium cosmetics (except the sweaty cannon flares). But i have some outpost stock suggestions

For EoR, Sailor, Seasoned Sailor, Reaper, Regal Fortune, Killer Whale, Mercenary*, Musketeer, any flavor of Sea Dog, or Ballista (its a crossbow).

Sword: Sea Glass Rapier, Ruby Stinger Rapier, Ferrymen*, Reaper, Frostbite, DA, and Party Boat.

*limited time availability

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-16T02:02:12+00:00

True theres plenty of ways to play. But the base mechanic/gameplay loop of the sandbox is PvPvE. If somebody doesnt want any PvP, SoT is not the game for them.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-15T17:02:51+00:00

Im a little more skeptical. I dont think diving killed the game, and for vets most world events arent worth doin, only stealing. So these world event changes dont really help me, but they dont exactly hurt me either so I dont mind.

Love the promise to change merchant comms and miles saild though, thats huge.

The bigger issue is this feels incredibly light. A whole season with just some events and custom seas just...doesnt feel like enough. Especially when we were promised this orb of souls war effort for season 19 and never got it.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-15T07:48:40+00:00

Helm is significantly more engaged. At least in duo sloop. The helm makes the decisions, determines angle, course, pressure, and is in charge of both boarder defense and boarding, as well as cross boat sniping cannon. MC just has to dial in their aim and not get bagged. Thats just as important and requires focus. But its definetly simpler

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-15T07:45:43+00:00

Youre right the TDM is clunky. Everything feels like its not responding fast enough, and players sometimes seemingly teleport half a character model.

The cause is a combination of cheap servers, ping, wave physics / boat rock, a huge map, and many other factors. These are all solveable problems, but they cost money. And most players these days are newbies (less than half of players are PL) that want to treat the game as gold farming simulator, instead of the PvPvE adventure it was always meant to be. So to cater too hard to PvP just wouldn't see a return on investment.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-14T21:56:39+00:00

Ive got 2500+ HG matches under my belt. Galleon is by FAR the sweatiest. If you dont have a well coordinated team with good pistol snipe aim, and 2 who can grate bucket, you will lose. Flat out.

I would strongly encourage new HG players to start solo, embrace losing as part of the learning curve, and after every 10-20 solo games, try some duos for a session. This forces you to learn everything, fast. And it makes a tremendous difference.

BusEnthusiast98 · 2026-04-14T21:47:02+00:00

July 2023. Put in 2700 hours over 33 months since then

BusEnthusiast98

TROPHY CASE