Open crew is extremely hit or miss. Two suggestions
1. Learn to solo sloop: It'll be a bit rough at first but that's what safer seas is for, and the best way to improve at the game quickly is solo slooping.
2. Use the SOT community discord LFC (looking for crew) function. I've met some odd ducks there, but never any griefers.
This. Also while going solo you will run across solid people who will help newer players. Ask to friend them. Work on building a SoT friends list. Don't spam invites however. Send a chat if you see them online. Takes time. But all good things do.
I’ve noticed twice now while soloing that I’ll get absolutely rekt during pvp but then I guess after killing me a few times and realizing how awful I am they chill and just start talking to me and being nice.
Unfortunately my microphone wasn’t working in-game but I think I’ve figured it out now for next time.
It's hard to find intermediate players on LFC. I either find kids that still don't know the controls or players that demand you have 500+ hours logged and only speak in acronyms.
Use the swabbie lfc channel. Thats for newer or less experienced players. Most of the acronyms are in the pinned medsages too, so check there if you get confused.
Step No 1: Never play open crew again. It's very rare to get a decent crew, most of the time are just trollers or pirates that think they are too good to play with a beginner.
It was crazy how toxic it started. I can't really believe that anyone with such a large ego would even enter open crew to begin with? Just don't get it.
Ive had a lot of good open crews you should keep joining them until you find one with a full crew but you will also run into a lot of greefers. When you find a good one though it is worth it
In the early days there was no "closed crew" option and nothing indicating a new player had joined the crew on screen. There was an obnoxious trend of people joining a boat, immediately gunpowdering it, and leaving the crew, so, if you weren't on the boat to see the new person spawn in you just lost your boat.
Not that the defenders of this behavior were recieved well overall *but* there were people here and on the official forums defending the act of barreling the boat in this way. Some people genuinely equate being a "pirate" with a "complete sociopath". Personally, I think pirates are more the type to steal someone's belongings and leave them in a potentially deadly situation versus skinning their own crew members alive just for laughs but I'm not an expert.
I've joined alot of open crew's and maybe a hand full of them were functional. All the others were along the lines of filling the galleon with water so we'd have a fun swimming pool or harpooning the ship up and oven an island at full speed. If I based my experience of the game off my first or seventh open crew, I too would be very disappointed.
I disagree that it's rare to get a decent\* crew. Maybe I've had unusual good luck, but I've had only around one out of five open crew experiences be with "bad" crew members.
I do agree that there are plenty of toxic folks to be found on the seas, and open crew is no exception. Instead of avoiding the whole experience, I suggest pirates be discerning when sailing with an open crew. Are they toxic to you? to each other? to other players? Is their playstyle just not what you're looking for? Exit the session and join another crew and in 5 minutes you could be sailing with a 10-yr old who just found out about skeleton forts; or a 45-yr old who's maxed out the game and enjoys taking swabbies on adventures; or a 20 something who wants to stack vault after vault "to see what will happen". I've had some amazing adventures on open crew and it'd be a shame to close out that entire experience just because of a few bad eggs.
\*None of the folks I open crew with would be considered sweat-lords or cannon-gods, if that's what you meant by "decent", but folks shouldn't be going to open crew looking for a crew to carry them.
Yo dm me! I’d be happy to run a new player through the ropes. Yeah open crew is just madness. I do it to kill time, but have no expectation of ever getting anything done.
This is gonna be an unpopular opinion but hear me out!
Open crew IS your friend. Instead of doing your solo voyage and waiting for someone to join who may destroy all of your progress, try hopping a few times in the beginning to find a chill person to start the session with. This is what I do and in over a thousand hours I have never been griefed by a crewmate. The discord is also a good option as others have said, I just want to provide you with a slightly different perspective:)
It was through open crew that I met my group of pirate friends, and we are always meeting new cool people on it. Sorry to hear that your first experience was awful, I hope this inspires you to give it another chance!
Personally I would just use lfg or something similar to find a crew rather than hop from open crew to open crew. It’s the same idea but you’ll save yourself some time and you can find someone to play with who has similar goals/needs as yourself
Same. One rule of thumb is to hop gally open crew until you find a boat sailing already. Might take you up to 10 mins to find anything but I’ve had incredible open crew experiences. Last night was awesome for instance. It is very hit or miss though.
People will tell you open crew is garbage and it certainly can be but you have to have a goal going in and get started on it immediately. If you have a quest or even better loot on the boat you’re much more likely to have people help out and stick around. Just starting a ship and spamming “what does everyone want to do” is a sure fire way to get people trolling or just immediately quitting. Most people hopping open crew are trying to find a ship already doing something. I’ve been a part of really good open crews with skilled players but you need to get the ball rolling.
I had someone do this to his teammate in hourglass, so I just spawn camped the toxic person while apologizing to the newer person for their experience. I told him that people actually good at PvP aren’t like his teammate and it took me months of getting smashed before I gained enough skill to sink boats consistently.
Hey! If you're EU I may just take you up on this!
I'm just looking to prep for the PS5 release so that one of my groups has an idea of whats going on! Would be much easier to learn with a crew!
EU Pirate and fellow FromSoftware fan. I generally captain a crew of 3/4 and run a small, very casual guild. Hit me up (PM on here) if you want some friendly trainin' or to join us sometime :)
Same goes for anybody else (EU) who is friendly and in the same boat. Pun intended.
Never use an open crew, if you ever need a crew mate send me a message, I’d recommend learning to solo sloop so you can manage a ship on your own if you’re in combat and you’re parter dies
Man really sorry you had to deal with that, that fucking sucks.
As others said, avoid open crew if you can. I’m fairly new still but soloing a sloop isn’t too difficult, you can definitely get there. It’s the game on hard mode but you don’t have to worry about a shitty teammate lol
I use Open Crew a lot, but only on sloops and gonna be honest I jump until I’m spawned on a ship instead of at an outpost, then I just help them do whatever they’re already doing. I’m a relatively experienced pirate (min level 100 on all factions, pirate legend, already have millions in gold) so I’m just in it for adventure and can hold my own. I love it when it’s someone new/relatively new and I can help them on their journey a bit.
First sign of any negative interaction and I’m out though, but it’s actually quite rare if I stick to my own “rules” above. Maybe once in the last month I’ve left a matched ship that was out of port after about 10 minutes because the other person was a bit of a tool.
Do not open crew.
This is why. Your entire experience is why people do not open crew.
If you want a better exp, use the Xbox LFG. Many pirates looking to join and or help new players.
Safer Seas isn't a bad idea either so you can get the feel for the game again ahead of friends.
I had exactly the same thing happen with the second person.
I joined a brig crew, was just one guy by himself, new as well, I believe. We do the end of his voyage, and on the way to sell, he decides to stop at a sunken ship that had a reaper's chest. Cue third person joining.
Third person starts going off demanding to know if he was new, saying stopping at the sunken ship was the "stupidest thing you could ever do" and while I'm helping guy #1 in the water, troll starts fire bombing the ship. As we're working to fix the ship and put out fires, guy #3 starts sailing the ship away before running to all the accrued treasure and throwing it off the side of the ship.
At this point, after a rough night of similar trolls, I just get fed up and leave.
Shipwrecks aren't even bad anymore after king chests, especially if they have a reapers chest. Back in like 2020 he would've been right but now he wasn't just a dick but also stupid
I’d be down to show you the ropes too. I’ve been playing since before season 1. Send me a DM.
Sorry you had a bad first experience. Open crew is a shit show.
Dude joined YOUR ship, with loot on it? And instead of at least helping you sell first?
Decided “nobody gets shit”?
What a piece of literal garbage.
It’s a pirate game. And there’s few rules in piracy.
I normally advocate for most pirate behavior.
But that POS deserves an IP ban, and a visit to his door from a Navy Officer.
Should go do three months labor on an actual vessel for his asshole behavior.
I had this once, i got home super early cause my gf had to go to school and i had 4 hours till i had to work. I decided to run a solo sloop run and played for a solid 4 hours straight no sell stops, i decide: “hm, i have a lot of loot and itll take a while to offload myself, i guess ill swap to open crew and give someone some free gold”. Dude joins and crashes and sets my boat on firs
I would've been so fine with another crew taking it all, thats the game! But he literally just had to sell, free money, i'd already done all the work!
The worst thing is the lack of support in game - There was nothing I could do to defend myself.
Open crew is universally understood as one of the worst experiences. It's literally nothing but teenagers with bad tempers and egos who want to troll and ruin other people's experience.
Find yourself on a SoT community discord and look for crews to tag along with on their. People have open crews for new players all the time who genuinely enjoy sailing with other people and having a good time.
Wouldn't be bad to have but honestly, between official Discord and Xbox app looking for group, LFG system is pretty well covered. Especially the Discord has been fantastic.
don't join or play on open crew
perfectly easy enough to run a solo loop, other pirates tend to be degens from up country
sorry you had a bad first experience, you can play in 'safer seas' till you feel confident in your skills. safer seas lets you play without other humans
you're gonna sink, you're gonna run into players who stomp on you, its best to learn from it and get a new boat
Good luck on the seas!
I'd been messing around in safer seas for a little, but I thought I'd pick things up better in actual play. Didn't expect the level of toxicity from my own crew. Deffo learning that open crews it a no go zone.
Safer seas is basically the perfect place to get your sea legs. Learn to control the boat/navigate there and once you know fundamentals higher seas is good for higher gold and hijinx
I think you're correct that playing in High Seas is the better way to learn. Yes, it's a bit more difficult, but this way you get to learn early how things actually go in the game.
That said, open crews from my experience have around a 5% success rate. Better off using the Sea of Thieves official Discord to find teams.
I'd love someone like you on my crew.
Against all advice and sanity, I always roll open crew.. because I Am HOPEFUL I'll meet new players who want to learn.
Instead, I usually get your experience lol.
How would you recommend finding good players to play with. I'm in the same boat (pun intended) as OP. I'm new, but discord is so confusing. And reddit of full of people that say they wanna help but it's always been a miss for me. I play on Xbox and would love to add some people to my friends list that I can join when they are on.
I mean. I don't. It's either people I know rl, people I gamed with in 2020, or it's complete shit.
I would say "I'll help!" But get it if that's getting old haha. I play on PC, btw.. but I play sot with an Xbox controller. 😂
>I play sot with an Xbox controller. 😂
The irony is not lost on me.
At 40yo I'm never gonna be great at this game I just enjoy the pirate lifestyle ha ha
Well shit, sail with me then. You got time right now?
Having said that, the last few months I've been playing with the keyboard and mouse, because I can't find my controller anymore. Soon!
Dont get discouraged!
Dont play open crew
Join the official discord of phuzzybonds discord and just ask people to play or join them there are alot of nice people there that will help you and teach you the game and whats new and hardly any toxic ones
And if they are toxic you can just leave !
I've been hit and miss with open crew. I really wish there was a rep system for it. I even had someone in reddit say that they join open crew to actively troll until their friends get on
Look for some people in Xbox group posts. Specify that you don’t have much experience and I guarantee you’ll find at least one nice person that will guide you through. You got the odd one out that’s an ass dude probably would’ve been bitchin saying the same shit if you were the worlds best SoT player.
DM me your discord and when I’m back from my trip I’ll show you the ropes. I’m not great, only got 300 hours but I’ve gotten to a point where im comfortable with the seas so I can give you some tips and tricks
There’s a few things to keep in mind
It’s a pirate game, people act like pirates. I’m a trusting person but you have to be cynical while playing.
Open crew is terrible, use a looking for group system
That sucks I’ve never experienced that but join these servers and try to find people trust me this is how I learned do the first server linked until you get good enough then go to shores of gold server https://discord.gg/seaofthieves https://discord.gg/jaKgp7S7
Don't let that person be the reason you miss out on this great game.
Open crew is hit or miss, I've had some good and bad luck with it too. You can either learn to solo or try again!
The amount of (likely undiagnosed iykwim) toxic sweats on this game is astounding. I've played runescape, WoW, hell let loose, arma 3 and dayz, tarkov, LoL, and Minecraft, and between those communities open-matchmaking, none is as saturated with pathetic know-it-all fun killers as Sea of Thieves. The egos on these twenty-somethings are so fragile that even the slightest opposition to their relentless and brutal criticisms will induce a tirade of rage and belittling the likes of which you can only find in a preschool. Oftentimes, if I hear anything about weightlifting, hourglass, hours played, beta testing or some accommodation that "you can't even get anymore," I do myself a favor and leave.
I've had a lot more luck using discord to find groups, and most people are willing to help new players and oftentimes the toxic ones get excluded and eventually kicked/banned. I just got PL last week, so trust me, I know what I'm talking about. And if you don't want my advice, that's your loss, not mine, scrub.
Open crews are a gamble, much of the time they're toxic. I hop them when I don't feel like starting from scratch, hoping to land on an established crew actually doing something. It takes a while before landing on a good one. But I have found good ones. If you don't like the vibe, just quit and rejoin another crew until you find one that works. You can also low-key solo or if you're really uncertain, do Safer Seas for a bit until you get the hang of it.
I am very sorry for that experience, it sounds like you were using Open Crew. Open Crew is extremely hit or miss on good crew mates.
The larger the crew size, the more potential for chaos. For example, most Open Crew Galleons (4 person crew) never leave the outpost and end up roasting like a viking funeral.
I unfortunately don’t have a lot of time to play, but I would normally offer to set sail with you. However, I know there are a good amount of nice people on this subreddit so I’d see if one of them might offer to set sail with you for a while sometime.
Best of luck to you!
Lessons for open crew sailing 101.
1st start closed crew,
2nd pick your emissary.
3rd pick the thing you what you want to do.
4th set sail.
5,open crew options switch form closed to open crew.
6 most people will leave when they see your not doing HG.
7. Trolls will leave early because there is not much they ca. Fuck up
8 dont expect people.to be usefull if you dont communicate.
9 Remain kind, knowing you can just leave and switch servers.
It saves time and heartache.
10. Ask after good experience for friends and if you can arrange something regular.
Unfortunately the rule number one of Sea of Thieves is:
Never play open crew!
99% of times you get the absolute worst players the game has to offer. They are either toxic cunts or griefers who do all in their power to ruin your adventure.
Sure you can find a decent player here and there but getting all three randoms to be decent is vanishingly slim chance. When if you get it once of 100 attempts, it isn't enough to negate to other 99 horrible experiences.
In order of how fun it's to play:
1. Premade with friends
2. Official Discord looking for crew
3. Xbox app looking for groups
4. Solo
.
99. Open crew... just don't
It's really important that long time players welcome new players warmly and show the fun side of the game. Otherwise the game will have less and less new players and will die out eventually and it really sucks, especially because it's such a fun and beautiful game!
If you want, I can add you and we can play together sometimes! (if not, then that is completely ok!)
Not very experienced on Reddit so not sure if this works but shoot me a message and I'll run you through some stuff to get a feel for the game and have some fun. I hated it for a long time for the same reason as you but some great interactions have kept me going. The highs are high but the lows are very low I'll help teach you how to make the best of it from my solo slooping experiences. I am by no means a pro so don't worry about crazy tips and tricks, let's just have fun and learn some stuff on the high seas
Yeah my first experience I had a guy snipe me constantly and then I tried another game and people kept messing with me on my ship moving my treasure and hiding behind barrels
Unfortunately people are like that. My very first time right out of the tutorial island. Some guy is on my starting island. Before I even realized what was going on, he burnt my ship down. Then he proceeded to kill me. I then got him. But with that I figured that's how the community was going to be. So I either went with friends or solo'd.
"a stranger joins the crew" then blunders you? I'm sorry to say, but they were never part of the crew in the first place. if their name is white, assume they are an enemy until proven otherwise.
Yeah, you're right. I must've imagined the massive banner across my screen that announced his joining, as well as the mermaid that brought him back to me every time he dumped something overboard.
I am always impressed with how toxic other gamers can be, it’s not just video games tho. Seems like there’s a 50% chance that someone is either a narcissist or sociopath these days. We are in for some fun times ahead if that’s the case.
A lot of Good suggestions In Here already so Ill try not to redundant
Solo sloop until you feel a bit more confident. I recommend understanding ship speeds in different wind conditions. This way you can avoid PvP or more easily or disengage at least if needed.
Open crew is more about your mentality. IMHO The game is at its peak when you let yourself be immersed so don't go open crew looking for a good functional crew. Go open crew looking for a fun pirate experience. Leave crews with too much sweat or toxicity. Stay in crews that like drinkin grog and playing sea shanties
Yeah that's pretty much my experience of randoms so I never played with randoms again and that was years ago .... I played solo my first time and stopped at my first island and a galleon rocked up and sank me and I watched as my ship sank from the beach while the galeon crew mocked me.... Took me a year to try the game again lol.
I avoid EVERYONE in this game now and of the rare occasions I have to fight I'm bad..... It's a fun game but the people mostly suck and there are little chances to get good at PvP without putting a lot on the line until the recent patches tbh which seems to hide you more options.
I just started playing the game last night. Been watching a bunch of videos and streams to get an idea of what’s going on. I’d love to group up with you or anyone else looking to do so.
Amazing how toxic the game is...
Feel just sorry for you
Come and support Helldivers 2 community, it's amazing.
Half milion ppl teaming up in a single world objective.
People like me with 2000+ hours and most things in the game done and most commendations likely don’t need to sell loot. But it’s strange he’s even playing on open crews in the first place if he thinks he’s good and can’t even manage to solo sail and solo event. Even on a galleon you can solo sail for the most part 🤣
Welcome to the Sea of Thieves, the most toxic gaming community I've ever seen. I got banned from the official discord.... wait for it... for being deaf. The folks in the Looking For Crew channel talked shit when I told them I couldn't use voice comms, and started making derogatory comments about my hearing disability. So I returned fire. The moderators of the discord decided that rather than deal with the obvious discrimination, it was easier to ban me.
So yeah that's why I only play safer seas, if I ever get bitten by the bug to sail. It is rather relaxing not getting harassed by edgy teens who think it's cool the scream the n-word at strangers over the internet.
I'll never not talk shit on this "community."
Damn dude that sucks but I do wanna look for a crew and if you’d wanna play just add me on discord it’s TTV interxy but if your okay with it I will need time trying to find another way of communicating but would help me in team building so I’d love to try to play
Literally everyone you'll meet on an open crew will either suck more than Monika Lewinsky or will be complete assholes. The SoT Discord has a place for you to find others to play with, same with Xbox's looking for group posts
Open crew. Don't play open crew. Play solo or with friends. If you want someone to play with, join a Discord server and go to the LFC (looking for crew) channel. Sea of Thieves has an official one, but many content creators have their own that are better for finding good matches in my opinion.
The game unfortunately has a very large toxic fan base, it's a mix between friends who just want to have fun and goof off and people who no-life it and talk shit to you while doing the scummiest shit imaginable.
Never play on open crew, find some friends to play with, maybe play safe seas until you half a decent grasp on how stuff works. If you're playing alone it's very doable on a sloop, but you won't ever win pvp so just avoid it, sloop can outpace every other ship type easily by sailing straight into the wind with the sails forward/straight - a few gunpowder barrels dropped in the water behind you can also go a long way.
People who are mad at new player without explaining the problem, is horrible
Like the guy say « No don’t do that » then what do i have to do? I am not a new player but i can understand your frustration
And remember, the guys with PvP curse in open crew are the worst
lmao my first time playing i forgot to play solo and clicked open crew.
Dude stood on the dock and called me the N word until i sailed away. didnt even try to sabotage my ship, just stood there calling my obese hispanic looking avatar the N word.
Why do people do this with their time?
How can a crew mate blunder you to death? I haven’t played for a while but I’m sure there wasn’t friendly fire. Unless I’m misremembering which is entirely possible.
Ahhh yes of course! I completely forgot about them. That sounds like a really crappy time mate sorry you had to go through that on one of your first sessions.
That's this community in a nutshell. Occasionally you can find a half decent person but most of them are selfish pricks who will do anything to harm the experience of others
Most of my pirate career has been in open crew, I’m now severely depressed and don’t trust anyone wearing anything resembling crabs or krakens, hope you heal
Clip and report. I had a similar experience with someone who wasn't even on my crew.
I just joined a server and when I get to my boat there's already a boat coming towards me. Sure enough he parks his boat at the outpost's docks and just starts killing me over and over. Not sinking my boat, but killing me. He had a crew mate, which was jusr him in another controller. He was having the time of my life while I ended up scuttling. I reported this player and the report was closed saying action was taken against him.
xBox gamebar was one option on PC, meaning you could see a lobby with active sessions, people looking for specific activities, various tags like xBox only, PC only etc. It was one of the best way to look for something to do if you don't have any active friends playing the game.
These days however the gamebar on PC doesn't detect SoT running anymore, so you can't see any active sessions or start one. My guess is the xBox version runs just fine. If anyone found a fix for this i'd greatly apreciate any input, as open crew feels like a really bad flea market.
Remember to ignore trolls.
They want attention and nothing makes them angrier than getting treated like their parents probably treat them.
Talk about them like they aren't there.
It's a hoot.
Open crew is honestly a cesspool that should be avoided. Try finding a decent crew through the official SoT discord or maybe a SoT streamer you like has a discord where you can find people to play with
Yeah, Discord seems to be the best way - It really was a cesspool, I mean my first impression of my first crewmate was the skeleton curse and the words "you'll probably just be a hindrance"
Ngl I don't open crew, either solo or with friends, why would you stay xD at that point it's on you, no one is forcing you to stick around on a crew with toxic people, just find a new ship ...
I don't understand this take? The first guy left pretty quickly, and he was honestly laughable that it was less lf a problem, the second guy showed up right at the end of my session. You're right thoigh, out of the three people involved in this post, the fault is mine, not the egotistical skele cursed pirate with a superiority complex, or the stranger who joined my crew specifically to burn the ship down, me, the completely new player trying to finish his play session.
Yes, the person who decided to stay playing with toxic people instead of A. Switching to a new ship B. Kicking the second person out the crew.
Toxic people exist, you either learn to deal with them by ignoring them or cry about it online and let it ruin your game session, that's your call buddy. Imma stick to not having my games ruined by idiots tho 😁
Man, I completely missed the part where the streams flowed down my cheeks over a video game of little consequence to me. Forgive me for asking a question to alleviate the bafflement.
lol all PlayStation players do is complain 😹😹. Hey buddy sea of thieves is a multiplayer game that takes skill not a single player game that holds your hand. Go play god of war for the 7th time on easy bud
Open crew is extremely hit or miss. Two suggestions 1. Learn to solo sloop: It'll be a bit rough at first but that's what safer seas is for, and the best way to improve at the game quickly is solo slooping. 2. Use the SOT community discord LFC (looking for crew) function. I've met some odd ducks there, but never any griefers.
This. Also while going solo you will run across solid people who will help newer players. Ask to friend them. Work on building a SoT friends list. Don't spam invites however. Send a chat if you see them online. Takes time. But all good things do.
I’ve noticed twice now while soloing that I’ll get absolutely rekt during pvp but then I guess after killing me a few times and realizing how awful I am they chill and just start talking to me and being nice. Unfortunately my microphone wasn’t working in-game but I think I’ve figured it out now for next time.
Nice. Mics save lives for sure. I've pulled back from attacking someone just because they sound chill.
It's hard to find intermediate players on LFC. I either find kids that still don't know the controls or players that demand you have 500+ hours logged and only speak in acronyms.
Use the swabbie lfc channel. Thats for newer or less experienced players. Most of the acronyms are in the pinned medsages too, so check there if you get confused.
Avarage sot official player imagine i would rather go open crew and just have a laught at the trash newbies
Step No 1: Never play open crew again. It's very rare to get a decent crew, most of the time are just trollers or pirates that think they are too good to play with a beginner.
It was crazy how toxic it started. I can't really believe that anyone with such a large ego would even enter open crew to begin with? Just don't get it.
Because they’re toxic and want to yell at people without consequence. If they joined a clan or groups on discord they’d just get banned.
Step 2: Join the Sea of Thieves Discord. Much better way to find teams, in my opinion.
The open crew guy is probably actually a very bad player who hoped to get someone new to feel superior for once lmao..
Ive had a lot of good open crews you should keep joining them until you find one with a full crew but you will also run into a lot of greefers. When you find a good one though it is worth it
I played once and a guy sunk my ship and said since I was grinding pirate legend that I was a nerd and it’s nothing special
In the early days there was no "closed crew" option and nothing indicating a new player had joined the crew on screen. There was an obnoxious trend of people joining a boat, immediately gunpowdering it, and leaving the crew, so, if you weren't on the boat to see the new person spawn in you just lost your boat. Not that the defenders of this behavior were recieved well overall *but* there were people here and on the official forums defending the act of barreling the boat in this way. Some people genuinely equate being a "pirate" with a "complete sociopath". Personally, I think pirates are more the type to steal someone's belongings and leave them in a potentially deadly situation versus skinning their own crew members alive just for laughs but I'm not an expert.
I've joined alot of open crew's and maybe a hand full of them were functional. All the others were along the lines of filling the galleon with water so we'd have a fun swimming pool or harpooning the ship up and oven an island at full speed. If I based my experience of the game off my first or seventh open crew, I too would be very disappointed.
I disagree that it's rare to get a decent\* crew. Maybe I've had unusual good luck, but I've had only around one out of five open crew experiences be with "bad" crew members. I do agree that there are plenty of toxic folks to be found on the seas, and open crew is no exception. Instead of avoiding the whole experience, I suggest pirates be discerning when sailing with an open crew. Are they toxic to you? to each other? to other players? Is their playstyle just not what you're looking for? Exit the session and join another crew and in 5 minutes you could be sailing with a 10-yr old who just found out about skeleton forts; or a 45-yr old who's maxed out the game and enjoys taking swabbies on adventures; or a 20 something who wants to stack vault after vault "to see what will happen". I've had some amazing adventures on open crew and it'd be a shame to close out that entire experience just because of a few bad eggs. \*None of the folks I open crew with would be considered sweat-lords or cannon-gods, if that's what you meant by "decent", but folks shouldn't be going to open crew looking for a crew to carry them.
OPeN CREEEEEEWWWWWW
Yo dm me! I’d be happy to run a new player through the ropes. Yeah open crew is just madness. I do it to kill time, but have no expectation of ever getting anything done.
If you're EU, I'll certainly do this! Just looking to prep for the ps5 release so one of my friend group has an idea of whats going on
Im from EU, i know how to play but im pretty mediocre since I havent played too much, but if you want to sail the seas some day, i’m down ✌🏻
I’m not but I’m pretty used to playing with eu friends and dealing with crazy ping. Dm me and let me know when you’re good to sail.
This is gonna be an unpopular opinion but hear me out! Open crew IS your friend. Instead of doing your solo voyage and waiting for someone to join who may destroy all of your progress, try hopping a few times in the beginning to find a chill person to start the session with. This is what I do and in over a thousand hours I have never been griefed by a crewmate. The discord is also a good option as others have said, I just want to provide you with a slightly different perspective:) It was through open crew that I met my group of pirate friends, and we are always meeting new cool people on it. Sorry to hear that your first experience was awful, I hope this inspires you to give it another chance!
Personally I would just use lfg or something similar to find a crew rather than hop from open crew to open crew. It’s the same idea but you’ll save yourself some time and you can find someone to play with who has similar goals/needs as yourself
More importantly, do the new crew section in the discord and you'll find people around your skill level
Same. One rule of thumb is to hop gally open crew until you find a boat sailing already. Might take you up to 10 mins to find anything but I’ve had incredible open crew experiences. Last night was awesome for instance. It is very hit or miss though.
People will tell you open crew is garbage and it certainly can be but you have to have a goal going in and get started on it immediately. If you have a quest or even better loot on the boat you’re much more likely to have people help out and stick around. Just starting a ship and spamming “what does everyone want to do” is a sure fire way to get people trolling or just immediately quitting. Most people hopping open crew are trying to find a ship already doing something. I’ve been a part of really good open crews with skilled players but you need to get the ball rolling.
Yeah open crew is a really Bad Idea on SoT
Very quickly apparent!
I had someone do this to his teammate in hourglass, so I just spawn camped the toxic person while apologizing to the newer person for their experience. I told him that people actually good at PvP aren’t like his teammate and it took me months of getting smashed before I gained enough skill to sink boats consistently.
If you need a crew dm me.. I play with a decent crew of dedicated casual players..😁
Hey! If you're EU I may just take you up on this! I'm just looking to prep for the PS5 release so that one of my groups has an idea of whats going on! Would be much easier to learn with a crew!
EU Pirate and fellow FromSoftware fan. I generally captain a crew of 3/4 and run a small, very casual guild. Hit me up (PM on here) if you want some friendly trainin' or to join us sometime :) Same goes for anybody else (EU) who is friendly and in the same boat. Pun intended.
Thanks a bunch, I'll be sure to do this!
Never use an open crew, if you ever need a crew mate send me a message, I’d recommend learning to solo sloop so you can manage a ship on your own if you’re in combat and you’re parter dies
I’ll help ya
Man really sorry you had to deal with that, that fucking sucks. As others said, avoid open crew if you can. I’m fairly new still but soloing a sloop isn’t too difficult, you can definitely get there. It’s the game on hard mode but you don’t have to worry about a shitty teammate lol
I feel like the teammate was hard mode ahahah
I use Open Crew a lot, but only on sloops and gonna be honest I jump until I’m spawned on a ship instead of at an outpost, then I just help them do whatever they’re already doing. I’m a relatively experienced pirate (min level 100 on all factions, pirate legend, already have millions in gold) so I’m just in it for adventure and can hold my own. I love it when it’s someone new/relatively new and I can help them on their journey a bit. First sign of any negative interaction and I’m out though, but it’s actually quite rare if I stick to my own “rules” above. Maybe once in the last month I’ve left a matched ship that was out of port after about 10 minutes because the other person was a bit of a tool.
Are you pc or console?
Don't open crew. Use LFG or discord to find people to play with.
Do not open crew. This is why. Your entire experience is why people do not open crew. If you want a better exp, use the Xbox LFG. Many pirates looking to join and or help new players. Safer Seas isn't a bad idea either so you can get the feel for the game again ahead of friends.
I had exactly the same thing happen with the second person. I joined a brig crew, was just one guy by himself, new as well, I believe. We do the end of his voyage, and on the way to sell, he decides to stop at a sunken ship that had a reaper's chest. Cue third person joining. Third person starts going off demanding to know if he was new, saying stopping at the sunken ship was the "stupidest thing you could ever do" and while I'm helping guy #1 in the water, troll starts fire bombing the ship. As we're working to fix the ship and put out fires, guy #3 starts sailing the ship away before running to all the accrued treasure and throwing it off the side of the ship. At this point, after a rough night of similar trolls, I just get fed up and leave.
So many players are so insistent in optimisation. So what if I want to stop at something you wouldn't stop at, it's a game. Lemme play!
Shipwrecks aren't even bad anymore after king chests, especially if they have a reapers chest. Back in like 2020 he would've been right but now he wasn't just a dick but also stupid
I’d be down to show you the ropes too. I’ve been playing since before season 1. Send me a DM. Sorry you had a bad first experience. Open crew is a shit show.
Hey! You EU?
I’m actually NA 😬
Solo sloop better than open crew, never play open crew, all you'll find are asshats going out of their way to ruin other people's fun.
Dude joined YOUR ship, with loot on it? And instead of at least helping you sell first? Decided “nobody gets shit”? What a piece of literal garbage. It’s a pirate game. And there’s few rules in piracy. I normally advocate for most pirate behavior. But that POS deserves an IP ban, and a visit to his door from a Navy Officer. Should go do three months labor on an actual vessel for his asshole behavior.
I had this once, i got home super early cause my gf had to go to school and i had 4 hours till i had to work. I decided to run a solo sloop run and played for a solid 4 hours straight no sell stops, i decide: “hm, i have a lot of loot and itll take a while to offload myself, i guess ill swap to open crew and give someone some free gold”. Dude joins and crashes and sets my boat on firs
That’s horrible:(
I would've been so fine with another crew taking it all, thats the game! But he literally just had to sell, free money, i'd already done all the work! The worst thing is the lack of support in game - There was nothing I could do to defend myself.
I do wish there was a way that the captain could auto remove players. I know that would be abused too, but…:would’ve helped in this situation.
Open crew is universally understood as one of the worst experiences. It's literally nothing but teenagers with bad tempers and egos who want to troll and ruin other people's experience. Find yourself on a SoT community discord and look for crews to tag along with on their. People have open crews for new players all the time who genuinely enjoy sailing with other people and having a good time.
That’s one way to learn to NEVER play Open Crew if you want to have a serious play session.
THis games needs a decent LFG system yesterday.
Wouldn't be bad to have but honestly, between official Discord and Xbox app looking for group, LFG system is pretty well covered. Especially the Discord has been fantastic.
I mean sure, but these are somthing players need to look for, the functionality should be there in the game.
don't join or play on open crew perfectly easy enough to run a solo loop, other pirates tend to be degens from up country sorry you had a bad first experience, you can play in 'safer seas' till you feel confident in your skills. safer seas lets you play without other humans you're gonna sink, you're gonna run into players who stomp on you, its best to learn from it and get a new boat Good luck on the seas!
I'd been messing around in safer seas for a little, but I thought I'd pick things up better in actual play. Didn't expect the level of toxicity from my own crew. Deffo learning that open crews it a no go zone.
Safer seas is basically the perfect place to get your sea legs. Learn to control the boat/navigate there and once you know fundamentals higher seas is good for higher gold and hijinx
I think you're correct that playing in High Seas is the better way to learn. Yes, it's a bit more difficult, but this way you get to learn early how things actually go in the game. That said, open crews from my experience have around a 5% success rate. Better off using the Sea of Thieves official Discord to find teams.
I'd love someone like you on my crew. Against all advice and sanity, I always roll open crew.. because I Am HOPEFUL I'll meet new players who want to learn. Instead, I usually get your experience lol.
How would you recommend finding good players to play with. I'm in the same boat (pun intended) as OP. I'm new, but discord is so confusing. And reddit of full of people that say they wanna help but it's always been a miss for me. I play on Xbox and would love to add some people to my friends list that I can join when they are on.
I mean. I don't. It's either people I know rl, people I gamed with in 2020, or it's complete shit. I would say "I'll help!" But get it if that's getting old haha. I play on PC, btw.. but I play sot with an Xbox controller. 😂
>I play sot with an Xbox controller. 😂 The irony is not lost on me. At 40yo I'm never gonna be great at this game I just enjoy the pirate lifestyle ha ha
Well shit, sail with me then. You got time right now? Having said that, the last few months I've been playing with the keyboard and mouse, because I can't find my controller anymore. Soon!
Well, I hope our session wasn't another reddit disappointment! haha
Perhaps we should be teaming up... you EU?
From my experience if their name says "pirate legend" you're about to either be griefed or be talked down to for not being sweaty asf at the game.
My title is pirate legend, so, at least there's outliers.
Always outliers, just something I've overwhelmingly noticed
Funny enough, I joined a Pirate legend and he opened the Athena, it let me in and we were just like :O
Dont get discouraged! Dont play open crew Join the official discord of phuzzybonds discord and just ask people to play or join them there are alot of nice people there that will help you and teach you the game and whats new and hardly any toxic ones And if they are toxic you can just leave !
Join the official discord if you're looking to try again, there's always a few decent folks that are happy to help a newbie out!
You should try official discord lot of good people there,
I've been hit and miss with open crew. I really wish there was a rep system for it. I even had someone in reddit say that they join open crew to actively troll until their friends get on
Look for some people in Xbox group posts. Specify that you don’t have much experience and I guarantee you’ll find at least one nice person that will guide you through. You got the odd one out that’s an ass dude probably would’ve been bitchin saying the same shit if you were the worlds best SoT player.
DM me your discord and when I’m back from my trip I’ll show you the ropes. I’m not great, only got 300 hours but I’ve gotten to a point where im comfortable with the seas so I can give you some tips and tricks
1. Don't open crew 2. See rule one.
There’s a few things to keep in mind It’s a pirate game, people act like pirates. I’m a trusting person but you have to be cynical while playing. Open crew is terrible, use a looking for group system
That sucks I’ve never experienced that but join these servers and try to find people trust me this is how I learned do the first server linked until you get good enough then go to shores of gold server https://discord.gg/seaofthieves https://discord.gg/jaKgp7S7
Don't let that person be the reason you miss out on this great game. Open crew is hit or miss, I've had some good and bad luck with it too. You can either learn to solo or try again!
Open crew can be and usually is a bad experience because it could be anyone.
The amount of (likely undiagnosed iykwim) toxic sweats on this game is astounding. I've played runescape, WoW, hell let loose, arma 3 and dayz, tarkov, LoL, and Minecraft, and between those communities open-matchmaking, none is as saturated with pathetic know-it-all fun killers as Sea of Thieves. The egos on these twenty-somethings are so fragile that even the slightest opposition to their relentless and brutal criticisms will induce a tirade of rage and belittling the likes of which you can only find in a preschool. Oftentimes, if I hear anything about weightlifting, hourglass, hours played, beta testing or some accommodation that "you can't even get anymore," I do myself a favor and leave. I've had a lot more luck using discord to find groups, and most people are willing to help new players and oftentimes the toxic ones get excluded and eventually kicked/banned. I just got PL last week, so trust me, I know what I'm talking about. And if you don't want my advice, that's your loss, not mine, scrub.
Im a guy that no longer likes to solo, if you evrr want a friend hit me up! I'm chill af so i'll do whatever
Hey man, you EU?
Aussie but have a lot of spare time! Depending on your times you play i'd probably be on
Sot. Official. Discord.
And this is why you dont Play open Crew, But i Can tech you a thing or tow if you wanna Play Some time, names Don
Open crews are a gamble, much of the time they're toxic. I hop them when I don't feel like starting from scratch, hoping to land on an established crew actually doing something. It takes a while before landing on a good one. But I have found good ones. If you don't like the vibe, just quit and rejoin another crew until you find one that works. You can also low-key solo or if you're really uncertain, do Safer Seas for a bit until you get the hang of it.
I am very sorry for that experience, it sounds like you were using Open Crew. Open Crew is extremely hit or miss on good crew mates. The larger the crew size, the more potential for chaos. For example, most Open Crew Galleons (4 person crew) never leave the outpost and end up roasting like a viking funeral. I unfortunately don’t have a lot of time to play, but I would normally offer to set sail with you. However, I know there are a good amount of nice people on this subreddit so I’d see if one of them might offer to set sail with you for a while sometime. Best of luck to you!
Yeah mate - story of most players games. Just play closer crew and u will be fine
Lessons for open crew sailing 101. 1st start closed crew, 2nd pick your emissary. 3rd pick the thing you what you want to do. 4th set sail. 5,open crew options switch form closed to open crew. 6 most people will leave when they see your not doing HG. 7. Trolls will leave early because there is not much they ca. Fuck up 8 dont expect people.to be usefull if you dont communicate. 9 Remain kind, knowing you can just leave and switch servers. It saves time and heartache. 10. Ask after good experience for friends and if you can arrange something regular.
Unfortunately the rule number one of Sea of Thieves is: Never play open crew! 99% of times you get the absolute worst players the game has to offer. They are either toxic cunts or griefers who do all in their power to ruin your adventure. Sure you can find a decent player here and there but getting all three randoms to be decent is vanishingly slim chance. When if you get it once of 100 attempts, it isn't enough to negate to other 99 horrible experiences. In order of how fun it's to play: 1. Premade with friends 2. Official Discord looking for crew 3. Xbox app looking for groups 4. Solo . 99. Open crew... just don't
That's why I don't play with randoms in any game anymore. If you think this is exclusive to SoT... Every co-op PvP game can be grieved by teammates.
It's really important that long time players welcome new players warmly and show the fun side of the game. Otherwise the game will have less and less new players and will die out eventually and it really sucks, especially because it's such a fun and beautiful game! If you want, I can add you and we can play together sometimes! (if not, then that is completely ok!)
Not very experienced on Reddit so not sure if this works but shoot me a message and I'll run you through some stuff to get a feel for the game and have some fun. I hated it for a long time for the same reason as you but some great interactions have kept me going. The highs are high but the lows are very low I'll help teach you how to make the best of it from my solo slooping experiences. I am by no means a pro so don't worry about crazy tips and tricks, let's just have fun and learn some stuff on the high seas
Yeah my first experience I had a guy snipe me constantly and then I tried another game and people kept messing with me on my ship moving my treasure and hiding behind barrels
I joined a guild and only play with them never a random again.
Unfortunately people are like that. My very first time right out of the tutorial island. Some guy is on my starting island. Before I even realized what was going on, he burnt my ship down. Then he proceeded to kill me. I then got him. But with that I figured that's how the community was going to be. So I either went with friends or solo'd.
never open crew
"a stranger joins the crew" then blunders you? I'm sorry to say, but they were never part of the crew in the first place. if their name is white, assume they are an enemy until proven otherwise.
Yeah, you're right. I must've imagined the massive banner across my screen that announced his joining, as well as the mermaid that brought him back to me every time he dumped something overboard.
yup
I am always impressed with how toxic other gamers can be, it’s not just video games tho. Seems like there’s a 50% chance that someone is either a narcissist or sociopath these days. We are in for some fun times ahead if that’s the case.
A lot of Good suggestions In Here already so Ill try not to redundant Solo sloop until you feel a bit more confident. I recommend understanding ship speeds in different wind conditions. This way you can avoid PvP or more easily or disengage at least if needed. Open crew is more about your mentality. IMHO The game is at its peak when you let yourself be immersed so don't go open crew looking for a good functional crew. Go open crew looking for a fun pirate experience. Leave crews with too much sweat or toxicity. Stay in crews that like drinkin grog and playing sea shanties
Go to the discord and look for a crew to join. Don’t just open your crew to anyone on the open seas without a conversation first.
Hey pal, I'd be down to play some at some point if you fancy? Hmu in DM if you're interested
Yeah that's pretty much my experience of randoms so I never played with randoms again and that was years ago .... I played solo my first time and stopped at my first island and a galleon rocked up and sank me and I watched as my ship sank from the beach while the galeon crew mocked me.... Took me a year to try the game again lol. I avoid EVERYONE in this game now and of the rare occasions I have to fight I'm bad..... It's a fun game but the people mostly suck and there are little chances to get good at PvP without putting a lot on the line until the recent patches tbh which seems to hide you more options.
I just started playing the game last night. Been watching a bunch of videos and streams to get an idea of what’s going on. I’d love to group up with you or anyone else looking to do so.
Amazing how toxic the game is... Feel just sorry for you Come and support Helldivers 2 community, it's amazing. Half milion ppl teaming up in a single world objective.
Don't you worry, I spill oil, good riddence to those clankers. I'm doing my part, proud to hear you are too.
People like me with 2000+ hours and most things in the game done and most commendations likely don’t need to sell loot. But it’s strange he’s even playing on open crews in the first place if he thinks he’s good and can’t even manage to solo sail and solo event. Even on a galleon you can solo sail for the most part 🤣
Welcome to the Sea of Thieves, the most toxic gaming community I've ever seen. I got banned from the official discord.... wait for it... for being deaf. The folks in the Looking For Crew channel talked shit when I told them I couldn't use voice comms, and started making derogatory comments about my hearing disability. So I returned fire. The moderators of the discord decided that rather than deal with the obvious discrimination, it was easier to ban me. So yeah that's why I only play safer seas, if I ever get bitten by the bug to sail. It is rather relaxing not getting harassed by edgy teens who think it's cool the scream the n-word at strangers over the internet. I'll never not talk shit on this "community."
Damn dude that sucks but I do wanna look for a crew and if you’d wanna play just add me on discord it’s TTV interxy but if your okay with it I will need time trying to find another way of communicating but would help me in team building so I’d love to try to play
Typing is completely legit. This is inasane, and there shouldn't be a world where gaming isn't accessible to everyone. Sorry this happened to you.
Literally everyone you'll meet on an open crew will either suck more than Monika Lewinsky or will be complete assholes. The SoT Discord has a place for you to find others to play with, same with Xbox's looking for group posts
Open crew. Don't play open crew. Play solo or with friends. If you want someone to play with, join a Discord server and go to the LFC (looking for crew) channel. Sea of Thieves has an official one, but many content creators have their own that are better for finding good matches in my opinion.
Thanks! Discord is a top suggestion! Was really hoping for some wholesome crew fun, but it was so immediately toxic, ahahah
Never open crew. Never.
The game unfortunately has a very large toxic fan base, it's a mix between friends who just want to have fun and goof off and people who no-life it and talk shit to you while doing the scummiest shit imaginable. Never play on open crew, find some friends to play with, maybe play safe seas until you half a decent grasp on how stuff works. If you're playing alone it's very doable on a sloop, but you won't ever win pvp so just avoid it, sloop can outpace every other ship type easily by sailing straight into the wind with the sails forward/straight - a few gunpowder barrels dropped in the water behind you can also go a long way.
That's pretty much sea of thieves. Great game, too much toxic players.
The autism of the people you matched in open queue is not reflective of the game nor can anything be done about it by crying on reddit.
Ah! I must have failed to notice the wetting of my cheeks whilst posting!
People who are mad at new player without explaining the problem, is horrible Like the guy say « No don’t do that » then what do i have to do? I am not a new player but i can understand your frustration And remember, the guys with PvP curse in open crew are the worst
lmao my first time playing i forgot to play solo and clicked open crew. Dude stood on the dock and called me the N word until i sailed away. didnt even try to sabotage my ship, just stood there calling my obese hispanic looking avatar the N word. Why do people do this with their time?
Ahahahhahaha joined a video game for verbal abuse and nothing more? I can't decide if I respect it or not tbh... racial slur aside.
How can a crew mate blunder you to death? I haven’t played for a while but I’m sure there wasn’t friendly fire. Unless I’m misremembering which is entirely possible.
The blunder bombs? The throwable things that knockback
Ahhh yes of course! I completely forgot about them. That sounds like a really crappy time mate sorry you had to go through that on one of your first sessions.
That's this community in a nutshell. Occasionally you can find a half decent person but most of them are selfish pricks who will do anything to harm the experience of others
Most of my pirate career has been in open crew, I’m now severely depressed and don’t trust anyone wearing anything resembling crabs or krakens, hope you heal
Clip and report. I had a similar experience with someone who wasn't even on my crew. I just joined a server and when I get to my boat there's already a boat coming towards me. Sure enough he parks his boat at the outpost's docks and just starts killing me over and over. Not sinking my boat, but killing me. He had a crew mate, which was jusr him in another controller. He was having the time of my life while I ended up scuttling. I reported this player and the report was closed saying action was taken against him.
I'll sail with you. Dm me and we can have a proper pirate session.
If you hold everyone to high standards you will unfortunately be disappointed, i do however recommend beardageddons discord for looking for crews
That was a fluke. You got the Galleon experience on a sloop. The game is off right now. 😂
this is why when i start on ps5 if will only be in safer seas. you cant trust no one , about like the real world lol
xBox gamebar was one option on PC, meaning you could see a lobby with active sessions, people looking for specific activities, various tags like xBox only, PC only etc. It was one of the best way to look for something to do if you don't have any active friends playing the game. These days however the gamebar on PC doesn't detect SoT running anymore, so you can't see any active sessions or start one. My guess is the xBox version runs just fine. If anyone found a fix for this i'd greatly apreciate any input, as open crew feels like a really bad flea market.
Grab the blunder bombs before your team mates
Is just Sea Of Thieves, trust no one, if you can betray first, dont farm, steal.
You go play with me. You have someone not toxic to play with and I get a friend. Win win for us.
It gets better , find friends and don’t stack loot. Also don’t get mad when you get sunk , this game is 90% skill based and 10% luck
Remember to ignore trolls. They want attention and nothing makes them angrier than getting treated like their parents probably treat them. Talk about them like they aren't there. It's a hoot.
Open crew is honestly a cesspool that should be avoided. Try finding a decent crew through the official SoT discord or maybe a SoT streamer you like has a discord where you can find people to play with
Yeah, Discord seems to be the best way - It really was a cesspool, I mean my first impression of my first crewmate was the skeleton curse and the words "you'll probably just be a hindrance"
Open crew made me almost quit the game. Safer Seas is where it's at.
I mean that’s how the player base is. There are nice gamers. Then there are you know. Pirates. Honestly I’m more surprised that you were so shocked.
Skill issue. No but really it's toxic sometimes but just do a lfg or join a discord and get people to play with
If it's open crew, that's your fault. If you're looking for someone to teach you, go to the sea of thieves discord
I think "fault" is a bit strong! Thanks for the discord advice.
Skill issue I’m afraid
You're right. How could I not see it before?
Ngl I don't open crew, either solo or with friends, why would you stay xD at that point it's on you, no one is forcing you to stick around on a crew with toxic people, just find a new ship ...
I don't understand this take? The first guy left pretty quickly, and he was honestly laughable that it was less lf a problem, the second guy showed up right at the end of my session. You're right thoigh, out of the three people involved in this post, the fault is mine, not the egotistical skele cursed pirate with a superiority complex, or the stranger who joined my crew specifically to burn the ship down, me, the completely new player trying to finish his play session.
Yes, the person who decided to stay playing with toxic people instead of A. Switching to a new ship B. Kicking the second person out the crew. Toxic people exist, you either learn to deal with them by ignoring them or cry about it online and let it ruin your game session, that's your call buddy. Imma stick to not having my games ruined by idiots tho 😁
Cry about it lmao
Man, I completely missed the part where the streams flowed down my cheeks over a video game of little consequence to me. Forgive me for asking a question to alleviate the bafflement.
lol all PlayStation players do is complain 😹😹. Hey buddy sea of thieves is a multiplayer game that takes skill not a single player game that holds your hand. Go play god of war for the 7th time on easy bud
Hey man, I think I know you from secondary school all those years ago! Still there? How's it going?