Skull and Bones already has a huge griefing problem

Ubisoft’s self-proclaimed “AAAA” pirate game Skull and Bones is finally here, and while the PvP part of the game is entirely optional, high-level captains have already found a way to ruin the experience of low-level players.

You can’t damage other players while sailing the seas of Skull and Bones unless you specifically join a PvP event or mission, so the only threats you’ll face on the open waters are AI-controlled enemy ships. Some areas are more dangerous than others, and high-level players will typically spend most of their time in different parts of the map than new players.

However, a large part of Skull and Bones’ endgame is delivering cargo all over the map. The most dangerous of these contracts will spawn hostile AI ships along the delivery route, and these routes take players all over the map, including low-level areas like the port of Saint Anne. The problem is, that these hostile ships will attack any players in sight, not just the player who’s doing the contract.

Some players are deliberately taking advantage of this by accepting high-level contracts and hanging out at the safe zones surrounding ports, leaving high-level hostile ships patrolling low-level waters and attacking any players who sail too close. Since new players don’t have many ways to defend themselves and spend most of the opening hours of the game gathering crafting materials, they’re incredibly vulnerable. High-level ships one-shot low-level players too, so there’s not much that they can do.

Thankfully, the matchmaking system in Skull and Bones tends to group high-level players in the same lobbies, but naturally, some players still slip through the cracks. This problem will only get worse on the game’s full launch later this week since thousands of new players will log into the game and meet the diehard Deluxe Edition owners who have been grinding hard during the early access period.

As of now, the only way to get rid of these high-level ships is to find a new lobby entirely by returning to the main menu and finding a new session since they don’t despawn and will continue to patrol the waters as long as players keep working on delivery contracts. Their aggro range is frustratingly far, too, so it’s hard to avoid them if you need to travel through a slim channel or crowded space.

Hopefully, Ubisoft will release a fix for this issue in time for the full release of Skull and Bones so the huge wave of new players won’t get instantly destroyed if they happen to be placed in the wrong lobby. Otherwise, people will spend a lot of time looking at the “Death Mark Expired” notification.