Arena: Give it a second chance, Rare.

Honestly I would just be happy with just a regular TDM or even FFA game mode to chill and play solo. (There is no world that rare would even consider DG only)

@wolfmanbush said:

when a bunch of people looking to be offensive and a bunch of people looking to be offended get together it's just a bunch of drama that isn't worth the investment.

Well there goes everything online, anymore.

Also if a product doesn't sell, I put the onus on the producer. Not the consumer. Arena only retained 3% of player activity because of how it was designed, and how it was managed. It was a failed product before they put the final nail in the coffin by taking away voice comms.

@aniysan
I have a rant on Arena 3.0 here.
The gist of that post was that arena could have rotating modes, loading less islands outside of the arena map, have a ranked system that works like an emissary ledger, and cross crew communication system that makes sure that no one who doesn't want to be talked to doesn't get talked to, while still allowing others to talk to each other.
This makes Arena just like the other updated companies.

Custom servers will make all kinds of things possible. TDM, last ship standing etc

@galactic-geek But Arena will never be good if Rare DOESN'T put effort into it. As I mentioned, Rare's OWN MISTAKES caused them to abandon the mode due to the low player-count, it's Rare's fault for the Arena population.

They've even tried to kill the mode, by making it smaller than the maiden voyage

@grumpyw01f Agreed.

@ghostpaw
People like you have no open mind.

@nitroxien As much as it's sad to say, you're right. If Rare were to add a TDM mode, it'd be any weapon. Removing the skill involved in winning a TDM.

The only reason Rare hasn't pulled the plug on Arena are the commendations, and it's use as a combat training tool.

Let the Sea Dogs stay in the corner of the Start screen, next to the Maiden Voyage and the Emporium.

Second chance not necessary.

@aniysan Eh depends if they choose the right islands for TDM/FFA and balance the food I could see a world where sword has a high risk high reward playstyle which would be fun

@aniysan said in Arena: Give it a second chance, Rare.:

@galactic-geek But Arena will never be good if Rare DOESN'T put effort into it.

They've even tried to kill the mode, by making it smaller than the maiden voyage

While I'm glad to hear there is still support for the mode, it's precisely because of things like wallbangs, a lack of a proper ranking system, and a playerbase that displayed 'bannable' behavior that discouraged people from playing the Arena.

Rare made the mistake of adding commendations that encourage weapon kills over wins, presumably spawning the TDM movement.

I just hit level 40 because I enjoy the mode well enough and want to get better at hand to hand and naval. But, I can't say I enjoy getting absolutely wrecked by some of the players that are so skilled that they can kill me while falling off a ladder. I consider myself slightly more resilient than other players, and I can say with confidence that people don't play it because it's just hard and there are some serious beasts in there.

Also, a chestless Arena is a horrible idea, since all it would do is encourage players to disable a ship and farm for kills and cannon shots.

Once the custom servers are out, my guess is that players will get creative with their tools and come up with a variant of Arena attracts a subset of the Adventure playerbase. Arena itself, will die out soon.

@galactic-geek

The clamouring for PvE servers wasn't helped by the fact that some saw Arena as a pure PvP mode (I don't think it is ftr). At least now it is no longer being developed or maintained and remains only for commendations and PvP practice it can't seem so hypocrtitical to some. They have said they want to concentrate on Adventure mode and I think they have made a good call again.

I don't want Arena to go though, I'm thinking of levelling up my sea dogs a bit with the boy..

Grinding my Arena wins is very annoying because of how long it takes to find a match. I hope they come up with something.

@galactic-geek How can't I point the fingers at Rare? Was it the players that ruined the mode? No, it was Rare.

The point I'm trying to make, is that, yes, Arena has a 5% player-base. But that's the reason Rare abandoned the mode, even though THEY caused the downfall. I want Arena to get a second chance, because I love the mode, but as it is now it's just so much worse than 1.0 Arena.

The small player-base is due to Rare's own mistakes & execution of the mode. Just letting the small player-base stop Rare from improving the mode is stupid.

@wagstr Arena isn't pure PvP, but that's what it should be. It's called "Arena" not "Gold hoarders and cannons"

@galactic-geek As I listed in my original post, there are reasons the player-base is so small, even compared to Arena prior to the Ban-waves.

And yes, the general playerbase contributed to Arena, but again, Rare's mistakes were the primary cause for it.

@aniysan said in Arena: Give it a second chance, Rare.:

@wagstr Arena isn't pure PvP, but that's what it should be. It's called "Arena" not "Gold hoarders and cannons"

But it shouldn't be.. or else they would have no argument against providing a pure PvE mode surely?

I remember when Arena was hyped as a showcase for competition at conventions.
This was Arena 1.0 with notable players like Pace and the double gun streamer guy. Although it was exciting to watch, my reality in Arena was Open Crew when there was only galleons available. A true test of resilience and fortitude.
Later, Rare had Insiders consider other arena modes. I advocated for mixed ship types in all matches with spawning into open spots in active matches.

Rare went with Sloop Arena and added the Triumphant Sea Dog set.

I had already quit before it was implemented. A year later I would change my name from Barnabas Seadog, the name I had since beta, when I imagined a seadog as a pirate version of grunt.
Lesedi and DiMarco may have impressive lineage to have started their own faction, but ultimately they must have underachieved.

I view them as a rare misstep in the development of SoT.

@galactic-geek said in Arena: Give it a second chance, Rare.:

@aniysan said in Arena: Give it a second chance, Rare.:

@galactic-geek But Arena will never be good if Rare DOESN'T put effort into it. As I mentioned, Rare's OWN MISTAKES caused them to abandon the mode due to the low player-count, it's Rare's fault for the Arena population.

They've even tried to kill the mode, by making it smaller than the maiden voyage

It's actually a circular logic. Did they leave because of Rare's failure to support the mode, as you say, or did Rare stop supporting the mode because of the community's unwillingness to give it a go?

Honestly, I think it's a bit of both, as well as the overwhelming popularity of the Adventure mode - there's simply more to do there.

Also, IMPO, the key factor were the long wait times - pirates have no incentive to wait longer than the actual match length, but this is directly as a result of the lack of pirates in attendance, not necessarily Rare (though it could be - who really knows!? Circular logic, again). Rare can't force pirates to play a mode that they don't want to partake in.

Beautifully put.
I wish it worked so I could occasionally jump in and grind combat with mates. But the wait times are utterly absurd (particularly in Australia anyway). So we never bother.
And man, the voice chat from some of the children that played it was so obnoxious that it just left a bad aftertaste. So many factors working against it. Shame.

@galactic-geek said in Arena: Give it a second chance, Rare.:

I don't think that's true, at least not entirely. A lot of factors went into Arena's downfall - you can't just point the fingers at Rare.

My crew and I have poured many conversations into this… what are the factors that went into the downfall of Arena?? As you mentioned, I think it was a mix of many different factors based in both developer and player courts. My crew was avid Arena 1.0 players. It was so much fun developing the strategies to win. I think one of the factors which affected player participation is the wait times. Early on, wait times weren’t all that bad. It seemed like they had a timer on the lobby which forced a match start after a certain amount of time. Once the Devs implemented the crew size (here’s looking at you Open-Crew solo player) and number of crews requirements on the lobby starts it increased the lobby wait times tremendously. Mix that with some of the open-mic toxicity and it started to become unbearable to sit and wait in a lobby.

@aniysan remember to be respectful to everyone. Even if they don’t share your opinions.

@xultanis-dragon Agreed. There were definitely a series of decisions on the Dev’s part that contributed heavily to unraveling of Arena.

Some of my favorite SoT moments were during the early days of Arena 1.0 when they had Galleon’s only. Fast lobbies, great strategies by some talented crews, lots of PvP, and quick matches. Win or lose, we had a blast.

Maybe they look at the statistics, and roll back Arena mode to when the player base was flourishing, fix some of the bugs, and there may be interest again?