My opinion on PVP in its current state

Just dropping by to say the loading screens are definitely a big issue right now. Like I said in another thread, on some servers it takes several minutes while on other it takes just a few seconds, even though I have a great pc (ssd, 32gb ram, i7-10700 and rtx 3070)

Hopefully Rare is still fixing this issue, it has become worse than usual recently.

The current black screen bug is absolutely game-breaking and needs to be addressed. It's not just you. It's everyone from super low spec PCs, to OG Xbox One users, to Series X users, to people with the absolute cream of the crop multi-thousand dollar gaming rigs and gig speed internet.

Everything else...meh...that's the game...Could be worse than having no mic...they could use their mic for true toxicity.

But that black screen bug absolutely needs to be addressed. Whatever dev work they're doing for Captaincy needs to be temporarily redirected to fixing that issue IMO. Delay it again for all I care. That bug is truly game breaking.

@nathanelnice I agree with your opinion all the way

@qoutexx amen I agree with you fully I'm having the same issue in I said my piece after a while Rare locked up my feedback but I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels the same way

From your post I would say that there are 2 big problems in the game as of now.

The first being the VERY long black screen times which yeah Rare really needs to get on to this. Them constantly adding content is not worth it if the game becomes unplayable in the process.

Second is the problem with skilled players. There have been an uptick as of late of players complaining of very skilled players just dominating servers with them feeling these is little to no counter play, and tbh this is extremely true. If you are unlucky enough to run into extremely high skill players (this is almost exclusively a PC problem Xbox servers really does not have this level of skilled players) then yes it feel almost unfun to fight against forcing you to resort to lets say less noble of tactics (running, keg plays, stationary cannons... that are not always the most fun of solutions and often don't even work).

Now usually this should push players to want to improve but tbh with the removal of arena there just are not the same tools available for most players to practice and ever reach this level of skill. Now a days unless you are part of select players with access to custom servers than effective practice is a thing of the past which is extremely unfair to newer players. It takes significantly more time to find a practice pvp in adventure than it did in arena, with the added benefit of more often finding higher skilled players to practice against in arena. As a result getting good at Sea of Thieves now is harder than it has ever been and until Rare adds effective practice tools newer players will forever be at a disadvantage to those that spent thousands of hours practicing their naval and hand to hand skills in arena.

@d3adst1ck dijo en My opinion on PVP in its current state:

@nathanelnice said in My opinion on PVP in its current state:

Adding PVE would be a simple and simply the best solution.
I've been playing for quite some time as well, but I enjoy playing the game, doing the missions discovering, playing with friends, but PVP is just no fun to me.
Giving players the option to opt out of PvP would enable just-for-fun-players to play casual while all the PvP-Players can go sink each others ships as much as they'd like.

Your last sentence is why it's a major problem. It creates two completely separate games - one where there is zero risk and the other where there are zero stakes. Both of which are boring.

Reason why Alliance Servers are full of players 24/7, with more than 60 persons waiting for a spot for hours.

The problem here is not creating two separate worlds, is about people wanting to abuse noobs or abuse numerical advantage to grief others with less risk possible. If Rare decides (I doubt it) to do it, "PvP players" must fight another players that wants to fight, and not people who only wants to sail and get some treasures, and that´s not cool man, because they can get free lot for a brand new player with 20 hours invested into the game, they must fight for that loot and they really doesn´t like it, because is hard, for that reason this kind of crews allways hunt noobies.

I like PvP, used to when arena was online, I stopped playing after that and didnt came back, just to check forums with the hope of arena return. But I understand how frustrating can be this game for some people who doesn´t want to waste their time and get griefed 24/7 (Yeah, is not your loot until you sell it bla bla bla, This is a Pvpve game bla bla bla)

If you want, I can share a screen from certain discord channel when this gold rush event starts, with tons of people waiting for doing ONLY PVE, I am curious to read your answer, maybe there is much more people who enjoy getting and selling loot than stealing, and this is the real fear of "True Pvpers", Never saw them on arena, and when I saw this crews, they Dced the first time my crew boarded them, maybe because we weren´t fresh meat and they turned into the pray?

who knows.

Make a conscious effort to practice pvp on your own terms, so rather than only defensively when it's forced upon you, anytime you sell up and have resources go attack the nearest ship to practice.

One thing to note stealing veils is very timing specific so if you do feel overwhelmed just cancel the voyage. I say this as someone who has stolen more than had stolen I like the design that you have to approach and steal it very tactically.

I have nothing to complain about. I like that SoT is a sandbox where everyone can do whatever they want*

*Unless there is a better player on your server. In that case you'll have to do whatever he wants.

@d3adst1ck
The only reason it would be boring for PvP tryhards is because they won't be able to easily sink noobs.

@rustyaldrich It always buggs me why people think PvP "Tryhards" only want to bully "noobs". As if they have an superior complex, thats just not true at all. Most "Tryhards" ignore new player or even help them.

@funnyqchen
Never in my 150 hours have I seen that happen. Most of the time it's me, who's trying to help other players and we get attacked by others who need to prove to themselves that they're better.

@rustyaldrich said in My opinion on PVP in its current state:

@d3adst1ck
The only reason it would be boring for PvP tryhards is because they won't be able to easily sink noobs.

As a soon-to-be 2 year old player that was probably about 1/3 through their arena commendations before it closed and is still not taking failures in battle very lightly, aka a noob: Please, stop this talk about "pros sinking noobs" nonsense.

You're only a "noob" if you don't know what you're doing in a combat situation. Some players have the ability to give mercy to even the simplest of sailors, but their goal usually first and foremost is to make what's yours, theirs, "hold no quarter/take all you can and give nothing back" type. A classic power trip which will take any or all effort needed to achieve. PvP players will engage in PvP whether they use the most optimal strategies or not, it's up to you to outplay that and give them a run for their money

Admittedly, the removal of Arena has shown this to be an issue for newer/inexperienced players not used to a non-optional cutthroat PvPvE open world environment. Getting better in PvP now means throwing yourself and even your vessel at every boat you might see on the map so you can improve your offensive skills (using cannons, boarding) and your defensive skills (boarder guarding, decisive/situational repairing). With having a limit of 16 players and 5 ships all doing their own thing, it's difficult to achieve what you want without brute force.

We'll very unlikely find a balance with this kind of environment, especially since the devs aren't going for the "opt=in/out" route, which will otherwise kill their game like a wilting flower. By now it's best to figure out if one wants to stay with this game or leave it for good until they gather up the strength to get better in a casually competitive environment.

@rustyaldrich said in My opinion on PVP in its current state:

@d3adst1ck
The only reason it would be boring for PvP tryhards is because they won't be able to easily sink noobs.

Only time I go for sinking people is if they have an emissary flag I need or a grade 5, or if I ask them to hand over their loot and they decide to run or fight back.

Sometime they don't give me the opportunity to communicate because they try to run or fight as I approach or board them which means they have chosen sinking. Securing the transportation of said loot is always priority 1.

@nex-stargaze said in My opinion on PVP in its current state:

As a soon-to-be 2 year old player that was probably about 1/3 through their arena commendations before it closed and is still not taking failures in battle very lightly, aka a noob: Please, stop this talk about "pros sinking noobs" nonsense.

I won't stop talking about this, because that's my personal experience. You think your words somehow will override that?

@rustyaldrich sagte in My opinion on PVP in its current state:

@funnyqchen
Never in my 150 hours have I seen that happen. Most of the time it's me, who's trying to help other players and we get attacked by others who need to prove to themselves that they're better.

oh flexing/compare playtime now? Okay i can do that too. I have over 1700hours in that game and always help new Sailors out there. And with I , I mean me and my crew with similar playtime. But alas, my experience, your experience. Most aint noobs but just less experienced Players, thats just how it is. I'll guarantee, if you approach "us tryhards", we are more than happy to give advise/ share wisodome we gatherd troughout the game.

@funnyqchen
lol, I'm not flexing or comparing anything. (Btw it's quite funny that you turned it into some kind of contest, kinda proving my point) I just said I never encountered friendly experienced pirates (unless they're on my crew). Just as an example, that actually happened several hours ago. I was solo slooping, doing treasure maps for fun, no emissary. I even use default ship and basic clothes. At some point I encountered a brig, they started chasing me. Eventually I got boarded, killed and they called me a trash player. That's your average 'friendly' PL.

Maybe you're helping other players. I am trying to be friendly and helpful as well. But that doesn't mean that the entire playerbase is like that.

@rustyaldrich why bring playtime up then? Eh what ever. I don't know how you play that game or approach others, but at least for me its not hard to find other lighthearted players to laugh with. In the end it doesen't matter how everyone playes the game anyway. If someone sinks you and throws out slurs, he's being a d***. Record and report! It's easy on PC: WIN + G, you can record up to 30sec into the past there! The Problem I have here is that you generalizing a part of a community in a way that doesn't reflect the reality. The "tryhards" and the "sweats" are not evil people, you may have encounterd sadly some douchbags, but those are some outliers. So please for the love of god don't generalize any sort of group.

@funnyqchen пишет в My opinion on PVP in its current state:

@rustyaldrich why bring playtime up then? Eh what ever. I don't know how you play that game or approach others, but at least for me its not hard to find other lighthearted players to laugh with. In the end it doesen't matter how everyone playes the game anyway. If someone sinks you and throws out slurs, he's being a d***. Record and report! It's easy on PC: WIN + G, you can record up to 30sec into the past there! The Problem I have here is that you generalizing a part of a community in a way that doesn't reflect the reality. The "tryhards" and the "sweats" are not evil people, you may have encounterd sadly some douchbags, but those are some outliers. So please for the love of god don't generalize any sort of group.

I brought it up so no one would say "Nah, he probably played this game for 3 hours and now coming to unreasonable conclusions".
As to how I play, I don't bother befriending thirsty PvP PLs anymore. I stick to newbies who can have fun actually playing the game and who are not yet turned into blood seekers who want to destroy anyone they see.

And I don't really care about reporting people, I won't probably ever see those player again anyway. And it won't make a slight difference to the overall playerbase.

@d3adst1ck

Pve Servers already exists, Alliance Servers, and SoT stills working as intended.

What is the problem with Heavy-Pvp servers? I can´t see the problem there. Are really Pvp players a PvP enjoyers or just a bunch of abusers ? If you love PvP, you will thank Rare for giving you the hardcore pvp experience you want.

But no my friend, this is not the reality of Sea of Thieves, Adventure Mode is a griefing simulator, where experimented players try to abuse new players every day, reason why SoT is one of the games with the worst players retention.

I repeat, I faced this kind of crews on arena with my mates, we stomped them, boarded them and dropped anchor, they disconnected because they turned into the prey and we knew who they were, tasted their own medicine and didn´t like it. What a PvP lovers, not 1 crew, we got matched against tons of this abusers, playing Gally and Sloop arena,we stomped them and they just cried and disconnected.

I have close to 1.000 hours invested on this game, more than 600 playing only arena, I know how this community is and the real reason to be against Pve server, and the reason why they flame Alliance Servers, because without noobies to abuse, their concept of pvp dies, because equal fights are not for true pirates, griefing and abusing new players is the real pirate´s life.

I know how to play PvP and defend myself, but if i return to Sot, I will play this Ally Servers because i do not want to deal with this bunch of..... while Im chilling solo slooping or I want to get some treasures.

The PvPpvE concept died years ago, this game turned into something like DBD, 4 friends looking to abuse, bully and grief others, if he/she is alone, better.

@d3adst1ck

I don´t understand what you mean. Ally Servers are not official but everyone uses it, I dont know why rare doesnt make a Pve mode, they already have one in the shadows xD

@mrestiercol FYI, alliance servers exist and SoT does NOT function as intended. More and more people come on the forums complaining about being attacked "constantly" as alliance server numbers grow more and more.

If alliance servers were banned or disabled in some way, you would see those tens of thousands of players (yes, thousands) be filtered back into standard servers, diluting the pool and changing it to a more neutral group of ships if not more PvE oriented.

Players need to stop claiming alliance servers have zero effect on regular servers. They destroy any cosmetic in the game that are supposed to be rare out of difficulty to achieve due to the threat of other players, they raise the amount of aggression on adventure servers by simply not being on them, they grind too quickly through advancement in the game (particularly with newer content) and then Rare nerfs based on that data making the grind that much longer or uninteresting for normal players. There are probably more cases to be made but that is by and far enough evidence of the impact.

@kommodoreyenser

That server are the solution for a problem that Rare doesn´t want to fix due to their "Game idea". If you delete Ally Servers, people will not move to adventure, they will leave game xD

I repeat, I´m not against PvP, I love it, but adventure Pvp is more griefing than fighting another players, because when they face an experimented crew, they run, complain, cry and disconnect. For that reason, the vast majority of new players uses this servers as safe place to play, I understand them and I agree with them, SoT is not a easy game to start, you face a huge wall as newbie that not fits with a lot of players, but if this players are on Ally servers, wasting money on Battlepass, skins etc... is good for the game.

The only players affected on a negavtive way by this, are griefers and abusers, So I don´t care about them and their complains.

@mrestiercol said in My opinion on PVP in its current state:

@kommodoreyenser

That server are the solution for a problem that Rare doesn´t want to fix due to their "Game idea". If you delete Ally Servers, people will not move to adventure, they will leave game xD

I repeat, I´m not against PvP, I love it, but adventure Pvp is more griefing than fighting another players, because when they face an experimented crew, they run, complain, cry and disconnect. For that reason, the vast majority of new players uses this servers as safe place to play, I understand them and I agree with them, SoT is not a easy game to start, you face a huge wall as newbie that not fits with a lot of players, but if this players are on Ally servers, wasting money on Battlepass, skins etc... is good for the game.

The only players affected on a negavtive way by this, are griefers and abusers, So I don´t care about them and their complains.

No evidence they would leave the game. Why are they here in the first place if they didn't want to grind to get stuff? Sure some might leave the game but I bet 40-50k players aren't just gonna walk away (unless they already have just about everything in the game, which again is another issue)

Guarantee you the vast majority of alliance server participants aren't spending $40+ per month on emporium items. Again, something you state without any evidence.

Also, I guess games like Tarkov need full offline mode? That game is like 20x what this game is in terms of learning curve and even includes vertical progression gear with level 50-70s playing with level 1s.

The people negatively affected by this are, as I stated and you glossed over, the PvE oriented players in adventure servers. The ones who just want to play the game, not join some 3rd party org to wait in line for 1-3 hours, or worse yet pay $ to skip lines, just to play. They feel the pressure of less ships that are just grinding loot, as now the PvP oriented crews have less targets and an easier time finding high level emissary targets or those doing Athena voyages. Would you want to be 1 in 1,000 for someone to target or 1 in 10?

OK im one of those "tryhards" @Qoutexx so alow me to teach you something:
1- Im not a tryhard, im good player that invested time and practice into getting better at this video game
2- If you are not able to win fights cuz the other players are good its not a game issue its your issue and yours only
3- If you wanna get to the level of skill where you are able to defend your skill against every crew, just put time into learning the PvP side of the game
4- People dont need a reason to sink you
5- PvP its an interaction, an agressive one, but still a interaction
6- Also other people dont care if you wanna be friendly or not, most of us ( the so called "tryhards") just wanna shoot you because we can
7- If you wanna get better look at yourself and see whats wrong with your pvp skills and aim to improve it
8- You sould not avoid fighting people that are better than you, also why not learn from them, instead of ranting about them
9- You might not agree how many of us play this game, however most of us have done everything in this game PvP and PvE. We have played the game every way possible, remember that

@funnyqchen said in My opinion on PVP in its current state:

The Problem I have here is that you generalizing a part of a community in a way that doesn't reflect the reality. The "tryhards" and the "sweats" are not evil people, you may have encounterd sadly some douchbags, but those are some outliers. So please for the love of god don't generalize any sort of group.

@lt-l00t said in My opinion on PVP in its current state:

6- Also other people dont care if you wanna be friendly or not, most of us ( the so called "tryhards") just wanna shoot you because we can

It's amusing to see these two statements supposedly from the same "side" in the same thread. I don't even need to generalize any group, @funnyqchen. You're doing it yourselves.