@katttruewalker
With all respect.
The "different playstyles" and the way Rare accepts how their game is differently perceived and played or cheesed is a problem, maybe the core problem.
The idea of SoT was/is to have a pirate adventure and a social experience what mainly was about uncertainty about the other ship crew and the interactions while doing PvE content.
To have this adventure and to have this unpredictability and uncertainty you just log in and take what the Sea has for you today.
So now lets take a look at the "different playstyles" we have.
PvP only hop servers to find other crews at best at active Forts or similar.
Many of them want others to quit session and leave the server.
It's one of the aproaches i often read here and what is accepted by the majority.
Spawnkilling until the other crew leaves the server is what makes them have fun and feel as winners.
Playful? Social experience and a pirate adventure?
At minimum questionable.
Exploiting.
Most gamers here active in the forum defend exploiting and say it's skill.
People who are really good at the game additionally exploit combat mechanics and other things.
As long as to bungle and circumvent intended mechanics is perceived as "skill playing the game" there will allways be sour losers.
Not because they were defeated in general, but the way it happened.
No matter if you know the exploits and cant or dont use them by principle or if you dont know them.
You feel cheated. Same feeling like the game throws all Ai encounters on you at once and you cannot handle it. Same for sniper vulcanoes and sniper skeletons that got nerfed.
You dont feel you lost because you were completely bad or the other just better and you can see your faults or mistakes.
No you dont know how this could happen (or you do and kniw it's was unintended), why did i die to one shot when i was at full health, how could he shot me below deck? etc...
As long as exploits persist and get used by players who think this is skill and good, they lack to see that other players dont want this and feel cheated and "create sour losers".
I recently posted 2 videos.
1st video was about "skilled" players recording the sour losers.
Imho this is extra toxic.
They literaly enjoy others raging and want them to rage and to show them raging because they got owned by them.
The other video shows some casual players fighting with guns and cutlass having that back and forth like the tides of the Sea in a pirate fight.
Conclusion of the thread:
First video is good content, skilled players. Funny to watch losers getting sour and toxic.
2nd video is trash and noobs playing, hard to watch, because no skill. Insults were made in the strutt your stuff and YT comments section.
Ok?!
The toxicity is wanted!
When not by yourself, be competetive and do all possible, intended or not, exploit and take a bath in the losers toxicity and share it on YT and show all: you are just so skilled and the others are toxic losers.
The way this gets represented is way more toxic, than someone getting sour and desperated, because he felt cheated, spawnkilled over and over for the sake of it etc.
But there is barely anyone who see this or agree's.
The opposite is the case!
But hey wait: it's their pirate adventure, their playstyle, dont tell others how to play the game.
It's like many dont see they do everyday racism and feel absolutely fine and not racist.
But everyday racism is so deeply part of many people they dont realize anymore.
Same for toxicity. The usual trashtalk can be already hurtfull to someone. But toxic? No.
Harden up snowflake ( what is again and already toxic again as it plays down another issues what can be serious).
Dont want to care about fragile person?
That's how society works or dont work.
I refuse to use exploits by principle!
I want to play the game for fun and i understand the mechanics and why they are there. So i respect devs when they have implemented a delay and dont cancel them to reduce ttk for example.
To complete this: people who do pve only and cheese the "unpredictabilityand uncertainty" by hosting full alliance servers.
What adventure do they have?
What is unpredictable there?
It maybe is only very few players who do so, but the whole thing fires something up.
The PvP versus PvE split.
Tbh the most of the players who are only this or thst mostly dont respect each other.
So you dont want different playstyles to be viable but you want your intended playstyle to be the way to go.
Additionally: I think it's toxic to get sour and insult others for playing the gsme and doing PvP in a playfull way.
If i realize that's nit a fight, but a slaughterhause i try to turn the situation around into something more enjoyable for both parties.
That's playing together, not on the cost of others joy.
But i agree this is nearly impossible to enforce on players and some will allways refuse to do this or that, but you know that this "split" about PvX only players has become bigger and bigger. At least in the forums it's a daily.
I barely read people branch out in all aspects of the game in a balanced way.
You mostly have the one side complaining about the other side.
And tbh this will never come together.
PvE players are not willing to play the sheeps for PvPers.
That's just not gonna work and never did. I say UO Tammel and all what happened in tons of games i the past 20 years since then.
Forget this.
That's merchandising blabla but not realistic or even honorable to say so.
The root of all toxicity is this split and Arena was exactly the coffin nail for this split.
Rare attracted highly competetive players and go into Arena and just listen and see what happens.
Exploiting, swearing and there are YT Videos where gamers go to islands and play TDM at Forts.
They perceive SoT as an online FPS and aproach it like one.
Rare needs to open their eyes and stop hoping for the "magic hand" that balances this.
They have to fix exploits, they have to increase the ttk, they have to make the cutlass mandatory, to have pirate fights and not fps gamers owning others.
They have to stop partnering with streamers who are toxic, but maybe do it only covered or in a smart way so they look good and the others look bad.
Make someone, a fellow player look bad is not toxic? No?
See this justification and superficiality is the basis on where toxicity has grown here.
I already wrote to much.
I'm allways vocal here and i dont say i didnt make mistakes or are not guilty in beeing aggressively arguing, but the way "different playstyles" get defended and justified is where the root of our toxicity problem lies.
It's the gamers gaming the system, performing like a serious sport and competition rather than a playfull aproach and having that social experience pirate adventure.
And streamers who make others look bad extra are more toxic than people who get frustrated and become sour.
With great power comes great responsibility.
Ya i know lame, but if the hate and making others look like fools, if mocking chikdrens with high pitched voices is the fun thousands are watching on Twitch and when the real skill and to be more pirate now means to exploit and utilize everything possible to own others, well...
Lost case, because money rules and tbh.
It was never different.
If you want it different, if you want players having a fun comical pirate adventure and beeing empathic with their fellow players you have to ban 14,9 Million players i guess (that's exageration).
