Im a bit reluctant to post about this because I know its been suggested a fair amount of times before. And there is always the counter argument of "Its a pirate game" or "It was intended to a pvp game from the beginning". And those are fair points. Which is why whenever I do get sunk I dont get mad about it. But even Call of Duty, arguably one of the most pvp intensive games, has a story mode. Just because a game was designed to be a pvp game doesnt mean it cant have a pve mode. And I do like doing the pvp every now and again myself. Its fun. I just dont see the harm in having more options, because sometimes I just want to relax and make a little gold not have to stress about dealing with people who want to spawn kill me and just overall just be toxic for no reason at all. To each their own, Im not here to govern how others want to play, just simply another option to engage in how I want to play sometimes. People will make the argument of "It would be boring" then stay on the default pvp mode. I personally cant understand why its a problem for others that some people want to have other options. Key word here is "options" as in no one is going to have to be forced to play a mode they dont want to. I know others want this as well. I understand it could be a factor of costs to run other servers, so if people that want a pve mode is a minority then I will simply accept that I probably just wont play and get over it lol. Im not here to complain and moan, but to provide an actual argument for pve instead. I've played off and on since day 1 and the meta and community have changed quite a bit since then. And personally, Id rather the option to just not have to deal with that sometimes. Anyway, so for an actual suggestion, I think you should host a poll for the community to votebolded text for or against a pve mode. Then take those numbers and compare that to the concurrent playerbase and if at least a half (or a little close to it) votes for it then I think you should implement that into the game. If an over half vote against, then it will simply be a matter of git gud or dont play. Im fine with either or those outcomes. Im just here to provide my two cents into what I think will actually help a game I like. If you do add a pve mode, you can make pvp more enticing by adding a gold or doubloon bonus for playing, or a 2-4x xp multiplier for the various factions. Or if that causes concern for game balance, then leave it as it is and make the pve mode earn less of everything instead. So the integrity of the game is preserved and others get another way to play the game. Everyone wins.
In regards about a PvE mode
Sea of Thieves as it is would be a pretty terrible singleplayer game. The only reason the massive grind in almost all aspects works is because of the added thrill of running into players. Remove the thrill and there's just massive grind behind the pretty looks and great music. Not saying you wouldn't enjoy it, but many people who say they would, would not, or only for a short while until they realise there's no real fun on empty seas.
I'd rather they make a SoT spinoff game that is singleplayer but just quite a different game overall. Manage your fleet of ships, way more AI ships sailing the seas, etc.
Ignoring any "It's a pirate game" "It's how it's meant to be played" arguments (that are true). How would a PVE mode work? Like, are you completely alone on a server left to sail and grind as you see fit? Cause if so.. That would genuinely get boring quick. Do most of everything once, it's done, a fun experience! Do it 10, 25, 100 times, it's repetitive and boring and grindy. Without the chance of running into players, whether hostile, chill, funny, or just weird, there's no spark to your adventure. You're in a theme park.
Okay, so say you make PVE servers with other players, what are they able to do? Not kill you, not damage your ship, givens. But can they pick up your loot? Can they get in your way? If i want to sell something at Order of Souls and someone is stood in the doorway, i can't just blunderbuss them out the way. Likewise, people can ram your ship with theirs and even if there's no damage, they're still annoying you.Okay so players go through eachother, once you touch loot it can't be interacted with, and ships.. phase through eachother, or something. Well, what's the point? That's not pirates, or adventure, or even shared world, it's just the same as a lonesome PVE server theme park, but sometimes you get the chance to talk to someone, which doesn't save it in my eyes.
The joy of this game is the sporadic, random, risky nature of the shared world sandbox where if you want to do something, you can probably do it. Your loot and cosmetics have value because you earned them against a sea of people willing to stop you from earning that loot. PVE servers would be boring, and the spirit and social heart of this game would be lost.
Eventually, eventually, non-progression based Custom servers will hopefuly become publically accessible. You won't earn gold, rep, or commendations, but you can interact the sandbox just the same, and even set up fleets, events, and games. Allowing you to experience the world in a safe way, but progression in this game is worth nothing if not for the inherent risk ever present on the horizon. You never know what's going to happen when a ship is nearing, and that's the joy of this game!@hefty-henri I think that is a good point, maybe they could have a trial period or a pts to see if people would change their minds. The way I was thinking that wouldnt realistically be something you would want to do all of the time. For example, yesterday me and some friends and I decided to try the game again after not played it for a few years. Got sunk a few times, no problem. Then we ran into people who decided to be super toxic. Joined our alliance we had with another ship and pretended to be friendly and then killed us and spawn killed us over and over again. Didnt even bother to sink our ship or take any loot. I dont see a way the devs realistically can do anything about the toxicity, so I would instead have an option to go play some pve and wind down instead of just opting to not play at all. Then come back for some more pvp. Just about every time I have came back I have experiences like that and it just turns me away from the game and I stop playing almost as soon as I start. I know this the case for others too. Im more or less just trying to prevent that from happening for others because it is a pretty big problem with this game.
@heyltsmetc I think if it were to be implemented then I would say it would be best to go with the option to phase through each other to prevent any type of griefing. BUT I do agree that the thrill of this game is from the potential threat and you do make a good case that the value of your loot is increased by that. I completely agree. Im not 100% sure a pve mode would be boring, but I can see how it could be. But then again, even if they did add it into the game, I dont think it would be a mode that someone would want to play 100% of the time either. I like ship battles with other players, its fun. I play SOT for the expeirence that constists of pretty much of what you spoke of. Its not neccasrailly the potiential threat of other people that I want to avoid, its the threat of dealing with toxicity that I want to avoid. So I guess this is actually a suggestion to give the power to the player's hands to combat that rather then just for the sake of a pve mode.
@cheesedoosh6195 This comes down to running into toxic players, which has the simple solution of scuttling your ship.
i am the most hating pvp on Sot, and when i see a ship nearby mine, i stay allerted, maybe are skill issue yes, but i think that Sot is a really bad game for a singleplayer. compare him with The Witcher, Mass effect or Assassin's creed.
The storyline is fine, ok, but as a character you are not so rilevant, you just help the things to happen.
The gameplay is the same, you do thing to grind titles and cosmetics. the ghost or skeleton curse as example are just a recolor and a costume with sounds added. nothing of you can do, improve the character, or your ability.
as a SP game it should be pretty annoyng in my opinion@cheesedoosh6195 Oh yeah Toxicity has absolutely zero place, i agree with you there. It's just a game, no need to be mad. I understand there are certain levels of game design "infrastructure" that lead to things like spawncamping and griefing, that can't necessarily be avoided, but so many equate the mere act of PVP, even good-natured, as being incredibly toxic. A lot of people ask for PVE servers just because they don't like pirates in their pirate game! I don't think PVE servers would solve any issue like this, at least personally.
The best thing to do is know that, yeah, there's gonna be bad eggs and not get attached to your loot too much. Enjoy what they can't take from you, like the game mechanics (one of my favourite things in this game is just sailing around island hopping) or the beautiful views, or wonderful music. If you find yourself in an unpleasant situation, take a deep breath, scuttle/change server, and continue on as you were. It's all pixels at the end of the day, and people can only be as toxic as you give them power to be. I hope you find your niche in this game buddy, and stick around, you seem cool, and everyone deserves their place upon the sea's.@fedted998 you're comparing SoT there to single player only games. SoT is not that, never tried to be that and isn't advertised as that. Its a live service pirate multiplayer sandbox game.
I think most people who have played the game long enough understand that this game has very little substance in its content. Without other player encounters, the game's design is extremely repetitive. Most people here default to the usual things you quoted because it's a Sandbox Open World first, and a grindfest second. You're meant to do whatever you want to do regardless of completion, maybe you might have to focus on an activity/voyage for a couple sessions, but you're meant to take your time, bask in the world, get into trouble, capers, and thrills.
This game has to market itself to bring in casuals who want to experience this continually expansive game, but as you can see by the endless amount of complaints, they kind of can't because they refuse to accept the game has PvP that anyone can choose to do without actual consent, as is the way of the sandbox. You make PvE a separate mode, and you split the playerbase in the worst way possible, you make it PvP-only and it'll get ditched in a month because of extremely poor server and game performance. Combine the two, and you've got a beautiful mess of a game with too many players that are either burned by the palette they acquired in their thousands of hours of play, or have barely got the sea legs to continue moving forward on this game's waves.
@cheesedoosh6195 and then to further drive home the point of @Hefty-Henri
Lets say they implement the PVE servers, with progression there would be another split in the game just like arena created in which the development team has to do more work with less immediate value.
They want to add a new world event, well double the testing at least because how does it work in the PvE only servers vs the regular servers.
They add something like they did in season 8 PvP only systems and cosmetics well now the PvE server users will complain because nothing was added for them. And the other way around.
Then there is another community choice adventure (like the battle for golden sands and pendragon V flameheart) how are the two separate player types going to affect that.
Then the PvE server users realise they. Are just grinding for the sake of grinding and want more story/lore content specific for PvE etc etc etc.
Creating a split like that is not only bad for the community it is even worse for the game and its development itself.
A simple game mode like arena took away alot of resources from development only to keep it working, not even for adding new features to the mode, so many resources in fact that they had to kill it outright.
Anyways, the game is the game, its a PvEvP sandbox game, always has been and always will be.
there is not a single game in the world that will fill the needs of everyone.
Also. In before lock
@heyltsmetc I agree, it was why I reluctant to make a post about this because Ive seen a fair amount of people get on here that just get mad about getting killed and looted. I'll be the first person to hold my L with pride. Especially in a well fought ship battle. As a matter of fact this is the only game Ive played where I genuinely felt that my opponent earned the loot they got from me lol. I have a good chunk of things I want in the game so it doesnt matter if someone steals my loot or not to me. I actually found the SOT forums because I was trying to find ways to combat toxic players and someone had made a post on the forums just complaining and just screaming pve at the wind. I decided that I wanted to try to make an actual case for it rather than just complaining because complaining doesnt solve anything. At the very least I was hoping to get some insights to help further shape my perspective and I think you guys have helped achieve that. So thank you for providing a pretty well thought out case against my suggestion, it provided some valuable insight. I did see that someone suggested to scuttle whenever we encounter those types of players and I will try that. Its been so long I forgot you could even do that haha. May your waters be calm and wind strong.
@nex-stargaze Yeah, I didnt really thinking adding a pve mode would solve all the issues with game in all honesty. And your case that it could cause more issues than it would solve makes sense. Maybe the only way to deal with toxic players is just jump servers then, which is sad. But it is what it is.
@callmebackdraft Another strong case against PvE, and I agree that it would be more problematic than what its probably worth. So maybe the solution isnt adding a pve mode. But Im not sure what else there can be done about the toxicity other than scuttle and jump servers. I dont realistically expect the devs to monitor every single player report especially because a majority of them would just get made by people who couldnt take an L lol.
In B4 Anchor.
I would not mind actual solo-campaigns. Interesting takes on stories that are entirely separate from the regular SoT game.
But I would point out that Call of Duty Solo Story is not the same as Call of Duty Multiplayer. Those are, for all intents and purposes, different games.
What you are asking for is essentially, a PVE server, NOT a solo game. I do not support PVE servers.
Sea of Thieves is a PvEvP environment and it wont change. Is how the game was designed and is not gonna change.
Yeah, they could add a History mode for playing the tall tales and adventures, but doing that will split the focus of the development team to two different areas which would deffinetly delay the game's development.
I understand your situation and it might be frustrating to get sunk, but the game is about learning mechanics and your own limits. The game offers different events and quests and has a "High Risk=High Reward" system that people need to understand. If you go into a World Event (High Risk) as an emissary (High Risk) you will have much more player interaction that if you go to Devil's Roar without an emissary.
@a10dr4651 yes, and i know it. but i'm comparing with them because the OG writer of this post is that what he wants from the game
Ahoy, going to be dropping anchor on this thread as there is a post about our thoughts on PvPvE (including a link to the Sea of Thieves Podcast where we discuss it) here: https://www.seaofthieves.com/community/forums/topic/136693/pvpve-the-team-s-thoughts/1
You can read an article by Joe here in regards to Private/Custom Servers which will offer a space to play with no gold or progression.
The game is designed to be filled with adventure, gold, stories to tell, and yes, loss and betrayal. It is a game of pirates, of outsailing or out-fighting your enemy, or of beating another crew and getting their loot. Or perhaps having your loot taken.
For this to change something at the very heart of Sea of Thieves would have to change. Our design was always to allow players to create their own stories - to not know if the sails on the horizon are friend or foe, to make friends, form shaky alliances, battle it out for gold and glory. We do not plan to change this.
Thank you.
