New PvE Enemies

  • Shadowspawn995
    Seafarer

    I think one of the biggest issues with PvE content in Sea of Thieves right now is the lack of enemy variety.
    This also affects new events they add, as fighting the same enemies over and over again in new context isn't exactly stimulating.
    I think adding new Enemies could and SHOULD be a priority at this point. Here are some Ideas.

    Shield - Skeletons: A Skeleton with a Wooden Shield, that blocks Damage from the Front.

    • Can be staggered with a Power Attack, you can burn the Shield or you hit them with a Bomb in the back.
    • Very fragile without the shield

    Trapper Skeletons: Skeletons that will place down Traps as long as they live.

    • Will not directly attack and keep Distance to the players.
    • Very Fragile

    Bucket Skeleton: It has a Bucket on its head.

    • The Bucket Blocks a Single Headshot. As soon as it loses the Bucket, it gets faster.
    • Average durability. As long as the Bucket is on top, very slow.

    Spear Skeleton: Throws Hunter Spears at Animals (And Players)

    • Will try to stay at range and hurl Spears
    • Average Durability.

    Arsonist Skeleton: Throws Bombs

    • Will try to stay at a distance and throw Bombs.
    • Very fragile, explodes with a short delay upon death.

    Spiker Seacrawler

    • Covers itself in Spikes and attempts to hug the player to death.
    • Fast, low durability.

    Trident Skeleton: It has a Trident

    • It has a Trident.
    • It drops a Trident.

    We run and we Explode-Skeleton

    • Basically just a faster, less damaging version of a Keg-Skeleton.
    • Emits a shriek upon charging, dies to a single shot. Explodes.

    Meet the Sniper Skeleton

    • Sneaks and hides in the Bushes and attempts to shoot with an Eye of Reach.
    • Very fragile.

    Parrot Skeletons

    • Variation of Skeleton Captains.
    • Throws its Parrot at you at low health. The Parrot deals little Damage and has 1 Health.

    Ghost versions of the Skeletons can also be added.
    I know that most of these Ideas are from Plants vs. Zombies. But literally anything than fighting the same 5 Skeletons over and over again please.

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  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    I think one of the biggest issues with PvE content in Sea of Thieves right now is the lack of enemy variety.

    You say that. But players have already complaint about npc being “in the way” or how troublesome they are to deal with.

    It’s not lack of. It’s current players, modern if you will who can’t even deal with what we have….because it ruins there enjoyment of the game. Some how.

  • xDreegan
    Ship Mate

    @burnbacon said in New PvE Enemies:

    I think one of the biggest issues with PvE content in Sea of Thieves right now is the lack of enemy variety.

    You say that. But players have already complaint about npc being “in the way” or how troublesome they are to deal with.

    It’s not lack of. It’s current players, modern if you will who can’t even deal with what we have….because it ruins there enjoyment of the game. Some how.

    It's probably less "troublesome" and more "tedious". I cannot imagine in a game like this people are finding fighting any of the PvE enemies "Difficult". The majority of them are one bullet/sword charge from poofing away, and the rest are neither different enough, or just require a few extra hits to get rid of. Majority of enemies don't drop anything, and a lot of the time they just spawn on top of you randomly to give you "something to do".

    Now, there's nothing wrong with that, obviously. You can look at any number of games that have weak, perhaps even tedious enemies to deal with. The difference between those games and Sea of Thieves is that in the other games combat is usually built with various options/ways for you to deal with them. Sea of Thieves has always been Function over Form, so it's as simplistic as it can possibly get, which leaves very little room for players to experiment or explore.

    This is only exacerbated by Sea of Thieves lack of progression. How a Swabbie deals with NPC enemies is gonna be nearly the exact same as a Sea Wolf.

    So in summary, PvE is
    -Tedious
    -Lacks variety from the dev's standpoint
    -Lacks variety from the player expression standpoint
    -Doesn't evolve at all from the time you boot up the game for the first time
    -Doesn't require anything new from the player regardless of the type of content they engage with

    It's very flat and static, all around. @Shadowspawn995 Your ideas are good and I'd like to see variations like that added to the game. It would at least alleviate the PvE boredom from one side of the equation, although the other side I feel is just as, if not more, important.

  • Boneheart1237
    Marauder
    Insider

    I’ve felt like skeletons could even use new touches of life. I do like these ideas as well. Some things I’ve personally thought about are:

    • Eye of the Reach Skeletons atop tall towers or peaks, taking longer to fire the further the player is (they used to spawn normally from what I’ve been told, which seems a tad excessive as Pistol Skeletons already accomplish the same task of single shot medium range damage, and the EoR damage on Skeletons would stack very quickly)
    • Skeleton patrols headed by a weak captain that travel across large islands
    • Sneaky knife skeletons which hide in barrels or disguise themselves as chests in an attempt to ambush you, keeping your eyes peeled even just traversing the islands
    • Skeletons in small hidden “loot encampments” that are tougher, but offer some small loot items as a nice lil reward for finding them
  • Zeyrniyx
    Captain
    Insider

    I really like this idea, but just one thing:

    • A sniper skeleton? No way! That already existed, and it was terrifying—it’s still around on skeleton ships, but not as powerful.
      If everything is well-balanced and these skeletons aren’t “too” smart, why not?
      I’ll also note the idea of a blowgun skeleton ^^
  • Shadowspawn995
    Seafarer

    @zeyrniyx You raise a valid point.

    I think it would be best if the Snipers gave a clear indicator when they lock on and / or shoot.
    The lazy way would be a message popping up, akin to "A Sniper Skeleton is taking aim."
    Better would be some auditory hints, like being able to hear the Sniper Skeleton Load its gun and take aim across any distance.
    Laser sights don't really make sense at this time, so that's not really an option.
    I would also cap the Damage at maybe about 3 / 4 of your Max health. Punishing, but not immediately deadly.

    Blowgun Skeletons could work similar but stay at medium range. They would have Regular Darts and shoot a poisoned Dart every 3 shots.

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