Passive Mode

  • Prooit

    I think that a passive mode would be a very good option for the game.

    I refer to the passive mode that’s in GTA Online. You can’t harm other players, and they can’t harm you. I have thought of some ways this could be implemented well too.

    You could make these Ghost Ships. When you enter ‘passive mode’ your ship and all crew mates turn into ghosts. Other ships can even sail right through you. The only harm that can come to you would be from skeletons or the environment.

    You could make it where you can’t turn it on in any type of combat, so you don’t just turn it on so you don’t die. In fact, if so inclined, you could add someone to the outposts. You would have to talk to this person to enable and disable the ‘passive mode.’ He could like curse you and uncurse you to add lore to the mode. And if that still isn’t enough, you could add a price to it as well. Make it cost gold to permantly unlock the mode.

    This would be a huge benefit to the game because it’s difficult for someone who isn’t that good at games in general to be able to have fun and enjoy the game when they’re constantly being chased by ships. Or even if you are skilled, it gets annoying sometimes. I would honestly have A LOT more fun earning the gold back to pay for enabling a ‘passive mode’ knowing that hours of me playing the game won’t be stolen by a bunch of aggressive players who are always looking for a fight.

    Every time I get back on the game I ask myself why I don’t play it more often, then a few hours in and one sunken ship full of loot later I remember exactly why. It’s difficult enough to feel like the game is rewarding enough as it is, because it’s really not. However, it feels even less rewarding when everything you spent hours working for has been taken by someone else within a few minutes.

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  • Mighty Ace123

    Sorry but don't like this idea. You want the whole core of the game changed.

    We all had to learn and adapt in this game, so can you...

  • Nebenkuh

    Game does not need a passive mode. Try sailing with a galleon crew and learn to lookout for other ships and you won't get sunk anymore.

  • Slave2theSAvE
    Master
    Insider

    Im not completely on board with a passive mode incorporated into the core game. I know some do find it hard due to griefing, however this is what the game is fundamentally about, finding treasure and possibly losing it.
    If there were to be a passive or non PvP mode, i believe it should be an entirely seperate mode not in any way connected to the main game, meaning anything you do in it whether it be loot gained, commendations etc does not carry over to the main game, possibly no ranking system or legendary status to give everyone incentive to go back to the main game where the danger is real.
    Best of both worlds for most players, good practice and easy zero risk loot hunting for less experienced players and no clear advantage for more seasoned pirates.

  • Blam320
    Legend
    Insider

    We discussed PvE servers at launch. That's not what the game is about.

  • Tragic OrNa
    Rogue
    Insider

    @blam320 Agreed, it would defeat the entire purpose of the game. I’ve been in plenty of servers in which I haven’t gotten attacked, more than those in which I have gotten attacked. If anything they should make a system to where the people who attack other ships and have more player kills should be put together more often in a server! This would make the PVP battles more entertaining and actually requiring skill considering a lot of pirates just enjoy killing the noobs that have just stared.

  • Blam320
    Legend
    Insider

    @tragic-orna said in Passive Mode:

    @blam320 Agreed, it would defeat the entire purpose of the game. I’ve been in plenty of servers in which I haven’t gotten attacked, more than those in which I have gotten attacked. If anything they should make a system to where the people who attack other ships and have more player kills should be put together more often in a server! This would make the PVP battles more entertaining and actually requiring skill considering a lot of pirates just enjoy killing the noobs that have just stared.

    However, then we get complaints of the opposite - that there's too much PvP in the game. Directly rewarding people for hunting down and sinking ships indiscriminately really shouldn't be done. On the other hand, there is no alternative, since you can't tell if a ship has loot aboard until you sink them; unless you ambush a parked ship you can't effectively force a crew to surrender and allow themselves to be boarded.

  • bluefox6
    Seafarer

    What's to stop someone going into "passive mode" hopping onto someone's ship and just taking all their bits and bobs?

  • Capt 1nsane

    @prooit
    This has been put forward many times in the past & i don't really see the issue with it.
    But as you can tell the vocal pvp players are adamant that it should never happen.
    It will ruin the concept of the game, it'd be boring yada, yada, yada.
    They don't understand that some people enjoy just sailing around doing quests without any pvp.

  • DuMy2008
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @capt-1nsane I partially agree. But i feel private servers would be the way to solve this. Create private servers with a reduced gold/rep income and then you have your own server and can invite friendly crews in to play together if you wish... this would be great for the incorporation of community lead events!

  • Capt 1nsane

    @dumy2008
    Yep agreed m8, but don't see why it should be reduced gold/rep. As long as the pirate/gold/rep/items that are used/earned in passive mode is only available in passive mode.

  • Arrmaro
    Marauder

    @capt-1nsane
    This has nothing to do with vocal PVP-players, it has to do with changing the core design of the game.

    The game is designed in a way where the other players are the threat, PvEvP. Creating passive mode, private servers, PvE, whatever you want to call it, is a step away from the core game design. It's like turning Fifa into a basketball game.

    If you want a sailing simulator, and I know people will hate me for saying this, stop playing this game and buy a sailing simulator game.

  • DuMy2008
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @capt-1nsane I only say reduced as generally games that hold an open lobby are supposed to run that risk, and without the risk they reduce the 'income'. Even if gold is the same, and rep is reduced, just to stop people being power leveled in guilds, like joining a private server with one ship of newbies, and then 4-5 other ships of veteran crews, and then all the crews going off and gathering and meeting up and letting the newbies cash everything in... would ruin the grind to pirate legend and make it an empty title

  • Szawel123
    Founder

    Another day, another pve spam. Nope

  • Capt 1nsane

    @aarghmaargho
    It's has nothing to do with changing the core design, it's giving players more choice & more ways to play.
    So why didn't GTA look at it like that when they added it to their game?
    Does it ruin the core concept of GTA? No!
    Does it add something more to the game? Yes
    Do you actually believe that giving players more choices to be detrimental to a game??
    You just argue for the sake of arguing m8, i've seen you on numerous threads doing the same, so will be blocking you now, good day ;)

  • Cpt Vunderbar
    Marauder

    As much as I hate when other players are overly aggressive and insist on sinking my ship, stealing my loot and killing me, I actually don't want to necessarily have a "Passive Mode".

    Like, yes, I get the frustration with the people who bully others because they can. It sucks, absolutely. But, that's still kinda the point of the game. Pirates doing pirate things. That said, I hate PvP stuff, and just actively avoid confrontation with other ships. I don't go out of my way to sink them or even bother with them. I just do my own thing and if the need arises, I try to text or voice chat with the other player to tell them that I'm not looking for a fight and just want to turn in my loot without a hassle.

    Usually this is enough to keep them passive. Many people seem to operate the same way, avoiding confrontation with others. Of course, for those times when you get the jerks who like to wreck others, I personally start going after them, tracking them down, trying to kill them, making them waste resources on a solo pirate who's trying to be a nuisance in response to their actions against myself. Even if I keep dying, I Know my persistence is probably getting on their nerves, especially since they're gaining nothing from it, and I lose nothing since they already took the little bit I had.

    I've hunted down a Galleon of 4, just because they sank my parked ship. I hunted them twice, did a drive-by and made them waste resources on a solo sloop. Then chased one of their guys around an island, delaying his progress on a quest for a few minutes.

    Sometimes the knowledge that you are fighting back against these players is enough to make it worth it to play despite having people steal from you. You're getting the satisfaction of wasting their time, getting even since they did the same thing to you.

  • Arrmaro
    Marauder

    @capt-1nsane said in Passive Mode:

    @aarghmaargho
    It's has nothing to do with changing the core design, it's giving players more choice & more ways to play.

    Uhm what? The game is designed in a way where other players are the thread, you take that entire aspect away with PvE, Private, Passive etc.

    Do you actually believe that giving players more choices to be detrimental to a game??

    Choices no, changing the entire game towards somebody's needs, yes.

    You just argue for the sake of arguing m8, i've seen you on numerous threads doing the same, so will be blocking you now, good day ;)

    Uhm okay, why post it then when you block people that disagree?
    I'm not arguing for the sake of arguing, I just disagreed with you and said why.

  • Capt 1nsane

    @dumy2008
    Fair enough i suppose :)
    It would be great for socialising, exploring or even as a training ground for noobs to learn how to 'git gud'.
    There are so many advantages to have this type of mode & hardly any downsides. Quite why so many are against the idea is beyond me, probably following Rares ideals of 'no segregation' with absolutely no compromise. Sad really ;)

  • theMasterplan84
    Master
    Insider

    Hopefully it never happens

    Not knowing what the intentions of other ships is what makes this game exciting. If a passive mode is introduced you can then pretty much know anyone not in passive mode is aggressive. Same with private servers those on still on the main servers won't be there for pve.

    I'm not even someone who does a lot of pvp and usually only fire if fired upon. I still like having a boat of loot and wondering whether that ship that's getting a little to close is going to attack. Then the relief when they sail passed waving at me. Or the tention of trying to fight for my loot.

  • Murkrage
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @capt-1nsane said in Passive Mode:

    @aarghmaargho
    It's has nothing to do with changing the core design, it's giving players more choice & more ways to play.
    So why didn't GTA look at it like that when they added it to their game?

    I'd like to answer this :)

    GTA Online in it's core isn't about a shared environment where the player is carrying potential loot you could take over. It is part of it, but it isn't in it's core. The free-for-all is really just a part of the game, but most people would usually get into the cooperative side of GTA Online. Or racing, somehow. Racing seemed very populair at the time.

    The core of Sea of Thieves, however, is that any sail on the horizon could hold loot you could potentially steal. Originally any seal on the horizon would be a player ship that could hold loot, now that has extended to Player and AI ships that could hold loot.

    The reason why a passive mode works in a game like GTA Online, is because there is a clear difference in what you decide to play: heists, cooperative missions, racing, business etc. Sea of Thieves just doesn't have those choices.

    So unless the Sea of Thieves gameplay extends to more PvE content, adding a passive mode will indeed affect the core of what this game is about: obtaining loot in any way possible.

    For now at least!

    ps: I'm a great advocate for keeping the PvEvP environment alive at all cost. I very much enjoy it. However, I can see why people would want a passive mode and I understand that newer players will most likely get hammered down by experienced players. But unless more PvE content is added, I don't think adding a passive mode will benefit the game at the moment. I can see options for it to happen, but only if that specific type of content is added.

  • Capt 1nsane

    @murkrage
    I see your point about the lack of pve content, but back during the alphas there was little content, much less than there is now, but i had some epic adventures none the less. They weren't pvp or even pve related, we would basically gad about having fun. We had secret santas who would sneak up & leave treasure on your ship. These types of shenanigans just aren't possible anymore.

    A lot of people like the friendlier side of the game, meeting new people, forming friendly alliances just to be able to sail together & have fun. Also like @DuMy2008 mentioned it would also be great for the community events etc.

  • shell2k6
    Marauder
    Insider

    @prooit

    You forgot the bit where the ghost ships you talk about shouldn’t be able to just sail around islands gather gold and rep.

    Those of us that would play the game the way it’s meant to be played without some passive mode that completely goes against what this game is, would be taking all the risks with our own loot and rep while you in your passive ship get to sail around with no consequences.

    The only way I’d agree to a passive mode being a good idea is if you couldn’t earn anything for being in that mode. You would literally just be able to sail around and sight see. No events, no commendations, no loot, no rep. Otherwise we might as well change the name of the game to loot collector and be done with it.

    If you didn’t get my point, passive mode will break and destroy a game called sea of thieves. If people can not handle pvp they are playing the wrong game. Change the game you are playing to one that suits you rather than making the game change to suit your playing skills.

  • Hynieth
    Master
    Insider

    Stop, please stop trying to incorporate Ideas from games that are completely different to Sea of Thieves, Yes I know you've played GTA5 Online and like the passive mode. Great!

    This is Sea of Thieves, a game built around being a pirate, the devs are currently aiming all guns on finding a happy medium between PvP and PvE but will never remove one or the other.

    It's an essential threat to have other players nearby who could (if they were inclined to) just climb on your boat, shoot you, steal treasure or just sink you.
    Remember that you can do the same to them. They don't have powers you don't have, we're all equal in the sea of thieves, no levels no extra powers or abilities.

    So Rather than trying to fix a problem that's not there lets try to fix the real problem. You need to learn how to play the game Matey, be more pirate!

  • Murkrage
    Commander
    Insider
    Founder

    @capt-1nsane said in Passive Mode:

    @murkrage
    I see your point about the lack of pve content, but back during the alphas there was little content, much less than there is now, but i had some epic adventures none the less. They weren't pvp or even pve related, we would basically gad about having fun. We had secret santas who would sneak up & leave treasure on your ship. These types of shenanigans just aren't possible anymore.

    A lot of people like the friendlier side of the game, meeting new people, forming friendly alliances just to be able to sail together & have fun. Also like @DuMy2008 mentioned it would also be great for the community events etc.

    Those types of shenanigans are definitely possible! Heck, my crew and I still do them regularly. There's been a few cases where we're doing Athena's Fortune voyages and end up spreading the loot around ships we find during the voyage.

    Just last week we were doing the Skeleton Ship battle at Smuggler's Bay with four ships. Everyone put the loot on whatever ship they could get on first and we ended up splitting the loot fair over on Sanctuary.

    I realise there are instances that this just doesn't happen, heck my crew and I have been the reason why a few times as well. Again during the Skeleton Ships, we were fighting them in an alliance. A Brigantine joined in on the alliance and started fighting as well. On of my crew got knocked off our ship and he swiftly swam to the Brigantine to get on and continue the fight.

    The Brigantine then started to give him slack for getting aboard and they shot him off. Up until then they weren't hostile but, considering they shot first, we diverted our attention away from the skeleton ships to shoot them to the bottom of the sea. The other ship of our alliance didn't take that too kindly and called us off on it so we in turn kept a weather eye on the Captain ship. Brigantine returned and the final wave was active. We made sure to stick with the Captain ship, sink it, take all the loot and just bail.

    My crew has been part of all sides of the spectrum. From friendly neighbourhood merchants to back stabbing thieving pirates. We share our loot and we take your loot. We help you keep your ship afloat and we shoot it to the depths where it belongs. We play the way we want and we're able to because the games allows for all these different playstyles. Whatever we want to do that session, we can do because no playstyle is singled out.

  • Arrmaro
    Marauder

    @murkrage said in Passive Mode:

    My crew has been part of all sides of the spectrum. From friendly neighbourhood merchants to back stabbing thieving pirates. We share our loot and we take your loot. We help you keep your ship afloat and we shoot it to the depths where it belongs. We play the way we want and we're able to because the games allows for all these different playstyles. Whatever we want to do that session, we can do because no playstyle is singled out.

    And that's why this is such an amazing game!
    Beeing able to be the friendly dude that sails around looking the aid others one day, and being the biggest threat on the seas the next day.
    Taking that beauty away would be a shame and result in a totally different game.
    Wish I could upvote your post more than once.

  • wipe nd clean
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    this would be fine, provided you aren't allowed to complete quests when in passive mode... just sail and practice fighting skeletons etc... pretty sure that would suck though so it's gotta be a no from me

  • OmarDelPino
    Marauder

    I really don't think that would be a good idea. The fun of Sea of Thieves would degrade because most ships would be using passive mode for the convenience of it. If no ship can attack you then whats the fun of it? This is a game of pirates and its called Sea Of Thieves for a reason. I know sometimes it sucks getting your treasure stolen but thats part of it.

  • MortarChelle
    Master
    Insider

    @capt-1nsane I'm not a PvP player but I also do not believe we should have PvE servers. I mostly grind quests, forts, special events, and only fire when fired upon (except at skull forts...everyone is an enemy at a skull fort) so I'm not the type to go out looking for PvP. My issues with PvE servers is just the segregation of the community. There are so many people who want different servers for different things, i.e. PvE only, PvP only, Xbox only...

    To satisfy everyone, you'd have to have so many different servers (PvE only - Xbox; PvE only - PC; PvE only - Crossplatform, PvP and PvE - Xbox, etc. etc.)

    The game is operating as designed, and there's nothing wrong with feedback or requests for change, but when people ask for PvE only, what they are essentially asking for, is a different game. This is a pirate game, not a farming game, and the intention of the game is that if you aren't vigilant, and if you don't employ smart tactics, you could very possibly lose your loot. That is how the game is intended.

  • SquaZ05
    Captain
    Founder

    you guys forgetting that you can't do biker missions/ corporate missions/ drug deliveries etc... you can't do anything other than drive from A to B while in passive mode?
    Edit: ^^forgot to precise in GTA Online ^^

    so sure add Passive mode, but you can't do
    missions
    events
    gain rep/gold
    start voyages
    dig up treasure
    steal treasure
    board other ships
    use your weapons/cannons

    you can only sail around aimlessly enjoying the scenery.

  • Prooit

    @dumy2008 I would be comfortable with this too! If they made private servers I would always play on those, even if everything was reduced!

  • shell2k6
    Marauder
    Insider

    @prooit

    And what stops you getting all your rep and gold in these private passive servers and then jumping into our proper server with all the cool stuff on offer than we might not have been able to get so easily because we were playing the game as it was meant to be played with an actual threat of the seas.

    Where is the fairness in that?

  • PeachCascade988

    @shell2k6
    What about having separate pirates for each server?
    1 for passive server & 1 for normal. Pirates, Gold, Rep & Clothing etc are not transferable between the 2.

  • NoFears Fun
    Master
    Insider

    I think you would end up missing a solid part of the experience of Sea of Thieves in doing this. A very big part of the experience is the simple threat that around any island, behind any storm there could be that ship that is looking for a fight. I am by far and away not a PvP player, and I used to advocate for PvE servers. But not anymore. The fact that I obtained PL, doing a large chunk of the work on a solo sloop, but actually getting over the hurdle with my closest game friend, and doing all of that while being sunk many times, chased around for hours with precious loot that would get me just a little closer to that goal of PL, it just made it that much more of an accomplishment. I understand you want to just sail around without doing missions, but I guess what is the point. Yes, the game has some amazing scenery, and the sunrise/sunsets can be beautiful, but that is only a small part of what the game is about. The game is about the PvPvE.

    I have met a lot of pirates that simply wanted to sink/kill you for no other reason than they wanted to do it. I have also met a lot of pirates that simply wanted an adventure, even if that adventure was chicken coops. I have even met people that I believe should be called grievers, they sink you then find you again to sink you again for no other reason than because they can. Or the people that hide on outposts waiting to ruin your day. But it is allowed in the game, and if I am having a bad experience I simply leave the server and start over again.

    However, I have found more often than not, most of the time, I rarely run into people that come at you, and most often when they do, it is because they are done for the day and ready to quit but want one last thrill.

    I believe what you are looking for misses the point of the game itself and I don't think it was ever part of the vision of this game.

  • QuixoticRocket
    Marauder

    @shell2k6

    If everything is cosmetic then who cares? The only reason private servers are seen as bad in most mmos is because you come back with a competitive advantage. There is no competitive advantage in SoT.

    The only argument is "you can grind to PL without people constantly sinking you" but in reality: who cares? there's no real advantages to be had other than maybe taking a little less time

  • A Cranky Eskimo
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    Any sort of passive mode that grants players invulnerability to other players is a hard no from me, having said that...

    It would be cool if instead of designating yourself passive you aligned yourself as a merchant with an outpost’s npc, tying you to that outpost as one of their merchant traders. This would allow you to turn in some merchant alliance goods that were requested by that outpost during certain days of the ingame month, without needing a voyage and without having a limit to the number you can sell (a limit may be needed to prevent animal
    Respawn exploits, but reworking how animals spawn and how often would be better). However as a merchant you wouldn’t be able to turn in OOS or Gold hoarders stuff at that outpost, forcing you to either take a route to multiple outposts, or gives a reason to hide/bury your treasure until you go and stop working for that outpost as a merchant trader, which would have to be done at the outpost npc.

    This provides meaningful decision making to what activities you are going for, and the part that ties this all together and is the only part similar to the OP is that as a merchant trader you couldn’t attack first or would lose that status, but people who attacked you would gain a bounty or notoriety with other players and would lose the privilege to interact with the outpost that the ship was aligned with.

    The one tricky part is the “who fired first” question but I think Rare could figure out something. Like attacking ships can fire and miss and trick merchants into firing and the attacker effectively avoids the penalty for pvp, while the merchant would lose their trader status. But if the attackers hit the ship or killed a player then the merchants have freedom to attack in self defense.

    This would tie up a lot of loose ends when it comes to the point of piracy and how it isn’t represented at all in the game really. We have this wierd double
    Standard at the moment of the game being meant for having fun but if you have fun doing the only thing with depth (pvp) then you are an a***e because there is no justification except that it’s fun, which leads to people saying you have fun making me have a bad time, you must be evil, and all types of other nonsense.

    And I’m the last person to say things along the lines of “get good” etc. but they need to stop doing things like the alliance duplicating gold without any reason to drop alliance besides not having ships on the map when you can outrun people indefinetly anyways. A system like that is asking for people to get upset, and other people to be demonized for wanting to play a pirate game like pirates and not let everyone get a participation trophy, I have seen people in our alliances who were trying to help do more harm than good, and then if we drop alliance they go complain about it lol... terrible idea to duplicate gold...

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