Solo PVE experience in SoT SUCKS

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    Yes, I know the game is intended for group play. But that doesn't change the fact that a lot of people enjoy playing solo as well.

    I am currently a pirate legend (athena 9). Not to toot my own horn, but I am good at this game and have solo slooped much of my time playing. This feedback comes from many, MANY hours of solo sloop play.

    The PVE encounters are completely broken when soloing, having a meg on you then having a galleon ghost ship spawn on you at the same time with unlimited cursed balls is complete BS and doesn't give you a fighting chance in a lot of cases. That being said, I have sunk plenty of galleon ghost ships during solo sessions, but it's 50/50 - depending on which curse balls they have or if you have some other PVE event already messing with you when the ghost ship spawns. Example: fighting a meg and having a ghost ship spawn on you with sleeping curse balls, so after the ghost ship auto-aims your ship to oblivion and you're in the midst of repairing you get chain cursed to sleep and you sink (no fighting chance at all). Another annoying thing is having a meg nearly dead, then having a ghost ship spawn just to have the meg tuck-tail and swim off when its one or two canon shots from dying, then being sunk by the auto-aiming ghost ship. Things like this can and should be tuned for a solo crewed ship. The solo experience in a lot of cases is more troll'ish & rage educing causing more frustration and a feeling of helplessness then it offers "creating stories on the seas" as you state so often as being your goal behind the PVE encounters. This philosophy should apply to a solo players experience as well.

    Forced server mergers are complete and utter GARBAGE. You get no warning and I cannot tell you how much time I have wasted and how much loot I have lost because I randomly and unexpectedly get server merged. You should be given the option to server merge or remain on the dying server for a pre-determined amount of time (say 30min) to finish grabbing any loot that may not be physically on my ship yet. Also, any loot you have physically interacted with in the last 30minutes should be considered "part of your ship" so when the server merger occurs that loot is carried over to the new server as well. This REALLY needs to be addressed.

    Anyway, that's my rant/feedback after hundreds of hours of play-time. I would say my play time has been a 50/50 split between solo and group play.

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  • vorondil1394
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @x1manriot I'll segment my replies based on the different feedbacks you gave:

    1. PVE. I think you're right that skeleton ships need a nerf. They could do this by having skeleton sloops spawn on player sloops instead of galleons. The rest of the PVE threats are fine imo, maybe even too easy (this coming from an almost exclusive solo slooper)
    2. I've never lost loot to a server merge. However, if you are just having loot despawn, then that is an issue and needs to be addressed. However, you shouldn't be allowed to stay on a dying server, as that just allows you to make de facto PVE servers (a bad thing imo)
    3. PvP. This is fine as is. Solo slooper have a disadvantage and we knew that when we chose to sail the sloop. We have plenty of options (most of which involve flight rather than fight), and I think the dynamic is well set right now.

    Final opinion: while I agree with some/most of your points, I dislike the tone of anger in your post. I get that you're frustrated -- but we as players should not be making demands of Rare, and speaking in ALL CAPS just sounds like you're NOT IN CONTROL OF YOUR EMOTIONS. Maybe I'm hearing your virtual voice wrong in my head, but that's just how it comes across.

  • Zormis
    Marauder
    Insider

    @x1manriot Soloing does suck because most of the fun is sailing with your crewmates!

    That being said, I have solo slooped a few times lately and didn't find it hard. I went out and sunk 20 skeleton ships in one day and never once lost my ship. Megs die faster when you're on a sloop, and the kraken is a joke, I had him down before I even bother repairing.

    But I am a well experienced pirate, if I was a new pirate I would have had a way different play experience I am sure, this is when having crewmates helps.

  • xLambx
    Insider

    I agree man. getting meg and ghost ship at the same time is a pain. Not to mention ghost ship having unlimited special cannonballs like what?

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @vorondil1

    1. I agree with you here, a sloop ghost ship or a toned down version of the galleon would be fine imo. But I do think they should occur one at a time, back-to-back is fine but having to deal with both at once is a bit much when considering the RNG of cursed balls and skele-ship auto-aim killing you or knocking you off your ship.

    2. I don't know how many hours you've played solo to not have experienced losing loot via a forced server-merger, perhaps you're just lucky. But believe me I wouldn't be taking the time to post about it if it wasn't an on-going issue that literally just steals your time and effort away. As far as "creating a de facto PVE server" this is the exact reason why I suggested a 30minute limit to at least give you enough time to finish what you're doing - but applying a 30minute timer to loot you've recently interacted with and having that loot carry over to the new server would also fix this issue. In all honesty I have much less issues with this when I am with a crew as the loot tends to get on-board your ship faster and you have less reasons to leave any loot on shore.

    3. I edited out the PVP portion of my post, I agree PVP is fine as a solo player.

    @Zormis

    It's almost like you wanted to try and brag about how awesome you are sinking 20 skeleton ships in one day on a solo-sloop (eye-roll), more then you wanted to contribute to this thread. I sank the majority of my skeleton ships for the accommodation on a solo sloop as well (def. not in one day), but that was also before they ramped up the spawn rates of the PVE events and recently it's simply felt un-balanced how the PVE encounters can hit a solo player in some situations.

    I guess I would say I don't typically find solo slooping "hard" either, its specific scenarios that are un-balanced and kill the fun for a solo player. Seeing as you don't solo much, I suppose your "input" has less value here.

  • Arch iDeall
    Marauder

    In my opinion there should be a smaller ship than the Sloop that would be ignored by (most) PvE encounters. It's almost impossible to balance the Sloop for both 1 and 2 players without making it too hard or too easy for one or the other.

    The server merges are rubbish. It's dumb that when you stash pile of treasure somewhere it gets deleted because the other players on your server left. The servers should be merged with the loot included.

  • Zormis
    Marauder
    Insider

    @x1manriot said in Solo PVE experience in SoT SUCKS:

    @vorondil1

    @Zormis

    It's almost like you wanted to try and brag about how awesome you are sinking 20 skeleton ships in one day on a solo-sloop (eye-roll), more then you wanted to contribute to this thread. I sank the majority of my skeleton ships for the accommodation on a solo sloop as well (def. not in one day), but that was also before they ramped up the spawn rates of the PVE events and recently it's simply felt un-balanced how the PVE encounters can hit a solo player in some situations.

    Really? If I wanted to brag I would talk about my 500 ship kill commendation. The reason I brought up 20 kills was to show you my experience, anyone can sink one or two and say "oh that's easy" but doing 20 is a better average, don't you agree? I believe that is contributing to the conversation because if' we're going to compare anecdotal experience I find my just as a valid argument as you find yours.

    I guess I would say I don't typically find solo slooping "hard" either, its specific scenarios that are un-balanced and kill the fun for a solo player. Seeing as you don't solo much, I suppose your "input" has less value here.

    Solo slooping is the hardest mode you can play the game, and when you complain it's hard, well.... I don't do it often because it's boring, I mostly do it to get things done when my friends/family are busy. Slooping in general is sometimes easier than doing things on a galleon or brig because of how angile the sloop is at navigating.

    I think it's unfair to be dismissive of my arguments simply because it doesn't echo yours.

  • Schwammlgott
    Champion

    @x1manriot why don't you put the loot onto the ship immediatly? Putting the chests to the beach until you leave makes it just harder and busier when another ship is heading for you...

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @zormis

    Your original response didn't offer anything useful. You simply said how easy everything is as a solo player and that you're an uber experienced pirate in addition to commenting on how playing with a crew is the most fun when I specifically stated at the start of my OP that I also enjoy playing solo.

    Don't bother responding this isn't going to go in a constructive direction so lets just let our little discussion die here.

    Best of luck to ya mate.

  • Zormis
    Marauder
    Insider

    @x1manriot You said the encounters were broken and I showed you with examples why I don't believe it is, then you offered a retort that was just insulting and dismissive. That is the TLDR.

    I have soloed sloop DR athena a few times, even fought a kraken pre-nerfed while doing it, I do have plenty of experienced solo slooping, I am just giving my 2 coins why I don't think it's broken.

    You talk of curse cannon balls can be a factor in if you sink or not when fighting skellyships, well matey that's the same for galleons as well. Having your crew incapacitated to repair or getting hit with a balastball can be a sink, if you get hit with a balastball on a sloop you just laugh and happy that it isn't a jig ball.

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @schwammlgott

    The majority of times when server mergers burn me schwammlgott isn't because I leave loot on shore instead of on my ship when doing voyages (I normally don't unless I am trying to be sneaky and avoid my loot being stolen in PVP)

    The most common ways I've experienced loot being lost to server mergers is in events where I need to "make a play" to avoid losing my loot to a series of PVE events. Like using a row-boat to get all my loot on the shore of an island and accept the inevitable loss of my ship to an OP curse-ball ghost ship - so I can sail back and collect my loot. Or some other obscure play that I may need to make in order to keep my loot (there have been many situations, that would take too long to describe the circumstances where the best play was to get the loot off my ship and come back to collect it rather than fight it out with the PVE event).

    The example of leaving loot on shore and losing it to a server merger that I used in my OP was just to simplify things.

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @zormis

    You can have the last word, it's cool.

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @vorondil1 @Zormis @xLambx @Archaell @Schwammlgott

    Ultimately I feel the root of my frustration is actually the server mergers, whether or not there is a large enough demographic of solo players to justify Rare balancing the game around solo play is questionable at best. I imagine it probably just isn't a reasonable expectation.

    The frustration experienced in some of the PVE imbalance for a solo sloop player could be curbed if you where not burned by making a smart and effective play to save your loot, just to loose it to an unexpected server merger that deletes your recently saved loot from the world. I feel that any recently attached rowboat and loot you've interacted with (dug up, picked up, etc.) should be "flagged" as part of your ship, so that it carries over to the new server for you to recover (or stolen if someone else finds it first).

    The reason I made this post to begin with is after multiple occasions of spending 2-4hr on voyages collecting loot and ultimately being screwed by PVE that felt unfairly balanced for a solo player, I was still able to make a slick play to save all my loot - just to be server merged the moment I spawned back on my new ship. I could accept the current balance of the PVE (solo or not) if all of my efforts where not just deleted and my time completely wasted via a forced server merger.

    People ditch servers often (especially PVPers) so the odds of your server being merged are high and never at a good time it seems.

  • DreadZepp

    It's amazing what a small change in attitude can do for someone's experience in a game. if your current attitude and actions arent serving you in the game, perhaps it's you that needs to make a change

  • BloodyBil
    Legend
    Insider

    @zormis I also notice an influx of newish players coming on the forums to whine and complain give feedback, then lash out when given advice on how to deal with their issues. Don't you dare try help them get better at the game!! They see it as being condescending and being told to gasp "git gud".

  • Zormis
    Marauder
    Insider

    @bloodybil said in Solo PVE experience in SoT SUCKS:

    @zormis I also notice an influx of newish players coming on the forums to whine and complain give feedback, then lash out when given advice on how to deal with their issues. Don't you dare try help them get better at the game!! They see it as being condescending and being told to gasp "git gud".

    Aye matey, and that's the thing I am actually trying to be helpful and figure out their problem to help them overcome their problems. There are are people who I crew with, who have been playing a lot longer than me who still aren't that great at the game.

    Solo slooping of course is harder in general but that's to be expected, playing solo will always be harder no matter how they tune the environment.

  • BloodyBil
    Legend
    Insider

    @zormis Agreed, even politely trying to be helpful will still trigger some people if you don't agree with them. Oh well.

  • MortalzReign
    Marauder
    Insider

    So I solo sloop often too, (pl10) but my outlook before starting the game is a little different, I could match up and get a crew and know everything would be alot easier and faster to do..but I chose to solo meaning everything is slower and everything is "harder" so before I've set sail, since ive willingly chosen to make the game harder for me I've accepted that at some point I may get out numbered and have my loot stolen, I might run into a skeleton ship and get spammed with sleepballs then get knocked off the ship and my mermaid takes 10 years to spawn and another 10 years to load me back in time to watch my ship sink, those my friend are the breaks, sometimes I'll play and everything that can go wrong does and Ill loose my loot to the dumbest things and sometimes Ill solo an athena and have no issues whatsoever, you just don't know what's coming your way, I think when you choose to sail solo, accept the worst and if the worst doesn't come it'll be a nice surprise 👍

    Don't get me wrong, it'd be nice if I didn't get spammed with sleep or jig balls but will I complain? No, that's up to me to find a better strategy to properly deal with them.

    what I don't want is rare to balance everything so that everything is easier to kill when your on a sloop, why? Because then all we would see is sea of sloops because players would figure out that it's easier to use the sloop to get their commendations done, need the pl cannons? Jump in a sloop and get easy kills, need to kill megs and krakens? Might Aswell get on a sloop! See what I mean? I like to see different types of ships on servers and I'd honestly rather fight a galleon than another sloop

    Secondly.. Server mergers, not had problems with loosing loot myself for a while since they sort of fixed most of the issues but I agree a good work around of anything you've interacted with in 30 mins should swap servers with you.

  • DarthMaxor1991
    Master
    Insider

    Change your strategies when playing solo sloop. Biggest tip that I can give people that helped me on my 7 month solo sloop journey is....cycle, cycle, cycle your voyages. Find small islands with lots of loot. You may spend 20-25 minutes cycling (due to new voyages appearing at 6am in game time) but you'll find some good voyages with small islands and alot of X marks the spots or 4 skelly captain's. As for merchant look for delivery outposts nearby to islands that have the animals that you need. He'll if you're in a decently quiet server attempt a solo skullfort. I've done a couple, took me about half an hour and I died alot but I got it done. It's all about learning the nuances of the game and just practice, practice, practice. Don't rage if you get sunk or server merge, it's a part of the game.

  • FatherFuzzie
    Lord
    Founder

    You also have to bear in mind solo slooping is considered hard mode and galleon easy mode in essence. However I find it way more fun to have a full crew just my preference. I feel they should balance instances for sloops especially with new advancents in the insider build if u haven’t checked that out. They need to implement just as much difficulty being one person equal to that of being on a galleon and vice versa. Keep posting and adding to the community and rare will hear it. Many things in game now started on these forums and I think this is a good topic to discuss

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @bloodybil @Zormis
    You two are cute, I almost don't want to interrupt this asinine circlejrk you have going.

    Solo slooping is harder? woah, astute observation - very "helpful" (after 600+hours of SoT, I never knew this). I guess the game is perfect and any feedback that suggests the solo experience could be better tuned is just "whining and complaining". And lets just ignore the primary point I was trying to bring forward which is the bogus server migrations not including your loot unless it's physically on your ship - which screws you out of hours of your time if the circumstances are right (which seems to be far too often in my experience).

    You also assume I am a "newish player" that needs advice... @Zormis isn't going to offer me any advice on how to get better at SoT, I've I've been playing the game since day one, my mechanical skills are top tier and I am confident in the fact I would dumpster either of you. Not only that, what advice would he offer any solo player when you're locked in a curse-ball cycle from an aim-bot skeleton galleon? - you literally can't play the game then your ship sinks (don't play solo was his advice, lol). To add to that frustration - when you respawn then get server merged, all of your loot is RIP. THAT is an issue that should be addressed, it's a poor experience no matter how you cut it.

    @BloodyBil
    Your attempts to hide behind this "positive community member" facade is just sad. Your responses in this thread were entirely targeted attempts to elicit a response from me. So there ya go, you got what you wanted.

  • FatherFuzzie
    Lord
    Founder

    Try to keep it dignified my bro people can’t always tell player levels on forums as we have nothing to go by except badges . If people have a varying opinion of your own don’t try to downplay well intentions even if it’s annoying. I feel there are good and bad scenarios with equalizing sloops vs not.

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @fuzzyh1ghland3r
    Sorry, I'll play the subtle game like @BloodyBil next time, my bad.

  • FatherFuzzie
    Lord
    Founder

    @x1manriot lol 😂 let me rephrase , your feelings are valid and your contributions help this game grow. The best we can be are how we react in given situations. Earlier posts were nice and constructive but turned to just being angry and really never contributed to furthering the conversation except attacking those who either tried to help in annoying fashion on your end or were more passive aggressive like that latter. Thanks for being cool and making this a place intelligent discussion.

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @ufc-wolverin3

    I definitely agree with your point about balancing PVE encounters around the sloop to the point where it becomes the "optimal choice" for farming commendations and such. I do not want to see "sea of sloops" either - but I do believe there is a middle ground to be found here, where the challenge of solo sloop play is proportionately balanced. There should be an element of control within your hands, not just a roll of the dice whether everything goes wrong and its out of your control completely - currently, skilled game play is not rewarded in these circumstances and you are punished regardless.

  • vorondil1394
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @x1manriot ahoy! Just came to re-read this thread. Yep, you do seem to have managed to ruffle some feathers :) I think it's just because we've such a huge influx of new players that sign on for a two-hour session, then come and complain on the forums that their loot was stolen, then get angry at anyone who tries to offer advice. I can see that you don't fit that stereotype at all, but the general tone of your post (especially the all-caps "shouting" sections) do give off those vibes -- someone who didn't read your OP closely might get the wrong impression.

    Yeah I don't know why I haven't suffered from merges like you have. I've played since launch, solo slooping 95% of the time, and I've put in a decent amount of time (recent-ish PL). I don't think I've ever lost loot to a merge -- in general, I just don't get merged much at all. I think I've had a merge maybe three times in the last month.

    Anyhoo, I agree that they should work on keeping loot from despawning in a merge -- that's a very clear bug that is apprently short-changing you on a semi-regular basis. Try a Support ticket!

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @vorondil1

    The response to my support ticket on this issue was to submit a post on the suggestion forum, lol 😂

  • vorondil1394
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @x1manriot lol well that's only slightly infuriating! Sorry about that. Yeah well I'm all out of suggestions then. :/

  • Zormis
    Marauder
    Insider

    @x1manriot said in Solo PVE experience in SoT SUCKS:

    @bloodybil @Zormis
    You two are cute, I almost don't want to interrupt this asinine circlejrk you have going.

    Solo slooping is harder? woah, astute observation - very "helpful" (after 600+hours of SoT, I never knew this). I guess the game is perfect and any feedback that suggests the solo experience could be better tuned is just "whining and complaining". And lets just ignore the primary point I was trying to bring forward which is the bogus server migrations not including your loot unless it's physically on your ship - which screws you out of hours of your time if the circumstances are right (which seems to be far too often in my experience).

    You also assume I am a "newish player" that needs advice... @Zormis isn't going to offer me any advice on how to get better at SoT, I've I've been playing the game since day one, my mechanical skills are top tier and I am confident in the fact I would dumpster either of you. Not only that, what advice would he offer any solo player when you're locked in a curse-ball cycle from an aim-bot skeleton galleon? - you literally can't play the game then your ship sinks (don't play solo was his advice, lol). To add to that frustration - when you respawn then get server merged, all of your loot is RIP. THAT is an issue that should be addressed, it's a poor experience no matter how you cut it.

    @BloodyBil
    Your attempts to hide behind this "positive community member" facade is just sad. Your responses in this thread were entirely targeted attempts to elicit a response from me. So there ya go, you got what you wanted.

    I'm just trying to help you out matey, don't take it personal that I don't agree with you.

    Let's take the meg/skelly ship combo you're talking about. It can be tough if it is flipped the wrong way but it also can help you. It's a 50/50 chance the meg will attack the skeleton ship. If it doesn't you ram the skeletonship and they will fire on the meg.

    The great thing about the sloops is unless it's fully damaged you don't have to repair it right away, it' sink so slowly, you just bail water and take care of it later.

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @zormis

    Can't bail water when you're chain cursed with sleep/jig/drunk matey. With the unlimited supply of cursed balls the skele-ships have in conjunction with their aim-bot like aim things go from under-control to hopeless too quickly - no matter how efficient you are in your repair/bail/counter-attack sequence (also cannot steer the ship while doing any of the above when solo).

  • Zormis
    Marauder
    Insider

    @x1manriot said in Solo PVE experience in SoT SUCKS:

    @zormis

    Can't bail water when you're chain cursed with sleep/jig/drunk matey.

    Yup, you can't do it on a galleon either. Sounds like more of an argument why curses are OP vs a ship argument.

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @zormis

    actually, with 4 players (or 2+ players for that matter) you can have someone avoid the curses. Certain actions on the ship will negate the curse effects. So if you're smart about it you can always have 1-2 people not cursed if you're paying attention to the curse balls coming from the skele-ship.

  • UnfadingShimmy
    Lord
    Insider
    Founder

    @x1manriot Yea, I had an instance recently where I was on my way to Galleon's Grave Outpost to deliver animals and a skelly ship spawned besides me. The ship started spamming Sleepy Balls(whatever they are called). I could not stay awake long enough for me to patch up the holes and turn my ship. I ended up crashing into the Outpost at full speed. If it wasn't for my rowboat, my 30 minute snake/chicken voyage would have been for nothing.

  • BloodyBil
    Legend
    Insider

    @x1manriot Did I pinch a nerve? Apologies.

    You also assume I am a "newish player" that needs advice... @Zormis isn't going to offer me any advice on how to get better at SoT, I've I've been playing the game since day one, my mechanical skills are top tier and I am confident in the fact I would dumpster either of you

    The solo experience in a lot of cases is more troll'ish & rage educing causing more frustration and a feeling of helplessness then it offers "creating stories on the seas" as you state so often as being your goal behind the PVE encounters. This philosophy should apply to a solo players experience as well.

    Which one is it, you feel confident about your skill as a solo player, or enraged frustrated and helpless?

    You claim knowing the game is hard solo, that's a fact indeed it is, others are telling you that with the right strategies there are ways to manage despite the difficulty, you flipped out and flash your 600+ hours and dismiss other's opinion on the fact that difficulty might not be so broken after all. If anything, it shows that after all that time played you would have picked up more strategies to deal with your issues.

    As for the merger issues, sure they can happen without warning and it's annoying, but it's up to you to keep your loot on your ship and not litter all over the place. Anything lost is just bad luck. I can't see how the system can work other ways, as loot is tied to the server and not the players, it can't teleport over the next server.

    Let's all take a nice breath now shall we? :)

  • x1ManRiot
    Seafarer

    @bloodybil

    It really doesn't take much thought or effort to understand that those two things are not mutually exclusive. You can be skilled and still be put into a situation where you are helpless due to the game mechanics. Which is precisely the issue I have with it, skilled play should be rewarded and you shouldn't be alienated by a broken PVE encounter on any ship/crew size.

    This thread was never a request for "strategic assistance". I'm good there, thanks.

    Edit: if you actually read through the thread instead of cherry picking portions of posts and insta-responding in an attempt to out-wit and one-up me. You would realize I have not been, nor ever referred to any instance where I was "littering my loot all over the place" in regards to the server mergers and losing loot.

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