I have seen numerous arguments for private servers, single player mode, etc., but people are looking at the issue the wrong way. What this game needs is a third gameplay option to complement the Adventure and Arena modes.
Ever since Tall Tales were added in the Anniversary Update, it has become very apparent that a Story Mode that only offers Tall Tales (and maybe Hunter’s Call progression) was sorely needed. This mode would not have any progression towards the three main companies (Gold Hoarders, Merchant Alliance, and Order of Souls), it would exclude Bilge Rat Adventures, and wouldn’t have skeleton forts and other emergent elements (Reaper’s Chests, etc.). This way the people who only want to play a fun story and explore the lore can do so uninterrupted (Story Mode), those that want to be true Pirate Legends can do as they please (Adventure Mode), and those that want bite sized PvP focused gameplay can get what they want as well (Arena Mode). Not to mention, with the new Creators Crew group, more unique and well staged/scripted content could actually be made in Story Mode.
For me, this game’s community has always been fractured into three segments: PvE, PvEvP, and PvP. It only seems natural to have a mode that complements each community subgroup’s play style. Each mode would remain viable for its own reasons, and everyone gets to play the way they want to.
Keep in mind, many successful games already have these three elements in place.
A few prominent and very successful examples of this:
GTA V’s story mode, GTA Online free roam, and GTA Online PvP
Halo 5’s Campaign, Warzone mode, and Arena.
Destiny 2’s Campaign, Gambit mode, and Crucible.
Red Dead Redemption 2’s story mode, Red Dead Online free roam, and Red Dead Online PvP.
Implementing a third mode, ultimately, would resolve a lot of people’s frustrations and combine more like-minded players.
Hopefully, Rare is already making this consideration, but if not, for the long-term health of this franchise, it seems like this feature implementation is a complete necessity.
