As there are other threads on a similar theme and this one seems to have reached the same conclusion, I'll drop anchor.

Please contribute to one of the others that remain open, obviously whilst keeping on topic and refraining from personal fights/name-calling ;)

Thanks.

haha the game is all about pvp, they sucker people like you to do the cloud events so people like me can just yoink it out of your hands... Just practise PVP more
Too many people focused on the PVE side and totally forget its PVP intended

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

The thieves can be the skeletons, the Meg, the Kraken, Flameheart, an Ashen Lord, etc.

That's literally impossible. Nothing in this game can steal your loot and cash it in except for other players. Sure, you can get sunk/killed by those things, but they cannot steal your loot. It will still be there if you can get back quick enough.

@theyspraythesky said:

....thieves can be the skeletons, the Meg, the Kraken, Flameheart, an Ashen Lord, etc. It’s not called Sea of Pirates...

-_-

ight imma head out.

@theyspraythesky said:

...it doesn’t bother ME if someone wants to rent a private server and grind their way to whatever they want alone without threat of PvP.

Sea of Thieves. Sorry, not sorry.

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

@combatxkitty said in Private Servers:

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

@combatxkitty

I don’t see it as a problem at all. Cosmetics look nice but don’t effect gameplay at all so it doesn’t bother me if others pay to have their own personal server with progression.

Well thats nice you do not see a problem with people playing on safe servers that they pay for and then bringing all their progression to a server which is public, for many reasons that is not fair. All one needs is unselfish thinking to figure out the reasons.

Here is one for ya:You have all kinds of extra money to spend so you buy SOT and pay for your own server when you want to play. You progress all way to PL and you get everything you want quickly since you grinded up uninterrupted. Now what? You are bored, nothing left to grind for so you now go into a public session with your decorated PL ship and you attack others who bought the game but can not afford to grind away in private to get what they want like you did.

See the problem.

Also another problem is this is a heavy based risk and reward game, if you are on a private server you lose that. This is a multiplayer online game, if you sit and grind away in private servers for all progression and others do aswell what happens to server population overall?

Honestly that is a terrible idea.

I will say though I would be fine if one could fish, collect treasure off islands(fraction the gold), complete commendations, do shipwrecks(fraction the gold) and even do Tall Tales in a private FREE server but as far as risk reward voyage, forts ect , nope

I do not PvP in this game either.

The game devs do not want this, they have said they do not want this. I think they know better than any of us what is best for their game.

Yeah sorry I’m way too old to care about someone earning cosmetics/commendations without the threat of PvP in a video game if they rented a private server. It literally affects no one and yet somehow people can complain well that’s not fair. It’s completely fair they paid for the ability to control who can and cannot join their private rented server. What’s really not fair is Jeff Bezos net worth.

It would 100 percent affects game play but some people choose to ignore it because it doesnt suit what they want. You state it would affect no one yet I gave two examples of how it would and I get a lazy come back of "oh im too old to care". I guess nothing better to say because yes that idea is truly a terrible one.

Hey maybe I am too old to care about people who dont want to PvP in a PvPvE game. Dont want to PvP dont play SOT, sorry too old to care!

I can picture it now:

Four friends grind away to PL in saftey.
Think they are super good at the game because they can kill AI.
Load into public session with all their paid for progression looking for a fight because they are bored.
They equip their shiny new PL ship set proudly.
They see a white sailed sloop in the distance.
They go in for the attack.
Uh oh they picked the wrong sloop its not a new player.
They are sunk in under five minutes.
They make an account on the Sea Of Theives forums to complain about PvP and that they were bullied by a sloop.

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

@combatxkitty

I don’t see it as a problem at all. Cosmetics look nice but don’t effect gameplay at all so it doesn’t bother me if others pay to have their own personal server with progression.

Well thats nice you do not see a problem with people playing on safe servers that they pay for and then bringing all their progression to a server which is public, for many reasons that is not fair. All one needs is unselfish thinking to figure out the reasons.

Here is one for ya:You have all kinds of extra money to spend so you buy SOT and pay for your own server when you want to play. You progress all way to PL and you get everything you want quickly since you grinded up uninterrupted. Now what? You are bored, nothing left to grind for so you now go into a public session with your decorated PL ship and you attack others who bought the game but can not afford to grind away in private to get what they want like you did.

See the problem.

Also another problem is this is a heavy based risk and reward game, if you are on a private server you lose that. This is a multiplayer online game, if you sit and grind away in private servers for all progression and others do aswell what happens to server population overall?

Honestly that is a terrible idea.

I will say though I would be fine if one could fish, collect treasure off islands(fraction the gold), complete commendations, do shipwrecks(fraction the gold) and even do Tall Tales in a private FREE server but as far as risk reward voyage, forts ect , nope

I do not PvP in this game either.

The game devs do not want this, they have said they do not want this. I think they know better than any of us what is best for their game.

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

@combatxkitty

I don’t see it as a problem at all. Cosmetics look nice but don’t effect gameplay at all so it doesn’t bother me if others pay to have their own personal server with progression.

if we are going to be outright factual about this

there is pay to win and that is = pirate legend

pirate legend is what is considered end game content or well used to be when i started off was like nothing to do after so it still stays that way in my eyes anywho

paying for a custom server to get there faster counts as P2W

you'll be able to get into a new area alot faster than people who hasn't paid for a custom server

also what counts as P2W in the athena's cove there are supplies ranging from fruits to planks to cannonballs and cursed cannonballs those supplies are off limits to people who aren't pirate legend (unless they're sailing with one)

so yes having a progression in private server would completly ruin the meaning of "progression" having bought legendary shipsets for millions or grinded blue doubloons for days to unlock all the doubloon priced items in the shop while constantly being attacked along the way versus "well i just did all that on a private server i paid x amount of money for so i could do it faster and unhindered

saying "cosmetics doesn't affect gameplay" is untrue

cosmetics does not only look good but tells your story

shiz this guy has killed the shrouded ghost!!

"meh i did that yesterday since i was never attacked on my private server i could look around for it all day and there it was ez"

you see its P2W no excuse for it

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

@combatxkitty

Pay to dress and look a certain way no such thing as pay to win in SoT and no it saves to your account and can be used at will in any server because you rented a server and supported the developers.

Maybe not pay to win per say but sure is pay to progress. So people with extra money get to sit in a private server and unlock everything they want without risk while others who can't afford the server have to play with risk?

@galactic-geek said in Private Servers:

...being to quick to request that Rare change their core vision.

Rare is a company, and like every other company they have one core vision - to make money. Currently they make money by creating/maintaining an awesome pirate game, but make no mistake - if they see the opportunity to make money quicker, easier or cheaper, they will take it.

If enough people are willing to pay for private servers with progression, I will be amazed if Rare don't provide.

And if they do decide to do it, I think the fairest way would be to create server-specific avatars. So if I joined a private PvE server, I would need to create a new character which would only be available for use on that server. Whatever rep or gold I gained would be locked to that character, which would only be able to be used on the server where it was created. (This also makes more money for Rare, as this character would not have access to any of the pets, cosmetics, etc, my official-server character has bought).

P.S. I know nothing about programming, so I have no idea how difficult this idea would be to implement.

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

@combatxkitty

There’s no doubt the game suffers from player retention issues. You can see it just by reading the reviews. If people were enjoying the game and playing it they wouldn’t leave a negative review.

Find me one game without a negative review.

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

@combatxkitty said in Private Servers:

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

@combatxkitty

I personally see zero reason to rent a server where everything I would do/complete on said server would be completely pointless.

It’s not cringe to have a different opinion it’s cringe to tell an 11 year old he/she should stop playing Sea of Thieves if they don’t want to PvP.

It's cringe to make such a blanket statement. How can they so confidently say no one wants private servers without progression? They can't, so yes , cringe.

Renting severs where one can do their own thing outside of main game progress isn't a new concept. I have done this with friends, there are many reasons for doing it.

I personally see no reason for a private server you can buy and fully progress on in a risk and reward based game.

I never stated I see no demand for progression-less private servers,>

Yes I know, see I wasn't talking to you. You qouted me when I was taking to someone else who did say there is no demand for private servers without progression. That person was cringing away at everyone else yet they made their own cringe worthy blanket statement.

I stated I personally see no reason to rent one. I also would guess that the majority of players would see no purpose in renting one either but that’s just a guess. Only time will tell.

Yes I know that is what you said.

I never made a blanket statement and I’m definitely not cringe. Again telling someone to play a different game not because they don’t like the core AI elements but because they don’t want to be forced to fight to defend their time and effort (their investment) into the game and too bad that’s the game you purchased you should have read the reviews is just really cringe.

Again, I wasn't talking to you, never said you made a blanket statement that was directed at someome else and not you, please pay attention.

As far as telling someone not to play I mean well the game has Pvp in it and the devs appear content. I dont care for plenty games because something about them doesn't fit me. that's ok therr are plenty to choose from. A game can not cater to everyone. My advice to someone who hates PvP would be to not buy games with PvP. I would tell someone who hates racing not to buy games with racing , not sure what is so cringe worthy about that.

So Battlefield V created community games and disabled progression. They were 100% free and nobody used them well basically nobody. Time will tell if they actually generate revenue for Rare or not. I think they’re crazy if they don’t enable progression especially when zero purchasable advantages exist in the game. It makes no sense not too.

Dont care about Battle Field, I hate comparing games to other games and when people do that they only ever pick the games that suit their argument while plenty others can justas easily counter it. Also what works for one game doesn't work for another.

There’s no reason to buy a private server IMO either but if they enabled progression many more would do it just to be able to enjoy the game without PvP.

So then pay to win? Does that progression stay on that private server?

@mriel413 said in Private Servers:

Jeez, lol. Yall are more butt hurt about this topic more than me. 😂 No need to get hostile. Just trying to have a conversation here.

Im sorry but we are butt hurt? First off what a mature statement and second off you are the one begging for a safe server in a risk and reward based game because you got sunk during an event that I am sure you know notifies the other whopping what 5 ships on the server of what you are doing.

@galactic-geek said in Private Servers:

@rowge-gaming The playerbase is doing the exact opposite - it's growing.

This person goes on and on about the dwindling player base and never really backs it up.

@theyspraythesky said in Private Servers:

@combatxkitty

I personally see zero reason to rent a server where everything I would do/complete on said server would be completely pointless.

It’s not cringe to have a different opinion it’s cringe to tell an 11 year old he/she should stop playing Sea of Thieves if they don’t want to PvP.

It's cringe to make such a blanket statement. How can they so confidently say no one wants private servers without progression? They can't, so yes , cringe.

Renting severs where one can do their own thing outside of main game progress isn't a new concept. I have done this with friends, there are many reasons for doing it.

I personally see no reason for a private server you can buy and fully progress on in a risk and reward based game.

@rowge-gaming

the dwindling playerbase says much more than this wall of text ^

How is the playerbase dwindling? If you are talking about steamcharts, I hope you're taking into account the fact that when SOT first released on steam 3 months ago it completely BOOSTED the amount of people who bought and played the game. Over 1 million copies were bought on steam, not all 1 million people are going to come back to the game, and so the game will of course be losing players compared to the first month of opening.

And second, you better be taking into account corona, and how every single game is losing their player count because the ban on schools have been lifted, and people can no longer play games 24 hours a day and have to spend 8 hours at school again.

There are more reasons for why SOT playerbase is dwindling other than, "The game is dying." Now, if you were just trying to get the point across that the SOT playerbase is dwindling, sure I can agree. But if your reasoning is because the game sucks or the game is dying, make sure you take into account other factors like the fact that it's been 3 months since the release on steam, so they are going to lose players anyway. And the fact that school are opening back up. If you are, then great. But I am making this post just in case you think that the game is dying for no other reason than, "it sucks" and therefore they NEED to add PvE only servers.

Since I've talked with you before about the logistics of PvE only servers and I've given you tons of reasons for why this game will survive without PvE only servers and how this game will actually die if you add PvE only servers, I am going to assume your only reason for why you are disregarding everything I said is because you have no rebuttal. Please prove me wrong by responding to my arguments and questions I had above in that wall of text explaining EVERYTHING about why this game will not survive if you add a PvE only mode. As well as responding to this paragraph too. I am excited to see what you come up with.

@rowge-gaming The playerbase is doing the exact opposite - it's growing.

the dwindling playerbase says much more than this wall of text ^

@mriel413

Jeez, lol. Yall are more butt hurt about this topic more than me. 😂 No need to get hostile. Just trying to have a conversation here.

Oh no. You don't get to play the moral highground by saying that we are being hostile and butt hurt when you literally said, word for word:

For the love of God can we please get private servers?!

So sick of wasting my time on this game.

Don't pretend like you were just trying to have a conversation when you are saying sentences like these, and giving us emotionally charged responses.

If you truly want to know why things are the way they are and to understand how to make this game more enjoyable, I would suggest you read this in full. If you just want to be mad and upset that this game doesn't have a PvE only server, then skip it and stay mad.

Your idea has been posted many times of adding a PVE only server / a server for only friends / a server with only friendly people and no PvP. This is why this idea will never be implemented, and why it will never work:

Let's say you want to stack the FOTD 10 times, that will take you around 8 hours to do if you're quick. Would you rather go into a server where:

(1) You could be tucked on
(2) You could have your loot be stolen
(3) You waste 8 hours of work because a pirate boarded your ship
(4) You're always under constant threat that you could die

OR, would you rather be in a server where you are safe from all of those problems, and don't have to worry about some pirate stealing your loot?

90% of players will take the second option, because there is no reason to put yourself in a situation where bad things could happen when you could alternatively be completely safe from other players. I'm not saying, "90% of players wants PvE only servers," I'm saying that if they were added, 90% of players would play them. Just like if they added an invincibility potion, EVERYONE would use it, does that mean that it should be added or that people want it? No, but since it's in the game people are going to use it.

The problem with this is because 90% of players who do PVE missions will go to this private server, who's left on the normal servers? People who want to steal loot, but there's no loot to be stolen because everyone is off in fairyland completely safe from any problems that would arise. So all the PvPers leave the game, not to even mention that the most popular streamers have built their career by stealing loot. Pace22 would immediately leave the game because there's nothing left to steal, and many more streamers would leave, as well as most of their viewers, which means that SOT no longer has an internet presence. Now that all the news has gotten out that Sea of Thieves has a SEVERE drop in their playerbase, all of these articles will come out online saying things like,

"Sea of thieves is a bad game," and "Sea of Thieves doesn't care about it's playerbase."

So now that there is all of this stigma around SOT there will be no new players because there are only bad reviews. So people who want to buy Sea of Thieves won't, because there are all of these videos and articles saying that it's a bad game. So Sea of Thieves will no longer be getting an influx of new players, which also means that Rare won't make any money from people buying the game.

What do you do once you've reached 75/75/75/20? By that point you'll have all of the cosmetics, and with the emissary system you can easily get the highest level in a 2-3 months. People will get bored because they're not working towards anything, they already have everything in the game and the highest level in the game, what now? Most players who are max level would normally turn to stealing loot so they don't get bored, but because of PVE only servers that's not a thing anymore. Eventually all of those people will leave because there's no point for them to play anymore, so the only people who play SOT are a few hundred people who didn't get max level and only play Sea of Thieves for 2 hours a week.

Most people who play adventure mode don't play it because they want PvP and ship vs ship battles, if they wanted that they would go to arena. People play adventure because they like stealing loot, so you can't just get rid of the loot.

That's why adding PVE only servers are bad, the PvPers will leave, all of the streamers will leave, people will get bored, the internet starts hating on SOT, and then you have a dead game. Not to even mention the fact that the developers themselves have said many times that they want this game to be one where people of all ideologies can play together. The PVPers, PVEers and the RPers can all be in the same server together, and they will do everything they can to keep that in the game:

Developers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_yrN70591Q&feature=youtu.be&t=3578

Developers: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e_yrN70591Q&feature=youtu.be&t=3681

As the developers said, the path to pirate legend involves the threat that you could be fought by other players. That's why they aren't going to add a PvE only server, as they believe and the majority of players believe that the path to pirate legend includes the fear of being fought by another pirate and losing your loot. There is no reason to pander to the couple thousand people who want PVE only servers, when you have hundreds of thousands of players who have bought and actively play the game because of the PVP factor. It doesn't make sense to change the game for a few, when the vast majority don't want that. Since most people fall into the category of PvPvEers, that would mean that if you remove the PvP aspect of the game, most of the playerbase would leave.

People are always upset that in a PVP game, which has PVP in it, which is advertised as having PVP, a game that has always had PVP since the beginning of it's existence, a game that YOU bought knowing full well it had PVP, has PVP.

People who think PVP doesn't belong in Sea of Thieves and complain that PVP is, "toxic," are the same type of people to play Minecraft and complain there are no guns.

If you've made it this far into the post then you're at least willing to hear reasons as to why things are the way they are, and because of that I'm going to give you some solutions to help in your voyages. Let's move past the whole idea of, "I want a PVE server," and accept that it will never happen, so that we can find solutions to make your time on Sea of Thieves better.

The first thing you can do would be to play with other people, I don't know your experience in the game but having more people is always better as you can keep 1 person in your crows nest as a lookout for incoming ships. Using the official Sea of Thieves discord, you can easily find likeminded people who are more than willing to play with you. The discord has over 160,000 players, and there are constantly requests to join people's crews, or people asking for players to join their crew. Discord link: https://discord.gg/seaofthieves

Now that you have some people to play with, ALWAYS keep someone as a watchguard, if you have 4 people on your crew, you can easily send one of you to stand watch in the crows nest and have the rest of you do the voyage. Another thing to keep in mind, there may be tuckers on your boat, people who park their boat behind a rock or an island, then take the 3 minute swim over to your boat. So always make sure that whenever you leave the island you were just at, have at least 1 person check around your ship for tuckers. I'm not going to bore you with every single tuck spot in the game, but in general equip a sword and slash the ship. The cannons, masts, wheel, sides of the ship, barrels, etc. Anywhere where someone could hide some of their body inside something, sword that area. If you hit them, they will stand up and there will be a sound effect letting you know that you hit something.

Whenever you load into a game, check the emissary tables next to the respective trading companies. If you see a tiny ship on the emissary table it means that someone is on your server doing that emissary, so if you see 4 people doing quests you may want to consider leaving that server as there are many people active. Always check the reaper's bones quest table, if there is a tiny ship on the emissary table or a reaper's marked ship on the map, leave the game as that ship has a high chance of trying to attack you and steal your loot. Try to minimize the risks before you even start your voyages.

Those are some of the tips I can give you, hopefully these will help you in your voyages to come. I understand that it can be annoying when pirates come over and take all of your loot, but the sooner you can accept that it's a part of the game, the sooner you can improve and become better at avoiding those situations. Who knows, you might become a PvPer yourself.

At the end of the day whether you want to add PvE servers or not, the developers themselves have said multiple times that they don't want to separate players into different servers. They want this game to be one where players of all groups, PvPers, PvErs, and RPers can all be in the same server together. The only thing that can change the developers vision for the game is if the community comes together and says that they want something different. That isn't happening, and they still have a very strong community in favor of PvPvE, so there's no point in trying to do something that could backfire into something very deadly.

The only way that SOT will add a PvE only server, is if a majority of the community says that they want PVE only servers, until that happens, a PVE only server will never be added. When you are the owner of a video game, you have to do what the majority of people want or you risk killing your game, and right now the majority of people do not want PvE only servers, so they aren't going to add them.

This game was MADE and is a game for PvPvErs, not for PvErs or people who just want to do missions and voyages without any threat whatsoever, the sooner you accept that this game was BUILT for PvPvE, then sooner you will be able to have fun in the game.

@mriel413 Ashen Lords can be taken down in 20-30mins... If you last 90 you are more probably attacked by another crew.

Besides, you play a videogame for fun. If you feel like wasting your time, stop playing and focus on anything else that gives you fun and joy. It's not about the gold, it's about the glory (or just entertaining yourself with your pals).

@mriel413 said in Private Servers:

What purpose would a private server serve if there is no progression though?

for events
and setting up scenarios as a content creator
or overall just mess around

@shmupix3l Mute, report, scuttle. Can we stop pretending you are left helpless and hopeless without any ways to fight back against the so-called bullies? If the complaint holds ground and is legitimate, actions will be taken.

As many others said, the game is forcing encounters around specific events and it is part of what makes it exciting (maybe not so much for me, but still, I can understand why others would look for that kind of rush). I think the main reason people actually asked for private servers though is to avoid toxic behaviors. There's a fine margin between playing it fair in PvP and bullying your opponents that some people don't seem to grasp.

I ended up uninstalling the game and writing a negative review, not because of the game itself but because people do not know when they're crossing that line, and it literally made me sick every time I played until I decided to stop. Just to give a bit of context, I bought the game recently and played about 40 hours on my own, since none of my friends have the game. I've yet to encounter anyone who wouldn't insult me repeatedly and hunt me down for hours. When I reinstalled the game weeks later to give it another chance, I've been bullied twice in an hour, and couldn't even complete any quest. I felt just as sick as the first time, being tracked down by their crew clearly enjoying it... There is no good excuse for that behavior (IRL or otherwise).

I won't launch the game anymore until something has been done to fix that, with private servers or otherwise. Currently, the only option is to scuttle your ship (also abandoning the active quest and/or your loot) and I don't think that's good enough. I'm far from being alone in this case, just look at the negative reviews on Steam: toxicity is so out of control that even when commenting reviews, people are being very judgemental and aggressive towards its author. Just because it's online (or "just a game") doesn't make it less violent.

I don't quite want private servers, let alone with no rewards, but we should stop pretending bullying is not also part of the issue somehow. I'd gladly leave private servers to roleplayers if human players in Adventure mode weren't so toxic... Some people say it's a minority but I beg to differ, my own experience with the game (as short as it may be) says otherwise. I may give the game another chance once private servers are up, even if it means no rewards I'd still enjoy PvE content. But what I would much rather see is Adventure mode where people have tools against these toxic behaviors. I want to enjoy the full game, with fair fights and friendly encounters once in a while, without having to worry about losing 2 hours to bullies with no respect for anything/anyone but themselves. If it cannot be done, then yes, private servers with rewards (even if only 10%) might be the only option left. I shouldn't be the one paying for what they're forcing the game to be, being limited to PvE with no rewards makes it even worse and is almost encouraging their behavior.