Question for community members who want PVE only

  • I ask this not with sarcasm or scorn, but because I don't understand and am genuinely interested in your reasoning. My question is this: if you dislike pvp, or the concept of loosing your work to other players so much, why would you buy a game that was clearly advertised as having the possibility of pvp as a major feature and a pirate theme?

    I'm not interested in replys from anti pve players (and won't even post again in this topic), I just have never seen anyone explain this in all the calls for passive modes. Thank you to any who take the time to explain their reasoning before this thread bursts into the inevitable flames of rage this disagreement usually emds up in.

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  • Well I am used to playing single player games, SOT looks fantastic and the adventure of being a Pirate on the high Sea made me purchase it.

    This is my first open world Sand box game with P v P and I am not used to the gravity that can come when you lose all your treasure to other players.

    I don’t like being beaten by other players and having my gold taken makes me a sad Pirate.

    Anyway. Got to go, mum is calling me for dinner.

  • @william-flint

    While I'm fine with the PvPvE balance as it is, I can tell you why THIS PvE player tried out a game with online PvP.

    Basically it was just cause I love pirate stuff. More specifically, the fantastical side of the pirate aesthetic. I loved the cartoony look and the idea of sailing around and digging up treasure while fighting skeletons.

    Pirates are a strangely scarce setting for video games. After getting hooked by the Monkey Island games, offerings were few and far between and often too 'realistic' for my tastes. The last chance I got was Assassins Creed: Black Flag; and I bounced off that game hard.

    Luckily for me, I got into the alpha and beta periods of SoT, so I got a chance to test it out before buying.

    And I WILL say that I was iffy at first. Even back in beta, most players attacked on sight and I got frustrated with losing my loot.

    However, the lack of penalty to dying and purely cosmetic rewards kept me around until I had my personal epiphany and made my peace with the PvP aspect of the game.

    These days I even enjoy it a bit since, while I don't fight, it can lead to some pretty amusing encounters.

    Still, I can understand why my PvE brethren would dream of a mode made just for them. I know that many find the idea of SoT without other players to be a boring prospect, but that isn't true for everyone.

    I've grown to enjoy SoT's PvP, but if it had come out just as it is now, only as a single player game, I'd still be playing and loving it.

    I'm guessing that's why many of them try it out. They like the look, the gameplay, the setting, or any or all of the above. I mean, SoT IS marked PvP, but 'vE' is still tacked onto the end. With hybrid games like this, it's hard to know how you'll feel about it until you try it.

    That being said, I would urge those like me to try and meet the PvP halfway, even if it's just ignoring it as I do.

  • I appreciate your point of view, @Hombre. This was my first PvP oriented game, as well, and it was daunting at first. I thought many times about how nice it might be to just sail around and enjoy the game without the threat of PvP. So I honestly do "get it." But I've also come to realize that this game would not hold the same fascination, nor satisfaction, without that constant threat. It's the danger that gives the seas life. It's also deeply ingrained into the lore of Sea of Thieves, which I also enjoy immensely.

  • @genuine-heather said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    But I've also come to realize that this game would not hold the same fascination, nor satisfaction, without that constant threat.

    For many, yes. (I might even say 'for most'.) But not all. Some, including myself, would find SoT perfectly satisfying even without the threat of other players.

    But what's best for us isn't necessarily what's best for the game.

    And I do agree that the mix of PvP and PvE is what makes SoT special in relation to other games. I like the "Shared World Adventure Game" setting, not because I like PvP, but because I like that I, a PvE player, can play and enjoy the game right along with PvP players.

  • But what's best for us isn't necessarily what's best for the game.

    I think this should be the first sentence in every thread on this topic.

  • I used to play counter strike but I kept getting griefed by players while trying to plant my bomb. Absolutely toxic.

  • Just want to point to some i believe can contribute to the thread.
    @ItsKingBertie
    @NeedSmokes
    ...

  • You can't judge a book by it's cover.

    You can't expect players to know what the "experience" is going to be like before they have played it.

    SoT is a game in constant development. People buy it, they play it, they have ideas of how it could be made better, and they post those ideas here on the Forum.

    One of those ideas (a very common one) is for a PvE or Private Mode. My reason for supporting one is that I think that it would be good for the long-term size of the player base. I (probably) wouldn't play this mode. But I would benefit from the perks of having a large player base supporting SoT.

  • @ViperishEmu2992
    I'm completely split about it now.
    I was against it, then i was pro, now i'm split :-/
    To make a decision i'd need way more information only Rare has.

    Growth of the playerbase by PvE or Private Sessions is for sure a thing.

    But break the "uncertainty about other players intentions" is also a thing, because with PvE servers there isn't that much uncertainty left in Adventure mode.

  • @bugaboo-bill I can understand your concern. It comes down to exactly HOW a PvE/Private Mode would look. If done wrong it could hurt the game over-all. If done right it could keep a lot of people playing the game for longer and maybe attract more new players.

    I was worried about Arena for similar reasons. But it's so different from Adventure Mode that it seems like it's long term impact on Adventure Mode will be minimal. And if Arena sells new copies of the game and keeps people playing for longer, all the more power to it.

    Ideally any Third Mode (PvE) that Rare may introduce would keep the lessons of Arena in mind.

  • SoT makes no sense if PvE only.

    Only a boring fool would want this. The whole game has been designed around the fact that a menace can struck you anytime. Awareness is your best weapon...

    I wish we could pin 1 topic like this to gather all the data rather than having a topic each week about it. sigh

  • @bugaboo-bill

    Not too sure why you linked me in this post..

    I'm not overly interested in the PVE-PVP situation..

    Would PVE bring more players to the game, sure, i see no reason why not..
    Why would anyone be against PVE? No answer to that.. I see no reason why PVE servers would hurt the game. If players want to play a sandbox game in peace, who's it going to hurt. Who cares who earns what! It's all irrelevant items anyway.. Is all just cosmetic.. It might even make for much better encounters out at sea for all players in the open world..

  • I first started the game when it was in its first month! Started grinding and sailing loving the freedom to do whatever and not have to do something then something else. I could take the “missions” as and when I like! U can even do nothing and still find treasure to add to your xp on the trading parties! I fell in love with the game! The freedom the exploring the beauty!

    Couple weeks into me playing the community grew and so did the min/max players who wanted to be first streamer to PL first person to get all commendations and boom the toxicity started! Players become hostile everywhere no random interactions the game advertised just sour evil pirates!

    The game become tedious having to worry about all the boats in the horizon, getting to an island to find a boat in the other side waiting for you so they could spawn kill u over and over! Not on the island to voyage but because if u parked on it U could hide the boat and wait for victims!

    The grind become something that was a chore and not a goal as well I could try grind and work hard towards getting PL but if u made ONE mistake on a 2-4 hour session then everything could go down the drain! Soon you had to play with a style - avoid players do this do that so this to ensure no one gets near you! Then within a couple months of the game the thing that made this game different had been taken and loss in the community - the fact u could have a random encounter - now every encounter was hostile and the game loss its tension and fun of having other players round.

    For me the game became a game of do what you can do before the rest of the server get to you,

    Not long after the content had dried up for majority of the people that rushed to be the first, and soon players had nothing to do apart from sail around PVPing not needing the loot and just killing this started the whole debate of greif or not!

    That for me was the second last straw as shortly after falling or if love of the game because of the players, I started to not have fun and then one day I was attacked by a galley they didnt sink me instead had all 4 on my boat making sure that wherever I spawned I died before I had loaded into the game on my screen! I left and never played until after the anniversary update to find that the community was the exact same expect that anyone who wasn’t a PvP player had left and the game had now only -PLs and newbies - the arena provided 6-8 weeks of this players going into arena to smash all the commendations before coming back to haunt the seas, I noticed the last two 3 weeks that most PLs are done with arena now and back to ruin it for me!

    I want a PVE server because the normal server isn’t PVPVE it’s PVP against people fighting the environment, no one alliances no one is friendly, no one lets u near and you certainly don’t let anyone else near!

    Greifing is still riff and personally would like to play in an environment where I can’t be attacked so I can actually make friends and help newbies and play and create random differen game sessions instead of me just doing my voyages avoiding all human contact for he sake of my sanity.

  • @bugaboo-bill said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    Just want to point to some i believe can contribute to the thread.
    @ItsKingBertie
    @NeedSmokes
    ...

    Cheers for the tag, this thread is nice hopefully the devs see it and understand our views I don’t want to have to be toxic or just a PvP player I want to enjoy meeting players and see what they are about and have random encounters still

  • @needsmokes said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @bugaboo-bill

    Not too sure why you linked me in this post..

    I'm not overly interested in the PVE-PVP situation..

    Would PVE bring more players to the game, sure, i see no reason why not..
    Why would anyone be against PVE? No answer to that.. I see no reason why PVE servers would hurt the game. If players want to play a sandbox game in peace, who's it going to hurt. Who cares who earns what! It's all irrelevant items anyway.. Is all just cosmetic.. It might even make for much better encounters out at sea for all players in the open world..

    That's been addressed a hundred times or so. It depends on how PvE mode is implemented. I pick one example.
    If it's just the current Adventure mode minus PvP (and some advocates for PvE servers are asking for exactly that) it is going to hurt the game for sure. Not all but a big chunk of the current Adventure mode population will move over to PvE mode. With the actual main obstacle in this game removed (other players) and situational awareness losing its relevance this turns into "easy mode". PvE mode will bring some new players for sure, but it is also more grindy, more repetitive and get's players bored faster, therefore makes them leave faster. Some will try out other modes other will leave directly. On the other side the current Adventure mode becomes the PvP mode, with a huge part of the friendly players gone it will become way more aggressive. A fair number of players that initially didn't want to will mover over to PvE as well because of it. Also "visitors" from the PvE mode aren't there to dig chests but to mess with other players, which in turn makes this mode even more hostile.

    So we end up with "grind mode" that may or may not provide a positive effect on long term player numbers.
    And a "jerk mode" that will turn off most players.

    This was just to illustrate how a PvE mode can hurt the game. I'm not saying all ideas about PvE modes will play out exactly like this.

  • @crimsonraziel said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @needsmokes said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @bugaboo-bill

    Not too sure why you linked me in this post..

    I'm not overly interested in the PVE-PVP situation..

    Would PVE bring more players to the game, sure, i see no reason why not..
    Why would anyone be against PVE? No answer to that.. I see no reason why PVE servers would hurt the game. If players want to play a sandbox game in peace, who's it going to hurt. Who cares who earns what! It's all irrelevant items anyway.. Is all just cosmetic.. It might even make for much better encounters out at sea for all players in the open world..

    That's been addressed a hundred times or so. It depends on how PvE mode is implemented. I pick one example.
    If it's just the current Adventure mode minus PvP (and some advocates for PvE servers are asking for exactly that) it is going to hurt the game for sure. Not all but a big chunk of the current Adventure mode population will move over to PvE mode. With the actual main obstacle in this game removed (other players) and situational awareness losing its relevance this turns into "easy mode". PvE mode will bring some new players for sure, but it is also more grindy, more repetitive and get's players bored faster, therefore makes them leave faster. Some will try out other modes other will leave directly. On the other side the current Adventure mode becomes the PvP mode, with a huge part of the friendly players gone it will become way more aggressive. A fair number of players that initially didn't want to will mover over to PvE as well because of it. Also "visitors" from the PvE mode aren't there to dig chests but to mess with other players, which in turn makes this mode even more hostile.

    So we end up with "grind mode" that may or may not provide an positive effect on long term player numbers.
    And a "jerk mode" that will turn off most players.

    This was just to illustrate how a PvE mode can hurt the game. I'm not saying all ideas about PvE modes will play out exactly like this.

    I get what your saying but atm we have jerk mode with the hope of friendly! Surely all the people who think they are pirate lords would actually want a jerk mode so who the biggest baddest pirate really is instead of pretending they are cus they keep bullying new players or civil players.

  • As a PvE player for 30+ years, SP and Co-Op are my goto games.

    I fell in love with SoT as soon as i played it (alpha), Yarrrr! Pirates! With Pirates sadly PvP does need to excist

    I hate full blown PvP and i'm just really bad at it. (for example i'm a marksman with the pistol on skellies, but don't ask me to shoot a player cause i'll just mis, that's how shaky i get) Even in SoT. Hence why i have 3 PvP-ers in my crew, they can have all the PvPvE fun while i sail the boat and sometimes a cannon in PvP situations.

    In PvE i guard the ship and or man the cannons to shoot some skelly etc. (and fishing thank Rare for that!)

    Whould i personally want PvE servers? If playing solo a slight maybe, when we are with a full crew?
    No way, the reason i'm still playing this game every week since launch is because we have comms to get! If we had PvE servers i whould already been done with all the content and what whould i be doing then? Prob uninstall the game to make room for an other so i atleast have something to do.

    I really don't get it why there are so many posts about PvP in this game, will in the 6+ hours sail session's we have i rarely encounter this. I think the last time we had a heavy night with alot of PvP was around the release of Forsaken Shores?

    We're a friendly crew unless your like us on a galleon or if fail to announce your intentions intime (we will just shoot a PvPer to you to check your story, he will even ask your permission to board.)
    If he get's shot you will sink no matter what you say afterwards.

    We give often giveaway loot to "newbies" if we encounter them on journey's, in general we have offer alliance up or we join them.

    Is it that we are just lucky when sailing 1 evening a week on the EU servers?

  • @itskingbertie said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    I get what your saying but atm we have jerk mode with the hope of friendly!

    Right now it's a mixture of both. You don't know what is going to happen if you come across other players and there is always some risk to everything you do.
    In the scenario I was painting all hope is lost as the (more or less) friendly pirates have left this mode. It's pretty much fixed how encounters will end up and doing anything PvE related in that mode is a mistake in general. Just crews of empty ships seeking to sink empty ships of other crews.

    And I'll be looking for another game for sure. not like anyone would care

  • @needsmokes
    Yeah, if they do add a pve mode, it should be different from adventure. I've seen some ideas like you have to defend an outpost against skelly ships with some other crews. That would still leave more pveers in adventure, and give an option to people who hate pvp and want to work with other crews.

  • @blazedrake100 said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @needsmokes
    Yeah, if they do add a pve mode, it should be different from adventure. I've seen some ideas like you have to defend an outpost against skelly ships with some other crews. That would still leave more pveers in adventure, and give an option to people who hate pvp and want to work with other crews.

    That actually sounds like a cool idead both for adventure mode aswell as if they implement something like private or PvE servers.

  • @nessiroj said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    With Pirates sadly PvP does need to excist

    The Monkey Island series is givin' you the side-eye.

  • @viperishemu2992 Well, fine... then they get to keep NO gold or commendations that transfer to the live server.

    That would mean Rare would have to set up a kiddie pool server and keep separate stats, character profiles, etc.

    I say... BOOO!

    It's a massive, open-world pirate game and THIEVES is in the title.

    If it were called Sea of Friends, I could see someone crying foul.
    Maybe an offline mode isn't an option because... Rare hasn't been building and maintaining an offline mode.

    You guys must think it's easy to create all of this content, or keep the servers, (which mesh wonderfully, btw,) running.
    It's not... Nor is it cheap.

    That takes money. Rare would probably have to market and sell a different game entirely to make this happen. It could be called Sea of Friends... about nice adventures you never lose your loot in.

  • @vasduten said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @viperishemu2992 Well, fine... then they get to keep NO gold or commendations that transfer to the live server.

    That would mean Rare would have to set up a kiddie pool server and keep separate stats, character profiles, etc.

    I say... BOOO!

    It's a massive, open-world pirate game and THIEVES is in the title.

    If it were called Sea of Friends, I could see someone crying foul.
    Maybe an offline mode isn't an option because... Rare hasn't been building and maintaining an offline mode.

    You guys must think it's easy to create all of this content, or keep the servers, (which mesh wonderfully, btw,) running.
    It's not... Nor is it cheap.

    That takes money. Rare would probably have to market and sell a different game entirely to make this happen. It could be called Sea of Friends... about nice adventures you never lose your loot in.

    It would not be easy to create this content. I never said that it would. In fact, I have pointed out on multiple occasions that this is the only (Yes only) solid argument against creating a third mode of play. Investment of Time and Money.

    But it didn't kill the game or break the bank making Arena so there is not reason to suspect otherwise when creating a third mode. Of course, I can't look into Rare's bank account. So I can't say this with any certainty.

  • @crimsonraziel said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @itskingbertie said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    I get what your saying but atm we have jerk mode with the hope of friendly!

    Right now it's a mixture of both. You don't know what is going to happen if you come across other players and there is always some risk to everything you do.
    In the scenario I was painting all hope is lost as the (more or less) friendly pirates have left this mode. It's pretty much fixed how encounters will end up and doing anything PvE related in that mode is a mistake in general. Just crews of empty ships seeking to sink empty ships of other crews.

    And I'll be looking for another game for sure. not like anyone would care

    You just described my gaming experience in sea of thieves expect I do have loot sometimes recently doing TT but yeah that’s my experience ^^

  • @viperishemu2992 said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @vasduten said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @viperishemu2992 Well, fine... then they get to keep NO gold or commendations that transfer to the live server.

    That would mean Rare would have to set up a kiddie pool server and keep separate stats, character profiles, etc.

    I say... BOOO!

    It's a massive, open-world pirate game and THIEVES is in the title.

    If it were called Sea of Friends, I could see someone crying foul.
    Maybe an offline mode isn't an option because... Rare hasn't been building and maintaining an offline mode.

    You guys must think it's easy to create all of this content, or keep the servers, (which mesh wonderfully, btw,) running.
    It's not... Nor is it cheap.

    That takes money. Rare would probably have to market and sell a different game entirely to make this happen. It could be called Sea of Friends... about nice adventures you never lose your loot in.

    It would not be easy to create this content. I never said that it would. In fact, I have pointed out on multiple occasions that this is the only (Yes only) solid argument against creating a third mode of play. Investment of Time and Money.

    But it didn't kill the game or break the bank making Arena so there is not reason to suspect otherwise when creating a third mode. Of course, I can't look into Rare's bank account. So I can't say this with any certainty.

    One of Microsoft studios head games for the premium game pass as its both PC and xbox and also a XBOX exclusive so yeah they have dough, and anyway I’ll pay a monthly supsiction for a exactly the same mode with harder AI but no players or other players but solely PVE :)

  • @viperishemu2992 said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @vasduten said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    @viperishemu2992 Well, fine... then they get to keep NO gold or commendations that transfer to the live server.

    That would mean Rare would have to set up a kiddie pool server and keep separate stats, character profiles, etc.

    I say... BOOO!

    It's a massive, open-world pirate game and THIEVES is in the title.

    If it were called Sea of Friends, I could see someone crying foul.
    Maybe an offline mode isn't an option because... Rare hasn't been building and maintaining an offline mode.

    You guys must think it's easy to create all of this content, or keep the servers, (which mesh wonderfully, btw,) running.
    It's not... Nor is it cheap.

    That takes money. Rare would probably have to market and sell a different game entirely to make this happen. It could be called Sea of Friends... about nice adventures you never lose your loot in.

    It would not be easy to create this content. I never said that it would. In fact, I have pointed out on multiple occasions that this is the only (Yes only) real argument against creating a third mode of play. But it didn't kill the game or break the bank making Arena so there is not reason to suspect otherwise when creating a third mode. Of course, I can't look into Rare's bank account. So I can't say this with any certainty.

    OK... so why spend all of this time whining on the forums, advocating for a PvE mode?
    Why not go build that empire for yourselves then?

    It's too easy to hang on the coat tails of a game title and say things like, "Well, they had enough money for THIS or THAT... why not make a game version that fundamentally differs with the entire game's vision and direction since it's start?"

    See how silly that sounds?

    Just play it... or don't.
    I've had no difficulties in staying clear of marauders while out attempting a Tall Tale, or just fishing.
    Really... they could afford the arena, so they should just spend a fortune making the most UNfun version of this game that can be made?

    Sell THAT to the investors... then make your own game. Show some actual initiative.

  • @vasduten said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    Sell THAT to the investors... then make your own game. Show some actual initiative.

    alt text

  • alt text

    That's the response I would expect.

    A blank and confused stare.

  • So I am one of the peeps that are very interested in some kind of PVE mode. I do upvote a lot of the pve posts you see on the forum.
    You will not find me posting about it though, because the forum is just a ping pong game of players who don't like listening to eachother.

    My story:
    I have been playing this game A LOT since back in the alpha times. It might even my most played game of all time on pc. Before the game launched a couple friends and I made one of the biggest clans in this game and we always had a lot of fun together.
    My pvp skills are very well present, I have only lost notable loot about 2 or 3 times because we made a major mistake. (humble brag?)

    But work has taken over life, I left the clan and after working 8 hours a day my gaming skills are really bad, I miss my shots, I react slowly and I much rather chill out in a game instead of having fights with people. I simply am not good enough after a day of work to be able to defend myself.

    I really enjoy the game though, and once every 3 or 4 weeks my best mate and I 2 man a brig and do one Tall Tale (we don't want to rush it).
    Together we never loose a fight so we are confident enough to do a Tall Tale once in a while and enjoy it.

    I love digging up chests, meeting new people (added about 100 pirates since launch) and having crazy moments.

    However, I cannot play this game more than once in those 3-4 weeks because I don't have the time to play long sessions and actually progress, neither am I interested in fighting after a long day of work because I know I am not playing optimal. The constant danger makes the game not a fun experience when you just want to take a chill after a long day.

    I have had my fun, but I like to support others who feel the same to give them a chance as well. And if it ever happens, I will be able to play the game more than I do now as well.

    This was a very long post but I hope you get my point.

    Greets :)

  • @vasduten said in Question for community members who want PVE only:

    That's the response I would expect.

    A blank and confused stare.

    Happy to oblige!

    https://media3.giphy.com/media/CvZuv5m5cKl8c/giphy.gif?cid=19f5b51a5d0d4db62e615a474d24d619&rid=giphy.gif

  • I know im supposed to stay out of this thread but i just wanna point out that @Niqsun is a pc player who is admitting hes not a super elite god mode hacker...
    Where u at xbox players? Offer this man some help and a voyage togeather.
    I would offer but im a pvp guy so he wont have much fun.
    Just sayin.... i feel like this is a fine opportunity for xbox players to play with a pc player. And see they are just normal players like everyone else. I also feel like this is a good chance for all you pve guys to team up with like minded players and go out and pve and defend the boat togeather.
    Who knows, you all might start to like the game for what it is. Sorry @William-Flint i had to point that out. Wasnt tryin to derail the thread

  • I hated PvP initially, but thankfully I fell in with a group of people who could pick up the slack for me. I was good at the PvE stuff (fastest X-finder in the West) but was absolutely useless when we got rolled into by another crew. My crew gave me the chance to get up to their level by handling things whilst I wasn't on top form.

  • I still stand with the idea of private non progression sessions it can be a useful tool for training and such or even just goofing off

  • WoW works great with PvE and chance of PvP.

    The reason people want it here is because Rare built an MMO-like world that feels persistent )but isn't) so people want to spend time there. They don't want to/go looking for losing time to the other things they like to do.

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