PVE is going to be vital for the longtevity of SOT otherwise it'll just be BLACKWAKE/SKULL AND BONES

@zombie-p1ague I hope you're right because right now everything you do can possibly lead into a PVP situation which is the prime example of most of rare promotional videos when it comes to the game, so basically I am waiting to see how they expand on that in the next coming months I would love to learn more about PVE/AI NPCs/ basically I want to learn more about the world we pirates lives in.

The merchants will more than likely be how you fear, static with no day/night cycle. But so what? While the game does have pvp, that's not the goal of the game, and the people who actively hunt down other players instead of doing quests are few and far between. The skeletons need AI updates, but are otherwise fine. As for toxic players, I honestly would like to know a multiplayer game that doesn't have some amount of toxicity. I'm not sure what the Skull and Bones is supposed to be comparing to, as this game is open world and not explicitly pvp focused.

I wouldn't worry about it so much until the beta drops. We can worry after that ends, but until then, everything is speculation, and that's not good for the mind.

I have wrestled to enjoy games like Rust, Blackwake, and DayZ and failed because I am an older gamer with slower reflexes that simply does not enjoy being put up against teenage twitch skill pros. Sea of Thieves has been VASTLY different from any of those situations for me, mainly because of four important things:

1. For the most part, you CAN see trouble approaching. Stealth is possible, but not terribly effective when you have an alert crew.

2. No instant one-shot decimation by snipers 500 yards away that are allergic to teamplay. You are usually close to your crew and if you're being attacked, you are usually assured to have backup.

3. Three weapons, and generally everyone has them. You can't be invincible because you have something the other team doesn't ... unless they forgot to carry bananas. ;)

4. Communication and teamwork being key to getting the most profit out of the game, not so much camping and lone-wolfing it.

Can't see myself really comparing it to Blackwake as essentially Blackwake is merely a team based arena game with ships. There's no purpose to the game other than kill the enemy crew, and no reason to board another ship other than.... kill the enemy crew.

Also, from experiences so far, the community here is wonderful compared to the toxicity that is Blackwake.

Don't get me wrong guys I love the PVP in this game I can see it striving, I mean people play PUBG/FORTNITE over and over day in and day out and those games are uber successful.

I personally just see the bones of PVE in this game and if I'm correct it should be outstanding, can't really talk about alpha stuff right now though. The Static NPC/day-night cycle is just a personal preference for me it won't matter at the end of the day but it would be one of those little things that makes the game great.

Melee is also another big issue I have and combat but that is a whole other story, (I agree the skeleton AI needs a massive update from what i seen on the videos) I'll just say it that way. I also mention Skull and Bones because it had massive backlash solely to it being a PVP focused game, I read they went back to the drawing board to make an open world portion of the game with RPG mechanics.

I think the only real comparison in the PvP for SoT and "battle royale" games is the fact that you can have a long stretch of time between seeing another player.
Despite what people think, every time you see another ship does not end in a battle. The pulse of the game is in the PvE elements, the PvP is a random event in the middle. It may be the more memorable event, but you could go hours without seeing another ship at times. There is a lot of time for voyages and playing music and drinking and exploring underwater and getting shot at by skeleton forts between ship sightings.

@erikinthebakery I say battle royal only because you're basically looking for loot to build your character up for that eventually combat situation, you start with barely anything and you build your character up enough to defend yourself against other players.

I am just trying to figure out the NPC decision, I wonder if its to hard to program NPC ships on the sea or something, or if the NPC/AI stuff is going to be purely relegated to Islands, tribesmen...

I know pirates loved disrupting trade routes and capturing merchant vessels from almost every nation, Pirates also acquired ships more then building them...so capturing a ship and taking one over can also be interesting.

at this point im ranting though so I'll just wait to see what the beta has.

@chosen-predator They have said that not having NPC boats is a deliberate choice so that you know every time you see a boat is another player.

If I see an NPC boat, I know what it is going to do. It is going to attack me when I get into its detection range. As good as game AI is getting, NPCs aren't good at being surprising. If I see a boat full of players, I don't know what they are going to do. Are they going to attack me? Are they going to try and sneak on board and drink all my grog? Are they going to help me with my riddle quest? Are they going to offer me their leftover cannonballs because they plan to log off soon? (All true stories).

There is a tension in the unknown element of it. There is excitement there. There is replayability there.

@chosen-predator Hopefully there will be a lot more PvE content to give Players a lot more encouragement to do the voyage's and not only PvP all the time.

@erikinthebakery but that isn't what I'm suggesting you can leave all the combat to the pirate players but I guess what I'm saying is having a simple fishermen boat , or a trades boat with a bunch of good on board..things like that i guess.

Heck even pirates protecting other ships getting to certain destinations like a privateer.

@chosen-predator here is a video that explains what might be in stored for us in next test session....

Becoming a Pirate Legend: Progression in Sea of Thieves - Official Walkthrough

And here is some more information from @katttruewalker said in Death by PvE vs PvP:

@ever-reddy I think this is an interesting question to ask.

I'm one of those who enjoys PvE, I spent a good few years sinking PvE ships in PotCo, so have experienced both.

With Sea of Thieves in particular, I think the argument for addition of PvE vessels would mean not only a greater variety of ships would be possible, but that the world itself would feel less desolate. So for instance you'd see the odd merchant fleet, maybe fishing vessels, perhaps a rogue Spanish treasure ship sailing through the waters. These to my mind, are scenarios that are more easily accomplished using specific NPC/PvE ships.

Given then, that there would be a mix of Pirates as well as the NPC ships, you would still experience that excitement when you saw a flag on the horizon and knew it was another player, but you'd also have the option and opportunity to go after other ships.

I have also played PvP games and really enjoyed the thrill, unpredictability and excitement of encountering other players - but it does come with downsides, as we've seen in the many posts where encounters haven't necessarily been either pleasant, or enjoyable even under the wide umbrella of 'piratey' behaviour.

Everyone will come to Sea of Thieves with their own experiences and preconceptions of how the game might be played, whether you role play, you're out to sink as many other players as possible or you're aiming for Legendary Pirate status. It's when these styles of play clash, I think it might lead to a less than optimal experience, especially when it can also spill over to hot tempered exchanges via messaging etc.

You're dealing with human beings, they're generally going to be unpredictable and as gamers, we already have a good idea of the best and worst possibilities out there, from other pvp games.

@techno-warwitch Yeah, I've watched that video so much but I took a look at it again, he says "Pirate world" alot which makes me thing there is no navy to deal with that or at this point of the story we're in the golden age of pirates where there is no outside threat from naval ships only other pirates.

He made a strong emphasis on players and the status of players with reputation amongst the guilds, so it kind of answers my question about merchants, I guess we will have merchant pirates livestock/spices

there was also great emphasis on animal wildlife he said its one of the biggest aspects of the game

I actually don't know what to think...im kind of waiting to hear why it's just a world with just pirates in it, really curious.

@chosen-predator it's just speculation right now... But we think that there maybe some more NPC and PvE things to do as the game develops.

Open Beta will give everyone more insight as to what Final product will look like.

We also think SoT will be a continuous improvement and new content added even months after going live.

@techno-warwitch Got my fingers crossed the next update or QnA goes ham and answers a bunch of questions, I don't think I've experienced anything like SOT, in terms of just not knowing anything while it's so close to release.

Usually when that happens everyone thinks the game is being rushed out and not ready for release lol

@chosen-predator said in PVE is going to be vital for the longtevity of SOT otherwise it'll just be BLACKWAKE/SKULL AND BONES:

I actually don't know what to think...im kind of waiting to hear why it's just a world with just pirates in it, really curious.

My understanding is that we are all newcomers to a previously unexplored area. Kind of the pioneers to these islands.

@chosen-predator said in PVE is going to be vital for the longtevity of SOT otherwise it'll just be BLACKWAKE/SKULL AND BONES:

@techno-warwitch Got my fingers crossed the next update or QnA goes ham and answers a bunch of questions, I don't think I've experienced anything like SOT, in terms of just not knowing anything while it's so close to release.

Usually when that happens everyone thinks the game is being rushed out and not ready for release lol

Apart from maybe a few bits and pieces, maybe we do actually know pretty much everything

@a-cranky-eskimo Some of those are bits and pieces I was on about, a drop in/out matchmaking would make life easier but not a game changer, and others sound like a wishlist (crafting?).

But this thread was about rare needing to expand on the PVE and how little they have shown us, what are peoples perception of little though.

We know there are a minimum of 3 traders, each with a different type of voyage to earn gold and reputation to unlock gear specific to them. Still a game Im planning on buying.

But rattling questions off like that does look like someone dangling on the edge of frustration :(

@uvg-reign I still think that isn't too much info there can't be only those three things to do, I won't complain though because info is info I personally can't see people not getting exhausted doing those three things over and over, there is still kraken large sea beast info which is PVE related we're still seeking, a story, like is this the golden age of pirates? will the navy one day appear? I am thinking end game stuff is the eternal battle of PVP but besides winning and possibly stealing their ships what does that do for player in the future

lol infinite questions hope the next upcoming videos answer those questions

@chosen-predator said in PVE is going to be vital for the longtevity of SOT otherwise it'll just be BLACKWAKE/SKULL AND BONES:

@uvg-reign I still think that isn't too much info there can't be only those three things to do

From what we know, that is the primary way of making gold, as well as a bit of exploring, shipwrecks and such. But with the gold we know we'll be able to upgrade/customize the look of our character and ships. We also know there are various shops on the outpost where we can buy things also. Plenty to spend gold on for ages IMO.

And we know there will be community events cropping up every now and then where we'll acquire things we wouldnt otherwise be able to.

If this is 'all' the PVE that there will be, I wont be disappointed, itll keep me busy for a while before mentioning the time ill spend PVPing also.

People in the early alpha's put 100's of hours in just digging up treasure and solving riddles xD

Obviously there is items/aspect we just dont know yet but IMO we do know a lot

@jonn-havoc lol A lot of people are saying that, it's what I thought originally. I was turned off by the game and so where TONS of other people, so much in fact SKULL AND BONES development kind of changed so they could add a open world with RPG aspects, so its no longer about the PVP modes since the backlash was big enough to cause them to make a open world pirate game.