Custom Server Update Discussion

@ranel003 said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@genuine-heather said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@venvip1983 said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

Rare has made it crystal clear that the custom servers will not allow progression of any kind. They have stamped a big "NO" on PvE-only servers. Why do you folks continue to beg for this? You can't even explain what it is you want, exactly. All you do is complain the game's too hard for you, and demand changes so you can play a nice relaxing game without any threats.

What you are asking for is unreasonable, unrealistic, and unfair. The answer will always be no.

My Question is why do the people who want private servers get a safe space away from the rest of us that like the main mode. It's quite a bit hypocritical on Rare's part and the people defending it. What makes this any less unfair?

I think you've missed the point of custom servers. Custom servers are being offered to facilitate things like special events, games, contests, etc. The advantage is they'll allow multiple people to easily join the same server. This is something Rare's been doing for a while, but they're making it a formalized service that will be more easily available. The point isn't to have a "safe space away from the rest of us." The point is to give dedicated, creative members of the community an easier way to get together on the same server. With no progression (at all), this won't be taking anything away from the main game. There's nothing "unfair" going on here.

@ranel003

My Question is why do the people who want private servers get a safe space away from the rest of us that like the main mode. It's quite a bit hypocritical on Rare's part and the people defending it. What makes this any less unfair?

Mate, you are being extremely narrow minded on how these servers will be used. I can't name a single popular Sea of Thieves content creator that will hide away from the average player-base. All of the big popular ones use PvP in a majority of their popular content. You are so fixiated on the niche player-base of people who will use this as a pseudo PvE server, that you are blind to the variety this server tool will entail. There is zero issue of fairness here, because they reward nothing tangible. The most you might see is someone making a guide for a Tall Tale, but its not as if they are rewarded for completing it. So again, there is no issue of fairness here.

The possibilities are endless, pseudo PvE servers is just 1 tiny use that these will facilitate. Now players can create Death-match tournaments, grudge-matches with Rivals, Streamer community events, it even will facilitate an easier avenue of staging scenes. All of this in exchange for no progression. So its not as if players are rewarded with tangible rewards.

I will even reverse a question onto you, can you name a single prominent name that will use this to hide away from players? I certainly can't. Seems to me that the minute they remove their "unknown encounters" from the equation is the minute their content gets really boring.

Can people hide away in them? Certainly, but its such a negligible amount that its not worth mentioning. The majority will use this to facilitate events and competitions, not hide away. Stop fixating on this one tiny use of those servers.

@ranel003 said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@troubled-cells Actually it is especially when you got more then one ship running fort of the damned. It's also going to take resources and players out of the main mode which is why a PvE server is a bad idea. It's happening reguardless but they don't need anything but the bare bones map they don't need the main games content in it. If you can do everything that the main mode can do it's no different then having a PvE server.

So you're saying a tracked objective based king of the hill mode is already in SOT?

I've heard it all now on this forum 🤣🤣🤣

This isnt a PvE server, it's a custom one, can you not distinguish the difference ?

@ranel003 a dit dans Custom Server Update Discussion :

@papy-pitch Still going to take the players and time away from the main mode just like a PvE server would.

I forgot we were maybe a hundred max playing the game.
Welp, that's too bad, I guess the game is dead now, we won't see anymore players in the main mode. I hope SOT 2 will come soon.
Oh and don't forget to blame all the players playing Arena, they don't play the main mode after all !

Honestly, everytime something is announced there's always people making a tantrum and over-exaggerating about a specific changes. After 2 years I think I can safely say that custom servers, as they announced them, won't change the game the way you seem to think.

@itskingbertie pure speculation and conjecture on your behalf there buddy.

@itskingbertie sagte in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@genuine-heather
I can answer ur questions - some griefing would still occur but would be the salty lot who go onto a PVE realm to ruin it cus they can’t gank on people in PPVPVE server anymore

But u wouldn’t be able to board Another players ship unless ur alliance meaning they can’t crash ur ship or get on it to take loot off of your boat well you are on the island

They can shoot at u but won’t damage you- instead go through you so if a skele was stood on the other side u would hit the skele not the player - same with kegs - if I lit a keg and left it next to a ship or a player they would be immune - if I shot a skele with a keg same effect as it counts as me blowing up the keg - the other player would be immune - if a skeleton ran up to you with it lit and it blows up then it would do normal damage (or higher as PVE should be hard mode) and same for ship

any chest or item on an island is fair game - once it’s in ur ship it’s safe from players

A player can bucket water at ur ship all day long and no effect but if ur boat takes damage then it fills like normal ( or faster bigger holes always) all normal spawns work the same and if a kraken sinks u and another player was to recover ur Loot then - don’t let the kraken sink you in the first place

The only real problems a PVE server would have is people following Others around to steal your stuff as u dig it or kill it - but alliance up would encourage them to F off or work together or a simple report that player and a video of them following u around just waiting for “your quests” loot ie they just doing nothing well u kill a named skele and they just pick it up and ran it to their ship then come back and wait for the next names skele to spawn then be killed to rush to the loot - rare could ban your from the PVE server for timed amounts until a permanent ban from that server choice - as majority of people who would greif in a PVE server would be the rats that greif in normal they would need to go back to the PvP server or leave the game - win win for everyone-

Any other scenarios for a PVE and why it can’t work?

I've been rammed by Skele ships and killed by Skeletons and Karen. They are unfair and should be deleted from the PvE mode as well and only be available in the full game where they can unfairly "gank" other players.

No water as well, I heard you can take damage from drowning. Oh, and no rocks either to prevent fall damage.

Anything else?

@itskingbertie said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

Any other scenarios for a PVE and why it can’t work?

So leaving fort treasure on a rock for easy harpooning is fair game for other crews ? They just have to walk every piece from the vault to the ship I guess ...

Ever been in an alliance where the other ship doesn't seem to turn loot in ? What's to stop an allied crew to help you clear out the fort (or get the flotsam of a fleet) become worshipers of the Kraken Lord and when out of sight dispose of their share of the loot or just wait with turning in until you've left the server ? Gonna report them too ?

While someone might not have the opportunity to shoot explosive barrels, what about those that just happen to be floating in front of your ship ? Can we have an innocent whistle emote ?

PvE-servers where non-PvP isn't fully coded in and reliant on behaviour of others or reporting to get them out after the fact, will be cause for more salt then a persistent pursuer in regular adventure servers.

@itskingbertie Joke's on you, I am not even that much of a PvP player but I understand that it is a core element of the game. I understand that you don't like losing. But the persisting threat of other players on the seas IS SoT. If you don't like that - fine, but don't ruin other people's game because you made an uninformed purchase.

@itskingbertie said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@lem0n-curry said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@itskingbertie said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

Any other scenarios for a PVE and why it can’t work?

So leaving fort treasure on a rock for easy harpooning is fair game for other crews ? They just have to walk every piece from the vault to the ship I guess ...

Forts shouldn’t be in a PVE even I can agree they require players to make it what they are.

Same goes for at least the Skeleton Fleets, Flameheart Ghost ships, Emissary, reaper chests and other PvP events the developers come up with. There might be other PvE persons who won't like this though ...

Ever been in an alliance where the other ship doesn't seem to turn loot in ? What's to stop an allied crew to help you clear out the fort (or get the flotsam of a fleet) become worshipers of the Kraken Lord and when out of sight dispose of their share of the loot or just wait with turning in until you've left the server ? Gonna report them too ?

Alliance in this server shouldn’t be able to get rewards for another boat - simply alliance to work together like sink ur sloop and have 4 people on the others sloop - whatever ur crew turns in is what u get - having all ships on a server turning in profits and u getting cuts would make this become a “easy gold farm” not a way of getting away from toxic players and a chance to play the content- I did say earlier u could alliance as wa way to get rid of someone stealing loot but in reality alliance shouldn’t give any cash in only your crew - in PVE it would be a chance to allow players on your boat

So you could be sailing around with another crew on board who can pick up (and sell) the loot on your boat. Of course you can then end the alliance (I wonder what will happen with the now illegal persons on the ship) and they no longer have access to the loot they put on your boat ...

While someone might not have the opportunity to shoot explosive barrels, what about those that just happen to be floating in front of your ship ? Can we have an innocent whistle emote ?

Once again if u crash into a floating barrel placed by a player - why did they do it - cus a salty player like u going on just to ruin that server?!

Could be any reason... though the skellie ship was in this trajectory ...

We have players that join open crews to throw stuff over board ... don't you think they'll love opportunities like this to grief / explore the boundaries of the PVE-server rules ?

No need to call me salty, just trying to shoot holes in your argument - not your ship 😉

Though I'm gonna need another pastime when the adventure servers turn into PvP-servers ...

But also it should damage the boat cus technically it isn’t an attack from a player

Then the flotsam will be mine muahahaha 😁.

@itskingbertie said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@genuine-heather
I can answer ur questions - some griefing would still occur but would be the salty lot who go onto a PVE realm to ruin it cus they can’t gank on people in PPVPVE server anymore

I applaud you for at least trying to answer my questions. But your answers perfectly illustrate why the whole idea is absolute nonsense. You're talking about an entirely different game. A big part of your argument has been to stress how much money Microsoft would make from this "awesome" new feature. But there's nothing "awesome" about what you described. It sounds like a hacked up, transmogrified version of what once was a good game. The ways you've described to curtail any and all PvP and thieving are convoluted, at best. I'm sure some people might still want to play such an abomination, but it's a far cry from the gaming nirvana you and others would make it out to be. To wit, none of this would be worth Rare's time or money to develop. The programming involved would be a major undertaking. That's ignoring the indelible fact that it completely subverts Rare's vision of the game and core design philosophy. I've said it before, but your strained attempts to answer these issues hammers the point home: PvE servers will never happen.

Let it go.

@itskingbertie said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@troubled-cells oh of course but it was in reply to someone tryna pick wholes with a PVE server

That's because there is so many flaws with the idea of a PvE server that conflict with how the game works.

PvE servers with progression and rewards is not happening.

@itskingbertie said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

I would how ever pay to have a private server and happily give rare money to create new content instead of then having to seek stuff like pets and emotes that coulda been free if enough people were subbing for they own servers.

many of us just want the content without the hassle of the toxic players (not all but if u had a private world or PVE u either take that chance away or reduce it to minimum chance of running into the toxics players that don’t play like u lot all seem to pretend everyone does)

Done, and done! How are you not rejoicing at the coming of those custom servers then?

@bloodybil said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@itskingbertie said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

I would how ever pay to have a private server and happily give rare money to create new content instead of then having to seek stuff like pets and emotes that coulda been free if enough people were subbing for they own servers.

many of us just want the content without the hassle of the toxic players (not all but if u had a private world or PVE u either take that chance away or reduce it to minimum chance of running into the toxics players that don’t play like u lot all seem to pretend everyone does)

Done, and done! How are you not rejoicing at the coming of those custom servers then?

It's because he wants rewards and progression.

Clearly.

I hope that they spend some time to make some proper cinematic tools for the content creators and the ability to control the day/night cycles for lighting - be it night games, day games or scene creations for some great cinematic scenes and maybe some camera control for both content creation and good angles on the tournaments to have a nice live broadcast commentary on the games people create.

@ranel003 said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

@troubled-cells So multiple crews with one coming out on top at the end isn't a king of the hill? You aren't going to track it any differently... The only difference is you're picking who's in it and who's not...

Except its not really like you say is it.

Sorry buddy but you are just wrong.

@itskingbertie said in Custom Server Update Discussion:

(...) I mean how many times will this really happen and fair game IMO to the player leaving then around - first off for gathering them and secondly for effectively adding a new feature that is sea mines :)

Sea mines are not a new feature - explosive barrels can be found (at high cost sometimes) in the barrels'o'plenty and have been dropped from the aft to cause damage to a pursuer as long as they can be handled by players.

I posted elsewhere Some Thoughts on Custom Servers because I did not know this thread existed. I will now repeat, expand and modify on what I wrote there, because this seems to be place the do it. I started to skim through the seven pages of this thread and got to about page four before I gave up looking for constructive suggestions as to what Custom Servers should offer. It was all arguments about PvE servers and other stuff not relevant to this topic. C'mon people!!! Why can't you be more constructive?

PvE Servers vs Custom Servers

Before I start to talk about Custom Servers, I will put in my 2 gold pieces here. As Humpty Dumpty said, in Alice in Wonderland, "When I use a word, it means just what I choose it to mean—neither more nor less." So, let me define terms:

• Open Servers - The original Sea of Thieves server/s in which pirates may encounter other pirates, and have their ship sunk, and their loot taken, by people they don't know.
• PvE Servers - Some sort of Sea of Thieves server, where you cannot be killed, sunk, or have your loot taken away by other people, whether friend or foe. The only true PvE Server is one where yours is the only ship on the seas. This is because there are ways to kill people, do damage to ships and steal loot that do not rely on swords, cannons and handguns.
• Custom Servers - Whatever is it that Rare is offering here; and the subject of this thread. We are told there will be the ability to customise "ship numbers and types prior to starting" but "no gold or reputation progression from Custom Server sessions".
• Private Servers - A server that someone rents from Rare/MS for their private use, and what I think a Custom Server should be!

My view is, for Custom Servers to be the best they can be, they should true Private Servers, allowing PvP-free play if the subscriber is willing to pay for that. I don't care if someone wants to pay $120 USD (or $600!) a year for a Private Server in which they grind their way to Pirate Legend and beyond; provided they cannot come back to the Open Servers with their purple coat, their ghost figurehead, and their Legend of the Sea of Thieves title. If people are willing to pay for a private, safe space to play, why not let them? If people are willing to pay $600 a year for a Sea of Thieves server where the Kraken never appears, why not let them!?

Allow Private Servers but keep gold and progression private to that server, too. Imagine some bloke - let's call him Bob - driving a F1 car around his private racetrack on his private ranch. Even if Bob beats all his mates, it might make him a legend on his ranch, but it does not make him the F1 World Champion. Conversely, though, if Lewis Hamilton is invited to mess about on Bob's private racetrack, he is still the real F1 World Champion.

Now... Let's talk about what a Custom Server (or Private Server) should be. My interest in Custom Servers is using them for content creation: exploring, mapping, photography (screen shots), and machinima (movie making on the Sea of Thieves). But, I would like to see much more control than setting ship types and numbers.

Basic Features

• All voyage types, including all Tall Tales, should remain. This would allow content creators like me to provide things like my Riddle Guide or machinima makers to make movies of pirates doing a Tall Tale. This would also allow Private Servers to be Captain Bob's own private PvE-only safe space. But as I said before, if Bob is willing to pay for that, who cares?
• It should be possible to hand in a chest to the Gold Hoarders, or a skull to the OOS, etc. All NPCs should remain and interact as fully as they do now.
• Duke should offer what he currently offers on the Open Servers. Time limited events should be the same as they on the Open Servers.
• No progression towards XBox Achievements.
• The server instance should be named by the subscriber (e.g. "Bob's Safe Space") and that name should appear prominently on all reputation screens. This will prevent people posting screen-shots of their achievements, presenting them as being earned on Open Servers.

Session Configuration

Session creators should be able to set the following features as they configure the server:

• Turn on or off world events, such as Skull Forts, appearances of the Megalodon, Flameheart's ghost fleet, the Kraken, etc. There should be individual controls for each such event.
• Choose what cosmetics or equipment pirates enter a session with:

1. all the cosmetics or equipment (and titles) they have earned on Open Servers, OR
2. cosmetics or equipment and titles they have previously earned on THIS Custom Server instance, OR
3. with nothing, but with a fixed allocation of gold and/or doubloons to buy the quests, costumes and props they may need for the session.

• Control the supplies that each ship starts with.
• Control the frequency and strengh of island skellies: from "Never" or "Easy" to "Annoyingly Constant" and "Hard"
• Control whether Storms and Fog appear.
• Allow a number of ships greater than six... up to what is technically possible without killing the server.
• Some control over spawn points for ships that are sunk.
• Allow/disallow pirates to enter "Flying Camera mode"

In-Session "Cheats"

In addition to configuration of the server before the session begins, it would be cool to be allow the server controller to tweak stuff during the session:

• Control the weather. Turn Storm or Fog on (centred on a location), or off; and set the direction of the wind!
• Control the time of day, and perhaps allow the ability to "stop time" (providing consistent light for photos or machinima).
• Trigger an PvE event: ranging from the popping up of an island skelly, to the appearance of Flameheart and his squadrons of ships on a chosen island.
• If a megalodon is triggered, it should never be the Shrouded Ghost. After all, it never appears on Open Servers. But seriously, we don't want YouTube filled with videos of people "defeating" this mythical beast because they triggered meg after meg until they got the Shrouded Ghost.
• Toggle "Flying Camera mode" (if allowed by session config). This would make the player invulnerable, disable their HUD and their ability to interact with objects in the world, but would allow them to fly. This is intended to provide a mobile camera for machinima and screen shots.

Pricing

If we could have all this, I would pay good money for a Custom/Private/PvE Server. Which brings me to pricing. I imagine a subscription style pricing model, which allows an individual to spin up a Custom Server any number of times in a month. If the server was wanted permanently, the subscription price would be paid each month, perhaps with a discount if paid for 12 months. I imagine something like $20 USD (discounted to $200 per year) or €20 per month to be about right. For me that would be about $30 AUD per month (or $300 a year). If the subscriber fails to keep the server subscription active, all (privately earned) gold and progress is lost.

Possible Uses

• Safe exploration for role players, photographers, and hint guide makers
• A stable, controllable environment for machinima (movie) makers
• A configurable environment for planned PvP events (such as a simple ship race, or battle royale)
• A configurable environment for PvE events (such as a Athena quest race)
• A configurable environment for PvPvE events (such as an Athena quest & battle royale combined. First to return their Athena chest wins but, if your ship sinks, you are out of the contest!)
• A configurable environment for streamers to play on, without fear of stream snipers, and to which they could invite friends and fans.
• Bob's private, safe PvE-only server, where he can be a Pirate Legend all by himself.
  .