Conquering anxiety during PvP.

It's a tough one to overcome. Only advice I can offer from my own experience is either find crew members to help during PvP so the experience doesn't feel as pressured with other players helping you or dedicate a session to solo pvp. Accept that during this session you will sink but it should desensitise you to it a little bit during each encounter. Hope this helps.

I was in your shoes when I started playing Rust (different game but close enough to relate).
What helped me was to go out of my way to PvP as much as possible and watch better players do the same on youtube.

For me there are two aspects at play : getting used to the pressure and knowing what to do. Pressure drains energy and so does thinking a lot about basic things. Having a general game plan helps a lot as does experience.

Hope it helps !

@KozakDerg I’m in the same boat myself right now so I don’t have any advice, just wanted to let you know you’re not alone. I’ll be watching your thread for advice though 😁

I get really anxious when I'm trying to PvP and it does me in everytime.

What about PVE? Fighting Skeletons, npc ships is basically the same thing when fighting players.
What the difference?

@kozakderg
When I first started playing this at launch I was split between solo sloop or 4 man galleon. I had a nervousness about joining a random crew and embarrassing myself or making people angry because I didn't know what I was doing or didn't pull my weight. When the servers went live I set sail on a solo sloop and found myself at sunken Grove with another solo slooper. We silently helped each other with our voyages before parting ways. I always think of that first voyage I had to remind myself that a lot of people are here to explore and discover. Just sailors. Discovering another pirate and joining in on there voyage can create great things. Knowing that encounters like that can potentially be wholesome helps relieve me of any anxiety I might start feeling.

After developing a pretty good understanding of the game and earning a little confidence, I jumped into 4 man galleons. Unfortunately my knowledge actually got me in trouble sometimes. I was once brigged when I attempted to raise the anchor. I am a helmsman. Always have been. They dropped the anchor at an island and I started getting the ship ready to leave as they did our voyage. I raised all the sails and attempted to raise the anchor when one of my crew claimed I was trying to steal the ship. Instantly brigged. However, I made more xbox friends in the first few months of this game's release than ever before. When you matched up with a good crew, you wanted to play together again. I've met some cool people, and made some close friends. You never know who you'll meet.

Sailing alone for maybe half of my play time over the entire game's life still gives me anxiety. You never know what to expect and a single mistake anywhere can cause a loss. What am I losing though? Originally our ship was bananas, planks, and cannonballs, as well as any treasure. If I didn't have treasure, I wouldn't be fighting to keep something. Just fighting.

Everyone always talks about PvEers hoarding and taking a risk while the PvPers come out of left field and risk nothing on a big win. How much I care about any treasure I have on my ship can effect my anxiety. For whatever reason I want that treasure, I might feel nervous having it until I turn it in. The excitement builds as you collect treasure on your ship. You see a big pay day coming but there's a slight sense of tension knowing in the back of your head... you might be attacked by people that just decimate you. Without that threat, you wouldn't feel anywhere near as excited and I feel it's one of the best things about sea of thieves. This puts you in a defensive position and likely causes you to take less risks. Playing it safe.

The PvP player however with nothing to lose takes every shot and presses hard. His options are more open. Without the fear of losing something valuable, I feel far more relaxed and play to the style of the PvPer. Losing without anything to lose is learning.

I used to rowboat away with my treasure as my ship acted as a decoy, at the first sight of a ship on the horizon. I used to intentionally stay in the north part of the wilds to not be seen. I slept in a coconut tree not far from the masked stranger just waiting and watching for someone to turn in the gifts I left on the Christmas table. I knew some people were sinking people's gifts and that's exactly what happened to mine. However the people that did it were very frustrated that I wouldn't come out of my hiding spot until they turned them in. They never found me.

I've done a lot to go unnoticed just to get a moment of peace. Another thing this game does amazingly and it just keeps getting better. Sometimes I just want to relax. I'm always trying to sit down during sunset nowadays. You can feel a broad range of emotions from this game. Some drastically different than others.

Just tonight though, I spotted reaper sails about 100 yards out as I only started harpooning treasure my crewmate was still pulling out of a merchant shipwreck. I instantly panicked. But as I watched them while trying to get the merchant book, my helmsman knowledge showed me he wasn't the most experienced. My crewmate asked if we should leave or harpoon the treasure and I felt some confidence in our position. We were in calm waters with easy shots, they were in our broadside. With my crewmate's boarding skills and my curses, he didn't stand a chance. We started harpooning treasure until he took the first shot, then I returned fire. Always with blunderbombs in my pocket to repel boarders. My experience helped me spot his lack of, and knowing I'm the better pirate or at least better crew, really helps with anxiety. I just always assume the worst until I'm shown otherwise.

I've noticed that the best thing for my anxiety is having a plan. Being ready. Knowing my options. Having the advantage. Soloing for a long time teaches you when you need to do everything and what is most important. Thinking ahead and executing to that plan keeps me calm. I try to control every battle. Almost every time a ship comes to us, we play dumb and try to surprise them in the calm waters of the island. They think we are unaware but we are aiming chains and about to start a death spiral. Also I always remind myself that sea of thieves has literally an infinite amount of treasure. With control of the fight and no fear of losing anything I do my best. Even with all I've completed and the experiences I've had, I still feel my blood flowing when I see sails, and I love it.

@burnbacon PvE is abit different to fighting players. AI are predictable and don't hurl abuse at you calling you trash or whatever other garbage toxic players like to hurl at people.

PvE is only a good way to gain familiarity with the mechanics of the game, cannon aim, weapon proficiency. Fighting a player requires a whole new level of skill entirely.

@burnbacon said in Conquering anxiety during PvP.:

I get really anxious when I'm trying to PvP and it does me in everytime.

What about PVE? Fighting Skeletons, npc ships is basically the same thing when fighting players.
What the difference?

It's the kind of thing that is functionally the same but feels very different in practice. PvE is predictable and often really obvious about what you ought to do, you know how difficult it's gonna be from the get go. PvP is full of unknown : is your opponent better or worse than you are ? Do they have cursed cannon balls ? What are they gonna do next ? For some people that's a lot to handle at first.
But you're right that it can be viewed as better AI foes. It's just not the only true way to look at it, there is a learning curve until one is able to see it that way.

It comes down to experience and study. :)

Load up a sloop at New Golden Sands, park it next to the outpost cannons and shoot your sloop 2 times.

1. Get on your cannons and shoot at the ocean like you're fighting another sloop.

2. Listen to the creaking and push yourself to fire, move the wheel and adjust sails as much as you can before going to bucket.

3. Keep doing that and increase the amount of holes by 1 every time you get used to the flow.

Next time you fight another ship you can instinctively know you'll be ok for X amount of time and you can do something in those moments.

@kozakderg

What helped me was figuring out why PvP scenarios stressed me out so much.

I used to stress during competitive games or SoT battles as I was afraid of loosing. Ones I figured that out I taught my self to not care about the outcome, but the journey it self.

When there is nothing on stake, was it plunder or bride, failing an action during combat or it not going as planned doesn't bother as much, and thus, it's easier to stay calm during such situations.

---

-So in a nutshell, figure out, why you stress so much, and figure out what you can do about it.

The way i did it was by not caring about it early on, i basically just went head in, and if i sunk, well, im back on the seas, i didnt see it as "protect my loot!" just saw it as "ok! now were fighting! time to bucket! back to cannons! dang, i sunk... back to sailing" but i have noticed few people go into pvp with the same mindset as me, most people only fight for treasure, or to protect their treasure.

Something that may help is just going strait for pvp a bit and just have loot that you dont care for just to entice people, after a while you may find your nerves calming as you go... and if possible, try to have a laugh while the fight is going, its hard to be worried if your too busy laughing at where a cursed ball decided your going to sleep in a weird spot. But at the end of the day, you just have to learn to not care if you win or lose a fight, you have to learn not to care if you lose your loot, and that only comes with practice.

@kozakderg practice, if the only time you fight is when you have stuff to lose and you haven't instigated then it will feel higher pressure. Try silly plays with kegs and other tricks so you aren't taking it too seriously. I still feel on edge when solo slooping as I'm aware of the much smaller margin for error

Deep breaths and practice as said by many people already.

My heart still gets pumping when I'm solo, but it no longer happens for me when I'm in a crew.

Hold on to that feeling. You'll miss it when its gone.

@wolfmanbush I had PTSD after a car accident that was pretty bad for at least 5 years and was mildly bad for a bit longer.

So I know what you mean. But even I learned to enjoy the excitement of an adrenaline rush. Waking up screaming in the middle of the night, panic attacks and the likes not so much.

It is absolutely ok to not be ok. Especially if the physical symptoms of anxiety act as triggers for emotional distress. Nobody should ever be pressured to push themselves too far outside of their comfort zone and certainly not without professional supervision.

But, sometimes you miss things when they're gone and when you become desensitized to the excitement of PvP it can be something that you miss.

If you never get to the point that the anxiety reduces to a manageable level or if the physical symptoms trigger an emotional response then I'd advise talking to a professional, and maybe trying some cognitive behavioural therapy. But definitely don't keep re-traumatizing yourself by continuing to engage in the thing that triggers anxiety/panic. It's not worth it, not over a video game.

Still though, as much as I agree with your advice to an extent, that's not what the OP asked. He asked how to overcome the anxiety, not whether he should or not.

@kozakderg

May I suggest signing up on Insiders and practicing there (and also giving feedback!). Sometimes knowing that your pirate is going to be wiped / your time / gold does not matter, may help you from panicking.

@jumbie7311 Interesting suggestion; you will likely not see many (any?) other pirates there, but you won't accumulate any long-term progression, either. Might be a great option if you just want to sail in peace, though it might be hard long-term to stay interested if you're not progressing.

@wolfmanbush I'm quite certain you'll agree that the solo experience is awesome, but I can't imagine the stress solo PvP puts on someone with RL considerations like the folks above (mad props to you guys for working to overcome rather than give in). Maybe Insiders could be used as a cool-down zone after a stressful retail version encounter, or a reward to incentivize pushing just a little more ("I'll go spend an hour in the Retail version, and then good or bad I know I can go spend an hour on Insiders").

Not saying Insiders is a PvE-only fantasy zone; other players can and will PvP you there, but at least in my experience the seas are a lot quieter and a lot of the crowd there is busy testing new stuff (which may be PvP-oriented features, in which case you might either stay away or join in knowing that that's what's going to happen and you're actively helping develop the game by sinking and dying ;-) )

@karkona said in Conquering anxiety during PvP.:

Make a prayer to Crom and ask him for courage. Otherwise you could do like the north Hollywood shootout bank robbers and load yourself up on some form of depressants to calm and relax you for battle. Or like Soviet army in WW2 get some government issued vodka to get you prepped for combat. I'm pretty sure a pirate would have a little rum before a battle right?

WRONG
The merchants dumped all the rum into the sea!!!
A nice swig of grog would be good enough though, right?

This is psychological and I don't think there is a universal answer. You could be playing a sport, talking to your crush, playing competitive/pvp games. The more you do it, the easier it will get.
If I could give you advise on this one, is just be confident and calm yourself down.

I could do 1 v 5 in CSGO at some point without problems if the players were not as good as me, as I would have a mindset ''I'm not stuck here with you, you are stuck here with me'' if that makes sense.
Same thing in sea of thieves, if a skeleton is approaching you, you don't get scared or anxious as you know what to do, same is against other pirates, just more difficult. Just have to think quick on the spot and try to exploit the situation.

I have recently done a break on both games and getting into similar situations was not as easy as before, but the more you do it, the easier it will be.

Remember the first time you rode your bike without anyone helping. You managed to do that, so you will manage sea of thieves combat as well when you are ready.

I'll be honest, been playing since the launch and still have anxiety regarding it. What I will say helped is that lately my buddies have been getting me out of my shell by torpedoing with me. We load up on kegs, hunker down in the stairwell, and when we draw near another ship or ram them, we hop aboard or into their path and keg them. The trick for me was to keg and survive before holding off any repairers. It was quite the rush, i'll admit. I am still cautious and jumpy about pvp, but it did get me giddier for it. Maybe it could work for you.

@kozakderg loads of in depth replies here that I can't be bothered to read.

At the end of the day it comes down to not caring - it's just funny pixels after all!

Enjoy the fight rather than worrying about if you win or lose. The more you do it the easier that becomes.