Not taking the Hourglass seriously is so much more fun than trying.

@queenslimesi

Love it.

No notes.

Quick disclaimer before I begin, I don't consider myself a hard pvp player, but I still enjoy it from time to time. I will start chases and hunt others when I feel like it, although the frequency of me "feeling like it" is really once in a blue moon. With that said...

I think the mode causes these rifts between players precisely because it's not pvpve. Sure it has aspects of both play styles, but ultimately you can tell which is the dominant and overpowering play style. When everything in the game is meant to revolve around pvpve, and the devs contradict their own beliefs and ideals on allowing both play styles, having a mode that caters to a specific group is bound to be met with push back. It shows how imperfect and inconsistent this mode is.

Regardless of this issue, you have the right mind set. Personally I found there are 2 ways to truly progress hourglass: 1. One stops worrying about grinding it seriously, and just flow through it, win or loose. 2. Set up goals for yourself, it becomes much more doable when you set up milestones such as "1 rep up a day, or 10 rep ups in a week." instead of literally pushing levels out for hours non stop to get to 100 quicker.

Neither of these ways should have to be viable though, the fact that they are, also shows how rough of a mechanic hourglass is, you need to change your perspective just to make it acceptable.

On my way to 100, the first 50 or so lvls I was good, but after that it become a real hassle to continue leveling it up, I felt sick of it. I used the milestone method, I set myself up to gain 1 rep lvl a day, except for weekends (Friday- Sunday) which I would try to grind for 3 rep lvls a day. At minimum, I needed 10 rep lvls per week, so if I took a day off, it would have been fine. Overall, I would gain 40 rep lvls per month. I continued this method onto my 2nd faction, and in roughly 2 months, I had also gotten it to 100. However, after reaching 100 I just gave up, from time to time I still jump in with the method you suggested. I don't have such a large goal in mind, and win or loose idc anymore, I jump in with the resource I have on hand, and just try to have a good short fight, I run out of resources, and it's game over for me, I scuttled, I don't have time to be wasting passed the amount of initial resources the game provides for me. With these methods, I have reached 103 in one faction and 140 in the other.

With that said, I recommend a little bit of both, don't take the mode seriously but also set yourself some milestones. That way, you won't be burning yourself out in a week from repeatedly farming like a mad lad, and you won't feel the pressure of loosing a battle as what you have to loose is nearly non existent.

To be honest these are all good observations.

I noticed I preform a lot better in most PVP games if I ..just don't care. No stress, no pressure just playing. Somehow it helps to do better calculated decisions and not get tilted. Normally something goes wrong, you start stressing, which usually leads to more mistakes.

Same in the main adventure, I stopped caring completely about loot, but obviously not the point where I just give it away. Can now take on bigger crews more comfortably.

I'm trying to goal one hg dive per session. But I forget and just leave lol. I've had some fun getting sunk in HG.

I'm trying to goal one hg dive per session. But I forget and just leave lol. I've had some fun getting sunk in HG.

At least we have a pirate who is thinking outside the box.

@queenslimesi said in Not taking the Hourglass seriously is so much more fun than trying.:

@wolfmanbush

Haha, thank you. I consider it's more likely they are just confused and surprised since they are trying to gun me down, or light up with cannons. I consider my PvP skills to be average. I can do it quite handily, I just really prefer not to.

Oh no, you're selling yourself really short. Average CqC skills and no naval wouldn't give you a 40 % winrate in HG. With only the initial ramming doing damage means that you'd have to spawncamp your opponent for 3 lives at the very least and get lucky that your opponent didn't create too much holes in your hull and / or chainshot your mast before impact.

That is a really impressive winrate.

@queenslimesi I've not met one of those pirate yet tbh. Seems to me like a poor use of their time. :O
I don't think that we will get rep for scuttling tho, Rare seems to really want us using the feature as designed.

@queenslimesi I really dislike the discourse that separates players in either PvE or PvP only. I really disagree about PvE and PvP being unmixable since PvPvE games are my main genre. They definitely can mix very well.

Regarding Hourglass specifically, I think it's mainly a matchmaking and progression problem. The grind is way too long until meaningful rewards and the player population isn't healthy enough at the lower end of the skill spectrum to offer a welcoming experience.

@queenslimesi I definitely agree that griefers come from the pvp end of the spectrum. The more a player is PvE inclined, the most likely they are not to look for player interactions.

The way I see it, PvPvE is a spectrum. I'd say that most players are somewhat in the middle, just slightly more PvE or PvP leaning but enjoying both at various degree. If you arbitrarily separate them, you'd find yourself with two groups, but they wouldn't accurately describe most of the players within it.

HG wasn't a brillant idea in my opinion. As is, from my PvPvE'r point of view, anything that tends to separate PvE and PvP activities.

I think we just don't see the game the same way.