@cfrock said in Playing this game Solo is frustrating pain:
Oh no, not another PvE argument. Well, not exactly.
I don't have an issue with the PvP nature of the game, but when playing solo it becomes a different thing all together. The obvious consequence is that any crew on a Brig or Galleon is gonna chew you up, but even outside that, if your sloop is anchored and you're, say, searching a shipwreck, or doing something on an island, your ship is entirely vulnerable to be sunk without you even being around to see it. If other players decide to attack you there's almost nothing you can do to stop them, and fights become so laughably one-sided that they can't honestly be called fights.
Negative, just have to be good enough to take them on. You see in every one of your cases, you have control over that. I play the game solo a lot and have never once got snuck up on while playing solo. I would search sunken ships, do my quests, but never had a ship just magically sneak up on me. Watch the horizons.
Playing solo basically puts you at a major disadvantage in pretty much every scenario, and the only options you have to avoid the more frustrating aspects of PvP are, themselves, frustrating and not helpful.
You chose to be at that disadvantage. If you don't want to be, then find a crew, gets some friends. Learn how to play the game.
Scuttling the ship costs you any loot you have and spawns you elsewhere in the sea. It's not a solution to the problem at all, it just gets you past the formality of waiting for the ship to sink.
You only need to scuttle if you are being spawn camped, but if it gets to spawn camping you already lost the loot anyways. Which is funny because "scuttling" isn't any different then someone sinking you, so how does losing your loot matter any more or less when you scuttle vs sinking?
Running is possible in some cases, but arriving at an island you have objectives on only to then have to sail away while being chased is a pain. Your pursuers will either give up and still be in the area you then have to return to, starting the whole problem again, or they'll chase you to the ends of the earth and send you on a huge detour while wasting your time.
Running is possible in all cases, not just some. It is possible in ALL. Can always cancel that voyage and start another one if you are afraid of going back to that island. You are the one being rigid and being unable to adapt.
Watching the horizon and staying vigilant will only get you so far. It's hard to watch for approaching ships when you're in the caves beneath Sailor's Bounty, or following maps in the crook of Plunder Valley. It's also tough sometimes to keep an eye out when you also have to adjust the wheel, sails, bail out storm water, fight a skeleton ship, or a meg, all on your own. Vigilance only goes so far when on your own.
Watching the horizon and staying vigilant is Rule #1 of staying alive in this game, especially if you are solo. Its real easy. Check the horizon, no ships? You have time to do things. Check the horizon again, you see a ship? What type of ship? Will they have wind if they decide to head towards you? If yes, then be aware and be ready. If no, then you have time.
All of this comes with knowledge of the game and learning.
A PvE mode or setting is almost certainly never going to happen, and I don't think that I would even want one, but I do think solo players should only ever be paired up against other solo players. That's pretty much the only way to make the game balanced for them. I don't know how many people play solo, though, so solo servers, or matchmaking might be more effort than they're worth.
No. Don't play solo if you can't handle it. Why add something when you can just get more friends to play with?
SoT is a great game and I've been enjoying it a lot over the last couple of weeks, but playing solo and playing with a crew are almost two different games entirely, and one of them isn't nearly as enjoyable.
Last couple of weeks, so you are brand new to the game and already suggesting ways that the game needs to change? Play with a crew if you can't play solo. Don't like playing with a crew? Then tough, your decision to play solo, no one is forcing you.
I want to find ways the solo experience might be improved, and I think matching solo players only with solo players is one possible way to do that without sacrificing the core experience of the game. Everything would be the same, but all players would be on the same basic level, with the only advantage or disadvantage being skill and their own choices.
Solo is already super easy and you just want to make it even easier. This would also split the player base again to another demographic which is unneeded. You are new to the game. There are solo's that sink brigs and galleons alone all the time. I've stolen forts from galleons solo.
I've seen some suggest PvE modes, a 'Passive' setting, or even designing a solo ship that's better at running. There are pros and cons for all of these, but I think solo servers, or a solo mode, would alleviate a lot of the frustrating aspects of the game while sacrificing as few other aspects as possible.
What do you think?
No, completely and utterly disagree.
On a wider note, I've read through many discussions about PvE and I think many of the same arguments might come up here, so I want to address some of the kind of things that often come up.
- That's just the nature of the game so stop complaining.
Good, you should already know. Listen to the advice.
I think this argument fails to take into account that, despite the devs' intentions, there's a large part of the player base that simply doesn't engage with the game in that way or for those reasons. Often this is met with "You bought the wrong game", but that's not really true. There aren't many games out there that offer the sailing/treasure hunting experience SoT does, and saying people should just go find another isn't a practical response. It assumes PvP is the only part of the game that enjoyable or meant to be played, which isn't true for many people. Also, you're telling people to leave and disengage from the game, shrinking its player base and hurting it in the long run. Would you rather the game make some changes to accommodate more of its players, or would you see it die off faster?
There isn't. Theres only new players that complain about this and every other iteration of the threads you mentioned. Have you bothered to see the players that create those PvE threads or solo threads? They are brand new to the game like you are. Complete rookies who don't know anything yet believe they know whats best. They are brand new just like you making the same posts.
The game has been going on for 2 years. Did you just get it on steam?
There aren't many games out there that let players decide how they want to play in a open world box either, yet because you don't like that aspect you want to change it?
- Git Gud
If only they would, if only.
This phrase is believed to be used negatively but its not. Gaming used to have a lot less hand holding back when I was a kid. Nowadays you tell a person to put some effort in and we are told to not shame them or we are told to "shut up try hards".
Actually learning how to play the game and getting good at it is called being a "try hard". Its as if the belief of putting effort into being good at a game is an insult nowadays. If you are good you are a try hard.
If someone complains "OH EMMM GEEE, this is just impossible and too hard. Dev's change it because I am too bad. I hate this game, everyone should listen to me!" and we respond with "oh its not that hard, it is very possible, just have to get better at the game" we are called try hards and that the "git gud" mentality is toxic.
You want and everyone else should "git gud". Only problem for yall is that it takes time and no one of you want to put in the time or the effort. Everyone is so used to instant gratification and the protection from the fear of failure that any response they receive of "hey maybe its not really that hard, you just have to learn how to do it properly, or just get better at the game" is met with whining and childish temper tantrums.
Things take time to learn and it takes time to "git gud", effort is required. Players are so used to everything being easy and handed to them. So if players are taking "git gud" as an insult then thats their problem.
A lot of you can be really great at this game, you just REALLY have to put in some kind of effort. "But I do nothing but lose" - some players are like that, but eventually you start picking up small nuances of the game play and you start picking up on details you were missing. Soon you aren't losing all your fights, just some. Then you start winning more and more, and then eventually you feel comfortable with your ship and don't freaking stress everytime you see a ship.
So to you and everyone I say again "Git Gud", because I know you can do better. Just don't be afraid of failing a lot and have the willingness and the patience to learn.
This can only work up to a point. A solo player against two or more is always at a disadvantage, so simple skill is only going to take you so far. In regard to ship combat, your only hope is that your enemies are new to the game and don't know how to repair their ship or board yours. It's easy to say "Just camp the ladders," or "Just use a gunpowder barrel," but these aren't practical in real terms in almost every situation for a solo player. There's simply too many things you need to do on your own at once.
Its not just about crew vs crew skill. Skill can only do so much for either side. If you are skilled enough at sailing, they will never catch you. The smaller ship will always get away from the bigger ship. So when sailing in a sloop, your only real worry is another sloop.
The talks about "oh man galleons sank me and yada yada, not fair 1v4." If you can't get away from a Galleon with a sloop, then the problem is with you not the game.
I can sail circles around Galleons and brigs, lots of us can. Player misconceptions - if I can't do it, no one can, so its unfair. Negative, its been done.
- Join a crew
If you can't do it solo, then join a crew.
Again, this basically misses the point. A lot of people don't want to play with strangers for whatever reason, and your usual crew isn't always available when you want to play the game, as is the case for me. Regardless of what the devs intend, there will always be people playing solo. It's just going to happen for various reasons, and thinking of ways to include those players more is better than telling them they're playing the game 'wrong'.
Thats a personal problem. You aren't the only one who goes through this. I do, others do too. We just solo and deal with it no problems. No one is telling them that playing solo is "wrong". We are telling them that if they can't hack it, to get more players to play with.
Lets play out a scenario -
You have a crew, but they aren't online and you want to play. "well my friends aren't online, nothing I can do but play alone." - Thats your choice, you can use LFG, discord, reddit, the forums even. FIND PLAYERS TO PLAY WITH. You don't want to play with rando's? Good another personal decision made by you. No one is forcing you to play alone, no one is forcing you to play with other players. You pick a choice, you deal with the consequences as they come.
In all of these scenarios they are all personal decisions. No one is forcing you to go solo. No one is forcing all those other players to play solo either. That is a choice you are making. You have lots of avenues to find players to play with as do other players, if you choose NOT to use them, then that is a PERSONAL choice. Why should Rare help you mitigate your choices just because you are a little scared of being attacked??