Is Sea of Thieves a PvP based game?

It's a rather strange hybrid, but the focus has never been mainly strong in either aspect, PvE is about 50% of the focus, PvP the other 50%.

To me, I'd call it a PvPvE game as that seems to suit it best.

Its not a PVP based game, its a open world game with PVE and PVP aspects.

Unfortunately for those of you that just want the PVE side, you are the entertainment for those that want the PVP side.

I personally enjoy both aspects, but dont like how much toxic gameplay has come since the release. I'm hoping once the 2 weeks of free gamepass runs out they'll all go back to shooting and t*******g each other in an FPS.

The separation of "PvE" and "PvP" on this forum is, in a word, silly.

It doesn't work as a "PvE" game because the loot in the game, the missions you do, none of it really matters; it's circuitous -- you earn loot, so you level up, so you can get access to more missions which earn loot.

"PvP" by itself doesn't make any sense either; there's no tracking of stats, no K/D or kill counters, no "points", no clear win or loss conditions (Yes, sinking a ship is "winning", but have you ever felt like time was completely wasted once the ship sunk? What if those players offloaded loot before you destroyed their ship? Their "win" condition is made up, as is yours).

The PvE component of this game feeds the PvP component, and vice-versa. The two, as of right now, don't work individually, they work together. PvP is only fun because there are players out there doing PvE stuff, making their ship a "target" for a win condition. PvE is only fun because at any moment you could lose everything you found by being attacked.

The game is PvPvE. It's a homogeneous experience. It's sandboxy, it's emergent, and what winning and losing is is entirely up to you, because it's your story. If you decide the loot doesn't mean anything, then it doesn't. Your character is just as strong on day 1 as someone who has been playing for a year. Your ship is just as fast. It's a balanced, even playing field.

So, no, Sea of Thieves isn't a PvP game. It isn't a PvE game. It's both, always, and, at the same time, neither -- it's a schrodinger's cat that decides what it is the second you open the box. At any moment what it is changes the second you look at it, and when you stop looking it morphs into some other potential thing, actualized when you turn it on and do something in it.

It's a Banana-eating simulator.

It's a cannonball simulator.

When you're at a fort it's either Battle Royale or it's stock trading.

It's Pokemon.

No, its not a PVP game.
It is a Shared World Adventure Game, not once has this been advertised or mentioned to be a PVP game.
It's only the narrow minded PVPers that force their play style on everyone else that are trying to turn it into a PVP game!
Once they all get bored & move on to something else, the game should then settle back down into what it is supposed to be!

@sexyjeep said in Is Sea of Thieves a PvP based game?:

PvP before PvE. You cannot play the PvE without PvP, which makes it primarily PvP.

This makes 0 sense to me... you can play PvE content without having PvP interaction. The whole premise of the game is to have the chance of PvP happening while doing PvE. Nothing is before nothing until officially stated.

@subaqueousreach
I'd rather have that chance of being broadsided like that happening 50% of the time and 50% of the time actually meeting someone friendly with the flags than the what seemingly 100% of the time you get shot at now.

@Zalm Its Both by design BUT the focus is the PVE go watch all the dev videos and trailers PVP is an element of gameplay added to add risk and excitement to the PVE activities Rare has even used words along those lines themselves.

Now hear me out the reason its PVE focused is a business design now this is due to the fact gamers can normally be broken down into three simple type PVers,PVEpvpers and PVPers so to make the most money out of a game that is based around micro transaction you will target the largest player base you can that is the PVE players and the players that like a bit of both.

The issue with SOT however is its launched too early it needed another 6 months to pad out the PVE side and to tweak the PVP combat.

PVP combat is simple boring and requires no skill its more a battle of who will get bored and quit first.

PVE well we know the issues here....

@NekiCoule One of the biggest issue that effects both PVE/PVP is rewards PVP only reward is if the other crew has loot and PVE only reward is the same the loot.... But the only thing to spend gold on is cosmetics which means gold has very little value as people have different tastes and will normally buy the items they like and thats it and due to only having a few items in game you end up with nothing to spend gold on so it holds no value.

@capt-baguette 🍻

@zalm said in Is Sea of Thieves a PvP based game?:

First off, The game has PvP. We all understand that. We all know it. We cannot argue that it does in fact have PvP. The real question here, is does it need to be considered a PvP primary game?

Lets take a moments and look at what a game is, real quick(bear with me here). A game in modern times, like in the year 2018 and all, is basically a digital construct that allows players to complete various tasks for various rewards. Thats it. Do a thing, get a treat. Done. Now, taking this context under scrutiny, lets check this against sea of thieves mechanics.

In the PvE section of the game, we complete voyages, for treasure. We take that treasure in for some gold and rep. Complete a task, get a reward. Turn in the skulls, chests and other assorted loots, for varying amounts of gold that allows us to buy cosmetics. Do a thing, get a treat.

In the PvP section of the game, we fight other players and kill them. They dont spawn loot to pick up. They dont spontaneously create treasure for you to take back as a reward. Complete a task, no reward. We kill them, we sink their ship, get nothing in return. Do a thing, no treat.

Now many people will say 'But we take their loot they got from their PvE!' which yes, is true, unless they dont have any. If they are like you, and dont do voyages, and fight for loot, then they dont have any treasure to get. They kill and sink you, or vice versa, the point still remains. Do a thing, no treat. PvE HAS to be completed at SOME point in order to procure treasure for PvP to have a reward. Without PvE, there is no reward.

I have also seen the argument that treasure is the main reason TO PvP. Yes, but again, that treasure would not exists without PvE content and tasks. Claiming this is like saying the only reason to buy oil(treasure/loot) is to run your car(PvP) when there are other perfectly valid reasons to have and store fuel, like generators(faction rep), creating plastics(cosmetics) and getting rich(hoarding gold).

Again, I'd like to reiterate, PvP does exists, is a large portion of the game, and is prevelant. I do not plan an making any arguments about seperating servers as I dont wish to play on seperate servers(PvE and PvP ones. I wouldnt mind having three for Sloop, Galleon, and Mix) and enjoy the idea that I might have to fight for my hard earned treasure.

But with all that being said. I personally do not believe the claim that this is a 'PvP' game. A game WITH PvP, yes, but not a specific PvP based game.

I would consider it a PvE based game with Multiple PvP elements. If they were to add rewards to PvP, I would still then call it PvPvE at best, unless the remove the PvE.

The game is definitely more PvE based considering the progression is 100% tied to the chests and voyages (even if a PvP player stole it through PvP means, the progression is still occurring because of PvE).

But

It is 100% a PvPvE game, it's not the first of its kind either, Like people try exclaim. Pretty much every survival game on steam is the same, the difference being that SoT is pretty unbalanced at supporting both styles of gameplay. giving meaning or purpose to PvP is important to cater to those who love it. giving means to the more PvE inclined to avoid PvP confrontations is also important, instead of both sides fighting for themselves. We should all be trying to find ways to encourage the duality of both playstyles.

@McDougle99

It is 100% a PvPvE game, it's not the first of its kind either, Like people try exclaim. Pretty much every survival game on steam is the same, the difference being that SoT is pretty unbalanced at supporting both styles of gameplay. giving meaning or purpose to PvP is important to cater to those who love it. giving means to the more PvE inclined to avoid PvP confrontations is also important, instead of both sides fighting for themselves. We should all be trying to find ways to encourage the duality of both playstyles.

Yep best game to use as an example is Eve Online its not a PVP game or a PVE game its both and has been balanced very well to cater to both groups which is important even more so for SOT which's income will be based on micro transactions as PVE players tend to stick around longer where as PVP players tend to move onto the next hot PVP game of the moment.