solo pvp is ruined

As a solo that defensively pvp's it a rough change

but it's more than a solo pvp nightmare it's the removal of the underdog wins to a significant degree which is pretty terrible for a shared environment with a large skill gap.

A bit of a hope killer if it stays long term and will result in a lot more running over time.

All those keg plays, all those clutch unlikely kills, all those lucky moments that some of us had earlier on in our piracy against much more skilled and/or larger crews are far far less likely these days and I think that's gonna be a real issue long term.

I call them the 1/10's. Those wins where 9/10 times someone loses the fight but they pulled off the 1. That's huge for morale. Now it's pretty much just 10/10 in a lot of scenarios that are common in combat as they exist in this game. People are gonna catch on to that and they will adapt and adapting to those scenarios in this game has shown to be less organic loot production and more running.

@burnbacon said in solo pvp is ruined:

Boarding an enemy is basically pointless.

If only there were other means to attack players in pvp combat….not every battle needs to be on another ship, best place to win is from your own home (ship)

Even a somewhat competent repair crew that outnumbers another can keep up for literally hours in a naval battle.

Bigger crews can now spam boarders without consequence and can always fall back on just repairing in a naval battle.

Even before this change repair crews that outnumber stay up pretty much as long as they want in a naval battle.

It's truly a disincentive to fight as a pver in an organic environment.

"get better" "use it to improve" "use a different combat strategy" are pretty irrelevant in the conditions we are talking where smaller crews fight larger ones in the way that combat plays out most of the time in this game.

Even solo vs solo is a nightmare when both are decent-skilled because of the less severe consequences for a death.

It is making less and less sense for a pver with loot to engage at all with hostile ships. If they don't care about efficient use of their time for their pve goals, it makes more sense for them to run around out of protest than it does to get stressed out in a long battle that is leaning away from balance and towards those that are already with all of the combat advantages and largely not taking any loot risks themselves.

@galactic-geek said in solo pvp is ruined:

@a10dr4651 said in solo pvp is ruined:

If you're putting 50 shots into a ship and it's not sinking, then you have bad aim

I can't imagine hitting a ship with 50 cannonballs could be bad aim. The point is that whether you bombard or board, enemies with bigger crews return from the ferry way too fast to gain the upper hand. They can bucket and repair spam whether you are on board or not. Also I'm pretty sure it's less than 15 seconds. I couldn't even get ammo before a guy I killed 5 seconds earlier respawned on top of me today. Rare just needs to experiment more and fix this mistake.

@galactic-geek said in solo pvp is ruined:

If you're putting 50 shots into a ship and it's not sinking, then you have bad aim - likely due to your own death spiral; emphasis on your own. You want to have accurate shots that consistently kill their crew to lock them down. If only 2 out if the 4 crew were killed in your 50 shots, then you're clearly not doing enough.

This only applies to very very inexperienced crews that have not yet figured out the basics yet. A skilled solo can struggle to secure a sink during naval against a galleon crew, a brig crew, and a duo crew that have just the basics down. Unless someone is very skilled at tdm only very inexperienced crews are going to be sunk by naval of solo.

The lack of pressure from one cannon mixed with the short respawn timers means that skill matters less in naval now more than ever.

Pretty much solos have the choice of trying to become tdm masters or long drawn out naval where it's probably just going to be a draw at best and just flat out not enjoyable most of the time. Solo tdm masters are still only going to be clearing out inexperienced crews up to decent open crews, even the best aren't going to clear out decent coordinated larger crews long enough for a sink with 15 second respawns.

@galactic-geek said in solo pvp is ruined:

@wolfmanbush I sank a brig today via a barrel ambush and boarding distraction, and easily outmanuevered a galleon to the point of giving up the chase - while solo. Not everything has to be won through direct combat.

Well rounded solos being able to survive and even sink inexperienced crews or crews that aren't yet skilled in combat isn't the issue here.

It's the competitive fights where the smaller crew has put in the effort to achieve consistent performance and that no longer matters because of the lack of consequences for death and the lack of advantage for individual performance which is used to overcome more skilled crews and larger crews that are competent in combat.

@galactic-geek said in solo pvp is ruined:

@wolfmanbush said in solo pvp is ruined:

@galactic-geek said in solo pvp is ruined:

@wolfmanbush I sank a brig today via a barrel ambush and boarding distraction, and easily outmanuevered a galleon to the point of giving up the chase - while solo. Not everything has to be won through direct combat.

Well rounded solos being able to survive and even sink inexperienced crews or crews that aren't yet skilled in combat isn't the issue here.

It's the competitive fights where the smaller crew has put in the effort to achieve consistent performance and that no longer matters because of the lack of consequences for death and the lack of advantage for individual performance which is used to overcome more skilled crews and larger crews that are competent in combat.

The very idea that 2 crews can be equal in combat is a fool's game. No crew is ever equal, regardless of size. If you're good enough, their new respawn timer won't matter. If they're good enough, then your new respawn timer won't matter.

Yesterday, I killed an entire galleon crew 6x over solo - and they were not lacking in skill. I didn't sink them, mind you, but it distracted them long enough for my crew to get away and sell everything.

Wiping a galleon crew 6 times with 15 second respawn timers would make you either highly skilled at tdm or them not yet skilled at tdm. Even a highly skilled tdmer is very very rarely going to wipe even a somewhat decent galleon crew 6 times.

This example is ultimately just supporting my points in the thread in my opinion

Underdogs being able to win when they perform is hope and hope leads to contributing and production. Remove the underdog victories from the environment and shared adventure suffers.

If you clear a galleon crew 6 times as a solo that isn't an underdog tale.

why do you have to kill them instead of using cannons and request for a buff?
Knock their mast, snipe them, 1 ball works, use cursed cannonballs, firebomb their boat, if they try to cannon use blunderbombs, if they respawn aim at them to knock them off. Instead of asking for a buff do this.
1,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 iq

@mintharp184509 said in solo pvp is ruined:

Also, they could and should put in a matchmaking option for solo sloopers to play on a server with just other solo sloopers.

No what is with that bip bip idea that matchmaking will fix it all?

"a server with just other solo sloopers." Epic this is nr. xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx time we hear this NEW great idea there mate...

@mintharp184509 said in solo pvp is ruined:

Faster respawns are better for the game. Dying being less punishing encourages more risky/offensive play which is a good thing for the health of PvP.

Encourages more spam boarding by larger crews because of the lack of risk for reward

Encourages more running by not only solo but smaller and less skilled/confident pve crews that know they will be even more spammed with board attempts and they know their only real chance which is to get one balls and lucky kills now means nothing.

Prolongs camping in an environment where it is known to be a significant source of escalation and drama. Doesn't change camping outcome in a large majority of the occurrences it only amplifies the negative effects of camping ships by dragging it on.

@mintharp184509 said in solo pvp is ruined:

So you’re telling me you don’t understand how empowering it would be to know you’re up against just other solo sloopers and possibly an alliance of solo sloopers as a solo slooper yourself?

@mintharp184509 said in solo pvp is ruined:

@wolfmanbush

What a cherry pick accusation. Pathetic honestly. Alliance servers having nothing to do with offering a level playing field for solo players.

Hey wolf, alliance servers already exist.

It's not cherry picked, the main push for solo servers has always been and will always be a work around for pve servers with sloop alliances.

I would love to challenge you in a solo sloop fight any day.

Well, we can schedule 6 hours of time so we can fight until a draw with the 15 second respawn timers.

@mintharp184509 I solo sloop and if we could do what you want well it would remove the unknown from SoT and the diversity from the game....

What I do get from your post is the risk vs reward part of the game is lost on you...

@timedsatyr79799 said in solo pvp is ruined:

Knock their mast, snipe them, 1 ball works, use cursed cannonballs, firebomb their boat, if they try to cannon use blunderbombs, if they respawn aim at them to knock them off. Instead of asking for a buff do this.

I am no stranger to all these methods. I can consistently 1 ball people and I can spam blunderbombs and firebombs until my enemies rage quit. The point is, as long as they can just come back in as little as 15 seconds, none of that matters. It becomes a stalemate if they turtle up and bucket. If I try to break the stalemate and board, all it takes is a lucky shot for them to kill me and I lose my advantage. It shouldn't take that much. Sometimes I feel bad about how many times I have to kill them before they sink if they are less experienced. The faster respawns encourage passive play and nullify the reward of going on the offensive, something that solos cannot afford in battle.

@mintharp184509 said in solo pvp is ruined:

@junior7973

You would still have the option to join mixed servers like normal as a solo. It’s an option.

That reason is the same used by the players there said that pve servers would not remove pvp "but just give more "options" like talking to a freaking brink wall

@mintharp184509 said in solo pvp is ruined:

It’s fine don’t change/add anything leave it exactly the way it is. SoT is the holy grail of video games could not be improved at all.

Not supporting significant foundational changes isn't in any way saying anything about what your narrative is pushing.

"I don't get what I want so everyone just mindlessly supports the product" isn't accurate. There are very few people here that say everything is fine how it is on a regular basis when it comes to balancing and risk/reward and features and content. The large majority of participants here regularly express disagreement with one thing or another while still supporting the foundation that the success of the product was built on.

@galactic-geek said in solo pvp is ruined:

@wolfmanbush said:

If you clear a galleon crew 6 times as a solo that isn't an underdog tale.

1 pirate versus 4 pirates and managing to barely best them 6x over despite the odds? If that's not an underdog tale, then I don't know what is!

A top tdmer that doesn't exploit/macro on one of their best days can clear a brig 2 or 3 times when the respawn was longer which gave more prep time between waves and when the crew is decent to skilled. That's best case scenario, with a longer timer, and with sufficient pressure on the brig (holes/fire).

Clearing a galleon 6 times with 15 second respawns would require a skill so great we are talking top 10 type skills against a decent+ - skilled galleon. Just sword pressure alone by a competent crew with a short timer can take out the best of the best tdmer that doesn't exploit/macro.

This means that your skill/experience was so much more than theirs as a team that it's not an underdog scenario.

The abilities of a solo against the environment (specifically larger crews) are often exaggerated due to highlight reels and the lower skill level of opponents the pvper pursues.

Really really good pvpers can and do still get taken out really really easily when regularly challenging themselves against competent competition in adventure mode against larger crews.

@galactic-geek said in solo pvp is ruined:

@wolfmanbush Even the best make mistakes, and get wiped out by those less skilled than them - I am no exception.

1 sweep, definitely happens under the right conditions from time to time

2 sweeps with the old timers? definitely possible real uphill battle. New timers quite unlikely but still possible.

3 sweeps+ of a gally crew with skill as a solo with any timer is just a very very very unlikely outcome.

It's not even a matter of mistakes the crew would have to be running on 1000 ping or eating ribs while playing with one hand or something to lead to a 6 sweep by a solo with any timer, especially 15 seconds.

The skill gap just had to have been massive in your scenario for the outcome.

Even doing that to a skilled brig crew would be a massive accomplishment.

The reason this is important is because the example is being used to justify a change that is causing harsher effects on crews that are already playing a more difficult mode than others. All risks are not balanced just because people opt in to risky scenarios. A solo wiping skilled galleon crews 6 times is not an anecdote that justifies altering the entire environment for solo and smaller/less skilled crews in the name of balancing.

Perhaps this timer was originally intended and perhaps it stays but it's not balanced. It's a sacrifice that is paid by participants that are already making sacrifices to play how they are comfortable or prefer playing. It's also another advantage for crews that are taking less risks yet seek and often succeed in maximum reward.

If people are told that their style and their skill level are welcome then it is owed balancing if the product is marketed as a balanced experience for all where skill and performance matter.

This game currently supports solo play and play by those with less skill and smaller crews. If it's not balanced against larger crews then it's not truly welcome and it becomes an unsupported gimmick. I do not believe that is the intent, I think this is a mistake but it's one that has serious negative effects that will lead to long term effects if not addressed.

The most freedom that exists within this game is the option to solo sloop, it deserves to be preserved so newer players can experience it without feeling pushed out when they engage in combat.