[Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena

  • The announcement of Shrouded Spoils and the content within it honestly made my heart leap. Many great features that had been requested for a long time were finally going to be put into the game. But the announcement of this new game mode didn't sit right with me. It seems like a step back, rather than a step forward. Why? Because, the longer the development of this game goes on, the more I have the feeling that Rare is compromising on the very things that make/made this game special in the first place.

    A Shared Open World Adventure game, where you can decide your adventure has now expanded to Shared Open World Adventure game with a competetive mode. Wasn't it Craig Duncan who said they would never do stats, to ensure players wouldn't go around boasting how awesome their k/d is or how many ships they've sunk? (not saying there will be stats, but the chances are high if you ask me) We already have PL's that refuse to acknowledge anyone that isn't one, and are convinced their opinions are more important than non PL's. I'd rather not see an expansion of that sort of entitlement and arrogance because they have achieved some arbitrary thing in adventure mode and now believe they are more important than everyone else.

    Yes, we do not have all information available. But this will undoubtfully impact the adventure mode. Sea of Thieves was, from where I'm sitting, created to be a different kind of game. A game where it's not just about murdering everyone and getting to the top of the scoreboard. You made your own scoreboard, and you achieved it however you wanted. A family friendly game, it was called, where players who have never played a multiplayer can come in and be on the same level as everyone else. That same level won't change, although arena players will much quicklier develop in pvp than non arena players.

    You might argue that it will still be that way as they are separate kind of game modes. But can we honestly say that this sort of murder mentality won't carry over to the adventure mode? That the influx of players Rare hopes to attract with this, will likely not give two cents about doing anything other than sinking ships ?

    Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with pvp and doing so. But for a game that has been so set on trying to bring people together through alliances, bilge rat adventures, enemy encounters, this sure seems to be something that will have the complete opposite effect which is an effect that will (in my eyes) linger much longer than any of the "bringing people together" additions have.

    Perhaps that is the road they want to pursue, and that is totally great for them. But depending on how this plays out, the magic of Sea of Thieves that drew so many players who wanted to play something different than a competetive game where your rank is all that matters. That magic might just turn into a curse with the addition of the Arena making this into something a lot of players never wanted.

    I guess the only thing we can do is wait, and see. Hope that pioneer Feedback is truly heard and improvements made where neccessary. But this gamemode is coming, and nothing will change that.

  • Unlike most here who are either happy with this news, angry at this news, sad with these news. etc.

    I am gonna ask this question, not to Rare, but the players.

    Did anyone else notice that from the clips we did see of the mode, there does not seem to be a single Galleon vs Brigatine vs Sloop battle in this arena? All of the fights seems to only have ships of the same type fighting each others... which i think Rare did so that things will be more even rather than a Galleon that just sails in and easly beats all the other ships with it's larger size, crew and amount of cannons.

  • It’s interesting to read that this was apart of Rares plan all along. It makes me chuckle at all the people who used to go around saying ideas where bad and not going to happen because about they are against Rares vision of the game, when in reality it would seem Rares vision was a lot different to what people thought it was.

    I always said developers will go back on things they say if they feel like they can make it work or have a better way to implement it.
    It happened with the skelly ships and they are great. It’s now happened with this, power to them imo. I like having a spanner thrown in the works now and again to mix things up.

    This just tells me this is still Rare games and not the loud vocal minorities who try and force there vision of it down your throat.

    Gg Rare for staying true to your vision of the game. Minus the doomsayers I think this will be a really good thing for the game and open up an avenue for tonnes of possibilities.

  • @erinom3 I see your point but at the same time I think a lot of people are missing out on the feedback points and suggestions this could potentially cover and the variety of ways this could be expanded on.

    A couple of examples, now you can probably play with more than 4 people on a team, that has been highly requested.
    There’s a chance this might also finally host those tavern games we have all been begging for.
    You could be able to do private matches, imagine how much easier and time saving it would be for Fortune and there skullball if they could just set up a match for it in that.
    How many more events and ideas could be utilised and hosted.

    I can definitely see some negeatives to the thing, but that comes with everything So far that has been released. I believe people are seeing this and just thinking of the worst rather than the possibilities.

  • The Arena doesn't at all look like a Battle Royale. Looks more like crews competing against one another to acquire the most loot. Something to scratch the itch for the PvP crowd. PvE pirates shouldn't let their guard down in Adventure mode however.

  • Thieves Unknown Battle Seas

    lolz

  • @d3adst1ck I would not be surprised if they address the network communication issues by having the Arena Maps must smaller. Maybe about a 4x4 grid or something like that around the "target" island for the arena.

    It sounds like they want these sessions to be quick play events, so they will be unlikely to have the whole map available.

  • Doesnt look like Battle Royal to me at all either, first thing I thought of when I watched the trailer was ‘wow, looks like Halo Capture The Flag on the original xbox’.

  • Lots to read on this thread and I've tried my best to digest it all.

    Just a few thoughts based on some of the more consistent thoughts and feedback from this thread:

    We discussed a mode like The Arena in the very early days of pitching the game and prototyping. The pitch is simple - have the 'greatest hits' of Sea of Thieves, but on demand. Getting involved in epic ship battles and competing over a more defined goal was the way we stress tested mechanics and demoed the game to new members of the team. In fact, this formed the basis of what we first showed off at E3 2016 and 2017 as we knew it was a bite sized chunk of Sea of Thieves that would play well in 20-30 minutes.

    What this isn't though, is a straight split between 'PvE' and 'PvP'. Yes, The Arena will focus on competition between players, but it is categorically not about taking the 'thieves' out of Sea of Thieves. We focused on the Treasure Hunting gameplay for The Arena first because it had more scope to create memorable moments and stories over just straight battling, but its just one part of the overall game.

    The core vision of Sea of Thieves is the player created stories that can occur and an experience that gives you a wide range of emotions within a shared world. The Arena just serves elements of this on demand with more of a defined focus. Its not a replacement, and certainly not a distraction from the core improvements and new content we want to add to the game you're currently playing.

    As many of you have probably heard me talk about before, Sea of Thieves aims to capture the thrill of the pirate life and the game as it stands today, with its moments of exploration, escapism and excitement, aims to capture this in a unique way and give you moments that you won't forget. The primary focus remains the adventure experience, with The Arena having its own progression and rewards. Nothing changes elsewhere. If you're the kind of player that likes to attack other ships to steal their treasure, nothing will stop you doing that. If players want to come in and only play The Arena, they can, but they will be playing a small part of the Sea of Thieves experience.

    This month, Shrouded Spoils aims to address some of the wider feedback points from the community, while we simultaneously also have our heads down crafting numerous new elements for the existing game, some new features / tools, some more far reaching.

    We passionately believe in the game and we want more players to experience it so it can realise its full potential. Sailing towards the horizon, not knowing what dangers you'll face and living out the pirate fantasy you might have once dreamt about is the heart of Sea of Thieves. The more players that get to experience that and fall in love with it, the richer the Sea of Thieves experience will become.

  • @mikethemutinous Amen amen amen and amen! This mode will help form a much larger community overall. The original mode might take a hit initially but when new pvp style players are "Sea Dog" level 50 they'll come sniffing around the original.😁 Guaranteed! The mystique of the game is too good for them not to!

  • This has "Pressure from Microsoft" written all over it. Sea of Thieves was pushed out as a Flagship title for the GamePass. It did massive numbers in the first 14 days and has not been able to maintain that engagement.

    Adding this PvP Mode to pull in the BR/Deathmatch crowd sounds like a good buisness decision. It will also likely be a good avenue for Rare to add in the Cash Shop that we know has been planned (based on Rare's comments about the tabled "Pet" expansion).

    I am sure this is not going to be the last controversial decision Rare makes with this IP. I would not be surprised if they use the Arena to test other things like Weapons with Stats, and armor, or other powerups as well. We will see what happens in time.

  • Only for PL i bet.

  • @blindnev said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    Know what will make it even better? A blue circle that gets smaller every few minutes!

    It is called the Shroud or the "red sea" and we already have it coded into the game.

  • @blindnev said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    @x-crowheart-x said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    @skulliah said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    I'm so confused, what is the current vision of Sea of Thieves now?

    Apparently Rare and Joe Neate is even more confused mate. He said "It's about the intensity and heart rate, someone is going to be competing against you getting the same treasure as you." That is already the game they made, we all purchased, and have been playing all this time. All they are doing with this update is making a mini version of the same thing. Makes now sense at all.

    Know what will make it even better? A blue circle that gets smaller every few minutes!

    We have it already, it is called the shroud or the "red sea." Just code it to shrink every few minutes and there you have it.

  • Some of the best moments I’ve had in Sea of Thieves have been against multiple ships competing for a skull fort key. If this mode insures I get to hop in and experience that right from the jump, then great! I cannot wait to try it. I have many questions about how this mode will work, but I am very much looking forward to trying it. I see it much like Salmon Run in a game like Splatoon 2 - a different and more coordinated way to play a game that I love.

    And then when I don’t want that PVP experience all the time, I’ll play the Adventure mode because even though I’m PL I enjoy sailing and digging up treasure and doing cargo runs without a constant threat too.

    Excited to hear more about The Arena and I have faith in the team in delivering something that’ll be a lot of fun.

  • i haven't seen Xo18 yesterday , and i've just woken up to see an announcement trailer of Arena...i've read a lot of opinions, some harsh , some understanding but all have one thing in common...The Pirates that love the game share their joy or distrust or disgust towards the Arena option...

    For myself, i just walk too much behind on info to already judge this Arena option before i even tried or played it...There is one thing that gives me the shakings a bit and that is the part where Arena becomes a seperate experience, kept away from the main game ,i sooooo love...
    i loved the fact that Sea of Thieves had combined all kind of play styles , the PvP and PvE player , that could find everything they wanted...

    i'm just a bit amazed why they have not included this Arena Option or Battle Area in the main game itself...Like the Skull Fortress ,and Cursed Sails ships ,you can see where this kind of action is taking place in the world by the presence of a warning cloud in the shape of the above named game options...

    i have no clue how this game is build and how much capacity the servers deliver to keep all this Beautiful game running...Maybe implementing this Arena into the game ,combined with the main game , could make it really run sluggish...Like i said , i really don't know...

    For the little info i have read, seen through the Trailer , i feel a bit sad that after alll this time , that Rare has brought us all together , ranging from PvP hardcore players towards the more tranquil PvE players , the Cross-play that finally brought us together , now we see a split in the playerbase...

    But ...Things need to be said , there isn't that much info about this and i know that Rare doesn't walk over one night of ice...Rare is filled to the top with creativity ,and very smart people who, before they introduce something new, have been very critical towards them selves and have tested and put every advantage/ disadvantage in the scale before introducing something in the world...

    Sea of Thieves has not dissapointed me since the first Alpha...And i don't think it will do that now...After all, it's made by the same people who pursue that the gamer really get's a great experience in return every time they play...But i also must say that reading that this option has to be made from the start that will cut me off from the main game ,that i absolutely adore, puts me on a crossroad...

    i may have been naive , but i thought that every new addition was to be implemented on the big main game...

    Well, it's too early to judge ... Maybe i will like to run away , after a hard day ,or when i don't have time to start an adventure and just going to fight a bit for 20 minutes or 30 minutes in one of those Arena's ...Time will tell...

    i just cross my fingers and hope that soon more info comes along so that this " split" can be digested better than it does on this first sight...i have trust and respect in the capacities of Rare but they have to be aware that a lot of people have doubts about this split...

  • @personalc0ffee This is my fear. That it'll split the player base. But I'll obviously give it a go and see how it is when it's out.

  • While this looks fun and pretty exciting, my major hope is that this doesn't take away development and care for Adventure mode. This happened with Fortnite... BR overshadows STW campaign to this day. I know, two different games and devs. I just hope the trend doesn't carry over.

    That said, I love Adventure mode and will definitely be giving this a try. Excited to get more details on this and future Adventure content.

  • @eratikstorm said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    @blindnev said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    @x-crowheart-x said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    @skulliah said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    I'm so confused, what is the current vision of Sea of Thieves now?

    Apparently Rare and Joe Neate is even more confused mate. He said "It's about the intensity and heart rate, someone is going to be competing against you getting the same treasure as you." That is already the game they made, we all purchased, and have been playing all this time. All they are doing with this update is making a mini version of the same thing. Makes now sense at all.

    Know what will make it even better? A blue circle that gets smaller every few minutes!

    We have it already, it is called the shroud or the "red sea." Just code it to shrink every few minutes and there you have it.

    I was making fun of all the current battle royale games, since all of them have that same blue circle. It's not something I actually want in SoT haha.

  • @themasterplan84 said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    Pretty disappointed I'd rather the player base wasn't split!

    Just now I was solo slooping minding my own business doing gold hoarders when a brig rocks up trying to sink me, the chase is then on. I out sail them, board them, kill the crew. Unfortunately they decided to scuttle before I crashed their brig into a rock but it was a thrill.

    Adventure mode is going to be dull now which leaves me with arenas which I'll probably get owned in by more organised crews. Hopefully there will be plenty of options for who you fight against.

    On the plus side hopefully this will bring back pvpers and appease the pvers but for those who like the game as it is I think it'll be the end of the game as we know it

    My Friends and I will try to look upon the new "PvP free" zone of the Adventure mode as a ripe hunting ground with no other predators around. Lots of fat prey waiting to be pounced upon.

  • Honestly I like the idea of having a shorter more competitive game mode. Of course having the player Base split is a little worrying but I guess rare know the numbers and who know it might bring in more players. A few game types with a sea of thieves spin things would be fun. Skullball, pvp mode with jumping, first ship to get to a set island and dig up treasure, capture the ships flag in an arena, hoard style mode against skeleton ships, King of the fort, 6 ships last one standing with map getting smaller as the fog and storm closes in (totally different from pubg).

  • too be honest i was shocked when i read the announcement - dividing the playerbase now when i felt like we finally got over the controllproblems with xbox and pc - dont get me wong there are also pc players that play with a controller - kinda out of the same reason i play sea of thives in the first place - its chill - like holidays - why dont make it more chill and use a controller on my machine well - i guess i will have to find my own mouse and keyboard crew for this mode ... thats all kinda things that went through my head yesterday

    but right now i feel likl its more like a dota turbo game - same game like really the same game find loot compete against other ships make the most money - in way little time -- and that what i do when i have only like 30 mins - log in and search for ships i can take down - well thats gonna be easier with that mode and i fell like i might like that option because it happens often to me - a quickie might be just perfecct

  • A huge thank you, for jumping into this thread to allay some of the concerns expressed here :)

    @mikethemutinous said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    Lots to read on this thread and I've tried my best to digest it all.

    Just a few thoughts based on some of the more consistent thoughts and feedback from this thread:

    We discussed a mode like The Arena in the very early days of pitching the game and prototyping. The pitch is simple - have the 'greatest hits' of Sea of Thieves, but on demand. Getting involved in epic ship battles and competing over a more defined goal was the way we stress tested mechanics and demoed the game to new members of the team. In fact, this formed the basis of what we first showed off at E3 2016 and 2017 as we knew it was a bite sized chunk of Sea of Thieves that would play well in 20-30 minutes.

    What this isn't though, is a straight split between 'PvE' and 'PvP'. Yes, The Arena will focus on competition between players, but it is categorically not about taking the 'thieves' out of Sea of Thieves. We focused on the Treasure Hunting gameplay for The Arena first because it had more scope to create memorable moments and stories over just straight battling, but its just one part of the overall game.

    The core vision of Sea of Thieves is the player created stories that can occur and an experience that gives you a wide range of emotions within a shared world. The Arena just serves elements of this on demand with more of a defined focus. Its not a replacement, and certainly not a distraction from the core improvements and new content we want to add to the game you're currently playing.

    As many of you have probably heard me talk about before, Sea of Thieves aims to capture the thrill of the pirate life and the game as it stands today, with its moments of exploration, escapism and excitement, aims to capture this in a unique way and give you moments that you won't forget. The primary focus remains the adventure experience, with The Arena having its own progression and rewards. Nothing changes elsewhere. If you're the kind of player that likes to attack other ships to steal their treasure, nothing will stop you doing that. If players want to come in and only play The Arena, they can, but they will be playing a small part of the Sea of Thieves experience.

    This month, Shrouded Spoils aims to address some of the wider feedback points from the community, while we simultaneously also have our heads down crafting numerous new elements for the existing game, some new features / tools, some more far reaching.

    We passionately believe in the game and we want more players to experience it so it can realise its full potential. Sailing towards the horizon, not knowing what dangers you'll face and living out the pirate fantasy you might have once dreamt about is the heart of Sea of Thieves. The more players that get to experience that and fall in love with it, the richer the Sea of Thieves experience will become.

  • I feel like this new mode will def get more players into the game. My biggest problem with this game is that I can’t just pick it up and play for a successful hour. It’s a game you have to dedicate a lot of time to... and that’s one of the things I love about it. So I love that Arena will be fast paced and chaotic. Those are some of my favorite moments in the game... but if they do have this mode, then the lore driven campaigns and voyages should be a top priority for “adventure mode” then. They really need to add more mechanics to the game play such as hidden cave systems on islands, or voyages that have you looking for clues on 1 island which leads you to a few other islands... and definitely more reasons to reach pirate legend. If the end game to adventure mode was something far more great than doing 8 mixed voyages of the 3 factions you did before, I think the want to play adventure mode would even out the demand to play Arena. Either way... it’s still early. I have faith in Rare and no matter what, I’ll be sailing! Cheers!

  • @mikethemutinous Thank you! This is what I was hoping to hear. I fell in love with the core Adventure game and would hate for that to get overshadowed. I want to see this game grow and stick around for the Long haul. If this will help, I'm all for it. Thanks for the reply and update.

  • @eratikstorm said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    This has "Pressure from Microsoft" written all over it. Sea of Thieves was pushed out as a Flagship title for the GamePass. It did massive numbers in the first 14 days and has not been able to maintain that engagement.

    Adding this PvP Mode to pull in the BR/Deathmatch crowd sounds like a good buisness decision. It will also likely be a good avenue for Rare to add in the Cash Shop that we know has been planned (based on Rare's comments about the tabled "Pet" expansion).

    I am sure this is not going to be the last controversial decision Rare makes with this IP. I would not be surprised if they use the Arena to test other things like Weapons with Stats, and armor, or other powerups as well. We will see what happens in time.

    That is just not true ;)

    We keep Microsoft informed and they may well give us feedback about how best to announce content, however they don't get involved with content decisions. This is Rare's responsibility and the team in Redmond just want to help us look after it.

    It also doesn't mean that we're going to start changing the core approach to mechanics. Any improvements and additions will be shared by both experiences.

  • @dat-hill-boi said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    @mikethemutinous Thank you! This is what I was hoping to hear. I fell in love with the core Adventure game and would hate for that to get overshadowed. I want to see this game grow and stick around for the Long haul. If this will help, I'm all for it. Thanks for the reply and update.

    As you might imagine, I live for the adventure! However, I'll nip into Arena now and again and have some fun.

  • @mikethemutinous With the addition of the Arena mode, what do you think today of a preloading community HUB (where you could crew with players, tell and hear stories, have minigames and chose your gamemode)?

  • @mikethemutinous said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    @eratikstorm said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    This has "Pressure from Microsoft" written all over it. Sea of Thieves was pushed out as a Flagship title for the GamePass. It did massive numbers in the first 14 days and has not been able to maintain that engagement.

    Adding this PvP Mode to pull in the BR/Deathmatch crowd sounds like a good buisness decision. It will also likely be a good avenue for Rare to add in the Cash Shop that we know has been planned (based on Rare's comments about the tabled "Pet" expansion).

    I am sure this is not going to be the last controversial decision Rare makes with this IP. I would not be surprised if they use the Arena to test other things like Weapons with Stats, and armor, or other powerups as well. We will see what happens in time.

    That is just not true ;)

    We keep Microsoft informed and they may well give us feedback about how best to announce content, however they don't get involved with content decisions. This is Rare's responsibility and the team in Redmond just want to help us look after it.

    It also doesn't mean that we're going to start changing the core approach to mechanics. Any improvements and additions will be shared by both experiences.

    I’m so glad this has been clarified, people always put the blame on MS when there’s something they don’t like.

  • @jetorchidee97 said in [Mega Thread] Sea of Thieves: The Arena:

    @mikethemutinous With the addition of the Arena mode, what do you think today of a preloading community HUB (where you could crew with players, tell and hear stories, have minigames and chose your gamemode)?

    Would love to do this!

  • @amancebacabras Seperate mode

  • Why are all of you complaining about splitting up the player base? As the game stands there's hardly a player base to begin with. This is exactly what the game needs. It's no secret a lot of players only want to play this game to pvp, especially if you've been a legend for months. Those players have had NOTHING to do in this game for months and months and months. They're all but gone. Now they have a reason to come back, and you're mad that it's going to split up the player base? Get a grip. No more sailing around for 60+ minutes to find 1 sloop with 2 brand new players who can't even anchor properly. This isn't any different than something like the crucible in Destiny. It's an alternative to boring fetch quests. Now we can just fight endlessly and actually have some fun. We all know by now they aren't going to change "Adventure" mode enough to actually be fun so this looks great. Maybe once this releases and they decide to make the normal mode worth your time and less boring people who only play arena will spill over, but that isn't up to us. You should be more excited about the fact that people like me who haven't been truly excited to start this game since June are excited to play again.

  • I am disappointed to see them go this way. The likelihood of another ship attacking and possibly sinking mine will decrease considerably. This will create a risk vacuum on the seas. It's Rare's game and they are welcome to take it in any direction they want to, but they are straying quite far from their original vision. That was well stated earlier in the thread with, "The core vision of Sea of Thieves is the player created stories that can occur and an experience that gives you a wide range of emotions within a shared world". The Arena is not a shared world with the rest of the game. The risk will be even lower in the base game than it was after alliances were introduced.

    I was never interested in playing on this world with highly concentrated PvP or PvE players. The dynamic of both groups interacting was the magic for me. I'll probably hang it up soon unless many of us are wrong about this splitting the players. Not out of anger, just boredom.

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