The game's PvE/PvP aspects are very well balanced right now in my opinion. I have never had griefing issues and only get into the fights I want to be involved in. I guess I am lucky. Nevertheless, fully PvE servers in this game are a horrible idea for two reasons: (1) it goes against the core idea of the game; and (2) it would split the player base. However, a PvE-minus region could be great for everyone, providing semi-peaceful gameplay for PvEers and daring pirating-adventure for PvPers. Below, I refer to PvEers as "Merchants" and PvPers as "Pirates".
The Colonies - A new region of the world called "The Colonies", controlled by "The Empire" or the "Trading Company". Make it one large island (maybe a "Port Royal"), with multiple smaller islands in close proximity all around. The close-proximity of the islands would make it an ideal place for sloops.
Port Royal: Port Royal could be guarded by a very large fortress that can shoot in all directions around the island with multiple cannons. Smaller towers would be scattered all around the shores of Port Royal. All of the smaller islands in the The Colonies also have smaller towers.
Pirating in the Colonies: Attacking other crews/ships in The Colonies turns the NPC towers against you. Thus, the only way to survive in The Colonies is to evade the towers OR be peaceful (including by running away from fights). Basically, if you are a Merchant, you will be fully entrusting your security to The Colonies; if you are a Pirate, you will live by the sword and die by the sword, as The Colonies will turn against you as soon as you harm another ship or player.
Voyages in the Colonies: The only voyages available in The Colonies would be Merchant Alliance. This makes it less likely that pirates will want to hunt you since you are a largely worthless prize of loud chickens, starving pigs, and annoying snakes. Merchants, meanwhile, would have an incentive to leave The Colonies to level up in the other factions and actually become a member of the Sea of Thieves. Pirates would have little reason to attack Merchants because of what they are likely carrying and because there is a bigger prize in Port Royal... The Vault.
The Vault - Thus, for Pirates: a new mechanic called the "Siege of Port Royal". This requires you to sail into the harbor of Port Royal, take out the heavy fortifications with cannon fire from your ship (or well placed gunpowder barrels), and crack The Vault inside the fortress (which opens once you have taken out the fortifications). The vault has all sorts of very lucrative goodies that must be sold to an outpost outside of The Colonies. A siege would have to be balanced whereby even a single well-run galleon would never be able to win. You would need to bring a Pirate armada to win the siege. The vault/fort gets reset/rebuilt every few gameplay days. Similar to the pirate forts, players sailing would notice a glow emanating from Port Royal at night when the Vault is full. You could also have the Vault fill up faster depending on how quickly Merchants finish missions successfully within the region. That way, Pirates would actually want Merchants to finish their missions so they could try to raid and plunder the town.
In sum, I believe an idea like this is a good compromise to the current PvE/PvP debate:
- It provides a way for Merchants to enjoy part of the game relatively secure from the threat of Pirates.
- It provides a way for Pirates to team up for a big score rather than attacking each other immediately.
- It would not fully-destroy the pirating aspect of the game in the region because Pirates could still attack Merchants but would face stiff consequences with little reward.
- It does not fully cater to PvEers because they will have to venture into the Sea of Thieves to fully enjoy the other factions.
- It gets the PvPers to focus on a bigger prize within the region, allowing Merchants to sail relatively freely (just don't try to dock when there is a Pirate armada bombing the city).
Problems:
- Thieves would still be prevalent, but that makes sense thematically.
- Inability to defend yourself (unless, of course, the developers could find a way to make it so the towers in the area knew who the aggressor was).
- Probably others....
