PVP is basically mandatory

@foambreaker please keep this conversation friendly and do not throw insults, not everybody is out to attack you. This friendlier side of the community is always getting attacked for just wanting a non-toxic solution to a fun little pirate game’s problem, i come from their side where I think that if Rare wants to not have a toxic community and shuts down everything related to PvPvsPvE, they should just fix the issue and create the friendly and welcoming pirate community that the “minorities” want.

The sharks need minnows i suppose.

@lordqulex said in PVP is basically mandatory:

I feel this is a "how's my driving" scenario. No one calls the number on the back of a semi to say "wow, that driver was courteous and kind! what a treat that one!"

No, they call up to complain!!

I'm sure there are plenty of friendly pirates on the seas, I for one never fire cannons first. The toxic ones are simply the memorable ones.

I Agree, maybe if the community as a whole just starts to run away and waste their time it might get better . idk "Shrug"

@wolfmanbush said in PVP is basically mandatory:

@mufasha5688 said in PVP is basically mandatory:

The sharks need minnows i suppose.

It is a food chain but it's one where people aren't stuck as a minnow

this doesn't mean everyone will become awesome at pvp but it does mean that over time, with effort, with experience, a player becomes well rounded which opens up opportunity. There are many ways to "win" in this game. Many ways to succeed, many ways to improve.

I've been in thousands and thousands of organic fights and my tdm skills are laughably low. It's not what I like, I don't have talent or interest in it, but it's not everything. I worked on naval and my overall strategy and decision making is high enough to regularly make up for lower close combat skills.

That's ultimately where a majority of SoT players can succeed. Strong naval, strong situational awareness, strong environmental knowledge and experience goes a long way vs a lot of the pvp in this game. These are all skills that players have a much higher chance of strengthening compared to tdm style fighting.

Then there is the mental training. Vision, purpose, outlook, objective.

Negative views lead to higher chances for negative outcomes and vice versa

this means the opponent cannot become an enemy, focusing on someone being the enemy leads to more mistakes and less progress, less accuracy, more obstacles, more internal conflict. It stifles personal progress.

No enemies, just objectives, training, discipline, consistency

Everyone can succeed, succeeding is improvement and that comes in all shapes and sizes.

If there was a will to challenge that yes, i agree with you. You're not wrong, it is the game, it would be like trying to play mw2 and saying the people on the opposite side were toxic for shooting you, i get it, its just annoying that you dont have a choice in the matter esp when people pretend like they are on your side and then betray you.

SoT is not a fair game, you must understand this point before keep playing it.

Even the best solo players, get sunk sometimes by larger crews because is just 3/4 cannons vs 1.

The learning curve is really hard, you will sink tons of times before you start sinking people, sadly this game is not really new players friendly, main reason why the player retention is a joke and the game is condemned to death, soon or later.

Not all the community are toxic or griefers, a huge percentage is, but not the entire one (Yes, I consider griefing steal loot to newbies, is a pirate game, not an abuser simulator) You will find a lot of idiots on the seas, more than good persons, but this is the environment that the company wants, PvP games = High toxcity levels.... so you have to deal with this players, being stupid is not ban reason yet.

If you want to do some PvE stuff without getting griefed by others, just go to Ally servers, it takes a while to join a session but you will be playing with people who doesn´t attack others. Is a good way to get use to controls, cannons and you can practice your Sword Dashes and boarding skills against skellys before jumping to adventure mode.

Final tip, do not play solo, even with recent buffs, is garbage. I play solo because all my friends unninstalled a long time ago due to constant griefing and I can tell you from experience, look for crew mates or at least one more and play Duo sloop. Solo is the hard mode and most of times you will be on a huge disadvantage against others, you need to manage cannons, repairing, wheel, sails.... is not worth it unless you like tryharding or you don´t like play with others.

If you play on Xbox, set matchmaking on Xbox Only servers, is a better experience and we have no cheaters there so is a win win.

Good Luck on the seas, and be patience because you will need it.

People who play pvp have not infected the game! The same could be said for PvE players if that were true. Sea of thieves is a PvPvE type of game where each one plays according to their liking. Just because you do not like it, does not mean that it is wrong. Furthermore if you want to PvE it is actually quite easy and there are many ways to avoid player interaction. You can snipe for a dead server, not raise an emissary, keep an eye on the horizon and not stack all your loot at once in case something goes wrong. Now if you want to do FotD or world events I am sorry but these are marked on the map for a reason and pvp can't usually be avoided. I will agree with you on one thing though, there are some pretty toxic people and the current report system doesn't really help.

You missed out a few months and year ago, pve was all that was being done. These last few months, they just started giving pvp players the love they wanted.

What your encountering is community weekend hype. After tonight or tomorrow it all die off

@burnbacon said in PVP is basically mandatory:

You missed out a few months and year ago, pve was all that was being done. These last few months, they just started giving pvp players the love they wanted.

What your encountering is community weekend hype. After tonight or tomorrow it all die off

i cant wait, pvp to me is awful, i wish people would just stick to the hourglass.

I find plenty of pve/friendly players that just ignore my presence entirely or are sometimes willing to alliance.

Rare doesn't "pander way harder to pvp play". Look at the development of the game and updates to pvp. There weren't really any big changes to pvp from when they added blunderbombs alllllll the way until they added Season 8. Everything was a small change like "sloops now take 2 chainshots" or something.

Every season up until s8 had been big PvE changes, but with every PvE change, that gives more loot to steal. This is the balance of the game, it has always and will always be advertised as PvPvE, THIS IS THE WHOLE POINT.

Plus, even if they did pander way harder to pvp play, you claim (from personal experience not actual statistics I might add) the "larger player base who infected the game (rude much?) want it that way", why wouldn't they pander to the larger playerbase??
That's literally how they grow the game and expand numbers, is by adding something the majority want to see.

And finally, your statement on "making PvP less rewarding"
Where have you been for the past 4 years?
PvP has ALWAYS been equal rewards to PvE, because relies 100% on what the PvE player has, the way you word it makes it sound like selling loot stolen from PvP gives it a 2.5x gold/rep multiplier or something, which it does not.

@d4ng3rdol4n said in PVP is basically mandatory:

I get that too many people in the world would rather just screw every one else over, instead of working together. But even on community day(s) I feel no love or friendship from other players. The community in this game is so one sided, I don't even see a point in try to act like there's even half the amount of Athena's fortune type players.(those who'd rather be helpful and share in an adventure with others) compare to reapers who are generally overly sweaty and aggressive players who just get bored of the game too easily, and have to make their own entertainment. The worst part about it is, is that Rare just ignores the fact that they pander way harder to pvp play than pve, just because the larger player base who have infected the game want it that way. If they actually made pvp less rewarding based on reputation and loot to gain, I bet people would be a lot more willing to be friendly. Or make pve more rewarding with teamwork or something, but the fact is that the game gives you hardly any insensitive to help others so no one is going to. Why does rare even pretend that this game doesn't pander to pvp players, I'll never know.

They don't. In 5 years of the game's life so far the PvP side of the game has gotten a grand total of 3 updates dedicated to PvP. The creation of Arena. The single and only update to Arena. And last Season's creation of the hourglass feature. 98% of all exclusive cosmetic content for SoT (which is this game's form of soft progression) is hard locked behind PvE. It was at 100% prior to Season 9 btw.

This is a game about pirates first and foremost. Regardless of what Disney would like you to believe pirates were by and large untrustworthy, dastardly individuals who would sooner skuttle you than look at you. It doesn't mean you can't make friends out there but it does mean always having a plan V for violence 😃

Your interpretation of Athena as the defacto "good guys" and Reapers as "the bad guys" is misguided. Both groups are as bad as each other and exist more in a grey area than black and white. You have the Pirate Lord on one side basically wanting to be the Godfather of the Seas with every pirate having to go by him in order to be allowed to plunder the Sea of Thieves. And you've got Flameheart on the other side wanting to rule the world. They both want to shape the Sea of Thieves in their own image and will throw hands with anyone that disagrees with them, living or living impaired.

They dont pander to a pvp side over a pve side. Ever since launch they have stated that it is a PVPVE pirate game, and have constantly stated such ever since. The drive for pvp is the loot gathered through pve, without loot, there would be nothing to steal and sink others for in this game about piracy.

Some people may be friendly, but as it stands, at its core, this game is about doing what ever you want, and for many people the pirate fantasy is to be a pirate (funny that isnt it?), not some friendly sailors doing nothing but dig up loot and smacking some bones around. If you want a game about peaceful sail ship adventures, a pvpve pirate adventure game is not what you should be looking for, nor should you intend to turn the game into something that it isnt, nor was it ever intended to be from the start, just to suit you personally.

@dragotech123 I'm having the same experience. I know a lot of people pushed to have 6 ships per server but ever since Season 9 dropped I've been attacked/sunk trying to do any world-events, shrines, or even tall-tales shortly after starting them. And I'm talking no loot on board, no emissary flag up, just attacked for the sake of sinking me. Not to mention the increased lag/rubber-banding I've encountered as well.

I managed to do 1 FoF and stacked 2 FoTDs as a solo and nobody contested me. Stacked another 3 FoTDs in a Gally crew and did an Ashen Winds without another boat approaching us.

For the most part with these two community days I witnessed that players were just busy making coin or fishing for ancient skellies.

@vakrisone Just out of curiosity, are you playing controller only or cross platform? Your experience doesn't sound too bad in comparison to what I've been encountering recently lol.

@d4ng3rdol4n

I agree with you on how Rare tries to sell SoT to new players, is a huge mistake making people think that this Game is about friendly interactions between pirates, thats what they show on trailers.

Something similar happened on POTC update, SoT climbed from 20k players to 60k on Steam on Matter of days due to a lie. People were complaining 24/7 about others players sinking them constantly, Rare didnt show that part on trailers. 90% of that players quitted after completing tales or even before.

Hourglass gave Pveers some Air, but that is gone, the vast majority of PvP players got curses and returned to Adventure, that means lot of PvP these days, even more at community Days. The only way to keep playing SoT without constantly frustrating is improve PvP skills or hide yourself on Alliance Servers. This is the Game Rare wants and I think there is no way to change their minds. If they have to choose, im sure they Will let Game die instead of making Pve Servers.

As solo player, I forced myself to engage PvP for hundreds and hundreds of hours in arena, now in Hourglass, because I know there is the only way to play while im feeling safe.

This is SoT, sadly.

The disparity in the companies is probably one of the causes. In an ideal world, the OoS, MA, GH and AF would be some kind of "official" trading companies that do their own thing for their own company (which is in part covered by the 150% money gain at Lv5) with PvP encounters leaning more towards loot exchange, ignoring eachother or primarily defending oneself, with the option for attack if the occasion calls for it. On the other side, RB would be on the hunt for everyone, especially the emissaries (which is in part covered by the showing of ships on the map at Lv5), with the "drawback" of being seen.

The issue becomes clear when simply being an emissary for RB is the most meta way of getting money for the same risks and time invested. You get to see other ships and can navigate around them, other ships can see you and avoid you, you get 150% of money from everything and you can get to Lv5 emissary in no time by just doing a voyage from any other company. The only drawback is the manual turn in of the loot. Sinking other ships is often time consuming and dangerous if you are not good at it.

There is no point of running for any other trader once you are a PL, you are basically shooting yourself in the foot and painting a target on you back. There should be a more balanced rewards system that rewards RB for being in fights and others for keeping out of fights (with non-RB emissaries) and non-emissary ships being neutral ground.

@tap1017045 said in PVP is basically mandatory:

@vakrisone Just out of curiosity, are you playing controller only or cross platform? Your experience doesn't sound too bad in comparison to what I've been encountering recently lol.

PC with mouse and keyboard. I like to live dangerously 😜

Honestly I was surprised how tame it was for the most part. Things only really got wild yesterday when I joined a two Brig reaper alliance doing a FoTD and suddenly the whole server went for them. I decided not to betray them and instead played as the little support gunship that bought them time to finish the Fort. Unfortunately they were not very good at PvP so they got sunk by a duo sloop when I let them out of my sight for 2 seconds. Had a prolonged tussle with the Duo and even 1v2 TDMed them at reapers but to no avail. I couldn't save that alliance's loot. Serves me right for being Mr Nice Pirate and not just stealing their loot myself and cashing it in.

Experiences can sometimes vary wildly and you just never know what kind of server you're going to get.

@d4ng3rdol4n said in PVP is basically mandatory:

@mrestiercol it's not a matter of a learning curve, you either deal with normal stay away from everyone because they're probably going to try and kill you because the game gives you every incentive to do so, or you get very lucky and someone actually wants to help you with little to no benefit to themselves. The problem with that is the game portrays itself very community friendly and helpful.

This is true, Rare does portray the game in a very Sea of Friends heavy version with little emphasis on the thievery aspects.

Even tries to act like they're giving the minority a "fighting chance" when the pvp route is just head and shoulders more profitable in gold and reputation.

This is not so true. The "minority" in this game are in actual fact the PvPers. The majority of players have average to no interest in fighting other players other than to learn a few basics for defending loot.

PvP is only ever as profitable as the amount of PvE being done. In order for PvP to be profitable there needs to be at least twice the amount of PvE going on in any given server. And then in order to make that profit you actually have to be good or at least above average at PvP, which brings us back to the fact that only a minority in SoT are actually good enough at PvP to be out there making coin exclusively from PvP and nothing else.

The vast majority of players make their gold and rep from PvE. Rep and renown gain in particular is the fastest when done via PvE and the slowest when done via PvP.

For God sakes the reapers have more pve available rewards that actually reward well then guardians. I've been trying to level guardians for a while now and I usually avoid reapers but I'm still higher level with them because I get chests for them or the plethora of captains books and flags dropped everywhere because they're in pve content.

Reapers are the single most efficient PvE faction in the entire game. They never fulfilled their objective of being a PvP faction. That's why Rare made the Guardian and Servant sub-factions true PvP factions. And as you have already observed, Guardians/Servants are painfully slow to level and don't reward you as much.

My issue is the fact that they act like they're trying to help both but really just playing favorites for the majority cash flow.

I mean, every single games company will always try to cater to the majority cash flow. It's literally how they make their money and keep the lights on. Rare has actually struck a pretty decent balance with the release of Season 9. Prior to that it felt like PvP was the unwanted step child especially with the closure of Arena. Which is why it's so fascinating to read the words, "Rare favours PvP". The reality has been quite different.