PvP vs PvE

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

I was reading the thread, "Boring", and this post to the OP caught my eye.

 

Quote

I take it you're playing PvE?  This game is really meant to be a PVP focus'd sort of game with politics, alliances, drama, etc.  Find yourself a mid sized group on a pvp server and you will have a good time.  Even ark was never intended to be full of PvE content beyond survival and pokemon catch em all stuff.  The caves were boring at best. The story was near non existent for the majority of its EA period and still is pretty lackluster because in these kinds of games the players are the content.  Without the drama and tension that comes with PVP you end up missing a ton of content.

To an extent, this post is true, but also misses some important truths, and those truths highlight the disservice done to the PvE community.

First, and this must be understood...a casual look at the servers for ARK, show that roughly 50% of them are PvE.  So since we don't have specific numbers, we need to just understand that about half of those who bought the game, play PvE.  What that means is this...if you play PvP, you need to thank them for playing, because without them, you wouldn't have a game.  And, PvE players need to thank the PvP players also...because they too helped fund about half the game.  But PvE players in ARK will also know to thank Mod Makers.  Without them, the game is largely left wanting for the average PvE player.  The reason is simple...it isn't just the PvP players who take the PvE community for granted, it's also the Devs.  Unfortunately, the PvE community seems to be treated as inconvenient by the Devs.  Like the adopted child, made to sleep under the stairs.  I understand this because I have over 4300 hours in ARK, both on PvP and PvE.  It has given me a lot of perspective on what is good and bad about that game, in PvP and PvE, and which I see being repeated here in many ways.

The reality is this...PvE pays half the bills.  They deserve a full seat at the table.  They should not be treated as inconvenient by the Devs.  These people are paying half your bills.

The needs of both are different.  Some people games for the single player content.  Some for the PvP content.  Often, one or the other gets neglected.  I myself, love gaming in many forms.  I played and loved WWIIOL, for instance, which had zero single player content.  I also massively loved the original Mass Effect series, and only #3 had any online content, which was not PvP.  It was CO-OP.  I also enjoyed PvP, but especially PvE in ARK.  Here's why.  My ability to let my artistic side come out.  This video, at 4:16 shows just 4 of my builds on the PvE server I played on.
 

The question I have for PvE players who play Official is this...why?  Look at that video.  THIS is why you play PvE.  To build things you could never build on a PvP server.  And let's face it...because you are neglected by the Devs, the Mod community is your savior.  They add valuable game content to your game.  I would never play PvE on official.  All you have there is a lesser version of PvP.  Your builds will not come anywhere near what can be built on unofficial.

We also had a mod called Rare Sightings, that had very interesting Dinos spawn in occasionally, creating a race to find it.  Sometimes I won, sometimes somebody else beat me to it.  At times, there were 4 or 5 of us all flying around frantically trying to beat the others to the RS Dino.  Was a lot of fun.

To those PvE players like the OP of the other thread, who are bored right now, I can only say...watch the Mod page.  It's early, but I am pretty sure that Mods are coming.  When they do, find a good unofficial PvE server running those mods.

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

I should also note that in this game, I play PvP.  I don't see the point in PvE at this stage.  Maybe in a few years when some really good building mods come out.  As you can see in the video, I really enjoyed the CKF mod, and the Platforms Plus mod.  But, to really build well, I also think a good mod will need to add some sort of flier.  I used a Tapejara extensively for building.  Maybe a really cheap Scaffolding mod could be created so that you can get to high places without wasting a lot of materials.  CKF did have scaffolding, and it was cheaper than many of the other structures.

[Realist 504]

57 minutes ago, Captain Jack Shadow said:

I was reading the thread, "Boring", and this post to the OP caught my eye.

 

To an extent, this post is true, but also misses some important truths, and those truths highlight the disservice done to the PvE community.

First, and this must be understood...a casual look at the servers for ARK, show that roughly 50% of them are PvE.  So since we don't have specific numbers, we need to just understand that about half of those who bought the game, play PvE.  What that means is this...if you play PvP, you need to thank them for playing, because without them, you wouldn't have a game.  And, PvE players need to thank the PvP players also...because they too helped fund about half the game.  But PvE players in ARK will also know to thank Mod Makers.  Without them, the game is largely left wanting for the average PvE player.  The reason is simple...it isn't just the PvP players who take the PvE community for granted, it's also the Devs.  Unfortunately, the PvE community seems to be treated as inconvenient by the Devs.  Like the adopted child, made to sleep under the stairs.  I understand this because I have over 4300 hours in ARK, both on PvP and PvE.  It has given me a lot of perspective on what is good and bad about that game, in PvP and PvE, and which I see being repeated here in many ways.

The reality is this...PvE pays half the bills.  They deserve a full seat at the table.  They should not be treated as inconvenient by the Devs.  These people are paying half your bills.

The needs of both are different.  Some people games for the single player content.  Some for the PvP content.  Often, one or the other gets neglected.  I myself, love gaming in many forms.  I played and loved WWIIOL, for instance, which had zero single player content.  I also massively loved the original Mass Effect series, and only #3 had any online content, which was not PvP.  It was CO-OP.  I also enjoyed PvP, but especially PvE in ARK.  Here's why.  My ability to let my artistic side come out.  This video, at 4:16 shows just 4 of my builds on the PvE server I played on.
 

The question I have for PvE players who play Official is this...why?  Look at that video.  THIS is why you play PvE.  To build things you could never build on a PvP server.  And let's face it...because you are neglected by the Devs, the Mod community is your savior.  They add valuable game content to your game.  I would never play PvE on official.  All you have there is a lesser version of PvP.  Your builds will not come anywhere near what can be built on unofficial.

We also had a mod called Rare Sightings, that had very interesting Dinos spawn in occasionally, creating a race to find it.  Sometimes I won, sometimes somebody else beat me to it.  At times, there were 4 or 5 of us all flying around frantically trying to beat the others to the RS Dino.  Was a lot of fun.

To those PvE players like the OP of the other thread, who are bored right now, I can only say...watch the Mod page.  It's early, but I am pretty sure that Mods are coming.  When they do, find a good unofficial PvE server running those mods.

Good post man. Very true to the core as well. I have never been a pve player either but I always felt for them because they are a big part of the community.

i can’t tell if the devs are lazy or just don’t have the skill to make changes based on the mode. My guess if the lack of skill is the reason. They can’t even make normal changes that affect both. Imagine how much they would mess things up if they tried to do two different adjustments. 

They just aren’t a good dev company.

i have seen the long and drawn out pvp vs  pve arguments and it is really stupid. But hey not everyone in this world gets to be smart. 

[Jean Lafitte 451]

1 hour ago, Captain Jack Shadow said:

To those PvE players like the OP of the other thread, who are bored right now, I can only say...watch the Mod page.  It's early, but I am pretty sure that Mods are coming.  When they do, find a good unofficial PvE server running those mods.

I'd be happy to with one big exception.  Too many times in other games I've spent countless hours building my creations only to watch them all vanish with the flick of a switch when the server admin decided to stop paying the bills.

Therefore, with your explanation I have 2 choices.  I can either play on a private server with the persistent threat of it disappearing on a whim or, I can be WC's whipping boy and keep what I create until such time as they stop working on the game (at least 2 years according to them).

Of course, there is a third option of me starting my own server which would cost me more money out of pocket for a game which I'm still unsure was worth the discounted price I purchased it at and even then, I'd likely spend more time administering the game than playing it (something I did with a Space Engineers server I ran.)

Sounds like I'm between several rocks and a hard place.  But if it means I keep to keep playing the game without fear of an admin flaking out, I guess I'll just be the whipping boy.

Oh, did I forget to mention the admins who use the admin commands to give themselves advantages?  Sorry, almost for got that one.

*edit* and I also forgot the other pain in the ass of running a server.  It's when you do set up a pvp server and play as well.  If you do manage to 'git gud' and start kicking ass on your server you're definitely going to be branded a cheating admin even if you don't and soon, you'll be playing solo anyway.

Edited January 23, 2019 by Jean Lafitte

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

1 minute ago, Jean Lafitte said:

 

Oh, did I forget to mention the admins who use the admin commands to give themselves advantages?  Sorry, almost for got that one.

I would say the key is to find a stable community, like Booty Bay, which I play on for PvP.  Find one where more than one person is the server owner, if possible, so that if one stops caring, there are others to pick up the slack.  And if there are a lot of people on the server, and all willing to chip in on the server bill, it should remain stable.  Look for know stable communities that did not flake out during ARK, and moved to Atlas, or started an Atlas server to go along with their ARK servers.

I myself would make a post about this on the forums, asking if there are any PvE unofficial that fit this description.

Since I look for different things in PvE and PvP, I look for this in a good PvE server.
 

1. Building Mods
2. Building Mods
3. Building Mods
4. Stacking Mod, so I can build more, worry about spoilage less.
5. Slightly...slightly boosted rates.  Nothing higher than 3 to 5x Harvest.
6. S+ on ARK.  Some of it really allowed me to concentrate on my building, and less on the other tasks.  S+ Nanny, for instance.
7. Special mods that add game play, such as the Rare Sightings mod.
8. In Atlas, I would look for something that really boosts the whole trade and mercantile aspects of the game.  Will make PvE more fun, and give reasons to interact.
9. Armor mods
10. Weapons mods
11. Furnishing mods.  We had a few that added more interesting furnishings, some of which you can see in the video. Like the armor stand that looks like a person in Flak armor, and stores armor pieces, and the weapons racks, that look like an armory rack with pikes, guns, etc., and better book shelves, and the Advanced Rafts mod that added those ships, and many furnishings, including these...
    
    

In the top pic you can see different crates, barrels, canvas bags, and even pallets where the more you store in it, the bigger the stack.  For instance, one you can see on the right only takes wood, and it only has a small amount in it as only two logs are on the pallet.  If I kept adding wood to it, the stack gets to a full pyramid of wood logs.  There was on for most of the common resources...metal, metal ingots, fiber, thatch, hide, stone, crystal, flint, etc..  By the wood pallet, you see thatch, and then fiber, and in the distance, you can see the white crystals, metal and stone, and hide is on the left.

In the next pic, you see the desk, which is also one of the crafting stations for the mod.  It had about 4 or 5 of these....different style of desk, with different things on them depending on what was made inside it.

The lower pic shows some of the furnishings.  Tables, benches, chairs, candles, and a bar you can barely see on the right side. 


Red Rex is talking about eventually doing an Atlas Server.  If they do, it will be stable.  They had almost 3 years straight on the servers with no reset.  They did do a reset just before Extinction, which is why that video was made...to save some of the bases for posterity.  He asked permission before filming the bases.  Some people just didn't respond in time.

[Captain Jack Shadow 488]

Forgot to note that in PvE, you don't really need to worry about what an Admin gives himself.  In PvE, what anybody else has, means nothing to you.  PvP, yeah that's different.  Ask them to use the BOT that allows the admin commands that are used, to be instantly posted to a Discord channel.  We had that, though it wasn't made public.  The owner used to keep the Admins honest.  We could all see commands anybody else used...instantly.  That could have been made public, and if it were PvP, it would be best to do so...to keep the Admins honest.