I’ve always seen a magnitude of threads on the forums about people complaining about being hunted by PvPers. I barely play Arcane Odyssey much anymore, and hence don’t have much time to PvP due to my own life, nevertheless, I still have my own takes on such a matter.
I also see a large amount of threads exploring the ideas of PvP Toggles, which, if you’re coming to read this whilst supporting the idea of a PvP Toggle, I advise you to stop reading and reflect on how much of an imbecile you might indeed be.
I don’t think I’ve done an introduction on the forums before, or if I have, it was when I was really young. I own this “pretty small” clan called Neptune (which i’d be THRILLED if you’ve heard of), nonetheless, although I owned a large clan with tryouts & a decent amount of known US & EU PvPers, I’d still consider myself a “PvE Player”, or even a mix between the two categories, hence why I feel I’m one of the most suitable to make a statement on such a topic to invoke discussion.
I’m going to split this discussion into distinct chapters covering every single suitable topic to do with the matter individually, and yes, they will have crossovers with one another without a doubt. Enjoy the read. 
Hunting
Why Witch Hunting should be allowed - and why it's the best part of AO
Before talking about the matter, I don’t indulge in Witch Hunting (curse the clan guidelines grrr), yet, I have a very strong view that in some situations it’s not a bad idea.
Yes, we have the leeway of being able to witch hunt leaderboard players, which I am very thankful for, but, it’s not enough. There’s people in the community who are detestable, and clans in the community who are as well, and being unable to hunt them is disheartening.
I don’t like to call out clans often, but I know one Leaderboard Clan where a large portion of the members reset their reputation to neutral to avoid losing Infamy, this is none other than the Magic Council, this has caused outrage within big EU clans, as we’re unable to profit off of dealing with fodder.
Here’s a statement from a friend of mine;
Yes, I believe that’s a bit far of a statement, but it goes to show how maybe Witch-Hunting is needed to reduce people’s pent up rage against a clan, no?
I’m going to reiterate this a lot within this thread, but Clans are predominantly a PvP feature, so resetting your renown to try and dodge this is the equivalent of stripping down to your underwear and waving a massive white flag.
Killing Low-Levels prepares them for their life of being ganked at Ravenna
Call me an asshole, I kill low-levels who’re in clans for a free bit of Infamy. Yes, I do sit at sailors lodge with my friends and wait for a low level to attack me for an excuse to absolutely demolish them. Yes, I will sink low level ketches & caravels during cargo runs, take all their cargo and sail to where they spawn to kill them again.
Who’s to say this only happens to low levels though?
The majority of the casual playerbase are already Level 125, and it’s set in stone that more high levels are being ganked than low levels, no? Ganking a low level is like giving them foreshadowing to their future on the game, evidently, yes, Arcane Odyssey is fun and should be enjoyed by all, but some won’t enjoy it as much as others, if you aren’t able to adopt a healthier mindset towards being harassed by others (which yeah, it is a bit of a dick move, I won’t deny that), you’ll have a tough time wanting to play the game actively.
It’s never been about if you’re getting jumped, it’s about what you’re going to do if you are jumped, either pack it up and charge it, or complain about the state of the game, not that there’s a problem with either, it doesn’t unhunt you.
Do problems with Renown still exist?
I recall before the deckhand revamp, that a large amount of people complained that deckhands were locked behind a certain amount of renown, I was indefinitely one of those people, because whenever I got to a high renown, I’d be hunted.
Nevertheless, I feel as if there should be more closure to casual players about the consequences of gaining renown before they spend their time gaining any.
You’re able to PvE up to 1,000,000 Renown in AO due to rival farming, and once you’re over ~150,000, you instantly have a target on your head from EVERYONE, not just people trying to get to leaderboard, but leaderboard players themselves, as they gain significantly more from you.
This means that a casual player can spend their time grinding Merlot or Kai up to 100k, the hunt their rival a couple times, only to lose all their renown because they don’t play the game to PvP.
Yeah, PvE players might just want to get a cool title, but I think they should at least be advised of the consequences of having high renown, or even any renown whatsoever.
The Legendary Tale of Feinboy19 - A Lesson To Learn about RK'ing
Those of the forums may invoke the inquiry, who the actual fuck is feinboy19?
I honestly have no fucking clue, but I can tell you that everyone on Arcane Odyssey should adopt his mindset.
What is feinboy19’s mindset? I actually have no fucking clue still, but I think it’d go along the lines of “hunt everyone, always thug it out, and zone”.
This guy is a high rank in my clan, Neptune, and he will go out of his way to hunt his clanmates and drain their renown for fun, or his friends, do they get mad of this? Not really. This guy is the definition of an absolute menace on the Odyssey, and nobody gives a fuck, why? He’s harassing people who actually PvP, and they don’t have as much of a hissy fit when having their shit fucked by someone, unlike PvE Players, this guy has swapped to another clan slot and took 2k Infamy from Neptune for fun in a war, do I care? No, that shit is hilarious.
People who are relentlessly hunted and complain about it should learn something from feinboy19.
Clans & The Empires Update
I have a very moderate dislike for PvE Clans
I think people on this site have made it very clear to the ignorant that clans are predominantly a PvP feature, after all, the intended method of gaining Infamy is cold-hearted murder, is it not?
PvE clans take a leeway around this, and use Island Claiming for their own benefit, and players inside of them will then get mad when ganked by other clans, or on the other side of the leaf, clans made for friend groups will inquire on this site why they’ve been relentlessly farmed over and over due to them having no renown, the short answer? You’re an Infamy Pack in a clan.
This isn’t even exclusive to just big clans, if you have over 2,000 Infamy, you’re just as valuable a target as the forementioned players with 150,000 Renown in a previous chapter.
I’m bored of discussing this shit bro omds. 
Noble's Dark Sea Ganks had me cackling in my chair
Going into the Dark Sea was already a risk in case you died to an Atlantean and lost all your loot, right? So why complain when a clan does it to you?
I’ve never understood the Noble hate, whenever I’d see another Noble bait on reddit or the forums, I’d be hysterically laughing, they’ve brought something to Arcane Odyssey so extreme that it’s hilarious.
I’m not apart of the clan, so there’s not much to say, and yes, I know there are actual justifications for people disliking them, hence why I’m discussing only their Dark Sea Ganks.
Neptune was WINNING
I was going to make the title of this “Neptune was WINNING - Why Clan Beef creates Entertainment & why Clans are more than an in-game feature”, but that’s way too long.
This may be a self glaze, but in the period between June 24th 2023 and October 16th 2023, Neptune was that clan.
Other than being the largest and most active clan, albeit not the most skilled, for a large portion of last year, me, my friends, and my High Rank team took it upon us to absolutely fuck with anyone and everyone, I’m not proud of it, but I’d start beef with the largest quantity of people, and solve it with an argument in a VC, for those who’re were in servers such as “Hydro Headlines” last year, you may already be familiar with such activities.
Without further ado, here’s the Neptune highlights that I’m allowed to share (some aren’t appropriate for the forums or the participants don’t want the videos of them to be shared, don’t go out of your way to harass anyone in any of the videos here).
- https://youtu.be/7gHG25_0wpI?si=daN9ueYPZl-bCcho
- https://youtu.be/lbY_b_9QoGk?si=aM_aJkQO2XWBIQ22 (If you want the actual recruitment video, click here)
- https://youtu.be/GcAlMNEy3_s?si=ZJVmn0BazkwSUlBl
- https://youtu.be/cdZlwohX29Q?si=5B_LnRRzRVmmt4mk
- https://youtu.be/cW0sVqkHkMM?si=r7BA3ONRxS3ywPhf
- https://youtu.be/5A7GtLgDjCs?si=1s26uZHxIU1rCkmJ (I have much more videos of this type of shit in Neptune which I’m planning to make into one large video)
- https://youtu.be/xoOZ9Ivkw9w?si=R2b0v9WzA9K6Dek6
- https://youtu.be/nFCGKXqGUX4?si=rTGWF62BznGnSY-Y
- https://youtu.be/5lwsk7ga9tA?si=fnasHzMS5FU44AyL (We never got to finish this because of school starting )
- https://youtu.be/SbzqLK51Kbw?si=LvyvwigroufXakJH
I’m actually bringing back Neptune in preparation for the Nimbus Sea & Empires Update, if you’re interested, shoot me a DM (64arc on Discord).
Empires Update - The Last Hope For Clans
I briefly discussed the problems I presumed would arise with the new clan features in AO way before the game came out, when I was 14, for reference, i’m turning 17 in a couple months, and these issues proved not only to be true, but the downfall of Clanning.
You can watch the video here, but the main components of the video is that infamy is primarily quantity over quality, and it’s an issue I’m sure Vetex has plans to fix, but how it is right now is ruining clans.
I was able to get my clan of 110 members, ~50 of which I let skip tryouts for Infamy, to the No.1 Spot with no effort just because we could flood multiple servers at once and sit on islands to fish together and socialise, which yes, indefinitely brought my clan closer to each other, and raised VC activity by a longshot, averaging 20+ on a daily, which we hadn’t gotten close to since the Summer because of School starting up.
Alongside island building, I am hoping that this update adds new methods of gaining Infamy which promote more than gathering the masses to idle together.
To conclude, thank you for listening to my statements & takes on Arcane Odyssey, I don’t want this thread to be shut for any arguments taking place, so I’m not going to respond to anything hostile, and only commune with people being constructive & giving actual critiques on my opinions. 
I didn’t have much time to actually pour my heart and soul into this thread, so it’s a bit shorter than what I would’ve liked to produce.
