I used to hold the belief the PvP system wasn’t as unbalanced as it seems, because different builds all had their strengths and weaknesses, i.e. one build that demolishes one other will be similarly countered by another build, even if the builds themselves aren’t inherently balanced nor equal. Some builds were of course still better than others, but that could be fixed.
But man has this announcement made clear that vetex does not give a flying fuck about creating a fair experience. Let’s make one thing clear:
- PvP combat is a VITAL part of this game. I would love it if it wasn’t, but quite frankly, it has provided and will provide far more engagement and replayability than PvE content ever will.
I mean, really, what PvE content is there? Dark Sea was a great addition, but to those who have gone on enough expeditions, it has become a slog that yields no differing rewards to ones that they have already gotten a million times. Fishing needs no explanation - as boring as it is, even to those who do engage in it and grind it, what rewards are they getting out of it? Sunken items are commonplace now among dedicated players. Ship farming holds basically no reason. Levelling Deckhands was somewhat fun, but not repeatable - just like the story. Rival farming, Treasure Charts, Diving, and Farming bosses, just like the Dark Sea, are done mostly only for better gear.
Actually, the main purposes of all the PvE content mentioned above are for better gear. But what is pretty much the only use for this better gear? The answer is PvP. All of the PvE aspects are innately for PvP purposes.
The in-place PvP systems don’t make this any better, either. The hunting and clan infamy sytem are just horrible to deal with, with the neglected and unbalanced PvP system that Vetex doesn’t want to focus on.
To conclude, PvE aspects just simply lack the replayability that PvP innately has. Even the future planned content apart from world-events (such as legendary and ghost ships) seem like systems similar to Deckhands or the Story that you play through once then lose interest in. Without a revamp, a revolutionary new system in a future update, or simply less of a focus on PvP systems, PvP will remain the core reason a large majority of this community repeatedly play this game.
The fact that vetex doesn’t recognize this is astounding to me. The reason this game revolves around PvP is his fault. If he doesn’t like it, then please put in the work to change that, rather than refusing the demands of the people that play the game based around systems you created.
Toxicity is a real problem too, yes. I hold no support for the people who engage in literal harassment. But the players he mentions are only but a small yet loud minority who echo the thoughts of the wider community.
In the end, this isn’t about the changes of the Port Mistral update - it has been fixed for the most part, and the state balancing is just about the same as it was before, from what I’ve seen. This is about our dev, Vetex, and his mentality about problems like this. I know this entire game series was a passion project, but did he really expect the community to follow him every step of the way? Did he really not expect problems like this to arise? To the point to where he starts demonizing his own community and his response to criticism is “if you don’t like it, then leave” ?
My concluding statement is this: Please fix your game.
and to the toxic PvE players, a big 
from me. The statement “if you don’t like it, then leave” applies just as much to you.
