No, you didn't see this video pop-up before.

In my opinion while hourglass is more accessible, much more simple and definitely has better rewards. It fails on a big thing, being fun. Every fight feels the same to me, while Arena matches were always chaotic and took random turns. Another thing I loved about arena was the chest. It felt like a more condensed pvevp experience. I also wish hourglass had a time limit, since being matched against the same ship and crew size can make the fight last ages, this is issue is especially present in solo.

I really think if hourglass had the effect of arena where everyone has an equal amount of items would be great. I think it would make it more interesting too, and less miserable. When you die its painfull and you have to get all the resources again making it tedious. I have both pvp curses and i think it would benefit hourglass more.

Arena was by far better than Hourglass. Balanced supplies, Time limit, different ways to win, better music, more choas. And yeah it was more casual and I loved that, I used to boot it up to hop in and have fun or as a party game when friends were over Meanwhile current hourglass involves upwards of an hour of two ships dueling and waiting for the other to run out of supplies or a few lucky boards. Also i am biased cus one of my most anticipated curses is locked behind Hourglass grinding and they botched it at that *rip wanting a skeleton with a cowboy hat and overcoat* never gonna get a cosmetic update cus no one wants to grind for the curse

My main problem with hourglass is that it's not rewarding at all. You only get rep by winning or losing, basically making a 2 minute fight against a loss farmer, and 50 minute fight against a sweatlord give the same exact reward. You don't get rewarded for your performance, but for the skill gap. Arena was great because (on paper) you could just hop on, spend an hour playing like 3 games, and hop off, compared to hourglass where you can have 8 fights or just one, again being rewarded by just a win or loss. Also in hourglass you're not getting punished by just bailing out water and repairing when spammed with cannonballs, making it an awful experience for both parties. I just wish we'd get limited supplies, silver, and time limit, or at least a system that rewards you for FIGHTING, rather than just winning/losing.

Controversial opinion: I believe arena should come back as a hand to hand combat mode so you can learn how both navel and sword/gunplay works on either islands or sloops/galleon (There have been rumors of arena coming back but nothing is confirmed at least for the near future)

I like That I can Que hourglass solo. That’s major! Instead of being stuck with randoms or only able to play at times when my actual good ability players were online. Who do I trust? Me that’s who. If I lose who can I blame? Me that’s who.

That's weird. I got the strangest sense of deja vu when this video popped up. Strange, huh?

I think the reason, why arena was way less popular than HG is because it was completely disconnected from the adventure. You couldn't decide to "Play the PvP mode" mid Session, without leaving and creating a new Session so it was not really on most players minds to do that.

I wans't there for the launch of arena but the day season 8 lanuched was probably the best day I had in this game. When I was done with my arena commendations I never came back to it, but I believe that even after I get my golden curse I will continue to play HG cause it's that good despite of its many issues.

I remember sending my friend ashinyrays video on HG when it was first announced and being so exited, so thanks so much for making that memory all the more better. Keep it up 😁

I think part of the legacy of hourglass is the massive improvement in the average naval skill of the player base since it was introduced. I can't be the only one who noticed this change? It's way more often now that you run into crews in Adventure who are good or at least decent at naval combat. Even though I was already a Triumphant Sea Dog from Arena, hourglass helped me improve my naval combat massively in a way Arena never did. That said, Arena was just more fun. HG is formulaic and while I enjoy it, it gets monotonous. I miss the multi-ship battle chaos of Arena.

from someone who played Arean and has the skeleton curse sea of Thieves combat so so sweaty I don't know any other way to do it but man if it was just kicked down one notch, I would enjoy it far more

I love your content so much, can you make a video on the price and location of all loot in the game.

Hourglass is easier to understand but it's so much more refined and compedative and, in turn, repeditive. got bored of it after sinking like 20 ships and never touches it since (also because cheaters make it horrible, when i think of hourglass, i think of cheaters). I love sandbox and sea of thieves is a sandbox. Arena supported this sandbox mode more than hourglass. I could play arena forever and never get bored because of how many ways you can play or not play in it. I've fished up an ashen key one time in arena and gave it away to crews just for fun once. Arena's cosmetics were cool though hourglass's were better. That's probably due to the fact that hourglass is a newer gamemode. Ultimately, both of them are good, but saying that either one is a replacement for each other is saying football is a replacement for baseball. They are two different completely different games and people will enjoy both games differently. That's why I think it was unfair for arena to leave. Though i do understand how it's easier to keep hourglass at it's base state throughour each update compared to arena, and that was why it was removed. But i would be lying to say that I didn't leave sea of thieves because of the removal of arena. Many of my other close friends left sot because of arena too. How i wish to bring back the old times. I have to play blazing sails to satify my thirst for arena now. It's just not the same.

god I miss so much the slurs in arena lobby, it was so stupid and funny but i miss so much more the voice chat with good people, I remember one day only one player was left before the game starts so the whole lobby was playing instruments waiting for the last players to start the match

idk i just really do not find hourglass that fun at all, you either get matched against a new player or you get matched against someone with 10k hours. this wasnt so much a problem with arena because there were other ships to target and other ways to win. i really just wish they had updated arena, they knew it wasn't a strong point of the game and decided to just be gone with it instead of trying to make the gamemode more enticing to newer players..

arena could be a community weekend event, but linked with HG progression, like a mix of both

Flameheart would start attacking the outposts as a new world event, after the guardians have failed to protect the outposts, their last stand takes place on port merrick... The Guardians and Inhabitants fought hard but Port Merrick burned like all the other outposts. Now there is only Reaper's Hideout left for survivors to sell their loot (Flameheart's Castle at this point) After accumulating a certain amount Warsmith Wanda is able to invent a new type of phantom cannonball, a special type of fire which can burn even on water.. The Seas are burning now and Flameheart's victory is inevitable.

New rarest item video when? :) loved those videos from you

I do feel like something that could make hourglass less painful to do is have set amount of resources for each match. I would like to see that be added to Hourglass. which would make each fight fair in resource wise.

Arena was fun, hourglass is boring.

I have déjà-vu seeing the notification for this video… i wonder why 🧐

Arena>hourglass. Hourglass is the same thing over and over. Circle or parallel is as different as it gets. Arena involved everything great about SoT in a small 15 minute match. Multi ship fights, chest digging, stealing loot right up until the turn in. I think arena could have been far more successful if they had a bigger variety of cosmetics which could have been cycled every few months (one month flaming jackal, the next azure scout). Just keep them on rotation adding a couple of extra pieces to each set with each rotation. Arena was also a more accessible place to learn pvp.

You completely forgot a pretty major pvp update. Arena 2: A Hunter's Cry

The colored row boats 😮

Both have their fair shares but standing right now, if Rare can't stop the cheating in Hourglass, I'm definitely pointing back towards Arena. Not like we can go back since Demarco's corpse is STILL on Sea Dog's Rest. (Wonder if that's one of the Season 13 temple locations?)

Lord, I wish they'd being back Arena. Let me back in the Sea Dogs Tavern!!!!

Arena completely dumps on hg and had MUCH less of a hacker issue. Was more fun and the chaos in a controlled environment plus the system of arena as a whole was just better.

Sea of thieves is one of the only games that if it had a battle royal mode I would actually play. I normally hate royal modes like warzone but if sea of thieve had a mode that was a last ship standing kind of thing it would be amazing, where when ever a ship sank the zone got smaller I would absolutely love that and it would be the best royal on the market in my opinion.

I can't wait for this game to come to PS5 I've played this on Xbox series X an love it I had abounch of chest on my sloop an got sunk and for the first times I didn't get mad it was actually fun.

To be fair I think the death of tdms killed off an interesting piece of pvp which was def an addition to arena in general

Expanded ship damage should be part of the conversation, but I understand why you’d separate them.

Hourglass and arena could’ve co-existed. And imo arena beats hourglass every time

Well unfortunately one of them is a *little* hard to play these days.

Still waiting for PvP system that just allows you to play adventure normally. Hourglass has defense mode, but who wants to play like that?

My arena experience: cash in silver while everyone fights, win first place

They should repurpose the Arena tavern system for Athena and the reaper's lair, they're massive areas and reserved for players experienced with PvP, so it's pretty sad to only see them used for 1 curse

I wish they added 2v2 and ffa mode to hourglass. What made arena so special was the community around it, hourglass just can't match up to what the NAL, SOC or even what tdms were back then. The 1v1 nature of the mode has simplified it a ton, which allows for deeper mastery of the mode, but is also very restrictive in how it can be played and what can be done with it. The rewards for both modes are amazing, although i think the "balancing" around the hg modes is dogshit. The first 200 levels you get something, then you get to torture yourself for 800 more levels just to get the same curse but golden, without a special emote or title or anything. And the lack of updates and new rewards for hg in general is pathetic. The same happened to arena, a lack of care and update lead to it getting stale and less and less enjoyable, leading to it's shutdown. Same thing is happening to hg rn, except it won't be shut down as it's on regular servers, which also makes normal adventure feel a lot more dead. One hourglass fight already takes up two server slots after all.

2:11 did he just say 2091 or is that just me

Its a banger when it's reupload (Idk the reason why)

2:22 that is not true, Hourglass matchmaking is based on ship size, the only exception is solo sloop

Wow

I wouldnt mind having both Arena and hourglass pvp. And i think it would benefit both modes as having 2 modes would spread the hardcore, and kind of sweaty, players across 2 modes making both less sweaty and more acceseble for less skilled players over all.

RIP Arena

My hot take is that Hourglass is better than Arena hands-down, all of the bad experiences I've had in hourglass are direct consequences of Arena's former existence. Whether that be "competitive" players sweating enough to fill an ocean while refusing to engage in any shenanigans outside of schoolyard trash-talk, or TDMers spam boarding and screaming slurs when they see a sword or a blunderbomb. The competitive scene can be traced back to Arena, and taking this game that seriously is what kills all of the fun, especially in PvP. Personally I have only encountered suspected cheaters 3 times in hourglass, and blatant cheaters twice. Granted, I'm only level 145, but I think the majority of cheat reports are coming from inexperienced players being matched with sweats who know all the movement tech, and "competitive" players coming across the same 12 hackers with 4,000 alt accounts. One thing that would be a massive boon to hourglass is multi-ship battles. If they allow you to dive for your guild, this could theoretically be feasible.

I love hourglass its so fun when you find your playstyle the rewards are amazing and I love the option to choose a side even tho it doesnt make any diference. And skelly curse is just the best think ever

Hourglass has titles for lvl 10.000?! :O Anyone knows what they are?

leesgooooooo

As an hourglass player with Almost 800hours and both curses Im telling you Arena is by FAR way better, I hate the stupid hourglass and i want to rip that stupid thing off my quest table :)

arena.

REVIVE THE ARENA!!!!!

Its a shame to see HG heading down a path similar to Arena. The rewards are just too good! (PLEASE ADD MORE PLEASE RARE PLEASE) I cant imagine the skeleton or ghost curses being made unobtainable in the event that HG is removed for any reason. I hope HG is given some love from Rare sooner than later, and changes are made to make it more appealing to casuals.

For be honest i never play in arena mod and nowi regret this because arena was probably more exiting and i want know the tension can feel when you say to your crew "ok red team have the chest they can become first the we had to sunken them but green team follow us " arena can create a lot of different situations who really created real sensation and tension. In HG it was the same situation and is so boring, tension was create only when you fight cheater and when you sunken enemy ship you are not satisfied. i'm lv 110 in servant of the flame and can say HG are not funny (sorry for my bad English i'm French but i hope you can understand my message)

Can't say Hourglass has matchmaking, It's basically none existent players need to think this way. It's a lot healthier.

No more arena. It literally takes the fun out of open world pirate attacks.

I fucking despised arena, it had so many flaws, but still, with all it’s many issues, arena was far better then this hourglass bs, can’t wait for Rare to remove hourglass aswell and blame the players again instead of addressing and fixing all the issues.

Arena, because I loved the NAL/SoC community. For a game that loves to boasts about ''communities'', well they outright killed one which I and many players loved...

A shrinking ring would help hourglass also a auto queue would be great also. It's just a more streamlined experience that way.

Sorry, but I couldn't disagree more. Literally everyone I play with LOATHES HG. I, myself have played it a TON (reaching level 190 atm for Guardians and 100 for Servants). I have not enjoyed a single second of this slog. It's only through sheer stubbornness and extreme patience that I've managed to hold out so far. And it's not as if I haven't got wins, I've won a decent amount of my battles, but the core mechanics of it are just sooooo boring and tedious that most of the time I frankly cannot be bothered. Nowadays I only play during Gold & Glory events with double exp, something I know many others are also doing. Again, everyone I know who experienced Arena would FAR rather have Arena than HG. Arena was legitimately fun. There were multiple ways to earn points, meaning you could approach things differently each game. It was easy to secure at least some points, which felt rewarding. Even if you didn't get 1st place, you could still place in the top 3. The #1 issue most had with Arena at the time was that it just took FAR too long to get into a game. If Rare had fixed this core issue early on, then I think Arena would have had much greater success. Hourglass only really appeals to the sweatiest of sweats at this point, and it's going to get oh so much worse once the new tools/mechanics are introduced over the course of the next few seasons (hookshots, etc, will make this mode a nightmare).

Hourglass is better than area overall better for pvp but hourglass can still be improved or changed

Hourglass is groundhog day.... Same shit over and over and over and over again. No diversity. Just 1 vs 1 over and over. Occasionally you get the 3rd party to spice it up but I mean.... thats like finding the shrouded ghost nowadays. Plus the supply situation is not exactly fair. Someone can farm curse cannonballs or wraith cannonballs while you have neither. Arena on the other hand, I mean it was THE BEST WAY TO LEARN PVP and it was fun AF! Waaaaay more dynamic. It more accurately represents the chaos that can arise when getting into PVP in adventure mode. Multi-ship battling with loot integrated, the chest(s). People fighting over loot, tucking the sell to steal the chest turn in, naval to sink the leader, TDM opportunities. Plus, Players had the same supplies, Coconuts and cannons so all engagements were fair in Arena, it just came down to skill and experience behind the helm. Which meant you learned what to do and more importantly what NOT to do much faster. In Arena the cosmetic rewards actually meant something. When you see someone with LSD or TSD it meant that player actually WON GAMES!!! Whereas with the Hourglass system, I mean you see loss farmers all the time. Those curses do NOT reflect how good someone is. It just means they poured hours and hours of time into the game. Wasted cosmetics if you ask me. Would be waaaaay better if you only got rep in Hourglass for winning games, but Rare wont do that because too many people whine and complain that they wont actually ever achieve the curses. Like everyone should be entitled to them or something, IDK. Also, new players hate the feeling of losing time and loot in this game. It is the root cause of complaints and cause of that sour feeling when you sink and lose your loot, supplies and the time took to acquire them. Hourglass still has this problem. However in Arena, you didn't have that. Games are 20 mins, you can sink multiple times in a match and still clutch it up at the end by sinking the ship in 1st position. So worst case scenario, you just play another game and go again, no time taken to get supplies, just join the next lobby. That sour feeling when you sink, literally never existed in Arena. Plus they removed the voice chat in Arena, so all the people saying, 'Arena was Toxic' clearly don't know what they're talking about. Conclusion: Arena was far superior and enjoyable as a game mode and a way better place to practice PVP and improve at a much quicker rate. Arena NEVER once felt like a grind. It was a fun game mode in its entirety. RIP Arena, you are missed.

Hourglass is NOT superior in gameplay, watch any comp/ tryhard PvP hourglass player. It's 99% Left orbitals on sloops. Right Orbital on Galleons until both are full demasted then it becomes the 2/2 Meta. (Flex/Bilge bottom deck, helm/cannon top edck) it's rinse and repeat. Arena had variety and ACTUAL strategy for helm. Of course none ive said above matters if your bad at PvP from the get go which is 99% of the playerbase who are clueless asf either way.

I honestly feel like the anniversary update was a prime time for SoT in terms of good pvp and the closest we ever had to a balanced combat system. Sword was deadly with it's lockdown ability against good Double gun players and good DG players could execute single targets quickly with good movements and inputs, everything felt pretty good with inputs and was balanced. I don't currently play anymore so I can't speak to the current state but coming from someone who played since launch and played very competitively with thousands of hours sunk into this game that's my overall opinion. Haven't played like the last 2-3 years so again not sure how things are now. Arena 1.0 with the combat at that time was just pure magic. The devs didn't know how good they had their combat system, they did something magical aside from poor hit reg XD. Then it got ruined :(. I think my most favorite and most memorable pvp updates are anniversary update, shrouded spoils, and also fort of the damned in the very beginning. Nothing else ever hit me that hard tbh not even the hourglass/emissary update.

Who cares. It's not something that I'd like to admit, because overall I had a great time in HG, but it will be killed soon, just like Arena. It's already killed, at this point we are just waiting for Rare to remove its corpse

As a Golden Skeleton; I have to say HG has its flaws; but is extremely exhilarating when one gets a good crew for a few days/weeks/months

Don't understand me wrong, but I wish I were able to play the arena instead of this hot piece of shit we got now. 1 singular match gives you shit of a progression and it can go 4hours streigh or more if you happen to encounter pussy rats who wait for invasion near to islands and then procide to circle this island with map in opened to always be on the opposite side of an island until you say fuck this and bail out. Other possibility is to encounter tons of cheaters as easy anti shit does nothi g a d can e turned off as most of game devs forgets to ad block to entering game with EAC not running and stopping connection as it is turned off. Give 1 of 3 changes to nowaday pvp, and it may work. Give it time limit of some sort, with just timer. Give it scores for hitting and a cap on which you just win. Or even give it fortnite zone closing if you can't work out anything better. Also, if matches were sti stay infinite, give the reward time scalling. Even if you must give auto ship scatter if someone is just running away. Force people to shoot. If they stay too long, too far away sink the ship that started running. Something, just something to make these matches time to reward efficient. Thank you for rwading my TEDtalk

Arena was WAY better than HG. It has more depth and in its day the PvP in sot felt way better with wallbang, quickswap and the old hitmarker and the movement being way less laggy and stuttery. Being able to join Arena from the main menu in a few clicks was also way better than having to sit for like 5 mins clicking stuff to even start queuing. Arena was also the perfect place to TDM because it had a points system. also how can you call the gameplay of HG better because it is simple??? SoT is not a simple game and HG is just two boats circling until someone gets unlucky. You could use Arena for way more and the cosmetics from HG could have easily been added by other ways. The main reason i dislike HG is because it takes up server slots with ships diving. The main reason i Love Arena is because its diverse and takes much longer to get stale with it being a proper game mode and having much more stuff to do and its less repetitive.

I haven't found more than 4 cheaters in HG, and I have 400+ levels. Meanwhile, when I tried Arena, took 10 minutes to find a match, had 280ms, and got matched against a cheating crew. Hourglass is quick, has less of cheating problems (at least on the servers I play) and is always on your servers. Arena was a dead gamemode so it didn't end up mattering for anyone besides few PvP players from NA or EU