What Are the Modes & Server Customisation Options in V Rising?

V Rising is a single-player, multiplayer, co-op, PvP, PvE, Team PvP... basically, there are a lot of different ways you and your blood-sucking friends can play this game. So, let's go a little over all of the modes, and then we'll talk about server customisation and options.

First and foremost, PvE, seeing as all of the playable options for V Rising include a form of PvE. In the game, you'll find numerous NPCs and bosses to fight against, and you'll be able to team up with up to nine other vampires (friends) to build an almighty castle and take over the world. This mode is (naturally) available on every other mode.

Meanwhile, in PvP, you'll need to play against other players, taking apart their castles, stealing their kills, and taking their items. PvP can be played in clans as well, as you'll be able to participate in 1–10 player battles with clans. You can explore the PvP mode with: full loot PvP, in which you'll be able to loot everything from someone you killed; Duo PvP, where you and another vampire will be able to jump into the world and tackle 2v2 battles; and the normal PvP, which, honestly, despite researching it, I still have no idea what the difference is.

Although I — and perhaps most importantly, V Rising — don't recommend tackling any PvP mode solo, there really isn't anything stopping you from jumping into a server and trying to survive on your own. 

You'll also be able to experience the game alone by hosting a private game and enabling the "Only Solo Play" option, which won't allow anyone to enter your private game and will allow you to become a lone vampire in this world. Alternatively, you can host the server and play with numerous players by inviting them, setting up either a PvP or PvE world, though I haven't tested that just yet.

Now that we know all of the available modes, let's talk about server options. As mentioned, you can host a private server to play on your own or with friends, join a server via Online Play, or host a server by selecting the Host Dedicated server. 

By selecting Online Play you'll join an online server hosted by other players. I noticed that finding numerous PvE servers proved to be a daunting task, as most are actually centred around PvP or Full Loot PvP, with Duo PvP being the one with the least amount of servers in the PvP spectrum.

Moving onto Host Dedicated Server, you'll have two options: you can either host a dedicated server on your own or rent one. Selecting Host Dedicated Server will lead you to a GitHub page explaining how to set up your own. This, much like Minecraft server hosting, can be a bit complex for beginners. 

Meanwhile, selecting Rent a Server will lead you to another website that will host the server for you and your vampire friends for a fee. This way, you and your buddies can host your very own server that will be available 24/7 to progress through, which allows you to select between 10–1,000 players. The standard you'll probably need, hosting 10 players for 30 days, will cost you $14.00 per month. This number goes lower or higher depending on whether you want to host more players and how many days you want to pay in advance. Just for fun, I selected 1,000 players and paid one year in advance, which would cost $5,353.33 a year, or $550.00 a month. Although I am not currently hosting a server, if I do, I will update how to modify the settings to this section; though as of right now, I can only assume it works the same way as Minecraft hosting, in which the host gives you a file to modify that goes straight in the server and is updated live.

Now, if you thought that was lengthy, we move on to the Private Game option, which will open a basic menu of customisation options. One of the downsides Private Game has in comparison to hosting is that your friends won't be able to play while you’re offline.

With that out of the way, however, V Rising's Private Game offers a phenomenal amount of customisation. You'll be able to choose between:

• PvP or PvE
• Clan size (1–10)
• Password for others to join
• Solo Play Only
• Max Concurrent Players (1–60)

Once you've selected that, you have the option to either quick start your Private Game, or jump into Advanced Game Settings, which will unlock a staggering amount of customisation options. Before jumping into the specifics, V Rising will let you customise plenty of things, ranging from material acquisition, damage dealt, damage taken, castle deterioration rate, and even day and daytime length. For the specific list, in V Rising you’ll be able to change the settings for (brace yourselves):

• Allow Global Chat: On/Off
• Server Time Zone:
• Local System Time
• UTC
• PST (Pacific Standard Time, UTC -8)
• EST (Eastern Standard Time, UTC -5)
• CET (Central European Time, UTC +1)
• CST (China Standard Time, UTC +8)
• Permission to Loot Dead Players:
• Anyone
• Clan Members
• Only Self
• Soul Shard Amount:
• Unique
• Plentiful
• Garlic Strength Multiplier: 0–5
• Silver Strength Multiplier: 0–5
• Sun Strength Multiplier: 0–5
• Blood-Bound Items: On/Off
• Teleport Bound Items: On/Off
• Inventory Stacks Multiplier: 0.25–5
• Loot Multiplier: 0.25–5
• Servant Hunt Multiplier: 0.25–5
• Material Yield Multiplier: 0.25–5
• Blood Essence Multiplier: 0.25–5
• Decay Rate Multiplier: 0–5
• Blood Essence Drain Rate: 0.1–5
• Castle Heart Limitation: 1–5
• Minimum Distance Between Castles: 1–10
• Territory Tile Limit (Castle Heart Level 1): 9–250
• Territory Tile Limit (Castle Heart Level 2): 9–250
• Territory Tile Limit (Castle Heart Level 3): 9–250
• Territory Tile Limit (Castle Heart Level 4): 9–250
• Servant Limit (Castle Heart Level 1): 1–20
• Servant Limit (Castle Heart Level 2): 1–20
• Servant Limit (Castle Heart Level 3): 1–20
• Servant Limit (Castle Heart Level 4): 1–20
• Vermin Nest Limitation: 1–20
• Tomb Limitation: 1–20
• Lockbox Limitation: 1–20
• Build Cost Multiplier: 0–10
• Crafting Cost Multiplier: 0–10
• Crafting Rate: 0.1–10
• Refinement Cost Multiplier: 0.1–10
• Refinement Rate: 0.1–10
• Servant Convert Rate: 0.1–20
• Dismantle Resource Multiplier: 0–1
• Day Length:
• Short (600s)
• Medium (1080s)
• Long (2160s)
• Very Long (3600s)
• Day Time Length
• Swedish Winter
• Short
• Medium
• Long
• Swedish Summer
• [Vampire] Health Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Vampire] Physical Power Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Vampire] Spell Power Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Vampire] Resource Power Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Vampire] Damage Received Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Vampire] Blood Drain Rate: 0–5
• [Equipment] Durability Loss Multiplier: 0–5
• [Equipment] Health Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Equipment] Resource Yield Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Equipment] Physical Power Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Equipment] Spell Power Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Standard Unit] Health Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [Standard Unit] Damage Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [V Blood Unit] Health Multiplier: 0.1–5
• [V Blood Unit] Damage Multiplier: 0.1–5
• Starting Equipment:
• None
• Gear Level 30 - Copper Equipment
• Gear Level 50 - Iron Equipment
• Gear Level 70 - Dark Silver Equipment
• Gear Level 80 - Sanguine Equipment
• Starting Resources:
• None
• Gear Level 30 Supplies
• Gear Level 50 Supplies
• Gear Level 70 Supplies

Aside from all of that, you can modify the level of each of the 37 different bosses in the game, along with whether you want to start the game with their stuff unlocked. You can also start the game with the journal unlocked throughout all of the 19 missions to start with all crafting recipes, and you can unlock research tiers from Tier 1 to Tier 3.

It is safe to say that, once you've tinkered with this, V Rising will have plenty of customisable difficulties that are sure to please just about anybody. No two rounds should feel the same once you've changed the settings!

Now that you're an expert, which type of server will you try? When I finally get the opportunity to play V Rising with my wife, I'll be more than thrilled to up the difficulty until every foe is doing quintuple damage and see how far we get! These customisation options will spice up our playthroughs, and I can see myself playing V Rising for hours to come once my wife and I can jump into a world together.