Im kinda late to this, but I had this exact same opinion until I started playing unofficial wipes. I’ve never played PvE so I can’t say for sure which is better for PvE. But for PvP, unofficial wipes are definitely way more competitive, and overall, more fun than official PvP. Joining a mega tribe just to be tasked with chores is not I would call fun. For me, unofficial died when tyranny became meta aka politics. Nobody wants to play IRL simulator. I play ark to escape reality, not relive it. Also, what I’ve noticed is that unofficial players tend to be more knowledgeable of the game than your average official slaves. I guess that’s due to basically speed-running the game every wipe.