Reapers Chest Rant

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    I cannot say enough bad things about the beam and map icon for the Reapers Chest.

    First it is immersion and lore breaking, totally out of any RP context and "cow behind" ugly. Any attempt to justify it using lore, for example Reapers are evil, is turtle hockey because it is out of context!

    Second, it is the only loot in the game being singled out in this fashion. Even the new chests that are much more valuable are not.

    Third it is totally ruining a player made content, i.e. stealing chests. It is un-stealthy to the max. It is so fun and cool that we can steal the new chests and that they are worth stealing, people are having a blast with this. Videos of people in rowboats sneaking off with them and having fun. But lets face it, unless your victim is brain dead you cannot sneak around with a Reapers chest.

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  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    Reaper chests are just a mini-game of hot tater it's not super interesting long term but it doesn't need to be, it sets up a scenario if people wanna play into it

    as far as visually goes I don't have an issue with people being able to turn off reaper signals and world event visuals. I think that would be a qol feature for people to choose what is right for themselves.

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    @wolfmanbush It was a mini game, now the mini game is with rowboats and reapers is left out of the game. As far as hot potato, I have not noticed one bit of difference in being chased. People who chase, already knew how to, people who don't, don't, in fact I think the icon and beam might scare them off even more.

  • PithyRumble
    Sailor
    Insider

    Not a fan of moving ribbons.

    That being said. For the risk v reward mechanic it's fine.

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    @pithyrumble So then shouldn't the new chest that are worth even more have it as well?

  • PithyRumble
    Sailor
    Insider

    @foambreaker

    Not yet since it's the new hotness. And unless they start marking other loot besides Reaper chests and keys it's a mechanic they want to separate. Reapers have a very low detriment to the player. Markings are a way to k33p that detriment. There's a reason I don't have reaper emissary items lol.

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @foambreaker said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    @wolfmanbush It was a mini game, now the mini game is with rowboats and reapers is left out of the game. As far as hot potato, I have not noticed one bit of difference in being chased. People who chase, already knew how to, people who don't, don't, in fact I think the icon and beam might scare them off even more.

    It creates a few new encounters in some scenarios

    the environment benefits from a lot of random opportunities and scenarios that lead to interesting encounters

    I get that people value the quality of the scenery in the game (I do as well) but this really didn't change much in a negative way

    The new commendation for 30 is incentive to move some around, which is what people have been doing.

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    @wolfmanbush But no one has answered why this one piece of loot has to be singled out for the Big Ugly?

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @foambreaker said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    @wolfmanbush But no one has answered why this one piece of loot has to be singled out for the Big Ugly?

    I did but you don't like the answer lol

    it's just a thing to create engagement/encounter/combat

    not really different than anything else in the game. It's risk/reward, it brings attention to something, it has some value.

    The goal of content is to add and add options that then create random scenarios between random pirates. This is just one of those things.

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    @wolfmanbush said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    @foambreaker said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    @wolfmanbush But no one has answered why this one piece of loot has to be singled out for the Big Ugly?

    I did but you don't like the answer lol

    it's just a thing to create engagement/encounter/combat

    not really different than anything else in the game. It's risk/reward, it brings attention to something, it has some value.

    The goal of content is to add and add options that then create random scenarios between random pirates. This is just one of those things.

    I hear what you are saying, it is supposed to create activity, even though now it is preventing activity. I'm not trying to be difficult.

    But it doesn't answer my question.

    If that is so great then why isn't it on all the valuable chests?
    Why is this one chest so special? Out of all the loot in the game, why this one chest has this and no other?

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @foambreaker said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    @wolfmanbush said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    @foambreaker said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    @wolfmanbush But no one has answered why this one piece of loot has to be singled out for the Big Ugly?

    I did but you don't like the answer lol

    it's just a thing to create engagement/encounter/combat

    not really different than anything else in the game. It's risk/reward, it brings attention to something, it has some value.

    The goal of content is to add and add options that then create random scenarios between random pirates. This is just one of those things.

    I hear what you are saying, it is supposed to create activity, even though now it is preventing activity. I'm not trying to be difficult.

    But it doesn't answer my question.

    If that is so great then why isn't it on all the valuable chests?
    Why is this one chest so special? Out of all the loot in the game, why this one chest has this and no other?

    Reaper chests are a quick pick up and a quick delivery which is why the mark/beam is appropriate

    world events are marked which is their risk

    voyages often require people to remain parked for a while which is their risk

    A reaper chest spawns randomly but it can spawn quite close to reapers, there is little to no risk for a reaper chest without it being marked. Balanced risk/reward strengthens the game because it creates unique scenarios/encounters and unique scenarios/encounters help with longevity

    It's not required to be the marked chest but that's what it is and it's designed in a way that makes sense in a risk/reward game

  • GraveSilence272
    Marauder

    @pithyrumble said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    @foambreaker

    Reapers have a very low detriment to the player.

    No they don't. Reaper is high-risk/low-reward, with potentially high payouts. It isn't consistent though - Reaper doesn't have a high monetary value for time.

    Compare that to Merchant lost-shipments + traderoutes: low-risk/high-reward, with guaranteed high payout. Also has consistent returns, so you know "if I play for X hours, I will get Y gold" which is impossible for PvP main Reaper.

  • KlutchxKay
    Legend
    Insider

    @foambreaker Because not all valuable chests are meant to have the mechanic. The chest of fortune doesn’t because they want it to be athena-steal-esque. Putting a beacon on it would make it much harder to steal or sell. The reapers chests are the flipside approach, a loot item worth a pretty penny but with a twist. Just because you don’t like it doesn’t mean it’s a bad fit for the game. It’s a fun mechanic on a gimmicky loot item which you have the choice to engage with or not.

    It’s literally just so it’s different. It’s not a rule. You don’t need to approach it in black and white like everything has to be the same

  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    Yeah miss the days to steal those things and sail off on a rowboat as they chased a ship thinking it was still on board, not knowing to check the map

    But only reason I understand they added the beam was because, nobody was collecting them enough or players had hard time reading the ship map and knowing about them.

    You know…people who need a handicap to locate high value treasures. Next will be Athena chest and FoF chests with the beams.

    Everything will have a beam. Players will have markers

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    @burnbacon said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    Yeah miss the days to steal those things and sail off on a rowboat as they chased a ship thinking it was still on board, not knowing to check the map

    But only reason I understand they added the beam was because, nobody was collecting them enough or players had hard time reading the ship map and knowing about them.

    You know…people who need a handicap to locate high value treasures. Next will be Athena chest and FoF chests with the beams.

    Everything will have a beam. Players will have markers

    I'd rather they remove them then add them to the others, the beam is "unfun" and ugly.

    But it should be consistent, as it is now, IMHO, it is some cheesy punishment for those "toxic PvPers".

  • Sally Kraken
    Marauder

    It strikes me as strange that reapers chests get these huge beams - when really they arent that important and most players simply ignore them. They didnt even give them a full weapon set unlock....and chose the two weapons that many die hard pvp players never touch, ie sword and pistol. At the very least they could have let them unlock all the weapons and then you would see people express an interest in them.

    Even so, they still spawn miles away from anywhere, often outside the map boundaries - meaning you have to go far out of your way to get them and sometimes they just despawn as you are doing that. The rewards for the red ones are still terrible. There are many ways they could make them an interesting prize to fight for and they chose none of them.

  • Capn Cayde
    Master
    Insider

    My friend has had the same ugly sky beams complaint since they were introduced.

    I appreciate that a few other tracked map icons have been introduced, like the select fort keys and reapers bounty chest, though it is odd that nothing else has been sky beamed or something similar.

    I remember the fun of the chase/escape when the reapers chest were first introduced, but I've seen them just sit at times now. They definitely aren't the hot commodity they once were, but I think that they won't be changed at this point either.

  • TheGrimPreacher
    Captain
    Insider

    The whole point of the Reaper's Bones trading company is conflict. There's no voyages to purchase. The primary treasures for the group are broken emissary flags that you acquire through sinking other ships, and the Reaper's Chests/Bounties. The entire focus for the group is supposed to be on fighting to acquire and then fighting to keep whatever treasures you can. The beams of light that persist while you're moving the chest are SUPPOSED to let everyone know where it is all times and who's got it so that it encourages conflict and combat and to the victor go the spoils. No other treasure exists SOLELY in the game to encourage combat, so no other treasure in the game gives off the beam of light. It's a simple concept.

    It is neither immersion NOR lore breaking. If anything, the recent update so the beam continues after you've taken it aboard your ship makes MORE sense. Anyone who's played more than few weeks on this game knows to check the map table for the moving icon anyway; all the beams of light do now is give a visual representation to an already existing gameplay mechanic.

    No point in getting mad because you can't avoid people seeing and trying to prevent you from attempting to sneak away with it.

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    How do you hide the new chests beam and icon?

    I noticed yesterday a ship at Fotd had no chests and then suddenly it had a whole bunch, like 7 or 8.

    Are they burying the chests?

    While we are at it, does Fotd drop that many chests, I was on the server all afternoon and there were no organic chests. Is it now the case that when Fotd is being run there are no world spawns?

    should I be reporting this as a bug?

  • Super87Ghost
    Commander

    FotD spawns 2 chests/bounties unless there are already to much on the map. That is why people who stack FotD's burry those chests, so new ones can spawn in the next run. So with 8 chests, they must have stacked 4 forts then. And yes: burrying removes the icon and beam.

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    @super87ghost said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    FotD spawns 2 chests/bounties unless there are already to much on the map. That is why people who stack FotD's burry those chests, so new ones can spawn in the next run. So with 8 chests, they must have stacked 4 forts then. And yes: burrying removes the icon and beam.

    So basically, people farming Fotd, less than 2nm from Reapers can hide the chests until it is safe to turn in.

    But some poor player trying to collect one lousy chest from somewhere on the map cannot hide anything.

    Pro design, really, just pro, it's gets better and better.

  • Super87Ghost
    Commander

    @foambreaker I agree, they should make some kind of warning system that they are doing the fort so there are consequences.... What about a giant skull in the sky with eerie red eyes! Would that work you think?

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    @super87ghost said in Reapers Chest Rant:

    @foambreaker I agree, they should make some kind of warning system that they are doing the fort so there are consequences.... What about a giant skull in the sky with eerie red eyes! Would that work you think?

    Doing the event and hiding 4 events worth of loot is two different things.

  • TheGrimPreacher
    Captain
    Insider

    ANYBODY can bury a Reaper Chest/Bounty on ANY island to hide the beam of light and wait until later to dig it back up & turn it in. It's not an ability that's exclusive to people doing the FotD or people on a specific island.

    ...and no, there's no difference between doing the event and "hiding" 4 events' worth of loot. It's the only way a crew can generate another two Chests/Bounties on each successive run through the FotD becase the game algorithm only allows a finite amount of RC/RB to spawn in the server at any given time.

    Are you literally expecting people to run back and forth to the Reaper's Hideout between each completion of the Fort jusat to make it easier for you to try and steal their loot? Seriously? Like Super87Ghost says, there's a GIANT skull cloud in the sky with glowing red eyes to let everyone everywhere in the server to know someone's doing the raid event.

    Sounds like you need to get better at the game if every attempt to find and turn one in ends in tragedy for you.

  • Foambreaker
    Sailor

    @thegrimpreacher Sorry you missed the point.

  • KlutchxKay
    Legend
    Insider

    They still have to dig them up and transport them, and MANY a time have I gone to the fort and dug the chests up just by seeing or hearing the burial spot. Anyone can bury em, everyone must transport them. And regardless, how does this make reaper’s chests “bad design” anyways?

    Besides all that, I have not seen anyone steal or interrupt someone delivering one that wasn’t from fotd since they were added, until the first week of S9. And already, it’s back to being a non-issue to sell them. What’s the problem with it being marked on the map? It gives an opportunity for someone to fight you for it, although it doesn’t happen often, it’s another toy in the sandbox.

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