Ahoy,
I’d like to suggest locking Hourglass (Allegiance mode) until players reach Pirate Legend.
Right now, many cheaters use one cheating account to boost other accounts in Hourglass, helping them quickly farm gold and levels up to 100+ — and then sell those boosted “legit” accounts.
By requiring Pirate Legend status first, this kind of farming would become much harder and less profitable, while keeping Hourglass fair for genuine players.
Hourglass makes up a small % of the player base, similar to arena. Only like ~1.5% of people have the ghost curse or skeleton curse according to Xbox achievements. I'm guessing that they've realized there is little to no money to be made through HG. But people buying new accounts to ban evade and boost WILL generate more money from HG. It doesn't make sense for them to care about HG. I say this as someone who is level 200+ in both Servants and Guardians. Season 8 came out in Nov 2022, almost 3 years ago now. They genuinely just don't care. I doubt we'll see anymore fixes to HG. I've sank to cheaters multiple times. I have submitted video proof and reported them through the proper channels, but I don't want to queue again after losing a streak. It sucks. And the support staff won't ever reimburse these levels. I have lost COUNTLESS streaks to cheaters and I have quit playing solo HG as a result.
@lem0n-curry said in Lock Hourglass Behind Pirate Legend:
And that will be three months of people complaining about after bad content/not enough content we don't get any new content...
I agree bro. You can never satisfy everyone. Also I would like to apologize for my antagonistic tone. It wasn't necessary and it's clear we both want what's best for the game. I am just extremely frustrated as a player as the last few seasons have felt extremely lackluster with seemingly no explanation for the drop in quality. Remember the anniversary update? Insanely good update, and the updates before it were smaller than normal. Once we got the Anniversary update it made complete sense why previous updates were not as expansive; but in my opinion we have not seen a good update since S10 with the addition of guilds. The implementation of diving to the quest table has caused irreparable damage to the world and the natural interactions that happen in it. A few seasons ago FoF's would be hotly contested, but for the last two seasons almost every FoF my crew and I complete is uncontested. I think you'd agree that open world interactions with players is what truly makes this game special; and ever since season eleven there has been a noticeable decrease in player interaction. Get too close to someone? They're running until they're far enough away to dive. I honestly don't care what additional content they add, as the base game's quality has been diminished by the implementation of the diving mechanic. In addition HG fights should have their own server. When sailing the high seas most of the crews you see in the world are just HG fights that pop up... I love this game, but it's a morsel of what it used to be.
@daniux5313 said in Lock Hourglass Behind Pirate Legend:
@lem0n-curry said in Lock Hourglass Behind Pirate Legend:
And that will be three months of people complaining about after bad content/not enough content we don't get any new content...
I agree bro. You can never satisfy everyone. Also I would like to apologize for my antagonistic tone. It wasn't necessary and it's clear we both want what's best for the game.
/me raises grog
I am just extremely frustrated as a player as the last few seasons have felt extremely lackluster with seemingly no explanation for the drop in quality. Remember the anniversary update? Insanely good update, and the updates before it were smaller than normal.
Arena, Tall Tales, Hunter's Call, Harpoon IIRC.
Hard to beat such an update.
Once we got the Anniversary update it made complete sense why previous updates were not as expansive; but in my opinion we have not seen a good update since S10 with the addition of guilds.
They certainly had less content, I do enjoy most things they brought though. They could have done with some more thought. E.g. Burning Blade is fun ... until you have to do 8 of the Skeleton Forts, 6 would have been enough and wouldn't take the whole session even if you get another crew attempting to sink you. Maybe when we finally dragged ourselves through the commendation we might find fun in sailing the beast and fighting other crews.
The implementation of diving to the quest table has caused irreparable damage to the world and the natural interactions that happen in it.
That started with the ability to hop servers using Tall Tale Portals while retaining the (full) Emissary Flag.
I would have preferred no diving to quests but IMO it's to even out the chances of non-Reaper Emissaries against hopping Reapers, besides removing most of the sailing to an event or quest location.
A few seasons ago FoF's would be hotly contested, but for the last two seasons almost every FoF my crew and I complete is uncontested. I think you'd agree that open world interactions with players is what truly makes this game special;
Aye.
and ever since season eleven there has been a noticeable decrease in player interaction. Get too close to someone? They're running until they're far enough away to dive. I honestly don't care what additional content they add, as the base game's quality has been diminished by the implementation of the diving mechanic.
Probably plays a part in it, for sure.
In addition HG fights should have their own server. When sailing the high seas most of the crews you see in the world are just HG fights that pop up... I love this game, but it's a morsel of what it used to be.
We almost made it through to the end 😁
They should at least implement that there can only be 1 HG per server and add a ship to the maximum number of ships when there is an HG going on (not just adding to it when there is an invasion on a server with 6 ships). Perhaps even merging a "defending HG" ship to a server without other HG fights if needed. They can keep their loot and voyages (if any).
@mopwieldinghedgehog said in Lock Hourglass Behind Pirate Legend:
More or less wiped the slate on this one. Unlocked it hoping we can now proceed in a civil manner. Thank you.
I just replied to a removed post, but that post (and AFAIK the reply is as well) are civil and to be honest to big to put in a PM.
@lem0n-curry To make it easier to follow, I restored the post you were replying to. However, the post and your reply is for the most part a bit off topic so I'll ask that we try to keep to the subject presented by OP moving forward. Thank you.
Rare discussed doing something like this a while back.
If there's enough business around HG that they're getting paid to boost, they probably also have the resources to set up alliance servers and farm new accounts to PL.
Cheating is an issue but these kinds of solutions are only temporary deterrents. And they do nothing to address closet cheaters who are already PL.
Imho HG needs to appeal to more casuals, not turn them away. And the solution to cheating is improving anti-cheat methods, not gatekeeping. Better auto-detection, logging & flagging player behavior for the security team to review. Better reporting. EAC has been in place for a while and players are still complaining about teleport cheats lol.
Pirate Legend is not a good enough choice to use as a means. Any video you look up, players found ways to unlock PL within Hours.
With Safer Seas...makes it even quicker.
What I see, Complete all (original) Tall Tales without the use of Diving on High Seas. Along with completing all Shrines, read journals & Have both Reapers & Athena at level 75.
@daniux5313 I doubt they make any money off of cheaters ban evading, since their main way to get back in is with steam accounts that have sot bought with a stolen credit card
@daniux5313 I’m gonna say something controversial here. Yes HG players are a smaller % BUT they….. me….. and other completionists are the only ones keeping the game afloat.
2 years ago it was an avg of 256 LFG posts with lots of different options and activities.
Most days now it’s 50-70 posts at most and predominately HG roles.
Most adventure players come back for “new” content then complains that either it’s too easy and not enough content or complain it’s too hard. Either way they leave until the next “big thing”
HG players are a big enough deal Rare is bringing QS back. I think Rare might be paying attention for once. We need PvP reworks BADLY. Hitreg and ALL.
EAC is trash and they did what they always do… they ban wave and fix nothing. I had a long time sailing friend banned and no explanation. I know for a fact he doesn’t cheat….. recently he got his account back and it’s “renamed” Rare is also reversing a ton of bans….. why? Unjust practices and no real anti cheat
