I found a 2 sloop 1 brig alliance and they were doing the FOTD. My friend and I sank them while they were doing it, and there was nothing in the vault when we went up and the fort was still active. We beat the fort for them and they had some extra ritual skulls and we got all the lights from them so we started the fort again and we decided to wait and see what they would do when they come back. They sank our ship and we hid on the island. Then out of no where the vault opens again and they take the Athena chest and run off with it. We got the rest of the loot from them but I'm still not sure how they are opening the vault without beating the fort. The only thing i would guess is they used a normal fort key to open the FOTD vault but there was no normal forts active. Anyone know what this exploit or bug is?
FOTD Exploiters
@ninjashadow2 they used a key brought with them through a server merge.
When you kill the boss, the fort is no longer active and you are no longer protected from a server merge by being in an active event. You can merge to a new server bringing any nearby loot with you to the new server. On this new server, the vault door is open. That fort was never active so it never closed, but the treasure came with you. You can save the key and use it later after activating a new fort. You can even unload all the treasure before even finishing the first wave. Eventually you receive a new key but again have to activate the fort before you can use it.
They probably started the fort, used a key to unload the treasure, and then started to complete the fort. The key you found couldn't be used on an already open and empty vault but they can close and fill the vault by activating the fort again.
It probably wasn't intended. They were probably doing it that way just because the server merge put them in that situation. If you didn't do it that way, you would just have this extra key.
Its more likely the thing most alliances are doing for protection.
What you do is complete the Fort. You get the Key. Start the fort before opening the door. Now you have the key for the door, but everyone else on the server thinks the server is active. So while they take their time gathering resources, you are loading loot into your boat and sailing away with it.
The other one is what that guy mentioned which is taking a key across servers. The server merge is highly unlikely as it doesnt happen often but the one I mentioned happens a lot.
Either or could have been what happened.
