I am a fan of this update. The new Emissary factions and the rewards that come along with it is a brilliant way for players to interact with other players, and it inspires pure gameplay, such as gaining loot and PVP interactions. The gripe that I am having, and I am certain other players are having (and are upset about) is this: when an Emissary ship decides to scuttle their ship, and the Emisarry flag is not available to collect.
Here is an anecdote (and I am certain this applies to other crews): Myself and my crew were chasing another ship. Both parties were a part of the Reaper's Emissary faction, and our goal was to obtain their Emissary flag, the new ability granted within the game to gain reputation and gold. We had chased them with much effort for about an hour, caught up to them, harpooned their ship, dropped their anchor, took out their crew and started to sink their ship - a textbook play. The problem is, this crew, after chasing them for so long, scuttled their ship, and thus lies the problem - we did not obtain their flag.
This issue within this update can be demoralizing for dedicated crews. I am not dismissing the ability to scuttle the ship. It is important for players who feel like they are being griefed to be able to scuttle their ship. . . but not being able to obtain arguably the most valuable piece of loot in the game because a crew decided to scuttle is unacceptable. This creates a loophole within the game to halt progress of certain Emisarry's. Instead of being rewarded with the Emissary flag that some crews will put large amounts of effort into obtaining, these crews will be cut short.
Normally, scuttling a ship will grant the loot that a ship is carrying. It makes absolutely ZERO sense that the same cannot be said for the Emissary flag. The flag is loot itself and should be available to collect after a crew scuttles their ship.
I hope that the people that read this will take this into heavy consideration. Again, I do not want to dismiss scuttling the ship itself, just the mechanic of not obtaining the Emissary flag. This is an issue within the game that is not fair to the crews who successfully overcome other crews, yet are slighted this valuable loot when a ship is scuttled. Hopefully a change is made.
Scuttling Ships & Emisarry Flags
I fully agree with this complaint, there is no reason that the flag should not drop just like another piece of the loot. It makes it so demoralizing when you put in a lot of time to take down a ship and the other crew decides to quit but still wins in this case. The whole point of flying the reaper's emissary flag is for the PvP aspect of the game. If they lose in a battle in PvP, they should not be able to take their flag with them, and therefore win the battle for giving up willingly.
This is my only issue with this update. I think the emissaries were a wonderful addition to the game. It makes the ship more valuable and encourages PVP (this is a PVP game in case some of you have forgotten). But when this happens, it's all for nothing. You can spend quite a bit of time chasing ships down for their flags, just to wipe them, and see them scuttle, making the chase a complete waste of time for everyone. Not being able to retrieve the enemy ship's flag upon scuttling is a MUST FIX. Crews are already widely taking advantage of this. I sincerely hope this was unintended because it is unacceptable. As a (very) long-time player, this is my largest gripe with the game to date. Hopefully, this post catches the dev's eyes.
I 100% agree with this. This has happened to me at least four times this update. I feel that this mechanic could be exploited. I agree, this is infuriating. I hope that more people will read and reply to this and also watch this post. This is absolutely my only issue with the update. This issue is just absolutely terrible. This affects not only PvP players, but PvE players as well, because this affects ALL Emissary factions. This issue affects the community as a whole. I hope that people won't read this and take advantage of this exploit. It is unacceptable and unfair. Devs, please do something. Flags should float up as loot just like any other chest. Absolutely demoralizing. My whole crew hopped off the seas when this happened a third time in a row in a session.
@howlingfj0rd I agree massively. Since the update, my friends and I have been working on nothing but Reapers Bones. But everyone we come across. Runs. For hours, we even had a crew run with loot into shores of gold with the tall tale equipted. The PvP is amazing, and I wish more people would actually do it. Seems like there are only cowards on the sea. Can y'all do something about this? And running. If this is based on PvP, make it so people can't run for a certain amount of time. Something. Cause we haven't been able to do anything for Reapers cause all everyone does is run, or just lose the loot for everyone, into the red Sea. Taking down flags as well. There is just so much non-pvp any more. Do something about it. Like anything. It sucks the fun out of what this game should be about.
@thevandingo While I do agree with this, this was not intended. It's a bug. Please create a bug report so the devs also know ;)
It's not the scuttle. It's because they are leaving the game. When you scuttle the game is suppose to drop your flag but if you scuttle and then leave the game before the ship disappears the flag doesnt drop. Agreed though because I finally found a grade 5 ship and they scuttled immediately then left the game. You can tell because their ship disappears while sinking.
@kin-h4chi @MonkeyShishan I had a crew scuttle their ship with no flag found. They were found at plunder outpost later on. Same crew. It's the scuttle. Perhaps a bug, but very common. Whatever is happening, whether they're leaving or scuttling, the "No flag drop" bug needs to get a fix with a quickness.
I know, from experiment, that a flag is dropped when you scuttle.
My thinking on this issue changed as I wrote this response. I agree the flag, like any loot, should float up after a crew quits.
At first, it made sense to me that the flag disappears - with your ship - if you quit the game. My thinking was: If you decide your session is over, and quit, why should your flag be left behind for someone to find?
However, I can see this may be exploited to frustrate someone that has pursued and bested you in battle. If you are not being pursued or in battle, and you decide to quit at an outpost, you really should vote to strike your flag anyway. It is worth gold to do so. If you fail to vote to remove it, or you choose to quit mid-ocean or parked at some other island, there would be no harm in your flag being flotsam. Some lucky pirate may find it; but it would be more likely to sink and despawn in time, like any other loot on your ship.
Don't forget crews can drive by a out post and lower it before you can obtain it, as well. [We] chased a ship and they did this to us; only so we couldn't get their grade four flag.
They may have deprived you of a grade four flag, but is not only why they did it. They also earned the gold due to them for striking that flag. I do not see a crew fleeing to an outpost and quickly voting to strike their flag as an exploit that needs to be fixed. If a crew can manage to do this to frustrate a pursuer, and earn the gold due to them for taking down the flag, good luck to them!
Afterthought: Perhaps an emissary flag should detach when a ship starts to sink — that is: at the same moment that the water floods the top deck, and the ship's controls and barrels become unusable — rather than when the sinking animation ends, and the ship vanishes. This would give the crew of a doomed ship no time to quit and deprive their attackers of the flag.
I'm a fan of playing the game without having to interact with reapers and just make money, without being bothered. I like the idea that some jerks won't get the satisfaction of taking my flag and me getting far away from them to go back to enjoying the game. At least there's a new multiplayer mode where you can fight other ships instead of waiting for someone to get done with a vault or lost shipments and then running over to steal their hard earned loot.
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