How does everyone feel about the tracking ability a reaper gets after reaching level 5? I had a bunch of fun the other night with some friends tracking and killing every emissary on the server, but my brother kind of has a good point, with tracking, a player can't hide anymore. Your only option when approached by a reaper is to kill them or sell your flag (or scuttle which deletes the flag in most cases and that's stupid). Like I said, I had fun tracking and killing but we're talking about how fair it is, because my brother's right, running isn't an option, you can't lose a pursuer anymore.
Grade 5 Reaper Tracking
@wraith-04 you can hide if you dont have a emissary flag. Once you put one up you accept the risk of losing your loot
I don't think it affects it that much. Even before running wasn't really a good option to begin with. And while it's possible to lose LoS in chasing scenarios, it was basicly impossible to lose the pursuer using them. The spots are quite too small and even if it sometimes helps to build up some distance, when the attackers misjudge you movements, it's still possible for them to find you quickly and keep chasing you. Islands and objects are just too small for a big ship. Only the fog might be capable, but even then an experienced crew should be able to track you at some point.
On the other hand it kinda affects you possibilities how to approach that PvP encounter, because it's not possible anymore to use LoS blockers to trick your opponent to approach you in an unfavorable position for them. It also turns PvP into a little bit more towards beeing "Opt-In", because Reapers have a higher interest and tracking abilities for emisaries.@wraith-04 You can see them the whole time, even when they're level one. It's more than fair. Watch your map
Well @Wraith-04 , judging by the other factions that gets "gilded voyages" i think its more than fair.
What else should a reaper's bones ship have insted of that?@wraith-04 I personally would prefer no one see anyone on map but I am ok with how it is personal feelings aside.
We had a reaper chasing us last night and they did eventually turn around once they realized they wernt catching up.
As much as i enjoy the Reapers Grade 5 see all Emissary's i'd much prefer that when your reached grade 5 that your Reapers Emissary Flag becomes invisible to all other players instead of seeing all emissary's.
As it stands Reapers Emissary's are able to be seen at all times by everyone, making sneaking up on people a rough time, so long as they are paying attention to the map.
With my proposed change to Reapers i feel they would have a better tool at their disposal than the one they currently have.@wraith-04 said in Grade 5 Reaper Tracking:
How does everyone feel about the tracking ability a reaper gets after reaching level 5? I had a bunch of fun the other night with some friends tracking and killing every emissary on the server, but my brother kind of has a good point, with tracking, a player can't hide anymore. Your only option when approached by a reaper is to kill them or sell your flag (or scuttle which deletes the flag in most cases and that's stupid). Like I said, I had fun tracking and killing but we're talking about how fair it is, because my brother's right, running isn't an option, you can't lose a pursuer anymore.
Your question makes it sound as if the other ships are at some disadvantage or something. Ships flying the other emissary flags have the same cannons, ammo, and weapons as Reapers. The Reaper emissary is seen and tracked as well, but they are visible all the time, even to non-emissary ships. How does that feel? Not really a problem is it? People somehow see the Reapers as some kind of overpowered ship crewed by a group of bloodthirsty and seasoned pirates. Most are crewed by the same bumbling and clueless players as any of the other factions. If you see them coming your way on the map then just go somewhere else or sink them. The difference between their ship and the non-emissary ships is all in your head. It is just a flag.
I don't mind the tracking I general, but I would prefer it not be a constant GPS style method of tracking.
To me, it would make more sense that the Reapers Bones have spies throughout the world that relay Emissary ship locations back to the faction and the crews. This would cause Emissary ships to be picked up perhaps when near and island and fade off as they leave the boundary of an island.
This would still grant Grade 5 Reapers Bones Emissaries the perk of tracking g ships, but also give other crews a chance to avoid tracking on long treks by staying clear of island boundaries.
@wraith-04 Sink the Reaper's Emissary. Once they are sunk, they lose the ability to see all Emissaries unless they grind back up to LvL 5
@wraith-04 I think the Grade 5 tracking is brilliant.
Last night as an Athena Grade 5 my crew was tracking the progress of a Reaper. Once it hit G5 we knew it would come for us, so we had to go and deal with it first.
It was awesome, emergent tactical gameplay. Ended up in a 5 ship battle at the Reapers Hideout 3 Brigs and 2 Galleons. Best multiship fight I've had in a long time.
Turns out the Brigs had been the G5's previous victims, not that they showed us any mercy for hunting their killers down.
I like that the tracking ability keeps you on your toes. You need to deal with them before you start any Gilded voyages of your own, and it can be both interesting and exciting to be in a position where you're trying to decide: can we race through our Gilded voyage before they hit G5 or do we go deal with them now and give ourselves some breathing room.
I love how it changes up your tactical considerations while voyaging.
@wraith-04 they literally have a warning that you are preparing to hunt them down from the moment you raise your Reaper's Flag.
They have so much time to get their loot turned in before you come barreling down on them because you tracked them from across the map. That is 100% their fault for not taking the PvP faction seriously.
Additionally, it shouldn't be people hiding on the corners of the map to avoid any kind of confrontation, this game is designed for player interaction. And it can't happen if people don't ever meet up. Interaction can have any number of forms and is the driving force for the experience of the game.
@boxcar-squidy sagte in Grade 5 Reaper Tracking:
@wraith-04 I think the Grade 5 tracking is brilliant.
Last night as an Athena Grade 5 my crew was tracking the progress of a Reaper. Once it hit G5 we knew it would come for us, so we had to go and deal with it first.
It was awesome, emergent tactical gameplay. Ended up in a 5 ship battle at the Reapers Hideout 3 Brigs and 2 Galleons. Best multiship fight I've had in a long time.
Turns out the Brigs had been the G5's previous victims, not that they showed us any mercy for hunting their killers down.
I like that the tracking ability keeps you on your toes. You need to deal with them before you start any Gilded voyages of your own, and it can be both interesting and exciting to be in a position where you're trying to decide: can we race through our Gilded voyage before they hit G5 or do we go deal with them now and give ourselves some breathing room.
I love how it changes up your tactical considerations while voyaging.
This ☝️
Best explaination I've seen so far@ixxolos I posted the same suggestion in response to another post about this. I would add that if the grade 5 reaper engages in combat of any type the show up on the map with a cooldown on visibility. Also, if the reaper is within 2 squares of another emissary they show up for others running emissary flags.
@ghostpaw agreed, but I'm also ok with a grade 5 reaper being able to hide unless spotted or engaged. This might keep other emissaries running missions instead of just selling and leaving. Which has been my experience lately.
@boxcar-squidy It's honestly one of the most exciting things to happen to the game in a while. I've actually gotten sunk a couple times and lost tons of loot and still having way more fun than in the past.
We've even had to make tactical considerations with rowboats and stuff, making the risky play of cashing everything in with a rowboat since that can't be tracked. You can also hide stuff on islands and come back for it later. All of a sudden all of these classic pirate tactic tropes like that have a valid reason to be used.
@wraith-04 I agree with your brother. Level 5 reaper should either provide sporadic updates on current locations of emissaries but not constant tracking, or should remove your reaper icon on the maps of others so you still have to find them, but can now sneak up on them yourself.
I’m firmly in the PVP camp of players. However, I understand that without PVE, there isn’t PVP, at least the kind of PVP that I like. There has to be a balance. While some point to this update as being PVP focused, I think it helps PVE players as well. Ship tracking is part of it. If you want to do a tall tale in peace, not having an Emissary flag lessens the chance of getting targeted. So, I like having that tracking component. I wish it were more difficult to get to Rank 5, but otherwise it’s good.
@archangel-timmy This is a great idea. Only trackable while anchored on an island or passing nearby gives the emissaries some chances at evading.
I think to balance this reapers should also fade in and fade out somehow, maybe the same way. Spies on all sides.
Very mixed feelings. I tend to be solo sloop'ing most of the time and am okayish at combat. Good enough to not be a sitting duck, bad enough to be a small tasty snack for a bigger crew that knows what they're doing. Experience thus far kinda falls into three categories:
- If there's a Reaper emissary on the map building up their levels, nay bother. Easy enough to plan ahead and avoid them and I really like the balance that brings to the game.
- If someone hits level 5 while I'm sailing around it's time to start checking the map on a really regular basis. If they so much as twitch in my direction set course for the nearest outpost, cash in and see if I need to sell the emissary rank.
- If I join a server with a level 5 Reaper already established then forgot it. Happened three times and they've been on me before I've had chance to do more than get a barnacle or two on the hull. Realistically my options are so limited that it's just not worth the effort when dropping out and trying for a different server takes a couple of minutes at most.
Does it need changing? Well... from a personal view yes, I kinda hate how unbalanced that makes it for my own circumstances. But whatever changes you do it's always going to kick someone in the teeth and the very specific issue I've run into is easily avoided through server hopping without wasting much time. If everyone else is getting good gameplay then let it run, at least for a while to see how things go.
If I was going to suggest a change then maybe make it a time-limited effect with a cooldown. Put a glowing skull in the captains cabin that when activated shows you all ships for five minutes then needs another five minutes before you can use it again. Add a suitable 'ping' effect that sends a glowing red ring out across the world when it's first activated or something, it'd fit right in.
I’m surprised the PVE crowd would want it changed. You can see them on the map at all times, whether they have a Rank 5 Reaper flag or not; they can only see you if you have an Emissary flag up, and they have a Rank 5 Reaper flag.
An ancillary benefit of all this is the ability to do a TT, or whatever other mission, without a flag up, and have a better chance of being left alone. Many Pirates (not all) are looking for Emissary ships.
I have been perfectly fine with it. Lv5 Reapers are fairly rare though I don't play in American time so maybe they are more common when the US kids are home from school.
The tracking thing means hiding is not possible, you have to stand your ground if you want to keep your flag which I have done every time I've meet one.
Trust me there is nothing saltier than a Lv5 Reaper losing their flag.Oh, trust me, it's fair.
My crew and I did 2 forts and we sunk 12 ships in total yesterday because they all just kept coming, getting sunk, spawning not far and coming back. They were all drawn to us because of our grade 5 flag, 2 of them were Reaper's grade 1, no other emissaries.
Another 2 of them were on an alliance.
You can't complain about grade 5 Reaper's tracking ability of other emissaries when Reapers are shown with their grade on the map at all time.
When a new brig showed up and attacked when the alliance was already coming back, after sinking 12 ships, we just sighed. We were so tired because of all the energy we put in the session that we just started to flee with the key of the second fort, we had to put down the flag as we were passing by golden sand in order to not being tracked anymore. The 3 others ships started to fight and then the alliance of 2 started searching for the key on the fort.
We just waited at Ancien Spire and then Galleon's Grave for 45 minutes, finally relieved to have a moment to relax as we just didn't have that since 4-5 hours. When all the ships disappeared, we came back to the fort, no mermaids and no sails. We finally were able to open it, take the loot and sell it.It's fair.
We never had the opportunity to use our tracking ability, no-one was flying another flag but everyone saw us and came to us.@wraith-04 Pretty fair considering the reaper is marked so if you don't see them coming it's your own fault and you deserve whatever comes your way.
@papy-pitch a dit dans Grade 5 Reaper Tracking :
Oh, trust me, it's fair.
My crew and I did 2 forts and we sunk 12 ships in total yesterday because they all just kept coming, getting sunk, spawning not far and coming back. They were all drawn to us because of our grade 5 flag, 2 of them were Reaper's grade 1, no other emissaries.
Another 2 of them were on an alliance.
You can't complain about grade 5 Reaper's tracking ability of other emissaries when Reapers are shown with their grade on the map at all time.
When a new brig showed up and attacked when the alliance was already coming back, after sinking 12 ships, we just sighed. We were so tired because of all the energy we put in the session that we just started to flee with the key of the second fort, we had to put down the flag as we were passing by golden sand in order to not being tracked anymore. The 3 others ships started to fight and then the alliance of 2 started searching for the key on the fort.
We just waited at Ancien Spire and then Galleon's Grave for 45 minutes, finally relieved to have a moment to relax as we just didn't have that since 4-5 hours. When all the ships disappeared, we came back to the fort, no mermaids and no sails. We finally were able to open it, take the loot and sell it.It's fair.
We never had the opportunity to use our tracking ability, no-one was flying another flag but everyone saw us and came to us.I confirm what Papy Pitch said. I see absolutely no reason why the grade 5 Reaper's tracking ability is not fair. You find some loot, you raise your grade up to 5, you sell and you get a reward for taking risks and sinking other crews (finally). Reapers are marked on the map so everyone knows where they are and pretty much what they are doing. On the other hand, Reapers can only see emissaries, but not their grade nor their faction.
Every single time (I'm not lying) I was with my crew in a grade 5 Reaper's ship, we got attacked again and again and again. Even when we had 0 loot on board. Grade 5 Reapers are easy targets marked on the map for anyone who wants to take a chance to fight and maybe get some loot.
A grade 5 Reaper's ship is pretty much telling to everyobdy (even if we don't want to and if we are doing our stuff peacefully): come to us, fight and try to sink us. So an emissary-tracking ability as a counterpart is clearly not OP in my opinion!
@archangel-timmy dijo en Grade 5 Reaper Tracking:
I don't mind the tracking I general, but I would prefer it not be a constant GPS style method of tracking.
To me, it would make more sense that the Reapers Bones have spies throughout the world that relay Emissary ship locations back to the faction and the crews. This would cause Emissary ships to be picked up perhaps when near and island and fade off as they leave the boundary of an island.
This would still grant Grade 5 Reapers Bones Emissaries the perk of tracking g ships, but also give other crews a chance to avoid tracking on long treks by staying clear of island boundaries.
Beautiful idea srReapers tracking ability is getting hacked or exploited. My 2 man sloop got chased down by a reaper galleon. Weren't flying an emissary, not even doing a voyagers. We were doing a tall tale.
Sunk. respawned across the map, started a new voyage (non emissary) and watched the same grade 3 reaper track us, continuously changing course to intercept in response to our changes. 3 hours of just getting chased. When we had no loot at all.@tab-sniper said in Grade 5 Reaper Tracking:
Very mixed feelings. I tend to be solo sloop'ing most of the time and am okayish at combat. Good enough to not be a sitting duck, bad enough to be a small tasty snack for a bigger crew that knows what they're doing. Experience thus far kinda falls into three categories:
- If there's a Reaper emissary on the map building up their levels, nay bother. Easy enough to plan ahead and avoid them and I really like the balance that brings to the game.
- If someone hits level 5 while I'm sailing around it's time to start checking the map on a really regular basis. If they so much as twitch in my direction set course for the nearest outpost, cash in and see if I need to sell the emissary rank.
- If I join a server with a level 5 Reaper already established then forgot it. Happened three times and they've been on me before I've had chance to do more than get a barnacle or two on the hull. Realistically my options are so limited that it's just not worth the effort when dropping out and trying for a different server takes a couple of minutes at most.
Does it need changing? Well... from a personal view yes, I kinda hate how unbalanced that makes it for my own circumstances. But whatever changes you do it's always going to kick someone in the teeth and the very specific issue I've run into is easily avoided through server hopping without wasting much time. If everyone else is getting good gameplay then let it run, at least for a while to see how things go.
If I was going to suggest a change then maybe make it a time-limited effect with a cooldown. Put a glowing skull in the captains cabin that when activated shows you all ships for five minutes then needs another five minutes before you can use it again. Add a suitable 'ping' effect that sends a glowing red ring out across the world when it's first activated or something, it'd fit right in.
I agree completely.
The skull idea definitely sounds fun.
However, I feel like being able to see people directly on the map, both Reaper Emissaries seeing other Emissaries and players seeing Reaper Emissaries, is a part of the problem.Another simple solution would be to add a star or cluster of stars in the sky, so at night, and if the clouds aren't blocking, then you can track the Reaper Emissary, and the Reaper Grade 5 Emissary can track others.
That's just my personal take.My opinion has evolved on this slightly from some of my previous posts, but I'm kinda of the idea the solution should be simple. Being able to view people on the map without some sort of cooldown or interference is a bit much and is what is causing people to server hop so much. In addition, players should be allowed to grab another Emissary Voyage after completing the previous one so that there is incentive to keep the Grade 5 Flag up.
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