Just started working on Sea Dogs, and I'm surprised to find that about 40-50% of the matches appear to be win trading, where 2-3 crews team up to trade placement for top 3, and spawn camp other crews. Why is this a thing? And is it reportable with evidence? If so I'll just start recording, because most people doing this are blatantly open about it and super toxic.
Arena - Win/Trading?
@likavoss Last I checked, yes, it IS against the rules. I would do what you suggested and record it and send in clips on the Sea of Thieves Support site.
It's unfair for players like myself who painstakingly dealt with buggy match loading times and combatted other players for constant hours to unlock the Legendary/Triumphant Sea Dog titles, only for players to trade wins and cheat the system. I feel like my time and effort means less if others could cheat their way to my same position.Like I said, I don't think it is allowed, so by all means, send in clips to Rare. They'll handle it.
@likavoss this has been going on for nearly a year now. The first two times it happened was enough for me to stop playing arena despite loving the PvP aspects of the game.
@likavoss As far as I know this is not against the rules or at least hasn't been mentioned in the rules however if you have 2-3 boats sitting at a fort fighting and you bother them while they are TDM'ing chances are yeah your gonna get spawn camped just outplay them and you should win. Also so no you can't report them for doing this.
@captain-coel Why get a win every other match, when you could get a win every match with skill alone? Also, it's incredibly boring!
@galactic-geek I would never do it. I'm just saying its not against the rules. And I agree, winning most games is better than half or in the OPs example thirds.
@captain-coel said in Arena - Win/Trading?:
@klutchxking518 not against the rules, its a garbage play style though and makes it take way to long to get wins.
@j0hnfrum said in Arena - Win/Trading?:
@likavoss As far as I know this is not against the rules or at least hasn't been mentioned in the rules however if you have 2-3 boats sitting at a fort fighting and you bother them while they are TDM'ing chances are yeah your gonna get spawn camped just outplay them and you should win. Also so no you can't report them for doing this.
Teaming is against the rules and is bannable.
The only instance of teaming that is "ignored" by Rare is when players team to set up TDM's in arena. However, if they turn around and team spawn camp a ship and try to force it out of the lobby for interrupting said TDM or just for any reason really, that is bannable.
So if you are doing a TDM and someone comes in to bother you and you guys team spawn camp him, you can be banned for it. The point of the match is not for the TDM. Now if you guys just team SINK the boat that is different, however, team spawn camping is different, that is bannable. Its also very bannable if said team decides that they will now hunt down the ship in the next match and spawn camp him until he leaves the lobby for interrupting said TDM.
So teaming to where one ship is playing protector for another ship for one game and they swap roles the next game, that is bannable, however extremely hard to prove even with video evidence.
Basically speaking, as long as the teaming doesn't effect other players or the match then it is okay.
@xultanis-dragon where does it say teaming is against the rules? its condensed sea of thieves and players can interact in different ways.
One of the dev videos a long time ago around the time they introduced Arena. Maybe a month or 2 after its release?? Joe Neate was talking about how they've noticed players teamming in Arena and would swap out wins with each other and how that is not allowed and that they were going to force crew changes every match to combat the issue.
They did the crew changes but as time went on the population for the Arena dropped as xboxers repeatedly left lobbies freezing them. So now there was a problem. If the lobby keeps the same crew then it can start quicker then if crews were forced into different lobbies where they might have to sit for another 30mins before a match.
I've gotten players banned for teaming in Arena. The gamer tags vanish from xbox live right around the time the tickets get closed.
You can TDM without any worries. If you somehow set up a 2v2 for the lobby you are still good.
You just aren't allowed to spawn camp ships to force them out of the lobby because they interrupted your TDM, nor are you allowed to subsequently TEAM spawn camp ships in the game.
If someone interrupts your TDM'ing and you guys team SINK the ship, you are still good. Just make sure to go back to TDM'ing afterwards. No trying to force players out of the lobby.
Can't use your teaming to impose on other players ability to win basically nor spawn camp them trying to force them OUT of the lobby.
SIDE NOTE The reason why they don't put it in the rules "No teaming allowed" is because that would stop players from TDM'ing. Basically its not a written rule because there is a lot of GREY that they don't want to deal with at the moment. Rare is all about the "tools not rules" and have realized that players are using Arena for other things. So TDM all you want. Swapping for wins bannable (hella hard to prove though)
@xultanis-dragon I don't remember that video and will have to go looking for it later.
I still don't see a problem with it. I've broken many "teams" up. It's fun to ruin their day. I've just always viewed it like informal alliances before the flags were introduced.
Time to go video hunting.
I've sank teams before, I've mainly reported when I see teams doing it to other ships. I've reported a few times with ships spawn camping me mainly because of their attitude. If they make it sound like its something they do on the regular "Oh yeah we team spawn camp ships all the time nothing happens" then I'll report. If it feels like a one off then I tend to not bother.
Team A - "Well we don't like green so we are going to spawn camp it till it leaves. Thats what you get for being trash green har har har har. We do this because we were never loved enough as children and we lash out because we still wet the bed and are super embarrassed" (the last part was kind just implied more than heard.....:)
If I see Team A hunt green down and spawn camp then I'll record, get proof, report.
Again Teaming for TDM is okay. Teaming to set up 2v2 or matches between eachother that is okay too. Teaming to swap wins is an unfair advantage. Not everyone wants to team, some just want to play arena regular
Depends on what they are doing for the teaming.
They can't outright say teaming is banned because people use it for other reasons that do not effect players in Arena. Example - Team Death Match
However like I explained, they can and do ban for teaming under certain circumstances. I've reported and seen the very same players who gamer tags I've reported get removed from xbox live or a person who uploads SoT clips everyday just magically stops uploading.
Swapping wins is very hard to prove but still bannable.
@xultanis-dragon Please do show me with video where they say teaming is bannable as I looked it up and there is no such video lol, If you say you got them banned for teaming I doubt that more likely they said something they probably shouldn't have said in arena lobby also NEVER have I seen anyone get banned for teaming even if you say you say it is bannable it isn't true until actual proof of the dev's saying so.
@j0hnfrum said in Arena - Win/Trading?:
@xultanis-dragon Please do show me with video where they say teaming is bannable as I looked it up and there is no such video lol, If you say you got them banned for teaming I doubt that more likely they said something they probably shouldn't have said in arena lobby also NEVER have I seen anyone get banned for teaming even if you say you say it is bannable it isn't true until actual proof of the dev's saying so.
Its possible and I've looked for it and I can't find it, they have soooo many videos lol. If I can find a specific patch release I might be able to find it.
They might have but I never had them on record for any verbal harassment. I only reported the teaming and usually around the time my ticket gets closed their name is gone or they stopped uploading. Like I said, a lot of players want to believe teaming isn't bannable but I've seen otherwise, and its not that Teaming itself is bannable. Again its how the teaming is used.
Teaming for TDM not bannable. Teaming against another team. Not bannable. Swapping wins, or teaming to force players out of the lobby, or teaming just to spawn camp players, all I've reported for.
Another things that might be is you might've been teaming but players might've not been reporting you or had proof. I'll say this, trying to prove that someone is teaming to swap wins is very difficult. How do you record something like that?? I think there was a specific reason mine went through.
It was around the time the a patch was released that specifically said that they implemented a new match making system that was assured to cycle crews after every match. It worked for a few weeks, every single time, it would merge players and you would be loaded into a new full lobby.
Time line -
It would merge you and it would be the same exact crew - Patch release after video of Rare talking about unintended teaming and their wish to split these crews up so that teams aren't possible - match making system shuffling crews after EVERY merge - after a few weeks maybe 2 months at the most?? it stops shuffling crews entirely. I don't know if its because of the population decrease in arena or they wanted to allow players to TDM in arena or set up team matches in arena. I have no idea.
I do know that once you have your wins no one cares about winning anymore or at least I haven't seen it so far or heard of anyone who cares about winning after getting their commendations.
I'll keep looking though.
Don't know, just sharing what I've experienced and seen. It could have been completely coincidental and I could believe that, but with that many coincidences I would have to believe that teaming is not allowed to a certain degree. Especially after that video which I will try to find hopefully.
Its like that video where every knows we heard Joe answer the Athena commendation question -
"What about players who have reached Athena 10 and have turned in so many chests, are those being tracked, or will we have to completely regrind?" - Joe's response is that they track everything and every single chest sold is being tracked.
Athena commendations comes out and BOOM. No one can find that video or videos and we've all heard it lolol. I'll keep looking for the arena one though for at least another day.
Again, I'm just describing my experiences. I have reported and those same players either stopped playing or their gamer tags are missing from xbox.
Then athena@likavoss i havent seen win trading in ages... didnt know it was really still a thing people did
Yes report them, but you will need some sort of evidence (video/screenshots)
@Bugaboo-Bill I believe he was referring to ruining the day of people who team up to trade wins in Arena. People exploiting the system and being unfair to other crews. Bad sports.
Speaking of double-standards, eh Bill?
Just started working on Sea Dogs, and I'm surprised to find that about 40-50% of the matches appear to be win trading
May I ask how many matches you have played, of which a whole 40-50% were ruined by this?
I too have been playing Arena recently. While I can't speak to what it was like before 2.0, I definitely haven't found 40-50% of lobbies trading wins. In fact I don't think I have come across a single one in the last few months that I have been grinding Sea Dogs.
What I have come across, as others have pointed out, are teams that TDM. These folks usually keep to themselves and often won't even return cannon fire when sailing over to their fort or island. They don't team up against other crews unless their match or spawnpoints (ships) are interfered with.
If that's not what you came across, then I am sorry you experienced this, but I can almost guarantee you that if you had jumped servers, the next one wouldn't have been trading wins. Either that or you have had the worst luck.
@theblackbellamy could be just the days Iāve tried it. Certainly ran into it more often than I would have imagined. Specifically on the galleon.
While Iām not going to get into matches, Iāve been grinding arena casually for a bit. Iām only level 30ish on Sea Dogs.
But the only reason Iāve brought it up is the team spawn camping on certain ships. Certainly seems to but 1 or 2 groups at a disadvantage and goes against what Iād imagine the Arena was built for.
Also, appreciate the lively conversation around this. Seems it hasnāt been a one/off if this many people have seen/experienced it. Certainly a valid observation.
@likavoss I wasn't refuting the possibility that this happens lol. I was refuting the idea that it happens in 40-50% of matches, "where 2-3 crews team up to trade placement for top 3, and spawn camp other crews... are blatantly open about it and super toxic".
As for spawn camping, sometimes an entire team will jump ship to spawn-camp another crew. They don't care about wins, they're doing it for commendations, clips, fun, etc. When a ship is disabled and being camped by such crews, another ship may take advantage of the situation and farm points. It's not teaming; just the result of one crew going for kills and another crew being opportunistic. And it is quite common, possibly even in 40-50% of matches.
So maybe you misinterpreted this as "win trading", or you accidentally stumbled onto TDM crews who didn't appreciate your cannon fire, or you have had really bad luck on your way up 30ish levels.
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