Ahoy mateys!
Jumping in here to let you all know this issue isn't being ignored and has been brought up several times in developer updates/conversations/FAQs. The number of "alliance servers" compared to the general player base and server totals are relatively small and not an issue Rare deems as something that requires significant attention.
Thank You.
@everyone else: Not that they haven't gone back on certain features or toned things down in the past, but from their perspective I bet things are going pretty much as intended. Organic Alliances offer a well balanced risk/reward and Alliance Servers have been around since the beginning of the game, so their existence can be taken into account during design. It's exceptionally likely that the 50% share was set with full servers of allied players in mind. Since it's literally their job to spitball, implement, and stress test these features, I can all but guarantee that this sort of behavior was expected by the Devs.
Also, any other big limitations to alliances risks compromising the ease of use of the sandbox as a whole. Limit alliance numbers and you put unnecessary restrictions on players that would want to grow beyond that, put variable load times on load in and you risk dissatisfied users wondering why the game loads in 20 seconds one day and a minute the next, use variable rewards depending on alliance size and you throw off the risk/ reward balance too far in either favor, etc, etc. The kicker to all of that is it wouldn't even affect the alliance communities people are getting hot and bothered over. They'd still skirt danger and organize to mitigate their risk regardless of what happens to alliances.
@musicmee Is there any risk of playing them? I like the idea a lot as there is enough PVE things to fight and PVP for me is only fun with a bigger crew and certainly is not for me if I am playing solo.
I'd imagine you can find them through Discord. Is there a faster way? (Given this is not against games rules, where you can get punished)
@zig-zag-ltu All risk is removed - but they can be tricky to set up. There are some discords that run them but you would have to hunt them down yourself.
While I am not a fan of them myself - I do understand they do take a lot of effort to get going and keep going. So if someones willing to put that effort in good on them! I won't interfere.
@koh28 said in Alliance servers are...!:
Watching discussions like this really boggles my mind because rather than playing the game, you're on here complaining about how little Timmy is playing.
This! Absolutely this!
@musicmee number of "alliance servers" compared to the general player base and server totals are relatively small and not an issue Rare deems as something that requires significant attention.
WELL id suggest they start thinking about taking action on this EXPLOIT otherwise there is no reason to take action on any other exploits in this game might as well bring back all of them if they want to let this one slide all or nothing double standards seem to be all to common with rare these days.
@musicmee are you really encouraging someone to EXPLOIT the game? As a moderator shouldn't you be encouraging players not to use exploits. Or is it just the PVP exploits that are frowned upon and patched out of the game.
@gettinnashty89 Ahoy matey!
I was in no way encouraging this type of behavior.
To quote...
While I am not a fan of them myself - I do understand they do take a lot of effort to get going and keep going. So if someones willing to put that effort in good on them! I won't interfere.
And it isn't seen as a game-breaking exploit by many, tools not rules all the way!
@musicmee not seen as gamebreaking, wallbanging wasnt game breaking either but lil timmy complained and now its gone same with double gunning anyone can do it but be cause the guy that is to lazy to learn a new skill wont he complains and gets it removed.
@musicmee then maybe you can explain to me how it is not an exploit to literally run a six ship server for 48 hours and the only people they let join are ones that they deem acceptable. With no risk of thieves in a game that is named Sea of THIEVES. I agree tools not rules but that was gone long ago before double gun patches and the recent wallbang patch. I think that they should change their motto to rules for PVP and tools for PVE
I know you don't make the decisions but isn't Rare being a little hypocritical with there response to this?
They changed alliance names even though they stated "alliance infiltration and betrayals happen so rarely that changing it shouldn't have any impact on play style"
Pretty hypocritical that one instance something that doesn't happen all that often is changed because it doesn't happen often, but then alliance servers AREN'T changed because it doesn't happen all that often??
@fast-bike94 said in Alliance servers are...!:
@musicmee not seen as gamebreaking, wallbanging wasnt game breaking either but lil timmy complained and now its gone same with double gunning anyone can do it but be cause the guy that is to lazy to learn a new skill wont he complains and gets it removed.
Wall banging was an issue, especially when players were using that popular aimbot hack. Removing it made the hack that little less efficient and was worth the time implementing in my opinion.
Players server hopping to start an alliance is no different than players server hopping in search of favoured PVP scenarios. Why aren't you up in arms about that?
This is just to clear somethings up because people are saying server hopping is just like alliance servers and its not. Its not even CLOSE.
Alliances are created by players exploiting the match making system. Period. Thats it. If players were systematically going around to each ship and putting the time and work to either barter or strong arm ships into an alliance and then work together to get the rest of the ships on the server into an alliance. I don't think any of us would have a problem with that. They put in the work, they succeeded. Congrats. They are joining with 3 or more ships at the same time which practically locks down the server. I think they actually have accomplished it to where they can join with 5 ships with frequent success.
If anyone has noticed the game is tittering towards PvE. Rare has in the past 2 years tried to squash or control the bloodlust in the game. Which is why they introduced alliances in the first place. The video released with the stats Joe said "PvP engagements are down by 50%"
However, what was the next problem?? Well forts were still being contested. Players would get ransacked doing a fort. Chances of doing a fort in peace when it spawned was very low, if a fort was up and you were at it, chances are you were going to get attacked.
Cursed crews came out and they were trying to figure out a way to fix this issue because no one wanted to do cursed crews and the event would lock down the server. So for MONTHS PvP was pretty much dead, but Rare still had a problem with aggressiveness being too high at forts.
So how did they change this? They reduced the cooldown to 0. Loot drops were increased by like 10 fold by everything. You get tons of loot from Megs, you get loot from Kraken now, you get loot from skelly ships and Forts are up constantly.
PvE players now didn't need to do forts at all if they didn't want to. If they did and got attacked then they could just wait for the next one to spawn or they could just pick another server.
Then they tried to control players with time limited content, focus'ing our time trying to get cosmetics because contrary to popular believe most players aren't super die hard PvP.
Lot of us PvP'ers want PvP but until we find a target or something to do, we PvE in the mean time.
@Bugaboo-Bill
You wonder how server hopping isn't the same. Its because the context is different.
Without server hopping there is no PvP.
Think about it. Before they changed forts, where was PvP mainly focused on? How many HOURS did PvP'ers fight over a single fort?? Loot was hard to come by especially good loot. Forts were special. We had an outlet for our PvP. Almost every single time a fort was up there was a guarantee fight for 4 hours or more. Constant ship battling, constant cannons, repairs, boarding, killing, dying. CONSTANT FOR HOURS. It happened almost all the time where players would fight over the same fort for 4 hours or more. It was expected.
Rare has sysmetically killed that.
They release an event and players might do it for the first week. So for 1 whole week we can finally find some action. Then it starts to die down and then its completely gone. This has happened with every event.
FoTD when it first came out was the MOST fun. Ships after ships after ships after ships. Now?? I used to use it as bait for PvP, the very last time I did it stayed up for 5 hours and no one showed. The worst it had every been. I pretty just gave up after that.
In another 2 or 3 weeks no one will server hop for Ashen winds because most players will have already have it and server hopping for those will just be a waste because chances of finding someone doing them are low.
Even you know that most players go hours without engaging a single ship. I play solo looking for ships to fight and most of the time they have nothing on board. No loot, nothing. I can get on their boat and its still NOTHING. Sink them, they leave. No fight
When new events are live, for a small window, we get the fights we crave. Ships sink and come back wanting revenge. Fighting different ships as other ships leave the server because they give up and another ship takes their place and it keeps going.
Server hoppers still risk time and the chances of winning are not 100%. We lose we get nothing. Server hopping is a way for us to play the game with some risk involved where we share the battlefield with other players that want to fight for the loot. When we server hop we are still engaging other players, we are still involved in the world for the game. We are part of the game.
Alliance servers are basically taking a server and removing it from the rest of the world. No risk, nothing. They are removed from the player base. Alliance servers exploit match making to remove themselves and risk nothing but gain everything.
Server hoppers risk time and possibility of getting NOTHING after fighting for however long. Server hoppers are still sharing risk vs reward.
If you want to look at it a different way. A ship that has been on the server for 6 hours that goes to an event after turning in all their loot, share the same amount of risk as a person who just hopped into the server 5 mins ago. Plus that ship that hopped in 5 mins ago might have to deal with another ship that hopped in right after that one.
Rare has done everything in their power to control and minimize the bloodlust of the game. We have no long term engagements anymore.
Server hopping isn't the same as alliance servers.
They want to remove themselves from the game, we want to be where the action is. Seem very different to me.
@fast-bike94
I'll have to agree with @NeedSmokes on the reasons for the wallbanging and I would like to add another reason.
Even though I used it and loved using it lol, I felt it was kind weak to be able to shoot through the ship. Taking cover should always be a reliable tactic strategically. A player should be able to hide behind something to force an attacking player to get closer to engage or by them time for a chance to get reinforcements or something.
Being able to go "hahahah where you going little buddy" as you point your gun and shoot through the boat or 2 feet worth of mast is just silly to me.
I loved using it but I'm not going to say it wasn't for the best changing it.
@fast-bike94 As someone who double gunned myself. That did not take skill. It was a long range instant kill. I did it all the time and it was easy to pull off. That was the problem. PvP turned into who could double gun first and it got absurd and was effecting the entire PvP scene.
Rather than people feeling free to use different combinations you felt obligated to use double gun because it was so easy to use and so effective.
@needsmokes no one server hops for alliances its all done through private discords and they pay people off to take over ships. and hopping for pvp because no one ever does anything accept sail around and sit on their thumbs until that rare server you get someone actually pveing and collecting loot
@koh28 im talking about the current double gun the instant switch was terrible but the one where you need to aim shoot sprint switch aim shoot is a little more skillful
@xultanis-dragon yeah but with allbanging not alot of people could do it legit it actually takes using your ears or assuming postions to even pull it off i get shoting through maybe the outer hull to prevent aimbotters from miles away but on ship combat it was easily usiable by most
@gettinnashty89 said in Alliance servers are...!:
@awyrlas well then they need to find the community's that do this and ban them for using an exploit. Just like they we into a private discord recently and permanently banned a large portion of the pvp community (over 100 players).
Ban them for what? They aren’t hacking the game or doing anything illegal. Rare hasn’t said anything about alliance servers being illegal. There is nothing in the pirate code that says you must play by your rules which makes no sense. Rare wants us to have fun and respect each other. These alliance servers are a community that respect each other and follow the rules that Rare has set for us all.
@fast-bike94
I get you. Like I said, I used it and loved using it as well but anyone who was good with it didn't have to move. Just "......there you are you little piggy" shot, and you hear the death ring.
I think the game is in a better place with players being able to hide behind things for cover. I mean being able to use cover should have always been a thing.
SIDE NOTE Rare really?? Even (just learned the meaning to this word nevermind) is censored?? Why?? Sometimes I don't understand why the censor is SO freaking strong. Is that honestly that bad of a word??
SIDE NOTE 2 Just looked it up and nevermind. Honestly, like I've heard this word used millions of times and through context I thought it meant something completely different. NEVERMIND lol.
@coffeelight5545 I have no problem with organic alliances. I do have a problem with communities of people that exploit the matchmaking system and take over full servers and keep those servers for whoever they deem acceptable to join. This is an exploit and using exploits are against the rules. And they aren't hacking but they are cheating the system because Rare have said themselves when private servers are introduced they will have no rep or gold gain. And what these coordinated full alliance servers are doing just that. They pretty much have their own private server and they can invite who they want and gain as much gold and rep as they desire without having to face other pirates.
@gettinnashty89 sagte in Alliance servers are...!:
@coffeelight5545 I have no problem with organic alliances. I do have a problem with communities of people that exploit the matchmaking system and take over full servers and keep those servers for whoever they deem acceptable to join.
I have problem with people hopping servers to find active events for PvP.
You cannot change it, Rare doesnt bother.
Deal with it.
This is an exploit and using exploits are against the rules.
Many exploits were abused in the last two years and defended by the people who used them.
It only depends what you like and what not.
DGE and WB was an exploit many wanted to stay.
Hopping servers in general is an exploit to tweak your game.
If i ask if people are ready to sacrifice serverhopping in general than it's no. Because the opposite of the pve alliance extreme is the PvP hoppers extreme.
People here are mostly not ready to take hopping away, but the original intent of the gsme is to login and immerse and have an unpredictable adventure. Barely anyone here is playing this way.
So the whole whining about alliance servers is oneyed and hippocritical from scratch.
And they aren't hacking but they are cheating the system because Rare have said themselves when private servers are introduced they will have no rep or gold gain. And what these coordinated full alliance servers are doing just that. They pretty much have their own private server and they can invite who they want and gain as much gold and rep as they desire without having to face other pirates.
And this is no problem at all.
Does it affect you what level, rep, cosmetic, title i have?
Does it affect me what level or title another pirate has?
No!
I know exactly and it was fun or is fun with some events today, but it's more rare and mostly doesnt last that long.
My record is sinking another ship 11 times at a fort 😂
In the end we barely had any cannonballs, but defended with the respawned ressources in the Forts barrels.
Rare made Forts more available because of what?
Serverhopping!!!!
The game is meant to be played in a way the majority doesnt accept.
So they cheese it!
I dont!
And all who complain about alliance servers - and i agree it's exploiting the system - should foremost ask themself if they dont exploit the system in another way, if they do they better keep their mouth shut, because of the hippocrisy.
If they dont they should accuse serverhopping, because that is the exploit that cause some little problems.
But the intend is not to blame hoppers, but to blame only one group abusing serverhopping to tweak their experience.
The other group is fine or what?
I imagine people playing on alliance servers would be bad sports anyway. Same as those who play super defensive and flee from every battle just to protect their 2 castaways or grade 2 emissary flag. Even though I hate alliance system and the free rep you get from it, nowadays I think I rather have that kind of people being on their own sandbox and not waste my time on the seas where they would just run away for hours.
@korpp1s yea same like hopping servers to find active events and PvP, right?
Oh and about the cowards who flee from cowards who need a 4v1 isnt this funny?
@fast-bike94 said in Alliance servers are...!:
no one ever does anything accept sail around and sit on their thumbs until that rare server you get someone actually pveing and collecting loot
It really isn't that rare. Most servers I'm in have people PvEing, world events, voyages, tall tales. How are you guys avoiding them?
right, where are these empty servers everyone is talking about? There's always someone doing something interesting. Most of the times the 'empty servers' i'm in fill up really quickly after about half an hour of sailing.
I remember someone once asked if someone Blocks you this also affects server matchmaking?
Maybe because some hardcore pvpers are blocked, they miss out their prey?
Not sure if it works this way, but that would explain them find nobody to fight.
Well imho it's the same like "i get attacked all the time".
Just not true!
I play for over two years and we mostly just play the game, do events, PvP, encounters, just all the things that happen and it feels quite balanced regarding all this.
Barely no pvp, barely no event or encounter.
Problems come only from the eager aproaches to do this or that and not just playing and having an adventure.
@musicmee said in Alliance servers are...!:
@zig-zag-ltu All risk is removed - but they can be tricky to set up. There are some discords that run them but you would have to hunt them down yourself.
While I am not a fan of them myself - I do understand they do take a lot of effort to get going and keep going. So if someones willing to put that effort in good on them! I won't interfere.
It is not a lot of effort to get going... you go 1, 2, 3 JOIN! check if you got matched together and repeat. You do this with more than a server can hold, everyone joins solo in a closed group... up to 24 people that can join the server and some communities have way more than that doing it at once.
If someone would be willing to put in effort... sure, but don't create the illusion it is actually all that hard. These are not organically created alliances and server take overs, it is simply abusing the matchmaking system.
@fast-bike94 said in Alliance servers are...!:
@koh28 im talking about the current double gun the instant switch was terrible but the one where you need to aim shoot sprint switch aim shoot is a little more skillful
You mean cheat/exploit the game and was rightfully patched out. You feel the need to exploit the game then you aren't as skilled as you claim.
@PabIo-DiabIo @Bugaboo-Bill @Nabberwar Your post has been edited as it goes against the Forum Rules and Pirate Code.
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My fellow pirates... I'm not saying there is nobody to fight and that's why they shouldn't be on the alliance servers. I'm wondering why those people can remove themselves from any threat of pvp risk and get rewarded more for the same voyage I do with risk? Like I said before, I'm totally okay with people forming an alliance the intended way. The server takeovers are the type that feel like an exploit simply to bypass the pvp risk. I'm also not talking about those few groups who are trying to set up legitimate community events such as RoL or NAL or SoC.
