Why are there so many ships out there without Emissary Flags?

  • PartyInSanJuan
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    It seems to me that the majority of players don't fly emissary flags. While I can understand new players who don't have the initial gold to buy them, I often see legends not flying them.

    Now the only time I don't fly one is if I'm playing solo and I see there's a higher level Reaper Emissary out there, because I assume once they hit 5 I'll be a target. But even if there's just 2 of us on a sloop we'll still fly one.

    Perhaps it's because players don't know that they can get them all...maybe they think that once they buy one they can't get the others so they don't want to decide which to get. Maybe it should be more obvious in game that isn't the case, perhaps add one of those notes or a pop-up tutorial box.

  • Login To Reply
    35
    Posts
    33.5k
    Views
  • Captain Coel
    Commander
    Insider

    @partyinsanjuan so for very new players you can not buy the flag till lvl 20 with a company. And for experienced players, what does it matter?

    My crew doesn't need xp, we've been maxed forever. We don't need gold we are all at 30mil or more. The flag is just something that is there.

    Some people just don't wanna be targets as well.

  • PartyInSanJuan
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @captain-coel Ok, that makes sense.

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    It's largely a lack of information and awareness

    I refuse to play without them so a lot of my open crew experiences involve explaining the system to people and convincing them to put one on.

    Sure, some people don't want to be a target but that's mostly unnecessary fear and an inefficient tactic. A large chunk of new and casual players just don't understand the system and how it benefits them significantly. Very rarely have I ever communicated with someone not interested after I explained it to them.

    Emissaries are an amazing system and I 100% agree that a new and improved system of information needs to be incorporated to really push their use for players that would use them if they were explained the significance

    Some are just never going to care enough to do it but many will

    Don't fear the reaper most of them are just pveing and run once you stand up to them.

  • William Flint
    Commander
    Insider

    @partyinsanjuan my assumption would be that because of the poor design of giving reapers lvl 5 radar most players have decided that the extra risk is not worth the potential extra reward.

  • Glannigan
    Sailor

    I’m not a fan of the whole emissary thing.

    I prefer to just cruise without one but someone always insists.

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    Emmisary flags by themselves are worth a lot too, so even non-Reapers seeing you with 1 makes you a target. I don't know their worth by heart, but I think a lvl. 2 or 3 was like 6,000 gold if stolen.

    On the flip-side, most don't take advantage of the lower levels which still give you bonuses. Level 2, with a 1.33x bonus and a level 3 with a 1.66x bonus, for example. Even if you're eventually sunk, as long as you turn in often, you can still turn a profit compared to not having it.

    Some crews will even wait until you have more and not attack you outright. For example I was sailing as a solo PvE reaper the other day, and after 2 hours, I decided to turn in at level 4 for fear that someone would attack me. Sure enough, even though I wasn't level 5, a brig swooped in half way during turn in, and ensured that they got what was left.

    I think a lot of pirates just need to get over 2 things:

    1. Losing their flag, and
    2. Waiting to turn in at level 5.

    If you lose your flag, it's really no big deal - as long as you've paid with loot more than the amount of your current flag's level value when turned in, you've still profited. For example, turning in a level 5 flag nets you 5,000 gold, so as long as you turn in enough loot to surpass 5,000 gold, you shouldn't worry about losing the flag afterwards.

    Sure there's a risk with waiting to turn in at level 5; this is why I think pirates should turn in at lower levels. You can still get a decent profit and simply make up for it later. You're also less likely to be attacked for the reasons stated above.

    Emmisaries are around - while there are reasons for why they may not want to sail, just this morning I found a server with 1 reaper, 1 OoS, 1 GH, and 1 MA. They do exist. 😉

    "Fortune favors the bold!" 😁

  • iTz Majman
    Legend
    Insider
    Founder

    I'm pretty certain that people just don't know what it does or it even exists to begin with. Theres no tutorial at all regarding emissary's so i don't really blame them.

    Only reason you would know about it is if someone told you or read the patchnotes.

  • mferr11
    Vanguard
    Insider

    I think it's because a lot of people don't know about it. Lots of casuals wouldn't have read the patchnotes, or watched the content update or emissaries explained video. And those same people definitely won't read the text interactions with the trading companies that give some insight into what an emissary is. I joined an open crew brig a while back and they were doing an OoS gilded without an emissary, because they had no idea what it was. I had to explain the whole system to them.

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    New pirates can figure it out by purchasing the flag once they get to the appropriate level, and then walking up to the table and seeing the interaction prompt after the fact; they can also find the associated commendations or see the flags on other ships and then start asking questions. It's not rocket science! It's simply just a matter of exploring, discovery, and experiencing what the world inside the Shrouded Sea has to offer!

  • ReapingLegion
    Commander
    Insider

    I wonder that too, i do...almost only pvp and even if im not reaping i sure as hell fly another flag....mostley because being a target myself so i get attacked but also to...like grade up my flags for the commendations if i sink a ship with...let's say: merchant crates - I'll get my grade up in that.

    I rarely see people with emissary flags nowadays, helluva boring but it is optional so...yea it is what it is ^^

  • Stankind
    Master
    Insider

    I wonder if it's not explained very well, I remember looking through the achievements list and the description for what you had to do seemed liked gibberish to me.

    I tried to buy the GH flag about three different times (thinking ah! This is what I'll be spending my money on) until I realised once you've bought it, you just have to vote to raise it. Now I've got two more months after this one of getting the 3 original factions at level 5 and I'll have said achievements 😎

    Pretty much always put one up now, but yeah I think it could do with clearer explaining and also can be the fear factor too. But then I worked it out eventually, and if I can, anyone can ☠️

  • Jeroenix
    Marauder

    @partyinsanjuan That's because you're a bigger target with the flag, plain and simple. And when you are maxed, there's no reason at all to use it.

    It's not just that you're on the radar to level 5 reapers, the emissary status is also placed on the table at the faction's quest givers. Server hoppers (and anyone else) see them, and might start to actively look for them (I sometimes do, and had great sucess with it last saturday). Also, players otherwise with no hostile intentions might see your flag and know: that flag is worth reputation/gold, and it also shows you were active and therefore might have a ship full of loot...

  • Stewcha Kun
    Ship Mate

    Me and my crew like more pve than pvp and so far we dont use emissary flags because its invite for someone to attack us. We more like to go slowly and enjoy than entering in unnecessary combats. Thats why even if almost everything is on lvl40-45 we wont use flag.

  • SnowTheHeat
    Seafarer

    i mean you wont see legends flying them because they dont need to they already got legend or they do what me and my friends do so let me explain when we arrive at the outpost with a lot of loot we raise the flag as we are selling GH stuff then we are done we lower the flag and repeat for the other factions as it is more safer then just having a flag out while we are gaining loot.

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @snowtheheat said in Why are there so many ships out there without Emissary Flags?:

    i mean you wont see legends flying them because they dont need to they already got legend or they do what me and my friends do so let me explain when we arrive at the outpost with a lot of loot we raise the flag as we are selling GH stuff then we are done we lower the flag and repeat for the other factions as it is more safer then just having a flag out while we are gaining loot.

    It might give people an unrealistic peace of mind to avoid sailing around with a leveled emissary but the reality is that we are always at risk at all times. Why sacrifice extra profit for the same and lesser effort? Athena 5 flags will have extra danger but that can be done to where you're only sitting on a 5 for a few minutes to outpost and sell and lower after grabbing the emissary quest.

    Luck of the server/algorithm and the randomness of the situation are the major factors that ultimately decides whether we live or die. Skill and coordination helps a lot at high level gameplay but most people are just surviving due to a large amount of good luck. Gamble on yourselves for the profit. If that server is a bad draw it'll be davy jones' locker for you no matter what you fly or what you have on board. You are never safe or safer unless you are highly skilled in a highly skilled and coordinated crew and even then randomness and luck turns on them too.

    Be quick be efficient and use the emissaries and you'll bring in way more than you'll lose.

  • SnowTheHeat
    Seafarer

    @wolfmanbush well yes the game can be completely random and people could just like running at risk of losing valuables but others who have insane luck and are good at the game (e.b. i have been meg´ed rarely and everytime the meg decides to not attack even when we purposly anger it, it still wont attack) it depends on others playstyles and how they want to run the game. i also forgot to mention me and my friends honestly want the enemy to receive the lowest reward possible for sinking use which includes removing our flag and its either you understand that or you dont

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @snowtheheat said in Why are there so many ships out there without Emissary Flags?:

    @wolfmanbush well yes the game can be completely random and people could just like running at risk of losing valuables but others who have insane luck and are good at the game (e.b. i have been meg´ed rarely and everytime the meg decides to not attack even when we purposly anger it, it still wont attack) it depends on others playstyles and how they want to run the game. i also forgot to mention me and my friends honestly want the enemy to receive the lowest reward possible for sinking use which includes removing our flag and its either you understand that or you dont

    You don't have to be good at this game to succeed you only have to be efficient with your strengths. Quick at riddles? bounce from island to island killing captains and solving their riddles. This levels the flags fast and gives high quality loot. Not great on land? take out skelly ships they typically aren't hard to find pre-spawned and they give quality loot and help the emissary level a lot. You don't have to be highly skilled only efficient.

    You're focused on losing and making sacrifices based on something you can't control. You certainly can play however you wish but fear and ego about loss is you holding yourself back more than any pvper or random hostile pirate can. You don't want to capitalize on a very profitable system because someone might take it from you? You're just taking it from yourself.

  • Mavnderlvst
    Sailor

    @aarocane said in Why are there so many ships out there without Emissary Flags?:

    Because the moment someone sees my level 2 GH flag, they immediately want to come and screw up the very limited hour of playtime I have for that day. So no thank you!

    @aarocane As someone who also has enough other obligations that play time is similarly limited, I can empathize with this. I've been playing this game for a month or two now, and I sometimes wonder if it is really a right fit for this sort of player. It isn't that I'm totally opposed to combat, but most of the time I'd like to accomplish something other than being pursued for an hour so keeping a low profile as much as possible is important. Ultimately, it might be a judgement call of whether the player is meant for the game as I don't see this changing.

  • SnowTheHeat
    Seafarer

    @wolfmanbush i never said you have to be skillful to profit all you need is to be knowledgable of the game and different players do different things just because they want to even when it has more cons then pros

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @aarocane said in Why are there so many ships out there without Emissary Flags?:

    Because the moment someone sees my level 2 GH flag, they immediately want to come and screw up the very limited hour of playtime I have for that day. So no thank you!

    Generally speaking they are going to mess with you anyway. Level 2 flag has a relatively low payout especially with how reapers and emissaries have been out long enough to where most reapers don't need low level flags for commendations.

    They want to fight and that'll happen with or without that level 1-3 flag. Maybe they want the loot or they just want to pvp but at this point in the game the flag is worth more to you than them they are just the type to attack because that's how they pirate. The emissaries are getting the blame for server draw.

    The reason people find so many random flags laying around outposts and in rowboats and at sea posts etc is because people don't even wanna waste the time to go turn them in at reapers. Hostile pirates engage in hostilities. It's what they do.

    People with limited time to play should especially take advantage of them. More gold in less time.

  • xXx Link xXX 12
    Marauder
    Insider

    In my case I have already gotten the emissary rewards and am already PL so its just another target on my back

  • JaegerDelta3465
    Marauder

    @galactic-geek said in Why are there so many ships out there without Emissary Flags?:

    PvE reaper

    🤢

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    @snowtheheat said:

    or they do what me and my friends do so let me explain when we arrive at the outpost with a lot of loot we raise the flag as we are selling GH stuff then we are done we lower the flag and repeat for the other factions as it is more safer then just having a flag out while we are gaining loot.

    This used to work when the emmisary system 1st released, but no longer does. They changed it so that there's no longer a bonus at level 1. This means that you would have to get to level 2 before you start selling, which you can't do if all of the loot is already on your boat as the flag is raised.

    On the flip-side, you now get more at level 2 and 3 than you did before to make up the loss at level 1.

  • NEON iC0N
    Vanguard
    Insider

    If they actually changed the Emissary rewards, you would see a lot more people flying them :P

  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    @neon-ic0n said in Why are there so many ships out there without Emissary Flags?:

    If they actually changed the Emissary rewards, you would see a lot more people flying them :P

    Not sure how much of a difference it would make.

    I'd assume more people do what I do which is go for that 2.5x more gold and also incorporating double gold weekends and the 2x 1.5x multiplier per day even though we've long been done with commendations and cosmetics

    From what I've seen I really think that it's the lack of information people that make up the majority here. I don't see the "I only use emissaries for the cosmetics" crowd being too significant in size. With that being said it's odd to not have brought in different cosmetics. It's neglect of a truly awesome idea and feature for sure.

  • YaBoySuy0
    Ship Mate

    @william-flint why poor design? This creates the high risk high reward scenario. And for the fact that you can see reapers at the map at all times, 150% more Gold for my seafarer´s is always more worth when the reapers are not lvl 5 or at the other side of the map. And most of the time reaper ships are PvE Lord stacking FotD or just running when you attack them. So that is not that big of a problem i think.
    Im Pirate Legend and i always sail with the Athena Emissaries just to bait people to stay on the server and attack me. Otherwise most people mind their own buisness.

  • William Flint
    Commander
    Insider

    @yaboysuy0 bad design because no matter how reapers actually behave what matters is how people react to the system. There are very few emissaries on any server I play on, and whenever there is one there is usually no one playing as the other factions. Theres a reason that reapers are pve lords, its because everyone knows the best way to play as a reaper is to fly the flags of other companies, just as you do.

    When you have few people engaging with a new feature, and many of those who do engage with a new faction doing so by NOT playing as them, it's a pretty clear indication that you got something wrong. Personally I believe that the problem is the ability of lvl 5 reapers to see every other emissary. It's pretty clear that this scares people off, no matter if reapers are actually a threat or not. I suspect that many more people would be willing to play as emissaries if they knew reapers had to search them out like normal rather than getting a map to them (this would also be more authentic to pirates). A better reward for lvl 5 reapers would be to remove their mark from the map. I think this would give them a substantial reward, and be less scary to pve players. Flying an emissary flag is a guarenteed piece of loot to anyone who sinks you, and an indication that you probably have more. We dont need reapers with radar to provide the risk factor.

  • Chronodusk
    Commander
    Insider

    @partyinsanjuan

    I agree with the theory that people just don't know about it or what it does. I've always thought that this game doesn't do a very good job of communicating its features to the players...

    I always say, if you have to go to the internet and social media to discover features and explanations of features, then the game isn't providing enough information.

  • Johnhp1
    Captain
    Insider

    True new players don’t go through the maidens voyage.
    Also the maidens voyage doesn’t cover the trading companies as well as an emissary explanation.
    I see a lot of ships spawn at an outpost and never move from the dock.
    There is also a language barrier as I get assigned the pacific Asian server and English is not some players native language and they do not read English as well.

  • Methetron mkII
    Commander
    Insider

    Simply because the rewards have been the same since emissaries where introduced.

  • SnowTheHeat
    Seafarer

    @galactic-geek said:

    This used to work when the emmisary system 1st released, but no longer does. They changed it so that there's no longer a bonus at level 1. This means that you would have to get to level 2 before you start selling, which you can't do if all of the loot is already on your boat as the flag is raised.

    I did not notice they changed it i thought it was just a visual bug when it didnt show the extra cash at level 1 lul

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    @snowtheheat said in Why are there so many ships out there without Emissary Flags?:

    @galactic-geek said:

    This used to work when the emmisary system 1st released, but no longer does. They changed it so that there's no longer a bonus at level 1. This means that you would have to get to level 2 before you start selling, which you can't do if all of the loot is already on your boat as the flag is raised.

    I did not notice they changed it i thought it was just a visual bug when it didnt show the extra cash at level 1 lul

    Yep. I don't recall the original numbers, but the new setup is as follows:
    1 = 0
    2 = 1.33x
    3 = 1.66x
    4 = 2.0x
    5 = 2.5x

  • ClosingHare208
    Marauder
    Insider

    @partyinsanjuan said in Why are there so many ships out there without Emissary Flags?:

    It seems to me that the majority of players don't fly emissary flags. While I can understand new players who don't have the initial gold to buy them, I often see legends not flying them.

    Now the only time I don't fly one is if I'm playing solo and I see there's a higher level Reaper Emissary out there, because I assume once they hit 5 I'll be a target. But even if there's just 2 of us on a sloop we'll still fly one.

    Perhaps it's because players don't know that they can get them all...maybe they think that once they buy one they can't get the others so they don't want to decide which to get. Maybe it should be more obvious in game that isn't the case, perhaps add one of those notes or a pop-up tutorial box.

    new players have to be level 20 and then can buy em or it's because they don't want to lose loot so put that in your barrel and float it

Login To Reply
35
Posts
33.5k
Views
1 out of 35