Athena Emissary leveling time - warning: "rage"

  • Odyssee mit Tee
    Sailor

    Its been some time now since it was nerfed for about 50% or such.
    Back then in the first month after emissarys were added, it took just ONE Thieves Heaven run to max it out to rank.5
    And that was a good thing.

    Cause when dedicated PvPers do the serverhoppy and check Athena-table, they will show up around Thieves Heaven sooner or later.
    It was balanced. Even when I looked for servers with relative abandonded Ancient Isle's areas for it. There was never a guarantee to not encounter PvP.
    .

    But now I really have to invest for about 3 to 4 hours just to level it to Rank.5?
    Compared it with other emissary too from the other companys and I must really say, IT REALLY IS DREADFUL.
    The other emissarys level so much faster than the Athena one.

    Why. It does not make any sense.
    Especially since the Athena grind feels insane. ( Just reached overall Athena reputation 15 today but hey I am struggling with motivation after playing SoT for a long time and I was sitting on 14 for months. )
    You know the thing.
    You love the game but things start to feel very draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagging on.
    If not for the Athena-eyes at the new grindlevel of 100, I would have not come back.
    So I used the chance to hop back in the Athena voyages and wow it feels so lame and unnecessarily nerfed into the ground.
    .
    .

    Rare does realize that not all gamers who play their game are not teenagers or such forever, I mean?
    That they have at one point to face reality and take on reallife dutys, right?
    Even I who had to do this after I actually turned 30 years, shamelessly, lived the life of a NEET is now helping my sick and frail relatives, my parents and others to get by?
    In the age of Lockdown-dictatorship and all that trash.
    .

    So when the stars allign for me just a few more times in my not so truly previliged years of live anymore and I remember the good old times of Sea of Thieves which are not even that many years back in the past, why must I see Athena emissary being nerfed into the ground?

    AS IF PEOPLE WOULD ACTUALLY EVEN BE ABLE TO PROFIT FROM IT MOST OF THE TIME - WITHOUT BEING ATTACKED BY SOME CREW and have to abort mission one way or the other?

    I am not an "Alliance server player".
    I do not drown in allys. I drown in potential hostiles and neutrals.
    My grind is the real thing - without cheese.
    And without a lot of social skills too if I am honest.

    So I come back to the game.
    And enjoy playing it. Seeing it from a sportsman perspective.
    To reach lvl.100 I just need to put in the time. And I do. I do.

    But damn... Athena 20 really feels like it will be an accident if I ever reach it even in this life.
    Stop doing this Rare.
    Don't make me feel punished for hoisting a stupid flag that makes me a target for a nerfed multiplier just a hollow shell of the first days of emissarys.
    .

    Today I really wanted to reach lvl.5 with the dude I dragged back from Alcoholism.
    Another relative of mine actually.
    His sleep rhytm was not optimal either.
    But we took on the challenge.

    [mod edited]

    2 hours and about 15 minutes or so, of "flawless" Thieves Heaven running with optimal rank-grinding and the dream was gone.
    Makes me really hate it that I didnt level like a psycho during the first days and weeks of emissary.

    Rare ...
    °inhales°

    YOU WILL NEVER INCREASE PVP OR MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY MORE BRAVELY WITH THEIR ATHENA EMISSARY ON, IF YOU MAKE IT SUCH A MINDLESS HORRORSHOW TO GRIND IT TO RANK.5
    STOP IT FOR FISHS SAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    YOU ADD OTHER OBJECTIVES ANYWAYS - RIGHT?
    YOU WILL PUT OTHER METHODS TO KEEP PEOPLE PLAYING ANYWAYS, RIGHT?

    EVEN IF THEY RANK OUT ALL FACTIONS!!
    SO WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL?!
    STOP BEATING DOWN ON SLOOPERS!
    YOU ARE UNABLE TO STOP "ALLIANCE-PEOPLE" ANYWAYS.

    THOSE WITH DEDICATED WEBSITES AND FORUMS!
    WHO SHOW UP, HOGGING A WHOLE SERVER AND LEVEL WITHOUT RISK AND MASSIVE REWARDS AND BONUSSES ANYWAY.

    BUT I AM NOT ONE OF THEM.
    I PLAY THE "HARD MODE" AS YOU CALL IT.
    STOP MAKING IT EVEN HARDER.
    IT IS UNFAIR. AND I FEEL IT.
    I CANT IGNORE IT.

    HALF THE TIME IT TAKES TO RANK OUT THE ATHENA EMISSARY AND RETURN IT TO HOW IT WAS BEFORE.
    JUST DO IT.
    JUST DO IT!!!!!!!

    MAYBE REGULAR PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO TURN AN ATHENA-FLAG IN AT REAPERS THIS WAY.
    THAT PVE REAPERS THAT YOU CREATED ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

    And that few psycho players do not count who spent HOURS AND HOURS to seek and ambush people to take everything from them!
    THEY ARE NOT THE NORM.
    THEY ARE NOT THE REAL SEA OF THIEVES EXPERIENCE!

    People like "Pace" who I watch dearly as a follower, are not the norm!
    They are not the true experience, even if it is marketed like that wrongly on Twitch.
    And people know that!

    ^

    [mod edited]

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  • WolfManbush
    Champion

    It should be sped up a bit for a couple reasons

    1. It's a session based game it's pretty silly how long it takes. I've long been 20 and yes I know all the tricks to get a boost. It takes too long for others in a session based game

    2. This is the more important reason, it serves the environment
      We need more level 5 athena emissaries out there and more athena loot floating around out there and that comes from more rinse/repeating emissary quests on random servers.

    It simply got nerfed too much and I'd put it in the middle between where it was and how it is now. It serves everyone to do so, most importantly loot and flag circulation

  • SoyaBean566
    Marauder
    Insider

    @odyssee-mit-tee said in Athena Emissary leveling time - warning: "rage":

    Its been some time now since it was nerfed for about 50% or such.
    Back then in the first month after emissarys were added, it took just ONE Thieves Heaven run to max it out to rank.5
    And that was a good thing.

    Yeah I agree with this

    Cause when dedicated PvPers do the serverhoppy and check Athena-table, they will show up around Thieves Heaven sooner or later.
    It was balanced. Even when I looked for servers with relative abandonded Ancient Isle's areas for it. There was never a guarantee to not encounter PvP.

    Yep I agree it was balanced.

    .

    But now I really have to invest for about 3 to 4 hours just to level it to Rank.5?

    If you practice it you can do it in less than 2 hours. It gets a lot easier once you memorize landmarks on the thieves haven x Mark's the spot map.

    Compared it with other emissary too from the other companys and I must really say, IT REALLY IS DREADFUL.
    The other emissarys level so much faster than the Athena one.

    Why. It does not make any sense.

    I think it's because it's a pirate legend only company, so they wanted to make it harder than the others.

    Especially since the Athena grind feels insane. ( Just reached overall Athena reputation 15 today but hey I am struggling with motivation after playing SoT for a long time and I was sitting on 14 for months. )
    You know the thing.
    You love the game but things start to feel very draaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagging on.

    Well you could just not grind athena... all you get is one cosmetic set anyway. You don't have to grind anything, stop doing Athena if it isn't fun.

    If not for the Athena-eyes at the new grindlevel of 100, I would have not come back.
    So I used the chance to hop back in the Athena voyages and wow it feels so lame and unnecessarily nerfed into the ground.
    .
    .

    Rare does realize that not all gamers who play their game are not teenagers or such forever, I mean?
    That they have at one point to face reality and take on reallife dutys, right?
    Even I who had to do this after I actually turned 30 years, shamelessly, lived the life of a NEET is now helping my sick and frail relatives, my parents and others to get by?
    In the age of Lockdown-dictatorship and all that trash.
    .

    So when the stars allign for me just a few more times in my not so truly previliged years of live anymore and I remember the good old times of Sea of Thieves which are not even that many years back in the past, why must I see Athena emissary being nerfed into the ground?

    Yeah I agree that the nerfing was a bit too much.

    AS IF PEOPLE WOULD ACTUALLY EVEN BE ABLE TO PROFIT FROM IT MOST OF THE TIME - WITHOUT BEING ATTACKED BY SOME CREW and have to abort mission one way or the other?

    I am not an "Alliance server player".
    I do not drown in allys. I drown in potential hostiles and neutrals.
    My grind is the real thing - without cheese.
    And without a lot of social skills too if I am honest.

    So I come back to the game.
    And enjoy playing it. Seeing it from a sportsman perspective.
    To reach lvl.100 I just need to put in the time. And I do. I do.

    But damn... Athena 20 really feels like it will be an accident if I ever reach it even in this life.
    Stop doing this Rare.
    Don't make me feel punished for hoisting a stupid flag that makes me a target for a nerfed multiplier just a hollow shell of the first days of emissarys.
    .

    Today I really wanted to reach lvl.5 with the dude I dragged back from Alcoholism.
    Another relative of mine actually.
    His sleep rhytm was not optimal either.
    But we took on the challenge.
    Look if you're not enjoying the athena voyages just stop doing them. I agree athena needs an update, but until then you should do something else in the game.

    Until a Brig came around and we decided to p°ssy out after all and turn in only at rank.4 of emissary. Yeah - feels bad man. But hey... bigger ship... you know the drill.

    2 hours and about 15 minutes or so, of "flawless" Thieves Heaven running with optimal rank-grinding and the dream was gone.
    Makes me really hate it that I didnt level like a psycho during the first days and weeks of emissary.

    Rare ...
    °inhales°

    YOU WILL NEVER INCREASE PVP OR MAKE PEOPLE WANT TO PLAY MORE BRAVELY WITH THEIR ATHENA EMISSARY ON, IF YOU MAKE IT SUCH A MINDLESS HORRORSHOW TO GRIND IT TO RANK.5
    STOP IT FOR FISHS SAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    YOU ADD OTHER OBJECTIVES ANYWAYS - RIGHT?
    YOU WILL PUT OTHER METHODS TO KEEP PEOPLE PLAYING ANYWAYS, RIGHT?

    EVEN IF THEY RANK OUT ALL FACTIONS!!
    SO WHAT IS THE BIG DEAL?!
    STOP BEATING DOWN ON SLOOPERS!
    YOU ARE UNABLE TO STOP "ALLIANCE-PEOPLE" ANYWAYS.

    THOSE WITH DEDICATED WEBSITES AND FORUMS!
    WHO SHOW UP, HOGGING A WHOLE SERVER AND LEVEL WITHOUT RISK AND MASSIVE REWARDS AND BONUSSES ANYWAY.

    Yes I agree with this, alliance servers are very unfair and rare should do more to stop them.

    BUT I AM NOT ONE OF THEM.
    I PLAY THE "HARD MODE" AS YOU CALL IT.
    STOP MAKING IT EVEN HARDER.
    IT IS UNFAIR. AND I FEEL IT.
    I CANT IGNORE IT.

    HALF THE TIME IT TAKES TO RANK OUT THE ATHENA EMISSARY AND RETURN IT TO HOW IT WAS BEFORE.
    JUST DO IT.
    JUST DO IT!!!!!!!

    😀👍

    MAYBE REGULAR PEOPLE WILL ACTUALLY BE ABLE TO TURN AN ATHENA-FLAG IN AT REAPERS THIS WAY.
    THAT PVE REAPERS THAT YOU CREATED ONE WAY OR THE OTHER.

    And that few psycho players do not count who spent HOURS AND HOURS to seek and ambush people to take everything from them!
    THEY ARE NOT THE NORM.
    THEY ARE NOT THE REAL SEA OF THIEVES EXPERIENCE!

    Ok

    People like "Pace" who I watch dearly as a follower, are not the norm!
    They are not the true experience, even if it is marketed like that wrongly on Twitch.

    Yep there are a few twitch streamers who have inspired people to do bad things, but it is a sandbox game, so there is no wrong way to play it..

    And people know that!

    ^
    All of this rant just because I became enraged for the Athena emissary-rank leveltime.
    BUT FOR FISHS SSAKE really.
    You guys put stuff after stuff into the game!

    Overall, I agree that athena emissary shouldn't of been nerfed. But it's too late to change it now, it would be unfair for the people who got athena 20! If you don't enjoy athena grind, don't do it!😃

    And hey - Community - shut the fish up I am not watching you and you ever bootlicking, ever tolerant and acceptant, insane oppinions and mindsets.
    Get dumpstered by Pace and his Crew like the inferior PvPers that you are!
    You useless nobodys!

    ???

  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    Athena shouldn’t be a easy go, rank up quickly grind. PL should be a difficult task and anything connected to it should be a grind that burns.

    So what if you don’t reach grade 5 every time. This game is based on sessions and made for a long run time.

  • ItsVojta3703
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @burnbacon I agree, but It's still too slow. I'm playing SoT for commondations only right now and I'm not looking for athena stuff. You get SO LITTLE for SO MUCH TIME. I guess that's what the author is trying to say. I didnt even read the CAPS LOCK things he said, but I agree with overall idea. Athena need either faster lvling or more stuff to do. It's too boring. You literally combine all the boring stuff of all factions into one voyage.

  • MostExpendable
    Lord
    Insider

    Lol. You should try stealing Athena loot! It’s way easier.

  • MostExpendable
    Lord
    Insider

    @itsvojta3703 I stopped reading his post after the “dictator” rubbish.
    But yeah, Athena emissary is a bit absurd atm. (Though you can hunt skelly ships and megs for a while to boost it a couple of levels before you even start with the voyage.).
    I’ve decided I’m not even going to bother until they update the Athena voyages. And I honestly recommend others do the same.
    Until then. Steal other peoples Thieves Haven runs! The difficulty makes the juice taste sweeter.

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    My friends and I got to Athena level 4 in only 1 DR Athena run - that alone is already a 2x bonus. We were then able to get to level 5 shortly after our next voyage started (which was a gilded Athena voyage). Not only were we able to capitalize on that, but the bonus voyages were a huge boon too.

  • Xultanis Dragon
    Sailor

    @odyssee-mit-tee

    Nice raging but thats all it is. Raging. The Athena is balanced as it is. If it takes you 2 hours to do a theives haven run or even to get to grade 4 then you aren't doing something right.

    By speed running Athena's you can get to level 5 in 2 DR's quests. Thats about an hours worth of playing. I can solo a DR's athena in about 30 to 40mins solo give or take a stupid volcano spawn.

    I did all my Athena after they nerfed emissary and I'm not a teenager with all the time in the world. I also work and have responsibilities.

    Like I mentioned, you aren't doing something right if it takes you 2 hours to do an Theives Haven run especially with a friend. If you are trying to collect everything that isn't athena related maybe thats your problem.

    All I know is I did it and it seemed fine. A few players in my crew did it and it seemed fine as well.

    So get better at the game or try to find a more efficient way of doing the quest because 2 hours just complete a thieves haven run and get to Level 4 is just horrible time management.

  • Gundy the Shark
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Founder

    @wolfmanbush I’m in agreement that it’s been nerfed too much. I did a full DR Athena’s voyage a few days ago and only just got to 2nd emissary tier upon completing the whole thing (It’s possible there is a bug where first picking up the items doesn’t award emissary XP).

    I think the problem isn’t just the slow emissary XP gain, but also the overall lack of Athena’s items in these voyages. Throughout the entire voyage I only ended up with three trinkets and the chest of legends. That’s not even close to enough to be a worthwhile investment. The Athena items should be the norm, not the exception IMO.

  • Genuine Heather
    Captain
    Insider

    Wow. Just...wow.

  • Marrl
    Lord
    Insider
    Founder

    Ahoy @odyssee-mit-tee,

    While I can understand this is a heated topic for you please remember to be polite to other users and follow the forum rules. Going forward please avoid bypassing the bot and keep your messages polite.

    Thanks!

  • Grog Minto
    Master
    Insider

    Honestly, seeing more Athena Emissaries on the sea would be nice.
    I've maybe seen 20 Athena Emissaries in almost 500 hours of play and maybe 1 level 5. Sure I'm not server hopping every evening to get one, but still.

    I would be for a better incentive so that more people would run it.

  • Odyssee mit Tee
    Sailor

    @marrl sagte in Athena Emissary leveling time - warning: "rage":

    Ahoy @odyssee-mit-tee,

    Going forward please avoid bypassing the bot and keep your messages polite.

    Thanks!

    Calmed down by now. I had to vent the rage.

    Btw. we just lost the Gilded Athena by a Sloop with perfect luck to appear as if out of nowwhere. They attacked us since we had actually reached Rank.5 at this unusually calm day... proofing my point.

    Even when we put up a FOTD as a distraction and could do the missions totally on the other side of the entire map.

    We sold everything just about 5 or 10 minutes ago and sailed to our next objective.
    The Rank.5 Emissary-mission with one skeleton subjugation.
    So they could actually steal nothing from us.
    But it proofs my point.

    We had a Gally rumble by with Superwind after like 2 hours and 30 minutes.
    If they had decided to PvP - the journey would have ended before Rank.5

    ps:
    The Sloop that chased our Sloop down, needed the Kraken to get us.
    And I see a very repetitive pattern of me getting this damn giant Squid almost everytime, when someone chases me and I have an Emissary on my ship.

    If this is a thing and intentional, this too, can just "get the fish out of here".
    People are punished for putting effort into the Emissarys.
    It is already hard enough to not get unlucky in PvP and be destroyed.

    That was not fun to have them see the victory handed to them for nothing.
    We even killed them once both with a Kegplay and their stupid ship didnt sunk.
    But when the same thing happened to me once on our Brigantine, it was gone of course.

    And the guys who did this too us, a Sloopcrew, they were handed just everything to win.
    Well - what can I say?
    It was a calm server. Took 5 hours. And I cannot even play that long most of the time anymore.
    But it proofs my point.

    Even if the lame wannabe's need luck and PvE to wipe their behinds - they come and ruin the Emissary-players day.
    Well at least the "lvl.100 rep" cannot be taken away from me.
    ^
    And only this fact had brought me back.

  • Chronodusk
    Commander
    Insider

    @odyssee-mit-tee

    Athena's Fortune has problems in that it doesn't really bring anything special to the table as a trading company.

    It takes so long to get to grade 5 because this trading company doesn't have any "trading company specific" actions because Athena's Fortune has lacked a proper identity since launch.

    It's very telling that the most effective way to get to grade 5 is not from a true Athena voyage, but from the Bilge Rat special Athena run. AF needs a complete overhaul.

    Oh not to mention, this emissary is a waste of time compared to others since very few pieces of loot can actually be turned in with the gold multiplier.

  • Odyssee mit Tee
    Sailor

    @chronodusk sagte in Athena Emissary leveling time - warning: "rage":

    Oh not to mention, this emissary is a waste of time compared to others since very few pieces of loot can actually be turned in with the gold multiplier.

    I don't care about the gold multiplier, I care only about the reputation actually.
    A pity one thing is bound to the other without difference.

    As a player who totally loves Thieves Heaven I have always enjoyed doing the missions there, even if cannot help but to sigh sometimes when I dug up another stupid Mermaid juwel instead of something that can boost the rep.

    Rare has nerfed the progress so much, it makes no sense at all.
    Unrelated to the "faction lore" or whatever.

    I can grind the flag by defeating something as unrelated like a random Skeleton Captain on some Island, or defeat a Skeletonship, or the Meg, or the Kraken.
    Not that I am complaining, it is kinda cool but it does not change the most important thing of all.
    And that is...
    ... that doing 'one voyage' for a faction, while hoisting the Emissary for the same faction, should always have the Emissary end up on Rank.5

    Everything else is just bad game design really.
    I wonder how many hours the regular SoThieves player spends for one session?

    I was Athena 10 for about... pfff 8 weeks before the Emissarys came in.
    And I was honestly a little sad to somewhere feel that "the journey is over now".
    It feels a bit sad and lonely for me personally when the last faction stops progressing in reputation.

    But it was okay. Really.
    When it was rised to 20, I felt very curious and motivated.
    And then I noticed what HUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE amounts of Athena-stuff you have to bring back to the Mysterious Stranger now, to rise even a single level.

    Made me a bit more excited actually.
    And then the Emissary was nerfed :D
    and I was left like " Bruh. "

    Even the most joyful process stops being joyful if the lame timesink-like mentality behind is exposed.
    .
    .

    Reminds of World of Warcraft. °SNORT°
    And all this mounts with dropchances below 5% and then you can just go into the instance only once in a whole week.
    **And reaching your actual objective can still and also take +30 minutes or an hour AT LEAST even if you are fast.

    Doing this with more characters does not necessarily mean it will feel better when you put in about half a day or even more once in a week and then the mount still does not drop.
    For months and years also.
    That is not content.
    That is emotional extortion.

    And for WoW you also have to pay monthly. Hahahaha. ^^
    So I pay a fixed sum to be only able to do what I would possibly want to do over the entire week, only at one day and the others days are denied to me.
    " But the others characters you still have other characters. "

    Have I? :D
    For the longest time it was not easy to get them on maxlevel too just so that you could get 3 or 4 expansions back to farm a single raid-instance from that time, for a mount with a dropchance that is just a wierd masochistic thing to some degree.

    I am easily bored.
    But I AM NOT THAT BORED. :)
    .
    .

    In SoThieves I wait for the day when I feel like I can engage in PvP with an Emissary without regret. But as long as I don't have maxrank on that particular faction, I just cannot feel that.

    I am ready. To feel betrayed. To feel encountering unfair odds.
    That the game is rigged against me. That the Kraken was manually activated by someone at Rare who hates me for making forumposts that are defiant or something.
    :)

    I want to be ready.
    But seeing the process to rise an Emissary bordering at masochistic torture... it won't help.
    Plus I lost my Gilded Athena also since I ragequitted.
    Regret filled me only for maybe 8 seconds though.
    After all they got nothing from our ship. An empty storage crate I believe was all.
    Still the Gilded Mission is gone.
    And Rare gave them the Kraken so it could happen.

    Now I feel very empty and hollow inside.
    I wonder if I can keep playing after the Athena eyes.
    This happens so often too. Some totally unfair bullfish happens and then I feel so bullied and tyrannized, I need a week just to bare the thought to look at SoThieves in my mental image alone.

    I know Rare wants people to play more.
    The way the run the game lets the fear shine through that the game dies of inactivity.
    But they just dont stop beating down on Sloopers like me.
    And they nerf the things I like.
    And they buff the wannabe's who don't deserve anything and even chase the bloodhound-PvE on the tracks of Emissary players.

    Man its so frustrating.
    I am almost at the point where I say if you have a Rank.5 Emissary the Kraken feels you are so powerful it does not dare to attack YOUR ship.
    Seeing people handed something to them they are so unfit and unworthy of, ruining hours of grinding out an Emissary...
    ... no matter how much I enjoy SoThieves... its just nonsense.

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