I've been sailing on the Sea of Thieves since day one. I love the game. It's my second favorite game of all time and I've been playing games for 25 years. There is one massive problem with it, and I hope it will be addressed and fixed. Server hopping is a huge issue, and severely damages the game for the non-sweaty average player. Server hopping abuses the system, and it is allowed by Rare. I know it abuses the system because I've participated in it. And while it can be fun at times, I'd rather have it be removed as an option even if it means I can't do it myself. I'm not sure how to solve this problem. Locking people to a server for 20-30 minutes upon joining unless invited to another server by a friend could be one way to address the issue. That person would still be able to leave, but if they tried to join a new server, it would put them in the same one. I'm actually quite astonished that this hasn't been addressed already, given how long it's been affecting the game negatively.
Server Hopping
How does server hopping hurt? the game auto fills servers when it can(i thought?) so if someone left to get randomly dropped in another server, it should eventually merge people into another server if someone ends up sailing all by themselves or put new people logging in, into the server your on.
So how is this hurting your gameplay besides leaving you alone for a little bit before the server merges or before another person logs on?
Wraith balls. Anti-server hopping weapon. Get some and protect yourself from the under-supplied hoppers.
My only gripe with this is the FotD and Reaper emissary hunters. Less so with Reapers because the same tactic is used to find other emissary ships to sink but still an issue as Reaper hunters usually have zero items to sell when you sink them.
Well I’ve been burned by a server merge. Sunk and lost my loot from a FotD...they told me they had been server hopping and found me...4 players in a galleon open a server as a single player then invite friends to a server that is active with a FotD will always ruin a day for player that plays the event to lose it to a server merge.
@burnbacon sagte in Server Hopping:
I don’t see it as a problem or how it harms “others”. Wasting gaming time trying to find something while you could easily find it by playing it.
You hunt for the Meg, she won’t appear. When you stop the hunt, it finds you b
It effects the overall server stability and causes more server merges, than needed...so yes, it is a problem
Fully agree , happy some players support what i f8ght for over a year already.
Most players do it and see no problem , but it is a Problem in many ways.
From another thread
@stundorn sagte in There is too much incentive for serverhopping and i think it should be fixed:
I have zero incentive to hop Servers!!!
i login and do whatever is there for me today, but most players dont accept the randomness of the game, cheese it to their favors.Full Alliance Servers
Hopping for world Event PvE
Hopping for FotD PvP
Hopping away from R5
Hopping to find emissary to attack
Hopping for golden chickens back then
Hopping for a better Athena Route...
Hopping for xyz and not accepting randomness or an adventureous aproach and playstyle, but cheesing and exploiting the system.The fun in all of this is, the one cheese it this way and the others rage while they cheese it the other way that makes the first one complain.
All wrong imho!
I have no need to hop Servers and want it to be restricted to have and feel a more organic Sea of Thieves experience.
The thing with the PvE and PvP focussed Players and Hoppers imho takes away from an organic feel and immersive shared world aspect.
@stundorn
In Brakum..he states hopping for golden chickens?Huh...if you don’t find chickens you die on purpose to respawn chickens on the island.
Sometimes you have to actually hunt them as they hide and are quiet until you find their roost.@elderterdkin You're confusing the term "server merge" with "server hopping." A server merge occurs when a player or group of players is already sailing and they are unexpectedly merged into a new server. Server hopping is different. Server hopping is when players repeatedly and in quick succession join and leave a server in hopes of finding active Forts of the Damned or players with a level 4+ Reaper's Emissary flag. They continue this pattern of joining, leaving, joining, leaving, until they find what they're looking for, and then they target the player(s) doing the activity/event. In reality, a Fort of the Damned skull should draw in players already active on whatever server you're in. But because players are able to server hop there are several activites within the game that are especially challenging to complete. It's an unfortunate abuse of the system, especially for new/intermediate players, and it's why I don't recommend this game to a slew of my friends who I think otherwise would really enjoy it. And typically, server hopping is even my argument for why they shouldn't play.
@luciansanchez82 Like I suggested, I don't have a perfect solution. But I do feel certain that there's a good way of dealing with the problem. Without knowing how Rare has built their game, it's challenging to conclude any real possibility. I'm simply considering that it should be addressed, and so far it hasn't been.
@stundorn Great post! I couldn't agree with it more. The game would be much better if server hopping was removed. It really does take away from the organic feel of the game.
The ability to server hop without penalty is one of the greatest tools that people that complain about "toxicity" and negative experiences have other than mute and block.
There are 2 types of cheese in this game. The cheese that is a side effect of something positive and the cheese that is entirely cheese and offers nothing of substance to the game.
Server hopping has multiple positive contributions to the game that come with the cheese
Something like Rare supported alliances and wealth sharing is something that is entirely cheese with many negatives and offers nothing of substance to the game.
Good cheese stay stinky cheese get thrown away imo
On top of that as many server issues as there are people definitely shouldn't be restricted to random algorithmic server spots that are not necessarily going to place them on a server where they can even realistically play because of ping and region issues. Open crew is absolutely necessary in this game and restrictions kill open crew
@flying-squash can you please enlighten us how you determine a server hopping crew is hunting you down vs a crew that just happened to load into your server? Honestly I am a bit baffled how so many people complain of this but not sure how you determine such things.
@flying-squash There should be no limit on serverhopping. Sure, incentivize not doing it, but there should be no limits. If I load up Sea of Thieves to do X, I'm not going to stay in a server that has nothing I want. If server RNG starts dictating what I have to do, then I'm just not going to play.
Something from another of my posts:If I want to fight emissaries, I'm going to serverhop for a server with emissaries.
If I want to do Devil's Roar voyages, I'm going to serverhop for Ancient Spire because RNG has no right to tell me to waste time sailing across the map to start a voyage.
If I want to do cargo missions, I'm going to serverhop until I get one.
If I want X world event, I'm going to serverhop to a server with said event. RNG has no right to tell me to do the first world event I see. Who wants to sail from Sanctuary to south of Ashen Reaches just to do a skeleton fleet?
Serverhopping has too many valid reasons to use it for it to be limited because we want to preserve some sense of randomness to every session. Waiting for what I want vs. serverhopping for 5-10 minutes = wasting hours of time vs. getting what I want. You, server RNG, or Rare have no right telling me what I have to do when I load into the game.
Here's something from that same post:
People serverhop because it's faster than waiting for what they want. You have no right to say otherwise.
@flying-squash Server hopping wouldn't be a thing if Rare would let us see how many ships are in the server and kept them full as a priority.
I don’t know if you noticed lately when you log in to the game and your a new spawn...bam you Notice a L5 reaper they are keeping the server full.
I was at reaper hideout selling FlameHeart and Skeleton Fleet loot. While selling I looked at the map and noticed a sloop emissary at Goldensands outpost. I immediately wanted to head over to it. We where selling our loot as fast as we can and it took more than 5 minutes. After selling something when was I back at our boat the sloop it was gone. I sold again and looked again there was a Brigantine in its place.
How many time have you logged in a see someone’s stuff floating next to your ship by the pier?
All ships have 5 minutes after a player leaves the game and sinks.
@momsnewdaddy I would say that the average server hopper is doing so in order to hunt treasure acquired (or about to be acquired) by other players.
@grumpyw01f There are many games out there where RNG isn't as influential. RNG in Sea of Thieves is important because it affects the way direction your adventure takes each play session. This is one of the things I love most about Sea of Thieves. I never login with a specific parameter in mind, and I always login when I can sink at least two hours into the game. This is easier than ever with Emissary missions. No matter where you start in the game, there's something of value to do. I'm simply suggesting that if you're not a fan of RNG influencing how you play and what happens to you along the way, then Sea of Thieves isn't the best option for you.
@kommodoreyenser You can never be 100% certain, of course. However, I have played Sea of Thieves for more than 3000 hours (mostly pre-emissary missions), and you get a feel for the server hoppers. And there are various signs to consider, as well. For example, the other day I had just finished a fort and was gathering the goods. The fort increased my Reaper's Emissary level to 5, and I was ready to sell. Especially when running the Reaper's Emissary flag, I check the map frequently. In the distanced I saw a fresh spawn boat at an outpost and they weren't yet representing any faction. They voted on their own Reaper's flag, became a level 1 Reaper's Emissary, raised anchor and headed straight for me. The likelihood that this group of sweaty pirates with the full Dark Adventurer's boat cosmetic wasn't server hopping for the opportunity they were looking for is pretty low. Not impossible, but pretty low.
I have never been a fan of server hopping - I find it rather boring to look at menus and loading screens while constantly looking for a server that meets my criteria. As already mentioned from others, I too believe it ruins the spirit of the game. I can, however, understand and do see the argument from the other side regarding freedom of choice and personal time limitations, or those in it for the grind, a quick fix, or just to get into the action. But...
Recently, to my horror, I have accidentally introduced 1 of my best crewmates to LFGs. No big deal, right?
Wrong!
During Season 1, we sailed together and leveled up our renown doing whatever the server provided us. It was a grand old time!
My friend, however, since his introduction to LFGs, has started sailing on his own. Not a big deal, really, but it's how he's using it. He discovered alliance servers (which are often created by server hopping) as a result which allow him to grind much faster without peril. And he really wants to complete the Dark Adventurer set.
In the meantime, I'm still sailing casually, doing whatever fits my fancy at that time.
To rekindle our friendship, I invited him to sail with me earlier today. At the start, he asked me what I wanted to do. I suggested that we sail as a RBE, and go after a Reaper's chest on the horizon.
Shortly after retrieving said chest, we spotted another sloop docked at Cannon Cove equipped with a GHE flag. Thinking that sinking that ship could help us level our rep more quickly, I suggested that we ambush it. My friend agreed.
That's when everything went sideways - due to a series of bad choices, in the end both ships sank with no loot to gain for either party. While I was content to continue sailing (especially after receiving a positive message regarding my skill from the pirate we just sank - he didn't know that we also sank), my friend threw his hands up in the air and said he was going to go do something else and promptly left.
Later in the evening, I started a new session solo and spawned at Ancient Spire. I went after a nearby Reaper's Bounty and from the SE side of Devil's Ridge all of the way to the Reaper's Bones Hideout, was completely uncontested - I didn't even see another ship anywhere on the horizon. It was quite peaceful.
Happy with my accomplishment, which was bolstered by an additional 5,000 gold due to the Gold Rush hour, I messaged my friend - who happened to be sailing elsewhere.
His response? "That's it!? I made that in 5 minutes upon arriving to this alliance server. I would have invited you, but I know you said that it's not really your thing..."
🥺
Server hopping, and by extension, server alliances, gave rise to this quick form of grinding, and is emblematic of society today - youth trying to get the next quick fix, instead of slowing down and just enjoying the moment.
I both love and hate Rare for their stance - in-game, they constantly remind their players that, "it's not about the gold; it's about the glory!" - referencing the experience over the goal. However, outside of the game, they make no moves to reinforce this notion. I'm not suggesting that they should, but I do think that I would personally prefer it in this case.
Meanwhile, pirates are grinding away, and are likely getting bored and moving on to whatever's next. While the Sea is steadily growing, I'm left to wonder if player retention could be significantly higher if so many didn't push so hard to grind it all away.
I fear that I'm losing my friend due to his newly discovered and preferred playstyle, and I worry that a time will come, and soon, where he will ask me, "now what?"
...and it will be because of this dynamic that server-hoppping is a part of.
@galactic-geek sagte in Server Hopping:
Server hopping, and by extension, server alliances, gave rise to this quick form of grinding, and is emblematic of society today - youth trying to get the next quick fix, instead of slowing down and just enjoying the moment.
Rare is probably at a loss how to deal with Alliance servers.
In fact they show how society functions regardless of skill & feelings.
" Alone you can resist. Together you can conquer. "
In SoT by banding together you have already conquered and the exception is just a "rare" accident. ^_^Well what can I say?
Sorry to hear that. I too am not succumbing to the lure of Alliance servers.
Why would I even play this game when there is truly no challenge left anymore?
You cannot safe those who demand victory without actually fighting.
We live in a wierd age full of smug and entitled people without any empathy for those thinking or feeling different.And most companys and developers are unable to either notice such a problem - or know how to solve it?
For me... I would totally make it impossible for people observed to play together regularly, to appear on the same server at all, if not in the same crew.
Or with a window banning that possibility for at least 2 or 3 days.Alliance servers? More like: " Hah, get on your knees in front of mine and the companys will. "
But Rare is probably already succumbing to the need of money as well.
And those empty, ambitionless vessels who just demand success, they are a scource of money as well.
Therefore evil wins once again. ;)@flying-squash said in Server Hopping:
@kommodoreyenser You can never be 100% certain, of course. However, I have played Sea of Thieves for more than 3000 hours (mostly pre-emissary missions), and you get a feel for the server hoppers. And there are various signs to consider, as well. For example, the other day I had just finished a fort and was gathering the goods. The fort increased my Reaper's Emissary level to 5, and I was ready to sell. Especially when running the Reaper's Emissary flag, I check the map frequently. In the distanced I saw a fresh spawn boat at an outpost and they weren't yet representing any faction. They voted on their own Reaper's flag, became a level 1 Reaper's Emissary, raised anchor and headed straight for me. The likelihood that this group of sweaty pirates with the full Dark Adventurer's boat cosmetic wasn't server hopping for the opportunity they were looking for is pretty low. Not impossible, but pretty low.
The issue I see with your rationale is that you too by definition are sweaty since you probably have the gold for the full dark adventurer set after 3k hours of gameplay.
They could of possibly each bought one piece of the ship set, greatly reducing the cost. Also, they could of hopped on to do something else but decided to go for the Reaper V since they know it most likely is loaded with loot. It is what my crew would have done. They were even nice enough to raise an emissary flag which let you know they were coming AND gives you a reason to sink them. 99% of the time, when I get attacked as a Reaper, no emissary flag or loot is onboard their ship.
I will say that if this happens to you 100/100 times, then yes hopping is most likely the cause and the issue to be solved. I doubt this happens though, just like the crews that complain they get attacked every single session. The only way this happens is if you are actively out looking for a fight every session and even then, many times it is hard to find other ships depending on the server location and time of day.
@johnhp1 sagte in Server Hopping:
@stundorn
In Brakum..he states hopping for golden chickens?Huh...if you don’t find chickens you die on purpose to respawn chickens on the island.
Sometimes you have to actually hunt them as they hide and are quiet until you find their roost.Hopping for offerings of the merchant to pay for golden chickens to be more Precise.
If they dont have one people hop servers until they got a journey that want you to deliver golden chickens.I never login with a specific parameter in mind
I do. After reaching A20, what player still grinds Athena's Fortune? There's no rep and less gold to be had, the only motivation that could be there is emissary ledgers... The point is that at a certain time you get tired of certain things. Just because I feel like doing a certain thing doesn't mean I'm not a true SoT player...
I'm simply suggesting that if you're not a fan of RNG influencing how you play and what happens to you along the way, then Sea of Thieves isn't the best option for you.
Honestly, just get out of here with this idea where anyone against removing player choice should quit the game because they don't know what it's really about... RNG influences how I play a lot. But I pick the starting activity. If X world event comes up, I might do it. If Y world event comes up, I might do something else. I just pick what to start with. I'm not going from doing PvP to doing PvE because my first server has no emissaries... That is against player choice and will hurt the game.
It's just that your playing style is different than mine. Which is fine, I just think that you playing style fails to see why server hopping is currently necessary for my playing style. I would love to see a time where server hopping is not required to engage in PvP that rewards with lots of loot.@grumpyw01f sagte in Server Hopping:
I would love to see a time where server hopping is not required to engage in PvP that rewards with lots of loot.
There is no empty Server possible due to merges, so hopping for PvP is not neccessary
only thing you do is cherrypicking targets.Also you agreed you use exploits in another thread.
Bad sportmanship , cheesing the game and telling us about a playstyle?
LOL.So... imagine a situation where I'm in a server that's stuck with a ship that's very oppressive, overmatched or otherwise unfavorable encounter. In short; any reason why I would want to leave this server and continue my voyage on a different one.
Conform to your proposal, you say that I now have to sit out a 20-30 minute punishment.
This won't eradicate people server-hopping to find a certain specific player. This will cater poor behavior that chases people out of a server, but the server are now telling you 'no' to avoiding them.
@stundorn Again, you asking everyone to spend time doing nothing to preserve your philosophy of the game. So, to get a merge, I have to sink other ships with most likely nothing of value on them just to hope that a server merge puts me in a server with people worth sinking. There goes hours of my time. You're just telling me that I have to waste time to play the game as intended. Instead of letting the game server hop me (server merge) I'll do it myself, thank you. That will save me time, it will let the newbs have their fun because I don't have to sink them just to move servers, it's a win-win with the only losing party the one who sinks on the server with people worth fighting, which is part of the game.
Also you agreed you use exploits in another thread.
Bad sportmanship , cheesing the game and telling us about a playstyle?
LOL.
So because I exploit something unrelated to serverhopping you're right? Your arguments baffle me. You want everyone to play your way because you think you have the best understanding of how the game should be played. Just stop telling people how they must play the game or enjoy the game! You seriously want Rare to add a restriction to protect your philosophy... Just stick to your beliefs and move on.
Flag or no, you should be spotting ships coming for you. The exploit just takes away unattentive pirates' ability to look at a map and happen to spot ships coming for them...
