Nerf Reapers on intentional server hopping.

Like you say, server merge sometimes isn't fair, we've all been there.
I've had a few fresh boats spawn in whilst I've been selling at the Sovereign over the last 3 months. Made it easy to charity my storage crates!

But I don't think whether a boat is flying an emissary flag (or not), should have any say on how far away they spawn from others.

What is the % of this happening. Every single time?

Server hopping should never have been a thing. It harms the organic nature of play.
Diving to voyages shouldn't change your server, portal hopping shouldn't change your server, scuttle to new server shouldn't be a command we have, not even logging out and back in should change your server.
The only thing I can really say should change your server is being sunk in pvp, so we don't get stuck in these scenarios of re-sinking the same ship over and over as they beeline back towards you every time.

@d3adst1ck Yeah built in maphack seems a bit much and combine that with server hopping seems cheaty.

when you vote up a emissary it tells you that people will try and sink you when a grade v reaper takes all emissaries out of a server they will look for more and server hopping is the only way that play style is maintabable.

@hurtwillcam10 Or they can continue to hunt the horizon for sails until another emissary appears on the map. I do agree that there needs to be an onscreen warning and sound when a level 4-5 Reapers just hops to a server. They want the bonuses for the Sea hunter killer than they need to work for their food.

@gameglarb said in Nerf Reapers on intentional server hopping.:

@the-old-soul800 So basically, if you get sunk there should be absolutely no chance of a comeback?

Nope.

You should just be forced into a new server?

Yep.

I mean, imagine your in an awesome three-way battle for a fotd hoard or something and you accidentally hit a keg in the water. There goes your fun server!

In the awesome three way battle, the third ship standing after the other two sunk should have won and be able to continue without worrying about the other ships coming back.
Dealing with those ships repeatedly coming back, makes it not a fun server. It doesn't matter if they sunk by hitting a keg in the water.

And in what way does the “Scuttle to new sea” option harm the game? You are losing all loot + emissary- So it isnt like portal hopping/dive hopping. Basically jus the same thing as relogging, only faster. How does that “harm organic play” ?

You may have missed the part where I specifically said you shouldn't be able to swap to a new server by relogging.
It harms organic play by allowing people to server hop until they locate specific content. That shouldn't be a thing. It's still bad whether you arrive on a fresh ship or a stacked reaper 5.
When activating FotD or doing FoF or anything else, the other ships that arrive to contest it should be people who were organically on that server and happened to notice the event, not server hoppers searching for the event. And if you're lucky enough to be on a server with nobody else who wants to do it, you should be able to do it uncontested, not get attacked by ships that didn't exist 30 seconds ago.

Do I need to actively seek out a player to sink me if i want to relocate to a new server? lol

If you want to relocate to a new server you need to get over yourself and keep playing on the same server.

Maybe server hopping should be nerfed, but seriously, without it the game would be worse imo

It would undoubtedly be better.

This is the way I usually play the game. I either server hop looking for something specific, or get to Grade 5 and hop using a TT or voyage and find servers to clean out. That said, I've always thought it was unfair that a Grade 5 reaper can suddenly show up in your server unannounced. Yes, you should check the horizon and map table from time to time, but having to check it every 3-4 minutes is not realistic. It's one thing to notice a Grade 2 Reaper, track its progress as it raises its grade, and adjust your voyage accordingly. It's another to check the map, go to an island and solve a riddle, come back with the treasure and notice a Grade 5 that merged into the server suddenly barreling down on you.

I've always thought a horn (or some other booming sound similar to the FoF noise) announcing either the arrival of a Grade 5 in the server, or a Grade 4 moving to Grade 5, would add some excitement to the process, in addition to being more fair to the other players.

@sammyr0cks said in Nerf Reapers on intentional server hopping.:

This is the way I usually play the game. I either server hop looking for something specific, or get to Grade 5 and hop using a TT or voyage and find servers to clean out. That said, I've always thought it was unfair that a Grade 5 reaper can suddenly show up in your server unannounced. Yes, you should check the horizon and map table from time to time, but having to check it every 3-4 minutes is not realistic. It's one thing to notice a Grade 2 Reaper, track its progress as it raises its grade, and adjust your voyage accordingly. It's another to check the map, go to an island and solve a riddle, come back with the treasure and notice a Grade 5 that merged into the server suddenly barreling down on you.

I've always thought a horn (or some other booming sound similar to the FoF noise) announcing either the arrival of a Grade 5 in the server, or a Grade 4 moving to Grade 5, would add some excitement to the process, in addition to being more fair to the other players.

Partial demotion on server hop would work. Like you lose a grade so when you arrive on the new server. That way you have to work a bit to get back up to grade 5, you can't see all the other emissaries and they can see you as grade 4 giving them warning that way.

Or.... introduce another consumable.

We have merfruit to hide our tags for the set amount of time. Another consumable could be used for a ship, to hide it from the map for the set amount of time, and make it at least equal, or even more rare to find than merfruit.

Maybe even as rare as horns initially used to be.

Just an idea, in addition to all the others in the thread.

Maybe the only maps that should show emissaries would be the ones in the Reaper/Athena hideouts.

This is a very good idea as well imho, even though I don't oppose the other ones suggested.

@superlonghurst said in Nerf Reapers on intentional server hopping.:

Mainly a problem with Reapers grade 5 I’ve noticed, it’s been a problem for yonks so I don’t expect it will get fixed lol. I define intentional for example as starting a voyage like a tall tales then diving to start and cancelling it. Not server mergers. There’s other ways to force server mergers like hourglass.

By nerf I’m thinking they get merged in nowhere near another ship, or there’s a loud audible or visual effect to notify the server that a Reaper 5 has arrived.

I’ve been on both ends of reaper 5s server hopping, was grade 5 a few days ago our brig got server merged and it put us close to a grade 5 solo merchant that was getting the last of the cargo from his lost voyage. That kinda sucks no warning at all for him. Then last night I was grade 5 reaper doing a skeleton fleet, nothing near us on horizon or map then bang a blacked out rank 5 reaper appears 🤣

It gets abused I think there needs to be something to off set it a little, server wide warning or maybe demote them a grade down to 4 on server hop.

The issue of server hopping, especially by Grade 5 Reapers, disrupts gameplay by giving players unfair advantages, like encountering fresh crews or avoiding other players. To prevent this, I suggest a "Sea Tax" update, where players would need to pay a 50k gold fee to join a captained ship, limiting server hopping. Players could choose between open, closed, or taxed crews. I also played a role in Xbox reducing the number of players that can be blocked from 5,000 to 1,000, as I block those in open crews who aren’t in captained ships. These players often server hop, leading to frustration, especially since lower-ranked players matchmake with higher-ranked ones and vice versa, often just testing settings or microphones. But my idea was shot down.