@mystic-nefro
Do you think players can only access your ship from ladders?
I'm well aware of other strategies, I didn't feel like writing an essay to cover them all. Smash and boards can happen, but they are a horrible approach to board considering it gives zero advantages that your opponent doesn't get as well. They may get a boarding chance, but so does the person getting rammed. Both ships get holes, the only time it may be effective is if you outnumber them from the start. High chance after a board you are left with two ships most likely dead in the water with a hole or two because both crews boarded each other and hit anchor. Its not a good strategy by no means.
Cannon boards, while possible, aren't reliable. It goes back to what I was saying before, that is one person who now has a job to sweep an entire crew. That isn't something that should happen, one person shouldn't be able to sweep your entire crew so easily.
The Rowboat play you describe relies on the crew being so absolutely oblivious I'm surprised you even mention it. What crew won't spot such an eyesore coming up to their ship? It also only works on stationary ships, so if the ship is moving this strategy will fail immensely
You talk of sword lunging, but that is extremely telegraphed and can be seen a mile away. You might say that they won't see it coming, that its a stealth approach. I will disagree, because mermaids will always be present even if you are trying to pull a sneak play like this. Good crews watch for mermaids, this isn't really complicated, mermaids are easy to spot. I am even chuckling how you meantion dolphin diving like its this reliable tool. Yes, I am aware that from high points you can manipulate physics to launch yourself from the water. However, here is the big problem with that, its unreliable because most of the islands aren't remotely tall enough to facilitate this. It also relies on players not spotting your mermaid.
Accidentally harpooning players? What big dumb dumb does this? If I am going to harpoon some person, its intentional. If my crew member and another player is fighing, why am I harpooning to begin with? I just won't take the shot, its that simple. If we are going to latch onto someone it will be done with full intention. Hell, my crew does this on purpose, we pierce them and then blender them with swords. Its rather humerous. You even talking about grabbing objects while flying through the air, again, this is telegraphed. Cannons are loud, its quite obvious someone is flying through the air. First, you will hear them firing the cannon. Second, you will see them because cannonballs look completely different than a person. No trail equals person.
Also, I never said any of this has ever been my problem, I was just merely offering solution to the problem, that I'm often encountering at the forum. Unfortunately some trolls take it as a bait.
I don't get spawn-camped, you don't get spawn-camped. This demonstrates to me how much of a non-problem this is, if we can prevent it why can't others?
Dude I'm literally talking about that 1 sec window when you respawn and you are most vulnerable without chance to defend yourself. (We've tested it many times in arena, you can be killed before you are able to equip any kind of item)
I mean, seriously, whats wrong with giving player that 1 sec protection?
As I and @Octopus-Lime stated, this was already tried and it failed spectacularly. Your gripe isn't with me or the other people disagreeing with you, its with Rare themselves who stated why they gave up on spawn protections. If you want, I can pm you the link to the full statement on why they stopped it. Your privy to that information since I can't link it here.