Alliance Servers

  • The alliance servers I think are becoming a big problem for the Sea of ​​Thieves community, there are more and more discord channels that promote their groups with alliances 24/7 for you to join them, on the one hand these servers me They seem good for those who have little time or are not daring to risk a normal adventure, but the amount of gold and reputation that these alliances farm has a considerable impact on the rest of the players.

    These groups of discord already mentioned are governed by the VIP or member rule, if you are a VIP of the discord channel paying a fee, you will be prioritized to invite you to the alliance, this is becoming an outside business which benefits from the game, On the other hand, the large amounts of gold and reputation that they farm leave the rest of the players behind, since the vast majority of sea of ​​thieves players play alone or in groups of 4 people making alliances very rarely while these people farm millions at the same time. day, I think that the idea of ​​being able to create private servers or some way should be considered so that these people who benefit economically do not distort the goal to be achieved in Sea of ​​Thieves and create a community of equality not of exclusive groups in which if you pay you go up in 2 days to legendary pirate and in 1 week the entire set of athena and dark pirate

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  • The problem is that the messaging from the developers doesn't match the product

    They can have whatever feature they want and change their stated vision however they want but the two are not currently aligned

    They are trying to have their cake and eat it too imo. "We have this pve/pvp experience and we are sticking to it." also "wink wink if you wanna go hook up with one of the many alliances servers completely locked down where you make massive shared profit with very little risk we have that too"

    Expensive items give people something to spend on but they have no significance because of wealth sharing. Commendations are easily cheesed making most of them not significant either.

    It's too late to go back. Damage has been done. now it's just a matter of if you wanna spend the time to point it out when it's relevant or not.

    I really don't care that people lock servers down I'm pro server hopping and think people should be able to do what they want if they invest the time and energy it's the incentives to do so that I don't like. Wealth sharing in general had no place in the game but making 50% from 4 other ships in a locked down server while making your own steady gold? what in the heck is that?

    The time to pull the plug was right before releasing expensive items that actually made gold relevant and significant. Too late now.

  • Imo Alliance Servers are no more game-breaking than Server-Hopping; both over-emphasize and/or remove aspects of the random/open-world/PvEvP experience the game strives to create.

  • @krakenteach said:

    the idea of ​​being able to create private servers or some way should be considered so that these people who benefit economically do not distort the goal to be achieved in Sea of ​​Thieves and create a community of equality not of exclusive groups

    If it's the sort of private servers I think you're talking about, then it would further distort what Sea of Thieves is supposed to be about. If you're talking about ones without progress in rep or gold, those are eventually coming, though these would have no impact on full-alliance servers.

    We can point out as many flaws in the alliance system as we want, if Rare's allowing full-server alliance groups to advertise on their official discord, then it's probably too late to convince them to change any mechanics or restrict any sort of behavior.

    Let's just enjoy the servers we have. Let's show new players that PvP can be fun, whether you attack, defend, or lead others on a chase; and discourage them from joining those groups. That way we keep our servers active and fun, and they can keep to themselves in their their boring, voyage-event-grindy hell.

  • A forced server merge for everyone every 3 to 4 hours would put an end to all of this cheesing.

  • Don’t see an issue.

    If kids want to burn over the grind with these safe havens they created. With rules to monitor them and pay a fee. Let them ruin themselves.
    Later come to the forums and complain on having nothing to do.

    Let them
    Doesn’t ruin your own personal gaming experience.

  • I don't see the problem. The only progression rewards are cosmetic and don't really denote any game superiority by themselves. Legend status and gold are equally ephemeral. Both are easily obtained even for a mediocre player (case in point =P ).

    The only possible benefit would be bragging rights, and I've always felt that bragging about superiority in a video game is a pretty lame flex to begin with. So if they wanna expend the shoe leather to lock down a server, then I say, let 'em. Doesn't affect me none.

  • Alliance servers are not a problem because having gold in the game does not give you any advantage whatsoever.

    Why do you care how someone else wants to play a video game?

    Most alliance servers are free, especially the Rare affiliated ones, they aren't allowed to charge.

  • It's never too late to deal with the Alliance / Grinder servers.

    I hope the Custom servers will be up & running soon, so these players can have an alternative, but even without these a clear stance by Rare would be welcome.

    There are people complaining that on normal Adventure servers an alliance is hardly possible or else betrayal is the norm. While obviously a hyperbole and alliances between crews do happen, it does make sense that there are less people inclined to start or honor an alliance when a lot of those that want to play friendly are part of some discord and not in the real Adventure servers.

    I hope reaching the top in an emissary will have new rewards soon, it will be tougher for occasional players though to get and stay in the top when the grinder servers keep growing. As soon as this was introduced the argument "these players don't affect you or the way you play, so why bother, let them" was out of the window.

    I guess to discourage these servers some rules on server hopping should be introduced that do not hinder people who want to get away from toxic crews or servers. Instead of x number of hops per y minutes, perhaps some consequences after the fact can be brought into place so there can be made a distinction between those that hop for grinding and those that hop to actually play.

  • @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    It's never too late to deal with the Alliance / Grinder servers.

    I hope the Custom servers will be up & running soon, so these players can have an alternative, but even without these a clear stance by Rare would be welcome.

    There are people complaining that on normal Adventure servers an alliance is hardly possible or else betrayal is the norm. While obviously a hyperbole and alliances between crews do happen, it does make sense that there are less people inclined to start or honor an alliance when a lot of those that want to play friendly are part of some discord and not in the real Adventure servers.

    I hope reaching the top in an emissary will have new rewards soon, it will be tougher for occasional players though to get and stay in the top when the grinder servers keep growing. As soon as this was introduced the argument "these players don't affect you or the way you play, so why bother, let them" was out of the window.

    guess to discourage these servers some rules on server hopping should be introduced that do not hinder people who want to get away from toxic crews or servers. Instead of x number of hops per y minutes, perhaps some consequences after the fact can be brought into place so there can be made a distinction between those that hop for grinding and those that hop to actually play.

    Literally all they would have to do to have the most effective result without punishing anyone or play style is get rid of wealth sharing. People can still hop people can still lock down servers blah and blah there just wouldn't be ridiculous and contradictory incentives for it.

    Nobody should be cracked down on or targeted the feature just shouldn't exist if the stated vision is going to hold any integrity.

    I don't think people teaming up and coordinating is an issue at all as long as there isn't incentives and interference in the process. Take over servers split up loot do whatever, it just makes zero sense to support splitting loot in the way they do with their current messaging and stated vision.

    Pve only servers with no wealth sharing would be better for the game than this weird thing of claiming to be pve/pvp and pushing back on people crying over sinking but then being like hey folks go make your own rinky dinky pve servers and we will support you getting paid gold like wild to do so.

    At least pve only servers (without sharing) would just be a bunch of people cheesing in peace (which already happens on these locked down servers) and it wouldn't make expensive cosmetics insignificant right out of the gate because of massive and manufactured wealth distribution that is not in any way balanced

    The game needs some sort of standards and significance (and consistency in messaging/product) for people that are loyal to the game and the stated vision.

    Or just go completely casual in all aspects of the game and get rid of grinds and just focus entirely on throwing shiny things in the water for people to chase.

  • @thagoochiestman What's wrong with sv hopping for PvP in a PvP game like bruhh

  • @krakenteach I say change the loot split. Yhe loot split would be different. Lets do some maths here: A chest costs 1000 and the crew who sold it gets 100%, the remaining 4 ships get 50% each. I say it should be split equally, 20% per ship. Every ship in the alliance gets 200 gold.

  • Sometimes I wonder if the people who don't like Alliance Servers are the people who never get invited to join one?

  • @thagoochiestman said in Alliance Servers:

    Sometimes I wonder if the people who don't like Alliance Servers are the people who never get invited to join one?

    Anyone that can look busy and listen to whoever is bossing them around can get into an alliance server and stay there.

  • @ste4lthles said in Alliance Servers:

    @thagoochiestman What's wrong with sv hopping for PvP in a PvP game like bruhh

    "But why Male models...?"

    I literally explained it all in the comment you replied to, as well as making it clear that it's not solely a PvP game...

    Imo Alliance Servers are no more game-breaking than Server-Hopping; both over-emphasize and/or remove aspects of the random/open-world/PvEvP experience the game strives to create.

  • @wolfmanbush Ya, but I think not making a bad impression to start off is the big problem for some folk

  • @krakenteach said in Alliance Servers:

    the amount of gold and reputation that these alliances farm has a considerable impact on the rest of the players.

    The number of alliance servers that exist is in the single digits, and the impact it has on the VAST majority of players is non-existent. Stop blowing things out of proporation.

  • @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    even without these a clear stance by Rare would be welcome.

    I would argue that the fact that they've made literally no efforts to stop them and the fact that they don't break any rules or ToS of the game, makes a pretty clear stance by Rare.

    If what you're looking for is a clear stance that they are bad, or against the rules, that's unlike given the pretty clear stance we have currently.

  • @wolfmanbush Getting rid of the wealth sharing via alliances will not do a darn thing as Alliance servers existed well before Alliances were introduced. It will only kill the use of Alliances in natural/organic settings as there would be no reason to participate in one then...which I am well aware a lot of you are campaigning for to begin with.

  • @cptphteven said in Alliance Servers:

    @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    even without these a clear stance by Rare would be welcome.

    I would argue that the fact that they've made literally no efforts to stop them and the fact that they don't break any rules or ToS of the game, makes a pretty clear stance by Rare.

    If what you're looking for is a clear stance that they are bad, or against the rules, that's unlike given the pretty clear stance we have currently.

    As they are in fact PvE-servers, why doesn't Rare just advertise those discords as such and give them a tool to create them easier ? That would be clear. Silence isn't and AFAIK Rare is still against PvE-servers ...

  • @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    @cptphteven said in Alliance Servers:

    @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    even without these a clear stance by Rare would be welcome.

    I would argue that the fact that they've made literally no efforts to stop them and the fact that they don't break any rules or ToS of the game, makes a pretty clear stance by Rare.

    If what you're looking for is a clear stance that they are bad, or against the rules, that's unlike given the pretty clear stance we have currently.

    As they are in fact PvE-servers, why doesn't Rare just advertise those discords as such and give them a tool to create them easier ? That would be clear. Silence isn't and AFAIK Rare is still against PvE-servers ...

    They are not "in fact" PvE servers. They are servers that are subject to the exact same rules as everyone else.

    Just because they did a bunch of server hopping to get ships on the same server, instead of doing a bunch of server hopping to find PvP action doesn't change anything.

  • I agree noway should people be paying to play if they aren't paying RARE directly

  • @burnbacon said in Alliance Servers:

    Don’t see an issue.

    If kids want to burn over the grind with these safe havens they created. With rules to monitor them and pay a fee. Let them ruin themselves.
    Later come to the forums and complain on having nothing to do.

    Let them
    Doesn’t ruin your own personal gaming experience.

    I’ve already explained this to you in particular. These do affect other players because it decreases the amount of people in server. 70% of the servers I go into, nobody is doing anything. It’s just pvp focused players trying to find someone doing pve but there isn’t none. This is what leads to server hopping.

  • @needsmokes said in Alliance Servers:

    A forced server merge for everyone every 3 to 4 hours would put an end to all of this cheesing.

    Server merges are annoying and I’ve seen people lose the shrouded ghost due to them. The better solution and much more simple would be to limit the amount of ships per alliance to like 2 or 3.

  • @ajm123 said in Alliance Servers:

    I agree noway should people be paying to play if they aren't paying RARE directly

    The ones participating in this practice of profiting off people by giving them VIP preference for a price to get into alliance servers is most definitely breaking Microsoft's terms of service. They are using Microsoft's services and charging preferred access to them without Microsoft's expressed permission. If nothing else, these need to be cracked down on because of that fact.

    If it were up to me, I'd also go after and shut down those that require someone to post a request for PvE servers on these very forums before they allow access to their Discord. In fact, any of them that keep a server locked down 24/7 should be looked into as it does not seem right that outside forces are controlling access to servers THEY DON'T OWN...or even rent for that matter.

  • @illbushido305 said in Alliance Servers:

    @needsmokes said in Alliance Servers:

    A forced server merge for everyone every 3 to 4 hours would put an end to all of this cheesing.

    Server merges are annoying and I’ve seen people lose the shrouded ghost due to them. The better solution and much more simple would be to limit the amount of ships per alliance to like 2 or 3.

    And that too would do little to discourage Alliance Servers as they existed well before Alliances did in the game. It only diminishes their profit slightly, which many playing on said servers are not concerned about how much extra you get. They can still cheese profit with uncontested Emissaries which would actually be more profitable than the alliance.

    That being said, I see no issue with putting a limit on the number of ships in an alliance. With the current limit on ships being 5 on a server, I'd lean more towards the 2 ship limit for balance and increase it to 3 if the bring the ship limit back up to 6. That way there isn't an overpowering alliance ruling a server. I just do not think it would do a thing to limit or eliminate Alliance Servers.

  • @cptphteven said in Alliance Servers:

    @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    @cptphteven said in Alliance Servers:

    @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    even without these a clear stance by Rare would be welcome.

    I would argue that the fact that they've made literally no efforts to stop them and the fact that they don't break any rules or ToS of the game, makes a pretty clear stance by Rare.

    If what you're looking for is a clear stance that they are bad, or against the rules, that's unlike given the pretty clear stance we have currently.

    As they are in fact PvE-servers, why doesn't Rare just advertise those discords as such and give them a tool to create them easier ? That would be clear. Silence isn't and AFAIK Rare is still against PvE-servers ...

    They are not "in fact" PvE servers. They are servers that are subject to the exact same rules as everyone else.

    Oh, sure you can create havoc on those but they are set up to act as a PvE server with certain rules; the ones the OP is talking about anyway.
    Of course one can join those under false pretenses, but I don't think that happens frequently.

    Just because they did a bunch of server hopping to get ships on the same server, instead of doing a bunch of server hopping to find PvP action doesn't change anything.

    Does that matter ? Because people server hop to find PvP, people who server hop to grind undisturbed in Alliance servers should be allowed to continue ? This topic is about Alliance servers, I am sure you can find a better suited topic to complain against PvP-hoppers, might agree with you there ...

  • This is nothing new in gaming to be fair, people will always cheese there way into playing how they want to, (or as close to as possible).

    People asked the PvE, the devs said no. They find a workaround.
    It honestly wouldn’t surprise me if the devs allow it because it’s the lesser of two evils.

  • I honestly don't know why someone would even want a PvE server. this game would get very VERY boring if i didn't have some salty pirate chasing me trying to steal my loot. Without other players acting as the "big boss" this game would be "pirate delivery service simulator". On the other hand, and server with no one doing PvE would be just as boring since fighting for nothing is like combing your bald head.

  • @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    @cptphteven said in Alliance Servers:

    @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    @cptphteven said in Alliance Servers:

    @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    even without these a clear stance by Rare would be welcome.

    I would argue that the fact that they've made literally no efforts to stop them and the fact that they don't break any rules or ToS of the game, makes a pretty clear stance by Rare.

    If what you're looking for is a clear stance that they are bad, or against the rules, that's unlike given the pretty clear stance we have currently.

    As they are in fact PvE-servers, why doesn't Rare just advertise those discords as such and give them a tool to create them easier ? That would be clear. Silence isn't and AFAIK Rare is still against PvE-servers ...

    They are not "in fact" PvE servers. They are servers that are subject to the exact same rules as everyone else.

    Oh, sure you can create havoc on those but they are set up to act as a PvE server with certain rules; the ones the OP is talking about anyway.
    Of course one can join those under false pretenses, but I don't think that happens frequently.

    You are correct that it doesn't happen frequently- but, by the same token the Alliance servers themselves are incredibly rare. At any given time there are single digit numbers of alliance servers running. They are not a problem.

    They are incredibly time consuming to organize, and the number of people willing to put in that level of effort is deminimus.

    Just because they did a bunch of server hopping to get ships on the same server, instead of doing a bunch of server hopping to find PvP action doesn't change anything.

    Does that matter ? Because people server hop to find PvP, people who server hop to grind undisturbed in Alliance servers should be allowed to continue ? This topic is about Alliance servers, I am sure you can find a better suited topic to complain against PvP-hoppers, might agree with you there ...

    The point is they haven't broken any rules, and they haven't even used anything game mechanics that aren't used way more frequently, by way more people, to jump around looking for pvp.

    The fact that you think hopping around looking for PvP action isn't a problem, but doing the exact same thing to avoid it is somehow a problem is on you, not on them.

  • @cptphteven said in Alliance Servers:

    @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    @cptphteven said in Alliance Servers:

    @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    @cptphteven said in Alliance Servers:

    @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    even without these a clear stance by Rare would be welcome.

    I would argue that the fact that they've made literally no efforts to stop them and the fact that they don't break any rules or ToS of the game, makes a pretty clear stance by Rare.

    If what you're looking for is a clear stance that they are bad, or against the rules, that's unlike given the pretty clear stance we have currently.

    As they are in fact PvE-servers, why doesn't Rare just advertise those discords as such and give them a tool to create them easier ? That would be clear. Silence isn't and AFAIK Rare is still against PvE-servers ...

    They are not "in fact" PvE servers. They are servers that are subject to the exact same rules as everyone else.

    Oh, sure you can create havoc on those but they are set up to act as a PvE server with certain rules; the ones the OP is talking about anyway.
    Of course one can join those under false pretenses, but I don't think that happens frequently.

    You are correct that it doesn't happen frequently- but, by the same token the Alliance servers themselves are incredibly rare. At any given time there are single digit numbers of alliance servers running. They are not a problem.

    Really, single digit numbers ? There are several discords and they seem to boast hundreds or even more than 1000 members, one grinding server per discord doesn't seem likely to me.

    They are incredibly time consuming to organize, and the number of people willing to put in that level of effort is deminimus.

    On this forum someone said it takes a couple of tries, so 5 minutes I guess.

    Just because they did a bunch of server hopping to get ships on the same server, instead of doing a bunch of server hopping to find PvP action doesn't change anything.

    Does that matter ? Because people server hop to find PvP, people who server hop to grind undisturbed in Alliance servers should be allowed to continue ? This topic is about Alliance servers, I am sure you can find a better suited topic to complain against PvP-hoppers, might agree with you there ...

    The point is they haven't broken any rules, and they haven't even used anything game mechanics that aren't used way more frequently, by way more people, to jump around looking for pvp.

    The fact that you think hopping around looking for PvP action isn't a problem, but doing the exact same thing to avoid it is somehow a problem is on you, not on them.

    Did I say it wasn't a problem ? Don't think so. I wouldn't mind rare dealing with both.
    Just as long as people who run into toxic or exploiting crews have a way to change server and continue playing.

    What I am seeing towards the OP is downplaying and deflecting.

  • @lem0n-curry a dit dans Alliance Servers :

    On this forum someone said it takes a couple of tries, so 5 minutes I guess.On this forum someone said it takes a couple of tries, so 5 minutes I guess.

    With our play group we used to hop to set up alliance servers for our community events. With 15 people it could take from 5 minutes (our record) up to never (after more than an hour, we would call it a day).

    God bless custom servers !

  • @dlchief58 said in Alliance Servers:

    @illbushido305 said in Alliance Servers:

    @needsmokes said in Alliance Servers:

    A forced server merge for everyone every 3 to 4 hours would put an end to all of this cheesing.

    Server merges are annoying and I’ve seen people lose the shrouded ghost due to them. The better solution and much more simple would be to limit the amount of ships per alliance to like 2 or 3.

    And that too would do little to discourage Alliance Servers as they existed well before Alliances did in the game. It only diminishes their profit slightly, which many playing on said servers are not concerned about how much extra you get. They can still cheese profit with uncontested Emissaries which would actually be more profitable than the alliance.

    That being said, I see no issue with putting a limit on the number of ships in an alliance. With the current limit on ships being 5 on a server, I'd lean more towards the 2 ship limit for balance and increase it to 3 if the bring the ship limit back up to 6. That way there isn't an overpowering alliance ruling a server. I just do not think it would do a thing to limit or eliminate Alliance Servers.

    Their whole point is sharing all of each others loot. If only two or three ships alliance, there is room for regular crews to join and attempt to take them down and take the spoils for themselves. I’ve made it into alliance servers before and every time I fight them, they’re always so unaware of everything going on and just don’t have the ability to put up a fight. They could use some practice from engaging with other crews man like it’s actually sad to see.

  • @lem0n-curry said in Alliance Servers:

    What I am seeing towards the OP is downplaying and deflecting.

    I am absolutely downplaying the OP's "concern" because it is nonsensical and blown WAY out of proportion. Alliance servers are not a problem, and really there's no reason to whine about them.

    OP does not have a "valid concern".

  • The major problem with this would be at least in my opinion the

    1. Disvaluing of gold players amassing hundreds of millions tends to break the economy and encourages rare to cater to said players with expensive sets to reset gold margins.

    2. Things like reapers, and the Legendary Thief commendation in particular being ones exploited on alliance servers. Legendary Thief being the really bad one, where I almost feel like the title is used more by inexperienced players trying to pretend to be PvP players.

    I honestly see alliance servers as boosting, because of how they exlpoit commendations to get them done far faster than anyone else could.

    Considering how Teaming in Arena is bannable. And a Sea of Thieves partner recently got removed from the partner program for giving out the glitterbeard commendation. I personally would like to see how they are making a differential between alliance servers and the aforementioned issues.

    Personally I don't think boosting should be banned.

    The thing that bothers me the most is how Rare themselves promotes alliance servers with their affiliate alliance. I would rather see alliance servers removed from the affiliate alliance.

    The inconsistency with supporting alliance servers and removing streamers. Is very strange in my opinion.

    Thats not even to mention the often times bullying that happens when players load into these servers and begin to take them down.

    One alliance server in particular (not a rare affiliated one) we loaded in and they proceeded to attempt spawncamp me and my crew of mostly day 1's, eventually when we wouldn't leave the game it turned to insults and toxicity. After about 15 minutes I swapped teamates with my PvP crew and we proceeded to break the spawncamp and begin to sink the admin boat and the other boats over and over again until eventually they shut down the server. I didn't personally mind this, in fact it was one of the most satisfying things in the game, when they went from calling us trash, to calling us cheaters and macroing.

    But a day 1 player would not have this experience, nor would they have the 15 minute time limit to an arena match if they were being camped in arena.

    I'm not sure what rare affiliated alliance servers do, but I do know they have a team to take down people rogue ships in their alliance. And I imagine attempt to force them off the server.

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