While I understand the original intent behind this feature, its current implementation creates a lot of frustration and, in many cases, a strong feeling of unfairness.
Naval combat naturally takes place in circles . With the shrinking zone, a crew that has dominated the entire match can lose everything in a split second if they happen to get demasted in the wrong place or at the wrong time near the edge. Victory is no longer determined by overall skill superiority, but by the bad luck of specific timing combined with the zone's position.
I am aware that this feature was primarily designed to counter players who run away from fights and to prevent matches from dragging on forever. However, in 90% of matches, both crews are actively fighting. Punishing players who fight fairly with a mechanic designed to fix a running issue severely damages the overall PvP experience. To put an end to fights that go on for too long while still rewarding merit, a Sudden Death mechanic would be much healthier than a shrinking zone. For exemple, after a certain amount of combat time, the system could trigger an event forcing a skill-based conclusion like disabling respawns. Pirate deaths become permanent for the current match. The first crew wiped loses their ship. I don't know if someone talk about this topic and it's been quite a long time now since this feature came out but I really wanted to talk about this. And I do not pretend to have THE solution to this but I still think there is one other than the shrinking zone.