Thanks to the alliance system pvp is rapidly declining in this game. Due to the very tedious and long grind to legend, most players rather just get a legend and send out voyages to every ship on the server as opposed to fight over loot. Picking up a castaway or seafarer when you are in the mid to late 40's can destroy ones motivation to go on and not take short cuts. Pirates alliances didn't last very long. They were full of distrust and after their mutual issue was settled the spoils of war were then fought over. Trust isn't something pirates held onto tightly and that should be how it is in SoT. There needs to be more incentive to betray but not enough to the point EVERYONE is trying to do it and it becomes sea of grief again. One idea I had was to double the exp and gold obtained when breaking the alliance and selling the loot that you stole from an allied ship. This would make players more cautious around who they trust but still allowing them those who wish for a solid allied foundation to still do their thing.
The way this type of subject needs to be handled in this game is to ALWAYS give players the INCENTIVE to do mean things without necessarily forcing them to. Everything boils down to trust, and on the seas we should be very VERY cautious of who we trust.
We shouldn't run into a bunch of strangers and be all peachy instantly, nor should we see a ship and go after them nonstop for hours on end until they give up and leave the server.