The halloween update this year finishes on 6 more challenges that require the use of the alliance system.
This is horrible as anyone who has played the game before knows you either kill or run... there are no friendly pirates...
With this in mind, it would be super beneficial to be able to create alliances in the lobby or join into the server on another ship from my friends list
The argument against this is that it currently promotes working together and forming friendships, however this is the perfect argument for it as well, as forming friendships with a full crew means you will never be able to play with them again using the current system... but if all (8 players for 2 galleons) are friends and able to join the lobby then they would be able to
adding challenges that require the current alliance system is horrific as I just wasted almost 4 hours only to lose everything trying to form the alliance...