Long time SoT player - not a frequent recent poster.
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Reapers & Server Hopping
Reapers & Server Hopping
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TLDR: I've posted about this before in threads long forgotten, but I still adamantly believe that the game would be healthier if Reaper ships had forced server migration after sinking [or scuttling]. The game has evolved a lot since Reapers were introduced, and I want to be clear that my position isn't so much that Reapers need a nerf, rather that the ecosystem itself would benefit from higher risk/reward gameplay which has always defined Sea of Thieves, but has become more muddled over the past few years as on-demand content dilutes the experience. This suggestion is a starting point for what could be several changes, and address what I think are some latent gripes people have, but don't know how to express or fix.
Pros:
Finality - ships have a reason to fight back if they know this crew will be migrated.
Diplomatic Depth - ships have a greater reason to band together against a common enemy. This applies both to reapers forming uneasy alliances to ensure they endure in that server, and non-reaper ships allying to survive.
Economy & Theme - we all know PvE reaper ships exist & can be quite profitable. I fly it quite frequently as well. But I think it should come with higher risks for the sake of keeping the other factions more relevent for farming. Controversial I know that I believe a PvE reaper ship should be punished for sinking too. Thematically I think this would help push Reaper's ship in the right direction to be more definitively PvP focused.
Creates higher stakes for boarding meta - Abandoning your ship to sink the other crew at all costs becomes a lot less viable if you can't just let your boat sink to board & row away with the loot after.
Cons:
Server & Connection Related - It would suck to be punished for server & connection issues causing you to sink AND be migrated as a Reaper, but I would argue that most of the pain is from sinking, and being auto migrated would just become a fact of life after some getting used to.
Discourages Reaper PvE Farming Servers - Again, controversial and I think it is actually a "pro", but it does create more incentive to backstab crews flying a Reaper's flag, which could make alliance servers more toxic, and ultimately make the Reaper-only versions more difficult to assemble & vet players.
Kills a sense of rivalry among Reaper crews - This one I think is more pertinent. Some people just LIKE fighting over and over, and revenge killing. This change isn't meant to appease everyone. As a long time player, I believe there is more to gain from stopping the culture of revenge killing & endless fights. We have HG for this tbh. See threads for all the concerns about spawn distance, skull of siren song abuse, etc.
Kills off tucking & kamikaze boarding as a strategy - If you sink while flying the reaper flag, these strategies are not viable. I'd argue the pros outweigh the cons.
May not solve all issues with revenge killing - It is no secret that players can simply just not fly the reapers flag to avoid this, and still be PvP heavy. That is totally ok. They just don't get the benefit of having visibility to other ships at grade V and that is a perfectly fine trade-off.
Neutral Musings & Commentary:
I do not believe this change doesn't need to happen in isolation. It isn't so much that Reaper need a strong nerf, rather that the culture of the game has shifted further and further away from high stakes gameplay. Ironically though, this means victory rings hollow, but defeat still is as painful as ever since time is the most valuable commodity. I think we should change that now that gold is plentiful, events are plentiful (moreso with the ability to dive), and opportunities to experience PvP gameplay are also more plentiful (HG) so that the player's time is better respected.
One could argue that Reapers coming back again and again is a design decision and is part of the risk/reward for other factions as well. And I agree! It is part of the equation, is intentional, and has been the status quo for a very long time. That doesn't make it the best solution now given all the changes the game has seen. Doing nothing comes with cost too. Other areas of the game that made SoT a success, example diplomacy, have suffered because the current system has created an ecosystem where everyone has less to gain than they ever did. I'm not really talking about the allying mechanic directly which is a way to symbolize your allegiance, rather that there is very little reason to engage other crews now at all. Diplomacy has always boiled down to a simple assessment of whether you think the other crew will help or hurt you in that situation, and whether they will be a nuisance or not given their ability to keep coming back. With this change, I think diplomacy would get a nice bump to relevance by giving ships a reason to ally out of self-preservation & the promise of finality in removing a server threat. More reason to reach out and form those uneasy alliances again. Right now, PvP encounters often feel pointless & at the whim of when the PvP crew will finally tire out. PvP crews can try to liven things up by trying to get a rise out of the other crew, contributing to toxicity, which then becomes exhausting when they are also enabled to keep coming back. I am biased though, I personally believe there is something inherently toxic about Reaper ships coming back again and again after sinking. I feel there is no honor or respect for the player's time in that, and while yes, it is a pirate game, we play in a sandbox and the sandbox does have some ground rules, such as the red sea, to help PvP be a healthy reality of gaming.
This cuts both ways, and this isn't to say that PvE crews can't be toxic as well. The difference I think is that PvE players have to put out a lot of effort to restart, resupply, find another event, possibly find another crew whereas PvP focused players didn't really lose anything & gladly admit they live for the hunt. This creates exhaustion for one side of the equilibrium, and ultimately, human nature is to take defeat a lot harder when you feel preyed upon. We can't fix human nature, but we can create more motivation to fight back. And I will gladly admit that I have PvP'd too and have ruined innocent players days, have trolled, lied, and plundered. I don't feel proud of it, but I do it because I wanted to give my crew that experience. Ultimately, it's a game, and PvP doesn't make you a bad person. I sleep just fine at night. But I do think people in general set their morals based on the bounds they are allowed to operate in, and I think there is an opportunity to be better while still enabling Reaper ships to have their fun.
I think the game has evolved enough that there is plenty of targets for Reapers to go after (and HG PvP to engage in) that migrating after a sink isn't really a very detrimental proposition. PvP Reapers often bring no loot to a fight, and the flag they drop isn't really all that valuable compared to the time it takes to fend them off, particularly when it comes to competent crews. This creates an incentive to not fight, and I don't think that is healthy for the game either.
If you feel that this is too big a nerf by itself, I do think Reapers could be changed to become a faction that you are locked into once selected. You raise the flag, cannot lower it in this server & as a level 1 Reaper, can already see every ship on the map with an emissary flag. No more having to farm up to level 5 to start having fun. Then Reapers can have a new level 5 power that I won't get into in this thread, but could more than offset the detriment of auto migrating. This sounds extremely scary, and personally, I wouldn't do this unless you create a gold / doubloon cost to initially raising the reapers flag, and also force every ship flying on high seas to always have an emissary flag at all times. That way there is "safety in numbers" providing enough targets for the Reaper ships so that no individual crew feels targeted non-stop.
Thanks for reading. Lots of provocative ideas, but I care for the future of the game, and believe that even if people don't realize it, there is a latent need to create a more Reaper vs everyone else mentality that gives the game some grounding & let's disputes actually be settled verses a breeding ground for toxicity & time wasting. It should be feared as a PvP faction, but I think it is healthier for the game to change the behavior of all ships, but most importantly Reapers, to have more self-preservation in mind. This creates the need for diplomacy, truces, and actual stakes to keep your ship alive that has become lost as on-demand content takes over.
