The Reaper's Mark - A Comprehensive Bounty System to Help Limit Overly Aggressive Players

I just sent in a post of my own very similar to this love this idea! You should check out a few of my post Crows Nest yiu should check it out and give me feedback. I would love to hear your thoughts on my ideas!

@armament-jay Would have the added bonus of making more in game activities since you could deliberately go bounty hunting.

Great idea.

Something I like about a system like this is that notoriety isn't an inherently bad thing.

If a fully "marked" player has some sort of indicator from a distance, it can actually scare off other more passive ships which can be beneficial to both parties. I'm much less likely to challenge a fort if 1-2 marked crews are nearby, which is win-win - they get less competition for their loot and I don't feel like I'm wasting my time.

The PvE folks can basically get a de facto "safe haven" by avoiding the region of the map with piracy pings, but can still get caught unawares.

This system outlined is for a PVE primary game. We don't have that.

Taking this system into account, any pirate that attacks anyone, is a reaper if the other player decides not to fight. No. I'm a PVP player, if you come after my sloop, I attack back. IF I see your sloop hit islands and not a outpost, I see you as a target, as I am a bloody pirate.

You can run, you can hide, but your in a PVP game, get used to it. I'm not briefing if you run, and I haven't gotten my plunder yet.

I don't see any other examples, I do see alot of people having trouble living with there decisions on how the handle their loot.

@pirateofzpond said in The Reaper's Mark - A Comprehensive Bounty System to Help Limit Overly Aggressive Players:

This system outlined is for a PVE primary game.

Disagree, this system benefits both parties and is designed to encourage more PvP in specific scenarios (hunting down notorious crews on your server).

If you're an aggressive pirate you shouldn't even care if you're marked, take pride in it and keep hunting people down. I'd literally see it as a badge of honor.

@pirateofzpond I will say though, going after a player repeatedly, when you haven't looted anything else on the server, is something really easy for Rare to identify, if you want to tag players that only PVP - please tag them as "real pirates".

Any player that kills a "real pirate" shouldnt get anything other than the satisfaction of knowing they just upped there game on the SEA OF THIEVES.

As a passive aggressive (will generally only respond if attacked...sometimes!) pirate I tend to agree that the system is set up more for pve, but I like the idea of bounties. The question is how without destroying a good part of the game.

What about merchant allegiances and sailing under the flag of said merchant. Let's say I pledge allegiance to Treasure Hoarders. While on quest for them (or others) I fly the Treasure Hoarder flag (again a choice but potentially completing quests while flying the flag gives cool gear higher loot).

If I am attacked and sunk/killed by opposing pirates (flying any merchant flag but crucially not a white flag) that person attracts a reward from their merchant allegiance (but not if the same alkegiance) but also a bounty. The higher the kill count the greater the bounty.

This system does a couple of things I think. For those that PvP they now have a reward for targeting ships flying flags from other allegiance. They can still hit those with white flags but no reward/bounty. They potentially have allies from same alkegiance if they get in bother. But if they're too good at taking out others a valuable bounty goes on them, giving other pvpers a valuable reason to take them out

Those that prefer pve can choose never to fly flag. They will never be safe (as should be the case) but the PvP lot will get bigger rewards potentially from going after the "flag bunch"

My doubloons worth anyway.

@owenworley86 said in The Reaper's Mark - A Comprehensive Bounty System to Help Limit Overly Aggressive Players:

I have a serious problem with you equating agression with toxicity (overly aggressive /toxic behavior).

The game is literally called Sea of Thieves. You are meant to steal from each other, that is how the game is intended to be played.

You should not villify players that are playing the game as intended, or reward players that are not playing the game as intended.

Nobody is being vilified in this system as it is described. The "overly aggressive" players don't suffer any negative repercussions. They just acquire a bounty, which leads to more gameplay.

Also keep in mind "overly aggressive" is defined here as repeatedly killing players who don't fight back. Anyone with treasure worth defending is probably going to fight back, so it's not like this discourages the normal course of gameplay. You're only going to accrue a bounty if you're consistently doing pre-emptive strikes on other players, which, yes, is going to paint very aggressive PvP'ers and griefers with the same brush.

But, again, it's not even really a punishment so I don't see the problem. It's just a way to rally other players on the server to bring the fight back to them, or allow passive players to stay out of their way. The marked player is free to keep doing what they do best.

If a marked player can't handle other crews trying to claim the bounty, maybe they don't actually enjoy PvP and really just enjoy poaching sitting ducks for the fun of it. In that case, the system would be working as intended...

@Armament-Jay

would hunters also be marked if they hunt players with the reaper's mark?

onto another subject, i think there should be a certain Cool Down system to the mark and then a point of no return level, where players are permanently marked until they leave the server and players attacking these marked players do not receive the mark themselves.

with this said, i think there should be certain levels to this reaper's mark system:

first level: you have damaged a player/damaged another player's ship and are currently marked. your death by another player will drop a Foul Pirate bounty skull (skulls that cannot be seen or picked up by you or your crew) and your mark will reset. players that attack you will also be marked for assault, but their meter will not increase once they've killed you.

second level: you have killed a player/sunk a ship. your death by another player will drop a Disgraced Pirate Bounty skull and your mark will be reset after respawning. from now on, other players will not be marked when they attack you or your ship.

• sub level 1: you have killed one player/sunk one ship
• sub level 2: you have killed two players/sunk two ships
• sub level 3: you have killed three players/sunk three ships

third level: you have killed 4 players/sunk 4 ships. your ship will drop a Hateful Pirate Bounty Skull When sunk. your mark will reset once you have used a mermaid spawned only after your ship is sunk.

• sub level 1: you have killed 5 players/sunk 5 ships
• sub level 2: you have killed 6 players/sunk 6 ships

fourth level: you have killed 7 players. you are now at a point of no return. your ship will now drop a villainous bounty skull when sunk, but your mark will never disappear (meter cool down is disabled).

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it would also be nice if there were specific information about the player's bounty. not just which outpost/island they were last seen, but what sail or hull they are currently using, just so that players are not mistaking one another for a target.

such as:

Bounty: "The Foul/Disgraceful/Hateful/Villainous" EnterPlayerName (quotations giving players bounty reward info)
Crime: assault/[enter kill count] murder(s).
Last seen: Enter Island's Name (or more than one island name), Enter Region.
Pirate Description: Male/female Pirate.
Transportation: A [Enter Sail Name] and [Enter Hull Name], Enter Ship Type.
sentence: enter method players must follow in order for the bounty skull to drop.

example: when a player is marked for 5 murders.

Bounty: "The Hateful" Armament Jay
Crime: 5 murders
Last Seen: Daggertooth outpost and Sharkfin Isle, The Wilds.
Pirate Description: Male Pirate
Transportation: A Admiral sail and Admiral Hull, Galleon.
Sentence: The Pirate's ship is to be destroyed.

@MysticDragon297 - love all of it. Integrating the existing skulls and associating it with a temporary title ("SansSariph the Villainous" has a nice ring to it) sounds nice. Only catch I think is that this ties the bounties to Order of Souls rep exclusively which may not be desirable.

Also like the idea of posters at outposts with info about the pirate and how infamous they are.

@jimmy-voorhees said in The Reaper's Mark - A Comprehensive Bounty System to Help Limit Overly Aggressive Players:

Nope. Too easily abused. People would just bait others into being the first to shoot and the entire thing falls apart.

Quit trying to punish people for playing the game in a way you don't like.

Two major problems with your comment here:

• The proposed system only takes effect if the other person literally doesn't fight back. "Shooting first" doesn't matter. If both players hit each other, there is no change from the current system.
• It's not even a punishment. There's no point to "baiting" anything.

These two components together is part of why it's grown on me so much.