Let's say ranking is exact and that higher ranking always beat a lower one (not true but let's say that)

If rank 5 plunders a rank 23rd, which could happen, but the rank 23rd is supported by the 4th ranked player, then the support will do its work.

So no, it's not useless. It is, however, underwhelming. As, for example, there is absolutely no counter to the plunder of the #1 player.

It's not a bug, but it is a pretty bad design.

u also need to consider that certain teams counter others, so if the #1 team runs lightning blitz, but the #2 team runs han then the #2 team should beat the #1 team if there isnt a HUGE power gap, plus if the server is competetive, then the players would have power levels close to each other and its possible for the #50 to stand a chance against the #1.

Or if they made it so you didn't regen after fighting then fights that were close and left you with 1 or 2 ninjas would be an auto loss, which would result in more people to quit doing plunders and the system would be worthless. I think only the top 10 players would plunder on my server if that system was initiated, probably not even that. I mean i could spend the 10 ingots and get 35 coupons 3 extra times a day for a total of 140 coupons at the cost of 30 ingots, which is a better gain then what happens if i would lose plunder once a day, and it would be a lot faster to complete

There is a counter, it's the game mechanics. You have 30min to finish your convoy mission. Let's look into 1st convoy/plunder times: 11-14 server time. You take SS at 13:55, leave your group at 14:05 and a plunderer cant attack you even if he wanted to. After leaving group hall, you still have 20 minutes to finish your mission. You dont even need a support this way.

As far as the system goes, personally I think it's fair. Enemy's team regenerates, but so does yours. Remember, that after successfully defeating plunderer, someone else can attack you and if they do, you support is there to protect you once again. If anything was to be changed, it should be on both ends, else I don't see any reason for changes whatsoever.

Nope, that doesn't work. Plunder is actually 24/7.

I think the whole convoy/plunder system should be changed for the simple reason that group strength/rank/level do not matter anything in it even if is a group activity. Imho convoyer should be supported on auto by two weaker than him people in his group or by one stronger person that accepts to support (so should be a 3vs1 battle with two autos or a 2vs1 battle with manual playing) and that the stats of both the attacker and the defender should be increased by a certain quantity that depends on the group rank (like the stats of the summon snake). This way would be fair.