One of the things that returning players desperately seek, is a challenge (from the game).
Most of the time, when new voyages or activities drop, they are the same old mechanics with a new veneer, and most things can be (reductionistically) boiled down to Swing Sword, Navigation or Fire Cannon's.
What I've only recently become aware of is that myself and most of my friends are craving is new skills that take mastery.
E.g. Sea of Thieves at launch, had rewards and Skeleton crews that scaled difficulty with order of souls reputation. This rewarded players who had mastered PvE combat with better rewards, and better time-to-kill.
Now, after 2 voyage reworks, everything feels flat.
The only thing I get for skill mastery, is a faster time to completion, which brings us back to the tedious sailing loop faster. To make matters worse, on a 4 person crew, you often end up with 3 dig maps, meaning 1 person has no job.
I desperately want something that I can master, and get better rewards from, which makes me feel pride in getting better at that skill.
