There's an issue I believe needs to be raised with the Athena Emissary system. The problem is that reaching Grade V when flying an Athena Emissary flag is far too difficult compared to other trading companies. I've put this to the test several times, both solo and with my three-woman crew.
My crew and I get together once or twice a week, and usually have about 3 to 4 hours to play per session. If we raise any of the other emissary flags, we have no trouble getting to Grade V within a session. But not when we run Athena. We'll raise the Athena emissary flag and complete an entire Ashen Athena Voyage, as well as stopping to sink skellie ships, megalodons, etc. Yet we won't reach Grade V. This wasn't true when the system first rolled out.
Last night I tried getting to Grade V doing a Thieves Haven Run solo. I completed the run successfully. I even killed an ashen captain or two, sank some skellie ships, and sank a player sloop. The best I got to was Grade IV and about a third. I had to start a second Thieves Haven Run, completing almost half of it before finally reaching Grade V. It took several hours, far longer than the time I had allotted for play.
My crew and I are all adults. We've all been playing Sea of Thieves for over two years, so we know the game pretty well. This is clearly not working as well as it could. In a session of 3 to 4 hours, it should be possible to reach Grade V Athena Emissary.
One other point. I've noticed that doing Athena voyages, the cargo portions of the mission don't count towards the emissary grade. Not at all, during any portion of the mission. I think it would help tremendously if turning in the cargo would count towards raising your grade while doing an Athena voyage. It would also inspire people to actually DO the cargo runs instead of dumping them, as most people seem to do. This tweak alone might go a long way towards helping reach Grade V.
