With 2019 right around the corner, Rare has stated many times that the focus of each update is to adress points of feedback that are more likely to imediate necessities for the game, for that matter I propose a new update to come for early next year, the Pirate Legend Update, which is not just an update to the Athena's quests, but an overhaul on the journey to pirate legend along with improvements on the voyage companies.
THE JOURNEY
Keeping to the core of the idea of Sea of Thieves, all reward should remain as physical objects that you only gain their worth once arriving at the NPCs in the outposts, no changes on the dynamics on XP and Gold gain through questing, the changes proposed here are more gameplay related and to boost diversity in gameplay first and foremost.
1 - The Voyage Companies
Voyage Shops: All mainland and devil's roar (and future new lands) vendors should have their quest shops reworked, the 3 voyage per vendor system is very limiting and does not allow for expanded variance on quests, we saw how the new quest type was relegated to an entirely different NPC of a new area, since you couldn't reliably have cargo runs and regular merchant quests on the same vendor due to there only being 3 slots for the voyages. Therefore the suggestion is to increase the number of voyages types sold by each vendor, allow for a drop down selection bar to pick between different quest types and the player should be able to have access to many different new quests.
Voyage progression: New quests types should be unlocked past a certain level on that faction reputation. Basic quests like the GH treasure maps/OOS skelly cap bounty/MA animal cargo delivery should remain unlocked to all players from the start and maintain their standard difficulty progression through each new rank obtained in their respective factions. The only difference is that new quests added to these vendors should be unlocked after obtaining a certain rank.
Faction Rewards: We should move away from limited tools skins to giving more types of cosmetic rewards to players by obtaining higher ranks and achievements at each faction. OOS themed weapon skins, MA animal containment boxes with different skins, GH gold clothing/makeup... just new things to make a player stand out for being loyal to a faction.
2 - The Gold Hoarders
X Marks the Spot and Riddles: The regular standard quest should remain the same way it is in the game right now, with a few changes to riddles. For riddles add a different relic reward in the form of the "Relic Crate", every riddle quest will finish by giving the player a Relic Crate instead of a random chest, this object is weak and will have a prompt to interact with it "Hold X to Break Crate". Once broken it will reveal up to 5 different random treasure trinkets (like silver cups, decorated coffers, etc...) of varying qualities.
Deep Sea Plunder: Players will be given directions from a map to a place between islands in the middle of the sea, this map is imbued with weird sea of thieves magic and will glow the closer you are to the wreck. Once you arrive at the location, the shipwreck will be underwater with no seagulls to signal it (always). This shipwreck will contain a locked door to the captain's quarter that only the crew from that quest can interact with. Once the door is open they will have access to the treasures of the ship and get a voyage complete. The standard difficulty increase can be of multiple mystic maps with multiple wrecks that need to be found and have their doors unlocked to obtain a voyage complete.
New Cursed Chests:
Chest of Candlefire - A chest with a brightly lit candle that can't be turned off, illuminates surroundings like a lantern, can be seen from a distance. (idea from https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/55756/new-item-chest-of-light-helps-and-harms/)
Chest of Grief - Four red skelletons spawn upon digging or picking it up for the first time, they can be killed but after 20 seconds they reasemble themselves and continue to pursue the player, they cannot leave the island they spawn in.
3 - The Order of Souls
Skelleton Captain and Crew Bounty: The core of the quest should remain the same, however I must add a suggestion here involving the AI. Skelleton behaviour is very shallow, they behave in fairly annoying ways and mostly pose only a challange in great numbers, I propose a few tweaks. Have the behaviour be consistent, I have lost count on the amount of times a skelleton took a sword combo without flinching, this should never happen, non-gold skelletons should always be stunned when hit by the player, be that with a gun or sword, this allows players to outplay the skelletons and quickly deflect damage that would be inflicted to them rewarding sharp aim and good positioning (this includes stunning them out of the banana eating animation denying them a heal). Also on the bahaviour, please make skelletons not have desynced animations, this is horrible when an update breaks the animations from skelletons, having them fire their guns without their long aim animations or with very short animations, this havily punishes players for no reason.
Hunt the Beast: Add new mosters to the world in a brand new quest that sees the player hunt for a powerful beast sighted in an island based on cave painting lore we've been seeing.
- The great snake
After sailing to the designated island and arriving at the correct spot, the ground will rumble and the mighty great snake will slither from underneath the ground.
It will stand like a normal snake in its regular stance spitting poison towards pirates.
It will swipe it's tail end to harm pirates.
It will slam its tail to fling pirates in the air (height that pirates will be propelled is about the height of a palm tree). To dodge this time your jump to match the slam.
Random Drop: Great Snake Skull (lowest reward), Mighty Snake Skull or Exotic Snake Skull (highest reward)
- The great boar
After sailing to the designated island and arriving at the correct spot, a mighty roar will be heard and the raging boar will emerge from the vegetation.
It will charge against players to hit them with his tusks.
It will spin its head to try to hit players around it.
It will fling dust and rocks with its back legs towards pirates.
Random Drop: Great Boar Skull (lowest reward), Mighty Boar Skull or Exotic Boar Skull (highest reward)
- The great hawk
After sailing to the designated island and arriving at the correct spot, the cry of the hawk will be heard and he will fly over to fight the pirates.
It posseses two states, flight and grounded, at flight it will be flying close to the pirates but just above the trees, after taking some damage he will land and stay grounded for a while until it recovers then it will regain it's flight.
It will swipe it's wings to throw an air shockwave towards the pirates that deals damage, only while flying.
It will make a mighty cry that will desorient pirates briefly like they were drunk but dealing no damage, only while flying.
It will beak pirates, only while grounded.
It will swipe with it's leg claw, only while grounded.
Random Drop: Great Hawk Skull (lowest reward), Mighty Hawk Skull or Exotic Hawk Skull (highest reward)
- The great crab
After sailing to the designated island and arriving at the correct spot, a menacing crab that emerges from the ground, after been awakened by its slumber it is very protective of its territory and will not tolerate pirates in it.
It will have a pincer strike in front of it that would have a wind up before the strike and a great range and area of effect.
It will have a body slam dealing damage to anyone around it.
It will have a charge attack with the crab repeatedly clicking its pincers ahead of it.
Random Drop: Great Crab Pincer (lowest reward), Mighty Crab Pincer or Exotic Crab Pincer (highest reward)
After slaying the beast and recovering it's skull/pincer, bring it back to the NPC for the reward. Voyage complete is obtained after all the beasts from all the bounty maps are slain. Higher OOS ranks increase number of bounty maps per voyage.
New Fodder Enemies: Along with bosses it is important to add new threats to the surface world to keep the missions away from monotony.
- Lesser boars
Smaller versions of the boss version that would spawn alongside skelleton waves, one lesser boar at a time.
- Skelleton Witchdoctor
A skelleton with the ability to throw potions that would cause negative effects on pirates or positive effects on skelletons. Example: potion that makes a pirate drunk and heals skelletons.
- Skelleton Necromancer
A skelleton that could repeatedly summon clawing skelletons to attack the pirates.
- Bombardier Skelleton
A skelleton holding a bag of bombs strapped to it's back with the abillity to throw bombs at players dealing aoe explosive damage. Shooting the bag of bombs would cause the skelleton to blow up in a small explosion that could damage nearby skelletons but not the same intencity as a gunpowder barrel explosion.
4 - The Merchant Alliance
Animal Delivery: Should remain more or less the same, only with added animals.
New quest items:
Turtle Bowl - A bowl with water you carry around to keep the turtle hydrated
Macaw Cage - A simple cage to keep the Macaw locked inside.
Fox Box - A box that prevents the Fox from escaping.
Animal traits:
Turtles are pretty simple creatures, they move slow, but need to be in a bowl full of water or else they will dehydrate, the bowl is bought empty and it requires a simple splash of water from a bucket to be filled, but moving it around with water slowly drains it, so be sure your bowl is always full.
Macaws are like chikens, difference is that they need to come to you from the trees they usually rest in and bounce from. Simply have a banana in hand and they will flock to you.
Foxes are quick like pigs, and can be vicious if you upset them with gunfire. They don't need to be fed anything.
Supply Delivery: Look around the world for different supplies and deliver them through a crate of that supply.
New Foods:
Pineapples - Heal fully, but has long eating animation (first person cutting top, bottom and 4 sides of the pineapple with a knife, after that eating it).
Oranges - Heal less than a banana but restores you from negative effects (like drunkness). You eat some oranges and you're k.
New Repair Tools:
Iron Slabs - Fixes a hole and that hole needs to take twice as much regular damage to be destroyed.
Hammer and Nails - Fixes a PATCHED hole and removes the scar from outside and inside.
Giant Cork - Fixes hole for half the normal speed of a normal repair, but lasts temporarily for 10 minutes until it pops off.
Extra Goodies:
Grog Barrel - Explodes if shot, like a gunpowder barrel, dealing no damage but causing everyone around it to become drunk for 20 seconds. Grog barrel can be used to refill tarkand.
Flour Barrel - Explodes if shot, like a gunpowder barrel, dealing no damage but creating a smoke cloud that blocks vision.
The voyage paper should looks like this
Example 1:
1x Crate of Bananas
Example 2:
1x Crate of Wood
Example 3 (higher rank):
2x Crate of Cannonballs
1x Crate of Iron Slabs
Example 4 (higher rank):
1x Crate of Pineapples
1x Crate of Cannonballs
1x Crate of Giant Corks
THE DESTINATION
1 - The Legend Hideout
Much like regular vendors, the pirate lord should have his voyage inventory expanded to allow for players more freedom to pickbetween different voyage types, without being limited by arbitrary quantities of purchasable voyages per ingame day.
2 - Athena's Quests
The All-in-one Quest: This is the standard PL voyage, but I recommend tweaking it to include the new proposed voyages with a few twists.
- Gold Hoarder Part
Add in the Relic Crate with the riddles, as well as the new shipwreck quest.
- Order of Souls Part
Add the Beast hunts but the twist is that it's an added threat on the regular skelleton captain bounty maps, therefore once you clear the waves of skelletons, the beast will arive alongside the skelleton captains and regular skelletons.
- Merchant Alliance Part
Add the new quest items and objectives mentioned previously along with the regular objectives.
8 Maps, being that, 2 are x marks the spot, 2 are relic crate riddles, 1 is a regular skelleton captain bounty, 1 is a beast + skelleton captain bounty and 2 are merchant alliance requests with the added new supplies. The Devil's Roar version is basically the same, only difference is that I don't have any changes proposed for Cargo Runs.
The Legendary Fort Raid: The legend(s) vote for the voyage in the legend's hideout and they trigger a fort to become active. The blue skull glows with bluish energy to signify that it is indeed a legendary fort. The voyage cannot be cancelled once activated and it's global, so no other pirate legend can trigger the legendary fort while one is active, the legends don't get a map on their voyage wheel, they can vote for another voyage if they want, but it can't be another skelleton fort raid quest while one is already active. The waves are more varied, having hybrid of different skelleton types mixed in each wave (golds + shadows, regulars + plants, etc...) as well as the previously mentioned new fodder enemies. The captain wave can contain beasts as well to add to the challenge. The fort would yeild great rewards, including athena rep objects, so legends can choose to team up with people allowing them the give the faction treasure away while keeping the athena rep objects for themselves. Activating a Legendary Fort Raid has a 3 hour cooldown after one is completed.
The Legendary Kind of The Island: Activated in the legends hideout as well the quest can't be cancelled, the legends don't get a quest map and they can vote for another voyage in the meantime that isn't King of the Island, just like the Legendary Fort Raid. This one is about holding a beacon in an island, it may have the cloud shape of a circle with bluish outlines. This beacon beckons players with the promise of a captain spawn that has a Maleficent Skull. Players must hold the position on the islands and stand their ground against several waves of skelletons/beasts. The beacon could have a painting in the area to be held that has a glow that progressively rises from the bottom of the painting to the top signifying the progress of capture. Once fully lit, the captain wave spawns. Defeating the captain weilds the Maleficent Skull which grants Athena's Rep.
Ferryman Debt: Purchased from the legends hideout, it opens a gate at the rocky formations in form of an ark in the middle of the map that transports any players along with the ship that enter through it into the world of the Ferryman, the land of the dammned. A new quest is obtained upon entering the world and it directs you to certain NPCs, you will face unique challenges until you are directed to the final chapter that will lead you to one of the islands for your final reward.
- The World of the Dammned
A formation of 5 large islands where players explore delapidated structures and unnatural rock formations. The players will find ghostly NPCs that tell the tales of their life stories and their demise. Sinking in the world of the dammned sees you return to the hideout of the dammned port.
- The quests
- The Acursed
Fight ghostly apparitions of fallen pirates, they raise the skelleton scourge to assist them. They can hide inside the walls, but the chains attached to their ectoplasm always gives away their location. They can use the chains to briefly imprison pirates that dare disturb them, afterwards a ghostly shriek will slowly tear away the player's hp. Each defeated ghost drops a trinket, can be sold to the mysterious stranger for Athena's Rep.
- Gate Keepers
Fight skelleton reapers that hold the bells that open the gateway between the world of the dammned and the overworld. They possess powerful sweeping attacks with their scythe blades, but their large menacing size can prove to be an easy target for ranged weapons. Since they are usually located in the underground caverns of the islands, facing them in claustrophobic spaces may be the bigger challenge. Upon defeating them, they drop a bell trinket, that can be sold at the mysterious stranger for athena's rep.
- The Skelleton Lord Stronghold
The final chapter of the quest leads to the furthest island of the world of the damned, a stronghold island that becomes active with the crew of a Skelleton Lord. Works similarly to a fort raid in the overworld, however the Skelleton Lord is already spawned. The skelleton lord weilds powerful tools compared to his lesser counterparts, containing the ability to raise his fallen crewmates constantly, making him the source of the endless waves of skelletons. He has a sturdy armour that allow him to poise through sword strikes, never becoming staggered. He can equip different weapons depending on the distance between him and the players. After his defeat he drops his stronghold's key, players may use it to unlock the vault weilding a couple of normal treasures from the overworld, however an athena's chest sits at the center of it all, grantin athena's rep if sold to the mysterious stranger.
- Emergent Threats
- The Ferryman
The Ferry of the Dammned navigates outside the area of the islands, it is stationary and can be engaged, however he is not a pushover. He summons his ghostly crew to man the cannons and begins engaging with impunity anyone that dares disturb him. He can't be sunk, however after a certain damage threshold he will grant you a truce, spawning a trinket named Ferryman Locket, that can be sold for athena's rep or kept in the ship for a cosmetic effect: your ship leaves a ghostly trail in the water.
- The Haunting
While you sail the dammned waters, your ship might be attacked by spirits. They will attack your ship and crewmates from inside, clawing at the walls, creating holes and doing all sorts of havock. Dissipate the lesser ones gnawing at the ship with light from your lantern, but the agressive ones that attack the players need to be fought with weapons. The agressive spirits drop random overworld trinkets upon defeat.
- Spirit of the Old One
A ghostly kraken attack, similar to the one in the overworld, gaining only a new skreech attack in place of the suction. Same loot drop as the overworld attack.
The Athena's Mark: New overworld quest for pirate legends, purchased from the pirate lord, has a devil's roar variant. Players will gain a sheet that gives them a location clue for 3 different islands. After finding the location, players must play a shanty that will trigger the legendary shanty. Athena's mark will emerge and it will open a passage to an underground cave system, where the player must complete a challenge to obtain the rewards, separated in three types: platforming, combat and puzzles.
- Platforming challenges
These are only found in islands from the Shores of Plenty or Devil's Roar, depending on what voyage you've bought, it will change from a regular voyage only in the overworld compared to the devil's roar version that will contain a clue to an island in that area instead.
Shores of plenty platforming challenges will revolve around platforms above water or above an abyss. The water is harmless, but falling into the abyss will kill. The goal is to test the skills of a player to walk over terrain geometry in creative ways. In order to reach the treasury room at the end.
Devil's Roar platforming challenges will revolve around platforms above boiling water or above flowing lava. Boiling water deals damage over time and lava kills outright. There will be more timing focused challenges in order to avoid lava flows, careful jumps over precarious terrain and threat of boiling water at every turn.
After reaching the end, there will be a small area with treasure and an opening that loops back to the entrance of the cave system, alowing players to quickly take the rewards off the cave.
- Combat challenges
Only in the major islands in the Wilds. Fight unique monsters underground, obtain their rewards. They can be either monsters, large animals or skelletons. The final gauntlet will lead to the treasure room with an opening that loops back to the entrance of the cave system, alowing players to quickly take the rewards off the cave.
- Puzzle challenges
This challenge only happens in islands in the Ancient Isles, these challenges have unique items that players can pick up and place in certain objects to open doors and progress through the cave until players reach the treasure room with an opening that loops back to the entrance of the cave system, alowing players to quickly take the rewards off the cave.
The rewards should be a mix of regular treasure and on major item in each of the 3 islands that can be sold to the mysterious stranger for athena's rep.
