Idea for stealth "weapon": the cursed artifact

@limbicfanatic said in Idea for stealth "weapon": the cursed artifact:

TL;DR: sacrifice one of your two equipped weapons to gain some stealth benefits.

I've seen countless requests over the past few years to change the game to be more friendly to tuckers. While I may be biased against those requests (I prefer to go in guns blazing rather than sneaking/hiding), I acknowledge that there is space in the game for that type of playstyle (it's a sandbox, after all).

Here's my idea: add a new weapon type called "cursed artifact".

Despite occupying one of your weapon slots that would otherwise be used to carry a sword or firearm, this 'weapon' can't directly harm anything. But, anyone who adds it to their loadout gains the following benefits:

• Friendly mermaids won't spawn for them unless they voluntarily activate their cursed artifact
• Entering/exiting the water does not make a splash noise
• Your name and title don't appear above your character unless you say something over game chat or die (anti-trolling measure)
• PvE mobs have reduced aggro radius

What's it look like? There can be plenty of options to choose from: coins, watches, ancient idols, feather charms, twisted coral, animal bones, etc. As long as it looks old, spooky, or creepy, it should work.

Why those benefits? Those are the things that people have requested that didn't seem unreasonably broken from a gameplay perspective. You can still notice someone sneak aboard your ship if you're vigilant, and you can still check for stowaways if you suspect you have one. If you happen to find one of these cursed rogues on board your ship, they'll be more vulnerable with only a single weapon available to defend themselves. It also has some niche PvE benefits in that skeletons, phantoms, etc. won't notice you from as far, which can aid the people who only fight with a sword and want to be left alone while they dig up treasure.

So: do you want stealth to be easier? Fine, but you won't be able to fight back as effectively when discovered as a tradeoff. Would you make that choice?

Eh. I like the idea of more useful PvPvE items, but I think this would just make tucking very cheesey (especially the mermaid disappearing). It's also pretty one sided, as it's uses are mainly for PvP. I'd would, however, be down for this to be a item we use in a stealth based tall tale or something!

@limbicfanatic said in Idea for stealth "weapon": the cursed artifact:

@el-spaniardchi said in Idea for stealth "weapon": the cursed artifact:

Eh. I like they idea of more useful PvPvE items, but I think this would just make tucking very cheesey (especially the mermaid disappearing). It's also pretty one sided, as it's uses are mainly for PvP. I'd would, however, be down for this to be a item we use in a stealth based tall tale or something!

Fair point. I haven't been the victim of enough tuck attempts to fully appreciate what a missing mermaid would mean from my own experience of the game. Would you suggest altering the idea (remove one or more of the benefits), or dropping it entirely?

I think the main problem with implementing this in adventure mode is

*1. It makes tucking easier honestly, especially if the crew you are tucking on has a keg on board, and you wouldn't need a second gun or whatever.

*2. It makes people hate tucking more. I myself hate when all i see is these obvious streamer wannabes try to tuck on me when i spawn at a outpost. I also hate how it's still the Twitch meta. I could care less if GgGamer69 is doing a epic Fort of Fortune steal. If the guy or girl is funny or entertaining, they could be grinding Hunters Call and i'd still watch 'em!

I wouldn't totally drop the idea, i'd rework it for a tall tale where, let's say, you invade the Captain's lair, and you use said item to hide from the guards or something. If implemented this way, it'd be super fun!

And to answer your question about what feature I would remove from this item, hands down hiding the mermaid. It'd be super broken for your mermaid to be gone or invisible.