@dreadpirate9200 "If you insist on making a second profile, then you cant just lay-claim to all the liveries and outfits the previous character worked for." im not quite sure i understand what you mean, are you insinuating that if the ability to have multiple pirates was in the game you would be able to lay claim to all the gear your other pirates have, because i dont think they would do that.
"Picking a pirate at the start of every match would really ruin the immersion for me. I love my character and I've even created a little back-story/origin for him." this would be the same even if you could have multiple pirates.
"If you were to explain the game to someone new you would tell them to take time picking their character because once you are born into the world there's no going back. This is you for the rest of the game." not true, you can delete your pirate and start over, you can create other accounts and have other pirates.
you mention positives of being forced into having one pirate, but these positives still stick when you can have multiple. imagine growing to love your whole crew, ofcoarse you would have a captain who would be your main, you would create a backstory for each individual character, and how they all got into your crew. if anything the positives you mention are only expanded upon.
a negative i experienced when being forced into having one charecter, was playing with that charecter lvling up to lvl 40 each faction, and hating my charecter to the point where i quit the game for months. i came back later deleted my charecter, and started over again. i spent probs 2 hours or more finding the perfect charecter and yet again after i got to around 40 for all factions i grew tired of that pirate, and so i once again deleted them and restarted. it was then that i finaly found a pirate who lasted till legend, i got him to PL and then i got bored with the game, not the charecter, i do like my PL, but at this point i feel like continuing my adventure as a new pirate, although i do not want to delete my pirate cause i dont want to lose all his progress, so i quit the game for probebly 3 or 6 months, and come back, i realise i can create multiple microsoft accounts to make another pirate without deleting the old, i currently love my new pirate, but i really miss my original pirates. and i want pirates like my old ones. sometimes i want to experience different playstyles. for example a fat guy plays completely different to skinny player models, as a skinny guy you can tuck, as a fat guy you cannot, but the fat guy provides more of a comedic journey imo, they are still fun. anyways what im saying is, the ability to have more than one pirate is overall positive, as it increases the games replayability, and still provides the positives you mentioned of having one pirate. i dont like the idea of potions and im suprised you do, i believe if we are gonna get a potion it should only be early game, to me i wonder why you would want to change the person you got to PL with if you have built such a strong bond with them. oh and btw my PL pirate is Red Beard, felt i had to do it cause of my name. my new guy is still developing