I have to admit, I still wouldn't mind seeing the Athena Voyages revised wholesale. I'd honestly like to see both existing options removed, since one is just a big collection of the original 3 Faction Voyages, and the other is a glorified Gold Hoarder "X Marks the Spot" Voyage only. I'd rather see the Voyages for Athena's Fortune be unique activities. Maybe something along these lines as a basis to get ideas flowing:
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Basic Voyage: Legendary Shipwrecks - Legends are sent to scour a series of Shipwrecks for Athena Loot. Maybe to make these wrecks unique the Captain Quarters are actually locked shut, and we have to locate a Key within the wreckage (along with gathering some of the more basic grade Loot items like Relics, Voyages, etc. from within the hull), and getting in the Quarters finally we would get a Map Fragment that guides us to another Shipwreck where we do similar (though these don't point to Islands, but rather to points in the ocean, and it is unlabeled so we need to better understand the world layout), until the last Shipwreck where we acquire the Chest of Legends. This way things feel a bit different than previous Company Voyages when you first get to Pirate Legend (this would replace the existing Combo Voyage).
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Upgraded Voyage: Ritual of Legends - Legends are tasked, after gaining some Rank in the Faction like the standard Factions and Secondary Voyages, with tracking down a series of strange items (probably new things) that we then need to take to a randomly selected location where there will be an altar of some kind. The items will need to be placed in some specific configuration, and there will be clues around the location to help solve the proper placement. Once the objects have been placed correctly, we have to do some kind of action (maybe fill a basin with sea water we can haul in buckets), and then a secondary action to complete the Ritual (maybe we need to slam a Grog and vomit into the basin of water). Doing this will summon some kind of major boss battle who will drop some kind of special new Loot (or a Map to it) that is worth a good bit. The steps of the Ritual and the nature of the Boss fight are up for debate, but this would also give us something that at least feels a little different. It is also a slightly more interesting way of "Combining Everything Before" in that you have a Gather/Battle/Dig quest that is all tied together instead of being disparate parts. Perhaps this could be where we bring in the hostile Merfolk and make use of those underwater altars around the map, which could give it a further distinct feel while actually kind of being a collection of the original tasks we did to get here.
This seems like it could help to build upon the Lore of the game, give us some slightly new gameplay, and allow Athena's Fortune to actually feel like something at least a little different from the other Factions in the Sea of Thieves, a personality all of its own. One could be seen (the initial Voyage) as helping do your part to keep Athena's Fortune well supplied (as well as tracking down the crates of Legendary Voyages that we then actually do as the Secondary Voyages - the Ritual, a task truly meant for a Legend).
That covers the base bit of the Faction (though, I do like the thread going right now about adding an Ancient Amethyst as a Legend Gem to the game that could replace the standard Gems where we encounter those, which in this revised version would mainly be the Shipwrecks). Next, we should get some other special stuff for Legends to have access to. Such as Legendary Tales (the Legend side of the Tall Tale coin).
Legendary Tales should be more like the Shores of Gold Tales, in that they need to be done in a particular order because I think there should be some deep connection to the tasks. These Tales should be centered around binding Flameheart once again (which then means the Sea of Thieves exists in a perpetual loop of Legends binding Flameheart, newbie Pirates being tricked into releasing him, rinse and repeat - so all the world events can keep on rocking cause they will always make sense being there in this context, Flameheart is an ever recurring threat). Now, to make these unique and special I think that first of all, the very first one you initiate of course starts in the Legend Hideout with the Pirate Lord. And where do these Tales take place, the Sea of the Damned. This is where we finally get to set sail from the Legend Hideout, but it requires that we Scuttle out Ship to bring it in (in this way it isn't a viable option to try and protect Loot, and it means you must start your Voyage with Default Supplies). We might need a few other safety catches, for instance the option to bring your Ship in requires you to have the Tale started already (unlocks a special Trigger system on the Dock) so we can prevent multiple Ships trying to do this at the exact same time. I'd also give a timer to how long a Ship can just sit in the Legend Hideout (maybe it always touches bottom in here so it will be force despawned if you don't get going quickly). We do a series of Voyages both on the Sea of Thieves and Sea of the Damned, with the final Tale in the series being the actual battle with and defeat of (hopefully) Flameheart.
This would make getting to Pirate Legend something truly fresh, giving the whole experience a shot in the arm after loads of grinding away on the core Factions (which is something many players might need by this point). Of course, all of this could be experienced by non-Legends by simply being in a Crew with a Legend (much like it is now) so we maintain the mantra of all can sail together regardless of how long they have played (which is important). Of course we could stand to have some new Cosmetics dropped on the Legend Hideout stores so we have some more fun options with that and some more Gold sink available once we get to that threshold (or for those of us already at it).
What needs to happen is they make this a major focus for a large scale update, for lack of a better term Legends Rising. This update would be the big end game refresh where we, at one time, drop the following:
- Revised Legendary Voyages (as above)
- Legendary Tales 1-9, The Binding of Flameheart (as above)
- Legendary Cosmetic Delivery, probably two full sets of Clothing and Ships, maybe a Costume to start it off with high price tags
- Legendary Curse, Revenant curse which is the glowing eyes the Mysterious Stranger has (this should be able to be unlocked at the end of the Tales and require being a Legend)
In this instance I do think it is one of the few spots where cutting some content would be for the best, so that it can be replaced with something actually unique. At this point I would also, personally, see this as something of a priority for Rare, as I feel we have gotten to a point that the world for new players is fairly solid finally. They have 5 Factions they can work with that are each unique (6 if we count the Sea Dogs, and we should since they can count towards Legend progress). Of those Factions, all the ones which offer Voyages (3 of them) have 2 different Voyage types that are unique and centered around a common theme (get treasure, kill things, gather/deliver goods). They have access to Tall Tales for story driven adventures. They have the Bilge Rats for doing assorted miscellaneous tasks and hunting Easter Eggs. They have multiple full sets of Cosmetics to select from. As such, the time is certainly upon us, nearly 3 years since launch, to get a better focus on the end game side of the coin as more and more pirates reach that milestone.
That's all, there is loads of room for improvement here, but this conversation thread needs to get going and with some good baseline of what can potentially be done to get us where we should be shooting towards. Discuss.
