Look, I am all for new voyage types with cosmetics tied behind them and I am certainly not against more "long winded" (if I my use that wording) tasks, simply because I enjoy the PVE in this game, and the more story driven voyages that are drawn out are actually fun for me. (Sort of like Pirate themed Indiana Jones).
My issue with this PATICULAR suggestion is your attempt to repeat the Ashen Dragon variant of unlocks.
One of my biggest issues with the loot in this game on the most barest of levels, is the RNG when it comes to what loot can appear. To be fair, this is not apparent at all levels. Obviously for the most part its only commendation titles that are tied to most loot specific titles, but RNG does dictate when you get it, not skill.
For example, To obtain the "Hoarder of the Castaways Gold" title, you must turn in lots of Castaway Chests. This is fine, but there is no specific way to control what chests appear on your journey. You could spend several hours searching shipwrecks, defeating skeleton ships, doing vaults, and even digging up X's, and might not find a castaways chest. Is it impossible? No, but RNG tied to your level does dictate how often you will encounter a Castaway, vs a Captains.
With regards to the Ashen Dragon set, this takes it several steps harder with layers of RNG.
First Radiant Captains and the Outpost voyage that spawn chests, can spawn any of the 4 sets of tomes. that means for any 1 tome, you have a 1 an in 20 chance of getting the right 1, and a 19 in 20 chance of getting the wrong tome. Obviously there is RNG that determines how many tomes are in a chest, so since 3 tomes can potentially be in a chest, you can change it a 3 in 20 chance of getting the right tome, and a 17 in 20 chance of getting the wrong tome.
Now RARE foresaw some of the issues with this, and decided to dedicate specific activities to each of the sets of tomes to assist with that RNG (to a point at least).
Fleets guarantee chests that have Ashen Curse Tomes, meaning that Fleets ensure a 1 in 5 chance at getting the tome you need, with a 4 in 5 chance you get the wrong tome.
Forts guarantee chests that have Ashen Power Tomes, meaning again a 1 in 5 chance at getting the tome you want, vs 4 in 5 chance at getting the wrong tome. Of course they added the bonus chest you can get from the Skeleton lord, but this two follows the same RNG for the tome of Power
Molten Sands fort guarantees chests that have Ashen Resurrection tomes. This one has an extra RNG tied to it, compared to normal forts. You see unlike the other forts that spawn, this is ONE specific fort that does not spawn as often as the others on the rotation. Which fort spawns is also RNG, same as the if a Fleet or Flameheart or Lord spawns. However since this is tied to a tome, you now have to deal with the RNG of that specific fort spawning, and not just the 1 in 5 chance at chest with the tome your looking for vs the 4 in 5 chance at getting the wrong tome.
Now, back before the Ashen lords event, the Tomes of Fire, used to be the only random RNG set that could also appear in any of the events. meaning that all RNG was instead doubled to 1 in 10 of success, vs 9 in 10 of failing. However, since they added the lords, Lords now guarantee in there rotation a Tome of Fire. So again for each Lord a 1 in 5 chance of the right tome, and a 4 in 5 chance at the wrong tome.
Lots of RNG I know, and again this does not even include the chance at losing the tome, so if you lose the tome, after getting good RNG, you then have to play the RNG game again. Sort of the same with which skeletons lords or ashen lords appear in an event. (and the Ash Lords even have Cosmetics tied to them as well)
Even the Athena Subset of ships cosmetics are tied to an RNG of hoping that a specific Athena items appears, the Gilded Cup, the Villainous skull, and the Mega Keg. So much RNG tied just to turn ins for cosmetics.
The point is, the grind for some of the items alone is challenging, and the PVP related to protecting those items is also challenging, and while I like a good challenge based on dedication and skill, I am not a fan of anything that determines my success by a Random Number Generator.
(Heck that is why I hate the Shrouded Ghost meme so much. We can joke all we want about the legendary creature, but when all is said and done, its not about your skill as to whether or not you slew that creature, its about whether or not RNG was in your favor and it spewed out the Shrouded Ghost. No skill, no dedication, only pure RNG, and not even RNG you can manipulate.)
