Hi there! I also saw that Direct (and a regrettable amount of response videos).
I think Rares efforts are commendable, or it would be if their words were followed with actions ever in the last 4 years.
I like the Idea of custom Seas but I dislike the Idea of Custom Seas being the Flagship feature of Season 20. Because obviously.
I do think there is a way to make Custom Seas into something that EVERYONE can enjoy, not just Content Creators.
In one sentence basically: Less Minecraft Creative Mode, more Deep Rock Galactic.
DRG eventually added an option to disable any seasonal content you desire, or basically revert your game to previous seasons.
I see a similar opportunity for Sea of Thieves here. Give us the option to select which World Events and world modifiers to apply.
And give us the option to invite others to the server as well. Like a TF2 custom Server Browser.
And depending on how "Balanced" the server is, you can disable varying levels of progression.
Whether or not old cosmetics should be obtainable through this is up for debate, but If its a "Balanced" Server, without Flying, Spawning, etc then I don't see why you shouldn't be able to make gold from it.
You can even have the Gold rewards scale with the amount of Ships on the Server.
The options this would give for customisation are huge. Want the Flameheart Skull Back with his Ghost fleet? Just enable the events.
Want the Ashen Lords back? Enable that.
Do you want only Skeleton Fleets? Disable everything else.
If Rare is smart (haaaaaaah...) They could definitely find a balanced version of that.
Like having 3 world events spawn every hour and them pulling from a Pool which the players can define.
As for world modifiers, there are of course those that would disable progression.
Invincibility, Noclip, Spawning Objects, Flying, etc, thats all obvious.
But why not add NEGATIVE Modifiers too?
Like, Always Night / Sea Always Boiling / Massive Storms / Skeleton Hordes / etc.
Obviously modifiers like that shouldn't really disable earning Money because... why would they?
Basically in summary, there should be degrees to customization, not just "You play a custom server therefore no Gold for you."
Because if Rare wants to go through with that, nobody will be using Custom Seas after a Month except for content creators.
Custom Seas being the Main Feature of Season 20 is still an embarassment, but it can be less so if Rare puts some thought and effort in.
If only.
