After watching streams and playing a small amount I had an idea of a progression system that I think would be interesting to incorporate in the game. With the game already having 3 trader factions, I think it would be interesting to use these quests as a progression system as follows.
Gold Hoarders:
The progression of these quests would ultimately allow players to earn gold for winning ship battles in PVP. As you progress you get more gold per winning encounter on the high seas.
Merchant Alliance:
The progression of these quests would lead to upgrades in the ship’s cargo, speed and agility. The amount of upgrade in this area would need to be balanced out but I think it would be nice to earn ship capabilities.
Order of Souls:
The progression of these quests would lead to ship abilities using dark magic. An example would be maybe a ghost ship characteristic at night where the ship would more resemble a cloud at distance.
PVP Encounters:
In my eyes the number of cannons on the ship should correlate to the experience in ship battles. For example the sloop starts with 2 cannons, 2-man with 2 cannons, and galleon with 8. I think it would be more interesting for the ships to start out 2, 2, and 4 cannons respectively. As experience in PVP is gained the ships would get as follows:
Sloop: up to 4 cannons with the additional 2 cannons in front and rear. This would give the solo players a chance to fire in front or behind in battles giving them a fighting chance.
2-Man: up to 6 cannons 3 on each side.
Galleon: up to the current 8 cannons.
I know that other players would have great ideas on other attainable abilities, but I feel like this would make the quests seem more meaningful and PVP more rewarding.
Implementation of Abilities:
A way I see this being balanced is the ship would have 4 special characteristics that the crew would have to come together and select. This would mean that with a four man crew at least 1 ability would have to be selected from each crew member’s available abilities. One experienced sailor would not be able to give all of his abilities to the squad. In duos it would be 2 per sailor, and of course solo would get all 4.
For me this would be a fun way to give the game more meaning while still allowing for the freedom to make the story your own. This is my take, what do you guys think?
