Before I get started on my suggestion, I completely understand that Sea of Thieves was never intended to be a competitive game. However, Rare has introduced competitive game modes which have changed the game forever. With the closing of Arena, it seemed Rare was done focusing on the competitive aspects of the game, but really, they doubled down on competitive gameplay by introducing Hourglass PvP and locking desirable curses behind it. While Hourglass can be fun, there are no rewards for coming back to it. Any pirate that hits 100 in either faction most likely will not come back to the mode, and those that hit 1000 are even more likely to quit playing since they no longer get rewarded for their time. Some pirates may not like this idea, but I believe adding a ranked system to Hourglass PvP will keep the mode populated and make PvP feel rewarding. Although I'm not a developer, it doesn't seem hard to add rank with the current state of hourglass, as the mode already has hidden skill based matchmaking.
Anyway, here is my vision for ranked, but I'd love to hear other ideas:
Rank is seperate from the factions. Playing for either faction will increase/decrease rank.
Rank would work similarly to the emissary ledgers, where only "X" amount of players can be in a certain tier.
Rank would also work off a point system similar to emissaries where points are added or subtracted after a battle (more points added for sinking champions, or being champion). I believe this system would work best because it keeps within the Sea of Thieves style and doesn't fully follow a FPS ranked system.
Lastly, players are rewarded at the end of the season with unique seasonal rewards (Not Titles). For example top tier players (maybe top 25%) earn a unique cosmetic that is related to curses. Since every season has a tier 100 item, you would earn a gold ghost version cosmetic for the level 100 PL item in the battle pass, and skeleton curse users would get that same item, but wearable on their curse. Other rewards can include gilded seasonal sails and other things for lower tiers, and the rewards would build up to the curse rewards.
Finally, I understand this is still a lot of work and Rare has a lot of other things they are focusing on right now. For example, bugs, cheating, and toxicity plague the Sea of Thieves, but I have faith there will be fair systems and fixes that will address these issues. Regardless, I'd like to see Rare double down one last time to keep Hourglass alive, and to not let it die like Arena did. These things die because of the grind and lack of rewards. Let's reward the players for their time and keep this game changing era of Sea of Thieves alive. Thank you. If anyone has suggestions or criticisms I'd genuinely like to hear them.
TLDR: Add Ranked to Hourglass PVP. This will introduce rewards to keep players engaged and keep the mode populated.
