A new addition I would really love to see is Boarding axes. So on all ships, you have 2 ways of boarding. Shoot your self out (only reliable at close range and calm water) and ladders.
My suggestion: Boarding axes. Found stuck into trees and fallen trees on islands, this pair of axes is a consumable. You find one at a time at a Rare to Uncommon chance and must be dual-weilded for their first purpose, which is boarding. When coming in close range of a ship (i.e 1 meter), you get an interaction to axe the ship. This will be sticking both axes in the ship, and the buttons must be held in order to keep your axes in, and you must use your fire button (left click or right trigger) to move your axes up a ship. It will take about 5-8 seconds (subject to argument and change) to climb the middle area of a galleon. You can move in a planar area in all directions around the ship but get out of breath and must wait a 3 second cool down after about 7 hits. You can stick on axe in every second. Axing the ship once will take 1/20th of the durability of the axe. So you have 20 hits per axe. This will create a very loud “thump” sound, similar to the sound of a hole popping and can be heard across the ship, however it isn’t too distinct and blends in with other ship noises a little. For animation purposes, the player is hanging from the axes, which are in 2 hands and stuck in the ship, similar to suction cups on buildings in spy movies.
Secondary Use: When boarding a ship, you can pry off planks from former holes. This will require for the visible hole to be seen after a plank is over it, how it used to be. It will take 2-3 times longer (subject argument and change) to pry off the the plank than it did to repair it. You can only remove 10 planks before the axe breaks.
Final use: When wielding one axe, you can slowly (control key walk speed) creep behind players. This makes no sound but takes a long time to do, and you must charge the axe for 4.5 seconds behind the player (player is holding axe above head) before striking. This will kill the opponent in one hit. You can only one shot by using the charge, but can do 40% damage by just striking the opponent with the axe, which starts a cool down of 2 seconds after each hit. You can damage players without deteriorating the durability.
Thanks for reading and share your comments below. I tried making this seem as balanced as possible and understand encourage constructive criticism.
