@mferr11
if it's been recently attacked, then the ship won't just float there forever. I'd say that this be the only world event to be on a timer. As soon as a player enters the area (and this would have to be small enough to where you wouldn't trigger it from an island away cough cough Flameheart) it starts a timer. You've got 25 minutes before it's fully submerged (meaning it's cannons and wheel can no longer be used), and then another 5 before it is properly sunk and gone and the event is over. Once a the hull key is dropped from the shark, the ship pauses its sinking progress. This is so that crews cannot grief the event by making it despawn on purpose by simply not unlocking the hull. Once the hull is unlocked, the timer continues.
I know this is different from your idea of being able to repair the ship and keep it afloat, but if you did keep the ship afloat once the event is over, where is it gonna go? Also surely there would be holes in the ship when you arrive, but if the hull is locked then you won't have time to repair it? Plus, fighting in and around a shipwreck is cool.
Oh no you're quite right, my thinking was that the shipwreck was more like the "outposts" you sell chests to in the arena, those galleons with no sails and no dock leading up to it but keeping the cannons.
On the subject of repairing, my initial idea was that you could repair the wreck because the AI threat would still attack it whether you were on it or not. Perhaps to prevent the wreck from staying afloat forever the hull could have a few extremely large holes. The player could attempt to fix the holes with wood however water would still leak in meaning no matter what it will sink eventually.
The idea of a timed event might work better however as if repairs were possible, a crew could spend their entire night on the wreck if they so chose by buckets out water every now and then, maybe the rate at which the water rises increases over time.
Stage 1: Hull Key
Getting the hull key should be half the event, the other half being the fight. However if the key shark just spawns near the wreck when you get there then I feel it would be a very quick done and done sorta deal. You pull up your ship, spot the shark, kill it, and then next stage. World Events need to take a bit of time to encourage other crews to come by, so I'd suggest making this process take a little longer. Have the sharks spawn in 'waves' similar to skeletons at a fort. This means that you'll have to spend a bit more time in the water before getting to the final wave. When you reach the final wave, the key shark should look visually distinct enough from the other sharks, as well be tougher. It should be a sort of mini-boss. Once defeating the key shark you get the Hull Key.
THIS PROCCESS SHOULD TAKE 5-10 MINUTES
Yes I admit I forgot to elaborate on the sharks, my intention was to have it wave based but I think I just skipped ahead a bit. Maybe something like this would be a good justification for adding in a harpoon as a throwable weapon too.
Stage 2: Looting the Decks
After getting the hull key the ship's hull is now unlocked. I say from the moment the hull is unlocked there's a 1:30 timer before the AI threat spawns. This gives crews some time to scramble some of the better loot out of the hull, and also some time to prepare for the fight.
THIS PROCCESS SHOULD TAKE 1-2 MINUTES
100% agree, having the threat spawn too quick might pose a tough challenge haha
Stage 3: Fighting the Beast
At this point, you've already spent 5-10 minutes on the key, meaning you've only got 20-25 minutes left before the ship is fully sunk. Now, the AI threats in this game are pretty weak. If you're half decent and on a Sloop there is no way you could get sunk by the AI unless you were trying to. So, similar to the other world events, there would be no scaling of the fight. The AI that spawns should be a much beefier and stronger variant of the 3 current AI. Perhaps 1 skelly sloop and 1 skelly galleon as a pair, a kraken that is tougher than the Galleon variant, and a Megaladon that is much more aggressive. The idea here is that the PvE fight should be tough enough to delay you for a bit, but competent crews SHOULD be able to defeat the threat with enough time to clean the ship fully. You would be able to fight from both the Sunken Ship and your own ship, utilising the different angles of attack that two ships would bring.
THIS PROCCESS SHOULD TAKE AROUND 10 MINUTES ON A GALLEON
THIS PROCCESS SHOULD TAKE AROUND 12 MINUTES ON A BRIGANTINE
THIS PROCCESS SHOULD TAKEAROUND 15 MINUTES ON A SLOOP
Absolutely, plus if a sloop started the event and then got sunk by a galleon, the galleon would have a very easy fight ahead. As I said in a few lines up, my intention was to have the AI threats attack the wreck, would something like this be possible it might justify my idea for repairing the hull of the wreck.
Maybe if the crew run out of time there is a scripted event where the kraken actually pulls the wreck down with the tentacles or the megalodon bites the wreck from below like in the picture advertising the hungering deep when that first came out.
Stage 4: Looting the Cabin
So, you've just defeated the monster and the Cabin Key is in the water. You've got around 5 minutes left before the ship is gone for good, so make haste and loot the cabin! The cabin would be were the best loot is. Ruby mermaid gems, the pearls, high value chests, storage crates full of rare fish, that sorta stuff.
THIS PROCCESS SHOULD TAKE 3 MINUTES
In total, the quickest you could do this event is in around 20 minutes, and the longest being around 30 minutes, which is pretty standard for a world event such as Fort or Ashen Lord. I'm on board with this being a HC centred event. I could definitely see there being mermaid gems, fish, meat, live animals on the top deck, shipwrecked chests and pearls being part of the loot pool. Maybe chuck in some other loot as well, a few skulls, trinkets and crates.
Thanks for the feedback, it's greatly appreciated. It's nice to see that one person out of 63 views can be bothered to actually give feedback, well it's better than none anyways hahah.
If you don't mind I'll integrate your ideas into the original post later on, perhaps when the thread gets buried under more PvE threads, that way I can excuse bumping the thread hahaha
