A Deal for your Soul

You've basically described what posting a suggestion on the feedback channel here looks like hahah

Your soul is now marked.

The moment you've posted this

Who is this mysterious deal maker? Do they work for Flameheart? Are they an agent of Davy Jones? Or has Flameheart's meddling of the veil allowed something even worse to slip through?

Who's gonna respond? Will they ignore this post? Are they willing to provide any arguments or just troll? Do they have some other good ideas to add on top of mine?

Obviously, the consequences should be steep enough to make players really think about if the deal is worth it.

I promise you you'll be definitely thinking if it's gonna be worth it to post another suggestion after this one :'D

The price? Just your soul.

Yep... pretty much. The more you engage on the forum xD

Jokes aside, although I like the concept and appreciate the effort you've put into this idea, I can already see other forum members saying something like:

1. There is no system in the game that punishes you, and for a reason. If it was introduced, what stops you from just relogging to cancel it?
2. If it's somehow long term/multiple sessions/permanent, many people wouldn't like it, because each new session you're supposed to start in the same way - nothing but basic supplies on your ship.

Honestly, me being the one constantly challenging other people brushing off some suggestions just for the sake of brushing them off, if they mentioned the above 2 - I really wouldn't have any comeback to that. Not at the moment at least.

@r3vanns How about this? When the deal maker comes to collect, the player is offered a choice:

1. They can collect X amount of souls in order to pay off their debt. This way, there's a sort of "passing the baton" system at play.

2. They can play a game of Poker or Liars' Dice against the deal maker to get their soul back. This would of course require these games to get introduced into Sea of Thieves first.

This way, there's no truly permanent consequences to your account or character for making the deal in the first place and all resolutions are based in gameplay. It's all in service to the idea itself and the lore.

@thestarman7

So, if this was a singleplayer/coop game, or if Rare didn't say that SS will never have a feature that's not in the main adventure, I'd say it's a good, fun idea! I'm never against more options, and hardly ever against new mechanics that give something fresh to a game.

However, there is still a question of session. That's the biggest issue you're gonna face here. :/

I don't mind it, as I'm used to it. Among the games I play is also Star Citizen, which has a piracy rating that persists through sessions and places a bounty on your head, that has an expiration date depending on how many acts of piracy you did. And I'm fine with it.

Sadly, many, if not most of the playerbase here don't like that. I also believe it doesn't fit into Rare's vision of "everyone starts equally".

So yea, the only problem I see here is if it's gonna be carried into a next session. And if it would not be carried, that means it can just be avoided by leaving that, and joining another session.

BUT... emissaries last as long as you don't lower them, or you get sunk. So you might be on to something! Emissaries have their pros (gold multiplies) and cons (reapers see you, and non-reaper PvPers will def attack you on sight). So why not introduce another spin on risk-reward per session.

I'll honestly wait and see what other people might say/add on top of your suggestion. :)

@r3vanns All valid points and I certainly appreciate the feedback. If there's a way to implement the idea that's fair to everyone and fits Rare's vision for the game, I'm open to it!

And since you only have 1 soul...you can only do this once. No go backs, no potions to buy, you are stuck with the outcome. (unless you delete the avatar)

@burnbacon Exactly. I was always under the impression that something like this would be a one-time deal for the player since you would be getting a considerable reward in exchange for a debt that could be paid off in souls or possibly weaseled out of.

The catch, of course, being that you'd have to be (un)lucky enough to run into the deal-maker in the first place. I'm thinking of a rarity on par with happening across a Box of Wondrous Secrets or encountering the non-existent Shrouded Ghost.

@knurd9369 I've actually thought a bit on this. It's a bit of a process, so bear with me:

1. Someone, somewhere finds the original deal-maker and sells their soul in exchange for whatever.

2. There's a time limit set on how long the player gets to enjoy their freedom before the deal-maker comes to collect. They do so by sending their own ai forces after the player.

3. Once the player has been sunk or killed, they wake up in the Sea of the Damned before the deal-maker. They are offered the choice of playing a game to get their soul back or they can make deals with other players in exchange for their souls.

4. Should the player choose the latter and succeed, they get their soul back and are now officially initiated to join the Soul Collectors. This would be its own faction with its own reputation and rewards.

5. Players who are part of the Soul Collectors now not only get to make deals with other players, but also get to collect on souls as well, once their time is up. Available Soul bounties would be available through the Soul Collectors tab on the menu, next to the other factions. This is how you would introduce a PvP element to the new faction.

6. Once you select a bounty, your ship will dive to the server that the marked player is on. You now have to kill the player to send them to the deal-maker where they will be given the same offer you were.

7. The more deals are made, the more souls get collected, the more the cycle perpetuates itself and this faction grows in real-time from the ground-up.

@thestarman7 so its a free pass to end game? Sounds like cheating. Whatever the consequences are they need to be severe. Pirate account deletions sounds fare.

@qu1etone said in A Deal for your Soul:

@thestarman7 so its a free pass to end game? Sounds like cheating.

Pirate.