I'm really not fond of PvP and try to avoid it as much as possible, BUT I do acknowledge it's a fundamental part of the game. And a common thing I hear from people who like PvP is complaining about people who try and run away, or don't put up a fight. PvP should be fun for everyone! But there are some issues currently.
For one thing, as much as this contributes to the risk-reward style of gameplay, if you play for an hour lets say racking up loot only to get outmatched in naval combat (or worse - have your ship sunk while in a vault or shrine) it feels awful to lose everything you worked for. It honestly feels like such a waste of time. Yes, you can play more conservatively, never raising Emissary flags, stopping at Outposts to sell every time you get a small bit of loot - basically trying to be less of a target; but we've all seen players who will rock up and sink a ship that's just spawned in! 'Making yourself less of a target' isn't valid because it doesn't matter what you have - if you're playing, you're a target.
Playing in fear all the time isn't fun. So I propose two potential changes that could spice things up a little. To be clear as well, I don't think BOTH of these should be implemented, but one or the other could be good.
Firstly, Insurance. Imagine if you could pay an up-front cost to the Merchants or the Shipwright to get your ship Insured. The downside would be, if you don't get sunk or robbed, you bought it for nothing; but if your ship is sunk and your loot stolen, you get a percentage of gold when the loot is sold by whoever stole it, because it became insured when it was placed on your ship! I don't mean that the player who bested you gets less gold, but more like after the loot is sold by someone not on your crew, you also get some insurance money (worth a lot less, but something at least). It would mean players needn't feel so bad about losing a big haul as they'll still get something. This would also be good for the PvP seekers as their targets may well be less afraid to carry more loot, making them better targets. Also if you know you'll get some compensation if you're sunk, players who would normally avoid PvP when a ship starts attacking may feel like they can get involved, making for more rewarding combat for all.
Secondly, Docking Privileges. This would also be provided by either the Merchant or Shipwright; the idea is when docked at an Outpost and within a limited area of the docks those NPCs are found on, you can pay to officially 'Dock' your ship. While docked, if any other ship damages yours, or any other pirate attacks you, cannons on the outpost would begin firing at the attacker. They wouldn't have pinpoint accuracy, something between a seafort and a ghost ship - just enough to make the attacker think twice. The moment you leave the set radius, your ship is no longer Docked. However, while Docked, if you fire your cannons at any time when your ship or crew have not been damaged in the last 30 seconds, the contract would terminate and the outpost would not fight for you.
This achieves two things. 1, it offers some level of protection for players just logging in. And 2, it makes some level of sense for the Outpost to protect it's interests - if a ship is firing at another that is docked there, any stray cannon fire would presumably hit the Outpost - so why wouldn't they take the side of someone who payed for the privilege of docking there?
If you attack a Docked ship or their crew, no NPC at that Outpost would do business with you until either the Docked ship had sunk (since there'd be nothing to protect any more) or 3 minutes had passed where your ship and crew had done no damage to any other ship or crew. However, to make the prospect more appealing, Docked ships would have an additional flag to advertise it's protection, and said flag would sell highly to the Reaper's Bones.
I'd love to hear feedback on these ideas! Been thinking for a while about them since I just never enjoy PvP, but I wouldn't want to deprive others of doing it, and these were the compromise ideas I had.
