Hello!
I'm no game designer by any means, and this idea may very easily have been brought up by other Thievers or by Rare themselves when developing Cursed Sails, but I thought it would be pretty (Joe) neat if the skeleton ships emerged from storms.
Right now Storms are a beautiful nuisance/obstacle on your journey to the next island. They're awesomely done, and Rare did a fantastic job in creating the feeling of sailing through a brutal storm. But I'm not inherently terrified of sailing through them at the moment. Instead I'm just peeved that it's going to make my final trek to Dagger Tooth before signing off for the night more cumbersome.
Honestly I think it would be epic if storms became the new homes for skeleton ships. Maybe after the main event of Cursed Sails is completed and the ships become ambient threats like the Megalodon, this could be where they lie. Imagine finding yourself caught in a storm, seeing a streak of lighting touch down into the sea, and in between you and that flash of light there is the silhouette of a ship with torn sails revealing itself for a brief moment in the darkness. That would give me the same kind of chills I got when hearing the JAWS-like eerie harp melody play as the Megalodon glided past my ship for the first time. The skeleton ships would then emerge from the storm after your ships, pulling a wake of fog behind them.
Just thought this may be a nice way to flesh out an already-existing mechanic in the game and take it to a new level. Seeing a storm cloud in the distance and knowing the kinds of terrors that lie inside would be pretty menacing.
I'm sure you have fantastic plans for these foes no matter what. Keep up the amazing work, Rare!
