Alternative to Athena's Fortune Reputation

@avecrux Now that would be something I'd like to see, lol.

Your suggestion doesn't sound really exciting as you will basically lure this new enemy towards the ship and kill it with a barrage of cannonballs.
In order to avoid this scenario the enemy AI must be able to adjust the Navmesh map so it will not go within the proximity of cannon fire.

Randomly spawned positions might put extra workload on the servers as AI is server side based which shares it's resources with physics, network and updates if we put the above workaround into consideration the result might be too expensive for implementation due to server performance constraints.

In addition, neither higher damage output nor health would make any difference unless the abilities of this new enemy is something entirely new to spice things up.

Furthermore your suggestion regarding only Pirate Legends are eligible for reputation gain at the Athena's Fortune faction seems to be out of place because playing with friends shouldn't be penalized as everyone should rewarded equally like all activities in Sea of Thieves.

@gosetsu Can always just make him immune to cannon fire. Make it so you don't get hit markers when you hit him with a cannonball. It will give newer players the hint that it doesn't affect him.

I don't see why Non-Pirate Legends deserve the same rewards as Pirate Legends. They weren't the ones who grinded for weeks to obtain the status. If anything, giving the same rewards to both Legends and non-Legends takes away a lot of incentive to become a Legend in the first place. One can basically leech off a Legend if that was the case, which people do already for Legendary Voyages. In the end it's all cosmetics. Even if Legends get reputation for a faction while other players don't, the game will still stay true to the vision Rare originally had in mind. No one has an advantage over others.

Apparently your suggestion appears to be more leaning towards "No reputation at Athena's Fortune faction for players who aren't Pirate Legend" rather bringing something new on the table even if we add additional immunities to other mechanics e.g. knockback or explosive damage it would end into hit and run.

@yhorm-the-giant said in Alternative to Athena's Fortune Reputation:

I don't see why Non-Pirate Legends deserve the same rewards as Pirate Legends.

Same rewards?
If you were paying attention to the rewards of Pirate Legends you might found out that:

• Pirate Legend title
• Pirate Legend attire
• Opening the Pirate Legend hideout
• Purchase of Legendary Voyages
  are reserved for players with the Pirate Legend status.

What Pirate Legends and non-Pirate-Legend-players share as reward is solely the Ghost attire.

They weren't the ones who grinded for weeks to obtain the status.

This argument appears to be out of spite. Players in the game share a common goal during Voyages or PvP and are rewarded equally as they have to work together as a crew.

If anything, giving the same rewards to both Legends and non-Legends takes away a lot of incentive to become a Legend in the first place.

As we speak, 4 of 5 "perks" of being Pirate Legend are only available for Pirate Legends.
From a game design standpoint the status of Pirate Legend is merely being maxed out at the three starting factions. Nothing fancy or something a person should felt being entitled about.

One can basically leech off a Legend if that was the case, which people do already for Legendary Voyages.

And the Legend can leech off the non-Pirate-Legend-players by being afk. So what's your argument in that regard if your previous argument hasn't been quite convincing?

In the end it's all cosmetics. Even if Legends get reputation for a faction while other players don't, the game will still stay true to the vision Rare originally had in mind. No one has an advantage over others.

What you're trying to do it artificially increase the grind for newer players who could benefit from their friends or random Pirate Legend players. I'm pretty sure that Rare's intent is not bringing friends apart rather bringing them together.

@gosetsu

Apparently your suggestion appears to be more leaning towards "No reputation at Athena's Fortune faction for players who aren't Pirate Legend" rather bringing something new on the table.

I got carried away with what I said in my response and it was more of an opinion on Athena's Fortune as a whole. Wasn't meant to be the main point on the suggestion. I'm not suggesting that people of non-Legend status shouldn't get AF reputation through the voyages. Only suggesting it with the enemy I made the topic about.

Since the enemy would spawn on islands even without a Legend present, I don't think that it should give reputation to those who aren't Legends. Of course still give the ones who sell it all the gold, but not the reputation unless they are Legend.

That's just my opinion on how the rewards should be handed out. I mainly just want the enemy and the reputation alternative. I can live with the idea of non-Legends getting reputation through this enemy as well, I just prefer they didn't.

if we add additional immunities to other mechanics e.g. knockback or explosive damage it would end into hit and run.

You really don't think Rare could make an enemy that actually poses a threat?

Since the enemy would spawn on islands even without a Legend present, I don't think that it should give reputation to those who aren't Legends. Of course still give the ones who sell it all the gold, but not the reputation unless they are Legend.
That's just my opinion on how the rewards should be handed out. I mainly just want the enemy and the reputation alternative. I can live with the idea of non-Legends getting reputation through this enemy as well, I just prefer they didn't.

Maybe you should think first what this kind of change would cause in regard to ease the grind for newer players. Adding a wall will only reduce the motivation to do Legendary Voyages. At a certain point reaching Pirate Legend will become easier may it be due to reduce reputation points required or increased rewards or receiving bonus reputation for completing voyages / weekly events. Only time can tell and so far this has been a trend in games as a service titles in order to prevent a decline in player numbers.

Still you haven't given proper reason why the crew shouldn't be rewarded equally like all other activities in the game.

As mentioned above Legend status isn't something you can compare with reaching Grand Masters rank or Legend title in other games as the Legend status in this game basically means: You've spent some time in the game and grinded. It's not a status achieved by doing something super difficult or displays that the player is very skilled.

You really don't think Rare could make an enemy that actually poses a threat?

Unless they don't add anything groundbreaking gameplaywise I can't think of any kind of enemy in the game right now which actually poses a threat.
The only exception would be skeletons equipped with pistols who shoot all at once at you while you have no object or enemy blocking incoming bullets :D

But we have to keep in mind that this game is for everyone so I'm fine with having fun and casual encounters as not everyone would be down for a hardcore and super complex combat system or enemy type.

@gosetsu

Still you haven't given proper reason why the crew shouldn't be rewarded equally like all other activities in the game.

Athena's Fortune is directly linked to Pirate Legend. Can't get reputation for it without coming into some type of contact with a Pirate Legend. If you don't have a Pirate Legend in your crew, didn't have a Legendary Voyage placed down by one, or stole a Chest of Legends from a crew then you wouldn't get reputation. That's why I personally feel that the treasure earned by this enemy should only give AF reputation to Pirate Legends, just so it retains that "link" between the two. There is no link if a crew of non-Legends find this enemy on an island and gets AF reputation for killing it.

Perhaps a way to incentivize non-Legends to face the tough enemy besides just for gold, is to make it so they gain reputation for all three companies upon turn in.

Unless they don't add anything groundbreaking gameplaywise I can't think of any kind of enemy in the game right now which actually poses a threat.

That's why I suggested a new type of enemy. Something I would find challenging is a Behemoth Skeletal Captain. A Skeletal Captain that is large and bulky. It spawns waves of regular skeletons to fight for it every minute or so. It has a large sword that it can do large sweeping strikes with that can hit multiple people. These attacks can be blocked but still deal 5% of your health in damage. Last thing he can do is a charged "spin move". He has a long telegraphed animation for it and if you don't back up in time he will hit you for 75% of your health.

Overall basic attacks that even the casual player can avoid and play against, but something that anyone can mess up against and die to.

The enemy I just suggested might have flaws that I don't see right now, but it was just something I thought of off the top of my head.