I want to stumble upon epic adventure.

I like how I can stumble upon other crews voyages and either help or steal from them :P

@lordqulex said in I want to stumble upon epic adventure.:

So, world event voyages basically. Something that spawns naturally on the server, you find organically, rotates through a few of them, and is more epic in scale. Specifically, it isn't posted on your mast with a hideous, ghostly note and dagger.

I could get behind this,

Honestly, It doesn't need to be a "world event" voyage like Siren Song. The goal is to just have something mundane ('oh I found a bottle quest' or 'I dug up a treasure chest, let's see what's in it') and have it spiral into something big for that crew. Sure, it could have a 'world event' vibe like the end of veil, but I would also be happy if it was just a voyage that felt like it had an build up and climax that didn't broadcast it's existence across the world.

This is a "vibe" idea, more than anything truly specific in execution.

(Of course, this means you can imagine how you would execute this type of idea however you want)

@wolfmanbush

In concept, it's not designed to be something that people will grind (though some would). Instead, it's designed to be a sort of 'stumbled upon' ticket to a bigger adventure. Ideally, I want it to not look special. If it's in a bottle quest, it looks like a normal green bottle, not a special yellow/gold/purple/coral...just a normal green bottle.

@lordqulex said in I want to stumble upon epic adventure.:

@tybald A few weeks ago someone had the idea of chaining voyages together for a new risk/reward system. You choose three or five voyages in length, and each one would lead to the next. For instance, you find a bottle that has an XMTS map that digs up a magic compass that points to a journal that gives you a riddle quest to dig up a key to a vault, or a shipwreck, or something. I liked that idea. That sort of vibe?

Honestly? Not really. While I like the idea of chaining voyages, this isn't about that sort of concept.

The main vibe is really "stumbling onto" the epic voyage. Choosing a chained voyage completely misses the stumbling onto concept. The "chained quests" might fill in for the epic voyage, but my personal preference is that it something a bit more modular and custom built. (i.e. like how legend of the veil is chunked and randomized).

As a note, I think the "stumbling onto" incidence rate should be somewhat rare. Not Shrouded ghost rare, but relatively rare. So, if these were ONLY in green bottles for example, it would be roughly 1-in-10 or 1-in-20 (5%-10%) chance of being an epic voyage.

It should be rare enough that it's not worthwhile to dedicate a session to search exclusively for them, but common enough that it is worthwhile to pick up the bottles when you see them)

Obviously, the more sources of discovery for the voyage, (barrels, notebooks, openable chests, etc) the lower the overall rate should be to keep the voyage relatively rare.

Though, in general, I think it should be obvious once you've picked up a voyage that it IS an epic voyage.

@lordqulex

I do like the idea of the vote for a chained voyage. It just doesn't work work with the idea.

I feel that chained voyage could be "settled for" as a start for an epic voyage, but it doesn't really excite me. In addition, I worry that merely chaining existing voyage together might not provide the level of "exciting discovery" that might cause a crew who stumbles upon it to consider dropping everything and chasing it. It would depend on how the standard quests that get chained together are tweaked/mixed and the rewards available. I could see many of those standard quests as being "links" between set pieces.

@lordqulex
Like I said I could "settle for" a chained quest, but in that case it'd need to be boosted with unique or valuable treasures.

I know I've left the exact activities vague, but that's because I don't know what to fill in.

Personally I think a modular story system that can mix and match to create a few "unique" stories.

I think the first part would be a twist on a current munsane voyage or event. (The way a ship graveyard is a twist on sunken ship)

The second event could be one of several new location based fights utilizing existing locations. (Fort, sea fort, treasury)

The third would be a twist on a fleet battle, boss battle with new enemies, sea creature battle (Meg or kracken ish)

@tybald, I like it. I hope that they could also add variance in PvE difficulty. For example, some adventures are downright DIFFICULT. It is up to the player to decide and approach with caution, but reap the rewards. Mindlessly swinging at an Ashen Lord for long periods of time can become mundane. Note: I do think this is necessary to keep.

But stumbling into a dark cave and being unsure if you will make it out, or creatively fighting an incredibly difficult beast hidden somewhere would be fantastic. Perhaps even to the point where additional crew assistance is needed and rewards are shared.

@el-c4pitano
Difficulty is hard to get right in the game. You infinitely respawn, so death doesn't really mean much UNLESS the death actually punishes you. Getting killed by an ashen lord doesn't matter much when you just cannon back on and continue to swing your sword at him.

@tybald, true, but getting killed is still not ideal and sinking definitely is the ultimate downer. Most all games, you can infinitely respawn. I wonder if they could make some areas particularly difficult. Perhaps like a long tunnel that you have to survive to reap the rewards at the end. In this case, it may be really a challenge to make it through.

@el-c4pitano

I guess I'd put it this way. The gold hoarder is probably one of the hardest fights in the game. But, the reality is that once you've reached him, you've beaten the tall tale. He'll likely kill you, alot. But, you'll respawn in the room, continue the fight, and he'll eventually be whittled down far enough and die.

To actually make the difficulty 'harder' you'd need to spawn people at an earlier checkpoint, making it more of a chore to get back to him, or reset his health upon the room emptying. Neither happens, so he is, in essence, easy.

Good point. Hopefully more to come; I’m optimistic :)

@lordqulex

I think another reason i want a quest like this is to just to enhance the "island hopping" game play.

@lordqulex

I think new emergent activities would be useful. Things like a compass that you find washed up on one of the larger islands that points to a small stash (say sea-fort raid (5-6 treasures) sized), that you have to find and fight.

Obviously, that's not the epic in this thread, but something about general improvement.

In each new season, a MacGuffin is added to the game—a cursed ball, grapeshot, grappling hook—some fun new tool. But it's a secret and you don't know what it is—it's never in trailers or any pre-season buzz.

To find out what and where it is, players find emergent clues in treasure chests and bottles—small hints that start to point toward a new temple, sunken ship, vault, etc. Pirates who discover the location must fight their way through traps and puzzles to obtain it. Once liberated, pirates are the first to test out (and boast about) discovering a new piece of SoT gear.

These MacGuffins are opportunities for players, content creators, and the community to share clues, or keep them secret and try to be the first to solve the mystery. After a season wraps, the item is added in permanent rotation to barrels or washed up on shores. In the next season, there's a NEW MacGuffin added somewhere to the world, awaiting discovery.

They start with the Season 14 treasure chest that players can use to sneak around in—I'd brave a temple to give that a try.

@prescafatty
It's not a bad idea, but there's some realistic issues with it. One, these get tested in insiders, so, the secret really won't stay secret long...

Second, these are good once, then fade away. It's cool, but even if not spoiled, can only be experienced one time.

@tybald said in I want to stumble upon epic adventure.:

@prescafatty
It's not a bad idea, but there's some realistic issues with it. One, these get tested in insiders, so, the secret really won't stay secret long...

Second, these are good once, then fade away. It's cool, but even if not spoiled, can only be experienced one time.

Yep, you wouldn't test the new feature in Insiders (hearsay I know but it happens with content Rare wants to keep secret). I disagree with the "good once, then fade away" assessment, since we'd be adding a new feature to the game that would persist even after the season ended.