Firstly, I apologize if this has been posted already, but I can't seem to search the forum posts to see whether that is the case.
I love this game, and while I have had lots to do throughout my experience, not everybody agrees, and many view the gameplay loop as "Get item at point A, bring to point B". Obviously, there are several different quest types:
- Fight Skeletons & Sell their skulls
- Deliver items (crates of supplies, animals, kegs, cargo)
- Find treasure (map or riddle)
Additionally, there are things to do which are not so obvious when you play for the first time: raiding skull forts, hunting krakens or megs, hunting other players to steal their loot, etc.
To me, these are the things which make this game fun and special. It's the player and environment encounters and interactions, rather than the quests, which form the true loop. So to let players know about these interactions and encourage them to take place, I think it would be good if you could have another type of quest, rather than just commendations, for doing these things. A high-reward quest to hunt a meg or skeleton ship, or to defeat a skull fort within a given time period. These quests could be ongoing in addition to a voyage, so that while a crew has their skeleton voyage down, they can also opt in to a Bounty Quest (or whatever you want to call it) and if along their way they run into the meg / skeleton ship / galleon crew etc. that the bounty is for, they will be encouraged to go after it.
Along with this, I think a concept of Dungeons would be a cool addition to the game. The map already has plenty of potential candidates for Dungeons, with the various caves on different islands and underwater tunnels. A dungeon quest would essentially direct a crew to a particular cave, where they would engage with enemies or complete interesting puzzles. While dungeons can provide loot, I think this would be a good way to weave story elements into the game, if for example instead of just fighting through the dungeon to get chests and crates and skulls, maybe you can find an NPC locked away that has been captured and free them, automatically granting you reputation or giving you access to a progressive storyline.
Anyway, these are just some suggestions, feel free to use any or all of them, or none if you so choose.
