Alvis
Honorable Pirate
I've been watching these threads a lot lately. They all seem to have one thing in common: organization. All of them seem to want to have something to build up to, to gain the best ship/weapon/guild etc. My favorite of the bunch was the one about having the insane quest line (in a good way) to get yourself a ship of the line (I'll tag him in after this thread is created @Jim Barrelflint ). He seemed to have a great understanding of how much work and materials went into building the ships of the line, and why they were so rare in the game. @Christofosho recently posted a google doc explaining the advanced guilds idea (which is just as great as the ship of the line idea), which is ran by organization and an electoral college-esque democracy. Despite all the amazing ideas on that document, I still don't think it was quite enough. Guilds are basically what a crew would be if we were pirates in real life. They are going to be the foundation of the future of TLOPO. I honestly think they need even more love than what we are giving them. (The reason why I started a new thread was because this proposal is going to be VERY long, and something that will spark entirely new conversation).
One thing that I think we need to capitalize on is guild notoriety. We all remember in POTCO, the main guilds out there that were the talk of the town were McRaging, Emerald Sea Gang, Ocean Gods, Elite Thievery Co., Spartans Savy, Fortitudas Piratas, and more. I think they should get more love than just fame (not to bash on the smaller guilds, just wait, I'll get to y'all in a minute). They were known mostly for being the ones who defeated the most enemies or sunk the most ships. In real life, their head would fetch a pretty penny at the merc's market. On the last development stream, they showed that there might be both casual and competitive PvP (something that was DESPERATELY needed). What if, in the future, there's another feature added: the bounty PvP. It would start with a quest giver on Kingshead, where the EITC and Navy are given their orders. You would be given the task to challenge and defeat a guild officer in a battle for a pretty lumpsum of money. Everything sounds good, except for one thing: that officer targeted would have to take time out of their life to deal with them. I have an idea to this that might not be possible anytime soon. The bookie assigning you to the bounty, would give you a place that they will find the officer. At the time of accpetance of the quest, the game makes an AI model after the character. That AI's HP would reflect that of a normal superboss. The weapons they would have would be the most powerful of their respective weapons. For example, having a Deep Freeze dagger, spineskull sword, monkey blunderbuss, etc (this will be with standard Aztec coin curse). I don't know what the officers involved will get if they win, something minds greater than mind would decide.
For you smaller guilds, first thing, you are just as important as the big guys. I did not forget about you in this idea (I used to be a part of one for awhile). I was thinking you guys could be a part of the opposite side of the spectrum. An NPC at some pirate haven would give you a quest, wanting you to eliminate the causes of pirate assassinations by other pirates. This would feature a quest line riddled with enemies high above your level, and you have to do it alone (similar to the Genoharden in Knights of the Old Republic), but you'll get paid a lot to eliminate them. The enemies stats would reflect yours, and the weapon type will be random. You'll get prizes for each tier of enemies you defeat (maybe a ship of the line if you reach the end?). It's a good way to work out of the shadows, if you're into that. And for the no-guilders out there, either choice would be available to you.
One more idea. Once a guild reaches a certain notoriety, they get a quest line, exclusive to their members. It would feature a ridiculous task (such as defeat 1,240 Navy soldiers, 1,150 EITC Assassins, 1,500 skeletons that are within 5 levels of you, such as you are lvl 34, they have to be at least 29 to count). Your reward? Your own guild island. Not enough? How about an even more ridiculous quest line: defeat 200 of each enemy AND sink 150 of each ship (except Juggernauts) for your Ship of the Line.
This is all just speculation and imagination from that weird guy on the internet, but I guess it might be something to talk about. I know I didn't finish some rough endings, but maybe some minds more creative than mine can fill in? I'm open for criticisms, ideas, and such. This game was my life back in the day, so I'm all up to talk about it, about how to improve gameplay so people won't get bored with it (like I have).
One thing that I think we need to capitalize on is guild notoriety. We all remember in POTCO, the main guilds out there that were the talk of the town were McRaging, Emerald Sea Gang, Ocean Gods, Elite Thievery Co., Spartans Savy, Fortitudas Piratas, and more. I think they should get more love than just fame (not to bash on the smaller guilds, just wait, I'll get to y'all in a minute). They were known mostly for being the ones who defeated the most enemies or sunk the most ships. In real life, their head would fetch a pretty penny at the merc's market. On the last development stream, they showed that there might be both casual and competitive PvP (something that was DESPERATELY needed). What if, in the future, there's another feature added: the bounty PvP. It would start with a quest giver on Kingshead, where the EITC and Navy are given their orders. You would be given the task to challenge and defeat a guild officer in a battle for a pretty lumpsum of money. Everything sounds good, except for one thing: that officer targeted would have to take time out of their life to deal with them. I have an idea to this that might not be possible anytime soon. The bookie assigning you to the bounty, would give you a place that they will find the officer. At the time of accpetance of the quest, the game makes an AI model after the character. That AI's HP would reflect that of a normal superboss. The weapons they would have would be the most powerful of their respective weapons. For example, having a Deep Freeze dagger, spineskull sword, monkey blunderbuss, etc (this will be with standard Aztec coin curse). I don't know what the officers involved will get if they win, something minds greater than mind would decide.
For you smaller guilds, first thing, you are just as important as the big guys. I did not forget about you in this idea (I used to be a part of one for awhile). I was thinking you guys could be a part of the opposite side of the spectrum. An NPC at some pirate haven would give you a quest, wanting you to eliminate the causes of pirate assassinations by other pirates. This would feature a quest line riddled with enemies high above your level, and you have to do it alone (similar to the Genoharden in Knights of the Old Republic), but you'll get paid a lot to eliminate them. The enemies stats would reflect yours, and the weapon type will be random. You'll get prizes for each tier of enemies you defeat (maybe a ship of the line if you reach the end?). It's a good way to work out of the shadows, if you're into that. And for the no-guilders out there, either choice would be available to you.
One more idea. Once a guild reaches a certain notoriety, they get a quest line, exclusive to their members. It would feature a ridiculous task (such as defeat 1,240 Navy soldiers, 1,150 EITC Assassins, 1,500 skeletons that are within 5 levels of you, such as you are lvl 34, they have to be at least 29 to count). Your reward? Your own guild island. Not enough? How about an even more ridiculous quest line: defeat 200 of each enemy AND sink 150 of each ship (except Juggernauts) for your Ship of the Line.
This is all just speculation and imagination from that weird guy on the internet, but I guess it might be something to talk about. I know I didn't finish some rough endings, but maybe some minds more creative than mine can fill in? I'm open for criticisms, ideas, and such. This game was my life back in the day, so I'm all up to talk about it, about how to improve gameplay so people won't get bored with it (like I have).