Here there be Pirates: An expansion I would like to see.

[Uralte]

Eberron is an incredibly big world with massive oceans and seas and with all the expansions we have it just keeps getting bigger. I would like to see an expansion that allows us to utilize all those massive bodies of water like the game "Pirates of the Burning sea"; I could happily throw money at that

The possibility of high seas piracy, ship battles, boarding parties... YUMMM! As well as sailing through the high seas sets the table for more adventures and explorer areas with limitless possibilities.

Player housing seems to be a dead idea, but player seaborn vessels could easily be the solution to players housing that we would all like to have. Yes, I know we have guild airships, but I am talking a more expanded and personalized ship that we can upgrade, much like a guild airship, with our personal loot, storage, etc...

Naturally if you have a personal ship full of loot and take out on the high seas, I am going to board you, take all your loot and send you to Davey Jones's locker. Such is the risk of taking your personal ship out of the harbor.

Of course you could join a fleet and gain protection in numbers as you are out galivanting around the high seas, but my fleet may just be waiting for your fleet to make such a mistake and I will loot all of you.

So let's explore the possibilities of player ships and balancing out some play:

The lower the level of the ship, the faster it moves.
For your ship to leave the harbor into the PvP seas it has to be within three levels of captains level.
The captain of the ship is always the highest level character on the ship: Admiralty clause.
Ships are leveled and upgraded by the shipwright and npc crew is "recruited" at any tavern (like guild amenity crew).
Ship hulls can be upgraded/leveled within three levels then you need to purchase a larger ship which is much slower but is much bigger with more amenity/weaponry options.

Crew:

Navigator: is a must have for high seas exploration. The higher the level your ship, the higher level your navigator with more charts and the most sought after "Rudders" for exploration.

Helmsman: The Helmsman gives you the freedom to do other things other than man the helm as you are sailing. A higher level helmsman will reduce the possibilities of running into shoals, weather, sea monsters, etc...

Swabby: Why spend your time doing maintenance and repairs when you can pay someone to do it?

Shipwright: An onboard shipwright is the cleric of your ship. The Shipwright will quickly repair damage and restore weaponry, amenities and upgrades.

Magewright: Who needs a cannon when you have a magewright? This NPC is ready to combat the elements, give speed boosts to your ship, fill your sails with wind and debuff enemy ships and monsters.

Now then, why add all this cool stuff if we cannot really do much with it?

Buccaneer

Core

Swabby: You can affect repairs and ship maintenance. Repair skill+Int+ 10 per core of this tree. Reduces repair time/costs by 15% per core.

Bosun: You are skilled at crafting amenities, upgrades and weaponry to your vessel and can repair those items. Repair +Int+ 10 per core. You now have an aura of command granting a +1 bonus to all duties, combat saves and AC and a 3% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Helmsman: You can maneuver the ship through rough seas, combat and perform ship maneuvers at a +5 per core. Your aura of command grants a +2 bonus to all duties, combat saves and AC and a 6% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Navigator: You can navigate the high seas. Navigate works with search/spot/listen to give you your overall navigation skill +Int +10 per core. Your aura of command grants a +3 bonus to all duties, combat saves and AC and a 9% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Quartermaster: Aura of command: Your aura of command grants a +4 bonus to all duties, combat saves and AC and a 12% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Shipmaster: +4 Int, +4 wis, Your aura of command grants a +5 bonus to all duties, combat saves and AC and a 15% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Tier 1

Hold Fast: You have a 10/20/30% damage reduction to the ships structural integrity, amenities, upgrades and weaponry.

Spyglass: You gain a +1/2/3 to navigation.

Avast!: Shout: Crew and allies gain +1/2/3 to hit/damage and AC.

Shipwright: +1/2/3 repair skill.

Ram’er: You know how to ram ships to cause the most damage, crippling the vessel where she sits. +2/3/4 to hit and Damage +1/2/3 crit.

Magewright: Requires Magical training: You can use SP to heal the ship and instantly repair damage. 1 SP = 1 SIP (Structural integrity point).

Tier 2

A Near Miss: Shout: gives the ship a maneuverability bonus of +3/6/9.

Compass: +1/2/3 to navigation.

Grapples Away!: Shout: Looses grappling hooks onto other vessels and creatures pulling them alongside your ship.

Shipwright 2: Your knowledge of ships has improved, you gain +1/2/3 to repair and can now repair enchanted amenities and weaponry.

Broadside: You can maneuver the ship, swinging her about and coming alongside other vessels, creatures or combatants.

Magewright 2: SLA Gust of WInd. Functions as the gust of wind spell as well as giving a 10% movement speed to your ship for 1 min per caster level.

Tier 3

Loose the Sheets: Shout Increases the movement speed and maneuverability of the ship; move +5/10/15, maneuverability +1/2/3.

Charts: +1/2/3 to navigation.

Run’er Aground: Offensive maneuver and navigator debuff that causes enemy vessels, creatures or combatants to veer off course and run aground. You can force the target to move +3/6/9 spaces in any direction and if shoals/reefs/land is present they will run aground incapacitating the target.

Shipwright 3: +1/2/3 repair you can now build, set and repair any ship device. Crafted devices can be made at a trapsmiths workstation.

Clubhaul: A risky maneuver that spins the ship 108 degrees of its original direction.

Magewright 3: SLA SLow: You cast the slow spell affecting vessels, crew, creatures and or combatants.

Tier 4

Favorable WInds: Summons an air elemental to increase ship speed or debuff enemy ships.

Rudder: +1/2/3 to navigate and reduce sailing time by -10/20/30% to reach your destination.

Swing Aboard: Shout; Moves all allies and NPC combatant crew to the enemy vessel.

Shipwright 4: +1/2/3 repair skills and summoned elementals now persist 10/20/30% longer.

Slip Sideways: Allows your ship to slip sideways half your movement rate.

Magewright 4: SLA Dimensional Gate. Creates a dimension door large enough for your ship to travel through and returns you to your “bound” port.

Tier 5

Favorable Seas: Summons a water elemental to increase ship speed or debuff enemy ships.

Pieces of Eight: Raises the loot table of chests +1/2/3 points.

Take a Swim: Allows you to cast an underwater action spell on all crew and npcs that adds +10/20/30 to sneak, swim and jump.

Shipwright 5: Reduces the cost of repairs, upgrades, amenities and weapons by -10/20/30%

Carcass Ammunition: Creates an incendiary poisonous cloud on enemy vessels, creatures and/or combatants. Functions like a cloudkill coupled with incendiary cloud.

Magewright 6: Ghost Fleet: Summons 1/2/3 Ghost ships with undead crew to fight alongside you. Undead crew can only be healed via negative energy spells and suffer the same vulnerabilities as regular undead. Ghost ships will be the same level as the Magewright as will the CR of the undead crew.

__________________________________________________ ______________


Guild ships and Guild Fleets

Naturally your Guild Airship is the center of your guild and if your personal ship is a part of the Guild fleet, then you fly under your guilds banner, port to your ship from the guild airship and the coolest part of all, you can get a beacon to summon your guild fleet to you.

Guild Fleet and PvE: Natural penalties apply for over level characters, but hey, what is a huge xp hit when you have found the Kraken?

Guild Fleet and PvP: Again, 3 level law applies as does the "Admiralty Clause".


Personal Ships vs Fleet Ships

My personal ship would just remain personal. Although, the Dev's, with their infinite wisdom and penchant for sadism, may restrict ship ownership to one ship per character or account just for giggles. Buuuuutttt, the almighty dollar first may be the key to allow me to buy a personal ship and a combat ship which I can either fleet or just keep it as a personal combatant ship. Most likely I would buy a ship per character as I keep a plethora of characters at all level ranges to help my guild.

Now on to the naysayers: I would purchase this as an expansion in a heart beat! Content is king and this is an ocean of content and SSG is going to keep giving us content because they are not philanthropists, they are a company that needs to make money to survive.

Therefore before you decry afoul and say fix this, nerf that, forget this... if you have bought an expansion you have forfeit the right to complain about SSG not fixing this, nerfing that, buffing this... again, they are a company that needs money to survive and bug hunts suck and don't pay the bills when people are clearly buying expansions.

Soooo... yes, I would hand over some serious cash for such and expansion and wave my right to whine about my dang iron defender living in a perpetual sate of broken. YMMV

[bratzilla01c]

Eberron is an incredibly big world with massive oceans and seas and with all the expansions we have it just keeps getting bigger. I would like to see an expansion that allows us to utilize all those massive bodies of water like the game "Pirates of the Burning sea"; I could happily throw money at that

The possibility of high seas piracy, ship battles, boarding parties... YUMMM! As well as sailing through the high seas sets the table for more adventures and explorer areas with limitless possibilities.

Player housing seems to be a dead idea, but player seaborn vessels could easily be the solution to players housing that we would all like to have. Yes, I know we have guild airships, but I am talking a more expanded and personalized ship that we can upgrade, much like a guild airship, with our personal loot, storage, etc...

Naturally if you have a personal ship full of loot and take out on the high seas, I am going to board you, take all your loot and send you to Davey Jones's locker. Such is the risk of taking your personal ship out of the harbor.

Of course you could join a fleet and gain protection in numbers as you are out galivanting around the high seas, but my fleet may just be waiting for your fleet to make such a mistake and I will loot all of you.

So let's explore the possibilities of player ships and balancing out some play:

The lower the level of the ship, the faster it moves.
For your ship to leave the harbor into the PvP seas it has to be within three levels of captains level.
The captain of the ship is always the highest level character on the ship: Admiralty clause.
Ships are leveled and upgraded by the shipwright and npc crew is "recruited" at any tavern (like guild amenity crew).
Ship hulls can be upgraded/leveled within three levels then you need to purchase a larger ship which is much slower but is much bigger with more amenity/weaponry options.

Crew:

Navigator: is a must have for high seas exploration. The higher the level your ship, the higher level your navigator with more charts and the most sought after "Rudders" for exploration.

Helmsman: The Helmsman gives you the freedom to do other things other than man the helm as you are sailing. A higher level helmsman will reduce the possibilities of running into shoals, weather, sea monsters, etc...

Swabby: Why spend your time doing maintenance and repairs when you can pay someone to do it?

Shipwright: An onboard shipwright is the cleric of your ship. The Shipwright will quickly repair damage and restore weaponry, amenities and upgrades.

Magewright: Who needs a cannon when you have a magewright? This NPC is ready to combat the elements, give speed boosts to your ship, fill your sails with wind and debuff enemy ships and monsters.

Now then, why add all this cool stuff if we cannot really do much with it?

Buccaneer

Core

Swabby: You can affect repairs and ship maintenance. Repair skill+Int+ 10 per core of this tree. Reduces repair time/costs by 15% per core.

Bosun: You are skilled at crafting amenities, upgrades, and weaponry to your vessel and can repair those items. Repair +Int+ 10 per core. You now have an aura of command granting a +1 bonus to all duties, combat saves and AC and a 3% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Helmsman: You can maneuver the ship through rough seas, combat, and perform ship maneuvers at a +5 per core. Your aura of command grants a +2 bonus to all duties, combat saves and AC and a 6% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Navigator: You can navigate the high seas. Navigate works with search/spot/listen to give you your overall navigation skill +Int +10 per core. Your aura of command grants a +3 bonus to all duties, combat saves and AC and a 9% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Quartermaster: Aura of command: Your aura of command grants a +4 bonus to all duties, combat saves, and AC and a 12% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Shipmaster: +4 Int, +4 wis, Your aura of command grants a +5 bonus to all duties, combat saves, and AC and a 15% reduction in repairs and cooldowns.

Tier 1

Hold Fast: You have a 10/20/30% damage reduction to the ship's structural integrity, amenities, upgrades, and weaponry.

Spyglass: You gain a +1/2/3 to navigation.

Avast!: Shout: Crew and allies gain +1/2/3 to hit/damage and AC.

Shipwright: +1/2/3 repair skill.

Ram’er: You know how to ram ships to cause the most damage, crippling the vessel where she sits. +2/3/4 to hit and Damage +1/2/3 crit.

Magewright: Requires Magical training: You can use SP to heal the ship and instantly repair the damage. 1 SP = 1 SIP (Structural integrity point).

Tier 2

A Near Miss: Shout: gives the ship a maneuverability bonus of +3/6/9.

Compass: +1/2/3 to navigation.

Grapples Away!: Shout: Loses grappling hooks onto other vessels and creatures pulling them alongside your ship.

Shipwright 2: Your knowledge of ships has improved, you gain +1/2/3 to repair and can now repair enchanted amenities and weaponry.

Broadside: You can maneuver the ship, swinging her about and coming alongside other vessels, creatures or combatants.

Magewright 2: SLA Gust of WInd. Functions as the gust of wind spell as well as giving a 10% movement speed to your ship for 1 min per caster level.

Tier 3

Loose the Sheets: Shout Increases the movement speed and maneuverability of the ship; move +5/10/15, maneuverability +1/2/3.

Charts: +1/2/3 to navigation.

Run’er Aground: Offensive maneuver and navigator debuff that causes enemy vessels, creatures, or combatants to veer off course and run aground. You can force the target to move +3/6/9 spaces in any direction and if shoals/reefs/land is present they will run aground incapacitating the target.

Shipwright 3: +1/2/3 repair you can now build, set, and repair any ship device. Crafted devices can be made at a trapsmiths workstation.

Clubhaul: A risky maneuver that spins the ship 108 degrees of its original direction.

Magewright 3: SLA SLow: You cast the slow spell affecting vessels, crew, creatures, and or combatants.

Tier 4

Favorable WInds: Summons an air elemental to increase ship speed or debuff enemy ships.

Rudder: +1/2/3 to navigate and reduce sailing time by -10/20/30% to reach your destination.

Swing Aboard: Shout; Moves all allies and NPC combatant crew to the enemy vessel.

Shipwright 4: +1/2/3 repair skills and summoned elementals now persist 10/20/30% longer.

Slip Sideways: Allows your ship to slip sideways half your movement rate.

Magewright 4: SLA Dimensional Gate. Creates a dimension door large enough for your ship to travel through and returns you to your “bound” port.

Tier 5

Favorable Seas: Summons water elemental to increase ship speed or debuff enemy ships.

Pieces of Eight: Raises the loot table of chests +1/2/3 points.

Take a Swim: This allows you to cast an underwater action spell on all crew and npcs that adds +10/20/30 to sneak, swim and jump.

Shipwright 5: Reduces the cost of repairs, upgrades, amenities, and weapons by -10/20/30%

Carcass Ammunition: Creates an incendiary poisonous cloud on enemy vessels, creatures and/or combatants. Functions like a cloudkill coupled with incendiary cloud.

Magewright 6: Ghost Fleet: Summons 1/2/3 Ghost ships with undead crew to fight alongside you. Undead crew can only be healed via negative energy spells and suffer the same vulnerabilities as regular undead. Ghost ships will be the same level as the Magewright as will the CR of the undead crew.

__________________________________________________ ______________


Guild ships and Guild Fleets

Naturally your Guild Airship is the center of your guild and if your personal ship is a part of the Guild fleet, then you fly under your guilds banner, port to your ship from the guild airship and the coolest part of all, you can get a beacon to summon your guild fleet to you.

Guild Fleet and PvE: Natural penalties apply for over level characters, but hey, what is a huge xp hit when you have found the Kraken?

Guild Fleet and PvP: Again, 3 level law applies as does the "Admiralty Clause".


Personal Ships vs Fleet Ships

My personal ship would just remain personal. Although, the Dev's, with their infinite wisdom and penchant for sadism, may restrict ship ownership to one ship per character or account just for giggles. Buuuuutttt, the almighty dollar first may be the key to allow me to buy a personal ship and a combat ship which I can either fleet or just keep it as a personal combatant ship. Most likely I would buy a ship per character as I keep a plethora of characters at all level ranges to help my guild.

Now on to the naysayers: I would purchase this as an expansion in a heartbeat! Content is king and this is an ocean of content and SSG is going to keep giving us content because they are not philanthropists, they are a company that needs to make money to survive.

Therefore before you decry afoul and say fix this, nerf that, forget this... if you have bought an expansion you have forfeit the right to complain about SSG not fixing this, nerfing that, buffing this... again, they are a company that needs money to survive and bug hunts suck and don't pay the bills when people are clearly buying expansions.

Soooo... yes, I would hand over some serious cash for such an expansion and wave my right to whine about my dang iron defender living in a perpetual sate of broken. YMMV

That sounds like a good idea could help with population growth

[Artos_Fabril]

That sounds like a good idea could help with population growth

Seems counterproductive to me. People who prefer PvP aren't playing DDO for it, and DDO is not built to handle PvP. Making it a separate (presumably more PvP balanced) system comes with all the drawbacks of layering systems on top of old, poorly understood code. Further, given server populations as they are, you could spend years building this system just so players could float out into an otherwise empty sea.

That said there's still some stuff here that could be used to expand on the existing pirate themes.

Now on to the naysayers: I would purchase this as an expansion in a heart beat! Content is king and this is an ocean of content and SSG is going to keep giving us content because they are not philanthropists, they are a company that needs to make money to survive.

An ocean of content requires a fleet of devs to design it, coders to implement it, and most importantly, QA staff to catch all of the schools of bugs before we fetch up on a shoal of broken code or find ourselves becalmed by lag.

I (sort of) like the idea, but I don't think DDO has the infrastructure to deliver it.