Sailing is a real selling point for the game, but after the first playthrough, you know it's not dangerous. You know serpents aren't scary. You know storms aren't a problem.
- Make storms a problem, some sort of mechanic where if caught in a storm, you have to drop the sail otherwise you lose it or get capsized.
- In storms, to move, you must resort to rowing, but directed into the waves to avoid flipping over.
- You must occasionally bail water from the waves that crash inside your boat. These steps would give any passengers something to do as well, it would be exciting for all, because if you don't do all of these steps, you risk your loot, your boat and your lives. There are consequences for getting caught in the storm and that's the sort of adventure and risk people generally want in a game.
- Add more sea monsters that are a real problem for sailing. Larger serpents. Other types of monsters. Sharks. Imagine a leviathan creature, a kraken of sorts that roams the seas. Imagine sailing through a veil of fog, and then the horror of realizing you've just run into a giant tentacle belonging to a massive leviathan sea monster capable of basically one shotting your boat if it sees you or hears you (game has mic access?). You have the chance to flee, since it's relatively slow to react and slow to move, due to its immense size, but you must waste no time or else, queue dramatic music as the leviathan comes to life, aware of your presence, your heart beats rapidly, your brow starts to drip sweat as you consider all of your loot and items, you pray to the gods more than anything that you can escape … Would that not be a thrilling experience on the high seas? Most of the times, these leviathan creatures are visible from miles off, easily avoided, no danger to you unless you get brave. But fog and storms would add complexity to that dynamic.
- Oceans need better loot. There needs to be more mysterious islands and curiosities that don't show up on maps. Things that are temporary and move, just like how they have the one resource barnacles on the floating turtles. Maybe half sunken ships would be one possible lootable resource. Something with familiar items, but also a few surprises.
- Currently, people use boats as little as possible until they get portals up and it's even worse if the portals are modded. There needs to be a reason to sail even after setting up portals. Some sort of loot you can only get in the deep ocean. Loot that is necessary to progress through the game. Loot you start searching for semi-regularly throughout the game maybe. This will allow for adventure after adventure as you roam the oceans, encountering the storm mechanic and the new sea monsters and loot opportunities.