A few suggestions from a fellow Developer...

[Dochollyhood 12]

A. Offloading improvements. The increased efficiency leads to greater resource storage, which could actually lead to an actual economy emerging.
    1. A cargo crane that can transfer storage boxes from a special platform on the ship to a cargo cart
    2. Being able to "team" horses to increase speed and carry weight (allowing for them to take an entire ship's cargo in one trip).
    3. A cargo elevator (like the one from ARK).
    4. A wheelbarrow that works as a "saddle" for NPC crew members
   5. Having and actual "pier" object that is anchor point specific. Basically each island has a selection of piers that can be placed (maybe like 12 or so anchor points per island). This pier could host a lot of options that assist with unloading ships, including some of those listed above.
B. Ability to reduce graphics on Xbox to increase performance.
C. More ship types. A catamaran (like a dinghy but with a handling sail and an outrigger), a barge (basically a floating storage platform), and an Ark (just a big ol' ship that you can build an alpha base on)
D. Sail improvements
   1. Change sails so that the mast and sail are two different items, with the mast being a storage device like the Wood Wall Hook, and sails in its inventory. This will allow sails to be swapped out much more easily than having to rebuild an entire mast. It also allows for sails to be stacked. Example: a Large Speed Sail becomes a Large Mast, Small Speed Sheet, Medium Speed Sheet, and Large Speed Sheet.
   2. Functional jib and spanker sails that are activated along with fore and aft sails, and could be easily added as a sub-item (in the inventory of the mast they attach to if you give them the proper amount of slots!). Jibs could be stacked to help with handling, speed bursts, tacking, etc (the greater the number of jibs, the greater the number of benefits are gained). Spankers could be specialized for handling, braking, and reverse.  Example: a Large Speed Sail in the foremast position becomes a Large Mast (jib boom automatically added when positioned as foremast), Small Speed Sheet, Medium Speed Sheet,  Large Speed Sheet, and up to six Jib Sheets (From forward to aft: Jib of jibs, Spindle jib, Flying jib, Outer jib, Inner jib, Fore staysail). Spankers would be similar in that a mast placed in the aft would automatically have a gaff, and room for a single Spanker Sheet.
E. A tame that DIGS!
F. A wheelbarrow that functions as a "saddle" for NPC crew, allowing them to carry more, transport players (rickshaw style), and farm resources (yeah, let them gather on wander).
G. Color the HUD icons to indicate when they are satisfactory (green), low (yellow) and critical (red).
H. Factions. In addition to player alliances (which are not known to the rest of the populace), allow us to join NPC hosted factions like every other MMORPG. There could be faction objectives, various hardpoints that could be captured and change hands, and a greater sense of community on PVP servers.
I. Add ship construction pieces called "Medium/Large Sweep Plank". These would allow the bottom decks to run out NPC and/or player manned oars that could be used to increase speed in any direction, aid in braking and hairpin turns, and help break ships off of sandbars and escaped be becalmed.
J. Visible detection cones for NPC crew, or at least the ability to view them temporarily.

[Dochollyhood 12]

Adding to this:

K. Resource buildings staffed by NPCs and/or players. Lumberyard, Mine, Quarry, Butcher, Farm, Tannery, Weaver. These would all basically be scaled up endgame versions of the crafting stations, but with greater production volume, NPCs that speed production and increase quality while providing passive resource collection if placed close enough to a source of materials (or with NPCs on wander *wink wink*).
L. NPC buildup in non-Freeports. Tribes, NPC Pirates, Civilized towns, etc. They could have a small chance to pop up after say, 10 game days of no Player activity/structures in a certain radius. Wouldn't disrupt the game much, the AI would be easy to setup, and they could offer trade/fight/tax opportunities.
M. Spread the gold sinks around. Instead of having higher gold prices on island upkeep, more than daily wages for NPC crew... find other things for players to routinely spend gold on. Repair NPCs, Vendor equipment, bulk resources, bargain basement tames... there's a lot of stuff people would buy if it were available.
N. Ability to stack Maps on the same island into a "book".
O. More items to encourage deck combat on Brigs and Galleons. Gangplanks, Ladders that actually reach the water (that shouldn't even be a problem but it is), THE ABILITY TO CLIMB THE RIGGING!!!!
P. THE ABILITY TO CLIMB THE RIGGING...
Q. It'd be really nice if you could climb the rigging.

Edited November 21, 2019 by Dochollyhood