Me and my company mates have been talking about making maps a bit more interesting.
How about small or large quest lines with the maps. Like go to an island. Dig here for a clue the sends you off to another part of the island or a different island in the same region for another clue. All along getting XP and gold then finally at the end getting a big chunk of XP and gold and your loot.
The higher the map quality the longer the quest line and better loot/XP.
I know it sounds a bit stolen from another pirate game but it would at least make mapping a bit more interesting.
Common maps could stay the same but fine and higher get the quest lines.
