News, updates and info from the Sea of Thieves.

Dev Update (video)

Black Powder Stashes: July 17th. Dev Update Videos
A summary: Black Powder Stashes Black Powder Stashes will be “the first of a regular set of activities coming to Adventure”. The event brings a new activity with its own motivations and incentives, along with cosmetics and commendations. Joe mentioned the previous Reaper’s Run Mercenary Voyages as an example of how the BPS will work, although different in its own way. With this in mean, we can safely assume these will be Mercenary Voyages, with similar set ups for voyage format, commendations and any titles and cosmetics that may be included. The Dev Update video thumbnail surely offers a hint…

Official Arena Dev Q&A

Hit reg! Cross play! Cosmetics! Etc! Roundups
On Wednesday the Sea of Thieves community team hosted a Q&A with some of the Arena leadership team. You can read the whole thing here, but to keep things nice and simple we’ve summarised the discussion below.   Q: When are we going to be able to play with sloops and brigs in the Arena? Shelley: We want to do this! In fact they’re currently in the Insider build for experimentation. We are working towards finding the right approach for adding all the ship types into Arena whilst creating a fair and level competitive playing field.   Q: Crossplay, the Opt…

Dev Update (video)

A new Adventure “activity” soon + Shelley rocks! Dev Update Videos
This week’s summary: Capstan Damage In this week’s dev update Joe returns to give the studio’s thinking on the updated capstan damage change. In last week’s game update the ability to drop a ships anchor by hitting the capstan with a cannonball was removed. This lead to some interesting feedback and discussion around the change. Many felt it went too far in removing the tactical ability, in Arena especially. Others felt it opened up some much need fluidity to the ship to ship combat. In Joe’s words, the original functionality “really didn’t fell right for the flow of ship battle……

Dev Update (video)

E3 and looking forward. Dev Update Videos
Joe returns after an E3 break to recap the inclusions and changes in the latest release, reminisce about E3, and look forwards to the next year. Notes of interest: From the latest update: Letters of recommendation for Sea Dogs and Hunter’s Call. Shores of Gold commendation fixes, and other small Tale Tales tweaks. Updated Arena matchmaking after each match. Capstan damage no longer drops the anchor – “we’ll see how that plays out in the wild”. Some Tall Tales localisation is being worked on for French and German, will be fixed in an upcoming update. Notes from E3: Joe reconfirmed…

Release Notes – 2.0.4

Fixes and fixes and fixes. Minor Releases
Note: I’ve skipped the last few release weeks of releases as they’ve mostly been fixes only – but you can read them here: 2.0.1, 2.0.2, 2.0.3.  [Link] Updates The Arena Matchmaking Update – Some changes have been made to matchmaking in The Arena and players are now more likely to be pitted against a new rival crew after each contest. Your own crew will remain the same, and this change will only affect who you face in The Arena. Producer Jason Cross goes into more detail in this Forum post. The Hunter’s Call and Sea Dogs Letters of Recommendation – Duke now offers…

A spartan surprise

Play Sea of Thieves before June 15th to nab the cosmetics. News
As part of his Inside Xbox appearance, Joe Neate revealed an exclusive cosmetic reward to celebrate E3. Play Sea of Thieves any time from June 10th till June 15th to receive the Spartan ship livery, sails, flag and figure head for free! Update: The Sea of Thieves twitter account answered some commonly asked questions about the Spartan set: To answer your Spartan Ship Set questions: To earn the set you need to play #SeaOfThieves between now and 23:59 BST on Saturday.| You can play either Adventure or The Arena to qualify. We'll add the set to your account within 72…

Sea of Thieves hits 8.4 million pirates

With a huge boost coming from the Anniversary Update. News
On today’s Inside Xbox from E3, Joe Neate made an appearance to chat with Major Nelson about Sea of Thieves. As part of the show, Joe announced that the game has now had 8.4 million unique players. He also mentioned that over 2 million unique players have played the game in the time since the Anniversary Update. Here is a summary of all the announced player milestones: 1 million players was reached in 48 hours 2 million players was reached in 1 week 4 million players was announced in June 2018 5 million players was announced in July 2018 8.4…

Announced: Sea of Thieves Roleplaying Game

Angle the sails! Man the cannons! Roll the dice! News
Yesterday on Reddit and Twitter, Sea of Thieves announced their official roleplaying game. We’re pleased to announce in partnership with Mongoose Publishing, the release of the Sea of Thieves Roleplaying Game. The Sea of Thieves Roleplaying Game is the only way to Be More Pirate on the tabletop! Using the new Avast system, we’ve ensured you’ll be playing within minutes of opening the box set, setting out on a Voyage designed to introduce both players and Gamesmasters to the Sea of Thieves. You will soon be fighting skeletons, uncovering buried gold, and hunting down a deceitful captain! The Sea of…

Arena lobby times have been reduced

Less wait before you dominate. Tidbits
Today Jason Cross, Producer of The Arena, announced improvements to the Tavern (lobby) waiting times. We have just implemented the following changes which you will begin to experience immediately: Reward Timer: 15 seconds – down from two minutes. (Time spent in the tavern following a contest when rewards are given and the banners are unfurled.) Staging Timer: one minute – down from five minutes. (Time spent searching for a fifth crew when you have four crews in the tavern. When this timer expires, your game begins the Ready Timer.) Ready Timer: one minute – unchanged. (Time spent when all crews…

Dev Update (video)

8.1 million fish. Dev Update Videos
Joe ‘The Talent’ Neate is finally back with another dev update. You can watch the whole thing above, but if you’re pressed for time here the notes of interest: The Anniversary Updated landed really well – credit to the dev team and Insiders program. Some edge-case bugs effecting the completion of some Tales are being worked on. A bug that effected a pirate’s features has been fixed; effected users can get support through the normal channels. For Arena, a fix will land soon that match-makes into the Tavern, rather than into in-progress matches. Rare are aware that some teams are…

Improvements are coming to riddles

Avoiding riddles on the seas, perhaps we could improve them please. Tidbits
We’ve all felt the pain of loading up a Gold Hoarders voyage to be greeted with a fat stack of riddles. They’re certainly fun at first. But the time required to complete them just isn’t worth it for a single chest, especially the 4-steppers. It’s long been the subject of mild irritation from players, with endless suggestion threads on Reddit and the official forums. With the recent addition of collectors chests to the game, there have been some suggestions use these to expand how riddles work. On a Reddit thread suggesting that riddles could perhaps drop trinkets to be stored…

Anniversary Update!

Release Notes – 2.0 Major Releases
[Link] Ahoy, pirates! Sea of Thieves’ momentous Anniversary Update is here, surging in on a tide of new features designed to cater to every kind of player. You’ve got a brand new competitive mode to enjoy as crews go up against each other in The Arena, an intriguing story-driven adventure to follow in Tall Tales – Shores of Gold, and the introduction of fishing, hunting and cooking to coincide with the arrival of The Hunter’s Call! TALL TALES – SHORES OF GOLD With the Anniversary Update, we’re introducing a series of interconnected Tall Tales for you to enjoy. Explore the stories of those who live on…

Anniversary Update: New Achievements

Hot Tub Crime Machine! News
Sea of Thieves have just shared a full list of achievements for today’s Anniversary Update, along with a huge gallery of all the achievements art. Players have been asking for new achievements for some time, so it was exciting to hear there would indeed be a new set coming with this major update. A full 1,000 gamerscore is included, giving completionists some new targets. And of course, the achievement titles come with sprinkles of Rare’s classic comedic flare, ranging from Hot Tub Crime Machine to Rum ‘N’ Bass. Many of the achievements included at launch were very heavily tuned, causing…

Sea of Thieves Content Update: Tall Tales (video)

There is an island that lies beyond the borders of this world… Trailer and Announcement Videos
Embark upon a story-driven adventure into long-lost legends and mysteries. Wield wondrous artefacts, pit your wits against puzzles and face down truly fearsome guardians as you follow this trail of Tall Tales. There is an island that lies beyond the borders of this world… Impossible to reach without great power. The Shroudbreaker is that power. And there are many of these seas who seek it but this adventure belongs to you. Follow the clues left by those who came before and the rewards within your grasp are riches unimaginable… if you can face those and guard them. Well what are…

Sea of Thieves Content Update: The Hunter’s Call (video)

Merrick has returned! Trailer and Announcement Videos
As part of their stream dedicated to The Anniversary Update, Rare dropped this trailer for The Hunter’s Call. Watch the whole thing above. The Sea of Thieves Anniversary Update is nearly here, and with it comes a whole boatload of new features to put your skills as a hunter to the test. Following his mysterious disappearance after The Hungering Deep, Merrick has returned to set up The Hunter’s Call trading company. Working alongside has ever so creatively named son Derrick, and the rest of his extended family, they’ll be your port of call for all things hunting. And that starts…