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glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008



What is Sea of Thieves?
Arrr! We be pirates! More specifically, Sea of Thieves is a PvPvE multiplayer adventure game where you and a crew of up to four people explore the titular sea for gold, glory, cosmetics, and fun, all the while keeping an eye on the horizon for others out to steal your loot (or vice versa). Developed by Rare, it is currently available on Xbox, Gamepass, and Steam, and now on PlayStation 5! Saves are tied to Xbox/Microsoft accounts, and can be played on any platform.

PS5 Launch Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lb37O5LCpyY

How do you play?
There is a surprising amount of freedom for how you can approach the game, but the basic loop looks like this…
  • Spawn on an outpost with a ship, gather supplies from nearby barrels or, if you have the coin to spare, the merchant representative or shipwright on the dock.
  • Once your crew is ready, set sail on whatever adventure you fancy. Go on voyages from trading companies, play through story focused Tall Tales, tackle a world event, or just explore find more adventure along the way, fighting skeletons, sea monsters, and rival pirates along the way.
  • Ideally return to an outpost (or the Reaper’s Hideout) once you have your fill of loot to sell and watch the numbers go up. Maybe cash in some of that gold on cosmetic sets for your pirate and ship.
    Or unfortunately, get sunk by one of the many challenges on the sea, and scramble to retrieve your loot before it’s too late!
  • Realize three hours have passed! Eh, one more voyage…

Anything more specific than that?
Indeed! But it’s a lot, and most of it is more fun to figure out as you go, but here are some basics for just starting out.
  • Little to nothing carries over between sessions besides currency earned and cosmetics. You start each play-through with default starting supplies, a fresh boat, and no loot.
  • Treasure isn’t yours until it's sold. It can be lost or stolen at any point beforehand, so keep an eye out.
  • Avoid keeping your anchor down when possible, as raising it takes time you may not have if other players ambush you. Always have an exit strategy!
  • All pirates have the same weapons and equipment, and they all function the same. There is no +4 Flaming Cutlass to unlock, though many match that aesthetic. The only advantage another pirate can have over you is experience and supplies on hand.
  • Oh no! You fell off your boat! No worries, just swim to a friendly mermaid to whisk you back aboard. They will spawn once you are far enough from your ship, and will let out a smoke signal to easily find them.
  • Check your ship map! Not only does it show your ship’s current location, but it will also show the location of especially deadly rival ships: Reaper's Emissaries. More on them later.
  • When fighting galleons, either those of players or skeletons, aim for the lower part of the boat. Mid-deck holes won’t leak until the lower deck has fully flooded.
  • If the water starts turning red, it means you’ve sailed off the edge of the map. Stay there too long and your ship will begin taking damage.
  • Having trouble fighting some of the special skeletons? The shadow ones are invulnerable until they are in light, so get out your lantern. Gold skeletons are extra resistant to damage, but rust when wet, so lead them into water or use your bucket to make them vulnerable to gunfire. Alternatively, blow them up or set them on fire. Plant skeletons heal in water, but are so weak this rarely matters.
  • One of the flags you start out with is the Reaper’s Mark flag, a cool black flag with a glowing red skull. Do not fly this flag unless your looking for a fight, as it makes you visible on the map.
  • Don’t underestimate the power of simply talking to other players in the game. You never know when they’ll be willing to work with you. You can even align with other crews using each ships flag box, and get a small share of any treasure they sell and vice versa. Of course, nothing can fully protect you from betrayal…
  • See streams of color drifting up from the horizon? Those mark special treasure that are also visible on the map. Usually, it’s Reapers chests, which can only be sold at the Reapers Hideout.
  • Best to save cursed cannonballs and other rare ammunition for use against rival player ships. They do normal damage against ghost ships, and are only partially useful against skeleton ships.
  • All pirates have an assortment of instruments to play shanties, and a tankard to drink grog to get tipsy/drunk/sick, for no other reason than it’s fun and setting appropriate.
  • This game is better played with others, though matching with random pirates can be a mixed bag at best. Better to play with friends, or try the next best thing; Goons! You can find them on our unofficial discord below.

Links
The Official Website: https://www.seaofthieves.com/
The Offical Wiki: https://seaofthieves.wiki.gg/wiki/Sea_of_Thieves_Wiki
Useful Guides: https://rarethief.com/
An Interactive Map: https://www.merfolkslullaby.com/map
The Official Game Discord: https://discord.gg/seaofthieves
The Unoffical Goon Discord: https://discord.gg/Saw3EuydWC

glitchwraith fucked around with this message at 17:31 on Apr 30, 2024

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glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008



How do I fight?
Your pirate has two of six weapons always equipped: the cutlass, flintlock pistol, blunderbuss, eye-of-reach aka sniper rifle. This season also added the double barrel flintlock and throwing knives. The firearms have only five shots each, so if you double gun and run out, you’ll be unable to attack. The only exception is the double-barrel, which has six shots and can fire two between reloads. Thrown knives that miss will embed in the ground or wall, and can then be retrieved by you or another pirate. All ammo can be full refilled with an ammo crate or bag. Additionally, you can find three types of throwable weapons in supply barrels: firebombs, blunderbombs, and bone callers. As the name implies, firebombs set pirates and boats on fire. Blunderbombs do area of effect damage and can knock pirates around. Bone callers are rarer, and summon skeletons to temporarily fight for you. All of these can also be fired from cannons. Exploding gunpowder kegs and chargeable Tridents of Dark Waters can also be found on the seas for added mischief. Also new this season is the Horn of Fair Winds, which can create gusts of wind to blow pirates around, propel boats, and put out fires.

Eating fruit and meat heals you, and cooked meat will give you a health reserve. If you die, you’ll respawn back on your ship after a brief trip to the spooky Ferry of the Damned. That is, if your ship hasn’t been sunk, in which case both you and your ship will respawn at a random island somewhere on the same server.

What about ships?
There are three ship sizes designed for different amounts of crew: the sloop for 1-2 players, the brigantine for three players, and the galleon for a full crew of four. Note there is no minimum crew requirement, but unless you’re saving a spot for a friend, it’s best to sail with as many people as possible. Each ship has it's own advantages and disadvantages to help balance things out, but generally numbers have the edge. Only the sloop is designed around sailing solo, and even then it’s risky.

Ships can take damage from cannons, running aground, explosions, etc. This usually takes the form of holes in your hull, which will leak. Patch them up with wooden planks to stop your ship from sinking, and remove the water with your trusty bucket. Ship masts, sails, and capstans can also take damage, disabling them or making them harder to use. If your boat sinks, you'll leave behind all your treasure and most of your supplies.

For offense, ships have a number of cannons based on ship size. In addition to the standard cannon balls and the bombs mentioned above, you can also shoot chainshot to quickly knock down the masts on player ships. This season also introduced scatter-shot, which have less range than normal cannon balls, but create a spread of smaller holes in ships as opposed to one big one. There are also cursed cannonballs which can cause a variety of negative effects on boats or crews. You can also shoot fireworks, which have a small chance of starting a fire, but mostly just look pretty.

The most effective strategy in the game against another player boat is to board, assuming you can spare someone. A boarder can cause chaos on a boat by killing crew members, dropping their anchor, setting fires, or just stealing supplies and treasure. Distracting rival pirates and keeping them from repairs can give a decisive edge. To board, either hop over, swim to their ladders, or fire yourself from a cannon. Note, however, that while swimming to a boat your mermaid can give you away, as can a notable splash sound made when grabbing a ladder. Keep an eye and ear out for these on your own boat to prevent unwelcome surprises.

Ships also come with forward mounted harpoons, which can let you fish up treasure or pirates. Harpooning solid surfaces can let you pull your ship into new positions or execute tighter turns. New this season, you can now tightrope walk on harpoon lines to assist getting to islands or ships (yours or your rivals.) Speaking of repositioning, dropping your anchor on the go with the wheel turned will execute a hair-pin turn, though at the cost of stopping you until you can raise anchor. You can also manage your sails to better maximize and manage your speed. Rowboats can also be found on the sea, and can be docked on the back of your ship for added utility, or as a backup life raft.

Can I name my ship?
You sure can! Save up your gold and you can buy a Captaincy Ship, your very own boat you get to name (as long as it’s not too naughty). This ship gives you the ability to save customization layouts, and offers even more customization options than the default ships, including the ability to decorate the inside with trinkets and paintings. These new options are unlocked using a unique level progression for pirates and ships called milestones, based on what activities you do aboard a captained ship. More importantly, Captaincy gives you access to captain supplies sold by shipwrights, and the option to sell treasure at Sovereign Tents: a centralized locations on each outpost for selling loot to any company except Reapers. They even have harpoons to help unload the treasure from your ship! A recent update also allows Captaincy Ships to save rowboats that are docked to them at the end of a session so they’ll be available next time.

So, more specifically, what can you do?
A seemingly overwhelming amount when you write it all down, but it’s pretty manageable if you just explore and discover it in game. Most of it revolves around doing voyages, selling loot, and buying cosmetics. That first parts is even easier in Season 11, as all voyages are found by interacting with your ship’s captain’s table. There is even an option to fast travel to the start of each Voyage or Tall Tale to save a little time, though this will leave behind any treasure and change your server. Here is a long, likely rambling list of activities and features.

Trading Companies: These are the ones buying all the ill gotten loot your acquiring, each accepting different loot according to theme, and offering different types of voyages. Selling to their representatives on the outposts will slowly level up your reputation with that company, which will unlock new features, better voyages, and company themed cosmetics.
  • Goldhoarders: The greediest of pirates who love gold so much they’ve gilded their skin. They buy precious metals and treasure chests. Their voyages tend to feature classic “X marks the spot” maps and riddle puzzles that lead you to buried treasure through rhyming instructions. At higher levels, they can grant access to hidden treasure vaults.
  • Order of Souls: Blind mystics who collect the skulls of skeletons and the secrets within. They give out bounties for skeleton captains, who you must fight along with their crew on islands to claim their skulls. At higher levels, you can get bounties for spooky ghost fleets.
  • The Merchant Alliance: Snooty traders who transport valuable materials. Gonna be honest, their voyages tend to be the most frustrating. They include capturing specific types of animals from islands, taking fragile goods from one location to another, or playing the stock market by buying and selling raw commodities. At higher levels, you can instead go after lost shipments, which is a bit more fun.
  • Reaper’s Bones: The PvP group, and main antagonists within the lore. Instead of giving out voyages, they incentivize hunting down other player ships and stealing their loot. They will buy any treasure in the game even from other voyages, but you can only sell them at the central Reaper’s Hideout, so expect that ship you just sank to know exactly where to seek revenge. The one exception are broken emissary flags and logbooks, which the caged skeleton at their emissary table on all outposts will also accept.
  • Athena’s Fortune: The end game group, run by the ghostly Pirate Lord himself. You only get into this exclusive club by becoming a Pirate Legend, which you achieve by making it to level 50 in three other trading companies. Their beginning voyages are a medley of maps, riddles, and skeleton bounties that give legendary loot. At higher levels, you can get access to the Veil of the Ancients quest, a lore heavy voyage to recover the Veil Stones from the forces of the evil Captain Flameheart.
  • Guilds: A newer feature that functions similarly to a trading company, you can create or join up to three player run Guilds, each of which can have up to 24 members. Pledge captained ships to a guild to share them with all other members. Sailing on a pledged ship and selling treasure at the Sovereign’s Tent will increase a shared level progression, and unlock exclusive cosmetics and rewards for everyone.
  • Hunter’s Call: The meekest of the trading companies who care more for cooking and fishing than gold. They run small sea posts all over the sea, and will give gold for cooked meat, whether it be from animals, fish, or monsters, and will pay more for rare varieties of fish or larger trophy fish. They also do not have emissaries, so they take a while to level. Note they will also accept gems and Breaths of the Sea, which can be sold to any trading company save Athenas.
  • Bilge Rats: Larinna leads this barely organized group of partiers and adventurers. They don’t track reputation or have emissaries, but do track most of the Commendations, the in-game achievement system. They will, however, give special doubloon currency in exchange for ritual skulls, locked ashen chests, ashen keys, and/or the ashen tomes found locked inside the those chests. They also tend to function as your point of contact for most time-limited adventures and events.

Emissaries: An option for those who want even more gold and company reputation, though at a greater risk. You can unlock an emissary flag for any of the main companies by reaching level 15, after which you choose to represent that company by voting at their emissary tables at the outposts. Once raised, the flag can be leveled by gathering loot associated with the company, with each grade beyond the first granting an increasing gold and reputation multiplier for selling that loot, maxing out at grade 5 with a 2.5x multiplier. So to get the maximum profit, it’s best to hoard your treasure until your flag is ready. However, other players can see the flags at a distance, giving them an idea of how much loot your carrying and making you a tempting target. Even if you’ve already sold the loot, Reapers will buy broken emissary flags left behind by sunken ships, making you a target regardless.

Reapers function slightly differently in that their emissary flag levels with any loot, and the multiplier applies to all loot and broken emissary flags. At grade 5, they can see all emissary ships on the map, aiding their hunting. On the downside, their emissaries are always visible on the map, allowing attentive players to track them as well. And again, besides broken flags and logbooks, Reapers must sell their loot at their hideout.

Guilds also have Emissary Flags, which like Reapers can level with any treasure. They also get a multiplier for anything sold to the outpost Sovereign tent, though at a smaller than other companies. Unlike Reapers, they are not visible on the map until grade 5. So, less risk and reward than Reapers, but with similar flexibility.

Emissary Flags also reward gold and reputation if you vote them down at grade 2 or higher, with more gold given for each grade. This is an additional reward for completing a session without being sunk. However, all the companies save for Reapers and Guilds have valuable Emissary Quests only available to those flying grade 5 flags, for those who want to keep sailing. Note flag grades do not carry over to new sessions, so best to vote it down when your done.

Selling treasure as an emissary also adds points to your Emissary Ledger, a monthly scoreboard for all players sailing under each companies’ flag. Getting in the top 75% and 25% of the ledger rewards exclusive company cosmetics at the end of the month.

Raids: A new mechanic from this season unlocked at the higher levels of each trading company (excluding Reapers). They allow you to dive to World Events on demand in the name of the trading company, giving high value treasure for that company instead of the more numerous but less valuable mix of treasures given by emergent events. Save a little time compared to the emergent content.

Factions: Every ship has a glowing hourglass on their Captains table that is the opt in for the PvP focused mode. Flip the hourglass to whichever faction you want to fight for: The Guardians of Fortune aligned with Athena’s Fortune, or the Servants of the Flame aligned with Reaper’s Bones. Once opted in you can choose to either dive directly to a fight, or play normally until a rival ship dives to you (with treasure on board giving a moderate bonus to rewards). Once an hourglass fight begins, you are limited to a small area, your ship sinking if you stray out of it. The fight ends when one of the ships sink, adding to your win streak which can be cashed in at any Athena or Reaper Emissary table, with max reward given at four wins. The factions can also fly their aligned emissary flag to level as they fight, and their multiplier will apply to cashing in wins. The factions have their own level progression called allegiance. Get to level 100 to gain access to hidden areas of Athena and Reapers respective hideouts, and unlock the rare ghost or skeleton cosmetic curses. Keep leveling for even more faction cosmetics.

Tall Tales: For those who want more of a story with their adventure. The game currently has four series of Tall Tales; two original and two crossing over with Disney’s Pirates of the Caribbean and LucasArt’s Monkey Island. Their game-play focuses more on PvE puzzles and combat, and even have checkpoints so you don’t have to start completely over on the off chance your interrupted. Completing them and their Commendations can unlock exclusive cosmetics, including the shiny Shores of Gold curse.

Adventures: Similar to Tall Tales, but time limited, and can occasionally affect the direction the game’s continuing lore. Currently on hiatus, and may or may not be returning at a later season.

Sea Forts: Don’t have a lot of time? Sea Forts are small challenges designed to be completed quickly, and give a decent mix of treasure. Fight waves of ghosts to conquer the fort, unlocking it’s treasure room. Smaller treasures and a key to it’s store room can also be found hidden among it’s furniture. They are also an option for raid dives.

The Sunken Kingdom: Adventure is not limited to the oceans surface. Underwater siren structures can be found scattered around the map, marked by blue and purple lights shining above the water. Swim to the sea floor, leaving your boat behind and vulnerable, to puzzle filled dungeons or PvE arenas, both rewarding special coral treasure. When your done, Merfolk statues will help get you and your treasure back to the surface. These are also the destination for Coral Bottle quests, which give valuable Breath of the Sea treasures. Each Shrine also has journals to discover, and finding all of them will unlock a unique voyage for the beautiful Sunken Sorrow curse. They are also an option for raid dives.

World Events: These are more difficult challenges that cycle through each server at random. They give high rewards, but are likely to attract competing pirates due to their visibility, as their location are marked on the horizon for everyone to see. All but the Fort of Fortune, Fleet of Fortune, Fort of the Damned, and Siren Skull are options for raid dives.
  • Forts: Located across the sea, these abandoned forts can suddenly come to life with skeleton activity, their locations marked by skull shaped clouds in the sky. Fight through waves of skeletons, ending with a large skeleton lord boss who will drop a key to a vault loaded with treasure. The forts come in three varieties: the basic skeleton fort marked by a skull with flashing green eyes, the Fort of Fortune marked with a brightly glowing red skull, and the Fort of the Damned, whose skull has duller red eyes. The two latter forts offer bigger rewards, but with a more challenging boss fight. Fort of Fortune is also the current location of the Chest of Fortune, one of the most expensive loots in the game and key to unlocking much of the Fates of Fortune cosmetic set.

    The Fort of the Damned is always in the same location, and is the only world event that is player activated. Do so by collecting a ritual skull and the seven colored Flames of Fate, which can be collected at the Ferry of the Damned after specific types of deaths. You’ll need those colored lights to fight the fort’s Shadows of Fate, special shadow skeletons that can only be harmed after the correct colored light is shown on them.

  • Fleets: Groups of skeleton or ghost fleets that must be fought in waves. The skeleton fleets are marked by ship shaped clouds, while the ghost fleets are marked by skinny, green tornadoes. (Note, this is different from the thicker green tornadoes, which instead mark the final leg of the Athena Veil of the Ancients quest.) Defeating the final captained ship will reward a significant amount of treasure. For the ghost fleet that includes a small collection of spooky ghost cannon balls, including the highly destructive wraith cannonball.

  • Ashen Winds: A red fire tornado marks the spawn location of an Ashen Lord, a more powerful and fiery skeleton boss also found on Forts of Fortune. On defeat, they drop a large amount of loot, including an Ashen Winds Skull which functions as a flame thrower.

  • Skull of Siren Song: A unique, competitive world event. Opt in by interacting with ghostly note that can appear on your ship’s mast. All ships opted in can see on the map the location of the key and chest, whether buried on an island or carried on a ship, and once dug up create a blue streamer on the horizon that can be seen by anyone opted in. Use the key on the chest to unlock the Siren’s Skull, a cursed treasure that can also be seen on the map. While it can be used as a short ranged, sonic weapon, it also slows your ship (making you easier prey) and summons coral skeleton on islands. Get it to the glowing turn in point before a rival crew takes it off your hands.

  • Krakens: Technically not a world event, but notable because they can only spawn between the cycling world events (ie anything except the Fort of the Damned and Siren Song). A kraken will spawn beneath a random player ship on the open ocean, trapping it in ink filled waters and attacking with tentacles. Destroy enough tentacles to defeat them, each dropping a treasure and kraken meat, which heals a great deal when cooked.

Emergent Encounters: Of course there are many things that can happen just by exploring the sea.. A few of note:
  • Random voyages can be found in bottles, or dropped by lone skeleton captains.
  • Flocks of seagulls mark floating treasure or supply barrels, either spawning randomly on the sea or left behind by another crew or PvE encounter. Larger flocks mark shipwrecks full of supplies and treasure.
  • Lone skeleton ships patrol the waters loaded with treasure. These also have a chance of spawning directly on your ship, attacking immediately!
  • Megalodons, giant prehistoric sharks, can also spawn near your ship, circling and attacking you until you leave it’s territory. Defeating them rewards treasure and megalodon meat, similar to Kraken meat. The luckiest pirates may even encounter The Shrouded Ghost, the fabled white meg that is the rarest encounter in the game. Kill one to earn the envy of most other pirates (including me).
  • Skeletons and Ocean Crawlers (strange, bipedal sea monsters) can spawn randomly on islands, as can ghosts at night. Rarely you might encounter an Ancient Skeleton, a gold and blue skeleton that spawns with a musical sting and the sound of falling coins. They do nothing but run away, but killing them rewards Ancient Coins, the games micro-transaction currency. Somehow less rare than the Shrouded Ghost.

Micro-transactions? Is this a live service game?
Yup, though thankfully those parts of the game are fairly unobtrusive and completely optional. Micro-transactions are done at the Pirate Emporium, found in the start menu and in game at each outpost. They sell the fanciest of cosmetics and pets. Pets don’t really do anything but follow you around and let you pet them, but they are cute. You can get Ancient Coins to spend in the Emporium by buying them with real money, getting them as part of season rewards, or by killing the Ancient Skeletons mentioned above. Speaking of the seasons, each one has a track that rewards new cosmetics and currencies by simply playing the game, though there are daily and monthly deeds that can be completed to level it even faster. Buying the season Plunder Pass adds even more rewards to the track, mostly extra Ancient Coins and an exclusive ship set. Thankfully, the coolest season content, paid or otherwise, gets added to the base game eventually, either to the outpost shops or to the Emporium, so FOMO is somewhat minimized. The game will occasionally have time limited events that may offer unique cosmetics in exchange for logging in or completing challenges, or increase rewards for a weekend. The game also has regular Twitch drops for watching streamers who have partnered with Rare.

This sounds fun, but is there a way to learn the ropes before dealing with PvP?
There is! The game starts you off doing a single player tutorial to cover the basics, but there is also a mode called Safer Seas which gives you a private server for you and your crew, free from any other players. That said, with less risk comes less rewards, giving only 30% of the gold and company reputation, capping the level you can get in the trading companies at 40, and excluding all PvP and end game related content.

What if I just don’t want to deal with PvP at all?
Your welcome to play Safer Seas as long as you want. In fact, it’s an ideal place to work on Tall Tales or fishing, or to play with younger players. That said, most of the PvE content is balanced around the assumption that you will eventually attract the attention of an aggressive player. Remove that risk, and not much will stop you from simply brute forcing most challenges, which may lead to the game becoming stale. If you get to this point, I strongly suggest giving the main game, High Seas, a go. We’ll even help you out in the discord! https://discord.gg/PCTb4nFz

I don’t mind PvP, but this especially toxic crew keeps harassing me. What can I do?
Rare is pretty good at banning toxic players, so don’t be afraid to report them. Videos of these events all but guarantee a ban. In the short term, the escape menu has a crew management section that includes a space to vote to change servers. You’ll still lose whatever your were working on, but at least you won’t have to deal with the same players over and over again.

My game crashed!
So, the thing about a game that updates as often as Sea of Thieves is that the devs don't always catch all the bugs. Historically, they've been very transparent about these issues and have been good about fixing them eventually, but some of the recent updates have left it a little less stable than before. If your game does crashes, don't panic. There is a buffer period for people who's game closes without exiting normally. On relaunch, it should give you the option to rejoin your previous session, letting you spawn back on your boat with all the supplies you had pocketed.

Is there a Goon Guild?
Unofficially, yes. The discord, https://discord.gg/Saw3EuydWC , manages two of them, and you can request an invite there. There is the main guild, Dread Bay For Rum, and the overflow guild, Crew La Goons. The former is more active and thus higher level, but the latter usually has more open spots. Generally we try to prioritize those most interested and active in the discord, occasionally making room when we run out of spots and there is a fresh wave of requests. That said, if you are removed and want back in, we will find a way to accommodate you.

glitchwraith fucked around with this message at 17:18 on Apr 30, 2024

glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008

Coming Soon


They have also announced a general overview of content for this years seasons, detailed in this video...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJmXsdrOkYg
In summary…
Season 12: Two new base weapons; throwing knives and double barrel flintlocks. A new throw-able that summons skeletons to fight for you, even on ships. A magic horn treasure that create gusts of wind to power your ship or knock pirates around. Ziplines (currently only in the Monkey Island Tall Tales) added to the adventure map islands. And the new ability to tightrope walk along harpoon lines.
Season 13: The long awaited arrival of Captain Flameheart! And he is bringing his ship, the Burning Blade in the form of a new World Event. A massive ship will spawn on the map, which can be defeated to become player controlled. The ship comes with an NPC Skeleton Crew to help manage it, a whopping 10 cannons, and forward facing flame launchers. Players can use it to play as normal, or to gather tribute for Flameheart by voyaging to new Skeleton Camps. However, expect to be a target for everyone else on the server.
Season 14: Described as the “mischief” season. New options for stealth to sneak aboard ships. New deploy-able traps. And a new grappling hook weapon for added maneuverability.

The Insider Programme
Want to help test some of the features mentioned above? You can sign up to beta test upcoming features at the link below. You'll even get rewarded gold and exclusive cosmetics in the main game by playing the Insider build an hour once a week.
https://www.seaofthieves.com/insider
Warning: The Insider Programme comes with a strict NDA, so if you sign up, please do not discuss it here.

glitchwraith fucked around with this message at 16:59 on Apr 30, 2024

Drain 001
Nov 24, 2010

Dinosaur Gum
Welcome Playstation players, we are excited to meet you...

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


Holy crap. Amazing OP glitch.

Drain 001 posted:

Welcome Playstation players, we are excited to meet you...

Hopefully it'll bring in more goons! Goon crew = best crew.

Icedude
Mar 30, 2004

Drain 001 posted:

Welcome Playstation players, we are excited to meet you...

Yes, these kegs we're putting on your boat are welcome gifts. That's why they have a lit sparkler on top...

AcidCat
Feb 10, 2005

Thanks OP, I played for a few hours in the beta this weekend and your writeup explained a lot. One thing that surprised me, there are no better weapons in the game? Any cool looking swords or guns do the same damage as the basic starter weapons huh?

hot cocoa on the couch
Dec 8, 2009

100% DOG LOVER
ALL DOGS LOVED, ALL THE TIME
ground floor

GentleReject
Jan 16, 2024
Is there a goon group on Sea of Thieves???

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


AcidCat posted:

Thanks OP, I played for a few hours in the beta this weekend and your writeup explained a lot. One thing that surprised me, there are no better weapons in the game? Any cool looking swords or guns do the same damage as the basic starter weapons huh?

Yep! All advancement is cosmetic.

I was skeptical at first, but it's actually one of my favorite things about the game.

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


GentleReject posted:

Is there a goon group on Sea of Thieves???

Yep!

https://discord.com/invite/KYKRzYu7

Doctor Syrup
Apr 7, 2009

Double-dipping because this looks so much nicer on PS5 than my lovely old laptop can mange these days, especially running it on my TV.

Future updates look rad, this is gonna be a good pirate summer.

Sywert of Thieves
Nov 7, 2005

The pirate code is really more of a guideline, than actual rules.

Hooray, new thread!

It's so much fun to see new Playstation players retelling their first experiences on the sot subreddit. :allears:

It kinda sucks that they're going to miss out on the Gold & Glory (double xp) weekend that starts this Fri-Mon.

Sywert of Thieves fucked around with this message at 22:32 on Apr 16, 2024

Kitchner
Nov 9, 2012

IT CAN'T BE BARGAINED WITH.
IT CAN'T BE REASONED WITH.
IT DOESN'T FEEL PITY, OR REMORSE, OR FEAR.
AND IT ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT STOP, EVER, UNTIL YOU ADMIT YOU'RE WRONG ABOUT WARHAMMER
Clapping Larry

DeadlyMuffin posted:

Yep! All advancement is cosmetic.

I was skeptical at first, but it's actually one of my favorite things about the game.

I prefer it too because it means when I am beaten I know it's because the other person is a no life virgin with 2,000 hours in the game which gave them skill. As opposed to a no life virgin with 2,000 hours in the game or a child with daddy's credit card to buy the best gear.

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


I would love a dual mode. Solo sloop, goon vs goon, may the best goon most virginal goon win

Sywert of Thieves
Nov 7, 2005

The pirate code is really more of a guideline, than actual rules.

You can get multiple ships on the same server with a bit of luck. If you have 10-15 people all hit "set sail" at the same time, there's a chance at least some of you get it onto the same (fresh) server. Then just all pile onto those ships.

This is also how people set up alliance servers.

glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008

DeadlyMuffin posted:

I would love a dual mode. Solo sloop, goon vs goon, may the best goon most virginal goon win

I would love this. I think I could get my siblings and friends to play this game more if we could get into the same, private server but in multiple, competing ships. Probably come up with little challenges, like one ship trying to clear a Goldhoarder vault while the other tries to hunt them down. Maybe put similar reward caps as what Safer Seas currently has.

Sywert of Thieves posted:

You can get multiple ships on the same server with a bit of luck. If you have 10-15 people all hit "set sail" at the same time, there's a chance at least some of you get it onto the same (fresh) server. Then just all pile onto those ships.

This is also how people set up alliance servers.

Using the same VPN to attempt this in the same region speeds this along. Though it can still take a half hour of repeating the process to finally land in the same server.

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


Sywert of Thieves posted:

You can get multiple ships on the same server with a bit of luck. If you have 10-15 people all hit "set sail" at the same time, there's a chance at least some of you get it onto the same (fresh) server. Then just all pile onto those ships.

This is also how people set up alliance servers.

Yeah, I've done it, but it's a lot of work just to screw around like I'm describing.

It's been a while since we had enough active goons to make it worthwhile.

DeadlyMuffin fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Apr 16, 2024

AcidCat
Feb 10, 2005

How many players does each server hold?

kri kri
Jul 18, 2007

AcidCat posted:

How many players does each server hold?

24 I think?

DeadlyMuffin
Jul 3, 2007


AcidCat posted:

How many players does each server hold?

I believe it's 6 ships (they occasionally make it 5) and up to 4 people/ship if it's galleons.

Practically speaking most ships you encounter are sloops so realistically it's probably more like 15 people most of the time

Sywert of Thieves
Nov 7, 2005

The pirate code is really more of a guideline, than actual rules.

The server size is currently at 5 max I think, and since there's also a maximum of 16 players, it can't hold 5 galleons. 5 brigs works, that's for sure.

There used to be 6 galleon servers but it was too much stress on the poor Rare servers I guess.

Let's just hope that once Playstation servers go live, maybe it'll get bumped back to 6 ships.

@glitchwraith: do you want to add anything in the OP about the current season? Or some of the other hotness currently available? Or what's coming in S12, S13 etc.
or the fact that game stability is hot garbage this season lol, my game crashes literally every session at least once

glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008

Sywert of Thieves posted:

@glitchwraith: do you want to add anything in the OP about the current season? Or some of the other hotness currently available? Or what's coming in S12, S13 etc.
or the fact that game stability is hot garbage this season lol, my game crashes literally every session at least once

I did sprinkle some of the most recent updates into the overview. I also made a reply specifically for news. I intend to update both as new things are added to the game.

As for the current technical issues, I left them out in hopes that most will be corrected sooner or later, and to avoid scaring off people new to the game. But it is true the game crashes a lot currently, due to the back end update allowing it to use DirectX 12 and the new anti-cheat. I might make a note about it, if only to advise how to get back to the previous session.

kri kri
Jul 18, 2007

Holla holla

https://twitter.com/SeaOfThieves/status/1781261507323412580

Sywert of Thieves
Nov 7, 2005

The pirate code is really more of a guideline, than actual rules.

I man, I didn't notice you updated the OP and 2nd post by a lot. Great work!

The game loop for me is a little deeper than "get loot, sell loot", mostly by getting distracted over and over again by loot on beaches or in the water or shipwrecks, leading to bottle quests that lead to more quests, leading to more loot, etc etc.
This is the main reason my SoT sessions always get longer than planned, in my experience. It's great. :allears:

glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008

https://twitter.com/SeaOfThieves/status/1782412065472176186

kri kri
Jul 18, 2007

https://twitter.com/bigfrankie22/status/1781856667644109242

:allears:

glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008

New update dropped.

https://www.seaofthieves.com/release-notes

Those who bought early access on Playstation can now play the game with the rest of us. They've also supposedly fixed many of the bugs that have plagued the game recently. Finger's crossed it sticks. Also, the Chest of Fortune is back in the Fort of Fortune world event, so Fleet of Fortune is gone for now. I'll update the OP where necessary.

Sywert of Thieves
Nov 7, 2005

The pirate code is really more of a guideline, than actual rules.

Welcome, PlayStation peasants! :toot:

Hope to join you on my Xbox ship soon.

I'll be the one that looks like a ghost, because I finally finished my hourglass grind to level 100 in both Servants and Guardians. :toot::toot:

Perry Mason Jar
Feb 24, 2006

"Della? Take a lid"

glitchwraith posted:

Also, the Chest of Fortune is back in the Fort of Fortune world event, so Fleet of Fortune is gone for now.

Nooooo

Jolo
Jun 4, 2007

ive been playing with magnuts tying to change the wold as we know it

I've been playing with a couple of friends. If they're rocking the 1-2 person boat and I want to join, do they have to start a new session or can they swap to a larger boat? Can I join them in progress? Do I have to be invited directly? The party system on this felt kinda unintuitive to me.

Perry Mason Jar
Feb 24, 2006

"Della? Take a lid"

Jolo posted:

I've been playing with a couple of friends. If they're rocking the 1-2 person boat and I want to join, do they have to start a new session or can they swap to a larger boat? Can I join them in progress? Do I have to be invited directly? The party system on this felt kinda unintuitive to me.

New session
Yes
No - unless they have it set to Closed, you can join their game if they are on your friend's list. If they are in your Guild and allowing guild members to join you can join through the guild menu. Note that a direct invite is the best way to join a game when other methods are failing

fallingdownjoe
Mar 16, 2007

Please love me
I'm so glad that the Chest of Fortune is back at the FoF - although stealing it from people at the fleet was fun, there was never as much chaos as you can often get at FoFs. There's something special about sneaky steals!

glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nN7Q-xEraWU

New content video summarizing the upcoming season. Confirms two variations of a stone curse as part of the Plunder Pass, and a medusa themed ship set.

In other news, apparently guild ships are temporarily limited to the most recently sailed ones while they try to fix the bug that's causing some people not to be able to load guilds at all. Which is very frustrating, as we didn't have access to guild sloops last night. Especially given the main guild is close to unlocking the ledger reward.

gay devil
Aug 20, 2009

Woah walking on harpoons like tightropes? I picked the perfect time to get back in

kri kri
Jul 18, 2007

gay devil posted:

Woah walking on harpoons like tightropes? I picked the perfect time to get back in

I started playing a week or 2 ago, after not playing since launch. Its been awesome so far - sucks tho at the guild ship issue its been super fun playing with the goon guild.

glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008

kri kri posted:

I started playing a week or 2 ago, after not playing since launch. Its been awesome so far - sucks tho at the guild ship issue its been super fun playing with the goon guild.

I'm guessing they'll have a better fix by the time the next update hits next week. Like I said, it's just frustrating timing given we where so close to the monthly reward, which will likely be tougher to get next month due to the new season launching. Just means we'll have to do bigger crews over the weekend to compensate.

gay devil
Aug 20, 2009

Goon Discord links seem busted

kri kri
Jul 18, 2007

State of Play update

https://www.seaofthieves.com/community/forums/topic/168232/april-25th-update-state-of-play/2

quote:

Hey everyone,

Following the launch of our latest update on April 25th, I wanted to share a hot off the press update on the current state of play and what we are doing behind the scenes to improve the player experience - not just right now, but with our plans for next week too.

Open Crew Matchmaking
As shared in our release notes, we identified an issue very late in our release process that would have caused Open Crew sessions to experience a game crash. We made the difficult call to mitigate the impact of this issue by removing the option to start an Open Crew session for launch on April 25th as we worked on preparing a fix with sufficient test time to ensure we were confident we could return this feature safely.

This was a really tough call for the team as our launch into Early Access on PlayStation®5 was a fantastic opportunity to allow our wonderful community to use Open Crew matchmaking to step into cross-play sessions and show these new pirates the ropes. However, we stand by the fact we prioritised the stability of your experience here.

As we approach our Season 12 launch we have a confident fix now in the bag and will be returning the Open Crew option for our update on April 30th. We look forward to reopening this matchmaking option and welcoming both seasoned and new pirates together to build bonds on their journeys ahead!

Guilds
Within a few hours of opening up the servers on Thursday we saw alerting and player reports that large amounts of players were experiencing issues Guilds, being unable to access them on the Front End. While April's update included a fix to a longer-standing issue which caused this menu to fail to load in some scenarios, this issue was affecting large Guilds consistently and was a different root cause.

In an attempt to return players access to Guilds in the interim, we deployed a mitigation which would only return the three most recently used ships when selecting a Guild.

While many Guilds regained access to their Ships, this mitigation did cause further unexpected issues which led to issues sailing Captained Ships and not gaining progress towards their Milestones. Larger Guilds with many pledged ships also still suffered with the same issues with them being unable to access the Guilds menu.

Returning fresh this morning, the team have reassessed our options - and while a full solution is being worked on behind the scenes, have made a further change to Live which has now been rolled out.

When accessing the Guilds menu now, players will be shown their own pledged ships as we have confirmed the root cause of this issue is not located with a player's owned ships. The result of this change is that players should regain access to the Guilds menu, able to sail their own ships on behalf of the Guild earning progress and in-turn be able to sail Captained Ships without the prior progression issues.

While this temporary mitigation has returned Guild play to our players, we recognise that this will affect a player's ability to view active Guild Ship sessions easily, and may require players to use regular game invites to form their crews. Again, a tough call to make, but on assessment we feel returning Guild play in this way over the weekend should return players access to their ships and allow them to continue to contribute to their Guild Reputation.

The question I'm sure you're all asking is 'When is this going to be fixed?'. Now that we have the root cause identified the team are working on a fix, however we'll still need some time to gain confidence in testing the various Guild scenarios before we can commit to a fix date - this will not be arriving on April 30th.

However we do feel this issue is in need of a critical fix, therefore we'll be scheduling a hotfix shortly after Season 12's launch to return full Guild functionality - we'll keep you updated once we have a plan locked in.

Game Health
I shared an update on Game Health in our '24 Preview last month and acknowledged that keeping on top of game quality is an area we haven't been doing a good enough job with recently and an area we just need to improve.

While a new strike team will be deployed directly to this space, we aren't quite there yet and therefore need to review and tighten up our current processes and get it back under control.

While Thursday's update delivered fixes to some long-standing issues like Voice Comms, Xbox Game Stability and Ship Interactions after diving - we quickly saw reports of new issues that hadn't been caught and slipped through to Live.

For transparency, and while it's not an excuse, a large focus for our team has been our recent integration onto PlayStation®5 and with this we're disappointed to see issues slip through at such an important time for us.

The team are preparing fixes for the recently introduced water visual issues, and are jumping back to investigate the longer-standing bugs that seem to be causing us a real headache with shark frequency, passive Megalodons and inconsistent Captaincy Supplies.

We'll be monitoring the launch of Season 12 closely and will triage any issues we see following the introduction of the new items arriving across the seas.

We appreciate all of the bug reports and feedback provided since we brought the update live on Thursday and for myself and the team it's disappointing that so many of our players are experiencing issues right now. We hear your frustrations and will be working hard to both resolve the immediate issues but also tighten up our processes so we can improve the experience for everyone - so thank you all for your patience!

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glitchwraith
Dec 29, 2008

kri kri posted:

State of Play update

Glad they are being transparent about the current issues, and that we will have access to our ship once again.

gay devil posted:

Goon Discord links seem busted

Hmm, I must have done something wrong. I replaced it with the old link, which seems to still be working.

https://discord.gg/Saw3EuydWC

glitchwraith fucked around with this message at 21:23 on Apr 26, 2024

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