As Season 11 bobs along, occasionally dipping below the waves so it can crash back above them in dramatic fashion, we’re slowly ticking off the usual Seasonal activities. But if there’s one thing that players keep asking about in our social replies that’s yet to make its debut, it’s Anti-Cheat. Good news you lot, that’s just arrived in the March update!

If there’s another thing we see the odd mention of (not so many it’s annoying, but just enough that it causes a little irritation right on the small of the back where you just can’t scratch no matter how well you contort, or how fancy your hook) it’s people wondering when the next Style of Thieves contest will be. Well get ready, because we’re about to write it… any second now…

Sea of Thieves Season 11’s Style of Thieves contest will take place from March 25th-28th!

Phew, there we go. Definitely the biggest secret we’ve had to hold on to for quite some time. Usual advice applies – while you’re more than welcome to try on some threads and take your pictures in advance, those four days, March 25th-28th, will open the 24-hour windows in which to enter this Season’s four themes via social media channels.

Once a theme opens for entry (you’ll know because we’ll make a post announcing it), it’s up to you to share your stylish screenshots, including the name of the theme you’re entering and any other relevant information. Scroll down and read the How to Enter section for a rundown of the full rules and advice.

Once a theme has closed, our crew will pore over every entry to select the sailors they feel found the most fascinating fits (by their questionable taste, at least). That list is then chiselled into stone and dropped onto the desk of the nearest member of our Art team, with potentially destructive results. Regardless of whether their desk survives, they’ll have the final decision on up to 21 winning pirates.

Three winners per category, meaning 12 entries total, will take home a pair of the Fashionista’s Finery Gloves – and for the first time in a main Style of Thieves contest, one of our categories is open to groups of three and four pirates! The plan is then to announce the winning pirates via social channels on April 4th. And remember – even if you don’t win, it’s all a bit of fun, and we hope you enjoy exploring some fresh looks for your pirate.

Right, let’s talk about what we want you to dress up like this time…


Each theme will start at 10am UTC on the dates detailed below with entries accepted via a variety of social media channels for a full 24 hours.

Red Carpet
Embrace the glamorous side of the whole pirating business and dress to impress with an outfit designed for striking a pose every five seconds.
Entry date: March 25th

Castaway
from torn sleeves to scraggly beards, reject hygiene and tell us a tale of survival through slovenly style.
Entry date: March 26th

Pop Band
Gather a group of three or four pirates and select complementary clothing that would pop on a poster and have your fans fawning. The outfits simply need to give the impression of a musical group, and don’t need to be based on a real act. Please remember to name the other pirates you’re posing with.
Entry date: March 27th

Artist
From passionate painters to tortured souls, don some duds that express your pirates’ capacity for expression to the world.
Entry date: March 28th

Image credit: @destmorr on Twitter/X

Now into the part of the article that’s the same every time. We’ve got eyes everywhere, in a nice ‘enter however you feel comfortable’ kind of way, so you’re free to submit on a variety of social channels. That said, each comes with its own quirks as follows:

• To enter on Twitter/X, make sure you include @SeaOfThieves and #StyleOfThieves in your post.
  
• For Instagram, you just need to post using #StyleOfThieves.
  
• Add your entry as a reply to that day’s theme post on Facebook.
  
• Post your entry with #StyleOfThieves in the #pirate-fashion channel of our official Discord server.

And regardless of where you’re sharing your entry, be sure to include the name of the theme you’re entering in your post, along with any extra info called for by the theme.

We’ve put together some handy hints and rules to make sure you capture your pirate’s best side and don’t accidentally enter an ineligible picture:

• No Costumes on the catwalk – we want to see your creativity and individuality in how you mix and match items, so no all-in-one Costumes.
  
• Complete cosmetic sets are not permitted. Our artists designed those items to go together and, again, we want to see stylish creativity. Ideally, an outfit should contain no more than four items from the same named set, but as long as creativity from multiple styles is evident then your outfit will be accepted.
  
• Unless a theme calls for it, like the Pop Band theme in this Season, all shots should be solo pirates and not crews. Only the pirate(s) in the picture will be eligible for the prize.
  
• Find a simple or plain background to pose against to let your outfit pop. Backgrounds and locations will not be considered when judging the outfit.
  
• Lighting helps, so find a well-lit spot to fully peacock your picks. Coloured or tactical lighting won’t be considered part of the outfit.
  
• Toggle off your HUD for a clean snap and avoid a name getting in the way! If you haven’t set it, the Toggle HUD command can be assigned to a button from the HUD category of the Keyboard and Mouse or Controller area of your Settings menu.
  
• Screenshots should be a reflection of the game – no external editing or filters should be applied.
  
• Keep your submissions to a 16:9 or 1:1 ratio, making sure your entire outfit is in shot. This will help us when framing winners, and ensures a degree of parity when comparing submissions.
  
• While you may use any emotes for your shot, any features added to the outfit via the emote (e.g. oars, weapons, sparklers) won’t be taken into consideration as part of an outfit during judging.
  
• One shortlist will be compiled per theme, using entries across all platforms, meaning it’s not necessary to post your submission to all channels. If you make sure you use the correct tags, we will see it!
  
• The unique prize means you can’t win more than once in Style of Thieves, but you’re more than welcome to continue entering for the fun of it!

Image credit: @Ankerwisp on Twitter/X

Right, done. That should be everything you need to know to enter the next round of Style of Thieves between March 25th and 28th, 2024. Time once more to find your frocks and ponder your pants, and we wish you good luck. Have fun!

Easy Anti-Cheat

• Sea of Thieves is now protected by Easy Anti-Cheat, the industry-leading anti-cheat solution designed by Epic Games to identify and address instances of hacking and cheating in multiplayer games.
  
• This anti-cheat solution will be updated outside of Sea of Thieves’ regular update schedule to keep in sync with cheat developers.

Virtual Keyboard Support

• Players summoning the Virtual Keyboard inside the game will now find that a range of new languages are supported: Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Korean and Russian.

Message of the Day

• Players will now experience a Message of the Day when arriving in the front end menu, highlighting current Season features, upcoming content and other exciting news within the world of Sea of Thieves.

Adventures Tab

• The Adventures tab has been hidden from the Quick Menu for a more streamlined navigation experience.

Report a Player

• The in-game Report a Player tool has now been extended, providing players with easy access to a web-based route for making a more detailed report through the Sea of Thieves Support site.

Show off your personal style with purchases from the Pirate Emporium! Pick up exclusive cosmetics such as ship liveries, costumes, weapons, pets and emotes using your Ancient Coins, purchasable with real money. Head to the Pirate Emporium to find out more!

New Items – Now in Stock!

• Stone Islehopper Outlaw Ship Collection
  
• Stone Islehopper Outlaw Weapon Bundle
  
• Stone Islehopper Outlaw Costume
  
• Stone Islehopper Outlaw Banjo
  
• Roaring Grog Emote Bundle
  
• Gold Curse Whippet
  
• Spartan Ship Collection (returning from time-limited promotion)
  
• Ravenwood Costume Set (returning from Season Eight Plunder Pass)
  
• Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life Big Bundles
  
• Blow Bubbles Emote (free!)

Introducing the Classics Range

• A range of older ship collections are moving into a Classics range within the Emporium, and will be permanently reduced in price. Further sets will be added to the range in future after being available in the game for a number of years.
  
• The Classics range currently includes 15 fan-favourite ship sets including the Cutthroat, Sea of Sands and Bear & Bird collections.

New Outpost Stock!

• The Outpost shipwrights have received a new shipment of items from the Maestro set. Players are now able to purchase Maestro ship parts after unlocking The Artistic Souls Commendation.
  
• The Outpost shops now offer items from the Flourishing Wild Rose set, with ship parts along with the Heavy Sword and Rapier available after unlocking the Always Yours Commendation.
  
• For those wishing to collect further items from the Wild Rose and Thriving Wild Rose sets, the Heavy Swords and Rapiers are now available after unlocking the Always Yours Commendation.
  
• The Outpost clothing shops also offer a range of new beards and hairstyles, with the Wild Rose Waxed Hair, Floral Hair and Beard along with the windswept Sweeping Hair.

Gameplay

• Crews diving to an experience or Faction battle and surfacing alongside another ship should no longer encounter issues where items on board their ship become non-interactable.
  
• After losing a battle with an emergent Skeleton Ship or Megalodon, players will now receive a longer rest period before being attacked again.
  
• The frequency of sharks appearing when players set foot in the water has now returned to normal levels.
  
• Improved directional stick input detection on controllers and returned dead zone and response curve controls.
  
• Console players can once again use a mouse and keyboard with full compatibility.
  
• Sailor’s Knot Stronghold becoming a Skeleton Fort or Fort of Fortune encounter will now consistently be defended by skeletons.
  
• Buried treasure will no longer migrate with the crew across servers.
  
• Players will no longer find treasure from a Sea Fort or Siren Shrine reappears after leaving and returning to a cleared area.
  
• Diving to an Athena’s Fortune Ashen Lord encounter will now consistently reward players with Athena’s Fortune treasure.
  
• The correct treasure will now be dropped from ships on Skeleton Fleet Voyages and after defeating an Athena’s Fortune Ashen Lord.
  
• Players can no longer use a Storage Crate to generate additional resources from their ship barrels.
  
• Players should now consistently have access to their earned Guild cosmetics.
  
• The Gold Hoarders Vault Voyage has been updated to prevent players from predicting the location of the treasure.
  
• All Raid Voyage Commendations now unlock consistently for the relevant Trading Companies on completion.
  
• The Pirate Lord will now be present at the end of the Order of Souls Trading Company tutorial.
  
• The first session tutorial will now show for all new players, but will be stopped once a player has interacted with the Quest Table or proposed a Voyage.
  
• Players are now able to interact with the shipwright when docked at the Sovereigns’ tent on Sanctuary Outpost.
  
• Quest notes will now be removed from a player’s inventory at the correct time after completing a Coral Message in a Bottle Voyage.
  
• Ammo Pouches left on board a sinking Skeleton Ship will now sink with the ship.
  
• Selling Dark Relics will now progress the Treasures Sold to the Order of Souls Captaincy Milestone.
  
• The Shrouded Ghost Figurehead will now be unlocked consistently when players have completed the Hunter of the Shrouded Ghost Commendation.
  
• Phantoms should now be able to hit stationary players with their lunging attack.
  
• Using the harpoon to bring treasure aboard during the Gold Hoarders tutorial will now continue to progress the Voyage.
  
• Two players performing the Make Friends Emote together will now summon the Add Friends menu as intended.

Environment

• Players will no longer find themselves being transported back to their ship when navigating around The Reaper’s Lair.
  
• Players will no longer find themselves becoming stuck in the rocks beneath the Glorious Sea Dog Tavern.
  
• Players will no longer find themselves falling through the environment when swimming near the pier at the Fort of the Damned.
  
• Environment textures are now displayed correctly at Devil’s Ridge.
  
• Players will no longer be able to swim in areas that do not contain water inside the Shrine of Ocean’s Fortune.
  
• ‘Captains of the Damned’ – Players will now consistently reappear in the correct place aboard the Silver Blade after returning from the Ferry of the Damned.
  
• ‘Captains of the Damned’ – Tree foliage is no longer visible in the sky within the bayou.
  
• ‘A Pirate’s Life’ – Plants will no longer appear distorted when viewed from a distance.

User Interface

• The notification for a ship taking damage will no longer remain on screen after players have repaired the ship.
  
• A new tutorial notification has been added, prompting players to go to their Quest Table to access newly unlocked Voyages after claiming a relevant Trading Company promotion.
  
• Players are now consistently able to rename their ship without seeing an error message.
  
• When players unlock The Mysteries of the Sunken Kingdom Commendation, the notification now shows the correct place to purchase the quest from in future.
  
• Completing the Merchant Alliance tutorial no longer displays a banner about a lost Chicken Coop.
  
• Players can now left-click on the Discover panel to access the corresponding menu location.
  
• Promotion certificates have received a visual upgrade, fixing some text size and overlap issues and including glowing animations.
  
• All Commendation notification backgrounds are now themed to the appropriate Trading Company.
  
• When a Tall Tale is proposed on the Quest Table, the info card has been given an improved layout and now shows checkpoint status. This UI is also shown when interacting with a Tall Tale Quest Book in the world.
  
• Players diving to a Siren Shrine on behalf of the Order of Souls or Merchant Alliance will no longer see Gold Hoarder-themed imagery when taking gold from Collector’s Chests.
  
• The Quest Table will now update to show Liked Voyages after being liked.
  
• The prompt to use the Quest Table is no longer visible when a Voyage is active.

Visual and Audio

• Players should now consistently see their ship name adorning their Ship’s Crest when joining a session.
  
• Lost Shipment Voyage maps will no longer appear with black squares over island icons.
  
• Phantoms performing their teleport attack will now be visible as they prepare to attack.
  
• Phantoms performing their lunge attack will now appear to travel smoothly towards the player.
  
• Skeletons should always flinch when successfully hit by a sword.
  
• Continuously heavy striking a Skeleton Captain will now cause it to visually stumble backwards each time without sliding.
  
• Players who have migrated across servers should no longer appear on fire to other players on occasion.
  
• Flags on Sea Forts have now returned to their original colours.
  
• The lighting effect for objects viewed underwater will now appear correctly when these objects are positioned between the player and the shimmering effect of a Shrine.
  
• The Quest Table on rival ships will now appear correctly during an Hourglass battle.
  
• The Pirate Lord will now appear correctly when walking in on the outro cutscenes in Trading Company tutorials.
  
• Players of all different sizes will now sit comfortably on the back of a Sloop without floating.
  
• Pirates’ fingers will no longer appear to merge into the strings of the Reaper’s Heart Banjo.
  
• Repeatedly aiming down sights on certain Eye of Reach models will no longer cause the top of the screen to flicker.
  
• The Reaper’s Heart Tankard contents will no longer appear to drain before players have finished drinking.
  
• Skulls, Vault Keys and Collector’s Chests buried in the caves of Smugglers’ Bay will now be correctly marked on treasure maps.
  
• The art on the splash screens has now been updated to the Season 11 artwork.
  
• The Ragamuffin Outfit of the Wailing Barnacle no longer causes the cat’s chin to merge into its body when held by a player.
  
• Pirates with larger body types will no longer appear to merge into the environment when using outdoor sitting spots.
  
• The flag used to show a Fort is active will now be displayed at a greater distance.
  
• The Crab Ocean Crawler now turns at the correct speed and animates more smoothly as a result.
  
• Messages in a Bottle now appear with the correct glint effect when viewed from a distance.
  
• The Capsize Charters tent is now present on buried treasure maps.
  
• The Maestro Banjo icon has been resized so that the item is no longer cut off at the top.
  
• Chest keys will no longer appear to sink into players’ hands.
  
• The Reaper’s Heart Equipment Bundle now appears with the correct artwork.
  
• Jumping while holding a fishing rod will no longer cause the player to appear incorrectly when viewed by others.

Text and Localisation

• Notifications shown when attempting to sell an item to the wrong character will now always direct them to the right character.
  
• Larinna’s dialogue no longer refers to buying Voyages from Trading Company representatives.
  
• Merchant Crates all now have consistent naming.
  
• ‘A Pirate’s Life’ – The Cursed Captain’s name is now shown in the subtitles when speaking during chess game interactions.
  
• ‘Wild Rose’ – Madame Olive’s subtitles are now showing fully during the Tale.
  
• ‘The Legendary Storyteller’ – Instances of overlapping text in the Tall Tale Quest Book have been addressed in non-English languages.
  
• ‘The Legendary Storyteller’ – German localisation within the Quest Book is now shown correctly.

Performance and Stability

• Improved game stability to reduce scenarios where players experience an unexpected exit from the game or become disconnected from their session.
  
• Ongoing improvements made to client and server performance, reducing the frequency of high ping spikes, desync and rubberbanding while playing.
  
• Improved Steam client stability when playing on Custom Servers.

To learn more about known issues in Sea of Thieves currently being tracked and their status, head over to our Known Issues support site article.

Download Size:

• Steam: 3.86 GB

Spring is just starting to bloom here at Rare HQ, which means it’s time we got around to the brisk business of rounding up February’s developments! It was a briskly busy month that boasted some extremely exciting announcements, so let’s jump right into the recap…

As always, we had a monthly update ready to go, this time integrating Sea of Thieves with the latest Xbox Game Development Kit, making some visual and technical tweaks to various systems – and, most importantly, introducing the first Collector’s Pet fox as the Reaper’s Heart set expanded again in the month of love. For a full rundown of all February’s changes and additions, or just to find out what on earth GDK integration actually means, stop by the relevant release notes and have a read.

With the update behind us, we found ourselves squaring up to another Season’s Community Weekend! That meant encouraging all you fine folks to take to Twitch and watch Sea of Thieves streams, getting that shared Community Emissary Grade up before setting sail and reaping all those increased rewards. At the same time, new Pop-Up Plunder maps had pirates racing to uncover valuable treasures across the seas! All you had to do was find it…


One specific piece of Sea of Thieves news somewhat eclipsed the rest this month, but before that, we had to make sure everyone was fully prepared for Season 11 Community Weekend! Early in the month, our Head of Comms Christina stopped by with all the details and a peek at the goodies on offer for anyone who took part.

Then it was time for the big reveal: Sea of Thieves is coming to PlayStation®5 this April, bringing countless more players in to join the crowds merrily playing on our current platforms! This momentous news obviously raised a lot of questions – namely when we can expect this flood of fresh-faced sailors to arrive – so we made sure there was a full article with all the info ready to unleash following the announcement.

Even with all this going on, our regularly scheduled programming continued with fresh Spotlight features: a Creator Spotlight with Jon Bardcore, digging into his journey from a two-year-old with a NES to a fully-fledged content creator, and a Community Spotlight on Captain McGuffin, Head of Forensics at Ancient Isles University and contributor to the Sea of Thieves Portugal community. Give them a read!


Getting into the business of the regular content update and Seasonal Community Weekend early in the month, the video team fired off February’s instalment of Sea of Thieves News to get everyone up to speed. Not long after that, the update made its debut and we got to delight in some of the new cosmetics arriving on the seas.

Bringing Sea of Thieves to a whole new platform is extremely exciting news for all of us, so of course we were going to have a little fun with the announcement videos. That meant finally responding to some historic player-submitted messages, before bringing various team members together to share their thoughts on this new chapter for our favourite pirate playground.

With that news out in the world, it was time for our Season 11 Community Weekend, and with it a Community team Twitch stream! As well as offering another option for watching and contributing to the Community Emissary Grade, the stream also let us support our friends over at SpecialEffect and raise money for the wonderful GameBlast24. Thank you to everyone who joined us and for all the amazing donations, helping us to raise over £40,000 for a fantastic charity!


Picture-loving pirates had another two rounds of #SoTShot to enjoy in February: firstly sharing some love for their favourite stories outside the Sea of Thieves with creative costuming for the Cosplay Corsairs theme, then, after the Trading Companies complained about being left out, competing to represent their favourite Company in increasingly elaborate ways. Not to be outdone, the Community Hub also featured a fresh line-up, celebrating everything from a perfect loot steal to the friends we really did make along the way.

Player creations weren’t the only things earning some appreciation: we kicked off February by asking everyone to spend a couple of minutes enjoying the majesty of Season 11’s title screen music (while expanding the repertoire of our official soundtrack on all the usual streaming platforms), before getting sidetracked by that same screen’s troublesome bowsprit. At least nobody had time to get too upset about that before being further derailed by discussions of which Shipmate Trinket is the best Shipmate Trinket (the answer is that they’re all the best Shipmate Trinket, don’t listen to that tweet).

All that debate was exhausting, but it didn’t take long to get into another conversation about which island is the best island to run around. Fortunately, by that point Community Weekend was imminent and Picture Wall selfies were providing ample distraction. So much so, in fact, that we got a little too excited when trying to take our own… no matter. The end of the month was fast approaching, so we capped things off with a few tasty jellybeans.


And that was February! Shortest month of the year it may be, but we all managed to get plenty done, don’t you think? Remember, if you want to share your thoughts or keep up with the news as it happens, check in with us on all the usual social channels: Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, and the official Forums and Discord. Otherwise, we’ll be over here trying to find a better word than ‘sink’. Bye!

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Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2024

GDK Integration

• Sea of Thieves now operates on the latest Xbox GDK (Game Development Kit). Players on PC are encouraged to update to the latest graphics drivers to ensure the best compatibility and performance.
  
• Sea of Thieves now supports DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 where supported by the hardware. While the title will now auto-detect and optimise the experience, players can also choose within the game settings.
  
• General client performance improvements should be seen throughout the experience, with PC players seeing the largest improvements.

Improved Athena’s Fortune Voyages

• The Voyage of Legends and Ashen Voyage of Legends have now been refreshed, providing a shorter session experience and consistently delivering rewards for the Athena’s Fortune Trading Company.

Improved Raid Voyage Rewards

• While diving to a Raid Voyage will continue to reward crews with a concentrated number of high-value items, making the spoils easier to carry than numerous lower-value items, the total quantity and value of items awarded and their visual impact have now been slightly increased following player feedback.
  
• Crews completing Raid Voyages for the Athena’s Fortune Trading Company will now find that only Athena’s Fortune treasure is awarded.

Skull of Siren Song Guild Reputation

• Guild Reputation will now be earned by taking part in the Skull of Siren Song Voyage when this is active on the server.
  
• Crews can earn a modest amount of Guild Reputation when selling an empty Chest of Siren Song, and a significant boost to Guild Reputation when handing in the Skull of Siren Song to Briggsy. The existing gold and Renown earned from these rewards remains unchanged.

Emissary Voyage Improvements

• Players starting an Athena’s Fortune Emissary Voyage in The Devil’s Roar will now be further rewarded with an Ashen Chest of Legends upon completion.

Ashen Winds Skull Value

• The Ashen Winds Skull no longer loses value by being used. Fire away, pirates!

Access to Tall Tales

• All Tall Tales across the Shores of Gold arc, Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life and the recently released Sea of Thieves: The Legend of Monkey Island are now unlocked and can be played freely in any order.

Water Visual Improvements

• Could the water look any better? When viewed from a distance, the surface of the water now appears smoother, improving its appearance.

Show off your personal style with purchases from the Pirate Emporium! Pick up exclusive cosmetics such as ship liveries, costumes, weapons, pets and emotes using your Ancient Coins, purchasable with real money. Head to the Pirate Emporium page to browse and buy the latest additions!

New Items – Now in Stock!

• Reaper's Heart Fox
  
• Reaper’s Heart Instrument Bundle
  
• Reaper’s Heart Lantern Bundle
  
• Reaper’s Heart Equipment Bundle
  
• Islehopper Outlaw Big Bundle
  
• Infinite Depths Big Bundle
  
• Wailing Barnacle Pet Outfits
  
• Toe Reach Emote (free!)
  
• Reaper’s Reserve Bundle (Steam Store)

New Outpost Stock!

• The Outpost equipment shops have received a new shipment of instruments from the Maestro set!
  
• Players can also pick up the fetching Low Bun Hair from the clothing shops.

Season 11 Community Weekend

• From Saturday, February 24th to Monday, February 26th (11am UTC), all pirates are welcome to set sail and join in our latest Community Weekend with free gifts to snap up, Twitch Drops to claim, player stories to share and more glorious Pop-Up Plunder!
  
• As always, raising the Community Emissary Grade (by tuning in to streamers within the Sea of Thieves category on Twitch) will unlock gold, reputation, Seasonal Renown, Allegiance and Guild Reputation boosts for all players.
  
• Find out everything you need to know in our Season 11 Community Weekend news article.

Gameplay

• Crews purchasing Supply Crates from the Merchant Alliance should find that if a player is unable to retrieve a crate, a crate is now provided on the next attempt.
  
• Pirate Legends speaking to the Pirate Lord should now consistently be able to access the Athena’s Fortune Trading Company shop.
  
• Crews diving to a Voyage should no longer find other crews already taking part in the encounter on arrival.
  
• Crews diving to a Raid Voyage and then cancelling the Voyage will no longer gain rewards in addition to those the Voyage would usually offer.
  
• The Legendary Herald Costume now unlocks at the intended level, Athena’s Fortune 100.
  
• Players completing the Trading Company Tutorial Voyages will now earn the intended reputation for the Company.
  
• Tridents will no longer grant Emissary Grade progression when brought on board a ship.
  
• Players speaking to the Servant of the Flame after reaching Allegiance level 100 will no longer incorrectly unlock the Become Pirate Legend achievement.
  
• Completing Medley Voyages will now increase the relevant Captaincy Milestones.
  
• Treasure sold from within a Collector’s Chest will now consistently progress associated Commendations.
  
• Grade 5 Emissary Voyages from The Devil’s Roar will now consistently provide locations within The Devil’s Roar.
  
• Players will once again discover Gold Pouches and the elusive Store Room Key within Sea Forts prior to defeating the Captain.
  
• Diving to a Sea Fort on behalf of a Trading Company will now award the correct number of treasure items within the Treasury and Store Room.
  
• The correct treasure types will now appear in Skeleton Fleet and Athena’s Fortune Sea Fort Raid Voyages.
  
• The Golden Voyager Commendation will now progress when finishing the Gold Hoarders Tutorial Voyage.
  
• Players taking on the Trading Company Tutorial Voyages with other players will now find that tutorial notifications progress for all crew members.
  
• The Commendations for earning a Company Distinction will now be earned at the correct level.
  
• Skeletons inhabiting Siren Shrines will now take the correct number of hits to defeat.
  
• The Ashen Mariner of Guilds Commendation now increases when completing Ashen Voyages and meeting the required criteria.
  
• ‘Shores of Gold’ – Crews who do not take the Gold Hoarder’s Coin from the Compass Vault will no longer become stuck when the door eventually closes, and are able to interact with the medallions and reopen the door.
  
• ‘The Cursed Rogue’ – It is no longer possible to sell the Skeleton Key to the Gold Hoarders.
  
• ‘Heart of Fire’ – Emergent encounters with enemies will continue to occur after starting the Tall Tale.

Environment

• The Shrine of the Coral Tomb should no longer have pockets of water missing.
  
• Skeletons defending Shark Fin Camp should no longer become stuck on platforms.
  
• Players can now manoeuvre a Cannon Rowboat underneath the gate at Shark Fin Camp.
  
• Players will no longer intersect with the coffins near the Bonesmith in The Reaper’s Lair.
  
• Players will no longer be able to pass through the environment within the Shrine of the Coral Tomb.
  
• Skeletons will no longer be seen floating at Molten Sands Fortress.
  
• Sloops will no longer collide unnaturally with the Sovereigns’ jetty at Dagger Tooth Outpost.
  
• Players should no longer find themselves returned to their ship when attempting to use the lift in The Reaper’s Lair.
  
• Players will no longer become stuck within the environment in areas of the Shrine of Hungering.
  
• Players will no longer find themselves getting stuck on the trees near the fish statue at Shark Bait Cove.
  
• The Vault door at Kraken's Fall now descends all the way into the ground.
  
• ‘The Lair of LeChuck’ – Players will no longer intersect with the statues on Monkey Island.
  
• ‘The Lair of LeChuck’ – Players will no longer find themselves launched into the air when walking near the rock ladders by the stockade on Monkey Island.

User Interface

• Crew members taking damage will now show the correct Crew Status icon in their nameplate.
  
• The Sunken Kingdom Voyage now correctly displays the appropriate icons to indicate the Voyage length.
  
• Visual improvements have been made to Company-specific notifications when diving below the waves to take on a Trading Company Voyage.
  
• Improved background imagery is now used when a Trading Company promotion is available.
  
• Approaching a Sea Fort will now display the appropriate banners.
  
• When progressing from level 100 to Distinction 1 within a Trading Company, the UI animation will now appear correctly.
  
• References to Old Boot Fort have been removed from maps within the Emissary Tutorial.

Visual and Audio

• The correct battle music will now be heard during the battle while on the Order of Souls Tutorial voyage.
  
• Players should no longer see their hands moving inside the Paradise Garden Eye of Reach while reloading.
  
• The Sailor Figurehead should now change colour to match the selected hull.
  
• The Swashbuckling Story Emote should no longer cause larger players’ arms to bend unnaturally when performed.
  
• During Trading Company Tutorial Voyages, the Voyage completion music should no longer overlap with the outro music.
  
• The Boarhunter Cannons should no longer pop backwards when fired.
  
• Players of all sizes should now see their thumb correctly gripping the handle of the Boarhunter Blunderbuss.
  
• The Scrolls of Charted Waters should no longer intersect when placed on the ground.
  
• The Scrolls of Shrouded Waters should no longer intersect with a Collector’s Chest when placed inside.
  
• Crews uncovering the treasure during an Order of Souls Siren Treasury Raid Voyage will now find the skulls arranged in the correct direction.
  
• Players interacting with the map in the Chronicler’s room of the Pirate Legend Hideout should now stand on the ground correctly.
  
• ‘Dark Brethren’ – Captain Jack Sparrow will now be facing the correct direction when players talk to him.
  
• Monkeys wearing the Outfit of Plenty will no longer experience issues where the outfit intersects with parts of the body.
  
• When aiming the Cronch Pistol, shots fired now more accurately line up with the barrel.
  
• Players should no longer see their hands moving inside the Sawbones Blunderbuss.
  
• The Graveyard Grim Whippet no longer has a noticeable seam around its neck.
  
• The Hoarder Reliquary will no longer intersect with the player’s hand when held.
  
• The Golden Sailor Blunderbuss will no longer push into the camera when fired.
  
• The Piranha Poodle now has the correct eyes and amended tongue animation.
  
• If players place down more than one proposal on the Quest Table, the second proposal no longer overlaps with the Hourglass of Fate.

Text and Localisation

• A sweep across all non-English languages has been completed to address inconsistencies with terminology used across a range of items, locations and characters. Some incorrectly localised location names and types have now been returned to English for consistency.
  
• Instances of overlapping and truncated text have been addressed in Quest Books across a range of Tall Tales and Bounty Maps issued by the Order of Souls in non-English languages.
  
• The Saviour of Siren Song Commendation no longer displays placeholder text within the Pirate Log.
  
• The Captain's Voyage Storage section has now been removed from Info & Tips.
  
• The description for the Lord of Gold Commendation should now display the correct unlock requirements.
  
• The Merchant Alliance Company shop should now display correctly in non-English languages.
  
• The Crate of Elegant Cloth no longer appears with placeholder text in the name.
  
• Crates of Luxurious Cloth are now correctly labelled.
  
• Rag & Bone Crates no longer appear with care instructions.
  
• The description for The Legendary Guardian Title now states the correct Pirate Alignment.
  
• The description for the My Booming Bones Commendation now appears correctly after unlocking it.

Performance and Stability

• Crews leaving the game while diving to an experience should no longer cause server instability.
  
• Improved game stability to reduce scenarios where players experience an unexpected exit from the game.
  
• Improved server stability to avoid instances where players are disconnected from their session.

To learn more about known issues in Sea of Thieves currently being tracked and their status, head over to our Known Issues support site article.

Download Size:

• Steam: 10.49 GB

The first month of 2024 is officially over, which means it’s once again time for us to huddle close around our lanterns and rake over the latest gossip on what’s been happening across the seas. Settle in and brace yourselves…

After the back-to-back content updates of Season Ten throughout the tail end of 2023, you might have expected a quiet few months while we recovered. But no! It was back into the fray upon our return to the office, hustling to deliver an entirely new Season straight out of the gate.

Season 11 swept in with a complete overhaul to how you choose your adventures, complementing the new Quest Table with a rework of reputation and loot across the game. Trying to break down all the changes involved would take too long for this quick round-up, so have a flick through the release notes for the full story. If nothing else, remember possibly the most important detail of Season 11: the rock that has definitely always been there.

The new Season also brought in a fresh Plunder Pass packed with stylish cosmetics to unlock alongside all the other new additions to the Pirate Emporium, plus a variety of wonderful items available to earn via the regular Renown track. All that on top of the new treasure types, new Trading Company costumes and even new Trinket space…


As always, a new Season necessitated a new launch article to help direct readers to the most important information as smoothly as possible. We even tried out a bit of an extended format this time to make sure you had all the vital nuggets of information in one place. You’re welcome!

We also took the opportunity to add to the ever-growing collection of Spotlights. This time, that meant coaxing Dead-Eye Dray onto the stage and grilling them on their experiences as a writer within the community. Ever wondered what goes into supporting fan-run resources like Merfolk’s Lullaby or Golden Sands Blogpost? This’ll give you some idea!

If you’re more into reading than writing, the very end of the month saw the release of the second chapter in the Sea Dog’s Search comic miniseries, continuing Lesedi’s determined hunt for her brother’s soul. Downloading the comic is free, so what are you waiting for?

As a side note for news fans, newsletter subscribers get reminders of all the cool stuff going on in Sea of Thieves and we’ve sent out dozens of issues of the handy Pirate Times email round-up too, so if you haven’t already…


The video team are always busy bees when we have a new Season to get out, and January was no different. The latest schedule kicked into gear with the first proper look at what everyone could expect from Season 11 in the form of a Content Update video, followed by a much more detailed Deep Dive in which the dev team were subjected to ruthless questioning about what they’ve been up to.

Once our pirate audience was firmly in the anticipatory spirit, it was time to push the update out and release the third and fourth parts of the video puzzle: the Season 11 Launch Trailer and January’s Pirate Emporium update! Just listen to that rousing music and try to pretend you don’t feel a desperate desire to set sail.

And on the subject of rousing music, January’s streamable addition to the Sea of Thieves soundtrack collection was the phenomenal ‘Becalmed –Shores of Gold’. Listen to that chorus swell! Perfection.


Over on our social channels, we wanted to start the year with the big questions: what’s the most satisfying sound on the Sea of Thieves, which dig spot should we pick and, most importantly of all, who is eating all these burnt grubs? Seriously, we just want to talk. Once everyone was put off their lunch, we continued to probe public opinion with musings on top-tier title screens and just how many skeletons have fallen victim to you over your long pirating careers.

To lighten that slightly morbid mood, we rapidly moved onto something a little more celebratory: a Community Hub update! For double the delight, we even threw in a second Hub update later in the month, spreading the intense love for the new Fog-Piercing Frog Lantern. Photographic pioneers weren’t left out either, as a #SoTShot competition delighted us with countless Calm Captures embracing the quieter side of the pirate life.

Of course, things never stay quiet for long around here and it was hardly any time at all before we had you representing your ships with GIFs and singing the praises of the Sea of Thieves’ wonderful geology. That vibe continued with a salute to everyone’s favourite rock right after we checked in on how pirates were doing with the newly expanded Company reputation levels. Have you earned your first precious Distinction Rings yet?


All of which neatly delivers us to February and whatever new excitements are in store for the rest of the month. We hope you’ve had a wonderful start to the new year – and the new Season! As always, if you want to keep up to date with all the latest developments as they happen, drop by and see us on all the usual social channels: Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, and the official Forums and Discord. For now, we’ve got to dash before the shipwright catches up with us. Go chase that horizon!

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Sea of Thieves Round-Up: December 2023

Hello sailors! With a new Season comes a new Community Weekend – and February’s event is jam-packed, ready to entertain you with lots of in-game and stream-based antics across the world wide web. If that sounds good to you, then congratulations, you are correct: it’s excellent news, and we’re here to tell you exactly what to expect from the latest 48-hour shindig we’re throwing in honour of you, our wonderful community.

But before we get into everything involved with this Season’s community-oriented shenanigans, we need to share the most crucial bit: the date and times of proceedings! Season 11’s Community Weekend will start on Saturday, February 24th 2024 at 11am UTC and will finish at the same time on Monday, February 26th – giving you two full days to collect your Twitch Drops, maximise your gold, rep and Renown gains and swipe some shiny treasures via Pop-Up Plunder.

The event also conveniently falls across GameBlast 2024, so we’ll be focusing a lot of our efforts on amplifying and raising money for the wonderful folks over at SpecialEffect. The Sea of Thieves Twitch channel will be alive and ready to shine a light on so many of our amazing community and creator heroes, so make sure you’re following over there to join in the fun.


Season 11’s Community Weekend is another promising piratical party providing a plethora of profitable prospects for players heading online during the period. Let’s get into what you can expect…

For those of you who are new here or haven’t participated in a Community Weekend before, let us quickly give you the lowdown on how these Events work. Simply put: this is where we put the power to affect in-game rewards into the hands of you, our players.

To raise the Community Emissary Grade (and the associated in-game reward multiplier), our community are tasked with tuning in to Twitch to level up the generosity, with the total watch time powering Grade progress. So all you need to do to help raise the Emissary Grade is watch any of your favourite content creators within the Sea of Thieves category while the Event is live. We can heartily recommend tuning in to our special GameBlast24 Community Stream Team or browsing our Partner Directory if you’re stuck for folks to watch!

Every time the Community Emissary Grade levels up, so does the boost to gold, reputation, Seasonal Renown, Allegiance and Guild Reputation – with the top Grade offering two-and-a-half times the rewards for your work. However, it’s crucial to note that these bumper-sized bonuses will only be available to pirates sailing on High Seas, not Safer Seas. Community Weekends are designed to be super-social affairs, so to enjoy all the benefits they bring, make sure you hop onto those shared servers – and remember to keep an eye on the horizon!


So would you like some free items to go with your free boosts? Excellent. All players setting sail during this Event can score the latest Community Weekend Flag in beautiful white and red to adorn the top of their masts, while also finding the very silly, very sweet Paw Wave Emote popping into their Vanity Chests.

And that’s not all, as it wouldn’t be Community Weekend with shiny new Twitch Drops to snag – and there are some stunning pieces on offer over this Event! Watching Sea of Thieves streams during Community Weekend will help you unlock four special Drops: the Scarlet Sailor Hurdy-Gurdy, Eastern Winds Ruby Silken Gloves, Hurdy-Gurdy Show-Off Emote and Eastern Winds Ruby Short Jacket.

There’s a brand new bonus goal in town too, which is dive-focused in celebration of Season 11. If players can collectively dive to 100,000 Voyages from their Quest Tables over the course of the weekend, the Obsidian Captain’s Drapes will be unlocked as a bonus fifth Twitch Drop to earn! We’ll be keeping you all informed on how you’re tracking against this additional Community Spirit goal on social media channels, so stay tuned during the Event for updates. We’ll be cheering you on.


Everyone’s favourite game of dig spot roulette returns for Season 11 Community Weekend with a whole host of loot on offer, plus a brand new set of social media clues. Every few hours we’ll drop a map on Sea of Thieves channels such as Twitter/X and Instagram to persuade you to seek out and swipe some time-limited treasure. As always, our maps will vary in difficulty – so if you’re having trouble solving them, you’re welcome to swing by our Discord server to discuss the clues.

Even when you’ve solved the relevant map-based conundrum, the fun doesn’t stop there – if someone else on your server has worked out where the treasure lies, you might have a scrap on your hands once the loot’s been located. We find it's best to have both shovel and sword at the ready, just in case. Or, perhaps, you can flip for it – one of the more ingenious uses of the Coin Toss Emote.

As with previous Events, there are no guarantees for what loot lies at the end of your journey! So if you want to find out what’s on offer, you’re going to have put in the work (or steal the stash once someone else has done it).

Hopefully you all know by now that over a Community Weekend, we love to sing the praises of our unsung community heroes – and the way we do that is by handing out the very special Hat of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame at an accelerated rate to some of the wonderful pirates we see in and around our social spaces.

Whether you’ve performed an astonishing feat on the seas and would like us to tip the hat in your direction, or you’d like to shout out a crewmate or friend who embodies the Be More Pirate mantra, we’ll be taking nominations all the way up to and during the Event. This is something you can get involved in starting from now – so if there’s something or someone you’d like to draw our attention to, tell us about it on Sea of Thieves social channels (the more info the better) using the #BeMorePirate hashtag!


As Sea of Thieves continues to evolve alongside you, our glorious community of corsairs, we want to take a moment to once again thank you for making our seas such a splendid place to be. February is set to be a big month for pirates, both on our own shores and slightly more distant ones. There’s never been a better time to be of the pirating persuasion, but there’s something special about those of you who specifically sail the Sea of Thieves. This Community Weekend, let’s show them all how it’s done; let’s not just Be More Pirate, but Be Most Pirate!

A new Season arrives on the shores of the Sea of Thieves! On January 23rd, Season 11 introduces
some exciting changes and improvements to how you sail the seas, enabling you to dive into adventure faster than ever before while vastly expanding the rewards and progression pathways on offer.

In this latest free update, multiple systems have been refreshed to streamline your experience as you sail or dive swiftly from one Voyage, Event or Tall Tale to the next. Onboarding has also been expanded with new in-game tutorials featuring the Pirate Lord, removing some of the hurdles for newer players seeking to get to grips with life on the seas!

The primary feature of Season 11 is the revamp of the traditional Voyage loop, and that starts with the Quest Table. Rather than having to return to an Outpost to buy new Voyages from the Trading Companies, you’ll now be able to access all available Voyages and Tall Tales directly from your ship. Using the redesigned Discover Tab, you can see what activities are on offer and browse suggested Voyages suited to your personal stage of progression!

Once a choice is made, you now have the option to take the plunge and dive to your destination, throwing you straight into the action. As always, loot can’t be carried with you during a dive, but rewards are no longer fully tied to handing in your treasure; instead, a small amount of Company reputation will now be awarded immediately on completion of a Voyage. You’ll still need to cash in your loot if you want the full payout, but all is not lost if you can’t make it to an Outpost!

Of course, diving to your destination might speed up how much you’re able to get done, but setting sail across the Sea of Thieves in the traditional way is perfectly valid, and there are still plenty of reasons to do so. Rewards for completing discoverable events like a shipwreck or Message in a Bottle have been reworked and rebalanced across the board, guaranteeing there’s always something worth finding as you explore.


Trading Company representatives may no longer be the source of new Voyages, but you’ll still want to stop by from time to time. Promotions will only be accessible directly from the relevant representatives, for instance. They’re also where you’ll find a revamped cosmetics shop, allowing you to browse all Trading Company clothing and items in a single place.

At the same time, the Trading Companies have undergone a major expansion to allow even established players to continue progressing with their Company of choice, as reputation now increases up to level 100 for all Companies apart from The Hunter’s Call. Reach that momentous milestone and you’ll earn one of five new Distinctions, resetting your reputation with that Company while unlocking a prestigious Distinction Ring for your pirate to wear!

To help you in this pursuit, Raid Voyages have been added to the Quest Table and will become available as you climb the Trading Company ranks, offering a twist on familiar World Events. Rather than the randomised loot selection from these Events when encountered emergently, Raid Voyages come in Company-themed flavours. Choose to undertake these Events and you can work towards a high-value loot pool of items specific to your chosen Company, and the reputation boost that comes with it.


With a new Season underway, a fresh 100 levels of Seasonal Renown are ready to be climbed by dedicated sailors. As always, that means a wealth of gold, Doubloons and Ancient Coins to be earned, as well as a range of clothing, ship and item cosmetics to be claimed as you advance. And, of course, Plunder Pass purchasers can enjoy extra goodies in the form of 750 more Ancient Coins and the complete Well-Travelled Trader collection including Collector’s items.

The Pirate Emporium and Outpost shops are expanding their wares too! The imposing Boarhunter collection has entered the Emporium, containing a ship set, weapon bundle and clothing bundle for pirates with an interest in porcine pursuits. Over in the Outpost stores, the Maestro clothing set might be of interest if you’re a melodic marauder, to ensure your outfit elicits a fanfare everywhere you go.


For more information on the Sea of Thieves Season 11 update, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. The update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players on Steam. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to start playing.

New to Sea of Thieves? Find out about the latest free content updates on our What’s New page, get familiar with Who’s Who or pick up some gameplay tips from our Pirate Academy, which provides invaluable information on topics ranging from sailing to swordplay as you prepare for your maiden voyage. Learn more about the ongoing adventure at https://www.seaofthieves.com/ where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!

Access all the adventure you crave more quickly than ever before with Season 11’s overhaul of Voyages and encounters! Explore a redesigned Quest system, major expansions to most Trading Companies and new rewards and Distinctions to earn as you progress.

On Demand

• With a Quest Table on board each ship now providing the ability to choose from all available outings and dive directly to the scene of a Voyage, Tall Tale or new Raid Voyage, players have unprecedented freedom to explore everything the seas can offer. The refreshed Discover Tab is also on hand with tailored suggestions!
  
• Raid Voyages are new Trading Company-themed versions of World Events with unique treasure types on offer, unlocked from the Quest Table as players climb the Company ranks.
  
• For the first time, some reputation is now earned at the point of Voyage completion, but treasure must still be handed in for maximum profit as anything on board is lost if a player chooses to dive again.
  
• The majority of Trading Companies have raised their level cap to 100. Reaching Company reputation level 100 now unlocks a Distinction, providing a reward and resetting a player’s level with that Company to allow progress towards the next Distinction.
  
• To improve the onboarding experience, new Tutorial Voyages led by the Pirate Lord are in place for new players, covering the Gold Hoarders, Merchant Alliance and Order of Souls. These can be revisited from the Quest Table.
  
• To learn more about this new Season’s headline features, head over to our dedicated Season 11 page.

Another Season means 100 new levels to climb by raising your Renown, with racks full of rewards to snag along the way – and an optional Plunder Pass adding even more! Read on for more on all this plus details of the quality of life improvements landing with this Season’s launch...

Season 11 Rewards and Plunder Pass

• Progressing through Season 11 will reward players with the Cunning Serpent clothing set and unique Season 11 specials alongside time-limited Swift-Winged Wayfarer collectibles. Head to the Seasons profile page to browse the new rewards and check your pirate’s progress!
  
• Purchase the Plunder Pass to gain access to a plethora of unlockable, never-before-seen rewards from the Well-Travelled Trader set, all available to earn by climbing the levels of Seasonal progression. Purchase in-game through the Pirate Log or Pirate Emporium, or via the Pirate Emporium webpage or Steam Item Store.

Season 11 Emissary Ledger Rewards

• This Season, the Trading Companies each offer a themed Speaking Trumpet and Lantern to Emissaries who represent them well and perform proudly in the Ledgers. Log in and track your performance on the Emissary Ledgers page!

Chest of Fortune

• For the duration of Season 11, the Chest of Fortune will surface following the defeat of an emergent Fleet of Fortune. These special Skeleton Fleet encounters are signified by a glowing red cloud in the sky when active.
  
• Crews who retrieve Chests of Fortune can now earn the next Grade of the Fortune’s Favour Commendation, unlocking access to the Fates of Fortune Cannon, Flag, Capstan and Wheel.

Reaper’s Chests

• In Season 11, crews coveting the precious Reaper’s Chest or Reaper’s Bounty can earn the next Grade of the Reaper’s Riches Commendation and start unlocking access to the Fates of Fortune Blunderbuss and Eye of Reach.

Improved Hit Markers

• Players now have further control over the hit markers shown when striking targets with a projectile weapon. The game settings now enable switching from the existing client-predicted markers to server-confirmed markers, which only display hits confirmed directly by the server for improved accuracy.

Bounty Voyage Improvements

• A new Order of Souls Bounty Voyage has been added which tasks crews with hunting a Skeleton Lord that drops Dark Relics.
  
• A new Ghost Ship Voyage within The Devil’s Roar is now available from the Order of Souls.
  
• Bounty contracts now provide the landmark location of the target along with the island to help guide players to the correct location.
  
• The difficulty of all Bounty Voyages has been rebalanced to make them more satisfying to play.

Emissary Voyage Improvements

• Emissary Voyages have been improved for each Trading Company with a focus on reduced sailing times and smaller quantities of higher-value treasure to transport, refreshing the gameplay and delivering improved rewards for participation.
  
• Upon reaching Emissary Grade V for a Trading Company, crews can now head to Morrow’s Peak Outpost and speak to their Company representative for an Emissary Voyage in The Devil’s Roar that will yield Ashen-themed rewards.
  
• Emissary Voyages are now lost if the ship sinks or the Emissary Flag is lowered at the Outpost.

Merchant Cargo Run Improvements

• Delivery notes on cargo now provide care instructions which help players to protect their valuable goods.
  
• Cargo Run Quests now remind players how many items need to be collected and where to collect them, ensuring they pack all necessary items before setting sail. Supporting information is also now shown on the delivery note.
  
• Cloth Crates being held while swimming on the surface will no longer become drenched.

Merchant Contract Improvements

• Contracts to recover specific animals now show players which island they need to head to in order to fulfil the contract.
  
• Crews now recover the required Animal Crates from the beaches on the contracted island.
  
• All requested animals are now guaranteed to be found on the contracted island, including the various rarities.
  
• Crews will no longer trigger emergent skeleton encounters on their contracted island, to reduce scenarios where animals are caught in the crossfire.
  
• Contracts now complete when the crew returns them to the Outpost, rather than upon catching the animals on the island.

Treasure Vault Improvements

• Treasure Vaults now scale the available raiding time to the size of the crew – the smaller the crew, the more time to collect the treasure.
  
• Treasure Vault Quests now send crews to the nearest possible Vault once the Totem is recovered.
  
• The braziers surrounding the Vault’s altar are now extinguished over time as an indicator of how long the crew has left before the door slams shut.

Skeleton Encounter Balancing

• Skeleton encounters across the emergent world and on Voyages have been rebalanced, providing a more fun encounter with these bony fiends.
  
• Ambush skeleton groups now dynamically scale based on the size of the crew – the bigger the crew, the more ambush skeletons to fight!

Emergent Phantom Encounters

• Players leaving the ship to explore islands will now only encounter Phantoms at night.

Message in a Bottle Rewards

• Quests from a Message in a Bottle are now significantly more rewarding and likely more valuable than the Voyage already underway – so be sure to go exploring, you’ll be handsomely rewarded for your time!
  
• These Quests also have been refreshed with a focus on reduced sailing times and smaller quantities of higher-value treasure to transport, improving the overall experience.

Skeleton Captain Rewards

• Defeating a Skeleton Captain now yields increased rewards and ammunition, with the potential to recover Reaper’s Chests and Reaper’s Bounty, Gunpowder Barrels and ammunition-stocked Resource Crates. These new rewards are also recoverable from the same island as the encounter!

Shipwreck Rewards

• The rewards found within a sunken shipwreck have now been improved.

Ashen Guardian Rewards

• Crews defeating an Ashen Guardian will now be rewarded with a map to an Ashen Chest on the same island along with a Key to unlock it, no longer requiring them to seek out a Key Master.

Captain’s Bookshelf

• Captains can now adorn the Bookshelf where their Voyages were once stored with Trinkets instead!

Tutorial Notifications

• Tutorial notifications have been added to a range of experiences to assist new players’ onboarding. Quest archetypes, Tall Tales, Cargo Crates and even encounters with different skeleton forms now provide contextual tutorials.

Show off your personal style with purchases from the Pirate Emporium! Pick up exclusive cosmetics such as ship liveries, costumes, weapons, pets and emotes using your Ancient Coins, purchasable with real money. Head to the Pirate Emporium page to browse and buy the latest additions!

New Items – Now in Stock!

• Boarhunter Ship Collection
  
• Boarhunter Weapon Bundle
  
• Boarhunter Clothing Bundle
  
• Boarhunter Trinket
  
• Collector’s Lunar Festival Dragon Sails and Figurehead
  
• Exercise Emote Bundle
  
• Paradise Garden Eye of Reach (free!)
  
• Boars and Bounty Bundle (Steam Store)

New Outpost Stock!

• The Outpost clothing shops have received a new shipment of items from the Maestro set. Players are now able to purchase the Maestro clothing after unlocking The Artistic Souls Commendation.

Season Four Legacy Cosmetics

• Cosmetics previously available during Season Four have arrived in Outpost shops and can now be yours in exchange for Doubloons!
  
• Players can purchase the Wicked Web clothing set, along with a range of unique one-off items that were available during this Season. Pirate Legends can also purchase the Cursed Adventurer Cutlass and Wanda’s Spyglass.
  
• The time-limited Siren’s Wrath items, however, remain exclusive to players who participated in Season Four.

Skull of Siren Song Rewards

• Cosmetic rewards earned by completing the various Commendations associated with the Skull of Siren Song Voyage can now be found in the respective Outpost shops along with their unlock criteria.
  
• With this change, upon unlocking the relevant Commendation, players will now be required to purchase the reward from the Outpost shop rather than having it automatically awarded.

Maiden Voyage Visual Improvements

• The parting sequence and passage through the Devil’s Shroud during the Maiden Voyage have received a suite of improvements to visual fidelity, enhancing the visuals of the Shroud itself and clarity of direction for players.

Sea Rock Visuals

• Sea rocks have received a polish pass, with weathering and water marks now added to the bases of larger rocks to improve blending into the sea.

Emergent Voyage Changes

• Crews will no longer find emergent Voyage parchments in barrels across the Sea of Thieves and will now find that barrels only contain resources.
  
• Crews will now lose emergent Voyages such as a Message in a Bottle if they dive to a new experience. Emissary Voyages will continue to be retained through diving.

Retired Commendations and Adjusted Rewards

With the introduction of On Demand Voyages in Season 11, several legacy Commendations have been retired, and their associated rewards are now unlocked via different means.

• The Seeker of Lost Maps Title will now unlock via the Seeker of Pirate Plunder Commendation for the Bilge Rats.
  
• The Seeker of Lost Souls Title and ability to purchase the Order of Souls Cutlass, Pistol, Blunderbuss and Eye of Reach from a Company representative will now unlock via the Worthy Emissary of Souls Commendation for the Order of Souls.
  
• The Merchant Adventurer Title will now unlock via the Taker of Stolen Stock Commendation for the Merchant Alliance.
  
• The Seeker of Athena’s Fortune Title will now unlock via the Worthy Emissary of Athena Commendation for Athena’s Fortune.
  
• The Legend of Thieves’ Haven Title will now unlock via the Retreat to the Thrones’ Haven Commendation for the Bilge Rats.
  
• The ability to purchase the Legendary Treasure Seeker costume from the Pirate Legend Hideout will now unlock via the Legendary Treasure Hunter Commendation for Athena’s Fortune.

Additionally, several related achievements have had their completion criteria updated. Players who were working towards completing these achievements will start afresh on a new task, while those who have already unlocked the achievement will retain it.

• Seeker of Lost Maps: Dig up 250 chests whilst on Gold Hoarders X Marks the Spot Voyages.
  
• Merchant Adventurer: Fill 250 Animal Crates while on Merchant Alliance Cargo Run Voyages.
  
• Seeker of Lost Souls: Defeat 500 skeletons while on Order of Souls Bounty Voyages.
  
• A Veteran Voyager: Complete 30 Voyages while sailing aboard a Captained ship.

Gameplay

• Players who attempt to rapidly switch weapons after migrating across servers should no longer find themselves unable to wield the weapon and hear a repeated audio effect when attempting it.
  
• Players should no longer experience scenarios where their equipped items are reset after returning from the Ferry of the Damned or recovering from being stuck.
  
• The Fortress Storage Key and expected quantity of gold pouches should now consistently appear at Sea Forts.
  
• After migrating across servers, players are now able to access the shops at Seaposts.
  
• Samuel will no longer purchase Ashen Keys within the Pirate Legend Hideout.
  
• ‘The Legendary Storyteller’ – All journals for this Tall Tale can now be read as intended.
  
• Unlocked Ship Milestone rewards such as Banners are now once again available for players to equip.

Skull of Siren Song Voyage

• Players placing the Skull of Siren Song in a Harpoon Rowboat dragged behind their ship will continue to be affected by its curse.
  
• Crews who harpoon the open chest with the Skull of Siren Song still inside will now bring the curse’s effects onto their ship along with the Chest and Skull.
  
• Players are no longer able to opt in to the Skull of Siren Song Voyage after the Skull has been revealed.

Guilds

• Crews in a Guild session without the Captain present will now see Ship Milestone progress within the Guild Chronicles.
  
• Earned Guild clothing can now be equipped in any session and is no longer locked to sailing for the Guild that unlocked access to it.
  
• Using a spyglass to observe a Guild ship at range should now consistently display the appropriate Guild name on the Banner.
  
• The correct Guild name should now show consistently on the Guild Emissary Table, Logbook, Guild Plaque and Guild Invite Emote.

‘The Journey to Mêlée Island’

• Players can now head up to the Mansion as soon as the guard leaves his post, and are no longer blocked by parts of the environment.
  
• When players have constructed a body for Murray, any players joining the session after the initial sequence will now be able to see Murray’s body.
  
• Players will no longer see a silhouette of Walt the violin-playing skeleton through the church window.
  
• Fog seen in the Mansion now behaves correctly throughout the location.

‘The Quest for Guybrush’

• Players should no longer see a patch of mist on the stairs near the Lookout Point after the fog has cleared from the mountaintop.

‘The Lair of LeChuck’

• A Quest Book is now present during the ship chase sequence, giving players the option of leaving the Tall Tale during this section.
  
• Herman’s Supply Crate will no longer appear to move around while the player is viewing it.
  
• The front-facing cannons on the Headless Monkey now have more restricted movement to prevent issues with aiming.
  
• The Head of the Navigator can now be taken from another player when offered.
  
• Liquids in the cooking pot now appear to drain correctly when collecting Banana Grease.
  
• The Banana Grease jar will now appear correctly after it has been used.
  
• The notification shown to players when the Chilled Banana Soup has been discovered or lost now references the correct item.
  
• Players will no longer become stuck on the palm tree within Herman's camp.

Environment

• Players should now find a new sea rock near K11, a common location for mysteriously wrecked ships.
  
• The Rowboat dock underneath the tavern on Port Merrick is now fully functional.
  
• Players can no longer become stuck on the palm tree near the Order of Souls tent at Morrow’s Peak Outpost.
  
• Players can no longer fall through certain areas of the environment around the Treasury of Sunken Shores.
  
• Chests placed near the doorway of the Vault at Kraken Watchtower will no longer disappear through the floor.
  
• Players’ legs will no longer appear to merge into the tower structure when using the sitting spots at Skeleton Forts.
  
• If a player safe teleports while inside the Treasury of Sunken Shores, they will now be placed in a suitable location.
  
• Placing treasure in various Sea Fort windows will no longer cause the item to fall into the environment.
  
• Rain no longer passes through tunnels located at Shark Bait Cove.
  
• Dagger Tooth Outpost’s pier no longer contains invisible obstacles.
  
• The barrel at the shipwright’s shop in Port Merrick no longer appears to merge into the hanging platform.
  
• ‘Shores of Gold’ – Players will no longer be able to walk through parts of the environment inside the various caves.

Visual and Audio

• The visual effects on the Down the Hatch Emote now play as intended.
  
• Players wearing the Soaring Oracle Costume should no longer see equipped jackets showing through the costume.
  
• Visual improvements have been made to the constellations on the Lodestar weapons.
  
• Visual improvements have been made to the Layered Shirt of the Ashen Dragon.
  
• Players with the Order of Souls Hook equipped will now find that they grip the ship’s wheel correctly.
  
• The Snapping Shark Emote and Shark Dance Emote now appear with different icons to avoid confusion.
  
• The Ashen Key now sits in the lock of the Ashen Chest correctly when used.
  
• The Sovereign Ship’s Crest will now attach correctly when equipped on a Brigantine.
  
• The light given off by the Magpie’s Glory Lantern now shines in the correct location.
  
• The Eastern Winds Ruby Bucket will no longer show water inside when empty.
  
• Fog will now appear as intended when entering the Vault at Molten Sands Fortress.
  
• The Sweet Treat Capstan will now display correctly in fog.
  
• ‘Captains of the Damned’ – Pirates in the bayou now hold the candles correctly.

Text and Localisation

• The Stand to Attention Emote no longer has a placeholder title and description in the Vanity Chest.
  
• When speaking to Zharick at Brian’s Bazaar, the dialogue will no longer refer to Golden Sands.
  
• ‘The Legendary Storyteller’ – The 'Fish Friends' puzzle in the Quest Book no longer refers to Golden Sands.
  
• ‘A Pirate’s Life’ – Captain Jack Sparrow’s name is now present within his subtitles when escaping from the Ferry of the Damned.
  
• ‘Fate of the Morningstar’ – The Ferryman's intended subtitles now appear while he is speaking.

Performance and Stability

• Ongoing improvements made to server stability to reduce instances where players are disconnected from their session.
  
• Improved game stability to reduce scenarios where players experience an unexpected exit from the game.

To learn more about known issues in Sea of Thieves currently being tracked and their status, head over to our Known Issues support site article.

Download Size:

• Steam: 7.34 GB

Oh yes, that’s right, we’re not quite ready to be finished with 2023 just yet. Still one last round-up to squeeze in! Now, we might have been winding down for the end of the year in December, but that didn’t stop us from delivering a Community Weekend, two in-game Events and a monthly content update, did it? Of course not. So let’s take a look at everything you might have missed…

We wasted no time in kicking off the December excitements by hosting Season Ten Community Weekend right at the beginning of the month. With some distinctly fishy Pop-Up Plunder maps pointing players in the direction of highly desirable loot, a reward multiplier growing in line with Twitch viewership and an exclusive Title on offer for Skull of Siren Song victors, the Weekend was absolutely packed with adventures to get involved in.

From there, our third instalment of Season Ten was ready to go and so we opened the way to the long-awaited Safer Seas! Letting players explore the world of Sea of Thieves alone or with just their own crew of friends for the first time, this new mode offers a liberating alternative approach to the pirate life. Need more info on how it works, along with December’s other additions and fixes? The release notes await.

And of course, we couldn’t make it through the festive season without throwing in a couple of end-of-year Events. First up was a Gifts & Glory Event where players could pick up a festive flag and double rewards from all their expeditions, followed by the traditional Grogmanay celebration offering a new notch for your Annual Tankard as we toasted the new year together.


While everyone was preparing to boost their bonuses and smash some grog, we were able to put the finishing touches on our big December release, and thus we finally arrived at Safer Seas! There were a fair few changes packaged in with this new game mode, so we helped out by posting a handy launch article to go with it.

December is also the month in which we traditionally invite you to check out some of your personal sea-soaked stats in Your Story So Far – still available to view until January 15th! And further contributing to ending the year with a bang was a fresh round of the ever-popular Style of Thieves competition. Before we could get there though, announcing the themes was essential so that pirates could spend the month preparing their perfect outfit.

With all that happening and Community Weekend too, there was only time for one Creator Spotlight in December, so we made sure it was a goodie: meme queen and pirate menace Toxie Sinclaire filled us in on her journey to becoming a Sea of Thieves content creator and highlights of her career. Just don’t ask us what’s going on in some of those Spotlight screenshots. We don’t know and at this point we’re scared to ask.


In the run-up to the release of Safer Seas, we wanted to answer as many of your questions ahead of time as we could, culminating in our official Safer Seas Explained video! Once that had time to do the rounds, it was on to release day with a launch trailer and a look at all the new styles coming to the Pirate Emporium and Outpost shops. And surrounding this, in keeping with the spirit of the Festival of Giving, were no less than three sets of Twitch Drops to snag throughout the month.

With the end of 2023 in our spyglasses, we found ourselves reflecting on Sea of Thieves’ progress throughout the year and what everyone in the community can expect from the next one. With that in mind, some familiar team faces stopped by the Tavern one last time before the holidays to record 2023’s final podcast. Give it a watch or a listen to reminisce over highlights, consider lessons learned and admire how quickly John’s festive quiz gets derailed by seemingly innocuous buzzer sounds.


Adding to Twitch Drops, Emporium items and Event rewards in December was a separate bundle of cosmetics available to players with Xbox Game Pass Ultimate, who had (and still have) a chance to pick up the Nightshine Parrot Bundle via XGPU Perks. Meanwhile, a select few joined the Hat of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame crew when their creations were featured in the Community Hub, and in case that still didn’t prove enough to satisfy the demanding Festival of Giving spirits, Golden Hour Sails were awarded to our favourite #SoTShot entries on the theme of Festive Fun.

We didn’t want to leave everyone hanging for too long after teasing the latest Style of Thieves themes, so we shared the winners ahead of the holidays and rewarded them with the coveted Fashionista’s Finery Gloves. More presents! From there, everything got a bit nostalgic as we all looked back on the year together, inviting you to cast your mind back to when you were first setting out on the seas and what sort of personal legend you’ve built up since then.

By that point we really were coming up on the end of the year, so with a few extra well wishes and final bits of trivia we took our leave for a brief, hard-earned break. Of course, you’re never really far from the seas. Especially when John’s reminding you that you’ve got Tall Tales to complete.


And thus endeth the month, the year and our only-slightly-late December round-up! A lot happened in the past 12 months out on the seas, and we loved sharing every minute of it with you all. If you’re in the mood for more nostalgia, take a look back over the other 11 round-ups from 2023 and feel free to share your thoughts with us on all the usual channels: Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch the official Forums and Discord. Beyond that, a happy new year to all and we hope you look forward to the tempting troves of new features and exciting announcements coming in 2024!

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Sea of Thieves Round-Up: November 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: October 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: September 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: August 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: July 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: June 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2023
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2023

Gameplay

• Lost Shipments and Prized Merchant Alliance Commission Voyages are once again available for purchase.
  
• Crews taking on a Lost Shipments Voyage should now encounter the correct number of Merchant Crates when unlocking the Captain’s Cabin.

Guilds

• Players who are part of a Guild that has unlocked Guild clothing rewards are once again free to wear the rewards when sailing as part of any other Guild, or outside a Guild session.

Performance and Stability

• Improved server stability to avoid instances of players being disconnected from their session.

To learn more about known issues in Sea of Thieves currently being tracked and their status, head over to our Known Issues support site article.

These release notes cover a hotfix. For full details on recently added game features, see the release notes on our latest content update.

Download Size:

• Steam: 5.35 GB