May! A month stuffed to its extremities with Adventure, from the last stretch of 'The Shrouded Deep' to the opening gambits of 'Lost Sands'. And in the space between them we managed to pack in this Season's Community Dayand the launch of the very first Sea of ThievesMystery. There has, as DCI Taggart used to say, been a murrr-der, and it's better if we get these obscure British references out of our system here than in an in-game weapon description or something. Now then: let's recap!
Content Update
Yes, 'The Shrouded Deep' – our third time-limited Adventure, and first finale Adventure running to three weeks instead of two – still had half its runtime to go as we moved into May. Only when the monthly update landed on the 12th, with a suite of wild Emporium additions (Lionfish! Crab! Rat!) and bunches of bugfixes and improvements, did the grand Ghost hunt draw to a close.
It wasn't quiet for long, of course, with Mysteries making their Season Six debut as promised earlier in the year. So are we seeing things? Or hearing things? Who can say – Mysteries aren't about having the answers laid out in plain sight or explained in detail, so stay sharp for clues both in-game and out, leaving your deerstalker and/or handlebar moustache wax within grabbing distance. No, you maniacs, they're just detective references, not clues.
Two weeks after the end of 'The Shrouded Deep', our next update introduced the fourth Adventure, 'Lost Sands'. While the bombast of battling Megalodons receded into a more prolonged power struggle, emotions were still running just as high. The fervent back-and-forth over whether to #SaveGoldenSands or #RuinGoldenSands was stoked by updates on the state of play after the first weekend, and a breakdown of actions that players could take to swing the balance. The outcome wouldn't be known until 'Lost Sands' ended on June 9th, so players seized the opportunity to change the world and, just as importantly, blag some sweet Mementos while they were at it.
News and Features
In the world of words delicately whittled or sometimes rancorously hammered into the shape of news posts, 'Lost Sands' was preceded by the regular Adventures Ahead primer to get everyone up to speed ahead of the new Adventure, while our dedicated Mysteries article saw Creative Director Mike carefully set the scene without straying into a morass of spoilers. Upcoming social contest Style of Thieves got its own editorial exposé on Community Day, and we canvassed another convocation of artists and producers to give you a From Concept to Cosmetic breakdown of the Islehopper Outlaw set.
The Spotlight schedule didn't falter in the face of all this, adopting an accidental food theme in May as Captain Peachy rolled into the ranks of Community Spotlights while KatLikesTacos packed her single-item shopping list for a Creator Spotlight outing. Our second Spotlight Showcase settled into place on Steam too, rounding up all the recent Spotlight activity for news hunters of those geyser-pocked wildlands.
And – and! – we rolled out a whole new section to help folks stay on top of Who's Who on the Sea of Thieves, as our Adventures and Tall Tales and Mysteries continue to usher characters in and out of the limelight. And – and! – May's musical release returned to us from a Voyage deep into the pixellated past, as the enduring 'We Shall Sail Together' was adorably demade for a Retro Mix.
Videos and Streams
Plenty going on here in May too: central to it all was the double bill of Adventure-based trailers, with the 'Lost Sands' cinematic dropping a few days ahead of the Adventure to build hype before the launch trailer landed alongside the game content itself. Would have been weird if it didn't, really.
In the wake of a full introductory video for Mysteries, video clips have already gone on to become an integral part of how these stories will feed out hints and revelations – beginning with a clip that had no name except for a simple, sad skull emoji. RIP, you bombastic old peacock. We have no doubt that the truth of this tragic tale will eventually come to light, as the pirate community is bristling with eagle-eyed investigators.
Back before any of this in the first half of May, episode 7 of the Official SoT Podcast turned the tavern into a bathysphere exploring previous Adventure 'The Shrouded Deep', while a fresh episode of Sea of Thieves News divulged details of Community Day along with a bundle of end-of-month Twitch Drops, easing the transition as a knackered May tagged in June.
Social Channels
Community Day was of course May's pivotal point on our social channels, arriving as it does only once a Season, and arriving this time surrounded by orifice-sealing nervousness over the spectre of Strawberrybeards. Thankfully all was well from go-live time onwards, with Community Emissary Grade Five triggering a monster Renown multiplier well before the halfway mark, at which point we dropped some sweet, sweet stats. There was also free stuff to be had, sales, a fancy banjo – even a bespoke challenge list, checklist, score card and smart screenshot frames to help players share whatever they were up to. The latter idea then carried over to the 'Lost Sands' Adventure, where another clutch of assets assisted efforts to #SaveGoldenSands or #RuinGoldenSands.
It was a three-batch month for Community Hub updates, delivering new drops of player creativity at the start and end of May with one in the middle for luck. Early May #SoTShots, on the other hand, were only interested in Megalodons, with the shortlist as difficult as ever to whittle down even with separate sets of winners on Twitter and Instagram. Once more sticking to the spirit of the live Adventure, the next #SoTShot theme was Rivalry with more sets of winners currently on the cusp, the very cusp of being decided.
And that's an end to it! Thank you for your service, May – off you go, close the door on your way out but be sure to let the cat in first. In a dangerously brave plot twist, the cat's name is June. And if you want to keep up with June's cantankerous edicts then you'd better follow Sea of Thieves on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, the official Forums or our Discord server. And come back here for next month's round-up, when we'll be cross-hatched with cartoon scratch marks from trying to shove June off the chair so someone else can sit down.
1.4.6 Introduces some much requested improvements and fixes. Enjoy!
Changelist
Reintroduced optional camera noise (press C), this effect is slightly different from before.
Added: A.I. data for races in the Short Circuit, Hangar C03, The Woodpecker and Liftoff Arena.
Added: all-time best leaderboards for official races. You can view these in the leaderboards section as well as the top 3 coming by in the multiplayer room.
Updated: when crashing or resetting during a tournament tryout, the score screen is now shown instead of going back to the tournaments selection screen again. The score screen now allows to directly do another tryout.
Updated: leaderboards should load a lot faster than before.
Updated: displaying a large leaderboard now allows to load chunks of scores in batches of 250 entries.
Updated: Steam Workshop sharing panel to only allow to share content when the Steam Workshop EULA has been accepted.
Fixed: drone setups with no blueprint saved in the file would make Liftoff hang in a loading screen.
Fixed: a player could join and start a multiplayer game without having all necessary content loaded.
Fixed: steam player information not always caching correctly.
Fixed: issue with showing an error while signing up for a Liftoff Pro account, even though registration succeeded.
Optimised: disk and memory usage of certain track items, potentially loading certain tracks faster on older hard drives.
New Work Town, Bed Town and Stockpile Assignment System - Villagers no longer try to find the nearest towns or beds or stockpile to work with, removing the possibility of villagers running off to other towns to work, sleep or eat. - Talk to a villager to assign the town to work in, using the choices inside "Can you take a moment to..." and "Could you start working...". - You can choose to assign the work/bed town to a single villager, or to all villagers who are standing nearby you.
Work Town - You can select any Village or Town to work in. Castles and Siege Camps are restricted to the owner and his/her allies. - Villagers automatically assign themselves to the Stockpile of their Work Town. If it doesn't exist, they will use your Pack Horse instead.
Bed Town - Same as the Work Town, assigning a Bed Town will assign all free beds to your villagers. - If there are no beds or not enough beds, the villager will be assign a bed in Caringtown Castle.
Changes: - Added an AFK Protection notification that lasts for 4 minutes, to show that you have AFK Protection enabled. - Wages, rent, income and taxes are processed at a random duration around 10 minutes instead of a fixed 10 minutes.
Fixes: - Villagers not working after interacting with the pack horse. - Villagers not doing anything at their resources. - Blacksmiths saying not enough ores and wood in the stockpile even though there are enough. - Negative final profit not being deducted from the pack horse.
News & Updates - Next Nova Cup is June 25-26. Signups go live this Friday (June 17) in a separate announcement.
Game Coach 2.0
We're excited to announce the first major update to the Game Coach!
Firstly, new Game Coach personalities are now available in the shop: Cheerful Game Coach and Darth Game Coach. More will come soon (TM).
Each personality changes what the Game Coach says in-game and post-game. This is only a partial sample. Each Game Coach personality has 20 dialogue lines. Darth Game Coach may or may not get tilted when your ally leaks.
Unlocking a personality automatically unlocks its corresponding secret card. This secret card can be used as an avatar and unlocks a monument slot. However, it cannot be sold/donated, and does not show up in the Card Trader rotation.
Plus, a bunch of QoL improvements:
New Game Coach options tab to toggle individual settings. It is now finally possible to completely hide the Game Coach if you don’t like him
Added sound effects for some messages (toggle via Options). Each unlockable personality has a different set of sounds.
Fixed a few cases of Game Coach tips being too aggressive
No longer says “Nice win! But there’s always room for improvement.” He’ll always just be happy when you win.
No longer warns you about unspent gold, unless you’re a new player (10 or fewer wins)
New Tutorial & Game Manual
After gathering a lot of feedback directly from players who are new to the game, we saw a lot of improvements that could be made to ease the game’s learning curve.
New Tutorial: Fighter Positioning
This short tutorial teaches new players that positioning makes a difference. This is important not only to play better, but also to appreciate the strategic depth of the game. We saw a pattern of feedback from new players who felt the game was too simple, since they felt positioning didn’t matter. This tutorial hopes to address that concern.
New Codex Tab: Game Manual
This menu acts as a knowledge reference for all the essential controls, gameplay, and systems of Legion TD 2. More pages may be added in future patches.
New Feature: "First-Time" Popups
Various popups containing Game Manual content are now displayed for new players encountering various game mechanics for the first time, such as the first time they choose a legion, ping the ground, or join a guild. These popups won’t appear for older accounts, so veteran players won't be bothered.
New Legion Spell: Glacial Touch
Glacial Touch Gives a fighter a chilling attack that slows movement speed by 80% for 3 seconds. If the target dies while chilled, it explodes, dealing 120 pure damage in a small area.
New Skin: Arctic Warg
New Skin: Molten Royal Guard
Improvements & Fixes
Major Improvements
Guilds: Officers now have permissions to edit guild tagline, set guild avatar, and set guild emblem. We’re still working on a way to transfer guild leadership for guilds with inactive guild leaders.
[/strike] Reverted. We are working on new "co-leader" role that will have the same permissions as guild leaders.
Emoji: New emojis: skull, huff, poop, clown, ninja, moon, and wave
In-Game Menu: Replaced “Profile” button with a “Codex” button. This is probably more useful for most players. You can still view your profile in-game via the tab scoreboard.
Spectator: Damage Tracker now updates based on the last unit you selected
Bots: Now smarter about not sending melee DPS mercenaries on ranged waves
Weekly Challenge: Improved formula for selecting challenges, and also avoids picking the same wave two weeks in a row
New-Player Experience: Tutorial 1 now explains camera controls as well as informs you about the Codex
New-Player Experience: Tutorial 1 now uses Divine instead of Element
New-Player Experience: Various popup, text, and graphic improvements
Custom Games: Rooms now show the color next to the slot
UI: Tweaked Crab icon
[/list] Bug Fixes
Stability: Fixed a very rare case where players would get assigned into a match they didn’t queue for
Audio: Fixed a bug where unit selection sounds would sometimes fade when they weren’t supposed to
UI: Fixed a bug where Sunnyside Eggsack icon appeared blurry
UI: Fixed a bug where the mini-scoreboard (bottom left) would block the main UI if you sent too many different types of mercenaries
Embargo: No longer accidentally disables the “3” hotkey for jumping to the opponent lane
Name Reset: Fixed a bug where Matchmaking would sometimes use the incorrect rating during the first match after a name reset
Guilds: Fixed a rare case where Guild UI wouldn’t load upon newly creating a guild
Cards: Fixed a very rare case where a card wasn’t given in-game after it was earned
Tutorial: Fixed a bug where a player would get stuck on part of the Incoming tutorial if playing in 1366x768 or lower resolution
Loading Screen: Fixed a case where a player would get stuck in the Legion Select screen if receiving a guild invite while in-game
Game Balance
Legion Spells
Counterattack - Immediate mythium gain: 40 → 45 - Mythium gain when you leak: 40 → 45
Giant Snail - Stat bonus: 200 health and 9 damage → 220 health and 10 damage
All of the above legion spells have low pick rates and win rates.
Fighters
Peewee - Health: 250 → 240
Veteran - Health: 1400 → 1380
Peewee and Veteran are arcane tanks, clutch pierce DPS, and relevant at all stages of the game. High pick rate and win rate.
Sakura - Health: 1360 → 1350 - Damage: 99 → 98 - Fixed a bug where Sakura was gaining 2 stacks of Superbloom after clearing wave 10 (should only happen after clearing wave 11+) - Fixed a bug where Sakura value calculation didn't properly work with Lioness and Alpha Male - Pinging Sakura now shows its # of stacks
High pick rate and win rate.
Gargoyle - Health: 280 → 270
Very high pick rate, notably due to its power on wave 3.
Pyro - Attack speed: 1.3 → 1.27 - Pyromancy: No longer does reduced damage to flying units
Increasing Pyro’s viability as an opening and making it less hard-countered by wave 17.
Harpy / Sky Queen - Attack speed: 1.9 → 2.0
Still underperforming, so this time they're getting a massive DPS buff. (Massive, in Legion balancing lingo, means about 5.2%)
Nekomata - Attack speed: 0.92 → 0.9
It's unbearable for us to be mean to a kitty, but Nekomata is one of the strongest units in the game from waves 1-10. High pick rate and win rate.
Canopie - Health: 4800 → 4850
Canopie has been slightly weak as an arcane tank compared to other options.
Honeyflower - Health: 1400 → 1370
Deathcap - Health: 4250 → 4160
Strong opening with high worker potential, especially with Cash Out, and strong late game. High pick rate and win rate.
Angler was indirectly nerfed by the v9.03 worker change and has a low win rate. This change allows you to sit on Angler and Bounty Hunter longer, rather than rushing to Kingpin.
Grarl - Health: 1350 → 1330
King Claw - Mana regeneration: +13%
King Claw is getting a well-deserved buff. However, Grarl’s stats are being slightly reduced to avoid over-buffing an already high pick rate / balanced unit
Yozora / Arctaire - Attack speed: 1.2 → 1.17
Viable as an opening and the best late game tank. High pick and win rate.
Seadragon / Lifebinder - Now will only heal Soul Gate & Hell Gate if there are no other injured units to heal
Nerfing synergy with Pack Leader. Pack Leader + Imp spam was crowding out other similar cost options.
Waves
(18) Wale Chiefs - Attack speed: 1.75 → 1.61 - Poison-Tipped Pole: 40 area-of-effect magic damage every third attack → 100 single-target magic damage + 40 area-of-effect magic damage every third attack
Giving Wale Chiefs more magic damage (as they had in previous patches) to make natural defense less universally strong for four consecutive waves on 16-19.
Closing Remarks
We hope you enjoy this patch! Thank you again for playing Legion TD 2. And a big thank you to everyone who has purchased skins or other in-game cosmetics so far. You make it possible for Legion TD 2 to continue to be improved & supported without a subscription fee or any P2W mechanics.
We also know a lot of people have asked about the next Campaign. It's too hard to give an exact release date, but know that we are working on it, and the hope is to release it in the Fall or early Winter.
We are also aware of a number of bugs, such as country flags sometimes being missing as well as units sometimes getting stuck (usually in Classic games). We're continuing to investigate & fix these bugs as soon as we can.
If you've enjoyed the game, but haven't left a review yet, please consider posting a short review for the game! It really helps get the word out there.
And as always, if you have constructive criticism, let's chat about it. Discord is our main channel of communication, and aside from the development team, there are community helpers who can ensure your feedback is heard, as well as answer pretty much anything you've ever wanted to know about the game. We know there's still much to improve, so let's work together.
It’s time to expand Dying Light 2 Stay Human’s vibrant, action-packed world. Along with patch 1.4 comes the first free Chapter that introduces the long-awaited Photo Mode feature and some new in-game content, events, and systems. Moreover, this first Chapter is only the beginning of our 5-year support plan. There are many more changes and improvements coming to Villedor in the future. Visit TechlandGG to find out all there is to know about Chapter 1's latest robust rank system.
NEW CHAPTER - In the Footsteps of a Nightrunner Your task is to help Harper, a Nightrunner of old, in his efforts to combat the Special Infected that are endangering the City's people in exchange for access to some powerful, never-before-seen equipment. Chapter Agent — meet Harper, a former Nightrunner that acts as your link to the new adventure. Find him at the Fish Eye Canteen and assist him in taking down the Special Infected.
New Rank System and Unlockables — discover a system that strengthens the bond between you and the agent by carrying out his tasks. Moreover, with enough reputation points, you can rank up to unlock access to high-end weapons, outfits, and consumables.
Daily and Weekly Bounties — face the Infected head-on in a series of daily and weekly night activities that will earn you reputation points upon completion.
2 New Currencies — to purchase these new items, you will first need to collect mutation samples off the Special Infected corpses and acquire unique Harper’s Tokens with each new rank.
New Enemies — meet the deadly and fierce Mutated Infected, the Volatile Tyrant, and the Volatile Hive.
Chapter Mission — purchase a special Chapter Mission Ticket from the Chapter Agent and try to endure the highly challenging and punishing time trials that will test your stealth, parkour, or combat skills to their absolute limit.
Chapter Events — embark on a series of events that center around the intricacies of the Chapter 1 system. Reach goals, team up with other players around the globe and win a wealth of in-game rewards. Visit TechlandGG to check the current events and claim the rewards.
New Feature: Photo Mode — our fantastic community asked for it, so we gladly obliged. The Photo Mode feature is here! Take some photos to commemorate your adventures in the City!
D2K: At The Fish Eye - Photo Mode Moreover, today you can also check out the newest episode of our “At The Fish Eye” series, where our amazing Lead UX/UI Designer Marcin Surosz talks about the upcoming Photo Mode.