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Sea of Thieves future update - Player numbers, Seasons being introduced, New detective merchant, Plunder Pass

Theorry

Theorry

Member
Oct 27, 2017
61,041


- 11m unique players played SoT in this year
- Steam saw 1 million new players within a month. Also from alot of new countries. Korea and China were big factors
- Playerbase is now 50/50 between PC and Xbox
- Arena will be supported. But wont get big updates anymore
- Been doing monthly updates since July 2019. Seasons will start in January and will last arround 3 months
-Every 3 months a big content update and during the season events, patches etc
- New Season progression system. Biggest change to progression since launch
- 100 levels and series of Pirate trials giving rewards. Shorter sessions possible even without finishing and still moves you forward. Progress moves forward outside of trading companies also.
- Premium pass called Plunder Pass with extra rewards you get during the 100 levels
- Each month a featured live event
- New merchant. Detective
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,366
The Seasons progression system is a pretty typical Battle Pass. I've been wondering why it took so long for Theives to introduce their own Battle Pass system. It makes too much sense.

Everything from the Battle Pass will be purchasable individually as well. Pass just gets you access to that stuff earlier (and cheaper, if you actually finish it).
 

GaussianMultivariate

Banned
Jul 26, 2018
2,464
Tried it on GP but didn't click for me, I'm happy that they're faring well tho. I think every game with such support from the devs deserves the best
 
Buff DrinkLots

Buff DrinkLots

Member
Dec 20, 2017
1,094
Not my type of game but I could tell it was well made from what I played of it. Pretty anti battle pass since I hate feeling like I'm missing out on something but I'm glad they turned it into a successful game.
 
Ser Ignatius

Ser Ignatius

Chicken Chaser
Member
Apr 15, 2020
473
11 million players in its lifetime would have been awesome, but 11 million in just the last 12 months? I'm impressed with the staying power. Been playing off and on since launch and Rare has been great at getting new content out.
 
ginge

ginge

Member
Jul 23, 2020
244
I wonder if they will do in game skins for all of Microsoft first party offerings? Would be pretty cool to get a starfield skin in sea of thieves if you have played starfield for instance.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,366
coma said:
Been messing with this again since getting the Series X. Still 20-ish minute wait times for matches most of the time. Maybe it's time to just give up on it, since they're never fixing it?
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It basically only ever seems to get a decent number of players wanting to do Arena when they have a special event/prizes for doing it.

I play Thieves all the time and none of the people I play with ever want to play Arena. It's a shame because I actually like the mode but it's just never quite gelled with the fanbase. There's defiitely a dedicated core who play it (you can find infinite LFG players creating groups to play it) but it's definitely not the focus. AFAIK it was an external company doing most of the legwork anyway.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,366
ginge said:
I wonder if they will do in game skins for all of Microsoft first party offerings? Would be pretty cool to get a starfield skin in sea of thieves if you have played starfield for instance.
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I'm sure they'll continue to do this with new games.

We've had Banjo, Killer Instinct, Perfect Dark, Kameo, Halo, Gears, Ori, Battletoads, Viva Pinata, Conker etc cosmetic ship sets so far.
 
coma

coma

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,576
ghostcrew said:
It basically only ever seems to get a decent number of players wanting to do Arena when they have a special event/prizes for doing it.

I play Thieves all the time and none of the people I play with ever want to play Arena. It's a shame because I actually like the mode but it's just never quite gelled with the fanbase. There's defiitely a dedicated core who play it (you can find infinite LFG players creating groups to play it) but it's definitely not the focus. AFAIK it was an external company doing most of the legwork anyway.
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It's frustrating because a lot of the time we sit there with a decently full lobby that refuses to start for whatever reason, sits there for 20 minutes, and then eventually starts after most people have decided to quit.

Spending a lot of time in those lobbies also highlights the fact that SoT somehow has a more toxic/angry PvP player base than even Gears of War, lol.

When it works, it can be a lot of fun. I'll probably just stick to Adventure though going forward, which is a shame.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,366
coma said:
It's frustrating because a lot of the time we sit there with a decently full lobby that refuses to start for whatever reason, sits there for 20 minutes, and then eventually starts after most people have decided to quit.

Spending a lot of time in those lobbies also highlights the fact that SoT somehow has a more toxic/angry PvP player base than even Gears of War, lol.

When it works, it can be a lot of fun. I'll probably just stick to Adventure though going forward, which is a shame.
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I might say that Arena has a more toxic/angry player base, not Sea of Thieves.

It's the mode where you blast each other with cannons and try to spawn camp other players. I find the general Thieves crowd to be super chill, generally.
 

Kordelle

Prophet of Truth
Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,612
I love this game :)
we are finally nearing legend status, so new Progression sounds awesome!
 
coma

coma

Member
Oct 28, 2017
3,576
ghostcrew said:
I might say that Arena has a more toxic/angry player base, not Sea of Thieves.

It's the mode where you blast each other with cannons and try to spawn camp other players. I find the general Thieves crowd to be super chill, generally.
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For sure, but the number of times we've been spawn camped and called slurs (or yelled at in other languages, usually French?) while just minding our business doing a mission is pretty high too, lol.

Game seemed more chill when it first released. Could just be unlucky experiences though. Still generally a fun time though.
 
Moebius

Moebius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,395
Argh, battle passes are terrible. Really disappointing to see them go this route. Just put the content in the game and let me complete it whenever I can. The progression sounds great, but it shouldn't be timed.
 
maximumzero

maximumzero

Member
Oct 25, 2017
22,927
New Orleans, LA
Hesitated on buying it on the Steam Sale that ended yesterday as I'm playing Death Stranding at the moment and I'm trying to treat my new PC as "Buy new game once old game is finished" so hopefully it goes on sale again by the end of the month.
 
SuikerBrood

SuikerBrood

Member
Jan 21, 2018
15,490
11 million unique players this year with an almost 50/50 distribution between PC and Xbox. Sea of Thieves is truly one of the greatest new IP of the past few years.
 
Mukrab

Mukrab

Member
Apr 19, 2020
7,512
coma said:
Been messing with this again since getting the Series X. Still 20-ish minute wait times for matches most of the time. Maybe it's time to just give up on it, since they're never fixing it?
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Sloop Arena is fast.

Moebius said:
Argh, battle passes are terrible. Really disappointing to see them go this route. Just put the content in the game and let me complete it whenever I can. The progression sounds great, but it shouldn't be timed.
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Do you know how it works? Not every gamepass has to be like that. In Halo MCC for instance you can always unlock stuff from previous seasons. Im not saying its likely to go that route but we dont know yet.
 
Moebius

Moebius

Member
Oct 28, 2017
5,395
Mukrab said:
Do you know how it works? Not every gamepass has to be like that. In Halo MCC for instance you can always unlock stuff from previous seasons. Im not saying its likely to go that route but we dont know yet.
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That would be fanastic. I don't know how anyone could enjoy time sensitive content that will eventually disappear.
 
Dunlop

Dunlop

Member
Oct 25, 2017
8,479
I really need to learn how to play this game, looks amazing but I just wander around aimlessly lol
 
Edge

Edge

A King's Landing
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,012
Celle, Germany
Theorry said:
- New Season progression system. Biggest change to progression since launch
- 100 levels and series of Pirate trials giving rewards. Shorter sessions possible even without finishing and still moves you forward. Progress moves forward outside of trading companies also.
- Premium pass called Plunder Pass with extra rewards you get during the 100 levels
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OK, that makes sure I definitely won't come back to the game. Sad, had a lot of fun lately after 1 year pause when my got my OLED. But I have no interest in more of this FOMO shit, I just can't put any more time into brainless grinding, already doing Genshin, Rocket League and very loosely Gears 5 and while these games are fun, of course, this grind can be painful....
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,366
Moebius said:
Argh, battle passes are terrible. Really disappointing to see them go this route. Just put the content in the game and let me complete it whenever I can. The progression sounds great, but it shouldn't be timed.
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Everything in the pass can be bought via regular money outside of the season. The Battle Pass just gets you access to it earlier and cheaper (assuming you were going to buy it all).

If you want one or two specific things from it you can just buy them once the season is over. Nothing locked behind finishing the pass on time.

The game moved hard away from time limited items a good year ago. Nothing in the game is time limited. They have events where things are 'new' or easier to get but you will never miss an item if you want it. Players said they didn't like that back in 2018 or whenever and they listened.
 
SuikerBrood

SuikerBrood

Member
Jan 21, 2018
15,490
Edge said:
OK, that makes sure I definitely won't come back to the game. Sad, had a lot of fun lately after 1 year pause when my got my OLED. But I have no interest in more of this FOMO shit, I just can't put any more time into brainless grinding, already doing Genshin, Rocket League and very loosely Gears 5 and while these games are fun, of course, this grind can be painful....
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Why grind for cosmetics?
 
cakely

cakely

Member
Oct 27, 2017
13,149
Chicago
A battle pass? No thanks.

Bought SoT on Steam (and have it on Game Pass) but that's just not something I'd be interested in. Hopefully it's just easy not to use it.
 
CountAntonio

CountAntonio

Member
Oct 25, 2017
21,723
"- 100 levels and series of Pirate trials giving rewards. Shorter sessions possible even without finishing and still moves you forward. Progress moves forward outside of trading companies also. "

This was a big one. I love the game but at times it felt like you couldn't get a damn thing done without an entire night to dedicate to it.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,366
cakely said:
A battle pass? No thanks.

Bought SoT on Steam (and have it on Game Pass) but that's just not something I'd be interested in. Hopefully it's just easy not to use it.
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What are you worried will happen if you don't use it? Of course its easy to not use it. Just don't open that tab.
 
roguesquirrel

roguesquirrel

The Fallen
Oct 29, 2017
5,487
coma said:
It's frustrating because a lot of the time we sit there with a decently full lobby that refuses to start for whatever reason, sits there for 20 minutes, and then eventually starts after most people have decided to quit.

Spending a lot of time in those lobbies also highlights the fact that SoT somehow has a more toxic/angry PvP player base than even Gears of War, lol.

When it works, it can be a lot of fun. I'll probably just stick to Adventure though going forward, which is a shame.
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Click to shrink...
The Arena lobby startup rules are weird, because if a crew is open it REFUSES to start a match until that open crew has a full group of players. But players who leave by Alt+f4ing or shutting off their xbox have their space held for 8 minutes in case it was because of a crash, so sometimes you get matches where its just three boats and only one of them is full.

More often than not its one or two boats waiting on one person thats holding up the entire lobby, and i feel like at that point the match should just start, but even with the rules refresh last year theyve never seemed interested in tweaking the lobby logic to reduce wait time.
 
Edge

Edge

A King's Landing
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
21,012
Celle, Germany
To add something to my text, I just don't know why every developer has to brainlessly copy this god damn time limited Battle Pass concept.

Crazy idea, I know, stay with me, but....

Can't they.... Just... Add content to the game that people can unlock over time without any time limitation? Just... Adding it, to be there and to stay so you have more and more content for people and various things to do? Crazy I know.
 
ghostcrew

ghostcrew

The Shrouded Ghost
Administrator
Oct 27, 2017
30,366
Edge said:
To add something to my text, I just don't know why every developer has to brainlessly copy this god damn time limited Battle Pass concept.

Crazy idea, I know, but stay with me, but....

Can't they.... Just... Add content to the game that people can unlock over time without any time limitation? Just... Adding it, to be there and to stay so you have more and more content for people and various things to do? Crazy I know.
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There's nothing time limited in the Pass. All of it is purchasable outside of the Pass. This just gets you it earlier and cheaper (assuming you were buying it all anyway).

If you don't want any of the cosmetics (or you just want some of them) then you don't have to do the Pass. They'll always be in the Emporium forever to pick up separately. There's nothing time limited in Sea of Thieves item/cosmetic wise. Everything just goes into the game normally once the event it over.
 
HonestAbe

HonestAbe

Member
May 19, 2020
1,905
The no more Arena updates except QoL improvements hurts. That mode has a lot of potential...capture the chest/flag, capture and hold, last ship standing...island TDM!

It could be more popular if the lobbies actually worked and the gamemode was a bit different. Promote it and the game in e-sports (NAL and SoC are amazing).

The fact you still need 240 wins as PL in arena mode is a big "yikes!". With perfect record, no time in lobby...it takes 60 hours just playing actual arena matches, add in a few losses, wait time in lobbies and it's easily double that.
 
PanzerKraken

PanzerKraken

Member
Nov 1, 2017
15,014
Edge said:
To add something to my text, I just don't know why every developer has to brainlessly copy this god damn time limited Battle Pass concept.

Crazy idea, I know, but stay with me, but....

Can't they.... Just... Add content to the game that people can unlock over time without any time limitation? Just... Adding it, to be there and to stay so you have more and more content for people and various things to do? Crazy I know.
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Point of these things is to keep people coming back and logging on to keep the population fresh.

Also usually you can spend money to earn the items before time runs out. It's about keeping players logging in and coming back, and well catching whales who rather just spend money instead of actually playing. If there was no time limit folks wouldn't be rushing to log on and play or spend money.
 
SuikerBrood

SuikerBrood

Member
Jan 21, 2018
15,490
Green Mario said:
The entirety of Sea of Thieves is grinding for cosmetics lol
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Sea of Thieves is a fun game to play for me. It has never felt like a grind. The only thing that I see as a grind is becoming pirate legend. And I've totally given up on that.. haha. Now it's just a fun time with friends when we hit the open seas.

I play Fortnite the same way. But I understand how some people want to achieve everything in a game and want to collect every item. I've just accepted that I have limited time and that I do not care enough about virtual items to let it hamper my enjoyment.
 
HonestAbe

HonestAbe

Member
May 19, 2020
1,905
cakely said:
A battle pass? No thanks.

Bought SoT on Steam (and have it on Game Pass) but that's just not something I'd be interested in. Hopefully it's just easy not to use it.
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Basically how it's going to work is 2 tiers - free and paid. Honestly, battle pass is probably a terrible name for it.

There is a free tier for everyone that's sort of like the Festival of Lights event stuff going on right now. Complete tasks to earn rewards. The more tasks you do the levels move up.
Then there is an additional paid tier, "Plunder Pass", on top of the free tier with different exclusive stuff. It's mainly emporium stuff.
 
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