Wild Seas Commendation Balancing

• Commendations tasking crews with the delivery of Pristine Tusks, Scales and Teeth have been rebalanced to require fewer items to unlock. While Grades 1-3 remain unchanged, Grade 4 now requires 15 (down from 25) and Grade 5 requires 20 (down from 50).
  
• The following Commendations have been rebalanced: Master Hunter of the Savage Boar, Master Hunter of the Pristine Maw and Master Hunter of Pristine Megalodon Spoils.
  
• Players with partial progress may need to hand in a further Pristine item in order for their correct Grade progress to be shown.

Kraken Encounter Balancing

• While Kraken encounters will retain the ability to occur on a server alongside other World Events, the frequency of these Kraken encounters has now been significantly reduced.

Gameplay

• Resource Barrels released from a sunken vessel will once again float to the surface and the resources can be consistently retrieved.
  
• Crews beginning a Faction battle will be unable to receive aid from other crew members who join after the battle has begun. Additional crew members will now be held on the Ferry of the Damned until the battle is complete.

Performance and Stability

• Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.

Megalodon Hunting Voyage

• Players with a high-resolution display should no longer find that using the Shrouded Glass creates a picture-in-picture effect.

Hunting Spear

• Players can no longer use various methods to duplicate their stock of hunting spears.

Pirate Emporium

• The King’s Ransom Grapple Gun is no longer shown as ‘On Sale’ and has returned to its correct price of 249 Ancient Coins.

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[support.seaofthieves.com].

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

Since Sea of Thieves launched, we’ve taken thousands of enforcement actions against those who’ve acted against our Pirate Code when sailing the seas. When our enforcement system was first designed, we had a lot less experience in the live service arena – and while we were as informed as we could’ve been back then, we didn’t necessarily understand what the impact of this would be years down the line.

Over the last six months or so, we’ve been taking the time to review and analyse our enforcement strategies with a view to evolving how we move forward. While we’ve shared our plans for this in a previous Developer Update (from 7:15 in the video below), today our new policy goes live – so we wanted to take this opportunity to talk a little more about the how and why.

From today, we will be giving players more information on why we’re taking action against their accounts and an opportunity to change their ways. While, unfortunately, there are a few bad eggs in this world who do want to cause harm and distress to others, we’re conscious that some folks might just be having a bad day and immediately regret their actions – and we want to give these players room to learn from their mistakes.

Our previous enforcement system was a three-strikes-and-out policy – which has worked for us, but has also had some limitations and made it hard to take nuanced action. For example, if a player had received their third strike for a relatively minor offence, under the old system they would have received a lifetime ban – which, after a long and lengthy review on our side, felt perhaps a little too inflexible.

For someone on the end of this enforcement action, under our old policy they would have simply received a Redbeard error message upon their next attempted login, rather than any specific information on what happened and why, resulting in a lack of clarity around our decision-making. In this scenario, a user may have ended up banned without necessarily understanding why, or perhaps even thinking that we’d overreacted to a report about a smaller infraction.

With that in mind, we’ve been developing a new enforcement system that allows us to more accurately capture the nuance of offences committed, and enables us to communicate exactly why action has been taken against someone’s account. Our system is an evolution of the Xbox points system, and we’ve spent a lot of time collaborating and consulting to ensure that the new system addresses our concerns with our previous enforcement policy, while also making sure that punishment of more serious offences carries the right weight.

Under our recently introduced policy, every new player begins their journey on the Sea of Thieves with zero points, and can accrue a total of 12 points before receiving a permanent ban on their account. If a report is submitted against them, points will be administered to their account – with clear communication to the offending player(s) as to why. Varying points will be accrued for certain types of offence; the below classifications aren’t an exhaustive list, but we wanted to provide some clear examples.

• Toxic communication over text/voice chat that isn’t of a discriminatory nature (i.e. doesn’t use racist, homophobic, misogynistic or ableist terms) will – depending on the strength of the offence – earn a player from 1-3 points and a corresponding suspension of 1-3 days for each instance of this behaviour.
  
• Discriminatory toxic communication that uses slurs/prejudiced language over text or voice chat will earn players 7 points and a seven-day suspension. This means that previously, under our three-strike system, players had to offend three times to be banned – whereas with these types of offence, it’s now reduced to just two (within a given time period).
  
• Cheaters will receive 12 points immediately, plus a permanent ban.

The important thing with these offences is that the offending player is told that why they’ve received a suspension and points on their account. They won’t just log in to find a Yellowbeard or Redbeard with minimal context, but will be contacted directly with the reasoning behind the action taken.

Another thing we’re introducing with this policy is that, if a player with points has a ‘good’ month – i.e. they do not receive any more reports of poor behaviour – their total points tally will decay by 1. This means that if you receive 2 points for toxic communication, but behave yourself over the following couple of months, you’ll go back down to a total tally of 0. Our hope and intention is to communicate with these players why they received their initial enforcement action, and give them space to reflect and improve upon their conduct.

If that sounds like something it might be hard to keep track of, don’t worry – we’re bringing players’ enforcement status to their https://www.seaofthieves.com/account, so everyone knows exactly where they stand. This will also include when their access to Sea of Thieves will be restored, if they’re currently serving a temporary suspension for an offence.

For players who have recently offended and received enforcement action on any scale: we’ve had our points system up and running in the background for a little while now, so when this change comes into effect, you’ll see your score reflected when you log in to the website. We’re not wiping the slate clean on previous poor behaviour, but there will be a net benefit in that our approach to further offences will have a better-suited and more nuanced outcome.

For players who’ve experienced poor behaviour, the reporting process will remain largely the same. However, we’ll continue to work on improving the ways you can get reports and information over to us for review. To submit a report about something you’ve encountered on the seas, please head to https://support.seaofthieves.com/ to provide evidence and a summary of what you’ve experienced – or initiate a report via the in-game menu.

Although we’ve been monitoring recent enforcement activity in the background through this new lens, we’ll continue to keep an eye on scores and behavioural changes as it comes into effect. We know that there are still a few things we’ll have to refine or work on to ensure fairness across the board, but change has to start somewhere – so we hope you’ll understand and appreciate our move to a much more transparent and flexible system that looks to forgive players who can recognise they’ve made mistakes, while punishing folks who want to undermine the integrity of the Sea of Thieves experience.

While we can appreciate this is quite a significant change in how we approach enforcement, the ultimate goal is to provide transparency on why we take action, and allow players to grow with that feedback instead of rebel against it. We hope – and believe – that this will lead to a better player experience for all pirates.

Heed the call in Season 15, which brings a wealth of new incentives to The Hunter’s Call while introducing new wildlife both harmless and hostile. For an overview of the fierce features rolled out over the course of this Season, head to our dedicated Season 15 page[www.seaofthieves.com]!

Megalodon Hunting Voyage

• Crews can now take on a Voyage to track an enraged Megalodon that has been wreaking havoc across the seas, leaving vessels destroyed in its wake. This Voyage can be started from the Quest Table upon reaching rank 20 with The Hunter’s Call.
  
• While hunters will need a keen eye to track the Megalodon by the debris left behind, they'll also be provided with a handy tool: the Shrouded Glass. This enchanted spyglass is capable of showing the trail left by the enraged beast to aid in pursuit.

Wild Boars

• Wild boars now inhabit some islands across the seas. Found in small packs on islands, boars will flee when approached, leaving a trail of hoofprints and fruit. Be warned: while they may appear skittish, they will charge when provoked and can restore health by eating nearby fruit.
  
• Players can hunt wild boars in addition to the larger Grand Boar of the pack. While hunting, all boars reward the crew with meat, while the tougher Grand Boar leaves behind the Boar Tusk – a new treasure item that can be sold to The Hunter’s Call.
  
• Crews looking for loot can sneakily follow boars to their wallows, where treasure they’ve gathered can be retrieved.

Boar Hunting Voyage

• Crews can also be tasked with hunting a fierce Grand Boar in A Pirate’s Boar Hunt, a new on-demand Voyage from The Hunter’s Call available upon reaching rank 15.

Hunting Spear Balancing

• Hunting spears are now considered a resource when brought aboard the ship, and will remain when diving to a Voyage or Faction battle, or when travelling through the Tunnels of the Damned.
  
• A thrown hunting spear now deals increased damage to players, resulting in a one-hit kill on a player at full health.
  
• Hunting spears thrown or fired at creatures now deal additional damage to their target. When used to strike Megalodons or Ancient Megalodons, they now deal even more damage.
  
• Hunting spears fired into a ship’s hull now let in an increased water flow while they remain stuck in place.
  
• Hunting spears lodged in a ship’s hull now require more effort to remove, increasing the time taken to dislodge them.

Kraken and Megalodon Encounter Rewards

• Emergent encounters with Kraken and Megalodon now reward crews with additional treasure items when defeated, including a greater chance of items for The Hunter’s Call.

Megalodon Encounter Balancing

• Encounters with an emergent Megalodon will now pose a greater challenge, with Megalodons acting more aggressively towards nearby vessels.

Kraken Encounter Balancing

• Kraken encounters can now occur on a server alongside some other World Events such as Skeleton Forts. While the frequency of Kraken encounters will remain the same following this change, it allows other World Events to cycle more frequently.

Wild Seas Commendations and Rewards

• With the introduction of wild boars and new Hunting Voyages, new Commendations have been added within the Reputation tab to challenge aspiring hunters.
  
• Players can unlock the Jagged Jaws Throwing Knives after completing all hunting spear Commendations, and unlock the Wild Seas Curse upon completing all Wild Seas Commendations.

Addressing Movement Exploits

• Players finding ways for their pirate to become stuck inside moving parts of the ship or island lifts will no longer find that they are ejected through the air at abnormal speed. They will still be bumped out of the pinch point, but should no longer be able to gain a tactical advantage from this scenario.

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[www.seaofthieves.com] to browse and buy the latest additions!

New Items – Now in Stock!

• Skin Scriber Ship Collection and Ship’s Crest
  
• Skin Scriber Costume Bundle
  
• Skin Scriber Weapon Bundle
  
• Skin Scriber Compass
  
• Waltzing Worm Emote Bundle
  
• Relaxed Sit Emote (free!)

New Outpost Stock!

• The Outpost shipwrights now have the Blue Resolute Hull, Sails and Flag available for purchase.

Enforcement Status

• Sea of Thieves has introduced a new enforcement policy, giving players more information when we take action against their account and providing an opportunity to change their ways. For more on why we’ve introduced this new policy, see this article: Sea of Thieves Enforcement Policy Update[www.seaofthieves.com].
  
• Players who are currently suspended or banned from Sea of Thieves will now be shown their account status when attempting to log in to the game. This shows any current enforcement, time remaining for players temporarily suspended and a QR code directing players to the Sea of Thieves website where they can view further information.
  
• Players navigating to the Sea of Thieves website will now also see their account status, along with the number of points currently on their account.

Disrupting Stream Sniping

• Improvements have been made behind the scenes to further protect our players, including creators, well-known community members and anyone who is vulnerable, by disrupting techniques used by people with malicious intent to search for specific players on the seas.

Detection Improvements for Ban Evasion

• Further detection improvements continue to roll out behind the scenes targeting players who evade game bans to regain access to Sea of Thieves. These improvements will continue to be deployed in phases to systematically crack down on banned players and prevent them from returning to the seas.

Gameplay

• An issue causing all tutorial notifications to be reshown to players has now been resolved. Players who have previously completed the criteria for clearing a tutorial will no longer be shown these in future sessions.
  
• Players using the blowpipe should now only be shown the dart switch tutorial until the action is performed, or until the tutorial is shown three times which will hide it for future sessions.
  
• ‘The Legend of Monkey Island’ – Players should no longer be able to leave their Sloop or Brigantine and return to the islands in these Tall Tales while travelling through the Tunnels of the Damned.
  
• The Lightbearer Pistol has had its aiming improved to ensure shots now align with the tip of the iron sights.
  
• Seagulls appearing alongside vessels sailing the seas will now consistently follow the ship for a short while before moving on.

Performance and Stability

• Players on PC should no longer find their DirectX Shader Cache becomes stuck in size, leading to client performance issues.
  
• Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.

Sea of Thieves: Premium Edition

• Players who purchased the Premium Edition of the game should now find the intended Dire Dark Warsmith items in their various Customisation Chests.

The Hunter’s Call

• Hunter’s Call resources can now be picked up later if they were bought in a previous session and not collected.
  
• The Merchant Alliance no longer sell or buy Bait Crates and have passed responsibility to The Hunter’s Call, preventing players from purchasing and then reselling crates on the same island.
  
• The Hunter’s Call Voyage tab now displays icons for all related Voyages.
  
• The Hunter’s Call motto has been updated on the Quest Table.

Hunting Spear

• Players can no longer interact with a ship’s ladder while throwing to duplicate their stock of hunting spears.
  
• Aiming the hunting spear while sprinting will now apply the intended movement slowdown.
  
• Hunting spears fired into damaged areas of a ship will consistently display the correct water effects and sounds.
  
• Spears fired from island cannons should no longer become stuck in the surrounding environment.
  
• Attempting to pick up items from a Collector’s Chest while holding a hunting spear will no longer cause the item to disappear.
  
• Hunting Spears can now be sold to The Reaper’s Bones.
  
• Spears dropped on the ship no longer trigger the ‘Treasure Aboard Ship’ notification.
  
• The audio effects for removing a spear from a ship’s hull now loops as intended when cancelling and quickly restarting the action.
  
• Releasing or cancelling a spear throw when entering the water now consistently shows the intended throw animations.
  
• Pirates aiming a spear and jumping into deep water will now continue to appear aiming.
  
• Hunting spears now produce a splash visual effect when thrown into the water.

Fishing Voyages

• If a player dies while holding a caught fish, Treasured Fish now drop on the ground, while regular fish are added to the player’s inventory if space is available.
  
• Fish still on a fishing rod no longer disappear should the player die.
  
• Frenzy fishing spots should no longer be seen inside the ship when anchoring nearby.

Ancient Megalodons

• Crews engaging an Ancient Megalodon will now consistently hear the appropriate encounter music.
  
• Crews will now progress the Helm of Sea Beast Battles Commendation when defeating Ancient Megalodons.

Environment

• Chests placed on the lifts at Skeleton Camps will now rest properly and not appear to be floating.
  
• ‘The Lair of LeChuck’ – Players should no longer be able to get underneath the island at various locations.
  
• ‘Captains of the Damned’ – Players are now prevented from using a Grapple Gun to reach unintended areas of the environment.

Visual and Audio

• The Regal Duke Flag now displays correctly when equipped on a Brigantine.
  
• Pigs wearing outfits now appear correctly when viewed at all distances.
  
• During the Maiden Voyage, the Pirate Lord now appears at the intended brightness when arriving on the player’s ship.
  
• Players equipping the Weighty Lower Body parts of the Skeleton Curse should now appear correctly when performing emotes.
  
• Defeating any island animal will now consistently show the appropriate death animation.
  
• The ship’s lantern near the wheel continues to emit light when moving to various locations around the stern.
  
• Firing the Radiant Comet Blunderbuss no longer allows players to see through the stock during the weapon’s recoil.
  
• The Magpie’s Glory Pocket Watch thumbnail now displays the dial in the correct orientation.
  
• Players’ hands no longer intersect with the Beachcomber’s Bounty Wheel when sailing.
  
• Players performing the Cut the Cake Emote can no longer push the camera inside the barrel.
  
• The Fates of Fortune Eye of Reach scope now appears correctly while reloading.
  
• Pirates of all body sizes now grip the Lucky Hand Double Barrel Pistol correctly.

Text and Localisation

• Improvements have been made to the Fishing Voyage Map to address overlapping text across a range of languages.
  
• The Sovereigns’ tutorial now provides accurate information about the value of selling food at Seaposts.
  
• ‘The Journey to Mêlée Island’ – French text in the Quest Book for this Tall Tale now displays correctly without overlapping.
  
• ‘The Journey to Mêlée Island’ – Overlapping text issues in Stan’s Sales Ledger have been resolved.
  
• ‘The Quest for Guybrush’ – Text within the Quest Book has been improved to address overlapping text in Japanese, Russian and Polish.
  
• ‘The Lair of LeChuck’ – Text within the Quest Book has been improved to address overlapping text for Simplified and Traditional Chinese, Thai, French and Italian languages.

Ship Resources

• Resource Barrels released from a sunken vessel will no longer float to the surface and will currently remain underwater. However, the resources can still be retrieved from these barrels while underwater.

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[support.seaofthieves.com].

Download Size:

• Steam: 2.2 GB

March has always been a big month for Sea of Thieves due to it being the time of our anniversary. It was all the way back in March 2018 when our pirate playground first opened its doors to players, and every year since, we’ve tried to make the moment feel special. So read on, dear Steam user, to find out all about how we chose to mark this momentous occasion…

There was no shortage of things to do throughout the anniversary period this year, from a Seventh Anniversary Celebration[www.seaofthieves.com] in-game Event offering rewards of cosmetics, gold and even Ancient Coins, to three new 2025 Editions of the game and of course a full-blown Season 15 Community Weekend[x.com]! We even had a crossover moment[x.com] with Microsoft Casual Games – bet you didn’t see that one coming.

It wasn’t all anniversary delights either. No matter what else was going on, we weren’t about to zip through March without a monthly game update[www.seaofthieves.com] continuing the delivery of Season 15 content. This update added the hunting spear – a new throwable weapon perfect for tackling the aggressive wildlife (and aggressive pirates) of the Sea of Thieves – and an eruption of ambient fauna including ship-following seagulls, lizards[x.com], bats and jellyfish[www.instagram.com]. How many have you managed to find out there on the waves?

After a cheeky BAFTA nomination[x.com] to start the month, our This Month in SoT[www.seaofthieves.com] article arrived to announce the calendar of anniversary festivities, and was followed by our very own Head of Community and Comms spilling the beans[www.seaofthieves.com] on what to expect from Season 15 Community Weekend. The community focus also had us in the mood for some more Spotlight goodness, two of which appeared in March: a Community Spotlight on face cataloguer Hans Sprungfild[www.seaofthieves.com] and a Creator Spotlight on VTuber and Stream Team member Róisín[www.seaofthieves.com]!

Once Community Weekend was done and dusted[x.com], it was full speed ahead into March’s content update and a new State of Play[www.seaofthieves.com] post from Production Director Drew to fill you in on priorities moving forwards. But until the month was over, the anniversary shenanigans were not officially done, and we closed things out with some Xbox collaborations including anniversary merch[x.com] in the Xbox Gear Shop, a new Perk[www.instagram.com] for Game Pass Ultimate players and a Sweepstakes competition for a very special controller[rewards.bing.com]! Get your entries in now (but please mind the teeth).

It’ll come as no surprise that our Video team spent a busy March delivering Sea of Thieves News, a content update trailer, a showcase of our latest – fatefully familiar – Pirate Emporium offerings, and all the other things that accompany a monthly update. Drew also stopped by to film his latest Developer Update, which took particular note of some important changes to our enforcement policies.

There were, of course, anniversary-specific things to enjoy too. The official soundtrack got a thematic addition in the form of ‘Happy Birthday’[x.com], while a handy explainer video filled in all the details about the new 2025 Editions of the game. And naturally, we couldn’t let such a momentous Community Weekend pass without a Community team livestream[www.twitch.tv], which is well worth a watch if you want to know what kind of unhinged mischief the team gets into when they’re left unattended in the office on a Saturday…

Celebrations always put us in a giving mood, so it’s little wonder that March rolled out a Community Hub update[www.instagram.com], a round of Mighty Megalodon[www.instagram.com] #SoTShot winners, some high-spirited Event rewards[www.tiktok.com] and even the mysterious Title[x.com] that everyone was talking about. Don’t ask us, we just work here[www.tiktok.com]. Community Weekend alone was packed with little delights[x.com] (and Twitch Drops including Obsidian beauties[www.instagram.com] unlocked by smashing the cumulative community goal).

With it being anniversary time, many of our monthly musing threads encouraged you to look back[x.com] on the last seven years[x.com]. But it wasn’t all about distant memories, as the wild delights[x.com] of Season 15 were plentiful [www.instagram.com]and invited some burning questions[x.com] – it was impossible to deny there were some hot Megs[www.tiktok.com] and an electric atmosphere[www.tiktok.com] out there. After that, introducing a crewmate or two[www.tiktok.com] and sharing a cronchy banana[www.tiktok.com] seemed like a good way to round things off as we awaited the adventures April would bring.

March was a month filled with celebrations and community goodness, and it was a pleasure to have you all along for the ride – here's to you[x.com]! Time for us to get back to rolling out April’s updates and adventures, but until we see you back here next time, you can always find us in the usual places: Twitter/X, Bluesky[bsky.app], Facebook[www.facebook.com], Instagram[www.instagram.com], TikTok[www.tiktok.com], YouTube, Twitch[twitch.tv], the official Forums[www.seaofthieves.com] and Discord[www.discord.gg]. Otherwise, that’s it from us and we’ll leave you in Steve’s capable hands[www.tiktok.com]. Good luck!

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Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2025
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2025

As we sail on into April, there are new and exciting opportunities in store for pirates all across the Sea of Thieves. From treasure-filled Mega Stashes to a game update bristling with fresh challenges, it’s another action-packed month for seekers of fortune. Read on…

Sails of Woven Wonders – Tuesday, April 8th – Tuesday, April 15th

In the spirit of a Southern Gothic folktale unfolding this month in a distant world, these elegant midnight-blue sails can be claimed for free by anyone who plays Sea of Thieves between April 8th and 15th. Find them in your Ship Customisation Chest and weave new tales as you set sail!

Players who picked up the X Edition of Sea of Thieves will get a special variant of their own, as they find the Misted Sails of Woven Wonders retroactively added to this edition’s cache of extras…

Pirate Emporium Spring Sale – Wednesday, April 16th – Tuesday, April 22nd

Spring has arrived on the Sea of Thieves, bringing a Pirate Emporium sale packed with a vibrant selection of ship sets, costumes, weapons and emotes! Celebrate growth and nature as you wrap your deck in the Mandrake ship set, slip into the Paradise Garden Costume or arm yourself with Beachcomber’s Bounty weapons – all these and more available at healthy discounts.

If you want to be more expressive, expand on your emotes with the Oar-Inspiring and Secret Coconut Emote Bundles. For those seeking a major makeover, the Pirate Appearance Potion is on sale too!

Mega Stashes Event – Thursday, April 17th – Thursday, April 24th

During the Mega Stashes Event, setting sail for Skeleton Forts and clearing them out could lead to even greater rewards. Daring pirates have a chance to uncover Ashen Mega Stashes down in the Vaults – a hoard fit for even the most seasoned treasure hunter. And if you want a memento of your time robbing the skellies’ stashes, conquer enough Skeleton Forts during this Event and you’ll be rewarded with the magnificent Stash Seeker’s Moustache!

‘The Great Meg Chase’ Release – Friday, April 18th

A thrilling new addition breaks the surface to become part of the Sea of Thieves soundtrack! ‘The Great Meg Chase’ will be available to stream on Spotify or the streaming service of your choice from April 18th, bringing the pulse-pounding tension of a Megalodon pursuit straight to your playlist.

April Monthly Update – Thursday, April 24th

The final instalment of Season 15 brings even more adventures to those who sail for The Hunter’s Call. While the seas teem with new life, there are fresh encounters to be had on land too as wild boars now roam the islands!

These scrappy scavengers hoard treasure in their wallows, but if threatened they won’t hesitate to defend their turf with razor-sharp tusks. You may well run into boars while out on your adventures, and The Hunter’s Call will challenge you to track them down as part of additional Company Voyages. The same goes for Megalodons, with Voyages targeting these legendary sea monsters also added to the roster in April. Be ready for a fight!

Twitch Drops – Friday, April 25th – Monday, April 28th

Fancy ending the month with some extra rewards? This set of Twitch Drops allows you to tune in and claim the Stormy Sea Dog Bucket and Drum, Stalwart Sea Dog Cutlass, Seasoned Sailor Rapier and Rising Morningstar Eyepatch.

Drops are available by linking your accounts[www.seaofthieves.com] and watching any Sea of Thieves Partner on Twitch for the required amount of time. If you’re not sure who to watch, check our Partner Directory[www.seaofthieves.com] to see who’s online and available to tune in to once those Drops go live!

Hunting Spear Rewards

• With the hunting spear duplication issues now resolved, cashing in a hunting spear at The Hunter’s Call once again awards the originally intended amount of reputation and gold.

Performance Monitoring

• Following reports of a performance regression with March’s game update, this hotfix includes improvements to performance monitoring behind the scenes to aid in the investigation of these issues.

Hunting Spear

• Players can no longer use various methods to duplicate their stock of hunting spears.
  
• After throwing a hunting spear, players can now quickly switch to another weapon or item and aim as intended.
  
• While holding a hunting spear, attempting to retrieve items from a Treasure Chest should no longer cause the item to disappear.
  
• Using a quick tapping method to repeatedly throw hunting spears should no longer cause the next throw to become stuck.
  
• Jumping while aiming a hunting spear will no longer cause the pirate’s aiming animations to snap.

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[support.seaofthieves.com].

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

Download Size:

• Steam: 1.3 GB

Calling all Guardians! Yesterday's update brought the latest content update to Sea of Thieves, and with it, some radiant new additions to the Pirate Emporium – Lightbearer items, inspired by the world and characters of Destiny!

Whether your pirate is as silent as a Hunter, mighty as a Titan or wise as a Warlock, they’ll find a ship set to suit their style, complete with Collector’s cosmetics and a Ship’s Crest. An array of matching weapons and a costume set to round out the range ensures you’ll be ready to take on whatever otherworldly foes may stand in your way.

You can check out the trailer below to see the full Lightbearer assortment, and then visit the Pirate Emporium to gear up and get ready for battle – the seas are counting on you!

Heed the call in Season 15, which brings a wealth of new incentives to The Hunter’s Call while introducing new wildlife both harmless and hostile. For an overview of the fierce features due to roll out over the course of this Season, head to our dedicated Season 15 page[www.seaofthieves.com]!

Hunting Spear

• Players can now wield trusty hunting spears which can be aimed and thrown, dealing damage to roaming wildlife and other players alike. Spears can also be retrieved when embedded in a solid surface and thrown again.
  
• Hunting spears can even be loaded into a ship’s cannons for extra power and fired at players or other ships. When fired into a ship, the spear will lodge in the hull, causing a small damage hole. Removing it will increase the hole size, so be prepared to repair!
  
• Hunting parties looking to stock up their ship should visit The Hunter’s Call representatives, who will sell hunting spears up to a limit of five. Hunting spears can also be discovered washed up on shores, within shipwrecks and among the rewards earned when defeating Skeleton Ships.

Ambient Wildlife

• While sailing the open seas, crews may now find they are joined by seagulls who fly alongside the ship as it sails. These birds will disperse if they sense danger!
  
• While out exploring islands, players may now stumble upon small lizards basking in the daytime sun.
  
• Crews creeping into a dark cave may disturb a flock of bats, who will promptly flee from their hiding spot.
  
• Players exploring the shallows near islands may now come face to face with a smack of jellyfish. While these floating jellies may seem threatening, fear not, they’re harmless!

Wild Seas Commendations and Rewards

• With the introduction of the hunting spear, new Commendations have been added within the Reputation tab to challenge aspiring hunters. Explore the new challenges under Wild Seas to unlock exotic wildlife-themed weapons.

Fishing Voyage Improvements

• The Fishing Maps provided on Captain’s Fishing Voyages now provide crews with only a partial piece of the island near the fishing location, making it more of a challenge to locate the fishing spots.
  
• Crews on a Fishing Voyage will no longer find they are attacked by emergent threats on the island with the fishing spots.

Ancient Megalodon Balancing

• The Feared Redmaw and Barnacled Dread now take reduced damage from a blowpipe’s Poison Dart.

Performance Improvements

• The Sloop, Brigantine and Galleon have been rebuilt behind the scenes, breaking up each ship into smaller parts, allowing them to be loaded in sections by the server. This work will provide server performance improvements when ships are created at the start of a session, in addition to ships arriving on a server after diving or naturally through server migration.
  
• Performance optimisations have been made to Storage Crates and Resource Barrels, addressing spikes in framerate when repeatedly interacting with their inventories over longer sessions.
  
• Performance improvements have been made to the way treasure items floating in water are managed across the server.
  
• Further performance improvements have been made to how Trinkets are loaded when approaching Captained ships. Trinkets are now gradually loaded in over time and will only fully load when much closer to the ship, further reducing the performance impact when approaching ships at sea.
  
• A new management system is now in operation on the server, controlling the activation of certain events and encounters to ensure that the server has the necessary resources to safely operate the activity. Encounters with an emergent Megalodon are now controlled by this system, with further events to follow in future updates.
  
• In addition to the above areas, this update includes a range of smaller optimisations to game performance that provide improvements across the broader experience.
  
• Players navigating to Frame Rate Lock within the Video settings will now find supporting information clearly advising them to lock their frame rate for a more consistent experience.

Lifting Outpost Trap Restrictions

• Traps can now be placed in and around the Outpost taverns, allowing crews to lie in wait for unsuspecting players.
  
• Players triggering a nearby trap when arriving in the tavern at the start of their game session will remain unharmed and not suffer damage while ‘waking up’.

Grapple Gun Animations

• Players grappling to a location will now have a unique animation, showing their pirate flailing as they’re pulled through the air.

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[www.seaofthieves.com] to browse and buy the latest additions!

New Items – Now in Stock!

• Lightbearer Ship Collection and Ship’s Crest
  
• Lightbearer Weapon Bundle
  
• Lightbearer Costume Set
  
• Mighty Lightbearer Flag, Hull, Collector’s Figurehead and Collector’s Sails
  
• Silent Lightbearer Flag, Hull, Collector’s Figurehead and Collector’s Sails
  
• Wise Lightbearer Flag, Hull, Collector’s Figurehead and Collector’s Sails
  
• Gold Curse Toucan
  
• Dire Dark Warsmith Weapons: Double Barrel Pistol, Throwing Knives, Grapple Gun and Blowpipe
  
• Pet Pig Outfits: Sovereign, Bilge Rat, Sea Dog, Pirate Legend and Ghost
  
• Over Here! Emote (free!)

New Outpost Stock!

• The Outposts now stock equipment, instruments and a range of weapons from the Azure Scout set, available for purchase at their respective shops.
  
• The Legendary Heavy Sword and Rapier are now available for Legends to purchase from the Pirate Legend Hideout.

Pirate Emporium Browsing

• When browsing bundles within the Pirate Emporium, players can now navigate directly to the ‘Browse All’ menu from a shortcut at the bottom of the screen.

Emetophobia Support

• Players who suffer from emetophobia (fear of vomit/vomiting) can now turn off all vomit-related audio effects from the Audio settings, including sounds made by players and pets.

Gameplay

• Players grappling to a ship’s ladder should no longer find themselves temporarily appearing in a different location.
  
• Items dropped in various areas of Siren Shrines and Treasuries will no longer float up to unreachable locations.
  
• Items dropped into shallow pools on islands will now float properly instead of hovering high above the surface.
  
• Reaper’s Chests hidden within shipwrecks will once again show their tell-tale beacon from across the seas, and no longer require a crew to approach before they become visible.
  
• All blowpipes have been reviewed and their aiming improved to ensure shots now align with the tip of the blowpipe when fired.
  
• Players can no longer grapple treasure through the open storeroom windows of Sea Forts.
  
• Tall Tale items from locations within the Sea of the Damned can no longer be brought back to the Sea of Thieves.
  
• Melee attacks from a throwing knife below the deck of the ship should no longer appear to hit an invisible surface in various locations.
  
• The Dance Off Danger Commendation will now progress when players use a Bone Caller to target Obsidian Skeletons.

The Hunter’s Call Trading Company

• Captains can now place up to five Banner of the Hunter and Merrick Shipmate Trinkets on their ship once unlocked.
  
• The Orb of Secrets can now be sold to The Hunter’s Call for the same price as other Trading Companies.
  
• Hunter’s Call treasure sold to The Reaper’s Bones no longer increases progress towards Call of the Hunter Commendations.

Fishing Voyages

• Treasured Fish can now be grappled out of other players’ hands.
  
• Players with a Treasured Fish on their line should no longer see the fish reappear in the water when crouching or swapping items before retrieving it.
  
• The fishing spots at Isle of Last Words have been moved further away from the shore to ensure crews can fish successfully.
  
• Treasured Fish now move naturally when swimming towards the fishing float.
  
• Frenzied fishing spots now fade away once all fish are caught and a Voyage is completed.
  
• Fishing spot visual effects no longer appear inside the ship’s hull if the ship stops on the fishing spot.

Ancient Megalodons

• Commendation progress for defeating Ancient Megalodons is now awarded to all crews participating in the encounter by dealing damage, not just the crew that lands the final hit.
  
• While attacks by Ancient Megalodons can occasionally overturn a ship, the frequency of this occurrence has now been reduced.
  
• Ancient Megalodons should now be able to navigate smoothly around the Fort of the Dammed.
  
• Defeating an Ancient Megalodon will now be recorded in the Captain’s Logbook.
  
• Firing a Grapple Gun at the Barnacled Dread will no longer cause the tether to attach to a distant location.
  
• Crews can now progress the Who Needs a Bigger Boat? Commendation when attacking an Ancient Megalodon with a Cannon Rowboat.
  
• Captains defeating an Ancient Megalodon will now progress The Feared Pirate Milestones and Ship Milestones.
  
• Crews defeating an Ancient Megalodon should now consistently find the Hunter of the Feared Redmaw and Hunter of the Barnacled Dread Commendations progress correctly.

Pet Pigs

• Players stroking a pig while jumping will now appear to stroke the pig correctly after landing and the pig will remain in the correct position.
  
• The nameplate for a pet pig will now be shown above the pig.
  
• A pet pig’s shadow will now be shown when holding it.

Performance and Stability

• Crews performing multiple server migrations during a single session should no longer experience rubberbanding and server desync.
  
• Further improvements have been made to game stability to reduce scenarios where players unexpectedly exit the game or become disconnected from their session.

User Interface

• Players who were previously unable to save changes to their game settings should now find that these are saved consistently when leaving a session, and no longer need to be changed at the start of a new session.
  
• Players attempting to open their game settings and the Quest Table at the same time should no longer become stuck.
  
• Using the back button while navigating the Pet Chest with a virtual keyboard on consoles will no longer cause the menu to become stuck, preventing further input.
  
• Browsing many pages of the spotlighted sections in the Pirate Emporium will no longer cause the menu to become unresponsive.
  
• In multiple areas of the experience where a player’s gamertag is shown within a menu, a shortcut button can now be used to summon the player profile on supported platforms.
  
• Switching pirates within the pirate selection screen on the front end should no longer cause the lighting to flicker.

Visual and Audio

• Players using the ship’s wheel on a Brigantine will no longer have their game chat muffled when speaking.
  
• Multiple crews gathering to join the Legend of Glitterbeard will now find the visual effects light consistently with the music.
  
• Players using a disguise while wearing a Curse with visual effects will no longer find those effects give away their disguise by appearing briefly when other players approach.
  
• Players wearing a Stately Shirt should now find that all hairstyles appear correctly.
  
• Players with tattoos wearing a Stately Shirt should now find the tattoos appear correctly.
  
• Previewing a disguise within the Vanity Chest now correctly shows the pirate inside the disguise.
  
• The Dreamers’ Dust Costume has regained its visual effects.
  
• The Hidden in Plain Sight and Be Alluring to Get Ahead Trophies are now correctly sized and positioned when previewed in the shipwright’s shop or a player’s Trinket collection.
  
• Switching from crouching to standing while holding a fishing rod will no longer cause the rod to momentarily appear in the middle of the screen.
  
• The Baleful Bloom Costume now fits correctly on pirates of all body sizes.
  
• The belt of the Dark Adventurers Jacket no longer merges through the pirate when performing emotes.
  
• Players performing the Swashbuckling Story Emote should now correctly see the sword.
  
• Further improvements have been made to a range of existing hairstyles, ensuring they remain visible when wearing certain costumes.
  
• The Party Boat Jacket and Gloves now appear correctly on pirates of all body sizes.
  
• Players wearing Carla’s Costume should now find the medallion appears correctly on pirates of all body sizes.
  
• During the Ritual of the Flame sequence, the liquid in the chalice will now drain correctly.
  
• During the Ritual of the Flame sequence, glowing eyes will no longer be visible on the skeleton during the transition.
  
• The Pirate Lord now displays the correct visual effects when banging his staff during tutorial sequences.
  
• The lower jaw of the Obsidian Ashen Winds Skull now shows the correct material when being fired.
  
• Players using a disguise while wearing the Burning Eyepatch of the Ashen Dragon should no longer see visual effects floating above the disguise when moving.
  
• Glint effects on nearby treasure now appear consistently when moving in and out of range.
  
• After a Skeleton Fort Key is inserted into the Vault door, it will no longer appear to float in the air.
  
• Players wearing the Intrepid Explorer Jacket now appear correctly when performing a range of emotes.
  
• Crews equipping the Fog-Piercing Frog Lantern will now find the visual effects appear correctly after diving.
  
• Performing the Scrappy Weapon Pose or Menacing Weapon Pose Emote with a blowpipe should now trigger the correct emote.
  
• The flowers on Forest’s Blessing Costumes are no longer affected by nearby storms.
  
• The Ghost Ship’s Crest now appears correctly in the Ship Customisation Chest preview.

Environment

• All Skeleton Vaults have received a polish pass, ensuring their contents are completely hidden from the outside and the cracks in the flooring blend with the environment.
  
• Mercy’s End Fortress now has an Armoury for players to change their loadout.
  
• Players making their way onto a Skeleton Sloop will now find they can safely navigate the ship without hitting invisible surfaces.
  
• Walking into skeletons found deep within The Reaper’s Lair should no longer cause the player’s camera to stutter.
  
• When descending to the Shrine of Flooded Embrace, players should no longer find they can pass through certain doors before they are unlocked.

Text and Localisation

• After players dive to and complete a Raid Voyage for The Hunter’s Call, the Captain’s Logbook will now correctly record the arrival location instead of always displaying Discovery Ridge.

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[support.seaofthieves.com].

Download Size:

• Steam: 2.9 GB

Roll up, roll up, another Community Weekend has appeared on the horizon! Season 15’s will be a special anniversary affair, acting as the final fanfare of activities and celebrations for Sea of Thieves’ seventh circling of the sun.

Did you know the first of these Community Events was 10 whole Seasons ago, with Season Five’s Community Day? We’ve come a long way since then, with more reward boosts, Pop-Up Plunder maps, special Voyages and Community Goals than you can shake a stick at! But one thing’s remained, and that’s our aim of using these Events to show our appreciation for all the ways that you, our wonderful community, breathe life into the Sea of Thieves.

So as our twelfth Community celebration approaches, we’re all incredibly excited about the features, freebies and fun on offer during this period. And as is now customary, we’re writing an article about it so we can provide all the hot info on what to expect. Let’s get into it…

…but just before we do, it would be remiss of us not to mention that this Community Weekend begins immediately after our Seventh Anniversary Celebration Event – which, if you missed the memo[www.seaofthieves.com], is a bumper celebration of memorable moments that began on Friday, March 14th. Act fast and you can still dive in to claim your Voyages of Luck and cosmetic rewards from completed Community Goals.

One more note on these anniversary celebrations: you might’ve seen some surprising sweet treats slink their way onto the Sea of Thieves servers of late. These particular patisserie-pioneered items will be sticking around until Monday, March 24th. You’ve still got time to seek them and see what secret they unveil…

Hot on the heels of the Anniversary Celebration Event, Community Weekend kicks off from Saturday, March 22nd (11am UTC), running for a full 48 hours and finishing on Monday, March 24th (11am UTC).

Your login bonuses this time around are the Golden Sailor Hull and the blue-and-yellow Season 15 Community Weekend Flag, which pair very nicely together – and yes, we did plan that on purpose, you’re welcome. The flag will also be present on our themed Picture Walls present at the Outposts. However, this time out, there will also be another Picture Wall on the map – not at an Outpost, but another hand-in hotspot – and it won’t quite look the same as the others, given who’s architected it…

We'll also be sweetening the pot for players with this particular Community Weekend, given the occasion: any rewards unlocked during the Anniversary Celebration Event will also be available to pirates diving into Sea of Thieves during Community Weekend, who will have them added to their inventories when they log in. In short, that means there are stonks of sweet items up for grabs! Which would make you a fool not to swing by for some seafaring shenanigans.

To raise the Community Emissary Grade during Community Weekend, pirates are once again tasked with watching Twitch to multiply the in-game generosity, with total watch time powering Grade progress. All you need to do to help raise the Grade – and thus increase in-game rewards – is watch any of your favourite content creators in the Sea of Thieves category[www.twitch.tv] on Twitch between Saturday, March 22nd and Monday, March 24th (11am UTC).

We’ll also be hosting a special Saturday stream on the Sea of Thieves Twitch channel[www.twitch.tv], and every minute watched there will also contribute to the Community Emissary Grade! So make sure you tune in, if you can – we’ll be taking the Compass of Chaos[www.seaofthieves.com] for a spin, and who knows where it might take us.

Every time the Community Emissary Grade levels up, so does the boost to gold, reputation, Seasonal Renown, Allegiance and Guild Reputation for everyone – with the top Grade offering two-and-a-half times the rewards for your work. These multipliers affect High Seas sailors only, so make sure you plan accordingly!

Although merely watching Sea of Thieves creators do what they do best is a reward in itself, we also have a range of Twitch Drops for folks tuning in, with the Seasoned Sailor Heavy Sword, Seasoned Sailor Eye of Reach, Eastern Winds Ruby Pegleg and Eastern Winds Ruby Trousers all on offer to those who spend a chunk of time watching Sea of Thieves creators over the weekend.

Not only that, but if a special cumulative Community Goal is met during Community Weekend – an ambitious total number of World Events dived to and completed – then from Monday, March 24th to Monday, March 31st (10am UTC), players will be able to score not one, but two precious Obsidian items as further Twitch Drops!

If unlocked, the Obsidian Captain’s Chair will be the brand new Drop on offer that week, and given the extra-special nature of our anniversary activities we’d bring back the Obsidian Ship’s Crest as a bonus Drop running alongside it. Just as long as you smash that all-important shared Community Goal, of course…

Our quizzical, time-limited, social media-based loot roulette shenanigans are back for Season 15 Community Weekend! We’ve picked some significant islands in tribute to our seven years of history, but stay tuned to our social channels for clues on where exactly we’ve buried these tantalising treasures on the High Seas. Each dig spot will be live for one hour only, so you’ll be racing against time – and other crews – to make sure you’re first to the loot location. Good luck, pirates!

As is customary on Community Weekend, we’ll be bestowing both love and rewards upon some unsung heroes of our player base. These fine folks will be honoured with the Hat of Unfeasibly Glorious Fame – a rare, funny hat worn by the cream of our pirate crop.

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 for less specific but no less worthy reasons, we’ll take nominations all the way up to, and during, the weekend. 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 such as Twitter/X, Facebook [www.facebook.com]and Instagram [www.instagram.com]with the #BeMorePirate tag.

As we confirmed last time out, we’re taking submissions on Bluesky too – so if you’re over there and would like to suggest a Hat recipient, please do so with the #BeMorePirate hashtag and aim it at the https://bsky.app/profile/seaofthieves.com account.

There’s no better time to jump into (or back into) Sea of Thieves than a good-vibes, big-gains event like Community Weekend, so make sure you seize the day – or the weekend – and hit the waves for a whole lot of fun. We’ll see you then!

Mark seven years on the seas with Community Goals charting Sea of Thieves' history, free Voyages of Luck, cosmetics to earn including the High-Spirited Spin Emote and Golden Sailor Cannon Flare, and more! Navigate to the Events Page in the Pirate Log tab to learn more.