09/04 News Hoard
Adventure Mode Q&A & More
This has been an exciting week for Sea of Thieves news, with a Forum Q&A about the future of Adventure Mode, alongside the usual Weekly Dev Stream and Developer Update. There are big developments brewing on the seas, so read on for a summary of all the important tidbits.
Don’t Forget- the Dark Relics monthly event ends on September 11th
CHECK OUT our Guide to commendations and rewards before it’s too late!
Weekly Stream — Shores of Gold
This week the stream host is Jon McFarlane and along with Design Lead Andy Preston and Designer George Orton they are joined by guest Dan Vaecon to take on the final Tall Tale of the Shores of Gold campaign.
@ 9:25: On the topic of pets…
Pets are definitely coming next update. Cats will not be part of the initial delivery of pets.
@ 25:55: Designing Tribute Peak…
George Orton led a D&D style session based on the surface of Tribute Peak to help give the designers an idea of what the island would be like.
@ 26:45: Is there a reason to go back to Tribute Peak?
Chat asks about a question from the Q&A session regarding giving Pirate Legends a reason to go back to Tribute Peak. Andy Preston responds by explaining that they are looking to refresh the voyages at some point, the current thinking is around what those voyages could be, and they’ve got some awesome new areas in the world that they would like to make further use of.
@ 38:00: What inspired the design of Tribute Peak?
Vaecon asks about the design of Tribute Peak. Andy says that it is in part due to the vaults and interior/subterranean sections of the islands, but also because they were future-proofing the island, they don’t intend for it to just be used for this singular Tale. That thought was firmly in the back of their minds. They wanted players to feel awe and stature as well.
@ 47:00: Vault Iteration and difficulty balancing
Iterations on the Gold Hoarder ‘Key’ vault to make the answer more readable.
@ ??: Check out Andy’s Instagram at Keeyaaaa.
@ 50:00: George’s favourite vault is the spike trap vault. It was designed by Anthony Diggel(?), and he really liked the simplicity of it.
@ 52:50: Will there be more Tall Tales?
“Hell yeah there’ll be more Tall Tales.” They are working on them now. Current Tall Tales will never go away.
@ 1:11:40: The design was different in the statue but was changed late, can’t say why..
@ 1:13:30: Checkpoints were also added really late too but they felt it was essential for the experience.
@ 1:16:35: “This was called the dark room” (the room with all the parkouring)
@ 1:22:05: Will there be more parkour/platforming in the future?
With a sigh, Andy confirms, “We’ve got some interesting plans, let’s just say that”
@ 1:23:11: They tried to put Gold Skellies in the subterranean part of Shores of Gold but they couldn’t fix a bug with them before they had to ship the update. This is due to them spawning below sea-level. Spawn rate for the skellies is also not supposed to be infinite.
@ 1:32:25: The Skeleton Lords were supposed to eat meat, not bananas, but they ran out of time.
@ 1:38:48: Will the Skeleton Lords ever have Health Bars?
Health bars will be added but not in the traditional sense for Skeleton Lords. They are trying to think of ways to visually show how much health is left.
@ 1:47:50: Any hints for unconfirmed content coming in the September Update?
Chat asked for some hints for stuff coming in the September update besides what has been announced. Jon responds with “some stuff for the Arena”.
@ 1:51:30: They defeat the Gold Hoarder!
@ 1:59:10: Will there be more Curses?
More Curses confirmed to be coming.
@ 1:59:45: On the topic of Curses…
Curses are designed specifically for Tall Tales. Positioned as one of the higher level rewards.
@ 2:10:10: Next week’s Weekly Stream will be something special that will be announced this Wednesday. UPDATE The next Weekly Stream will be on Monday instead of Tuesday and it will be a rundown/showcase of what is coming in the September 12th Update, Smuggler’s Fortune.
09/04 Developer Update
A shorter than usual Developer Update this week, in it Executive Producer Joe Neate covers the upcoming update and San Diego Twitchcon.
A reminder that the new update will be coming next week (September 11th), so wrap up any loose commendations for Dark Relics.
Check out our GUIDE TO DARK RELICS before the event ends!
Joe confirms the content of next week’s Weekly Stream. They will be digging into the content coming with Smuggler’s Fortune.
Talks a little bit more about Creator Crew, they plan to discuss more in depth about this in a few weeks time, but a prominent question they are getting is about the types of Creators it is intended for. At launch it will be for Creators who stream or create video content but they want to expand that to include other forms of created content as well.
Sea of Thieves will have a presence at San Diego Twitchcon. Joe Neate, Jon McFarlane and a few other members of the teams will be there, and they plan on doing a panel which they will give more details about nearer the time.
Woof!
Adventure Mode Q&A
On Monday September 2nd, Rare hosted a Q&A on the official Sea of Thieves forum based around Adventure Mode, Executive Produce Joe Neate, Design Director Mike Chapman, and Art Director Ryan Stevenson were in the hot seat.
We’ve collected the highlights of that thread here and summarised them, but do be sure to check out the full thread in it’s entirety too! https://www.seaofthieves.com/forum/topic/97681/live-q-a-adventure-with-joe-neate-mike-chapman-and-ryan-stevenson-now-finished/31
Q: (Asked by eggamer13) Ahoy Joe, Mike and Ryan
This first year (and a half) for the game, you focused the content a lot to the general public of the game. With this, you made the game a lot easier, including reaching to Pirate Legend. Do you have plans to make Pirate Legends something to fear on the seas again, including new content for PL too?
As a crazy idea, I would love a multi-chapter tall tales exclusive to Pirate Legends. Completing these tales, would not only grant you new customization types for the ship, but also, completing all of them would grant you the “Captain” role. (Aka: Captaincy Update mixed with tall tales).
Mike Chapman: Yes, I mentioned previously in the Tall Tales Q&A that we’re looking to unlock the value from all the mechanics added in the Tall Tales as part of new refreshed Voyages… so, absolutely Pirate Legends will see new Voyages in the future that benefit from this. Perhaps… even a reason to return to the Shores of Gold as one of the first;)
Q: (Asked by justsaiyen93) Will there be a sequel to the Athenas fortune novel?
Mike Chapman: We’re discussing plans for future novels and comics. Lots of interesting plans!
Q: (Asked by rhaps0dy-sky) What happend to random emerging Skeleton Ship encounters?
Are there any plans to reintroduce them to the game and make them and Skeletton Ship battles more rewarding and often?
Joe Neate: in terms of returning; keep an eye out in the next update. In terms of mixing them up a little; definitely some plans for this soon.
Q: (Asked by chronodusk) Will we soon be seeing any new content additions to the Pirate Legend aspect of the game and more Legend exclusive cosmetics? Those of us who are legends have been eager for more things to see, do, and earn that are designed specifically for this most highly engaged part of the player base.
So many AMAZING content updates have come through and enriched the world at the ground level in remarkable ways (bravo to you and your team for this!!) — Could we reasonably expect that we would see some stuff built specifically for Pirate Legends soon — like Legend exclusive Tall Tales, the Pirate Legend Captaincy Update, and the unreleased Ghost cosmetics, etc..?
I always think back about the things Mike would say about Pirate Legends content around launch, and get sad that none of it has come into the game yet.
Mike Chapman: Yes, some of the work we want to do relates to voyages, some is new systems work. We have some exciting plans here but too early to share more.
But what I will say is that we absolutely want to enrich the game for Pirate Legends. While we’ve spent the time up till know deliberately expanding the game for all players, we do want to provide new progression options for our Pirate Legends.
Q: (Asked by watermeloncool) Hey, when I was wondering if we could hear as to when we could be expecting a new set of tall tales. The previous set helped bring my friends to the game and we are eagerly waiting on the next set.
Mike Chapman: Yes! Soon (ish) ;)
Q: (Asked by the-cheesifant) Will there be new shanties soon? I’ve been enjoying the ones we have right now soooo much and would really love to see some more!
Mike Chapman: Agreed. There will be more shanties in the future, including a new one relatively soon that ties into a track we released very recently as it will have some emotional importance to the next set of Tall Tales.
Q: (Asked by xraylexx) People who have been playing the game since launch are amassing large quantities of gold. Are there plans to give more ways to spend your gold? Gold has lost much of its value to some players and the risk element of finding it and trading it in has diminished
Mike Chapman: Yes, in the short term, we’re adding the Black Market as a new way to acquire cosmetics, but there will be much more impactful ways in the future. We totally see the reality of large gold wallets currently, especially for players who already have their favourite cosmetics. We want to add completely new reasons to spend gold that enrich the experience, not just be more cosmetics.
Q: (Asked by fishhook-cook) Will the Creator crew include all types of creators? (YouTubers, cosplayers, propmakers, artists, social media fan pages, musicians etc) or will it focus on streamers?
Joe Neate: We absolutely intend for the creator crew to support all types of content creators, but at its initial launch it’s focused on video. We have some work to do to enable support for creators of other types which we will be working on as soon we launch. Totally understand the question here, we love all of the creativity amongst our community and want to support it all.
Q: (Asked by mechamonkey-mk2) Are there any plans for different coloured bra bandages for the ladies? Please!
Ryan Stevenson: We have lots of new clothing updates be tailored by the team at the moment and yes coloured bra bandages among other things is part of it.
Q: (Asked by mattc2510) Will we learn more about our character and how we came to the Sea of thieves, will there be a story ending to the game?
Mike Chapman: We tried to allude to how you got to the Sea of Thieves in the small opening cutscene where you wake up at the start alongside the map you followed. You will see a far richer opening to the game in the relatively near future that will explain a lot more behind this!
Q: (Asked by baronbrr) Are you planning to add a new region?
There is a large patch of Devils Shroud below the Ancient Isles and they can’t just let that potential be wasted. If its an Ice Region, then I think it would fall between December and January.
Mike Chapman: No plans this year, but exciting potential for the future. I think we’ll want to do something very different next time.
Q: (Asked by mattc2510) Could setting bounties on other players work?
Mike Chapman: We have some exciting thoughts here. In fact, there are small clues in the build right now and more coming soon. Hopefully, you’ll look back in the future and see the foreshadowing!
Q: (Asked by rhaps0dy-sky) Are there any plans to do events that change their outcome based on player actions all over the world?
Like: Stop the dark ritual by bringing back dark relics. Players deliver enough: ritual stopped, if not: ritual goes on and something happens.
Mike Chapman: Yes, we’ve talked about so many ideas like this. I love this approach.
In fact, players help with the Dark Relics has already set in motion a course of events you’ll see start to pay off in October and November.
Q: (Asked by nwo-azcrack) Any plans for new weapons being added in the future?
Mike Chapman: Yes!
Q: (Asked by thehiddengfx) Captaincy (I know) — if Ship Naming/Ownership does happen, have you considered using the commendation system as a reward and unlock system for more prestigeous names you can select from? This would give more value to the commendations at current and give them an expanded purpose.
Mike Chapman: Yes!
Q: (Asked by john-doyle-new) I was wondering if there would be any thought on expanding the melee system for a more fluid block, parry, and basic attack as its rather clunky as is?
Will the Grand Maritime Union see the light of day?
WILL FLAMEHEART MAKES HIS DEBUT THIS MONTH?!
Mike Chapman: Flameheart is resting!
In terms of the GMU, anyone can come through the Devil’s Shroud if they know the route ;)
Q: (Asked by moskitofeuerlol) will we get a festival of the damned 2 this year?
Mike Chapman: Maybe even better! We loved the lantern mechanic and would love to do more! #newandinterestingways
Q: (Asked by cambonez) Will we ever be able to name our ships with a visible placard?
Mike Chapman: Yes!
Q: (Asked by yelmurc) Forts use to be a real hotspot for PVP, I feel like that’s died down a lot since most people don’t need Gold Hoarder, Order of Souls, or Merchant rep as much as they use to. Could you add a barrel to the forts which included several trophy fish for those working on hunters call?
Mike Chapman: Yes, definitely will be refreshing Forts again!
Q: (Asked by lula105) Hello, I’m a Sea of Thieves Insider and I love what I am seeing in the current (build trying not to break NDA) but assuming us Insider are allowed to talk of pets and emotes, what do you plan on adding id you plan to add on anything more to pets and the new emotes at all?
And my 2nd question since I’m a content creator on YouTube, how exactly will you fully integrate creator crew between the game and our progress on the platform of our choosing such as YouTube, Twitch, etc?
Joe Neate: Re pets and emotes: plan is to grow and update what is available on a monthly basis.
Re creator crew: we’ll share more on the exact plans for this in the next couple of weeks.
Q: (Asked by joeismoe) For clothing, is it possible we could get more “general” pirate clothing that doesn’t belong to a set? For example, a bunch of simple pirate hats or hooks or bandanas or whatever that could be mixed and matched with any set to create more variety.
Along with this, there could be things like a Chef hat or apron, items that aren’t part of a set exactly but allow us to create pirates to role play in more ways.
Ryan Stevenson: We are looking at adding in more general pirate clothing and actually have some being worked on right now, we also love the idea of more ways for players to role play as pirates in the world with clothing.
Q: (Asked by pocketomi) Will the Lantern from TT8 or a similar mechanic be used again in the future?
Mike Chapman: Oh yes!
Q: (Asked by youngwarthog88) Will the black market cosmetics be priced high enough to incentivise players to fight over the reapers chests?
Mike Chapman: We believe so, and the doubloon reward from Reaper’s Chests will be going up too…
Q: (Asked by subletty) How often will you add new things to buy in pirate emporium?
Joe Neate: plan is to add to it on a monthly basis, in each monthly update.
Q: (Asked by craigums) If you could give a completely confusing hint at a future feature or future update that will cause the community to debate and wonder for months what would it be?
Mike Chapman: Haunting waters with burial chest, sails the Ashen Dragon to long lost rest
Q: (Asked by micro666) What do you think of the idea of having Pirate Legend exclusive pets and pet cosmetics. Not new pet models, just Legendary colourings of existing pet models probably.
Would be so cool to equip my Legendary parakeet with a Legendary Eyepatch :-)
Joe Neate: This is actually a pretty nice idea. We’ll discuss
Q: (Asked by mr-furious-fish) Are there any plans to rework riddle maps?
Mike Chapman: Yes. They’ll be an update soon that uses the Collector’s Chest to make riddles more valuable and also give you some of the gold up front in the chest.
Q: (Asked by mr-razamataz) Will there be a use for the empty chests we find on shores in the near future?
Mike Chapman: Yes! Soon you’ll find gold and objects inside as a emergent reward.
Q: (Asked by sneakyally4912) Will there be away of saving progress in game ie like tall tales so you con go back to it at a later date or time?
Joe Neate: this is super complex in terms of the work required, but we definitely hear the feedback. We are looking at all the options we have here, with the aim of reducing the time investment required to complete Tall Tales. Ironically, it will take quite a time investment from us :-)
Q: (Asked by queen-zombia) Will you guys give Belle,Legend of the deep a return,she was in the beta and is now forgotten,she deserve more love.
Plus,will there be a Chapter 2 of Tall tales? Seeing a tale involving DeMarco and Lesedi would be a amazing!
Mike Chapman: More tales are coming! Also love the idea of a tale or tales that involve DeMarco and Lesedi.
Q: (Asked by pinkladykerrie) This is more of a suggestion for you to consider upon…. It would be so awesome if there were more levels to the Legend Athena quests. Would you consider letting those of us who are already level 10 Athena Legends, become a Pirate Lord after reaching level 20 in Athena or even level 50. I would love the challenge to becoming a Pirate Lord.
Mike Chapman: We definitely want to expand Athena’s Fortune, but want to ensure that we can flesh out the gameplay for Pirate Legend before we do this.
Q: (Asked by puzzlepiece197) Will we ever be able to equip Madame Olivia’s hairstyle as a cosmetic in game. (The Order of Souls Lady at Plunder Outpost)
It is my favorite hairstyle in game.
Also… What happened to Yura after Sudd’s took over her Seapost? I miss her.
Mike Chapman: No plans at the moment, but would love to have Madame Olivia’s hair in the game. We’re also looking at company themed cosmetics so players can look more like some of the company NPC’s.
Unfortunately Yura was eaten by a shark :( No one is ever really gone though in the Sea of Thieves world. After returning from the Ferry, I think Yura realised that life on the Seapost is just too dangerous.
Q: (Asked by pocketomi) Is there ever going to be an opportunity to re-roll our pirates appearance but keep our items?
Mike Chapman: Yes!
Q: (Asked by eggamer13) ONE word, that describes the following months for sea of thieves.
Mike Chapman: Awakening
Q: (Asked by knurrr) NPC’s have some really cool looking clothing,beards,hair styles etc. What is keeping you from releasing these to us?
Ryan Stevenson: We often want NPCs to feel special in the world as rich characters to meet so sometimes have to build them in a different way from player models, but we are always looking how to enable players to have clothing or options that matches or echoes them to role play in the world. The team have been cooking up lots of new things and when ready look forward players getting there hands on them.
Q: (Asked by rhaps0dy-sky) Will we ever see more ship skins representing other cultures? Like a ship skin that makes a ship look more like asian ships ?
Ryan Stevenson: We are working on new ships cosmetic all the time and played around with some great looks but want to make sure that when added they are part of the rich lore and history we are building….if we just had the right story of some type……👀
Q: (Asked by tre-oni) All I’m wondering is, will we ever get masks…?
Briggsy’s mask looked like it would have been a perfect reward for completing the legendary comm for the Tale. It really seemed like a bit of a missed opportunity on a unique reward.
I’m hoping and wondering if in the future we might be able to start seeing masks introduced into the game in the eyepatch slot or something so we can wear something over our faces, and still do hats maybe?
Mike Chapman: Love the idea of masks and we’ve discussed it a lot, especially recently. There are some technical issues we’d need to overcome with different player sizes, but we’re still investigating.
Showing the weapons on the character is extremely difficult with how varied body sizes are. We’d love to support this, but it would take a lot of investment of artists and engineers that could be spent on new features. Its a great example of something that should be simpler than it actually is unfortunately.
Q: (Asked by jkmiller123) Hey, do you know if maybe in the future there’s a possibility where loot stolen can be sold for more or something along those lines to incentivize more pvp action within adventure?
Mike Chapman: Yes, exciting plans here. Not for the next few months but something very cool for players who want more PVP in Adventure!
Q: (Asked by just-saiyen93) Have you guys thought about adding something like a battlepass for the Arena? Or even adding time limited cosmetics to the Arena?
Mike Chapman: We are definitely looking at more / wider progression options in Arena, beyond just improving the core experience.
Q: (Asked by yelmurc) Are there any plans to add additional things to look for any explore under water? For instance pearl diving.
Mike Chapman: Yes!
