Sea of Thieves News

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: December 2022

It’s a brand new year, but we can’t leave the old one behind without a final round-up now, can we? So much happened in December that frankly it’s all a bit of a blur, but we’ve picked out a few highlights to share as we take a look back over the happenings of the final month in 2022…

[h3]Content Update[/h3]
The Festival of Giving is still fresh in our memory, but if you cast your mind even further back you’ll realise just how much was going on in December! The first major development came in the form of ‘The Rogue’s Legacy’, our tenth Adventure, which saw players joining the search for a cure to Tasha’s osteal ailment. Fortunately, following in Briggsy’s footsteps left Madame Olivia with the tools she needed to learn more.

Later in the month, we embraced the holiday spirit as December’s content update sent the Festival of Giving into full swing. From a Gifts & Glory Weekend and Twitch Drops to the annual challenges of Grogmanay, there was so much going on that honestly it’s a wonder anyone was able to keep track of it all. Although, on second thought, Grogmanay might have something to do with the hazy memories.

If you could drag your attention away from the festivities for long enough to buy a little seasonal treat for yourself, you might have popped over to the Pirate Emporium. Alongside some returning festive favourites, December’s update introduced the raptor-themed Soaring Oracle set, a new collection of rhythmic emotes and a trio of Trinkets drawing inspiration from familiar stories. Or for anyone watching their Ancient Coin purse, there was a free Tree Decorator Emote so you could raise a star of your own. There’s still time to grab any or all of these before the January update arrives!

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[h3]News and Features[/h3]
As is tradition, we couldn’t release an Adventure without first giving you a new Adventures Ahead article to bring you up to speed – this time on Briggsy and Tasha’s exploits. Over on the player side of things, we updated the Community Hub one last time for 2022 and shared a new Spotlight on a pillar of the UK community, CalamityKez, to hear how she got into Sea of Thieves and what her work with her SoTUK family looks like.

Looking ahead, we thought the final month of the year would be a good time to fill you in on some of the upcoming improvements to the Battle for the Sea of Thieves, following a lot of feedback on the challenges players have been facing during matchmaking. If you’re still sitting here wondering what stamps have to do with anything, fear not, the summary is this: we’ve heard your concerns and we’re working on getting those matchmaking times down. All you need to do is keep sinking ships.

With all that done, we saw off the year with the Festival of Giving celebrations and left you with a thorough article-based summary of everything that would be going on through the holiday period. But we didn’t neglect our out-of-game content either, filling in the backstory of everyone’s favourite Reaper in the latest Sea of Thieves: Origins comic, ‘The Servant’s Tale’. You can pick it up for free right here!

[h3]Videos and Streams[/h3]
After so much new content dropped with Season Eight in November, it was inevitable that some people would still have questions about how everything worked, but have no fear! We released a… unique video at the start of December to set the record straight. Then, when it was time for a new Adventure, we dropped a cinematic trailer and a launch trailer to fill you in on Tasha’s situation and set you up for the arrival of ‘The Rogue’s Legacy’.

With the year’s last Adventure safely underway, we turned our attention to the Festival of Giving, throwing in a jam-packed episode of Sea of Thieves News to discuss December’s imminent update. Then we kicked off the Festival proper with a livestream to switch on the holiday decorations and share our best memories of 2022 – only to find the festivities interrupted by a surprise spherical visitor! Over the course of the next few days, the Orb shared mysterious visions of the future and hinted at what might be coming soon for the Sea of Thieves…

Of course, no Festival of Giving would be complete without a suitable song. To ensure that we were all able to really get into the spirit of things, the livestream debuted the ‘On Yule Tides’ shanty. To cater to all tastes, the ‘Sleighbell Selects’ collection offered a more traditional take on the music of the season so that everyone could enjoy the Festival with a jingle or two.

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[h3]Social Channels[/h3]
As you might expect from the end of the year, December on our social channels was awash with looking back on the year and celebrating everything we’ve not only done ourselves but watched our incredible players pull off. Pirates from across the sea shared tales and wrote poems, while others offered their aid to new sailors taking to the seas for the first time.

The community also got creative with names, while elsewhere a visit from a special kitty threw the Doubloon economy into turmoil. Meanwhile the final #SoTShot contests of the year brought us Brawling Boats, celebrating some truly spectacular naval combat, and then a good old Pirate Party.

As always, December offered an opportunity to explore Your Story So Far with a series of personalised stats from, well… your Sea of Thieves story so far. And following a whistle-stop tour of New Golden Sands and a heartfelt wish for Happy Holidays all round, when it was finally time to close the year out, we threw in one final caption challenge to carry you through the New Year.

Sea of Thieves Release Notes - 2.7.1

While the Factions continue to clash as we breach the second month of Season Eight, a growing spark of camaraderie can be found in the taverns as the annual Festival of Giving returns – although crews fully focused on the Battle for the Sea of Thieves will also find improvements and adjustments made to the flow of battle this month. If you’re not sure what all this talk of Factions is about, take a dive back into the Season Eight launch trailer!

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The Season Eight launch release notes are a crucial port of call for anyone needing the specifics, while early December’s release notes have more information on the ongoing Adventure! Now find out what’s new in the year’s climactic content update...

[h3]Gameplay Improvements[/h3]
Since Season Eight unleashed the Battle for the Sea of Thieves, the waves have churned with crews clashing in on-demand ship combat. A range of balancing improvements have now arrived to level the playing field not only within the Battle, but encounters throughout the shared world.

Blunderbomb Impact Balancing

Blunderbombs fired from a cannon now have a reduced area of effect range when exploding, and players caught in the blast will no longer be propelled so far into the air, preventing them from being so easily sent overboard.
Blunderbombs fired from a cannon to hit a ship’s hull now deal reduced damage to players caught in the blast inside the ship.

Reduced Blunderbomb Availability

Blunderbombs are now discovered slightly less frequently in island barrels, and fewer are collected at once.
Captains restocking at the shipwright will find the throwables supply now contains fewer throwables and has been reduced in price accordingly.
The number of throwables found during the ‘Captains of the Damned’ Tall Tale has now been significantly reduced.
Crates found during the ‘Dark Brethren’ Tall Tale now contain fewer blunderbombs.

Jettisoning Ship Supplies

When a ship sinks, the resources held within its barrels now float to the surface in the barrels to be easily collected. Sinking another ship now offers simpler restocking options after a battle, while also giving crews who sink due to emergent encounters a chance to retrieve their hard-earned supplies!

Starting Ship Supplies

All ships will now start a session with additional cannonballs per barrel, increasing the Sloop stock to 80, with the Brigantine and Galleon stocking 90.
Ship defensive stocks have been increased with additional wooden planks, with the Sloop and Brigantine now holding 35 planks and the Galleon holding 40.
Ships will now find more plentiful food stocks, as all ships now hold 16 coconuts in addition to their existing banana supply.

Battle for the Sea of Thieves – Restocking after Defeat

Crews who are thwarted by an enemy in battle and become another sinking wreck for the graveyard will now appear on the new server at an Outpost, allowing them to quickly restock and get back into the fight!

Battle for the Sea of Thieves – Emissary Flags

Collected Emissary Flags will now be brought with the ship when diving below the waves, allowing crews to chain battles back-to-back before returning to an Outpost to cash them in.

Barrels of Plenty Balancing

The number of floating barrels that appear in a group has now been reduced. However, the likelihood of finding a rare items in these has now been increased.

[h3]Pirate Emporium[/h3]
It's a dashing end to the year in the Emporium as the Soaring Oracle collection takes flight. The Boreal Aurora ship set is back too, alongside new Nautical Dance emotes, more Rare-themed Trinkets, a big Holiday Sale and the latest chance to grab some Festival of Giving classics...

Season Eight Plunder Pass

Anyone wishing to take full advantage of Season Eight rewards can still buy the Plunder Pass. Any rewards unlocked will become available upon purchase, so players who have raised their Renown throughout Season Eight can instantly see their hard work rewarded before the Season ends.
This Season’s Plunder Pass offers early access to the complete Ravenwood Ship Collection and evolving Ravenwood Costume, and can be purchased at any time through the Pirate Log, Pirate Emporium or Steam Item Store.

Soaring Oracle Ship Collection

Amid a sea of more ostentatious liveries, this set may appeal to those who prefer things of a more understated, refined nature. The Soaring Oracle Collector’s Figurehead and Sails are available to buy separately from the main Ship Bundle.
Players can also pick up just the core components of this set at a discount in the form of an Essential Ship Bundle.

Soaring Oracle Costume

Some pirates think the cost of seeing the future is never seeing the present. Others remember to take off the blindfold.
While wearing the Soaring Oracle Costume, players can perform the Pensive Piccolo Emote.

Soaring Oracle Weapons

Become a predator of the night with weapons carved by your own hands, adorned with the scavenged bounty of the sea.

Soaring Oracle Banjo

Pieced together from shoreline nests and beach debris, this banjo always smells faintly of the sea.

Boreal Aurora Ship Collection

Previously featured in the Season Five Plunder Pass, the Boreal Aurora ship set is now available to purchase from the Pirate Emporium.

Gold Curse Inu

Being made of solid gold isn’t going to be enough to slow this excitable pup down.

Rare Goods Trinket Bundle

Players wanting to show off their love of classic Rare titles can continue to do so with another three Trinkets made to match fan-favourite cosmetic sets. Pick up the Fightin’ Frogs, Huntress and Night Wulf Trinkets in this new bundle!

Nautical Dance Emote Bundle

Borrowing some choreography from unexpected sources, these dances let you continue sailing even when you're on land.

Freebie Tree Decorator Emote

A tiny piece of sky! Now if only you could find a palm tree to perch it on.

Time-Limited Bonechiller Costume

Back to help you bring the fear to your foes is the terrifying Bonechiller Costume, which can be worn with or without the ‘jolly’ beard – available to purchase for a limited time.

Time-Limited Festival of Giving Collection

Express your love for this time of year through the Festival of Giving weapons and pet outfits, back on sale for a limited time.

Seer’s Gear Bundle (Store Only)

Some pirates may mistake your inner calm for a reluctance to defend yourself – but you always come prepared. The Seer's Gear Bundle contains the Soaring Oracle Costume, Weapon Bundle and Banjo, along with 550 Ancient Coins to spend in the Pirate Emporium and a free bonus of 25,000 gold. Head to the Steam Item Store to find out more.

Pirate Emporium Holiday Sale

Fabulous discounts are available on a range of Pirate Emporium items from December 23rd to January 3rd. Pirates will be able to pick up festive deals on a range of pets, ship sets, weapons, emotes and more!

[h3]Events[/h3]
Time again for the Festival of Giving and all it contains – which is a lot this year! The traditional lights switch-on becomes a shared community moment, while Gifts & Glory and Grogmanay await later in the holidays. Get the full Festival overview in our launch article!

Grand Festival of Giving Switch-On (December 16th)

Join the livestream on Sea of Thieves’ Twitch channel at 6:15pm UTC on December 16th to celebrate the community, look back over the past year, and most importantly switch on the festive in-game decorations! There may be a few other surprises lying in wait too…
Crews sailing the seas while the stream is underway can gather at the tavern on New Golden Sands Outpost to watch the switch-on happen live!
With the seasonal decorations on, pirates can find an appropriately festive firework to claim for free from a Merchant Alliance representative on any Outpost.

Gifts & Glory Weekend (December 23rd – December 26th)

Gather your crew and set sail during this Gold & Glory Weekend with a Festival of Giving twist! Pirates will earn boosted gold, reputation and Seasonal Renown for their exploits throughout the weekend.
Crews taking part in the Battle for the Sea of Thieves will also be able to gain boosted Allegiance for their chosen Faction.
As a festive treat, all pirates sailing the seas this weekend will find a free Gilded Treasure Voyage added to their inventories. Better yet, existing and fresh Pirate Legends will also receive the gift of a Gilded Legendary Voyage.

Grogmanay (December 30th – January 2nd)

End the year with the clink of tankards as Grogmanay returns! Complete a grog-fuelled Challenge to earn the Grogmanay Flag.
Complete two Challenges to unlock the Bilge Rat Celebration Firework Crate and grab it for free from the Merchant Alliance to end the night with a bang!
Complete four or more Challenges to earn the Grogmanay Annual Tankard, or a noteworthy new notch on your existing Tankard if this isn’t your first time taking on the Grogmanay Event.

Twitch Drops (December 19th – January 2nd)

Continue to unlock even more cosmetics throughout Season Eight with Twitch Drops! The final Drops of the year will be active for all participating streamers in batches throughout the holiday period stated above, allowing players to pick up a wide selection of Frozen Horizon clothing items.
Find out how to link your accounts and more on our dedicated Twitch Drops page.

[h3]Outpost Cosmetics [/h3]
Frostbite Equipment, Weapons and Ship Set

The remaining parts of the Frostbite set, including the equipment, weapons and ship parts, are now available from Outpost stores. These new items are locked behind the existing Humble Giving and Generous Giving Commendations.

[h3]Updates[/h3]
Pendragon’s Sacrifice

Loyal followers of Flameheart can now revel in their victory by posing next to a new painting hung proudly in The Reaper’s Hideout.

Season Notifications

When performing multiple actions that award Seasonal Renown, players will now see fewer notifications.

[h3]Fixed Issues[/h3]
Gameplay

Crews should no longer encounter scenarios where a Legend of the Veil Voyage can fail due to a missing Quest Item that was safely stored on a ship.
Crews should no longer find treasure seemingly disappears from their ship while sailing.
Ship’s masts receiving damage should now consistently display cracks, clearly indicating the need to repair.
When using an Xbox controller while playing on PC, if the controller disconnects during a session, players will now be able to reconnect it without issue.

Battle for the Sea of Thieves

Crews are now prevented from joining a Faction while in the Devil’s Shroud or near the Shores of Gold. Crews are also prevented from starting the ‘Shores of Gold’ Tall Tale when aligned with a Faction.
Crews who previously joined a Faction and headed deep into the Devil’s Shroud will no longer be considered a suitable target for the opposing Faction.
Players repeatedly placing items into a Collector’s Chest will find it no longer raises their Treasure Grade.
Players repeatedly docking Rowboats with treasure aboard will find it no longer raises their Treasure Grade.
Crews should no longer encounter scenarios where their cannons are inaccessible after surfacing from beneath the waves.
Crews reaching an Allegiance Streak of 4 should now consistently unlock the Nigh Unsinkable! achievement.
Ships surfacing from the deep on a Brigantine or Sloop will now see the sea appear correctly as they breach the waves.
Crews surfacing from beneath the waves to battle should no longer immediately encounter Barrels of Plenty in their ship’s path. Crews can still encounter barrels during the encounter for restocking as before.
Crews who have chosen a Faction are now prevented from entering the Tunnels of the Damned.
Players leaving the Ferry of the Damned at the same time as losing a battle will now find they consistently arrive in a new server along with their ship.
Crews successfully defending from an attacker will now be free to leave the fight at an Outpost, even if they have only recently chosen a Faction.
Crews scuttling a ship as they are about to dive will no longer become stuck beneath the waves.
Crews diving beneath the waves to find a rival crew should no longer experience visual issues when swimming into the depths.
Crews diving beneath the waves for battle will now hear an improved ambient audio experience.
Players are no longer able to navigate around the Pirate Legend Hideout to reach locked areas before they are eligible.
The Rising Up and Thanks for the Boost Commendations have now been removed from the representative Factions. The Concealed Upper Body skeleton cosmetic has now been moved and requires players to complete the Boo Be Gone Commendation in order to unlock it.
Allegiance Streak visual effects can now be seen while travelling beneath the waves.
Ships breaching the waves for battle will now see water rushing across the deck of the ship.
Players experiencing the Blessing of Athena’s Fortune will no longer see a glimpse of any held weapons during the end of the sequence.
Crews should no longer see duplicate Battle Banners appear if their rival leaves the game.
Players performing emotes near the Pirate Lord in the extended Pirate Legend Hideout will no longer find their viewpoint becomes stuck.
Crews who scuttle their ship at the same time as another is surfacing should no longer cause both ships to become stuck in battle.
Players observing a member of their crew during the Blessing of Athena’s Fortune are now free to use the Vanity Chest without causing other players to become stuck.
Players choosing to cancel matchmaking should no longer find their pirate unable to move for a short time.
Players will be prevented from stepping off a docked Rowboat while travelling beneath the waves.
Trinkets earned from participating in the Battle for the Sea of Thieves now correctly show the Milestone requirements.
If a player joins a crew after a battle has been cancelled, parts of the ship no longer act as if underwater for the joining player.
Crews cashing in an Hourglass of Fate following a battle will now find the ‘Gold Earned’ Milestones progress accordingly.
Players’ hands no longer intersect with various torsos when using the Skeleton Clap Emote.
The Milestones for earning Hourglass Value no longer refer to Sands of Fate on both the Pirate and Ship Milestones.
Players should no longer see multiple Krakens or Megalodons while travelling beneath the waves.

Captains of Adventure

Captains sailing solo should no longer experience a scenario where they are informed that the Captain has left the session.
Captains diving beneath the waves to battle should now consistently find their saved customisations such as ship liveries and decorations persist between sessions.
Captains changing a Ship’s Banner should now see the new banner after leaving the Ship Customisation Chest.
Disabling user-generated content from the Xbox settings should now replace other crews’ ship names.
Harpoons on the Sovereign marquee can no longer become stuck to the platform they are on and cause the floor to shake.
Crews discovering a Captain’s Logbook for a ship that is no longer on the server will now see a replaced ship name for it.
Players will now see a failure message when attempting to buy ship stock from the shipwright if their ship has become too full.

Visual and Audio

The Mysterious Stranger’s Gloves now match the gloves the character wears.
Repairing the King’s Ransom Wheel now shows the makeshift handles with the correct material.
Players wielding the Splash Fight Eye of Reach will now see the correct visual effects within the stock.
After killing a pig, snake or chicken, the audio effects for hitting them should no longer be heard repeatedly.
‘A Pirate’s Life’ – The torches within Dead Man's Grotto will now light correctly when performing the required actions.
‘The Sunken Pearl’ – When picking up the keys from the crab, the camera no longer moves into open water.
‘Dark Brethren’ – During the intro to the final battle, Jack should no longer be seen floating in the air and his voice can now be heard.

User Interface

Players browsing the various deeds and story within the Adventures menu should now more consistently see the imagery refresh.

Text and Localisation

Improvements to the Pirate Lord’s dialogue to correct punctuation and spelling.
The Hourglass of Fate ‘Change Faction’ prompt is now localised across a range of languages.

Performance and Stability

Players using ‘Voice Chat Push to Talk’ set to Toggle will now find the setting continues to function after migrating across servers or after hunting a rival crew beneath the waves.
Optimisations to client memory usage.
Improved server stability when using the Tunnels of the Damned.
Improved server stability for ships leaving the Tunnels of the Damned.

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]
Reduced Server Performance

Players may experience scenarios where they encounter ping spikes at random while playing, resulting in rubberbanding or client stutters. While improvements were most recently released in update 2.5.3, the team continue to work on further improvements for future updates.

Ranged and Melee Weapon Hit Detection

In areas of intense action, players may find themselves firing shots or landing strikes that do not cause damage to their targets. While small improvements continue to be delivered during our regular updates, we are continuing to investigate and identify further improvements to the player combat experience.

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.

[h3]Download and Installation[/h3]
Download size:

Steam: 4.6 GB

An Update on Season Eight and Matchmaking Times

Firstly, I’d like to say a huge thank you from the entire team for all the positivity toward Season Eight and for the feedback you have raised around it. It’s been a huge release for the team with many hidden complexities and we’re very happy it’s been received well by our players.

We have heard the feedback from the Sea of Thieves community that the matchmaking queue times to get into the Battle for the Sea of Thieves can be long. We appreciate that people are eager to make progress in each Faction and earn the two unique Curses that Season Eight offers. This is an area we knew we’d need to monitor and improve even ahead of launching the content update.

Since the release of Season Eight, we’ve been working behind the scenes to improve our matchmaking queue times. We want to take some time to discuss how these queue times work, and what the team are doing to improve them going forward.

First, I’d like to explain why queue times can sometimes be long for players:

1. Imbalance of players between Factions

Over the launch period, the data has shown us that different regions often have significantly more players in one Faction than the other. This imbalance will also swing to the other Faction at different times of the day. Whenever this imbalance exists, it’s always going to result in longer matchmaking times for the Faction that has more players in it.

Simply put, imagine there are 10 players matchmaking in the underwater tunnels:

Nine for the Guardians of Fortune
One for the Servants of the Flame

As soon as the first players are paired up against one another, we now have:

Eight Guardians of Fortune
Zero Servants of the Flame

This means the Guardians of Fortune players will have to wait until a new Servants of the Flame player enters the queue before they can be matched for a battle.

Even if we have millions of players all diving into battle, an imbalance in the number of players siding with each Faction means that one Faction will experience longer wait times than the other.

2. Players on different stamps

To enable Sea of Thieves to support the largest possible number of players, we separate our servers and services into smaller units that are easier to manage. These units are called ‘stamps’. This helps us to scale our game and ensure the gameplay experience is great for all players.

The downside to arranging our servers in this way is that it can mean our players are separated between different stamps. Currently, Sea of Thieves does not allow players to migrate between these stamps, which means that even if crews of the opposing Faction are ready to fight you, it may not be possible to actually matchmake you all together. This will in turn result in longer queue times as you wait for an opponent who is also on the same stamp as you.

3. Low population regions

Certain regions, such as Japan and Australia, have a lower population of players. This will also result in longer matchmaking times.

4. Xbox Controller Only preference

Xbox players can select a specific option to only be matched with other players using a controller. The pool of players that select ‘Prefer Controller Only’ makes up a significant minority of our player base, and as such there is a smaller section of players to choose from. The data here suggests that it doesn’t cause a massive difference in matchmaking times, but you will likely see an improvement if you are comfortable with broadening your options to encounter players using all control schemes.

Before moving onto the solutions, I’d like to clear up some misconceptions around how skill-based matchmaking could be creating long queue times and how our estimated matchmaking times work on the Hourglass of Fate.

Skill-Based Matchmaking

We have investigated the data and are very confident that skill-based matchmaking is not contributing to long matchmaking times. Our skill-based matchmaking system is based on a variant of the Elo system – we take into account the win/loss ratio of the crew combined, not any session's streak, and this informs who you're matched against when you opt into a battle.

However, if there aren't any perfect matches waiting for your crew when you opt into your next battle, we broaden the net of players you could face over time to ensure you’ll always find a match. This means SBMM isn’t restrictive on matchmaking times because we quite quickly move to getting you the next best opponent instead of the perfect opponent for your skill.

Estimated Matchmaking Times on the Hourglass of Fate

Our estimated matchmaking times shown by the Hourglass of Fate are based on the recent history of matchmaking times for that Faction on the stamp you’re playing on. This helps provide an estimate of how long you may be matchmaking for, but it is purely an estimate and not a guaranteed time.

[hr][/hr]
As mentioned above, the team have been working hard to try to improve our matchmaking queue times. Below is a summary of what we’re currently focusing on.

[h2]Upcoming Improvements to Matchmaking Times[/h2]
Enabling Same Faction Battles:

When a crew dives into the underwater tunnels to seek out a battle, we currently only allow them to match against a rival Faction. We will still prioritise this way of play and always try to find a rival Faction for you to fight first.

However, after a period of time where a match has not been found against a rival Faction, we will open up the search to include battles against a crew in the same Faction as you. Think of these battles as skirmishes within your Faction: the Guardians of Fortune duelling for honour within their ranks, or the Servants of the Flame clashing for dominance among themselves.

Allowing battles within the same Faction as a fallback will help reduce long wait times in instances where an otherwise appropriate match cannot be found quickly.

These battles will play out in the exact same way as a traditional battle from a gameplay point of view, the only difference being that you are battling a crew of the same Faction. Allegiance, Hourglass Value and Streaks can still be earned just as they would in battle against the rival Faction.

Most Commendations and Captaincy stats will also count as normal, omitting only a few that specifically involve battling the opposing Faction.

Cross-Stamp Migration:

As mentioned in the section on stamps above, Sea of Thieves does not currently support cross-stamp migration, which can result in long matchmaking times.

We are actively working on this functionality to ensure that players can eventually be matchmade against an opponent on a different stamp, which in turn will mean there are more potential opponents to be matched against, reducing the queue times.

[hr][/hr]
With the additions described above, we feel our matchmaking times will see definite improvements and greater overall consistency. The team are actively working on these updates, and we hope to deliver them to players in early 2023.

In the short term, before these two improvements make it into the game, you can find battles more quickly by using the Hourglass of Fate to see which Faction currently has shorter matchmaking times and aligning yourself with that Faction. But if you only want to increase your Allegiance with a specific Faction, and their matchmaking times are longer, these upcoming improvements will soon be in place to help ensure you don’t have to wait as long.

The team are actively working on getting these improvements to you as quickly as we can. As always, we appreciate your patience and we’ll see you on the seas!

Thanks,
Andrew ‘Grandee’ Preston
Lead Designer

Sea of Thieves Round-Up: November 2022

That’s right friends, November is already over! With so much going on, we’ve barely had time to notice the days passing and yet here we are in December with so many things to catch you up on. From a fresh Adventure to an entire Season update, November positively overflowed with content. So grab a mug of your beverage of choice, brace yourself and let’s dive right in.
[h3]Content Update[/h3]
We wasted no time in getting into it at the start of the month by jumping into the ‘Return of the Damned’ Adventure. As Captain Flameheart threatened to return and Pendragon laid his freedom on the line, players spent two weeks battling it out to capture Sea Forts and raise Flags for their chosen side. With almost 400,000 Soulflame Captains returned to the Veil in that time, you’ve almost got to feel sorry for the ghosts.

It was a hard-fought struggle, but ultimately the mighty Reapers could not be stopped. Pendragon was banished back into a painting – leading to a truly tragic image of his trapped soul – and we jumped straight from Flameheart’s victorious cackle to the announcement of Season Eight. Surprise! It turns out that ‘Return of the Damned’ was only the start of the battle to come. A few days after Pendragon’s defeat, the new Season launched and players were urged to wage war for their chosen Faction, with ghostly and bony cosmetic Curses among the rewards for doing so.

Skeleton suits and apparition fashion weren’t the only new looks to appear in November. Over in the Emporium, Plunder Pass holders got to embrace their sinister side with the corvid-inspired Ravenwood set. The King’s Ransom ship set offered flashier pirates a chance to show off all that gold they’ve been digging up, with shining sails and a gilded hull that manages to float against all the natural laws of buoyancy. And just in case the several metric tonnes of precious metal weren’t enough of a clue, picking up a matching Crown would ensure everyone knows who’s boss.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]News and Features[/h3]
As the first half of November was set to be spanned by an Adventure, we kicked off the month by catching you up on Flameheart and Pendragon’s bitter history in another instalment of Adventures Ahead. Once that initial skirmish was concluded and the outcome unveiled in a special stream teed up by another handy article, the seas broke into all-out warfare as Season Eight blasted onto the scene.

To make sure you were fully armed with info on all this new content – and so that you wouldn’t be taken aback by an enemy Faction ship popping out of the depths right in front of you – we put together a Season Eight launch article to walk you through it. So if you have any lingering questions about the new Season, that’s the place to find answers and enter the Battle for the Sea of Thieves!

Fortunately, despite all this conflict, pirates still found time to put aside their differences and spread some positivity as showcased with regular updates to the Community Hub! And we kept the power flowing to the player spotlights with two new Community Spotlights, one on plant prospector Solarlunar34 and the other on creative cartographer Jerem. If you think you know the islands of the Sea of Thieves, why not test your knowledge against SoTGuessr?

November also brought an extensive Black Friday Sale in the Pirate Emporium, and for those looking for something a little more, you know, real than the spooky and skeletal rewards offered by Season Eight’s new Factions, there was some timely news of Faction-inspired clothing designs too!

[h3]Videos and Streams[/h3]
The big question on everyone’s lips at the start of the month was which side would win the latest decision point Adventure: Flameheart’s loyal Reapers or the Pirate Lord’s allies? With the future of the Sea of Thieves hanging in the balance, we brought members of the dev team together with guest streamers for a two-hour livestream where the results were dramatically revealed, and the victory of the villainous Flameheart confirmed.

With the Reapers victorious and Pendragon in turn banished, we wasted no time in unveiling what was next for Sea of Thieves with the Season Eight trailer. Then, after giving everyone a few days to recover from all the excitement, we were back with a Deep Dive video to answer any lingering questions you might have had about the new content update.

You’d be forgiven for thinking that we wouldn’t have had time for anything else, but we weren’t about to deprive you of the latest instalment of Sea of Thieves News, were we – or further helpings of Twitch Drops, for that matter? And just in case all that wasn’t quite enough to satiate your video needs, we also threw in our long-awaited panel discussion from this year’s EGX. You know. As a treat.

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[h3]Social Channels[/h3]
Despite all appearances, it wasn’t all battles to the death this month! Among other things, we considered a topical hatpin, pondered skeletal personality types and unveiled a new strategy for naming your ship, only to discover that the overwhelming popularity of gamertags beginning with the letter ‘S’ meant that the sea was about to be overrun with sausages. Perhaps not entirely what we intended, but a pirate’s life is never predictable.

Moving swiftly on, we invited pirates to capture the natural beauty of the Sea of Thieves for the latest #SoTShot theme, Sunset Scenes, then escaped the sun entirely on #SundayVibes excursions into Athena’s Fortune and The Reaper’s Lair. And while we offered snippets of handy info on new Season Eight features like Allegiance and the expanded hideouts, our #TriviaTuesday hashtag was nurturing lore seeds on subjects ranging from Sea Forts to Flameheart’s head.

And finally, just in case all of this wasn’t quite enough content to keep you going, we whipped up an asset pack for anyone who wants to show off their Season Eight allegiance on stream…

So that was November! Have you had a chance to play Season Eight yet? More importantly, are you more excited about looking slightly dead via the Skeleton Curse or the Ghostly Curse? Either way, don’t forget to follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube or Twitch, or join the official Forums or Discord to get all the latest Sea of Thieves news as it happens. For now, sail forth! Win glory for your Faction!

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[h3]Previously in 2022: [/h3]
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: October 2022 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: September 2022 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: August 2022 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: July 2022
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: June 2022 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: May 2022 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: April 2022 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: March 2022 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: February 2022 Sea of Thieves Round-Up: January 2022

Get Involved in This Year's Festival of Giving!

Deck the hull with piles of plunder! The Festival of Giving is almost upon us once again and we’re celebrating the season in style. There’s a lot going on through the holiday period, so take this as your handy guide to everything that’s happening and when and how you can find it. Join us from December 16th to get involved and earn some unique rewards!

Grand Festival of Giving Switch-On

We’ll be kicking things off this year with a lights switch-on! So that everyone can get involved, we’re hosting a livestream at 6:15pm UTC on December 16th, celebrating the community and looking back over the past year. Of course, the highlight will be the switching on of the seasonal in-game decorations! If you happen to be sailing the seas while the stream’s live, gather with your crew at the tavern on New Golden Sands Outpost to see the switch-on for yourselves. You can even have a grog while you’re there.

The stream is the perfect opportunity to hear more about everything that’s going on during the Festival, and to enjoy a seasonal, community-focused get-together.

Your Story So Far

Of course, community-led accomplishments aren’t the only thing to be celebrated. Every pirate on the sea has plenty to be proud of this year, and don’t think we haven’t noticed! For a more personalised look back at this year and beyond, make sure you check out Your Story So Far. From hours played to fruits eaten, this summary breaks down everything you’ve been up to into a series of easily digestible numbers. Yes, even the things you’d rather forget. Especially those.

Your Story So Far will be available to peruse from December 12th to January 11th, so be sure to take note of anything you want to record before the book closes for another year!

Gifts & Glory Weekend

No Festival of Giving would be complete without, well, giving, would it? Enter the Gifts & Glory Weekend, running from December 23rd-26th (10am UTC). Sail the Sea of Thieves during this time to earn boosted gold, reputation and Seasonal Renown for your exploits, and any pirates participating in the Battle for the Sea of Thieves will also gain increased Allegiance from their ship combat encounters.

Even better, we’ll throw in a free Gilded Treasure Voyage for anyone who logs in while Gifts & Glory Weekend is live, along with a Legendary variant for the Pirate Legends out there. You’re welcome! If you’re still holding on to either of those types of Gilded Voyage from a previous event, now’s the time to use them to make room for a new one…

Pirate Emporium Holiday Sale

Gilded Voyages and boosted gold aren’t the only incentives on offer. That’s where our Pirate Emporium sale comes in! From December 23rd to January 3rd, items throughout the store will be available at a discount, many with a frosty theme like the Frozen Horizon ship set and weapons and the full Lodestar collection. There’s also a clutch of seasonal emotes and a huge variety of pets including Collector’s pets to be had at bargain prices, so something for everyone!

Twitch Drops

With the Frozen Horizon ship set and weapons already in the Holiday Sale, you might wonder how you can expand your collection. Well, between December 19th and January 2nd, tune in to participating Twitch streamers to unlock a matching collection of clothing and vanity items! Available in batches from December 19th-22nd, December 22nd-26th, December 26th-29th and December 29th-January 2nd (each new set arriving at 10am UTC), these ice-laden outfits will allow you to fully embrace a wintry aesthetic. All you need to do is watch for a minimum of an hour to unlock each item.

If you’re not sure how Twitch Drops work or need to connect your Twitch and Sea of Thieves accounts so you’re eligible, you can find all the details on our Twitch Drops page.

Grogmanay

And finally we come to the traditional end of any pirate’s year: Grogmanay. With six grog-based Challenges on offer, all players have to do is down a few pints and perform a range of feats before they sober up. Simple, right? In case the joy of participating isn’t enough for you, you’ll also be rewarded with gold and Renown for any tasks you manage to complete.

Complete three or more and you can earn the Grogmanay Tankard, or a new noteworthy notch on your existing Tankard if it’s not your first time taking on this particular challenge. So drink up! The event will run from December 30th to January 2nd (10am UTC), and you’ll have to keep the grog flowing to be in with a chance. Good luck!

There’s plenty to get involved with throughout this year’s Festival, so we look forward to seeing you out there on the seas. If you can’t make it this time, fear not, there’ll be plenty more events and streams to come in 2023. Just keep an eye on all our usual channels to stay abreast of the announcements. And with that, a huge thank you for joining us over the last year – it’s been a blast. Happy holidays!