Sea of Thieves News

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!

As the Battle for the Sea of Thieves intensifies and Guardians of Fortune clash with Servants of the Flame, Tasha the tavern keeper faces struggles of her own. Having been forced to confess a troubling transformation to the Order of Souls, she now seeks pirates’ help to save not just her life, but quite possibly her soul...

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]Tavern Tales
[/h3]

No longer able to hide the truth, Tasha has admitted to being stricken by a skeletal curse, the effects of which have already begun to consume her. The prospects seem grim, but one hope remains – the answer may lie within the daring deeds of Captain Briggsy. This notorious Rogue once scoured the Sea of Thieves for its many secrets, before returning home to fill a young Tasha’s head with tales of her many escapades. You can learn more about the history of this unlikely pairing in the most recent Adventures Ahead article.

Briggsy sensed great potential in Tasha, and left behind a number of lessons designed to set her on a path to piracy once she was old enough, promising rewards if her protégée was able to complete them. Although Madame Olivia blames some unintended consequence of these missions for Tasha’s current condition, she also believes that Briggsy’s belongings hold the key to reversing the curse – if they can be successfully retrieved.

[h3]Trials of a Thief
[/h3]

With Tasha in no condition to undertake the quest intended for her, it falls to pirate crews to make the journey in her stead. Using Briggsy’s homespun wisdom as their guide, they will need to venture into The Wilds, deciphering cryptic clues and unearthing the rewards that Briggsy left buried all those years ago. The keepsakes must then be returned to Madame Olivia at Plunder Outpost, where they will serve a more arcane purpose...

This will be no simple test of seafaring skills. Briggsy was known for being both eccentric and reckless, and the lessons she has in store are certain to be dangerous, if not outright deadly, should pirates let their guard down. Crews willing to face up to the Rogue’s gauntlet of challenges can begin their Adventure by speaking to Larinna outside the tavern, and ‘The Rogue’s Legacy’ will be available for all players until December 22!




[h3]Find Out More
[/h3]

For more information on the latest Sea of Thieves update, including full release notes, visit the Sea of Thieves website. This update is available for free to all Sea of Thieves players who have bought the game on Steam. Simply download and install the latest Sea of Thieves update to get access.

New to Sea of Thieves? Find out about the latest free content updates on our What’s New page, get familiar with Who’s Who or pick up some gameplay tips from our Pirate Academy, which provides invaluable information on topics ranging from sailing to swordplay as you prepare for your maiden voyage. Learn more about Sea of Thieves here, or join the ongoing adventure at www.seaofthieves.com where you can embark on an epic journey with one of gaming’s most welcoming communities!

As Season Eight continues, the team have been working on the next time-limited Adventure along with additional fixes based on feedback from the community. We’re introducing more of this content to the game in today’s release, update 2.7.0.1.

For more information on all the features that arrived last month in Season Eight, check out the launch release notes!

[h3]Adventures[/h3]

While decorating her tavern for the Festival of Giving, Tasha finds a long-forgotten gift from Captain Briggsy. She sets out to follow the map, but returns with much more than she bargained for. Now she and Madame Olivia seek the aid of fearless pirates in this tenth time-limited Adventure...

‘The Rogue’s Legacy‘ (December 8th – December 22nd)

• After hearing of Tasha’s troubles, Larinna directs pirates to Plunder Outpost to speak with Madame Olivia, who seeks a cure within the memories of the infamous Captain Briggsy.
  
• By following the clues Briggsy left behind in ‘Lessons on Becoming an Adventurer’, venture into The Wilds to complete the tasks and challenges once meant for Tasha, bringing back artefacts to help Olivia find the answers she needs.
  
• Pirates who fully complete the Adventure will earn an exclusive Title and a cosmetic reward to serve as a Memento of their quest.

[h3]The Battle for the Sea of Thieves[/h3]

Faction Progression Balancing

• Following player feedback and internal review, the amount of Allegiance required to progress beyond level 100 with the Guardians of Fortune and Servants of the Flame has been increased.
  
• Our intention with the level 1000 rewards was to create a long-term reward for skilled players to strive towards, and recent changes made will help boost that challenge and make the accomplishment truly reflective of players’ efforts in the Battle for the Sea of Thieves.

[h3]Fixed Issues[/h3]

The Battle for the Sea of Thieves

• Players travelling beneath the waves should no longer able to receive damage from their crewmates.
  
• Players who arrive on the Ferry of the Damned while their ship is diving into the deep will now be returned to their ship safely, and no longer return to the world as a ghost with unintended consequences.
  
• Crews defeated in battle will now consistently be moved to the sinking wreck sequence before being taken to a new server, even when crewmates are present on the Ferry of the Damned.
  
• Crews defeated in battle and immediately leaving the game will no longer cause the winning crew to become stuck in battle and unable to continue their Streak.

Tall Tales

• Crews sailing through the Tunnels of the Damned as part of the Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life Tall Tales will now be able to fire their cannons as normal upon arriving at their location.

Performance and Stability

• Client stability has been improved, reducing scenarios where players experience a game crash.

[h3]Known Issues[/h3]

Legend of the Veil Voyage Failure Due to Lost Quest Items

• Crews may encounter scenarios where a Legend of the Veil Voyage can fail due to a missing Quest Item that was safely stored on a ship.

Nigh Unsinkable! Achievement Unavailable

• Crews will not currently unlock the Nigh Unsinkable! achievement on Xbox or Steam when reaching an Allegiance Streak of 4.

Visual Issues Underwater Following Battle

• After diving beneath the waves to find a rival crew in the Battle for the Sea of Thieves, players visiting the Sunken Kingdom may experience visual issues when swimming into the depths.

‘Gold Earned’ Milestone Issues

• Crews earning gold by cashing in an Hourglass of Fate following a Battle will find the ‘Gold Earned’ Milestones do not currently progress.

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.

Eagle-eyed visitors to Ancient Spire Outpost have noticed Tasha the tavern keeper acting rather strangely in recent days. While she’s remaining uncharacteristically tight-lipped about the cause of her distress, she has begun to openly reminisce about her childhood hero: the legendary pirate known as Captain Briggsy.

Clearly, the adventures of Tasha’s old friend and mentor are playing on her mind. But just who was Briggsy really, and how did her name become spoken only with fear and contempt by artisans of the arcane like Madame Olivia? To answer that, we can revisit the history of the trailblazing pirate who came to be known as the Cursed Rogue…

[h3]The Rogue’s Origins
[/h3]
At a young age, Briggsy was one of the first renegades to reach the Sea of Thieves in the Pirate Lord’s wake, and had already earned her distinctive moniker thanks to an unnatural talent for escaping cells and confines of all kinds.

Inspired by the opportunities and equalities of an untamed pirate paradise, Briggsy soon built a reputation as an eccentric adventurer, forever determined to be the first to set foot on whatever might lie over the horizon.

While most crews formed a tight bond and preferred to stay aboard a single ship, Briggsy was far more mercurial. She would join crews or invite others to join her as the fancy took her, only to slip away when her mood changed, to resume the life of a solitary adventurer.

There was one constant in her life, however: she would make frequent visits to the Unicorn Tavern, then owned by a tavern keeper named Teddy. Taking her place by the fire, Briggsy would enthral onlookers – particularly Teddy’s young daughter, Tasha – with tales of her daring deeds. Many of these were noted down by Tasha as best she could, filling volumes with colourful recreations of Briggsy’s exploits.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
[h3]The Rogue’s Ambition
[/h3]
As Tasha grew older, Briggsy seemed to sense potential in her, and began to gift Tasha both with mementos of her adventures and guidance on becoming a successful pirate – a notion that Tasha was firmly disabused of by Teddy. Unfortunately for Briggsy, she would never have the chance to mentor her young admirer…

Briggsy had been working to assemble an Ancient relic known as a Shroudbreaker, hoping to make her way to an island so laden with wealth that it had become known as the Shores of Gold. Once a lengthy but manageable journey, the Shores of Gold had since been isolated by the deadly miasma known as the Devil’s Shroud – an obstacle that could only be overcome if and when the Shroudbreaker was complete.

Bidding her friends goodbye, Briggsy set a course for the Shores of Gold, beaching her Sloop in her excitement at making it to this strange, uncharted wilderness. Once there, she learned two lessons of her own: the island’s treasures had been claimed by the avaricious Skeleton Lord known as the Gold Hoarder, and by touching them, she had condemned herself to join him.

[h3]The Rogue’s Tragedy
[/h3]
Having undergone her own skeletal transformation, Briggsy soon found herself treated as an outcast, becoming hostile and distrustful towards all pirates. She grudgingly followed the Gold Hoarder’s commands, for he had promised a cure for her curse, and she spent many hours hunting for such a thing – all to no avail. She did not obey his order to destroy the Shroudbreaker, though, and merely disassembled it once more.

That was a decision that would come back to haunt her, as a crew of pirates who wished to reach the Shores of Gold themselves began to hunt for the artefact’s missing pieces. They were sent to face the Cursed Rogue by Madame Olivia, who saw her as nothing more than a threat to be eliminated, and after a fateful confrontation, they returned to the Order of Souls with Briggsy’s masked skull in hand.



[h3]The Rogue’s Redemption
[/h3]
As for Tasha? Having heard the horror stories of Briggsy’s many misdeeds in recent years, she had long since become disillusioned with her former idol. She willingly surrendered her storybooks to the same pirates who had sealed Briggsy’s fate, believing them to be filled with nothing but lies. Those stories, however, really did lead to the Shroudbreaker’s stones – proof enough for Tasha to realise that Briggsy had indeed been the legendary rogue she remembered from her youth.

Briggsy may be gone, but Tasha’s respect and admiration has been rekindled. She’s turned her attention to the teachings Briggsy left behind, and there’s been no-one to forbid her from realising her lifelong dream and indulging in a few expeditions of her own. Until, that is, she awoke to the revelation of some grisly side-effects...

Now it’s your turn. The task of navigating those riddles and responsibilities rests with pirates who choose to shoulder the burden Tasha once carried, deciphering Briggsy’s lessons, sorting fact from fiction and uncovering the treasures that Madame Olivia so urgently seeks. When ‘The Rogue’s Legacy’ launches on December 8th, you’ll finish what was started and discover the consequences of Tasha’s after-hours adventures for yourself…

[hr][/hr]
[h3]Previously:
[/h3]
Adventures Ahead: 'Return of the Damned' Adventures Ahead: ‘The Herald of the Flame’
Adventures Ahead: ‘The Sirens’ Prize’ Adventures Ahead: ‘A Hunter’s Cry’ Adventures Ahead: ‘The Forsaken Hunter’ Adventures Ahead: ‘Lost Sands’
Adventures Ahead: ‘The Shrouded Deep’ Adventures Ahead: ‘Forts of the Forgotten’
Adventures Ahead: ‘Shrouded Islands’

Pirates! Once again, we have to offer huge thanks to those of you who've taken to the seas and made Sea of Thieves a thundering success story since its Steam launch back in 2020.

Now, with the end of 2022 in sight, we're out to get some wind in our sails for the Steam Awards! For that, we need as many hands on deck as possible to nominate Sea of Thieves as a 'Labor of Love' - the award category for games and their communities still receiving love and attention long after launch.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
If you think Sea of Thieves' free ongoing Seasons, Adventures, Events and more are worthy of a shout out, then you have two ways to vote! If you're logged into Steam right now, you'll be able to tick the nomination box on this post. However, if you're not, don't fear - just log in to Steam at your earliest convenience and visit the Sea of Thieves Store page, where you can click to vote in the Awards and submit your 'Labor of Love' nomination. These initial nominations run for the duration of the Steam Autumn Sale, ending on November 29th.

If the game goes on to be shortlisted in this category, we might just count on your support again when final voting goes live in December! So what do you say? Want to get behind your fellow pirates and raise some acclaim for the seas you call home?


https://store.steampowered.com/app/1172620/Sea_of_Thieves/