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Spring is just starting to bloom here at Rare HQ, which means it’s time we got around to the brisk business of rounding up February’s developments! It was a briskly busy month that boasted some extremely exciting announcements, so let’s jump right into the recap…

Content Update As always, we had a monthly update ready to go, this time integrating Sea of Thieves with the latest Xbox Game Development Kit, making some visual and technical tweaks to various systems – and, most importantly, introducing the first Collector’s Pet fox as the Reaper’s Heart set expanded again in the month of love. For a full rundown of all February’s changes and additions, or just to find out what on earth GDK integration actually means, stop by the relevant {LINK REMOVED}releas... Read more

Game Improvements GDK Integration

• Sea of Thieves now operates on the latest Xbox GDK (Game Development Kit). Players on PC are encouraged to update to the latest graphics drivers to ensure the best compatibility and performance.
  
• Sea of Thieves now supports DirectX 11 and DirectX 12 where supported by the hardware. While the title will now auto-detect and optimise the experience, players can also choose within the game settings.
  
• General client performance improvements should be seen throughout the experience, with PC players seeing the largest improvements.

Updates Improved Athena’s Fortune Voyages

• The Voyage of Legends and Ashen Voyage of Legends have now been refreshed, providing a shorter session experience and c...

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The first month of 2024 is officially over, which means it’s once again time for us to huddle close around our lanterns and rake over the latest gossip on what’s been happening across the seas. Settle in and brace yourselves…

Content Update After the back-to-back content updates of Season Ten throughout the tail end of 2023, you might have expected a quiet few months while we recovered. But no! It was back into the fray upon our return to the office, hustling to deliver an entirely new Season straight out of the gate.

{LINK REMOVED}Season 11 swept in with a complete overhaul to how you choose your adventures, complementing the new Quest Table with a rework of reputation and loot across the game. Trying to break down all the changes involved would ... Read more

Hello sailors! With a new Season comes a new Community Weekend – and February’s event is jam-packed, ready to entertain you with lots of in-game and stream-based antics across the world wide web. If that sounds good to you, then congratulations, you are correct: it’s excellent news, and we’re here to tell you exactly what to expect from the latest 48-hour shindig we’re throwing in honour of you, our wonderful community.

But before we get into everything involved with this Season’s community-oriented shenanigans, we need to share the most crucial bit: the date and times of proceedings! Season 11’s Community Weekend will start on Saturday, February 24th 2024 at 11am UTC and will finish at the same time on Monday, February 26th – giving you two full days to collect your Twitch Drops, maximise your gold, rep and Renown gains and swipe some shiny treasures via Pop-Up Plunder.

The event also conveniently falls across {LINK REMOVED}... Read more

A new Season arrives on the shores of the Sea of Thieves! On January 23rd, Season 11 introduces
some exciting changes and improvements to how you sail the seas, enabling you to dive into adventure faster than ever before while vastly expanding the rewards and progression pathways on offer.

In this latest free update, multiple systems have been refreshed to streamline your experience as you sail or dive swiftly from one Voyage, Event or Tall Tale to the next. Onboarding has also been expanded with new in-game tutorials featuring the Pirate Lord, removing some of the hurdles for newer players seeking to get to grips with life on the seas!

Fundamental Improvements The primary feature of Season 11 is the revamp of the traditional Voyage loop, and that starts with the Quest Table. Rather than having to return to an Outpost to buy new Voyages from the Trading Companies, you’ll now be able to access all available Voyages and Tall Tales directly from your ship. Using th... Read more

Sea of Thieves on Demand Access all the adventure you crave more quickly than ever before with Season 11’s overhaul of Voyages and encounters! Explore a redesigned Quest system, major expansions to most Trading Companies and new rewards and Distinctions to earn as you progress.

On Demand

• With a Quest Table on board each ship now providing the ability to choose from all available outings and dive directly to the scene of a Voyage, Tall Tale or new Raid Voyage, players have unprecedented freedom to explore everything the seas can offer. The refreshed Discover Tab is also on hand with tailored suggestions!
  
• Raid Voyages are new Trading Company-themed versions of World Events with unique treasure types on offer, unlocked from the Quest Table as players climb the Company ra...

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Oh yes, that’s right, we’re not quite ready to be finished with 2023 just yet. Still one last round-up to squeeze in! Now, we might have been winding down for the end of the year in December, but that didn’t stop us from delivering a Community Weekend, two in-game Events and a monthly content update, did it? Of course not. So let’s take a look at everything you might have missed…

Content Update We wasted no time in kicking off the December excitements by hosting {LINK REMOVED}... Read more

Fixed Issues Gameplay

• Lost Shipments and Prized Merchant Alliance Commission Voyages are once again available for purchase.
  
• Crews taking on a Lost Shipments Voyage should now encounter the correct number of Merchant Crates when unlocking the Captain’s Cabin.

Guilds

• Players who are part of a Guild that has unlocked Guild clothing rewards are once again free to wear the rewards when sailing as part of any other Guild, or outside a Guild session.

Performance and Stability

• Improved server stability to avoid instances of players being disconnected from their session.

Known Issues To learn more about known issues in Sea of Thieves currently being tracked and their status, head over to our ... Read more

After two months of back-to-back content updates, Sea of Thieves completes the trio promised back at the start of Season Ten by introducing a brand new game mode for players to explore: Safer Seas! Allowing exploration and adventure on a single-crew server, either alone or with a crew of chosen friends, this update opens the door to an entirely new way of playing the game.

A Peaceful Voyage In Safer Seas, players can elect to sail solo or with a crew of up to three friends, with no other player-controlled crews present in the world. For fresh-faced pirates just starting their journey, this means a chance to learn the ropes without having to keep an eye out for hostile rivals, and an opportunity to understand the world and its key mechanics before diving into the traditional mayhem of the main Sea of Thieves game mode, now known as High Seas.

There’s no shortage of content in Safer Seas for players old or new to tackle. As in High Seas, a wide range of V... Read more

Safer Seas Following Guilds in October and the Skull of Siren Song Voyage in November comes Season Ten's third major feature update: Safer Seas, a new mode that offers a way to find your sea legs, immerse yourself in adventure and explore the world as you like with no other player crews present. Available now!

Welcome to Safer Seas

• Whenever you play, you can now choose to play on either Safer Seas, which gives you a private world in which to sail solo or with your own crew, or on High Seas, the traditional Sea of Thieves experience with other roaming player crews added to the mix.
  
• Safer Seas mode allows access to the vast majority of content in the game, including all our story-driven Tall Tales. Notable exceptions are PvP-focused elements such as The Reaper’s Bones and Fa...

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Sea of Thieves Season Ten is well underway, with its third feature, Safer Seas, due to arrive this very week, on December 7th. But if there’s one remaining activity that’s been on the mind of at least tens of pirates, it’s when they’ll get another chance to play dress-up for prizes in a fresh bout of Style of Thieves.

Well, good news, you fashion-hungry freebooters, because these words exist to tell you that Season Ten’s Style of Thieves contest – and your next opportunity to win a pair of the delectable Fashionista’s Finery Gloves – will be taking place from December 11th–14th!

While you’re more than welcome to rummage through your wardrobe and take your pictures in advance, these four days will each offer a 24-hour window in which to enter a different theme via social media channels. Once a theme opens for entry (you’ll know because we’ll make a post saying exactly that), it’s up to you to share your stylish screenshots, including the name of the theme you’re... Read more

Updates Skull of Siren Song Curse Balancing

• While all ships continue to be afflicted by a curse once the Skull of Siren Song is on board, Galleons and Brigantines will now be further slowed by its effects.

Fixed Issues Skull of Siren Song Voyage

• The Chest and Key recovered during the Voyage can now consistently be used together to unlock the Skull.
  
• Crews returning the Skull of Siren Song to Captain Briggsy should now consistently find that she is able to take the Skull and complete the Voyage.
  
• ‘Lords of the Sea’ – Players are now prevented from taking Skull of Siren Song Voyage items into the Siren Spire during this Tall Tale.
  
• Crews who have engaged in an Hourglass battle will now be able to participate in the Skull of Siren Song Voyage, but will experience a grace period after their battle before the note is delivered.
  
• Players in larger crews sho...

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The second major update in Sea of Thieves’ Season Ten has arrived! Building on the new content introduced with Guilds in October, this update unleashes a new type of World Event in the form of the Skull of Siren Song Voyage. This emergent, competitive Voyage pits crews against one another in a race to unearth and claim the titular artefact, all at the behest of the legendary Captain Briggsy.

Crew Vs Crew The hunt for the Skull of Siren Song introduces a new competitive event to Sea of Thieves. When a Voyage begins, all players on a server will find a ghostly note pinned to their ship’s mast, offering them the chance to set off in search of this ancient and potent prize. If they accept, they’ll find themselves in possession of two maps directing them to the Skull of Siren Song Key and Chest – but the catch is that every other crew joining the Voyage will receive the same maps.

From there, players will have to battle it out to locate the Key and Chest on... Read more

Skull of Siren Song Voyage Following on from Guilds in October, the second of Season Ten’s major features is this brand new competitive Voyage – delivered as a shared emergent World Event that can be joined by any or all crews on a server, triggering a dynamic race for the prize. Available now!

Seeking the Skull of Siren Song

• When a ghostly note appears pinned to the ship’s mast, accepting this Voyage will see Captain Briggsy bestow the crew with maps to the Key and Chest of Siren Song.
  
• With other crews in competition for the same Key and Chest, players must get their hands on both items by whatever means necessary to release the powerful Skull within – but possession of each item shows the crew’s location to other players!
  
• The Skull of Siren Song is a formidable ...

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Ah, October, the month when the veil between the Sea of Thieves and Sea of the Damned grows thin. It was a month filled with spooky happenings and delights, as well as a peppering of definitely-not-spooky but still very exciting updates. That means there’s a lot to get through, so let’s get right into the highlights, shall we?

Content Update The big news of October hardly needs an introduction, but we’ll give it one anyway just in case you somehow missed it: {LINK REMOVED}Season Ten has begun! This much-anticipated shake-up of the Sea of Thieves formula began by introducing Guilds, allowing players to team up with pirates beyond their standard crew and work together to unlock new rewards. The update also included a number of quality-of-life upgrades... Read more

Pirates! If there’s one thing you know we take seriously, it’s celebrating how brilliant you, our players, all are. So it should come as no surprise to you that we’re very serious – and also very excited – about Season Ten’s upcoming Community Weekend, which has officially been scheduled to start on Saturday, December 2nd at 11am UTC. Lasting 48 hours, this latest Event promises to celebrate our wonderful players and spoil sailors with a plethora of goodies and Pop-Up Plunder offerings.

You can see the announcement in our very latest episode of Sea of Thieves News below. We know what you’re thinking – and yes, it does sound wonderful, and of course we’ll tell you more! So let’s get into it…


Stream of the Crop To raise the Community Emissary Grade, players will once again be tasked with tuning in to Twitch to... Read more

Updates Legendary Search for the Skull of Destiny Voyage

• The Legendary Search for the Skull of Destiny Voyages are once again available for purchase and have been returned to their original prices. Players can purchase a single Voyage from the Pirate Lord or shipwrights for 100 Doubloons, or the Voyage Bundle from shipwrights for 500 Doubloons.

Fixed Issues Performance and Stability

• Improvements made to server performance, resolving an issue that caused scenarios of high ping spikes, desync and rubberbanding, impacting the core experience.
  
• Resolved a vulnerability that allowed some players to affect the stability of a server and cause others to be disconnected from their session.

Gameplay

• Voting on the Legendary Search for the Skull of Destiny Voyage should no longer cause it to automatically complete.
  
• Players attempting to fire themselves out of...

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Sea of Thieves’ very latest Season begins today! Season Ten promises to be one of the biggest yet, launching with a significant and socially focused new feature for our shared-world pirate sandbox. Expanding on Season Seven’s Captaincy update, Guilds gives players opportunities to strengthen the bonds they've already forged on the seas, while also building new and long-lasting connections.

A New Way to Connect Across different crews, time zones and even platforms, Guilds can unite a group of pirates under a shared identity and cause, and help them celebrate their accomplishments with shared rewards. The in-game Guild Chronicles even allow players to see what other Guild Members have been up to while they were away, furthering the sense of communal goals and adventures. Each Guild also allows for full freedom of expression, with the Guild Owner having full control over its name, motto and branding.

With a limit of 24 pirates per Guild, these groups still mainta... Read more

Guilds The first of Season Ten’s major features to arrive, Guilds builds on Sea of Thieves’ previous Captaincy update and allows players to expand their bonds with friends, enjoy asynchronous progression and work together under a shared banner to earn exclusive rewards. Available now!

Introducing Guilds

• A new feature that encourages groups of up to 24 like-minded players to band together under a Guild with its own name, motto and branding, and a shared approach to sailing the Sea of Thieves.
  
• Any player can create a Guild and invite other players to join, and all Guild Members can contribute to the collective Guild Reputation, unlocking fantastic new rewards. Those who choose to sail as Guild Emissaries can claim even more prizes from the Guild Ledger.
  
• Capta...

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There may be a lot to get excited for around the corner with Season Ten boasting {LINK REMOVED}three headline updates, the promise of game health fixes and fresh cosmetics in equal measure and the allure of {LINK REMOVED}... Read more