MULTI Rare reveals a Sea of Thieves crossover with Pirates of the Caribbean

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[h=1]Sea of Thieves is now haunted by spooky skeletons for Halloween[/h]

Skeleton pirates and parrots abound

Sea of Thieves now operates on a monthly update schedule, with Rare putting new spins on the world on the second Wednesday of every month. Sometimes, this includes lovely things, like new pets or fun voyages. This month, players have access to Fort of the Damned, an update that changes up skeleton forts.
Players will be able to pick up special voyages to acquire ritual skulls from enemies. They will also be able to collect the Flames of Fate, a new lantern flame color that players can collect upon dying in certain ways (shark, player damage, volcano, lighting, skeleton, and snake venom).
A new kind of enemy skeleton has infested Old Boot Fort and made it the site of a massive boss fight. Fort of the Damned fights will be marked with a red skull cloud, instead of the usual grey and green one.
By completing voyages and collecting items, players can trigger this fight. Then, everyone on the server will see the red skull and be able to join Alliances to take on the new, more difficult fort. Or, particularly sneaky pirates can show up and cause some additional mayhem as other players work on the fort.
Fort of the Damned also brings new ship cosmetics and two pets, the skeleton cockatoo and skeleton marmoset.
While the new voyages and cosmetics for sale are part of this monthly update and are available for a limited time, the new Fort of the Damned will be a permanent addition to Sea of Thieves. Another permanent addition to the game is a mode for sloops in the Arena, which allows duos to team up for competitive treasure-chasing combat.

 

[manigamer]

[h=1]Sea of Thieves’ next update is all about factions, fighting, and cats[/h]


Meet the Reaper’s Bones

Sea of Thieves currently has a handful of factions that hand out quests and cosmetics; they serve as the backbone for the game’s content delivery. The next free update to Sea of Thieves, titled Ships of Fortune, is all about reinforcing and upgrading those systems.
Players will be able to build a closer relationship with the game’s original factions from launch: Gold Hoarders, Merchant Alliance, Order of Souls, and Athena’s faction. By becoming an Emissary, that faction will provide boosted rewards and a new range of cosmetics. Becoming an Emissary will require “a significant donation”, and then players will be able to earn one of five Grades via that faction’s standard gameplay loop. If a player has a high Grade, selling loot to that faction will come with a significant multiplier for an even bigger cash-out and new cosmetics. For instance, Emissaries of the Order of Souls will be able to earn new, spooky ships.
What’s the drawback of this new system? A new faction joins the sea, called The Reaper’s Bones. The Reaper’s Bones will target Emissaries of other factions, leading to more PvE combat.
PvP combat in the game has also been in a bit of a rut, and this new update is also set to address some of the game mode’s biggest issues. Players won’t be battling over a variety of treasures now; instead, there will be one chest and one cash-in location. Each match will now last 15 minutes, down from 24.
There are two more exciting, small-scale changes. The first is that downed pirates in a crew will have a short window of opportunity in which they can be resurrected; this means that players don’t always have to wait for the punishing Ferry of Souls timer. In addition, cats will be added to the market. Wildcats, Ragamuffins, and Maus will be available for purchase, and that’s always nice.
Sea of Thieves’ Ships of Fortune update is set to launch on April 22 for all players across Xbox One and PC. It is a free update; Sea of Thieves can also be play via Xbox Game Pass.

 

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[h=1]Sea of Thieves gives players new goals — and pirates more tempting targets[/h]

Sail as an Emissary, or hunt them down

April 22 marks a new Sea of Thieves expansion, Ships of Fortune, an update that focuses entirely on the player. Previous expansions have been all about big, external enemies: skeleton lords, treachery, exploding volcanos, or megalodons — but now, man is the real monster. Rare is opening up a new opt-in system that allows players to unlock new cosmetics and make more money. The catch? A new faction rewards players for putting on the ol’ skull and bones and hunting their peers down.
[h=2]BACK TO BASICS[/h]Ships of Fortune returns to the most simple building block of the Sea of Thieves gameplay: pick up a voyage from one of the NPC factions, go on quest, finish quest, sell loot. This is how nearly every voyage starts, and the fun comes when you see a new objective on the horizon, get attacked by a tough enemy, decide to rob another player, or otherwise start to stop and smell the roses. Ships of Fortune returns to that foundation and adds a reinforcing layer of rewards and incentives.
There’s a higher level cap with each faction, and Emissary missions are a great way to earn new levels and cosmetics. Players opt-in by raising the flag of their faction. This is very visible, and valuable intel. A Merchant Alliance ship is going to be less tempting to rob than a Gold Hoarders ship, as a Merchant Alliance’s cargo can be destroyed, but a treasure chest cannot. Two Order of Souls ships who meet on the sea have a strong incentive to ally. An Order of Souls ship will need to steal from island to island with a low-profile, lest an enemy roll up and start firing while everyone’s hip deep in skeletons.



[h=2]THE MOST DANGEROUS GAME[/h]Meanwhile, the Reaper’s Bones players will be globally visible on the map to everyone else. They are the cat, and everyone who wants to engage in some honest trade is the mouse. Since it’s an opt-in system, players who are still finding their sea legs can simply not participate, and are inherently at less risk for attack given that they offer so much less reward.
“The key thing is, we want players to feel like a pirate in this world,” says Sea of Thievescreative director Mike Chapman in an interview with Polygon. “But I still think a lot of players feel that pang of guilt when you attack a ship, where you can’t fully enjoy that moment, because you find out it’s a family roleplaying pirates out in the world. And you sink their ship and you feel bad about it.” The idea is to give these players legitimate targets.
Some of Sea of Thieves’ updates are purely about filling out the world and giving players something to enjoy with a few close friends, like the Tall Tales story campaign. Ships of Fortune is a grenade; it’s an attempt by Rare to deliberately stir the pot and give players big incentives to risk more and get better stories out of a session.

Rare / Microsoft Studios[h=2]THE ADVENTURE/ARENA RELATIONSHIP[/h]Rare is also returning to The Arena, the game’s PVP mode. The Arena is getting a major rework in Ships of Fortune. Matches are down to 15 minutes from 24 minutes, and players now have one chest to compete over, instead of a whole bunch of them spread out across multiple islands. Players can win solely through inflicting damage to enemy ships.
Right now, the Arena is maintained by one team, and their experiments in balance and features have all added to the standard, open-world Adventure mode’s experience. Ships catching on fire, blunderbuss bombs, reviving downed crew mates, and other chaotic but important features were all initially developed for Arena mode. Sea of Thieves manages to keep competitive and casual players alike happy by doling out updates and incentives meant for both kinds of players.
All together, Ships of Fortune is a masterclass for games-as-a-service. Many games that update on a regular schedule struggle with keeping older sections relevant to experienced players and battling back power creep. Rare has elegantly dodged many of these problems by continually going back and figuring out a way to make old content new again.

 

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[h=1]Sea of Thieves update brings ghostly ships, new weapons, and rewards[/h]







Also, more tunes on the shanty!

Rare has released a new free update for pirate sandbox Sea of Thieves, called Haunted Shores. This update brings another NPC ship battle to the seas in the form of spectral ghost ships which have an assortment of powerful cannonballs and mines. These fragile but deadly ships defend Captain Flameheart, aboard the Burning Blade flagship. Players can earn cosmetic rewards and special Damned treasures from the encounter.
Players can enter into battle against the ghost fleet in two ways. The first is by seeing the skull cloud of Captain Flameheart in the skies; this shows that he is attacking an island, and players can move to defend it from his armada. The second is by being level 25 or above with the Order of Souls, which will allow players to purchase a voyage to find and stop a ghost fleet. For the duration of the Haunted Shores event, anyone can purchase that voyage from Duke, allowing every pirate to take a crack at the battle.
These ghost ships are much more powerful than their predecessor, the skeleton ship, and they can shoot wraiths at enemy ships. Players will also be able to loot their cursed cannonballs, which are more powerful than the usual cannonballs pirates are used to.
This update also comes with some smaller additions that are still fun. There are a host of new shanties in the game, and crews can choose which shanty they would like to play. This has absolutely no statistical or in-game affect beyond getting to play some sick tunes with your crew.
Rare have also upgraded and expanded the communication wheel, which allows players to quickly access and send context-sensitive text lines. The wheel has been tweaked to make the most important lines, like “I see a ship” or “We need repairs,” to be the most accessible. More options for new items have also been added, allowing players to share information and updates with their crew without using voice chat.
Haunted Shores is now live in Sea of Thieves, but the ghost ships will remain in the game after the event as an ongoing challenge.

 

[manigamer]

Rare reveals a Sea of Thieves crossover with Pirates of the Caribbean

Jack Sparrow and crew join the fray

www.polygon.com

ma MAN depp is in this one

 

[Necrokiller]

Looks like nailing the 'most essential' component of the game just wasn't enough lol

Or perhaps, it was

Interesting how CerebralTiger judged a MP game based on metascore tho

Sea of Thieves sails past 25 million players

Sea of Thieves has sailed past 25 million players.Rare's multiplayer Xbox and PC pirate adventure launched in March 201…

www.eurogamer.net

Sea of Thieves has proved a hit for Rare, which had focused on the Kinect Sports series in the decade beforehand. It's currently working on Everwild, which is without a release window.

Who're ya gonna trust? Them critics or the community?

Trust kar lein community ko ab? Or does somehow the metascore still applies to this MP oriented title?

 

[CerebralTiger]

A game released in March 2018 has a total of 25 million players login and try it out after nearly 4 years, with a large number of them doing so via Game Pass. Cool, I guess

For context, Animal Crossing New Horizons was released in March 2020 and has a total of 35 million players after nearly 2 years of release, with a large number of them doing so via a $60 purchase

It'd be nice to know what the Sea of Thieves community is like today, so how about them concurrent or active player numbers, MS?

 

[Necrokiller]

Ab community ki wallets pe aagai baat, not the fact that teh community is playing the game still. The goal post shifting never ends

Moreover, Switch online in total has 32 million players. How many of those are concurrently or actively playing New Horizons? Come on Nintendo, give us the numbers

And most importantly, where is CerebralTiger's progress since he seems to luuuurve that game? Don't be scared. Get on that photoshop and show us something already

 

[CerebralTiger]

Wallets pe kahan baat ayi, mainain tou concurrent ya active player numbers poochay thay

P.S. Animal Crossing NH is connected to Nintendo online and supports async social features regardless of whether you're subscribed

 

[Necrokiller]

Wallets pe kahan baat ayi,

with a large number of them doing so via Game Pass. Cool, I guess

with a large number of them doing so via a $60 purchase

mainain tou concurrent ya active player numbers poochay thay

P.S. Animal Crossing NH is connected to Nintendo online and supports async social features regardless of whether you're subscribed

That still doesn't tell us the CCU count

So, Nintendo, give us the numbers already

 

[CerebralTiger]

CCU for a popular game released last year shouldn't be so hard to figure out. Sea of Thieves tho? Let's hear those numbers, then

 

[Necrokiller]

CCU for a popular game released last year shouldn't be so hard to figure out. Sea of Thieves tho? Let's hear those numbers, then

Why don't you tell us what NintendWON'T

And, posting your own progress for a game you can't stop harping about should be even easier. Let's see that as well then

 

[Necrokiller]

CerebralTiger when asked to show his progress in Animal Crossing