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Changelog for 2.0.6.5 id: 742 open prev next custom

manifest date: 2019-09-03 00:00:00 UTC

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# Insider Patch Notes 2.0.6.5

The latest Insider build is here! We’ve got new features, new fixes and new things for you to test. Full patch notes are below. Enjoy!

## Insider Patch Notes - Update  2.0.6.5

Insider Update 2.0.6.5 is now live! As we approach our release for Smuggler’s Fortune, this build now focuses on the feature set we intend to ship as part of our next Content Update. We have now begun limiting changes for this release and performing final bug fixes and balancing, so please jump in and help us ensure our release is stable prior to it going out to the rest of the community.

Head out onto the seas on the hunt for Skeleton Captains and visit Duke in your local Outpost Tavern to find a range of voyages on offer and help Jim deliver that cargo!

If you do encounter any bugs, then please head to the 
[Sea of Thieves support site](https://support.seaofthieves.com/hc/en-gb) and let our Player Support team know.

## Smuggler's Fortune

* **Skeleton Captain Maps** – When defeating a Skeleton Captain, they now drop a red Message in a Bottle to better differentiate this from regular ones found out in the world.

## Updates

* **External Sea Dogs Tavern Challenge Route** – The Sea Dog’s Tavern Challenge Route can now be traversed backwards, making it a lot more challenging!
* **Rowboat Perches** – Pets can now be perched on the end of a rowboat so you can take them off on your journey!

## Fixed Issues

**General**

* Players should no longer become safe teleported when walking between large rocks on Kraken’s Fall.
* Players should no longer become stuck behind the Gold Hoarder tent on Morrow’s Peak Outpost.
* Digging up a Reaper’s Chest now correctly ignites the pillar of light VFX until completely dug up and moved.
* When a sloop has been emptied of water, splash footstep SFX should no longer be heard.
* Gunpowder Skeletons now correctly damage themselves and other Skeletons when they self-explode.
* Players will no longer hear oar splashes when rowing the rowboat on dry land.

**Arena**

* When climbing the Megalodon head, players should no longer see through parts of the Tavern interior.
* Following migration to a new tavern, the cannon and wheel in the Sea Dogs Tavern become useable once again.

**Pirate Emporium**

* The Pirate Emporium on the front-end now displays Preview images when browsing items.
* Ancient Skeleton’s audio will now play as priority over all other world audio
* Ancient Skeleton’s audio will now syne correctly with its animations.
* Encountering an Ancient Skeleton and moving away will no longer drop the quality of the model when still in visible range
* Encountering an Ancient Skeleton and moving away before returning will no longer restart the audio.
* Players are now able to purchase a Bundle even if they already own an individual item inside it.
* Players are ejected from the in-game Pirate Emporium if they die whilst browsing.
* Un-equipping the top emote in your radial no longer causes ‘No Icon’ to be displayed in the emote filter.

**Pets**

* Pet’s should no longer freeze in their animation when another player drops a pet of the same type in their vicinity.
* Pets can once again follow a player’s path up to the beacon on Kraken’s Fall.
* Monkeys no longer play their audio twice while idling.
* Monkeys now smoothly transition off a non-owner's arm.
* Reduced clipping of parrots and monkey’s on players arms of different body shapes & sizes.
* Monkeys will no longer butt-slide when becoming scared while running.
* Monkeys no longer freeze in their animation when the player submerges and re-emerges from water.
* Parrots will no longer land above the ground when following players.
* Equipping any Pet or outfit from the Pet Chest no longer plays monkey SFX.
* Pets moving to a hangout should no longer be placed at an offset to the hangout spot and be floating in mid-air.
* Pets scared by the Kraken should no longer constantly switch from hangout spot to hangout spot.
* When equipping a pet, they can no longer spawn on the roof of the Emporium and become inaccessible to players.
* Pets now react to players using the new emotes in Variety Bundle 1.
* Pets now become scared when they encounter two players fighting.
* When equipping a new pet, they have a default name as shown in the Emporium.
* Pets now walk up stairs without causing major clipping issues.
* Pets are now accustomed to cannon fire and harpoons and do not become scared when they are used.
* When finishing stroking a parrot they do a sad little head drop.

## Known Issues

* **Coin Toss Emote** – Certain body types will not show the coin correctly in the hand after the coin toss animation completes.
* **Pirate Emporium Preview** – The preview image can sometimes show an oversized parrot, outfits are not showing correct previews, new players are not correctly shown in the front-end preview.
* **Parrots Hanging Out** – Parrots will often be unable to hangout on hangout spots and will sit on the floor next to them.
* **Unable to consistently make Pirate Emporium purchases** – Reports of failed purchases in the Pirate Emporium, returning a ‘Sorry, daydreaming...’ error message, investigations are ongoing.
* **Shop Inventories Not Loading** – Reports of shop inventories failing to load reported across Insiders, investigations are ongoing.
* **Localisation for the Smuggler’s Fortune Update** – Localisation is currently incomplete for the Smuggler’s Fortune and Pirate Emporium features in this update.
* **Tall Tales Commendations Showing as Incomplete** – Some players may find that after completing Shores of Gold Commendations and receiving their rewards, the Commendation still shows as incomplete.

## Previously released Updates

* **Pet Cages** – Working Pet Cages have been added to all ship types! Swing the latch and you now have a handy place for your favourite companion to sit which is a little more out of the way. As with all hangout spots, when players place pets in these spaces they will stay put even if you leave the ship and head off into the world.
* **Skeleton Sloops on the Horizon** – Skeleton Sloops have had their visibility at long range improved to be more aligned with their Skeleton Galleon counterparts. Glowing lights now ensure that Skeleton Sloops on the horizon can be distinguished from a player-controlled Sloop.
* **Skeleton Sloop Balancing** – We’ve made a small balancing change to reduce the number of repairers on the Skeleton Sloop in order to help bring the balancing closer to our proposed solo crew encounter difficulty.
* **Skeleton Captain Forms** – Players now have the chance to encounter emergent Captains in a range of different Skeleton forms. Whether they are bone, plant, shadow or gold – take them down and retrieve their maps!
* **Skeleton Captain Reward Skulls** – We’ve increased the value of the skulls that are rewarded when players defeat an emergent Skeleton Captain. Players are now guaranteed a Villainous Skull for their efforts in addition to the ‘X’ Marks the Spot Map!
* **Pet Hangout Spots** – A balancing pass has been done across all ship hangout spots. Some hangouts have been removed and others reprioritised to avoid scenarios when you think your pet has been ‘lost’. Pets should also no longer sleep on spots designated as lookouts.
* **Pet Outfits!** – Pet outfits purchased from the Pirate Emporium can now be equipped on your loyal companion. Each outfit is unique to a specific breed of animal, so head to your Pet Chest at the Pirate Emporium or your ship to equip your favourite! The current Pirate Emporium is preventing individual Outfit purchases; however, you can purchase those within a Capuchin or Macaw Bundle.
* **Sleeping Parrots** - Parrots sleep animation improved and sees them place their head under their wing when snoozing.
* **Coin Toss Emote** – The ‘Coin Toss’ Emote now uses a 2-sided coin enabling players to use the emote to flip for a random result!
* **Pirate Emporium Vendors** – The Pirate Emporium Vendors have now found their voices and speak to the player when interacting.
* **Ancient Skeleton Appearance** – The Ancient Skeleton has now been given a complete makeover - gone is their placeholder purple appearance! These Ancient Skeletons are now blue with a golden skull and carry a sack of Ancient Coins on their back. Their animation is still being iterated on but should now correctly climb out of the ground before chasing off across the island!
* **Smuggler’s Fortune Commendation Icons** – Smuggler’s Fortune Commendations now have their placeholder imagery replaced with new artwork. This new artwork also contains a stamp reinforcing which Commendations are time limited.
* **Skeleton Captain Frequency** – We’ve increased the frequency of Skeleton Captains appearing in the world. Head out there and take them down for those maps!
* **Arena Non-Verbal Messages** – While inside the Arena, the non-verbal Pirate phrases have been revised to provide more tactical use in Arena contests.
* **Dismissing your Pet** – The ability to dismiss your Pet has now been moved from a tooltip to within the Game Options menu. This should remove the frustration seen when a pet in proximity prevents you from pressing (Y) to switch weapons in the heat of battle.
* **Storage Crates** – There is now a chance to find washed up Storage Crates out in the world. These carriable crates can store anything that you can put into barrels!
* **Blunderbuss Knockback Balancing** – We’ve reduced the range at which a Blunderbuss shot will apply a knockback to a rival player. The distance a player is knocked back by the shot remains the same.
* **Stronghold Keg Ship Explosion** – Following the introduction of the revised explosion system for ships in our last Insiders build, we’ve now rebalanced the Stronghold Gunpowder Keg to ensure damage is correctly applied to the mast and wheel of the Galleon when detonated.
* **Fearless Bone Crusher Set** – The Fearless Bone Crusher Set has been changed to a new colour variant – a fetching green look! Players will see this change in the shops and can now purchase the new set. Any Insiders who picked up the previous outfit will retain their items until the next Insiders reset.
* **Removing Mercenary Items** – The Mercenary Hurdy Gurdy & Sail have been removed from the shop this update to avoid the confusion between the mix of new and returning items alongside the introduction of the Black Market. We intend to cluster all the Mercenary Instruments together in a future update rather than drip feed individual items in.
* **Black Market Gold Prices** – Prices for items within the ‘Goodies for Gold’ tab have now been revised to create a range of value options instead of a flat pricing structure. While still priced well above the Outpost store stock due to their rarity, these now come in under the prices sold by the Pirate Legend Hideouts to better align with our previously delivered items.
* **Black Market Doubloon Prices** – Prices for items within the ‘Desirables for Doubloons’ tab have also been revised to create a similar range of value options, providing both low and high price options for players to earn.
* **Pirate Emporium Now Open!** – Head inside and spend your Ancient Coins on a range of items from Parrots and Monkeys in the Pet Shop or the new Bear & Bird Ship in the Shipwright, through to a range of new Emotes for your Pirate. There is still heavy iteration taking place in the Emporium so expect many updates on the presentation as we approach our next release.
* **Emote Selection** – The Vanity Chest has now been updated with an Emote tab, giving players the ability to configure their Emote Radial however they like. On purchasing a new Emote, players can now swap out one of their existing emotes in replacement for their shiny new one!
* **Skeleton Captain Maps & Rewards** – Encountering and defeating an emergent Skeleton Captain now drops a new ‘X’ Marks the Spot map. These new maps provide the location of a range of high value rewards, with a strong chance of digging up a Reaper’s Chest!
* **Rag & Bone Crate Delivery** – We’ve increased the amount of time players have to deliver the Rag & Bone Crates to be eligible for a Doubloon pay-out. Previously players had 24 hours (in-game time), where now they have 36 hours (in-game time)
* **Smuggler’s Fortune Voyages** – Stitcher Jim has struck a deal with the local Seaposts to help clear up all this waste. Grab yourself a free Reaper’s Grave Voyage and head to Shipwreck Bay to collect the crates before heading to a designated Seapost to cash in. Some Seaposts even need assistance in moving their crates to the more outer Seaposts for collection, pick up a free Seapost to Seapost Voyage to help them manage their cargo! Stitcher Jim claims he’ll take care of the rest, but that’s a lot of bones! All Smuggler’s Fortune Voyages are time-limited for the duration of the Smuggler’s Fortune update
* **Smuggler’s Fortune Athena Voyage** – Pirate Legends are tasked with a Reaper’s Grave Voyage requiring them to load their ship with even more cargo before heading out to their designated Seapost for disposal. Expect to net more Doubloons from this Athena’s Voyage. All Smuggler’s Fortune Voyages are time-limited for the duration of the Smuggler’s Fortune update
* **Skeleton Captain Sightings** – Reports from across the Sea of Thieves tell of Skeleton Captains being sighted across islands. These Skeleton Captains now drop a range of bounty skulls on defeat in addition to a message in a bottle map pinpointing the location of a buried stash. These stashes currently provide a regular voyage, however in future could lead to a Reaper’s Chest! Following the Smuggler’s Fortune update, the Skeleton Captains and their array of rewards will persist as an emergent encounter in the world along.
* **Mysterious activity at the Uncharted Isle** – Stitcher Jim has set himself up at the campsite on the Uncharted Isle as he surveys this month’s delivery activities. He talks of his beloved, a masked figure investigating the local dig site and sketching some quite peculiar drawings… 
* **Fearless Bone Crusher Clothing** – This Month Duke is offering a twist on the Bone Crusher Clothing set, by introducing ‘Fearless Bone Crusher’ Clothing. Available for Doubloons, players can acquire the Fearless Bone Crusher Jacket, Fearless Bone Crusher Dress and Fearless Bone Crusher Hat.
* **Fearless Bone Crusher Ship** – Keeping with the Bone Crusher theme, Duke is also introducing the ‘Fearless Bone Crusher’ Ship. Available for Doubloons, players can acquire the Fearless Bone Crusher Hull, Fearless Bone Crusher Sail and Fearless Bone Crusher Flag.
* **Mercenary Items** – Ensuring players can work towards completing their Mercenary Set, Duke also offers the Mercenary Hurdy-Gurdy along with the return of the Mercenary Sails this Month, both available for Doubloons.
* **Deep Ocean Crawler Weapons** – Something for your Gold? This month Duke introduces a twist on the Ocean Crawler Set with the ‘Deep Ocean Crawler’ weapons. Available for Gold, players can acquire the Deep Ocean Crawler Cutlass, Deep Ocean Crawler Flintlock, Deep Ocean Crawler Blunderbuss and Deep Ocean Crawler Eye of Reach.
* **Letters of Recommendation** – Players are now earning a steady stream of Doubloons through the hoarding of Reaper’s Chests, in addition to the Mercenary Voyages being made available for FREE. Under the provision of the Trading Companies, Duke has begun restricting the flow of Letters of Recommendation. Players will now be only able to purchase a single Letter of Recommendation for each company in each month.
* **Limiting Pet Movement** – Due to the potential performance impact of having many pets in the same location, when high numbers of players and pets congregate in the same area limits will be placed on the pet's movement and animation.
* **More Pet Cages!** – Pet cages with functioning doors have been added to Sloop and Brig cabins.
* **Pirate Emporium at the Outpost** – The Pirate Emporium has now been opened on each Outpost! While this currently provides access to the same temporary Shop UI found on the game front end, this will soon transition to the fully-fledged Pirate Emporium in future updates. All shop items are still considered placeholder at this stage.
* **Ancient Skeletons?!** – Pirates have begun to report the sightings of a strange purple skeleton while out exploring on islands. While this Skeleton appears to immediately flee on sight, lucky pirates able to defeat the skeleton have begun to collect the Ancient Coins it leaves behind. This Skeleton is purely Placeholder in its appearance, animation and audio and as such we don’t require feedback on this right now. However, we are using this technical test as a method to track the spawning rules and frequency behind the scenes – Go hunting, Insiders!
* **Gunpowder Keg Hit Detection** – Improvements have been made to ensure hitting gunpowder kegs at range is more consistent with ranged weapons.
* **Explosive Damage on Ships** – When ships are affected by explosions (gunpowder kegs, volcanic rocks etc) they now use a new more realistic damage model using an inner and outer blast radius. This new setup ensures that greater damage is applied closer to the explosion and less damage can be applied farther away from the explosion.
* **Sea Dogs Tavern Challenge** – The Glorious Sea Dogs Tavern in the centre of the adventure world now has a challenge route which leads you to the peak of the island. There is a bell at each end so you can time your crew mates as they attempt the challenge and listen out for the bells.
* **Two New Arenas!** - New Arenas are live with this Insiders build, all other maps have been removed temporarily so these are in the rotation. 
* **‘Shores of Gold’ Treasure Room Entrance** – Upon reaching the Gold Hoarder’s Treasure Room, players will now find a much more chilling ambience before waking the Gold Hoarder from his slumber.
* **‘Shores of Gold’ Pirate Lord Cutscene** – Following the defeat of the Gold Hoarder at the end of the ‘Shores of Gold’, players are now treated with an improved Pirate Lord cutscene sequence showcasing the highlights of the Shores of Gold adventure.
* **Aggressive Skeleton Ships** – When out sailing the world, crews will now have the chance to encounter a challenge appropriate aggressive Skeleton Ship. When sailing on a Sloop, crews should no longer encounter an aggressive Skeleton Galleon and will instead find themselves attacked by a Skeleton Sloop. Brigantine crews have a chance to encounter both Skeleton Sloops and Skeleton Galleons, while Galleon crews will always encounter the most challenging Skeleton Galleon.
* **Aggressive Skeleton Sloops** – Following feedback on the aggressive Skeleton Sloops, we have increased the difficulty of these encounters. Get ready Sloops, they are coming for you!
* **Reaper’s Chest VFX** – The Reaper’s Chest now has a new smoky visual effect when found out in the world and the light pillar has had a further effect pass to ensure its visibility at all times of the day/night.
* **No More Random Monkeys!** – In previous Insiders builds, players have been granted a pet monkey when starting up the game which is our debug method of ensuring everyone has a pet for initial testing purposes. In this latest build however, we have removed this setup to ensure that Insiders begin testing the true flow for purchasing and selecting a pet.
* **Purchase a Monkey!** – If you participated in our previous Technical Test of the Pirate Emporium you can skip this step, however Insiders are now required to purchase a monkey from the Front-End menu before they can be selected in-game. Everyone should have a stack of Ancient Coins so head to the Pirate Emporium and purchase that monkey!
* **Pet House **– Players now have access to the ‘Pet House’. Located on each Outpost (Near the soon to open Pirate Emporium) and on your ship, the Pet House will become the place to select and dress your favourite Pet ready for your journey out into the world.
* **Name your Pet!** – Once a Pet has been selected in the Pet House you are free to name it however you see fit. While we have set up several name restrictions to what you can name your pet, we’re sure Insiders will fully test this feature for us!
* **Pets Hanging Out** – When on your ship, pets will now idle around before picking a spot to hangout. Look out for your monkey perching next to the Wheel as you sail your ship, or even take a nap on the Ship Map Table while you vote for your next voyage. While holding your pet, players can also place them directly onto the hangout spots which are setup all over your ship.
* **Re-join your Game Session** – When being disconnected from the game due to a sudden exit, game crash or network issue, players are now offered the chance to re-join their game session once they return to the front end. Game Sessions are now kept alive for a short period of time after the last crew member disconnects giving you a 10-minute window to return to your Game Session without losing progress. Leaving the game purposefully or being disconnected due to being idle will not keep your session alive.
* **‘Wild Rose’ Music Box** – When playing through the ‘Wild Rose’ Tall Tale, on discovering the Music Box players can now interact with it to play the Wild Rose Theme.
* **Aggressive Skeleton Galleons** – When sailing out in the world, crews will once again have the chance to encounter an Aggressive Skeleton Galleon breaching alongside your ship to attack. These Skeleton Galleons will now prefer Galleon Crews, however unlucky Brig and Sloops may still encounter this threat! 
* **Skeleton Sloops** – Skeleton Sloops have been seen roaming seas outside of Skeleton Ship Battles. Along with them roaming the world, Crews have spoken of Aggressive Skeleton Sloops now breaching alongside ships and attacking them. These Skeleton Sloops will prefer Sloop and Brig crews; however, Galleon Crews will still encounter this threat!
* **Arena Welcome Message** – When joining the Arena either into the Tavern or straight into a Contest, Players will now be shown a welcome message informing them of their team name, colour and iconography.
* **All Tall Tales Unlocked (Insiders Only)** – To facilitate testing across all our Tall Tales, Insiders have had all restrictions removed and are able to access any Tale.

Preview

Insider Patch Notes 2.0.6.5

The latest Insider build is here! We’ve got new features, new fixes and new things for you to test. Full patch notes are below. Enjoy!

Insider Patch Notes - Update 2.0.6.5

Head out onto the seas on the hunt for Skeleton Captains and visit Duke in your local Outpost Tavern to find a range of voyages on offer and help Jim deliver that cargo!

If you do encounter any bugs, then please head to the Sea of Thieves support site and let our Player Support team know.

Smuggler's Fortune

Skeleton Captain Maps – When defeating a Skeleton Captain, they now drop a red Message in a Bottle to better differentiate this from regular ones found out in the world.

Updates

External Sea Dogs Tavern Challenge Route – The Sea Dog’s Tavern Challenge Route can now be traversed backwards, making it a lot more challenging!
Rowboat Perches – Pets can now be perched on the end of a rowboat so you can take them off on your journey!

Fixed Issues

General

Players should no longer become safe teleported when walking between large rocks on Kraken’s Fall.
Players should no longer become stuck behind the Gold Hoarder tent on Morrow’s Peak Outpost.
Digging up a Reaper’s Chest now correctly ignites the pillar of light VFX until completely dug up and moved.
When a sloop has been emptied of water, splash footstep SFX should no longer be heard.
Gunpowder Skeletons now correctly damage themselves and other Skeletons when they self-explode.
Players will no longer hear oar splashes when rowing the rowboat on dry land.

Arena

When climbing the Megalodon head, players should no longer see through parts of the Tavern interior.
Following migration to a new tavern, the cannon and wheel in the Sea Dogs Tavern become useable once again.

Pirate Emporium

The Pirate Emporium on the front-end now displays Preview images when browsing items.
Ancient Skeleton’s audio will now play as priority over all other world audio
Ancient Skeleton’s audio will now syne correctly with its animations.
Encountering an Ancient Skeleton and moving away will no longer drop the quality of the model when still in visible range
Encountering an Ancient Skeleton and moving away before returning will no longer restart the audio.
Players are now able to purchase a Bundle even if they already own an individual item inside it.
Players are ejected from the in-game Pirate Emporium if they die whilst browsing.
Un-equipping the top emote in your radial no longer causes ‘No Icon’ to be displayed in the emote filter.

Pets

Pet’s should no longer freeze in their animation when another player drops a pet of the same type in their vicinity.
Pets can once again follow a player’s path up to the beacon on Kraken’s Fall.
Monkeys no longer play their audio twice while idling.
Monkeys now smoothly transition off a non-owner's arm.
Reduced clipping of parrots and monkey’s on players arms of different body shapes & sizes.
Monkeys will no longer butt-slide when becoming scared while running.
Monkeys no longer freeze in their animation when the player submerges and re-emerges from water.
Parrots will no longer land above the ground when following players.
Equipping any Pet or outfit from the Pet Chest no longer plays monkey SFX.
Pets moving to a hangout should no longer be placed at an offset to the hangout spot and be floating in mid-air.
Pets scared by the Kraken should no longer constantly switch from hangout spot to hangout spot.
When equipping a pet, they can no longer spawn on the roof of the Emporium and become inaccessible to players.
Pets now react to players using the new emotes in Variety Bundle 1.
Pets now become scared when they encounter two players fighting.
When equipping a new pet, they have a default name as shown in the Emporium.
Pets now walk up stairs without causing major clipping issues.
Pets are now accustomed to cannon fire and harpoons and do not become scared when they are used.
When finishing stroking a parrot they do a sad little head drop.

Known Issues

Coin Toss Emote – Certain body types will not show the coin correctly in the hand after the coin toss animation completes.
Pirate Emporium Preview – The preview image can sometimes show an oversized parrot, outfits are not showing correct previews, new players are not correctly shown in the front-end preview.
Parrots Hanging Out – Parrots will often be unable to hangout on hangout spots and will sit on the floor next to them.
Unable to consistently make Pirate Emporium purchases – Reports of failed purchases in the Pirate Emporium, returning a ‘Sorry, daydreaming...’ error message, investigations are ongoing.
Shop Inventories Not Loading – Reports of shop inventories failing to load reported across Insiders, investigations are ongoing.
Localisation for the Smuggler’s Fortune Update – Localisation is currently incomplete for the Smuggler’s Fortune and Pirate Emporium features in this update.
Tall Tales Commendations Showing as Incomplete – Some players may find that after completing Shores of Gold Commendations and receiving their rewards, the Commendation still shows as incomplete.

Previously released Updates

Pet Cages – Working Pet Cages have been added to all ship types! Swing the latch and you now have a handy place for your favourite companion to sit which is a little more out of the way. As with all hangout spots, when players place pets in these spaces they will stay put even if you leave the ship and head off into the world.
Skeleton Sloops on the Horizon – Skeleton Sloops have had their visibility at long range improved to be more aligned with their Skeleton Galleon counterparts. Glowing lights now ensure that Skeleton Sloops on the horizon can be distinguished from a player-controlled Sloop.
Skeleton Sloop Balancing – We’ve made a small balancing change to reduce the number of repairers on the Skeleton Sloop in order to help bring the balancing closer to our proposed solo crew encounter difficulty.
Skeleton Captain Forms – Players now have the chance to encounter emergent Captains in a range of different Skeleton forms. Whether they are bone, plant, shadow or gold – take them down and retrieve their maps!
Skeleton Captain Reward Skulls – We’ve increased the value of the skulls that are rewarded when players defeat an emergent Skeleton Captain. Players are now guaranteed a Villainous Skull for their efforts in addition to the ‘X’ Marks the Spot Map!
Pet Hangout Spots – A balancing pass has been done across all ship hangout spots. Some hangouts have been removed and others reprioritised to avoid scenarios when you think your pet has been ‘lost’. Pets should also no longer sleep on spots designated as lookouts.
Pet Outfits! – Pet outfits purchased from the Pirate Emporium can now be equipped on your loyal companion. Each outfit is unique to a specific breed of animal, so head to your Pet Chest at the Pirate Emporium or your ship to equip your favourite! The current Pirate Emporium is preventing individual Outfit purchases; however, you can purchase those within a Capuchin or Macaw Bundle.
Sleeping Parrots - Parrots sleep animation improved and sees them place their head under their wing when snoozing.
Coin Toss Emote – The ‘Coin Toss’ Emote now uses a 2-sided coin enabling players to use the emote to flip for a random result!
Pirate Emporium Vendors – The Pirate Emporium Vendors have now found their voices and speak to the player when interacting.
Ancient Skeleton Appearance – The Ancient Skeleton has now been given a complete makeover - gone is their placeholder purple appearance! These Ancient Skeletons are now blue with a golden skull and carry a sack of Ancient Coins on their back. Their animation is still being iterated on but should now correctly climb out of the ground before chasing off across the island!
Smuggler’s Fortune Commendation Icons – Smuggler’s Fortune Commendations now have their placeholder imagery replaced with new artwork. This new artwork also contains a stamp reinforcing which Commendations are time limited.
Skeleton Captain Frequency – We’ve increased the frequency of Skeleton Captains appearing in the world. Head out there and take them down for those maps!
Arena Non-Verbal Messages – While inside the Arena, the non-verbal Pirate phrases have been revised to provide more tactical use in Arena contests.
Dismissing your Pet – The ability to dismiss your Pet has now been moved from a tooltip to within the Game Options menu. This should remove the frustration seen when a pet in proximity prevents you from pressing (Y) to switch weapons in the heat of battle.
Storage Crates – There is now a chance to find washed up Storage Crates out in the world. These carriable crates can store anything that you can put into barrels!
Blunderbuss Knockback Balancing – We’ve reduced the range at which a Blunderbuss shot will apply a knockback to a rival player. The distance a player is knocked back by the shot remains the same.
Stronghold Keg Ship Explosion – Following the introduction of the revised explosion system for ships in our last Insiders build, we’ve now rebalanced the Stronghold Gunpowder Keg to ensure damage is correctly applied to the mast and wheel of the Galleon when detonated.
Fearless Bone Crusher Set – The Fearless Bone Crusher Set has been changed to a new colour variant – a fetching green look! Players will see this change in the shops and can now purchase the new set. Any Insiders who picked up the previous outfit will retain their items until the next Insiders reset.
Removing Mercenary Items – The Mercenary Hurdy Gurdy & Sail have been removed from the shop this update to avoid the confusion between the mix of new and returning items alongside the introduction of the Black Market. We intend to cluster all the Mercenary Instruments together in a future update rather than drip feed individual items in.
Black Market Gold Prices – Prices for items within the ‘Goodies for Gold’ tab have now been revised to create a range of value options instead of a flat pricing structure. While still priced well above the Outpost store stock due to their rarity, these now come in under the prices sold by the Pirate Legend Hideouts to better align with our previously delivered items.
Black Market Doubloon Prices – Prices for items within the ‘Desirables for Doubloons’ tab have also been revised to create a similar range of value options, providing both low and high price options for players to earn.
Pirate Emporium Now Open! – Head inside and spend your Ancient Coins on a range of items from Parrots and Monkeys in the Pet Shop or the new Bear & Bird Ship in the Shipwright, through to a range of new Emotes for your Pirate. There is still heavy iteration taking place in the Emporium so expect many updates on the presentation as we approach our next release.
Emote Selection – The Vanity Chest has now been updated with an Emote tab, giving players the ability to configure their Emote Radial however they like. On purchasing a new Emote, players can now swap out one of their existing emotes in replacement for their shiny new one!
Skeleton Captain Maps & Rewards – Encountering and defeating an emergent Skeleton Captain now drops a new ‘X’ Marks the Spot map. These new maps provide the location of a range of high value rewards, with a strong chance of digging up a Reaper’s Chest!
Rag & Bone Crate Delivery – We’ve increased the amount of time players have to deliver the Rag & Bone Crates to be eligible for a Doubloon pay-out. Previously players had 24 hours (in-game time), where now they have 36 hours (in-game time)
Smuggler’s Fortune Voyages – Stitcher Jim has struck a deal with the local Seaposts to help clear up all this waste. Grab yourself a free Reaper’s Grave Voyage and head to Shipwreck Bay to collect the crates before heading to a designated Seapost to cash in. Some Seaposts even need assistance in moving their crates to the more outer Seaposts for collection, pick up a free Seapost to Seapost Voyage to help them manage their cargo! Stitcher Jim claims he’ll take care of the rest, but that’s a lot of bones! All Smuggler’s Fortune Voyages are time-limited for the duration of the Smuggler’s Fortune update
Smuggler’s Fortune Athena Voyage – Pirate Legends are tasked with a Reaper’s Grave Voyage requiring them to load their ship with even more cargo before heading out to their designated Seapost for disposal. Expect to net more Doubloons from this Athena’s Voyage. All Smuggler’s Fortune Voyages are time-limited for the duration of the Smuggler’s Fortune update
Skeleton Captain Sightings – Reports from across the Sea of Thieves tell of Skeleton Captains being sighted across islands. These Skeleton Captains now drop a range of bounty skulls on defeat in addition to a message in a bottle map pinpointing the location of a buried stash. These stashes currently provide a regular voyage, however in future could lead to a Reaper’s Chest! Following the Smuggler’s Fortune update, the Skeleton Captains and their array of rewards will persist as an emergent encounter in the world along.
Mysterious activity at the Uncharted Isle – Stitcher Jim has set himself up at the campsite on the Uncharted Isle as he surveys this month’s delivery activities. He talks of his beloved, a masked figure investigating the local dig site and sketching some quite peculiar drawings…
Fearless Bone Crusher Clothing – This Month Duke is offering a twist on the Bone Crusher Clothing set, by introducing ‘Fearless Bone Crusher’ Clothing. Available for Doubloons, players can acquire the Fearless Bone Crusher Jacket, Fearless Bone Crusher Dress and Fearless Bone Crusher Hat.
Fearless Bone Crusher Ship – Keeping with the Bone Crusher theme, Duke is also introducing the ‘Fearless Bone Crusher’ Ship. Available for Doubloons, players can acquire the Fearless Bone Crusher Hull, Fearless Bone Crusher Sail and Fearless Bone Crusher Flag.
Mercenary Items – Ensuring players can work towards completing their Mercenary Set, Duke also offers the Mercenary Hurdy-Gurdy along with the return of the Mercenary Sails this Month, both available for Doubloons.
Deep Ocean Crawler Weapons – Something for your Gold? This month Duke introduces a twist on the Ocean Crawler Set with the ‘Deep Ocean Crawler’ weapons. Available for Gold, players can acquire the Deep Ocean Crawler Cutlass, Deep Ocean Crawler Flintlock, Deep Ocean Crawler Blunderbuss and Deep Ocean Crawler Eye of Reach.
Letters of Recommendation – Players are now earning a steady stream of Doubloons through the hoarding of Reaper’s Chests, in addition to the Mercenary Voyages being made available for FREE. Under the provision of the Trading Companies, Duke has begun restricting the flow of Letters of Recommendation. Players will now be only able to purchase a single Letter of Recommendation for each company in each month.
Limiting Pet Movement – Due to the potential performance impact of having many pets in the same location, when high numbers of players and pets congregate in the same area limits will be placed on the pet's movement and animation.
More Pet Cages! – Pet cages with functioning doors have been added to Sloop and Brig cabins.
Pirate Emporium at the Outpost – The Pirate Emporium has now been opened on each Outpost! While this currently provides access to the same temporary Shop UI found on the game front end, this will soon transition to the fully-fledged Pirate Emporium in future updates. All shop items are still considered placeholder at this stage.
Ancient Skeletons?! – Pirates have begun to report the sightings of a strange purple skeleton while out exploring on islands. While this Skeleton appears to immediately flee on sight, lucky pirates able to defeat the skeleton have begun to collect the Ancient Coins it leaves behind. This Skeleton is purely Placeholder in its appearance, animation and audio and as such we don’t require feedback on this right now. However, we are using this technical test as a method to track the spawning rules and frequency behind the scenes – Go hunting, Insiders!
Gunpowder Keg Hit Detection – Improvements have been made to ensure hitting gunpowder kegs at range is more consistent with ranged weapons.
Explosive Damage on Ships – When ships are affected by explosions (gunpowder kegs, volcanic rocks etc) they now use a new more realistic damage model using an inner and outer blast radius. This new setup ensures that greater damage is applied closer to the explosion and less damage can be applied farther away from the explosion.
Sea Dogs Tavern Challenge – The Glorious Sea Dogs Tavern in the centre of the adventure world now has a challenge route which leads you to the peak of the island. There is a bell at each end so you can time your crew mates as they attempt the challenge and listen out for the bells.
Two New Arenas! - New Arenas are live with this Insiders build, all other maps have been removed temporarily so these are in the rotation.
‘Shores of Gold’ Treasure Room Entrance – Upon reaching the Gold Hoarder’s Treasure Room, players will now find a much more chilling ambience before waking the Gold Hoarder from his slumber.
‘Shores of Gold’ Pirate Lord Cutscene – Following the defeat of the Gold Hoarder at the end of the ‘Shores of Gold’, players are now treated with an improved Pirate Lord cutscene sequence showcasing the highlights of the Shores of Gold adventure.
Aggressive Skeleton Ships – When out sailing the world, crews will now have the chance to encounter a challenge appropriate aggressive Skeleton Ship. When sailing on a Sloop, crews should no longer encounter an aggressive Skeleton Galleon and will instead find themselves attacked by a Skeleton Sloop. Brigantine crews have a chance to encounter both Skeleton Sloops and Skeleton Galleons, while Galleon crews will always encounter the most challenging Skeleton Galleon.
Aggressive Skeleton Sloops – Following feedback on the aggressive Skeleton Sloops, we have increased the difficulty of these encounters. Get ready Sloops, they are coming for you!
Reaper’s Chest VFX – The Reaper’s Chest now has a new smoky visual effect when found out in the world and the light pillar has had a further effect pass to ensure its visibility at all times of the day/night.
No More Random Monkeys! – In previous Insiders builds, players have been granted a pet monkey when starting up the game which is our debug method of ensuring everyone has a pet for initial testing purposes. In this latest build however, we have removed this setup to ensure that Insiders begin testing the true flow for purchasing and selecting a pet.
Purchase a Monkey! – If you participated in our previous Technical Test of the Pirate Emporium you can skip this step, however Insiders are now required to purchase a monkey from the Front-End menu before they can be selected in-game. Everyone should have a stack of Ancient Coins so head to the Pirate Emporium and purchase that monkey!
*Pet House *– Players now have access to the ‘Pet House’. Located on each Outpost (Near the soon to open Pirate Emporium) and on your ship, the Pet House will become the place to select and dress your favourite Pet ready for your journey out into the world.
Name your Pet! – Once a Pet has been selected in the Pet House you are free to name it however you see fit. While we have set up several name restrictions to what you can name your pet, we’re sure Insiders will fully test this feature for us!
Pets Hanging Out – When on your ship, pets will now idle around before picking a spot to hangout. Look out for your monkey perching next to the Wheel as you sail your ship, or even take a nap on the Ship Map Table while you vote for your next voyage. While holding your pet, players can also place them directly onto the hangout spots which are setup all over your ship.
Re-join your Game Session – When being disconnected from the game due to a sudden exit, game crash or network issue, players are now offered the chance to re-join their game session once they return to the front end. Game Sessions are now kept alive for a short period of time after the last crew member disconnects giving you a 10-minute window to return to your Game Session without losing progress. Leaving the game purposefully or being disconnected due to being idle will not keep your session alive.
‘Wild Rose’ Music Box – When playing through the ‘Wild Rose’ Tall Tale, on discovering the Music Box players can now interact with it to play the Wild Rose Theme.
Aggressive Skeleton Galleons – When sailing out in the world, crews will once again have the chance to encounter an Aggressive Skeleton Galleon breaching alongside your ship to attack. These Skeleton Galleons will now prefer Galleon Crews, however unlucky Brig and Sloops may still encounter this threat!
Skeleton Sloops – Skeleton Sloops have been seen roaming seas outside of Skeleton Ship Battles. Along with them roaming the world, Crews have spoken of Aggressive Skeleton Sloops now breaching alongside ships and attacking them. These Skeleton Sloops will prefer Sloop and Brig crews; however, Galleon Crews will still encounter this threat!
Arena Welcome Message – When joining the Arena either into the Tavern or straight into a Contest, Players will now be shown a welcome message informing them of their team name, colour and iconography.
All Tall Tales Unlocked (Insiders Only) – To facilitate testing across all our Tall Tales, Insiders have had all restrictions removed and are able to access any Tale.