Insider Patch Notes 2.8.5.1

Insider Update 2.8.5.1 is now live. With our build for August now in the bank, we return to previewing features for upcoming releases. Some new tweaks have been made to Insult Sword Fighting to help players get into the swing of things (pun intended) a lot more quickly. On top of this, we also have new emergent world changes as part of the Sea of Thieves: On Demand Seasonal update for players to test out and enjoy.

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

'The Quest for Guybrush'

*Following player feedback, the team have made a number of improvements to Insult Sword Fighting, easing players into the experience. *

Insult Sword Fighting Improvements

• To onboard players into the experience, pirates will now encounter two battles where they can learn insults and retorts. Once these are learned, pirates will then encounter another battle they can win using what they have learned.
• Players now only need to learn ten insult and retort pairs.
• Damage will now be done to the player when they choose a bad retort, or if the opposition retorts well to your insult.

Sea of Thieves On-Demand

To help balance the rewards between on-demand experiences and the emergent world, the team have made some improvements – ensuring that emergent quests and activities will always be more profitable than anything players can do on demand. To read more about these changes in depth, head to this Forum post.

Emergent World Balancing

• Emergent world quests and activities will now be more random and less predictable to keep players on their toes. These experiences and the high rewards for taking part in them will only be available in the emergent world.

Skeleton Forts on Demand

• Skeleton Forts on demand have currently been disabled, but will return in a future Insiders release once player feedback has been addressed.

Guilds of Gold

Guild Activity Feed

• The Guild Activity Feed allows Guild Members to keep up to date with important Guild Activities while out sailing for the Guild. Guild Members will see notifications appear in the notification window when various activities happen within the Guild, such as gaining a level of distinction or unlocking rewards.
• These notifications are simple and contain only basic information. To find out more, players can head to the Guild Chronicle to find the corresponding event which may contain extra details.

Updates

Chest of Fortune

• The Chest of Fortune will now appear in the Vault after taking down the formidable Fort of the Damned. Following this change, the Chest of Fortune will no longer be recovered from the vaults of the Fort of Fortune.
• This Insiders build does not include the supporting changes to extend the Fortune’s Favour Commendation and unlock additional rewards. This change will appear in a future Insiders update.

Known Issues

‘The Quest for Guybrush’

• Stan won't play his voiceover after you give him the Bill of Sale.
• Stan won't animate when the player asks him to get into the cupboard.
• Stan's cupboard does not fall into the water when pushed by the player.
• Players do not trigger the circus intro dialogue when approaching the tent from the side, blocking further progress until they exit the tent.
• The portal to exit the Tale cannot be entered.

Insult Sword Fighting

• Players cannot accept the Medallion from Carla, and so cannot complete the Trial of the Sword or the Tall Tale as a whole.
• Crew members who didn't pay for the Insult Sword Fighting training hitting the dummy will cause it to disappear.
• Crew members will not receive the pop-up of which insult/retort is being used during Insult Sword Fighting.
• Invited/returning players are locked outside Smirk's house if they join while a player is taking part in the Insult Sword Fighting tutorial.

Fixed Issues

*Gameplay *

• After equipping a fishing rod in the Tunnels of the Damned, the fishing float and line no longer disappear.
• Players who join the game on a crew actively taking part in a Skeleton Fleet encounter may find they initially appear on the Ferry of the Damned before arriving on their ship.
• Snakes will no longer turn away when going from the player when being charmed.

Quest for Guybrush

• Certain Commendations earned through playing the first Legend of Monkey Island Tall Tale will no longer appear to be earned when playing through the second Tall Tale.
• There is no longer a placeholder icon present on the UI card for ‘The Quest for Guybrush’ Quest Book when viewed from the Captain's table.
• Captain Smirk’s machine no longer disappears under the cloth when attacked, leaving the cloth floating and blocking progression.
• All marked locations now have Insult Sword Fighting opponents to encounter.
• The icon used in Carla's notification is now correct.
• Captain Smirk no longer pops into the floor during training.
• Corina now has the correct dialogue when loading the Tall Tale from the start.
• The Ritual for the Mojo Potion of Unclouded Mind is no longer missing sound effects.
• The Citizen's dialogue is now correct when starting from any checkpoint.
• The Storekeeper now has the correct dialogue when starting from any checkpoint.
• Before speaking to Captain Smirk, players can no longer press X / F despite there being no prompt, resulting in Captain Smirk rejecting them regardless of whether or not the right sword is equipped.
• Players who initiate Murray will no longer hear the Insult Sword Fighting musical stings even if they aren't in the local area or taking part in the fight.
• There is now audio present for sliding the books back into the bookcase in the mansion.
• The Ghost Pirate violin in the tunnel now sounds correct.
• When language settings are set to English, dialogue within the Tale will no longer appear in Russian.
• The Mop Tree Stick will no longer appear to be half in the ground when placed on the floor.
• The Trophy of Legendary Treasure-Huntery no longer appears as a Gold Hoarders object.
• Stan now moves onto the wooden dock area smoothly.
• One of the non-verbal phases for Stan’s sales ledger has now been corrected.
• The voiceover audio for the second part of the ‘Suspicions’ book by Elaine is no longer cut off before it finishes.
• Bill Fettucini now looks at Alfredo Fettucini during the circus intro sequence.
• One part of Stan’s dialogue will no longer cause the first voiceover dialogue to replay.
• When starting from any checkpoint, the prompt to open Stan’s office is no longer present if the door is already open.
• The doors for the Scumm Bar and International House of Mojo are now open when starting from checkpoints.
• The cutlasses removed from The Beast’s cage will no longer disappear if the player leaves the area and returns.
• The door to Meathook’s house will now be open when using the appropriate checkpoint.
• The prompt to open the storage chest in Stan’s office is no longer present when starting from a checkpoint.
• The book which contained the treasure map is no longer missing from the floor of the mansion when starting from any checkpoint.
• The circus notification no longer uses the crew version for single players.
• Players can no longer take damage when reaching the end of the big zipline.
• Murray will now be visible to players at the training areas even if they were further away when Murray appeared.
• The Beast will no longer have an interaction prompt during its dance.
• The notification for discovering the Trophy of Legendary Treasure-Huntery now uses the correct text and imagery.
• If the player uses a mermaid that is present in Stan’s dock music zone, the music will no longer follow/continue with the player.
• The door of The Beast’s cage now fully covers the cage.
• The training dummy now faces the player during Insult Sword Fighting training.
• The Pirate Leaders intro sequence subtitles will no longer only be displayed when standing within a certain distance of them.
• There are now non-verbal options for the Trophy of Legendary Treasure-Huntery.
• Players can now walk freely around the cannon in the circus.
• Bill Fettucini now holds the concertina correctly when first pulling it out.
• Any checkpoint that contains the completion of the Trial of Treasure-Huntery will now contain the full pages for the Trial in the quest book.
• The treasure item glint for the Inkwell can no longer be spotted from outside the mansion without line of sight.
• One of the subtitles during the Ribbsy fight is no longer missing the player’s name as a prefix.
• If the player dies, voiceover is now played at the memoir spots as intended.
• Players are no longer able to see through a window at the side of Captain Smirk’s house.
• Players are no longer able to dig through one of the carpets in Meathook’s house.
• A rock on the northeast side of the island no longer appears and disappears depending on how far away the player is.
• The player’s gamertag is now present on the intro banner when starting the Tale.
• Opponents can no longer walk on top of Murray's bushes during fights.
• Players are no longer able to look through/into one of the rocks by the waterfall.

*Journey to Mêlée Island *

• The prompt to open the kitchen back door no longer appears when starting the Tale from a checkpoint.
• The prompt to add ingredients to the cooking pot or open the Clock Tower door is no longer still present when starting the Tale from a checkpoint.
• Spiffy no longer has an incorrect tooltip when starting from the third checkpoint.
• Incorrect tooltips will no longer appear on already opened doors and solved puzzles when players start the first Tale from a checkpoint.

*Sea of Thieves: On Demand *

• If a player starts ‘The Quest for Guybrush’ Chapter 2, the portal no longer appears before they dive, causing the migration to fail.
• Players’ ships no longer pop in and sail underwater if a player force-closes the game and rejoins before entering the Tunnels of the Damned after voting for a quest.
• ‘Captains of the Damned’ - If a player chooses to dive to the ‘Captains of the Damned’ Tall Tale, their sails are no longer up when they arrive in the swamp.

*Guilds of Gold *

• Rare, Deckhand and Quartermaster sails will no longer still be equipped when the last owner leaves the session.

Please note: Rare, Deckhand and Quartermaster sails are only available to Devs and the Moderation team. This will not affect most players.

• The option to disable the Guild Chronicles is no longer present within the Guild Settings menu.
• The option to ‘Change Role of other Guild Members’ is no longer missing a progress spinner to let players know the action is in progress.
• When a Guild Member leaves the Guild, the Recent Activity on the Guild Card in the Play tab now shows the username of the player who left, as intended.
• When the Branding is updated, it now updates in-game for other players in the pinned Log, the Reputation page or the in-game Guild homepage.
• The Info & Tips button is no longer missing when accessing the Fleet view from the Play tab.
• The Guild Emissary Trophy no longer uses placeholder text for its description in the Trinket Box.
• The Ship in a Bottle Trinket no longer shows all Tiers as unlocked even when none are purchased.
• Both Captaincy and Guilds no longer become locked after accepting a Guild invite on Xbox One.

*Pirate Emporium *

• When a player jumps down from the crow's nest, the Mad Monkey Sails will no longer flash a bright light for a couple of seconds.
• Players’ hands no longer intersect with the Seasoned Sailor Blunderbuss when reloading.
• The Paradise Garden Pistol’s aiming accuracy is no longer lower than when hip firing.
• The Mad Monkey Cannons no longer twitch when a pirate is inside.
• The Mad Monkey Sails now have the correct icon and tile art.

*Environment *

• Players can no longer get stuck in a tree on Flintlock Peninsula.

*Visual and Audio *

• The player’s left hand no longer contorts when moving while wearing the Silken Gloves of the Ashen Dragon.
• The tankard grog-drinking animation no longer appears abnormal in third-person view for male body types.
• There is no longer a hole present in the Flaming Jackal Cutlass.
• The correct Faction daggers now appear when voting for a Faction at the Hourglass.

*Text and Localisation *

• Players will now be able to receive in-game text chat messages from other players.

*Performance and Stability *

• Improved server stability to reduce instances where players are disconnected from their session.