Release Notes – 2.8.2
While pirate investigators apply themselves to the latest maritime Mystery, May's content update serves up a collection of gameplay, performance and audiovisual refinements to the overall
Sea of Thieves experience. A new player reporting tool also makes its debut, and the Pirate Emporium has treats in store based on classic Tall Tales and previous Plunder Pass content alike...
▶ Sea of Thieves Season Nine: Official Content Update Video (Duration 6:19)
If you've missed any of the Season Nine action so far, you can watch the trailer above and sift through the release notes from
this Season's launch followed by
last month's additions. Then hop back here and commence scrolling to find out what the latest update has in store!
Pirate Emporium
Relive the timeless tales of
Sea of Thieves: A Pirate's Life with new costumes and pets to complement those that went before! The serene Spring Blossom set also returns from a previous Plunder Pass with matching extras, while the humble tankard gets some overdue emote attention...
Season Nine Plunder Pass
- Anyone wishing to take full advantage of Season Nine rewards can still buy the Plunder Pass. Any rewards unlocked will become available upon purchase, so players who have raised their Renown throughout Season Nine can instantly see their hard work rewarded before the Season ends.
- This Season’s Plunder Pass offers early access to the complete Sting Tide Ship Collection and evolving Sting Tide Costume, and can be purchased at any time through the Pirate Log, Pirate Emporium, Microsoft Store or Steam Item Store.
Tia Dalma Costume
- Dress as the enigmatic Tia Dalma and spread your otherworldly wisdom across the waves.
- Includes the Bon Voyage Emote. Summon an apparition of a Galleon, then send it on its way across the horizon.
Redd Costume
- Dress as the courageous Redd as you search for treasure in secret grottos, then carry it triumphantly to auction.
- Includes the Redd’s Heckle Emote. A pirate can always spot the true treasure at an auction – and it won’t be laying eggs.
Cutler Beckett Costume Set
- Dressing as Cutler Beckett is really just good business, with this costume set containing two variants – one with a matching hairstyle, one without.
- Includes the Civilised Drink Emote. Sometimes a little perturbation is needed to achieve the perfect tankard of grog for a refined palate.
Castaway Cat
- A mystical moggy that, thanks in part to being dressed as Tia Dalma, is as unpredictable as the sea.
Prominent Prisoner Monkey
- You may now, henceforth, commence with the acquisition and dispersal of bananas. Savvy?
Sea of Thieves: A Pirate’s Life Trinkets
- Painting Bundle 1 contains painted portraits of Jack Sparrow, Davy Jones and Tia Dalma to decorate a Captained ship.
- Painting Bundle 2 contains the 'Eternal Freedom', 'The Cursed Ferryman' and 'What Lurks Below' paintings to decorate a Captained ship.
- Painting Bundle 3 contains the 'A Broken Blade', 'The Grotto's Hoard' and 'The Bayou Beckons' paintings to decorate a Captained ship.
Spring Blossom Weapon Bundle
- Spring is all about celebrating new life. You can use these weapons to make some space for it…
Spring Blossom Fishing Rod
- With its line spun from sacred twine, any angler would be blessed to use this gnarled fishing rod.
Spring Blossom Ship Collection
- Previously featured in the Season Six Plunder Pass, all parts of the Spring Blossom Ship Collection are now available to purchase from the Pirate Emporium.
Tankard Tricks Emote Bundle
- Grog’s your favourite tipple, and you know plenty of ways to fully appreciate its fabulous flavours. Show them off to your crew when performing these emotes.
Freebie Ranting Rogue Emote
- If the ship’s on fire, there’s a rat in the grog barrel or your favourite Trinket’s knocked out of place, be sure your crew know all about it.
Blooming Brigand Bundle (Store Only)
- No matter what the time of year may be, you’ll always have a spring in your step when your trusty vessel and even the contents of your armory are bursting with vitality. The Blooming Brigand Bundle contains the Spring Blossom Weapon Bundle and Fishing Rod, the Spring Blossom Figurehead and Sails, 550 Ancient Coins to spend in the Pirate Emporium and a free bonus of 25,000 gold. Head to the Microsoft Store or Steam Item Store to find out more.
Outpost Cosmetics
Merchant Alliance Cosmetics
- Show off your allegiance to the Alliance with a new range of clothing items, weapons and equipment – all now available for gold from Outpost shops.
Gameplay Improvements
Supply Restocking After a Lost Battle
- Crews defeated during the Battle for the Sea of Thieves are now free to purchase Captain’s Supplies or Merchant Supplies upon arrival at the Outpost, even if one in-game day has not yet passed – allowing them to stock up and get back in the fight.
Battles Within a Storm
- Crews diving beneath the waves to battle rival ships will no longer find themselves battling in storm conditions.
Updates
Report a Player
- Within the Settings menu, players now have access to a ‘Report a Player’ option, allowing them to directly report another player to the Sea of Thieves Support team for possible moderation and action.
- This reporting tool allows players to be reported for inappropriate gamertags, ship names and pet names.
- Once the report has been completed, players will be shown a list of players who they have been in the vicinity of in the last few hours to enable the report to be targeted at a specific player.
Events
Twitch Drops
- Continue to unlock cosmetics throughout Season Nine with Twitch Drops! Stay tuned to Sea of Thieves social channels to find out when Twitch Drops will be active for Partnered streamers, allowing players to earn a selection of items from the Eastern Winds Ruby set.
- Find out how to link your accounts and more on our dedicated Twitch Drops page.
Fixed Issues
Gameplay
- Pirates swimming to a ship in choppy waters are no longer able to use a ship's cannons, harpoon or Map Table to board directly from the water.
- Pirates striking an enemy threat with a harpoon will once again deal a small amount of damage.
- On discovering a Shipwreck Graveyard during a Legend of the Veil Voyage, players who previously opened the Captain's Quarters will still be able to access that area even after server migration.
- During a Ghost Fleet encounter, crews at a distance from the battle will no longer find that ships disappear while attempting to move to the crew’s position.
- Players are now able to complete the Ocean Epicurean Trial when fulfilling the required criteria.
- Players attempting to sell a Trident of Dark Tides while aiming it will no longer be prevented from aiming other weapons once sold.
Battle for the Sea of Thieves
- Voting on the Hourglass of Fate will now clear the Captain’s Table of any placed Tall Tale Checkpoints.
- Players will no longer see a ‘Quest Received’ notification when diving below the waves looking for an opponent.
- Solo players forcefully disconnecting from a session while travelling beneath the waves will now find their battle cancelled and arrive on a random island back at sea.
- The win streak UI now appears consistently even if the player force-closes the game and rejoins the session.
- When diving beneath the waves, players will no longer see strange light blue underwater visual effects in the distance prior to fading to black.
Captains of Adventure
- A Captain’s Logbook placed inside a Collector’s Chest no longer loses its cover customisation.
- The Taker of Stolen Stock Commendation now progresses when commodities are sold to Sovereigns.
- Improvements have been made to the Captain’s Logbook to avoid instances where the text and images inside the Logbook overlap or intersect with each other.
Pirate Emporium
- Players will now travel in the intended direction when fired from a Brigantine cannon with the Sawbones Cannons equipped.
- The Sawbones Jacket and Belt will now appear ghostly when equipping the Blessing of Athena’s Fortune.
- The iconography for the Sawbones Collector’s Sail now matches the equipped sail.
- The Sawbones Trinket is now centred correctly and lit from above when placed on a ship.
- The Sawbones Collector’s Figurehead when equipped on the Sloop will no longer display liquid through the vial corks, and will swing more noticeably.
Environment
- Players can no longer get stuck when traversing the dry dock area at Port Merrick.
- Players will no longer be able to see the waterline when jumping at either end of the dry dock at Port Merrick.
- The lanterns present at the back of the Order of Souls building at Port Merrick are now lit.
- Players can no longer intersect with the environment within the Sea Fort basements.
- Items can no longer become lost if placed on a table in the Merchant Alliance area at Port Merrick.
- Characters at Port Merrick will now be seen when approaching from a distance and will no longer pop into view.
- The cannon at the south-east of Port Merrick now launches pirates in the correct direction.
User Interface
- An icon will now appear next to a pirate’s name indicating they are carrying treasure after picking up a Stronghold Key.
Visual and Audio
- The beacon from the Reaper’s Chest or Reaper’s Bounty will now continue to be visible after harpooning the chest off a ship.
- The atmospheric effects that signify a Ghost Fleet encounter have been improved, ensuring the event is visible from across the waves.
- Pirates striking a Ghost Ship, Skeleton Ship or Megalodon with cannon fire will no longer hear other game music quieten for an extended period.
- Players will consistently see the visual effects for an active lantern during the Fort of the Damned, even when returning after death.
- During the Ghost of Graymarrow fight, the correct visual effects will now be shown at his feet when teleporting.
- Players with the Wandering Reaper Flag or Inevitable Reaper Flag equipped will now find that when representing as an Emissary, the Emissary Flag now attaches correctly.
- Pirates’ bodies will no longer become invisible when equipping the Order of Souls Shirt and an open jacket.
- When pirates are observed climbing ladders or sitting while holding the Skull of Destiny, the skull will retain its correct visual appearance.
- When holding a pet underwater (you monster), air bubbles now appear from the animal’s mouth.
- At Galleon’s Grave Outpost, the coastline audio is now heard at the correct volume.
Performance and Stability
- Improved server stability to reduce instances where players are disconnected from their session.
- ‘The Sunken Pearl’ – Improved server stability when migrating during this Tall Tale.
Known Issues
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 2.7.3, 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.
Download and Installation
Download size:
Xbox Series X: 8.33 GB
Xbox Series S: 4.9 GB
Xbox One X: 8.33 GB
Xbox One: 4.9 GB
Microsoft Store: 7.78 GB
Steam: 7.54 GB
XBOX INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS CAN BE FOUND
HERE.
PC INSTALLATION INSTRUCTIONS CAN BE FOUND
HERE.
Forum Discussion
You can discuss these release notes in the Forums
here.
You can leave your feedback on the game in general
here.
Looking For Crew?
Looking for new crewmates? We've got a bunch of places you can visit to seek out like-minded pirates, so sail on over to these official
Sea of Thieves hangouts: