Sea Of Thieves Ushers In New Era Of Pirating With Seasons And Plunder Pass Rewards

The next chapter in the Sea of Thieves adventure has arrived in the form of a new Seasonal Progression System – similar to Fortnite – whereby players will have a few weeks to level up their reputation as fast as they can in order to unlock gold, doubloons, cosmetics, and more! The move comes as Rare Ltd. is shifting their focus solely to Adventure Mode as approximately 97% of players are spending their time within that particular mode; sailing with friends, creating their own content, and living the life of a true Pirate Legend.

Unfortunately, that does mean that Arena Mode will no longer receive any further updates or enhancements moving forward; voice and text communications were recently disabled due to the increasing amount of toxicity within the multiplayer experience. Players are still able to communicate via the in-game emotes and non-verbal comms (pre-selected phrases) but voice chat and custom messages will no longer be supported as development team looks to promote a more positive play experience.

Sea of Thieves Season One will take place over a three month period and introduces a brand new piece of content at the start of each season as opposed to receiving them on a monthly basis. Players can look forward to participating in both regular and featured live events, over 100+ rewards to unlock, ongoing quality of life updates, new emporium items, and exclusive loots to earn via Twitch drops.

Encompassing all of these new features is the Seasonal Progressional System which is the biggest change to the overall player progression system since launching back in 2018 and allows players to earn Renown by engaging with all aspects of the Pirates’ life including adventuring, exploring, combat and more! Players looking to accelerate their Seasonal Progression can take on Trials – a themed set of challenges (known as Deeds) that will test players’ knowledge of navigating through the Sea of Thieves in addition to providing some direction and see what the world has to offer for both long and short gaming sessions.

Plunder Pass

Pirates looking to take their legendary adventures a step further can do so with the purchase of a Plunder Pass for $12.79 CAD which is a new premium tier that rewards players with unique rewards and items from the Pirate Emporium; totally optional companion purchase that is not required to progress through a given Sea of Thieves Season. Plunder Pass holders will still need to level up their Renown and progress through the 100 levels as normal in order to unlock their additional items and rewards; much like in Fortnite with the Battle Pass.

The Plunder Pass will include items that were previously released in the Pirate Emporium as well as early access to upcoming goods before they make their way to shore. Rare Ltd. has stated that there will be no exclusive items within the Plunder Pass itself – meaning that players will only be able to unlock them after purchasing the additional service.

Lost Shipments

Not to be outdone by the Order of Souls and Gold Hoarders, the Merchant Alliance Trading Company is offering players a new type of voyage called Lost Shipments whereby players are tasked with locating and recovering the Cargo Manifest from a fallen ship and turn it in for a reward. Locating the missing shipments will require some keen eyes and observations along the horizon – seagulls, floating debris, and beached loot are a telltale sign that the location is close by; island residents might be able to assist in the search further with additional clues as to where the cargo vessel went down – why not ask them?

And the time-honoured Pirate tradition of snagging stuff for free will continue in Seasons with Twitch Drops where players can earn in-game items and rewards for watching their favourite Sea of Thieves Partnered streamers play the game on Twitch; 30 minutes to unlock each reward. Rare Ltd. confirms that more big things are coming in 2021 and that players should keep a weathered eye on the horizon.

Sea of Thieves is available now on Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One X, Xbox One, and Windows PC.