Sea of thieves embarks on its new schedule based on the season of content updates starting Thursday, January 28. Developer Rare, Ltd. says players can loot 100 levels of cosmetics, giveaways and other in-game rewards for free thanks to a new progression system, or purchase additional rewards with a premium battle pass.
The loot that each season offers will be earned as players earn Renown, “a new progression metric that doesn’t depend entirely on loot delivery,” says Rare. There is no buy-in to participate in the unlockings for each season. Players who are Pirate Legends (level 50 in each of the game’s three original shipping companies) will receive exclusive rewards.
The “Plunder Pass”, available for 999 Ancient Coins (a premium coin, purchased for $ 9.99) gives players access to 11 more items, which Rare values at around $ 40 collectively, if they were sold at the Emporium Pirate about the game. Ancient Coins can also be earned for free as a season progression reward, and can be obtained by defeating rare Ancient Skeletons that appear randomly during island explorations.
It is possible that some players already have items available through the Plunder Pass, says the studio, but “it is very likely that there are still enough new items to justify the purchase price”. All players will still unlock standard content as they progress through that season’s Renowned levels; there is no time-saving purchase of unlockable things with the Plunder Pass or other real money medium. Standard content includes “more rewards than we’ve made available at once,” said Rare.
Renown is constantly earned through the game, “whether you go through a short session or get destroyed in the middle of an epic candle,” said Rare. “You will never finish a Sea of thieves empty-handed session. ”Players can also follow a series of Proofs of a Season, which are thematic categories of objectives (Actions, as they are called in the game) suitable for game sessions of varying lengths. The tests also reward players with unique items in the world.
Sea of thieves started a monthly update schedule in the summer of 2019, and delivered 10 content updates in 2020, the last of which was the Dar Festival, whose events ended a week ago. although Sea of thieves now it is returning for a major update every three months, the new model “allows us to create more meaningful experiences for all of you and return to a more predictable release pace,” wrote the developers.
They also acknowledged the players’ feedback that “the launch of cosmetics throughout the game and on the Pirate Emporium seemed a little unbalanced in recent updates”. A seasonal schedule also aims to address this.