Content Update
After the back-to-back content updates of Season Ten throughout the tail end of 2023, you might have expected a quiet few months while we recovered. But no! It was back into the fray upon our return to the office, hustling to deliver an entirely new Season straight out of the gate.
Season 11 swept in with a complete overhaul to how you choose your adventures, complementing the new Quest Table with a rework of reputation and loot across the game. Trying to break down all the changes involved would take too long for this quick round-up, so have a flick through the release notes for the full story. If nothing else, remember possibly the most important detail of Season 11: the rock that has definitely always been there.
The new Season also brought in a fresh Plunder Pass packed with stylish cosmetics to unlock alongside all the other new additions to the Pirate Emporium, plus a variety of wonderful items available to earn via the regular Renown track. All that on top of the new treasure types, new Trading Company costumes and even new Trinket space…
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News and Features
As always, a new Season necessitated a new launch article to help direct readers to the most important information as smoothly as possible. We even tried out a bit of an extended format this time to make sure you had all the vital nuggets of information in one place. You’re welcome!
We also took the opportunity to add to the ever-growing collection of Spotlights. This time, that meant coaxing Dead-Eye Dray onto the stage and grilling them on their experiences as a writer within the community. Ever wondered what goes into supporting fan-run resources like Merfolk’s Lullaby or Golden Sands Blogpost? This’ll give you some idea!
If you’re more into reading than writing, the very end of the month saw the release of the second chapter in the Sea Dog’s Search comic miniseries, continuing Lesedi’s determined hunt for her brother’s soul. Downloading the comic is free, so what are you waiting for?
As a side note for news fans, newsletter subscribers get reminders of all the cool stuff going on in Sea of Thieves and we’ve sent out dozens of issues of the handy Pirate Times email round-up too, so if you haven’t already…
Videos and Streams
The video team are always busy bees when we have a new Season to get out, and January was no different. The latest schedule kicked into gear with the first proper look at what everyone could expect from Season 11 in the form of a Content Update video, followed by a much more detailed Deep Dive in which the dev team were subjected to ruthless questioning about what they’ve been up to.
Once our pirate audience was firmly in the anticipatory spirit, it was time to push the update out and release the third and fourth parts of the video puzzle: the Season 11 Launch Trailer and January’s Pirate Emporium update! Just listen to that rousing music and try to pretend you don’t feel a desperate desire to set sail.
And on the subject of rousing music, January’s streamable addition to the Sea of Thieves soundtrack collection was the phenomenal ‘Becalmed –Shores of Gold’. Listen to that chorus swell! Perfection.
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Social Channels
Over on our social channels, we wanted to start the year with the big questions: what’s the most satisfying sound on the Sea of Thieves, which dig spot should we pick and, most importantly of all, who is eating all these burnt grubs? Seriously, we just want to talk. Once everyone was put off their lunch, we continued to probe public opinion with musings on top-tier title screens and just how many skeletons have fallen victim to you over your long pirating careers.
To lighten that slightly morbid mood, we rapidly moved onto something a little more celebratory: a Community Hub update! For double the delight, we even threw in a second Hub update later in the month, spreading the intense love for the new Fog-Piercing Frog Lantern. Photographic pioneers weren’t left out either, as a #SoTShot competition delighted us with countless Calm Captures embracing the quieter side of the pirate life.
Of course, things never stay quiet for long around here and it was hardly any time at all before we had you representing your ships with GIFs and singing the praises of the Sea of Thieves’ wonderful geology. That vibe continued with a salute to everyone’s favourite rock right after we checked in on how pirates were doing with the newly expanded Company reputation levels. Have you earned your first precious Distinction Rings yet?
All of which neatly delivers us to February and whatever new excitements are in store for the rest of the month. We hope you’ve had a wonderful start to the new year – and the new Season! As always, if you want to keep up to date with all the latest developments as they happen, drop by and see us on all the usual social channels: Twitter/X, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, YouTube, Twitch, and the official Forums and Discord. For now, we’ve got to dash before the shipwright catches up with us. Go chase that horizon!
Previously:
Sea of Thieves Round-Up: December 2023
