We’re approximately halfway through Season 13 of Sea of Thieves. As of writing, I’m 4 levels away in the Merchant Alliance from being able to hit the coveted “Pirate Legend”, and then I guess I can start playing the game?
As is often the case, partway through a season that’s seen some shifts and changes in gameplay, out comes a patch to fix, balance and adjust. Sea of Thieves has just released patch 3.1.1 and whilst there’s plenty of bug-fixing and tweaks. Rare has made a significant change to the Blunderbuss, which initially left the community concerned.
Blunderbuss blunder?
I hate the Blunderbuss for PvP. Sure, it’s on me for not being effective with it, but when you play Sea of Thieves, you’re always running the risk of an encounter with other players. And well, we’re pirates, so there’s not always honour among thieves.
The Blunderbuss has, for so long as I can remember, been a one-hit kill weapon when you’re up close. So a pirate boarding your ship and blasting you with it as you wrestle with the wind or the anchor is really annoying.
Now, there’s a long reload, so if you miss, that’s the opportunity to counter. It’s never been unfair, just a pain.
Still, Rare must have heard enough from the community because now it’s been adjusted.
More in the patch notes below. However, here’s the gist.
Damage is now reduced to 90 instead of 100, and there’s added knockback with elevation. So now, the Blunderbuss is more apt for knocking boarding pirates off your ship! Or, of course, a surprise board and punt on some unsuspecting voyagers out on the open ocean.
Is it a good change? I think so. Reading on Sea of Thieves’ Reddit, initial feedback seems positive, but let’s give it some time.
Sea of Thieves Patch 3.1.1 – The details
SEA OF THIEVES: THE FLAME RISES
RETURNING THE BURNING BLADE IN BATTLE
- Crews in command of the Burning Blade are now prevented from returning the ship to The Reaper’s Hideout while still in combat. Rival ships in close proximity to the Burning Blade will prevent it from being returned.
- A majority vote from the crew will now be required when pledging to become the crew of the Burning Blade, or when returning the ship to The Reaper’s Hideout.
- Any crew votes to return the Burning Blade to The Reaper’s Hideout will now be cleared if the ship is sailed away from the island, and the vote will need to be retaken upon returning to the vicinity.
SEA OF THIEVES GAMEPLAY IMPROVEMENTS
BLUNDERBUSS REWORK
- The blunderbuss knockback effects have now been strengthened, with close-range shots now consistently propelling players forcefully backwards and applying more vertical height to repel boarders over ledges and obstacles.
- The spread pattern of the blunderbuss has been widened, both when firing from the hip and aiming down sights, maximising the knockback potential at close range.
- Players propelled backwards by a blunderbuss shot no longer have movement control while in the air, ensuring they are forced in the direction determined by the blast.
- New visual effects have been added to the blunderbuss, with white-hot debris, smoke and distortion effects identifying the effective range of its new knockback strength.
- The damage dealt by each pellet fired from the blunderbuss has been slightly reduced, reducing the total output of the weapon to 90 damage. As a result, the blunderbuss will no longer be able to perform a one-hit kill on a player with full health.
- Pellets fired from the blunderbuss now fizzle out at long range, reducing the overall range of the blunderbuss and cementing its role as a close-range tactical choice.
HORN OF FAIR WINDS AVAILABILITY
- The Horn of Fair Winds is now more easily discovered within the world. These items are guaranteed to be found within Siren Treasury Vaults, and now have an increased chance of being salvaged from shipwrecks. In addition to these specific locations, there is a small chance of finding a Horn of Fair Winds washed up on islands across the Sea of Thieves.
- To balance out this increased availability, the gold awarded when cashing in a Horn of Fair Winds has now been reduced. As a reminder, the gold amount earned is not linked to the power remaining within the Horn, so blast away!
PIRATE EMPORIUM
Show off your personal style with purchases from the Sea of Thieves Pirate Emporium! Pick up exclusive cosmetics such as ship liveries, costumes, weapons, pets and emotes using your Ancient Coins, purchasable with real money. Head to the Pirate Emporium page to browse and buy the latest additions!
NEW ITEMS – NOW IN STOCK!
- Motley Mariner Ship Collection
- Motley Mariner Weapon Bundle
- Motley Mariner Costume Set
- Motley Mariner Ship’s Crest
- Motley Mariner Trinket
- Motley Mariner Drum
- Ashen Curse Owl
- King’s Ransom Weapon Bundle
- King’s Ransom Ship’s Crest
- Idle Conversationalist Emote Bundle
- Omen Ship Bundle
- Red Card Emote (free!)
PIRATE EMPORIUM BROWSING IMPROVEMENTS
- The Pirate Emporium store experience has been improved with an expanded ‘Browse All’ section added to the top bar, allowing players to more easily scour the wealth of items available to purchase.
- Within this new menu, players can filter items by category such as weapons, ships and equipment, then dive deeper to find specific types such as cannons, pistols and banjos.
- Players can also sort these filtered items by name or by price to help them find exactly what they are looking for.
SEA OF THIEVES OUTPOST COSMETICS
NEW SEA OF THIEVES OUTPOST STOCK!
- The Outpost clothing shops have received a fresh shipment of items and now offer the Simian Courtly Jacket and several colourful new halter tops, all available for gold.
- The Outpost weaponsmiths now stock a selection of weapons from the new Stonebark Carpenter’s weapon set.
SEA OF THIEVES FIXED ISSUES
SEA OF THIEVES GAMEPLAY
- When attacking players with throwing knives, a missed throw will no longer incorrectly cause them to take damage.
- Attacking Gunpowder Skeletons with throwing knives and directly hitting the keg should now consistently detonate it.
- Crews diving to the submerged wreck as part of a Lost Shipment Voyage should no longer find an empty Captain’s cabin on arrival.
- Players are now targeted correctly by enemy Bone Caller Skeletons after migrating across servers.
- Crews can once again discover Chests of Ancient Tributes in the following Sunken Kingdom locations: Shrine of Ocean’s Fortune, Shrine of Ancient Tears and Shrine of Tribute.
- Ship Milestones for Voyage Quests Completed now increment properly depending on the crew’s size.
- Attempting to deliver Athena’s Fortune treasure to an Outpost will now guide players to the correct location.
- The Logbook of a Captained ship will no longer continue to gain progress while the crew is pledged to the Burning Blade.
BLADE OF SOULS
- Players can no longer bypass the stun when missing a heavy strike with the Blade of Souls by dropping the sword.
- The Blade of Souls is now correctly positioned in a player’s hands view while running or swimming.
- The Blade of Souls is now correctly stashed on a player’s back while climbing ladders.
- The correct icon will now show on the Map Table when a player is holding the Blade of Souls.
THE BURNING BLADE
- Crews pledged to the Burning Blade should no longer be open to invasion by rival crews as part of an Hourglass battle.
- The Burning Blade will no longer be able to enter the Tunnels of the Damned as part of a Tall Tale.
- Crews burying items while pledged to the Burning Blade will now find that Map Bundles appear in the Captain’s cabin.
- Players will now see the Burning Blade announcement banners only once upon approaching and not repeatedly when engaging or returning from the Ferry of the Damned.
- The banner for pledging to take control of the Burning Blade now correctly displays the name of the crew that accomplished it.
- If a Burning Blade crew leaves the game, nearby crews will no longer see the ‘Defeated’ notification.
- The crew of the Burning Blade can no longer access the Ship Customisation Chest at Outposts.
- The Ashen Roar will no longer get stuck and become unusable if the Burning Blade moves servers while it is heating up.
- Storage merfolk will now recognise the Burning Blade when the pledged crew has stored treasure in the depths of the Sunken Kingdom.
- Treasure from the Burning Blade’s hold will now be released and rise to the surface consistently when the ship is sunk.
- The allied skeleton crew on the Burning Blade will no longer react when hit by the pledged crew.
- The Burning Blade’s middle mast repair location has been moved to avoid the location of the bell.
- Losing the Burning Blade within the Devil’s Shroud no longer repeats defeat notifications for the crew and rival players nearby.
- Joining a session in progress on the Burning Blade no longer starts battle music if the ship is not in combat.
- Battle music for the Burning Blade crew now consistently starts when a ship comes into battle range and ceases when the last ship leaves.
- The Burning Blade will no longer fire the Ashen Roar when it is considered downed or flipped.
- Players can no longer become stuck in the ship’s barrels and be ejected from the ship.
- A notification has been added to indicate that The Reaper’s Bones Emissary Flag can’t be lowered when in control of the Burning Blade.
- The Burning Blade is no longer able to migrate to a location where another Burning Blade is already present.
- Completing Rituals at a Skeleton Camp now requires the Burning Blade to be closer to the island.
- Captains defeating the Burning Blade should now consistently be rewarded with the Blade of Souls.
- Bone Caller Skeletons will now appear on the Burning Blade when summoned.
- Players using Controller Aim Assist will no longer find that allied skeletons on the Burning Blade trigger the assist effects.
- The Blade of Souls will only be shown next to Captain Flameheart while the Burning Blade is not roaming the seas.
- Improvements have been made to the visual quality of the carpet in the Captain’s cabin on the Burning Blade.
- While sailing the Burning Blade, the border of the Devil’s Shroud now appears in the correct locations around the world map.
SKELETON CAMPS
- Improvements have been made to the Skeleton Camp and Ancient Temple environments to enhance navigation and visual quality.
- Constellations will now be correctly highlighted on the pillars after a failed attempt.
SEA OF THIEVES ENVIRONMENT
- The feet of Barbary and Capuchin pets will now align properly when perched on the bar at taverns.
- Barrels at Blind Man’s Lagoon will now be solid and will not allow players to walk through them.
- Pet perch spots in the Pirate Legend Hideout have been updated, allowing players to place dogs in various locations.
- Pets in the Pirate Legend Hideout no longer partially float in the air when placed on a certain stool.
- The floating Wild Rose journal at the Lagoon of Whispers has been placed correctly so that it appears to sit on the surface below.
- Gold in the coffers at Picaroon Palms can now be collected by players.
- Players should no longer experience stuttering when going down the stairs at Sea Forts.
- ‘Captains of the Damned’ – Players can now sit on benches at Isla Tesoro without sitting on other players.
SEA OF THIEVES VISUAL AND AUDIO
- Players of all body types using the Mayhem Capstan will now see their hands holding on to it correctly.
- Fireworks can now be heard while inside caves.
- The buttons on the Eclipse Jacket now display correctly if a player views it from further away.
- The Pirate Lord’s speech will no longer be cut off when players sail away at the end of the Captaincy tutorial.
- The audio effect for collecting a chicken in the Merchant Alliance Tutorial Voyage now matches other animal capture Voyages.
- Enemy skeleton music will no longer be heard when allied skeletons are nearby.
- Rolling Dice Emotes now also display a notification showing the dice roll result.
- Pocket Watches now consistently have visible glass faces after being equipped.
- Flameheart’s animations have been improved to be smoother when the Burning Blade is returned to The Reaper’s Hideout.
- The underside of a player’s foot is now visible when performing emotes or sitting on ledges.
SEA OF THIEVES PLAYSTATION 5
- Players browsing the Sea of Thieves Pirate Emporium should no longer experience client instability when attempting to purchase Ancient Coins.
TEXT AND LOCALISATION
- Approved Xbox terminology is now used across a range of menu items in non-English languages.
- ‘Revenge of the Morningstar’ – Incorrect translation in Tyler’s dialogue has been addressed, which previously blocked players using non-English languages.
SEA OF THIEVES PERFORMANCE AND STABILITY
- Improvements have been made to Sea of Thieves server stability to avoid instances where players are disconnected from their session.
Sea of Thieves: On the road to Pirate Legend
Since buying Sea of Thieves on Steam and cancelling Game Pass, I’ve managed to sink another 70 hours into it over the space of a couple of months, which is a massive amount for me on any one game.
Is it special? Perhaps. It’s unique, it’s fun and the constant changes and updates mean that it’s usually improving.
I’m perhaps 1 good 3-hour session away from finally hitting Pirate Legend in Sea of Thieves, and I’m hoping to get that done this weekend. What I’ll do after, I’m not actually sure!
I’ll update you on the journey and the end game once I actually see what it looks like. Either here or over at ninjarefinery.com
Is it ultimately worth all the effort? I’m talking probably 150+ total. Let’s see….
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