Sea of Thieves is getting a huge re-work and a new way to play and progress through the game with the implementation of Seasons on January 28.
The developers promise this is the most ambitious change yet and say that it will give players more satisfaction from session to session.
How do Seasons Work in Sea of Thieves?
According to the official Sea of Thieves blog, Seasons are planned to last around three months, with each season adding some new content to the world.
The video below breaks it all down piece by piece
The blog confirms that in Season One, a new Merchant Alliance Voyage will be added to the game permanently, and that there will be new events and challenges throughout each season.
Each Season will see players go through 100 levels of progression, which will in turn unlock rewards - this won't be gated by the Plunder Pass, but the pass will offer extras.
Seasons are planned to be free for all players, but there will a premium "Plunder Pass" available for each season, which will work in a similar manner to other battle passes.
Trials and Renown Explained
Alongside the Seasonal update, players will be able to win Renown, a new way of progressing that isn't entirely dependent on handing in loot to vendors.
click to enlarge
+ 2Renown can be earned in a number of ways, including Trials. Trials are made up of individual deeds that promise to test your "adventuring, exploring and battling capabilities,"
This means that players will be able to make progress to rewards no matter how long their play session, and seems to be a way of remedying the massive loss of loot can set back progression.
What is the Plunder Pass?
Rare have a separate article up that goes into detail for Sea of Thieves Plunder Pass.
They have promised that unlike regular battle passes, the Plunder Pass will not gate any gameplay. Players will be able to progress through all 100 levels of rewards in a season.
click to enlarge + 2Each Plunder Pass will cost 999 coins, and will allow players to earn new rewards as earn Renown.
The blog confirms that the rewards will be made up of premium items from the Pirate Emporium , including weapons, equipment, emotes and shop cosmetics.
The pass promises to give players around £30 worth of items from the pirate emporium for the equivalent of around £8 worth of Ancient Coins
All cosmetics that are unique to the Plunder Pass in one season will be made available later on, so players won't need to worry about missing out on goods forever.