Rare has announced the release of the Sea of Thieves update 1.08 today which features plenty of quality of life changes, bug fixes and more. Sea of Thieves update 1.08 comes just ahead of the release of The Hungering Deep, which launches on May 29.
Of the updates and fixes included in Sea of Thieves update 1.08, one of the most significant is the removal of eight cosmetic items that fans complained were too similar.
These eight cosmetic items are now ‘out of stock’ and no longer appear for sale from Shripwrights and Weaponsmiths. The list of these items is as follows;
Shipwright
- Scurvy Bilge Rat Figurehead
- Castaway Bilge Rat Figurehead
- Grand Admiral Figurehead
- Ruffian Sea Dog Figurehead
Weaponsmith
- Scurvy Bilge Rat Cutlass
- Castaway Bilge Rat Cutlass
- Grand Admiral Cutlass
- Ruffian Sea Dog Cutlass
Sea of Thieves Update 1.08
Other changes being implemented include the ability to discard unwanted quests without having to propose them at the Captain’s Table, additional Lore books in the world and a Colourblind option for the X marks the spot.
Fans are sure to be happy with the ability to discard quests from anywhere. Having to travel to the Captain’s Table and propose a quest simply to discard it was awkward and frustrating. With update 1.08, this is definitely improved.
As a person who is colourblind, I’m also incredibly pleased with the new colourblind option as it was, often, very difficult to make out the X on some maps.
The full list of patch notes can be found here or below. Rare has announced that the update will be applied later today with servers being offline between 6 pm AEST and 11 pm AEST (9 am – 2 pm BST & 4 am – 9 am ET).
Sea of Thieves is available for PC and Xbox One.
Full Patch Notes
Updates
- On to the Next! – Players can now discard unwanted voyages within the Quick Menu. No more having to propose them on the Captain’s Table and cancel them!
- Did You Hear That? – When you are transmitting voice over your mic, an icon will now appear on screen to let you know that you are doing so.
- Stories Untold – Players will now come across more Lore books on their adventures.
- Give and Take – Resource Crates which are being held by players can now have items put into or removed from them.
- Distressed Chickens – The unsettling sound of a squawking chicken whilst caged is now… more bearable.
- Music of Legends – The musical sting that plays when entering the Legendary Hideout has been updated.
- Updated Voice Lines – Legendary Tavernkeeper Louise, the Pirate Lord and the Order of Souls NPC Olivia now have new ghostly-sounding voice lines.
- Visual Effects – Improved multiple VFX of weapon impact to grass terrain, and cannon impact to water.
- Icons – Updated the Chests UI to make it clearer that players can scroll through the filter tabs. Icons are now also prettier, bigger and generally better.
- Out Of Stock – Shipwrights and Weaponsmiths will no longer stock the eight cosmetic pieces which weren’t visually distinct enough.
- Launch Crew Eye of Reach – We kept it in for an extra week due to its popularity, but this time-limited item has now been removed from the weapon shops!
Player Settings
- Colour Blind Accessibility – There is now a High Contrast ‘X Marks the Spot’ option in the Accessibility Settings. Enabling this will change the red X on the map to white with a black outline, which we understand will be easier to view for red-green colour blind pirates.
- Aim Sensitivity Slider – Player can customise their controller and mouse sensitivity specifically when aiming with each ranged weapon. The Blunderbuss, Flintlock Pistol and Eye of Reach each have their own slider to adjust.
- Shhh! – Additional muting options have been added to “My Crew”. These now include the ability to mute voice, text chat and non-verbal phrases separately.
Performance Improvements
- Whilst on the ship and in multi-ship scenarios, performance has been improved.
- Server optimisations to reduce latency.
- Frame rates while streaming islands have been improved.
- Improved gunplay in high-latency network conditions.
- Multiple server and client crash fixes.
Further improvements and optimisations for all platforms are ongoing.
Fixed Issues
- Issues with giving items have been resolved and the feature is now re-enabled.
- Skeleton Fort keys will no longer drop into inaccessible locations.
- Dates displayed on pocket watches will no longer go out of sync.
- Fixed areas on Smugglers Bay and Plunder Valley where Bounty Skeletons were not spawning.
- Pirates should no longer lose their clothing upon respawning after death.
- Changing your bucket at the equipment chest will make the water spill out instead of just vanishing. So be careful not to flood your ship!
- Players should no longer encounter an issue where they are unable to interact with reward items floating in the water once they leave the area and return.
- Barrels of Plenty no longer disappear when respawning onto your ship after death.
- Improved skeleton movement in Skeleton Forts.
- Instruments will no longer sound muffled / cut out when being played on the back of a sloop.
- Opening the vanity chest multiple times in a short span of time will no longer cause your pirate preview to stop appearing.
- It is now possible to loot all items in Skeleton Fort vaults.
- The prompt to talk to the Merchant Alliance NPC on Sanctuary Outpost is no longer missing her name.
- Chicken movement should no longer appear jittery.
- Pirate Legend band in the Hideout now play audible shanties.
- The legendary Tavernkeeper was loading the wrong text loadout – the correct text loadout has been rebound to the NPC.
- Players will no longer incorrectly hear ambient sounds (storms/rain/birds) after using a mermaid, exiting the Ferry or being teleported after getting stuck.
