There’s always been tension between PvE and PvP players in Sea of Thieves. Some just want to sail the seas and collect treasure, while others want to attack treasure-laden ships and, er, pirate. That dichotomy is core to the Sea of Thieves sandbox, but Rare has plans for one big change to aid PvE fans – story checkpoints.
Previously, if you lost an item from a Tall Tales voyage that was necessary to unlock the next part of the story, you’d have to start the thing all over – ditto if you had to quit the game for any reason during the voyage. As of the next monthly update – that is, the one following today’s Ships of Fortune update – that’s changing.
“The checkpoint is like an open book,” creative director Mike Chapman tells Eurogamer, “and at any point you can leave the game, come back, vote on that open book, and you’ll be able to pick up your checkpoint right from that point. And any physical items you had with you at that point in the tale would pop back in on the table.”
For players bothered by the potential of PvP fights, Rare hopes today’s update will help, too. Ships of Fortune adds a new emissary system, where players can join up with factions to increase their rewards – and a new hunter faction has been added with rewards for taking down those other players. That makes non-faction players lower-value targets, and should offer a little more space for PvE enthusiasts to hide in.
The world of pirate games has room for a whole lot of playstyles, after all.