[Mega Thread] Dark Relics Feedback and Discussion

  • Our second Monthly Content Update 'Dark Relics' has been out for a week now and it's been great reading all of your reactions, feedback and impressions. With so much talk about the update, we thought it would be the perfect time to start up a new Mega Thread.

    This topic has been set up so you can do just that for the new features, updates and activities that Dark Relics introduces, as well as Update 2.0.6. in general!

    You can also refresh your memory on everything else Dark Relics adds to Sea of Thieves by checking out the latest Release Notes.


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  • @takuboto

    As someone who much preferred the Bilge Rat Adventures from early in year one, and have been kind of put off by the amount of Mercenary Voyages we’re getting, I will say that I have enjoyed Dark Relics more than any other Mercenary Voyages that have been created. You’ve stepped in a better direction with this one, but Mercenary Voyages still need some more improvements if they’re going to be the norm for monthly updates.

    • Collect them all (pro)

    This was a nice little twist on the idea of Mercenary Voyages. There was kind of a dynamic here that encouraged theft and or trading, and I liked that. The Relics have a neat little design too.

    Please keep moving in this direction with Mercenary Voyages - make the goals and commendations more interesting. Make them based off of the social interactions you’re trying to create. No more “complete voyage X times.”

    • Reaper’s Chest (pro)

    This was a good addition! I love the risk and thrill that this item adds to the seas, but they absolutely need to be more scarce.

    • Relics are absurdly valuable (con)

    One of the problems Sea of Thieves has right now is an over saturation of high value loot. Finding something rare and valuable means almost nothing now that I can start whatever Mercenary Voyage is happening that month and get more out of it.

    I’ve sold pretty much every relic for 3k+, it should actually be like 1,500 if that... these things are selling for more than a Stronghold Chest does sometimes.

    • Mercenary Cosmetics..... (con)

    I get that we’re earning Mercenary Cosmetics because we’re doing Mercenary Voyages... But it’s so painfully predictable and mundane. Can you please add more time limited cosmetics that are interesting and on theme with the event?

    I’m a bit confused as to how we haven’t gotten a Reaper Figurehead or a Reaper Outfit yet.

    • In Summary

    Dark Relic has been your best Mercenary Voyage setup thus far. When creating Mercenary Voyages you’re working with the voyage framework that’s already been established in the game since before launch, so this should give you more time to make more creative twists to the goals and commendations right? That’s ultimately what would make them better.

    The dumping of high value loot into the game needs to be drastically reduced, and the cosmetics should be less predictable and more on theme with the event.

  • @takuboto I’ll basically echo what I said in the other thread here.

    I love the update, [mod edit]
    More options is always great in my eyes.

    My only concern comes with the recurring adventures themselves and for that I will just copy and paste my other post.

    Love the rest of the patch, but these voyages are just the same thing time after time with minimal changes.

    It’s been way over a year since launch, I personally think we need new and inventive ways to have adventures, rather than the same events just basically repainted.
    Just my opinion though. :)

    Minus that I’m really happy with how the games coming along. The devs have definitely been putting there work in and made huge noticeable improvements. Keep up the great work

  • @knifelife It seems you're not aware of it but it's not an insider thread, you might want to edit a few things ;P

  • @takuboto
    As an event it self this isn't great, isn't though about your full community. Like almost everything you made you're only thinking about the new players, the people who still leveling through ranks and adding nothing to your long term players who gains nothing with OoS reputation (what is a bit confusing, because the current game, the things you're adding are making a lot of new legends and adding nothing new for those...)

    Those voyages are a simple."reskin" of the current voyages we already did a lot of times.
    BRA from last year brought something new to the game, new mechanics and objectives different from the things we need to do with regular quests.
    That's what we should expect from BR, not Mercenary reskined voyages one after another.

    However the new Reaper's Chest is a great addition but you missed it again... Let me say I'm having a lot of fun with this due to have found a new crew recently, people who start playing now and people who didn't play SoT since last year. And it's been a blast trying to help them and fighting others for it.
    But again, this for my personal character evolution it equals nothing... I have more than 1K of doubloons.
    This as a permanent feature you completely forgot to add a new legendary commendation for legends and lock something behind it! Why?!
    That should be one of your first requirements when you add something like This... But you always forget about your long term players, it's nothing new.

    Summarizing

    Dark Relics isn't great.
    I'm having a lot of fun, not because of the event but because of my new Crew.
    From a Solo and/or Long term player perspective I'd find Dark Relics as one of the most tedious event ever.

  • @knifelife Please be careful where you post in relation to the Insider build. Any Insider Feedback or information is under NDA and should only be posted in the Insider section of the Forums.

  • @TakuBoto

    Wholeheartedly agree with the sentiment that @NunoAzuldimeter is getting at, that the most engaged players are being completely neglected and have been pretty much for the entire game's lifespan. This seems very backwards to me.

    An "Athena's" version of the Mercenary Voyage that just takes place in the Devil's Roar is not meaningful to Legends at all. Especially when there's absolutely no Legend exclusive titles or cosmetics to earn for it.

    No new ghost cosmetics for over a year, the regular Legendary set is being dripfed as slowly as possible, still nothing down in the hideout other than Athena Voyages... These monthly events should bring new rewards exclusive for legends too.

    Please ask Duke to strike up a partnership with the Mysterious Stranger so we can get some legend exclusive things to spend our doubloons and/or gold on for the event... it doesn't have to be time limited either.

  • @triheadedmonkey said in [Mega Thread] Dark Relics Feedback and Discussion:

    @knifelife Please be careful where you post in relation to the Insider build. Any Insider Feedback or information is under NDA and should only be posted in the Insider section of the Forums.

    Sorry bud, thought it was in a different section. My bad.

    @JetOrchidee97 Yepp, 🤦‍♂️ 🙈 cheers mate aha

  • I’ve only found one ritual skull and I’ve completed all 4 of the voyages.

    I need another 14 to complete the commendations :(

  • @sniffles-x said in [Mega Thread] Dark Relics Feedback and Discussion:

    I’ve only found one ritual skull and I’ve completed all 4 of the voyages.

    I need another 14 to complete the commendations :(

    We've also had this problem. So far my crew has done each regular area voyage twice and Devils Roar (Athena) voyage once and only got 6 ritual skulls (7 completed voyages).

    It would be nice if there could be a guaranteed 1x ritual skulls (ideally 2+) and 2x relics per voyage. Otherwise it just feels like we'll need to waste doubloons and grind them out to complete the commendations. Tap-and-go on anything that isn't a skull to save time.

    Other than that, we have enjoyed the new variation of items and 'complete the set' commendation.

  • @takuboto I really like and value the effort you guys are putting in to give us something to do each month however I would like to give some criticism.

    The only thing I like about the update (content wise) are the Reaper's Chests which force more player interactions than before. Now I don't have to look at every corner of the sea because people come to me when I have the chest on my ship and are not turning it in.

    The missions on the other hand are just Order of Souls and Gold Hoarder Voyages combined...yeah ok fine not big deal if they would at least count for the travelled sea miles commendations.

    It is really sad to see that, in my opinion, there is not much effort put into this.

    Yes! There are new models for the relics...that's it.

    No thoughtful commendations, not compatible with the old ones (at least the sea miles could count depending if you are on the OoS or GH part of the voyage).

    The game is lacking pop commendations in general but where are some pvp related commendations for the Reaper's Chests?

    Why aren't there commendations for sailing sea miles with one/two/three Reaper's Chests on board? Why is there not a commendation for stealing (and turning in) Reapers's Chests (not only 1 or 5 maybe some or for grade V, like 30 or so)?

    You guys have really great ideas for the game but it often simply feels like you didn't thought it through till the end.

    And my last point, which really bothers me the most: why aren't there some categories when you select the "Mercenary Voyages" tap in your reputation menu?

    Why is everything stuffed under one point? It is so confusing if you want to look after some commendations from the past.

    And two more thing regarding the voyages itself I really do not understand why not every voyage gives at least one Ritual Skull when you need 15 of those? We did several voyages in a row and some voyages didn't even had one at all at the end and one voyage gave us four (!)...that doesn't even cater to casual players which are of course a huge part of the game.

    The Voodoo doll doesn't fit into the new chests? Like what? It is the smallest item of the new ones and won't fit into a chest beside the ship and skulls? Come on!

    Sounds more destroying then anything else but once again I really appreciate your work on the game!

  • Stop implementing features like the reapers chest to force player server hop, this is like the forts was when the game launched .
    This server hop for the doubloons is a bad experience for the player that expend time in the same server. Also Ian assuming that creates again server issues because of the players changing servers in a fast way.

  • I love the fact that you can now earn dubloons in game. The only thing I'm concerned with is that thise reaper chests might get boring after a while. But I wouldn't be surprised if Rare would spice things up. I did a few dark relic voyages and I noticed that when I had to kill bosses on Mermaids hideaway they got glitched into the rock (when you head towards the top of the island). I had it happen twice on that island but worked around it by killing myself. Don't know if that's an island issue... Other than that I love the monthly updates and it creates a small competition between me and my friends to see who can get all the recommendations first.

  • what I like:
    Reaper Chests concept. It entices PvP but you don't NEED to go for it
    The Dark relics concept itself

    What I don't like:
    Reaper Chests payment (except if the doubloon purposes are going to be expensive.) The chests can be farmed relatively easy so it's de-valueing the doubloons plus allows even more power leveling

    How you get the ritual skulls. Those are bit too random for my taste. I'd rather have more handin-requests for the other relics. Sure they pay well but kind of feels without purpose once you're done with them.

  • How can I sell the red skull to the mysterious stranger? There is a stamp for it but it is not available for me.

  • So far I am enjoying the monthly releases of new Mercenary Voyages/ Bilge Rat Adventures. The only issue i have with this months Dark Relics voyages is completing the commendation for the Ritual Skulls. So far I have completed all 4 Dark Relic Voyages and each voyage has given me doubles of the Dark Relic (ex Two Hexing Skulls in one voyage) even in the Athenas one. So far after running about 7 Dark Relic Voyages I have only encountered a Ritual Skull twice. I feel the balance in what loot is being dug up should be re-balanced as I dont want to keep spending Doubloons looking for Ritual Skulls, to complete my last commendation, only to end up with two of the same Dark Relic i dont need in one voyage. I was hoping we would see Ritual Skulls dropped by Skeleton Captains as well instead of being just an item to be dug up. Or even just scattered in the world to find, like in a shipwreck, so we dont have to potentially waste doubloons hunting them during this event.

  • @giga2922 said in [Mega Thread] Dark Relics Feedback and Discussion:

    How can I sell the red skull to the mysterious stranger? There is a stamp for it but it is not available for me.

    You need to be pirate Legend or have one in your crew to hand it over for your.

  • We’re having a good time with the update, but last night while doin a DR voyage in Ancient Isles, we got into a situation in Chapter 3, where 4 captains should have been on Plunder Valley. 2 were there when we showed up, and despite scouring every inch of the island and defeating all the gold skeletons we encountered, the other two never spawned. The music started after we defeated the last gold skeleton we found, but no matter where we went — no more skellies. We logged off very disappointed.

  • Dark Relics has been a lot of fun. Neat way to introduce new mechanics. The reaper's chest certainly has stole the show and I love how it earns doubloons and that people will need those doubloons really bad to purchase cool items. I would say this should keep the reaper's chest an active viable option to obtain doubloons and there really shouldn't be a whole lot us competing with it so the pvp stays high.

    Maybe consider giving people a reason to keep the reapers chest on the boat for half a sea of thieves day. Half a day extra earns 10 extra doubloons max. It is just so important that people keep needing this so funny chases and pvp battles can keep happening because honestly that makes this game much more exciting even though I lose sometimes.

    The quests were cool - although I am not personally into witch doctor voodoo type of things which means that part of it was a major turn off. Quest core - traveling around fighting skellies and digging up some new artifacts is a good idea but those artifacts should be used to do something different than just earn gold or doubloons. Perhaps if you have some relics on your boat, you are more than likely to attract a shrouded ghost. There is the risk of keeping valuable items on your boat but also a chance you really get to reap the rewards.

    Downside - the cosmetics just were not very good. There needs to be more heart and thought into cosmetics and how many you get. Like the heart and thought that went into the free pirate legend gear. That was some really nice stuff.

  • Forgot to mention - the ritual skulls commendation is silly (as a solo) as I have to pay a bunch of doubloons to do the devil roar one to ensure I get two each time. Now on the bright side, I can just get more reaper's chests.

  • I definitely prefer the Dark Relic voyages to the mercenary voyages we've had of late, because they are much easier to get all the commendations for solo. To get all the commendations for the merc voyages you had to run stuff with the reapers flag, which at least I found quite challenging solo. The voyage length for Dark Relics is also perfect, so all in all, I'm really liking the new update!

  • @takuboto
    I beat all the content in one day.
    Personally i think that the items we are handing in give way to much money.
    The Reapers chest are fun, so + on that.
    I've not a damn clue why we are digging up devils roar items, that's super annoying.
    It'd of been better if we dug up skulls for OOS.

  • Here are my thoughts:

    I like the original BRA events over the Merc voyages, but have been enjoying them. The Dark Relics are great and I enjoy the lore. However, the thing I absolutely hate about these voyages is the over abundance of needed Ritual Skulls. 15 is way too many especially when you can do multiple voyages and never see one. I’d much rather have turned in 15 reapers chest for commendations versus ritual skulls. Ritual Skulls should have stayed at 5.

    For future, please eliminate the rinse and repeat method for these monthly updates. Put in some commendations fine, but needing to repeat the same voyage over and over and over again is both time consuming and incredibly boring. For example: it took 18 voyages to finally complete all the commendations. I finished ALL the main commendations the first day including the Reapers Chest, the plethora of voyages after was specifically trying to get Ritual Skulls, it’s ridiculous. I officially hate these voyages now bc of how many I had to do just to complete the event.

    You can make some cool commendations without needing to hardcore grind. Remember, we don’t want to repeat these voyages past what we need for an event that only lasts a month. The main, non legendary or Mysterious Stranger commendations should be able to be achieved through the initial voyages.

    As always though, I’m appreciative of the devs hard work. Also? Please consider releasing the old cosmetic completed sets with each new update. I want to complete my original cosmetic sets too and I feel like you keep releasing new stuff without addressing those. These monthly events are perfect for putting out the old sets in the shops.

  • I think the spawn rate of Ritual Skulls need to be seriously looked at. We've done I believe a total of 3 regular (1 of each area) and another 4 or 5 Devil's Roar voyages and have gotten a total of 6 skulls. The last 3 DR Voyages have given no skulls at all. At this point I'm considering skipping the cost sink that is buying the new voyages to get another 15 doubloons when completing the accommodations.

  • @takuboto This update had some good & some bad IMO.

    • Reapers Chest: I think almost everyone likes these lol. They have been a lot of fun. Have had some really thrilling encounters around these. The only thing I don't like is that it completely altered the doubloon economy. Looking forward to seeing how you guys address that.
    • Harpoon Rowboats: Tons of fun. Nuff said.
    • Dark Relics: Better than the previous Mercenary Voyages IMO but still not very enjoyable for myself. This time you guys took out the "do voyage x times" but you made the relic skulls so rare that we have to do the voyage a million times...

    I'm okay with having Mercenary Voyages here and there but I am really gonna get burnt out if every monthly update is just another Mercenary Voyage. I feel like we are in a state of limbo right now where you just release Mercenary Voyage after Mercenary Voyage with no meaningful update ahead because there is no roadmap. Or at least, you haven't shared the roadmap with us like you did at launch.

    I will disagree with the others who have posted here on one thing. I am glad you haven't had Legend exclusive stuff as a part of Mercenary Voyages. Don't get me wrong, I would LOVE more stuff for legends to do. But I want them to be permanent additions to the game so that players who are not yet Pirate Legend will get to experience them once they hit that milestone. It would be so aggravating to not be Pirate Legend and see that there is something available only for this month but it's only for Pirate Legends.

  • The one main issue with this update and what it will be followed by in the September update is the new doubloon economy. I've been saving all of my doubloons since they were launched to be able to buy levels 42-50 in each trading company, and now because you made it easier to get doubloons that's going to take me 8 months? Kinda ruins the time I've spent collecting all my doubloons.

  • The scarcity of the ritual skulls seems to be too random. Maybe 2 of the last 3 per voyage? Everything being truly random is kind of frustrating sometimes. All in all good update : )

  • @takuboto I love the update. Except for one thing. The ritual skulls are too rare. At the rate we are finding them, by the time my crew and I get all of the commendations were are going to be loosing doubloons for doing them. I know it's random...but man it's really too random IMHO.

  • Now done the voyages six times, across all four areas and completed all the other commendations.
    Please look at the spawn rate of Ritual Skulls, I have only found two, that is still thirteen to go! With a payout value of only 15 doubloons for commendation completion, I will have to go into serious negative doubloon equity to even stand a chance of completing the commendations.
    I have to say at the present time it is not worth it and my crew are voicing the same concern.

    Just a little tweak your end and everything will be fine! :)

  • I'm loving the new dark relics campaign, the new loot feels super rewarding and the new reaper chests add extra time to do things when everything slows down on the seas. It peaks my interest and I'm enjoying every minute of it as Jack Sparrow on Twitch. Good job with this one!

  • •Ocean Of The Damned• New content update.

    So with dark relics in full force I'm enjoying it and if feels super rewarding.
    But looking to the future, I was thinking in addition, to create world relics.
    World relics include but are not limited to

    •Relic of Sorrow(very rare and hidden) - a relic that would initiate a red sea in a specific area for a limited time to either help escape from chasing ship, or to add an extra element to keeping ships afloat during battles, or used as a game mechanic to get to the next idea listed (Ocean Of The Damned).

    • Ocean of the Damned • - a new area where the Ferry Of The Damned resides. Spooky mist and dark ocean. Filled with ghosts of already perished pirates.

    • Ghosts of the Damned • - New NPC fighters (another enemy such as skellys)
    Ghosts of the Damned can appear as you are transversing the Ocean of the Damned, I.E. spirits from the water, board your boat from your own ships ladders, and you must defend your ship from these hordes of spirits that are tasked to bring you to the locker.

    •Ghost Crews• - Ships crewed by ghosts.

    •Ghost ball• New cannonball design to fight ghost crews. Can only be found in •The Ocean Of The Damned•

    •Weapons Of The Damned• - Self explanatory, all weapon and armor types designed to fight the Ghosts of the Damned. Glowing sets, and bullets, that will penetrate and repel astral spirits.

    • Ships Of The Damned • (revised)
    Ships in the Ocean Of The Damned would be crewed by skellys and/or ghost crews. These are the ships that come from under the water in the normal world, but this is their homeworld, and these seas are filled with very hostile and numerous amounts of these ships.

    •New Harpoon/or Net• - a harpoon or net designed for the users inventory. New mechanic to allow the catching of Skelly or Ghost fish.

    •New Fish• Ghost Fish, or Skelly Fish

    •Ghost/Skelly Mermaids•
    All mermaids in the Ocean Of The Damned are either Ghosts or Skellys. Represents the mermaid who were lost along their transition of evolution.

    I hope I provided enough information for another entire content campaign. Feel free to take these ideas and impliment them in to the game. I'm not asking for anything, I would just really like to experience this in Sea Of Thieves. I've been with you guys since alpha and I love all the content you guys push out and I know how hard you all work to improve the game. I just hope I can be apart of that development somehow and I hope my ideas can help further Sea Of Thieves to be the best pirate game ever made! ❤️

  • Yeah, here's some feedback. Fix the Reapers. 4 Hrs we played today and saw ONE reaper light/chest. Fix it.

  • @wickeddeath said in [Mega Thread] Dark Relics Feedback and Discussion:

    Yeah, here's some feedback. Fix the Reapers. 4 Hrs we played today and saw ONE reaper light/chest. Fix it.

    Oh! So they did fix it! That's great!

  • @little-squash said in [Mega Thread] Dark Relics Feedback and Discussion:

    @wickeddeath said in [Mega Thread] Dark Relics Feedback and Discussion:

    Yeah, here's some feedback. Fix the Reapers. 4 Hrs we played today and saw ONE reaper light/chest. Fix it.

    Oh! So they did fix it! That's great!

    So your saying there is only suppose to be ONE chance at a Reapers chest every 4 hours? That's insane.

  • Love the Update, only downside is the Ritual Skulls, after 7 or so missions we have only found 2, we dont want to keep spending Doubloons with no return in completing the commendations....

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