For Monkey Island fans finding their way onto the Forums: welcome aboard! As of the time of writing this post, there's a little over a month until the crossover. If you've never played Sea of Thieves before, I would recommend getting some friends together before playing. As @legendofmi (https://twitter.com/legendofmi?ref_src=twsrc^google|twcamp^serp|twgr^author) noted, it is entirely possible to play Sea of Thieves by yourself if you want to (I do it all the time). However, the game plays differently when you have a crew you can rely on.
The beginning tutorial is a great way to learn all the mechanics of the game, but I would also recommend checking out Phuzzybond (https://www.youtube.com/c/phuzzybond) for tips and tricks about the game. He's our resident scholar of Sea of Thieves, and he can explain things about the game that I personally have found to be extremely helpful over the years.
If you want a crash course into the lore of Sea of Thieves, There are a couple of Tall Tales that can help you familiarize yourself. The Shores of Gold story arc is one of these Tall Tales. Now, the story arc is nine chapters long. If you want to, you can absolutely complete all nine of them. However, I would at least do the first two: The Shroudbreaker, and The Cursed Rogue. Both of these tales will introduce you to some artifacts and characters that are essential to the story surrounding Sea of Thieves. I would recommend completing the Seabound Soul Tall Tale as that will introduce you to Captain Pendragon (my personal favorite character in the game), as well as, the main antagonist of Sea of Thieves: Captain Flameheart. Finally, I would at least complete Chapter 1 of A Pirate's Life. You don't have to complete the entire story arc, however, Chapter 1 contains a Monkey Island Easter Egg that helps tee up the events of the crossover next month. If you need any help completing any of these Tall Tales, the guys over at Rare Thief (https://rarethief.com/) have everything you could possibly want or need to know about the lore of the game.
If you just want to complete some regular voyages or simply sail around the Sea of Thieves, I would recommend checking out the Shrines and Treasuries dotted around the map; the atmosphere of those places is awesome! If you want something a little more time-friendly, I would complete a Sea Fortress; you can collect a fair amount of treasure in twenty to thirty minutes or so (I'm accounting for sail time in that estimation). While on your voyage, however, make sure you have an eye on the horizon for other players; everyone's an opportunist in this game. If you want to fight them, by all means, fight them! However, if you want to avoid conflict, you'll want to utilize the wind to your advantage. If you're on a Sloop, sail into the wind, and if you're on a Galleon, sail with the wind at your back. The Brigantine, from my experience, is a great all-around vessel that is quite fast with the wind in its sails but also not miserably slow with the wind in your face. (A Sea of Thieves youtube named Flotsam has a video about sail speed, if you want more information: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h15ugvpa9C8)
I think that just about covers the basics! I hope you guys have fun and happy sailing!
-Lucky11
