Before I begin, I want to say this. This post contains unreleased content however doesn't break Insider NDA. I'll also include links to affiliated Sea of Thieves websites in areas where I reference other peoples datamined content
Sea of Thieves is a game where progression and accomplishments are displayed in our clothing, weapons, ships, etc. On top of that, fashion plays a crucial part in how we, as pirates, present ourselves to other crews. Fashion is so important in fact, that there are various communities and places where we can show off our pirates clothes, our ships, etc.
I'm making this post to express my disappointment in Sea of Thieves cosmetics as of late. Monthly updates to the gold shops feel dry, Event rewards feeling boring and uninspired, whilst the Pirate Emporium is bloated with all the best items. I'll talk more on the Pirate Emporium later, however for now I want to focus on the Gold Shops
The Gold Shops issues:
- With each new monthly update brings new additions to the gold shops. However as of late, you can begin to notice a trend in how these gold shop updates work. Seasonal update drops will bring a big drop to the Outpost stores, usually items related to various locked commendations players will have to complete. Alongside these, a unique clothing set will drop with each major update. Season 9 brought the Gold Hoarders set, Season 10 brought the Gold Leaf set, Season 11 brought the Maestro set, so on and so forth. Minor updates released between seasonal updates will usually contain a smaller drop of items, with a new Rapier and Heavy Sword variant been added for an existing set, or some of the equipment of a existing set releasing, or just a new shirt type with 4 recolors. Now, credit where credit is due, a lot of the recently added items are beautiful and nice, however it feels... lacking.
Its a known fact that this game has plenty of cosmetics that go unused. They're seen in promotional art, in the icons for the Pirate Emporium, sitting around as props around the map, etc. Some of these have been hanging around gathering dust since the Beta. Why they aren't released into the game, even if they don't have a set, baffles me. Just chucking some more of these unused items into the gold shops during mid-Season updates would potentially alleviate the whole Gold Shop vs. Emporium content argument that occurs
For example, here's a bunch of cosmetics that go unused:
https://www.seaofthieves.com/community/forums/topic/126769/cosmetics-weapons/947
Now, granted, this link does contain some cosmetics that have since been added into the game, such as the Mysterious Stranger Set. However stuff like that Brown and Green vest has been seen in promo art for ages. The items shown off on that thread are clean, they are nice, they feel pirate-y and would match the game well.
Or how about this set. We know next season is a Hunter's Call update, that's no secret, a ship-set like this fish bone themed Bone Crusher set would work perfectly. It could potentially be a reward for fishing up 50 Treacherous Plunder:
https://www.seaofthieves.com/community/forums/topic/126769/cosmetics-weapons/935
And for those who want to see more of what goes unused, check out this Google Drive file. Its a bit outdated, containing a lot of cosmetics that have been added into the game. However there's still quite a lot that hasn't shown up...
[mod removed]
There is so much more that goes unused just laying around in the files that can be added in as some more gold shop filler. Rare, you should seriously consider adding a handful of these cosmetics into every mid-Season patch alongside newer items to help limit that disparity between Gold Shop vs. Emporium content.
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The drops that the weapon-smith's receive during mid-Season updates are lackluster. Most of the time its just a Rapier and Heavy Sword drop. This begs the question though, why not add variants for the newer weapons alongside the 2 new sword drops. The 3.2.2 update introduced the Bone Crusher sword variants, however why not variants for the other 4 new weapons existing in-game? We know a Bone Crusher throwing knife exists, as it was (accidentally) shown off in the Season 13 Trailer, so I'll go out on a whim here and say a Bone Crusher double-barrel pistol exists too. Furthermore, with the drops of these cosmetics, why not add the other variations of these sets into the game too? For example, for the Forsaken Ashes set, it could've gotten (alongside its 2 new sword variants) recolors for the Seared and Scorched variants too
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Staying with the weapon-smith's, more variations for existing sets should be added for the 4 new weapon types. Currently, the range feels lackluster and limited, and feels rather weird that you can't unlock any set (except the Lucky Hand set (not including Blowpipe)) without completing commendations. These commendations are already pretty hard to achieve, like delivering 20 3-streak Burning Blade of Souls to the companies, or completing all War Chest Champion commendations to unlock. Effort should be taken to reduce the need to have commendations locking new weapon skins but instead allow players to buy some for regular gold, like with most of the other weapons sold by the Weapon-smiths.
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Small change to the Outpost stores, however just giving them a general tidy-up. Like moving the S12 weapons to their sets instead of been spaced out in the shop. As it makes no sense to find the original 4 Sea Dog weapons on one page, then scroll down a few more pages and find its DBP and Throwing Knife variant, only to scroll down some more and find its Blowpipe, Harpoon, Heavy Sword and Rapier variants. This issue of items not been with their respective sets is most noticeable with the Fates of Fortune set, where the sets are divided in the outpost shops depending on which update adds them. The weapons are split, with the Sword and Pistol been together, whilst the Blunder and EoR are together. The equipment and shipset for this set is also split in the respective shops
Twitch Drops, Event Rewards:
- Now, I wanna start out by saying I don't hate the idea of cosmetics been attached to watching a streamer. It helps smaller creators gain views, whilst also allowing players to get free rewards. Its a win-win situation. However, these Twitch drops should return to the game following a certain amount of time. Such as potentially 6-12 months since they were available to get. This will allow players who couldn't hop into a stream and watch still gain access to these cosmetics. Now, I want to clarify a few things, I understand that some Twitch Drops are time limited such as the following: Frozen Horizons, Obsidian Captaincy cosmetics, Gilded Phoenix Weapons and Shipset, emotes, etc. These shouldn't return to the game as they are time limited or are special in some way or another. However, the rest of the sets should make a return, such as: The various Eastern Winds sets, various Sea Dog sets, Gilded Phoenix clothing and equipment sets, Dawn Hunter set, etc.
Potentially, individual items from these sets could be cycled intermittently into the Seapost vendors every 48h or so, alongside the standard offerings, giving people more of a reason to visit the Seaposts outside of the odd delivery quest.
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Small one, but just finishing off some of these Twitch Drop cosmetic sets. Namely Rascal Sea Dog set with a Blunder and Sword variant. (mainly cause I love the set and its been half a year since the last Rascal set drop) :)
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Event rewards as of late have been lackluster. Most have been log-in rewards. For example, for the Festival of Giving this year we got a Flag. It was the same as last years flag, just with a present instead of some holly leaves. A lot of the time its a tattoo set (which aren't bad I'll admit, they are often pretty good), or just a random cosmetic. Like the Ashen Exploration event from last year, it rewarded us the Ruby Stinger Rapier... a rapier that was supposed to be in Season 3 (as it appears in promo art for it) but was changed. Although sure its a good cosmetic, something more Ashen themed would have been more appropriate. Perhaps we could have gotten Stitcher Jims clothes he wore in the Forsaken Shores promotional video as a reward, because its not like he's gonna use em' any time soon. I believe that Rare should look back at Year 1 rewards and take note on why they are liked so much. They are simple and (mostly) related to the events they were apart of, and had a few pieces the player could unlock by partaking instead of just one item.
Skeleton Curse:
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This suggestion right here by ODIN299 is perfect. This would fix most peoples issues with the Skeleton Curse:
https://www.seaofthieves.com/community/forums/topic/173887/skeleton-curse-cosmetics-customization-mechanics-issues -
Adding the 3 unused skeleton curse cosmetics to the game. The link I had to the Reddit page on this I have lost, however 3 cosmetics go unused, a generic hook (which can be seen briefly in the S8 Trailer during the bit about the Bonesmith), a pegleg (seen in one bit of promo art) and some long brown pants with black boots (can be seen in the Sea of Thieves Artbook on a skeleton wearing a Wheel-Built Upper Body type chest piece). Throwing a bone (literally) to us Skele curse enjoyers would make us feel a little less left out of the cosmetic scene.
Random Ideas and Issues:
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Adding the generic clothing that the NPCs in Pirates Life and Monkey Island wear. I know Rare has stated before they don't wish to add the 'stereotypical' pirate fashion to the game, however for a long while it was promised that PvE only servers wouldn't come into fruition (no hate on Safer Seas, its good for just relaxing and taking things slowly after a rough day). I'm sure most of us pirates would like a simple striped shirt, or a hat with a skull on it.
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Adding more random trinkets to the Shipwright shops. The last generic item we got since S7 was the Horseshoe trinket this season. I really do believe more generic captaincy trinkets should be added to give more life to the boat. Perhaps like some wall planters, netting, a sword stuck in a wall, ect...
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Adding more Captaincy cosmetics, like tables, chairs, ect for existing sets. It took from Season 8 to Season 13 to get a new set (Obsidian Bone Crusher), and many more sets need some Captaincy sets.
Pirate Emporium
I understand that Rare needs to fund the development of the game, plus with Microsoft/Xbox disbanding a bunch of teams last year due to lack of profitability, I wouldn't be half surprised if some of Microsofts other companies have had to... pick up the slack... to ensure Microsoft keeps seeing $$$, less they suffer the same fate (just my opinion). I will admit it does suck to see the disparity between Emporium and Gold Shop quantity and quality, however I can only hope Rare listens to this feedback and does start adding more forgotten cosmetics into the game to help reduce this disparity. My only suggestion is that the Emporium sets don't get too crazy, like making sets based off Sci-Fi elements or based on things that haven't happened in the Sea of Thieves world yet (for example, like a Neon Party set, ect). Plus people generally prefer simple sets, that's why the POTC ship sets are some of the most popular (or that people just love the franchise, who knows). Outside of that, I suppose thats my general thoughts on the Emporium
Last thoughts:
Whilst I've tried my best to write down all the issues I see with Sea of Thieves and its cosmetics as of late, I don't believe I've covered all bases here. If theres an issue you see with Sea of Thieves and cosmetics, please write them down below. Its taken me a few weeks to figure out the right things to talk about here, and my criticisms of the game come from general concern of the games future, but also my love of the game. I love Sea of Thieves, and I wish to see 2025 be its best year yet, I can just hope Rare acknowledges my feedback and acts on it.
