Even by its usual standards, Season 15 was particularly sadistic in terms of time and effort required to complete the new commendations. We all expected 250 voyages and 1000 miles because those figures are consistent with earlier requirements with the other trading companies. But getting all of the Ancient Megalodon scales and teeth, having to do sell crate after crate after crate, needing to complete fifty separate Megalodon hunt voyages to acquire fifty individual teeth, plus all the various packs one must find and sell, killing sharks with spears -- it was a lot. Then add to it the unreasonably difficult-to-find pristine meg teeth and scales, and it adds up to a serious amount of time spent. But what matters is whether you enjoyed yourself.
Here are some observations and tips:
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Raid voyages don't count towards the 'Call of the Hunter' commendation (completing 250 Hunter's Call voyages).
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The fastest way to complete your 250 voyages is via the three-fish fishing voyages. If you stay on the same server, your next location will almost always be the closest small island near you. The voyages go pretty fast.
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Gems don't count towards the necessary 600 Hunter's Call treasures that must be sold under the Tracker of Treasures commendation. Same with the 480 Hunter's Call treasures that must be turned in to Reaper's Bones for the related Hunter's Call Heisted commendation. As for the latter, a good strategy is to fish at the small islands near Reaper's Hideout, turning your fish in from time to time. Once you get all of the items turned in, there is no need to keep any fish (unless you need the gold); you can complete a voyage by catching three fish in about four minutes.
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As far as I know, Crates of Kracken Tentacles can be obtained only from skull forts. You can collect two per fort, so you have to complete 25 skull forts. You can do this on Safer Seas if you want to avoid meddlesome fellow pirates. Whether you do them on the High Seas or Safer ones, keep in mind that these voyages don't count towards the 250 you need.
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It is way, way easier to solo Ancient Megs than it is to be part of a crew. When soloing, you need only blast them twice in the face to stave off an attack, and the attacks are easily predictable. After you hit the meg twice as it charges you, it will not bite your ship and will instead swim under you and continue on the other side. Have your opposite cannon loaded and you can get in three or four more hits this way.
5a. Getting all of the grisly and pristine Ancient Megalodon scales and teeth is a grind. You are required to kill the meg X number of times, but you will have to do maybe 2X that many times to collect all the drops you need. After reaching Grade 5 and killing the Ancient Meg, I always dove to a new server, but I know others who preferred to wait until a new Ancient Meg spawned.
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On your quest to reach Emissary Grades 5, 4, 3, and 2 twenty, forty, eighty, and one-hundred times, respectively, be sure to buy bait crates when setting out and cook meats during any free time. This will make things go faster. SoT changed the rule halfway through the season, so as of now you can no longer buy two bait crates at an Outpost. But at least you can still buy one, which will get you on the way.
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Some crates (Precious Pearls, Shark Teeth) and packs (Irresistible, for example) are ubiquitous. Others aren't, so keep track. Finest Fish Hook packs can be obtained in the shipwreck at the end of the Megalodon hunt. But, again, keep track: there's no need to waste time diving for them if you already have your fifty.
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You can kill 15 sharks with spears relatively quickly by collecting the spears from Dagger Tooth and Galleon's Grave, and then swimming down to the Shrine of Hungering, which is rife with 'em. Just be prepared to swim down there repeatedly. You will likely get at least two or three sharks spawn near your boat, so listen for them.
8a. Anything done with spears is an individual commendation, meaning that you won't get credit if, for example, a teammate spears a shark.
- By far the most aggravating aspect of the Season 15 Grind are the requirements for selling twenty pristine Megalodon scales and teeth. Don't confuse these with the pristine scales and teeth that Ancient Megs drop when killed; I'm talking about the ones that can be obtained only in one of two ways: (1) after killing an "emergent" megalodon (that is, one that spawns naturally) or (2) digging one up from a Grand Boar wallow. Yes, surprisingly, (2) is a thing.
9a. None of the organic megs I've killed in Season 15 have dropped a pristine tooth or scale. None.
9a1. You can increase your chances of getting a meg to spawn by having lots of loot on your ship or by sailing around with a Grade 5 flag.
9b. After approximately 80 hours of searching exclusively for Boar Wallows, I have dug up exactly four pristine items. One per 20 hours of gameplay is not reasonable, but that's me editorializing. I also dug up pristine boar tusks, grisly boar tusks, pristine scales for Ancient Megalodons, but only after I had already completed those other commendations.
9b1. Advice: if you haven't already completed those sorts of commendations, be sure to check big islands for wallows.
9c. In my experience, more than half of the wallows I found were empty, devoid of all treasure. I don't know whether that was because the treasure despawned or was taken by some other pirate. Be prepared for a lot of disappointment; finding a Grand Boar on the island doesn't mean there will be any loot in the wallow.
9c1. If you find the lesser, brown boar on the island, the Grand Boar will be there too, as will its wallow.
9d. Snake Island is by far the easiest island to find and track Grand Boars. The Snake Island/Crooks Hollow/Shipwreck Bay triangle is a good, relatively fast circuit to undertake.
9d1. I don't bother with islands like Shipwreck Bay, Old Faithful, or Shark Bait Cove unless I happen to be right next to them for some reason, which is never. Too much area to search.
9d1i. RareThief published a map with wallow locations. It is helpful but incomplete. I have found plenty of wallows where the RareThief map indicated there were none. Hopefully he will update it soon.
9d1ii. But yes, the wallows tend to be in repeatable locations.
9e. Turning in a pristine tooth or scale counts for everyone on your crew. So here's an excellent strategy: get two other people. Each of you starts a brig on a separate server. Each of you sails around solo on the bring until one of you finds a pristine tooth or scale in a Grand Boar wallow. That person invites the other two to the crew. When the item is sold, all three crewmates get the credit. We used this strategy for Horns of Fair Winds back before SoT sprinkled them all over island shores. It works.
9f. You can have more than one active Grand Boar per server. I don't know what the upper limit is, but for sure there can be more than one.
9g. When hunting for Grand Boar wallows, cannon yourself low over the island and look for the glint of treasure. If you don't see it, there won't be anything to dig up, even if there's a wallow. Don't bother further.
9h. I said earlier that I had found only four pristine items. That's true, but I have received credit for only two. The other two simply didn't register. Talk about aggravating.
9h1. Be sure to sell them only to Hunter's Call or at the Sovereign's. The commendation specifically instructs that they must be sold to Hunter's Call to count.
9i. I think it's nuts that I can complete every other single Season 15 commendation, yet still still have zero pristine meg teeth and two pristine meg scales to show for it. I understand and agree that some commendations ought to take a significant amount of time to complete, but this far exceeds that limit, in my opinion.
Season 16 starts tomorrow. Happy sailing to all!
ObscureBerry192
Giver of Gifts
