Season 16 - State of Play

  • Sonicbob
    Champion
    Rare Employee

    -- Update 02/06 --

    Hey Everyone, with today's hotfix delivering some improvements to our Season 16 features I wanted to jump back in here and share a quick update!

    Live Hotfix 02/06

    We've taken the game down today to deliver a small hotfix, addressing a number of issues that were identified following our Season 16 launch.
    Check out the 3.4.0.1 Release Notes for all the details, but our big hitters here are;

    • Players fired from a Cannon of Rage should no longer be affected by ship movement
    • Cannons placed on the Reaper's Hideout lift should now retain their shape
    • The new Skull of the Banished can no longer be hidden inside Treasure Chests
    • Caskets of Verdant Bones are back on the menu
    • Further Game Integrity improvements to address players attempting to bypass PAK file restrictions (we see you!)

    Looking Ahead

    The team are busy preparing for our mid-season update in June delivering the next features for Season 16 - but they've also been busy taking onboard feedback and triaging reports from players.
    Here's a few updates;

    • Hunter's Call Emissary Ledger - While the Hunter's Call Ledger refreshed at the start of June, new rewards to be earned aren't currently visible. These next rewards will be delivered as part of June's game update and delivered when the Ledgers close at the end of the month.
    • Cannon of Rage Balancing - There's been lots of feedback on this new tool, we're going to let the experience settle following this latest hotfix and then assess what potential further balancing may be required!
    • Search of Ancient Secrets Voyage Locations - While crews have been finding themselves arriving on the same islands as rivals, more locations for the Voyage will be arriving in June to provide more variety.
    • Sneaky Exploits - I'll not share any details here, but Yes - we're aware and working on it!

    I'll save any further tid-bits for the next Developer update arriving later in June, but for now thanks for all the reports and feedback so far!

    Drew 'Sonicbob' Stevens

    -- Original Post --

    Hey Everyone,

    Our May Update arrived yesterday and with it launched Season 16, bringing new content for all those Reapers amongst you.
    We wanted to jump in and share an update on some fixes that we're making today before we head into the long weekend here in the UK.

    Game Stability

    Following the arrival of May's update on the 22nd, we began to see signs of server instability and crash rates rising as player count increased - these were followed by reports of Bluebeard, Marblebeard and Allmondbeard errors affecting players. The team worked to identify the root cause of the server instability and made improvements to address this through the day and into the evening.
    On reviewing the crash rates this morning, the Live game is now in a much better place with server stability back down to more stable levels.

    Cannon of Rage

    The Cannon of Rage was introduced in Season 16, extending the arsenal available to crews for a variety of tactical uses.
    While initially stable, we saw reports build through the evening from players unable to interact with a cannon once it was deployed, requiring them to restart the game. On investigation, the work being done to address Live game stability had a knock-on effect to the cannon's interaction system, explaining why such a clear issue hadn't surfaced in prior testing or during the early hours of Season 16's launch.
    The team has now addressed the issue with cannon interactions and we're taking the game down for a short maintenance today (23rd May) to deploy this fix to Live.

    We've also been monitoring bug reports and wanted to share an update on two issues that the team are currently investigating:
    Flat Cannons - (Yes - flat, not flack...) While a hilarious visual bug, The Reaper's Hideout lift is certainly playing havoc with the new Cannon of Rage, causing it to become flattened.
    While the team works to address this as part of a future update, please be warned that climbing inside these flattened cannons can cause you to become disconnected from the game due to it triggering a security check. While players will not receive enforcement points as a result of this issue moving forwards, it will likely disrupt your session!
    Launch Balancing - The team are investigating reports of issues when firing players from moving ships, causing extended travel in the air. This is clearly an unintended effect and not the defined balance for the Cannon of Rage. The team is currently investigating the matter in order to address it as part of a future update.

    While I've called out a few issues here, the team is busy triaging the other reports and feedback they've received so far to help them prioritise where to focus next.

    Thanks for all the reports and feedback so far. With the experience much more stable and cannons back working as intended as part of today's hotfix, we're looking forward to seeing your antics over the weekend!

    Drew 'Sonicbob' Stevens

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  • xenozone2759
    Castaway

    when will it come back

  • Tesiccl
    Legend
    Insider

    Much appreciated! Flat cannons sounds very funny I will say! XD

  • ChozoCraig
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    Thank you for the detailed explanation! Especially appreciate the callout explaining why the Cannon of Rage deployment issue didn’t come in prior testing. I think everybody was wondering why this brand new and previously tested item wasn’t working. Transparency is appreciated!

  • CaptainMcGuffin
    Lord
    Insider
    Boatswain
    Founder

    Not my flat cannons! Is the Comms related to the cannons getting fix by this as well?

  • Loopy Sloopy766
    Castaway

    My gf and I literally just downloaded 120GBs together today and are about to play the game for the first time together since 2019

    Friday is quite a poor timing for maintenance. Most people start wipes on friday.

    When will servers be up?

  • Musicmee
    Vanguard
    Insider
    Moderator
    Founder
    Deckhand

    @loopy-sloopy766 It won't be too long matey!

  • djluc1d
    Ship Mate

    Thanks for the update! Always appreciated when you give us a view into what is happening and why.

  • Molkor4413
    Commander
    Insider

    You guys should release mayor updates on monday/tuesday to have more room to do hotfix through week.

    My 2 cents as CI/CD.

  • DrBensei
    Master
    Insider

    Thanks you for the state of play. Quite frustrating this happened, but now I understand how Cannon of Rage issues could "slip through" (as they were the result of fixing a different bug that could only happen in Live).

  • BaR00kaBlast
    Marauder
    Insider

    @molkor4413 Isn't their choice, I think they are quite aware that it would be better than updating on Thursday

  • Anasmuhsin6008
    Seafarer

    I am gonna miss flat cannons 🫡

  • EXE Sasser
    Seafarer
    Insider
    Founder

    Or... A better idea. Actually focusing on the issues rather than the giving the same copy paste video you waffle on about "improvements to the server/game".

    I think ALOT of us players, primarily long time veterans, or content creators for that matter would be happier if you sat and focused on fixing these issues that have been constantly nagged about for years, even if it meant there was a huge gap between S16 and 17's release.

    The fact Season 16 hadn't even lasted a SINGLE day before emergency maintenance was carried out really says a lot about Quality Assurance/Testing. And whatever reason you give is getting again, copy paste sowwy we'll do better, server improvements here, game stability there post is getting beyond a joke.

    Actions speak louder than words. Since S12 SoT has been going down hill in quality upon content releases. Take S14, the majority of the content was MISSING due to bugs and exploits.

    Again,

    Actions
    Speak
    Louder
    Than
    Words.

  • Molkor4413
    Commander
    Insider

    @bar00kablast Some member of the team should have that choice.

  • HQv2
    Marauder
    Insider

    Why is it near impossible to find Pristine Megalodon Teeth? Tired of these sick jokes.

  • LuckydieLucke
    Champion
    Insider

    @hqv2 It would be really nice if this obvious and known problem could be solved quickly with a fix.

    With best regards
    LuckydieLucke

  • Kokokatten
    Marauder
    Insider

    Hello,

    After the update / emergency fix:
    Just an FYI - if two people start "retracting" the cannon, one interrupts the other.
    The first one cannot interact with the cannon at all (not even seeing the interaction buttons) and someone else has to fully "retract" it again.

    Still some fixes to be done! But well done, we don't have to relog after deploying it now!!

    Much love, have a great weekend!

  • MamaSnoot
    Marauder
    Insider

    @sonicbob People who received suspensions for the flat cannon bug, still do not have access to the game. Their accounts are still showing as suspended with no date of restoration. Is the team looking into this?

  • ImpliedMoney69
    Seafarer
    Insider

    I love that you guys take action so fast, it really shows dedication to the game. However, at the same time, I think you should take a break from new features for a while. New story and gameplay is fun and all, but it should really be a seamless experience. A near future season should definitely be a major quality of gameplay update. Preventing ship flips, improving server latency, other bugs, ect. While it won't be 'exciting' but it will be heavily appreciated by both players and probably devs too because their features will work better and hopefully be implemented easier.

    I love this game and really don't want to see it break down to death. Sacrificing feature time is ok if it means the game will continue to be the best that it can be.

  • Capn Moonshine4
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    Super quick fix this time around! love it Xx

  • Valor Omega
    Champion
    Insider

    Appreciate the swift action, and communication! Yesterday was indeed a bit rough, but I look forward to jumping back on for more fun tonight.

    With the cannon launch issues, should firing out be avoided, to avoid any penalty, or are we okay with having a wee bit of fun until it's patched?

  • Antonio98397
    Seafarer
    Insider

    Thank you for this wonderful and detailed explanation! I’m very happy to see the cannons of rage working again.

    Best regards,
    Antonio

  • EXE Sasser
    Seafarer
    Insider
    Founder

    @impliedmoney69

    *Queue Copy/Paste;

    "we're implementing improvements to the servers"
    "We're squashing bugs that have a significant impact on the game"
    "we're stepping up further in cutting down on players commiting to exploiting"

    ;video*

    The fact that Season 16 didn't even last a whole DAY before Emergency Maintenance was carried out is beyond a joke, let alone acceptable in how this update similar to S14 even passed to be released in the state it's in.

  • CaptDirtyOar
    Ship Mate

    @exe-sasser said in Season 16 - State of Play:

    The fact that Season 16 didn't even last a whole DAY before Emergency Maintenance was carried out is beyond a joke, let alone acceptable in how this update similar to S14 even passed to be released in the state it's in.

    A lot of games that release a big season/expansion update normally have one or two follow up patches. Just look at patch releases for most popular games on Steam that show update logs...

    Been a beta tester for a couple big games, most beta tests only have a small amount of people actually testing a game and that's why once released to the whole community as an official update more issues popup.

  • PC MonkFish
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    Thanks for the quick fix and all the hard work from you and the team!

    I have found after the hotfix : the servers SMOOTH, a Cannon of Rage that worked and servers with a great deal of engagement with the new Reaper voyage.

    o7

  • Tcrames75
    Castaway

    thank you rare, xbox one servers are stable again

  • EVILHASAWAKEN
    Castaway

    This season is way too toxic you have hour glass players going after ships that are doing story missions just for the emissaries,we tried it several times all they do is sink your ship kill you and take your emissary and nothing else and leave and friends have decided to not play the game until this reaper event is over

  • CaptDirtyOar
    Ship Mate

    @evilhasawaken said in Season 16 - State of Play:

    This season is way too toxic you have hour glass players going after ships that are doing story missions just for the emissaries,we tried it several times all they do is sink your ship kill you and take your emissary and nothing else and leave and friends have decided to not play the game until this reaper event is over

    Run, dive, don't let other bloats close. You can see Reapers on the map, go where they aren't. Hand in regulary once you make it to grade five so you don't lose much.

  • AGRAVES12
    Master
    Insider

    @evilhasawaken You have an emissary up? It literally gives a prompt upon voting up that they are valuable targets for other crews, so you can expect PvP. Also are you talking about tall tales or the new reaper voyage literally designed for PvP interaction, which in case of the latter HG players are probably just wanting their new skeleton curse cosmetics.

  • F3arM0d3
    Master
    Insider
    Founder

    @sonicbob It's great that you guys are doing fixes on the game but there are so many old glitches that are still around..

  • CaptainLogun
    Commander
    Insider
    Boatswain

    Hey Drew,

    Just wanted to say that while things like crates and spears are still getting stuck after purchase, I’ve been able to consistently get them after buying Captaincy supplies. This is definitely new for me as in the past I had to buy a trinket to retrieve crates and spears

  • SilverJake29
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    Let me take the new skull out of the coffin. Hard to steal it when people either cancel the voyage, hide the skull in a collectors chest (hides it off the map), or when I cannot interact with it until they physically grab it off of the skelly in the coffin.

    Also, the Cannon of Rage if VERY cool, but 6 shots before ignition is wild to me. To few imo. And it is insanely rare in the wild. Maybe with a new season and a new thing to use, up the frequency??

    Thanks!

  • Unleet1
    Lord
    Insider

    @silverjake29 said in Season 16 - State of Play:

    Let me take the new skull out of the coffin. Hard to steal it when people either cancel the voyage, hide the skull in a collectors chest (hides it off the map), or when I cannot interact with it until they physically grab it off of the skelly in the coffin.

    Also, the Cannon of Rage if VERY cool, but 6 shots before ignition is wild to me. To few imo. And it is insanely rare in the wild. Maybe with a new season and a new thing to use, up the frequency??

    Thanks!

    everything was ok until cannons of rage. I had a ship stacked with them recently. lol seem to be similar to horn of fair winds in terms of scarcity, but that is anecdotal.

  • CaptDirtyOar
    Ship Mate

    @unleet1 said in Season 16 - State of Play:

    everything was ok until cannons of rage. I had a ship stacked with them recently. lol seem to be similar to horn of fair winds in terms of scarcity, but that is anecdotal.

    If the boat is stacked with Cannons of rage, target the cannons of rage.

    We had one attacking us couple days ago and they were using the cannon of rage and I hit it with a cannon ball and it exploded big time, once it explodes boarding is the best thing you can do while they are fixing the boat and putting the fires out, that's if they are not in the ferry of the dammed from the explosion.

  • PC MonkFish
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    @evilhasawaken

    If you are doing Tall Tales then go to safer seas.
    As others have also said if you persist in doing Tall Tales in High Seas it is incredibly easy to avoid hunting reapers by paying attention to the map and if they look like a threat - dive to a new server.
    You would have no treasure to lose if you are tall tale'ing.

    In my experience Reapers have been concentrating on doing the voyage or stealing the voyage - which is fine for me as a I vibe safely elsewhere on the map.

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