Season 18: Act 3 - State of Play

The shorter time to complete Season 3's deeds is a pity, but as long as the deeds aren't too hard (from what is in the release build now, I think it's doable in 2 weeks if you manage to log in).
I do hope the extra time helps making the Garisson's shine. I saw good things so far from the Insider builds. My guess is S19 can't be delayed because it hits the 8th Anniversary.

I'd have another question about the developer update, but I'll ask that in the doubloon update to not confuse topics.

Sounds like it’s too late and the decision has already been made but surely there’s a way to extend the time limited deeds for the Ashen Garrisons to the full month we were supposed to have. Penalizing players because the Act was delayed doesn’t feel right.

Hope the upcoming Developer Direct show us more then just "This was rated 3/5, this 4/5" and be more about the game direction and show more then just promises. We are good chunk of time after the team restructure and would like to see what changes it actually bring to the whole team. I would love to reflect on Insider. I really would like to know from time perspective how lifting NDA influenced the current decision-making process, what has really changed since then. 7 months ago we talked about relaunching the Insider Programme in 2026,we talked about big changes. Since then we had surveys that I think were not landing very well on what community expected and touched subjects very vaguely. Not many other changes. I would like to know after half of a year what's the current plan for the program and how we can improve. What real value NDA lift did and if the team is happy with results?

Ah here we go again

Another question that just came to my mind: What will happen to the planned events for February, since they are all tied to the Season model?

Will there still be Twitch Drops February 20th-27th?
Will there still be Gold & Glory February 27th-March 1st? The weekend before Act3?

If both gets postponed, this essentially leaves February empty (except for the extended Molten Sands Act and emissary grade bonus)

I’m saying this with respect and from a genuine place of love for Sea of Thieves: I want the game to succeed and thrive long-term, and that’s why I’m being honest here.

Two weeks and only a few hardening builds simply wasn’t enough time for Insiders to properly test or for the team to fully address what needed fixing. Hopefully this delay gives Garrisons the time they need to launch in a polished state at least. But we needed to have these in Insiders several weeks ago.

I’m looking forward to the dev update next week, but I’m very concerned about Season 19 and beyond. I know the seasonal model just shifted into the new "Acts" structure, but something needs to change because the current model doesn’t feel sustainable at all. I thought this 3 Act structure was supposed to alleviate delays like this? But so far it's only resulted in rushed, recycled, broken up content that isn't coming out on time. Not to mention Act 2 is always time limited, with no mention of when it will return, only that it will "at some point".

If seasons are just the "framework" for a steady stream of content to be had alongside more meaningful content, why have we not heard about any of this meaningful content yet? You guys hinted at new regions, ship types, custom seas, etc. that would all be talked further about in the next Community Direct, but that has also been delayed because it was supposed to be last month. Will we at least be seeing that Community Direct this month to take the place of Act 3? Maybe also a podcast? @Sonicbob

The community really needs clearer information about the direction and more forward-looking details about where the game is headed (content wise and the technical aspects). More specifics and less statements like "we missed the mark" and "we will do better". We need to hear/see how things will be better.

[Mod edit - please remember this is not the insider part of the forums and some people don't want spoilers]

Also curious why Act 1 of S19 is being affected by the ashen garrisons? Is it because there will be less testing time for it as the garrisons have been delayed?

And yeah, the community direct was supposed to be in January but could be as late as March now, all feels a little messy. Hope you all manage to get back on track with things

Edit - my bad, clicked on the link on insiders so didn’t realise this wasn’t also in insiders!

If you want to delay a part of a season to make it better that's fine, but shortening 1 month of content because it!? No, do not do that. Just because you can't follow a timeline, doesn't give you a reason to take it out on us.

If there isn't a good reason to have the S19 start at that certain date, I'd prefer Act III also lasts a month of play.

It does coincide with the 9 year anniversary, so there might be something of a surprise in store.

thank you for delaying instead of putting a broken peice of content out. thats the right move.

however. i do hope that developer update is SOON next week. i dont like us being told there is changes ( we are all assuming cuts ) to a season and being left to wonder over the weekend. its now just speculation for even more bad news and thats concerning. and honestly not what we need as a community currently. if there is bad news can you please tell us sooner if possible today so the community doesnt over worry on this point. we can wait for an explaination till next week but i dont think its healthly for us to be concerned about if season 19 is getting cut or not all the way till sometime next week.

So. Rare are back to their old tricks. Late, broken content, ignoring Insiders.
And to cap it all you take out your programming mistakes on the player base.
Unacceptable.

Does this mean Act 2 deeds are extended until March 5??

On one hand I’m glad the Act 3 content is being given more time to feel more stable and engaging, but on the other announcing this a week out from release AND shortening the overall time of the act so you still meet the schedule for season 19 seems unfair to the players.

Can we just call the whole seasonal model off now since it’s clear it can’t be stuck to and just put the content out there when it’s ready instead of constant delays and Drew having to apologise?

This is unfortunate, but I would echo Bruno above: you really need to reassess the seasonal approach entirely. It's very clear it's setting unreasonable expectations for both the community and the dev team. There has to be a better way.

@lem0n-curry said in Season 18: Act 3 - State of Play:

It does coincide with the 9 year anniversary, so there might be something of a surprise in store.

This was my read of the situation. Otherwise, I think we would have seen Season 19 delayed.

Unfortunately it was expected.

I think this model did not work ever since the beginning, atleast not for the purpose it was meant for. I understand that this might lure back players more consistently, but..

• I don't think there are enough things to do in most of the acts for this system.
• despite of not many activities going on, for a lot of players including me, it does not seem that cutting up the season significantly helped in terms of bug fixing.

These sort of delays happening this frequently is honestly really frustrating. Is there a reason the development schedule is kept so tight when this keeps happening?

If you've budgeted for a season to last 8 weeks, why not just tell the players up front it will last 10 and start building up some buffer time internally?

No one is going to notice the exact interval between updates, but we reeaaaallllllly notice when the same thing keeps going wrong.

It’s clear seasons aren’t working anymore. They never have, really. Just chasing FOMO and now you’ve doubled, no triple-downed.

The updates are less meaningful than ever before yet seem to causse ever more problems. Whether that is technical debt after 8 years or, less budget, smaller team, whatever the cause I just don’t see the goal here with seasons escape to p off players who aren’t glued to the game.

perfect time to actually give us the curse you promised for act 3, but can you do that?

-We kept asking for the Ashen Garrisons to be released on Insiders.
-We were told it would be next week...and still it wasn't released.
-We said that with such a small window of testing, fixing, hardening, etc. it won't be a lot of time. You guys sure it won't be delayed?
-We were absolutely assured it wouldn't be delayed.

Can you understand how/why your playerbase doesn't feel like they're being heard?

Praying this act is good, been wanting a new type of fort for a while don’t disappoint rare!