Hour Glass unlock with Pirate Legend

I thought they already released the new requirements.
One required maiden voyage (you can’t back out)
And another was to finish all tutorial voyages.

But they also could be back up accounts. Made before the change just incase the others were banned. So of course they appear with less time played but they were made before the change.

@burnbacon Ahoy,
yes I know this too and this is a good beginning but I think everyone can do this Voyages in under one hour and than you are back in game and with my suggestion these players have a bigger gap and maybe after grinding 2, 3 banned account new to PL instead of just doing one hour tutorial missions.

Yeah, they just need to enforce 50x50x50 and PL status to unlock hourglass play, in addition to the Maiden Voyage stuff.

Cheaters have the attention span of a stalk of celery, and most won’t bother with trying to jump back in if they’re that heavily limited.

@Capt-Asinus Please no. The curses are already ridiculously hard to get, and I am still not PL cuz I don't have that much time to sell. And cheaters can just use a code to bypass it

@capt-asinus
It not just that, I believe you have to do all tutorial voyages or lvl up factions to a lvl as well. Time consuming yes, but still.
Reach PL takes less time than one thinks. They will never fully make Hourglass a gate from every player, that make wait times worse.

Anyways, im surprised a Mod hasnt said it. Suspect a cheater...Report them.

@snugplayer18335 Ahoy, what code? and how?

@burnbacon Yes I know that you can get Pl in maybe 10 hours if you go it right but i think a cheater or Troll don't want to push a new account again and again to this and there the Time will do the most work. I had the problem once that I always got sniped by cheaters and they got weekly banned and over weeks and weeks and at some point we didnt saw them or met them and then I found one of them and he told me that they were bored of creating new accounts every time.
And yes the Waiting time is worse and will not get better but do do you want to wait 5 min. to get spawncamped or 10 min. to get a good fight and with a little bit of work we can get more life in the Mode with Events or a new mode like the Arena Style.
And the last sentence.. meh idk if that can be spoken loudly. I played a long timew active hg and I got so manny Cheaters and Trolls and guys spamming N words and stuff I had to make decisions who I want to really get reported because it was to much. Some weeks looked like I played 2 days and wrote Reports one day, because we met so much cheaters.
Luckily these days are over and we don't have so much Cheaters today.

@snugplayer18335
Cheaters cannot just "use a code to bypass it". There is no such thing as a cheat/hack that gives them infinite amounts of xp or gold.
That's why a PL requirement to be able to do HG is a really good idea.
I completely agree with OP. Being pirate legend should be a requirement to join hourglass.

@ewokbuilder Ahoy, nobody is against basic TDM'ing but me personally, Im against toxicity, against endless insult and the mentallity that if you do something against the rules its forbidden but if many people do something forbidden it get honored like a new scientific achievement.
That's what's ruining the SoT Community, because nearly ALL "TDMers" I know are strict Toxic and unfriendly and you can compare it to real life, for example, you can't speak with a person clear, friendly who is fundamentally set angry and unfriendly.
IF and this is a big if the TDMers would play their TDMs and thats it but they are going offensive against SoT and against the SoT Community like a rebellion and that disturbs me and I don't want this much inhuman and toxic environment in the place where I am nearly every day.

@capt-asinus
Hacking. If they can make ship instantly sink, they can hack into HG

Since the latest update, these are the requirements to vote for hourglass:

Faction Battle Entry Requirements

• New players are now required to complete a set of High Seas activities before their crew is eligible to participate in Faction Battles with rival crews, establishing a greater time investment before players unlock access to on-demand battles.
• All members of the crew are now required to have completed the Maiden Voyage and the Tutorial Voyages for the Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls and Merchant Alliance, and reached rank 25 with The Reaper’s Bones during High Seas play.
• Previous techniques used to skip the Maiden Voyage or Trading Company Tutorial Voyages are no longer possible, requiring players to complete these fully before they can become eligible.
• Veteran players will find that they have retained their access to Faction Battles following this update, even if they have not completed all the entry requirements. These new requirements have been established for any new players or new accounts starting their journey on the seas.

Source: https://www.seaofthieves.com/release-notes/3.7.0

In short, new players need to complete 3 tutorial voyages (for GH/OoS/MA) and reach Lvl 25 in Reapers.

I know the tutorial voyages are quick to complete. But surely it takes at least an hour to reach Level 25 in Reapers? Assuming they're doing a 4 stack FotD or something. Anybody tested this?

I used to see blatant cheaters regularly in hourglass galleon in EU/NA. Looking back at my support ticket history: 8 in Dec 2025. 4 in Jan 2026. I've reported these pirates with video evidence and they were permanently removed.
Then I took a break.
Recently returned and haven't seen any blatant ones yet in the past 1+ weeks.

So it feels like the new requirements might be effective.
Level 25 Reapers seems enough to slow down the cheaters' pace in creating new accounts.
But of course, this is to be confirmed as time goes on.

I don't think Rare should raise the barrier to pirate legend levels yet.
It would also be bad or players who only do pvp. (Yes, I know someone with 1k+ ally, but still no pirate legend. PvE bores them too much)

Or are u still meeting blatant cheaters these days?

I am seeing a lot of good points being made about the attention span of cheaters and the measures that should be taken to prevent cheats. I normally play on servers with only controllers, so I don’t run into cheaters much and cannot comment if it’s been better or not. But that begs my question, has it? Have the tutorial requirements and John anti-cheat actively hunting and reporting cheaters made a dent in the number of cheaters? (Wanted to add in part about John lol). If it has, then leave it, if not maybe make the level requirement 25. Aside from that, I love running into someone new because it’s nice to get a free win. Requiring PL would almost ruin the chance of getting an easy fight. Those are my main two issues/questions that I’d love to have clarified.

That seems like a bit a little high, I think a better choice would be require a player to be level 10 in 3 factions

@joey-jars

Did you do the maiden voyage.
File a ticket with a screenshot as proof and see what they suggest.

Makes no sense to have requirements but no list showing them checked off once completed.

Well, it one of those features you earn by playing the game normally. In most cases, the time it should take...you should have more than 100 hours.
and not knowing is just part of everything. Unlocking a feature or secret hidden mechanic.

people who join me always want to play it and it won’t let us cause I’m gate kept for some reason.

Make sure Everyone in the crew has done everything as well.

Something wasn’t registering on their end, once I filed the support ticket they responded next day saying they would take a look

Amazing what happens when people file a report.
Glad to see it was fixed and they admit the issue was there side.

Yeah, they really need to just bite the bullet and lock it to 50x50x50 and PL to do hourglass. This would quell a good amount of cheaters, I feel. However the double edge sword is that they may be vindictive and just flood regular High Seas.

@heslashthem Sadly though, I don't see any advancements being made to the anti-cheat anytime soon, honestly. If it's true cheaters have ways of artificially increasing their levels, then the in-place parameters do nothing as-is, so there's got to be some other way they can look at.

As far as other, good players entering hourglass, I still honestly think they ought to get their basic sea legs in High Seas, and have a barrier of entry. Doesn't make much sense for them to potentially be able to earn the Ghost Curse - Athena's Fortune's second highest honor (besides golden ghost) before even hitting Pirate Legend.

@capt-asinus

Most of the time toxicity is in the communications right?
In order for their to be a level of "accessibility" in SOT, custom text exists. There may be people playing who can't verbally talk for a plethora of different reasons so it's good custom text exists but it has its downsides. You can actually block other player crew communications in settings which I feel is a good feature for protecting your enjoyment and peace when engaging with the likes of Hourglass.

Even if you absolutely smash a crew, If their toxic, they will tell you how bad you are and call you things like bot and loser etc. it's quite pathetic but the best way to counter it is to block it rather than participating.

As for PVP game play, people play differently but many double gunners have honed their craft honestly and aren't cheaters. If your using any other weapons against double gunners then your at a disadvantage which means you too also have to improve double gunning to a certain level to be able to compete. A solution would be for Rare to lock the ammo crate in ships to other player crew members so everyone has limited ammo when boarding and limited ammo means limited time when boarding another ship. This would encourage different weapon combinations and it means cheaters and aim bots and no lifer neck beards will get a limited ammo count and then have to leave when they run out of ammo which creates breathing room for a more balanced PVP experience.
If your using swords, closing the distance between yourself and your opponents can be exceptionally difficult against players using blunderbuss and eye of reach which means you too are probably best using blunderbuss and eye of reach as a means to contend. The blunderbuss is the lowest skilled weapon in the game, there is nothing complex about it at all, get close, pull the trigger, switch to eye of reach, quick scope, pull trigger = dead. This combined with the ability to have infinite ammo means if your only half good, it's still better than other players using different weapons in the game based on ease of use and ammo availability.

Personally I enjoy mixing up my load out but nothing feels more pirate than a good sword fight on a ship 😂