Sea of Thieves at Its Best:
Sea of Thieves was once arguably one of the best multiplayer games available on both Steam and Xbox. From the very beginning, it stood out in a way few multiplayer games ever have. The reveal trailer, launch trailer, and early cinematics were some of the coolest and most memorable I have ever seen. The game had a clear identity and a strong vision built around one core idea: a shared pirate sandbox where player interaction mattered more than scripted content.
Even though the game was extremely bare-bones at launch, I genuinely believe it was better than the current version of Sea of Thieves. The lack of content did not hurt the experience because players were the content. Every server felt mysterious. Every ship on the horizon carried potential. You never knew whether you were about to make an enemy, an ally, or experience something completely ridiculous, and that unpredictability is what made the game special.
2. Server Instability and Hit Registration
One of the biggest problems with modern Sea of Thieves is server instability. I play on a wired ethernet connection, yet I constantly experience rubber banding and stuttering on roughly 60 ping. That should not be happening. When I joined around Season 6, rubber banding was extremely rare for me. And I'm guessing everyone on their local servers. The game felt smoother, more responsive, and more reliable overall.
At that time, the only major server-side issue was hit registration. Years later, hitreg still has not been fixed. I honestly do not know whether Rare refuses to fix it or simply cannot fix it, but the problem has persisted for far too long. Instead of improving, overall server performance has gotten worse. Movement feels inconsistent, combat feels unreliable, and every PvP fight becomes a gamble rather than a test of skill.
For a live-service multiplayer game, server stability should be the foundation. Right now, that foundation feels broken.
3. FPS and Performance Issues
Performance is another massive issue, specifically FPS instability. It is insane that Sea of Thieves struggles to maintain stable performance above 144 FPS. I am running an RTX 5080 paired with a Ryzen 9 7950X3D, yet I experience frequent and severe FPS drops that make me want to stop playing altogether. I know boohoo but that's just how i feel.
I have tried everything possible to fix it. I have replaced components, switched GPUs, changed software, optimized settings, and even contacted Rare directly. Nothing has worked. This clearly is not just a problem on my end. Other high-end players are experiencing the same thing. Crud complained about it on stream, and he has a 5090. During Twitch Drops events, the performance was absolutely horrible. I talked to multiple people in open crew who were all ranting about the same FPS instability.
How can a $4,000 gaming PC struggle to run this game on Rare settings on an ultrawide monitor? FPS drops in the middle of a fight completely ruin the experience. It is frustrating, immersion-breaking, and unacceptable for a game backed by a multi-billion-dollar company.
4. Loss of Player Interaction and Server Identity
Rare has fundamentally damaged player interaction by adding systems that encourage players to avoid each other instead of engaging naturally. Hourglass PvP being added directly into Adventure mode takes up two server slots and removes organic encounters from the world. Diving allows players to instantly leave servers, meaning no one sticks around long enough for meaningful interactions to form.
Each server used to feel unknown and mysterious. Now, I instantly know what is happening on a server, and most of the time the answer is nothing. I never hear hot mics anymore. I rarely experience funny or memorable interactions. Players do not stay long enough for stories to develop.
Forts of the Damned and Forts of Fortune used to be exciting events that drew players together. Seeing one in the distance meant chaos, opportunity, and fun. Now, people rarely do FOTD at all because the rewards are terrible compared to modern gold inflation. There is simply no incentive. Rare has added massive amounts of content that nobody engages with anymore. When was the last time you genuinely saw someone doing a Veil quest? Even when the world feels empty, players now just dive to a new server instead of creating moments where they are.
The game is bloated with quests and features that actively Nobody cares about. And honestly, who can blame them?
5. PvE Interference and Over-Spawning
PvE encounters are another constant frustration. I have had countless situations where megs or skeleton ships spawn on me in the middle of an intense PvP fight. Even after these encounters were supposedly nerfed, it is still a major issue. I should not have a Redmaw spawning on me while I am chasing another ship or trying to focus on a fight.
These interruptions do not add challenge in a meaningful way. They simply add annoyance. PvE should enhance the sandbox, not ruin critical moments where players need to fully lock in and focus. To me at least.
6. PvP Polarization and New Player Experience
Rare has pushed the player base into extreme polar opposites. On one side, you have hardcore PvP sweats. On the other, you have brand-new players. The middle ground is disappearing because players in that middle group do not want to deal with the current environment.
A perfect example of this was Jynxzi’s first time streaming Sea of Thieves with Caseoh, Ricci, and Sketch. They spent about an hour on a galleon only to get spawn-camped by a cornball skelly curse player who set their ship on fire. What kind of experience is that for someone new to the game? Why would any new player want to PvP after that type of stuff happens all the time?
Combine that with unstable servers and 60 ping on local servers, and the experience feels unprofessional. For a multi-billion-dollar company, it is honestly sad to see the game in this state.
7. Cheaters and the Lack of Enforcement
Cheating has also become a growing and extremely demoralizing problem. So bad that top players like MSponge have videos prefiring the fact that they will get cheaters in duo Hourglass. More and more players are encountering blatant cheaters, especially in PvP-focused encounters. Players teleporting, Aimbot, ESP, or keg spawning have become far more common than they should be.
What makes this worse is the lack of visible enforcement. When players feel like cheaters are not being dealt with, it destroys trust in the competitive integrity of the game. PvP already feels inconsistent due to hitreg and server instability, but adding cheaters on top of that makes it feel pointless. You start questioning whether you lost a fight due to skill, lag, or someone straight-up cheating.
For a game that relies so heavily on player interaction and PvP encounters, failing to aggressively address cheating undermines the entire experience. I know you guys can do better than this.
8. Seasons, Battle Pass Fatigue, and Direction Loss
Seasons were actually a fun concept in Sea of Thieves at first. However, by around Season 9, the formula became exhausting. This is not a Fortnite-style game, yet it adopted Fortnite-style seasonal content and battle passes anyway. Nobody asked for that.
I want to earn rewards by doing cool, funny, memorable things in the sandbox, not by grinding a pass for the eighteenth time. We are now at Season 18. When does this end? You cannot repeat the same seasonal structure twenty times and expect players to remain excited, especially when each season feels worse than the last.
Season 17 introduced smugglers, which is honestly a ridiculous concept in Sea of Thieves. There is no law in this world. You are smuggling items anywhere. The concept does not make sense thematically, and nobody actually cares about it outside of doing commendations. Smuggler items are ugly, reskinned versions of existing loot, other than the paintings, and I do not want them on my ship when harpooning loot. And speaking of reskins.
9. Reskins and the Decline of New Loot
Reskins in Sea of Thieves have become a pandemic. Season 18’s content is almost entirely reskins, with maybe four genuinely new items. People already do not care about the new content because it is the same thing all over again. It is essentially another Gold Hoarders vault, which people barely do anymore anyway.
Seeing the orb return and additionally have the EWS set placed in Twitch Drops is frustrating. A fourth reskin of the Ashen set is so unnecessary, and so annoying. I almost never see anyone using the EWS reskins. I only see players wearing the original Ashen set, which is tuff because it actually represents that players personal progression and achievement. The same applies to sets like the Crab and Kraken cosmetics.
Reskins highlight Rare’s modern-day problem of struggling to create new, exciting models. New loot models matter. They are a massive part of quality-of-life and player motivation. I remember when Rare first started adding new loot types years ago, and I was genuinely excited to go get them and sell them. That excitement is gone when the loot is boring to obtain and ugly to look at.
I know Rare can do better because I have seen what these developers are capable of.
10. What I Think Would Actually Help
I know none of my opinions are unique, but I hope these words reach the developers anyway. At this point, I truly believe Sea of Thieves needs a Sea of Thieves 2. The servers are too unstable, and the code seems incapable of supporting meaningful quality improvements.
If Rare openly stated that they were working on Sea of Thieves 2, I honestly believe the player base would support them financially. Because we all know that is also a problem for them. even though they are 100% to blame respectfully. I know I would. Seasonal production on the current game should stop, and development should focus on fixing core issues. Hourglass should be removed from Adventure mode. Diving should be removed to restore server identity. World events should spawn more loot, Fort of the Damned should have double the loot it has, and PvE encounters should be made more challenging but less intrusive.
World events and FOTD are where most players’ core memories come from. Bringing those back into focus would do more for the game than any seasonal gimmick. Simply imagining a version of the game without diving already makes the seas feel more magical again.
To initiate Sea of Thieves 2, Rare could temporarily remove certain systems to stabilize servers and lead into a massive live event. imagine if the Spider widow lady from the orb ended up unleashing the sea of the damned on the sea of thieves letting her control everything like island creation. let the final stand be against her controlling SOT or doing something to the shroud. and having the athenas and reapers teaming up to stop her or something. and the battle to bring the sea of the damned back into its realm, changed the shroud to maker the map smaller or something. but a new base map is a great great start for a new game. Just please this time stay on top of server stability. don't make decisions that will damage the game like it has already.
At the end of the day, your best experiences in Sea of Thieves should not only happen when you are a new player. That magic should last, and right now, it doesn’t.
