While we have been busy exploring the Heart of Fire, the Glorious Sea Dogs have been hard at work creating a new Arena contest to challenge very pirate sailing the Sea of Thieves!
Gone are the days of multiple treasure maps with dozens of chests up for grabs. You will no longer be finding any pirates sneaking off on their lonesome only to win the whole contest uninterrupted.
Instead, players will all be converging on the same location in hopes of grabbing the only active chest, the Glorious Sea Dog Chest!
The Sea Dog’s Beacon
The next chapter of the Arena introduces a brand new Arena exclusive chest, the Glorious Sea Dog Chest.
This chest is imbued with magic that casts a large beacon into the sky for all to see, the Sea Dog’s Beacon. Similar to the Reaper’s Chest and Reaper’s Bounty, this new chest will be easily tracked at all times while pirates attempt to acquire and deliver it at a nearby Sea Dog ship for silver.
Unlike the Reaper’s Chest and Reaper’s Bounty, the Sea Dog’s Beacon will emit the bright purple pillar of light at all times until it is delivered.
Once delivered, a new chest and beacon will appear for everyone to battle over. While there can be multiple chests in one contest, there can only ever be one at a time.
No More Treasure Maps
Now that the Arena has a Glorious Sea Dogs Chest placed in each contest, there is no need for treasure maps. You will no longer be inspecting X Marks the Spot quests from your Map Radial to hunt down chests for silver.
The chest will appear on your ship’s map table. So, zooming in, you can get a good idea of where it is, just like an “X” on a map. However, you’ll have an even better “guiding light.”
Once in the Arena, your only focus is that purple pillar of light and the chest it belongs to! Your first and main priority will always be ahead of you, leading you right into the action.
This new change will help guide newer players to the action as well as help them to better understand the goals of the contest. It will also remove the time needed to look at maps.
Every player will be focused on the world in front of them and the intense action the new chest is guaranteed to produce.
New Arenas
The previous Arenas were created around the idea of hunting down chests from X Marks the Spot quests.
Now that there is just one chest to capture, each Arena has been redesigned to be smaller with a single delivery location. The single delivery location also adds to the intense and focused action. Delivering chests will be much more perilous now!
These smaller Arenas will put less emphasis on sailing and more emphasis on action!
Shorter Contests
Those familiar with Arena will know that each contest lasts 24 minute, a full in-game day in the Sea of Thieves.
In this next chapter of the Arena, each contest now lasts for 15 minutes. This shorter time will bring players into more intense competition and can now progress faster through the Sea Dogs Trading Company.
Even though the time of each Arena contest is shorter, you can still expect the same amount of gold and reputation as before.
More Silver for Ship Battles
Prior to this update, achieving a cannonball hit on an enemy crew’s ship resulted in 25 Silver per hit. In the next chapter of Arena, players will now be rewarded with 40 Silver for each successful hit.
You can bet that ship to ship combat is going to be more prevalent now that players will be able to earn quite a bit more Silver from a skirmish.
Of course—unlike Gold Coins—you don’t keep the Silver you earn in battle. The Silver represents your points. Nevertheless, the more Silver you earn in battle the more likely you are to rank higher, and that’s what gets you those Gold Coins!
Revive
The revive mechanic is a brand new feature in the Sea of Thieves. You can revive your crew members now in Adventure Mode and Arena.
You have several seconds to revive a defeated crew mate. Reviving them will bring them back to the seas and prevent them from visiting the Ferry of the Damned.
In the case of Arena, you will shorten the time your crew member is staring at their lifeless body before they are brought back into the action!
Run up to a downed player and hold the interact button to revive them.
Rowboats
Everyones favorite oar propelled boat has arrived to the Arena. Now, each ship will start an Arena contest with a rowboat attached. The rowboat will be themed to your team’s colors and style as well!
Your crew only gets one rowboat though so if you lose it you will not get a replacement.
All kind of crazy pirate shenanigans have taken place with rowboats in Adventure Mode so we are excited to see what players come up with using this tool in the Arena!
Quitting
Before this update there was no penalty for leaving an Arena contest before it was finished. This would sometimes lead to unbalanced and quieter matches than intended.
Now, players who quit during an active Arena contest will be issued a strike. Multiple strikes will bar them from re-joining the Arena for a short period of time.
Players are now more likely to think twice before leaving an unfinished Arena contest!
Commendations
With the removal of X Marks the Spot quests and the addition of the Sea Dog’s Beacon, you can expect the following Achievements and Commendations to be redesigned for the latest change:
- The Fortune and Glory Achievement
- The Seeker of Silvered Loot Commendation
- The Treacherous Sea Dog Commendation
- The Keeper of Silvered Loot Commendation
Welcome to the New Arena!
We are super excited for this new iteration on the Arena. With shorter matches and more focused arenas to battle in, we sure are all in for some intense battles!
