Sea of Thieves players have enjoyed a reliable roll-out of fresh content for their pirate adventure game, but the latest patch has hit stormy weather. Players eager to set sail on the Ashen Winds update will have to wait just a bit longer for developer Rare to raise anchor.
After the game's Steam launch in early June, the Sea of Thieves community has grown considerably and its legion of pirate legends are hungry for more high seas action. The last major Sea of Thieves update arrived in mid-June, and Added Ghost Fleet battles for more ship-to-ship combat. Rare also recently revealed ambitious plans for private servers to facilitate larger groups of players and foster new forms of community-organized play.
The Ashen Winds update, originally scheduled to be released on the 22nd, has been pushed back by a week due to technical difficulties. From July 15th to the 21st, many players encountered serious server issues that prevented them from receiving credit for completing quests. Rare has since resolved the issues, and compensated affected players with bonus gold and doubloons, though addressing the problem undoubtedly played a hand in the update's delay. Good things are worth waiting for, however, and if Ashen Winds lives up to players' expectations, it may rank among the best updates Sea of Thieves has received.
After its initially rocky reception, Sea of Thieves recently hit the 15 million player milestone. The game's numbers were undoubtedly buoyed by its recent launch on Steam, but the real secret to the title's success is Rare's content additions which have included entirely new mechanics, a robust selection of cosmetics, and several meaty quests.
Sea of Thieves is now available on Xbox One and Microsoft Windows.