Sea Of Thieves Will Add Microtransactions Later

Sea of Thieves sailing guide|https://seaofthievesfans.com/ of Thieves , the forthcoming Microsoft exclusive , is being pitched as a games as a service-style game. Publisher Microsoft sees it as the sort of game that players will want to keep coming back to month after month. It comes as little surprise then, that like so many other games as a service, Sea of Thieves will also include microtransacti


In one way, you’ve already seen some hints to this, both in how we’ve treated the Ship’s Cannons – which you’ve seen in a lot of videos – but also in some of the elements hinted at in the cinematic trailer from E3 2


This isn't commentary on the fact that Skull & Bones has all the potential in the world to muscle in on Sea of Thieves ' territory, either. We went hands on with Rare's upcoming multiplayer pirate experience and came away wanting more, both in terms of gameplay (because it was good) and features (because it seemed largely the same). Sea of Thieves is still a good game, and there's some enjoyment to be had within its colorful pirate world, but it feels like it hasn't evolved since the last time we saw it, and that's cause for some disappointm


But didn't it seem like Microsoft was protesting a little too much about just having too much other stuff to showcase to make time for VR? E3 2017 really brings out the gaming community's optimism, after all, and more than a few people thought Microsoft's strict no VR policy was a red herring for a big announcement to come during E3 week. Sadly, Microsoft was simply telling the truth about its intentions for E3 2017, and there was nary a rumor regarding Microsoft VR by the time the show floor had empt


Speaking to IGN , Rare's executive producer Joe Neate confirmed that the first major post-launch Sea of Thieves update will introduce microtransactions. This update is expected around three months after Sea of Thieves ' launch and "anything in this area will not impact power or progression, and you'll always know what you're getting - so that means no loot crates," says Neate. Given the ongoing controversy surrounding pay to win loot boxes and the debate on whether or not loot boxes are gambling , many will be glad to hear that Sea of Thieves won't feature that mecha


We’ve also gone a step further compared to most other experiences that have aim down sights, in that the default position when carrying a gun around is not held in an aiming stance from the hip. Instead, guns that are not being actively aimed have their barrels pointing upwards or close to the player’s body. The reason for this is that players have to take a specific action to aim the gun (and be seen to aim the gun), which makes it much clearer to determine the intent of other players: if you see them aiming at you, you know they are trying to line up a shot. Conversely, if you come across another crew in the world who seems more friendly and their guns are raised, the situation can feel less hostile. Ordinarily, in a typical shooter, even with aim down sights, the gun is held outwards and from the hip and other players automatically look more dea

But perhaps it's this deliberate restriction that lends itself to some interesting interactions between players and novel use of player skills as a means at working better together. While the skill at merely turning a map around to show others sounds ridiculously basic, it’s a clever move in context. A means to build bridges between similarly-plucked team-mates and better incentivises Sea of Thieves’ core, principle lesson in working together. Granted the perk is proven moot when, upon agreeing on a particular voyage, you simply get handed the same maps in your inventory, but the physicality of such interactivity in-game is welcome regardless. When it comes to your ship, though, all hands are most certainly on deck. There are sails to align and angle; potential hazards to flag and shout out to the player steering the ship (whom, if the sails are set at full length can’t see where they’re steering, again a nice nudging toward better relationships)…and if worse comes to worse, leaks to repair should you collide. Or even worse, cries of "FRAME-RATE!" -- as I had to do when a teammate is barking compass directions but I have no means to control the stuttering performance -- when the game (on PC) decides to nose-dive from relatively stable 60FPS to, at its worst, the high-teens -- the most notable drops occurring mostly at sea, relatively afar from shore.


The developer also revealed a new game coming to Xbox One called Sea of Thieves ; a new shared open-world pirate game. While Rare only provided a small sample of the game during the event, it's definitely enough to spark excitement in pirate and shared-world game f


Some prospective Sea of Thieves players may question the decision to include microtransactions, but Neate has an explanation for the business model. "Ultimately I have to look at the reality of running a game-as-service as a business," says the executive producer, adding that "My goal and everyone else's goal here is to have as many people as possible working on this, and just keep giving people reasons to return, reasons to have fun. We have to run that like a business, you need revenue coming