00:05Hello everyone, Joe Neat, Executive Producer on Sea of Thieves here with another Weekly Dev Update.
00:10So first of all, I wanted to talk about player behaviour in Sea of Thieves.
00:13And a reminder to everybody that discrimination of any kind is unacceptable.
00:18And that means discriminating against anybody because of their gender,
00:21discriminating against them because of their sexual orientation, or for their ethnicity.
00:25All of these things are unacceptable.
00:26And if we receive evidence that players have been doing this, then we will take swift action.
00:31An example of this is, last week we received a video of somebody being abused because of their gender in
00:37Sea of Thieves.
00:38We got the video, we got the evidence, we looked into this and we took swift action and we banned
00:42their account from Sea of Thieves.
00:44Because the behaviour was unacceptable.
00:46And this is just a thing that I'm really passionate about, we're really passionate about as a development team.
00:52We will not tolerate this kind of behaviour in Sea of Thieves.
00:54And when we see excuses or people kind of going, oh well this happens in other games, like that's nonsense.
01:01Like that is not an acceptable excuse, like be better.
01:04So next I wanted to talk about cross-play.
01:06So obviously Sea of Thieves is a cross-play title and we love what this brings to the game itself.
01:12You know, we love that people on PC and on console can play together, we love that we've broken down
01:17boundaries and we see so many people playing like in families together and partners and people making new friends across
01:24the kind of platform divide that was previously there.
01:27And so it brings so many benefits, but we've also been listening to feedback from our players, especially with Arena
01:33on the horizon and that everybody feels that they have a level playing field and that they have that option.
01:40So we've been discussing this at length internally and we've arrived at a solution that we are starting work on
01:45implementation.
01:45And this means that this isn't going to be coming right away, but we want to make sure that giving
01:50an option for players arrives before Arena lands in players' hands.
01:54And so what this is going to be is that if you're playing on console and you're using a controller,
01:58you will have the option to only matchmake with other players on console using a controller.
02:03And so every other player or anybody that wants to continue playing cross-play will all be put into the
02:07cross-play pool.
02:08So there will be two kind of pools of players and you'll be able to change that option depending on
02:13kind of who you want to play with and your circumstances at the time.
02:17But we will be implementing this, but it's a piece of work that we've started and it will be coming
02:22in prior to Arena landing just to ensure that we have that level playing field, we've got that option for
02:27people.
02:28So, you know, we've heard a lot of feedback around this, we've talked about it a lot and we definitely
02:33believe this is the right approach for Sea of Thieves, especially with that competitive mode coming on the horizon.
02:38And so when we do implement this, that option will be available whether you're kind of going into Adventure World
02:43or you're going into the Arena.
02:45So, you know, the option will be available across the entire game.
02:48So we will share more details of this as we get closer to actually implementing it and the exact specifics
02:53of how it works.
02:54Because there is quite a lot of work going into this in terms of the matchmaking side of things and
02:58in-game messaging and UI.
03:00So there's quite a lot of stuff that we have to get in place and consider for this.
03:03But when we get closer to the time for that being implemented, we'll take everybody through the specifics of how
03:08it will work.
03:09To reiterate, if you want to play cross-play like you have been and you want to play with your
03:13friends on different platforms with different input devices, then that will be continued.
03:17You'll still be able to play that in exactly the same way that you have before.
03:20So a separate piece of work, but related to this, is that we will be supporting mouse and keyboard on
03:25console.
03:26So when we bring that into the game, if you decide to use mouse and keyboard on your console, you'll
03:30automatically be put into the cross-play pool.
03:32So I understand this has been a hot topic in our community for a little while and I really wanted
03:37to get out there and address it now.
03:38And we strongly believe that the approach we're taking is the right one for all of our players across the
03:43board.
03:43So we look forward to rolling this out once we've got the work complete.
03:46So moving on, last week I talked a little bit about some combat improvements that we're going to be making
03:51to Sea of Thieves that are coming on February the 6th.
03:53So I wanted to give a bit more of an overview of the vision and the thinking behind that.
03:58And then next week we'll talk specifically to the details of those as they come into the build.
04:02So firstly, I think it's important to understand the vision that we have for combat in Sea of Thieves.
04:07And that's that each tool that is there is there for a specific kind of purpose.
04:11So you've got the cannons, you've got the eye of reach, you've got the blunderbuss, you've got the pistol, you've
04:16got the sword.
04:16And they all have a purpose.
04:18And if we think about each of those individually, it's really kind of around range and around the different levels
04:24of kind of combat that you have.
04:25So when ships are battling at distance, that's when the cannons are really there.
04:29That's the kind of core use for those. As you start getting closer, the eye of reach can come into
04:33play.
04:34That can be a kind of long range, but targeted at people.
04:37You've got the pistol, which is more of a mid range weapon, but that's kind of when that's at its
04:42best and its strongest.
04:43And the blunderbuss is that much more short range kind of in your face.
04:46So maybe as you're about to board or you're boarding a ship.
04:49But once you're kind of on the ship, you're in the confines, the kind of narrow cramped spaces on a
04:53ship,
04:53that's really where we want swordplay to come into its own.
04:56And so as we look at the data and we look at feedback and we look at how people are
04:59playing,
04:59that balance hasn't really been playing out in the world as we would have hoped.
05:03And so with the changes that we're making to remove the kind of double shot that people have been using
05:10in a way undetended by us,
05:11we've also taken the opportunity to make some changes and tweaks to a bunch of different areas
05:15to really try and start bringing that balance back in that we've always desired for how all of the different
05:21weapons interplay with each other.
05:22So the changes that we're making for this update will get us some other way there,
05:27but we have further updates, especially as we look to Arena on the horizon,
05:30where that focus on combat and between players is kind of really in focus for everybody.
05:36So these are some changes that we're making along the way and we've been testing them with our pioneers
05:40and we now want to roll them out to a broader audience and really start seeing how this plays out
05:44with all of our players
05:46and how it plays out over time because obviously there will be an initial reaction to change.
05:50We expect that whenever we make changes like this to the game,
05:53but we want to see how it settles down, how people kind of are starting to use the different weapons,
05:58we can look at feedback from our players, we can look at our telemetry and really start to see,
06:02do these changes kind of lead to the type of behaviour that we want or what additional changes do we
06:07need to make for this?
06:07So beyond what we've done for this update, we're really looking at combat and looking at how can we make
06:14things more fluid, less clunky
06:16and how can we continue to make sure that each weapon has a really clearly defined role
06:21and that people are using them in the kind of way that we expect.
06:24So obviously in next week's update we'll talk through specifically those changes that are coming to the build on February
06:28the 6th
06:29in detail with all of the changes and tweaks that we've actually made
06:32and obviously they'll be included in the build notes and everything too.
06:35So next week I will actually be out in Seattle, so I'm going to be across there for some meetings
06:39and also to appear on Inside Xbox.
06:42So that means Drew Stevens, our senior producer, will be taking the video next week and talking you through those
06:46changes.
06:47I'm going to be appearing on Inside Xbox on Tuesday, February the 5th, where I'll be talking about what's coming
06:52in the game update.
06:53And again, a reminder that that's mostly kind of quality of life improvements, it's bug fixes, it's balancing and we've
06:59got a couple of kind of little things in there for people too that we haven't quite talked about yet.
07:04But I'm also going to be giving a bit of a hint about kind of the future plans for Sea
07:08of Thieves.
07:09And I know that some of our most engaged community will have been keeping a keen ear open when we've
07:14been talking about the stuff that is going on across Rare.
07:17So I'm going to be talking about that a little bit more on Inside Xbox next week and really kind
07:22of giving a hint as to the future and how we plan to bring that to players.
07:25So finally, a reminder that next week we're planning for February the 6th that you've got that time to download
07:31the game again or that you're setting it to kind of auto update on your console.
07:35So yeah, just make sure that you're prepared for that. Hopefully it won't be a surprise for anyone.
07:39But that's just a reminder everyone that that's next week on February the 6th with the update that's coming in.
07:43So that's it for me from this week. So remember, you'll look forward to seeing Drew on the video next
07:48week and I'll be on Inside Xbox on February the 5th.
07:50And I look forward to hearing everyone's thoughts and feedback and I'll see you on the seas. Cheers.
08:00So if you like that, there's loads more videos you can go and view on our YouTube channel.
08:03But more importantly, if you could click like, subscribe or click on the ship's bell, it'll mean that I get
08:09more than John.
08:10And that's really important to me.
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