Prologue
Ahoy there fellow Pirates!
Last week there was no TCQ because of the heatwave here in Europe. That's right, I spend my time outside in the sun. Almost have the same nice tan as my Pirate does. Anyhow, that also meant I didn't really have time to prepare or write a new TCQ so I had to skip last week.
Today Rare has released more information about the upcoming update: Cursed Sails. You can read more about that here. While it isn't Friday and I wanted to have TCQ's on Friday, I just can't let this one go. Today I'll be previewing the Cursed Sails!
Just a reminder that the purpose here is to encourage healthy discussions about the things that have been added. Any arguments should be settled according to the Pirate Code: on the seas.
Here's this week's The Captain's Quarters!
The Skeleton Armada and The Blacksmith
Harrr! The time is upon us to pick up arms and answer the call for aid from our favorite Outposts. The Skeleton Armadas are upon us and they are challenging us to fight for the future of our favorite region.
Lately one of the traders at Golden Sands has been acting a little bit... odd. Currently she is known as 'The Blacksmith' but those that have been around long enough might know her as 'Wanda'. Whatever the case, she's been upto something and it hasn't gone unnoticed. Pirates have been reporting they've seen her looking anxiously at a bandaid on her right arm and if you were to walk into the Shoppe, you'd startle her.
Then out of the blue, smoke came from the chimney and an old salt joined her in the Shoppe. I realize that may come across as a pun to those who know his name, but I assure you that wasn't one. Oh, his name? Right, his name is Salty. Apparently him and Wanda have been working on a little something. Most Pirates' best guess is these Cursed Cannonballs we keep hearing about. This week Salty appears to have dissappeared and, even more strange, Wanda's right arm has changed and she is desperately trying to hide it.
Rumors are that whatever's happened, has got to do with the march of the dead.
Time-limited Campaign
Whatever happened to Wanda and Salty appears to be related to the attack of the Skeleton Scourge. When Cursed Sails drops we are tasked with figuring out what happened to the missing merchant. As per usual, the Bilge Rats will have heard something about it. They are currently nowhere to be found, so my guess is they are out and about gathering information before the dead are amongst us.
This campaign already sounds a lot more interesting than the campaign for 'The Hungering Deep'. I quite liked relating to Merrick and his story, but it felt rushed. I hope they can make a compelling story with the Cursed Sails. One that really drives you to figure out what the heck is going on!
Three ships & Skeleton Livery
This is no news, most of us already knew the Brigantine was coming. Just look at the image above, the horizon is going to look a lot more vivid with these new sails. I can't wait to get my hands on that thing when one of our crewmates logs off for the night. No longer do we have to wait for someone else to join, we can just hop onto a Brigantine!
The three ships are absolutely rocking the new Skeleton Livery. We already got a glimpse of this new livery the other day when a photo of the Brigantine was leaked, but seeing them in the sunset is absolutely menacing.
Multiple battles and multiple rewards
Okay so I think this is pretty cool. All three regions are under attack and all three will have to be defended. According to the info we received there will be a series of set battles against the Armada. At the end we'll be able to unlock the skeleton-themed ship decorations, as seen in the previous segment, but also a unique set of sails for each of the three regions (pictured above).
More sails are always welcome, but I really like the addition of a unique sail for each of the regions we currently have in the Sea of Thieves.
Hunter Set
There is a brand new outfit and item set available to go with hunting these Skeletons. Personally I'm not a fan, I think they're a little bit too bland. To each their own and I hope some of you really like these!
Pirate Legend Cosmetics
It's been a long time coming, but the first new Pirate Legend cosmetics are finally here. According to the info this is a ghostly set for our vessels. I'm not sure if this means you need to achieve a certain level of Athena or if they are available off the bat. We'll see when it hits next week!
I really like the ghostly features of the sails. The sails we have now are a bit too... nice? There's nothing broken about them, no tears or holes. This updates brings sails that have those characteristics and I very much like that. Looking at the photo in one of the previous segments, you can see the Skeleton Livery also has these tears and holes.
Bone Crushers, Tattoos and Scars
Alright, so who here has managed to gather all the new Bone Crushed items so far? During the first two Bilge Rat Adventures we were able to earn the Bone Crusher outfit and weapons. I was wondering myself if we'd ever be able to complete the set through new adventures or if they would release the rest without an adventure. I now have my answer. On one hand I'm a little bummed about the fact this set is 'given away', on the other I really don't want to go another few weeks with Bilge Rat Adventures just to obtain more Bone Crusher items. All in all, this is a good move.
Anyhow, we'll be able to obtain new scars and tattoos but we'll also be able to finish the entire Bone Crusher set. All the items as well as an eyepatch, belt, hook and pegleg are now available to us.
How awesome is that lantern, by the way!
New Hair Styles and Colors
Okay, this is sort of a best for last kind of deal. Pirates have been asking to have their hair colors changed since the game launched and we're finally going to get it. Not only that, we're also finally getting more hair options. I'm wondering if the ones pictured in the previous photos are the only ones we're going to get or if there's going to be more in-game.
I'm not too sure how many new ones you're able to find in all the images we've got, but there's a good amount of new hairdo's spread across the images. I cannot wait to rock some shade of red, simply because I can. More ways for our Pirates to stand out as an individual is always a welcome addition.
Epilogue
All I want to say in recap is: This is more like it! The biggest complaint for The Hungering Deep was that there was so little added to the game, apart from the encounter. While I agree to a certain degree, I also felt like the time the team had to create that update was so little yet we got a pretty great experience out of it. This only had to mean that a future update would be bigger and contain more stuff for us to obtain. Judging from the new information, it's safe to say that the increased leadtime for this update is paying off!
I would love to know what you guys think about the upcoming update. Obviously there's a ton of topics being made right now because of this new information, so we'll see how far this topic goes :)
Smooth sailin' to ye,
Murkrage
