Mercenary Outfit for Play for Free

@johnnykappow Unfortunately, it is real and it is currently live. Blows my mind that I have been bringing my friends into this game well before play for free. Where is my codes for the promotion as my friends bought it at full price and never once played it?

It's pretty annoying, gave out all my codes and nothing comes back in return, plus I've already gifted the game to my daughter via Xbox marketplace back in June, feels like a lot of us have been putting time, effort and money into promoting the game only to be overlooked when it comes to handing out the rewards

@graves-v this is mind-blowing! HOW can they think this is ok!?

@johnnykappow Well, obviously something is going on.
Usually they would have made 2 or 3 tweets today already, but so far there have been nothing on twitter, reddit or anywhere that I have found, so they might be discussing and working out what they are going to do about this.

But unless it ends with "All Insiders gets the Outfit too", people are going to be very unhappy with them for a long time about this.

@danish-crusader yeah for sure - thats why I originally thought it was fake, cause no official source had communicated it. Dude I even once in passing madness thought of paying a ridiculous 105 dolla from a dodgy site to get those white pants. Thank the pope twas a passing fancy

@king-deka Mostly everyone, there are still Non-Insiders here. I'd prefer that anyone that played during the FPF week got the outfit, Insider or not, but seeing as the FPF week was about Insiders inviting people, I wouldn't expect it to be given to those not in the Insider program.

@reedski I hear you. I play on Game Pass. Why I don’t know, since I rarely play anything else. But anyway, I recruited my wife. She bought the game along with an Xbox One just so we could play together. Then we recruited another friend who also bought the game. We’ve purchased a lot of SoT merchandise...books, t-shirts, sweatshirts, coins. We’ve done a lot to promote the game. Last Halloween my band even did a Pirate themed show, largely inspired by Sea of Thieves. We had a big screen behind us showing clips of old pirate movies, along with clips of our gameplay in Sea of Thieves.

I'm very disappointed with Rare. I don't have friends who would buy this game. Rare screwed up with this move. Love the game, but this blows. You know, I am sure I'm not the only one when I say this... Rare could have put this into the game for doubloons or did an offer in their store where you buy something and then you'd get the code for the set. I consider myself as a person who likes to complete sets as well and this was the last thing I wanted to have for my character. I'd been hoping there would be a way to obtain it, but I never thought they'd stoop this low. Ugh.....

Please, Rare, do the right thing and think about your older players. The players who have supported you through thick and thin. Clearly, you can see how you let so many of us down with this decision? I'm saddened. My heart is sad.

I think one of those most disappointing parts of this is the fact that they haven’t even acknlowedged it yet.
Not a word.
And they’re active on Twitter, so I know they’ve seen this post, Reddit, and Twitter.
Give this cosmetic to everyone that played during the event.
I already have it from last year.
But if I didn’t, I’d be livid right now, and I don’t want this same thing happening with a future cosmetic that I might not actually have.

I also recruited 4 players months ago (no pass, they bought the full thing), so I too gave my codes away with hope of making people happy and maybe have new players join the seas for more than just a week.

Glad to see my recruitment efforts will go unrewarded while some people just used the codes on themselves to get the set. I just can't wait to share some more codes next time /s.

I understand the pang of disappointment it can send through you, but I don't feel like we've been robbed or mistreated, and I don't believe Rare has done anything wrong.
Just my opinions, but just the same as everyone else's stance on this is just their opinion.

Now, I get the feeling that they'll be making this outfit available again (how? I don't know. Possibly within the game, possibly through micro-transactions, or possibly through other giveaways). The fact that they tossed this in, tells me that it's a pack they're willing to do different things with (and I suspect it is not the only pack they'd be willing to play around with).
Sure, this was a little odd... but I don't believe it was odd due to not telling us about this beforehand. Honestly, I'm kind of tired of that sort of reaction from communities (again, just my take - feel free to react how you feel is appropriate). Surprise gifts and enticements to new, potential customers is not some betrayal to existing customers. Can't we relax and be alright with Rare trying to entice people to buy the game? Can't we be alright with someone else getting something we didn't?

I've spent my fair share on this game and on peripherals. I've obtained my fair share of time-limited items and some rewards here and there (ebon flintlock, Obsidian 6 pack, Spinal Figurehead, etc), so, it's not like this stuff isn't an existing part of this game's experience. And it's not like the outside of the game exclusives haven't ever made multiple appearances, and they have stated, multiple times, there will be more ways to obtain things.

My point? Just try not to blow this out of proportion. If you don't like it, that's cool - express that and provide that feedback. However, let's not act like this is an immoral act, or a betrayal, committed by Rare.
They tossed an exclusive pack into a new incentive for a specific group of new potential players.

I, too, just recently recruited a few more new customers, prior to the Friends Play Free event. I didn't get any prizes for it and neither did they.
And, now, just because some new people may have obtained this prize, it doesn't mean we were robbed or that we should have gotten that prize. We did what we did, because we wanted to. Not for some never-promised reward - and, just because Rare uses a reward to entice some to buy the game, doesn't mean we suddenly deserve rewards for what we've done. That's just how I feel about it, anyway. And, hey, I really want the mercenary pack - and I was, especially, looking for it before my wife's birthday, because I know she'd like, and actually use, some of those pieces (I want it, but I'd honestly not likely use any of it with much regularity).

Everyone has their own experience - just as these new prize-winners will have their own experience.
And there'll be more experiences to come... and more ways to get new things, old things, and very likely ways that some of us will miss out on some of these things.
And so the winds blow...

@pdt-mindstream Well put, I absolutely appreciate and respect your point of view. For me, it's the lack of communication and transparency on their part; quite simply I would have appreciated the same choice given to new players to access an "exclusive" I have wanted for some time. I do realise it's a fairly selfish POV, and will get over it by the time I've finished typing this ;) It surprised me is all.

@johnnykappow
For somewhere between 5 and 10 seconds, I felt the same way, haha. Not so much about the transparency on their part... just that I didn't get something I wanted (and, yeah, it is partly because I didn't even know about it - not that it would have helped anyway).

Not that this makes me any better than anyone else with different reactions or sustained opinions. I just do have a history of feeling a strong pang, and quickly internalizing it and turning around on it peacefully. In some situations (more significant than video game stuff) I've gone from JUST ABOUT to transform into the Hulk to calming down and laughing and speaking calmly about an issue, within just a few minutes.
I could just be crazy though. A good crazy, perhaps, lol.

@pdt-mindstream I think that's a fairly normal human reaction! :)

You scurvy dogs know this a hoax, right? There is no information to be found on official sources. It's fake, now get over it.

@lt-swag-johnson said in Mercenary Outfit for Play for Free:

You scurvy dogs know this a hoax, right? There is no information to be found on official sources. It's fake, now get over it.

This was my initial thought too and no amount of digging has brought up official confirmation of it - only hearsay, claims and rumours.

The original image design and font doesn't fit what we'd normally expect from Rare either, so it's very suspicious.

I just wish someone from Rare would speak up on the matter to confirm either way.

@lt-swag-johnson Jeez man calm down people can have every right to get upset over something like this especially since this post is days old now with little to no information claiming its real or fake.

what a bunch of nonsense. This would have been said upfront! There a suckers born every day!

@biostructr it was possible and it worked as some friends of mine on PC in Australia used a code to unlock the set. Doesn’t work anymore. I tried it but was an hour too late back on 2-15. This makes me so angry. I tried for 3 days to get the Insider email to get the codes for friends and would have paid money for this set if available. Arrrrrggghhhh.

@graves-v has Rare responded about this yet?

@lethality1 that is a false equivalency though - you neglected to play - but wasnt there awareness around the fact that it was available if you did so (please do correct me if I'm wrong, and in which case- sorry!)? This would only apply as an example if you were part of alpha and didn't have access to an item, but said item was then offered to beta with only telling you how you could get it after the fact.

@d1no They have not.
Which is strange...

I take it back, they have on Reddit.
They(Sonicbob, I forgot what his real name is, he is one of the Senior Producers) have heard us, are assesing their approch and will share more about this later this week. Whatever that means.

So my guess is we will hear more in the Weekly update.

Had I known this I would have found a way to share these codes with any friend that does not play SoT, even though I have already recruited most of friends anyway.

These details should have been more apparent in the initial marketing message. Poor marketing on Rare's part.

Finally got some recognition from SonicBob on Reddit.

It’s not about being entitled or greedy, it’s about 100% lack of communication about an EXCLUSIVE SET.

Exclusive sets are of massive importance in this game, and must remain exclusive. Otherwise what’s the point of them?

Thanks for hearing our feedback Rare, we hope you make the right decision with exclusives in the future.

All I ask for is communication ahead of time, and to never re-release a limited-time exclusive. Do a reskin instead, and never make it impossible for a certain player to get one, make it difficult, Hell make it nearly impossible, but not impossible.

On the topic of this set of cosmetics i have just noticed the eyepatch for this rereleased set is different from the one it came with originally, or so it seems from the image.

The first release is a black patch with a red X through it, similar to the Black Dog and Day One patches.
This one seems to be in the same style but has a green spot with accenting gold instead.

Seeing this set return in some other promotion just so i could get me grubby piratical hands on the revamped Eye Patch for the set i currently own would have me feeling gleeful for sure.
If it's even possible to have 2 Mercenary Eye Patches in my vanity box that is.

@mr-dragon-raaar said in Mercenary Outfit for Play for Free:

@salerio said in Mercenary Outfit for Play for Free:

It’s not about being entitled or greedy

That's exactly what it's about.

Heres hoping Rare dont cave to the whining. Sets a terrible precedent.

I already have the outfit, I’ve had it since launch, so tell me how I’m being greedy or entitled if I already have it?
It’s about transparent communication and respecting exclusivity.