Sea of Thieves 2.8.3 patch notes: Captaincy changes, Pirate Emporium tweaks, gameplay fixes, and more

The promised tweaks and changes to the game's Captaincy mode are finally here in Sea of Thieves, with patch 2.8.3 going live earlier today. The expected changes were revealed by Rare back in May 2023. The servers went down for maintenance today (June 15, 2023) at 9 am UTC and came online around two hours later. Players needed to download the latest update before diving into a session.

Patch 2.8.3 has brought Chocolatier's Companion Pets, Beachcomber's cosmetics, and other items to the Pirate Emporium. The latest update reduced cannonball knockback and made a number of significant balances to Captaincy Mode, gameplay fixes, and necessary tweaks.

Without any further ado, here are the official patch notes for the latest Sea of Thieves update.

Sea of Thieves official patch notes for update 2.8.3

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The official patch notes for Sea of Thieves update 2.8.3 are as follows:

Pirate Emporium

Season Nine Plunder Pass

Anyone wishing to take full advantage of Season Nine rewards can still buy the Plunder Pass. Any rewards unlocked will become available upon purchase, so players who have raised their Renown throughout Season Nine can instantly see their hard work rewarded before the Season ends.
This Season’s Plunder Pass offers early access to the complete Sting Tide Ship Collection and evolving Sting Tide Costume, and can be purchased at any time through the Pirate Log, Pirate Emporium, Microsoft Store or Steam Item Store.

Chocolatier’s Companion Pets

Two strange new beasts have arrived on the Sea of Thieves for pet-loving pirates to adopt. Choose between a Parakeet or Alsatian and try to avoid leaving them out in the sun for too long!

Beachcomber’s Bounty Weapons

A rugged survivalist managed to cobble together these four weapons in a cave, with nothing but the scraps of their smashed-up ship.

Beachcomber’s Bounty Ship Collection

Previously featured in the Season Seven Plunder Pass, all parts of the Beachcomber Bounty Ship Collection are now available to purchase from the Pirate Emporium.

Ship’s Banners

The Emporium now offers a selection of exclusive Ship’s Banners for Captains. Choose from the Royal Coronet, Reaver and Forgotten Temple designs to help your ship stand out when spied from afar!

Dark Warsmith Ship’s Crest

Any ship’s name that evokes dread in all who read it is worthy of a Ship’s Crest to match.

Brawler Emote Bundle

Even without a weapon at hand, a pirate should always be ready for some fisticuffs to defend their loot.

Lodestar Big Bundle

Wreath yourself in skies and stars with this expansive Lodestar bundle. Includes the full ship collection, costume, weapons and spyglass, plus cat and parrot pets.

Dark Warsmith Big Bundle

Join some of the Sea of Thieves’ most fearsome pirates with this heavy-duty Dark Warsmith bundle. Includes the full ship collection, costume and weapons.

Freebie Pail Percussion Emote

Even when you have an actual drum tucked away, sometimes you just like to use what’s at hand.

Solid Gold Bundle (Store Only)

Want to dazzle in any company? A pirate of true opulence should hoard this Solid Gold Bundle, which contains two Collector’s Pets: the Gold Curse Wildcat and Gold Curse Parakeet. Also includes 1000 Ancient Coins to spend in the Pirate Emporium and a free bonus of 25,000 gold. Head to the Microsoft Store or Steam Item Store to find out more.

Gameplay Improvements

Reduced Cannonball Knockback

Players sailing a Galleon or Brigantine will find that the knockback from cannonball splash damage no longer propels them so far into the air, preventing them from being so easily sent overboard. However, they will still be knocked back and disorientated by the blast. This change makes the knockback experience consistent across all ship sizes.

Captains of Adventure Balancing

A large number of Pirate and Ship Milestones have been rebalanced to make gaining Classes easier, and any progress already made will automatically be converted, potentially boosting players to higher Classes.
The number of Classes required to buy the four tiers of Trinkets has been significantly reduced in Sea of Thieves.
The cost for saving cosmetics to a Captained ship has been removed, and this function is now free in Sea of Thieves.
The gold cost for purchasing ship decorations and Trinkets has been significantly reduced.
Any Captain’s Beds that unlock through Milestones will now unlock at Class 2 instead of Class 5.

Updates

Video Support

Players logging in to Sea of Thieves will find that the front end menu now has the ability to display video content. This will serve the latest trailers and content directly in-game, and once watched or skipped will return to the beloved Map Table animation.
Players will now also find video content within the What’s New section of the front end menu, which can be browsed and rewatched on demand.

Output Cosmetics

Aristocrat Hairstyles

The urge to style yourself exquisitely needn’t stop when you reach the top of your head, as these additional hairstyles become available from Outpost shops in Sea of Thieves.

Events

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Captain’s Week (June 15th – June 22nd)

To encourage pirates to test the waters of Captaincy and explore the permanent improvements introduced this month, the Captain’s Week Event comes with a whole package of perks!
Enjoy heavy discounts on ship purchases, boosted rewards when sailing on a Captained ship, new weapons to earn by using the Sovereigns’ services and a Pirate Emporium sale full of bargains for keen Captains in Sea of Thieves.
Visit the Captain’s Week Event page for more, and discover details on the permanent Captaincy changes in the dedicated news article.

Twitch Drops

Continue to unlock cosmetics throughout Season Nine with Twitch Drops! Stay tuned to Sea of Thieves social channels to find out when Twitch Drops will be active for Partnered streamers, allowing players to earn a selection of items from the Eastern Winds Sapphire set.
Find out how to link your accounts and more on our dedicated Twitch Drops page.

Fixed Issues

Gameplay

Seagulls above barrels no longer prevent Megalodons from appearing across the seas, bringing the frequency of Megalodon encounters back to intended levels in Sea of Thieves.
Letters of Recommendation and Ritual Skull Voyages from Larinna have now been refreshed, and players can purchase twice the usual amount to cover those missed last month in Sea of Thieves.

Battle for the Sea of Thieves

The Hourglass is no longer interactable after a ship has been sunk, or scuttled by the crew.
Crews losing a battle should now consistently be sent to the sinking wreck sequence and moved to a new location in Sea of Thieves.

Captains of Adventure

Rowboats that become damaged while docked to a ship will now visually show the damage prior to being undocked in Sea of Thieves.
The Pirate Milestone for Rowboats Docked will now increase when a Rowboat is docked to your ship by any player.

Pirate Emporium

The icon for the Night Wulf Eye of Reach is now centered.
The Crab Dab Emote and Monkey Dance Emote are no longer showing their sale prices in Sea of Thieves.
The Cutler Beckett Costume Set has now been updated to show the correct description of the item.

Visual and Audio

When fishing, the names of fish that surface will now be shown consistently in Sea of Thieves.
The Flag of the Bristling Barnacle can now be equipped on a Brigantine.
Pirates’ hands no longer intersect with the Order of Souls and Merchant Alliance Shovels.
When approaching the location of an active Bounty Quest, the music will now consistently switch to the appropriate theme in Sea of Thieves.

Text and Localisation

The action of delivering, giving and selling items is now more clearly translated when playing in the Korean language.
‘The Legendary Storyteller’ – The Quest Book now correctly references Port Merrick.
‘Dark Brethren’ – A typo in the initial notification when starting the Tale from a checkpoint has been corrected.

Performance and Stability

Improved server performance when large numbers of floating items are left at sea.
Improved server stability to avoid instances of players being disconnected from their session.
Steam players encountering a file corruption issue will now be shown an error message on launch rather than becoming stuck in a loop in Sea of Thieves.

Known Issues

Reduced Server Performance

Players may experience scenarios where they encounter ping spikes at random while playing, resulting in rubberbanding or client stutters. While improvements were most recently released in update 2.7.3, the team continue to work on further improvements for future updates.

Ranged and Melee Weapon Hit Detection

In areas of intense action, players may find themselves firing shots or landing strikes that do not cause damage to their targets. While small improvements continue to be delivered during our regular updates, we are continuing to investigate and identify further improvements to the player combat experience in Sea of Thieves.