Just
days
after
the
launch
of
Sea
of
Thieves’
stealth-focused
Season
14,
developer
Rare
has
yanked
nearly
all
its
new
features
–
including
the
ability
to
crouch
and
don
disguises
–
acknowledging
“significant
issues”
arising
from
their
addition
to
the
game.
Rare
had
already
been
forced
to
disable
a
number
of
flagship
new
features
ahead
of
Seasons
14’s
launch
last
week
–
that
is,
the
ability
to
lay
traps
and
to
hang
from
ledges
–
as
a
result
of
stability
concerns
and
a
“high
player
impact
issue”
discovered
during
a
final
round
of
testing.
As
such,
its
decision
to
now
remove
crouching
and
disguises
means
only
a
tiny
fraction
of
Season
14’s
announced
features
are
currently
available
to
players.
Speaking
in
a
video
update
detailing
the
“drastic
steps”
earlier
today,
Sea
of
Thieves
production
director
Drew
Stevens
explained
the
arrival
of
crouching
had
“introduced
a
number
of
knock-on
effects
to
the
wider
experience”.
More
specifically,
it
had
lead
to
the
return
of
a
number
of
PvP
exploits
Rare
has
previously
tried
to
stamp
out,
including
the
ability
for
players
to
switch
weapons
faster
than
intended
and
to
control
their
air
movements
after
blasting
from
a
canon.
Rare
has
also
identified
an
invincibility
exploit.
And
here’s
everything
that
was
supposed
to
be
in
Sea
of
Thieves’
Season
14.Watch
on
YouTube
“We’re
really
unhappy
about
the
quality
of
Season
14’s
launch”,
Stevens
acknowledged
in
his
video
update,
adding
that
Rare
is
“taking
this
situation
very
seriously”.
He
continued
that
Rare’s
first
priority
is
“stabilising”
the
player
experience,
and
it’ll
begin
re-enabling
features
once
it’s
“confident
they
meet
our
quality
bar”.
Crouching
and
disguises
were
temporarily
disabled
during
emergency
maintenance
earlier
today
and
the
hope
is
to
bring
them
back
as
part
of
a
hot
fix
targeting
“high
impact
issues”
scheduled
for
next
week.
Stevens
said
that
rather
than
rushing
its
release
and
“compounding
issues
further”,
Rare
wants
to
ensure
next
week’s
hot
fix
brings
“meaningful”
improvements
and
is
given
“the
necessary
time
[in]
internal
quality
assurance”.
As
for
trap
and
ledge
hanging,
the
studio
hopes
to
enable
those
features
as
part
of
its
regularly
scheduled
monthly
update
in
November.
This
will
also
include
“further
fixes,
improvements,
and
balancing
changes”,
and
will
trial
a
new
process
providing
“longer
time
and
focus
for
our
internal
testing”
and
allowing
for
“additional
hardening”
with
Insiders.
If
all
goes
as
planned
all
commendations,
rewards,
and
achievements
associated
with
the
currently
disabled
features
should
also
return.
“We
really
appreciate
your
patience
and
we
all
understand
how
frustrating
this
has
been,”
Stevens
continued.
“I
know
I’ve
spoken
about
it
before,
and
I’m
sure
you’re
sick
of
hearing
it,
but
we
know
we
need
to
do
better
here,
and
Season
14
has
suffered
from
a
lack
of
quality
control…We’re
going
to
be
all
hands
on
deck
through
the
next
releases
to
get
back
in
control
of
game
quality”.
Following
today’s
changes,
the
only
key
Season
14
additions
still
currently
enabled
are
the
grappling
gun
and
new
blowdart
weapon.
As
for
what’s
coming
to
Sea
of
Thieves
next
–
beyond
the
steady
reintroduction
of
those
currently
missing
features
–
Rare
hasn’t
yet
said.
Season
14
marks
the
end
of
the
2024
release
roadmap
it
shared
back
in
March,
so
it’s
unlikely
it’ll
be
ready
to
share
any
major
future
plans
until
the
year
is
through.