Dev Diary #1: September

Hi Captains!

It's been a few weeks since our last letter and we wanted to update you on what's been going on behind the scenes. Welcome to the first iteration of Dev Diaries, our way of continuing to keep you in the loop with: the wins, the challenges, and everything else in between alongside our usual Letter from the Producer (which we keep for bigger announcements). So what’s on the menu today? 🍽️

• Bugs, fixes, and compensations (the not-so-fun but important stuff)
• What the team’s been focusing on + an update on Y2S3
• Community Spotlight: aka, the part that’s all about you ❤️

Now, let's dive into what we've been focusing on, the progress we've made (and what... didn't exactly go as planned) this September.

Let's talk Bugs & Fixes

Let's start with the big one: the Darktide Lullaby event:
Many of you ran into progression and unlocking reward issues during the event pass and we know how frustrating that was for you. As we were unable to patch this mid-event, we've been digging into the root cause and reviewing internal processes to prevent this from happening again. Thank you again for your patience and support while we worked on investigating and fixing this.

In the meantime, here's how compensation will work:

• Premium Pass players → you'll get all premium rewards.
• Free Pass players → you'll get all free rewards.

No matter what stage of the pass you've gotten to, you'll be granted the full track based on the conditions mentioned above.

The catch is that we had to wait until the event officially ended (Sept 30^th) to pull all the info we need and make sure it's correct. So, compensation will roll out on or around Oct 7^th. Until then, your Heartfelt Wishes can still be spent in the Seasonal Store.

Next up:

The Helm Empire offline production bug, where items such as upgrade parts disappear instead of being received in inventory if players are offline. We patched it in Y2S2.1.2, however we know that some of you lost the production progress. So, for now, we're exploring these two approaches to address this:

• Fixed compensation (Pieces of Eight or upgrade parts) based on how many manufactories you owned.
• A production boost event where manufactories will temporarily produce double the resources (without doubling costs!) so you can at least earn back that lost value.

We would like to acknowledge and shout out the community for the great suggestion for the production boost idea! We're looking seriously at how to make that happen. Nothing locked in yet on this one, but we'll keep you posted with updates once we dock at the final plan.

Storms & Fog

Fresh in with a weather forecast of updates:

We've seen all your discussions about storms and fog in World Events. Some of you love the challenge, others... not so much. (Especially when fog makes it impossible to see what you're even shooting at. Sorry, Moonshine Larceny.)

So, let's clear this up with some visibility:

• Fog intensity → we are planning to tone it down as part of one of our upcoming Y2S3 mid-season updates.
• Storm frequency → this one's still in the early stages, but we're actively looking into ways to make storms in World Events less overwhelming.

We would like to note, a lot of these bugs and feedback came through our Bug Reporter. Thank you to everyone who took the time to submit a report, you really do help us fix things faster.

And no, the bug reporter isn't run by AI unless AI stands for AWESOME INDIVIDUALS (yes, we've seen those comments 👀) but both dedicated players and staff, in fact it's run by the same folks you see over on the Ubisoft Discord. One of who even has a slightly concerning obsession with rats ... so if you see random rat pics pop up in chat, now you know why.

What's the Team Focus Right Now?

The big one: Faction War.
Earlier this month we gave you a first look at Season 3, with Faction War being at the heart of it. While that's our focus area, other Year 2 features are still on hold so we can put our full energy and attention into getting this experience right for you.

While Faction War will continue to evolve based on how you engage with it, our team is already exploring new directions for its future after launch. Your feedback will play a big role in helping shape what comes next. We will dive deeper into the details in an upcoming Faction War Devblog, so stay tuned!

And yes, we can officially confirm: Season 3 launches on October 21! 🎉

You may also recall seeing the Waterspout in our preview (You know that giant swirling wind on the ocean that can either help or hurt you really bad depending on how you handle them). A quick update on this: it's still being polished, so we've decided to launch it later in the season instead. This gives us the time we need to make it better, and (being real) also consider all the community discussions around storm weather, so it doesn't feel frustrating and adds variety to the world.

The rest of Season 3's content is still on its intended navigational course:

• Sloop of War
• Seasonal Hub / Seasonal Journey
• Faction War
• Armor Ascension
• Domains
• Ascension Locking

...and a bunch of other QoL updates we've been lining up.

We've been sharing ship previews across socials already and loved seeing all the positive reactions. And here's some good news: after feedback from the latest Insider Program, we've increased number of Gunports in the top deck of Sloop of War to 5.

Big shoutout to our art and design team: from first sketches to final models, reviews, and approvals it's a long process. And this time, they even had to rework the entire 3D model on a super tight timeline to address the feedback from our community. To give you a taste, here's a little sneak peek of our latest concept art for the Sloop of War.

Whie we are still on the topic of art, some of you mentioned you don't want everything to be dark and gritty. Don't worry, you can expect a broader range of styles in the future. And here is a little sneak peek of what's coming in Y2S3.

And finally, one of our current focuses is the next big ship: the Corvette. You already got a sneak peek in the last Letter from the Producer, and right now we're deep in reviewing its details and how it synergizes with other content.

Looking a bit further ahead, our ship roadmap is also starting to take shape! The plan is to share more design details with you earlier through the Insider Program, so that way we can get your feedback sooner and have more time to polish it.

[ad break]: once again if you want early peeks and to be part of shaping Skull and Bones, you can apply to join the Insider Program here.

We are planning (and currently testing) a few boosted events, including some running for the first time. These are the current boosted events we've got planned: Silver, Fangs (Monstrous Tooth), Smuggler Pass Points, and Gildmarks. Keep an eye on our social media for the final word on boosted events.

Community Spotlight

This section's all about you. A few highlights this month:

• Amazing captures that made us hoist our anchors take in the salt air and stare:
  by GenieCrazy on Twitter/X

• The community-made Megafort Wolvenhol Guide that's been floating around. Huge thanks to No-Note-5439 for helping your fellow pirates in the community!
• And shoutout to Svinhilde, who picked up drawing again after a long time and of course, their first choice was their Captain!

Creations like this from our community are always extra special to us, it means a lot seeing you bring your passions to life. We'd love to see more, so don't forget to tag us!

That's it for this first diary! Thanks again for sticking with us and bracing the storms (literal and metaphorical). We'll be back with more updates soon, until then, keep your feedback/ideas/suggestions flowing, we really do love hearing from you!

See you on the high seas,

The Skull & Bones Team