Hunter's Haul is a fishing-focused Sea of Thieves event
Finally, pirates will be overjoyed when reeling in a Ruby Splashtail, and it's all thanks to a new event for Merrick.
Sea of Thieves hasn’t had a lot of limited-time events where a specific task must be completed. The Hunter’s Haul changes that, and introduces players to what will hopefully be a new pattern for Rare: limited-time events with a limited-time reward.
The Hunter’s Haul is a two-week long event centered entirely on the Hunter’s Call trading company. This company is responsible for all things fishing and hunting. For this event, players are tasked with catching a large number of fish and selling them. Those that manage to sell 120 fish before the March 1st deadline will receive 250 Doubloons.
Once this deadline is reached, the second portion of the event will begin: Trophy Week. For this week, players will need to catch 60 Trophy fish for a 300 Doubloon reward. This week will run until March 10th.
Reel in some rewards with our Hunter's Haul event! Merrick has posted a challenge to the fine fisherfolk of the Sea of Thieves, offering a trove of Doubloons and a unique figurehead to those that can fill their quotas.
— Sea of Thieves (@SeaOfThieves) February 24, 2020
Log in to track your progress: https://t.co/6PKejJP0ov pic.twitter.com/1cerP3fbic
The tweet from the official Sea of Thieves Twitter account also detailed an overarching campaign for the event. Players that manage to sell 180 Ruby Splashtails over the next two weeks (starting on February 24) will receive the Gold Hauler figurehead. Players can track their progress using the Hunter’s Haul page on the Sea of Thieves website.
For those looking to complete the whole event, it’s better to focus solely on catching Ruby Splashtails. This will dramatically reduce the number of fish you need to deliver. However, those with limited time will want to instead focus on the 120 fish, as this portion of the event ends this Sunday, March 1st.
We here at Shacknews have a whole guide dedicated to fishing in Sea of Thieves as well as where to find Merrick. You don’t actually have to sell directly to Merrick, any of the seaposts will do. A great strategy would be to weigh anchor at a seapost and have a full crew fishing. While you likely don’t have to cook the fish, doing so will increase the amount of XP you receive for your efforts. It’s also worth noting that being in an alliance won’t help with the count.
In terms of the Hunter’s Haul event reward, it’s certainly an odd choice. The Gold Hauler figurehead is clearly inspired by the Gold Hoarder trading company. Players in the community have pointed out that this would have been a great opportunity for Rare to give away a Ruby Splashtail-themed figurehead instead, which would match the tone of the event.
However, the response so far from the community is one of overwhelming positivity. This type of limited-time event is precisely the kind of content they want. The timing of this couldn’t have been more perfect, especially given our recent Shack Chat discussion, where the staff talked about their views on limited-time events in games.
The response is odd, to say the least, as the previous Mercenary Voyages (Sea of Thieves’ limited-time events) have been rather varied with their tasks. Players were asked to deliver gifts, sell high-value items to a new location, and complete voyages that revolved around the new mechanics like Chests of Rage.
What seems to be the main point of contention are the commendations that feel increasingly like a grind. One of the most eye-boggling additions was the Fort of the Damned and its 50 clears commendation. Though it’s obvious this is a long-term goal, players that want to unlock everything end up feeling like they have to forgo doing other activities in favor of completing these tasks which ultimately take days’ worth of gameplay to complete.
While the differences are only minor, the Hunter’s Haul is certainly a step in the right direction. That’s not to say Sea of Thieves has been in a bad place – quite the contrary. It’s managed to evolve dramatically over its now two-year lifespan to the point where players are now spoiled for choice.
The big takeaway from all this is that the community really appreciates these types of events that offer a unique reward for a unique task. Hopefully we see Rare embrace this style in the future. Who knows, we could see events centered on killing skeletons, clearing skeleton forts, sinking skeleton ships, hunting megalodons or any other type of task.
For now though, players that want to get their hands on a Gold Hoarder-themed figurehead should start catching Ruby Splashtails for the Hunter’s Haul Sea of Thieves event!
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