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High Seas lets you play Sea of Thieves with other players while Safer Seas lets you play with a Closed Crew in a private server. Read on to see all the differences between High Seas and Safer Seas, how to switch between High Seas and Safer Seas, and which one to choose between the two.
List of Contents
Safer Seas is a private game session where you can play solo or co-op with up to three friends. There are no other pirates that you can encounter and Closed Crew is only available in this game mode.
You can play the story and all Tall Tales in the game, though there are some game modes that are not available in Safer Seas.
Safer Seas only offers the PvE aspect of the game along with reduced rate of earning Gold and Reputation. PvP is also unavailable which locks you out of the certain gameplay features.
Playing on Safer Seas lets you play the game without an Xbox Live or PlayStation Plus subscription. However, doing so only lets you play the game solo and an internet connection is still required for the game to track your pirate's stats and resources.
Playing in Safer Seas reduces the Gold and Reputation that you earn by 70%. This is to balance the decreased risk of encountering aggressive players that you would usually find when playing in High Seas as you will only encounter PvE enemies in Safer Seas.
High Seas offers the original multiplayer experience that Sea of Thieves launched with. You can encounter other players and crews on the same server and access both the PvE and PVP aspects of the game.
There are certain gameplay features that are locked behind High Seas. If you wish to play through the endgame content, you will need to switch to High Seas when starting a new game session.
There is a maximum number of 16 players and 5 ships per server. This means that while PvP is dangerous, the chances of you running into enemy ships constantly is slim. However, if you find yourself constantly matched against and hounded by better PvP players, the option to switch servers (via Scuttle Ship) is available.
The table below shows the gameplay feature differences between High Seas and Safer Seas.
Gameplay Feature | High Seas | Safer Seas |
---|---|---|
Same Player Character | ✓ | ✓ |
Open Crew | ✓ | ✗ |
Price of Items | Same price for both High Seas and Safer Seas. | |
Gold Earned | Earn at 100% | Gold earned is reduced to 70% |
Reputation Earned | Earn at 100% | Reputation earned is reduced to 70% |
Athena's Fortune Reputation | ✓ | ✗ |
Reaper's Fortune Reputation | ✓ | ✗ |
Servants of the Flame Allegiance | ✓ | ✗ |
Guardians of Fortune Allegiance | ✓ | ✗ |
Gold Hoarders, Merchant Alliance, Hunter's Call, and Order of Souls Level Cap | ✓ | Capped at Level 40 |
Letters of Recommendation | ✓ | ✗ |
Dubloons Earned | Earn at 100% but there are only a few ways to earn them in Safer Seas. | |
Ancient Coins Earned | Earn at 100% | |
Seasonal Renown | Earn at 100% but some trials are not available in Safer Seas | |
Live Events | ✓ | ✗ |
Lazybeard | ✓ | ✓ |
Cosmetic Shops, Outpost Shops, Guardians of Fortune, Servants of the Flame Shops | ✓ | ✓ |
Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, Merchant Alliance, Hunter's Call Company Shops | ✓ | Cannot purchase Emissary Flags, Promotions, and Company Items after reaching Reputation Level 40. |
Athena's Fortune & Reaper's Bones Company Shops | ✓ | ✗ |
Pirate Legend | ✓ | ✗ |
Treasures | ✓ | Certain treasures are not available |
Buried Treasure and Maps | ✓ | You can bury treasure and create maps but you cannot post maps on the Quest Board. |
Voyages | ✓ | Certain voyages are not available. |
Tall Tales | ✓ | ✓ |
Hourglass Faction Battles | ✓ | ✗ |
Faction Hideouts | ✓ | Available if unlocked on High Seas |
Emissary Play | ✓ | ✗ |
Captained Ships | ✓ | ✗ Milestones, Cosmetics, Captain's Voyages and exchanging treasures are unavailable |
Guild Ships | ✓ | ✗ |
World Events | ✓ | Certain World Events are unavailable |
Ancient Skeletons | ✓ | ✓ |
Megalodon | ✓ | ✓ |
Kraken | ✓ | ✓ |
Skeleton Ships | ✓ | ✓ |
Skeleton Forts | ✓ | ✓ |
Ghost Ships | ✓ | ✓ |
Ashen Lords | ✓ | ✓ |
Sunken Kingdom Treasuries and Shrines | ✓ | ✓ |
Fort of Fortune | ✓ | ✓ |
Reaper's Chests and Reaper's Bounties | ✓ | ✗ |
Chest of Fortune | ✓ | ✗ |
Commendations | ✓ | Certain commendations are unavailable |
Achievements | ✓ | Certain achievements are unavailable |
You can choose between High Seas and Safer Seas when selecting Adventure Mode in the main menu. Your pirate player character is shared between the two modes, allowing your progress to carry over.
Note that you cannot swap between High Seas and Safer Seas while in the game. You will have to start a new session to do so.
Beginner's Guide to Sea of Thieves
Differences Between High Seas and Safer Seas
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