Latest Skull & Bones update finally adds open world PvP, extends season one

The seas have gotten bit more treacherous after the latest Skull & Bones update, but that’s welcome news for the captains looking to prove their mettle against their fellow pirates and swashbucklers.

Update 1.3 for year one season one of Skull & Bones will officially go live on March 19 after a brief maintenance period, adding the long-awaited and “much-requested” open world PvP experience. Players will be able to opt-in and raise the open world PvP flag outside of the special PvP event modes.

Players participating in open world PvP will be marked by a red skull both next to their name and on the map, and they can engage with similarly marked players. Groups of players fighting against other groups in open world PvP will have to mind their aim, as friendly fire will be enabled. Ship ranks are ignored during open world PvP in order for the experience to be more balanced. The open world PvP flag status is disregarded if both ships are engaged in a PvP event.

One of those events, Cutthroat Cargo, is receiving an update to make it “fairer.” Players can only opt-into the event before it starts and the ability to fast travel during the event has been restricted.

In order to better suit players that are more interested in PvP, the matchmaking service is getting an update that prioritizes player PvP preference. Players “more inclined to PvP” gameplay have a higher chance of getting matched together.

The changes being made in the next update are not specific to just PvP players. For all players, the requirements to reach ship rank 12 have been loosened. The Gear Score threshold for ship rank 12 have been reduced, and the Gear Score provided by various tiers and rarities of weapons has been increased. Players can also now buy and sell items directly from their warehouses while at dens or outposts. Global wind is now less volatile, as the wind rotation speed and frequency has been reduced.

Players will have more time to experience all the new changes as well, as the duration of season one has been extended by an additional week. A full list of patch notes including all changes and bug fixes is on the Ubisoft website. Maintenance starts at 9pm CT on March 18.