It was supposed to be a triumphant homecoming. The 18th season of Sea of Thieves, titled "Return to The Devil's Roar," promised to revitalize the game’s most hated region with new loot, new lore, and the menacing Eternal Guard enemies. But following the release of Act 2 on January 22, the seas have become less about adventure and more about exploitation.
A game-breaking loop involving the newly introduced Orb of the Banished has left the pirate sandbox drowning in gold, hyper-inflation, and a community that feels increasingly unheard. For a game approaching its eighth anniversary, the state of the seas feels surprisingly fragile—a symptom, perhaps, of a studio that has had a brutal year behind the scenes.
The Economics of the Orb
At the heart of the chaos is the Orb of the Banished. Introduced in Act 2, this glowing artifact was designed as the ultimate reward for conquering the Molten Sands Fortress. Under normal circumstances, clearing this raid takes time, coordination, and a lot of bananas.
But players aren't doing it normally.
Almost immediately after the update dropped, crews discovered they could stack these Orbs by manipulating the vault’s respawn mechanics. With a base value of 50,000 gold—skyrocketing to over 156,000 gold with a Grade 5 Emissary flag and event multipliers—crews are generating millions in a single session.
One Reddit user broke down the math, stating plainly, "Stacking Orb of Secrets is the most profitable and reputable farming method, hands down... There isn't a reason to do anything other than farm orbs if you are looking for pure gold."
The result? Gold has lost its meaning. When a new player grinds for hours to buy a jacket while an exploiter earns the same amount in ten minutes of "glitching" a vault door, the progression loop snaps. As another veteran player lamented on the forums, "Gold is worthless anyway... 100k gold is barely pocket change now."
A Studio on the "Back Foot"
To understand how a bug of this magnitude slipped through, you have to look at Rare Ltd.’s turbulent 2025. Last July, the studio was hit by the widespread layoffs that swept through Microsoft and Xbox Game Studios. In the fallout, reports confirmed the cancellation of Everwild, Rare’s decade-in-the-making new IP had been trapped in development hell.
The loss of Everwild meant all eyes—and all pressure—snapped back to Sea of Thieves. But the team was already hurting. In a candid public discussion shortly after the layoffs, Production Director Drew Stevens admitted the team was struggling to keep up.
"I feel like we were too slow to react... We're on the back foot," Stevens said, referring to the mounting technical debt and cheating issues.
That admission rings alarmingly true today. The "Banished Vault" isn't just dispensing too much gold; it’s broken. Players report getting locked inside geometry, keys vanishing, and the game becoming a "buggy mess" where "even the most simplest things don't work."
A Mutiny Is Brewing
The frustration isn't just about bugs; it's about the feeling that the game’s soul is eroding. There’s a palpable nostalgia for the earlier days of the game, with threads popping up simply titled "I miss the Joe Neate era." Fans remember Executive Producer Joe Neate’s tenure as "lighter, fun times," contrasting sharply with the current era of damage control and apologies on the state of the game.
Content creators, usually the hype men for new seasons, are sounding the alarm. PhuzzyBond, a creator known for his helpful guides and positive attitude, voiced a rare moment of dejection regarding the game's reward loop: "I got nothing for it, no sense of progression."
Adding fuel to the fire is Rare's plan to wipe player balances of Doubloons (a secondary premium currency) in the upcoming Season 19. The intent is likely to fix the economy, but players view it as a punishment for those who played legitimately.
One detailed complaint highlights the flaw in Rare's logic: "This change punishes players that were actively using them" rather than those hoarding them. It feels like a desperate move from a developer trying to regain control of a runaway economy.
What's Next?
Rare is betting big on Custom Servers (launching early 2026) to save the day. The idea is to give players a safe place to play, away from the exploiters and the sweats. But if the main game’s economy is broken, and the "High Seas" feel unrewarding, will players stick around to pay a subscription for a private server?
Season 18 was meant to be a celebration of Sea of Thieves' endurance. Instead, it’s serving as a harsh reminder that even the best live-service games are only as strong as their latest patch. Until Rare can recover and fix the Orb exploit, Sea of Thieves is going to feel a lot more like the Sea of Inflation.
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