It was supposed to be a triumphant homecoming. 18th season of sea of thievesTitled “Return to The Devil's Roar,” it promised to revitalize the game's most hated region with new loot, new lore, and menacing Eternal Guard enemies. But since the release of Act 2 on January 22nd, the sea has become more about exploitation than adventure.
A game-breaking loop related to the newly introduced Orb of the Banished left the pirate sandbox mired in gold, hyperinflation, and a community that felt increasingly unheard of. For a game approaching its eighth anniversary, the state of the ocean feels incredibly fragile. This is probably a symptom of the studio having had a brutal year behind the scenes.
Economics of the Orb
At the center of the chaos is the Exile's Orb. Introduced in Act 2, this glowing artifact is designed to be the ultimate reward for conquering the Molten Sand Fortress. Clearing this raid under normal circumstances will take time, coordination, and a lot of bananas.
But players don't usually do that.
Shortly after the update stopped, the crew discovered that they could build up these orbs by manipulating the vault's regeneration mechanism. With base values soaring to 50,000 gold (over 156,000 gold with the Tier 5 Emissary flag and event multiplier), crews are generating millions of dollars in a single session.
One Reddit user broke down the math and said, “Stacking Secret Orbs is the most profitable and reputable farming method. Of course… if you're looking for pure gold, there's no reason to do anything other than farm orbs.”
What are the results? Gold has lost its meaning. The progression loop is broken when a new player spends hours trying to buy a jacket while an exploiter gets the same amount of money in 10 minutes “glitching” a vault door. Another veteran player lamented on the forum: “Gold is worthless anyway. Now 100,000 gold is barely change.”
To understand how a bug of this magnitude escaped, we need to look at Rare Ltd.'s tumultuous 2025. Last July, the studio was hit by widespread bugs. Layoffs sweep Microsoft Xbox Game Studios. Fallout confirmed the report. Everwild canceledRare's decade-long new IP has been stuck in development hell.
loss Everwild It meant all eyes and all pressure were back in place. sea of thieves. But the team was already hurt. In a candid public discussion shortly after the firing, production director Drew Stevens acknowledged that the team was struggling to keep up.
“I think we responded too late. We're behind,” Stevens said, citing growing technical debt and fraud issues.
That admission rings surprisingly true today. The “Banished Vault” isn’t just about distributing too much gold. It's broken. Players report getting stuck inside geometry, keys disappearing, and the game becoming a “janky mess” where “even the simplest things don't work.”
There is a rebellion
The frustration isn't just about bugs. It's about the feeling that the soul of the game is being eroded. There is a palpable nostalgia for the early days of gaming, with a thread simply titled “I miss the Joe Neate era.” Fans remember executive producer Joe Neate's tenure as a “lighter, more fun time”, a stark contrast to the current era of damage control and apologies for the state of the game.
Content creators who typically promote new seasons are sounding the alarm. PhuzzyBond, a creator known for his helpful guides and positive attitude, expressed a rare moment of discouragement about the game's reward loop.
Adding fuel to the fire is Rare's plan to wipe player balances of gold coins (the secondary premium currency) in the upcoming Season 19. The intention is likely to correct the economy, but players see this as a punishment for those who played legally.
One detailed complaint highlights a flaw in Rare's logic. “This change punishes players who actively use them, not those who hoard them.” It feels like a desperate move by developers to regain control of a runaway economy.
What's next?
It's rare to make a big investment in a custom server (launching in early 2026) to save the day. The idea is to give players a safe place to play, away from exploiters and sweat. But if the main game's economy is broken and “pollution” isn't rewarding, will players stick around to pay for a private server subscription?
Season 18 was meant to celebrate the perseverance of Sea of Thieves. Instead, it serves as a harsh reminder that even the best live service games are only as strong as their latest patches. Until Rare repairs and fixes the Orb exploit, sea of thieves It will feel like a sea of inflation.
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