The official Sea of Thieves account came and asked players through social media, “Grapple Gun gifting how’s it going, Legends?” The replies were a total chaotic treasure chest. There was a lot of tumult and alongside the trouble, a few success stories were also hidden deep under a mountain of bugs. It is the major event of the Festival of Giving where pirates are supposed to share a special Grapple Gun skin with other players to earn rewards themselves. However, looking at it, the seas are less ‘festive giving’ and more ‘shoot at sight.’
The event has started off very noisy and the main issue which players are complaining about is the event just… being non-functional. It didn’t work at all for some gamers. The user ‘errlofsamich’ stated it clearly: ‘I keep trying to give a gift and take a gift and nothing works so I don’t know? Not good.’ That is the general feeling all around. ‘LasagnaKing33’ pointed out the central problem: ‘if somebody has already received or given the gift the deed does not progress at all.’ So, you go on a nice trip but at the end of the day, you get absolutely nothing for your tried ‘kind deed.’ That is surely not the best way to motivate people to share love during holidays.
But at the same time, the whole ‘finding people’ issue has to be fixed. Gifting is a core part of the event and after the first day or so it looks like everyone has received one already. ‘Funny_4a4a’ simply stated: ‘Literally 0 as everyone has one lmao.’ Other users like ‘aDreamingNomad’ are ‘struggling to find any more unique pirates to gift to. Or pirates who don’t shoot first.’ This situation leads us to the next paradox which is both laughable and sad: piracy. In a pirate game, who could have guessed? ‘Hans_The_Ghoul’ shared the typical experience: ‘Most of the time, I am killed while trying to spread holiday cheer. Those sails are now a shoot on sight target.’ So, you are doing an act of kindness and the other crews see your ship and think ‘free loot.’ Another player might definitely label this whole thing as absolute cinema.
On the contrary, there is an intense discussion about the method of gifting in the replies. Some players were able to find out a quick workaround by using Open Crew. ‘xtwiztidjayx’ reported,’Just go to open crew sloop and keep hopping. Got all 10 done pretty quick.’ And ‘Spectrumee’ does the same: ‘I just spam open crew, gift the gun teach the ropes and bounce.’ However, this trick has stirred up a mini-war in the comments. A user with the name of ‘shenanigoon’ proclaimed it was ‘Bias but you should not have been able to gift crewmates. The point was to meet people on the seas and everyone’s like “iNvItE mE!”‘ In response, ‘MutinousMel’ shot back, ‘It’s hard enough as it is to find people on the seas to gift to. I’m okay with being able to gift to your own crew.’ So, the community is torn—using Open Crew is not cheating but rather a necessary tactic in a broken system?
And progression is not the only thing that comes to mind when we are talking about broken bugs. ‘Fishhook_Cook’ described a strange glitch: ‘The x to interact doesn’t always spin all the way on their end and I don’t get the credit on my end when that happens.’ So even if it looks like it worked, it still might not have. ‘PitchedArt’ called Rare out explicitly: ‘Takes some nerve to post that, after this deed has been bugged from the get-go.’ Ouch.
In all the confusion, there are still some really cool moments. ‘BaitCrate’ shared, ‘Gave out 20 in 2 hours and had some great interactions.’ And ‘GhoulDust’ expressed gratitude to a ‘pirate legend’ for the gift, stating ‘i was thrilled.’ Then there is ‘PCMonkfish’ who received his last gift in the most Sea of Thieves way possible: on the Ferry of the Damned after blowing up a Reaper ship that was pursuing him with a keg. He described it as ‘Absolute Cinema,’ and honestly, he’s right. That’s the type of crazy story this game is made for, even when it is during a simple gift exchange.
Some players have had enough of it. ‘Justmy2cents11’ commented, ‘Not well, but that’s only due to not caring.’ And ‘_Hoodydotexe_’ isn’t even playing: ‘didn’t get one, didn’t gift one (im not playing the game at all lol).’ This sentiment contrasts with the holiday vibes seen in other gaming communities, like those discussing PlayStation and Xbox releases.
