Last week, we got a bit of a tease from Ubisoft’s Skull and Bones as it wound down its first quarterly season of play, but now the company has released a full dev blog and “first peek” into what to expect from season 2 – specifically, its endgame overhaul.
“We want to improve the way you operate your Empire, creating more ways for you to build it, and giving you more freedom,” the studio says. “With that objective in mind, we’ve re-adjusted the cost of running Manufactories, to be more accessible and allow you to spend more time enjoying the content planned with Season 2. We will also bring the ability to fast travel when you carry Pieces of Eight, so long are you are not currently participating in a Helm Wager. We intend, as well, to make your life as Kingpin easier, by adding with this new season the first steps toward automating some of the repeatable actions of the Endgame loop, making more relevant the ships in your fleet, and encouraging you to build more.”
Most notably, Ubisoft’s blog suggests that running manufactories will be a lot more challenging in season 2; it sounds like tweaks to upgrades, services, pricing, and contraband, in addition to a new lease type. The season will also herald the first iteration of fleet management, which will be expanded going forward, as well as ship upgrading mechanics for players who reach the Kingpin rank.
“Building on the system already in place, we aim to make the ships you’ve built as you progress more relevant and diversify your possibilities when putting together a loadout. We intend to make playstyles more relevant, increasing your ship level while taking full advantage of unique aspects of smaller ships you already own – allowing you to tackle tougher content with them.”
Finally, solo players will get some time to shine in two new solo PvE modes: Buyout mode, a gathering event that allows gamers to bribe their way into manufactory control, and Manufactory Defense, which literally sees you defending your manufactory against NPC threats.
