Even though Arena apparently only accounted for a small fraction of Sea of Thieves playtime, plenty of fans still mourn the loss of the PvP mode. The move is particularly frustrating for some fans because Rare has stated that it won’t offer alternate ways to complete Arena-centric Sea of Thieves achievements; Arena achievements will be retired as legacy achievements instead. While Rare seems to be doing what it can to ease Arena’s passing, the loss of the mode would be far less painful if fans could get its achievements in new ways.
RELATED: Everything You Need to Know About the Sea of Thieves Arena Closing Down
Sea of Thieves’ Arena Loss
The unavailability of Arena’s achievements after March 10 is sure to frustrate quite a few Sea of Thieves players. For a lot of video game fans, getting 100% completion is a major part of the fun; getting every achievement in a game is a great way to get a sense of accomplishment out of the experience, after all. Once Sea of Thieves Season 6 premieres and Arena goes away, however, that 100% will be unachievable for a great many players. After all, since Arena accounted for so little of the game’s playtime, there’s bound to be lots of hardcore fans who don’t have Arena’s achievements yet.
What’s more, it’ll be very difficult to unlock every Arena achievement in the final weeks before Arena disappears. Several of the achievements require players to complete certain objectives 100 times, like Champion of Silvered Waters, which requires 100 first-place finishes. With lots of other Sea of Thieves completionists fighting tooth and nail for these achievements, odds are that quite a few people will fall short of finishing in time. By deciding to simply let the achievements fall aside, rather than making them accessible in a new way, Rare has created a lot of potential frustration for Sea of Thieves players who can’t complete the Arena challenges in time or join the game after Arena leaves.
RELATED: What Skull and Bones Can Learn from Sea of Thieves
Hope for Arena Alternatives
Since Arena plays fairly differently from Sea of Thieves’ core content, it’s understandable that Rare is having a hard time finding alternate ways to complete the achievements. Nevertheless, Sea of Thieves is full of strange, unique achievements that showcase the creative way that Rare views its own game. There must be a way for Sea of Thieves’ Arena achievements to get reintegrated into the game, even if it isn’t obvious.
New content may actually be the answer to Rare’s achievement woes. Arena may be leaving, but there’s nothing keeping Rare from adding a similar PvP mode with a different gameplay loop to Sea of Thieves in the future, possibly giving new life to the Arena achievements. Alternatively, a future Sea of Thieves story arc could ask players to compete in repeatable Arena-like battles that ultimately fulfill the achievement requirements if players repeat the task enough times. Arena itself may be going away, but Rare could easily reuse its parts, and in the process, reuse its old achievements. In creative fields like game design, no work is ever truly wasted, as long as it leads to new things; hopefully Rare repurposes Arena’s content, rather than letting it fall by the wayside.
Sea of Thieves is available now for PC, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
MORE: Sea of Thieves: Who is Belle?
