Today's update for Sea of Thieves targets a problem I've run into quite a few times now: stalemates.
If your crew has ever set sail toward a skull fort in hopes of stockpiling loads of treasure, you've more than likely encountered other ships with the same goal in mind. The ensuing chaos of skeletons firing cannons as two or more player-controlled ships clash around an island fortress is entertaining, don't get me wrong, but there can come a point where the skirmish just won't end. You sink them, or they sink you, and then the fallen crew simply respawns with fresh supplies and rejoins the fight.
This is how the developers hope to address that all-too-common scenario (and griefing):
Ship respawn distance - When a ship sinks, we have significantly increased the distance at which the crews new ship will respawn. Ships will now respawn outside of visible view of the ship that sank them. This is in response to lots of player feedback which highlighted that the previous spawn distance was resulting in "griefing" behaviour and stalemates at the forts!
They're also making the teleport-back-to-ship mechanic a little clearer with respect to treasure:
Mermaid Teleport - Pirates will now have to drop any treasure item they are carrying before being able to see the 'Teleport back to ship' option from the mermaid. We saw feedback that players were accidentally leaving treasure behind in the sea, so wanted to make it more clear that when you teleport you leave your treasure behind!
via destructoid https://www.destructoid.com/sea-of-thieves-update-addresses-stalemates-and-griefing-497309.phtml