Skull and Bones Update Adds Opt-In PvP Flagging Anywhere, Improved Matchmaking, and More Tweaks

mmorpg.com:

 Skull and Bones has extended its first season by a week, re-enabled chat, and added opt-in open world PvP, a major community request.

The Ubisoft Singapore team promised recently that open world opt-in PVP would be coming (alongside a new challenge to raise money for ocean conservation by slaying enemies) so now you can duel on the high seas whenever you want. This comes with a few things to know, however. Flagging yourself for PvP means everywhere, even outside of combat activities like Cutthroat Cargo. Everyone flagged gets a handy red skull by their names, to help you pick out targets (or those to avoid, since you can’t attack non-flagged players outside of Cutthroat Cargo and the like). Also see all PVP flagged players as red arrows on the map. There is also friendly fire, so be careful if someone in your group is also PvP flagged. 

Speaking of Cutthroat Cargo — with open world PvP now here, the team is adding some new rules to make this event fairer. You will not be able to opt in after the activity has begun, and you won't be able to fast travel during the active period. there's also no more speed debuff on the carrier 

In addition to adding opt-in PVP flagging, the team has also made a number of tweaks to PVP in order to improve the experience. Changes include improved updated matchmaking criteria, including making players who are frequently inclined to flag themselves for PVP/ or who avoid it often to have a higher chance of being matched to the same server. PVP damage matrices and repair also get updated, and UI feedback that shows when player targets can't be repaired.

Combat also gets some helpful practical and balance tweaks, including  gear score changes intended to make more builds viable in the quest to reach Ship Rank 12. There are a number of other changes in the update, all detailed in patch notes to see all of the improvements from bug fixes, to UI changes, graphic improvements, and adjustments to items and much more.