So, this game got good then? I always was sad when it launched and was so empty.
They have made and added a lot of stuff. I'll list a few:
1) New Ship.
2) Ghost Pirate Ships which will attack you on site - kind of tough to take down solo because the skeleton pirates respawn in the ship once killed so you either have to hit them hard and fast with a Galleon or Brig, or board the ship to take down the respawns so they cannot repair their ship and it sinks. Resulting in loot obviously.
3) Quest types have expanded.
A) Merchant quests: Cargo runs to people on islands, along with the hunt and find quests like capture 3 chickens and bring them back.
B) Chest runs are more fun. A combination of X marks the spot is still there but they have more detailed riddle quests now, with stages as well.
C) Bounty missions can have more stages.
D) You can find quests in the wild in barrels or bottles (This may have always been there but I do not remember it at launch)
E) New Islands which have some unique game play challenges
4) Game loads faster and is way less buggy.
5) New instrument to play (I know... I know....) and more cosmetics to buy with your Gold.
6) Shark hunting and Monster hunting
7) Forts have expanded and actually work correctly.
All in all it's still the same game with more to do now, with the end goal still being just buying cosmetics. They have a new patch coming out soon which will introduce a new faction "The Sea Dogs" which is intertwined with a new Arena style PvP mode.
All in all, a majority of the fun is still hilarious shenanigans when running into other people. I pretended to be a Kamakazii pirate the other day yelling "YOU CWAZY ME NO BOMB PEAWL HARBA! BONAZIIII!" as I crashed my sloop into a ship I stood no chance against beating, with a voice trumpet, from the front of my ship jumping up and down... What was even better was as I did that I didn't realize I had a ghost ship following me and as I didn't care if I lived or died, while they were repairing (After I had jumped from my sloop before it hit them) the ghost ship zeroed in on those guys as they were reparing and destroyed their ship and all their valuables along with it.