Pirates of the Burning Sea
Avast, ye lubbers! Pirates of the Burning Sea is an MMORPG I've been watching for years now, with an expected release real soon now. It's currently in beta, so realistically I expect we've got a few months to wait. It's a naval game set in the 1720's Caribbean, with each character commanding their own ship. Combat is tactical and based primarily on player skill instead of character skill, without being twitch based -- typical engagements average like ten minutes long. There's not really levels, there's no grinding, and PvP is done well. The game is designed to be fun, not a giant timesink. Admiral or scallywag... Characters can belong to either one of the three major European nations in the area -- English, French, or Spanish -- or the Pirate faction. National characters can pick either the navy or adventurer class, with pirates automatically being pirates. Navy characters are in their nation's navy, adventurers are independents able to be merchants, privateers, or whatever else they want. Character advancement is done solely with skill points, which are earned from experience. Since there's a limit of a hundred skill points -- earned in pairs -- this means there's technically fifty levels. Aside from granting skill points, though, levels are meaningless -- the broadside from a level one hurts just as much as that of a level fifty. Skills are divided into several trees: general, merchant, and then one for each combat archetype. Combat arechetypes are the general roles that a ship can take in combat, referred to as scout, hunter, and dreadnaught. With the hundred skill points a character can earn they can completely max one of the combat skill trees, and have plenty left over for other skills. These skills aren't magic, they're really more ordering your crew to focus on certain things or perform certain maneuvers that require training. Typical skills are like consuming grog to boost crew morale, trying to make an aimed shot against an opponent's rudder, stuff like that. Need to have plunder... There are also aren't items to grind for. There aren't even really traditional items -- no cannon +3 in this game. Aside from trade goods and consumables like repair materials and ammunition, the only important items are ships. There are about thirty different ships types in the game initially, and characters can own more than one. And there isn't even grinding for those, because most of the time they're replaced when lost! Each ship is either valid or invalid for a particular character class. Valid ships those that a character of that class would normally be sailing, like cutters and frigates for the navy. Invalid ships are those that wouldn't normally be available, like a ship of the line for a pirate. When a character is sunk in a valid ship, they're returned to port and given another ship of that type. Invalid ships are lost permanently when sunk, although it's certainly possible to get another one. This makes combat less stressful because huge amounts of work won't be lost if you fail. Aside from invalid ship loss, there is no death penalty aside from losing your cargo. Prepare to be boarded... Combat looks really fun, and very tactical. Wind considerations are one of the main tactical aspects, because you can't just sail any direction you like -- at least not well. Different ships also have different rigs, which makes them handle differently in the wind. And with most guns on broadsides, this means maneuvering and position are very important. With combat being decently paced -- and no instant twitch reactions required -- there's actually time for it all to matter. Aside from using combat skills, there are several different types of ammunition. Normal round shot for putting holes in hulls, chain shot for destroying masts and rigging, grape shot for slaughtering crew, and others that I don't know about. I think there's like eleven or twelve different types in the game. Combat is all instanced -- when a battle begins, the two groups involved are taken to an instanced map that reflects the location they're in. Nobody else can enter the combat instance unless somebody sends up a signal flare. They won't get any experience from combat if they do, but it will let anyone nearby see the battle and join if they like. Second star on the right... Outside combat instances ships are in the sailing map. It's a scaled down version of the world that makes travel times reasonable. I think they said you can travel across the entire game world in about half an hour. It's a fairly populated place -- more than a hundred ports, and lots of player and NPC ships sailing around going about their tasks. There's plenty of PvE missions available, with story arcs and all the usual plotly goodness, and a couple interesting systems to give each character a unique story. PvP is done well -- it's really faction warfare, with players conquering enemy ports. While the world defaults to not allowing PvP, bringing a port into the unrest state -- either by aggressive merchantry or sinking it's ships nearby -- opens up a large area around it where PvP is allowed. Further aggressive acts and PvE missions around the port can bring it contention. When a port is contention, the PvP area around it expands and a three day counter starts. For three days players on both sides can engage in PvP and do PvE missions -- like running supplies into their port, or maintaining a blockade -- to aid their side. After three days there's a final battle, with 25 players to a side. Selection for a spot in the final battle is based on a lottery, with more tickets allocated to characters who did the most to aid their side during the previous three days. If the attackers win the battle, the port changes hands. Pirates have a similar mechanism for taking ports, but they don't actually conquer it -- they just loot it. For a day after a successful pirate raid, any pirate can come by and loot their share. To keep the world balanced, every couple months the European nations will come to a treaty settlement and borders will be returned to roughly what they were initially. There can be twelve ports in contention at any time, three from each side I think, and there will probably be close to that at all times. About a third of the game world will allow PvP, but it'll be clearly marked. That way if you want PvP you know where to find it, but it can be avoided if you don't feel like it. Straight on 'til morning... And that's just for R1, the initial release. There are quite a few interesting features that have been delayed until later releases. There are plans for avatar combat, political interactions, smuggling, and an actual player based economy, with character owned plantations, shipyards, and like fun. This would make PvP even more interesting, because players would have interests in certain parts of the world. You wouldn't want Port Royale to get conquered if you had assets there, and a nice relationship with the mayor -- or his daughter. The developers of this game have a clue. They're actually concerned about making the game fun, not making it an addictive timesink. They're willing to delay cool features until they have time to do them right, and there have been several times they've changed major features -- delaying the game in the process -- because it wouldn't have been fun. They're also privately funded, and distributing the game through Steam, so they have no publisher forcing them into stupid decisions. And it's certainly not hard to look at! This is a very pretty game, and they have a fairly large screenshot gallery. There's also a nice ship guide -- it shows the playable ships in the game with details and history, as well as screenshots. There ya have it... I think that's a decent summary of all the information available about the game, although I'm sure there's points I've forgotten. It's not hard to tell that I'm quite excited about it, and it'd be cool to play with you guys if you're interested. What do you think?
Avast, ye lubbers! Pirates of the Burning Sea is an MMORPG I've been watching for years now, with an expected release real soon now. It's currently in beta, so realistically I expect we've got a few months to wait. It's a naval game set in the 1720's Caribbean, with each character commanding their own ship. Combat is tactical and based primarily on player skill instead of character skill, without being twitch based -- typical engagements average like ten minutes long. There's not really levels, there's no grinding, and PvP is done well. The game is designed to be fun, not a giant timesink. Admiral or scallywag... Characters can belong to either one of the three major European nations in the area -- English, French, or Spanish -- or the Pirate faction. National characters can pick either the navy or adventurer class, with pirates automatically being pirates. Navy characters are in their nation's navy, adventurers are independents able to be merchants, privateers, or whatever else they want. Character advancement is done solely with skill points, which are earned from experience. Since there's a limit of a hundred skill points -- earned in pairs -- this means there's technically fifty levels. Aside from granting skill points, though, levels are meaningless -- the broadside from a level one hurts just as much as that of a level fifty. Skills are divided into several trees: general, merchant, and then one for each combat archetype. Combat arechetypes are the general roles that a ship can take in combat, referred to as scout, hunter, and dreadnaught. With the hundred skill points a character can earn they can completely max one of the combat skill trees, and have plenty left over for other skills. These skills aren't magic, they're really more ordering your crew to focus on certain things or perform certain maneuvers that require training. Typical skills are like consuming grog to boost crew morale, trying to make an aimed shot against an opponent's rudder, stuff like that. Need to have plunder... There are also aren't items to grind for. There aren't even really traditional items -- no cannon +3 in this game. Aside from trade goods and consumables like repair materials and ammunition, the only important items are ships. There are about thirty different ships types in the game initially, and characters can own more than one. And there isn't even grinding for those, because most of the time they're replaced when lost! Each ship is either valid or invalid for a particular character class. Valid ships those that a character of that class would normally be sailing, like cutters and frigates for the navy. Invalid ships are those that wouldn't normally be available, like a ship of the line for a pirate. When a character is sunk in a valid ship, they're returned to port and given another ship of that type. Invalid ships are lost permanently when sunk, although it's certainly possible to get another one. This makes combat less stressful because huge amounts of work won't be lost if you fail. Aside from invalid ship loss, there is no death penalty aside from losing your cargo. Prepare to be boarded... Combat looks really fun, and very tactical. Wind considerations are one of the main tactical aspects, because you can't just sail any direction you like -- at least not well. Different ships also have different rigs, which makes them handle differently in the wind. And with most guns on broadsides, this means maneuvering and position are very important. With combat being decently paced -- and no instant twitch reactions required -- there's actually time for it all to matter. Aside from using combat skills, there are several different types of ammunition. Normal round shot for putting holes in hulls, chain shot for destroying masts and rigging, grape shot for slaughtering crew, and others that I don't know about. I think there's like eleven or twelve different types in the game. Combat is all instanced -- when a battle begins, the two groups involved are taken to an instanced map that reflects the location they're in. Nobody else can enter the combat instance unless somebody sends up a signal flare. They won't get any experience from combat if they do, but it will let anyone nearby see the battle and join if they like. Second star on the right... Outside combat instances ships are in the sailing map. It's a scaled down version of the world that makes travel times reasonable. I think they said you can travel across the entire game world in about half an hour. It's a fairly populated place -- more than a hundred ports, and lots of player and NPC ships sailing around going about their tasks. There's plenty of PvE missions available, with story arcs and all the usual plotly goodness, and a couple interesting systems to give each character a unique story. PvP is done well -- it's really faction warfare, with players conquering enemy ports. While the world defaults to not allowing PvP, bringing a port into the unrest state -- either by aggressive merchantry or sinking it's ships nearby -- opens up a large area around it where PvP is allowed. Further aggressive acts and PvE missions around the port can bring it contention. When a port is contention, the PvP area around it expands and a three day counter starts. For three days players on both sides can engage in PvP and do PvE missions -- like running supplies into their port, or maintaining a blockade -- to aid their side. After three days there's a final battle, with 25 players to a side. Selection for a spot in the final battle is based on a lottery, with more tickets allocated to characters who did the most to aid their side during the previous three days. If the attackers win the battle, the port changes hands. Pirates have a similar mechanism for taking ports, but they don't actually conquer it -- they just loot it. For a day after a successful pirate raid, any pirate can come by and loot their share. To keep the world balanced, every couple months the European nations will come to a treaty settlement and borders will be returned to roughly what they were initially. There can be twelve ports in contention at any time, three from each side I think, and there will probably be close to that at all times. About a third of the game world will allow PvP, but it'll be clearly marked. That way if you want PvP you know where to find it, but it can be avoided if you don't feel like it. Straight on 'til morning... And that's just for R1, the initial release. There are quite a few interesting features that have been delayed until later releases. There are plans for avatar combat, political interactions, smuggling, and an actual player based economy, with character owned plantations, shipyards, and like fun. This would make PvP even more interesting, because players would have interests in certain parts of the world. You wouldn't want Port Royale to get conquered if you had assets there, and a nice relationship with the mayor -- or his daughter. The developers of this game have a clue. They're actually concerned about making the game fun, not making it an addictive timesink. They're willing to delay cool features until they have time to do them right, and there have been several times they've changed major features -- delaying the game in the process -- because it wouldn't have been fun. They're also privately funded, and distributing the game through Steam, so they have no publisher forcing them into stupid decisions. And it's certainly not hard to look at! This is a very pretty game, and they have a fairly large screenshot gallery. There's also a nice ship guide -- it shows the playable ships in the game with details and history, as well as screenshots. There ya have it... I think that's a decent summary of all the information available about the game, although I'm sure there's points I've forgotten. It's not hard to tell that I'm quite excited about it, and it'd be cool to play with you guys if you're interested. What do you think?