Pirates of the Burning Sea First Impressions

MMOGs are a breed of game that will probably never die out. With World of Warcraft turning the genre into a phenomenon known to people the world over (gamers or not), it’s likely that developers will continue to keep making them until the sun explodes or someone presses too many red buttons.

Indeed, that’s generally what’s been happening (of course I’m referring to the game development and not the end of the world), and a large selection of quality titles have come out over the last few years. What’s not happened much though, is a change of scenery. Pirates of the Burning Sea is one of few games to break that elfy MMOG mould a little, bringing the world of grog, pillage and swashbuckling sailing into the mix.

It seems much of POTBS is about frigate battling, and this becomes apparent very quickly, given that you’re awarded a ship and sent into combat almost immediately upon starting the game. The fights are incredibly well thought out and I’d imagine will become one of the game’s major selling points.

Naval combat is akin to that in Sid Meier’s Pirates!, requiring a lot of careful re-jigging and re-rigging  in order to line up shots and strategically fire at the appropriate bits of your enemy’s ship. Blasting cannons is not the simple task you might think, with a selection of various shots available to cause specific kinds of damage (sails, hull, people etc).

Much of the combat is actually resource management, as there are only so many crew members able to do so much work; should they be focusing on reloading cannons or should they be pumping the bilges? Included are a number of buffs and debuffs that will affect attributes such as turning speed and reload time, plus wind must be considered throughout.

It’s not a simple affair to fight with a ship but then that’s pretty much the point; it’s all about strategy. The satisfaction gained from sending your crew members to board another ship and sword-fight its members before claiming it as your own is immense.

Despite the fairly steep learning curve it’s likely you’ll be returning for more very quickly. As you might hope, there are a whole load of different ships to be had, more than 150 apparently, and they’re all upgradeable and customizable

Economy is a huge part of POTBS, and isn’t as hard to feel a part of it early on as in some MMOGs. Again, this is a pretty complex side to the game, and once again, this is a good thing. Players in ports belonging to their faction are able to set up resource gathering operations such as logging camps, plantations and mines, even at low levels. This early access to features results in feeling much less like a disadvantaged n00b in your first hours of play and more like a valued member of a community. This is perhaps something a few developers could learn from…

The world is split up into four factions, the French, the British, the Spanish and the Pirates. Players in the factions tied to countries are given the choice of three different careers, each with their own advantage in combat. Pirates, on the other hand, aren’t as focused in their approach, and have only one class.

Though each faction has its own home port where they begin and are always safe, the rest of the map’s 80 ports will chop and change ownership creating a constant, large-scale land-grabbing war. Yarrr!

The PvP system in POTBS is clever enough to allow for cruising without being interfered with, meaning only players who stray into a PvP zone or fly a flag asking for combat are able to be taken on.

PvP zones are created by sending ports into Unrest, and are made bigger simply by more fighting in the area. Zones in a state of Unrest can eventually be claimed by a faction if they manage to dominate enough in the area in battles that take place at pre-determined times. It’s also possible to bring a port into Unrest via clever economic shuffling.

It looks like the game will be well suited to keeping a lot enthusiasts interested over large periods of time. With such a complex approach to economics and faction-based kafuffles POTBS boasts an opportunity for a quite impressive self-regulating multifarious community, not to mention boasting fun combat and that oh-so-mighty appeal to live like a pirate.