The early 18th century was the most turbulent time in high seas history. Through dubiously short treaties and unremitting declarations of war, armadas of the powerful British, French and Spanish navies vied for dominance of the exceptionally lucrative maritime trade. This left many merchant vessels with little or no naval protection, thus making them easy targets for the mounting threat of piracy. No more so was this the case than in the Caribbean, source of exotic goods and home to some of the most notorious of pirates. Hoist the main sail and full speed ahead, matey! It’s time to chart your own history.
In Pirates of the Burning Sea players captain their own ship as a pirate, adventurer (a sort of privateer/merchant hybrid) or naval officer, with avatars being highly customizable. This MMO focuses on real time PvE and PvP combat, with players controlling their ship’s heading, speed, special abilities and attacks. In addition to impromptu encounters, it is also possible to conquer enemy ports and take on missions, some of which follow an ongoing story as your character develops.
PotBS has been in development since 2002, with public beta testing having begun in December 2005. If you wish to be considered for beta testing, you must fill out an application which is available on the game’s official website. Even if you don’t get accepted into the beta, you can still create content which may find its way into the game! Talented players can design flag and sail decals or even full 3D ship models using graphics software which they may then submit, have peer-reviewed, then Flying Lab staff-reviewed. Several user-created ships have already been accepted and integrated into the game.
While in attendance at Gen Con Indy, the MMORPG.com crew had the chance to sit down and talk to FLS CEO Rusty Williams about upcoming improvements to Pirates of the Burning Sea and their rapid pace in publishing updates since the games launch.
The Devs over at FLS will be sailing around the high seas of the test server, here's your chance to blow them out of the water!
Fraxl posted a new DevBlog outlining the changes they made to the game based on last week's player event held on the testbed.
Flying Lab Software has posted a new dev journal explaining how they are planning on dealing with the problem of off peak port battles.
IGN has a new Pirates of the Burning Sea Blog called The Rum Diary.
Stratics has posted an interview with Rick Saada from Flying Lab Software.
Stratics has posted the transcripts from their Pirates of the Burning Sea dev chat.
WarCry interviews Russel Williams, CEO of Flying Lab Software.