Pirates Of The Burning Sea Interview (con't)

FiringSquad: What sorts of characters can the player create in the game and how do these characters affect the types of ships they can have access to?

John Tynes: Players choose from three careers: navy, adventurer, and pirate. Within those, they further specialize their style of ship combat into Scout, Hunter, and Dreadnought. Careers have access to different ships -- pirates can't go out and buy massive navy warships, after all! But pirates, unique among all careers, can capture ships they cannot buy.


FiringSquad: The characters get their missions from towns inside the game. How interactive are the towns and townspeople in this mode?

John Tynes: As much as in any MMORPG. In port you meet up with other players, shopkeepers, and mission patrons, which might be town magistrates, pirate crime lords, imperious naval officers, or desperate smugglers. There are even roleplaying missions where you have interactive conversations with the NPCs that affect the course of the plot.

FiringSquad: What are some of the dev team's favorite ships and weapons to use in the game?

John Tynes: Well, we're going to have about 40 different ships when we launch, so opinions really vary. :) I'm fond of the Xebec, a beautiful pirate ship that packs a mean punch. With our outfitting system you can equip all kinds of gear on your ship to modify its performance, much the way you would in a car racing game. I tend to modify my ship to get the fastest reload time, though that can cost me some maneuverability. I'm also fond of using grapeshot in my cannon, since it will kill the enemy crew and make the ship a better target for a boarding action. Yar!


FiringSquad: How do characters evolve as they play the game and what kinds of extra content will they have access to as they level up?

John Tynes: At rank 15 you make your choice between the Scout, Hunter, and Dreadnought specializations, which opens up some skills and locks out others. You gain skill points very frequently as you go, so you're always expanding your repertoire of combat abilities. Achieving higher ranks also makes you eligible to captain more kinds of ships and unlocks missions and outfitting.

One thing we don't do is factor your rank into the combat math. Leveling up doesn't change your ability to hit a target or how much damage you inflict. It's up to your choices of ships, skills, and outfitting to determine yourcombat capability.


FiringSquad: Will there be an overall story arc in Pirates of the Burning Sea and will the story advance as the game moves on?

John Tynes: We have several large storylines, actually. There's the career story arc, which is your character's own story as he or she advances from ranks 1 to 50. You'll have your own supporting cast of sidekicks, enemies, and love interests, and you'll make real choices that affect how the story goes. The serial story arc begins after we launch and it's an epic international adventure of conspiracies, secret bloodlines, and a massive competition to become the king of the pirates. Then there's our 1000+ missions all over the Caribbean, containing both minor and major stories, for you to discover as you play.