PotBS PvP: Is it for me?

That’s a question you may be asking yourself.  You might also be asking yourself whether or not PotBS PvP is enough to keep the attention of an avid virtual competitor.  I wrote a blog post for my weekly Captain’s Blog on the Pirates of the Burning Sea Vault detailing how I feel the PvP in PotBS is more than capable of satisfying the needs and desires of many sides of PvP.  You can find the complete listing of my Captain’s Blog entries here.

I’m a PvPer. Will this game interest me?

This question will be asked hundreds of times over the next few years. ‘I’m a PvPer. Will this game interest me?’ In order for you to better understand my point of view on the subject it’s important that you know my playstyle as it pertains to PvP. I love team based PvP in games where nations, realms, factions, or sides of any kind do battle against each other for some larger goal. I don’t like fighting other players for personal records or score and I don’t like to fight them simply to fight them. In DAOC my realm offered me a reason to fight. I played DAOC longer than any other MMO. Why? Because my reason to fight suddenly turned into a reason to keep playing; the game gained longevity.

Pirates of the Burning Sea accomplishes this ‘reason to play’ in a similar way. Right from the start of the game you have picked a side. FLS forces you to support your side by limiting any future characters on that server to that nation. Your nation becomes the only players you know in the game. You might quest with them and level with them early in the game which all leads to one thing: PvP. The core of PotBS is the player versus player interaction. So right away I have established two reasons why PvPers will like PotBS. 1) Replayability and 2) The game is centered around PvP. I want to expand on these things and go into more detail on these two topics and everything surrounding them. As you can tell this entire entry will be aimed directly at those interested in PvP.

Read on for the rest of the article.

Skill based PVP. In most MMORPGs with PvP there is a certain degree of autopilot to your character. You are limited by how much damage your sword can do, how much damage your armor can absorb, the class of your opponent, etc etc. Rarely does skill ever truly come into play like it does in PotBS. If I had to make up a percentage of how much combat involves skill I would say 60%. A little over half of your ability to win a fight (as sea, mind you) is based on your skill. How well can you out sail your opponent? How well do you know the limitations of your enemies’ ship and how are you prepared to exploit the weaknesses found? A fast ship out maneuvers a slow ship but only if the captain knows what he is doing. Savvy?

Risk vs. Reward in PotBS is huge. Every time you set sail from your home port you are putting your ship, your cargo, and your life in danger. Albeit there are safe points in the game where you can avoid a player attack if you so choose, but for the most part the “good” part of the game will take place in those red circles. That’s where you will usually find the most profit to be had and the most action. Why else would it be in contention, hmm? When you die your ship loses durability. When you ship is out of durability then your ship goes bye bye. Yes, you can lose your ship forever. In fact, most ships later on only have one life to live. But is it worth it? I think so. If you take the time to learn the game you can easily flip the high risk for a high reward. When you sink an enemy ship or board them and defeat their crew you are entitled to take their cargo. It’s essentially like looting other players’ corpses. In the past this mechanic has been considered “hardcore”. In Pirates of the Burning Sea it’s just par for the course.

What would PvP be without ganking? If you’re anyone but Mark Jacobs then you have some level of appreciation for ganking; stealth ganking to be more precise. There is a skill that your captain can learn which makes your ship invisible. Staying within the realm of believability I suppose it makes you harder to detect at open sea. You can essentially come right up to an enemy vessel and before he has time to react, engage him in a fight. Now, imagine the possibilities. I would like to share an experience I had in my early days of testing. I was level 16 and fresh out of the newbie area. For the first time ever I wanted to sail and see Tortuga, Port Royal, and other magnificent ports of the Caribbean. However, in order to get there I had to pass through a great deal of red on the map (red = contention = you’re in pvp waters). As I entered the red I could see numerous encounters already going between my kinsmen and enemy nations. I figured that most would be 40+ until I saw one lone level 15 ship just sitting in the water practically calling my name. I decided to try my hand at PvP and I set course right towards him. As I came close enough to engage I was suddenly made aware that all around me was a mini fleet of Spanish vessels just biding their time until a sucker like myself fell for their ambush. With a full cargo obtained at the newbie ports lost I felt sick but I learned a valuable lesson. This game is cutthroat and I have to start thinking like them.

With a player run economy mixed in to PvP this presents a very… interesting opportunity. It’s logical to assume that where the money goes the pirates go. How the ports are set up, the various raw materials necessary for a flourishing tradesman are scattered everywhere around the map. They are scattered so well that most players focusing on the economy tend to stick with one or two materials at a time. You may need a certain wood and a certain ore for your ship but that ore you need lies on the other side of enemy territory. It wouldn’t be worth going that far so you stick with corn. Your need for the ore though remains. What do you do? Now you have several choices. There’s the auction house which will charge you an arm and a leg and then there is the PvP route. Hiring an escort or multiple escorts to guarantee your safety suddenly opens up a new layer of gameplay for both you and the bodyguards. Players can sell their services as an armed escort and lead tradesmen safely from one port to another. Agree upon a price beforehand and obtain half up front and half after the trip is made safely. Suddenly your military experience has become a lucrative part of the player economy. There’s also another way, if you’re willing to risk it. Get yourself a level 1 character in a newbie boat and sail there. No one would think to attack a poor newbie exploring the world… unless they thought he was hauling a boat full of gold. Heh heh heh.

Lastly there is the domination of the map which will draw you in to the game. The vast majority of ports are open to contention. By working with your nation to coordinate large strikes against ships in the waters surrounding an enemy’s port, you can throw that water into contention very quickly. Once that happens, then the port becomes up for grabs. The nation that wins the fight will seize control of the port and all the luxuries afforded to them within. Continue on your path of domination and eventually your nation could own a great many ports on the map. This will cause problems with the tradesmen of enemy nations and that will cause a problem for the others. Believe me when I say that losing a lot of ports quickly takes a toll on your nation. I haven’t participated in any of these final encounters but from what I have gathered, once an enemy nation obtains enough strength in the waters a huge battle occurs. These enormous battles, to me, seem like they are the soul of PotBS. This is where the game will shine for PvPers as their nation fights for glory and victory in the Caribbean.

I’m a PvPer. Will this game interest me? Short answer: Yes. Long Answer: Pirates of the Burning Sea has a reason for you to fight for your nation and it has amazing replay potential. Use your imagination and expand upon the few things I’ve mentioned above. This game is absolutely perfect for a player interested in PvP.