I am an addicted VCO player,  and love pirate like games. But before I started to that, I took a close look to this game and its conception looked a lot like the Ascaron game Port Royale. I love this game, and I would like, from who has played them both? Is my impression correct? Is this game an online Port Royale?

I tried VCO, but I didn't much like the combat system, or the idea of getting out of my ship to chop wood and and smash crabs on the beach. 

 I haven't played Port Royale, I just looked at some screenshots and I'm not sure how close it is to World of Pirates.  I think the best thing you can do is sign up for the 10 hour trial and see for yourself. 

 When I first started playing WoP, it appealed to me because I used to play Pirates! Gold on a Tandy back in the early 90's, and this was like an updated version of that but multiplayer.

 Basically you have to do a little skilling to get your navigation skill up (to be able to sail more and bigger ships) then you can join a clan, do PvP, take cities and defend them, etc. 

 What I find great about WoP (compared to games like VCO, POTBS, etc) is the simple, arcade-like combat .  Even players with low skill can hold their own vs high level players if they can shoot.

 Try the 10 free hours and you will be hooked 

Here is a link to a Wiki Strategy Guide if you want to skim through it to get an idea.

strategywiki.org/wiki/World_of_Pirates