Flying Lab Software has posted the latest devlog in their series which examines the skill changes in version 1.4 of Pirates of the Burning Sea.

If you havent read about the general skill changes, check the first devlog in this series. You can find it here.

Freetraders are in a unique position right now. Nobody can survive as long as an FT and they can excel in different areas. They have a moderate amount of combat strength, but it can be difficult to tap into that strength. Theres a definite limbo in FT effectiveness. We approached the Freetrader by giving them some new functionality (stealth, a strong attack debuff) and changing how two of their skill chains are used.

In the process, we removed the following skills from Freetraders: Desperation Fire 1, Repel Grapples 1, Dockyard Contract, Identify Weakness 1 and Before the Wind 1. Here are some of the new Privateer skills to replace the old ones:

 Underdog – Tier 1 Desperation: Increases damage, acceleration, turn rate and speed by 7.5%. Only works if you have less than 82% total armor remaining (50% for one broadside).
 Determination – Tier 3 Escape: Boosts your resists and grappling defense by 15%. Requires an enemy target within 250y range. 4 minute recharge, 8 minute duration.

Read more here.