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Meet the Buccaneer

By Keith Cross on May 06, 2008

The Pirates of the Burning Sea official site has been updated with a devlog which introduces players to the Buccaneer, a new pirate career.

Up to this point, Ive talked about a lot of the changes that are happening to existing careers and all the new stuff theyre getting. Now its time for something thats completely new: the Buccaneer pirate career. Existing pirates will become Cutthroats, since the generic pirate is no longer applicable.

Our current career landscape is one that destined for imbalance. The game has changed a lot since pirates were created, and they need to fill a role in the Conquest endgame. A single, solo-emphasized career works great when pirate mechanics arent part of the overall war, but it doesnt lend itself to group PvP. Ive got a soft spot for solo PvP, but that doesnt mean we can ignore the group PvP necessity and the associated balance implications.

Group PvP is all about the sum, which is where pirates start to create problems. Theres a single pirate career versus multiple national careers. There are two critical implications:

1)If the careers are equal, then the side with the options will win.
2)If the single career nation has sufficient options and versatility to compete, then that will lead to dominance.