Sony Online Entertainment and Flying Lab have announced that the free Power & Prestige expansion for Pirates of the Burning Sea will officially launch on August 24, 2010. Power & Prestige is currently in open beta on the public test server and will remain so until launch day. (Head here to find out how to make a PTS account)

We announced Power & Prestige, the first free expansion for Pirates of the Burning Sea, at the Penny Arcade Expo last year. We’ve spent almost all of our time since then working on new features and content for the expansion, which is due for release this summer. We’re now ready to talk about exactly what those features are, and today we’re going to give you a broad overview of what to expect.

Check out the boatload of changes in the Power & Prestige features list.