Yarrrr! Avast! Walk the plank! Matey! Davy Jones' locker! Scallywag! Okay, now that all the requisite pirate lingo is out of the way, let us get to the heart of today's matter – Pirates of the Burning Sea. Have you ever had dreams of setting sail, dueling boats with your own as cannon fire echoes across the oceans and sails are ripped to tatters? Do you want to pirate and steal from the rich and keep for yourself? Set out to find new lands and do battle with its inhabitants? If so, you're going to want to keep an eye out for Pirates of the Burning Sea. Oh, what the heck, one last time for the road. Yarrrr!

Since Pirates of the Burning Sea (POTBS from here on) is set in the very real world, way back when pirates actually sailed the seven seas, don't go in expecting anything like elves and trolls for character races, and don't go in expecting living skeletons and Krakkens like you would've seen in Pirates of the Caribbean. Though POTBS shares the same setting of the Caribbean as the famous movies, the races you'll be picking from are more nations than anything, as you can make your male or female avatar character a pirate, a member of the British navy, the Spanish navy, or the French. You'd probably think everyone would want to be a pirate in the game, but we were told that early results from the beta testing has about 20% of players playing pirates, 20% playing as the British, with both the French and Spanish rounding things out in the teen percentiles. Beyond being just a nation that flies under a specific colored flag, choosing between the four different character types will give you different clothing options, different strengths, and different ability/traits. For example, only the pirates can steal ships, but the British will make better ships, the French make better cannons, and the Spanish have more resources at their disposal.

Of course you'll be leveling up your characters, battling enemies (such as port officers brandishing swords and pistols) and engaging ships controlled both by the computer and by other players in PvP, but levels are done in a very different way with POTBS. In most games, gaining levels mean gaining power, but in POTBS levels earned aren't strictly attached to getting more powerful. Instead, gaining levels will net you more abilities that you can learn to use to your benefit, plus higher levels will garner you better ships that you can get. The land combat was pretty much what you'd expect when it comes to MMORPG battling, but it was very streamlined, and everything moved pretty fast and furious. However, even better than the land battling was the ship-to-ship battles.

Ship battles are played out on the open seas, as you try to navigate yourself to place your ship in proper position to deal massive damage to the ship you are fighting. Movement of the ships on the water was very realistic and especially smooth, as it would've been easy to make the ships turn on a dime, but that isn't real, and instead the developers found a lovely way to make ships sail gracefully on the water as they pivot, catch hold of the wind, and pursue the enemy. Yes, given that realism base ship combat is a tad slower than land combat, but don't go associating "slow" with "boring," because you'll be able to use that time to do other tasks, plus this game of chess will very much require your attention. Combat also isn't a strictly point and click to damage battle either, as you'll have to use the wind to your advantage to move quicker; choose which cannons are the best for which situation; lining up your ship so you are within your cannon range and that either the left or right side (depending on where your cannons are positioned) are facing your enemy (indicated by a faintly white cone extending from your ship); and strategy also becomes involved in such tasks as damaging the mast and sails of the enemy, thus slowing down their movement and making them a sitting duck, relying more on their brute force than agile dodging ability.

One of the big deals of POTBS is the massively involved nation control battles, which see the British, Spanish, and French all trying to control the more than 80 controllable ports of the Caribbean (or at least those the game deems you'll be able to control). I know, you're wondering where are the pirates in that scenario, but the fact is they aren't going to be involved in this tug of war skirmish, though their force will be felt. Besides simply owning all the ports, ports have special abilities such as reduced tax rates to the nation that holds it. So if the Spanish are holding a port and as a fellow Spaniard you sail into it, you won't be required to pay the amount of taxes someone like the French might. The strength of a nation will also be represented on the game's website and leaderboards, showing who is owning what, plus if a nation is completely successful in owning all the ports of the Caribbean, they'll be awarded commendations they'll be able to cash in for ships and clothing options.

And as we mentioned, pirates aren't involved with the port tug of war, but they can hold ports in the name of pirates, but they can only do so for three days. So why should you play as a pirate if you can't do the port battles? Well, you can steal ships, so if a Spanish player purchased a new ship with commendations they earned from the port battle, you can claim that ship for yourself by stealing it. However, stealing has its price to pay, because if you steal your ship will automatically always be ready and open to PvP (whereas normally you have to sail into specific zones to trigger PvP content so you aren't being attacked without reason at every step of your journey). And though only pirates can steal ships, the other nations can take your ship and trade it in for cash, almost like raking in the bounty that was placed on your head.

That is just some of the main stuff that was covered during our behind closed door time with the game, but there are a lot of things they are working on that will be involved in the final game, and others that will come in expansions and extra content that comes in after the game has shipped. However, just to tick off a few more bullet points: 1,000+ missions; fully player driven economy; design your own content, have it voted on by the public, and the best will be incorporated into the game as extra content; leaderboards that show who the most notorious pirate in the game is; build, capture, and customize over 65+ historical ships.

If you can't already tell, we are really excited about the game, and we can't wait until we're swiping booty and stealing ships for ourselves. Of course, maybe we'll big a relatively good guy and play as someone like the Brits instead. Who knows? What we do know is that there is a ton to be excited about when it comes to Pirates of the Burning Sea, and you better believe we'll be continuing coverage of this great looking game the closer it comes to shipping and then even after it has shipped.