There have been a significant amount of changes to Pirates of the Burning Sea since it was shown last year at Gen Con. There is now more dueling, new graphics and cities, more pillaging, and even more “piratical pets.” I like parrots, to be honest, but I’ve always been afraid of how long they live. Could you imagine having to chill with a bird for your entire life, nonethless one that takes dumps on your shoulder for decades?

Aside from the nearly immortal status that parrots have among pirates, Flying Lab Software is prepping for their “Milestone 7” release at the end of this month. The most interesting change that isn’t indicative of the game itself involves a day of the year I didn’t know about. Apparently, September 19 is “Talk Like a Pirate Day.” Flying Lab is celebrating that fact by adding new missions from the founders of the holiday, Cap’n Slappy and Ol’ Chumbucket. Venereal diseases and scurvy have yet to be confirmed, but I’ll continue to do my job and investigate these pressing matters.

While I’m busy being prolific, feel free to hit the break to see all of the changes that have come and are coming to Pirates of the Burning Sea.

What’s new in Pirates of the Burning Sea since Release?

§  New Pirate Careers: Buccaneer and Cutthroat!

o   Buccaneer - Buccaneers are pirates too, but a bit subtler than their burning-bearded brethren. They steal and loot, but also manipulate the black markets. Some would call them gentleman adventurers, though few are true blue bloods. Buccaneers do not have the raw power of cutthroats, but they work well in groups and can help friends and cripple enemies. Buccaneers are more challenging to play than cutthroats, so are recommended for players with Pirates of the Burning Sea experience.

o   Cutthroat - Cutthroats represent the brutal side of the Brethren of the Coast. They lead short and violent lives and their answers to problems are short and to the (sword) point. They don't make ships; they steal them. Cutthroats take what they want and demolish anyone foolish enough to get in their way. Blackbeard is the classic cutthroat archetype.

§  No-risk Player-versus-Player Duels on land and at sea!

§  New cities and stunning new graphics for Capitol Ports

§  New Epic Missions and supernatural spookiness!

§  Pirate Pillaging!

§  An improved new user experience, including a revamped tutorial

§  An enhanced user interface layout and style!

§  22 new, customizable, and historically inspired ships!

§  Thousands of original flags and sails created by talented players

§  Even more options at character creation!

§  Even more piratical pets!

§  …and many improvements to skills, PvP, PvE, the user content system, and much more!

What’s new in Milestone 7?

Talk Like a Pirate Day
As every good freebooter knows September 19 is Talk Like a Pirate Day. To celebrate we have designed some new missions. Even better, you’ll be able to take them from Cap'n Slappy and Ol' Chumbucket, the founders of Talk Like a Pirate Day! These rum-swillin’ salts are taking their rightful place in the Burning Sea and they’ve got a thing or two to teach you about piracy.

Camera Behavior Changes
We’ve increased the smoothness of the camera. As part of these changes, the camera motion is now more cinematic. In addition, the camera tries to present more of the horizon when zooming in. On ships, the camera viewpoint is now attached above the deck of the ship, making your sailing experiencing more interactive with our waves, without inducing sea sickness!

Repeatable Missions
We’ve got a new type of mission coming down the pike. You’ll be able to play these new, repeatable missions once per day. The first batch involves the machinations of La Confrérie Libre, one of the nastiest pirate gangs in the Caribbean. You won’t believe what they’ll do in the name of liberty!

Increase Mission XP
Starting at level 11, we’re increasing the XP reward for the final turn-in on a mission. From 11 to 19, the increase is somewhat modest, but at 20 and up, the XP reward is doubled. It’s even a little more than that for missions that are 40 and up. We did this to make missions more useful to characters leveling up, because we found the XP gain per hour when doing missions was low compared to the XP gain per hour when fighting NPCs on the Open Sea.

New Luxury Clothing
We have created new luxury clothing for our players to show off how wealthy they are. These pieces may range from super-fly hats to super-funky coats. Prices will vary, but these items are well worth their weight in gold!

Tutorial Revamp
The new tutorials are similar to the old ones, but we added in a new piece of UI with much better instructional text. We also added an option to skip the tutorial if, for instance, you’re playing with a second character and don’t need to learn to play.