Pirates of the Burning Sea getting combat revision

3:42 PM on 10.16.2008   |   Brad Nicholson

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Like most MMOs, Pirates of the Burning Sea is constantly being improved and built upon. The latest improvement comes in the way of one of the most important aspects of any modern MMO – the combat. In the case of the ale-swilling, cutlass-filled world of Pirates, this change in combat revolves around the swashbuckling mechanic.

Kevin Maginn, lead designer at the developer Flying Labs, wrote this in his latest development log:

... the animation team has been revising all the swordfighting animations; the UI team has been revising the UI and the particle effects; and the sound team has been iterating all the sounds of avatar combat ...

Maginn explains it as a “stripping” of the old mechanic down to its core value, taking out what isn’t interesting and reapplying what’s actually fun to do. Since I’m not spectacularly privy to what MMO people really desire in their combat, I asked Kevin to explain the change to me in the context of a fight between a blueberry pie and a crippled hamster.

Hit the break for his explanation.

Maginn told me that in the old system, “neither would win” because “the hamster couldn’t hit hard enough to keep the blueberry pie's balance down, and the pie had no way to build initiative.” Basically, Maginn told me that even a crippled hamster couldn’t take on the heat of an immobile, but fresh-smelling blueberry pie.

In the new system, this scenario will play out completely different. Maginn described the fight again with the changes: “the hamster eats the pie and five other nearby pies in one massive gulping attack.”

Thanks for clearing that up for me, Kevin. Although, I think delectable foods should win in any scenario. Even if the fight was against Heracles, Robocop, Mr. Potatohead, and Batman at the same time.