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Is ganking really such a bad thing? That's the question Isildur addresses in his latest Pirates of the Burning Sea dev blog, where he outlines how ganking evolved in the game -- and how it got out of control. "Ganking has a long and difficult history within our design and development process, so it's a hard question to answer with a simple 'we hate it' or 'we love it," Isildur said. To really understand why the Flying Lab Software developers are torn on the issue of ganking, Isildur explained their concept of 'ambush gameplay' and the contradictions it brings to game mechanics.

Isildur explains how the creators of Pirates of the Burning Sea envisioned the act of piracy. The scenario he outlines involves a lone pirate (or small group of pirates), who catch an unwary merchant by surprise, defeat him and loot, then escape before reinforcements can arrive. This is the ambush gameplay Isildur and the team at Flying Labs pictured -- rewarding for pirates, disheartening for lone merchants. To put a more visual spin on it -- a player sets sail from port, perhaps hoping for an uneventful trip. But then, a sail appears on the horizon. Is it a friend or enemy? As the unknown ship comes into view, so does its pirate flag, signaling a possible fight to the death. But the introduction of the Open Sea to the game changed all this. In some respects, Pirates of the Burning Sea developed in ways contrary to the original spirit of the game.

Pirates of the Burning Sea patch 1.3 has been making more than a few waves since its inception. In a recent post to the PotBS community, Flying Lab designer Isildur discusses his views on the state of the economy. The basis is that Isildur, who mentions the economy as his baby, is not performing to specifications it was originally designed for. Players are making more than enough doubloons as traders, but PvPers are increasingly left behind.

As he states, "PvP is not sustainable without doing other non-PvP activities." The economy has fallen into the hands of the care-bear. That's not a bad thing, of course, since money is being made and doubloons are being generated. The problem lies in those warehouses so many folks in PotBS like to store things in. There are a lot of doubloons being generated into the hands of a few people and those coins aren't going anywhere. This leads to inflation which means PvPers, who don't necessarily make too much from PvP, are forced to partake in economic activities in order to stay afloat.

Until now in Pirates of the Burning Sea, some clever folks have been able to cause a totally peaceful port to instantly become scheduled for a port battle, by saving up their contention turn-ins en masse and across characters, and handing them in all at once. Over at the official PotBS site, Isildur has drawn attention to the issue and said that changes are coming to prevent this from occurring in the future.

You couldn't really call this tactic an exploit -- it's more just a smart use of the mechanics available in the game -- but it's obviously not how Flying Lab Software intended for the whole process to go down. The plan was to make the contention process a bit more steady so that the home nation could have a chance to defend and bring the unrest back down again, and possibly save a full-scale port battle from occurring, while also giving the traders a bigger role in defending their business interests. The first steps to prevent the current insta-port-battles should be introduced with build 1.2.

GameSpot UK recently had an interview with Pirates of the Burning Sea lead designer Kevin Maginn, in which they fired off a series of questions that looked to flesh out the game's concept for anyone not yet familiar with it. As well as name-dropping the guys from Talk Like a Pirate Day, some of Maginn's answers reveal a lot of the reasoning behind some of the important design choices that make the game what it is today.

One of these is the mainly solo-oriented mission structure in PotBS. In this case, it comes down to what Maginn himself preferred to have in an MMO -- he said that he enjoys group content, but wanted to have the ability to log on and achieve things on his own without needing to sink time into group setup. This brought about the system we see in PotBS now, with most missions aimed at a single player, but there are a few group missions that are much more elaborate than a regular quest and are repeatable, to satiate group cravings on a permanent basis.

Maginn also says that, apart from updates on a roughly monthly basis, a major content update should hit every few months. One aspect of the game not mentioned in the interview is the interesting economy and crafting system, surely one of the game's big selling points. Check out the rest of the interview at GameSpot.

Avast ye scurvy rapscallion dogs! Arrreckon you want some PvP
booty so pay close attention. Alright, that's enough pirate-talk for
one post. Isildur, developer/buccaneer extraordinaire has posted the nitty-gritty details on capturing ports and adds his own insightful commentary on the strengths and weaknesses for the first four maps or battlegrounds for ship-to-port combat to be ready for some keel-haulin' once the game sets sail.

The maps look great and I'm happy to see real tactics like wind and positioning play a key-role in the overall outcome. It's also good to know that if the attackers land immediately they won't automatically win, they must face a series of challenging encounters first. Attackers won't be able to just land anywhere either, there are certain landing points and the entrances to the town and fortress are only opened until all their respective gun emplacements are destroyed.

Before the battle starts, players will wait in a ready room, which is an avatar room -- no ships allowed in here, and within this room there are three exits for each spawn location. Players have 10 minutes in this room before the battle begins to formulate any plans, organize their groups and choose the location where they will spawn from. It's also important to note that the Pirates of the Burning Sea is still in beta and the way these four Final Battle scenarios play-out may not be set-in-stone.