We all know that 1.4 is bringing a lot of changes to Pirates of the Burning Sea, but for those interested in more details two more devlogs have been released.

The first is the The Freetrader.

Freetraders are in a unique position right now. Nobody can survive as long as an FT and they can excel in different areas. They have a moderate amount of combat strength, but it can be difficult to tap into that strength. Theres a definite limbo in FT effectiveness. We approached the Freetrader by giving them some new functionality (stealth, a strong attack debuff) and changing how two of their skill chains are used.

In the process, we removed the following skills from Freetraders: Desperation Fire 1, Repel Grapples 1, Dockyard Contract, Identify Weakness 1 and Before the Wind 1. Here are some of the new Freetrader skills to replace the old ones:

The second one is The Buccaneer.

Up to this point, Ive talked about a lot of the changes that are happening to existing careers and all the new stuff theyre getting. Now its time for something thats completely new: the Buccaneer pirate career. Existing pirates will become Cutthroats, since the generic pirate is no longer applicable.

Our current career landscape is one that destined for imbalance. The game has changed a lot since pirates were created, and they need to fill a role in the Conquest endgame. A single, solo-emphasized career works great when pirate mechanics arent part of the overall war, but it doesnt lend itself to group PvP. Ive got a soft spot for solo PvP, but that doesnt mean we can ignore the group PvP necessity and the associated balance implications.

As more devlogs are released, we'll catch you up with them!