I would have everyone start out in ships in a small lake, big enough to move about in but too small to run very far away from those trying to sink you. I would allow team play and just keep play as normal as possible. The opposing team would however have a team emblem on their sails to let everyone know they are the opposing side. When a ship is boarded the ship that is the most damaged would go last. The side that goes first would choose their actions and then their turn would play. After their turn, the side that goes last would then choose their actions, and so on. Its a bit slow but I think it is what needs to be done. I like the idea that ship attacks add traps to the boats making things more interesting and different each time. Its also nice to be able to see and be on each other's ships. In team play, players don't have to board, it would be the same as in regular play. If players would rather not board and continue fighting ships that haven't joined the fight yet they could do that until only one side remains as victor. When it comes to companions, I think players should get to choose 3 companions they want to play with. On ship fights, the opposing team should have some sort of mark so players know who is on whose side. I think this would be fun and a simple way to do PvP.

Another way they could do multiplayer PVP, given the model seasnake described, is to still only have two ships fighting, but the additional team members are on the deck of your ship, running around getting rid of the tokens before you're boarded. Maybe they could up the amount of tokens dropped in PVP to make this more of a challenge as well as adding other nodes to interact with that could boost the powers of the ship (i.e. click on the rigging to give the ship an avoidance boost, click on the cannons to boost attack power, etc.) Ideally, there would be many different avenues for PVP play with multiple ship combat, large scale battlefields for just hand to hand combat, and then hybrids like the one described here to keep it interesting. Tough to balance, but more interesting in the end!

I thought different lakes could be created and used for the different worlds and there could be fast and slow currents, oil slicks, typhoons, whirlwinds, and other interesting elements to each world PvP lake that would make ship maneuvering while fighting interesting. There could be an island that pirates could land their ships at to wait for the opposition to simply enter hand to hand combat. Those who would enjoy ship to ship combat could remain on their ships, those who prefer land combat would need to first land. To enter PvP you would be asked to select your ship and your crew regardless if its 1v1 or much larger. If you don't have a ship you can't PvP. There could be an abandon ship, join ship button. This would allow players who are losing their ship or who don't want to control their own ship to give up their ship and join onboard their teammate ships allowing traps and obstacles to be removed. There should also be a mutual draw and a forfit button.

forceofdeath on Dec 2, 2012 wrote:

I've actually thought abou this idea, but then there would be disputes over who is the captain, so I decided to not use that idea. I still think it could be a good idea though.

I think that captains would either be automatically the highest level on the team, or randomly chosen, which I feel would be soooo much better, since that would eliminate any puppet teams, since you could essencially get on a raft. lol

seasnake on Dec 1, 2012 wrote:

I thought different lakes could be created and used for the different worlds and there could be fast and slow currents, oil slicks, typhoons, whirlwinds, and other interesting elements to each world PvP lake that would make ship maneuvering while fighting interesting. There could be an island that pirates could land their ships at to wait for the opposition to simply enter hand to hand combat. Those who would enjoy ship to ship combat could remain on their ships, those who prefer land combat would need to first land. To enter PvP you would be asked to select your ship and your crew regardless if its 1v1 or much larger. If you don't have a ship you can't PvP. There could be an abandon ship, join ship button. This would allow players who are losing their ship or who don't want to control their own ship to give up their ship and join onboard their teammate ships allowing traps and obstacles to be removed. There should also be a mutual draw and a forfit button.

So instead of arena fighting, a free-for-all. I really kind of like that idea, as it feels very piratey to me. I especially like the idea of environmental hazards. Strategically lighting lantern oil slicks on fire would be fun!

It would be okay and more strategic if ships could move out of firing range, but ships wouldn't be allowed to be X'ed out when they are moved away from like what happens in the game. The lake would still have to be small enough to be able to see everyone.

a free for all pvp area would be fun... no pvp waiting, no puppet teams, taking in and zooming around upon a half damaged raft to quickly board royal navy and bison ships would be a blast, would still need random stuff like sea monsters and hazardous weather and other stuff to make things more interesting, such a place could serve as a testing area just by popping in new creatures and stuff/obstacles to see how they play, could get points based upon the level of opponent you are up against (defeating a level 50 would be 5 points, 40's 4 points, etc., but you points based upon your level so if you are a level 50 you always lose 5 points whenever you get defeated), leader boards could be made and reset every month (some players really like leader boards and trying to get to the top of them)... you could still have arena team matches, but it would be a different PvP ratings system than free for all PvP