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Exchange Shops

By Keith Cross on Apr 07, 2008

Flying Lab Software has posted a new devlog on the Pirates of the Burning Sea official site which looks into a number of balance changes and the content of the new Exchange Shops.

One of the most fundamental building blocks of design is the ability to take items from players and give them different items in exchange. The obvious implementation of this is a traditional shop, where money is taken and stuff is given. Less obvious but just as critical is taking of items instead of money. And yet we’ve been overloading the mission system instead as a placeholder for that system.

In the next devlog on this subject, AnnaM will tell you about the changes we’ve made to the infrastructure – replacing the unwieldy Delivery Missions with much more friendly and useful Exchange Shops. I’d like to talk a bit about the content in these new shops – the changes I’ve made, the changes I’m planning, and what this means for PvP rewards specifically.

My revisions deal with the Commendation exchange, the Marks of Victory exchange, and the Citations of Conquest exchange.

In Commendations, the biggest change is that I’ve reduced the number of commendation types from 10 to 5 for nationals. For Freetraders and Privateers, the removed commendations are the Medium Pennant, the Blue Seal, the Bronze Seal, the Encomium of Skill, and the Encomium of Valor. For Naval Officers and Privateers with the correct skill, the removed commendations are Diligence, Temperance, Bravery, Valor, and Heroism. For all the removed commendations, a special exchange shop is available to turn them into one of the remaining valid types in the correct proportion. This means that for every level of commendation, there are more options for spending them – nearly double the options in many cases.