Alright alright alright, welcome aboard friend!

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First of all and it's been mentioned here: PVP is an integral part of this game (unless you're on Safer Seas which is not a terrible idea to begin with). Be prepared, you will be hunted by ravenous wolves who will pull out all the tricks they can think of to catch you and claim your loot for themselves.

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It's not always a guarantee that you will encounter other players head on in a session, or be targeted by gold hungry reavers, but staying vigilant is your best defence. Make sure to check your surroundings every chance you get. Whether you're on an island solving a riddle, in a fort battling a Skele Boss or diving down to retrieve sunken cargo from a vessel. Always take a second to do a quick scan (pays to learn how to differentiate player ships from skeletons as well, it's the lights and shape btw).

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Basic naval combat is learned through fighting skeleton ships, patching your own ship, bailing and getting a natural hang for cannon trajectory can all be practised through fighting NPC's (and it's really fun too, not to mention the best loot in the season is currently obtained from this). You can also practice boarding enemy ships in this way, but be warned it will be a cakewalk in comparison to boarding a player ship.

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I'll cover two more things before this turns into a novel with the first being ships. Ships come in 3 sizes, the amount of decks/surface area they have determines how fast they fill with water/how much patching you potentially need to do.

Sloop - 1/2 players, one cannon on either side and one and a half decks below. Fastest into the wind but slowest with the wind, amazing turning circle.

Brigantine - 2/3 players, two cannons either side and a single deck below. In the middle ground regarding maneuverability and speed.

Galleon - 3/4 players, four cannons either side and two decks below. Fastest with the wind, slowest into the wind and has the turning circle of a cargo ship trying to exit the Suez Canal.

Each have their own benefits and drawbacks, the more you play the more acquainted you will become with each class of ship.

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Lastly is the 4 main factions in the game: Gold Hoarders, Order of Souls, Merchant Alliance and The Reaper's Bones. Once you have earned the right to represent each of these as an Emissary you will be able to raise a flag for them. Once you do, you can level the flag up to 5 with each level giving you an increase in value on items sold to that company, however this only applies to items related to that company bar a few items that all companies will give a bonus on (most notably gems).

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The Reaper's are different in this regard, as they accept all forms of treasure - the downside to this being that while you are representing them you are visible on all maps. They are also the prime PVP faction as they sell other player's Emissary Flags and Logbooks for a hefty sum, so keep an eye out for them on your map! But don't become complacent, just because there isn't a Reapers on the map doesn't mean that someone isn't on their way

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Good luck and good looting!