With WoW’s The Burning Crusade expansion pack around the corner, a large number of TM’s old PvP veterans grew tired of raiding and sought to go back to their PvP roots.  After handing over the mantle of guild leadership to Calatin, Ranker set off with a number of The Mafia’s best PvP veterans to stake their claim in PotBS.  PotBS appealed to many of our members due to its complex PvP game mechanics, the harsh PvP consequences of full loot and ship loss, the strategic gameplay involved in map conquest, a fully robust economic system, and a time period that was relatively new to the MMO scene.

After picking the French nation due to its huge underdog status, The Mafia quickly became renown on the Blackbeard server for being the best PvP society (guild) for the French nation rivaled on the server only by “The Kraken,” a British society.  Although heavily outnumbered and outshipped, TM forged its reputation on the high seas through its impressive kill ratio and its innovative tactics.  Where players once believed that naval dominance could only be achieved by fielding the most tanked out ship availble to them, TM demonstrated to the server that naval superiority could be achieved through masterful use of smaller, lighter ships.  TM’s success was not just limited to PvP; our logistical infrastructure and economic prowess enabled us to control a significant portion of the marketplace and to construct the best ships available for ourselves.  Although TM was a relatively small society, TM shocked the world when it unvieled Ranker’s “1st Rate”, the 4th constructed world wide.

Regardless of our success in destroying enemy ships of the other 3 nations, the French nation found itself incapable of a map victory due to the political gamesmanship of a rival French society by name of Le Devoir Devant Tout.  Le Devoir became increasingly jealous of our sucess as they once laughed at our tactics, only to see our tactics result in unparalled domination.  Rather than uniting under The Mafia’s banner, Le Devoir decided to roleplay the French of the WWII era and abstained from assisting The Mafia in the conquest game.  Without 1/3 of France’s fleet, France slowly succumbed to the British juggernaught, losing all of its ports and eventually the map.

Soon after, server transfers were enabled to allow societies to transfer from server to the next.  The PvP on Blackbeard had died down due to our ruthless patrolling.  Although The Mafia dominated the open seas, we found ourselves increasingly frustrated with being incapable  of winning the map conquest part of the game due to the political bickering within the French nation.  TM seized upon the opportunity presented and transferred immediately to Rackham server, considered by the PotBS population to be the server where the best PvP’ed against the best.  Realizing that all was lost on Blackbeard server without TM to defend France’s waters, 90% of Blackbeard’s French nation subsequently transferred to Rackham server.  Much to their and our dismay, Le Devoir, finding itself alone, unwanted, and with a bleak outlook, followed suit and transferred to Rackham after over estimating their clout and image within the French nation.

Within a few days on our new server, TM immediately gained notoriety as it held its own against the best of the best on Rackham server.  Although, the competition was more difficult, The Mafia still enjoyed great success within the PvP scene.  No longer held back in the map conquest game by boycotts from Le Devoir, The Mafia soon found two equally motivated and skilled societies with whom it worked with, Les Grenouilles de Mer (GDM) and The Damned Yankies (TDY). TM and GDM’s mixed 6 man groups soon became the most feared 6-man PvP group on the server while TM’s own solo specialists, Golgo and MrT, established themselves as top 5 duelists on the server.

When The Mafia first transferred to Rackham, the server map had just reset with the French nation having placed 4th in the previous map.  TM was determined to enable France to a map victory.  With militaristic societies such as GDM and TDY willing to join forces with The Mafia, France started making noise in the conquest game as it successfully defended itself from relentless attacks on all sides; this ember of hope spread like wildfire and motivated the rest of the French nation.  With most of France now united under TM’s/GDM’s/TDY’s banner, France launched a blitzkrieg offensive upon the British juggernaught.

Although outnumbered 10 to 1, France defied the odds and took the fight the British on all levels: open sea, port battles, and economic markets. Under Ranker’s port battle leadership, France defeated the heavily equipped British fleet in port battle after port battle.  Ranker’s port battle record remains spotless to this day, never having lost one under his command.  Eventually, France controlled the map and won its first ever map victory due to TM’s significant role in leading the French nation.

Having sought out the best of the best in PvP, beating the best of the best in PvP, and winning the map, The Mafia found itself without any challenges to take on decided it was time to move on from the world of Pirates of the Burning Sea.