Beyond the Horizon will add six new cities on the shores of North and South America and much more new content and new features to the historic sailor MMO world. For the first time ever, players will have the opportunity to circumvent the world by taking the route around Cape Hoorn and across the Pacific. Available in German and English first, French players will be able to explore the new content a few months later. Like all previous add-ons, Beyond the Horizon will be available for free.

On their journey across the seas, players will travel to the legendary lands of the Maya in Beyond the Horizon, where, amidst imposing pyramids, players will find a new challenging, instanced, quest line. More instances like the Labyrinth on Crete or the Caves of Gibraltar await players following the compelling new quest lines.

Moreover, players will be able to choose from five new character classes called professions in “Beyond the Horizon”. Where players only could advance their skills and careers so far, they can now choose to become a Treasure Hunter, Armed Businessman, Royal Military Officer, Imperial Guardian or Caribbean Pirate. Every profession has their own skill-tree of specialties that can be raised by allocating skill-points.

Even the most hard-boiled pirates and seafarers long for a little love and romance alongside the routine of combat and discovery. Therefore the new marriage system in the announced expansion ‘Beyond the Horizon’ offers all love-struck freebooters the opportunity to make their love official. 

 There will be two NPCs in front of the church in London who will be at players’ disposal as wedding planners. Those wishing to marry can use them to reserve the London cathedral for the celebrations and also to get invitations for friends and the wedding dress, as well as decorations for the church. Players get these items for coupons which they can obtain via special quests or get from the Item shop.  On the other hand, the happy couple can buy wedding rings and the bride’s bouquet from the NPCs using in-game currency.

Once all of the arrangements have been made, the master of ceremonies and the most senior witnesses will lead the marriage pair through the wedding until the bond of marriage, accompanied by music chosen by the wedding guests, can be happily sealed. As a first wedding present, the newlyweds will receive an increase in their character values and a ring symbol next to their names will signal that they are now no longer there for the taking.

Another important new feature of the historical world of sea-faring adventurers will be several merchants alliances like the Iberian or the Arabian merchant alliance: Individual players or complete guilds will be able to join them. Together they are then able to access special quest lines that yield exceptional rewards. Additional high-lights of “Beyond the Horizon” are a new wedding system, new wardrobe/clothes sets, several new mini-games, over 40 new main quests and several new pets. Furthermore the new ranking systems of “Beyond the Horizon” will appeal to those players who always wanted to know who are the strongest guilds, the best land-lubbing fighters, the best fishermen or the wealthiest players overall!

Whether in a nail-biting one-on-one, or a thrilling group encounter in 2vs2 or 5vs5 mode, the coming ‘Beyond the Horizon’ expansion will let plucky players measure themselves against their peers in both land and sea combat. Two new arenas will be opening their gates as venues for the tournaments. The land combat arena with its Asiatic look and the deceptively picturesque bay which forms the new sea combat arena, will invite belligerent players from all over the seafarer world to take on all comers. There will be four NPC’s at the harbour in Athens who will accept players’ registrations for the weekly tournaments within a defined signing up period. During the registration players will also select between individual or group combat and decide on either the land or sea combat arena as their tournament showplace. Respective opponents will be drawn on a random basis. The best participants will compete over three rounds towards a final where highly desirable in-game prizes beckon. A detailed ranking system will provide continuous information about the outcomes of the conflicts; number of knockouts, match timings, listings of the best teams or individual combatants.

Together with the new PvP arenas and tournaments, the add-on will include lots of new features such as the new continent of South America, six new cities, five new character classes, new instances, new pet-system and new pets, new ranking systems and new mini-games. In keeping with its predecessors, ‘Beyond the Horizon’ will be available free of charge.

Bounty Bay Online players will be able to go up against one another in various combat modes starting Nov. 25, 2009.