They randomly went through and changed some unlimited access beta accounts to the limited/basic account access. It's not pretty. I was downgraded and I'm not able to do a thing because my levels are "too high" for basic. I can't access my big ships, most of my cool battle skills, and I can't gain any points for fighting or sinking.
But, I did discover that on your main pirate screen where you choose which pirate to load, there is a gold arrow where it says "basic access". Click on it and it should take you to a screen that says "unlimited access". Once there, you can create a new pirate, uh, yes, you have to start all over again
But until they fix those of us that were switched to basic, I'm dealing with a new pirate. Basic is, well, for a lack of better words, too freaking basic!
The game just went down for more updates, so I'm REALLY hoping that they see the error in their ways and fix things. Yes it's beta, that's why we're there to test these things, but wouldn't it have made more sense for new Beta players to test the basic accounts than those of us that have been around since phase 1?
Trying to stay positive, I really am