We played it through to 21st level+ but with a DM who likes to adapt and add to a story, and who encourages the players to do things that seriously influence the story world. So your experience won’t be exactly like ours.

And I’m reluctant to give spoilers. But all I’ll say is that it was very fun. We had lots of plot twists, recurring villains, interesting challenges, etc. I’m sure you will too.

you really need Stormwrack, for the nautical rules (there are some nautical elements). We played starting with core plus PHB 2, DMG2 and SW (other classes, items, spells on a case by case basis) and had plenty to play with.