Pirates of the Burning Sea

Okay, with the free 14 day trial for PoTBS coming soon, thought I would get some feedback in a single thread as opposed to reading dozens of them.

I've played a ton of MMOs.  This goes back to the launch of EQ1.  It also includes massively problemed games like SWG, MxO, and Anarchy Online.  Games that have been killed, like Earth & Beyond.  And even CoH and WoW.

My playstyle is casual (work and family), with some RP enjoyment here and there.  Game immersion is a huge factor.  Felt that in CoH and WoW to a degree.  Original SWG (problems aside) went a good way toward it.  Heck, so did MxO in its own right.

So, a few questions . . .

1)  I understand PoTBS was originally conceived as a ship-to-ship game, and Avatars were tossed in later in development.  I'm a PnP Publisher, and talked to one of the people at the SOE booth at last year's GenCon (forget his name, but he once wrote Magic: The Gathering novels for WoTC).  My question: how does Avatar questing and combat rate?

2)  How balanced or imbalanced is PvP?  For me, what killed it in WoW was the "one spec for each class to survive."  Is PoTBS designed the same way, or are different ship builds viable?

3)  How unbalanced is the economy?

4)  Playing Pirates of the Carribean Online, currently, I like the fact that in or out of combat, one can move about the ship.  Is that possible in PoTBS, or is it all from "high above" with the camera like I see in the game-play videos at YouTube?

5)  I'm not looking to race to level 50, or max a ship quickly, but how viable is it to play and accomplish anything in the game on a casual playstyle?  or is it a hardcore, time-sink more in line with EVE Online?

Thanks,

I will post my observations after 3 Subscriptions/cancellations.  Was on last maybe 2 weeks ago.  It's a pirate game so I end up going back for more punishment eventually.  My style is similar, casual, limited play time, family first. 

   I played on Bonny for a while which has subsequently been merged to Antigua.  You can play solo if you choose but the RvR portion of the game may limit your experience a bit meaning if a port or ports that are part of your quest line is in contention which in my case something in my quest book always was then you will have to pump up the adreneline and make a run through conetested waters.  This isn't that bad actually as you can pop on in off hours and make the run but if your caught you can be sunk.  Lvl 50 against a lvl 1 means nothing, it's the way the game rolls.

   You can't move about your ship if you are OS sailing.  Going from point A to point B on the open sea you while be in a slightly reduced graphical representation of your ship with no crew or Capt.  visible, kind of like driving a car with the wasd keys.  If you enter OS/mission combat then your ship will be nicely detailed with crew and Capt. visible ( still can't move your toon ).   Only when you are boarded or initiate a succesful boarding will you be in control of your avatar and free to walk about the deck.

   There are land based missions which calls for avatar combat but for myself it was done poorly, most likely due to the last minute inclusion of the avatars.  Last time I played I was treated to 5 or 6 instances over and over and over with different missions attached to them, so scenery is limited.  Avatars are limited to boarding combat, missions, and running around the towns ( which a lot of them use the same layout as well ).   

   Everything is an instance.  You will be treated to more loading screens than you'll no what to do with.  Leave town "loading", crap forgot more ammo "loading", ah theres the AH "loading", well back to the ship "loading". hey there's the dock "loading" finally on the open sea, lets see my quest journal says to go to the next town up "loading" I could do that all day but you get the message.

   I think it would be a real winner if they could find a way to integrate the different play styles instead of catering to the dwindling PvP crowd.  Most of the PVE'rs figured it out a while ago and left, me I keep forgetting what I didn't like about the game and keep coming back only to remember 3 days later.  One of these days I will learn.

   I don't think I wasted my money as it would be a decent stand alne game for $49.  It's got a long way to go before I think it should be entitled to $15 a month like it's big cousins with with 20+ times more content and features. 

Seems to me like the free trial is the way to go.

Now, I'm not a WoW fandome member by any stretch.  Usually I would jump between that and my CoH/V account on a cancel/sub cycle.  CoH is notorious for very limited map-set choices, combined with nothing but instanced missions (except for the occassional street-hunt/kill X mission).

As for WoW, the gear/loot stuff aside, even I have to admit it is a pretty seamless game and well done for what it is meant to be.

Being a major fan of Pirates and a variety of related films (even the Disney trilogy), Pirates of the Carribean Online has surprised me at how fun it is, given that it's a Disney Online game.  Even though you load going from island to sea to island (and in changing some areas, like entering the Wild Woods), the load times are so fast that they actually don't bother me.

I'll have to see how fast or slow the load times in PoTBS are for my comp/connection during the trial.  But, yes, constant load screens will grow annoying real fast.  I hated that about EQ2.

The graphics for OS travel is a bummer.  That might be a turn-off real quick, as I prefer to get into a MMO and that is a bit of a detractor.

I understand the NPC crews that accompany a PC on a boarding of another ship to take it over.  However, in PoTBS is it possible for multiple PCs to be on the same ship?

I ask because in PoTCO this is possible, and actually quite fun.

No you can't walk around your own ship, and no other players can't join you, I will admit it its a let down there are some need for improvements in certain areas which are on the PotBS site forums, If you want the best pirate game or of similar area this is it I would have to say but there isn't very much to do once you get higher other than pvp. I'm lvl 30 atm and I have no idea where im to go for my next quest i'm incredibly poor as to I invested in the economy and no ones buying my things (i'm even doing 1 coin cheaper so mine sells first). I love the ship combat its my favorite part of the game the loading screens don't bother me to be honest if you have a nice rig there nothing more than a few seconds maybe a minute. I feel that if FLS gets going with upgrades and enhancements this will be a great game to sit back and play but right now the population is an issue and so are things to do, I say check back in around fall maybe winter and it should be better due to improvements if you want to get ahead of the game for that time/hope of a brighter future jump right in its not hard to level, even if you just play casual ( i played about 1-2 hours a day and get a lvl a day (side note: I did have quest to do than though) ). Another side note you can make your own sails and flags which i will admit I spent a day doing was quite fun and fulfilling as to i put thought into it.

Well, like I said, I'll give the free trial a shot in a couple of weeks, but right now I'm really hoping the game plays better than it sounds.

Walking around on the ship, and having other PCs on the ship- while a minor thing- could be a deal breaker for me.  Sadly, when I'm in the mood for RP, I want to RP the setting.  And that includes ship-based.

If the ships are only there to provide a sort of ship-combat simulation, I'm not interested.  There are free games that provide that.  Christ, even in Star Wars Galaxies (as bad as that is) one could walk around in, have other players aboard, and personalize the transport ships.

So, we'll see.

I was given the game as a present. My wife and I played for a while but didn't carry on after our first prepaid month. I never once engaged in PvP nor maxed out a character, so my play experience is probably quite different than a lot of people. ("Ganking" wasn't a factor in my decision to move along, for example.)

1) Avatar questing and combat was uneven for me. I never really liked the look and feel of the avatar-level game, for a start; "uncanny valley" seems to fit. The actual combat gameplay (exclusively in instances) either went from "cakewalk" to "doom" -- I could either sail through a combat or get trounced. The deciding factor was always # of opponents -- either too little to worry with or a three/four foe Zerg rush.  I would've prefered a lot more "holy crap that was close" moments in swordplay. The storylines and writing in all the quests were quite good, however, especially compared to the "skin 10 rats" regurgitations of other games.

2) No clue.

3) Again, no clue, but I found the economic gameplay odd. It was based more on developing harvesting "plantations" (mines, gravel pits, whatever) at various ports, which seems fitting for a particular *type* of character rather than the baseline economy. All I know is that the game encouraged me to harvest a bunch of gravel. I did that, then couldn't sell it to break even, much less a profit. I went back to firing cannons at ships. Much more cathartic.

4) High above. It is nifty to watch your crew scurry about the deck. You're only an avatar on ship when you're doing a boarding-party fight, though.

5) I felt accomplished even though I only got up to, oh, 25 or thereabouts. Depends on what you mean by "viable." The early game is instanced quests, and while I like instanced quests I think the game REALLY overdoes it. I got my ding fix well enough, and levelling up gave me new doodads to play with, so there was accomplishment there.

Pvp is fun but mostly its just gank squads running around its never really one and one, the most fun i had thought is when I had a group of some lvl 30's after me ( i was 26 at the moment) and was about to out run them and board em required some patience (as one dropped out since he fell to far behind) and tactics but mostly like i said its large groups ganking either solo players smaller groups or same size groups so that needs work, Since in all other mmo's you will run by single players in pvp once in awhile.