We're revisiting Flying Lab Software's seafaring MMO, Pirates of the Burning Sea, in our latest official review. Has the game improved since switching over to the free-to-play model? Read on to find out!

I've always been a fan of piracy. Something about not having a destination or goal to speak of, doing jobs as you need it and the overabundance of easily acquired booty (in more ways than one). So when some of my friends got into Pirates of the Burning Sea, I liked the idea from the get-go. The game offered a level of freedom that I found desirable, while still giving a sense of direction before saying “here is the world, go out and have fun”.

Read more of Tyler Rowe's Pirates of the Burning Sea: Our Official F2P Review.

I'm surprised it received such a high score, but then again you guys rated SWTOR 8.7 so really shouldn't be surprised.

Interesting timing considering there are some pretty major changes coming to the game soon. Like, a total overhaul.

http://www.burningsea.com/page/news/article&article_id=271289

http://www.burningsea.com/page/news/article&article_id=271291

 

Originally posted by marz.at.play

I'm surprised it received such a high score, but then again you guys rated SWTOR 8.7 so really shouldn't be surprised.

7.4 is about right, it is certainly better than a lot of that f2p crap.  Not a high score at all.  Fighting actually has some challenge to it, since the player with the wind advantage almost always has theedge in a fight.

You really have to sub for a month as even after the sub expires, crafting and ship storage expansions stays with your characters.

This game is much better when played with friends as solo you are pretty much a big target.

Originally posted by Methos12

Interesting timing considering there are some pretty major changes coming to the game soon. Like, a total overhaul.

http://www.burningsea.com/page/news/article&article_id=271289

http://www.burningsea.com/page/news/article&article_id=271291



 

 

I noticed that after the review was already written sadly :S

But on its own right now, it is playable. When the game can be re-reviewed, some 6 months down the line, I'll be happy to do it again. By that time any issues they claim in those announcements will be ironed out and (hopefully) the population will bump up some.

as you can see by the signature... one of the sleeper games out there in my opinion.

it's really a lot of fun especially if you enjoy caribbean history as i do.

       For some reason I wasnt impressed wit this game at all.....Uninstalled in less than a week..... Voyage Century Online is about the only one in this genre that I liked at all.

Ratings seem a bit high considering many of the flaws mentioned which really shouldn't be there 4 years after launch.  (but I'm a tough grader)

Playable games get a 5 or a 6 the way I see it and the best market leaders have yet to score a 9 yet.  (8.7 is about as high as I would go)

Still, that this title is still alive surprises me, seemed like one doomed to a quick exit after it's less than spectacular launch so to their credit they keep it going. (and looks like even making some improvements)

If this game had open PVP instead of that ridiculous "PvP flagging" system people would still be playing it....

I know I would.

They should open a hardcore server and remove that flag. Where anyone in the open seas can be attacked. Force the game into a sandbox where political ties actually mean something. I bet it would blow up. :D

Longevity 6/10

With the population in its current state, I found it difficult to keep playing for more than three weeks.

What is the issue with the games' population?

Wish we could get a Sid Miers Pirates mixed with New Horizons (snes game), and Tropico 1-2 all mashed into one. That would be the best Pirate game ever created.

Originally posted by bezado

Wish we could get a Sid Miers Pirates mixed with New Horizons (snes game), and Tropico 1-2 all mashed into one. That would be the best Pirate game ever created.

Well, there is Uncharted Waters Online so that may be familiar waters for New Horizons players. Although I have no idea how it's doing these days.

Well, there will be a new "age of sail pirate" game named Wind of Luck - open beta will be live in Fall 2012, I hope. 

The new patch for this game that was released last week has given this game a distinctive pay to win format.

The exremely low player population of this game makes the genre name MMO ( massively multiplayer) a  misnomer in this particular case.

The avatar combat mechanic in this game is without a doubt the worst i have ever seen in any game.

The only good thing to say about this game in it`s current state is that if you enjoy the PVE aspect of the game you will have very little competition from other players when completeing your quests because there just aren`t many other players. There is also very little chance that you will be dragged into the forced pvp aspect of the game because again there just aren`t very many  other players to attack you.

The fact that genre games typically have low populations doesn`t  fully  explain the near ghost town atmosphere and feeling of this game.There is definately something wrong with the basic foundation of this game to explain why it has failed to attract and retain players.

Originally posted by NBForrest1

The new patch for this game that was released last week has given this game a distinctive pay to win format.

The exremely low player population of this game makes the genre name MMO ( massively multiplayer) a  misnomer in this particular case.

The avatar combat mechanic in this game is without a doubt the worst i have ever seen in any game.

The only good thing to say about this game in it`s current state is that if you enjoy the PVE aspect of the game you will have very little competition from other players when completeing your quests because there just aren`t many other players. There is also very little chance that you will be dragged into the forced pvp aspect of the game because again there just aren`t very many  other players to attack you.

The fact that genre games typically have low populations doesn`t  fully  explain the near ghost town atmosphere and feeling of this game.There is definately something wrong with the basic foundation of this game to explain why it has failed to attract and retain players.

 

Sorry to burst your bubble, but there are a lot of people playing this game.  Way to post a lot of nonsense.  Avatar combat is not well done, but the ship combat is great.  Has a decent crafting design too.  It also has 4 factions which can lead to some interesting pvp.

I was a subscriber of the game back in 2008 and all the way up to a few months before it went F2P.  Although I didn't lived its heyday when it had 17 servers, I could see it sink into depopulation as some issues were never adressed and the developers made some disputable choices concerning PvP and PvE.

Back in my day, losing a ship was not a choice, really, as there wasn't enough players building them to save yourself a couple of days running around the map looking for replacement. Buying them from NPC was a waste. Ground PvE was shfited to "sweep through hordes of NPC hitting the same keystrokes again and again and again and again and again and again" (1,3,1,4,1,1,3,1,4,1,1, 3...) which felt boring as hell. Also, PvP forced developers to nerf  everybody else's ships (I recall the Royal Couronne affair, a trader's elite ship that could hold its own on all but the best PvP ships... so was nerfed to be crushed like everything else) and then PvP players would turn all harbors into PvP zones through besieging, -and, as i said, losing you ship was not a choice.

In a way, I am happy that POTBS has lasted until 2012, but in my books this game is an instance of why developers should not listen to players too much and why PvP nuts are a plague.