I will recreate this same thread in the BBO forum as well, since it's the same game run by 2 diffrent companies.

BBO is at  : http://www.mmorpg.com/gamelist.cfm/game/295

Well i have played and i am still playing BBO, on the F2p Server, all i can say that it is a diffrent change from VCO, with the community being wonderfull and helpfull . Not so many "spoiled" kids here compared to other MMO's population.

If you are at least 18+ and act mature, you will find a new home for your online gaming needs :)

As many of you know BBO is the same game as VCO (Voyage Century Online) but ran by a diffrent company ( with it's headquarters in Germany VCO is run by an US company but with it's HQ in Asia).

Bounty Bay Online - Run by Yusho, have decent staff members who actually know what they are doing and how they are doing it, so far i haven't seen them doing anything to the game in order to ruin it. I like it how a managing company doesn't interfeer in the game with all sorts of activities and does not make radical changes all of the sudden without making sure everything works perfectly and it is bug free. Even if there is a Bug of some sorts they can quickly fix it. The support team actually knows how to speak english and understands it perfectly and they provide real sollutions to problems you may encounter.

As for VCO,

VCO gives new players some "pimped" out Ship and Gear, to attract new players, but what this actually accomplished was to destroy 25-30% of the game's content, disolving any attempt to craft your own gear and leveling the inferior levels of your ship. (Practicly you are missing out since the lower levels are the most fun to play on, since they are not so grindy ) . I got a level 6 raider ship quite fast on BBO without the need help of "Newbie" items, and i enjoyed it. Besides the "Newbie" Gear you receive in VCO there are some really lame events with really dumb rewards, who put some players who have worked really hard for their gear in a disadvantage, making them question why they are still playing there.

VCO is ran by a really money hungry company as well, taking content out of the Free game, and making you Pay for it in order to gain access etc. (Yes not to mention the faulty support, in which if you are in trouble you could wait at least 1 week to explain and re-explain the same case over and over again untill you reach the end of your nerves)

BBO/VCO offers a lot of content with plenty trading skills (Mining/Logging/Fishing/Tailoring/ShipBuilding/Foundry/Alchemy etc. ) to intense Ship battles and Land Battle.

The newly F2p server  on BBO was launched aprox ~1 Month ago so you will find a lot of new players just starting out like yourself.

All in all if you are looking for some time to relax you can enjoy this game and at the same time find out how the world looked a few hundred years ago, then you should give this game a try.

A few questions/observations about this post.

Question: Is there no Dragon Gunboat? You start with the old basic ship and change it for a level 1 at the beggining? And no recruit´s weapons/jewels?

The publishers of these games are different, but the developer is the same, so how can I know the engine is not the same? For exemple, the  rl money draining fail rates of the two games are the same or different? I don´t mind to have a fail rate by crafting a weapon or uniform, but when it comes to refiners, that´s my hard earned rl money that goes on failed, failed, failed.

How are the quests? Are them the same as VCO or are different? I believe the new HI patch is implemented, so i have to ask: are there new quests? Honest new quests, or just lame excuses to make you spend money on Item Mall?

If the F2P server has just open, I think there are no High levels yet (one can never know, I started VCO in the end of open beta and already there was people there with every skill maxed), but how will it be for high level(dragon) equipment. Are the mats impossible to find or you have a good chance to get them?

 IGG is a bloodsucking company, that is for sure. But how can I know Yusho will not become one too, once they have the chance? If the codes of the games are the same, that is much likely to happen.

 Just to say: this is no flame. I am just a VCO addict that is very angry with IGG´s greed. But would not F2P BBO be just a trap for guys like me? people who are p****** off with IGG that may leave one evil to be victim of another?

Please do not try to compare the German superiority of managing stuff to the Chinese management.

Well go ahead and check it out yourself, and no you do not get Dragon GunBoat or other new commer gear as you do in VCO.

About high level materials, that depends there is already a market for materials but as people get higher level in trading skills, more high level materials will be availeable. Regarding the IM Cash shop, guess you will have to come and see it for yourself.

   Honestly, to come and see how it is to have my doubts cleared it would take 10 months or more. 

  I understand you start the old fashioned way, lvl 1 boat, crappy weapons, no noob jewelry. I started like this in VCO, so no news here.

  No answer about quests. Still don´t know if they are the same or different of VCO ones.

  About mats to craft dragon, I really don´t see much a relation with high level trade skill. The most rare items if you want to craft dragon gear are the treasures(discovered after the making of high level treasure maps). if making a lvl 3 map in VCO is hard and a level 4 is nearly impossible, and there is always the chance you find a lower level treasure from a high level map. How hard it is to find a lvl 4 treasure weapon to craft a black dragon weapon?

   I really don´t wanna join BBO to find out about IM because it would be exactly what I am trying to avoid coming to the foruns and asking users about game details. I play VCO for 13 months now, but it was only in the last couple of months that it really became expensive. In my first 11 months in game I´ve spent U$ 10/month in IM.

  My doubts about the game engine(especially about fail rates) remain. And I can see, watching BBO IM, that even the infamous auto scrolls are present.  And the even more absurd phase 3 books either. And a few more stuff that would need a thread for them alone.

  Seriously, a quick watch on BBO IM make it seems even worst than VCO one. But that would take a whole new thread alone.

If you aren't looking for a good experience then go ahead and stick with VCO.

The scroll books become useless once you reach a certain level as you can get more exp doing the actual thing that the skill was designed for.

   In BBO there are phase 3 autoscrolls, that give you 3 times the xp gain of the regular ones. This means you get 64,8 million points on 6 hours of online imobility. This means a whole level and more after level 100.

   Everything that is bad and in VCO is also in free BBO. Unless Yusho is a company of righteous paladins and asked for changes-in their disfavour-in a game engine designed to be a money drain.

I replied to your posts in the other thread. If you have so much against F2p games with Item Mall items then there's a p2p version which costs 15$/month.

  I really never played a payed game, so I could never have an opinion about it. I played only F2P games, and the only one where I evolved a char till high level was VCO. All this argument began after I just stated a few opinions of mine about the game on latest stages that you didn´t took well.

  I guess one should be cautious when get in some high debate about a game that is playing for a month or so, and never tasted the real deal. I´ve been  playing VCO for 14 months, now. And I just started to spend real money in the last 2 or 3. Before that, I used to spend U$ 10 a month. But I´m in a war guild, and if I want to keep up I need to spend much more money. That´s how it is in VCO. The game features are designed for it. And these features are the same in both VCO and BBO. Maybe Yusho still haven´t faced the problem yet, and maybe it reacts in a different way. But it´s IM is no different - or I should say-  even larger than VCO´s. And the points spendure is the same.

 I don´t think I would try payed BBO. I think one account provides you a too limited experience of the game. One account, 2 chars, impossible to be logged at the same time.  If one could have 3 accounts for each subscription, then things could work, imho.

 Well, anyway, I still haven´t found a game that could make me leave VCO. Free BBO could have its appeal. But I think I know where it´s going. I don´t want to spend 12 months playing a game just to find myself in the exact position I was a year before.

The truth behind all this is that BBO is not that great.

OK BBO members flame all you want at me but that is the truth. I mean firstly look at the ratings on mmorpg.com.I played VCO for a year and tried BBO to but didn't pay for more then a month or 2.

I just missed VCO and the large comunity(if BBO is larger i don't know but VCO's is better).I missed the alliances, the wars, the guys that were better then me believe it or not, In BBO everyone is all the same lvl.I even missed the rows between alliance members in public chat.

Hurricane patch may have lost alot of players but slowly they are all coming back. The new colonial patch will be released in May/June and it will certainly bring alot back.

I posted this in the bbo forum too

i did not try BBO but VCO is a VERY GOOD game.

BBO is the copy of VCO ,BBO has no item mall and its not free.

VCO

   Actually, BBO has two server, one P2P and other F2P with Item Mall.

  The second one may be more successfull, once VCO/BBO is a game designed for multiple account and AFK leveling. That´s why I always thought  BBO was a bad idea. And Yusho seems to think the same, once they launched a F2P server.