Originally posted by Illyrian

http://www.warcry.com/articles/view/interviews/4809-PotBS-Server-Mergers-Explained-Our-Interview-With-CEO

 

My personal favourites:

 

"Earlier this week, Flying Lab Software made the most dreaded of announcements: server merges. Typically, this means an MMO is in trouble, but according to CEO Russell Williams, that is not the case for Pirates of the Burning Sea, which remains a healthy game, for the most part in line with their projections."

&

"So, the bottom line is simple: Are Flying Lab Software happy with the level of popularity they have received? "If you take Spain out of the equation, yeah," Williams said. Further to this, while there has been the inevitable decline in players associated with the loss of those free accounts from launch, the actual numbers have trended positive. "Our paid subscribers have been going up.""

 

I will limit myself to the observation that I would hate to know what would Russell Williams labels as unhealthy game with subscriptions going down.

 

Enjoy.

eerily similiar to the sayings of Brad McQuad regarding Vanguard

Originally posted by Thunderous

You don't just run 6 or more EXTRA servers for the heck of it. 

They were never going to fill up 9-10 servers at launch by any stretch of the imagination, it was a mistake pure & simple. FLS now admit they got their projected figures wrong despite many testers telling them not to launch with so many.

Originally posted by DJXeon

It takes a brave & honest CEO to admitt where they went wrong but you can hardly call that spin.

At least we know much if not all of it will get put right.

Ok some of you feel you have been sold short but that may not be true because if you are patient the game will get sorted. Sure it should have been sorted before release but guess what, nothing is perfect in this world & its the easiest thing to pick holes in things. Give FLS a break ffs.

 

 

Aww, isn't that cute - a brave and honest CEO. He should get a Medal of Congress, together with other great MMO martyrs - like McQuaid and Smed. You know, he is a failed and bumbling businessman and not a war hero.

I think a lying and incompetent CEO was caught red handed. Now it is time to do the damage control and try to spin some more. Heck, what does he have to lose at this point?

Not to mention that servers were 2/3 full at launch - that is 7 - 8 servers, even that is a cut by half to current 4. The current 4 are semi dead also and that is after FLS tweaked values for low/medium/high. You know, I actually remember very high counts on some servers:P

I am going to make a bet they will fall to one active server and then FLS will state how that is great beacue EVE has only one server.

Ahh, the amusement, too bad reading Rusty's drivel is more fun then playing his half baked game.

Originally posted by Illyrian

 

 

 

Aww, isn't that cute - a brave and honest CEO. He should get a Medal of Congress, together with other great MMO martyrs - like McQuaid and Smed. You know, he is a failed and bumbling businessman and not a war hero.

 

I think a lying and incompetent CEO was caught red handed. Now it is time to do the damage control and try to spin some more. Heck, what does he have to lose at this point?

 

Not to mention that servers were 2/3 full at launch - that is 7 - 8 servers, even that is a cut by half to current 4. The current 4 are semi dead also and that is after FLS tweaked values for low/medium/high. You know, I actually remember very high counts on some servers:P

 

I am going to make a bet they will fall to one active server and then FLS will state how that is great beacue EVE has only one server.

 

Ahh, the amusement, too bad reading Rusty's drivel is more fun then playing his half baked game.

Omg more moaning - doom & gloom LOL

Why not ask for your money back?  except you wont get it  

Originally posted by DJXeon

 

Originally posted by Illyrian

 

 

 

Aww, isn't that cute - a brave and honest CEO. He should get a Medal of Congress, together with other great MMO martyrs - like McQuaid and Smed. You know, he is a failed and bumbling businessman and not a war hero.

 

I think a lying and incompetent CEO was caught red handed. Now it is time to do the damage control and try to spin some more. Heck, what does he have to lose at this point?

 

Not to mention that servers were 2/3 full at launch - that is 7 - 8 servers, even that is a cut by half to current 4. The current 4 are semi dead also and that is after FLS tweaked values for low/medium/high. You know, I actually remember very high counts on some servers:P

 

I am going to make a bet they will fall to one active server and then FLS will state how that is great beacue EVE has only one server.

 

Ahh, the amusement, too bad reading Rusty's drivel is more fun then playing his half baked game.

 

Omg more moaning - doom & gloom LOL

Why not ask for your money back?  except you wont get it  

I would but I think Russell Williams is too cheap of a bugger and he is probably low on funds by now:)

Originally posted by DJXeon

 

Originally posted by Thunderous

You don't just run 6 or more EXTRA servers for the heck of it. 

Believe it or not thats what it looked like to many beta testers.

 

They were never going to fill up 9-10 servers at launch by any stretch of the imagination, it was a mistake pure & simple. FLS now admit they got their projected figures wrong despite many testers telling them not to launch with so many.

That's just bad business.  Beta testers identifying something that paid professionals can't...  PotBS has no hope for lasting.  It is very much doomed.

Beta testers were actually proven right about a fair number of things that FLS had assumed would work out better.

Key point being that FLS devs have openly admitted they have little to no experience with MMOs.  Heck - the producer left at launch time to go work on Xbox 360 games.  That there speaks volumes to me.  Their inexperience and generally naive / optimistic attitude lead them into some very choppy waters.

It's really unfortunate - as the team was one of the most interactive I've seen short of the CCP devs.  It's just they seemed to either talk without listening, or listened to the wrong element of the community (read - the most vocal cheerleaders of the beta group).

That said - doomed is a pretty unrealistic label.  It's on the Station Pass - so it'll continue to exist.  As long as they can keep funding their dev staff they have a chance at putting the ship aright - much greater advantage than other SOE games (Matrix, SWG, Vanguard) which have their teams cut down and put onto other projects in the stable.

With any luck FLS will do well enough to consider making another MMO in the future having learned something from this experience.  I would hate to see any independent developer go down the tubes as it's bad for the genre as a whole.

Originally posted by jakin

Beta testers were actually proven right about a fair number of things that FLS had assumed would work out better.

Key point being that FLS devs have openly admitted they have little to no experience with MMOs.  Heck - the producer left at launch time to go work on Xbox 360 games.  That there speaks volumes to me.  Their inexperience and generally naive / optimistic attitude lead them into some very choppy waters.

It's really unfortunate - as the team was one of the most interactive I've seen short of the CCP devs.  It's just they seemed to either talk without listening, or listened to the wrong element of the community (read - the most vocal cheerleaders of the beta group).

That said - doomed is a pretty unrealistic label.  It's on the Station Pass - so it'll continue to exist.  As long as they can keep funding their dev staff they have a chance at putting the ship aright - much greater advantage than other SOE games (Matrix, SWG, Vanguard) which have their teams cut down and put onto other projects in the stable.

With any luck FLS will do well enough to consider making another MMO in the future having learned something from this experience.  I would hate to see any independent developer go down the tubes as it's bad for the genre as a whole.

/agree - Your observations are spot on.

Does anyone really expect any developer to admit to having difficulties with their game? Seriously, who would want to play a game who's developer is announcing they're having troubles. S, even if FLS is having difficulties, they'd never admit it..no company would...its just not a sound business plan.

"Hey come play our game, it sucks and we really need your money to eat."

Originally posted by DJXeon

 

Originally posted by bachanam

 

You can't compare them to Bill Gates.

 

Maybe not but from reading through the lines of what Rusty said FLS never even intended to have ports at conception & for the game to evolve into what it is today with 60 staff is quite an achievement in my opinion.

 

They also appear to be firmly committed to expanding Potbs.

No where near blizzards size with 1000's of employees backed by a rich Vivendi but good nevertheless.

 

This is laziness.  You don't need a staff of 1,000 to have a successful game.  Turbine is not a huge company, and LOTRO is relatively bug-free.  I'm not a large fan of the game, but you gotta tip your hat. 

And while experience does matter, one cannot be expected to support a company when the rationale is "they're a new company, they're gonna screw up a lot, but stick with them."

Why not just say "you know guys, I think this game is fun.  Yes it has flaws, but the company is working to address them.  In the meantime, those things that still exist I find fun, so I will keep playing, and I invite you to come check it out."  That's the difference between the fan of the game and the fanboi.

Originally posted by iceman00

 

Originally posted by DJXeon

 

Originally posted by bachanam

 

You can't compare them to Bill Gates.

 

Maybe not but from reading through the lines of what Rusty said FLS never even intended to have ports at conception & for the game to evolve into what it is today with 60 staff is quite an achievement in my opinion.

 

They also appear to be firmly committed to expanding Potbs.

No where near blizzards size with 1000's of employees backed by a rich Vivendi but good nevertheless.

 

 

This is laziness.  You don't need a staff of 1,000 to have a successful game.  Turbine is not a huge company, and LOTRO is relatively bug-free.  I'm not a large fan of the game, but you gotta tip your hat. 

And while experience does matter, one cannot be expected to support a company when the rationale is "they're a new company, they're gonna screw up a lot, but stick with them."

Why not just say "you know guys, I think this game is fun.  Yes it has flaws, but the company is working to address them.  In the meantime, those things that still exist I find fun, so I will keep playing, and I invite you to come check it out."  That's the difference between the fan of the game and the fanboi.

Problem is that we don't have any fun things to do in PotBS

Originally posted by Epyon529

Originally posted by iceman00

 

Originally posted by DJXeon

 

Originally posted by bachanam

 

You can't compare them to Bill Gates.

 

Maybe not but from reading through the lines of what Rusty said FLS never even intended to have ports at conception & for the game to evolve into what it is today with 60 staff is quite an achievement in my opinion.

 

They also appear to be firmly committed to expanding Potbs.

No where near blizzards size with 1000's of employees backed by a rich Vivendi but good nevertheless.

 

 

This is laziness.  You don't need a staff of 1,000 to have a successful game.  Turbine is not a huge company, and LOTRO is relatively bug-free.  I'm not a large fan of the game, but you gotta tip your hat. 

And while experience does matter, one cannot be expected to support a company when the rationale is "they're a new company, they're gonna screw up a lot, but stick with them."

Why not just say "you know guys, I think this game is fun.  Yes it has flaws, but the company is working to address them.  In the meantime, those things that still exist I find fun, so I will keep playing, and I invite you to come check it out."  That's the difference between the fan of the game and the fanboi.

Problem is that we don't have any fun things to do in PotBS

See for me, I still work econ deals, still do collobration with other societies, more of the social aspect.  It's not what it used to be for me in SWG, but I can still have fun with a game I don't have to play constantly.  I know that's a minority style, and I don't blame people for getting pissed and not playing this game.