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Pirates of the Burning Sea: Visit Report Preview (Page 2 of 2)
Playing the Game Without further ado, I was brought to the “pit” – a circular area where the designers programmed. Nautical ornaments were the standard decoration, including Tricorn hats with the Jolly Roger, parrots, as well as scale models of sailing ships and a Lego pirate ship. After introductions to Valerie “Val” Miller, a Mission Designer, I was taken into Executive Producer, Russell “Rusty” William’s sanctum which sported large models of the Nautilus (The submarine from 20,000 Leagues under the Sea – it looked to be about 1:64 scale. Now… did he build that himself?), and the Space Battleship Yamato (if only I had worn my large trench coat…)With Taylor as coach, I created a character. After wa-ay too many ball-gown choices, I finally found a piratical looking coat, picked a wicked cutlass and jumped into the game. Instant level 15, 1 million gold and I was ready. Picking a scout class ship, I spent skill points in Accuracy, Tacking and Nimble Sails, purchased my ammunition – Round Shot, Chain Shot & Grape Shot for damage, to take down masts and to kill crew (blood thirsty aren’t I?) – and repair materials while Val demonstrated the “emote” system.
I played on a beautiful 23” Apple Cinema LCD monitor. Gorgeous, but not being used to something that large (and close), had a little difficulty keeping track of my various health/target indicator and mini-map. Despite that, I found game play intuitive, the indicators helpful once I knew what I was looking at and blew Val out of the water and captured her ship – a hunter class which is a medium sized ship. I’m sure she was being kind as I was a newcomer to the game whereas she was a mission designer. Like all MMOs, your character or ship in this instance, depends on Health or Hit Points and another form of power that has to be managed to use certain skills or ability. In the case of PotBS, it is known as Will.
“I can tell you’re an MMO gamer.” Taylor told me, “You picked up on the strategy immediately.” Although I knew close to nothing about sailing except the very basics, Taylor had explained what each type of ammunition did and where a ship was most vulnerable. We discussed whether those who understood the physics of sailing would have an advantage in the game but Taylor’s comment was that MMO gamers seemed to do better as they seemed to pick up the game faster. Players new to the game only have to sail around a bit to learn how a ship moves with the wind, and a little reading and experience will clue you in on which skills are best for each type of ship. The better strategist you are – picking the right skills for each ship and knowing when to use them will serve you better than knowing what a jib sail does as the game does not get into that kind of detail. i.e. although you can raise and lower your sails to affect your speed, you will not be trimming your sails.
The Fun of PotBS Unlike other MMOs where you select a class and that is the class you play unless you switch characters, PotBS is a “vehicular” game and the fun is in the versatility of the ships you acquire. There are three basic classes of ships. The Scout class – lighter and faster ships, the Hunter class – medium frigate sized ships and the Galleon class – your heavy, slow, well armored, high fire power ships. Shades of pen and paper… Mechwarrior? Yes. Except that this is historical and real time MMO with all the inherent excitement. No taking turns to move and attack here.
Which is the popular nation as proven by beta applications? Take a guess. Arrrrrrr! I asked about player nation imbalances and turncoats. Someone wrote down the turncoat idea and Taylor explained their encounter system. To prevent “zerging” and overpowering by sheer numbers alone, multiplayer encounters will be instanced and locked. At this time, the number of attackers and defenders are limited to 25 on each side. Slots will be decided on a lottery system, and each gamer’s reputation points buys him a certain number of lottery tickets. A long-time player may have more chances to get into a slot, but lady luck calls the numbers. Apart from the four nations mentioned, neutral Dutch ports will be a feature where players of all nations can mingle. As Troy tells us, “The Dutch will serve as the middle ground for trade and interaction between the different nationalities, and there will be a Dutch auction house.” Will gamers of each nation be able to speak to each other? “Yes and no.” was the answer. To prevent any speech between players of each nation would be historically unrealistic and also not something that promotes friendly gameplay if your family or friends decide to play in a different nation. To make this a little more realistic, languages can be learned. Gamers will have to buy each language with a skill point and will be able to switch to that language to converse with NPCs and other gamers and NPCs of the nation. Yes, Pirate is a language. Arrrrr!
Thanks for the report. You can read part two here tomorrow. If you wish to comment on this article, visit this thread. |
Hands-On Preview, Part I
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