[PoTBS] Ok, its out now, skip the tech info, is it good?

Gahazakul

I am dieing for a good pirate MMO, but this is being put out by SOE, and their track record is rather poor.

I know there is a large PotBS thread going but its mostly prelaunch whatnot and technical respects. I want the opinions of the actual retail people, how is she? I'm not going to ask any silly questions like "Is it a WoW killer" because that is unneeded. But it is fun? Does it work well? Pop to low? Server strength ok? The stuff that makes an MMO run well and smooth.

verbel

I also am interested in hearing what others think about this game. I have been reading whatever I can find on it and am pretty sure that I'm going to be picking this up pretty soon.

Selner

but this is being put out by SOE

SOE did not make the game though. SOE is apparently only responsible for publishing, accounts and customer service.

The actual content is from Flying Lab Software, or whatever FLS stands for.

Haniko Sigma

I would suggest searching for free ones first if you can't get an opinion. You can easily google a few. This way you can save some dough and have your cake too. This way you can avoid a game you think is bad, or know that you need to spend that money to get the experience you want.

Yeah, I'm cheap. I have no job.

Gahazakul

Haniko Sigma wrote: »

I would suggest searching for free ones first if you can't get an opinion. You can easily google a few. This way you can save some dough and have your cake too. This way you can avoid a game you think is bad, or know that you need to spend that money to get the experience you want.

Yeah, I'm cheap. I have no job.

Not afraid of monthly fees and whatnot, and I am far from an MMO new comer, been playin EQ1, than 2 and now WoW.

Just trying to fish some news out of retail owners, seeing if its worth it.

PeasantDave

I've been playing for a couple months now and have been enjoying it. The ship combat is a refreshing departure from traditional MMOs. The sword fighting still needs work, but it goes quick enough so that it is not a detriment to the game. I think the server we are playing on (Pirate on Rackham) will be a strong server, several of the beta guilds have settled there. The game is casual friendly (with room for hardcore PvP) and the economy is solid.

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Also, to anyone who picks up the game, roll up a Pirate on Rackham and post your name here, I'll make sure to add you to the guild.

tyrannus

What about instanced missions? And interaction between people?

Gahazakul

Rentilius wrote: »

What about instanced missions? And interaction between people?

Thats a good question, are there instances? Are there parties? And heres a little one that came to mind, do you walk around on foot in towns, or is it just a menu when you make port?

Also you said casual friendly, does that mean it simple and easy? I am far from a casual player so that would be a negative for me

And hey, is there such a thing as a friend code to give out for a trial? lol, I will totally take it off your hands!

Arasaki

Gahazakul wrote: »

Rentilius wrote: »

What about instanced missions? And interaction between people?

Thats a good question, are there instances? Are there parties? And heres a little one that came to mind, do you walk around on foot in towns, or is it just a menu when you make port?

Also you said casual friendly, does that mean it simple and easy? I am far from a casual player so that would be a negative for me

And hey, is there such a thing as a friend code to give out for a trial? lol, I will totally take it off your hands!

I haven't seen friend codes yet.

For instances, the early missions I did take you to an instanced area when you talk to the docking guy, for both avatar combat and ship based missions. You run around the town itself, and go to the bar, town hall, church etc.

As for casual friendly, it seems easy enough to get into, but the combat system requires thinking ahead more than most MMO's. It's open to casual players, but it seems like it holds a lot more depth for the more hardcore gamer to delve into.

But then, I haven't had a massive amount of experience with it, this is mainly first impressions.

PeasantDave

The missions are all instanced (like CoH), but there is much more thought put into the maps of the instances and the stories of the quests. There are several awesome quests I have played so far which reminded me of the fun instanced quests from LOTRO. You can group with people to do most of the quests, although you have to group before you zone into the instance. If you are watching nation chat you can generally find people looking to do stuff, whether it's killing NPCs, questing, or PvPing.

The game is casual by required time commitment, as opposed to the current state of WoW where you don't accomplish anything unless you are in a group. There are plenty of hardcore mechanics for economy building, ship outfitting, and PvPing. There is rumor that future patches will allow for player built cities.

Several of the people in the PA Society (guild) have past experience in hardcore play of EQ/SWG/WOW and we are all loving this.

Xzean

I really wish more MMOs realized what a draw free trials are. Bleh. I'd love to give this a shot but damned if i'm going to lay down the money.

PeasantDave

I'm sure that you will be able to get a free trial soon. LORTO had free trials available like a couple months after release.

Gahazakul

I think I may take the plunge on this...in a coupla days. My B-day just hit and my wife (glorious and beautiful) has gifted me Rock Band and Burnout!!! I am spoiled, but you can see that my game time is booked at least for a little bit.

Xzean

PeasantDave wrote: »

I'm sure that you will be able to get a free trial soon. LORTO had free trials available like a couple months after release.

Yeah, really just looking for something new to take up my time till AoC and/or WAR hits. So if it takes till then to get a free trial, it doesn't help much. I'm suprised there were no friend passes though.

PeasantDave

Xzean wrote: »

PeasantDave wrote: »

I'm sure that you will be able to get a free trial soon. LORTO had free trials available like a couple months after release.

Yeah, really just looking for something new to take up my time till AoC and/or WAR hits. So if it takes till then to get a free trial, it doesn't help much. I'm suprised there were no friend passes though.

Well, technically I have not received the release product yet (comes in the mail today), so I cannot say for certain that I won't get one. I know I did for WoW original release.

NotASenator

If you are wacko-crazy about crafting and economy building games like me, this is absolutely the MMO for you to be in.

tyrannus

I just want to be a pirate and steal crap.

PeasantDave

Rentilius wrote: »

I just want to be a pirate and steal crap.

You can be doing that after playing for 1 hour, and it is super fun.

tyrannus

Can you do it in a group of 3? Like, 3 pirates take down 1 big ship or ransom it?

PeasantDave

Rentilius wrote: »

Can you do it in a group of 3? Like, 3 pirates take down 1 big ship or ransom it?

Yes, it is possible to catch ships (PC and NPC) in the open sea and attack them. Fighting is instanced (to reduce lag) and you are allowed up to 6 players in your party. Of course the defending player can send out a signal flare to bring in his friends, but that's when the game gets fun.

Septus

I thought I read that pvp can only occur in or near contested ports. So the middle of the sea is vulnerable to pvp attack as well? Is this on all servers?

NotASenator

Everyone I know is being pirates, which is stupid. You can steal ships, sure, but I'm going to be making Ships of the Line eventually, and you can't build them if you are pirates.

tyrannus

I'd rather not piss off a faction of enraged bandits.

NotASenator

Enraged bandits who will have to get through a shitload of guys who want me to do my thing in peace so they will get better ships.

PeasantDave

Septus wrote: »

I thought I read that pvp can only occur in or near contested ports. So the middle of the sea is vulnerable to pvp attack as well? Is this on all servers?

That is a good point, you can't just snag anyone you want on the open sea. Players can manually set their PvP flags, or nations can throw a port into contention, enabling pirate PvP within like 100 miles or something. There are also several ships that if a pirate steals, will automatically enable your PvP flag.

During beta it felt like there was always a couple ports in contention. They were avoidable if you didn't want to PvP, but they were present if you did.

PeasantDave

NotACrook wrote: »

Everyone I know is being pirates, which is stupid. You can steal ships, sure, but I'm going to be making Ships of the Line eventually, and you can't build them if you are pirates.

Actually most people are British (or at least it looked that way right before launch). Everything else you've said is true. I imagine we will end up with four PA friendly guilds on four different servers. One for each faction.

Although regarding Ships of the Line... port battles are going to be rough for pirates during months 3 - 6 I think. (After Britain/France/Spain can make them easily, but before they are common enough to steal)

NotASenator

PeasantDave wrote: »

NotACrook wrote: »

Everyone I know is being pirates, which is stupid. You can steal ships, sure, but I'm going to be making Ships of the Line eventually, and you can't build them if you are pirates.

Actually most people are British (or at least it looked that way right before launch). Everything else you've said is true. I imagine we will end up with four PA friendly guilds on four different servers. One for each faction.

Although regarding Ships of the Line... port battles are going to be rough for pirates during months 3 - 6 I think. (After Britain/France/Spain can make them easily, but before they are common enough to steal)

Well, I'm British on Blackbeard if it goes that way, and making ships (or at least components, it depends on how many people I get) will be my main job if anyone comes over that way.

tyrannus

I just want a game where I don't have to grind, can dick around, and occasionally, chill with friends and totally ruin some asshole's big ship and steal it and sell it.
How is death treated in this game?

PeasantDave

Rentilius wrote: »

I just want a game where I don't have to grind, can dick around, and occasionally, chill with friends and totally ruin some asshole's big ship and steal it and sell it.
How is death treated in this game?

I have found this is a good game to bang out a couple quests alone or with my friends, and drink a couple beers while watching nation chat ... or rum, if I'm feeling very piratey.

Regarding death: You lose some of the enhancements on the ship and all un-secured cargo. It is easy to unload cargo to a secure location. You lose no advancement on your character.

verbel

Xzean wrote: »

PeasantDave wrote: »

I'm sure that you will be able to get a free trial soon. LORTO had free trials available like a couple months after release.

Yeah, really just looking for something new to take up my time till AoC and/or WAR hits. So if it takes till then to get a free trial, it doesn't help much. I'm suprised there were no friend passes though.

There is I just bought my copy today and it came with a free 14 day trial for a friend.

Drool

I'd love to give this a try if anyone has a friend code and no friends to give it too. I'll pretend to be your friend, at least as far as joining your nation/server for a few weeks goes.

I tried to give it a go during the stress test, but when I download the game it had an error and wouldn't install.

Septus

Same here.

Eat it You Nasty Pig.

I posted this in the other thread, but I didn't really get a response; I'm vaguely interested in playing this, but nothing I've seen gives me a good idea of what the average player actually does. If I log on for a couple hours or less to play around, what sorts of things will I be doing with the time?

verbel

I'll try to post some impressions up after I've had a little time with the game. I'm getting ready to make a char on rackham right now

tyrannus

Please, be sure to explain everything. How is ship combat - how is boarding combat. Like, is it clunky? bulky? Fluid?

Hayasa

I don't like this game. Just can't get into it.

tyrannus

Can you go into more detail?

PaperPlate

Rentilius wrote: »

Can you go into more detail?

From the other PotBS thread:

http://www.whitewolfclan.net/pobs/review.htm

Granted, it didn't make me run out and buy the game. I can't really say if what he says is worth anything but it seems like a good write up?

Drool

Read the disclaimer at the top, the guy didn't even play it, at least not in the recent beta.

I hope they have a trial soon. While the game looks interesting enough for me to give it the time to download, I'm not going to pay $50 plus a monthly fee to play an MMO by a company I haven't heard of before.

NotASenator

I really enjoy it, but probably not for any reason normal MMO players would.

Septus

Drool wrote: »

Read the disclaimer at the top, the guy didn't even play it, at least not in the recent beta.

I hope they have a trial soon. While the game looks interesting enough for me to give it the time to download, I'm not going to pay $50 plus a monthly fee to play an MMO by a company I haven't heard of before.

And it hardly seems like anything resembling unbiased.