Pirates of the Burning Sea- OPEN BETA!

[Venkman]

Dude if you're going to be a dick, at least read the fucking words I wrote. I simply said that at launch (third time there) that some people approached SWG the way they approached EQ1 in that they wanted a PvE linear game experience and were disappointed (content, combat, all that shit we used to bitch about). If some players approach PotBS the same way, they may be disappointed for the same reasons.

This isn't about SWG. This isn't about PvP. This isn't about the endgame. And this wasn't even about you, but rather a reply to Merusk. So either read what I'm writing or stay off this derail.

[taolurker]

@Tao: The game is not like SWG. But it shares the same self-directed "endgame" that other virtual worldy like games do, in that it's not about the directed-content raids or contrived gladiatorial arenas. I reference SWG in particular here because at that launch people DID tey to play it as a straight EQ-with-Wookiees and were roundly disappointed by the many ways it was not. PotBS CAN be played as EQ-with-Peglegs, but I feel the results for players who tried that would be about the same. This is not a fantastic adventure PvE game imho.

[Venkman]

I reference SWG in particular here because at that launch people DID tey to play it as a straight EQ-with-Wookiees and were roundly disappointed by the many ways it was not. PotBS CAN be played as EQ-with-Peglegs, but I feel the results for players who tried that would be about the same

[SnakeCharmer]

[Venkman]

But Daaaaadddd he started it!

(which I just heard from my kids not 3 minutes ago  )

[LC]

I'm going to pass on PotBS for now. I will give the free trial a shot in a year or so.

[Tmon]

I found enough to do in beta that I decided to pre-order.  It looks like it has enough to do that it will keep me occupied for 2-3 months.   

[Hellinar]

Also, if you made half a million doubloons, in beta, I would argue the economy is going to melt down fast.  I don't see how that provides a sandbox experience, either.  It just means you're flithy rich.

The game is heavily front loaded with lots of easy income at low levels, and small expenses. At the top end though, income levels off, but expenses keep climbing. I'm thinking you will see lots of rich merchants in the opening months, making money off newbies with money to burn. But a few months down the road, the average players expenses will be much higher, and the income not much bigger. Profits for the merchant will be much tighter.

A million doubloons is a lot for a newbie. But not so much if you want to buy a port into contention, or sail the top end ships.

[Xanthippe]

I'm playing it preorder, but I have this question/observation.

Many people during beta mentioned having a free trader alt in order to use the Auction Houses - just level it up to 20 or 30, and then focus on a NO or a Privateer main.

What exactly is the downside to doing that, (besides time, which isn't a downside to the hardcore players)?

What advantages do a free trader have in end game pvp?

I'm still trying to figure out all the factions and repuation and ins and outs of that.  Who can I afford to piss off?  Nobody?  The Navies?  Do I just fight pirates and nobody else?  Frankly, I'd love to fight nobody for some reason, and just become a rich merchant.

[Xanthippe]

Open beta is over, now it's playable for pre-orders.

Who is playing what, on which server?

I'm Spanish Free Trader Dirty Merri on Rackham.

[WayAbvPar]

Open beta is over, now it's playable for pre-orders.

Who is playing what, on which server?

I'm Spanish Free Trader Dirty Merri on Rackham.

I won't be playing until later tonight, but I will play Spanish as well, so I might as well jump on Rackham with you. Have a couple of RL buddies that are going to play as well.

[gimpyone]

Open beta is over, now it's playable for pre-orders.

Who is playing what, on which server?

I'm Spanish Free Trader Dirty Merri on Rackham.

I won't be playing until later tonight, but I will play Spanish as well, so I might as well jump on Rackham with you. Have a couple of RL buddies that are going to play as well.

I look forward to sinking you both. I'm a french FT on Rackham

[WayAbvPar]

If you are a FT you won't be sinking anyone 

I can't get confirmation on whether my preorder went through or not. My subscription says "Active" on Station, but still says "Exempt" for payment, which is what it said for beta. Anyone else do a digital preorder? Did you ever get a mail from SOE/FLS? I won't know if it is working until I get home.

[Signe]

If you are a FT you won't be sinking anyone 

I can't get confirmation on whether my preorder went through or not. My subscription says "Active" on Station, but still says "Exempt" for payment, which is what it said for beta. Anyone else do a digital preorder? Did you ever get a mail from SOE/FLS? I won't know if it is working until I get home.

I'll check for you.  What's your credit card number?

[gimpyone]

I did a preorder.  Just patch and run.

[Abelian75]

I started a Spanish freetrader on Rackham named Erik Christensen.

Oh, and they seem to have last-minute fixed the default mouselook speed to no longer be ridiculously slow by default (and you can now get it much faster than you were able to before so that it's more in line with what other games offer).  Yay!  Silly as it may seem, that was a fairly big issue I had with the game's presentation.

Anyway, I like the game so far.

[Der Helm]

Did the performance in the open sea improve ? Or the graphical performance per se ?

My very very sub par machine had problems when there were lots of ships around, even with settings at minimum and I am still hoping that turning off some debugging will speed up the game for me.

I might preorder anyway ... 

[taolurker]

Open beta is over, now it's playable for pre-orders.

Who is playing what, on which server?

I'm Spanish Free Trader Dirty Merri on Rackham.

I won't be playing until later tonight, but I will play Spanish as well, so I might as well jump on Rackham with you. Have a couple of RL buddies that are going to play as well.

I started a Spanish freetrader on Rackham named Erik Christensen..

I actually saw Xanthippe on Nation chat, and my society was doing Spanish on Rackham.. My character is Laozi Mi'Karma.

If there was a F13 society forming I probably won't be in, but if you all wanted into the one I'd already been an officer of just let me know (PM me in game or here on the forums). I also have contacts and friends in like 3 of the larger guilds on Rackham's Spanish side.

[Modern Angel]

Spanish, Morgan, Diego El Guapo

[Phred]

FUCK FUCK FUCKITY FUCK TO THE FUCK FUCK FUCK

Fuck people in their tiny little earholes. So a player got to max level in 11 days. SO FUCKING WHAT? FUCK HIM IN HIS EARHOLE. How many hours did he play and how many hours did he play consecutively for much of that? When will dev teams learn?

FUCK WHAT THOSE ASSHOLES DO. If they get to max level, let them quit, because otherwise if you keep trying to cater to them, you will only alienate the non-OCD audience. You want the non-OCD audience more than you want the catass hardcore. If you tune your levelling curve to what the quickest levellers do, YOU WILL CREATE A FUCKTASTIC GRIND, AND THE ONLY PEOPLE LEFT WILL BE WHINY ELITIST CATASS DOUCHES WHO YOU CAN NEVER SATISFY.

That 11 days already makes it twice the grind WoW is, where people easily make 60 with 5 days /played.

[Tige]

That 11 days already makes it twice the grind WoW is, where people easily make 60 with 5 days /played.

That baffles me. Like the same repetitiveness ends at 60 in WOW or whatever the level cap is in another game?  Sit around for two hours+ for a raid to form to get a shiney is somehow less of a task vs. sitting around waiting for a couple of people to help you take down a quest mob at level 17 to get a shiney?

I wish PotBS would've taken the road less traveled ala Eve instead taking the basic diku and wrapping it in a piratey theme.  It wouldn't have to duplicate Eve but just not completely prostrate themselves to a bunch of catasses claiming to be casual players.  This game is locked on rails as much as any other cookie cutter mmo.

[WayAbvPar]

I did a preorder.  Just patch and run.

Heh- I figured that out after posting on the official boards and realizing that my name didn't say 'Subscription Expired' under it like everyone else who was bitching. Still really annoyed that SOE didn't bother explaining WTF was going on via an email or something.

Got the 7 hour patch out of the way last night, and created a Spanish Naval Officer on Rackham named Guido Cordoba. Not sure if he will be my main or not- plan to get as many characters to 21 as I can during the prelaunch phase.

I am society-less- have a couple of RL friends to bring with me if anyone needs a casual beta player and a couple of n00bs. Will definitely have a FT alt to help with production and the like.

[Ixxit]

Picked up the pre-order from Direct 2 Drive last night pretty much site unseen except from the commentary from the good folks here.   

Will this be included in the Sony All Access Pass, as I still maintain a EQ II subscription?

Haven't had a chance to play yet because all I managed to do last night was download the game, but will likely choose Spansih or French (if I choose to be universaly loathed).  VAs Y.

[Mrbloodworth]

Picked up the pre-order from Direct 2 Drive last night pretty much site unseen except from the commentary from the good folks here.   

Will this be included in the Sony All Access Pass, as I still maintain a EQ II subscription?

Haven't had a chance to play yet because all I managed to do last night was download the game, but will likely choose Spansih or French (if I choose to be universaly loathed).  VAs Y.

I'm about 85% sure it is/will be.

[Mantees]

Will this be included in the Sony All Access Pass, as I still maintain a EQ II subscription?

From POTBS website:

Will Pirates be on Station Access Pass?
Yes. For one price you can play EQ, EQ2, Pirates, and everything else SOE has to offer.

[Soukyan]

Will this be included in the Sony All Access Pass, as I still maintain a EQ II subscription?

From POTBS website:

Will Pirates be on Station Access Pass?
Yes. For one price you can play EQ, EQ2, Pirates, and everything else SOE has to offer.

That makes it more compelling for sure. I am on the fence about dropping $50 on it. Of course, it is currently a toss-up between playing PotBS and TR, so either way, I'm dropping some cash.

[Sky]

It's on the Station Pass? Is it good? I've got the Pass mostly for my characters in EQ2.

[Ixxit]

Thanks, I wonder if we are going to see another price increase like there was when Vanguard got added.

[schild]

Retail Purchase/Digital Download of Pirates of the Burning Sea: $49.99
1 month subscription: $14.99
3 month subscription: $41.99
6 month subscription: $77.99
12 month subscription: $143

Why is that last one not lifetime?

[Soukyan]

Retail Purchase/Digital Download of Pirates of the Burning Sea: $49.99
1 month subscription: $14.99
3 month subscription: $41.99
6 month subscription: $77.99
12 month subscription: $143

Why is that last one not lifetime?

Because it's SOE and not Turbine.

[cmlancas]

Because it's SOE and not Turbine.

Because then they would have to give you a refund. 

FIFY

[cloudy97]

I may be slow, but I'd like to understand the game a bit better. Is this, despite the 18-century setting,comparable to EVE with a some vital differences? Maybe it's more a Earth and Beyond?

1) Is the PvP a voluntary RvR instead of EVE's (forced PvP) alliance vs alliance? How does it affect the atmosphere and community? I'm not too interested in sailing and pirates per se, but EVE Online is just a bit too cold and harsh for me.

2) Class and levelbased, instead of the skillbased EVE. After reaching level 50 in PotBS it's just economy and items, I guess? Is level 50 a reason to reroll or is it the desired level (like WoW's "the game starts at level 60"?)

3) Avatar space, I can't say the swashbuckling I tried is well done. Laggy graphics (for me) and I can't target the captain easily. I haven't seen any exploring on land yet, are there any?

Crafting and economy seem like the stuff I miss from Tabula Rasa.
Sea battles have been slow but actually quite interesting.
I'm not impressed by the look of the Open Sea (travelling) and that battles are instanced.

[Mantees]

I may be slow, but I'd like to understand the game a bit better. Is this, despite the 18-century setting,comparable to EVE with a some vital differences? Maybe it's more a Earth and Beyond?

In short, the game has been compared to EVE mostly because of the player driven economy system, and because when you get sink you loose something.
But the game is not hardcore as EVE is. It is much more casual player friendly, you don't need to screw your life to play it successfully and usually you don't really loose that much if you are sunk 

1) It is mostly voluntary PvP. You are never forced to enter the radius of a contended port. People usually take it easy and are relaxed. I think that because of game mechanics no one will ever care if devs all plays british or french or pirates
Basically, if you stay out of a port while it is contended, you cannot be engaged in PvP. The only possibility for involuntary PvP that I can see, is if you logout in a port, and when come back to the game that port is contended.

2) I would say that "the game starts at level 50". But leveling will not give you higher attributes or other huge advantages in PvP. The most important thing levels do is giving you access to heavier ships. Small ships can easily escape from heavier ones, so at level 20 you will not be ganked by 50s.

3) There is no exploring on lands, just instanced missions. Often different missions will share the same map

I am really enjoying the game. As I already said it shares some great features and ideas with EVE but without requiring the same commitment to do whatever you want.

[DarkSign]

Retail Purchase/Digital Download of Pirates of the Burning Sea: $49.99
1 month subscription: $14.99
3 month subscription: $41.99
6 month subscription: $77.99
12 month subscription: $143

Why is that last one not lifetime?

Because it's SOE and not Turbine.

Or Flagship

[Modern Angel]

I may be slow, but I'd like to understand the game a bit better. Is this, despite the 18-century setting,comparable to EVE with a some vital differences? Maybe it's more a Earth and Beyond?

In short, the game has been compared to EVE mostly because of the player driven economy system, and because when you get sink you loose something.
But the game is not hardcore as EVE is. It is much more casual player friendly, you don't need to screw your life to play it successfully and usually you don't really loose that much if you are sunk 

1) It is mostly voluntary PvP. You are never forced to enter the radius of a contended port. People usually take it easy and are relaxed. I think that because of game mechanics no one will ever care if devs all plays british or french or pirates
Basically, if you stay out of a port while it is contended, you cannot be engaged in PvP. The only possibility for involuntary PvP that I can see, is if you logout in a port, and when come back to the game that port is contended.

2) I would say that "the game starts at level 50". But leveling will not give you higher attributes or other huge advantages in PvP. The most important thing levels do is giving you access to heavier ships. Small ships can easily escape from heavier ones, so at level 20 you will not be ganked by 50s.

3) There is no exploring on lands, just instanced missions. Often different missions will share the same map

I am really enjoying the game. As I already said it shares some great features and ideas with EVE but without requiring the same commitment to do whatever you want.

And it should be noted that you can game those levels hard. We set up groups of six people, all between 13-19 and took on groups of 2-3 26s. Also took out a single 32. It wasn't hard if you were smart. It was pretty refreshing.