Howdy, Stranger!
It looks like you're new here. If you want to get involved, click one of these buttons!
Quick Links
My POTBS Review
ghoul31
Member Posts: 1,955
Pros
1 Very polished. Very Stable game. Not a lot of bugs or lag.
2 Quests are well done. Good storylines
3 Graphics are good.
4 Pirate theme is something new
5 Ship battles are done well
Cons
1 No Persistant land areas
You can't leave the town and go wander around in the wilderness. There are the towns and the sea. Those are the only places you can go. There are some instanced quests where you can do land missions, but they are poorly done.
2 Instancing
The Quests are all instanced. The sea isn't instanced, but every time you enter a battle at sea, it becomes instanced.
3. Mobs and terrrain
In other games, every mob looks different. In this game, every mob is the same, a ship. They could have added other stuff like sea monsters, or whales or something, but they didn't.
Also, in other games their are lots of different terrains, forests, mountains, deserts, swamps, etc. In this game there is only one type of terrain: Water.
4. Crafting
Crafting is very limited in this game. You don't actually craft stuff, you hire NPC's to make items. But you only get so many man hours a day. So You can only make like 5 items a day, and then you are done for the day.
5 Classes and skills
Only 4 classes. And they all have pretty much the same skills
Summary
The game is fun, but shallow. I don't think its deep enough to keep people for the long term, but it might hold people over until AOC and WAR come out.
Final Rating: 6.5 out of 10.
Comments
As for terrain, sounds like same issue EVE has...space has one big empty look to it....with some stuff floating around in it sometimes...water would be similar....
6.5 eh? pretty harsh.... will have to see what some other folks think about it... but thanks for sharing your thoughts on the game....
"True friends stab you in the front." | Oscar Wilde
"I need to finish" - Christian Wolff: The Accountant
Just trying to live long enough to play a new, released MMORPG, playing New Worlds atm
Fools find no pleasure in understanding but delight in airing their own opinions. Pvbs 18:2, NIV
Don't just play games, inhabit virtual worlds™
"This is the most intelligent, well qualified and articulate response to a post I have ever seen on these forums. It's a shame most people here won't have the attention span to read past the second line." - Anon
Yes, ships look different.
------------------------------------------------
Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny
Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
2. You also don't have to fight umpteen billion other people for the spawns in the area you are questing in. You can invite folks/call for help in instanced sea battles.
3. It's a ship game. It's based on reality. Sea monsters? Come on... Whales? What, you want to shoot your cannons at whales? Have you ever been on the ocean?
4. I haven't done much crafting as of yet but I think you are sellign it a bit short.
5. There's a fawk ton of skills and unlikely that your character will have the same skills as another. Sorry there aren't any mages with fireballs and rangers with bow's and arrows and pets...
And even if you can only produce a few items a day...There's a production chain. A very elaborate one even. You will possibly have to move the items you made to other ports. Some of them might even be in PvP areas. Or you have to figure out how to sell them with profit on the AH. So, it doesn't stop after you produced the items. You also need to DO something with them. A question to the OP: so you produced 5 items a day. What exactly did you do with them? Or did you expect to craft all day long, grinding materials, like in other MMOs?
------------------------------------------------
Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny
Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
1. It's a ship game. Explore the ocean!
You mean that ocean where you can see across the entire gulf of mexico and see land mass in mexico from the tip of florida, and take less than a minute to travel there? Sure.
#2. You name the pirate theme as being something new and as a pro, then complain about a lack of sea monsters and whales and what not? Some screenies I have seen show sharks in the water
#3. Everything I have read about crafting shows it as being one of the most robust and interconnected crafting systems since early SWG. From your description it sounds like you want everything right now. If you are alotted so many hours of labor did you ever think to go about doing other things and let your labor hours stack up then spend em all at once?
#4. More classes does not make for a better game see vanguard. From what I have read the 4 classes (free trader, privateer, naval officer and pirate) all have very distinct skills.
#5. Avatar combat is why the game hasn't been released yet. They delayed the game because the testers wanted boarding parties etc. This is a game focused on the ocean and ship to ship battles. If you want to run around the land more I think there are a plethora of games designed specifically for that purpose. To knock a game for something it never intended to be seems petty at the least.
overall I think that your review is heavily biased and probably based off of less than extensive testing let alone knowledge of the product you were testing.
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
Actually, NDA HAS been lifted, about 1,5 hours ago. See the official homepage: www.burningsea.com/page/home
------------------------------------------------
Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny
Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
Actually, NDA HAS been lifted, about 1,5 hours ago. See the official homepage: www.burningsea.com/page/home
oops, my bad hehe. waiting for misha to update the when can we play next thread rofl.Thankyou for the correction. Now for them to hurry and bring the dang servers back up!
http://www.speedtest.net/result/7300033012
Here is a review from a beta tester who knows the game backwards:
The Devs in PotBS are great and are one of the best assets of the game. I don’t give out praise to developers lightly, but they have earned it. Like most of you, I was burned by Blizzard and then NCsoft, but FLS has consistently exceeded my expectations. They listen, act on feedback, correct problems, and explain why they do things. They are very accessible and active, and have been the best dev team I have ever seen. In terms of long term game play, I am confident they will keep the game well maintained and correct the inevitable problems that arise. And that, my friends, is worth a lot to a MMOG, probably more so than any other feature.
The PvP in PotBS is superb – it offers excellent 1v1 play as well as larger fleet or realm based PvP. Most PvP takes place on ships, but some combat takes place avatar vs avatar, either in boarding, capturing a fort, or so on.
In PotBS, the endgame is centered around controlling the Caribbean militarily and economically. On the combat side, this is achieved both by small scale fights such as killing merchants, driving off pirates from your merchants, destroying enemy warships, and so on as well as by major fleet battles, capturing ports, and so on. The fights tend to be more tactical than most MMOs. In addition to the standard skill usage, teamwork, and timing you see in a regular MMO, you need to constantly be adjusting tactics, ammo types, and above all, be aware of the wind and how your ship can handle with the wind. Think of controlling the wind as positioning / kiting on crack. Furthermore, because there is no healing per se, mistakes matter. Even the smallest ship needs to play smart to help her nation win. Its varied, unpredictable, rewards skill, and tactical.
You can meaningfully participate in PvP at level 12 (4 hours of gameplay or less) by sailing the mediator cutter, a fast and powerful scout. Its effective at harassing larger ships, so even high level groups will be happy to have you come PvP with them. By level 15 or 18, you can get access to high quality predators such as the lancer or the sleek xebec, which are designed to be supremely quick and deadly ships, especially against small scout ships (like the cutter) or larger merchants. If you fight well, you can hold your own even against much higher level warships. Finally, because two low level ships typically will beat a higher level ship, you are can always be effective in fleet battles or to fight in packs.
At the same time, as you increase in level you will gain more options, both in terms of having more skill points to buy new skills and by being able to use larger, heavier ships and outfittings. This doesn’t mean the smaller ships are obsolete (virtually every high level player keeps a level 15 lancer or a level 18 sleek xebec and uses it regularly the rest of the game), it just means you have the option of sailing a powerful 112 gun ship of the line when a new player would not. But level, in and of itself, is never a factor – a cannonball fired by a level 1 in the same ship / skills is equal to a cannonball fired by a level 50.
PvP is very much based on player skill. Player skill matters far more than level or even ship type. How you fight makes all the difference, individually and collectively. I have personally defeated warships over 20 levels higher than me in PvP. Turk won a 6v1 the other night. We have had fleet battles where we have beaten more numerous fleets while sailing less powerful ships. Smart tactics, teamwork, and knowledge of how the game works add great depth to the PvP. Furthermore, I understand the devs have plans for other exciting PvP features after launch, including a GvG type system (society battles) and ports that can be captured and controlled by a society. This will add a lot to the game and be a blast.
The PvP is one of the two major endgame activities. As a highly competitive player, I enjoy it a lot. It gives me a good 1v1 fix when I want it as well as letting me a part of a larger battle as I see fit. Its skill based, varied, and fun. Click HERE to read the famous devlog that discusses a major fleet battle. When the NDA is lifted on Monday, I will post links to our descriptions of some major battles we fought in.
Some time ago a dev wrote a great article about how the economy would work . This article will give you a great overview of what the economy is – a superb system that rewards smart traders and not grind.
In practice, the economy has been great. I believe it is the best nonPvP endgame of any game I have played – rather than endlessly farming for an epic drop or repeating the same boring PvE quests, you are using your brain to make money, smuggle goods, plan out your production, outwit pirates and other predators, and above all make your business work. It is very much skill based, and in our private forums you can see pages and pages of discussion about prices, shipping routes, strategy, planning, specialization, and everything else. At the same time, the economy in PotBS can be as complex or as simple as you want it to be. Many of our PvP focused members don’t want to spend a lot of time, so they just make one simple product and sell it for a small markup. On the other hand, our Freetraders who enjoy this kind of thing regularly buy / sell for profit, speculate on markets, and run major businesses.
Thanks to excellent play by our dedicated freetraders, we ran a major shipwright business, as well as having other branches to produce other things. Our guild was able to completely supply each other with anything we wanted, anything at all – from ships of the line to a grain of maize.
We were also able to generate great wealth and have a major impact on our nation’s war effort. I am also proud to say we ran these guild businesses without resorting to inefficient communism or guild only sales. We operated from day one on a completely consensual, market based system that rewarded smart trading and let everyone earn the profit they could.
Finally, as fun as making money is, its not just a contest to see who can pile up the most doubloons. Your economic activity is very important to the overall war. You can be a valued contributor to an PvP guild without ever firing a shot – the skill you add in making, shipping, and controlling markets can very often trump what any PvPer can do in battle. By providing your guildmates and nation with affordable ships while denying the same to our opponents, you can tip the tide of the war. In beta, Spain won many battles in the field, but we didn’t break the back of the opposition until our Freetraders took over their economy with effective blockades, superior pricing and economic efficiency, and taxing the living hell out of them.
I believe our economic experience was one of the great successes of the Beta. It was a blast and was very fun for me. It had a lot of fun niches – from the smugglers to the producers to the managers to the people who just wanted to help out, it was a good system and one I can see lasting for a long time. The economy of this game is a major highlight, especially for PvE or trader oriented players.
i really hope you're not waiting for war over this game... you will be sorely dissapointed.
die.
oh.. I was bit late so nvm
Anyone have video files to share from the game?
There's an enormous surge of screenshots and beta movies on the official forums in the last hour or so, since the NDA was lifted. You might want to check there as well.
------------------------------------------------
Playing: Final Fantasy Online: ARR, Destiny
Most memorable games for me: UO, GW1, LoTRO
so...is this game even out yet?
MMO wish list:
-Changeable worlds
-Solid non level based game
-Sharks with lasers attached to their heads
It is in open beta starting this week. Release is 22 January '08.
It will be released on Jan 7, for pre order customers.
I'm so broke. I can't even pay attention.
"You have the right not to be killed"
I think that you gave a resonable opinion of the game. I see it differently and I hope you don't mind if I rebutt some of the cons.
#1 - I don't get this one. Do you just want to be able to walk in the forest? I'm not sure what the draw would be by adding this. The devs have to weigh how much time it takes to create immersive landscapes vs. the fun factor gained. You step into the forest, say "wow", and then rarely go back into it - code time better spent on things that are more widely used. Maybe they will add this in an expansion, who knows. #2 - True. This is the highly debated instance vs. non-instancing topic that can be found many places. It has pros and cons. Some people love it and some don't. Coming from old EQ through Vanguard and LotRO, I don't see it as the bane of MMORPGs.
#3 - Part 1 - True. No sea monsters. But I think the game is the better for it. I tried to imagine it, but I honestly don't understand how a sea monster battle would go. Is it a ship with a different skin? Or would it be a giant squid that comes up from underneath your ship and rips the hull apart? What kind of weapon would ships of that era have to combat that? This could be a slippery slope.
#3 - Part 2 - the terrain is water. Not sure that this is a con in my opinion. It is what it is. But I understand some people play MMOs for deep and eye-catching environments, and to each his(her) own. Did you get a chance to go into the redesigned Tortuga? I thought that was pretty nicely done. I think there is some more of that on the way.
#4 Crafting - As said by someone else, you might be shorting this a bit. You get man-hours to build stuff PER facility that you have. Yes, you might only be able to mine 5 iron ores in a day, because that is all the hours you have stored. But at that minute you can also get some limestone from your quarry. You can then take those two inputs and sell them, or put them into your forge and make some iron ingots, or forge an anchor to sell, or whatever else you might want to build. But each facility is building up its own man hours concurrently. So, if you only build one facility, then what you say is true - you make your 5 items and you are done until you can build something else. Even I'm selling it short. It is a solid economy.
#5 - Classes - There are only 4 classes. I think it is great that the classes are actually pretty similar. Each has a little different nuance depending upon how you like to play, but at the same time, I am not locked into being a "tank" from the start. The game then becomes about your skill and ability, not what you spec'd as. I'm not sure what other classes there could be. Again, maybe in an expansion they will add more - if deemed necessary.
After nearly 5 months of beta testing, I am still having fun with this game. The devs are very responsive to the community and it has been a pleasure. I'm not sure what you consider long term, but I can see myself playing for quite a while.
I say no without saying more War is worth the wait trust me
Are you serious?
I was looking at trying this game but if its set up like that, Ill pass.
Are you serious?
I was looking at trying this game but if its set up like that, Ill pass.
Yep, you better do. You won't have to set the course of the ship before you go to school work or whatever.
I'm so broke. I can't even pay attention.
"You have the right not to be killed"
The best part in POTBS is when you enter in the battle with some npc or another player. From open sea to instanced battle. The graphics are really neat, all the sea and island around you looks very realistic - and I love it how I can see the whole crew doing their things, some loading cannons and others climbing up the mast to scout around etc. The ambient sounds, weather effects, ocean waves and ship's hull creak are very realistic and thats sailing at it's best. If you ask me, they should have ditched the whole open sea concept and keep sailing in instanced view. Would make it much more realistic and fun...
Though traveling around might take years..
Having the landmasses seen for far out at sea is one of the factors that really annoyed me in this game. I have been on a navy ship and land disappears quite quickly. There is a an awesome feeling of being in the middle of the ocean without the safety of land being near. Unfortunately it is lost in this game.
I actually enjoyed the crafting. It can be as involved as you want. You can be a supplier or manufacturer, or a little of both. Some of the material is more difficult to acquire and it can take some time to get a good supply chain going.
The sea combat was fun. Missions are cookie cutter across the different nationalities and for most part across the class. Really reduced replayability for me.
Swashbuckling (land combat) was horrible
Character creation was pretty cool, but the ability to customize later seemed lack luster to me. I like the look of my character to grow.
Personally I wont be getting this game. I would play it if it were a free to play model with some things costing extra. Boredom is the biggest factor for me. Missions got old fast and the land thing was always annoying.
I think sea monsters and ghost ships might have been a nice spice to this game. I dont think the game is marketed as being a simulation of the era ships and life.
Triston Master Carbine/Master Swords (SWG Eclipse)
Triston 29 Warden (EQ2 Permafrost)
Weland 70 Hunter (WoW Hellscream)
Suidan 36 Cleric (Vanguard Flamehammer)
Suidan 50 Champion (LOTR Gladden)
Would spending 2 days to go from Florida to Mexico on a ship be compelling gameplay? Are we Gamers or virtual Tourists who want reality in our online world? For me, I get enough of the real world during the day.
Would spending 2 days to go from Florida to Mexico on a ship be compelling gameplay? Are we Gamers or virtual Tourists who want reality in our online world? For me, I get enough of the real world during the day.
so what you are saying is what started this that the sea is boring flat place you can fast travel?