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How "Dead" is this?
Enigma
Member UncommonPosts: 11,384
I remember playing this on release and I thought to myself "WTF is this." It was that bad. Not worth the 49.95 I spent on it. I dont think I even lasted two weeks of my free months. I guess the killing blow for me was going from one end to the map to the other end of the map in 2 minutes. Right before I left, I noticed how dramatically the server population was dropping.....and this was 2 weeks after release.
How is it now? Is it worse? Have they done anything to improve it?
People who have to create conspiracy and hate threads to further a cause lacks in intellectual comprehension of diversity.
Comments
I resubscribed recently. The good; alot more ships on the ocean pve wise, city revamps that make other cities not so cookie cutter, and alot of additional tweeks. The swashbuckling is still rough, the maps still have invisible walls, and the game is still geared to packs of gankers.
I still think the game is rough.. I will let me subscription cancel on its own again.
Personally I'll let the developers work on the game more... but I fear by then another game will be out that will grab my attention and I will not return to the game.
This game isnt "dead" but it isnt the next World of Warcraft or something, it's a niche game like Eve, you just have to grow onto it. Theres still enough players to make the RvR and PvP fun.
Currently restarting World of Warcraft
IMO - this game is at least a year from being worth the price of a "standard" MMO subscription.
Swashbuckling needs to be rebuilt completely, a relevant end-game needs to be added (the current PvP for PvP's sake just doesn't cut it), the classes need further balance - and aren't really all that much fun anyway.
The missions are still pretty generic and more custom content needs to be added. The towns need to be differentiated (they're mostly clones).
Finally - population is still an issue, not surprising given the above.
It's niche for sure, but EVE is a really inaccurate comparison. There are too many competing games now for a game to release with so much left to do. Provided WAR doesn't tank it'll pull a great many of the PvP players, leaving just those players that love the setting regardless of the game (of which I suspect there are not many).
What they are trying to tell you is this game is indeed, dead. You see people sticking up for games they enjoy all over sites like this. The problem is that I too saw a drastic decline in this game a few weeks after it went live.
I don't even want to hear that those subscription numbers are on the rise. It doesn't work like that. This is the same stuff that goes on in SWG, Vanguard, AoC, Tabula Rasa, all of them. The games that if you log on you can easily SEE are dead, people will for whatever reason claim higher populations for... It's amazing.
This game was so empty and soulless at launch that it will never come back. Any money spent fixing this thing is a waste because the flaw is in the core system of the game. It is inherintely broken with the PvP system it uses, the map it uses, and the lack of economy it employs.
There is no real reason to play this game, it's THAT bad.
It's not worth paying to play. If it were Free to Play then I wouldn't be so critical, but they are still charging a premium for this game and that's absurdity.
This game is destined for the Station Pass and maintenance development team like SWG and all the other crapfests that SOE likes to host. There isn't going to be a magical patch that brings the players back to this game, there isn't going to be an influx of people that suddenly go out and purchase this game, the numbers will continue to decline until this game is set to maintenance.
/fail
I haven't played in over a month (after my subscription ended), but I keep looking at the official forums to see how it is going.
And I don't think it's doing well.
First of all, dev interaction has dwindled to nearly a complete halt. Rusty still drops by from time to time, and he ostensibly maintains a busy schedule, but the other devs don't post that often (use the devtracker option to find out).
In fact, the only one who seems to be holding the fort these days is Snap. He's obviously a bright fellow, but he's also one of the recently hired developers who came in long after release. As such, he has a clear mind when it comes to the game's problems (as he was not part of the dev team that created them), but he's certainly limited in what he can say publicly and is probably somewhere near the bottom of the organizational chart.
Still, what is troublesome is that Isildur, DrewC and the rest, including Aether, whose job description includes community liaison, are as a general rule completely absent from the forums. Even though they have had some questions directly targeted at them.
Second, the PotBS community is debating the same old, same old regarding ganking and all that, even though I tend to agree with those who say that the real reason why people are leaving the game (or, at least, in this late stage) is the boredom, not the ganking. PotBS is just empty PvP that, until recently, carried a heavy death penalty for practically nothing in return. No port governance, despite all the promises, no economy to speak of now that societies have started producing everything in-house, and not much of a community except the wiseguys trading Bombay TV clips on the forums.
I have just returned to Puzzle Pirates today and rediscovered what an amazingly in-depth game that is. Even though it will probably be deemed "carebear", it's actually quite fun; the economy isn't perfect, but it isn't dead, and the politics actually make sense, because you can actually have some measure of control over the world. Everything that PotBS should have been, but wasn't.
Are you saying it takes 2 minutes to go from Mexico to Guyana (left upper part to right lower part of world map)? If so, then you're either lying or need to get your head checked.
My guess is more along 30 minutes (based on numerous trips between Bartica and Puerto Cabezas). During that time, you'll curse up a storm as you dodge pointless NPC aggro, gankers in the red circles and the ever shifting wind which always seem to be timed so that you're running into the wind, meaning that you have to zig-zag constantly.
Trust me, I'm glad the map isn't bigger than it is.
The game has its share of problems, but map size is waaaaaay down on the list.
I'm a big ol' fluffy carewolf. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
Are you saying it takes 2 minutes to go from Mexico to Guyana (left upper part to right lower part of world map)? If so, then you're either lying or need to get your head checked.
My guess is more along 30 minutes (based on numerous trips between Bartica and Puerto Cabezas). During that time, you'll curse up a storm as you dodge pointless NPC aggro, gankers in the red circles and the ever shifting wind which always seem to be timed so that you're running into the wind, meaning that you have to zig-zag constantly.
Trust me, I'm glad the map isn't bigger than it is.
The game has its share of problems, but map size is waaaaaay down on the list.
True, map size isn't a priority (besides, it can't be helped without starting over), but in the current state of the game the tiny map just makes an entire style of gameplay based on distance impossible.
With the map taking less than 45 minutes, there is no possibility of regional gameplay, i.e. you would play your corner of the map and rarely outside of it, you'd become a respected leader around, say, Louisiana but remain unknown in Hispaniola; the only people who would be seen in different regions would be long-distance traders carrying rare goods from the other end of the Caribbean but who would have little time left to do anything else (leading to the appreciation of the trader players, something which traditionally has been sorely lacking in the game); and when the time comes to defend a port, they should also add a requirement to actually sail there instead of getting an ocean-wide invite, which would also make defending a port a massively complicated logistical undertaking more reliant on local players than the Ocean's Usual Best monopolizing each port battle.
Here? No. Until the collapse of the economy, everybody traded everything everywhere, with minimal time loss. And port battles have become the purview of the same old elitist gray faces. No sense of exploration to be found either.
Welll I'm not subscribed to the game at the moment, but I have to disagree with this: the ship to ship combat is really something special in this game - quite tense and strategic, absorbing and immersive.
The game has lots of flaws, but this one thing they nailed very well, and it's well worth subscribing for a month or two just for that, there's a lot of fun to be had with it.
I also happen to like the avatar combat too - as someone with an interest in martial arts, I think it's actually the most realistic representation of sword combat in any game ever (i.e. balance is everything). Trouble is, that means it's not "cinematic" in the choreographed - and highly unrealistic - sense, so people think it's boring.
This game isn't as bad as that guy is trying to make it out to be. It probbly wont last you forever but its a good break from all the fantasy type games, like Age of Conan and World of Warcraft.
Currently restarting World of Warcraft
I believe a near complete agreement would be, that PotBS is not in the same league as other MMO's of the same monthly rate.
Which does surprise me, seems that MMO's which do not generate a large number of subscribers, do not reduce their price, rather they keep at the same rate (or go up) or go to F2P.
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
probably because there are a few die hards left to pay that fee.
I played a free trial then quit as fast as i could this game is the worst thing ever.
EVE is a monumental success compared to PotBS. So if EVE is "niche" ( which it is ), then PotBS is a hairline crack.
Jesus sony stop wrecking games! This game has been out so long that I completely forgot about it til now yet it still doesn't have a free trial? I'm not surprised its dead. When they add a permanent no scam free trial then the pop will go up if only for the free triallers.
25% of people online on eve are on a free trial. The rest are afk.
--
Note: PlayNC will refuse to allow you access to your account if you forget your password and can't provide a scanned image of the product key for the first product you purchased..... LOL
EVE is a success today and has been for a while. But in all fairness that wasn't the case during the first 9 months or so if I remember correctly. It was barely a blip on the MMO radar. We must also not forget that a lot of the stuff that makes EVE what it is today, simply wasn't there at the point where PotBS is today. So frankly, in that sense PotBS shares a lot of similarities with EVE. Big question is, can they pull off what CCP did to EVE and actually turn it into a worthwile MMO?
I'm a big ol' fluffy carewolf. Be afraid. Be very afraid.
I suspect not - but if they do pull it out they'll have had a much rougher road than EVE did.
Consider: When EVE released (May 2003) what was their main competition? SWG was released about a month later, UO / EQ / AC were the big boys on the block but getting longer in the tooth - basically the genre was still young and the playerbase far more forgiving.
Contrast to today - dozens of high-calibre MMOs, free and pay options, a much more savvy, fickle and impatient playerbase.
EVE got a bump when E&B shut down (they ran a deal in order to poach ex-E&B players) and another when Sony revamped SWG. People wanted to play sci-fi and were left with only one option. PotBS can only hope that PotCO shuts down to get a similar effect.
EVE has a skill based system - far more expandable. When CCP wants a new playstyle added they toss in more skills and off it goes. PotBS levels means they have to add a whole new class that people must relevel. EVE adds Assault Ships and I train for them, PotBS adds Buccaneers and I'd have to make and level an alt.
EVE functions on a single shard. No matter how few players were playing EVE at any point, you were guarenteed to have people online with you, you were guarenteed to have an economy as well as places you could go and be alone. PotBS simply doesn't have the same advantage.
Finally - the Devs just don't seem as savvy as CCP's do. They're nice folks, genuine and interactive - but they let themselves be swayed by beta vets into a game style that could never have been sustained in a live environment. They fundamentally never understood the mentality of the current MMO player and it cost them.
Then they launched and immediately started rebalancing the classes and trying to be all things to all people. Old players didn't know what FLS was trying to do, new players were left with an impression of a team that didn't have a plan, and observers felt the game needed more time in the oven so they didn't bother picking it up.
Add to that the massive distribution errors on SOE's part (EVE had similar problems and eventually bought back their publishing rights and now distribute themselves) and the simple PR issue that SOE brings (right or wrong - it still happens) and FLS was put further behind the 8-ball.
If they salvage this game it'll be an achievement of monumental proportions. Nothing I've seen thusfar gives me any reason to believe that will be the case. Most likely is that the game will continue at a low population (given that FLS doesn't have huge financial demands) similar to Horizons or Matrix or similar.
With luck FLS will have learned from this product and will attempt to develop another MMO that doesn't make the same mistakes.
This game will end up in the MMO graveyard no doubt, but I love it still. And will continue to play it till it shuts down
Currently restarting World of Warcraft
Dead as in no carebears left whining anymore.
Don't be terrorized! You're more likely to die of a car accident, drowning, fire, or murder! More people die every year from prescription drugs than terrorism LOL!
Dead as in Pirate of the Dead Sea
I played a trial of this game and it was awful. I've played many MMOs and have been PC gaming for years. It is one of the most simplistic, cookie cutter, and shallow games I've seen in a while. Honestly, I would not play it for free. I am rarely so harsh about games but it really was terrible. The land combat is bottom of the barrel garbage. Granted, there are *some* elements of the ship combat that are interesting, but hardly enough to rescue an entire game. An MMO is supposed to immerse you and to make you want to play it for several hours. A positive here and there is not enough to pull this one out of the trash heap. Pure crap.
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As of late Saturday morning (PST), all live servers are listed as Lights.
So wasn't server merges suppose to increase the server populations greatly? A sign of improvement of things moving forward?
And that is why...
Conservatives' pessimism is conducive to their happiness in three ways. First, they are rarely surprised -- they are right more often than not about the course of events. Second, when they are wrong they are happy to be so. Third, because pessimistic conservatives put not their faith in princes -- government -- they accept that happiness is a function of fending for oneself. They believe that happiness is an activity -- it is inseparable from the pursuit of happiness.
Its the first game I bought and didnt renew after 1 month. Bit gutted as it was one of the MMO's I was really interested in as I love ships and PvP. However the killers for me besides the usual issues are:
1. In a game that is based on open ocean and a new world there is zero exploration. Gutted as there is no point in going off searching for unique places etc. It wouldnt be that hard either. EVE had maps that dropped and gave hints of places that had loot. PotBS could have something like this.
2. Crating, I don't agree that a mega death PvP player can land and click the mouse and have a ton of items built in 2 minutes then sail off ganking again. This game needed crafting as a specialism that players could master and supply the PvPers. This to me is the biggest sin in PotBS. The game is PvP centric but they literally killed any place for players who want to play a supportive role.
3. H2H is diabolical
I would consider playing if the map was increased massively, exploration came in and there was some sort of way to land on a beach and actually explore land as well.
This............
One year in beta, played a couple a month due to the guild I was in, but want get back. I stated in beta that there is no endgame, as far as endgame ...an PVP endgame want cut it these days. There needs to be more content for PVE. The game is bases right now on Pirates and they are way overpowered which makes a open sea battle a loose-loose situation for anybody that doesn't play a pirate.
I've seen a big increase in population since I came back a week ago after leaving to play AOC....I think everyone realized how fail aoc is and that funcom (after deleting negative forum posts and overcharging me for a month) makes soe look golden........personally I focus on pvp and theres never any trouble finding ships to sink or ppl to group with.
cheers
Fear is the mind killer.