Is the F2P tsunami unstoppable? Is this the new business model we’re all to see in the future? For now, some AAA+ games like DDO, LOTRO and EQII are making that bet, and now Pirates of the Burning Sea plans to do it in the near future. This is very important news, POTBS  is an interesting game that, perhaps, was lacking population. We all know that one of the most immersive things in an MMO is the sense of sharing the world you’re playing in, and, for sure, turning the game into F2P will drag lots of players to try the game.

Continued…

Pirates of the Burning Sea recently announced that its Power & Prestige Expansion will be released on August 24^th.

The beta testing phase is wrapping up and the Burning Sea team has been very pleased with the results, saying, “We’re very grateful for all the useful suggestions and insights our beta testers have given us, and we’re excited to release Power & Prestige with all the polish it deserves. To that end, we have decided to spend some extra time polishing the final build, and we’ve also decided to sneak in a few additions based on feedback from our beta test.”

These new goodies include: a Career Awards exchange shop, Junk Buyer exchange shops and a client-side preference for auto-face target in AvCom.

For a full list of all the new features coming to Pirates of the Burning Sea Power & Prestige Expansion, click here.

The open beta is still available to join if you want to get a crack at the new features before it goes live. Click here for more details.

Avast! The time for ye olde first expansion is nearing!

In the new and last Pirates of the Burning Sea (PotBS) podcast before the release of their expansion, Power & Prestige, developers Simon (Nightwind23) and a few others delve into the making of the trailer and detail the exciting new aspects of Port Governance.

While making the trailer, due to time constraints they decided to go with a “less specifics, more exciting and cool” approach in hopes of appeasing existing players by showing them some new content while also attempting to intrigue possible new ones.

Power & Prestige boasts 60 new missions that were designed to get the player immersed and more involved in the storyline. Daily missions were also added to help players contribute to the port treasuries and also for players that are “esteemed”, to become “celebrated”.

The new expansion will bring to the forefront the importance of “Port Governance” and how the aspects of power and prestige will continually change the environments of ports. Basically, the higher the infrastructure, the better the NPC population will look. They will have better clothes, be more social towards each other and basically give the player a much more improved environment all together.

Pirates of the Burning Sea: Power & Prestige is slated to be released in early August. For more details on it you can listen to the podcast here.

Flying Lab Software’s Pirates of the Burning Sea released a bit of news concerning the new lighting system it will be implementing in the upcoming Power and Prestige expansion.

Flying Lab thought that the old system lacked certain graphical details that have become standard in most high-end MMOs and sought to change this.

The new lighting system seems to be top notch as author JoeMan states “the result is avatar lighting that reacts to what’s around in the environment. If an avatar is standing with their back to a bright yellow wall, you’ll actually see some of that light bouncing off the wall onto the character. If an avatar moves into a shaded area, you’ll see the sunlight fade out.”

The lighting in the Power and Prestige expansion pack certainly looks like a keen addition to the graphics in Pirates and shows Flying Lab’s commitment to detail and bringing a polished product to its audience. You can see the new system in action with the launch of the update in early August.

For the full article on the Pirates of the Burning Sea new lighting system, click here.

Pirates of the Burning Sea is closing servers, three to be exact, in the next month. Flying Lab Software is closing the Blackbeard, Defiant and Rackham servers; the remaining servers will be Roberts and Antigua. Players can freely transfer three characters from the closing servers at any time, and players on the remaining servers can freely transfer two characters until the beginning of March. The transfer can be done online at the POTBS website. Accounts which were inactivated between January 22nd, 2008 and January 15th, 2010 are free to play until March 5th. Characters and their items will be transferred; however, your society and friends list will not. This is not the first time servers have been closed for this game; Pirates of the Burning Sea originally launched with 11 servers.

And when I say “pirates” I am talking about the newly released Pirates of the Burning Sea game. You see, I have recently raised my sails, hoisted my flag, and set out to sea in this new frontier in the MMORPG world. It’s a great game and I have having loads of fun; anybody who wishes to join me can find me playing on the Blackbeard server as a Frenchie! Anyways, I digress, as it has come to my attention that everytime I log on I find the game to be swimming(punny!) with gold spammers. Seriously, I can’t go 30 minutes without seeing a spammer broadcasting over my nation’s channel about the recent RMT for doubloons. So what’s the deal?

This practice doesn’t really take me away from the game all that much. In fact, despite these worrisome antics contributing to what is essentially a banned practice within a game I am paying $14.99/month for, I am still having a bunch of fun. Unfortunately, what this does do is worry me as to the management of the game. I mean, seriously, I have been playing for a month now and still everyday when I log on I am greeted by the same spammers. Does the developer even care? They say they do, and yet as far as I can see nothing has been done UPDATE: Apparently, patch 1.2 coming on Tuesday will have some new tools in order to help fight these pesky intruders. Good news for all players, and also something that deserves a retraction of my earlier statements. Hurrah!

Of course, management aside, when all is said and done Pirates of the Burning Sea is still unlike most other MMORPGs. The game literally thrives on it’s player-run economy. Sure, you can say that about other games such as LoTRO or WoW, but it’s doesn’t really hold a candle when you compare it to PotBS. While the practice of such activities may seem harmless now, how will it affect the economy when there is massive amounts of gold doubloons being poured in from unconventional sources? Nobody can tell for sure now, but if there is a bigger problem threatening PotBS right now I’d definitely like to know what it is before I waste anymore money on this game.

Thanks for reading.

So I was sitting here, at my computer, looking through screenshots of some of my favorite games. Yes, that’s right, sometimes I like to look at screenshots as opposed to actually playing the game. I’m just cool like that. Anyways, I got to thinking which games have better graphics. Of course, at this point, I, in no way, was thinking specifically of Pirates of the Burning Sea and EVE Online, but it did eventually lead into that. The games are already compared to each other on so many levels why not graphics as well? Both are touted as having fantastic environment graphics, as well as ship graphics. Enjoy the screenies, and don’t forget to tell us which ones you prefer!

Here, we have two screenshots, each depicting beautiful backdrops and gorgeous effects. For EVE Online (left) the lighting is especially well-done. For Pirates of the Burning Sea (right) the water just leaps right out at you. Our verdict: Pirates of the Burning Sea.

Now these two shots are actually contrasting each other. We have EVE (left) featuring a very bright, orange screenshot with loads of detail and backdrops. The sun in the background makes the shot look particularly gorgeous. Pirates (roght), on the other hand, has a darker backdrop. While the darkness helps conceal some of the bland textures in the background, it also takes away some of the beauty of the water. Our verdict: EVE Online.

Finally, we have two screenshots that show a bit of action. EVE (left) has a lot of detail in the background as well as an aweomse picture of a ship firing at something. On the other hand we have a Pirates screenshot (right) showing off some of the battle sequences. The water, as always, looks spectacular. The real gem in this shot is the physics of the wood flying up after the initial explosion. Also if you look closely at the water you’ll notice some excellently rendered reflections in the water. Our verdict: Pirates of the Burning Sea.

So, this round, Pirates of the Burning Sea took the torch in a 2:1 victory. It’s not all that surprising, to be honest, despite receiving a graphics overhaul recently, EVE Online is still a few years older than Pirates of the Burning Sea. All of the screenshots were, obviously, looked at with an artist’s perspective in mind as I believe games are one of the highest forms of art out there today. A lot of work and care goes into giving each of these games gorgeous graphics.

So, which do you think are better?

So, like I said a week or so ago, I had planned on picking up Pirates of the Burning Sea. I am a huge fan of pirates and, as such, it only made sense for me to at least give the game a shot, right? Now I am here, I have been playing the game for about 3 days (I have been super busy this week) and I am starting to get curious as to whether or not other players feel the same things as I do about the game. I guess I’ll start from the top.

First, let me start by saying: Pirates of the Burning Sea is a refreshing take on MMORPGs. The game can be a whole lot of fun at times. This is all, of course, without mentioning the jaw-droppingly beautiful graphics. Seriously, sometimes after a ship battle with some NPCs I’ll just float around some looking at the water and sunset. It is a very nice touch, and one that, I think, breathes life into the game. Suffice it to say, I think that Pirates of the Burning Sea has nailed down all of the ship combat and movement. So what would I change from here?

Well the first, and most important thing I’d change about PotBS is the avatar design. Seriously, they look lifeless and generally give me the feel that they are stringed puppets. Sometimes, if I look closely enough I can almost convince myself that I see the strings. . . This is a very serious concern for the game, not because avatar movement/combat is a huge part of the game (it’s not), but rather because the developers have seen it fit to introduce the player to the game by starting him/her out as an avatar. Not a good idea, in my opinion, with those avatars. This also goes without saying that the avatar combat needs a general reworking as well.

In addition to the avatars, and their combat, the towns are also mostly abysmal. They are quiet, empty, and very much dead. I don’t mean there aren’t a lot of players there either. The starting town I was at had a bunch of other gamers inside and yet the town still felt dead. It could have been a Hollywood set for all I could see. When I say dead, I mean the NPCs don’t have much of a presence there. Now, I really hate to compare this game to World of Warcraft, really I do, but I have to go with what I know. In WoW, you’ll often notice that a lot of the towns have a whole lot of flare and presence. You’ll see guards on patrol, NPCs randomly roaming around yelling stuff out, and sometimes even fighting amongst the NPCs. It makes the towns feel alive, and it was one of my favorite aspects of WoW. I could be in a town with no other gamers and yet still not feel alone. In PotBS, I always feel like I am by myself. Of course I haven’t been to most of the towns so this could vary from place to place.

Well, that’s about it. There are some smaller things that I’d change if I could, but they really don’t require elaborating here. Like I said before, the game nails down the ship combat/movement, and even the economy is pieced together very well, as long as you are able to understand it. However, and I stand by this, one of the main things that is going to hold PotBS back is their avatar gameplay. While it’s not the main focus of the game, itself, it is still a big enough part of the game that it will cause a negative impact amongst new players. So please, Flying Labs, let’s get cracking on some fine tuning for that aspect of the game.

What would you like to change about Pirates of the Burning Sea? Let’s here it!

After Christmas I decided I wanted to try out Pirates of the Burning Sea during there open beta testing. Now I didn’t have all that much time to get very far as I joined the open beta late, but I did get to try it out non the less. When you start you get to pick your country of alligence or you can become a pirate, which is what I picked, seriously, the game is called Pirates of the Burning Sea for a reason. So after I customized my pirate with a slew of options I was off on my pirate adventure. The game starts off on a pirate ship that is under attack and it’s your job to save it. It’s basically a tutorial to teach you how to move, fight and steer a ship.

Pirates is made by Flying Lab Software and is similarly setup as Eve Online where you have your character and then a ship which is how you travel around. If you’ve ever played Eve I don’t need to tell you that it is very overwhelming when you start, Pirates I’m glad to say was not like that, much easier to learn. In not to long of a time span I was leveling and improving my pirate and ship. If you ever played Sid Meier’s Pirates, a turned based strategy game, its somewhat similar with a lot more options, depth and its obviously a MMO not a turned based game.

As you level, your character gains new fighting skills which come in handy when you board another ship or are being boarded. There’s also a lot of upgrades you can do for you ship, bigger/better guns, thicker hull, better sails, ect. Or you can just get an new ship altogether.

I only got about 10 hrs of gaming in before the beta ended so again I didn’t get very far, but to be honest the whole pirate theme didn’t float my boat. Sorry, had to get at least one pun in. The game seems like it would be fun if you got into it, just wasn’t that fun starting out.

Recently, Flying Lab Software decided to lift the NDA that surrounded Pirates of the Burning Sea’s (PotBS from here on out) closed beta, and with good reason too; the game is launching next month. After a long and lengthy development cycle it looks like this piratey-escapeed is finally going to get released to the public. Although, anybody who has done any sort of research on this game, or been a part of any forum discussion on it has probably come across the resemblence it shares with EVE Online, albiet in pirate form as opposed to space.

The comparison isn’t particularly unwelcome, EVE is a highly successful MMORPG that continues to grow today, but is this a correct comparison? Is PotBS really all that similar to EVE Online? Well, the answer gets a bit muddied up here. It shares some of the broader similarites that aren’t really found in any other MMORPG other than these two games, but it also differ’s in a lot of these same areas. For example, both of the games, generally, have you playing as the ship (as opposed to a person), however, where EVE Online does not allow you to actually have a character avatar, PoTBS does. In PotBS you actually do get to walk around a port and go on land missions.

Bottomline, the two games are similar. In fact, the are probably similar enough that they will generally be targeting the same crowd of MMO-gamers. However, they each bring their own unique twist to the party that they don’t ever really step on the other’s toes, if that makes any sense whatsoever. In the end, let’s just be glad that Flying Labs didn’t decide to make a pirate clone of WoW. Lord knows we don’t need another one of those MMORPGs.