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Came back and staying
Donloko
Member Posts: 14
I was always into following this game , like a 3d sence tipe of thing .
Did played at launch but left It as soon as I have heted 30 ,
There were lots of reasons that drove me out of the game , like the stupid avatar combat , economy system the lack of exploration in the game and more , the biggest one was the wining comunity that this game had , bitching about the pvp this that the other and basically about everything.
Since some months have past things cleared out eventually , those who wanted to stay stayed and those who left some are coming back and some dont .
I dont blame anybody It is the personal preference after all that makes the diference.
I wanted to return and give It one more chance , and im glad I did.
I found populated servers (after the merges) a mature and quality comunity not muching any others mmo.
The devs did a pretty good job in some aspects of the game like the avatar combat witch is completely diferent now , plus nice every day missions and very very good storyline quests ,
The economy system is changed to but I dont have any opinion in It yet I want to test It a bit more.
Thats about It Im in and Im having a blast atm and staying for sure(eve got a bit to tired 
)
Hope my impressions help people that were thinking to give this game another go or new wannabe captains that are considering trying It.
Cheers
Comments
Welcome back! Refreshing to see positive feedback for this game from someone else - it's a rarity on this board
Thanks mate
I rolled a spanish privateer in Roberts server , after I deleted my french past
I always new that this game had grate potential and can become a success
Ive played many mmos and i think this one is very well made .
I hope It continues to get the atention from the devs and at some point they introduce exploration to the game
because
pirates , caribean = exploration , treasures etc
I went back and tried it on the 14 day free trial.
Pretty much everything that was wrong with the game at launch is still borked.
Here's my views on the game today:
It is still one big happy dysfunction clusterfuck of a game theory. It is nice, pretty red circles for PvP, combined with speedboats, stealth sails, and magic spells to avoid PvP. Still plays like Mario Kart meets WOW. Sweet if you're 6 years old.
Rackham server, what can I say. I previously had played French, when I re-activated my acount I noticed that the map was British and Rat, and the Rats owned Cayo. Note to new players checking out servers, when a nation cannot keep control of it's deep harbor heavy ship production port, well, let's just say it's time to check out alternative servers. Luckily your choice will not be time consuming.
Anyway, I opened up my medium shipbuilding facility, pulled my previously built ships out of mothballs, made a few more, and put them on the market in Tampa. You see, I had been reading the forums and knew France was in such bad shape that they were using civilian ships. Got into a conversation with a French player, who helpfully informed me that nobody would buy my ships, as the British were now supplying France with low level ships for practically free. He told me if I joined his society I could make ships for them (for free), and they would give me the materials (what a deal). That also explained why there wasn't much in the line of materials available on the French market, they didn't need to produce as the Brits were giving them stuff.
Anyway. I declined, saying I was an independant casual player, and didn't want to join a society. After a week, my ships hadn't sold, so I thought about taking them to Port Royal, figuring the British could buy them, give them to the French, and allow them to keep British shipbuilding concentrating on the level 50 ships. I figure France will be in for a surprise one day, not developing their own shipbuilding industry. Can't wait to see how that national strategy works for France. The dumbasses probably figure the Brits will give them RvR ships.
Oh yea, and one French player, who admitted to playing a week, wanted to grind West End into a PB, never considering he would put Grenville in the red, and, that if they couldn't win Cayo, how were they going to win West End?
With that, I switched over to Blackbeard server. I rolled a new French character, since French Rackham was borked. Not bad, the French held Cayo and Tampa, everything French west of Tampa was held by Spain, Grenville was held by Rats, and the French possessions in the Antilles were pretty much split between the Rats and the Brits. Once agin, no lower level ships on the French market, and a player pleading on nation chat for someone to make a Mediator Cutter fo his brother, who is new to the game. His brother was probably very wisely playing WOW during all this.
I thought of suggesting he do what the Rackham French do, and get it from the Brits. That's what I'm going to do when I get to that level.
Overall, it was a unique day when I saw/heard from six players (total), that is, unless you count the constant power leveling and gold spamming in the nation chat box. It appears FLS has thrown in the towel on the gold farmers, they probably comprise a substantial number of the subscription base by now. Power leveling to level 50 is only a couple hundred dollars, consider 40 hours to power level, it works out to less than $10/hour. Doesn't appear to help the US balance of trade at those rates, though. At least the spammers English seems to have improved over a year.
As to the new Avcom system, meh. I didn't care one way or another about the old Avcom system, and the same goes with the new Avcom sysytem. Biggest positive change I could see to increase subsciptions is to make shirts optional on female avatars, and have topless female NPCs doing lap dances in the taverns as a money sink, kinda like what Age of Conan did.
Speaking of which, I never saw a six man gank squad, there just isn't that many players left to form one. It appears the assholes have move on to AOC and WAR, leaving only the dumbasses that want to grind West End for $15/month to play this game.
Of course it couldn't go a whole week without at least one of the people reposting their repeated complaints from the "What did PotBS do wrong?" thread. We know you don't like the game. You told us 5 or 6 times how much you hate it in the other thread. You don't need to try to take over any positive thread you see as well.
FYI Blackbeard French was in good shape two months ago and have been out-PvP'd in port battles and on the OS so now they're not, Antigua French just won the map and Defiant French are pretty much on top of their server. But you don't care about that. You'd complain about something else with the game even if the Frogs on every server were celebrating back-to-back map wins.
Once again, rather than address any of the issues I bring out, you would rather attack me as a poster. The issues are still there, in game, and you are still engaging in biased coverage of the game.
The line under your sig should read...."always a fanboi".
I addressed the ones I disagreed with in the other thread, and stated (in all caps a couple of times, which you still didn't get) that I agreed with other things you'd said. I don't know how to make it any clearer to you that I'm not this "word twisting enemy" you seem to think I am. So, since I don't know you (and thus aren't friends with you and don't care about you) I stopped trying.
Still, no need to try and take over every single thread you see to repost the same complaints that we've already seen half a dozen times. We "get it."
This thread was started by one guy who wanted to express his own opinion toward the game... not invite everybody with an axe to grind to come and dump on the game - we already have that thread, it's 20+ pages, I think I saw you there!
The title of the thread is "Came back and staying".
I came back to, and am expressing my opinion based on my findings. You seem to have a problem with that, maybe because I'm not a cheerleader, like you. Asking you to fairly report on the game is like asking Putin to investigate human rights violations in Georgia. Nobody would be surprised by the results.
I am not concerned with Avcom changes, I am not concerned that the French are losing, I am not concerned that Port a Pitre has been redone so that I can feel like a rat running a maze to get my piece of cheese.
I am concerned with gameplay, and the community. I know, silly me, what's game play and community to a MMORPG? The gameplay has not changed, this is still a PvE game with consensual PvP.
As I point out the community has changed in one regard, I failed to see a SINGLE six man gank squad out there on the OS on TWO servers. I consider that to be a favorable point for those that quite the game because of the ganking. As I point out, maybe all the assholes moved on to AOC and WAR. Some may consider that a reason for coming back.
I purposely did not address the economy yet, because I am still exploring it. Right now I am inclined to say that, with the exception of the French Rackham community, the economy seems to be working. Prices are higher than when I left, but with the introduction of more money (insurance, increased loot drops) without the corresponding increase in money sinks, that is going to happen. Kind of like printing $750 billion of currency to stimulate the economy.
A new starting position, such as mine on Blackbeard, does not have sufficient capital yet to actively get into the economic game. My French Rackham position does, and has, but with players who are utterly clueless. I came back to a shipbuilding operation already in place. It was latchkey, open the door, turn on the lights, and start the machinery up again. Why some Society thinks it was doing me a favor was utterly beyond me. Trading with the Brits and Spanish seems to work though. I refuse to trade with the Rats, they are the most populous on the server, and I hate to give them my money.
As to my propensity for The French, I have also played Spanish, personally I think the Spanish have the best starting position in the game, with the exception of the distance between their starting area and Havana. They, like the French, have no interest in Havana/Cayo being in PvP, it ruins their economy. So these two can co-exist economically, and trade easily with each other. The Brits are hampered by a chokepoint, and being isolated. I would like to play the Brits sometimes, but there is a RvR balance issue for me.
So condemn me because I chose an underdog.
You closed with "condemn me because I chose an underdog." I don't know who that's addressed to, I haven't condemned your choice of nation at all...
Nor am I arguing with your assessment of the state of Rackham or Blackbeard France, in case you took it that way. I pointed out France on other servers being successful is all. I'd also like to point out that, after one noteworthy economy guru rerolled from Britain to Spain on Blackbeard, BB Britain's Auction House situation has gone into a big decline. I'm not sure why that is, given that the other major shipwrights and outfitting producers are still there, but it's worth mentioning I think since the subject of AH availability was raised. The point of me saying it at all is that, despite what a lot of people will say, the RvR has a huge impact on a nation's economy and vice versa. If a nation's PvPers have been doing poorly, it's going to be rough waters - especially for new players. That's something any potential new player needs to have an understanding of going into it (not YOU, I'm talking about the folks who may read these threads who haven't played yet).
As to the articles I write for MMORPG.com, say what you will; I write what I see, from my perspective. My perspective does not happen to be "Everything about PotBS is fail, yet I still play." It does not happen to be "Everything about PotBS is fail and I don't play anymore, yet I have nothing better to do than shitpost about it." My perspective happens to be "PotBS is a good game with flaws just like every other MMOG on the market." Real flaws and problems will be treated as real flaws and problems. Opinion-based flaws and problems will be treated as just that - opinions.
EDIT: Also, you'll NEVER see me say anything about liking dailies and insurance
Oh please, my comment about the underdog was specifically directed against your comment about my frogs.
So you don't dispute my opinion, why the mad dog attack on me as a poster? Because I "came back", taking advantage of the FLS free trial, and state that besides the fluff, nothing's changed. By the way, I still have no idea what "dailies" are? If they are welfare, why are they needed? I have made about 300,000 doubloons in about a week. I currently have a bunch of ships I am holding off the market, no sense oversaturating it with supply and bringing my own prices down. Ship outfittings are selling well too, one of the easiest things to make, and no French are making them. Guess the Brits give them those for free too?
I opened my planatation, pulled out the hemp, and placed the beans and wheat on the market at a 2 doubloon markup. If I sell 100 I pay for my weekly upkeep. So, I'm selling 150 beans for 4 doubloons in Tampa. What are the rocket scientists doing, they're buying beans at 10 doubloons in Grenville. About the same with wheat, and refined sugar, which I used to pay 35 for, is now somewhere over 50. Off to the Brits those commodities go.
Actually, I see the economy totally different way then you do. The economy is the key. I have yet to hear anyone that understands it find fault with the economic model, it is the strength of this game.
RvR does not effect the economy, the economy effects RvR. Production still occurs regardless of whether the port is contested, or falls. In 5,000 years of human civilization, when two societies of the same technological level (agrarian/agrarian, or industrial/industrial) clash, the winner is the society that can sustain a war of attrition. A war of attrition is sustained only through replacement of men and material. The economy is the replacement of material attrition, a side cannot sustain itself in RvR without an economy capable of quickly replacing losses. Rackham French are clueless, Blackbeard French may understand it, but they didn't have the better economy. That's what they need to work on, as well as more starter ships to encourage newer players. Nobody should ever have to tell Abe Lincoln and "Damned Yankees" to make more Mediators, they've been around long enough to know this.
Economic players are not "second fiddle" to the PvP players, and PvP players are not doing economic players a "favor" by inviting them into their society to make ships for cheap. Certain segments of the player base need to wake up and get their heads out of their asses if they wish to be competitive.
The loss by the French of Cayo, or the Spanish of Havana, is indicative to a new player that the particular side at issue is incapable of sustaining a war of attrition. My advice was that a new player should seek another server if they desire that side.
Similiarly, a side cannot sustain itself in RvR without the player base to utilize that material. It matters not how many times you lose, only that you can bounce back and fight again. Losses do not effect characters, your character does not die if his ship sinks. The RvR has no mechanism for balancing out players. It is a game flaw. Players are needed for all roles, not just fighting.
Similiarly, for all the whining about ganking, and unfairness in the red circle, PvP is consensual. If you don't like it, don't go in the red circle. If a player plans it properly, and distributes their ships, they should always have at least one ship in a port not under attack. Same with the economy, if a player plans it correctly, and decentralizes their production, they should be able to maintain one production base in a friendly port.
That is another flaw in the game, it is advertised as a RvR, PvP game, yet it is really a PvE game.
You do tend to gloss over the flaws, and look through rosey colored glasses. You launch into personal attacks against a poster, rather than discuss the issues with the game. "Your" perspective is highly biased toward FLS. You are not a "correspondant", you are a part of the story.
As to why did I post here, because I "came back" and posted my perspective. Why did you post a reply, you never "came back".
I stopped reading right there. My comment about "your frogs" didn't have a thing to do with "your' frogs, it was in reply to your comments about the state of France on Rackham and Blackbeard. It went like this:
Olddaddy says, "France is weak because they suck on Rackham AND Blackbeard."
Havohej says, "France is pretty strong on other servers, in fact they just won the map on Antigua."
How you can take that and land on "condemning you for picking the underdog" I just can't fathom.
To be honest, if you're so disconnected from what's actually being typed and posted, I can't be bothered with what you think, say or feel. Enjoy.
I stopped reading right there. My comment about "your frogs" didn't have a thing to do with "your' frogs, it was in reply to your comments about the state of France on Rackham and Blackbeard. It went like this:
Olddaddy says, "France is weak because they suck on Rackham AND Blackbeard."
Havohej says, "France is pretty strong on other servers, in fact they just won the map on Antigua."
How you can take that and land on "condemning you for picking the underdog" I just can't fathom.
To be honest, if you're so disconnected from what's actually being typed and posted, I can't be bothered with what you think, say or feel. Enjoy.
Not a problem, I always enjoy you when you're twisting words, shooting the messenger, and being a general fanboi. Because France on other servers has nothing to do with the point of my original post, which is France on Rackham and France on Blackbeard, the two servers I returned to.
It's like I'm talking about apples, so you start making remarks about oranges to prove me wrong.
It's what you do best, not addressing the point of the posts, going into defensive mode over a game you enjoy, but don't pay for, in your position as biased "correspondant".
Not to worry, I'm done now. Any player thinking of returning can read my post, and understand what I'm saying. They can also read your post, and realize that you have no answer to the issues that I raised. Should be enough for them to make a decision about returning.
I can tell from just reading this, that both of you guys are very passionate about this game... Or else, all that would not have been neccessary...
But, umm, if someone were to come back and like it, why would/should anyone else give a rats ass?
You repeat the title of the thread couple of times, but no where does it invite argument over "facts" vs opinions. I come to believe that when someone says that they "Came back and (are) staying" that it wouldn't be a representation or even try to represent a crowd or general audience as to so much themselves.
I think the op was just stating that he came back and enjoyed the game. Why is that such a problem? Can no one enjoy what they want to enjoy without the risk of being shot down?
Funny watching two people duke it out and completely miss that the original posters looks, smells and posts like a brand new account created to post nothing more than a viral marketing advertisement.
Everything's a conspiracy on MMORPG.com.. lol.
Oh, if anyone noticed (and I must say I didn't), I think they didn't bother to point it out because:
1) The game is a year old, so it's not as though the hype machine could turn the tide around in comparison to a new game that needs all the promotion it can get.
2) People were just willing to give him the benefit of the doubt (new posters must start somewhere).
3) I think there's enough negativity on these forums to offset any post by one player announcing he's playing the game.
EDIT: OP's profile says he's from Athens, Greece. Now do we have a game getting released in the upcoming days for which the developer is based in Athens? Hmm.... so maybe it's all a piece of reverse psychology for Darkfall?
I love conspiracy theories.
Funny that, now I'm actually quite curious about trying out PotBS again to give the economy a shot, sounds like it is somewhat vibrant and offers good profits to the savvy investor/manufacturer.
What server would you chaps and girls in the know-how recommend for a European player that was wanting to dip the toe in the waters of PotBS again?
It's not geographically restricted. That said, Roberts is the designated Euro server, but Antigua and Blackbeard are the two largest populations.
The way the market (Auction House) is set up, you've got to be pretty savvy to make your fortune just by playing the market but a certain few people have done just that. The thing that makes it tough to just be an market mogul is that many societies run closed-loop economies. Matthew Town is the most active auction house (it's the Pirates central hub and most pirates don't have organized society economies so the nats price gouge the hell out of us) Will take patience if you go into the game for that; be warned and read everything you can find on the official forum about getting started - learn who the gurus are and contact them for info/advice, most of them are good about that.
I gave that quite a bit of thought before returning.
The established servers will have a more vibrant economy, if it is an open economy. However you have to counterbalance it with the amount of competition and the possibility of societies running closed economic models, and not buying from you at all.
That is why I returned to Rackham, and also chose Blackbeard. Rackham appears to have a great need for economic players, yet if you don't mind some travel, you can pick up some deals. My freetrader made a run yesterday morning down to the Brits starting area for cotton (lowest priced) and wound up returning with a bunch of bargains, the strangest was 5 livestock that I had no use for, but they were so darn cheap I bid on them cause I couldn't believe the price, and wound up buying them. I just sat at my keyboard thinking, "Wtf, now I own 5 totally useless livestock, guess I'll resell them".
Blackbeard has a more vibrant economy then Rackham, but once again more established societies and more competition. I have not yet figured out a market niche on Blackbeard, they seem to have alot covered. By have alot covered, I mean there is alot of everything on the market, making for great free trade opportunities.
If you return, just start a character on a server and head into the market, not only to see what's available and how lively the market is, but to check out the lower level ships availability. Also, if you have a character from before, check your skill, I found all my skills were gone, and had to go to the trainer and reset my skill points.
Thank you for the general advice and overview Havohej, I'll make sure to start out by price hiking you pirates lol, that is if I can manage to get my goods delivered safely to your ports without getting plundered en-route. Good to have a starting point before exploring more colonial markets.
Also thanks for that helpful breakdown olddaddy, it seems those two servers offer quite a pair of different sort of challenges and opportunities. I might have a look into both of them to see which better suits my interests as a freetrader.
I'll probably start by having a look at Rackham during Euro times, to gauge to see if the population is sufficient at tose times, as it sounds like a promising place for carving out a niche and running a manufacturing chain.
Ahoy mateys, and may the wind always be at the back of your sails!
Protip: Avoiding PvP in the red is easy. Wait for there to be a bunch of NPCs around and if you're being chased by players, tag NPCs of an opposite nation (if it's Brits chasing you and you're a Frenchie, tag a Spanish or Pirate fleet. If you can take a Pirate Gang fleet (Merrymen, Hijos, Varyags, etc.) nobody can join your battle but if you tag a fleet corresponding to a player nation, players from that nation can join and help the NPCs.
When you come out of a fight or port, you have temporary invisibility, temporary invulnerability and Preparing Ship. These are all on concurrent, overlapping timers so that you're basically invincible for 60 seconds or so (these things are all measures to protect ships from being ganked before they zone in to and load the Open Sea). Between the invis, invuln and prep ship, if you really don't want to be cause you probably won't be unless you get really unlucky. In the lower Antilles (from Island Harbor down to Bridgetown) it's even easier as you can go from port to port safely.
PvPers will hate you for it, but it's been confirmed in no uncertain terms that this practice is kosher. Good luck!
Ok I didint predict when i made this thread that It will lead up to this dispute , ill try at least make It constractive.
I might have one post on the forums , but i read the forums here in mmorpg for over a year and never had reaaly something to add because my main game was Eve online for the past years.
When I had something to say I subscribed to this forum and made this thread.
The only mmo I was following was Pot bs and I ve been looking at It from pre realease , The time came finally for me to get pulled from Eve to Pot bs and I wanted to share It with you guys and also my view on the game , is that bad?
As for the population and economy stability issues been adressed on this topic I will share my expirience with you.
I started last week in the Roberts server from scratch deleted my previus characters (french) and made spanish privateer names: don loco.
Keep in mind that the spanish have the lowest population in the Roberts Server.
I saw plenty of people in the starting areas and arount the coast of mexico and especially at port Sisal , I have lvled up to 22 and I have changed 4 ships till now all 3 bought from the action house is sisal (5 min sail form starting port) (halifax-->Van horn snow--> snow cutter-->postiolern Frigate).
Never had problem finding ammo rigs ship mods etc. never had problems finding people to group with ,
in fact Spain got the most alive comunity ive seen in mmo , watching all the constructing convos and helpfull people at the nation channel celebrating port battle victories.
After I played a bit I got van horn and went to have a carefull look at the Pvp zones I saw lots of action going on , and I also got ganged 2 times (noob
).
To conclude Potbs roberts server till know gave the feeling of an alive and fun comunity , If some people want to acuse tha game for some other things you dont like your opinion is acceptable and respectable by all means ,
But please stop discuraging people by saying that the game know is a mess comunity and economy wise ,Thats @^$#^%@ and you know It
The game is perfectly alive and at Its best phase (we beating the frencies
)
ps. ah yes indeed I am Greek sho excuse my english
Cool ,
Let us know when you rage quit pls
, thanks.
Are there only 2 people posting on this thread. now 3 including myself. I am looking for something positive in game to come back to. This is the only game I found that actually uses simulation in it. The sailing that is. Im so sick of clubs, bows and arrows in the other games. I also really dont care about the avatar combat. The sailing battles in potbs could get very intense at times. Being you actually lose stuff made the risk kinda real. Did they change that? I thought I read somewhere about insurance. The world is still as small as it was before? No gank squads is positive. lack of population is not. I guess ill throw 15 bucks at it before I delete from HD. Thanks.
This post is intentionally written as to not make any sense what so ever. Thank You Very Much.
Most of the active PotBS players don't seem to be active on this forum, more's the pity. The best gauge of current players' prevailing opinions is the official forum itself, particularly the Suggestion Box forum section where you'll see what players are suggesting could be improved (and how).
Ship combat is as fun as ever, with the exception of a rebalance here and there. I don't know if many would go as far as to call it a 'simulation' given the presence of repairs and stuns and such, but it is a video game after all. IMO the sailing battles are still quite intense, particularly PvP. When you sink, you still lose some of your stuff; they did add insurance to ships and expensive outfittings but recently pulled back on 50% of the insurance for the most expensive ships by reducing insurance paid out on lineship structure bundles.
World size hasn't changed, no. However, that might be eased some as a side effect of the oh-so-long awaited Skirmish system which is on TestBed now and scheduled to hit the live servers in the next Milestone patch (1.14). There is a lot of speculation as to exactly what effect Skirmish will have on RvR and OS PvP.
The lack of gank squads has been sort of exaggerated and I'm not sure exactly how this impression has gotten around. It's not AS bad as it once was, but you're always going to have situations where a group of friends are looking for fights and all they see is solo targets or smaller groups... those solo targets or smaller groups will get hit. Once a player learns the ins and outs of the system, though, it really is very, very easy to avoid being ganked.
The game doesn't have the huge population of a WoW or WAR, or even EVE, but the servers Antigua, Blackbeard and Roberts have large enough, active enough populations to "make it happen." Defiant and Rackham, while their populations are small, are home to some pretty enthusiastic and determined players... most of whom seem to enjoy the more leisurely pace of things on the less populated server. During most time zones, though, it can be difficult to find folks to play with under those conditions. It's also worth emphasizing that even on the three "high population" servers, there is a "top dawg" and an "underdog". That can make the open market situation very frustrating if you can't access other nations' auction houses. Especially since closed-loop society econ is still generally the way to go for medium- to large-sized societies floating bundleboats and SOLs. Nations of most servers have eased back on the "play to crush" mentality, but losing key econ ports still imposes an undeniable inconvenience.
I don't know how long ago you played or how long you've been away from the game, but I think that if you come back you might find that the good things have gotten better while the bad things have ranged between "slowly improved upon" or "at least it hasn't gotten worse."
Way back when, I played on a friends acct, who quit midway through his first month.
He resubbed to give another go last month and quit again, not making it through a whole week.
I again played some, on his left over time and the game is fundamentally the same. A few changes, a few improvements, but nothing is so much better to justify buying or paying a sub fee. Still mostly the same game, only with few people and different problems.
Wasn't anything special before, still isn't.
The ship has sailed on this game, no pun intended.