Server Merge & Character Transfer Announcement

www.burningsea.com/page/consolidation

"Customer Service Notification

Pirates of the Burning Sea Character Transfer & Server Merge Announcement

Ahoy, Pirates of the Burning Sea Captains!

 Population density has been the topic of much debate in the community over the last few months. What we’re hearing is that Pirates is an awesome game that you really enjoy playing, but that it’s a lot more fun when there’s a critical mass of other players around to play alongside or against. Through feedback from the players and evaluation of server populations, it has become clear that key game features require higher density in order to function at optimum levels.

To push things in the right direction, we’ve decided to condense the current population onto two servers. On March 5, 2010 at approximately 12:01 AM PST, we will close the following servers: Blackbeard, Defiant, and Rackham. Beginning on February 5, 2010 at approximately 12:01 AM PST, you can transfer your characters from the affected servers onto one of the two remaining servers, Antigua or Roberts. At this time, character creation will be disabled on the Blackbeard, Defiant, and Rackham servers. We hope these changes will provide you with an even more enjoyable Pirates experience.

* Important Dates

2/2/2010 – 05:00AM – Patch 1.22 Goes live

2/5/2010 – 12:01AM – Character transfers open.

3/5/2010 – 12:01AM – Blackbeard, Defiant and Rackham servers are closed.

* When can I start transferring my characters?

You can transfer your characters beginning at approximately 12:01 AM PST on February 5, 2010 using our character transfer service

* What if my Pirates of the Burning Sea subscription isn’t currently active?

Between February 5, 2010 at 12:01 AM PST and March 5, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST, accounts of former players that were closed between January 22, 2008 and January 15, 2010 will be reactivated for up to twenty-nine (29) days of free play*, which will allow you to transfer your characters to the Roberts or Antigua server and try out new features that we have implemented since you last set sail.

* How many transfers do I get?

From February 5, 2010 at approximately 12:01 AM PST through March 5, 2010 at approximately 12:01 AM PST, players with characters that resided on Roberts or Antigua prior to February 5, 2010 will be allowed two (2) transfers per character; players with characters that reside on Defiant, Blackbeard and Rackham prior to February 5, 2010 will be allowed three (3) available transfers. On March 5, 2010, all un-used transfers will be removed from all characters. Before you transfer characters, we highly recommend that you discuss your plans with your society and group mates before moving your characters.

* What servers can I transfer to?

Players will be able to transfer their characters to either Roberts or Antigua. You do not have to transfer all of your characters to the same server.

* What happens when I transfer a character?

When you initiate a transfer, most of your character’s data will be transferred to the new server. Information that will be transferred includes character level, inventory (including economic items, mission rewards, and server victory rewards), money, ships, mission progress, skills and outfitting. Your character will keep the same structures in the same ports. Any items a transferred character has listed in the Auction House will appear in the same port as an expired listing and will need to be re-listed.



There are a few pieces of character information that will not move with a character, such as the Friend and Ignore lists, which will empty after the transfer. Also, the transferred character will not be in a society on the new server, and personal unrest or contention points that the character has earned will be cleared as well. It is important that these specific data points not carry over in order to make certain that they not disrupt the destination server’s data.



Important: After you transfer a character, it will be deleted from the server from which it was transferred, and your auction listings will expire.



We expect that the character transfer process will generally take only a few minutes. You should be able to begin playing your character on your new server as soon as the character transfer is complete (if that character matches your current active Nation).

* I have characters from all four nations; will I be able to transfer them all to Roberts or Antigua?

Yes, you will. We expect to implement a system with patch 1.22 called Active Nation Select. This will allow you to have up to six characters of each nation on one server (yes, that’s a total of 24 characters per server). You will only be able to have one playable nation at a time on a server, but you’ll be able to change your active nation during the cease fire period after each map win.

* What happens to my Society?

In addition to resetting your friends list, transferring your character to a new server will also reset your Society list. In order to assist Society Leaders with the task of keeping track of Society members, we have created the /dumpsocietyinfo command. Society Leaders using this command will create a file called societyinfo.csv containing a list of your Society members, which can be found in the Pirates of the Burning Sea directory in your My Documents folder.

* What if my character’s name is taken on the destination server?

Character names are not guaranteed upon character transfer. If your character’s name is already taken by a player on the Roberts or Antigua servers, then you will be asked to choose a new name for your character (subject to the terms and conditions set forth in the EULA).

* How long will I have to transfer my characters?

Once character transfer begins on February 5, 2010 at approximately 12:01 AM PST, you will have until March 5, 2010 at 12:01 AM PST to transfer your characters. At this time, all un-used transfers will be removed from all characters, and all characters and associated data will no longer be accessible..

* Where can I find the latest Pirates of the Burning Sea installer?

If you have a Station Account and an active Pirates of the Burning Sea account, or you are a trial customer, you will find the latest Pirates of the Burning Sea installer by visiting this link. You will find additional instructions on that page, but if you should run into any complications, or if you need additional assistance, please file a support ticket by visiting SOE support with detailed information.

* What if I run into trouble?

Our customer service staff is standing by to assist, and you can contact them by visiting www.burningsea.com/support and filing a detailed support ticket.

* This offer, and the period of free game-play described in this offer, expires on March 5, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST. This offer is only available for Pirates of the Burning Sea accounts that have been closed and inactive between January 22, 2008 and January 15, 2010 and is not available for accounts closed after January 15, 2010, current Pirates of the Burning Sea or Station Access accounts or for accounts that were banned or were not in good standing when its Pirates of the Burning Sea or Station Access subscription previously expired.

Entering billing information before expiration of the free play period on March 5, 2010 will terminate the free service and you will lose the balance of any unused free play period game time. In addition, if you re-subscribe to Pirates of the Burning Sea, you will not be entitled to any game time that may be included with the purchase of certain versions of, or other offers related to, Pirates of the Burning Sea. Sony Online Entertainment and Flying Lab Software do not ensure continuous or error-free access, use or availability of any game content, feature, game-play or server and may change, modify, disable, suspend or remove any such content, feature, game-play or server at their sole discretion."