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Pirates of the Burning Sea: The third anniversary
Pirates of the Burning Sea just turned three years old, so we decided to take a look back at some of the history, controversy and changes that happened along the way. How do you sum up the history of an MMO, no matter how short? Do you simply make a timeline, establishing landmark events? What about the players -- how do they feel after sailing around the sea for all this time? Well, we decided to do a little bit of each. What we found was a game that is still rich in its content, still varied in its playerbase, and still moving forward. The game has had its issues like any other, so on this anniversary we decided to showcase how the game has affected people with a series of mini-interviews with the players themselves. Click past the cut to see what treasures we dug up!
Pirates of the Burning Sea developer wrap-up
In his post-launch developer wrap-up, Flying Lab CEO and co-founder Russell Williams talks about how Pirates of the Burning Sea went from an idea to a game, and what they learned after it launched. Their great idea: kick-ass ship combat, PvP that affected the world, a robust economy and great stories. In 2002, that was all they had -- an idea and a sense that the player should never have to look around too hard to find the fun. What followed was six long years of progress and setbacks as they put that simple idea into code and watched World of Warcraft completely change the face of MMOs.Players who played PotBS once it went live played completely differently than the beta players. They had tuned the game based on beta testing, but that led them false as players who might, in beta, have spent a substantial amount of time on the open sea, instead spent it on land or in instanced missions. Without the needs of world PvP-ers driving the economy, the economy itself hit a reef. They have a solution for that about ready to go. Williams feels the game plays well to its strength -- ship-to-ship combat, though he acknowledges that many of missions were created with a template, and look it. Could the avatar play better? Yes, he says: and they plan to reduce the instancing in towns and open up more combat options in upcoming patch 1.4.Players are eager these days to try the new game, play it for awhile, then move on to something new. It's hard to get a hook into these people, but Flying Lab has seen what people actually like best about the game now that PotBS has launched, and will keep playing to strengths and addressing weaknesses as it settles into its niche.
One Shots: Combat on the high seas
Today lands us a treasure fit for any seafarin' scallywag. Not only do we have a lovely sunset on the water from Flying Lab's Pirates of the Burning Sea to enjoy, but we also have some ship-to-ship combat, with the cannonballs whizzing across the landscape to the left. Makes you wonder what the other people did (or perhaps more properly, what kind of nifties they've got in their cargo hold, depending on what side you're playing on!) If you're wondering why, you'll have to hunt down Daggith Defoy of La Fédération on the Guadeloupe Server, who didn't tell us why he was unloading on that other ship. Got some cool screens of combat from your favorite game? Better yet, do you have one that combines sunsets and combat? (Mmm. Two great tastes that go great together.) We want to see them! Just pop those screens and a short blurb about what game/who you are/what's going on into the mail and fire those off to us at oneshots@massively.com. We promise we won't keelhaul you.%Gallery-9798%
Hands-on tour of Pirates of the Caribbean Online
Recently, I sat down with Disney Online to get a tour of their MMO Pirates of the Caribbean Online. To be honest, I didn't go in with high expectations. I mean, the movies were fun and all, but with only Toontown Online to DO's credit, I wasn't expecting something that appealed to me as an adult gamer. Boy, was I wrong.An adventure set around helping Jack Sparrow retrieve the Black Pearl is just as perilous as it sounds. You wake up in the same jail as the rogue pirate. Together you take advantage of cannon fire assaulting the Caribbean town of your incarceration to escape and begin your exploits. Those include meeting Wil Turner, the voodoo priestess Tia Dalma and a new villain, Jolly Roger among others. Not to mention facing down the Imperial Navy, hungry crocodiles, rampaging zombies, pirate-eating giant plants and cut-throat card players.There are no classes, servers or banks. This game isn't about inventory management, but is action-based about being a pirate. No tradeskills, either. The scourge of the High Seas don't craft, they take. The number of weapons available is small, but the skill ups for them are numerous. If you are looking for less strategy and more action in your pirate MMO, read on for a tour of the first few levels of the game.Character customization, sea battles, voodoo magic and cameos galore, plus two videos after the jump.%Gallery-14957%
One Shots: Sailing off into the sunset
Today's gorgeous screenshot comes from Daggith Defoy of La Fédération on the Guadeloupe Server in Pirates of the Burning Sea. For those of you who haven't gotten to check this title out, the PvP in PotBS is done via ship battles, which makes for a gorgeous backdrop at the same time. Here's what he had to say:There have been a few screenshots of sunsets and water effects posted lately, so I thought I'd show you what it looks like in Pirates of the Burning Sea.We definitely love the seascapes there, ourselves. And hey, it's a game with pirates in it. You can't really beat that, either. If you'd like to show off some of the gorgeous water effects, sunsets, or PvP in your favorite game, drop us a screenshot and your story to oneshots@massively.com! You never know -- yours could be featured next for the rest of us to ooh and aah over.%Gallery-9798%
