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Pirates of the Burning Sea celebrates 2nd anniversary
Can ye hornswagglin' scalawags believe it? It's been two years since Pirates of the Burning Sea cast off for the open oceans of MMO adventure. Since their initial launch two years ago, the team at Flying Lab have been busy refining the game, leading to an impressive bevy of changes from large to small. Now with their second anniversary looming, the Pirates of the Burning Sea crew have announced their intent to hold a rousing Second Anniversary party on January 23rd. Players who log in that day will be treated to PvP combat against the Flying Lab development team, as well as some choice anniversary finery for players to enjoy. If you've been considering checking out all the changes since launch, it sounds like a good time to weigh anchor and set sail for the PotBS site. They've got a 14-day trial for those who wouldn't mind fittin' in a little freebootin' adventure in their day-to-day.
One Shots: We think they have rum detectors
When it comes to holiday celebrations, nothing goes better with eggnog than rum. Of course, when you're playing a game like Pirates of the Burning Sea, breaking out the rum will inevitably bring around every stray pirate for hundreds of nautical miles. One such occasion happened recently on the EU server, Roberts, and was captured by today's One Shots contributor, Matt. We'll let him explain what went on: [Taken at] the recent Christmas event that was held. [Here's] a small part of the event description: "Nicholas Noël is known across the Burning Sea for his annual Junkanoo feast, however this year his rum shipments have drawn the attentions of De Zeetrekkers pirates, and he needs assistance!" Hope you like it. I thought it was great to see so many of the fantastic character designs in one spot.If you manage to catch a screenshot of a holiday event going on in your MMO of choice, why not mail it in to us! All you have to do is email them to us at oneshots [at] massively [dot] com along with your name, the name of the game, and a quick description. We'll post it out here and give you the credit for sending it in. %Gallery-9798%
Flying Lab offers 6 months of Pirates of the Burning Sea to military personnel
Flying Lab Software announced this week that they're offering six months of free Pirates of the Burning Sea gameplay to military personnel and exclusive in-game items. In addition, the promotion waives the standard $19.99 purchase cost of the game. Sign-ups for the promotion require a military email address to qualify and will last through November 30, 2009. The promotion is open to all branches of the military. Current Pirates of the Burning Sea subscribers who are in active service are also eligible to get six months of free play time. Flying Lab Software CEO Russell Williams issued a statement about the Care Package, which was originally proposed by community members on the game's forums. Williams wrote: "One of our players posted about serving in Afghanistan, and it got us thinking about the challenges of trying to play an MMO in an unpredictable situation like active service. We feel a special gratitude towards the members of the armed forces who take the time to get involved and play our game, in the face of the very difficult job they have to do to keep us all safe." [Via Gamers Daily News]
Take office in the expansion for Pirates of the Burning Sea
Having thoroughly explored the cutthroat world of piracy on the high seas, Pirates of the Burning Sea's first expansion, Power and Prestige, is going to be turning to something even more cutthroat -- political office. An interview on MMORPG.com contains many details about the upcoming expansion, in which the designers want to focus in-depth on letting the players feel their own importance, starting with the option to run for and eventually win the position of governor.The interview goes into more details regarding the process, allowing players to become the head of one of the game's many ports. Once in power, of course, they note that it works very similar to real office -- if you abuse your power too heavily, no one will vote for you when re-election comes due. Then again, with the option to alter taxes, fortify (or weaken) your town's defenses, and even make cosmetic changes to the port, who wouldn't take the chance to indulge their inner autocratic dictator?Pirates of the Burning Sea will also be getting expanded factions, a few new subdivisions of the game's skill trees, and promises of some new visual polish to help spice up the gameplay. The expanded political options suggest that it might be time to put down the cutlasses for a bit and start working on your handshake for when the expansion drops sometime next year.
Pirates of the Burning Sea announces "Power and Prestige" expansion, adds more staff
The guys from Flying Lab Software are busier than ever, as they have announced that they will be creating their very first expansion to Pirates of the Burning Sea and hiring to boot!Power and Prestige, the first expansion for PotBS, will focus on expanding the game's conquest system, allowing players to take on the role of Port Governor. Governors control how the port is built up, and can work towards building a bustling trade port or perhaps one that is more militaristic. Past that, the details list is being kept hush hush until the early part of 2010. Power and Prestige will be a downloaded expansion, freely offered to all players of the game.In the mean time, pirate enthusiasts have two things to look forward to. The first is that Flying Lab is hiring, and anyone interested in a job in the game industry should head on over to their careers page to see what they're looking for. The other is International Talk Like A Pirate Day, coming up on September 19th! Pull out your grog, your pirate hat, and set sail for a day of yarrrr!
Station launcher moves out of beta, adds voice chat support
So the beta launcher is finally un-betaed! Sony has officially pushed the Station Launcher into the "final version," dropping in voice chat, simplified menus, faster servers for downloads, and the ability to run the launcher without administrative rights as well.The fun stuff, however, is really contained within the voice update. This new voice, dubbed "station voice," lets you communicate with friends from within the game or outside of the game. Creating a room from outside of the game is done with your in-game character, letting people who are on the station launcher join you, or people inside of the game join your room from the inside, no launcher required.Plus, the other new features like the upgraded servers that will give more downstream bandwidth for game updates, are certainly nothing to sneeze at.This doesn't mean that Sony is done with upgrading and changing the launcher, as they've already pledged to continue taking user feedback and pushing that into their product to constantly make a better launcher.For the full patch notes, check them out on the EverQuest forums, located in this thread.
Buy some MMO games, save some cash on Steam this weekend
We're not usually ones who talk about sales or point out discounts, but this is one of those offers that we just couldn't refuse. It's the weekend, so Steam has to put some of their games on sale, as per the usual. This weekend however, it's most of their massively multiplayer collection.This isn't just a select few games. No sir. We're talking about EverQuest, Everquest II, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Lineage, Lineage II, City of Heroes, the Guild Wars trilogy pack, Age of Conan, EVE Online, and Vanguard have all been discounted. Most of the games have been marked down by 20%, but EVE Online has been cut down by 50% while EverQuest II: The Shadow Odyssey has been slashed by a 75% hit, bringing it down to the wonderful price of 10 bucks! That's all of EverQuest II for 10 bucks!So why are you still here, reading this post? Get over to Steam!
Pirates of the Burning Sea to introduce 'Roleplay Rooms' in upcoming patch
Pirates of the Burning Sea is a bit of a departure from some of the other MMO titles on the market since its setting is rooted in history rather than built upon pure fantasy. Given this backdrop, it stands to reason that some players would enjoy logging in for some anachronistic 1700's-era roleplaying in Pirates of the Burning Sea as privateers and pirates. Flying Lab Software has decided to give PotBS's roleplayers a dedicated venue for their player-run events, "Roleplay Rooms", which is the subject of a devlog written by Xenobia. The devlog is all about the repurposing of old interiors; some altered color and texture here, a motif changed there, and you've got spaces ready to be used solely for RP events. It seems simple, but these changes proved to be tricky in some cases given the objects incorporated into such rooms, and Xenobia describes how the interior revamps were done, illustrated with before and after shots. Check out Xenobia's "Roleplay Rooms" devlog for more info about this feature that's coming to national capitals in patch 1.16.
Pirates of the Burning Sea introduces skirmish system and treasure hunts
By the time this post goes live, Pirates of the Burning Sea should be updated to build 1.15: "Black Bart's Gold", across the North American, European, and Australian servers. Black Bart's Gold (which introduces treasure hunting to the game) is a continuation of the Black Flags and Dread Saints story arc, which will also bring both new and altered game mechanics to PotBS. We've mentioned a few of the changes that are coming to Pirates of the Burning Sea, namely skirmish warfare and a sweeping change to loot drops. These are only a few highlights of what Black Bart's Gold will introduce to the game. The full patch notes give a much more complete picture of what build 1.15 brings, including two new ships -- the Poseidon (level 50) and the Alymer (level 1). Pirates of the Burning Sea community manager Rhaegar gives a timetable for the expected server downtime: "We will be upgrading our North American, European & Australian SOE live servers to build 1.15: Black Bart's Gold during the usual maintenance window (1:30am - 5:00am Pacific / 9:30am - 1:00 pm British Summer Time) on Wednesday, May 27th."Update: Rhaegar writes -- "We have unfortunately had to delay the patch until tomorrow. It will happen during the normal outage window of 1.30am-5.00am Pacific (9.30am-1.00pm BST). We apologize for any inconvenience caused."%Gallery-12977%
Pirates of the Burning Sea takes bold step to curb mission farming
The latest devlog for Pirates of the Burning Sea is written by Lum and focuses on improving the game's mission system, particularly fixing the problem of mission farming. Lum writes, "When we create big mission arcs, we design them to be a fun, engaging, and most importantly, a linear experience. We want players to get a sense of story and to do something interesting. We also want to reward players who accomplish the goals for those missions." He says that mission farming and the in-game monetary rewards aren't necessarily the problem, although it's not what the devs had in mind for players. Lum says that since people stop to repeat the most lucrative parts of a given mission arc, they're not experiencing the game as it was intended for the players. Even worse, some players make faction choices on the basis of how lucrative a certain mission with that faction is. Flying Lab Software wants to change missions in Pirates of the Burning Sea so that players are continually progressing through stories rather than motivated to remain in place to reap the gold harvest.%Gallery-12977%
What happens at Fan Faire, stays at Fan Faire
Vegas, city of lights, nightlife, and SOE's Fan Faire! Sony has announced that they will once again be heading for Vegas to party down in high-rolling style. This year they'll be holding the event from June 25th to 28th at Bally's Hotel. The location they've picked is right in the middle of various Vegas attractions - although we're sure if you're there for the SOE party, you won't need to worry about that too much. Having attended last year's Fan Faire, we can definitely say that it's a great weekend of fun and interesting panels, nice people - and this year's lineup appears to be just as interesting. So far the scheduled events include: Special announcements and sneak peeks of upcoming SOE titles at the Third Annual Community Address from SOE President John Smedley Autograph signings with members of the original EQ development team and other key contributors Lots of in-game tournaments; and live, game-themed competitions and quests Developer forums and roundtables Cool giveaways and other fun items! Player of the Year To top it all off, prices for Vegas vacations are quite good, currently. So if you've been thinking about getting away, really dig SOE's games - or upcoming titles, and enjoy partying down with a great bunch of friendly, welcoming people, then definitely make some plans to attend this year's Fan Faire.
Will 2009 be the best year ever for MMOs?
Tipa is wondering if the upcoming 2009 MMO titles will make this year the best yet for MMOs. EVE Online will be receiving its highly anticipated Apocrypha expansion pleasing the "impact PvP" crowd. Free Realms will soon launch to the delight of families around the world, providing another option in the "kid friendly" category. Champions Online will be zipping up its latex suit to compete in the superhero sub-genre. Cryptic has another potential hit on their hands with Star Trek Online, which may ride the hype wave generated by the blockbuster film coming out this summer.And those are just the big titles we're pretty certain are releasing in 2009. There could be even more (Darkfall Online is already out and doing fairly well)! Many people thought 2008 would be the best year for MMOs but the new titles fell somewhat short of expectations. Pirates of the Burning Sea never really left port and while Warhammer Online and Age of Conan sold nearly 1M copies each, their subscription retention rate was quite dismal. It seems expansions were the biggest winners last year with Wrath of the Lich King for WoW and the Mines of Moria for LotRO.
PotBS to hold ship skirmish testing event today
Today marks a very special event for the players of Pirates of the Burning Sea. Starting at 3:45 PST / 11:45 GMT, a ship skirmish event will take place on the Testbed server to analyze the effectiveness of the ship skirmish system. Named "The Battle of Gull Point", this event will match four teams of twelve players each to battle it out using "all of your ship combat skills to defeat your opponents".Simply meet up at the Marsh Harbour and the devs will auto-level you to 50 before the actual skirmish starts at 4pm PST / midnight GMT. The spots are first come first serve, but all participants will receive the special title "Gull Point Veteran" once the new patch 1.13 releases on the live servers.
San Diego declares day in honor of SOE
This tidbit of news - while pretty cool - is something you really don't hear every day in terms of MMO companies. It seems that the City of San Diego is commemorating the 10th anniversary of the original EverQuest and the "continued support and dedication SOE shows to the city and community" by dedicating a whole day to Sony Online Entertainment. What's better is that you're all invited to join the celebration!The dedication will be taking place on March 10th at 10 AM, and anyone interested in attending is advised to arrive early to get through security and snag a nice parking spot. John Smedley will be on hand to accept this very nifty award from San Diego City Councilmember Carl DeMaio. 10 years of being online is a hell of an achievement for any MMO. Now the burning question we want to know is if Councilman DeMaio ever had to corpse run too?
Skirmish warfare coming to Pirates of the Burning Sea
The Flying Lab Software developers working on Pirates of the Burning Sea have done a lot of writing about the avatar combat changes of late, but it's clear that they're still aiming to improve ship-based PvP on the high seas. Pirates of the Burning Sea is going to get a major new feature as of patch 1.4: skirmish warfare, which is essentially a PvP environment where players can experiment risk free with various setups and tactics. The latest developer log on PotBS is "Enter the Skirmish", which breaks down what this new feature is and what it will offer players: "PvP action is the hottest part of our game, but the difficulty of 'swimming with the sharks' in the open sea has made for a significant barrier to entry. Skirmish gives players the change to learn how to PvP without facing all the dangers involved with conquest. Societies and veterans can use the skirmish system to teach newer players the ropes in a risk-free environment, which means more people who'll be prepared for port conquest and open sea PvP." For more on this upcoming feature, you'll want to read the "Enter the Skirmish" developer log on the Pirates of the Burning Sea website.
Brawling changes hit Pirates of the Burning Sea
Pirates of the Burning Sea is a title that's been undergoing some major overhauls in terms of game mechanics. Flying Lab Software has been revamping the game's combat systems, both those of ship-based combat and avatar combat. We've mentioned a few of those changes in the past, such as the introduction of new NPC archetypes but the latest issue they've been tackling is how brawling works in PotBS.A developer log this week, from Isildur, explains the situation with skill lines (as well as optional skill lines) and what was involved with balancing them. The challenge was in creating a system where a given skill line wouldn't be mandatory, giving players choices in how they approach combat, yet keeping each skill line powerful enough that it can remain effective against other combat styles.
LOGIN 2009 online gaming conference speakers announced
Over the past few years, the online gaming conferences put together by Evergreen Events have been rather significant ones in the industry. Evergreen Events are the people who organized the ION Game Conference which we covered extensively last year, and the Online Game Development Conference in 2007. As we announced previously, ION has been renamed as LOGIN for 2009 and they're already announcing some of the conference's speakers. Among the many speakers slated for LOGIN this May are David Ryan Hunt, Senior Game Designer at Flying Lab Software, and Craig Alexander, Turbine's VP of Product Development. Alexander's session will be "Building Online Games for the Console Generation: Challenges and Opportunities" which could certainly prove to be interesting. We'll keep an eye on how the conference is shaping up as we get closer to the four-day event kicking off on May 11th.
Casual MMOs are next frontier for Pirates of Burning Sea dev
Pirates of the Burning Sea developer Flying Lab has hoisted the sails on a casual games division. GameDaily reports that Flying Lab Casual is working on making leisure MMO games, with the first project being a "family friendly" title in partnership with Upper Deck trading card company. An official announcement of the title should be made in the next couple weeks.Though Burning Sea has suffered a lack of subscribers post launch, at least it hasn't walked the plank, unlike some other MMOs released around the same time. Perhaps the company will have better success in the burgeoning North American casual MMO market.
Flying Lab Software cannonading for new casual MMO
It looks like after many long years of developing Pirates of the Burning Sea, Flying Lab Software is ready for something a little more laid back. Which is why the Seattle-based developer's next project will be a family friendly casual MMO through a partnership with trading card company Upper Deck. They're even opening a new branch entitled Flying Lab Casual to work on the project. Right now we really don't know anything beyond that, but more detailed information about the title is expected in the coming weeks.We say more power to FLS/FLC for mixing it up and keeping things fresh. Nothing is worse than a developer whose lost some of that sparkle in their eyes. Then again, we're sure that the booming casual market has at least a little to do with the choice as well.That being said, current Pirates of the Burning Sea players have nothing to fear as new content will continue to flow freely as rum on a salty sea dog's ship.
Got PotBS questions? Ask Rusty!
Flying Lab Software's CEO Russell "Rusty" Williams has been fairly vocal about his company's game Pirates of the Burning Sea in the past, doing the rounds with media outlets and spreading the word. His latest project has just been announced on the PotBS official site, and will allow him to maintain his parlance with the game's community; a new podcast series called "Ask Rusty" will be featured on the site on a regular basis, and players will have the chance to do as the name would suggest and Ask Rusty questions about PotBS.For the first podcast, questions were taken from the old "Ask an FLS developer" forum, but in the future, the questions will come from submissions to community AT flyinglab DOT com (make sure to use "Ask Rusty!" as the subject line). Russell is joined by lead designer Kevin Maginn and producer Michelle Williams in this first installment. There is a direct link to the podcast for those looking to download it or listen in their browser, and there is also an RSS feed that can be subscribed to if you like what you hear.
