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The peril and promise of interdependent MMO systems
The closure of many Pirates of the Burning Sea servers last week is regrettable, but not terribly surprising. In the Next Generation article exploring that event, CEO Russell Williams explains that the interdependence of their ambitious MMO's systems made them difficult to test. Veteran MMO developer Raph Koster picks up that thread and carries it forward in a blog post to his personal site. Using his experience on past titles (especially Star Wars Galaxies) Koster describes the enormous complexity of getting different systems in MMOs to work. The challenge is that while interdependent elements are complicated to test, they're also some of the most important pieces of any online game. Interwoven systems encourage player community and allow for overlapping groups to form. Independent (or 'silo'd') systems are also easy to cut, something he notes from the days of SWG's development. "This, for the SWG followers, is why stuff like vehicles, cities, and mounts, were more easily pushed off than dancing. Design interdependence. Vehicles improved the game, but they weren't required for it to function."It's a really interesting look behind the scenes at Star Wars Galaxies, and a peak behind the curtain of a current MMO's troubles. Something to think about as new Massive titles hit the marketplace this year.
Group conquest missions in Pirates of the Burning Sea
Pirates of the Burning Sea is built around taking and defending ports from pirates and hostile nations. Until now, building the unrest was a fairly deadly and expensive occupation -- since in PotBS, win or lose, you expend a lot of valuable resources in cannon shot, hull patches and sail repair kits for a victory, and much more than that if defeated. Flying Lab developer GavinIrby explains the new group conquest missions coming in patch 1.3. These are repeatable missions meant for three or more players where they can either aid in an attack against an NPC enemy fort, or defend a fort from NPC enemies.Attack missions will feature gunboats sent out from the fort to take on the players. Gunboats are small ships with a single, fixed cannon mounted on their bow. They are easy to sink, but will stalk the players without ever giving them an easy broadside. The defense missions add in cannons aimed at the beach; a player there can help the NPC defenders by firing the cannon to reduce the number of enemy swarming toward them. More options to help your nation take or defend ports is a good thing, and should go a fair amount toward making the PvP rewarding.
Pirates of the Burning Seas makes seven servers walk the plank
Arrrr, it be cruel out there on the MMOceans as Pirates of the Burning Seas has shut down seven of its 11 servers. Developer Flying Lab explained that the upshot of the maneuver would be denser servers, especially after an update allowed for more characters per server.We'd speculate that PotBS probably hasn't come close to hitting its expected subscription numbers. The developer will soon make changes to the game, which may bring in new players. But, as we've learned in the post-WoW years, you can't relaunch an MMO no matter how many upgrades fix the initial product.[Via Massively]
PotBS drops seven servers, four remain
Pirates of the Burning Sea has announced that they're shutting down seven of their servers and opening transfers for characters on the closing servers as of Tuesday, April 15th. Out of the 11 total servers PotBS was running with, it's now down to just four. The upshot of this news is that servers will be far more dense with players -- which is the main reason Flying Lab gives concerning the shutdowns. Another reason given us is that recent updates have allowed for more characters per server.
Q&A talks future for Pirates of the Burning Sea
In a very interesting Q&A session, the Pirates of the Burning Sea development team dropped some compelling details about upcoming game additions, improvements and balancing. The biggest improvements so far have been to the user interface, but the PvP system is starting to get some love as well. The design team says it was their goal to make PvP easily available for those who wanted to participate, but avoidable for those who didn't care to join in. Refreshingly, they admit that the current game doesn't allow for this and they're bringing the first changes in the 1.2 patch that's out right now.
World designer gives historical background on PotBS
Although we tend to have a habit of lumping them all together at times, MMOs are as organic and unique in their creation as any other software you can imagine. In a recent interview, Pirates of the Burning Sea World Designer Cory J. Herndon discusses the true origins of the PotBS project, and how it originally blossomed from a period strategic ship combat game to a full-blown MMO.He also talks at some length about some of the fictional and historic sources from which the Flying Lab team design team has drawn in trying to recreate a living, breathing massive swashbuckling adventure. There are spots, Herndon says, where they've actually had to retcon history. Captain William Kidd, or "Lord William" as he's known as the leader of the Pirate faction in the game, actually met his end before the period in which the game takes place. They just fudged the details a little bit, and had Kidd escape to the Caribbean. It's an interesting interview.
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Isildur speaks out on the state of PVP and the PotBS economy
Pirates of the Burning Sea patch 1.3 has been making more than a few waves since its inception. In a recent post to the PotBS community, Flying Lab designer Isildur discusses his views on the state of the economy. The basis is that Isildur, who mentions the economy as his baby, is not performing to specifications it was originally designed for. Players are making more than enough doubloons as traders, but PvPers are increasingly left behind. As he states, "PvP is not sustainable without doing other non-PvP activities." The economy has fallen into the hands of the care-bear. That's not a bad thing, of course, since money is being made and doubloons are being generated. The problem lies in those warehouses so many folks in PotBS like to store things in. There are a lot of doubloons being generated into the hands of a few people and those coins aren't going anywhere. This leads to inflation which means PvPers, who don't necessarily make too much from PvP, are forced to partake in economic activities in order to stay afloat.
PotBS patch 1.3 UI improvements
The Pirates of the Burning Sea development team has already given a couple previews for the upcoming 1.3 patch, but now they've put one up concerning some important user interface changes. The first change is the addition of a new window for the equally new NPC that will be accepting player's Marks of Victory. The window is simple and easy to navigate, while also looking quite nice.Aside from the addition of the new window, an older window is getting a face-lift. The Mission Journal has been a point of complaint for players since launch. The changes being made are all good ones, in our opinion. The first and biggest improvement makes it easier for players to determine mission difficulty, an important factor when trying to level your character. Increasing the fonts have made it easier to read the actual missions. Apparently the fonts were small to help with localization. And finally -- because players have also been asking -- the missions will now tell you a bit more about themselves upfront. Players won't have to guess whether a mission is solo, group, tutorial, normal, epic, etc -- which is definitely a welcome change.
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Collecting your booty just got easier
Turning in badges for deeds of gallantry on the high seas was a confusing ordeal for some players in Pirates of the Burning Sea. The assortment of badges required players travel to the turn in area, accept a quest, and then complete the quest in order to receive their reward. The confusion and chaos that ensued from figuring out what to turn in, where, and what reward you could receive was causing more than a few people to catch a case cabin fever. Luckily, the latest PotBS patch had some new content to sink the frustration once and for all. Flying Lab decided to change some things and make what was deemed a "shopping experience that was certainly less than ideal" slightly easier on the community to understand. Technical content designer Anna Murchison explains to aspiring buccaneers that the new exchange shop reflects a blend of the auction house and shop interfaces players are used to interacting with. When players enter an exchange shop and speak with one of the shop attendants, a new list will appear on the interface. Displayed on the left hand side of the list is what you need to receive an item. On the right hand side of the list is what you receive for the exchange. Pull down lists, filters, and the removal of the mission turn in system should make life easier for experienced naval commanders and fledgling fish mongers alike.
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Land ho! Patch 1.3 is on the horizon
Ahoy land lovers and filthy bilge rats! Flying Lab recently announced that PotBS patch 1.3 will be hitting the test server on April 8th. The patch contains many changes to numerous aspects of the game, from the UI to the long awaited completion of Pointe-a-Pitre, the French colonial capital: Marks of victory will reap more rewards through an exchange shop Dueling allows players in port to immediately enter a private combat zone to defend their honor Contention of ports and the ensuing battles now require more group effort The UI has been improved Pointe-a-Pitre will be introduced The changes focusing on port contention are part of a larger effort extending through patch 1.4. Players on the conquerable Caribbean map now have the option to partake in group oriented missions in contestable ports. The design team also states that NPC vessel spawns on the open seas have been revamped. The most prominent feature of the PvP portion of the patch is the new exchange shop. PvP players should now be able to focus on combat and be able to replace their losses within the shop using Marks of Victory (like a badge of honor for you WoW folks). With the new character copy system for the test server, we should hear plenty of feedback once the patch is applied there. The updates don't end there. More broadsides are delivered with news of the upcoming 1.4 patch which producer Joe Ludwig seems quite happy about. "1.4 will include some big updates for pirates, a revamp of the contention system which I think will make a LOT of you very happy, and as always, more UI love from the UI Strike Team." Hoist the anchor, raise the sails, and be prepared for more exciting updates as 1.3 goes live and 1.4 continues to develop.
Character copy function introduced to PotBS' test server
The folks at Flying Lab Software have realized that they're probably not getting all the feedback that they could from their Pirates of the Burning Sea Testbed server, simply due to the fact that people have to level up a new character there. Testing out high level content from unreleased builds is left only to the most hardcore testers with this setup, so to remedy this, a "Character Copy" function has been implemented, allowing players to copy their live characters across to the Testbed. We are told that the tool will only be available for a limited time, so if you're likely to want a character copied to Test at any point, now's the time to act.To copy a character across, players need to log in to the official PotBS site, and then visit the character copy page. Auction listings, in-game mail sent while logged out, landmark unrest and society associations will not be copied over. As well as this, at the time of posting an issue has been identified that is causing live characters to have their auctions delisted when they are copied. A fix should be coming soon, and the items are able to be relisted again in the meantime.
Yarrr! There be treasure hidden in them thar data servers!
Have a need to embed Pirates of the Burning Sea information in your website, blog, or toolbar? Then you'll want to read Flying Lab's PotBS developer Brendan Weitzman's latest developer journal. There he talks about the special Crawler server. You can't play on this server -- Crawler's job is to go through all the data on the live servers, figure out what has changed, and copy the changes to itself so that the developers -- and the wider world -- can use this information. What sorts of information Crawler can give you, how much of it you can use and how often -- all these are answered within.Will this info change your life? Well, probably not. But isn't it a nice feeling to know if you did need this information, it would be there for you? See if your server is up without logging in -- or set up email alerts when your port gets thrown into contention. You can make those sorts of apps with this data. And maybe in the future, as they prepare ever more of their data for players to use, you could build something like WoW's Armory. We're just beginning to realize how games will be played in the future. They will be everywhere -- in your browser, on your cell phone, on your iPod.... This is how it starts, with a developer explaining how players can get at their data when they are not in the game.
Extended PotBS downtime yields player compensation
A recent period of extended downtime in Pirates of the Burning Sea, caused by an issue with the latest patch, has left a mob of very angry pirates to placate. Thankfully, most pirates will forget why they were angry if you can toss them a handful of doubloons, and so Flying Lab Software has dug up a few treasure chests in order to give compensation for the lost play time.Players will be receiving 6 Bonus Loot Books, which give a 20% chance to get double loot from enemies for two real-time hours, and 6 Bonus Experience Books, granting a 20% experience boost for two hours. These goodies will be put straight into player's inventories when they log in, after a small patch this Wednesday.
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Recruiting pirates throughout the seven seas
Flying Lab Software recently announced their course of action for making new markets ready for the release PotBS. In Australia, free bandwidth allotments to encourage play. In Russia, a pirate ship in a game show and a commercial in the works. In Asia, negotiations are going well for a possible release later in the year.Personally, I would like to see a real ship with PotBS themed sails floating into port complete with free handouts of chocolate gold coins, but a cameo appearance on a game show in Russia certainly will suffice. Despite the efforts being made to bring the ship-of-the-line to players around the world, players are assured that focus remains on continuing to improve the current market, North America and Europe, with updates and patches. 'We're doing pencils down for 1.3,' writes Flying Lab representative Rusty, 'then there's onto 1.4...which will have a lot of new content and improvements.' Yarr!
Buddy Key system now available for PotBS
The Pirates of the Burning Sea Buddy Key program we looked at the other day is now in place, and the official site has got the details on how to give your friends their free 14-day trial. Anyone with a paid SOE subscription for PotBS will be able to claim three keys to give away, with no expiration. You don't need to go and claim them now either, as they will be available indefinitely.To get your keys, you'll need to log in to the official site, and then visit the Buddy Keys page to retrieve the codes. After that, you can give the keys to friends, and then point them to the game client installer page where they can download their copy of the game. To help with any questions that might come up during this process, a thread has been made on the forums to discuss the program.
PotBS to introduce Buddy Key program
Enjoying Pirates of the Burning Sea, but can't convince your stingy friends to give it a try? Come Monday, a new Buddy Key program will launch that provides active account holders with three 14-day trials of the game to give to friends, so there'll be no excuses for them shunning your Caribbean exploits anymore.There won't be an expiry date on these keys, so if you don't have three people that you want to hook at the moment, hang on to them for later. Instructions on claiming the keys will be provided on Monday, and we'll bring you the news when it breaks.
Pirates of the Burning Sea gets its first major content patch
Flying Lab Software has issued a press release to say that Pirates of the Burning Sea will be receiving its first major content patch today, Tuesday the 18th of March. This will bring the game to build 1.2.67, and the press release includes a few of the highlights that are in the update. These include a new and challenging group mission called "Bey's Retreat", changes that makes it harder for nations to win the world PvP map back-to-back, and some UI improvements (the chat bubbles we featured earlier will be making it in).The press release also details some new community features available at the PotBS forums, and a link to a ginormous list of patch notes is provided. This list gives a few more notable changes: the introduction of a "/spam" command to report troublesome gold spammers, and the previously dicussed changes to Open Sea Battle placement. The whole press release is available after the jump.
Chat with the PotBS devs
So you've spent some time destroying ships and blockading ports. You've dutifully upgraded your ship, crafted and stockpiled your ammo and taken out the competition in your quest to go from bilge rat to buccaneer. What to do now? That's easy! For those of you who love nothing more than spending time in Pirates of the Burning Sea, Warcry has set up a chat this Thursday (March 20th) with several folks from Flying Lab. Have some burning questions about the Burning Sea? Here's your chance, mateys. Yarr!
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%
Clan Gear: guild clothing for the masses
Adam and Freya Chapman have run Threadsafe, a direct-to-garment printing business, for the last two years, and have managed to pull in a number of corporate clients. They provide printing services for Bountee -- a custom t-shirt site on the internet -- and shirts for Freaklabel music, just to name two. Now, in conjunction with Adam's brother Keith, they're opening Clan Gear, a direct-to-garment printing outlet for gamers, where the focus on the printing is your artwork, your character, and your designs.Here's the rub: while Threadsafe has been in business for a couple of years now, Clan Gear is just starting up, and they're still working on their proof catalog. While you can keep up with the advances in technology (and the company itself) via Clan Gear's official forums, the best way to see what they've done in the past is to check out Threadsafe's commercial customers and the clans that have already availed themselves of Clan Gear's printing. Current samples up on their web page include shirts for Marshmallow Underground -- a World of Warcraft guild with over 300 members -- and Guilds United, a coalition of ten WoW guilds.
