Jump to content
Game-Labs Forum

POTBS


Zacaras

Recommended Posts

I uninstalled POTBS about a month ago. I lost all faith that they are going to turn it around. What really put the final nail in the coffin was people saying it was going "Pay To Win". I'm completely burned out of it. 

 

I will say it was a fun game for a while though. I always liked the pvp, and player driven economy. But they really have not changed a dam thing in years other then bad patchs, a few ships and BS store items. Its just not worth any of my time anymore.

 

Hopefully naval action pulls through and turns out great. Sounds cool so far. To me it sounds like it going to be the Age of Sail game I always wanted. But I really don't want to have to high of expectations. Its a video game after all. 

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Seriously had some of the best gaming experiences of my life in potbs.  But it was not just about the game itself, it was the community.  The game and how you played it allowed for a certain sense of belonging and being part of a team,  working with other teams in the same nation towards common goals and seeing the results over time was very satisfying.  You only really get that in an open world mmo.  Hopefully NA will have something like this to !

 

(I remember putting my real life on hold to concentrate on winning the epic map on Roberts lol!)

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hi. Read sometimes the English section of the forum. =) I'm El Compot and Uno Mafiozo of the Pirates of Dark Water, and Jesus Torres of Red October. on Roberts (Russian community). Glad to see familiar names. Not played in POTBS already more than a year =( game is dead

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was great game for a while. I think the pvp had a really got people going because of the cost of losing. Kind of added a realness to it. It also was a game that worked of peoples egos. Area chat smack talking was epic lol Even on the forums, there was a great deal of crap talking. I had allot of fun lol  When I 1st started playing the red zones had no rules, seal clubbing was rapid. I remember being chased by pirates, it was more of thrill then other games I played. After that I was hooked. I enjoyed late night close 1v1s. PvP was exciting for allot of us. Was it a prefect system....not at all. Was AVCOM boarding broken....yes. Was there balance issues...yes. But it was still fun! I think the biggest error they made was messing with balance every patch, instead of really working to improve the game and adding content. It really didn't help anything, they really lost me after a while with all of that. I always said you think the other class is OPed, then make an alt. Don't QQ about balance all the time. The reason for the QQ, was the high cost of losing was high and hurt egos. That's what 80 to 90 % of the forums chatter was about. Balance was never going to get fixed anyways.  Ever. Well we all know that now. 

 

One of the things they did really well too, was the player ran economy. After a while I really dove into it. I really enjoyed that any thing ship wise, ammo, consumables, outfitting and the ships them selves, were created by players. So there was almost a kind of economy comp and warfare too. Really cool!

 

There was a great international community as well. Interesting people from all over the place.

 

It really was fun for a while.

 

There was a new optimism for a while, with the new owners (which were the same people running it with SONY)....for a while. But then as it turns out they seem to be steering toward a pay to win format now...ugg. But I think the chance for them to really fix or update POTBS came and went. Its really a shame. I really wanted to see it be brought up to date graghics wise, AVCOM boarding to be fixed so it could be fun for everyone not just people who knew how exploit a broken system and new some content. A over-hull. Or even a POTBS 2 lol None of it ever happened. 

 

Its ok there is Naval Action being built and there is allot of new games out and being worked on. Time to move on for me. I had as much fun as I could with it.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

POTBS was a game I got really hooked on. My first MMO was SWG, where I had a decent industry creating spaceships and components. After playing some general pirate games, I ended up in POTBS, and being a SOE game, I expected economy to be somewhat like SWG. Economy proved a disappointment though, so instead I ended up doing RvR.

The game died for me basically when RvR died. I did hang on for a long time after that, focusing on plain PvP, but what really gave the game its edge for me was RvR.

What I disliked was mainly how unfriendly the game was to newcomers. Sealclubbing was very common, and in my point of view any MMO need a higher influx of new players than players leaving. Since not all players trying a new game will stay, it was just plain stupid allowing sealclubbing, since it increased the amount of new players not staying in the game. With fewer new players coming into the game than old players leaving, end result was inevitable empty seas and low attendance at PBs.

 

What I did like with the game though was its PvP, and the complexity of it. This was best shown in all the different configurations you could setup your ship with, not to mention different configurations for different ships. 

I played in Lys-au-Crane, a small society in the french nation on Roberts, and I suppose we were sort of masochists, since we very often went to sea knowing we'd be outgunned.

But this really is the essence of the game for me. You could bring a Dauntless to a PuG of refits and really leave a mark if you handled well, and no combination was a given win. In the same manner, you could bring a group of random ships during the sleercspam and come out on top if you knew what you were doing. POTBS had its fair share of "I-win"-combinations when it came to certain ships in certain patch versions, but at the end of the day there was always a way to take them down if you put your heart and soul (and some masochism) into it.

 

Thing is, when it comes to PvP and RvR, I think I could go on and on about this game, because it really had its moments.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I think there were only 3 mistakes which bring the game with exiting PvP mechanic to death:

1/ Devs spat on the players ideas and made the @awesome@ patches

2/ No marketing

3/ bring P 2 Win model with these stupied keys and chests

 

I wish Game Labs will not make the same mistakes

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

POTBS was the answer to allot of my dreams of a cool age of sail / age pirates game for a while. I always loved 15th century to the 19th period of history, probably more then any other period. I remember really being exited to about it when I 1st started playing. I was an instant fan. That's why when it started to head south it hit me harder, then say another game of a different genre would have. Seeing the one bad patch after another was vary disappointing. It was sad to see the developers and SONY lose touch with what the game was really about over time and floundering around.

 

Well I'm pleased to see Naval Action is coming along. The reality is it will probably be a while though, I'm having patience. Lets face it there's not that many Age of Sail games really MMO or single player. So in way they are the light for us age of sail game players. 

 

Remember POTBS was released in 07ish. Regardless good or bad patch's its a dated game now. CPUs have advanced quite abit since 07. The CPU tech out now are way more powerful in 07. If the developers of Naval Action do it right, and utilize all the new next gen technology. Get it right historically. Really dial in the combat, exploration, crafting / econ and give it that age of sail sense of adventure. We will have one cool game. So its important to be patient and be supportive. Who knows maybe POTBS will at some point have an over haul or really turn around. Ya never know. Currently it really dosn't look likely, so speaking for myself there is no point in beating a dead horse and just to remember the fun, the people ect ect.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I uninstalled POTBS about a month ago. I lost all faith that they are going to turn it around. What really put the final nail in the coffin was people saying it was going "Pay To Win". I'm completely burned out of it. 

 

I will say it was a fun game for a while though. I always liked the pvp, and player driven economy. But they really have not changed a dam thing in years other then bad patchs, a few ships and BS store items. Its just not worth any of my time anymore.

 

Hopefully naval action pulls through and turns out great. Sounds cool so far. To me it sounds like it going to be the Age of Sail game I always wanted. But I really don't want to have to high of expectations. Its a video game after all

 

 

Hello,

I felt the same way. The economy prices sky-rocketed, and it gradually just started sinking to the depths with other great games. I have played for around 4 years, and I have had around 7 accounts. Someone hacked, and banned ALL my accounts, and my friends as well. And the Support team for Portalus usually would answer of spot for any and all needs. But they said they would not help. Period. And would not reply again. It's sad to see such a great game fail. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Hello,

I felt the same way. The economy prices sky-rocketed, and it gradually just started sinking to the depths with other great games. I have played for around 4 years, and I have had around 7 accounts. Someone hacked, and banned ALL my accounts, and my friends as well. And the Support team for Portalus usually would answer of spot for any and all needs. But they said they would not help. Period. And would not reply again. It's sad to see such a great game fail. 

7 accounts is quite a few, I had 3 alts. Were you tiggy or roberts? 

 

I really didn't play too much during the new Portalus era. I stopped playing active after the 2.11 patch, but I did log in from time to time. From what I know they are short staffed, that could be why they didn't look into it. If you paid any kind of money they should have at least investigated your accounts to see what happened.

 

From what I remember, In the Sony era they would ban for a duration 90 % of the time. They also could ban players from using chat too. Most of the time it was like a 3 day ban. Sometimes 30 days sometimes even longer. I got a few 3 day bans and forums warnings. The GMs never wanted to perma ban me ever. They seemed to be good sports. I would raise hell, but it was never dishonest. Mainly me having to much fun playing a pirate. One time the brit players put a price on my head, while we were flipping bartica lol For me mainly it was me having fun, ruffle some feathers and wanting a good laugh. I will say I never laughed so hard playing any video game ever. The crap talking on the forums and area chat were just epic, just pure comedy relief lol 

 

For me looking back POTBS was not prefect, but a really fun game. It was also complex there was allot to learn. Both PvP and Econ was an art, that took time to learn. Now that I'm done I say was a Jack of all Trades, master of none. I will say POTBS did a great job of adding allot of dif aspects to the games. I wanted to see it all. There was a real freedom there, we could play anyway we wanted.

 

The last time I logged in (a month ago) I was told by a few people that potbs was steering toward "pay to win". This caused me to go WTF, and then I uninstalled. That was the final nail for me. It was almost insulting. So they updated there BS store with "pay to win" items/ships, and that's how they were going to fund it I guess. To me this is ok if it is a newer game with a ton of promise and content being added on a regular. This is not the case with potbs right now, there is no real new content other then that stuff. It should remain F2p with option of captains club. But having to buy items/ships from the BS store just to stay competitive is lame, with the games current state.  If they need money that badly then just do the public radio thing and ask for donations "to save the game", instead of this new pay to win crapola. They would be surprised how many would. Then do a grass roots effort. Or better yet just role back the patches about 1/2 to 2 years. But the way it has been ran the last 2 years we can count on they will not do it period.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 accounts is quite a few, I had 3 alts. Were you tiggy or roberts? 

 

I really didn't play too much during the new Portalus era. I stopped playing active after the 2.11 patch, but I did log in from time to time. From what I know they are short staffed, that could be why they didn't look into it. If you paid any kind of money they should have at least investigated your accounts to see what happened.

 

From what I remember, In the Sony era they would ban for a duration 90 % of the time. They also could ban players from using chat too. Most of the time it was like a 3 day ban. Sometimes 30 days sometimes even longer. I got a few 3 day bans and forums warnings. The GMs never wanted to perma ban me ever. They seemed to be good sports. I would raise hell, but it was never dishonest. Mainly me having to much fun playing a pirate. One time the brit players put a price on my head, while we were flipping bartica lol For me mainly it was me having fun, ruffle some feathers and wanting a good laugh. I will say I never laughed so hard playing any video game ever. The crap talking on the forums and area chat were just epic, just pure comedy relief lol 

 

For me looking back POTBS was not prefect, but a really fun game. It was also complex there was allot to learn. Both PvP and Econ was an art, that took time to learn. Now that I'm done I say was a Jack of all Trades, master of none. I will say POTBS did a great job of adding allot of dif aspects to the games. I wanted to see it all. There was a real freedom there, we could play anyway we wanted.

 

The last time I logged in (a month ago) I was told by a few people that potbs was steering toward "pay to win". This caused me to go WTF, and then I uninstalled. That was the final nail for me. It was almost insulting. So they updated there BS store with "pay to win" items/ships, and that's how they were going to fund it I guess. To me this is ok if it is a newer game with a ton of promise and content being added on a regular. This is not the case with potbs right now, there is no real new content other then that stuff. It should remain F2p with option of captains club. But having to buy items/ships from the BS store just to stay competitive is lame, with the games current state.  If they need money that badly then just do the public radio thing and ask for donations "to save the game", instead of this new pay to win crapola. They would be surprised how many would. Then do a grass roots effort. Or better yet just role back the patches about 1/2 to 2 years. But the way it has been ran the last 2 years we can count on they will not do it period.

Thanks for replying!

Anyways, I spent my time on both servers, most of the duration was spent on Antigua. Portalus last answered " What were some of your friends accounts that were recently hacked as well " I told them, nearly 4-5 months later NOTHING. They earlier said all they could do was lock my account perminatly. I declined, and attempted to fix it on my own. The hacker also hacked into my credit card. Had to get him tracked down. All of this happened because my society decided to kick him. For doing bad things. I attempted to re-build my foundation of accounts, but, after hitting level 30 or so. I just didn't feel like re-building it all. So I uninstalled and quit.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

It was great game for a while. I think the pvp had a really got people going because of the cost of losing. Kind of added a realness to it. It also was a game that worked of peoples egos. Area chat smack talking was epic lol Even on the forums, there was a great deal of crap talking. I had allot of fun lol  When I 1st started playing the red zones had no rules, seal clubbing was rapid. I remember being chased by pirates, it was more of thrill then other games I played. After that I was hooked. I enjoyed late night close 1v1s. PvP was exciting for allot of us. Was it a prefect system....not at all. Was AVCOM boarding broken....yes. Was there balance issues...yes. But it was still fun! I think the biggest error they made was messing with balance every patch, instead of really working to improve the game and adding content. It really didn't help anything, they really lost me after a while with all of that. I always said you think the other class is OPed, then make an alt. Don't QQ about balance all the time. The reason for the QQ, was the high cost of losing was high and hurt egos. That's what 80 to 90 % of the forums chatter was about. Balance was never going to get fixed anyways.  Ever. Well we all know that now. 

 

One of the things they did really well too, was the player ran economy. After a while I really dove into it. I really enjoyed that any thing ship wise, ammo, consumables, outfitting and the ships them selves, were created by players. So there was almost a kind of economy comp and warfare too. Really cool!

 

There was a great international community as well. Interesting people from all over the place.

 

It really was fun for a while.

 

There was a new optimism for a while, with the new owners (which were the same people running it with SONY)....for a while. But then as it turns out they seem to be steering toward a pay to win format now...ugg. But I think the chance for them to really fix or update POTBS came and went. Its really a shame. I really wanted to see it be brought up to date graghics wise, AVCOM boarding to be fixed so it could be fun for everyone not just people who knew how exploit a broken system and new some content. A over-hull. Or even a POTBS 2 lol None of it ever happened. 

 

Its ok there is Naval Action being built and there is allot of new games out and being worked on. Time to move on for me. I had as much fun as I could with it.

Same here. It seems like all potbs players reside to here.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I am playing less and less now mainly bc there is a certain group of players that insist on exploiting OS mechanics to always maintain an unfair advantage. I think that play style is despicable. And I won't keep logging in just to be farmed by expert players who play low level alts in order to continuously gank.

It's pathetic and I'm very much looking forward to this game. I hope they allow for avatars and island exploration.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

everyone to mathew town hahahahaha. Played every side in that game we had many players most of us left over an year ago after they decided that fishing gave mods and things outfit your ship whit guns not whit mods takes the skill away to much. I don't mint to pay after it went free to play it got worse to many people that cry why you cry if you cannot play might want to play wow there you can cry as much as you want....... we always went out in groups of 6 or if we didn't have enough we had quick ships to attack and then get away whit the booty i would gladly see that as well do not restrict people from going into battle unless the limit of players is reached for the combat even after on of the enemy's is sunk. i loved the boarding as well but it got out of control after the newly avatar combat the ping exploiting was to high if you had great ping you could kill the guy before he could hit you..... 

 

that is why many players left and the exploits make it easy don't change to much just research ships like they do in tanks love potbs but out of it long ago.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks for replying!

Anyways, I spent my time on both servers, most of the duration was spent on Antigua. Portalus last answered " What were some of your friends accounts that were recently hacked as well " I told them, nearly 4-5 months later NOTHING. They earlier said all they could do was lock my account perminatly. I declined, and attempted to fix it on my own. The hacker also hacked into my credit card. Had to get him tracked down. All of this happened because my society decided to kick him. For doing bad things. I attempted to re-build my foundation of accounts, but, after hitting level 30 or so. I just didn't feel like re-building it all. So I uninstalled and quit.

Did you have an Alt Named "Buddy Teach"? 

 

I played British for almost 2 years. Then Switched to the Pirate faction. On the Brit I played in "3 Sheets to the Wind" society only. On the pirate side I played in Shadow Fang, Crows Nest, Plague Bringers, Real Pirates and my own society Equipo Del Hispaniola. I bounced around allot, until just starting my own soc.   

 

Well its good to see a new age of sail game in the works. It will be cool to see some former potbs players here too.

 

Over time I realized more and pirates in POTBS I think were represented. When I say represented I don't mean treated unfairly, I'm talking more about there roles in the game. Pirates as a faction were expected to take part in RvR "nation conquest". This made zero since to me what so ever. Pirates were NOT a nation and should have not played a role in national conquest other then disrupting shipping. The pirate faction should have had much different end game objectives, or even there should not been a pirate faction period. Being a pirate should have been a status you get for pirating ships, and doing bad deeds. Now the developers may have had there reasons for setting up POTBS that way in the beginning. Whats cool is from the sounds it naval action is going to have a more accurate depiction of pirates and privateers in the game...sounds like the age of sail game we have been waiting for!.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I don't think Potbs is play2win. It may move more in that direction but its not now. The ships that are created with the bronze cannon are primarily trophy ships with no practical use because they are so dang expensive to build. So if you want a fleeting ship buy a Sov. but your not gonna see them in PBs. You may see a Concorde from time to time but already you don't see 6 packs of them anymore.

The hot ship atm is the adventure which is a new Portalus design that doesn't require any bronze cannons to make. So its hard to argue that its p2w right now.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PotBS has been an awesome game for me since I started playing it in 2008.

I didn't do a lot of pvp but I was involved in every other part of the game and in the last couple years became much more involved in the econ side of things.

 

I suppose nothing last's forever and it's becoming obvious the end is not far away for PotBS.

But in this case it's happening a lot sooner that is should have and I'm putting the blame squarely on FLS, Portalus and specifically very bad decisions made last year with a couple big patches (2.11 & 2.12)

And the failure of Portalus  to run this game in a reliable or satisfactory manner.

Fairly basic software work that would take one or two skilled programmers several hours to maybe 2 - 3 days at most ............... takes Portalus weeks.

I had no idea how precarious this game was under the control of Portalus till it was suddenly taken off line over a month ago.

It was 9 days later that they got the servers online again, they still don't have the Burning Sea website or registration working and I seriously doubt the PotBS forums will ever be working again.

That un-official PotBS forum called "toxicpits.com" that a player put up said it took him less than an hour to make it and get it online ! 

 

Those running Portalus were the same ones at FLS when it went downhill and out of business last year.

And besides those disastrous patches last year their also the ones turning this game into pay2win.

 

Last October ( a year ago) I said the dev's (FLS) had a death wish on PotBS and  predicted the demise of FLS and PotBS by early  2013.

Well here we are a year later and because of the developers ( Portalus) this game is again in serious trouble and unless someone comes to the rescue again I predict this game will be done by the end of February........and maybe a lot sooner.

A lot of us have been left wondering what is wrong with these people and it's a very sad ending to such a special game.

But life goes on and we could be in store for something even better with Naval Action.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PotBS was declared dead by many ppl 2008,2009,2010,2011,2012 and 2013. Many other MMORPGs that launched around the same time or even later are gone by now. Sure there where some major mistakes during last patches but also some good things and PotBS is still not pay2win. Didn't pay a dime since it went f2p and still don't see anything on ta worth spending real money on it.

PotBS may be a shadow of its former glory but its still the best age of sail-mmo out there.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

PotBS is free to play and many people play every day without ever spending a dime.................well there used to be many.

But if you want premium ships or 1st rates......which a lot of people want, the only place some of the parts needed to build them come from is Treasure Isle.

 

My prediction about 3 months before FLS went belly up was bang on......and PotBS would have gone the same way if some of the members of FLS hadn't formed Portalus and saved the game.

 

The problems and other things that happened since a little over a year ago where not happening before and if this continues, which looks like it will..........then this game will not last much longer.

I think the end of February is probably on the outside.

Things could be worse than we thought with Portalus, it sure looks bad right now with them not being able to get registration working.......they barely got that simple little webpage for taking our money going.

 

You never know, they might pull the plug at the end of this month after the Pirates win the map..........maybe that's why the big push from the Pirates, they have a feeling they will never have this opportunity again. 

I say good for them.......they deserve it and they're being decent to the ports they capture.

I thought Pirates were supposed to pillage and plunder........lol

 

I hope when the end comes that Portalus shows some class and gives us a heads up so we can all have a farewell sail around the Caribbean one last time. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...