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POTBS


Zacaras

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POTBS is not pay to win.....for the most part, but it will most certainly be. That's how they intend on paying for the game development.  They did not use the word pay to win, but it is certainly what they meant. The devs said it on the forums, and its already starting to happen. I hate to break it to ya.

 

This based off what I read from the devs on there site (which is down), and I heard it from players last time I logged in. They are going to set up levels of subscriptions and add a bunch off stuff to the B.S. store. So you would have to get either a subscription and buy items from the B.S. store (ship deeds consumes ect ect), or both, in order to stay competitive with other players in the game from the sounds of it. Some of this was already in effect last time I logged in (new bs store content). 

 

I not going to get into a debate about it, its just were they are intending to take it. It was in the fine print on there dev log on their site. Maybe not so fine print lol  

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Also not I'm saying these things because I'm "bashing" POTBS, its based off what I read and heard. I had a good run with that game and it will have a special place. Its more my own personal choice to stop playing because I'm personally not satisfied with the way things the past year have been heading with them, same with a lot of us. If there still is people who are having fun with POTBS more power to them.

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Declared general mobilization of the Spanish captains!

British invaders have done everything possible to capture map on Roberts and currently have 288 points

In connection with the Zerg intreventsiey day before yesterday was organized 2 groups by eight captains who flipped 2 British ports. 

For yesterday evening 3 more capts were ready to join us. Now we call every capt to join us and destroy empire of evil.

To participate in the battles enough 1 point.

We are waiting for you comrade!

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New publishers just re opened Registration for POTBS I have not played in over 2 years so I made a new account and I am starting fresh in Britain as a Privateer! Time to have some fun!

Nah.... Brits are overpopulated on both servers the same as Rats/

Join Dons or Frogs/ - they really need fresh blood 

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  • 2 weeks later...

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

were nt you the on Always getting sun ;-) hehehehehe at least an real tester in stead of an potbs wanna be tester.

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Congrats to the Pirates for winning a map, it's been a while since that last happened.

 

 

I noticed when Portalus finally got registration going after it being down for nearly 6 weeks that both the server populations went from all light......... to the Brits and Pirates being moderate on both servers.

This would indicate a big increase in player populations.

This happened nearly instantly after registration was working again, like there was a big backlog of new players waiting up to 6 weeks so that the moment registration was working........they were online to join PotBS.

This sudden increase happened in the wee hours of the morning on both servers at the same time.

 

This is just a little suspicious.

First, there just weren't that many new players that waited 6 weeks to join PotBS at 2 am.......... and most of those were probably vets adding new alts anyways.

 

Second, the economy is probably the best indicator of player activity........this has continued to shrink even after registration was opened again.

I estimate economic activity is about half or even less............ than it was before the game was hacked & taken offline a couple months ago.

 

I think Portalus is trying to make things look better than they really are and has changed the server population settings so that it looks like there's been a population increase.

When in fact........... the population has remained light or is even decreasing.

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Congrats to the Pirates for winning a map, it's been a while since that last happened.

 

 

I noticed when Portalus finally got registration going after it being down for nearly 6 weeks that both the server populations went from all light......... to the Brits and Pirates being moderate on both servers.

This would indicate a big increase in player populations.

This happened nearly instantly after registration was working again, like there was a big backlog of new players waiting up to 6 weeks so that the moment registration was working........they were online to join PotBS.

This sudden increase happened in the wee hours of the morning on both servers at the same time.

 

This is just a little suspicious.

First, there just weren't that many new players that waited 6 weeks to join PotBS at 2 am.......... and most of those were probably vets adding new alts anyways.

 

Second, the economy is probably the best indicator of player activity........this has continued to shrink even after registration was opened again.

I estimate economic activity is about half or even less............ than it was before the game was hacked & taken offline a couple months ago.

 

I think Portalus is trying to make things look better than they really are and has changed the server population settings so that it looks like there's been a population increase.

When in fact........... the population has remained light or is even decreasing.

Like they did after f2p failed you mean? (aka 2 years ago)

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I don't know if they did that after f2p............I really don't think so.

 

I remember for quite a while after f2p.......even leading right up to when FLS introduced patch 2.11 for PotBS all the nations on all the servers were moderate almost all the time.

Except the Brits and Pirates.........there populations were usually heavy and the odd time very heavy (dark red).

Spain and more often France even saw heavy populations once in a while.

Moderate was considered a low population ( orange) and you almost never saw light ( green)........which is the lowest.

 

All that changed after FLS brought out patch 2.11 late in summer 2012.......within a few weeks the player populations plummeted and we have seen only moderate and mostly light servers ever since.

 

Not once did anyone from FLS admit to making a mistake or apologise for what they did to PotBS and to their customers ( the players ) when they arrogantly and stubbornly brought out that patch 2.11........despite the pleas and mass protests from the players.

 

5 months later FLS was out of business.

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POTBS was my first mmo, its not the game it use to be. But its still the best current sailing game mmo I can play with my friends. What makes it great is the PvP (like a fast pace chess game) and the fact u can build ur own stuff....I come from carebear,to ganker,to rageboarder,to 1v1er to group fights....One thing I love about the game is u can always learn something try something new.

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Are you sure about that Otsego.

 

I have never seen 42 players in one red zone at once in over 4 years of playing although I guess it could have happened a few times back when the server pops where much higher.

 

The most I've seen would be during a few intense port flips........maybe around 25-30 at most .......but that's rare, especially these days. 

Usually the most you see in a port flip or any engagement in the red is 6-18.

 

I agree Slappy, PotBS is currently the best sailing/pirate mmo out there........but it used to be a lot better.  

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Potbs rules, but its getting old, i haven't changed (much*) since launch.

Since they dont advertise they dont get very many new players, which suck.

Cause it could be one of the best games out there, or well, could have been, now the graphics* are to bad, or, outdated rather.

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Tell me about it..........lol

 

There are so many things that could have been done to make PotBS a much bigger success.

Advertising, updated graphics, an expanded map, software programmers that can program software......... other things including patches that improved the game rather than drive players away.

 

And of course.......... a different company and people running it.

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Yes true. Agreed 

 

Also, they should have their feet held to the fire a little bit. They have or had a really loyal player base, many of whom were some of the most pationant I have seen in a video game community, the best group of players a game company could ask for. People from all over the world. If you have a game were people like that are spending much of their free time playing, paying money to play. Sometimes more them 100 dollars. Then play loyally for years.Then you have to deliver period. You cant just put out half hazard balance patches, or add fishing and call it good. You owe it to them.

 

What I think happened is POTBS was developed with attention to detail, and pride. But I think SONY may have been way more concerned with making a profit then keeping their player base happy. Adding content and updating the game would have cost to much, so they didn't bother. They did just enough to string players along. Then when the game stopped making a profit, after they milked their cash cow dry, they prob threatened to cut it. That's when Portalus took it over, former devs from FLS. At this point the game it self was at an all time low, they have a really hard up hill battle. Currently from what I understand they have a really small staff and maybe having a tough enough time just keeping the game and site up and running, let alone adding new content.

 

One thing I would explore with potbs, if I had any say is crowd funding in the form of donations, play to win will not work at its current state. To keep it going and improve it. And also make it open source or somewhat open source so people from the modding community could update it them selves. Almost like a community effort to keep the game alive. Their are some vary talented modders out there and.....many work for free.

 

Here's an example. One game that flopped is Silent Hunter 5, which came from a really successful series with die hard fans. It pretty much flopped because it was rushed to fast to release. The game had a great concept but stuff was missing, and it was quickly written off so ubisoft cut funding. People pretty much wrote it off as a failure. This game flopped right out of the gate, it was sad for many. There was only one patch, then they gave up on it. Then "Subsim" community modders went to town and made tons of mods for it. Its amazing what it looks like now with mods. There is now realism mods, graghic changes, ui, new features sound effects ect ect. With out mods its not worth playing, with mods its the best silent hunter ever. It rose from the ashes, because the fans would not let it die. So tapping the modding community may not be a bad idea for POTBS at this point. 

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Last year a lot of us blamed many of the problems that almost finished PotBS on Sony.

 

But now that Sony's out of the picture and we've spent almost a year with Portalus and were a year wiser I'm taking a harder line with Half-Hitch, Fodderboy and especially the boss of Portalus.........Hamled, now I think they had a lot to do with what happened to FLS during their last 8 months or so.

 

Back when Portalus took over several players warned us that the people running Portalus were some of the main guys at FLS.

And now that's becoming apparent.

 

A lot of unnecessary baggage was also added under these guys watch........along with those disastrous patches last year. 

Fishing, Fairfax drops to name a couple.......and now they just released what they called a "patch".

What was it.........a free sword and some Christmas bling in Treasure Island their hoping to make money off of.

 

The guys at Naval Action are absolutely correct when they say too much useless crap has been added into PotBS.

Meanwhile........the real patch for early December that there saying is supposed to have some new ships and fix some other stuff  is late, big surprise there.

And god knows when Burning Sea.com and the Forums will be working again.

But to be fair there have been some good ships added................ although after 15 months, more needs to be done to fix what 2.11 did. And I really like that hull storage mod that was added a few months ago........that made Portalus a few bucks I bet.

 

It almost appears like the guys at Portalus all have real jobs somewhere else and PotBS is a sideline for them.

It would explain why it takes about 10 to 15 times longer to fix problems with PotBS than any other mmo out there and why updates or any communication at all is a week or more apart.

If that's the case then Portalus wouldn't have to pay salaries and as long at the server time is paid.........could go on for some time.

Or until something better comes along.

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I here ya Bert. 

 

Yeah if it takes them that much time to get problems solved and things are that difficult, I really don't think they should charge any fees what so ever. Not even for BS store items. But instead do a donations type set or crowd fund raising. Pay if you want to help type of thing. But charging any kind of money for something then having a super long turn around time to fix stuff is kind of lame. Because when you charge people you become somewhat liable.

 

I pretty much stopped playing right before 2.11, but returned a few time since. I decided to uninstall a couple of months ago, just not feeling anymore. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Does anyone remember the mobilization they did for the test on 2.11 on the testserver? Some of us from LaC hooked up with some fellas from HMK trying that one out, we worked for like half an hour to sink a Dauntless through the stern, and ALMOST made it! I was playing Wordfeud on my cellphone at the same time, and eventually we took the fight through a series of boardings, if I recall correct.

 

There were a number of us after that event that felt we'd had it with that game. As Flint, I returned a few times, but eventually a few of us returned to record some final stuff, and then leave.

 

Bottom line: in the end, it just took to god damn long time to get into decent fights. Low pop and removal of area chat made sure of that.

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  • 3 weeks later...

As fun as PoTBS was back in the day, it sadly no longer holds a place on my computer. After leveling a character from each career to 50, the endgame content grew boring quite quickly and ultimately lost my interest. Once it became clear that the game was turning into a 'pay-to-win' type of deal I decided it was time to uninstall. 

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potbs still is no pay-to-win game.

 

You can obtain every simgle item needed for ships and fittings with ingame money. Ofc. for some you need horrendious ammount of DBs but still: you dont need any "UBER"-ship since you can sink those with your "non prem" ship as well.

For an example: dons trolled us with Victories over and over again.. WE then simply charged them with frigates. sunk all their shiny expensive rates and were happy with it.

We did it twice and had two weeks of non-trolling.

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That's not quite true Bungee.

 

Those premium ships with the bronze cannons and the 1st and 2nd rates all have components that must be obtained from Portalus by spending real money.......there is no way around it.

Whether you spend your own real money or you buy the parts from someone spent their own real money to get them ..............these ships can ONLY be obtained with parts bought from Portalus with real money.

 

The latest POTBS patches from  Portalus included a couple new ships and some Christmas bling.......nearly all of it requires real money to acquire.............so yes, Portalus is definitely turning POTBS into a pay to win........or at least a pay to get the top ships.

Lol.........I mentioned the fact that the last couple of patches portalus brought out were nothing but cash grabs for ships that few would want.

But Portalus edited it out of their website comment section............I guess I was supposed to say those were really good patches that I was looking forward to and thanked them for the excellent job their doing...........lol.

 

I'm also not sure who you were fighting or if it was in port battles but an experienced battle line that includes Victory 1st rates with supporting ships is devastating to frigates.......or any ships for that matter.

The firepower of 1st rates is impressive........as is their toughness.

But a 1st rate caught alone with much more maneuverable frigates is in trouble.......but it was never intended for that kind of battle. 

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Just for the record:

IF I dont want to spend money on POTBS I can still earn ANY KIND OF SHIP I like and ANY outfitting I fancy.

Its pay to win if I MYSELF feel forced to buy stuff that gives me a noticable advantage or beter said that gives me the ability to even out odds over my enemy. And until now I dont HAVE to pay real money for this special porpose.

Some other guys spent money on BSNs yes. But it was not my own money. I simply go to AH and buy me some BSNs if I so desire.

Any ship can be obtained with DBs since they get listed in the AH.

 

Its not pay to win cause I am not forced to pay money on it. I am not! Since F2P is out I could have lived on without spending any real money. I did pay them a few bucks. but only because I am LAZY and I am not willing to fleet hours and hours in front of SC.

Also I am no huge shipbuilder with 100 slots. I make ships on my own and provide my soc. Thats enough for my daylie pvp living. I own all Rates but the sovereign. why? Cause portalus patched some "OP" ships with their totally OP range of... 600y base.. What am I supposed to do with such crap?.I can skill for more range and also fit for it. But I loose a lot of potential. A ship with no real use in PvP is uninteresting for me. (exept trading and lvl ing porpose)

 

All I can say to the fight: NOOBS with 1st rates still dont stand a chance against SKILLED players. Period. Its the game and its GOOD that way. You have to improve to have fun. a challenge and I like it. I play for nearly 4 years now and still. The group Im regulary in is not the best of all. We ARE damm good. but we still get roflstomped because of stupid mistakes and all.

The fight was a 8 or 9 vs us 10. 10 in frigs vs 8 heavy ships including 3rds and 3 1sts. guess how good a 1st rate can run from chargins Frigates? not so good. And even 4k structure and reps will burn down over time. We get them rates and get sunk in return. It was totally worth it. (grammar I know)

 

Just to say: This game will get a skill-based shipcombat. Nothing about clicking buttons and seeing the magic happen. And so far I totally like what Ive seen.

 

So much from me. I will always continue my thought of POTBS and pay2win. (Its not)

 

Ofc. Portalus is constantly working on ruining the game even more. Therefore I would NOT be surprised if the bronze cannons become OP "SOME"-day.

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That was a smart move by Portalus, making the parts needed for the premium and top ships that only come from Portalus and must be bought with real money................. sellable to other players with in game money.

And it was a good idea and it created the illusion that the game was not becoming pay to win.

But I saw through it and so do many others.

All gaming companies have to encourage players to spend real money........especially since free to play has become so popular.

WoT has premium tanks that cost real money but they are used mostly for making extra money..........the best and most powerful, top tier tanks have always been completely free.......at least in real money terms. 

 

Compared to the overall abismal record of Portalus over the past year...........making PotBS more pay-to-win is a minor issue to me but they also will not get any more of my money.

 

Those expensive bronze cannons have a reload bonus of I think about 10-15% but of coarse they also have a range reduction.........that's why in most cases they are not the best choice for pvp.

But for any kind of fleeting they are very good.

Ever since those cannons came out Portalus has been saying there's a patch coming that will give them more bonuses........no word on when or what that might include.

 

And of coarse noobs don't do well in pvp against skilled players.......lol.

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I let my accounts dye with FLS because i Know it was the last solution to make me stop coming back. Why wanted to stop this returns? Because all of the return i made make me more sad. Step by step i loose my hapiness sailing into the sea seeing ganks, seeing groups avoiding fights frightening to sunk, we spend hours with the crew to sunk few players.

The last socitey i truely respect was the WIS that come every day in pvp area withtou any skills with mordaunts. Days after days, they looses plenty of ships but they improve and were not so bad at the end.

 

Pobts was for us (edr) The game we alwais will loved, the game that make us meet together and play twice a week on other games, and the games we will regret. RIP potbs'FLS.

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