My review after ~15-20 hours of game play.
My Pirates of the Burning Sea Review
- First impression, What it is and is not, and Potential.
- Please note I’m bulleting this so that it’s easier to read, most of my points could be expanded on by request
First Impressions
- Has all of the common denominators of an MMORPG. Lots of people, factions, PvP, economy, general chat, grouping, a crafting system, etc.
- They have indeed used a few ideas from other MMORPG’s that have worked well and become something of a standard. And some of those very things have been molded to fit into the general flow / design of this specific game. (the Auction house (AH) is a great example)
- Battles (especially ship battles) are much less static and feel more like a real-time strategy game – In My Opinion. Keeping track of the basics (wind, current, distance, vulnerabilities, etc) is much different then your typical Fantasy based RPGs.
- All of the quests and battles are instanced, as well; you can upgrade the difficulty levels by a factor of 5 based on your skill level, confidence, etc.
PVP
- PVP will ultimately be several things and most importantly it’ll be meaningful.
- There is a “Conquest System” which will be used for nations (factions) to wage war against one an other for the purpose of capturing a specific port. (reason for doing so is in the economic review)
- And PvP has Risk and Reward.. Ships and Loot. If you win, you win your opponents loot and they loose their ship. If you play a pirate, you can capture that ship and sell it on the AH or save it for after a future lose.
Economy – (my favorite aspect of MMO’s)
- There is no crafting system as your use to from other games. It is replaced by a Production system.
- Players will have a limited amount of structure allotments which are used for produce goods; either materials or finished products depending on the type of building.
- There are a whole lot of things that are produced and “production lines” will come into play to compile the materials for final products.
- Different types of materials are only available at specific ports (thus how the conquest system will come into play), so if you are producing something you can either sell it at that port’s local AH or transport it to another port for sale OR for use in other production lines.
What it Is and What is Not
- IS – a new MMO that has a great concept, lots of potential, and room for improvement
- IS NOT – WoW… It’s not 3 years old with 3 years of fine tuning, expansion, documentation, and player base.
- IS – Fun and Challenging. Adapting to a very different combat system takes some getting use to. And since it’s new, you have to actually learn some stuff for yourself instead of just reading other people’s “How-To’s”. Obviously this won’t last forever but for folks willing to jump right in, that challenge should be fun.
- IS NOT – Hard to learn.. Like I said above, it just takes some getting use to.
- IS – Based of the life of mariners in the late 1700s. You can visit Havana, Tampa, and Cuba. You are the mercy of the wind, and you will have to defend yourself if you really wish to seek treasures off of the beaten path.
- IS NOT – Medieval Fantasy – No Magic, no Dragons (that I’ve seen)
- I could expand this I’m sure, but I’m hoping you check it out and find out for yourselves.
Potential
I see all kinds of potential for this game. I’m just hoping that FLS (Flying Lab Studios, Creator) and SOE (Sony Online Entertainment, Distributor) see it as well. With the way resources are dispersed, we can rest assure that their will be some very contentious ports to be fought over. There is bound to be an in-game political scene which will shape other aspects of the game. I know they’ve already begun to work on how to keep national balances for under-dog nations (lower populations). I’d also imagine that the sea will expand with time as well. All in all the map isn’t too large, so expansion seems inevitable. But hey, isn’t that what happened anyway?!?!
Any questions or requests for more details just let me know and I’ll do my best to answer.
Well, I hope that helps and I look forward to sailing with you soon.