Pirates of the Burning Sea…Next big MMO? I don’t think so…
Okay, I will admit straight up front, I have not played the game at this time. I’m not a big pirate fan (they are cool, but I’m not all huge into Pirates like some other people). But, I am curious as to why people were calling this the next big MMO. A friend of mine sent over this rather lengthy review of the game, which is very good. It’s very long and quite detailed. There is a lot of good information about the game itself and how it would play.
PotBS is definitely a new type of MMO out there. Your a player; the captain of your own ship. You “level up” by gaining skill, and more / bigger ships. Combat is limited to three styles, but with over a hundred different animations, with reactive animations based on your opponents attacks. The developers went to great lengths to make this game as authentic as possible. All in all, it looks like quite a solid game that would please the pirate fiend.
But why wouldn’t this be the next MMO?
The answer is simple (actually, two fold): the game is a niche target, and this game is too tactical. The first one is easy; it targets the pirate loves and people that enjoy those days in history. Everybody does have a little pirate in them, but is it enough to make them want to be one? Or defend against one? I don’t think so.
The second part is quite complicated. The developers went to amazing lengths, based on this review, to insure this game is as real as possible, adding in the requirements of strategy in order to win. This is great, for the hard core players. However, this is very bad for the casual player. The reason why World of Warcraft is top of the market is because the game is too easy — there is little thinking. And we all know, fun requires little thinking (*cough* no, don’t throw that lawn dart as your sister!). Although, WoW does add in some real strategy in the end game, if people wish to go that far, the base game is very simple, easy to learn and easy to “f off” in when you’re downright bored.
PotBS doesn’t seem to allow you go wonder mindless, exploring and leveling your character. In order to win fights, you must learn strategy right away. Hand to hand combat is extremely detailed, and very tactical. You have to throw your character off balance to open opportunities to attack. This reminds me a lot of the original game combat in EQII (where you needed to find openings to attack), which failed. The majority of the players don’t want to think.
Character creation seems to be compared to City of Heroes. That’s great! The sheer vast number of customization options will definitely draw in a lot of creative thinkers. But I have to ask: what are the options to change later on? City of Heroes had a problem where once you picked how your character looks, you’re stuck with it forever. Personally, that never bothered me (even after they added in the wardrobe room, I kept the same looks), but it seemed like it was a big deal to a lot of players. So much so, Cryptic Studios decided to add in a wardrobe room to allow you to change your looks (at a cost). What options will PotBS have with this? The game is 8 days old (as of writing this) so we have yet to see any push back on looks.
Crafting seems quite unique and I’m curious how it’ll work out. I like the concept. It’s like “crafting” in RTS games: you buy a workshop (can only own 10) and you task them to create an item. The “leveling” is done based on your workshop’s skill and ability to create new items. It’s unique and promising. I’m curious to see how well it holds out. Crafting has always been a bane in many games, EQII (imo) being the worst attempt.
Traveling? Oh wow. That’s a whole other beast. I don’t know how that’s going to even work. According to the review:
“..the developers have made a navigation mode map, called Open Seas, that allows you to sail from one side to the other in about 45 minutes to an hour. This all assumes a fairly straight-line course, favorable winds, and without any distractions from NPC or player pirates or other events you may encounter.“
Wow, an hour? With NO interruptions? The game developers obviously didn’t intend to have much traveling going on. Or did they expect the player to be traveling majority of the time? I don’t know. I don’t see how this will work very well. Length of time to travel from point A to point B as always been a problem in current MMOs. It doesn’t look like PotBS made it any better.
Anyway, I think I’ve written enough now. There’s plenty more to read about the game that I hadn’t touched one - side-kicking, your ships, end game, missions, etc. Be sure check out the full review (link below) for a all the scoop.
Now, don’t get me wrong here; I think this game sounds extremely interesting, but is it the next big MMO? I don’t think so. There is just too much in there that won’t appeal to the casual player. Playing WoW in Beta, I knew it would be the next MMO. Playing EQII in beta, I knew it wouldn’t be. There are things that casual players look for — more “thinking” is definitely not one of them.
However, if you’re a pirate fan, and love a real challenge in MMO, be sure to check out PotBS. Based on this review, it looks quite promising. It’s very detailed, very in depth. It would certainly tickle this inner pirates in all of us, even me….when I’m not playing WoW.
This review of mine is purely based off a review by “Bloodloch.” You can read his full review at: http://www.whitewolfclan.net/pobs/review.htm
