PotBS devs detail ship tuning, new expansion

Wow. I haven't played this game for quite a while, but taking all 1st and 2nd rate warships out of the game is a pretty drastic step. They were effectively the 'endgame' item to get for most people in the game.

Gameplay wise though I think it's a good decision.

I played this in beta and early release, but quit because logistically I just didn't enjoy the economic side (which was required to support regular PvP) - plus the avatar combat was so sub-par that I was only enjoying the game a quarter of the time when I was playing it, i.e. when I was in ship combat (either in PvE or PvP).

In beta ships were given out free when we were testing large fleet battles and it was tons of fun, plus we had lots of PvP skirmishes on the world map as well in ships that you would never have risked there in the release game. Sadly when it came to the reality of post-release it just required too much boredom to support the few moments of fun.

I really do miss the ship combat though - I occasionally still play a very old RTS called Age of Sail, which PotBS's combat seems to have been lifted from, and I've spent a long time looking for an up to date replacement (preferably multiplayer) that wasn't an MMO.

Maybe I'll try PotBS again one day, but the fact I'd have to give SOE money again is another mark against it.

I've been playing the game since launch and this has been one of those "long time coming" sort of expansions and it's good that there's now part of a date! Not long to wait now.

@Valdamar PotBS has changed a LOT since you were last around. The avatar combat is now a lot faster and has more cool animations to make it better for the more normal player, while being complex enough so that if you take the time to learn it, you can get very good.

They simplified parts of the economy to make it easier to make ships now, there's loads of them on the auction house and most societies in the game have their own internal economy setups and can make ships for you very cheaply indeed (a normal lvl 50 ship costs 30,000 doubloons, which you can get from 2 lvl 50 missions, for example).

Finally, SOE literally only handle the accounts for the game. FLS (the makers) paid them a long time ago just for this service, so when you pay the sub for the game, it goes straight to FLS :) Equally, SOE have no say in the development, so no NGE here ;)

I'd say wait until August to try it, as they'll probably have an incentive for players to come try the expansion

I like most changes and also removing 1st and 2nd rates is good step. For ship tuning i like this idea, battles will be more balanced and it will be more about captain skill not about ships and outfitings. And i am so excited for new missions and port governance system :)

lol Pot BS