Flying Lab Software – MMO Fallout

Pirates of the Burning Sea: F2P Delayed

Bugs! Everyone hates them and yet none of us are willing to tell them that they aren’t paying rent and need to either shape up or ship out. Sure we all talk about bugs behind their back, but apparently it’s not enough as they are still with us. Especially considering that they break hearts, delay everything they touch, and generally annoy the hell out of us.

For Pirates of the Burning Sea players, the past few weeks have not been great, and the objective date of November 22nd (according to Flying Lab being the earliest possible date, legally, due to disclosure requirements) for the big transition is not being met, and there were a few issues with players being unable to transfer off of closed servers during the recent merger. In the case of the free to play launch, glitches are being blamed, with the developers noting that they would like to spend Thanksgiving with their families, not at work fixing bugs that would have appeared had they launched today.

The team is looking at the week after Thanksgiving for launch, which you can read more about here: http://www.burningsea.com/forums/showthread.php?t=77188

Pirates Of The Burning Sea Heading Towards Eff Too Pea

Technically the Eastern Free to Play grinders were the first to make the statement, but when Turbine brought Dungeons and Dragons Online back from the brink of disaster by turning it into a hybrid cash-shop-VIP system, and turned it into an out of control money machine, that moment was where the industry started taking notice. Over the past year, making the free to play shift has undoubtedly saved a number of MMOs, including Alganon with a huge influx of new players trying out Lord of the Rings Online and Everquest II (both of which claim they’re games were doing just fine, thank you).

Pirates of the Burning Sea hasn’t been in the MMO Fallout news scope very much, and with the latest expansion launching recently Flying Lab Software announced that the MMO will be heading towards a f2p model fairly soon. There is no set date currently, as of the announcement, but Flying Lab has promised more information to come.

As for F2P, all of the necessary tech is completed and is in testing, and we’re very close to starting the countdown. We’re excited as can be about it, and we’re looking forward to writing the next chapter of Pirates of the Burning Sea with you.

More on Pirates of the Burning Sea as it appears.

Pirates of the Burning Sea: Removal Because They Love You

photo_4b6388cad00b3 — Some of these ships will be gone.

From the outside looking in, it may appear that the days are numbered for Pirates of the Burning Sea. Having launched in early 2008, the past two years have been a bumpy ride for Flying Lab Software and their band of swashbucklers. Most of the game’s original servers have shut down, leaving only Antigua (North America), Roberts (Europe), and Carribean (Russia) left. The game’s future is certainly up in the air, but the developers are going to have to buckle down if they want to stem the dwindling population.

One way Flying Ship has decided to battle player dissatisfaction: I like to call it The nuclear option. In an effort to balance the power of various ships and to bring more attention to the “vanilla” ships of PotBS, FLS announced that they will be removing the recipes for multiple first and second rate ships, including the Invincible, Prince, Trinity, and Triumphant. Instead, third class ships will now be considered the strongest, with balancing done around that class in comparison to the “vanilla” ships.

Luckily those of you who have the recipes for the above mentioned ships will be able to keep them. Otherwise, you are out of luck as FLS has removed the ability to create the recipe starting now, with the latest patch.

More on Pirates of the Burning Sea as it appears.

Server Merger Off The Port Bow!

Pirates of the Burning Sea launched two years ago this January following an elongated development period on the part of Flying Lab Software. Despite the factors of player run economies, developer immersion, a surprising balance in classes, and player vs player ship combat, the game fell short of a hot launch due to the steep learning curve and lack of documentation for new players. Despite that, reviewers called it innovative, and an example for other MMOs to follow, rather than a “reskinned Everquest.”

As I have pointed out in the past, reviewers can say what they want, an MMOs’ success comes down to one thing: Player retention. In late 08, in order to increase server populations, Flying Labs shut down seven servers, reducing the final number down to six worldwide servers.

Well, depending on how you want to see it, the consolidation was either a huge success, or just a temporary fix to a bigger issue. Flying Labs is at it again, and in the latest developer blog, the developer detailed plans to reduce the server count further, to two servers (Antigua and Roberts), one server in North America and one in Europe.

The servers will be live until March 5th, when they will be taken down. Until then, players are able to transfer their characters to one of the two remaining servers. More on the server merger as it appears.