Gosh, it does sound interesting. Is Amazon pre-order the only way to get in right now?
And multiple servers, damn I would miss the single world from EVE.
Tempting!
If you don’t care about having a box or paper documentation, it’s also available as a direct purchase from the SOE Station store. No futzing around with keys if you go that route: They just flag your Station account directly. Sure, it’s a big download, but you were going to do it anyway to get an early look, right? :)
Yeah, I took the SOE route and it was painless. Still haven’t dived into the game.
Damn, that is pretty tempting! Can I download it without a purchased account? I’m travelling a bit and might get someone to mail me a CD.
Anyone had any thoughts about the end game PVP? It sounds a bit capture-the-flaggy… which could get tiresome.
And PVP is almost entirely optional? Sounds like it might be hard to be a true pirate…
With SOE I’m pretty sure you have to go through the motions of purchasing and they charge it at 12:01 a.m. on January 22, but won’t if you cancel before then. At least, that’s what I read after I did it.
Erik_J
86
You know, I really hate you all with a passion. Downloading. See you in the game, folks.
Erik J.
PvP can be avoided, Calistas, but it’s much like in Eve - little ventured, little gained. Ports that are likely to go into contention (which makes the waters go PvP_okay) are probably those with the most desireable resources. PvP flagged ships, a player controlled toggle set at a port, also get a movement bonus in any waters.
The most effective merchants will be those with a PvP toggle on, they can get around faster, and those willing to run blockades into dangerous areas.
But creating an entirely free PvP game would pretty much crush alot of folks who just want to play PvE or an economic game.
And while PvE raiding can toss a port into contention only a grand 25 v 25 ship PvP battle decides control of that port.
PvP is blue ribbon here and central to everything but there’s room for other playstyles too.
Ooo sounds ideal. I like a game that pushes people towards PVP. Stops it being just a boring ‘old boys’ club that only a handful on the server ever do.
Is fleet combat fun? Are there interesting roles for all the different sized/set up vessels?
The downloadable excerpt from the Prima strategy guide on the game’s economy sounds very interesting and detailed. Me thinks my will power is not strong enough to resist this title much longer.
I’m curious about ports being contended and it reminds me a bit of Shadowbane. Isn’t it likely, at least based on an early observation that there were a LOT more pirates than any of the nations, that the pirates will control all of the ports that matter, leaving the other nations ‘isolated’ and potentially either quitting or at least rerolling a pirate, perpetuating the problem?
I can’t speak to PvP just yet myself. I’m busy doing missions and just sorting PvE and the economy out. It’s quite likely I’ll personally settle into more of a supporting/low risk lifestyle for a bit unless my Society gets more active. I’ll want wingmen before I try PvP.
Edit: Pirates can’t permanently hold enemy ports and their, initial, ports can only be held temporarily. They accumulate victory points along slightly different lines (which I’m not clear on).
Numberwise, you tend to see the British as the most popular faction with Pirates a close second and then the Spanish and the French. I suspect folks chose Britain on English speaking servers as a default that’s familiar and these are people who are really into the strategic game.
Right now, Pirates have the edge because the economy is in daipers. They can snag free ships right off the waters. Once it’s really rolling I suspect Nationals will have much better access to supplies and the upgrades that help ships move faster and shoot harder thanks to Freetraders (one of three classes Pirates don’t have access to).
National Naval Officers also have access to bigger, meaner, ships. While pirates can jack ships of the line it’s a hit or miss thing that autoflags them as PvP. Naval Officers can pick and chose when to be PvP in their ships of the line and if they’re in a functioning Society they’ll have better access to them as well as fittings. Lastly, Nations have Privateers who are, essentially, watered down pirates - they can’t take ships outright but they do get rewards for taking them (as do NOs and FTs - but the PT can cull rewards from both the NO and FT branches). A Privateer is probably the best all around class for someone knocking about who wants to be part of the National economic/military scene. You can live off the land, to an extent, but you also have a role in a broader structure as a scout, tackler and can also participate in the economy fairly well.
What’s a Society within the game?
The Freetrader career sounds the most appealing to me. I’ll make a ton of gold and hire assassins to kill you pesky pirates.
Question: do you have to be on the Pirate career path to be part of the Qt3 guild (or whatever it’s called)?
I haven’t seen a Qt3 Society yet - a Society is a guild. On each server you and all your alts can only belong to one faction. Several Societies seem to have alts belonging to different factions on different servers for variety.
I’m even tempted to try out a national role just to see things from a different angle. Deep, deep, inside I don’t think I’m a yo-ho-hoist. I like fighting but for a cause not for its own sake. Pirate’s fun for now and my current Society (not Qt3) is piratical.
I may end up deleting this guy though and flipping British. Yeah, herd mentality - saftey in numbers - but that’s also where the best RP scene (after Pirate) is to be had on Bonny.
Nothing yet in the MMO world has come close to the adrenaline rush of an EQ1 Hate or Fear raid.
Skipper
95
Or better yet, that first time you were fighting up top in Blackburrow and read, “MASSIVE TRAIN TO ZONE!!! OMG IT’S HUGE!!!” Or that first run from Qeynos to Freeport when you were only level 5.
Those were the days eh?
Skipper
96
Dumb question here but why wouldn’t you update your massive download client to the latest build before customers started joining the game? I spent all night downloading, had the dreaded disk 0 error which I fixed, now I have and hour and a half of patching. This game is brand new, why am I patching that much after downloading over 4.6 Gb of a game client?
-1 point for not having their shit together.
Mordrak
98
I still remember my first run from Felwithe to Freeport. A kindly monk helped my bard find his way. The boat was filled with immigrants speaking all sorts of gibberish hoping to find adventure across the sea. I remember the first time I happened upon the wizard pillars or druid ruins, clueless they were actually used for teleporting. It was pretty cool finding out what they did the first time.
No game is going to capture that again, partly because information is everywhere. And much of that goes against the smooth, relatively painless, experience people want out of MMOs now. That’s fine. I do miss the discovery though.
Erik_J
99
Interesting game so far. The customizations are pretty amusing. I’m in as a pirate now. Golden Sphinx is the character name. Yar, bitches.
Erik J.
Skipper
100
Okay, for the Pirate faction on Bonny server I have:
Lass Chick - TomChick
Mandrake Grim - Brian Rucker (Traitor, turned skalywag for the Spanish as ???)
Wolfram von Hart -balut
Xemu Arctangent - Xemu
Golden Sphinx - Erik J.
One-eye Willy - Lionel Thompson
Amilcar Bolivar - Jasper
Doc Faustus - William Abner
Possum Joe - Skipper (me)
