potbs-patch-1.5 posts

PotBS patch 1.5 hiccups, fixes, and character transfers

by Matt Warner Jul 5th 2008 at 9:00PM

Filed under: Historical, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Patches, Server downtime

Ye sea loving scallywags looking for adventure better look to Pirates of the Burning Sea, it has plenty of adventuring waiting in the latest 1.5.46.0 patch. Fitted just last week a build discrepancy caused sails to rip apart, a server reboot followed causing disgruntled nations on Rackham to take cover but the storm has since calmed. There will be twice a week scheduled server restarts to work out the remaining kinks on both NA and EU servers set to take place on Tuesdays and Fridays at 1:30am PST.

There's a lot of new content in this patch, including a new six man epic mission in Fortaleza Da Luz. The mission is intended for level 50 players and balanced at a high difficulty. Numerous other changes and updates in this milestone update can be viewed at the official Flying Lab support site. Also, both the testbed and live servers are now in synch with the same build and players can now copy a live character over to the test server. Forewarning, any active auction listing will be delisted. Vote on your favorite PotBS video, transfer a character or stick to plundering on a live server, it's time to get back to playing and drinking some rum!

Tags: fls, flying-lab-software, fortaleza-da-luz, pirates-of-the-burning-sea, potbs, potbs-build-1.5, potbs-patch-1.5, rackham

PotBS policy updates on cross teaming and selling durability

by Matt Warner Jun 30th 2008 at 9:30PM

Filed under: Historical, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Exploits, Game mechanics, PvP, News items

Pirates of the Burning Sea's 1.5 patch deploys tomorrow morning, but effective immediately are two policy changes. In regards to cross teaming which is when a player uses two different accounts to play as a separate nation on the same server. The rule will be enforced and now applies to multiple accounts tied to individual account owners. It's not possible to play two characters of opposing nations on the same account so players would bypass this by using another account. The second policy change is that the selling of durability to Pirates is no longer allowed.

Players with multiple accounts that play as a differing nation on the same server will be given the opportunity to transfer their characters to another server. If players have any further questions regarding the new policy changes please petition in-game. The announcement also warns that repeat offenders are subject to further disciplinary action, most likely the ban stick. Joe Ludwig is responding to some dismayed players over on the official PotBS forums.

Tags: cross-teaming, exploit, fls, flying-lab-software, joe-ludwig, pirates, pirates-of-the-burning-sea, policy-update, potbs, potbs-patch-1.5, pvp, selling-durability

PotBS 1.4 patch survey results and what players can expect in 1.5

by Matt Warner Jun 23rd 2008 at 8:30PM

Filed under: Historical, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Patches, Crafting, PvP, News items

Flying Lab Software makers of Pirates of the Burning Sea listen to their players, the developers really do! A player survey went live shortly after the1.4 patch, and after a few weeks of data-mining the feedback FLS is responding in a big way. In this latest dev-log by Joe Ludwig, Producer for PotBS, 55% polled in the survey said they prefer to focus their playing time on PvP, 58% from that group said that most of that time is spent on missions or economic activities. Developer logs show that players are repeating high level missions to afford ships and outfitting for PvP gameplay.

To address this "time-sink" an insurance system will be added in the 1.5 patch. This means players will receive 90% of the minimum production cost and permanent outfitting when losing their ship. The other deterrent to keep players from PvP is the itemization gap. Starting in 1.5 all permanent outfitting is player-craftable, including green items and will also undergo balance changes. With these two barriers alleviated PvP will become more accessible to a broader audience.

Tags: fls, flying-lab-software, insurance, joe-ludwig, pirates, pirates-of-the-burning-sea, potbs, potbs-build-1.5, potbs-patch-1.4, potbs-patch-1.5, pve, pvp, unrest

PotBS ship outfitting balances coming in 1.5

by William Dobson Jun 17th 2008 at 8:30AM

Filed under: Historical, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Game mechanics, Patches, PvP

The next major content patch for Pirates of the Burning Sea, build 1.5, is currently being prepared for release to the live servers, and in the meantime we get to find out about some of the features of this update. One of 1.5's main focuses will be a revision of the ship outfitting items in the game, in an attempt to balance things out a bit.

At the moment, there are a number of particular outfitting pieces which are just plain better than others, and it is almost essential to own them to succeed in PvP. This takes away from the grand design of the outfitting system, which was supposed to offer players a chance to individualize their setup and to have unique and interesting strategies -- it simply doesn't happen if there are too many of these so-called "must-have" pieces out there, so this is going to be addressed. The other major change will be the scaling back some of outfitting pieces that are too good for their level, outperforming equipment that is much higher. These updates to ship outfitting will be found in Build 1.5 for PotBS, and you can expect some changes to player outfitting later on in 1.6.

Tags: fls, flying-lab-software, pirates-of-the-burning-sea, pirates-of-the-burning-sea-build-1.5, player-outfitting, potbs, potbs-build-1.5, potbs-patch-1.5, ship-outfitting, soe, sony-online-entertainment

Flying Lab wants you at their studio to test content

by Andrew Russo May 28th 2008 at 9:30AM

Filed under: Historical, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Events, in-game, Patches, Quests

Deep within the jungles, there is a fortress abandoned long ago. Surrounded by mystery, something is stirring within the crumbled walls of this once proud structure. It is a player, stuck in a door, and screaming for help! With your assistance, this certainly will not be the case. The new epic mission is ready for testing, and Flying Lab wants you to be there.

Due to the popularity of Pirates of the Burning Sea's first epic mission, a second was sure to follow. Something macabre, supernatural, and dark was on the board when notes for patch 1.5 were released. The mission is now ready for people to jump into and test their skills against something dark and wicked. Players are invited to the Flying Lab studios in Seattle and the only requirement for participating is a level 50 character. Check in for the sessions is between 6:15 and 9:00PM on May 29th, June 2nd, and June 6th. Head on over there and get a one of a kind chance to test the mission at their offices before it goes live.

Tags: epic, flying-lab, pirates-of-the-burning-sea, potbs, potbs-patch-1.5, questing, testing

PotBS patch 1.5 is looming over of the horizon

by Andrew Russo May 19th 2008 at 11:30AM

Filed under: Historical, Pirates of the Burning Sea, Patches

Pirates of the Burning Sea has seen a few big changes since the game released. The latest addition to the fleet will be new pirate careers in patch 1.4. So what is coming up after buccaneers make their appearance on the high seas? A swabbing of the poop deck to be precise! All that combat and ship destruction leaves plenty of debris around that needs to be picked up. Patch 1.5 is going to do just that.

The details were revealed through an interview with Ten Ton Hammer. According to Flying Lab producer Joe Ludwig, the team is "spending the entire month working on nothing but polish." The coffee is brewing at their offices as the entire team focuses on getting the game to a point where it appears just the way they want it. Some pesky annoyances players often report should be getting a swift kick off the plank as well. Those are, of course, not the only things coming in the next update.

Joe declares that since users do pay a monthly fee, the team is committed to giving them both polish and new content. That content will be appearing as a second epic mission. Joe says it will be something based on the supernatural, but what exactly this means is not made clear. What is clear is that everyone from the lead developers to the interns are going to be cleaning up the world of Pirates of the Burning Sea for the benefit of swashbucklers everywhere.

Tags: flying-lab, joe-ludwig, pirates-of-the-burning-sea, polish, potbs, potbs-patch-1.4, potbs-patch-1.5, ten-ton-hammer

Q&A talks future for Pirates of the Burning Sea

by Kyle Horner Apr 14th 2008 at 8:00PM

Filed under: Pirates of the Burning Sea, Interviews, Patches, News items

In a very interesting Q&A session, the Pirates of the Burning Sea development team dropped some compelling details about upcoming game additions, improvements and balancing. The biggest improvements so far have been to the user interface, but the PvP system is starting to get some love as well. The design team says it was their goal to make PvP easily available for those who wanted to participate, but avoidable for those who didn't care to join in. Refreshingly, they admit that the current game doesn't allow for this and they're bringing the first changes in the 1.2 patch that's out right now.

Tags: flying-lab, patch-of-pirate-love, pirates-of-the-burning-sea, potbs, potbs-patch-1.3, potbs-patch-1.4, potbs-patch-1.5, pve, pvp, soe, sony-online-entertainment, ui, user-interface