News of another MMO Release Delay here:
Pirates of the Burning Sea: State of the Game 04.27.07
(Via
Potshot &
TCSG)
In which, via a somewhat charming admission, Flying Lab admit they haven't quite got a handle on the whole Retail Thing just yet, which is fair enough, them being an Independent operation and all, and so are going to postpone the launch until they can negotiate with the Evil Game Distribution Cartels and get some kind of boxes on the shelves. I'm quite looking forward to this one (it's even
on my list!), which is odd, because I don't really know much about the thing. I suppose it's sheer difference (from what I can see) to anything else on offer at the moment is part of it, but mostly, I just think it'll be cool to be a Pirate. Arr!
Thing is, so does pretty much anyone else interested in this game I'd imagine, and one thing I'm looking forward to is seeing how Flying Lab are going to cope with the very social problem of there being Far Too Many Pirates. History has shown us that if you make an MMO with a Good Team (Rebels - SWG, Alliance - WoW, Everyone who wasn't a Dark Elf, Troll or Ogre - EQ), and an Evil Team (Empire - SWG, Horde - WoW, Dark Elves, Trolls & Ogres - EQ), most players, wanting to be the Hero, will pick the Shiny Side, making the Dark Side a choice for Roleplayers, or on PvP servers, Masochists only.
PotBS looks to be a bit different though, in that the Pirates are likely to be viewed as the real Heroes, and Flying Lab are going to have to work quite hard to make being a Privateer, or deckhand in the British, French or Spanish Navy seem interesting and/or cool by comparison. Personally, I'm torn. Pirates are cool, of course, but it's not often I get to play an Englishman in one of these things, don'tcherknow, and I do like to be on the unpopular side where I can, being a long-time Imperial and Horde player. But for once, I suspect we'll see the traditionally 'bad' side become much more numerous than the forces of 'good', which will be interesting in itself I think.
Still, the rest of the game sounds superficially at least, pretty good too, and different which is the main thing, and for me, I doubt it's a question of
if I'll buy it, and more
when. I'm also mature enough these days not to go ballistic at news of delays. Seems like many MMOs are taking the brave but sensible step of postponing release, to get the thing that much more complete before launch, and I applaud this kind of reasoning. Sounds like a lot of the anger directed at Vanguard could have been averted with another six months in the oven.
But I really don't mind waiting a bit longer. You take as long as you need - just make it a good one! Not like I'm going anywhere...