Pirates of the Burning Servers

Sony Online Entertainment has announced that they will be shutting down three of their servers for Pirates of the Burning Sea. As of March 5, 2010 the Blackbeard, Defiant, and Rackham servers will be closing. Because of this, SOE is offering free character transfers starting February 5, 2010, allowing you to transfer to the two remaining servers, Antigua or Roberts.

SOE is being somewhat more kind with their character transfer action in PotBS than they were when they closed twelve of the SWG servers a few months ago. This time they are offering account reactivation to people who aren't currently subscribed to Pirates, in order to allow them to rescue their characters from the servers that are getting the ax in this process.

The following is quoted from SOE's official announcement.

Important Information Regarding Pirates of the Burning Sea™ Account

Ahoy, Pirates of the Burning Sea Captains!

Population density has been the topic of much debate in the community over the last few months. What we're hearing is that Pirates is an awesome game that you really enjoy playing, but that it's a lot more fun when there's a critical mass of other players around to play alongside or against. Through feedback from the players and evaluation of server populations, it has become clear that key game features require higher density in order to function at optimum levels.

To push things in the right direction, we've decided to condense the current population onto two servers. On March 5, 2010 at approximately 12:01 AM PST, we will close the following servers: Blackbeard, Defiant, and Rackham. Beginning on February 5, 2010 at approximately 12:01 AM PST, you can transfer your characters from the affected servers onto one of the two remaining servers, Antigua or Roberts. At this time, character creation will be disabled on the Blackbeard, Defiant, and Rackham servers. We hope these changes will provide you with an even more enjoyable Pirates experience.

Important Dates

* 2/2/2010 05:00AM Patch 1.22 Goes live
* 2/5/2010 12:01AM Character transfers open.
* 3/5/2010 12:01AM Blackbeard, Defiant and Rackham servers are closed.

When can I start transferring my characters?

* You can transfer your characters beginning at approximately 12:01 AM PST on February 5, 2010 using our character transfer service at: http://www.burningsea.com/pages/transfer/.

What if my Pirates of the Burning Sea subscription isn't currently active?

* Between February 5, 2010 at 12:01 AM PST and March 5, 2010 at 11:59 PM PST, accounts of former players that were closed between January 22, 2008 and January 15, 2010 will be reactivated for up to twenty-nine (29) days of free play*, which will allow you to transfer your characters to the Roberts or Antigua server and try out new features that we have implemented since you last set sail.

To learn more about the closure of the servers and character transfer, please click here.