[Platinum Pirate]

If I may, I am, in fact, pleasantly surprised that I got up there with my brother. I was convinced that in spite of our best efforts, like most others who gave it their all to sink as many Navy ships as they could, we were simply outmatched by those who belonged to the top guilds. We were truly the underdogs. And by we, I mean, all those like us. Most would not be able to sail for 72 hours straight with those who are good at this, but as soon as we could, we'd log in and sink every one of them as best we could. We already knew how fierce the competition was going to be because the prize was a legendary item. If it were gold, not so many would have bothered to compete.

I held in there as did others despite how well the best have done as recorded on the Leaderboard. I simply wanted my younger brother to get the UA and/or prize. He did not. I'm glad he got a fame during the competition and that he has won the legendary item in the end. He is satisfied with it. He even got more ships than I did! lol

I understand the sentiment of those who felt like they were cheated. I felt that myself after the competition ended and wrote to POTCO. I was convinced that they didn't take great care in tallying who actually sank those ships. I sent my feedback on Wednesday night after I tallied up everyone, both player and guild alike, who made the Top 100 of each day of the competition.

According to what was recorded on the Leaderboards, I ranked 70th with 4,872 ships. The Top 50th player had sunk 6,441 ships. Anyone who had done the same in tracking can confirm this. I suppose I can show it, but I will instead show you a copy of what POTCO's reply was to my feedback:

Spoiler for Official Reply From Members Services:

Note how I was told 'no need to worry'. When I read it, I had a hunch I won. That somehow I got in the Top 50. Even if I did, I wanted to make sure my brother got the item for this was my request as you have read. I was also willing to give mine up for all pirates, the underdogs really, to get the Norrington if they sank at least 500 Navy ships.

So, as soon as I saw the list posted [no email was received beforehand] and my pirate's name was among those who had won, I quickly sent them my OMG reply [it really was an OMG moment]. Bottom line: I meant what I said, 'I'd give mine up for everyone who competed and sank 500 Navy ships'. And as you can see at the Grog Blog, my comment was in light of this: POTCO did take great care in rewarding those who actually sank Navy ships. All lollygaggers on deck, whether by accident or intentional, would not get the credit. You had to do your part in actually sinking them. We did that. I was AFK at times during those 51-52 hours and I did not like it. I knew I had to sink those ships and we hit anything Navy. And we sure did have quite a blast.

With regard to your comment, Bart, about cheaters, I honestly didn't see any. I didn't even see a full crew in action. I guess they were at Abassa. Most were solo. Might see one gunner, and even more rare, two gunners in all those servers we sailed therein.

At the time of this writing, I have not received their reply regarding my request. I have not redeemed my prize either. They may or may not honor my request. I will, of course, honor their decision.