Farewell Mates!

[Captain Grizzly]

After much thought I feel it’s time that I hang up my cutlass, dock my ships and bid farewell to the world of POTCO.

I did not come to this decision easily. I’ve been playing this game since the beginning as a beta tester in phase 1 so leaving the game was not an easy choice. After awhile I started looking at the reasons I started playing compared to the reasons why I’m still here. I started playing for the same reason everyone else does, I wanted to have some fun. Phase one was a blast. Yes the game was even more bugged than it is now but it was new and different from other games I’d played. It was fun. I was pretty much a lone wolf style player in phase one and kept to myself with the exception of a couple of people I made friends with.

Then came phase 2 came along. I meet up with one of my friends from phase one and did something I told myself I would never do again in a MMO, I joined a guild. I had been in guilds before in other games, seen the ups and downs of them and they just weren’t my thing. But I joined in spite of that. The guild was small, had a good GM and some good people in it and despite my reservations towards guilds, it was fun.

When the game went live the GM and a few others from the beta test guild met up and Bad To The Bones was formed. Everyone was starting over, most everything was working to one degree or another and we were all having fun. Then the worst thing that can happen in a game happened, we ran out of things to do. People had gone as far as they could go with the Black Pearl quest and had nothing to do but level skills. Some had advanced fast enough to have completed the BP quest, most were stuck waiting for it to be fixed and brought back on line. The guild was still going ok, people were still coming on and it was still fun, just not as much.

Eventually the thing that was bound to happen did. People stopped coming on. They were bored with grinding skills waiting for something to do. I kept coming on; kept grinding away because I liked hanging out with the people I had met in the game. I told myself that when I max my pirate I’ll leave and find something else. Turned out not to be so easy to do. I mastered my pirate and was bored to death but I kept playing. I enjoyed the guild and people in it so I started a new pirate so I would at least have something to accomplish while being on. After awhile fewer and fewer people would be on. Most times it would be me and 1 or 2 others in the guild and a lot of the time just me. It was no longer fun.

Around this time we got the word that our GM was leaving the game. Not really a surprise, he had other things going on that was taking up a lot of his time and something had to be given up. Since Disney didn’t provide an option to transfer guild ownership, the officers that were still active decided to start a new guild. Somehow I ended up the GM, me, the person who didn’t want to be in a guild at the beginning of all this. I got a name approved as close to our original as possible and Bad To The Bonez was born. We started actively recruiting, the guild was growing and I was having fun again. I had a reason to sign on everyday again.

But soon enough history began repeating itself, members would get to a point where they could go no further and stop coming on. We would get new members, they would reach the same point and they’d be gone. It is a viscous cycle that never stops. But I was still coming on every day. With the help of a strong core of dedicated officers and members the guild stayed alive. After getting my second pirate to level 40 and with the constant ebb and flow of active members, it started taking its toll. I’m now on my third pirate, getting close to reaching 40 again. The majority of the friends I had in the early stages of the game don’t come on anymore. It’s reached the point that I’m coming on entirely for the sake of the guild and the people that are still active. I don’t have it in me to keep grinding anymore, it’s no longer fun.

I do apologize for the long winded soliloquy but I wanted this to answer as many of the forthcoming questions as possible. My account is paid up until May and the Robert Badbones pirate that holds the GM spot will remain. I leave the guild to the dedicated officers that remain both on the test server and in the live game. The guild site will remain up and running as well. If the need arises for a promotion to be given out or for a demotion you can send me a PM and I’ll take care of it. Grace Wildrage and Xel have full administrator privileges on the site and will hopefully be back in game soon. I’m going to promote some people who are still the most active and I may add one or two more people to the administrator list for the site.

It is my hope that the guild remains strong and keeps going forward. Maybe with some time away I may find the desire to play again one day. If so, I’ll see those that remain later on, if not, it has been my honor and pleasure to have played this game with you all. May fair winds fill your sails as you continue on your way. Farewell mates, long live BTTB.

[Mr.LoveLocket]

omg! grizzly we are gonna miss u so much! :'(
u were like becoming a GREAT friend! cries


LONG LIVE BBTB

[Chris]

GRIZZ NOOOOO - cries - ye were the gest GM a guild could ask for!!! You helped me level and sail and everything. but i do understand why you are leaveing its just you i wouldnt expect you to quit anytime soo awwwww

~BTTB4EVA

[Sassy]

sorry to hear you plan to leave.. stay with the forum though, so those who know you can keep up with you..

so many leave the game and we never hear from them again.. when you make a friend in potc, sometimes they are real friends, not just people you hang out with..

my best friends are people i play with everyday in the game.. they may not know it, but they are..

[Silver Beard]

*sniffles*

I geuss I should be happy I'm at level 19...

[Dr. Zeppers]

Aye matey.... seems to be a regular pattern.

Perhaps you'll be back again...

May the tradewinds take ye to wonderous places.

[Maximvs]

Well, you were Great Insperation to me when I first found POF and read one of my first threads 'List of Pirate Masters' by Ironhawk - and seen your name on the list not once - but several times... With that and Irons advice long ago I don't think I could of made it as far as I have in the game without 'grindfesting to death'.

Good Luck and Fair Winds - whever they take ye...

[Chris]

Okays after reading it through i understand it has gotten quiet and i believe the people u have left the site and guild in the hands of is a good choice i respect your decsion but its sad to see you go honestly i thought you would never quit but as many times before i was proven wrong. I wish you a great life in prosperity and something else but be warned capn grizz we will always be waiting for you if and when the tradewinds of faith blow you back our way. (ok did i really just type that?) anyway we (as a guild) will be waiting with bottles o rum in one hand and ye personal effects in another.

[AdmiralSavvy]

Sorry to see you go Grizzly, you seemed like a great GM and you were a great person to see on the forums as well. Although I completely understand why you would want to leave the game, I like the idea of leaving the guild to your most trusted. I wish you, and BTTB, the best of luck in all aspects.

[Chris]

Arg grizz ye didnt have to do that much for me but rest assured the officers of BTTB will keep it running and running smooth

Ps the Guild rum storage house ill personally guard so when ye come online ye rum be awaitin

[Captain Grizzly]

Thanks for all the well wishes. I'll still be lurking around here on the forums looking for news of something that may lure me back into the game.

Chris, you're the guild's most active member here on POF, who better to hand over the guild's sub-forum to?

[Mr.LoveLocket]

Bye grizzly! i hope something lures u back! but for now fair winds matey!

[Captain Grizzly]

Well it didn't take quite a full month before I started missing the game. I tried the Wizard 101 game where a lot of the BTTB members went and it just wasn't for me.

I be a pirate at heart and this is were I belong!

My thanks to those who keep the guild running during my brief retirement.

[Bartholomew Foulsteel]

Well I for one am glad yer back mate.

[AdmiralSavvy]

I'm happy too that you're back, Grizzly. Welcome back!