How to give potbs a healthy player base.

[C G Wrangel]

Originally Posted by Josh_Brown This game has never been well-advertised. I wouldn't have known about it if I hadn't actively sought it out after finding out about it in the development phase due to encountering some of the developers, which only happened because I fence and I live in Seattle.

This is exactly how it was for me, and while searching for a pirate like online game, I actually considered this game three times before actually trying it.
I definetly belive this is a key to the issue, this is a niche game, and my guess is alot of people that do find it do so by actively searching for a pirate style game.
Considering this, I think it's elemental how the enviroment is for new players, and my view on this subject is that this has been a harsh enviroment indeed until recently. This is what has formed the current player base I belive, since you have a very narrow array of players coming here, and an even smaller part of these players have actually stayed. Those who stay most likely learn the game and if they go into PvP those aspects of the game the very hard way, I know for sure I did at least. This has left us with a pretty elitistic community, where veterans have a good understanding of many parts of the game, while a newcomer have a hard time grasping all the concepts hidden in it. Add to that that it's a game that can be very unforgiving alot of times.

To sum it up, I don't think something like Steam or advertisment as such will automatically equal a healthy playerbase, if we want that, I think we need to re-evaluate our own attitudes, I think FLS need to continue on the path of protecting lowbies, and I think we need a better way for new people to get into and understand the game as a whole.
I mean let's be honest: the times this game has had a large influx of new players, it has ended up in gankfests, right?