Game has matured since release. Try it, you might be suprised!
I dismissed this game because of the poor reviews it has received. But then a month ago I tried EVE because I needed something new and was intrigued by apparent depth of the game. However, it wasn't the grind that turned me off so much as it is the dark and gloomy atmosphere (which is what you get in outer space.)
So then I decided to finally give PotBS a try. With it being free, what was there to lose?
Well so far I love the game. On the surface it's fun, it's different, and the atmosphere is opposite of the gloom I found with EVE. But I'm also learing about the underlying economic, political, and PvP elements to the game.
From what I have read, the game has recently had it's Avatar Combat and PvE missions substantially upgraded. In my opinion, SOE rushed the release of the game 1.5 years ago so that it had little more than good ship combat and PvP. Further, they are introducing some really new concepts with the overall war and port battles that were subject to exploitation, so those exploited probably left angry.
However it seems that now 1.5 years later, the game is much closer to being 'complete.' Avatar combat is now fun and the PvE missions are interesting and challenging rather than repetitive and boring.
I think if you are even remotely interested you should take adavantage of the free trial. You've got nothing to lose and may be pleasantly suprised like me. I think the bleeding is over for this game and it could be really great in the years to come.