El Patron's Sword on Open over 24 hours...now what?
 

It has been 24 hours since a friend got El Patron's lost sword that changes him into a ghost. Now, 24 hours later, pretty much every pirate that wanted it, has it.

Now what?

Disney seems to be adding a plethora of mini-games (e.g. near Darby Drydock, in Tortuga graveyard, etc.) Target audience for the mini-games obviously is 8 year-old boys. Boys with no pants? Can't have 8-yr old potty humor without underwear!

So what happened to the adventure family game this started out as? Why is Disney so militantly refusing to add the second story quest that they've promised over and over, each year? 2007, 2008, 2009 and now 2010 they still talk of the Kraken. Why is Disney negating the purpose of doing each quest, opting instead for instant-gratification weapon drops?

Dozens (hundreds?) of new weapons, way too powerful for combat with the existing enemies...for what? To castigate basic members EVEN MORE? Popularity contests? Special tonics to re-enable the speed glitch since they never trapped the 3rd party applications on the server side? (Which completely ignores the fact that every variation of "speed" de-stabilizes the servers.)

And gold? If you play blackjack for only a couple hours swapping cards, it is trivial to get to the new maximum (200,000 gold doubloons.) Camping on General Darkheart is nearly as fast.

A little more lag, with every update...especially updates that claim to reduce lag. Game freezes absurdly common now, even for computers with double or quadruple their posted minimum specs. Militant refusal from Disney to release memory consumed with each scene change (yet loading screens now take 30 to 90 seconds for no reason whatsoever.)

Game-loading that used to take mere seconds now takes a half hour or more. Standard window controls disabled supposedly to prevent glitches, without actually preventing the same glitches (hint: server-side heartbeat check, not partial client side non-standard manipulations.) Silly window resizing at arbitrary points (login, pirate selection, etc.) just to be annoying.

Essential features like teleporting to a friend disabled ("You are already there!") since they don't know how people do glitches in the first place. Bugs like "Can't teleport while in battle" made worse instead of being fixed.

Exploits like ship-invincibilty from "Take Cover" never corrected. Timing of "take cover" made 3 seconds worse instead of being corrected to activate immediately.

Ships redesigned to give war frigate broadsides too much accuracy, while breaking accuracy of war galleon broadsides? Why? So that people learn to rely on the front cannons that are only useful when your crew size is 3 to 5 people? (Useless when solo or with only 1 friend aboard, extremely harmful with a full crew and a captain that relies on them.)

Body types changed from the original attractive cartoons, to child-like body forms, to encourage what? Original body types no longer available, just to be elitist? Reduction of "triangles" supposedly to reduce lag, instead causing severely more?

Server-side lag issues rarely addressed. Game-rule lags (pirate stuns, ship stuns, etc.) never exposed so that people can tell why their game suddenly slows down in PvP or SvS. Over a dozen types of stun possible, only 3 currently exposed when your pirate is hit.

Boss Battle that was originally a tremendous challenge, now made extremely trivial, extremely easy. Not sure it is even possible to lose a boss battle at all now. Synchronization of cut-scenes (that used to be perfect) utterly destroyed for no reason.

Storms never added to the game. Hurricane sea battles never added. Thirty foot sea swell waves never added. Fog and smog (to make my eyes hurt) added instead. Server times never synchronized to make the top of the hour be "pirate midnight" consistently. (1 hour real life = 1 pirate day.)

Eye-patches, peg-legs and parrots never added to the game. Tricorn hats that used to be starter items no longer allowed to be worn, even for pirates that originally had them as starter clothing.

Leaderboard pages that never update. DisneyXD that is always out of date. Guild rosters always inaccurate. Guild-control features never added; guilds still being "deleted." Player-friends lists that clear themselves every time you sign on test.

Chat-window delays caused by a malfunctioning text filter. Random, arbitrary application of 24 hour suspensions. Rep-stealing made easier instead of harder or being solved. Lack of chat transcripts being e-mail to parent's account (or even being saved locally.)

Chat colors changed randomly from previously high-contrast fonts and colors, to text that often is invisible now (good example: stand in pool near the thrall captains and try to read anything; guild, local or crew.) No user options to change the colors in F7 game options.

Simple things like "fury blindness" never solved. Special effects animations over-animated, made more glaring and painful to the eye, even at lowest setting. Crucial game animations (e.g. explosive charges) made completely invisible when at anything less than "high" special effects level.

Complete redesign of weapon and inventory system resulting in even worse lack of inventory space. I do not know anyone that can play for a single hour without having to either ignore drops or find a place to sell off their inventory. Four icons added to the bottom right of the screen for no apparent reason, except to disable working weapon keys F5 and F6 and to hide the total gold for no reason.

I really miss the original game. Better ships. Lower level caps. Better islands with wide open spaces. Better glitches (in that you could teach someone a glitch fairly easily, leveling the playing field, instead of now, only a handful of people like me that are able to go invincible, sail inside islands, fly, etc.) Better caves - new caves are claustrophobic, too dreary and have odd rock formations for what purpose? (Stalactites always match stalagmites in the real world.) Infinitely better quests, that actually made some sense and introduced every island, every NPC.

Now that we have the "lost relic" weapons, what's left to do? PvP? No thanks. PvP is now a measure of how expensive your computer is, not a measure of how much you know about how to play the game. Teaching kids about "fairness" or to be a good sport, is pretty much the opposite of POTCO's PvP.

Seriously? No new quests? There should have been a quest for each new weapon. But with the release conducted so hurriedly, Disney has painted themselves into a corner. That aside, now what? Mini games will be interesting for about 5 minutes each.

Intellectual property law being what it is, only Disney is in the position to re-release the original game. I honestly can't believe it could be that hard for them to do. Warts and all, the original game was quite superior to the current version. Come on Disney - at least release a stand-alone version of the original game! Even better - how about a few servers that run the original game?

This is an awfully broad statement. Personally I have been fighting fairly non stop since yesterday morning and I still have not even gotten a Lost relic weapon on my lvl 44. One day is not nearly enough time for pretty much every pirate to get the weapon that they want.

Getting rid of all of the stupid invincibilty glitches has leveled the playing feild so that only a handful of people are able to exploit these CHEATS that should not be a part of the game. The same old quests are still there, just not many good new ones.

This one I'll agree with.

Really? This is worth complaining about? I've never had a problem reading any of the chat colors and I spend most of my time in the Thrall room.

Adding new weapons has subjected basic members to severe punishment? (Webster's definition of castigate) Don't you think it might just be more encouragement to pay for the game that we play.


All of this stuff that they have been doing lately I see as a prelude to the next story. They gave us all of these weapons so that we will be able to take on the high level enemies that are bound to be on their way. Mini-games are not necessarily a bad idea. Geared to younger kids? Of course! The entire game is geared to younger kids. I enjoy this game for it's simplicity. If I wanted a wildly complicated game I would play WoW. I like to be able to just sit back and hang out every now and again. Just because a few people have found El Patron's sword doesn't mean that the world is coming to an end.

You want them to add storms (a weather effect) they added fog (a weather effect). Not necessarily the one you wanted but an effect nonetheless. Improvements are being made.

I generally don't have lag issues but I know some people do, so I won't comment on any of your lag complaints, but I will say that my game freezes about as much as it did when I started playing a couple of years ago.

I like these new updates and I am curious to see where Disney takes it. I look forward to whatever is coming next. (Even if it is not the Kraken)

I agree with both. And I hope that all they have been doing actually serves as a prelude of things to come. It has been a while since I have since two posts with equal amounts of quality reasoning. Thank you.

I'll just come in and state this, if your bored, angry, irritated, furious, or anything else at Disney, why not go play Pirates of the Burning Sea (POTBS) in all areas superior, even in the mystical areas, (Super Natural Chain). Besides, it's rather lonely on the Burning Sea Currently since everyone left to go play Spanish.

But in general sense POTCO makes its usual mistakes, maybe one day they will learn, and because the game supposedly is meant for Low tech Computers (Though it has more lag then any other MMOG I play) , there will always be graphic glitches, Failures, Errors, and other things.

Nuju-

:pirate2wn0: sigh...I agree with most of the rant...but the tone is a little depressing...its a game tied in to a movie franchise...it is what it is...

I have found four lost relics...and haven't bothered yet with the ghost sword...I do my regular rounds and new quests,,,if I find something...fine...if I don't its cause I'm trying too hard...sour grapes ain't going to help you find satisfaction...you gotta love the game or not...I think you all do...as you stay with it...

Don't go to crowded servers to find lost relics at peak times....they seem to be reset around midnight btw, if ye be a night owl...


Disney is going to follow THEIR timetable...use the feedback tab when in game..and do it often...all the bugs I have reported have been fixed...'wish list' stuff ye have to submit , nicely, several times over.....

I have been pleased with different guilds , big ones and small ones, coming together harmoniously in crews with multiple crews and basics too, at Tormenta...we rocked this morning...no whining and complaints...it was gamers heaven...

I am ranting too, but I just wanna say...talk to Disney...but changes are coming, like a bag of chips....ye can't eat just one! And if anyone wants some help,,,I'd love to!:dancetl6:

I'm just gonna reply to two things here..

There are a lot of new weapons added to the game, but very few are available to basic members. That is how it SHOULD be. If basic members could use every single weapon available, why even have the choice to be unlimited?

Basic members have access to every sword, gun and doll they quested for. Some sailing items. A light sabre, a blunderbuss, and so on. Sure, they might not be rare, and they might not have special abilities. However, they let the player play around with the weapon, being able to use the other skills is a benefit of PAYING.

I don't really have a problem with this, and as long as they put the time into other things, don't see a reason to spend time on this. The text may be difficult to read in some situations, but hitting enter, the area around it darkens, making it easier to read. The option to change colors would be nice, but I personally don't know of any games that really do this.

By the time Pirates 4 comes out, you can be absolutely sure that everything you hate will be fixed. Remember, Pirates Online unfortunately came out months after Pirates 3 had been released. The buzz was gone. Once people start getting into POTC again, you can bet on Pirates Online being a serious destination.

The mini-games sound like something coming from a little boys imagination. If you recall the whole event where they were asking boys 12 and under for ideas you know what I mean.

Lets face it, the majority of people playing this game are teens and adults, and I know more adults with good ideas than younger kids.

What about mini boss battles while fighting ships. Mini boss battles similar to the black pearl island, only MINI? As in just small little areas, and little ship battles with other bosses. At least an idea like that would be fun for a while.

What about, all the ideas said here on POF? None of the great ideas from users here are going into the game. Are the developers afraid of people from here getting mad because we won't get credit for the ideas?

The biggest probably with this game is, that the ideas coming into the game stink. Mini games in a hard core pirates game where you're supposed to fight the kraken? Talk about dumb. I don't care how fun they are, mini games aren't piratey.

I'm sick of there not being a second story quest. Do they expect to keep people in the game by just adding mini games and changing things? I'm gone if no story quest comes out before the end of this summer. Not worth paying for a game that isn't getting any more fun.

If you don't like the game, leave. If you can be content with it, do it. If there's one thing I hate, it's hearing all these whining, ranting, discontented players who have nothing better to do than complain about the game. If you don't like it, then why stay with it? I personally enjoy its simplicity.

The game has already lost, and is losing more of its longterm players due to a lack of updates that MAKE the game playable for the long term. These new additions are things ALL MMO's usually have at launch. Ooh, an inventory system? Yawn. Minigames? Yawn. How about a new quest, and enough side quests with rep rewards to keep you from grinding your way to Max notor?

I played for well over a year, but decided the game is NOT worth paying for monthly when there are BETTER games out there WITHOUT monthly fees. (Guild Wars) I feel like I can never run out of things to do.

First, whining about the game doesn't mean you don't like it, it means you're sick and tired of waiting for things that should have been done ages ago.

I play a game, with 30 million other players, and there are at least TWO updates a week. Sometimes big sometimes small, yet I'm playing this game, which is supposed to be better, and it's bringing in content maybe once every three months.(and I mean good content, not fixes.)

I enjoy the game, I'm just sick and tired of there not being a second story quest. Two years I've patiently waited, and for what, some dumb mini games about to come out? No, I want something that's going to keep me busy for a year, which the first story quest ended up doing.

If there were five story quests coming out, I would be in hog heaven, but unfortunately, because disney refuses to put effort into this game, I, a paying customer, am left with boring mini games. I've never liked mini games before and these won't change my opinion.

I love the game and the potential it has. Those are some of the reasons that I sometimes complain or mock their new releases. That is also why I have maintained my unlimited status even though I rarely play. I agree with Mac 100%

It's because we Love the game so much the reason why we complain. We want it to improve.

As much as I LOVE the inventory system, I really don't think they should have added this to the game, just yet. I REALLY hope they didn't spend all their time on the inventory system and no story chapter because we would be waiting another year possibly. But hopefully they HAVE been working on the story chapter also so the inventory can lead into it.

Have to disagree, I only know ONE player who has the ghost sword. And that is out of my whole guild wich is about maxed. And most of us have only one, two or tree lost relic weapons.

I do hope Disney starts to upgrade this game sometime soon, the lag is very annoying and has caused me to leave the game before...

Thank you for your responses. Apparently with such a long list of wishes, I struck a chord with a few people. I agree that the tone of my original post could have been better. My frustration with this game's development shows through too clearly. Being more constructive, here are things Disney can do to really improve the game:

1) easy Allow captains to boot people off their ship in regular sailing, not just SvS. (It works fine there...no reason at all to disable it in regular game.)

2) easy Quintuple the inventory space for weapons and clothing.

3) easy Remove the confirmation dialog for throwing items in trash.

4) easy Allow basic members to wear their original starter clothing and quest-earned clothing. Allow unlimited members to select the colors for clothing drops they receive.

5) easy Allow people to remain on "out-islands" (such as Kingshead or Tormenta) when changing servers.

6) easy Add a yes/no confirmation for incoming teleportations.

7) easy Add a game option to turn off the disk cache (useful for most platforms.)

8) difficult Add the (longer) second chapter story quest.

9) medium Release all memory from the heap when doing scene transitions.

10) difficult Fix the leader-boards.

11) difficult Re-release the original game (with all its warts and glitches) as a separate game, or even as a stand-alone game.

12) medium Add weapons quests for each of the lost relic items (that unlock, say, at notoriety 45, or at weapon level 35, that can be picked-up and dropped. Since they conceivably would be repeatable, they should award no gold nor notoriety.)

To me, these dozen improvements seem painfully obvious. (Yes, after 2 1/2 years, I'm giving up on even asking for the Kraken battle itself.)

1) Agree

2) Somewhat agree. We need more space, yes, but we should have a place to store everything, rather than quintuple the inventory.

3) Don't agree. It may be annoying to some, but it can be quite helpful if you throw the wrong thing in.

4) I agree about the original starter clothing, howerver, questing clothes should be for those who pay for the game. Without paying, the member would never have unlocked the clothing, so they shouldn't use it when basic.

5) I disagree. It only takes a minute of your time to sail back to the island, that doesn't seem to be an issue (even if you're server hopping). Main islands are the only islands we need a return option for.

6) Somewhat agree with this one. Instead of having it like that for every teleport, we should have an option to enable this feature. If we ASK for a lot of people to teleport to us, in a guild or so on.. we would be flooded with this message.

7) Agree.

8) Somewhat agree. I want this chapter to come as much as everyone else, but if it isn't ready, i'm willing to wait. I don't care how long its taken them, thats just my opinion. I know that there are many who don't feel the same.

9) Something needs to be done there.

10) Haven't they done that already? I can see ALL of my daily results on the leaderboards. Yes, even enemies, and it is accurate.

11) I completely disagree here. Why would they ever re-release the original game? Sure, a lot of people liked it that way, but it would be a foolish move to do that. If they did this they would have to manage TWO games, thus making them take even longer to work on the one that matters. Throw in the fact that they could lose paying customers to the original game, those customers could become basic on the original (since face it, the only benefits that aren't on the "current" version are the glitches), and Disney would earn less money.

Personally I like what i'm paying for. Sure, I enjoyed glitches, but games aren't supposed to have glitches. If all of the glitches are unintended, and most have been fixed, what would be the importance of re-releasing them into a duplicate of the game? All that would do is "entertain" some players, and annoy a much larger group of players.

12) Completely disagree again. These weapons are intended to be from drops, so they should stay that way. It would also decrease the rarity of these items.

Four things I would like to see:

1. Bring back the ability to see the people ( in SVS ) and the captain (on flags and other NPC ships ) and the ability to knock the sails down and blow holes in the sails while the flag ship is in tow.

2. The ability to turn off and on teleportation. This will FORCE people to ASK me first. I have actually removed people from my friends list because they just kept coming at times when it was not convenient to me.

3. Reduce the amount of clicking you have to do to repair your ship. Do I really need to click ok that many times???????

4. The ability to turn off and on friendship requests.

11.) A complete waste of time. What exactly is wrong with the game that would cause it to need to be released again? It's fine.

12.) No. They're lost relics for a reason, so that you can FIND them. Not quest them. However, I think before we can even get the relics, we should do a quest to unlock them. Like unlocking treasures before you can find them.

I agree with all of that. The ability to turn on and off teleportations would be great (not just have it forced upon us). I too have removed people some people for teleporting to me. When they do that, I just move to another area, or fake AFK. If they do it again (with in reason) I will remove them :)

I like this idea too. Maybe make it so we must have the required weapon level to unlock the weapon? The only downside, basic members who don't meet qualifications may never obtain the weapon, and knowing that they would be able to use it might encourage them to pay.

About the sword, not eveyrbody will find it immediately, i've spent HOURS at Darkhart ( hmm lemme think about 25 hours since friday to sunday ) and the only sword i got was a bloodfire, masterwork, and seven seas. I've gotten to blunderbusses of relics but NO lost swords! Sunday I got over a 1,000 Darkhart kills and no sword. NOt everybody will get it at one time. So lemme think about 3,000 kills over weekend no sword.

Everyone has their own thoughts & their own opinions. As for me, I've been playing for almost 2 yrs (wow-time flies) and still enjoy what Disney has offered thus far. I'm not the best pirate in the Caribbean-lolz-far from it. But, I still love playing POTCO. The additions & updates IMHO take alot of time & effort on Disney's part to compile & introduce to the game. Tried BS & hated it. IDK-maybe it's the community atmosphere that draws me to POTCO. But, I also feel that there is alot more in the wind. I'm not as techmically minded s alot of you so that may account for some of this. I play to enjoy the game & look forward to new events that I believe are on the horizon. I just hope my pirates are strong enough to face & defeat that which is to come-whatever that may be. Just my 2 cents & my sincere feelings...

I totally agree, before this, I suffered form a horrid addiction to another Disney game, and having something to comapre it to, IMHO, POTCO is way better! The other game, you do tasks that get tedious, and training your "weapons" is hardly any fun, there are four bosses, but all take long hard work to do, and it's all quite boring! I'm really thankful to have come accross this game, and I really do enjoy it! I mean, we all do spend quite a while being angry at Disney, but they really do a lot of hard work to get all of this to us. I mean, I guess what I'm saying, is that we should be thankful for all the wonderful things this game does have to offer, and Disney will get arround to new stuff when they do, but let's just have fun on the game for now, Isn't that why we all joined in the first place?

I totally respect all your opinions, we're all entitled for one, just trying to give a bit of an optomistic look on things :)

The change I would like to see is the ability to reset your pirate level and keep your friends list, your guild, and your name.

Right now I'm enjoying the new drops as much as the next person, but I'm wondering what effect these new weapons will have on the overall game. Seems like the weapons quests we had are now obsolete. The weapons you get from fro them seem pretty shabby compared to what you can just pick up. My level 23 pirate just filled half his inventory with weapons he can't use yet, many of them rare weapons, just by leveling nades at Kingshead. All of them are better then any of the weapons the weapons quests give.

I think the weapons quests added more to the game then many realized. Each one offered a goal to work for and a milestone that gave a sense of achievement. Those are the things that make a game a game and fun to play. But now that you can randomly stumble over much better weapons these quest are gutted and the game as a whole is diminished.

Another concern I have is the effect all these more powerful weapons will have on leveling weapons. I saw a high level pirate the other day blowing away Thrall Captains with only one or two shots each. The way things stand now we may all find ourselves using low level weapons most of the time so that we can level up more easily just like most of us don't put skill points on our skills now.

I'm also afraid that these new weapons will remove what challenge the game offers. Without the new weapons my level 48 pirate could take out all the enemies in the game by himself. A few of the bosses where tough, but beatable, the rest? easy. With the new weapons everything is easy.

Now before anyone starts getting on my case for being a Glum Gus, I do harbor hopes that all of the changes made over the last several months are parts of an overall plan to improve the game and all this stuff is being done in preparation for a 2nd chapter. I hope however that these plans also include much stronger enemies, revamped weapons quest and more side quest.

I would also like to see a reworking of the reputation system. The current one is upside down and backwards. A player should be rewarded for leveling up, not punished. Make it so that a player wants and needs to use all his skill points. Make it so that players don't dread gaining Notoriety because it makes it harder to level weapons, thus causing many to put off quest till they have done most of their weapons leveling. Make leveling much more a part of questing so that a player doesn't spend more time leveling then he does questing. I know that some leveling for the sake of leveling is necessary but the way it is now is ridiculous.

Which leads to grenades. They need to be re-calibrated so that they don't dominate the game. How many people put off all the quests till they get the grenade quest and level them at kingshead till the veterans turn gray? They should be no harder or time consuming then any other weapon.

But I digress. I think the new inventory system could be a great thing if other things are done to balance out its effects on game play and if it is part of a 2nd chapter in the near future.

Your last post was very much the one I'd agree with Ed.... except for a few things. I may add on some points to it.
Okay Runescape did a complete revamp in 2003. The original game was re-released later and called Runescape Classic. Now, if POTCO were to do that, I wouldn't say do it now. Wait till every big update has released, when every form of GUI has changed. The angles of camera, the graphics, everything. Then re-release original POTCO as POTCO classic.
Now about the Inventory doubliing. See, some people have already complained about how un realistic it is if a pirate holds 42 clothes, 500 home made grenades, 35 weapons, etc.
Now, here is a solution.
Remember they promised us Pirate Lairs? Well if each pirate had one... it would be even realistic as a place to hold hundreds of clothes, weapons, ammo, etc.
The New Loot and Inventory system was a much needed thing for the game, but I believe it needs a bit more working. See my thread: http://piratesonlineforums.com/forum...ad.php?t=15310
Apart from all I've stated in that thread, also I believe the gold, and ship system needs a slight revamp, if we are to get what I suggested. You know, gold content needs to be minimised or found not so common. As for ships. Pirates never bought ships on their own. We should actually be able to ''pirate'' them. Like I work for the Navy in a Navy Ferret. Kill NPCs on it, capture the ship, and thats how I really become a pirate. I need not start on Rambleshack as a pirate.
Oh yes. I believe that all these are a prelude the Second Chapter we've all been waiting for.
Oh and I can only hope that the next update (or after) has more challenging enemies

I agree with everything but the level cap thing I think they should higher it again because the mastered players want the new weps but whts the point they give more rep but u r mastered so y would u care they are getting new players but losing old players plus remember u had to be a certain lvl to get ammo pouches well not any more so they bacislly took away the reason to lvl u weapons bc all u get is a diff wep it was better getting wep ammopouches get it say yes if u agree with me

There is no way I could agree with you more. I hit level 20 with one of my pirates and did nothing but nades until they were mastered, which at that time was level 25. But the rest of my weapons were largely ignored and I became a VERY unbalanced pirate.

There is no reason in the world for nades to give such small rep numbers. They cost too much, do too little damage and take too long to "reload" for the return I get out of them.

Edward, I was in almost complete agreement with the tone of your post if not the content until I read this. Better Glitches? Really? We are supposed to be upset with the POTCO progress because we can't CHEAT as well as we used to?

Exactly how is the playing field SO unbalanced that we need to cheat in order to level it? This game is for 10-12 year-old kids, isn't it? I have yet to meet a challenge I needed to cheat my way through. I even did the nades quest alone, back when it was still hard. I went to jail. A lot. But it was part of the CHALLENGE. Part of the fun. Invincibility would have cheapened the experience and using glitches would mean that I didn't have the SKILLS to compete in a kid's game.

I, for one, do NOT miss having six or seven invisible pirates on the King's Head Parade Ground, hogging all the rep. I do not miss dozens of flying pirates raining down Staff Blasts and hogging all the bandwidth. I don't miss working fairly to level up while 3 or 4 less talented pirates are shooting from behind some rocks. You might as well be upset that Disney doesn't allow third-party hacks.

I think POTCO is a better game than it was when I started. All it is missing now is actual new PLAYABLE content. Put something in my Journal and I will be happy.

No, sorry to have thrown you off. If you followed the tone, then you understood my post. Perhaps I could have expounded on this particular point instead of over-simplifying it.

The glitches all still are in-game...that is the aspect I do not like. The fact that they are difficult to do now, compared to before, creates the imbalance that you and I so rue. I agree it would be infinitely better if there simply were none...but time and again, glitches are changed, never removed.

Look at the most trivial example: wall glitches. Programatically, it is easier for Disney to have all visible walls match all invisible walls. Time and again, even (nay, especially) with the new island designs, invisible barriers do not match visible barriers. Yes, they are harder to "push through" now, often requiring a jump or F9-mashing...and yes they are fun and seem harmless to the casual observer. In the original game, I could glitch into every building on Port Royal (for example.) But how many times have you been running through the new lava gorge only to hit an invisible wall? (Do you notice? Do you stop and think why it is there? It is there so you can be on one side, while targets are on the other.)

Yes, I'd much rather all the glitches were removed. But since none are, I would rather the playing field be more even, as it was in the original game.

FWIW, Yes, I still report glitches. But each time I do, I sigh and wonder how Disney will change access to the glitch.

And this is where the BIG problem is. Think about it for a second, can we honestly have more quests, and enjoy them, if there are no new areas?

Just pretend(because some people think the second story quest is completely different from the movies) that the Kraken is the base for the second story quest. Don't we need more islands just to make questing fun? Who honestly wants to go back and play on the EXACT same islands and do a Kraken quest?

We need new enemies, and new areas before a second story quest is even possible. Well, maybe we don't, but no new enemies and no new islands would make it extremely boring, IMO.

As far as glitches go, I think it's weird that they're always being changed around. Why don't they just take the time to take them out of the game?

I don't miss the old game but i miss the game that now should be. What the? They are having invasions and stuff when the game is not yet ready? this ish funny. They have to add some things before they run the game as it runs now. If all that time, they were planning invasions to attract bucks, they were updating the game they would have much more bucks. A few people enjoyed invasions, since they were laggy and after all players in Europe couldn't join invasions. They gotta add basic things and then make the game complicated. And that's the reason that i had quit for three months and when i decided to start playing again half of my friends had quit and my my guild (i wasnt gm) had gone from 200 to 30 pirates (most had quit and were taken out because there was no reason to have them)

OK. I get it. I think I was little off-base so now I'm not. Thanks.

...now you've done it. You've made me rethink my argument. :mybadki6:

Chapter two really DOES have to be substantially different from Chapter One in order for it to work on any level at all...I mean, on test, I am level 43 and climbing. Am I really looking forward to going to The Wildwood to kill three scorpions? I have played for several years and, like so many others, can take out the entire Kelp/Brine bridge in Tormenta without any trouble or help. (maybe a little trouble...) Is running errands for NPCs going to keep advanced players interested? Or do we just need to accept the fact that we are playing a kid's game and deal with it? I really have no answer right now.

I still enjoy playing the game. Maybe not as much as I used to. I would like some new areas and I honestly think we are close. I was on test when a new island appeared back behind Cuba. But I will not swear that it was "real." It could have been a bizarre glitch or "reflection". The server crashed a minute or two after it popped up. But one island doesn't really make a new story area does it?

Could they add new content to underused areas? Cuba? King's Head? King's Head is WAY underused. It was obviously intended for so much more. Caves and back docks and mysterious store rooms that were empty but filled up a year or so ago. And for what? Grenades? No way. It was planned, built and forgotten. Just like Cuba.

You guys are overthinking the game. Just enjoy it. Take the new stuff as it comes, and have fun!
And besides, it's just a computer game :)

Hi all, I'm one of those who used to really have hope for the game.


I've been a paying player/customer since Dec 2007. And I really understand the frustration. Every time Disney has dangled out a teaser of "things to come," I have hoped that it would be something beyond minigames and miniquests. I'm more than irritated that the new weapons quests are just a rehash of the old quests.

For those of you who know me, I used to play every day that I could. Sometimes all night when I didn't have RL obligations. And that was from the beginning. I loved the game, but for me Disney has ruined it. First by making promises they haven't kept, then by dumbing the game down.

I have waited each time while they put out teaser releases about the things to come. Nothing has greatly changed in the game when it comes to sustainable, continuing storyline. Mini-games and raids do not equal story content and I don't buy into the line that they are preludes of things to come.

I am also frustrated with the dumbing down of the game. There is no excuse for dumbing down the graphics while the computers are getting faster.

For example, in the original release, the environment moved. Trees swayed in the breeze, there was more depth of environment. Now it looks as stiff as plastic plants. If you want to see the difference, on Port Royal there are trees that sway (at the bridge near the gypsy .. Lucinda? .. if you look toward the corner against the town walls).

Maybe we are overthinking the game, because nothing in game keeps our interest anymore. Now before anyone says why pay if you don't like the game, I keep on paying because I keep on hoping Disney will listen to their customers and get their act together and because I have dear gaming friends that I would hate to lose touch with.

As far as enjoying the game, I've been playing with a guild that has gone out of it's way to come up with activities to make the game fun while Disney has let the game rot.

-Two major scavenger hunts (that take weeks to prepare) that took at least two guild nights with as many as 30 people playing in teams.

-Weekly guild night events such as: relay island to island races, afk pushing races (imagine 30+ pirates in teams pushing 5 afk players from a spot up on a hill down to the shoreline) , red rover in boats, hide and seek/tag on kingshead, find the hidden officers, guildmaster challenges to make the nightly leaderboards (and believe me.. we usually aren't leaderboard motivated), glowing races (where we had to post shots of our leveling for the night), boss battle challenges (defeating as many different bosses in a night as we could), lol and the infamous head butting challenge where we could only use head butting on the Tormenta enemies.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the other things we did, but I think you get the picture. I'm not one who easily gets bored. I'm tired of having to produce the fun that I'm essentially paying them to provide.

I'm actually pretty easy to please.

If they at least returned our ability to push AFK pirates around, I'd be back in game. *


As it stands, I've been playing another game (not pirate related) that has been out just as long as POTCO has been out and is leagues ahead of POTCO in storyline, graphics, and updating of material.


*Note: For those of you who don't know me.. I don't have a malicious wish to push strangers around. I just like to relocate my friends (into wall glitches, up onto shack porces overlooking the huge gator, onto Darkhart's chair). Only two got sent to jail in 3 years, one on purpose.. not bad for 2.5 yrs of pushing.

If thoughtful discussion about something we have invested time and money in is harmful to you, perhaps you could avoid that discussion.

- good metaphor that ties in well with a comment above -

In-game, that would be like switching servers - from one Kingshead to another, no? Perhaps it would be better to stay and rep-steal for a while until one or the other reports. (Why? Because disruptive player's can't be avoided by switching servers. Instead, Disney is penalizing everyone else 2 to 7 minutes - depending on computer speed.) Would it harm the game to let you stay on Kingshead when you switch servers? Of course not. Would that EXTREMELY TRIVIAL programming change vastly improve the game? Absolutely.

Um, did you note the part above where I was talking about glitches changing but never being removed? Aggro an enemy and let the enemy do your AFK pushing for you. Takes twice as long, but still works. AFK-physics being what they are, it actually is more interesting to push someone in the right direction say, across Tortuga Graveyard, while trying not to let the enemy disengage (nor kill off your friend.)

ex8404, what I think we really need, is a massive amount of new areas. with unique enemies.

Not just regular enemies, but enemies the hold special weapons, that we'll never even get. Or they're in certain areas where the terrain is challenging.

This game has the potential to be great, but the developers need to look at other games and say, "Oh, a giant skeleton pit. Lets add that in!" Or, "Hey guys, lets make a whole area of floating, burning ships, and have the players walk through it and fight random, scary enemies while they need to recover a map. If they don't find the map on time, a "boss" will come and capture them and they'll need to do it again."

I mean, the developers can make this game amazing, and maybe that's what they're doing right now. While we're bored, demanding a second story quest, maybe they're actually putting in some amazing things that will blow our minds.

And the whole overthinking the game bit, overthing is what makes games great. Just look at WOW. The developers overthink things all the time. That's why it has millions of players, and POTCO is left in the dust.

:laughks2: Ed, you know so many damn glitches, how was I supposed to know you were referring to that one when I mention AFK pushing? :piratetongueor4:

*And I did happen to notice that the enemy can move us, but if I have a specific destination in mind I just can't see it working. And you guys know me.. I almost always have a destination in mind.


Btw, I still have my rooftop views of the uppermost level of old PDF. :psmiley35:

I wish you where working for Disney! lol.

I agree with this however I don't see Disney doing all that (prove me wrong Disney, pleeeeasee prove me wrong!) Ex8404's ideas concerning Cuba and Kingshead are more likely. And I'm hoping that maybe Raven cove will be a step up from Tormenta the same way Tormenta is a step up from Padres. Not as cool as what you're talking about but a definite improvement.

For the record, I've never considered pushing a glitch, just what logically happens when two things try to occupy the same space. Walking through people is a glitch, unless we are all ghost.

I have to agree with this. The MAIN draw of this game for me is the friendships I have made and the activities involving my guilds. I don't really care for another story line if I have to go and kill x scorpions, y undead gypsies, and go search a dig spot ( now CLEARLY marked - they might as well put up a Neon sign DIG HERE).

New story quests demand new areas, enemies, and tasks that are new and fresh. I really believe this is what they are planning to do.

It seems to me that Disney continues to re-focus (and narrow) development of POTCO towards younger players. So, yes: we are playing a kids' game and expectations of additional "deep" content may be somewhat unreasonable.

For most of us on these forums, Pirates Online is a game we are passionate about. For Disney, POTCO is a product, which needs to have a clear business model and have a position complimentary to the other products in the Disney portfolio.

Edward Edgemenace, while I don't agree with everything you said (every variation of "speed" de-stabilizes the servers? I'll make sure to tell the developers to remove the Full Sail and Ramming Speed sailing skills lol), the tone of your posts reads like the way I feel about the game. But it's not going our way mate. We are relics. To properly tighten up the game play experience of POTCO and make it more compelling for mature players simply would require too many development resources. At this point in the product cycle it's all about ROI.

Now what...? You already know: mini-games, instant gratification, child-like body forms, etc.

True enough, but I've always seen POTCO not so much of a kids game but more of a family game where Kids and parents could play together. I know of several cases where parents and their children do just that. The game, like the movies, has always appealed to adults and kids alike. Hate to see that go away, there are not many things out there that can do that.

I agree. I think that adding to existing areas is more likely but no matter what you put on Kingshead, it is still just Kingshead. It will have a "been there done that" sort of feel to it.

But while I'm at it...why does Tormenta even exist?

I was specifically talking about glitches. The original double-speed glitch being the prime example. Of note: the latest video out there (from Disney) shows them giving up on trying to fix it, instead, offering special potions that allow other people to match the glitchers in speed...thereby destabilizing the servers further.

I will not ever condone the current programming/management team's approach, of destroying the family game so as to remake it as a too-young children's game. Just accept that it is becoming a lame infant's game? Not I. It has too much untapped potential, still.

And no, it is not about return on investment. The entire game is supposed to be a loss-leader promotion tool for the movie(s). Will the Pirates 4 movie have Jack Sparrow playing mini-fishing-games in outer space?

All I can say is that Raven cove better be heck, and that it better not disappoint. I know that they are going to try and pull this place out of the blue, and hide the Kraken for another year or so, but I could see them making Ravens cove very challenging. They could start with level 60 enemies, and a break in level caps. I truly don't believe anything should hold us back, we may not get new skills soon, but I want to get so far over level 30 with weapons you have to get 10000 more every level for another skill point. Notoriety needs to start adding 1000000 per level too, but there should be no limit.

Yeah, I feel a little sad that the focus of the game seems to be moving toward the younger player, at the expense of satisfying the more mature player. My son and I used to play POTCO together during beta. Good times for sure.
Aye, I understood that EE.
I believe you may be a bit presumptuous that the developers are simply programming a "glitch" into the game, which was my point about sailing speed skills. I've watched the Get Connected video more than once. I am not sure how adding a potion to the game that temporarily speeds up your character is any indication that the programming team has giving up on trying to fix weaknesses in the game build and exploits of such.
I have never heard that the POTC MMOG was designed or positioned as a loss-leader. Even if it were, it would still be all about ROI, so you may have misspoke there. Where did you get the information that it is supposed to be a loss-leader for the movies?

http://disney.go.com/pirates/online/...agreement.html

"...Disney reserves the right to provide the Service at no charge for promotional reasons..."

There was another section that specifically stated the purpose of the game was explicitly to promote the movie(s), but I'm having trouble finding that section at the moment.

If your point is that they like money and do want to eke out every last cent they can from the game, well, ok, I can agree with that. But it doesn't change Disney's stated reason for creating, owning, maintaining and providing the game.

----

And now, since you didn't ask :-) I'll add that the family-game business model is obviously superior to the child-only business model. Put yourself in the Mouse's shoes and ask yourself, "who is paying for this, the kids or their parents?" That's the same reason there is subtle adult humor in every movie...

So perhaps they are moving away from that concept. That's their choice, but sad to watch (also with predictable affects on their ROI.) To me, it is obviously the wrong approach in this genre.


----

addendum:

Interestingly, http://disney.go.com/legal/conditions_of_use.html now redirects to a more generic page. Both pages seem to have been revamped (or perhaps rewritten) since I last saw them.

Not sure how in the world you get that POTCO is a loss-leader out of anything in the POTCO Member Services Agreement. And the section of the MSA you partial quote from is specifically talking about promotional uses of the game, and relieving Disney of having to extend said promotions to everybody who uses the product. It most certainly is not talking about any business model. Disney is pretty tight-lipped about how they run the company. Not much to glean from their Annual Reports, either.
There is no superiority if the business model is failing. I'll take a marginally successful child user business model over any type of failing business model any day of the week. Pretty sure Disney and its stockholders would too.

As always, excellent points and thought provoking posts EE. Thanks.

If the model attracting a wider use base was failing for their lack of content additions, how does alienating the majority of their customers, magically make it a marginally successful child business? If they continue with the same lack of content additions, they will garner the same trend. Accelerated by merit of being a smaller group of customers, perhaps, but still with the same trends.

(All that, pre-supposes that it is failing. Neither you nor I have access to that division's finance reports, nor their gross receipts. You and I can't even guess at the pirate population for any given day, let alone a breakdown of paid vs. total. Can't even make a reasonable guess for a single server, let alone total.)

All that aside, I still haven't found the thing where Disney talked about the game being provided to promote the movies first and foremost. I'm not making that up, just having trouble still, finding the page (which may be gone now?) The movies all appeal to families, not 8 year old boys exclusively.

It's the Spongebob business model. Spongebob has a huge following in the "little kid" demographic. But the creators of Spongebob were smart enough to make the show appeal to certain older audiences. College students for one. Putting it on MTV helped. Sheer genius.

But Spongebob remains, at it's heart and soul, a kids show. To complain that it isn't "grown up" enough is pointless because it isn't for grown ups.

The show is HUGE because its intended fan base is an infinitely renewable resource. Kids. They don't even have to add new shows anymore. New shows trickle in, three or four a year. The network shouts about it for months, promos are run, sneak peaks are provided and the interwebs buzz with excitement. The new Spongebob airs and everyone lets out a collective, "Huh..." because they have already seen everything Spongebob has to offer.

But the show maintains its "marginally successful child business" because people are still getting together to create more marginal children.

Are there any pirate movie based MMOs that we could apply this same business model to?

Um, this may seem like a stupid question, but what about POTCO is gearing more toward kids?

This whole arguing over whether the game is family based, for kids, or for eight year old boys is, IMO, the biggest reason why this game is not as good as it could be.

Because they're trying to attract a certain audience, the game doesn't end up becoming as good as it could be. Instead of worrying about making things for this group or that group, they need to just make things that are FUN for all age groups.

Not the story quests, NO! The story quests should not be biased towards one age groups. If an eight year old boy thinks it's too hard to go to some spooky skeleton infested island and try to look for a lost map in a skeleton pit, that's too bad, but if the majority of people like it, that's what's going to happen.

Look at WoW. The developers aren't limited by age groups. While it may seem like a more adult game, and very intense for newer players, the battle system isn't aimed for adults. "Well lets make the battle system so hard to figure out kids can't figure it out so adults are having the most fun." No...

Developers need to stop making content for certain age groups, and just make the content the way they want to. They're Disney guys! They're supposed to use their imaginations and go all out with it! Not sit their listening to their boss saying, "No, it has to be for eight year old boys."

MacIronhawk you make a great point. Disney is supposed to have a vivid imagination. They need to stop directing things toward certain age groups, and start making the game more fun for EVERYONE.