TEST Release Notes - October 2rd
 

Harukantos here, just laying a note down that we've got new updates to the Caribbean's weaponry and many other ability and glitches, hey, check it out, we can even redo the Black Pearl Boss.

• Added new Quests for Level 5 Weapons. These new Quests are unlocked when a weapon reaches Level 20 and only after the Level 4 Weapon Quest for that weapon has been completed. These new Quests involve defeating Boss Enemies, so make sure you have a crew to help fight them! The Level 5 Weapons are:
  Pirate Blade (L5 Cutlass Weapon)
  Bloodletter Dagger (L5 Dagger Weapon)
  Grand Pistol (L5 Pistol Weapon)
  Taboo Doll (L5 Voodoo Doll Weapon)
  Vile Staff (L5 Voodoo Staff Weapon)
  
  
• Boss Enemies can now be found in the Caribbean. They are marked by a glowing skull icon over their heads and are much more difficult to defeat than normal enemies of the same level. Some boss enemies will always spawn in the same location, while others are more rare and randomly spawn throughout the world.
  
  
• The Dagger has been rebalanced with new abilities:

• Backstrike - Attacking an enemy in the back using a Combo Attack now does a Backstrike and deals extra damage. However, attacking an enemy from the front with a Combo Attackdeals less damage than before.
  
  
• Attunement Breaking - The Asp and Throw Dirt skills now can break Voodoo Doll Attunement on players and enemies. If a player using a Voodoo Doll is hit by these skills, they will lose their attunement and will need to re-attune their targets. Also, players who recently had an Attunement broken will be immune to further Attunement breaking for 30 seconds. Skeleton enemies who have their Attunement Broken will be unable to cast voodoo hexes for a short time.
  
  
• Interrupt Ability- The Asp, Throw Dirt, and Viper Nest skills can now Interrupt another player who is charging an attack (such as Take Aim, Long Volley, and Staff Hexes). Interrupting a charge will cause that player to have to start his charge over again.
  
  
• Throw Dirt also now gives a 25% reduced accuracy instead of 40% and lasts a shorter duration.
• Trainer NPC's at local blacksmiths can now retrain your weapons, by retraining a weapon you can refund all your spent skill points and allow you to re-choose your skills for that same weapon.
  
  
• Captains now have more control over who boards their ships with a new ship-boarding permission system. Additionally, players at dinghies now have a better interface for finding ships to board.
  
  
• The Game Options interface is now more clear and easy to use.
  
  
• The maximum size of Guilds has been increased to 500 members.
  
  
• Fixed a major issue in Privateering affecting when players can make ship repairs.
  
  
• Fixed a bug where players were not allowed to sell a ship if they could not carry the gold received from the sale.
  
  
• Pistol and Grenades deal slightly more damage in PVP now.
  
  
• The targeting sights for weapons now only turn red when the enemy is within range. The Voodoo Staff targeting sight turns yellow when the target is within range of a Blast and turns red when the target is within range for the selected Hex.
  
  
• Improved the sky, as well as updated and optimized many visual effects throughout the game.
  
  
• Health meters for enemy ships should no longer randomly disappear.
  
  
• Enemy ships can now attack your ship after you've disabled a flagship (but not after you've boarded it).
  
  
• Players can now replay The Black Pearl Boss Battle even after defeating the Goliath.
  
  
• Fixed some animation issues with NPC's that occur when players interact with them, also updated NPC movement to be smoother and less erratic.
  
  
• Fixed an issue where crew members were not receiving their crew bonus when sailing on larger ships.

Seems like a powerhouse of an update, hope it comes on live soon, til then, I'll just have to go to a battle with a higher leveled friend on Test.

All i can say is WOW, nice nice nice updates!

I cannot wait until these updates hit Open! Thank you Disney!

Looks like Disney did think it cheating.....

Heh heh, I envy the testers, way to go Disney!!

Wow. That will be a nice update when it comes to Open. A good number of bugs fixed and feature requests implemented. Excellent.

Aww my glitch. Well, this means I have work to do tonight :smiley::witchani::bat::h-cat::candycorn::h-pcat:

Ye be jealous?
Ye should be because....I can replay the black pearl boss battle anytime I want now. Woot!:pumpkinani:

Lets not get over the fact that it may take two weeks to fix bugs for all this new stuff. Not to mention at least two weeks of testing this stuff.

( Swash Traps Disney in electric chair and demands for test server account ) Nice Updates They better be on open soon.

Playing test account tonight. Woohoo!!!

i have made some screens from the "new" graphic option shader4. you can see the screens in my album, located here: http://pirates.jb-productions.de/#0.0

I'm sure the servers will be raging once the glitchers know some of the ship bugs are being fixed...lol

Was very cool to see the new stuff being worked on and coming soon...look forward to it...

i gotta say...for all the himmin' and hawin' going on about improving the game, adding, more content, fixing bugs...i am most pleased with disney's efforts right now!

anyone else wonder what kind of influence the feedback on this forum compares to non forum feedback has on disney?

I'n my own selfish way i like to think they wiegh the feedback from the forum more heavily.

at any rate, kudos to them for listening!

Well Said Miratto...

There are many developing houses which will look at fansites and forums, but not bother to listen to what their fans are asking for, whether it be more content or to fix major bugs and issues...

Disney on the other hand appears to be very interested in what we have to say and works to ensure the players of POTC Online are well informed on the progress and works hard to bring us these updates and fixes...

HOLY CATS! That sky looks incredible!

OH YEAH!!!! Sounds great!!

Cmon big D... please send me a test invite ;(

Those clouds look great!

I'm glad they're fixing these. Hope the updates hit fairly soon.

Replaying the boss battle - yay! That'll hold me over for quite a while. I'd love to complete it solo, if it's possible.

lol, wow, I wish I could get on test now. I hope they are quick with it!!
Anywho, great updates :)

Like Whiskey said, those skies do look incredible...rather ominous in fact...which would be perfect for some stormy seas (which I think they'll be adding soon too according to the reports from the Dev Masters visit over the weekend)...

As it stands, we sail on the calmest seas I've ever seen or been on, lol...would be cool to combine those skies with some foul weather, be it land or sea...

I wonder if the skies are overcast on Galaana, will they be overcast on Fraillano? iow, will all servers be the same, or will there be overcast on one, and sunny on another?

I hope that they put in hurricanes or maelstroms.

Those updates have definately made me love this game more than i already do, they fixed the ship repair glitch WOOHOO! And then from those pictures, the sky look absolutely amazing. However the interrupted attacks seem like it will frustrate me a little, but more of challenge ay :) Too bad i have to wait it out now until they arrive to open *cries*

Sweet!!! I cant wait for those to be on open

I cant Wait till the Boss is Repeatable I JUST CANT WAIT.

Be patient folks. This update is filled with bugs right now. And somehow chat got even more messed up....ugh.

If some of these features are ready by the one year anniv, i'll be happy.

Sarah, have you had a chance to get on test since the update. Hopefully I will be on tonight for a while. If you are on tonight, send me an email and I will meet you somewhere to befriend you.

Sounds good Scottish. I had some time to check things out today, and there are some major problems, but it's not too bad, considering the amount of content being added. I'll pop in tonight for a bit, there are some reports to be sent! ;)

I just...
thats just...
wow.

As much as I would like to say about this... I'm speechless.
(*runs off to power level his sad little test pirate*)

If i see a dev in real life i will hug them and kiss their hands this is by far the best update! Lots of huge bug fixes! New Boos enemies! Re-distribution of skill points! Im so jealous of test servers lol so when do they come to live LOL!

Pretty good for my first article I guess, and I love the graphics that I'm seeing for the clouds, wonder if they'll be like that when in the walls of Tormenta, won't know till we see for ourselves eh?

~Throw Dirt also now gives a 25% reduced accuracy instead of 40% and lasts a shorter duration.

^That above is the only change I don't like, if it makes me have to put another point in Throw Dirt to get the cyclical effect.

Good stuff right there. Thank you for the information! :)

TOO MUCH EXCITMENT!!! when can I find these updates in live server? soon or not so soon?

P.S. I almost had a heart attack when i read this lol

Any screenshots of the new "boss" enemies?

Don't expect these too soon on open. The bugs that came with these updates are just as extensive as the updates.

Skip ;)

I guess I should have known.

Just to let everybody know yes I do have a disease know as Overexitment disorder.

OMG WOOOO
(swash runs away as he wets his pants)

Ya there is a lot of bugs that came with the updates. Ships freeze when you shoot them although i am taking advantage of this glitch and leveling canon and sailing.:)

This update is going to keep the testers busy for a while. Many bugs to work out on this one. Chat is really messed up bad and at least one new weapons quest (voodoo doll) is glitched and can't be completed. Going to be doing a lot of typing filling out reports for this one.

Ouch. I think I can wait for just a little bit longer.

any pics of new bosses???

There are some new pics in the screenshot section. it all looks really good, just not working so well right now ;)

Im sure they will get things cleared up.

Its hard to say how long something will take.

Developer studies code... sees extra { howd that get in there? fixes 10 bugs removing extra character...

Absolutely, Wow! Even if it is all messed up on the test, the fact that its there, and they're working on all this stuff, much of which we have been begging for for a long time, is just awesome!

Me too!! ;)

awesome i cant wait till it comes to open! nice updates lucky testers.

The updates look great, thanks for posting the notes. I'm anxious to try them as well when they hit open. I'm just curious though, since we buy cannon ammo from the gunsmith, can we reallocate points for cannon? I didn't really mess it up but would like to take points out of chain and grape and put them elsewhere. I'm also just guessing that there won't be any reallocation for sailing, which would be ok for me because I don't really have anything I want to reallocate. Thanks in advance for any info.

AHH, if they're on test they should be here by 1-2 weeks! Right?

This update.... sniff...... shall be beautiful........

( Swash cries at the new updates Beuty ) ITS MARVELOUS ( Swash dies )

Awesome,
'
thanks for the news..!
I didnt know we can board the anemies ships..
can we? O.p

There are "Trainers" in the weapons shops. You can respec all your skills for a price. First time is 250 gold and goes up each time after that. The reassign releases all skill points applied. It applies to sailing and cannon too.

Is it possible the fees are smaller now for testing purposes, and might be raised?

Anyone try it yet? how much is the 2nd time, 3rd time etc.?

If you have the chance to try, thanks!

Thanks Captain_Grizzly

Might I say, I actually think it's not as bad with bugs as you may think. Less bugs than Ship PvP, then again, ship PvP still has trouble. But, I have found some of the enemies just searching padres, and amazingly, two are on Padres beach, one being a jerk, and getting in the way of the clothes store. He's a level 30, then, there was a dud, a level 5 Pirate Leader by the Brigand fighting the navy soldier, I beat it at level 4. Now I'm off for Outcast to look for a strange stump. So, whatever level, I'm sure there's an enemy for you. BTW, ships do not seem to move until you get near them, though there are findable corvettes now, as much as on live, and missions involving launching and landing cannot be completed. So, I'm hoping this comes on Live soon, though, I wouldn't get my hopes up if I were you.

On my way back to the WeaponsSmith this morning for a 'second trip' so I'll post back in this post when I'm done for ya Zep :D

EDIT: WOAH! Went back to ask for a second reassignment on Cannon Skills - and the price went from 250.. to 2500! I don't have the gold on my test pirate to try it out for a third :D

Wow....Those clouds are amazing!I wonder if they fixed that annoying Undead Luietenent spike bug....

All I know is that I run from these guys. I'm level 6 for goodness sakes, and there is something messing the quests up, so when I launch from Port Royal it doesn't count, and I don't get a pistol. Oh, and I found an enemy named Dreadtooth that is an Ultra Huge Alligator.

Lol, Harukantos. I've got a level 6 tester myself, maybe we should help each other out. :P

As for the bosses, I still haven't spotted any meself yet, but I'll be on late tonight looking all over for some. If I do find any, I'll edit this post with them as well as upload them in the picture thread in screenshots.

Dreadtooth, eh? I rather liked the name Trapjaw, or, as I first thought, Tripjaw.

Question regarding the reassignment of skills for the testers....

How much does it cost to retrain a weapon/skill (I understand its a complete retrain). (Starts at 250?)

How much does the price go up each time?

If you retrain one skill/weapon, does the price for retraining another weapon go up as well or on an individual weapon/skill basis.

Anyone?

250 --> 2500. Or 25000. I think it's the first though.

Im sorry, your shorthand or whatever explains nothing to this old fart.

I need some clarity.

Are you saying the 2nd retraining is 2500 or 25000? which unfortunately still doesnt answer the question.. lol

nvm

The reassignment of skill points is 250 the first time. The second time 2500, I did mess up reassigning my Doll points so was able to see that the cost the third time is same 2500.

Cool, thanks LadyDi!

I wonder if you were to retrain something else now.. Does it ask 250 still? or at 2500 as well?

First time reassigning on any weapon, sailing, cannon is 250.

Wow, that is incredibly low. That changes the whole game, if you can fashion-show build them. I hope they at least add a zero, for open. (2,500 first time and 25,000 thereafter, seems more reasonable.)

Thank you for the great info!

Seems awesome.Newb question: How do i become a tester?

NOOOOO!!! Does this mean I won't be able to see the stars anymore?!?! One of my favourite things in the game, seriously, is sailing at night and seeing all the stars. Please tell me they haven't taken them out... *cries*

~Sad Ange

Only by Disney invite - after playing the game for many months (and there are still many here that have been playing for months and not received an invite *vibes going to Zep* :D

Quiet the opposite! The sky is TOTALLY Wicked! Just look at a few of these shots in our Guild Section

-----

Some Notes:

Bad Things: :(
- The Chat Box is definitely broken... definitely needs a fix (chat does not stay on screen - only by keeping chat open to type allows you to see any text)
- HEX SHOT IS BROKEN on the pistol again! I'm asuming that has something to do with the Voodoo breaking on the Dagger... but currently Hex Shot is useless...
- Almost all NPC Ships are 'stuck' and can't sail anywhere... you sail up - they cant move or chase you (they can still shoot though)

Good Stuff: :D
- Reassign Skill Points on weapons is working (all earned points are pulled off and only the two base points are left on weapons). First time is 250, second time is 2500, as LadyDi appears to have tested the third is also 2500 (I have only tested for two levels)
- Ship Fake Grappling / Invincibility appears fixed... though hard to test 100% certainity because the NPC can move and shoot at you very well...
- New Inteface Options (like commands on the right, new ship crew box, now Logout Options Box) appear to be working (would be nice to find a few more people to test this with).

Are the skies permanently stormy now? Or only when a Death Omen approaches, or something? What I've seen so far looks absolutely fantastic, but would get boring quick, if there is no good weather for contrast. I love the clear-weather night sailing too. And those sunsets! Those gorgeous sunsets! The sunrise transition can go though...that hurts my eyeballs as much as someone shooting FURY next to me.

As in current Live - the days all 'cycle' and there are different days (some are stormy, some are clear). The Skeleton Ships have their 'mini-storms' in my pics because on test - I got graphics set to the 'blow you mind away' setting :D but... if you do those setting on Live I can get the ghost ships with their mini-storms as well...

Just a note: there is currently no STORMY type days like rain or anything... they just made the general appearence of the sky better for the current weather in POTCO...

I wish there were stormy days. It would make POTCO just a bit better. It would be cool if there was lightning and rain, but i am not sure how much that would increase lag for everyone.:)

Have they raised the notoriety cap?
My level 40 pirate in test has its notoriety meter half full but no numbers
below the logo just "Pirate Master Level 40"

I don't think they have. I have had this happen to my open 40 a lot. When you recieve any treasure it fills up and turns green again.:)

I wish I could answer this one... but at L21 I got a long way to go :D I seen a few high ups on earlier today... if they are poking around maybe they can answer it :D

Yes hex not working now. And when i break their attuenement using asp or throw dirt they still able to attack me right away. No delay.
Undead spanish captain and pirata now use double cutlass. Rather deadly.

Hmm, I don't like the first half of that statement, Ironhawk.

I don't like it either, however, hex has been "broken" and 'fixed" in countless test updates. It will be fixed again.

Nope. I got treasures from battling enemies yet my notoriety meter didnt turn to green. It's still a bit over half full and seem to increase. My dagger pistol and nade not maxed so still easy to get rep.

woot new weapons! but when they open the weapons to open server are they going to have them at level 20? Any photos on the new weapons?

They will be available at weapon lvl 20 only if you have completed the lvl 15 weapon quest for the weapon. As for the photos, my test pirate is too low to even get the weapons. Maybe someone else has photos.:)

eh, they need better ships with a captains quarters and below deck before they do anything else......And permanent crews too.

Aye, I agree 100% with the Capt's Quarters and deck, it would seem more realistic, and considering that the POTCO team is actually looking at this thread, there's a possibilty that it would happen. ;)

And, wouldn't permanent crews be more like guilds? That's one of the things that I considered a guild to be. Although, with a guild, people, including the GM can leave, so technically, it wouldn't really be "permanent".

I mean, as soon as you log off, wether it be by accident or crash, youre out of a crew.Say i wanted someone to always be in my crew, but never guild or friend them.Impossible unless you know them irl.But if we had permanent crews, it would be fixed.And the crew limit should also be raised with a max of 30 people.My comp used to crash about 30 times a day, and my crew is always lost.So, if permenent crews are done, ill always stay in touch.And yes.......i am not making much sense as to why we need it.




Anyway........cant wait till Halloween comes.We get to go undead and kill eachother without being in pvp.That or just be undead when were outside.:pumpkinani:

any photos of the new bosses?

Try this: Wanna see the worst boss? (easiest) There are more pics on the 2nd page. ;)

My "Pirate Master Level 40" meter has fluctuated the color band in it frequently on OPEN.

I dont know what causes the fluctuations, but I dont know that, that is any sign of them planning on raising the notoriety cap.

Awesome! I'll have to chwck that out! I really should hop onto test.. haven't logged in there but like 3 times since open was released, lol!

~Mad Ange!

I logged onto test today to play around a bit and saw this:

http://www.angulique.net/stuff/potco/BoardPerms.jpg

THIS I can't wait to see in Open!!!

~Mad Ange

Ok, so as you can see here (I posted pics in our Dolls Guild Thread) - there are big diffences in the Boss vs their normal couterparts...

Attacking these alone when you first meet them as a pirate would be an almost impossible chalenge - true - at L40 you could probably take the bosses no problem - but since you will run into them as a new player much earlier, you will defiitely need help :D

Gravedigger... Normal > 75HP - Boss > 675HP
Brigand... Normal > 1450HP - Boss > 3100HP
Raider... Normal > 2650HP but our Boss... over 5900HP :D

Jason LoKing!? I saw you in game... I was either Dog Swordflint or The Overwhelming Bardel... Oh,and there's a Gravdigger boss? Sheesh.

Come to think of it, the idea does sound kind of interesting to me, although I'm never in a crew of random people.

And yes, the Halloween event will be rather exciting. ;)

You know how when we're booted, and come back on, how the preferred server is supposedly the same? Well, when we come back on, coming back to the same crew makes good sense.

Wow. Now on my best pirate I'm lv 34 and I'm not good at fighting raiders up close so... I might get killed if I fight a boss like that raider.

That might require a weapon of tip-top shape that is able to do damage at the rate of 2.5 to 1(as compared to your enemy's), up close... a really sharp, pointy sword with a skilled hand might do it. Seeing as your attunement may be broken, the doll I don't think would work. The staff leaving you immobile might do you in as well, and grenades are meh against dual-close/distant range foes.

Yea, i saw you on Dog Swordflint. And yea, we totally need the permanent crews.And a new weapon should be a............rocket launcher.We saw one in At worlds end.

Still, since there are multiple Brigand Boss's how do we know that they do not have different Health levels?
Still, I have a question for other testers, you guys seen teh Devil's Wing (Wasp Boss)?
Oh, and I beat Simon Butcher with my level 8 character, he was of no challenge.

I have not seen the wasp boss yet.
I imagine hes on perdida

They probably do. One boss itself could have a varying range of HP all depending on the level, we'll just have to wait and see.

Stupid test, can't get my pistol yet, Launching my ship doesn't count, so, nobody wants test, not brand new anyway, getting annoying not being able to use a pistol. If it weren't for the fact, I'd be level 16 easily.

Yep im having the pistol bug too.
Reported it and got a reply saying that It is now a known bug and will be fixed soon