Side Effects Of The Last Few Months
 

For those of you who have previously read this elsewhere, please forgive the repetition. For the rest of you, here's a few thoughts on recent months in the Caribbean.


In the more than a year since I started playing Pirates I've seen a lot of changes. The past year in particular has brought a ton of them. Short quests for high rep and a ton of gold. (Think Rott.) Higher level cap. New loot system. The insertion of (shudder) minigames. All this has had a huge effect on the way not only I, but I think everyone levels.

When I started, nay, when many of us started, there were no loot drops. We leveled out of sheer tedium and monotony. That's how I got Kat to 50. It took her to 40 to finish off her Pearl quest and all but maybe one or two small side quests. Kat's last 10 levels were from invasions (can we say a ton of rep for very little work?) which skewed her not level, and mind numbing copious amounts of time in Tormenta finishing her weapons.

Then came the weapons drops, and everything changed. JM is a 44 now, and is still only recruiting I think the third guy for his Pearl Quest. He has his weapons and tp quests done. Yet he's only otherwise done the PDF clothes quest all the way through. His weapons are all over 20, though even these are skewed due to invasions. JM's not level is way higher than his weapons levels alone should place him. I know I'm not the only one this has happened to.

As we all flooded Darkhart, Neban, Tim, and Tormenta, we finally got back on weapons again. But there are still those notoriety skewing invasions. Even Fen is way off. He's a 37, his weapons are only around the 20s, and like JM he hasn't touched any quests but weapons, tps, and the PDF clothes quest. He never even started the Pearl.

Then they add potions, and now fishing. It's just more rep for something that has nothing what so ever to do with the story of the Pearl Quest. It's another way for pirate notoriety to get totally out of sync to what the weapons and quests should be.

Now I know, we don't have to do any of this extra stuff. Except now potions and fishing are on the profile cards. (Still not happy on that one.) And lets face it, the weapons drops made a lot of people, myself included, much more inclined to grind weapons, since it brings the possibility of something new every time.

Is it just me or has D managed to create a potential generation of lightweights pirates? There are all these pirates with high notoriety, high attack weapons, and yet low weapons levels, doing as much damage as it took being mastered to do previously. I don't know much, but I do know this is one side effect of the last year I can do without!

Thank you! This so spot on.

I agree! :sadmh9: I hate the way, the risk of jail is taken out of the game. Challenges are not there. The need for strategy or a large crew to defeat an enemy is gone. Take out a blunderbuss and shoot Darkhart twice and you are done. I used to enjoy raising up little pirates but with the risks eliminated, the fun is eliminated. Rep from minigames potions and fishing is risk free. Strong weapons make things too easy.

Aye, but since they made weapons to collect, a lot more people are playing the game, who otherwise would just stop playing. I used to have to take around 5 minutes to kill DH when i was level 40 (before new weapons etc) now my second pirate is level 41 and with a grand buss, 2-3 shots DH down.
Saw someone with all weapons level 1, fishing maxed, and notoriety level 23.. rofl.
they added a lot of new "easier" ways to level, fishing is just... really fast rep. the long fish thst you can catch with journeyman rod gives 100 rep! and it takes like... 10 seconds to catch it.

Just as a challenge to my gameplay my various pirates all play the game different. In fact, I have a pirate attempting just that. To see how far she can get on fishing alone first. I have a sword alone pirate as well. Yet even he got skewed by doing part one of the Casa De Muertos quest last fall. I find it strange that he may be level 18 max when he gets to use the newly released Seafang blade. What's up with that?

I must say that I am a little jealous of the new pirates that are entering into the game. It took a lot of hours to get myself to level 38 then they turned around and upped it to level 50 max which caused me to completely stop playing the game for over two months and not have anything to do with guilds until I reached level 50 on my own because hey I worked hard to get to a high level and I wanted to get to the finish line without that much help because there really was not that much in the way of community in the game when I first started. To make it worse I am an older player so I only have so much time that I devote to the game. Taken all that into consideration some of the newer changes kind of burn me up.

However......

What got me playing the game is that I have a young daughter which was even younger (then only about 5) when she started playing the game got me into it as well as I would help her play it. The game and related material have turned into kind of a family fun thing for us all.
Now I have to say that she really got to hate the quest. It was the only thing for her to do in the game for the most part however of course as she played that changed as newer features were added.

Now that the newer features are added she spends a lot more time playing the game and as a lot more fun with it then she use to. She has been playing the game for nearly three years or so... when she started the game had been open only about three months so I am not sure how long its been. In any case that is a long time for a kid to be playing the same video game.

I actually wrote into Disney several times to fix glitches and all partially based on her gaming experience and back then was surprised to see Disney make some changes within a week or so of making suggestions.

I was a little ****ed when she was not allowed to go to Disney to meet with the designers because it was boys only and she could have made the trip no problem....lol

Anycase I do agree with you and like I said I am a little jealous however I do kind of raise my mug to it as they have increased the playability of the game to a broader audience. We each get to decide how to play the game in our own way and there is a lot more to do in the game then what once was. Remember when PVP was about the only thing outside of quests??? I mean now look at it. Its not so bad sometimes sitting on the dock and doing some casual fishing while chatting with fellow guild members or sharing fishing boats with them and being able to tour the Caribb without being fired at..lol.

Who knows maybe Ravens Cove will bring back the challenge for us who want to go further... in any case I am going to wait until they are finished with this batch before forming an opinion and just take it all with grain of salt and wait for the master plan to reveal itself...

Igor wonders
 

Igor was wondering if Raven's cove will bring a cap increase that will compensate for these new and fast growing pirates. Igor hopes anyway! :dancetl6:

Yeah, I agree with most of it. I like the revive system, but there was a challenge with going to jail and not being revived. I also miss the hard way that it used to be to level. Now it's just like bing-bang-boom and it's done. :/ :bookishfj7::piratewheelgo2:

There was that special feeling of getting up every morning, getting on my slow laptop, and heading to Kingshead, excited to work on Grenades.
These days? I don't remember what that feeling was...

i agree too when i was playing angel i never did any quests only clothes and weapons didnt even do the black pearl quest i was just working on my weapons and i died alot which was the fun part trying not to die and work hard till u were strong but now u can get such high lvls and u can still be very weak with weapons and its kinda sad they should be strong cuz of hard work not easy rep stuff

I got level 50 the same day that they did the whole inventory expansion update. I finished my story quest at level 29, with almost no side quests (other than teleporting, treasure quests, and weapon unlocks). I hit level 30 when I turned in the rescue the black pearl quest. Then I got my staff, and guess what I did after that? Weapon grinding. Hours of it, with no rewards except gold. I finally reached level 40, and had about 6 months maybe before they raised the level cap again, maybe more. From 40-50, pure weapon grinding. It is a little annoying how much easier it is to level up now. It took me ages to get mastered, and people are doing it now in what.... two months? One month if you are doing the game nonstop? A lot of the challenge has been taken out of the game. James, I agree with you on the revive system. It was a great thing to introduce, but before that you were a lot more careful. You did not want to die. Now, if I die, big deal, my friend can revive me. Don't get me wrong, I love the updates they have been adding... but some of us long time players such as myself are starting to notice side effects with it... example, level ten goes into tormenta and gets him/herself killed. They feel that they MUST get a revive, and if they do, it doesnt teach them that they shouldn't be there, unless they are pretty smart. Back when I was a little pirate, if I ventured into a dangerous place and got killed, I wouldn't come back.

I hope to Igor. Man we need it bad!

The revive system... I love it and I despise it. I was in a crew with a level 2, and I went to tormenta to level dagger, and help out a friend. She got thrust'd by a Flotsam and died instantly. She got revived... and got Life Drain'd by a Brimescum. Then hacked up by a Kelpbrain. I should've told her she gets a single revive. That seems to work, people become careful. I also never revive on flagships, due to lots of enemies running around attacking, glitches, and the fact that when you swing back to yer ship, you're healed. I also agree with the last part of Davy's post (well, I agree with all of it but I'm pointing out the last bit) because I remember when I took my level 9-ish pirate in his light galleon to Tormenta, and got spanked by a level 33 undead gypsy. I never went back until around level 30, and I was extremely careful. Nowadays, people get killed again and again and again and again. I pay 30 gold for my Miracle Water, and I use it up a lot. I don't want to waste it on some level 4 that will go die the second he's back up.

And now, leveling isn't big like before. The only good part about it for me is the notoriety up, and those are small. The only thing I get a rush from is good loot.... and that almost never comes. With the development of Raven's Cove, I'll probably just train there and try and get some cursed blades. But for what? The thing I need isn't swords, I have a Lost one. But there are so few Daggers and Knives out there, I end up getting the swords anyway. Then I realize it's some lame sword with attack 62 or 55. With a rank two useless skill.

Basically, I only play to finish. And when I do, what happens then? I make a new pirate, master him. Etc etc, then I delete a pirate, make a new one, master. The game just isn't as fun.

A little unrelated, and it applies more to senior players such as myself. Don't you miss the feeling of mystery in the game? We used to look at the smoke curling off Padres del Fuego and wonder, "what is there? Will I ever be there?" Or seeing the mastered pirates or founders, and admiring them so much. Purchasing your War Galleon, discovering new places. The feeling of mystery and not knowing what is out there! Don't you all miss that feeling? It is impossible to feel a second time, because you KNOW what is out there now. I remember teleporting to my friend when I was in my 20s, and seeing Tormenta Cave (as it was called before the new caves). I saw those Davy Jones people and I got so excited. Now we know what is out there, and not knowing everything is more than half the fun for me. And to update can bring back that feeling that you had like that. No matter how many baby pirates you make. Its kind of unrelated, but it is a side effect of playing the game for so long.

Nope, not unrelated, an totally right Davy. I managed to get that back though. Yeah, I've seen it all. But with this new computer it's like seeing it all again for the very first time. The detail is just insane. No, not everyone can just go get a new puter. (Mine was actually a replacement under a warranty, not something I purchased.) But maybe this new Raven's Cove will let all us old buzzards see the game new again, even if just for a little while.