Im out...at least for now.
 

Well, I gave this game the old college try. Im going to try and be kind here, even though I really dont want to.

The short version...thats two weeks I will never get back.

The long version. Way to many pet peves to outweigh the one thing I liked most...the naval combat.

Bugs galore
Lag
Memory leaks
Ridiculous range in mob spawn levels
Tedium to level weapons
Bugs that kill you
Constant disconnects
Gimped chat system
Little to no interaction with other players
No trade system
No player economy
Prices too high
Weapons are limited
Worthless talents
Warping mobs and ships
Lackluster graphics and performance on top machines/top settings
No pirate flags, limited areas to apply tatoos, limited clothing, no hooks, peg legs, limited hair styles, cartoony look to characters
Jerky combat system
Irritating lock on target system
No way to bind keys

I could go on and on and on. My god, this game is not even in beta, and its out for subscriptions. This has to be the worst game I have ever played. If they removed all of the content in the game and left in the naval combat it would be bearable.

Even my kids hate this game, and they love PotC lol. I cant even get them to play.

My son's hand got sore from trying to target mobs (holding down the right mouse button to target, no way to increase mouse sensitivity)...I didnt believe him until I watched him play. He was really having a tough time.

I am very VERY disappointed. I will keep my account here, and look in on the game to see what changes they have made, but I have to say if the current game is any indication of the skill of the programmers, I dont give this game much of a chance.

I guess thats it.

This game isn't for everybody. I like the game, it's the only online game I play. I've tried others, even WoW, but this game suits me the best. I have some friends that found this game extremely boring. lol

Some of the things you mention, I don't understand. But I guess it's because I'm not having the same issues.

But anyway, check this game out again during the summer when we're supposed to get a big update :)

But see, thats just it...it SHOULD appeal to everyone.

When it doesnt even appeal to kids, it makes me wonder what Disney was thinking.

Ok, Ill talk about a few of my biggest complaints. The others are really just irritations.

First, the combat system, including low xp/gold payouts.

Any aimed weapon is torturous to use. You have to keep the right mouse button held down to aim, and because there is no way to increase mouse sensitivity you often run out of mousepad before you are on your target (this happens ALOT at sea). Hand fatigue gets bad after ten minutes of play.

The lock-on reticle is badly designed as well. First, its too small. Second, you can shut off the lock on feature, which likes to lose lock all the time.

Add to that the fact that mobs have a solid lock on you, without need to face you or aim, and you have a a formula for frustration to the tenth order.

The meager payout per kill is just the icing on the cake. Leveling is painful.

Way to fix or improve - Add option to turn off lock-on, make target circle much bigger, remove lock on for mobs, increase payouts (gold and xp) by at least 50 percent, allow key mapping, allow auto-lock if desired (click on target to lock on, then all your attacks, melee or ranged will be on target, no right mouse button needed)

Second, graphics quality.

This is a three fold complaint: Memory leaks, LODs and sync problems. Lets cover the memory leak problem first.

I was having constant disconnects. I found the problem...the executable continues to gobble memory until none remains. When I crashed the last time PotCO was using 2.2 GB of my memory......wow. So I did some checking using Ctrl Alt Del.

Looks like, over time, the memory usage climbs out of control. The fix, I found, is to minimize the game to the taskbar every once in a while, which released the memory and puts it back to a reasonable amount. But, it is silly to have to do this all the time just to be able to play.

Next up, LODs, or level of detail models.

Obviously this game uses lower resolutions of maps at distance. The problem here is that the loading of one set to another as you approach is not smooth, so it creates visual tearing, glitching and CTD problems.

You should be able to shut LODs off. I should be able to decide what my computer can and cannot handle. The game is a poor judge of my computers capabilities.

Those two items are my biggest issues. Though I find it silly, after being out as long as this game has been that the content (clothes, weapons, tatoos) is still very meager at best, I could live with that and my other complaints if the LOD and graphics problems were fixed, and the leveling was much less painful.