The State of the Game, December 2009

[Basil Dreadflint]

Last December I posted the thread, "Dying or Dead, POTCO has let us down". It was a statement of how I felt about the state of the game at that time. This year, I am calling my end of year post as "The State of the Game".

Another year has gone by, and it's time for all of us to discuss the accomplishments, and the letdowns, that Disney has given us.

New enemies??!! The only new enemy that we saw this year is the Thrall Captains. Not one other enemy is new. They are only different levels and names assigned to old enemies. A Stump is a stump, regardless if it is called Corrupt or not.

I would also like to address the redesign of the islands. The old Port Royal, Tortuga and Padres were just as functional as these new ones, and in some ways were even better. The facelift the islands were given was interesting, but they did nothing to enhance or improve game play.

Next, the caves. I really like the graphics improvements (level of detail) here. BUT, I feel that these new caves are almost completely a waste of developer time. The old Lava Gorge and Catacombs were truely caves. The new versions are nothing more than tunnels. The old versions were very functional and felt more like CAVES and CAVERNS, not just paths through a mountain.

Next, the GM events and role-playing. These are aspects of the game that people either love, or else they hate them. I personally have attended exactly ONE GM event. It was a lagfest and I garnered exactly NO information from it. After it was over, I felt that I had just wasted 30 minutes of good game play time. I have not attended any since then.
I have heard and read all about the sightings of Constance the ghost, the meetings of Captain Walter, and other GM's at various times, the spontaneous running into of the Marceline Guild, but again, I have not attended any of these. Now they are closing the Constance and John chapter of the role playing. (See below comments)

Then there was the Captain Rott quests. These were released at the same time as the increase of the Notoriety and Weapons level caps. Since I had 4 level 40 pirates who I wasn't playing anymore, it was really good to see the level increases and that there was some quest rep to be earned again. I did the Cap'n Rott quests on all my pirates. It was fun to speculate on what the effect of doing these quests was going to be on the direction that the game was going to take. (See below comments.)

The increases in Notoriety and Weapons levels was, in my opinion, the best thing that Disney did for the game this past year. It gave many, many pirates something to do again. Even grinding weapons is better than doing nothing with those pirates that we all had worked so long and hard to get levelled up.

Next the Invasions. I believe that the invasions are a method to help pirates reach those new level 50 marks. The rep earned during invasions is huge, and serves no purpose other than to pop your notoriety! The invasions themselves do relatively little for individual weapons levels, and does nothing toward any quests. Although it is fun to be able to say that we successfully defended our server, they can be monotonous after a while.

Comments in reference to the GM events and Captain Rott quests. One of my major problems with the GM role playing and the Captain Rott quests is that they are limited. Once the Rott quests were removed from the game, now there are an entire new generation of players and pirates who will never get the opportunity to do those quests. Same with the role playing. Once a role playing event happens, it is over. The role playing events are limited in scope, do not happen on all servers, with all players, even when they are prearranged, let alone when they are spurious. Other players will never get the opportunity to ever see these events. Now the entire segment about Constance Sorrow is coming to a close, and any player who may have just joined the game, or who may join the game in the future, will never know what this is all about. Role playing in a game such as this one is not truely viable, unless you can get the role playing to ALL the players. Not just all the current players, but to future generations of players. Having role playing events that can only be attended by some players, or events that leave the game, OR having quests that are limited in time, and then disappear:: These things are not good for the game.

Last year I voiced my dissappointment at the lack of progress that the game had taken during 2008. Mostly, I was frustrated that Disney hadn't released enough, (ANY) new material that would generate interest in remaining in the game. I was upset that I had watched many, many friends, and entire guilds go away.

This year, that trend is continuing. Long time players have/are leaving in droves again. Even those who are staying are decreasing their game time. Large groups are moving to other games. Disney hasn't lived up to the hype they themselves put out throughout the year. I'm not going to address any supposed "promises" that were made. I'm just going to say that Disney made statements that they were going to do things, release stuff, and they haven't done so.

While I understand the need to correct problems with the game, (fix bugs), I don't see that Disney has done anything to generate increased interest in playing the game. Even the long awaited level increases were not accompanied by any story line or major quests that gave the senior players anything to do other than grind weapons.

I still enjoy this game. I still see great potential for it in the future. I just do not see that Disney has given the players the quality game that they (the players) have been waiting for for more than 2 years.
The game gets a solid grade of "B" from me, but Disney gets a "D minus" for the year. They have not lived up to expectations.

[SteamweaverJ]

Well said, Boss.

It's good to see that there are others who care about newcomers' experiences, and as for those of us who have played a while (much, much longer than i, i feel much as you do and have not been a member for even a year), well ... It is still a lot of fun when guildmates are around, but when there is no one about ... I love this game, it has been a nice way to relax during breaks from the many hours i spend writing at a computer day and night, but it is so sad to go on and no one is there, and then have nothing to do but grind weapons (which is really not something many folks even enjoy) ... and that has been happening more and more frequently.

I was there today off an on quite a bit until just a few minutes ago - and only once was there anyone on from any of my pals and from two guilds. There have been quite a few folks i know who have even retired old and brought in new pirates just to have something to do lately. Was also hoping that there would be more to do over the holiday break from school.

Hope they do something about this ... in the meantime, i am content and happy to be there whenever anyone needs a hand or just to hang out and rib each other.

Perhaps we can take heart in that we have made some great play-pals there, eh?

[Johnny Storm]

Agreed, Disney has done a great job with the game but not as we expected. Old players may start to leave and it seems hard to get new ppl to join. Disney needs to work harder to make this game great.

[Midhav]

Im quite optimistic about the game, but i have some negative views of me own. So Basil, I do not completely agree with you on your views on caves and caverns. Lava Gorge and Beckett's Quarry were so pathetic earlier! If you see the Catacombs now ( though i agree that the ceilings need to be higher and paths need to be wider ), it is completely amazing compared to the old Catacombs. To tell you the truth the old catacombs look like some Huge Concert Hall lol.
But one thing i hate about the Catacombs is the fact that Jolly Roger is placed in some vague corner with just some EITC soldiers and Raiders staring a him ( admiring his beauty lol ). But the Catacombs is nonetheless my favourite cave. The Cursed Caverns is good and creepy, while the Murky Hollow has its dark blue effect. The Thrall Captain is agreeably the only new enemy here and I for one expected much much more enemies. New Notoreity and Level cap increases are good but not my favourite update.
The Invasions are probably the best updates according to me, and though i haven't attended any, it seems to be getting boring if there's nothing new with each invasions. I just hope future invasions have something to do with cannons and ships.
The Main Island redesigns are very good, and compared to the old ones, these are 1000 times better. To tell you the truth, though i miss the old islands a bit I feel they were so HORRIBLE. Im glad they redesigned it. The performance has become overall great with it but with the new updates the loading screens take too long.
Some of the additions though are very nice to have been put in, and i like the way it influences the new players' experience. The quests such as Captain Rott ones do not need to be known by the new ones, and they will eventually find out somehow.
I also like the way they have held the events though i havent come for any.
I'm really having fun with the game as it though and I'm specially looking forward to the next Developers' Diary which will come out next month. We can also expect a good test update for the month of January, but a lot needs to be done such as redesigning of forests, swamps and wild islands as i have said many many times before.
Cheers to Pirates of the Caribbean Online

[Captain Whale]

Ahoy Basil, I would offer this in the way of discussion.

1. Disney has made several modifications to the new pirate experience. The quests are much easier to follow and have better explinations and tutorials. Not too long ago the complaint was Disney is doing to much for the low level pirates and ignoring the mastered ones.

2. Done arguing about the geography changes. It was done to help those with lower lvl machines enjoy the game.

3. I would like to address the GM/Rott quests discussion. You stated that it's not fair to have these events/quests because newcomers missed them? So by that logic then every holiday event and every special bandana quest should be running all the time? So Constance and John should get reunited every day so someone joining the game in 6 months won't miss that? These events are part of the storyline and the story moves forward. You don't read the same page in a book over and over again. Disney posts the chapters in the lore section so newcomers can get caught up to what is going on. I understand what you trying to say but I disagree. I think a living evolving story helps the game not hurts it.

4. The new level increase and the invasions are bringing a lot of pirates back to the game. I have seen many old friends back in the last couple months. I do not believe pirates are leaving the game in droves. My guild is 6 months old and we now have 450+ members. 250 were gained in the last 3 months time. The fact is pirates come and go all the time and neither you or I have access to those numbers. Anything we say is simply speculation and personal observation.

I appreciate you writing your views on the state of the game Basil. I am glad to hear that you do enjoy playing the game and I too see great potential in POTCO. The fact is anyone can write a thread like this and they would all be different. I wouldn't even attempt to do so here because I know better (LOL). Again thank you for sharing your opinion as I do respect it and your posts are always well done.

Sincerely, Captain Whale

[Eliza Creststeel]

Something to address about the 'throngs' leaving. Let's be honest, there is no big campaign right now for NEW players. Remember when there were ads on Yahoo and on Sci-fi, Cartoon Network, etc.? There's been NO push lately. No conjecture on why, but commericals ain't cheap.

How many people have left World of Warcraft or stopped playing? No clue. But, they are running ads EVERY DAY online on TV. Getting a little tired of the Mohawk Grenade ad? That's because it's on nearly every hour to get NEW players or get old players back.

Something that I get frustrated with is the arguments over what all the game needs to improve. Part of the issue here is that the entire structure of the game is, honestly, limited.

It is set in a very narrow timeline in a very confined area. But, keep in mind - this game is a promotional tool too. Is it so that they only option is a massive reboot? I'm not a programmer but I work with them. Once you have a model you're working within, it sets up boundaries or limitations and if you didn't PLAN on major changes or growth - you're likely restricted.

And we can bluster about NEW stuff til we're blue in the face. It's not that they haven't heard us... they post and say at GM events about what is coming or being worked on. So, a lot of this goes back to time and money. Disney is NOT putting a ton of money into this game, so things will take longer.

Why should they? Club Penguin is probably making cash, hand over fist. Do you see POTCO toys, books and stuff animals? Nope. And Disney doesn't OWN the complete rights to the films either. I'm sure that hasn't helped the profit margin. They weren't even allowed to change the name of the Wicked Wench ship in the ride due to Bruckheimer.

Okay - I'm done with the negative rant. That's the most you will get from Eliza on that.

ON THE FLIPSIDE, compared to 2008 - the game has taken MAJOR strides forward. Would I like Chapter 2? Yes. Do I want to customize my ship? Yes. Do I want a bigger closet, more outfits, tats, etc.? YES, YES and YES. But, I'm not a programmer - so I have to wait for the one who program to do it. But, until then - thank you for the Invasions, thank you for the new environments, thank you Disney for role-playing events to keep us engaged.

[Aaron McEagle]

I have hope for new things to come!

Jolly Roger is coming to a end. Some pirates say its boring while others have fun with it! What will they do after these invasions? Who knows... But in the time waiting I will probally see many pirates quit the game and as soon as that era happends we will see updates!

[ex8404]

Basil, I think I agree with you more than just about any other pirate. And I admire your use of paragraphs. Others need to give it a try. : )

The question is content. Some say that content is anything Disney adds to the game. Others, myself included, feel that "content" is PLAYABLE. By my definition, there has been no serious content added to this game since I started playing almost 2 years ago.

I really liked the new islands at first. Then I realized just how little they added to the gaming experience. Didn't hurt it but it didn't help either. And, quite honestly, my machine has run worse since the additions. And I hate the fact that I can't swim to the back beach at Padres anymore.

The caves are pretty and were fun to explore...for about half an hour. Then they became claustrophobic and the idea of fighting all the way through a crowded hallway got silly. Until they lowered the aggression. Then it became pointless. And I really miss the Quarry as a great place for solo leveling.

Your take on the GM events is the same as mine. I am glad they are there for those who like them but they are not my cup of grog. I attended one the other day with Constance and John. I thought it was a little weird and a waste of half an hour. Between fawning adoration and trying to be annoying, very little was accomplished.

I have to say that the invasions were great fun for a while. A little laggy (OK, a total lag-fest) but on quiet servers they could be a great time. But after a while, it was just a little too "Space-Invaders" for me. I like the RPG part of MMORPG.

Sounds like I am hating on POTCO doesn't it. But I am really not. I play as much as I can. And as soon as I get my cable internet company to quit acting like it is a joint venture between Jolly Roger and the EITC, I will play even more. But I want some new content.

CONTENT. We have been given a lot of frosting but almost no cake. Leveling is fine but I am kind of a weird gamer. I want my leveling to come with a purpose. I get bored just grinding away, undead raider after undead raider... Content is what goes in your Journal. If it doesn't end up there, it isn't content.

All of what we have seen in 2009 is leading up to something big. It HAS to be. If it isn't then the great POTCO experiment is a failure. Sell it to a third party developer and let them fix it. But if 2009 ends or 2010 begins with a bright, shiny, thrilling, fun, dangerous, exciting, difficult brand-spanking-new storyline? I will give 2009 a B+ or an A-. If there is no new storyline in January? Disney gets a D-. The game is still fun but my guild is dead and I miss some of them. I just might join them in the role call of the missing in action.

Until then...Semper fidelis.

[combatlizzy]

"All of what we have seen in 2009 is leading to something big" Thank your for that EX8404. Because this pirate truely believes that. I keep thinking about the saying "Rome wasn't built in a day". But on the reverse-Pompeii was destroyed in a couple of hours.
I won't go into more of my beliefs about what is to come. And I appreciate the feelings of others. Just my two cents for what it is worth.....

[Tuefenhandel]

This is a difficult situation. My honest opinion is that the game continues to be interesting, and that most of the changes have been positive. To be fair, I think that there will be complaints by some no matter how often changes or updates are introduced.

For me, the most fun I have had was the privateering. That was tainted by users obsessively seeking out glitches, and not by a lack of creativity by the developers. It was a good change that engaged the majority of users.

I have also observed that a GM event results in a solid blue mass covering the viewable portion of my compass whenever they are encountered. The other night Old Sooty appeared and there was a morass of cyber-humanity, many of whom hung around long after the event. Using participation as a criteria for benchmarking success, its hard to see the role playing events as anything but successful.

The difficulty in assessing the progress made by the game is in deriving sufficient value for the required payment. For me, when the game grows stagnant I have found that playing a different game for a while recharges my interest - and when there are updates I can re-embrace POTCO with a higher level of enthusiasm. However, I can see a basis for discontent if you're paying for the game and it isn't providing reward for your investment. To me, the subscription fee is relatively negligible - which I realize is a very different perception than that which others may hold. I don't mind playing Combat Arms, Europa Universalis, or LOTR BFME II (I got Guild Wars for Christmas and am waiting for a chance to load it up and give it a spin) for a few weeks / months while waiting for updates.

So, I guess it boils down to this: Is the game worth $9.99 for THIS month?

Obviously, seeing as how I have remained an unlimited access member - for ME the answer is yes.

It took me three months to max out the new weapons caps, and I still have 3 levels to go to max out notoriety. I am content to wait for invasions, new enemies, or a quest to push forward.

[Angel Seafish]

FINALLY! Equalty to all players. I really think they should keep the gm events. Instead of Constance leaving for good or getting reunited everyday, they should have occasional visits to the game, giving a little hint here and there. Maybe a problem with them like when we had to rescue John from Jolly Roger. But something different. I did not like the gm events because it made more lag, and people sometimes bragged about how they met a gm. But only SOMETIMES.

Caves: I'm with you on the caves. The old ones made me happy to be in there. The new ones are just dumb little tunnels that you explore for half and hour. Then what? Find a glitch or 2? Its like Disney is just playing around trying to get us clausterphobic.

New Content: How long have they promised us the kraken, a new story chapter, and more closet space? A YEAR AGO!!!! What are they waiting for? More players? Right now they're losing players because of no new content. Hasn't this game been around for like 3 years?
Its been long enough. The newer players already have enough to play. But there are so many old players who need a chapter 2. Alot of players have left because of this. Chapter 1 really didn't feature the movie characters, but people who we didn't know about at all.

Invasions: It gave me something to do and look forward to, for about a week. Then it got boring. The lag was terrible on the A servers, however, the B servers were not as bad, and all the other servers.

Islands: They didn't do much, but they were nice. I personally think that they are more maneuverable than the old ones. But is that a good thing? Don't we want to explore the island to see what new wonders we'll find? I want the old islands back to explore. The old Port Royal (from what I have seen in pictures) looks more like in the movie. It also looked more fun to explore.


What was good: We at least had fun with some of the events for a short while didn't we? Even if it was for a little while Disney just has to work on keeping peoples attention.

[Captain Whale]

Angel the game just had it's 2 year anniversary on 10/31/2009 and the "Promise" you are reffering to occured on July 14 2009.

They are waiting until the content is built and ready to release. They haven't been sitting on it going "hee hee I wonder how many will leave today! Boy they are gonna be sorry.". A lot of these developers work long hard days to bring you this stuff. Game development is a brutal business and most do it because they love the game they are working on.

You ask for different GM events but they have been doing different ones for most of the year. Captain Walter/Marceline guild and the ETIC Black guard have made numerous appearences as the towns were being redone. The GMs show up and give "little hints here and there". They have been doing this all along. I have no doubt that there will be more GM storylines. Captain Cromwell will now be giving out Invasion notices instead of Constance for example.

And again you don't have access to the numbers of people who come and go in the game. To say alot of players have left is your personal opinion based on some people you know who have done so. I am not saying that some are leaving but there are also some coming back as well as new people joining. I can't say whether POTCO's community is growing overall or shrinking. Besides many of those not leaving will be like Tuefenhandel and bide thier time until the second chapter comes out. Then they will be back. I guess we will just have to wait and see.

Edit: spelling

Captain Whale

[Nelly Darkpaine]

Ill just add that Thralls arent even new. Its a renamed Kelpbrain.

I think alot of unnecessary things were done IN PLACE OF game CONTENT. The game still lags, is a memory hog, but IS prettier in some respects. I miss some old places - old Tortuga, etc.

Guilds HAVE died out due to LACK OF content. Its a shame, but true. Something does need to be done - weapons changes/new weapons, and the MOST simple thing we have ALL asked for.

MORE CLOSET SPACE and an improved inventory system! Even have 'quest clothing' be in a different storage area so we can buy and sell our other clothes. Right now, to buy something new we would need to SELL quest items. This SUCKS. OR, make it to where once you have EARNED and COMPLETED a quest - you can then ALWAYS have that item for purchase. =P

Simple, but apparently not so simple to Disney.

[Aaron McEagle]

The Thralls are actually the highest level enemy you can face

[Sven Niscadae]

Originally Posted by Basil Dreadflint

... <too much to quote> ...

The island and cave makeovers were fine for me. Some things were annoying such as access to the back beach, while it made some other things easier (such
as the back and forth between June and Greer i.e. shorter distance to run). The
caves look like caves now, twists and all. The minimap helps me not get lost but honestly, there are a lot of dead-ends in the caves where there's nothing of note.

Invasions? Fun every once in a while, I suppose. I think I've done at the most six invasions. I've got to agree with ex8404 on this one. There's only so much Defend the Castle I can take before it becomes a bit monotonous.

The GM events were eh to me. I've said that some good role playing in a MMO can be a good thing, but I also said it's better when people are actually involved in it. I don't believe the players are involved in the evolution of the story as they think they are. The GM events I've read about seem more of a one-sided show (where the GMs know the story and will act it out, while the players are the audience). Sure, the GMs will get player input and responses but they have the playbook. Sure, I do appreciate that they're spending their off-time to get "involved" with the community but there's got to be a better way to do this without it seeming like a puppet show.

Notoriety and Weapons increases? Why? What's the point? There are no new quests to gain rep from. Sure, from weapon grinding but I don't level my weapons that way. I don't plan on getting to notoriety 50 and weapons 30 for a long time as I don't see a point in it. There aren't even new weapon skills to unlock after level 20. How about a new skill or a new weapon? People want these sorts of things as an incentive. Actually, if you think about it, getting a more powerful weapon is counter-productive. The way POTCO's reputation system works is that you get less rep for more powerful attacks. Getting new weapons would mean that you have to grind longer to level them up. This still baffles me as this is the only game I've found that punishes the player for accomplishing a quest.

Sailing... I was having a great time until this last bigger update. I wish they'd stop fixing what isn't broken. I'll keep sending them reports but they've fixed the best part of the game.

They've done some across the board graphical adjustments to help lower-end machines play the game. Why? If there are settings for Low, Medium, and High, then please keep the High end of the spectrum looking pretty. Are they really pulling in metrics that show the majority of their player-base is using sub-standard equipment? If they want to fix performance issues, they need to address the memory and processor consumption issues that the Panda3D engine has had since they've been developing ToonTown Online. There's really no reason a game like this needs to be using 50-75% of my CPU and half of my memory. Honestly, it's not even that graphically intense. I also play another MMO that's lightyears ahead of POTCO in the graphics department. Currently, it's sitting in the background just taking 25-30% of my CPU while I'm typing this.

Originally Posted by Captain Whale

The fact is anyone can write a thread like this and they would all be different. I wouldn't even attempt to do so here because I know better (LOL).

Why not? The beauty of this forum is that we all have different views and enjoy a good quality discussion. In the end, we're all players of the same game which is why we're here.

Originally Posted by Eliza Creststeel

I'm not a programmer but I work with them. Once you have a model you're working within, it sets up boundaries or limitations and if you didn't PLAN on major changes or growth - you're likely restricted.

I do happen to be a programmer and I can agree with what you're saying. This past year I had to totally rewrite an entire application so it met our demands and was scalable for future growth. I think one problem Disney is going to face with deliverying new content is that they aren't going to know where to put it. They can put in a new story chapter but where will we go for the quests? Who will we fight? The same old places we've been? The same old enemies we've fought before? Is this the entire Caribbean that we know? Will they be able to expand our "universe"? Lack of planning? That might just be the case. Goodness knows I've seen plenty of it the past few years from upper management where I work.

Originally Posted by Eliza Creststeel

Disney is NOT putting a ton of money into this game, so things will take longer.

That is understandable as well. Moral of our story could be, "You get what you pay for."

Overall, I guess they're doing okay. I've defended Disney earlier this year in regards to "how long they're taking" but they really need to throw something out there in 2010, and it better not be another notoriety/weapon increase. I'm also hoping it's not the mini-game-ish ideas they alluded to from that LA child focus group we heard about.

Oh well, until we see what they've got up their sleeves, all we can do is enjoy what we got and give them feedback where they'll hear it.