OPEN release notes 2/25/09

[swashbuckler II]

Release Notes - February 25, 2009

• Environmental Improvements:
  • Redesigned Tortuga (including the Minimap) for better game performance
  • Moved the entrance of King's Run to the back of the Port Royal graveyard - this will help new players progress more easily through the tutorial
• General Bug Fixes:
  • Fixed some issues with emotes not displaying properly
  • Fixed an issue where players could escape from the jail without kicking the door open
  • Resolved an weapon exploit that allowed Pirates to cast Voodoo Staff Desolation without charging it
  • Players are no longer slowed down by Undead Gravediggers' throwing daggers
  • Fixed a bug where you could not see your own Whispers to unknown Pirates
  • Made several improvements and fixes to the Crew System
  • Pirates of the Caribbean Online now supports 16 bit color in windowed mode when using DirectX8 and DirectX9
• General Improvements:
  • The Game Options menu can now be accessed in-game by pressing the "F7" key
  • Improved the way avatars are being displayed to improve frame rate
  • When tracking enemies to complete a Quest, the Compass now glows when you reach the target area
  • Returned the Musicians to the taverns on Port Royal and Tortuga. Pirates can now play the sheet music earned in the Cannons of the Deep mobile game.
  • Improved Broadside Cannon aim
  • The Windcatcher Ship Skill (which increases your speed at sea) works again
  • Added the ability to bring up your Pirate profile by clicking on your Pirate name in the chat window

This is soooo not ready for open.

[akamystic]

Oh man.....with all the issues I've encountered on Test and have seen posted.....this is now on Open?? Too early.....again IMO. You kiddin' me????

[swashbuckler II]

Just went into misty mire, Still water is glitched.

[Sarah]

Oh Come ON! Once again, bug fest released to open...

[ukebec]

They've got to be kidding!

D: "let's invite lots of new people to test and ignore everything they tell us! Whee!"

[Rnmusie]

yeah thats way to early for the new tortuga it was on test for like a week or somthing

[akamystic]

They are probably trying to satisfy all those that have been complaining for so long about lack of content and enhancements. However, rolling things out full of bugs is not the answer.

I'm not sure what else to say.....I'm somewhat stunned....speechless......(SIGH)

[swashbuckler II]

Hopefully they wont release the kraken headless or something.....

[Sven Niscadae]

I'm probably going to be the only one to say that I'm fine with it. Call me crazy, I guess.

I really didn't see any issues on Test that made the game unplayable (for me at least). I'm more annoyed with modifications to things that worked fine (e.g. sailing compass). Overall, I'm thinking most bugs are on a per user basis and aren't widespread to everyone. I'm sure when D tests the reported issues, they aren't seeing them. I know I'm not seeing at least half of the issues that people in the Helm have reported. I think the other part of why Test seems whacked up is that it's not a pure certification environment. By that I mean the conditions aren't the same on Test that they are on Open (server specs, load, etc).

But hey, at least they gave the new Tortuga more time than Port Royal, right?

Originally Posted by akamystic

They are probably trying to satisfy all those that have been complaining for so long about lack of content and enhancements. However, rolling things out full of bugs is not the answer.

You can't have your rum and drink it too, you know.

[akamystic]

Originally Posted by Sven Niscadae

I'm probably going to be the only one to say that I'm fine with it. Call me crazy, I guess.

You can't have your rum and drink it too, you know.

Hey.....Sven.....I've got a bottle of 20 year oak barrel aged rum on my desk....and I'm getting ready to drink some......lol. Had to toss that in.....have a good one.

[Captain Grizzly]

Originally Posted by Sven Niscadae

I think the other part of why Test seems whacked up is that it's not a pure certification environment. By that I mean the conditions aren't the same on Test that they are on Open (server specs, load, etc)

Sven has so far been the only one to pin point the main problem. Test and Live are two totally different environments. I'm a tester and I applaud all the testers out there who take the time to actually test the new builds and file reports and I'm just as frustrated as anyone else, but the bottom line is some of the issues that are found and reported can't be fully resolved in the current testing enviroment we have.

All of the reports being sent in are great and I'm sure they're being looked at. The problem is that bug reports can't supply one very important piece of information. That information being "how does this build react under a full stress load?". Knowing what bugs have been found is great but until they know how the build is going to react on a busy or full server, they can't really completely fix the issues.

They tried to solve the problem by opening up test to more people, so far that hasn't worked out. On the 2 servers we have available for testing, I've yet to see either of them reach "Ideal" status no matter what time of day I go on let alone reach the "Full" mark. Unless that changes the developers can't get all the data they need to solve these problems before a build is released. And if they can't get that data from the test servers they really have no choice but to release them to live so that they can see how the build behaves under stress.

-gets down off soap box, goes drinks rum-

[Rackat]

Great. Just great.

We spent alot of time LAST NIGHT checking out sailing bugs.

-Cannon visual sees the enemy ship MUCH closer than helm
-Broadsides are OFF, either over or undershooting.
-Compass, don't get me started on the darn compass. Too many issues by itself!!!!
-Chat, still buggy. One pirate sees all chat, one pirate sees partial chat, and both pirates are being controlled by the same player.

Good lord, I know they want to release some stuff, but at least release it after fixing what the test pirates tell you are broken.

[MacIronhawk]

It's been really laggy for me ever since I got on. If I am laggy I wonder how many other people are.
Once again, disney does not surprise us by releasing an update too soon.

I think I'll be sticking with toontown until this summer blows in. That disney staff seems to care a little more about fixing bugs.

[Sven Niscadae]

Originally Posted by Rackat

Great. Just great.

We spent alot of time LAST NIGHT checking out sailing bugs.

-Cannon visual sees the enemy ship MUCH closer than helm
-Broadsides are OFF, either over or undershooting.
-Compass, don't get me started on the darn compass. Too many issues by itself!!!!
-Chat, still buggy. One pirate sees all chat, one pirate sees partial chat, and both pirates are being controlled by the same player.

Good lord, I know they want to release some stuff, but at least release it after fixing what the test pirates tell you are broken.

Give the devs some credit; they don't decide the release schedule.

What I was trying to figure out last night was why you guys were seeing these issues but I wasn't. My visuals (cannon & helm) looked about the same - I didn't see any huge spatial differences. My broadsides were working fine. My compass was fine sans the intentional compass reconfiguration. Only thing I can think of right now is that I had to do a fresh install of the test client as my laptop didn't already have it installed.

[Rackat]

Originally Posted by Sven Niscadae

Give the devs some credit; they don't decide the release schedule.

What I was trying to figure out last night was why you guys were seeing these issues but I wasn't. My visuals (cannon & helm) looked about the same - I didn't see any huge spatial differences. My broadsides were working fine. My compass was fine sans the intentional compass reconfiguration. Only thing I can think of right now is that I had to do a fresh install of the test client as my laptop didn't already have it installed.

Don't get me wrong, I am not discrediting the developers. It is the person/people responsible for letting this hit open as is. I love the redesigned islands, and the island maps in the compass. There are a lot of good things about the direction of the game. What is not good is someone thinking it was a good idea to release this before it was ready.

One difference I noticed last night when launching from PR is that when you take the helm and zoom out, you no longer look through the hills - it forces your camera to zoom in on the ship. So unless you move the camera angle, or wait until you are away from the island, the picture is disoriented.

Also, moving the islands around as much as they did seems unusual. Perhaps they are getting ready to introduce new islands? Perdida is now the farthest run by ship of any island. Tormenta, Outcast, Cutthroat, Devil's Anvil, and KH all have been moved. It appears the distance between PDF and KH has been increased as well. Cuba now appears to be closer than ever before to PR.

If I had one request of the dev's it would be this:

Tell us what you're working towards so that we know better what to look for and test.