How do you feel about the current POTCO?

[Davy Redfish]

First let me say that I love the game, and I am having a great time.

With that said there are several things that I don't feel are all the way there yet and hope they (the developers) can make some changes along the way that will improve the game for all of us.

First is the major lag issues that many players including myself are experiencing. I have filed bug reports and chatted with tech support. I am told the typical answer, it is the newest graphics, get the newest drivers, get more memory. I don't buy this because it is not consistant on my end. When I am in a quiet ocean it is smooth as silk for the most part even with the graphics and detail turned way up. When I am in an ideal ocean it is like playing in molasses in january even with the lowest graphics and detail settings. So based on that I am covinced that it is not on my end, not my graphics card, and not my memory.

This leads me to my second point that is directly realted to the first. This Game is meant to encourage team play, certain quests require that you get help. I tend to play as a lone wolf but I like to get into large ship battles or a raid on FT Charles from time to time as well. However this is impossible given the current LAG issues. If I am even near 3-4 pirates that are in battle forget it my screen freezes and it is hopeless to do anything. This is the same with large numbers of ships, and if I am on a ship with any crew members. The Lag issue is killing team play at least for me. I find myself going to the quiet ocean even if i don't want to just so I can play the game and get some things accomplished. It can be fun playing alone but group play is what POTCO should be in my mind.

Finally are the guilds. Whats the point? I have played warbirds which is a WWII MMO simulation game. I was in a squadron and it was great to be able to hook up with 10 or 20 freinds schedule a time to hook up, leave messages as to what the squad was doing that night etc. etc... and go into battle together. With the guilds the communication is nil, there is no place to post messages or set up times so you can coordinate a time to play together so that the Guild means something. There are no Guild based tasks so in my mind there is no motivation to be in a guild. Also the few people that I have talked to about guilds are usually freinds in real life or co-workers in real life that play together. This game is open to people all over the world and I should not have to have my real life freinds play the game just so I can do some group missions an activities. Heres hoping that they make some significant changes to this system to make it a more user freindly and a vital part of the game.

As I said I love the game and think it has alot of potential but in its current state I am really not that impressed.

Thanks for reading my rant and please post your suggestions and frustrations as I have . Open discussion is the way to Get POTCO developers to hear our voices and make the appropriate changes to make the game better for all of us.

Toon Town alumni - Big Moe
POTCO Founding member - Davy Redfish.

[Allure]

For me I mostly enjoy POTC.

Though sometimes I do find it a little redundant and a little glitchy. But I'm of course expecting that.

I realize this game is new therefore problems and what not are to be expected. And I also expect this is a learn and go situation for them as well.

Lag can be an issue on the "ideal" oceans when there are more people and it can get a little more glitchy, but like you said it's easier to opperate on a "quiet" ocean when you're a lone wolf, as am I.

I wish they had developed more story line than just one before releasing it though. That seems kind of silly. I have already finished my black pearl quest and it just kinda blows my mind that they would release something that's not even complete. I can understand upgrading and adding things, but not even having a full story line in place?

Overall it's good devs just need to keep learning and tweaking and we need to keep helping them with ideas and helping to identify bugs and glitches.

[JoG]

This game was released to the public a bit on the premature side. Several issues still hound this game such as server sycronization time, client frame rate (even on lowest settings), server side latency, graphic anomolies, storyline issues, and a nasty memory leak that still continues even after this latest update.

The memory leak is one that we can control but should not have too. This game does not return system memory resources after using them. It continues to request additional memory as you play. After about an hour to an hour and a half of continuous game play your memory usage percentage will rise about 40% to 45%. What does this mean? On an optimized system such as mine with only AV running in the background plus the OS itself and the game running, my system is at about 50% memory usage. After about an hour and a half my memory usage is close to 95%. This issue will cause your computer to slow dramatically as it starts to use the hard drive to supplement your main system memory. This will make the game slow and it will seem the game is "lagging". To combat this issue, it is recommended that you log off the game and shut it all the way down. Then restart the game and continue to play.

Please note that you can help yourselves by shutting down all other programs before you start to play this game. That includes your chat programs like Yahoo, MSN, Skype, etc., especially if you have under 1 GB of RAM. This will allow the game to run more free and longer before you need to restart it. Disney said they patched the leak in their latest update, but all they did was slow the memory leak. I have sent them proof that it is not fixed and I am sure they are working it.

Frame rate is something we can control to a certain extent. If you are experiencing choppy graphics (ie slow frame rate) right off the bat when you start to play you should evaluate your game graphic settings and your video card settings. First, set all the game graphic settings to its lowest settings and log into the game and go into a 'Quiet' ocean. Play the game for a bit and see how things are. If the graphics are still choppy (low frame rate), exit out of the game and check the properties of your graphic card. Most people either have a Nvidia or ATI graphics card. Use the Nvidia Control center or the Catalyst Control Center (For ATI) to adjust your cards settings. Find the area in your settings that relate to Performance and Quality. It they are set to 'Quality' or 'High Quality', lower that to 'Performance' or 'High Performance'. This is a global setting and will adjust all pertenant settings within the card. Then go reload the game and test again. If you have an older card (Nvidia 5000 series / ATI 9000 series or less) you may want to consider an upgrade if you can not improve the frame rate. My comments assume you have at least 512 MB to 1 GB+ of RAM and you are not running a bunch of programs in the backround while trying to play the game. Low main system memory and/or background programs can also cause frame rate issues if the CPU is overtaxed.

Any old time TTO testers here will attest to similar issues with TTO when it was young. Disney did get those issues fixed. Hopefully they get these issues fixed quick as we are now paying customers.

--JoG

[targ]

lol ok latest graphics? looks just like toontown now you would think that POTCO since it was made after the movie u could have more fun i mean look at all that violence in the movie and look at this i think they should have made this closre to LOTRO and alot of ppl will argue with me but Pirates of the Caribbean was made for teens and up there is a reason its rated PG-13 it should be a game like that as well

[Pirate Rose]

I agree with your lag issue. We're paying for this game now and we shouldn't have bad lag issues and disconnect issues. There are times when it's impossible to sail or fight enemies. And yes, I'm always having to go to quiet oceans.

As for the guilds, I love being in a guild. We're not friends in real life or anything like that. It's nice to be able to ask if anyone is on padres and be able to tp to them, or if you need help anything, you can just ask and someone will come to help you. Our guild has a forum to go to so we can post messages for guild get togethers and stuff. Bad to the Bones is a lot of fun.

[Allure]

look at all that violence in the movie and look at this i think they should have made this closre to LOTRO and alot of ppl will argue with me but Pirates of the Caribbean was made for teens and up there is a reason its rated PG-13 it should be a game like that as well

So basically...you want more gore? blood flying places? heads falling off?
How will that make the game any better?
I mean it's not like we're knocking things unconscious, we are killing things... you even get to hear the body thump.
I guess I'm not understanding where you're going with the more violence bit

[TopRamen]

I'm not having a problem with lag, so I can't complain about that, but there's a bunch I would have liked to be different:

-I agree, guilds are kinda pointless right now. I mean, If you're not friends anyways, you can't even tell who's on besides typing "Who's on" in guild chat. (It reminds me of way back when I first got AOL 2.0, when you had IM, but no buddy list , so you'd be like "you on?" and if you got no response, they weren't. But I digress.)

-I want more non-story quests! There's like 5 or something, and they all have pathetic rewards now that I'm at a mid-high level.

-Maybe not classes, but some way of customizing your character would be nice. Maybe different choices on weapons like lvl 1: axe or sword, lvl 5 gun or voodoo, etc. Right now, replay value=0.

-Changing costumes! I thought that we would be able to change costumes, get hook hands, peg legs, etc... as we leveled up. As it is, the starting costume options are pathetic. (Maybe it's because I'm coming from City of Heroes, where you are just spoiled for costumes.

-Can you say /lfg?

-Better quests! After the 10th "go to Doc Grog" or "get 15 crab biles" quest, I get tired of it! Put some original thinking into the quests people!

Sorry for the rant...

I'm sure there's more that I don't like, but I can't think of it right now. Unless one or more of these resquests is filled, I'm canceling before the first month is through. It's all so... repetative. I don't know about you, but the fun factor is diminishing for me and Pirates of the Burning Sea is coming out in January.

[Cannon Mad Dan]

LOTRO is a joke, so don't say Pirates should be more like it. I wouldn't pay five a month for that game.

The lag depends on your machine mostly. If the lag is skipping around, as if your graphics card was weak/ram is low, it is most likely a processor problem. I don't know if anyone else has checked, but in Alt+control+Delete, mine used to say it was taking 100% CPU power. Since I enabled hyperthreading, it's 50%. Still choppy, though. You need a dual-core CPU to run this game well without it being choppy, or so I gather from what I've seen. My machine would handle it, I think, if my processor was stronger. The minimum requirements that the crew gives you are totally wrong.

There is SOME lag with the servers. However, I don't have that problem and I don't know why anyone else would. If you have a problem it's likely to do with your end, not the Pirates crew messing up somewhere.

The fighting is fine. I don't agree with not shooting at Navy, or even other Pirates, but I understand that this is a Disney game. It's obvious that the code doesn't prohibit that, but that child protection laws suggest it. Shooting dead things and animals is okay, but not people. Dumb philosophy, but it's what they think.


Arguments aside, I like the game right now. I've got a War Frigate in Open, I'm having a blast sailing with it. The sailing is the most well done feature of the game, by far, and that's how it should be. The combat is decent, I think a better, more engaging way to do it would be to have some sort of scroll bar that has a marker going back and forth, and the point at which you click or hit control moves with each swing so you have to concentrate instead of just get a basic rythm down. But, that wouldn't work on many internet connections, including mine, so the current way is the best they could make it. The skills are decent, some are just a waste of points, but they'll be buffed soon, I think. People complain about the story not being complete, well, that's why this game is 500MB and World of Warcraft is 5-10 GB. They'll add as time goes, but I'm sure they didn't expect anyone to rip through the game in the first week it was released. Some quests are bugged, which will be fixed. There are more pressing matters than that 25 gold that Sam Seabones says he'll give you for finding an earring. It's not a major issue. It doesn't hinder progression. The story quests that don't give you the items are more specific than the quest text says, and I'm sure they'll update it. But, we can do with it now, so let them work on the crashing bugs, the server optomization, and the exploits that people are using. As of right now I'm having more fun than I'd be having in a big budget MMO that has the resources to continue pumping out content every day, like WoW, because Pirates is all about fun. We don't trade because it would turn into the Warcraft nerdfest that is WoW. "hay, gime swurd, i ned 2 b strongser" isn't something we need right now. In the future, it's possible. But the game just released, so don't be too critical yet.

[JoG]

Originally Posted by Cannon Mad Dan

But the game just released, so don't be too critical yet.

I and all others pay for the right to be critical. This game should have stayed in beta for a bit longer before going gold. I email bug reports on every single playing session and that is something I should not have to pay for. I certainly don't expect perfection but the list of issues is quite long and several should have been fixed prior to going gold.

--JoG

[Cannon Mad Dan]

By all means, don't pay anymore. If you're not happy with where your money is going, don't whine and moan about it.

This game has been in development since the first movie came out. Fans have anticipated it for a long time. The crew at VR has been a ton of time into making this game so that people would be pleased. They wanted to launch it soon to make the fans happy.

They didn't put all of their time and effort into the game for pessimists like you to pick it apart bit by bit and reveal the bad. Notice I said "Too" in that quote. You are being TOO critical. I have no problem with the game. People like you bug the hell out of me. "Oh, whine whine, it crashed! Whine whine, this game sucks!"

Get a grip. This is the most fun MMO I've played. If you don't enjoy it, don't pay for it, but don't use your money as an excuse to demand that things happen. You have a choice in the matter.

[Trevinator]

honestly, it has come out like a week ago, give it time. It is basically still in beta!
They will fix all these things for sure.

[HaveAMagicalDay]

I think the game is great! There's some things that need improving though!!!!

The lag is the biggest problem, and they keep saying it's our fault, which it's not.

You can't do "much". All you can do is sail, do quests, and level up your weapons. They should let us change clothing, make our own ships, and TRADING the items we get, instead of exchanging it to gold! We should have the choice if we want to trade it, or sell it! If we traded for something that's worth a good amount of gold, we could sell it for more gold! Or, if we could show it off in a sense to show ppl what we have, that would be nice.

We should have our own place, kind of like a house, or a Guild place, where only our guilde members could go to.

The game WAS NOT ready to go live!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It has too many bugs on quests, and other things, making people not pay, and yes, I've seen people say that they won't pay because of the bugs/glitches, thus, causing Disney to lose money. They should have thought about it before they opened it, and listened to other people's comments.

But I really do like the game, but it needs improvements

~Cpt.Sea

[Vandelay]

I actually agree with a lot of the criticisms here, but I also keep in mind that lots of MMOs have faced problems (lag, bugs, etc.) shortly after launch. Just to remind people of one example:

"World of Warcraft wracked by problems", January 2005
http://www.gamespot.com/pc/rpg/world...s_6116566.html

I'm trying to be patient, I'm purposely NOT rushing thru all the quests, simply because I don't want to be "done" with the game in a month, and because I want to see what improvements they make during the first few weeks.

[TopRamen]

[QUOTE=Trevinator;14551]It is basically still in beta![QUOTE]


...and this is the problem! I'll agree, what they have so far is a very solid BASE to work up from. Sailing's fun, every thing else is just OK, as far as I'm concerned. Who wants to play a game that's all sailing?

They need some CONTENT! (Not to mention making sure everything actually WORKS)

I'll admit, $5 for what's basically a month of a DEMO isn't bad, but I can't see myself playing beyond that.

[Cannon Mad Dan]

I did see the point of your quote. You're not happy that you've paid for a product that isn't satisfactory. If that is the case, it is your right to stop paying. However, if you want to be a pessimist and rip apart the game, you can do it elsewhere because that type of opinion isn't needed here.

How was my initial reply childish? I saw whining. I'm not going to put my deepest thoughts and feelings into this post. What I saw was you picking apart the game and saying it isn't worth paying for.