Test Release Notes - April 18 2008

[Stormrunner]

Release Notes - April 18 2008

• Added level 4 weapon upgrades for Sword, Pistol, Dagger, Voodoo Doll, and Voodoo Staff. You will receive new weapon upgrades through new quest lines. *Update: these are currently turned off as we modify the way you will obtain these quests.*
• Can now purchase ammo pouches. These pouches allows you to carry more ammo (i.e. bullets, cannonballs, daggers, grenades) than the base amount.
• Made it easier to find a crew using your crew panel. To open your crew panel, hit the F key, and then press the "Crew" button. You can now:
  • Create a crew: Crew Options -> Start A
  • Crew Search for crewmates (once you’ve started a crew): Crew Options -> Recruit Crewmates. There are also advanced options for more discerning captains.
  • Join someone else's crew: Crew Options -> Search For A Crew
  • Let others near you know that you are looking for a crew: Crew Options -> Looking For Crew
• Added better bonuses for crewing. The notoriety bonus is 20% for a crew of 2, and it ramps up to max bonus of 100% for an 8 person crew. Note: you currently receive the bonus no matter where your crewmates are. We are likely going to change this so the bonus only applies to crewmates in your nearby zone. We'd love to hear your feedback on this!
• Improved whisper functionality.
  • Chat panel remains in whisper mode as long as player doesn't click X or try to reply to an absent avatar
  • By pressing Alt-Enter, you can automatically whisper to the player that most recently whispered to you
  • Chat panel provides more feedback when sending a whisper to someone who went away
• Modified the way NPC's target their attackers: they used to attack the person that first attacked them, but now will switch between attacking the person doing the most damage and others nearby that are doing damage. We will likely modify this after doing some more play testing. Again, we'd love to hear your feedback on this!
• Removed groggy penalty until you reach level 10 in order to make the early player experience a bit smoother
• Shortened the length of the groggy penalty
• Shortened recharge time for tonics
• Moved tonics to the first tab in the gypsy cart to make them easier to find
• Added "Welcome Worlds" for players coming out of Rambleshack. These worlds are separate instances and only contain Port Royal. Once a player gets on a ship for the first time, he/she will be placed in one of the main servers.
• Added /event command so you can see what events are in progress and how much time is remaining. Type /event into your chat panel to activate this feature.
• Fixed a bug that was allowing strangers on your ship. Only friends and crewmates of the ship's captain should now be able to board.
• Added new animations and a panel describing your reward when unlocking a new weapon.
• Added new quests to receive jewelry and tattoos that you can not buy in shops:
  • "Spy Trouble"
    • Receive from Perla Alodia, Jeweler on Padres Del Fuego
  • "Black Market"
    • Receive from Mercedes Corazon, Tattoo Artist on Padres Del Fuego
  • "Eliminating The Competition"
    • Receive from Dajin Ming, Jeweler on Tortuga
  • "Lala's Brother"
    • Receive from Lala Lovel, Tattoo Artist on Tortuga
  • "Smitty's Sickness"
    • Receive from Jeweler Smitty, Jeweler on Port Royal
  • "Family Valuables"
    • Receive from Solomon O'Dougal, Tattoo Artist on Port Royal
  • "Precious Treasures"
    • Receive from Perla Alodia, Jeweler on Padres Del Fuego
  • "Picking Up The Slack"
    • Receive from Dajin Ming, Jeweler on Tortuga
  • "Smitty's Debt"
    • Receive from Jeweler Smitty, Jeweler on Port Royal
  • "Special Ink"
    • Receive from Solomon O'Dougal, Tattoo Artist on Port Royal
  • "Lala's Neighbors"
    • Receive from Lala Lovel, Tattoo Artist on Tortuga
  • "Helping Mercedes Corazon"
    • Receive from Mercedes Corazon, Tattoo Artist on Padres Del Fuego

Known Issues - April 18 2008

• If you sink during the Black Pearl Boss Battle, you will get stuck at a loading screen.
  • Workaround: you will have to close your window and log in again.

I'm glad to see so many updates to the game at one time. Shows that they really are seriously working at making it better. Well done, PotCO!