What I see as the results of the 10/16/ 08 "upgrade" release

[Basil Dreadflint]

The new weapons (level 5) quests are absolutely useless to anyone who already is high level. A level 40 pirate already has high level skills, and is maxed notoriety, so what use is it to spend 8 hours game time to acquire a doll that gives an extra 4 points damage? No increase in Notoriety, no increase in weapon level, and a total of ZERO points earned doing the quest for a weapon that is virtually the same as the one you already have!

The changes to the fence at KH, and Hex Eater shot, have made it impossible to level grenades. They are a virtually worthless weapon to begin with, and now, the only way to use them is throw one, then pull your cutlass, because the enemy will be in your face the moment the first nade goes off. Unless you are going to throw nades at your feet, you will only get one toss per enemy. The Fence at KH was the ONLY place ingame where you had some minor protection, and a chance to level up nades.

The ruining of Hex Eater shot has MANY, MANY effects. Hex was the best way to level almost all of the other weapons! Using hex to stun gave you the ability to switch weapons and gain rep on 3 or 4 weapons at once. Now, hex is almost worthless, and I will be reassigning my skill points away from hex and to other areas on pistol.

The removal of the "Flagship" invulnerability was probably long overdue, but it has bad effects on other areas of the game. Now, it will be almost impossible to sail alone for any length of time, and truely impossible to sail alone to work cannon! So, leveling sail and cannon is going to be much harder, and require way more teamwork! You will not be able to work grenades at sea anymore, and there is no longer any reason to shoot a ships sails off.

The new visual effects are nice. YAY! Sarcasm!!!! I really didn't care if the stars twinkled in the night sky! So spending all that time to drive the graphics a little better was a waste in my opinion.

The dagger changes are absolutely rediculous!
"Back slash" you get one chance to use it before the enemy turns to face you! YAY! then, you get reduced damage for the rest of the time he is facing you and cutting you to ribbons! I won't even discuss the stupidity in the use of dagger to cause unattunement or loss of concentration! The ONLY place this could possibly be of any use is in PvP.

The new ship boarding interfaces are the only game improvement in the entire release! As captain, I immediately set it to Crew and Guild only,, yet I can change it to allow a friend on board. I will never LEAVE it at friend, since that allows all friends of ANYONE that is onboard, not just the captain. The new interface at the dingy is also much nicer!

A few other things I have noticed: Undead French Leiutenants no longer use doll, they use cutlass, and you can't attack just one at a time, they come at you in groups of 2 or 3. So, although you are level 30, and they are level 18, you better have tonics or a healer, otherwise the 3 of them are going to send you to jail!

Same in ither places, You attack one enemy, but 3 of them attack you back! This is in places this never used to happen.

Running through Misty Mire, Tortuga, a Giant Crab locked on me and followed me from end to end and back! I deliberately kept going to see if/when it would disengage. It never did! Enemies are engaging from much further away, and not disengaging if you run away from them.

Tonics don't always work! I hit the tonic button, watched my health go up, and 2 strokes of the enemy later, went to jail. In jail, my health was maxed, and the groggy bar was cutting my health bar in two!

ALL IN ALL, I give this upgrade a D-. Disney did a farily terrible job on this one! If the next MAJOR upgrade degrades the game as much as this one did, I doubt I will renew my account!