OPEN release notes 2/25/09

[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.

[Edward Edgemenace]

I wonder how many tech support people have gone postal, so far, because of "You are already there!"

[Poison elf]

Yippee-chi-eh (sure that isn't spelled right, but hey a good start for this)

I have written in a few reports just on this subject. Really wish there was some sort of contact interaction of whats going on in some of these areas between testers and development. It appears that is just a no go.

This is not as bad as the PR release I would agree to that, leaving the svs glitch. This is the way they do things, and for some of ya seeing this now maybe for a first time, there is nothing we can do but go with the flow.

People with all different type of machines and connections are going to see different things. That being said, there are still to many things on a grand scale unattended to.

Some are not going to see such a effect in things like compass, unless they really go through some testing. This requires using sloops, frigates, galleons, and different sizes. I mentioned on helm War galleon was really a mess. There was a update after that and never got back out on it. Taking this out to padres with all the eitc there, it didn't do to bad with giant targets. Take it by Tortuga, it was like shooting at a fly through thick glass. In other words showing up on radar in normal range, and not reaching it, when in range shooting a broadside was like shooting a sawed off shot gun and a couple hits if that hitting the target.

Bigger factor I saw though, is any ship spawn after you were out on your ship would not register on compass and perhaps directly behind where you are looking.

Some things on the post notes I didn't see fixed. Such as whispers, yesterday doing whispers and not seeing what I sent and if/if not it went through.

Several other previously mentioned things still in effect, like gold stars appearing on players.

I can go invulnerable like three different ways still, so jail door is really a minor fix to what is still out there.

Tortuga coming out as a new area, has at least a couple wall glitches into hill/rock type things, as well as portals into a place like this.

As well as still things from last update still not straighten out, first thing to mind is the chat and to esc or to expand to use F12 and/or F9 for a pic. As well as pic's still not working in a sequence, at least on my machine.

So is it playable, yes. Is it now ready for the huge hoped for next story chapter, or character content. Not for a while while all this gets yet straighten out compounding on itself, and possibly more Island updates still to come.

[akamystic]

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

I wonder how many tech support people have gone postal, so far, because of "You are already there!"

Wait....perhaps there is an positive side to this. I can stay home from work tomorrow....and when they call me I'll say "I'm already there!"

[The Skirata Clan]

I'm glad that there are testers out there... sorry fellow pirates... why do they bother opening test invites? why test at all?!? I hate to repeat this but it happened before and it will happen again... they won't care about all the reports that the testers point out. No wonder why the test servers felt deserted. No wonder why they want new fools.. hmm.... I mean testers. Thanks to all who try to make the game better by testing. I'm sorry that your time and efforts are rendered useless by disney. I hope that one dat they actually listen to all of you.

[Edward Edgemenace]

Memory leaks seems to be much more severe today, than yesterday. Sailing with compass zoomed out eats 200MB per minute.

Login time is now over 2 minutes, just to see my pirates selection screen. 4 minutes to get onto Port Royal.

New sailing invincibility: launch, zoom out compass, then land, then launch. Any ships that were on compass when you landed, will not attack you nor shoot at you.

[The Skirata Clan]

is your game as messed up as mine? all of the menu items are messed up... here is the skills menu...

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by The Skirata Clan

is your game as messed up as mine? all of the menu items are messed up... here is the skills menu...

No. Log out, then clear your "cache" folder and the problem goes away. Cache folder is a subdirectory under PiratesOnline on your computer.

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

New sailing invincibility: launch, zoom out compass, then land, then launch. Any ships that were on compass when you landed, will not attack you nor shoot at you.

Looks like ANY ship you get on compass before you land, will glitch-ignore you when you next launch. The AI behavior is exactly the same as the old "grapple-n-run flagship" invincibility. No matter how many times you shoot them, they will pretend you are not there.

[Luvbug]

Testers know that they will release before we are satisfied with the product. They have been for the over 5 yrs I've been a Disney tester... it's the nature of the beast. I found last night my lag was considerably less than it had been but I have learned to load the update, log on to a pirate, then log out and reboot before attempting to play. The Jugs regenerating on top of ships by PDF I think is perhaps the one thing I thought they would fix before this one went to open... but the rest of it really is not that huge. We have been reporting the compass being off for months, and they really don't seem to see it as an issue. They had decided long ago the day they would release it to "live", and all we can do is to attempt to let them know the issues that we find. They fixed the compass from what it was the night before... obviously it is the way they want it. With test being a small server, there is no real way for us to test the broad spectrum of different computers that open will experience. There is also no real way for them to test the volume of players on the live server on test. The server is small, and we all have seen what happens there when they add a ton of new pirates. The ratio of kid/adult is also quite skewed on test... testers that remain on test tend to be at least teens, usually adults. Adults are not as prone to trying to find glitches. So... in my opinion, we did our job. We tested, we reported, they made the decision. Being a tester is sometimes a thankless job, but I would like to thank all the new testers who tried to make the game better before it went to open. The ones who tried to play the game, not exploit the glitches. Welcome to the world of test... it's a tough job, but somebody has to do it.

Skip

[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-

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by Luvbug

...Being a tester is sometimes a thankless job, but I would like to thank all the new testers who tried to make the game better before it went to open. The ones who tried to play the game, not exploit the glitches...

I'm sorry, but I don't understand your perspective at all. I go to very great lengths to exploit (and report) as many glitches on test as time allows. I have helped other exploit glitches on test, to speed-level, so that they can test things like instant desolation. I have helped others exploit glitches on test to speed-quest-level, so that they can test things like the boss battle.

TEST is the place for pure chaos, NOT OPEN. Anyone that thinks restraint is appropriate on TEST, does not belong on TEST at all. Politeness and courtesy are the rule of the day...that needs to remain the single most important factor there.

[Sven Niscadae]

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

TEST is the place for pure chaos, NOT OPEN. Anyone that thinks restraint is appropriate on TEST, does not belong on TEST at all.

I would beg to differ a bit. As well as testing for bugs and exploits, testing of ordinary gameplay has to be done as well which requires going through the game as a reasonable/normal person would on Open. Sometimes you do have that wacky and obscure bug that someone who is looking for bugs may overlook.

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by Sven Niscadae

I would beg to differ a bit. As well as testing for bugs and exploits, testing of ordinary gameplay has to be done as well which requires going through the game as a reasonable/normal person would on Open. Sometimes you do have that wacky and obscure bug that someone who is looking for bugs may overlook.

Well, that's the point, isn't it? You never know what someone else is testing, so politeness is the rule. Are they speed-levelling? Are they straight-gaming? Since you don't know, the best one can do is ASK. But either way, that sort of chaos belongs on TEST not on OPEN. Certainly, no one ever should be taken to task, for exploiting a glitch. Taken to task for being rude or impolite, yes. But not ever for doing glitches...neither reproducing nor exploiting to level. That's exactly what test is for.

[Sven Niscadae]

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

Well, that's the point, isn't it? You never know what someone else is testing, so politeness is the rule. Are they speed-levelling? Are they straight-gaming? Since you don't know, the best one can do is ASK. But either way, that sort of chaos belongs on TEST not on OPEN. Certainly, no one ever should be taken to task, for exploiting a glitch. Taken to task for being rude or impolite, yes. But not ever for doing glitches...neither reproducing nor exploiting to level. That's exactly what test is for.

Well, yes, I would have to agree there. I must have misunderstood the context of what you were disagreeing with Luvbug about. No worries then. People will test the game in different ways. Glitch your heart out. Testing the higher end game needs done too and if one needs a way to level up to get there faster to test it, so be it. That is, until Disney fixes those bugs. Don't keel over laughing at that statement though. Oy...

[jason davy]

Originally Posted by The Skirata Clan

is your game as messed up as mine? all of the menu items are messed up... here is the skills menu...

Yes, it's the Mac thing again.
Finder
Applications
Pirates Online
Show package content
Expand Mac OS
Expand cache folder
Delete all of its contents (it was 956 items for me)

Should fix it, same as last time.

Whoever decided to release this already is an IDIOT. Didn't see this coming.... (yeah right)

EDIT: whoops, didn't see that Ed already answered that question, sorry