Current News July 14 '09

[Batleth]

Pirates Online Community Update July 14, 2009

For the past several months, the Pirates Online development team has been focused on improving game performance and repairing the foundation of Pirates Online. Read more about what we've been working on and why. This was important because before we add anything to Pirates Online, the game must be able to support it.

What do you think of the improvements to the player experience? Are you ready for new features and content, or do we still need to focus on game performance?


Digging For New Treasures July 14, 2009


Ship Customization. The Kraken. Loot & Inventory. Pirate Lairs. New Islands. New Quests. We have gotten a lot of good ideas from you, our players. Now which of these are you looking forward to the most?

[Aaron McEagle]

Ohhhhh... they making me more mad. They telling us whats coming but not WHEN!
When are they coming!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Dr. Zeppers]

I have no doubt they are working hard on it.
I understand their approach as far as improving game performance first, makes sense (but I think they need a new engine to be serious about that).
I understand how many of the things they did should help game performance, unfortunately I have not seen game performance change, the times I lagged before, I lag still.
I do not understand why they would continue to work on, and improve the new player experience, when the new players have plenty of content and curiousity to keep them going, meanwhile the established players remain shelved and are falling 'off' the shelf at a quick enough rate that it draws concern.

I do think they have all the great things we want in store for us, however it does not appear things are going to happen in the amount of time that we want them to.

Thanks for your hard work big D, now how bout a 'lil help?'
We're getting bored!!!!

[Basil Dreadflint]

Originally Posted by Batleth

Ship Customization. The Kraken. Loot & Inventory. Pirate Lairs. New Islands. New Quests. We have gotten a lot of good ideas from you, our players. Now which of these are you looking forward to the most?

Everyone has their favorite things, pet peeves, and personal ideas. Most are going to say the Kraken, since that is ALWAYS a hot topic. Most of what's listed is stuff that really won't satify the true players. We were told back in December that Loot and Inventory would be increased early this year, but in truth, that will add very little to the gaming experience. If they raise the gold cap from 65K to 100K it just means that everyone will be maxed again in about 2 weeks, and complaining about it. Ship customiztion, no matter how detailed it gets, is a one or two time thing, and then the thrill is gone. New islands are worthless without new things to do on those islands. And even the Kraken will lose it's appeal in a short time, Just like Behemoth's, Juggernaut's, etc. Once you figure out how to beat it, it isn't a big deal anymore.
New quests could be something as simple as the Father's Day quest. Notice, nowhere in here does it mention the REAL items: Second story chapter, or increased notoriety and weapons caps. This is the only thing that we should be asking for. Develop the next story chapter!

One last thing, for all of you rumor mongers: Read the very first line of the OP.

For the past several months, the Pirates Online development team has been focused on improving game performance and repairing the foundation of Pirates Online.

This tells you that they HAVE NOT been concentrating on NEW content! Don't expect anything soon!!

[Chris]

I agree with basil they have been so busy fixing their screw ups and maybe they have finally finished and can work on new screw ups i mean content.

[Maximvs]

Originally Posted by Developer Diary #15

You told us in surveys that the game's performance wasn't as good as you thought it should be, so we immediately set the development team on fixing the foundation of the game before adding more stuff to it. For instance, we redesigned the major islands and made other graphics changes (like avatars) to improve players' game performance.

We also wanted to improve the early player experience and open the game up to lots more players. For that, we created better quest lines, added new Tutorial hints and improved the Ray of Light. And, since so many players were frustrated that they couldn't reach other islands without a teleport totem, we added Stowaway as a transportation option.

Now that we're done with these improvements, we're back to creating awesome content.

Well, guess I'll weigh in on this I've been silent the past few months simply because I've been much busier in real life - and repeating myself from discussions in many threads over time I found was just not going anywhere...

---

First, though I understand the need to fix major bugs within the game (such as the gold glitch not too long ago - fun - yes - realistic - no...) I don't believe the town re-makes and the character re-dos have improved performance to any great degree. The areas which needed fixing are still the most neglected - PvP and SvS. These two areas could of been HUGE areas to spend countless hours in yet are so full of bugs and issues even today that everyone just wants new story content because no one is entertained by these bugged but what could of been huge draws for players. Otheh 'bugs' players cared less about which didn't hurt the overall gameplay goals they hunted down relentlessly while ignoring valid player affected bugs...

Score: 3/10
Pros: For those 10yr olds using their parents hand-me-down computers maybe some improvement
Cons: Many play on decent computers - and never did resolve the big issues of PvP, SvS, and basically large pirate gatherings.

---

Second, though I'm sure there has been some improvement to the 'quest lines' - many a pirate made it through the 'orginal' lines without issue - and the addition of side quests was only a waste for those who have been sitting mastered for over a year or longer. Though the addition of a few new side quests would of been understandable - the need to create the amount they did with no reward (both in getting no REP for them and in getting useless weapons which only hurt your ability to get more REP later... when it ever arrives) only continued to show the lack of understanding between players wants (New Story Quest, Fix PvP and SvS, and increase options such as gold, clothing, ships, REP, the REAL useful things) and the developers need to focus on useless items. Add the REP first - so the side quests would mean something (?!? not THAT hard to do the math).

In fact, now with 'stoways' - the need to level up will actually become skewed as pirates do not get the needed experience or REP required at younger levels when they need it later on.

Score: 3/10
Pros: Sure, the Ray of Light is nice...
Cons: Useless Quests Earning No REP, Inflicting Skewed Levelling (On An Already Backwards REP Levelling System of Weaker = Better???)

---

Finally, almost two years.... TWO YEARS... and now we may see some 'new content' before the 'end of summer'. When others arrive and wonder why are the graphics so shotty yet we (and by 'we' I mean 'they' and their other games) got new content in 8 Months - when others have left the game long ago to persue other games which actually have a content schedule and expand at least more than once every TWO YEARS - when content ran out so long ago that guilds, who once worked together on quests in groups to try and accomplish goals are at each other throats due to lack of something to do - when the bordem of others from no content actually allows them to cook up mind games and destroy guilds from the inside out happens, destroying what few players have stayed - and for TWO YEARS many players have been posting and giving them ideas yet they NOW want us to post them again?!?!

Score 2/10
Pros: Not much for two years, but I'm sure a few exist
Cons: What? The Thousands Of Pirates saying NEW CONTENT over TWO YEARS was not clear enough?!?

---

Summary:

Will the new content come? Yes. Will it be soon? I think so. Will it be exciting? Sure Will we play on? You betcha...

But so much has been lost, so much as been ignored, so much... could have been done SO MUCH BETTER than where we are today. If D really wants to start improving the game - they had better stop sticking their heads in the sand ignoring players, start reading and listening to what they want, and start delivering...

Originally Posted by POTCO

Ship Customization. The Kraken. Loot & Inventory. Pirate Lairs. New Islands. New Quests. We have gotten a lot of good ideas from you, our players. Now which of these are you looking forward to the most?

ALL OF IT, and ya better be snappy 'cause your WAY BEHIND!

[Crazypirate]

Amazingly spot on Max couldnt have said it better myself!

[toanuju22]

Well if i wasn't posting i would be swearing at the game developers!
2 bloody years of nonsense! why should they even have to ask us what we want most we all know we want everything! a new story chapter would keep people busy for a while with raised notoriety and weapon lvls long enough for them to finish the kraken and ship customization. I'm tired of hearing boring updates for noobs and beginners.

Q:Why was the percentage symbol taken out?

A:Because the game is getting full of noobs and young players that don't understand percentages.

Q:Why is POTCO full of low lvls now more then ever?

A:Because Disney made POTCO in a way that the people that would finally max their pirate out fully would get to be bored till new content came, while they got more new players.

Q:Why does Disney want more young players and more players that might not even pay for the game?

A:Because Disney thinks little kids get whatever they want (which they mostly do)
but we! WE ARE THE HEART OF THE GAME WITHOUT US PAYING THERE WOULD BE NO POTCO!

Q:When will Disney change its ways?

A:As soon as they run out of money from the paid subscribers like us and the people that only buy a month subscription. (QED not for a while should we expect to see all this stuff maybe not till 2012)

[Stephen O'Malley]

Originally Posted by Maximvs

=First, though I understand the need to fix major bugs within the game (such as the gold glitch not too long ago - fun - yes - realistic - no...)

Pff! Don't talk about realistic with me! If it were realistic, I would have ROBBED that Tailor of 65K a LONG LONG time ago!

[Beorn]

I just want to draw attention to a slightly depressing comment made on the Grog Blog.

Simon Darkshot
Arr! The Kraken is the one I've been waiting for the most! I can't wait to see the beastie in the game.

ADMIN GM Cayman Trench
Simon, in this thread we're asking you to choose the one thing that you would like to see us work on next. While some design and development work has been done on Kraken and ship customization, neither are planned for the immediate future. To get a sneak peek at what the Pirates Online development team is currently working and is planned for future releases, take a look at the most recent Developer Diary .

[Shnoodell]

-------------------------------------

When will you get your hands on all this cool stuff? Game development is a unique art, and like any art, it takes time to get right. Hopefully, you'll see some of these additions before the end of summer. Leading up to that we'll add new quests and GM hosted events starting in July that will introduce many of these changes. Plus, we're bringing back your favorite events (by request) from the past year. All of these things will drive new stories and adventures, putting YOU in the center of these world-changing events.

-------------------------------------

Should we give in and gets our hopes up?

[Nelly Darkpaine]

Not to sound rude, but I could care less about GM hosted events. All they are is server lagging, people clusters with little, err.. no purpose. Get those GM hosts programming, LOL and let them blow off playing - it does nothing for us players to play with GM's who have likely never spent 4 hours leveling grenades and know little of actual game play aside from testing.

Don't get too excited... did you see this response on the site from an admin?

July 14, 2009 11:47AM
ADMIN GM Cayman Trench
ADMIN

"Simon, in this thread we're asking you to choose the one thing that you would like to see us work on next. While some design and development work has been done on Kraken and ship customization, neither are planned for the immediate future. To get a sneak peek at what the Pirates Online development team is currently working and is planned for future releases, take a look at the most recent Developer Diary ."

[CarribeanThunder]

Thrall Captain! That sounds awesome, especially since the guy looks like ( Kelpbrain ) he has Bladestorm. Hehehe.... time to lay off Remmington for a few, and get ready for Thrall Captain's appearance.

[akamystic]

Only time will tell.........

[Eliza Creststeel]

Nelly,

Definitely agree that GM-hosted events are far from what most of us want. And this latest 'admission' by Cayman is rather depressing in regards to their sudden big push that things would be getting better soon.

This is called 'Bait and Switch'. They post a big announcement - "Hey great new stuff coming soon, including the Kraken, ship custominzation, etc. - oh a few minor things too" - when the MINOR stuff is what we're going to get.

Classic retail sales. Have the big ad with the BIG TV for $200.00, but when you get there - there aren't any, but you can get this one for more or the junky one for that price.

STOP ASKING US WHAT WE WANT, Disney. YOU KNOW WHAT WE WANT! If you can't deliver - then pump up the stuff you can. Don't try and sell me something you DON'T HAVE. I will happily take higher caps, bigger inventory, some more minor quests or even a lame chapter 2.