Test Release Notes - July 16, 2009

[Sven Osymthe]

Other Sven may be good at edits, but that is no edit. Nice find.

[swashbuckler II]

Noone can edit THAT good....
Edit: 50 beats 49

[Chris]

Oh I cant wait for them to get on open so I can get my level 40 to battle it

[Sven Osymthe]

Swash wants to be a pain and post the Lv50, so i'll post the result...

[swashbuckler II]

Note: I also attacked a level 41? Seabeard, and 1 hit killed me with thrust doing 1243 damage or somewhere in that range, That could mean a bladestorm can 1 hit kill a level 40

[MacIronhawk]

Originally Posted by swashbuckler II

Noone can edit THAT good....
Edit: 50 beats 49

On my second pirate, that Urchinfist is going to be my favorite enemy. Probably because they'll give such good grenade rep.

Originally Posted by swashbuckler II

Note: I also attacked a level 41? Seabeard, and 1 hit killed me with thrust doing 1243 damage or somewhere in that range, That could mean a bladestorm can 1 hit kill a level 40

Swash, I was with four level forty pirates when they were playing and I was able to watch them. One guy killed a level 42 Seabeard and his health went down to 300. That's without using a tonic. I died in one hit when I went to use the doll on the Seabeard.(My pirate is a level 12 and has 501 HP.

Maybe there's a bug that allows them to do that much damage? Either way, that's too much damage for one hit. I'll send some feedback on that if I see thrust do that. Hopefully they'll reduce the damage, or give us a huge boost on our HP.

[Sven Osymthe]

I'm not so sure its a glitch. I'm pretty sure that it only did that much damage because of this. When someone is a low lvl, and they attack a high lvl, they always deal damage less than normal. Makes a little bit of sense to do more damage if your the higher lvl. Also have to remember, its over a 30 level difference, no way anyone could manage that.

Now if the thrust did that to a Lv40 pirate, that needs to be fixed. But according to Mac, a Lv40 took out a Seabeard with 300 health left. Seabeards tend to use thrust a lot, so i'm just gonna guess, Swash got hit with 1243 due to his level being so low, and the Lv40 took less damage for his level being high.

[musicalklutz]

Nice rationalizing, Sven. Makes sense. But still sucks :S

[CarribeanThunder]

Originally Posted by Sven Osymthe

Swash wants to be a pain and post the Lv50, so i'll post the result...

I knew you guys were doing SOMETHING. While you guys were loling 24/7, I was snooping around snapping pics of these guys. The first was that Lv50 that took your buddy out.
Oh, and Swash, nice job dealing with the Urchinfist .

[lostmymarbles]

A few notes regarding test:

1. They have made the enemies less aggressive. I made several runs through different areas while actually questing on test. Some enemies I could run right into and if I didn't attack them, they didn't attack me. They didn't attack in groups, and they didn't take as many pot shots at you as you were leaving the area. Even on Tormenta.. we were standing around near the mound next to the ships and the Urchinfists didn't attack until we shot at them. But yes...they have made some of them.. way more powerful.

2. Revive. Well... as a game advantage...I don't see it. If you get revived , you end up groggy. If you choose to go to jail, you don't end up groggy. If I'm playing in a crew that can't help heal me with their dolls, the best thing for me to do would be to go to jail and then teleport back into the battle. If you are the one doing the reviving, it's been debated, but I understand you end up using your own tonics on the unconscious (knocked out) friend. Now as a source of humor and creative expression.. Revive is hilarious.

3. Cave Bats: There are 3 on Port Royal. Not recalling the name.. I think it's King's Run. One is between those trees on the lower level and there are two up on the hill to the right of the waterfall as you look at it. (Know this cause I needed 10 of them tonight.)

4. The jump in the crate thing is hilarious.

5. When you teleport now, you hear a thunderclap. The first 5 times I was thinking "Okay...cool," but after each tp, it got really tedious.

6. Don't know if this is new.. but the tracking star becomes a big blob on you compass. It actually made my whole compass face a pale yellow.

Just my thoughts on the new stuff.

[Sarah]

I agree Kelly, revive needs some serious work.

-After dying and reviving countless times last night, seems I was the only one not running out of tonics, but everyone else was.
-Being Groggy after using revive, but not being groggy if you chose to go to jail seems utterly backwards to me. Not sure if that was the real intention of the feature. I added that in the report I sent last night.

Jumping in the crate is funny, but I don't see a point to the added animation. Eh


The compas is once again, completely messed up

[Bartholomew Foulsteel]

Perhaps the revive issue while being groggy allows you to continue work on the same beastie?

What I mean is this: if ye attack General Darkheart (for example) and get defeated, right now you go to jail, work or TP yer way back, and any damage you've done to him no longer counts. You MAY whittle him down, but it's only the LAST time you fight him and win that you get points for exp and Notoriety.

Now with revive, since ye never go anywhere, I'm guessing you would get full credit for defeating an enemy from first blow to last. I would guess the groggy factor is yer penalty, since ye didn't go to jail.

Just supposition at this point.

[Eliza Creststeel]

Not on test (Eliza's a potty mouth), but HEY they are making some real efforts here. Thoughts:

Revive - The critics have very good points on the Groggy vs. Jail issue. Seems to me that the ONLY time this would be an advantage is if a total stranger revives you and you had NO crew or Guildies to TP back to. If you're on TEST - let'em know WHY it don't make sense.

Higher Tormenta Baddies - Only downside, finishing the Black Pearl quest with the dig at the VERY back of the cavern is going to a LOT tougher on the average pirate, unless you have a 40 friend get there and you TP in. And if Seabeards (who I hate more than any other enemy) can whack out 1200+ damage, this might get into OVERKILL on the big D's part ('Oh, you want tough - WE'LL GIVE YOU TOUGH!')

Cut Animations - I actually WELCOME them as opposed to - it just happened- results. Brings a little more life to the game. They actually need more, but with a SKIP option like with the Pearl Battle. I think it'd be funny to watch a shipwright animation where they haul your sunk frigate out and patch the holes (like Yosemite Sam in that classic Bugs Bunny cartoon where Bugs kept sinking his ship all the time)

Looking forward to some of these changes making it to Open.

[Cheleszoo]

Originally Posted by Bartholomew Foulsteel

Perhaps the revive issue while being groggy allows you to continue work on the same beastie?

What I mean is this: if ye attack General Darkheart (for example) and get defeated, right now you go to jail, work or TP yer way back, and any damage you've done to him no longer counts. You MAY whittle him down, but it's only the LAST time you fight him and win that you get points for exp and Notoriety.

Now with revive, since ye never go anywhere, I'm guessing you would get full credit for defeating an enemy from first blow to last. I would guess the groggy factor is yer penalty, since ye didn't go to jail.

Just supposition at this point.

Could be Bart, Nothing is more annoying than almost defeating that big boss (especially if it's gonna lvl you up) and then going to jail.

But that aside, I think it's not really that useful, personally (as it is in it's current form that is.)

The main reason I say this is because whoever is reviving you is vulnerable to attack. It takes time, like searching a crate. So you gonna pause attacking the creature to make yourself vulnerable for a buddy that can just go to jail and then TP back. The TP back is the clincher for me. If a "jailed" pirate was not able to get back to the battle right away, then i can see a use for it that would be worth the risk. (I always thought they should make TPing to people that are in battle the same as with boarding flagships. Say they are unvailable ATM. But then again that last minute cry for help and getting saved comes in handy. Guess you can't have it both ways).

I see it more as an amusement or something to do when you have a big crew and someone is available for "reviving", and then I'd really like to see them with a bucket of water so they can dump it on "downed" pirates head. Now that would be funny. They are unconscious right? What better way to wake them up.

I know going to jail you don't get groggy and being revived you do. When they fix the jail bug, what difference is it really going to make? Unless they reverse it so that reviving prevents the grog. Then i can see even more merit in it.

idk, pardon my early morning rambling if it doesn't make sense.

[Sven Niscadae]

Originally Posted by Eliza Creststeel

Revive - The critics have very good points on the Groggy vs. Jail issue. Seems to me that the ONLY time this would be an advantage is if a total stranger revives you and you had NO crew or Guildies to TP back to. If you're on TEST - let'em know WHY it don't make sense

Regarding not being groggy when coming out of jail, I did send them a report on that. I would expect that going to jail would make you groggy. Aside from the in-game hint telling me I was (though I wasn't), it would be so easy to TP back to someone in crew within seconds of breaking down the jail cell door. With full health and no side effects? I think they just overlooked something in the code. I fully welcome being groggy when sent to jail. It just makes more sense.

Seems there's a bug with the Revive and using tonics. When I revived someone, my tonic quantity on my HUD decreased but my tonic quantity on the weapons/inventory screen (I key) did not. Not until I actually used one on myself did the quantity of tonics adjust itself.

I see this feature as good news for those baby pirates who tag along on flagship who would have died as soon as the melee broke out. Haven't tested what happens when someone is knocked out on a flagship and then the fight ends. Are they flung back onto their ship or sent to jail?

Higher Tormenta Baddies - Only downside, finishing the Black Pearl quest with the dig at the VERY back of the cavern is going to a LOT tougher on the average pirate, unless you have a 40 friend get there and you TP in. And if Seabeards (who I hate more than any other enemy) can whack out 1200+ damage, this might get into OVERKILL on the big D's part ('Oh, you want tough - WE'LL GIVE YOU TOUGH!')

Oh no, a challenge! Can't have that? Actually, they did lower the aggression of the baddies as stated in the release notes. We noticed that you can get a lot closer to enemies now and they won't attack you unless provoked. Example is one of my guildies above said about Tormenta. I also was on Devil's Anvil (where they've added to the giant scorpion population) with my brand new baby pirate and walked RIGHT NEXT to one of them and it just toddled past me without a glance.