Test Release Notes - April 2, 2010 - Discussion

[Deadeye Liz]

Release Notes - April 2, 2010

The avatar, inventory, and ship data will be reset to the state it was in before we turned on the new inventory system. Any progress made between then and now will be lost. Any avatars created since then will also be lost.

New loading screens when starting and leaving the game.

Various weapons have their minimum level requirement lowered slightly.
Navigation Bonus on sea charms only affects the Full Sail, Come About, and Ramming Speed sailing skills.

Removed the roll-over sound when looking at items in your inventory.

Add a sound effect for when you throw an item away from your inventory.

Most tonics are now unlocked again for Basic Access members

Pirates will now receive pop-up notices before an Expedition Fleet appears.

Giant Fly Traps now deal a venom effect when attacking.

Treasure Fleet ships will always drop at least one Loot Skull Chest when defeated.

Powder Keg Runners will knock you down now when they explode after being defeated.

The loot drop rate for boss enemies is now double the normal enemy rate instead of 100%.

The Critical Strike weapon attribute now functions correctly, giving the player a chance to deal extra damage per attack.

If a sea charm is being used, it will be displayed when on the ship wheel or cannon.

Added contextual tutorial pop-ups for the new inventory interface.

Adding gold value to item descriptions.

Loot containers no longer have the sparkle effect if there’s nothing left for you.





Bug Fixes

You only need to press Shift once to open a loot pouch now.

Tabs on the sea chest Skill Page no longer appear when another page is on.

Selling charms, jewelry, and tattoos works now.

Sailing skill recharge times adjust as you switch sea charms.

Fixed crash when clicking on item descriptions from sinking ships.

Nature aura displays health updates over affected pirates’ heads.

Infinite ammo charms work correctly now.

You no longer get kicked off the ship wheel or cannon when switching weapons.

Cursed weapons now affect the user’s HP and Voodoo.

Fixed interior lighting on low settings.

Added female pirate’s rifle and bayonet animations.

Weapons don’t fade out as you get further away.

Mojo Voodoo Doll healing skills actually heal now instead of dealing damage.

You can no longer use Healing Boost when your health is already full.

[Deadeye Liz]

Nowhere in this list does it say anything about changing body types. So for all you who suffered this tragedy... I assuming it will be fixed when they get the thousands of bug reports that they surely will receive.

Also it says we are currently receiving only double the normal drop rate for loot, as opposed to the 100% we were getting before. So, guys... it will go down one more time. Which means, we will probably be reset one more time!!!

I have yet to be able to collect any loot from the dropped treasure chest or loot sacs while sailing. It appears in my treasure list when I port, but when I try to take them, they don't go to my inventory.

[Beorn]

A lot of good fixes in here. Liz, the notes say we are reset so don't be surprised when you log on. Tonics available for basics is a big one.

[ex8404]

I am cool with the whole "test thing." I really am. I have said it myself a dozen times.

From another post I said:

"Exactly HOW is this designed to make me want to keep testing ANYTHING? I really just don't even want to try because I know that it means nothing. This ridiculous Groundhog's Day loop has really just sucked the joy right out of this update. This is a standard inventory system that looks like it came out of a 1995 RPG. But these guys can't even spell "Khaki" without messing it up."

I sent in reports and screen shots and will continue to do so. The fixes are good and are necessary so they don't release a time bomb onto the open server.

So fine. Take my progress. Not happy but here it is. Take my stuff and take my gold. That is really NOT a big deal. But leave my pirate alone. Him I paid for. I need a cup of coffee...

[Mark bladeflint]

Originally Posted by Deadeye Liz

Release Notes - April 2, 2010

The avatar, inventory, and ship data will be reset to the state it was in before we turned on the new inventory system. Any progress made between then and now will be lost. Any avatars created since then will also be lost. Oh well, thats why we are test XD.

New loading screens when starting and leaving the game. Oh yay...

Various weapons have their minimum level requirement lowered slightly. >=D.

Navigation Bonus on sea charms only affects the Full Sail, Come About, and Ramming Speed sailing skills. OK

Removed the roll-over sound when looking at items in your inventory. Um, why?

Add a sound effect for when you throw an item away from your inventory. Um, Lol

Most tonics are now unlocked again for Basic Access members Ooh, looks like Disney is looking out for the basic people.

Pirates will now receive pop-up notices before an Expedition Fleet appears. Coolio, so now we get a warning.

Giant Fly Traps now deal a venom effect when attacking. Ouch

Treasure Fleet ships will always drop at least one Loot Skull Chest when defeated. Ooh, usefull XD.

Powder Keg Runners will knock you down now when they explode after being defeated. Ka-boom... So thats what the 'YOu can't be knocked down' cutlass thing did :P. But, when is there invasions?

The loot drop rate for boss enemies is now double the normal enemy rate instead of 100%. >=D. No more ppl at the Scorpian Boss anymore.

The Critical Strike weapon attribute now functions correctly, giving the player a chance to deal extra damage per attack. Oh, I thought I already had it on...

If a sea charm is being used, it will be displayed when on the ship wheel or cannon. Wait, theres cannon charms?

Added contextual tutorial pop-ups for the new inventory interface. That will be usefull

Adding gold value to item descriptions. YAY! Now I don't have to go back to a shop to find out how much gold I get.

Loot containers no longer have the sparkle effect if there’s nothing left for you. Lulz





Bug Fixes

You only need to press Shift once to open a loot pouch now. Oh good.

Tabs on the sea chest Skill Page no longer appear when another page is on. YES!!!

Selling charms, jewelry, and tattoos works now. Ooh, yay.

Sailing skill recharge times adjust as you switch sea charms. Huh?

Fixed crash when clicking on item descriptions from sinking ships. Lol... Poor people who crashed.

Nature aura displays health updates over affected pirates’ heads. Weird

Infinite ammo charms work correctly now. Oh yay.

You no longer get kicked off the ship wheel or cannon when switching weapons. No comment...

Cursed weapons now affect the user’s HP and Voodoo. CURSED WEPONES?!?!

Fixed interior lighting on low settings. I guess it was broken.

Added female pirate’s rifle and bayonet animations.

Weapons don’t fade out as you get further away. Once again, I had no idea that it did that...

Mojo Voodoo Doll healing skills actually heal now instead of dealing damage. Lulz

You can no longer use Healing Boost when your health is already full.D:. Now how am I going to remove the voodoo glitch thing.

My comments are in bold :P.

[ThunderKiss]

Why why D would you mess with the body types. I look horrible I hope this will be reset

[Big Bad Wolf]

My pirate cant load without crashing while the other pirates that i dont use can load fine...

[ex8404]

Not sure why I am so upset about the body style changes.

But I went from this:to this:

Sorry for the size of the pics. I used "shot" and not "img"...

[Sven Osymthe]

I posted an email I got in response to the body changing here:

It's possible that they just sent that to not get another complaint, but none the less that's what I got.
http://www.piratesonlineforums.com/f...070#post204070

[ex8404]

However, we assure you that these new body types are only going to effect newly created pirates.

Somehow, based on the pictures of my level 40, year-old test pirate, someone is either fibbing or out of the loop.

assure you that these changes will not effect pirates already created on the Live Servers when the new system is introduced to all our guests.

OK. So change mine back and...I am NOT a guest. I am a CUSTOMER.

Thanks for sharing Sven. My e-mail back from my new buddy Robert was even more vague and less useful.

[Sven Osymthe]

No problem, I hope he's right though.

We apologize for any inconvenience you've experienced while playing on the Test Server. The purpose of the Test environment is to ensure that any bugs or issues are appropriately taken care of so that we can introduce the exciting, new features into the Live game environment. Sometimes unforeseen events force a release that may take progress away from your Pirate.

If he is correct, then I expect a reset to occur again very soon. Since it wasn't posted in the release notes about the body, I am sure that there must be some mistake.

OK. So change mine back and...I am NOT a guest. I am a CUSTOMER.

I think he said guests because this will also be introduced to basic members.. and well, they aren't customers (past or future customers maybe, but aren't spending a penny at the moment).

[Aliese]

I'm disgusted with what they did to my pirates. As if lowering the poly count wasn't bad enough...

If I wanted my pirate to look like a tall, skinny teenage boy with massive calves, I wouldn't have picked the model that I did. GAHHHHHH


ETA: A minor change this is NOT:







And forgive me for not believing for one second that they're not bringing this to open. They lied about linked accounts, so I have no reason to believe that they're not lying about this.

[ex8404]

That is as radical a change as mine.

All I am asking for is an explanation. But all I keep getting is canned responses from an uninformed help-desk guy.

[Sven Osymthe]

Originally Posted by ex8404

All I am asking for is an explanation. But all I keep getting is canned responses from an uninformed help-desk guy.

I think that they just prepare a general statement, and if they see the email is dealing with one thing - they just copy and paste.. seems to happen all the time.


Nice screens Aliese, in a way.. lol. I would recommend sending those in an email, showing them just how wrong they really are.

And forgive me for not believing for one second that they're not bringing this to open. They lied about linked accounts, so I have no reason to believe that they're not lying about this.

Well as I said, "It's possible that they just sent that to not get another complaint, but none the less that's what I got." But there is still a slight chance it will be better, in the sense that they fix it. All of the emails sent to Disney about linked accounts - we got replies, replies saying that it is here to stay. If this guy is informed about what's going on... well, there's always a chance. Just have to wait and see.

[Aliese]

Originally Posted by Sven Osymthe

Well as I said, "It's possible that they just sent that to not get another complaint, but none the less that's what I got." But there is still a slight chance it will be better, in the sense that they fix it. All of the emails sent to Disney about linked accounts - we got replies, replies saying that it is here to stay. If this guy is informed about what's going on... well, there's always a chance. Just have to wait and see.

Well, the reply I got way back when about the linked accounts was that it was something that was only on test, and that it wouldn't be going to open. It wasn't true...


In any case, I'm not renewing my account until I know what my pirates are going to look like. If the new back view is what I'm going to be looking at all the time, I don't even want to play, but I'm certainly not going to pay for another year if they're going to treat their customers this way...
"We know you liked the model you originally picked, but we decided to reduce the poly count because we don't actually know any other way to reduce the lag (and yes, we're aware that it didn't actually reduce the lag, we just like to say that because it's the best excuse we have), so we're going to punish you and make your pirate have sharp edges and a cinched waist. And now, since your pirate still sort of looked like a healthy adult woman, albeit somewhat deformed due to the first round of changes, we're going to lop off the offending areas and stick that excess in her calves. We're also going to make her neck stick out like a vulture, and give her a bit of a hunchback, because we think it completes the look."

Can you tell my respect for D is basically nil at this point? LoL