El Patron's Sword on Open over 24 hours...now what?

[ex8404]

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

No, sorry to have thrown you off.

OK. I get it. I think I was little off-base so now I'm not. Thanks.

Originally Posted by MacIronhawk

can we honestly have more quests, and enjoy them, if there are no new areas?

...now you've done it. You've made me rethink my argument.

Chapter two really DOES have to be substantially different from Chapter One in order for it to work on any level at all...I mean, on test, I am level 43 and climbing. Am I really looking forward to going to The Wildwood to kill three scorpions? I have played for several years and, like so many others, can take out the entire Kelp/Brine bridge in Tormenta without any trouble or help. (maybe a little trouble...) Is running errands for NPCs going to keep advanced players interested? Or do we just need to accept the fact that we are playing a kid's game and deal with it? I really have no answer right now.

I still enjoy playing the game. Maybe not as much as I used to. I would like some new areas and I honestly think we are close. I was on test when a new island appeared back behind Cuba. But I will not swear that it was "real." It could have been a bizarre glitch or "reflection". The server crashed a minute or two after it popped up. But one island doesn't really make a new story area does it?

Could they add new content to underused areas? Cuba? King's Head? King's Head is WAY underused. It was obviously intended for so much more. Caves and back docks and mysterious store rooms that were empty but filled up a year or so ago. And for what? Grenades? No way. It was planned, built and forgotten. Just like Cuba.

[The Evil Will Mcbain]

You guys are overthinking the game. Just enjoy it. Take the new stuff as it comes, and have fun!
And besides, it's just a computer game

[lostmymarbles]

Hi all, I'm one of those who used to really have hope for the game.

Originally Posted by The Skirata Clan

I love the game and the potential it has. Those are some of the reasons that I sometimes complain or mock their new releases. That is also why I have maintained my unlimited status even though I rarely play. I agree with Mac 100%

It's because we Love the game so much the reason why we complain. We want it to improve.

I've been a paying player/customer since Dec 2007. And I really understand the frustration. Every time Disney has dangled out a teaser of "things to come," I have hoped that it would be something beyond minigames and miniquests. I'm more than irritated that the new weapons quests are just a rehash of the old quests.

For those of you who know me, I used to play every day that I could. Sometimes all night when I didn't have RL obligations. And that was from the beginning. I loved the game, but for me Disney has ruined it. First by making promises they haven't kept, then by dumbing the game down.

I have waited each time while they put out teaser releases about the things to come. Nothing has greatly changed in the game when it comes to sustainable, continuing storyline. Mini-games and raids do not equal story content and I don't buy into the line that they are preludes of things to come.

I am also frustrated with the dumbing down of the game. There is no excuse for dumbing down the graphics while the computers are getting faster.

For example, in the original release, the environment moved. Trees swayed in the breeze, there was more depth of environment. Now it looks as stiff as plastic plants. If you want to see the difference, on Port Royal there are trees that sway (at the bridge near the gypsy .. Lucinda? .. if you look toward the corner against the town walls).

Originally Posted by The Evil Will Mcbain

You guys are overthinking the game. Just enjoy it. Take the new stuff as it comes, and have fun!
And besides, it's just a computer game

Maybe we are overthinking the game, because nothing in game keeps our interest anymore. Now before anyone says why pay if you don't like the game, I keep on paying because I keep on hoping Disney will listen to their customers and get their act together and because I have dear gaming friends that I would hate to lose touch with.

As far as enjoying the game, I've been playing with a guild that has gone out of it's way to come up with activities to make the game fun while Disney has let the game rot.

-Two major scavenger hunts (that take weeks to prepare) that took at least two guild nights with as many as 30 people playing in teams.

-Weekly guild night events such as: relay island to island races, afk pushing races (imagine 30+ pirates in teams pushing 5 afk players from a spot up on a hill down to the shoreline) , red rover in boats, hide and seek/tag on kingshead, find the hidden officers, guildmaster challenges to make the nightly leaderboards (and believe me.. we usually aren't leaderboard motivated), glowing races (where we had to post shots of our leveling for the night), boss battle challenges (defeating as many different bosses in a night as we could), lol and the infamous head butting challenge where we could only use head butting on the Tormenta enemies.

I'm sure I'm forgetting some of the other things we did, but I think you get the picture. I'm not one who easily gets bored. I'm tired of having to produce the fun that I'm essentially paying them to provide.

I'm actually pretty easy to please.

If they at least returned our ability to push AFK pirates around, I'd be back in game. *


As it stands, I've been playing another game (not pirate related) that has been out just as long as POTCO has been out and is leagues ahead of POTCO in storyline, graphics, and updating of material.


*Note: For those of you who don't know me.. I don't have a malicious wish to push strangers around. I just like to relocate my friends (into wall glitches, up onto shack porces overlooking the huge gator, onto Darkhart's chair). Only two got sent to jail in 3 years, one on purpose.. not bad for 2.5 yrs of pushing.

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by The Evil Will Mcbain

You guys are overthinking the game. Just enjoy it. Take the new stuff as it comes, and have fun!
And besides, it's just a computer game

If thoughtful discussion about something we have invested time and money in is harmful to you, perhaps you could avoid that discussion.

- good metaphor that ties in well with a comment above -

In-game, that would be like switching servers - from one Kingshead to another, no? Perhaps it would be better to stay and rep-steal for a while until one or the other reports. (Why? Because disruptive player's can't be avoided by switching servers. Instead, Disney is penalizing everyone else 2 to 7 minutes - depending on computer speed.) Would it harm the game to let you stay on Kingshead when you switch servers? Of course not. Would that EXTREMELY TRIVIAL programming change vastly improve the game? Absolutely.

Originally Posted by lostmymarbles

If they at least returned our ability to push AFK pirates around, I'd be back in game. *

Um, did you note the part above where I was talking about glitches changing but never being removed? Aggro an enemy and let the enemy do your AFK pushing for you. Takes twice as long, but still works. AFK-physics being what they are, it actually is more interesting to push someone in the right direction say, across Tortuga Graveyard, while trying not to let the enemy disengage (nor kill off your friend.)

[MacIronhawk]

ex8404, what I think we really need, is a massive amount of new areas. with unique enemies.

Not just regular enemies, but enemies the hold special weapons, that we'll never even get. Or they're in certain areas where the terrain is challenging.

This game has the potential to be great, but the developers need to look at other games and say, "Oh, a giant skeleton pit. Lets add that in!" Or, "Hey guys, lets make a whole area of floating, burning ships, and have the players walk through it and fight random, scary enemies while they need to recover a map. If they don't find the map on time, a "boss" will come and capture them and they'll need to do it again."

I mean, the developers can make this game amazing, and maybe that's what they're doing right now. While we're bored, demanding a second story quest, maybe they're actually putting in some amazing things that will blow our minds.

And the whole overthinking the game bit, overthing is what makes games great. Just look at WOW. The developers overthink things all the time. That's why it has millions of players, and POTCO is left in the dust.

[lostmymarbles]

Um, did you note the part above where I was talking about glitches changing but never being removed? Aggro an enemy and let the enemy do your AFK pushing for you. Takes twice as long, but still works. AFK-physics being what they are, it actually is more interesting to push someone in the right direction say, across Tortuga Graveyard, while trying not to let the enemy disengage (nor kill off your friend.)

Ed, you know so many damn glitches, how was I supposed to know you were referring to that one when I mention AFK pushing?

*And I did happen to notice that the enemy can move us, but if I have a specific destination in mind I just can't see it working. And you guys know me.. I almost always have a destination in mind.


Btw, I still have my rooftop views of the uppermost level of old PDF.

[Dan_OB]

Originally Posted by MacIronhawk

ex8404, what I think we really need, is a massive amount of new areas. with unique enemies.

Not just regular enemies, but enemies the hold special weapons, that we'll never even get. Or they're in certain areas where the terrain is challenging.

This game has the potential to be great, but the developers need to look at other games and say, "Oh, a giant skeleton pit. Lets add that in!" Or, "Hey guys, lets make a whole area of floating, burning ships, and have the players walk through it and fight random, scary enemies while they need to recover a map. If they don't find the map on time, a "boss" will come and capture them and they'll need to do it again."

I mean, the developers can make this game amazing, and maybe that's what they're doing right now. While we're bored, demanding a second story quest, maybe they're actually putting in some amazing things that will blow our minds.

And the whole overthinking the game bit, overthing is what makes games great. Just look at WOW. The developers overthink things all the time. That's why it has millions of players, and POTCO is left in the dust.

I wish you where working for Disney! lol.

I agree with this however I don't see Disney doing all that (prove me wrong Disney, pleeeeasee prove me wrong!) Ex8404's ideas concerning Cuba and Kingshead are more likely. And I'm hoping that maybe Raven cove will be a step up from Tormenta the same way Tormenta is a step up from Padres. Not as cool as what you're talking about but a definite improvement.

For the record, I've never considered pushing a glitch, just what logically happens when two things try to occupy the same space. Walking through people is a glitch, unless we are all ghost.

[Kat Five Knives]

Originally Posted by MacIronhawk

And this is where the BIG problem is. Think about it for a second, can we honestly have more quests, and enjoy them, if there are no new areas?

Just pretend(because some people think the second story quest is completely different from the movies) that the Kraken is the base for the second story quest. Don't we need more islands just to make questing fun? Who honestly wants to go back and play on the EXACT same islands and do a Kraken quest?

We need new enemies, and new areas before a second story quest is even possible. Well, maybe we don't, but no new enemies and no new islands would make it extremely boring, IMO.

I have to agree with this. The MAIN draw of this game for me is the friendships I have made and the activities involving my guilds. I don't really care for another story line if I have to go and kill x scorpions, y undead gypsies, and go search a dig spot ( now CLEARLY marked - they might as well put up a Neon sign DIG HERE).

New story quests demand new areas, enemies, and tasks that are new and fresh. I really believe this is what they are planning to do.

[Captain Sureshot]

Originally Posted by ex8404

Or do we just need to accept the fact that we are playing a kid's game and deal with it?

It seems to me that Disney continues to re-focus (and narrow) development of POTCO towards younger players. So, yes: we are playing a kids' game and expectations of additional "deep" content may be somewhat unreasonable.

For most of us on these forums, Pirates Online is a game we are passionate about. For Disney, POTCO is a product, which needs to have a clear business model and have a position complimentary to the other products in the Disney portfolio.

Edward Edgemenace, while I don't agree with everything you said (every variation of "speed" de-stabilizes the servers? I'll make sure to tell the developers to remove the Full Sail and Ramming Speed sailing skills lol), the tone of your posts reads like the way I feel about the game. But it's not going our way mate. We are relics. To properly tighten up the game play experience of POTCO and make it more compelling for mature players simply would require too many development resources. At this point in the product cycle it's all about ROI.

Now what...? You already know: mini-games, instant gratification, child-like body forms, etc.

[Dan_OB]

It seems to me that Disney continues to re-focus (and narrow) development of POTCO towards younger players. So, yes: we are playing a kids' game and expectations of additional "deep" content may be somewhat unreasonable.

For most of us on these forums, Pirates Online is a game we are passionate about. For Disney, POTCO is a product, which needs to have a clear business model and have a position complimentary to the other products in the Disney portfolio.

True enough, but I've always seen POTCO not so much of a kids game but more of a family game where Kids and parents could play together. I know of several cases where parents and their children do just that. The game, like the movies, has always appealed to adults and kids alike. Hate to see that go away, there are not many things out there that can do that.

[ex8404]

Originally Posted by MacIronhawk

ex8404, what I think we really need, is a massive amount of new areas. with unique enemies.

I agree. I think that adding to existing areas is more likely but no matter what you put on Kingshead, it is still just Kingshead. It will have a "been there done that" sort of feel to it.

But while I'm at it...why does Tormenta even exist?

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by Captain Sureshot

...Edward Edgemenace, while I don't agree with everything you said (every variation of "speed" de-stabilizes the servers? I'll make sure to tell the developers to remove the Full Sail and Ramming Speed sailing skills lol)...

I was specifically talking about glitches. The original double-speed glitch being the prime example. Of note: the latest video out there (from Disney) shows them giving up on trying to fix it, instead, offering special potions that allow other people to match the glitchers in speed...thereby destabilizing the servers further.

...the tone of your posts reads like the way I feel about the game. But it's not going our way mate. We are relics. To properly tighten up the game play experience of POTCO and make it more compelling for mature players simply would require too many development resources. At this point in the product cycle it's all about ROI.

I will not ever condone the current programming/management team's approach, of destroying the family game so as to remake it as a too-young children's game. Just accept that it is becoming a lame infant's game? Not I. It has too much untapped potential, still.

And no, it is not about return on investment. The entire game is supposed to be a loss-leader promotion tool for the movie(s). Will the Pirates 4 movie have Jack Sparrow playing mini-fishing-games in outer space?

[Raikel]

All I can say is that Raven cove better be heck, and that it better not disappoint. I know that they are going to try and pull this place out of the blue, and hide the Kraken for another year or so, but I could see them making Ravens cove very challenging. They could start with level 60 enemies, and a break in level caps. I truly don't believe anything should hold us back, we may not get new skills soon, but I want to get so far over level 30 with weapons you have to get 10000 more every level for another skill point. Notoriety needs to start adding 1000000 per level too, but there should be no limit.

[Captain Sureshot]

Originally Posted by Dan_OB

... I've always seen POTCO not so much of a kids game but more of a family game where Kids and parents could play together. I know of several cases where parents and their children do just that. The game, like the movies, has always appealed to adults and kids alike. Hate to see that go away, there are not many things out there that can do that.

Yeah, I feel a little sad that the focus of the game seems to be moving toward the younger player, at the expense of satisfying the more mature player. My son and I used to play POTCO together during beta. Good times for sure.

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

I was specifically talking about glitches. The original double-speed glitch being the prime example.

Aye, I understood that EE.

Originally Posted by Edward Edgemenace

Special tonics to re-enable the speed glitch since they never trapped the 3rd party applications on the server side? (Which completely ignores the fact that every variation of "speed" de-stabilizes the servers.)

I believe you may be a bit presumptuous that the developers are simply programming a "glitch" into the game, which was my point about sailing speed skills. I've watched the Get Connected video more than once. I am not sure how adding a potion to the game that temporarily speeds up your character is any indication that the programming team has giving up on trying to fix weaknesses in the game build and exploits of such.

And no, it is not about return on investment. The entire game is supposed to be a loss-leader promotion tool for the movie(s).

I have never heard that the POTC MMOG was designed or positioned as a loss-leader. Even if it were, it would still be all about ROI, so you may have misspoke there. Where did you get the information that it is supposed to be a loss-leader for the movies?

[Edward Edgemenace]

Originally Posted by Captain Sureshot

I have never heard that the POTC MMOG was designed or positioned as a loss-leader. Even if it were, it would still be all about ROI, so you may have misspoke there. Where did you get the information that it is supposed to be a loss-leader for the movies?

http://disney.go.com/pirates/online/...agreement.html

"...Disney reserves the right to provide the Service at no charge for promotional reasons..."

There was another section that specifically stated the purpose of the game was explicitly to promote the movie(s), but I'm having trouble finding that section at the moment.

If your point is that they like money and do want to eke out every last cent they can from the game, well, ok, I can agree with that. But it doesn't change Disney's stated reason for creating, owning, maintaining and providing the game.

----

And now, since you didn't ask :-) I'll add that the family-game business model is obviously superior to the child-only business model. Put yourself in the Mouse's shoes and ask yourself, "who is paying for this, the kids or their parents?" That's the same reason there is subtle adult humor in every movie...

So perhaps they are moving away from that concept. That's their choice, but sad to watch (also with predictable affects on their ROI.) To me, it is obviously the wrong approach in this genre.


----

addendum:

Interestingly, http://disney.go.com/legal/conditions_of_use.html now redirects to a more generic page. Both pages seem to have been revamped (or perhaps rewritten) since I last saw them.