Test Release Notes - April 18 2008

[AdmiralSavvy]

Pure awesome! I can't wait for the no stowaways update! Haha about time!

[Eustace the Monk]

Originally Posted by Stormrunner

PotCO rolled out the latest update last night on the Test Servers, and it is going to make a lot of people happy. Although there isn't a new storyline, there is quite a bit of new content. So, consider this a preview of coming attractions:

Ammo pouches and cannonball barrels. Available to purchase in small, medium and large sizes (depending on your weapon level), these allow you to carry more ammo than the base amount. No more constantly running to the gunsmith or blacksmith to restock! A major plus in my book. No more Skelly glitch to get more ammo.

Better rep bonuses for crewing: starting at 20% for 2 crew, up to 100% for 8 or more. Not sure how I feel about this. It will be nice to get higher rep and I understand they are doing it to make the game more social, but it will make leveling too easy.

Enemies will now switch their attacks between the person doing the most damage and others nearby that are doing damage -- not just the first person who attacked them. (PotCO expects to modify this some more and is asking for our feedback.) Not sure if I like this either. If I am helping a lower level to level, i would hate to see the enemy turn on the lower level.

No more stowaways! Only friends and crewmates of the ship's captain should now be able to board. Oh my! I think I need a cold shower now!

Tonics recharge faster. Definately do not like this change. From a PvP standpoint, this will be awful.

Improved functionality to Whisper Chat and Crewing Options. I have a bad habit of typing in the wrong boxes, so unless they can analyze what I type and put it in the appropriate crew, local, guild, or whisper box for me, it won't help me.

Great info. Thanks for documenting all those goodies. See the quote for my comments.

Loot Hard!

[Maximvs]

Well I wanna Critique The List too!!!

- Weapons Upgrades for sword, pistol, dagger, doll, and staff. The upgrades will be available through new quests. (Note: These are temporarily disabled as PotCO modifies how exactly we obtain the quests.)

Eh, since I don't upgrade weapons at the moment on Pirate #2 (interferes with Hi Rep) - it will be fun for pirate #1 Good for general players

- Ammo pouches and cannonball barrels. Available to purchase in small, medium and large sizes (depending on your weapon level), these allow you to carry more ammo than the base amount. No more constantly running to the gunsmith or blacksmith to restock!

Thank goodness This was badly needed... since I'm not a Skekey Glitch user its painful to keep running back and forth

- Better rep bonuses for crewing: starting at 20% for 2 crew, up to 100% for 8 or more.

This could go two ways - good and bad. Overall though - combined with the Enemies Attacking multiple pirates I think this finally brings to the forefront that Pirates need to actually tackle NPC characters at their levels / moderately above them - and stops the whole L9 Pirate attacking a L36 Seabeard option. Keeps the Pirates focused on the NPC's they should be fighting - and can take moderately higher ones with a crew (and because of it deserve a bonus for doing so). I'll say its good for now - but I do see a few scenarios where it could go wrong (which is why I don't mind some extra testing time to get this right )

- A dozen new quests to receive jewelry and tattoos not available in the shops. (I've started 3 of them so far and they also contain several of the "go and talk to so-and-so" tasks for 100 Notoriety each. And the tasks include sinking Barracudas and Marauders, so they're not all fluff either.)

Sweet This is a good Just adding content is a good thing

- Enemies will now switch their attacks between the person doing the most damage and others nearby that are doing damage -- not just the first person who attacked them. (PotCO expects to modify this some more and is asking for our feedback.)

Combined with the Crew Rep - see comments there I'm holding a 'reserved' good on this because of what I think it is trying to resolve - but we'll see

No more stowaways! Only friends and crewmates of the ship's captain should now be able to board.

WOOOOO! *two thumbs up*! ALL GOOD!!!

Groggy penalty has been removed for pirates under Level 10, and has been shortened for the rest of us.

For the lower level pirates - I think a really short Groggy would have been better than none - just to show the concept. For the higher... I believe theres a penalty to pay for being 'foolish' (attacking a L40 Uni at L22 is dumb - and you derve to pay a price). As long as this is not TOO short - then I'm ok with it. Too short though does not enforce the idea that 'maybe I need to level up a bit first'....

Tonics recharge faster.

I can see PvP not liking this - where as a general player would Maybe they should remove it from PvP all together

Improved functionality to Whisper Chat and Crewing Options.

I was reading the other list in the thread - theres been major issues addressed here. Good There can always be more room for improvement - but even in just a few short months big steps have happened with chat and I hope to see more

Overall I think it will be a good update Thanks Storm for posting it

[Stormrunner]

OK mates! I've been playing on Test all morning and have a few thoughts about the update.

Originally Posted by Stormrunner

Ammo pouches and cannonball barrels. Available to purchase in small, medium and large sizes (depending on your weapon level), these allow you to carry more ammo than the base amount. No more constantly running to the gunsmith or blacksmith to restock!

I completely LOVE this additon! The medium-size cannon barrel (cost 2000 gold) holds 125 of Firebrand and Thunderbolt! No need to use either sparingly now. And the medium grenade sack (cost 4000 gold) holds 125 Explosive and 70 Fire Bomb.

Better rep bonuses for crewing: starting at 20% for 2 crew, up to 100% for 8 or more.

A good idea in theory, but I think they've taken it a bit too far in practice. I was on a crew with 3 others and was getting something like 40% bonus rep. For example, I was killing Big Gators for 20 rep each and got an extra 7-8 as a crew bonus. (They actually show you the Crew Rep separately.) And the numbers we were getting from sinking ships were ridiculous! Sweet when you're leveling, but makes it almost too easy.

A dozen new quests to receive jewelry and tattoos not available in the shops. (I've started 3 of them so far and they also contain several of the "go and talk to so-and-so" tasks for 100 Notoriety each. And the tasks include sinking Barracudas and Marauders, so they're not all fluff either.)

Still moving along in the quests. Haven't completed any yet, as there are probably a good 8-10 tasks to each. (And I'm having little luck finding 6 batches of medical remedies from EITC Corvettes. They're being very stingy.)

No more stowaways! Only friends and crewmates of the ship's captain should now be able to board.

Looks like this works, but, as might be expected, I hit a bug. Even though I was on the captain's crew, I could not tp to her. I kept getting a message saying that I needed to be part of the captain's crew! So I had to use the tried & true method of boarding a dinghy to get on the ship.

Improved functionality to Whisper Chat....

As soon as you Whisper to somebody, the chat box stays in Whisper mode to that person. You don't have to keep selecting their name off your list. Makes having a conversation with individual friends/guildmates much easier.

I haven't had a chance to test out the new NPC attack mode yet. But, aside from the too-generous Crew Rep, I think PotCO has done a bang-up job with this so far.

[Eustace the Monk]

Originally Posted by Stormrunner

As soon as you Whisper to somebody, the chat box stays in Whisper mode to that person. You don't have to keep selecting their name off your list. Makes having a conversation with individual friends/guildmates much easier.

Oh thank you D! I have made some very embarrasing guild echos that were intended to be whispered to a member that was being counseled. This should aleviate that issue with my inatentiveness in the future.

Thanks for giving us the ammo limits as well. It is nice to see some figures on that. I'd rep this post, but it says I need to spread it around a little before I rep you again.

Loot Hard!

[Maximvs]

A good idea in theory, but I think they've taken it a bit too far in practice. I was on a crew with 3 others and was getting something like 40% bonus rep. For example, I was killing Big Gators for 20 rep each and got an extra 7-8 as a crew bonus. (They actually show you the Crew Rep separately.) And the numbers we were getting from sinking ships were ridiculous! Sweet when you're leveling, but makes it almost too easy.

I wonder if this could be 'scalable' to the Level of the Pirate? REP I find is an issue for those higher up - but never for Lower Levels (I am semi-ignoring my own theroy of what I think they are trying to accomplish here - in keeping Lower Level Pirates on track, along with the use of Multi-Attacking NPC's) - by increasing the values as your Levels went up would be an answer...

But - if I now take into account that Lower Level Pirates will not be able to 'leech' (not a term I really want to use and don't want to get into a debate over in this discussion pleae ) as much as they risk dying all the time - I wonder if the scale is still required for them at their levels...

I do like the concept, and hope the whole 'balence' can be worked out - oh how I wish I had a test account now - so many theroies to test...

[Thrawn33]

What will be nice is if the enemies' attacks work the same way for them as they do for players. I know its asking alot but still....

Exs:
If an Urchinfist throws a 'nade at you, everyone close to you gets hit as well.
A sweep attack from a sword swinger hits everyone in range around it
Mollusks can attune anyone attacking them
Enemy ships deck cannons can target different ships from those being hit by broadsides

Dare I say, make a few Voodoo staff weilding enemies....

Things could get real hostile for the noobies.

[Eustace the Monk]

Originally Posted by Thrawn33

What will be nice is if the enemies' attacks work the same way for them as they do for players. I know its asking alot but still....

Exs:
If an Urchinfist throws a 'nade at you, everyone close to you gets hit as well.
A sweep attack from a sword swinger hits everyone in range around it
Mollusks can attune anyone attacking them
Enemy ships deck cannons can target different ships from those being hit by broadsides

Dare I say, make a few Voodoo staff weilding enemies....

Things could get real hostile for the noobies.

I still wish the ranged undead would show some sort of emotion, like throwing a grenade, so I can tell which of the 5 are actually doing it. Or face me when you throw that at me, at least. Perhaps some aura around the attacking enemy that shows you which one is doing the damage. The other thing related to this, that would be nice, is to have them miss once or twice. They will hit with every throw, but at least they will take area damage as well if you are nose to nose. And dont get me started on the Gypsy attune range. I think one on Padres Beach successfully attuned me in my jail cell at the fort last night.

Loot Hard!

[poindexter_79]

This posting has totally made my day and just yesterday I started contemplating on canceling my account. Now Im totally going to stick it out through the summer at least. Please keep posting the Happy News!

[Angel]

One thing I do not like is the attacking one. I mean if I'm attacking a brigand helping a lower level get their PR totem, I dont want to have to protect them too. I just want to do it and get it over with. Also, make it fair for both the NPC and us....if a doll wielder can cats hexes from a mile away we shouldnt have to be up in their grill to do it.

[Maximvs]

I mean if I'm attacking a brigand helping a lower level get their PR totem, I dont want to have to protect them too. I just want to do it and get it over with.

LOL nothing like cutting to the chase Well, if you have them tuned for healing just tune the Birgade for attacking... or if Attacking the Birgade let them use Tonics (since they will be shorter now - I find too many pirates depend on a doll user anyway and not enough on tonics...) - either way True - may slow one down for the Kingshead Gernades runs and the Padres TP Quests - so its another twist to review

Bigger picture (I think - only my 2 cents hehe) with correct balence in bonus REP working with the NPC Attack it will severly cut down on the 'taggers' problems (without having to do the REAL right thing and re-design the game engine correctly to balence Weapon Damage to REP instead of Hits to REP hehehe )

As for the Voodoo NPC - really... the RANGE they get sometimes - I wish I could get that

[Chris]

Originally Posted by Stormrunner

Known Issues - April 18 2008

• If you sink during the Black Pearl Boss Battle, you will get stuck at a loading screen.
  • Workaround: you will have to close your window and log in again.

yea thats some work around @_@

[Captain Fireskull]

Well, of course theres gonna be some up's and down's but at least we get something at all. We'll just have to live with it if we dont like it.

[Thrawn33]

Well looks like crewing is going to be a necessity for lower leveled players now and its not really a bad thing.

[DrStinglock]

Nice update, I noticed it beofre I went to sleep, ship joining was fixed and I got a few new Jewlery quests. Looks like they managed to pack a few updates into this Release..

Originally Posted by jmal1997

Christopher Ironhawk
Notoriety Lv. 31
Cutlass: 21
Pistol: 11
Voodoo: Maxxed
Dagger: 10
Grenade: 7
Staff: 14
Sailing: 13
Cannon: 13
Officer of Serenity Now

You do know that you can set that up in your profile so you don't have to post it?