Test Release Notes - April 7, 2010 - Discussion
 

Test Release Notes - April 7, 2010

• Due to player feedback the "classic" body shapes have been restored to those pirates who were originally created with them.
  Please note: there may be subtle animation issues with these older pirate body types
• Basic Access Members can now buy Rusty Cutlasses at blacksmiths and Flintlock Pistols at gunsmiths for Free.
• The Navigation boost to Full Sail, Come About, and Ramming Speed recharge rates has been reduced slightly.
• Loot Containers only stay around for 1 minute on land now.
• Treasure Fleet and Invasion notices are now more detailed and specialized for each island/fleet.
• Weapons and potions in stores now show more detailed information about them when you roll over them.
• Ammo types you have not unlocked have gray text instead of white on the ammo page in your inventory.

Bug Fixes

• Weapon equipping/unequipping via both the inventory page and the mouse wheel has been refined in order to make sure the weapon you currently have equipped is properly displayed.
• Sabres recharge their skills slightly quicker than before.
• Fixed a bug where crude daggers and staves would drop as loot.
• You will now be awarded the correct amount of gold for selling ships.
• Buying colorized clothing at Tailors will now be properly placed in your inventory.

Thank goodness..

They listened :o ! It should be ready to hit live servers now, I think.

Good chance that if nobody brings up major bugs this will hit live this weekend or if we're lucky early next week. But for sure it's gonna hit sometime this week. Wait a sec just looked at it again and no bug fixes for ship containers not saving??? uh oh...

Yep this will come either tonight or tomorrow I'm sure of it. :)

• Weapons and potions in stores now show more detailed information about them when you roll over them.
• Ammo types you have not unlocked have gray text instead of white on the ammo page in your inventory.

Now when u roll over lets say a fancy pistol, it shows the weapon card as it does in the inventory.

I'm not sure what it meant by gray text for unlocked ammo types.??

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If test still can't get through an invasion...it ain't ready yet.

I did a pretty smooth PDF invasion Tuesday nite

I wouldn't count on Disney releasing this build to live based on the appearance or apparent lack of bugs and glitches. Once it is "consumer quality" it will release.


regarding the grayed out text, in your Treasure Chest, "I"nventory menu, under Ammo it shows the different types with the amount you / max amount. Ammo that you have unlocked is in white text (actually numbers) locked ammo is gray

Yeah I'm not sure when they'll put it on open. They'll probably take some more things away from Basic Users before they put it up. And I mean that in no way to bash disney. I just think it's true, and they need to make money somehow anyway.

I got kicked three times in one invasion Tuesday night. Must be a very specific set of circumstances to trigger one...

I was just on and in one hour, I was kicked 4 times with at least one district reset. Fun.

I talked to Live Chat and they said its a graphics issue because they said alot of their guests dont have good graphic cards or they have the game settings on high try turning them on low for now. and this is so ready for live im sick of you guys complaining about it not being ready when else would they do an update on Wednesday Night? they havn't before unless its coming to Live. So despite all thats being said here I will stay with the fact that It will either come tonight or tomorrow to The Live Game. :)

It's more annoying when people keep saying that they want the update on Live when it's only been on Test for a little while. Everyone wants the updates to come, and they will come eventually, people need to learn to be patient. If they need to keep resetting Test because of problems, don't you guys think they'd need to do the same for Live if another comes up? It would be even more of a problem on Live, considering that new pirates would be deleted, ultimately removing new members who come to the game.

The update is NOT ready to be released yet. There are still quite a few bugs out there, and even if it's a problem on our ends - too many crashes are occurring, and it can't all be our faults. There is obviously something wrong on their end if so many crashes are occurring to a wide variety of members. And plus, even if settings are on high - it's offered in the game, it should at least work with the invasions. *Just a note - I could always do invasions on high prior to this update*

And just an example of a bug I had when I logged on (didn't go away til I re-logged and JUST happened before I posted this). All weapons removed, cannon and sail level one, no notoriety - this isn't the first time this has happened. Stuff like this needs to be fixed first.

Awww, how did you stay level 18 and in theives den???? Someone, I think disney...., erased my pirate!!!!

I was level 18 and in The Thieves Den for a while. If your pirate was made after this update was FIRST released, you won't have it. If you need re-guilded though, I can invite you.

Resets just send us back to right before the update was available.

Remade my test pirate (yet again) this morning. And was making a bug report the second I got her out of her tutorial.

There are a lot of people working hard when they don't even have to, just to make sure this update works right for players like you. This update is BROKEN. They're "complaining" about things that are NOT WORKING RIGHT. It's getting better, yes, thanks to the many hours of hard work by these "complainers". If this update were to go live without all the "complaining", boy would you be having fun.

Think about what you are saying. Do you really want a broken game? And do you really want all of the other players to go through all of the frustrations of getting stuck with paying for a broken game? Is that what you would wish on people?

Patience is a virtue. And this update is still broken. Nobody deserves to have to pay for a broken game. It will come when it's ready, and not before.

Sounds like more Disney technobabble. Blame the player, not the game.

If POTCO sends everyone the same packets, why would it matter how I receive them? I might not have a great video card but so what?

If players have their graphics settings turned up so high then why can they be turned up so high? If they don't want graphics dialed up to 11, then DON"T PUT AN 11 ON THE DIAL!

And James, you seem like a good guy. But you need to be patient and understand that if this update comes to live and requires a total reset, then Disney loses money. They won't do that. Be as sick as you want but no one is "complaining about it not being ready." We are pointing out that it is not ready. BIG difference.

The update is a hot mess. Period. Wednesday night's update wasn't just a simple update. It was another complete reset. It wiped out new pirates, sent people back multiple levels, wrecked inventories and even put their boats back to whatever state of disrepair they were in before the RESET. Now...imagine that happening a week from now on the the live servers.

I might be WAY wrong here but it will take at least a week to stabilize this new inventory thing. I hope I am wrong. I hope there is never another reset.

EDIT: This just in...an e-mail from Disney Technical Support on a bug report sent in Tuesday or Wednesday. I honestly forget which...Highlights are mine...

Nice huh? If you ever get kicked during an invasion, just log off! Wait...what? :psmiley35:

Phew!

I did pop on for a minute and there still are minor changes to the model/textures, though. For example, my girls have elf ears:

http://i287.photobucket.com/albums/l...perElfEars.jpg

This may be a beggar/chooser situation, though, and I should probably just be happy to look relatively normal again... :tongue8:

They also sleep with their eyes open too (at least they did, haven't seen anyone yet since the latest reset) :D

I was just curious...Were there any "subtle animation issues" on "classic bodies" before this update?And by "classic" is Disney referring to the old body types before that body-changing update last year?

One of the bug thatt we are still experiencing and playing around with - voodoo attack on friendly pirates! lol.

attuning a pirate causes both u and him/her to lose 1 hp
notice how on the right hand side of the screen, I was attuned, by um myself.


a few hundred clicks later she's about to die, lol.

Ok first of all just stop "complaining" if it comes when you guys dont want it to come and we want it to come fine. But i did ask Disney about what you guys were "complaining and pointing out" and they told me nothing is perfect and they cannot fix every single little bug and glitch you guys want to point out in the game. My point being that not everything has to be perfect and la da de la da when this comes to the live game.

Had the same thing happen to me, Sven. No Noto or any skills or shiney at all. Had to completely log out & back in to regain all. I know there are many ppl happy about the pirates avatars returning back to what they were. And the clothing color was an issue-I kept buying a black headscarf which kept showing white in inventory & when I tried it on. There is much to still be worked on. If released to open, ppl will complain that this stuff was released to fast from test. So give it a chance, mates. It will happen when Disney feels that updates are ready to be released to open. Besides, when it finally happens, it will kinna be like Christmas to those not on test at this time. Ya know how that is-always want to see what is in the gifts wrapped under the tree before the 25th!

They are capable of fixing the problems in the game, just because they say they "can't" doesn't really mean they can't. Take the graphics for example. They told you that people should just turn the settings down, and that it isn't a problem on their end. However, they told ex8404 that they are working on a patch for that? They said the old models couldn't become the new ones, yet they were for a few days? Pretty much what i'm saying, don't believe everything you hear. Some people on live chat, or in emails will be very informative, meanwhile some will just tell you a random answer to stop the conversation.

Everything doesn't have to be perfect when this update comes to Live, but it better be as good as they can make it. There are a few major and minor bugs that they need to address. Waiting until after releasing them to Live would be a complete waste of time. They have a Test server for a reason.

March 25th was when the release notes for this update were first posted, so it's been 2 weeks exactly. I don't remember the exact amount, but there were between 3-5 days that Test was closed for maintenance, so there were around 9-11 days for a complete change to the game to be tested? I'm just gonna bring this up.. wasn't SvS on the Test server for almost a month before it got released to Live? It went through plenty of testing, and everything seemed fine... yet, once sent to Live, A LOT of bugs eventually came from it. Some of those bugs resulted in a lot of changes. If that shows anything, 2 weeks is NOT enough time for a MAJOR change to the game.


These updates will be here when they have received as much testing as possible, "complaints" are addressed, and the game runs smoothly. Until then, everyone needs to learn to be more patient for these updates. The more "complaints" the better, so what if it possibly prolongs the release date of the update? Testers are there to make sure that the update is as close to perfect as the game will allow.. so until there's nothing to "complain" about, "complaints" should keep coming.

There is no complaining about when it comes. We all want it to come out to live. Most pirates would prefer it came out when it was functional. Any problems that involve a pirates notoriety, or invasions not working, or sailing loot not transfering to inventories are not small bugs. These are major problems. The fact that Stump fight animation isn't working, that is a fairly minor bug and I would be okay with that on live. But I would rather all of these resets and notoriety issues be resolved before putting it out to all the pirates on live. The uproar that would insue over a reset on live would destroy this game. Just keep in mind that the fleets were on test for close to a month and that was a much smaller update than this.

Every little bug and glitch? So when it is impossible to get through a single invasion without 3 or 4 district wide mass shutdowns, is that a little glitch or a little bug? Is logging on to find that EVERYTHING you are in the middle of doing has been set back two weeks, is that a little glitch or a little bug? When it takes a week to get Mac players back on line, glitch or bug?

Can you imagine how much money Disney loses if the live servers have to be shut down for 3 or 4 days? :psmiley27: James, if you are a test pirate, enjoy playing on test. If you are a live server player. Be patient. And stop insulting the test process. OK? I cannot find you a single test pirate who is overjoyed with all the mess this update has caused. and to be a bigger thief of joy, you are expecting WAY too much out of this update. It is fun and makes things a little more interesting but my original assessment of the loot drop thing has been tempered.

What we need, and the only thing that will "save" POTCO is a Chapter Two.

If no one brings up any major bug fixes, and this all goes to Live, the bug won't just go away. It's going to have to be fixed sometime soon, so ignoring something for the sheer fact of making all these things go to live quicker is not something a Test Player should do Being a Test Pirate is being able to report a bug immediately.

If it goes to Pirates Online Live more people play than Pirates Online Test. So, if that invasion bug whatever you guys are reporting in happens therefore it will be fixed faster. According to what i heard it's coming very soon.... :) :D xD

If that's the case, why not just throw away the Test server and send everything to Live, messed up or not?

TEST is to TEST, LIVE is to PLAY - making players test the game on the LIVE server is NOT gonna happen. The TEST server is where that happens, not Live. Sure some bugs get discovered on Live, but the bugs wouldn't be there in the first place if Test had enough time to find them.

Unless you see the updates posted on the POTCO website or on the Live launcher, stating that the updates are on Live, then what you heard is probably just rumors.

Be patient and please realize that there is a Test server for a reason...

I heard it from Disney ;) gosh Mr. Negative <.> :(

Not being negative, just stating facts. We all know that it is coming eventually, you don't have to include in every single post that, it needs to come on such and such day, or that you heard from so and so that it's coming out very soon.

And I repeat, "Be patient and please realize that there is a Test server for a reason..."

You heard it from Disney that the update was coming this weekend? I don't recall reading that anywhere in the posts James.

Look, there's a reason people are able to get on test. It's because they have proven themselves to be good players, and not in the sense of getting to level 50 notoriety. These are the people who are able to get on test because Disney thinks that they can count on them to tell them what's wrong with the game.

If this did get to live server, you have to imagine the money Disney would lose James. That's what this really boils down to: the money. If this gets released to live the way it is right now there would be so many people dropping their subscription because they think POTCO is not up to par anymore.

Not everyone reports the bugs James. They pass it off as something Disney will fix eventually, or something that's wrong with their computers. Because of this, the stuff likely wouldn't get fixed faster. With an entire team of people on Test working essentially to report the bugs, it does in fact go quicker.

Also, if there were more people experiencing these problems, who knows what it would do to the POTCO servers as a whole? There are only 2 servers on Test. If it went to the many, many more that are on live, what would happen if everyone from every server crashed at the same time during an invasion? It may bring the whole interface down, causing even more issues.

You have to be patient mate. Please. I've had to create a new pirate 3 times because of all the resets they've done, so I'm not the happiest person right now, but I am getting through it, dealing with it, sending in my many bug reports, along with everyone else, so the rest of the POTCO players can experience as much of a bug free game as possible. I'm pretty sure you wouldn't appreciate crashing the moment you landed in Cuba mate. Be patient. This doesn't happen overnight. Thanks.

"Be patient" is easy to say when you have test. If someone does not, it is not easy to hear. Especially when that person is on live playing a pirate that is in a guild of 400+ with a maxed friends list and no one they know is there and when people do come online they say "no updates yet" and log off quickly. I have friends will not put in their new game cards until the game is updated... why waste money?

I was told on Live Chat geez.. why are you guys so mean? This update still has some fixes it needs yes but if it goes to Live this weekend then it will get fixed faster geez. Live Chat even told me they cannot fix everything in the game, they try really hard to yes, but everything cannot be fixed. This cant be ooh lala when it comes to Live like you all want ok? Geez no need to be so mean about it. Disney will not lose money, people will be getting game cards etc, and this update will probably both bring back old members and bring in new members. They will fix it asap on The Live Game instead of a few days on Test. In case you guys had not noticed They had to reset the levels etc in order to fix things. This is Test remember?

Disney told you about the release date of new content on Live Chat?!? Well then, that guarantees it! /sarcasm

I wouldn't get all riled up over what someone told you. They've told people a lot of things that didn't turn out as indicated. POTCO has over promised and under delivered way too much since the game went live.

Remember this is Test? Of course! Which is why I completely (and reasonably I will add) expect the game build to be pretty darn tight before it's released to Live, especially when the developers have ample opportunity to utilize the Test server to work out bugs and glitches.

James, how many members do you think would leave POTCO if the developers have to reset pirates on the Live server? I remember it's Test. Hopefully the developers will, too.

I know what you mean Gingeeann. I really do. And I want to offer a very simple solution. Clean out your Friends List and start looking for a some friends and a Guild who's main focus is fun and teamwork.

It is my opinion that really large guilds tend to focus on a core group anyway. Sometimes it is hard to break into that core group...

If that is TOO simple (and I tend to think it is), then patience is all we have left. Believe me. If you think NOT having this update is trying your patience...try having it. For example, I have completed the same leftover weapons quest FOUR times. Three full resets have set me back in time to completely do it over again.

That and repair my ships, sort my weapons and clothes, sell all the stuff I no longer use, restart the weapons quest, level up weapons and then do it all over again.

I hope you get what you are looking for. When the updates DO hit, they will be far more stable and will add much more to your playing experience. But ONLY if they are stable.

Fair Seas.

James, I understand what you are trying to say, but you have to look at the bugs that have already occurred since the update was released on test. Pirates have been deleted,
reset, weapons and clothing drops lost. If that was on live, it would be a disaster! At least on Test, people expect these sorts of things due to the plain fact that it is the test server.
Its understandable that not every bug or glitch will be fixed by their release, but its important that the major ones are. Is it frustrating? Of course! But it is worth the wait to know
that when the update is finally released to live, there should minimum to no problems.

And as for releasing it this weekend so the issues are fixed more quickly, it may certainly bring bug fixes about more quickly, but it also very well may not. What if they release
the update and they find out they have to shut down live for a few days? Or what if peoples main pirates are lost and reset? How about if you found a ton of cool weapons only to lose
them all because the servers had to reset? Would that be worth having the update released before it was ready? I personally do not think so.

I can't imagine how upset I'd be if these issues occurred to my live pirates. I know its difficult to wait, but the way I look at it, we've been waiting this long... what is a little longer
to ensure a bug-free release? I'm sure that people aren't trying to be mean here, they are just trying to explain to you why it is important that Disney does not rush this.

James, Live Chat is just gonna tell you what you want to hear, and for the who knows what number time... unless posted on the site, don't believe what you hear. If everyone on this forum said that the update is coming this weekend, does that make it true? Short answer, NO.

If Live Chat told you that everything can't be fixed, WHY are they telling people in emails they are working on patches? Even more proof, don't believe what you hear from someone.

Disney won't lose money? You said so yourself, they have had to reset the levels in order to fix everything. What makes you think that will be accepted by everyone on the Live server, the server of which the purpose is to PLAY not TEST.

And not to be "mean", but you sorta contradicted yourself. Saying that Live Chat told you bugs can't be fixed, then saying that if the update is released to Live, the bugs will be fixed faster.. don't see how that's possible if they "can't" be fixed :) And while on this.. the TEST server is where the game is to be TESTED, not on the LIVE server where people are there PAYING to PLAY.

I don't remember, I KNOW what Test is about, you should try to remember that too.

I understand that it could be bad for those not on test, but everyone still has to be patient. I would be saying the same thing with or without test access. I wouldn't mind waiting for the updates, and I would actually prefer to be able to enjoy them without bugs. Being patient for the bugs to be fixed would be more rewarding to the players in the end.

I already talked to them about that and they said they will not and i repeat "NOT" reset anyone on the live game. No Sven they did not give me what i wanted to hear they cant tell me when its going to be released only that they said soon or very soon. Gosh im really getting sick of all you guys saying there's a bug here or a glitch there, again nothing is perfect its a common fact! If they update test again with another update you guys will still say "Well this doesnt work its not ready this week well maybe another week or two". etc... Sorry, But i would suggest stop being rude and mean and just play test. Honestly. and yes that was mean what you said and its true things will get fixed faster on more players = more people sending in feedback and yes i know its the not test. geez. Can't you guys just be nice for once?

James, the truth isn't being mean, rude, or anything else. There are plenty of problems with this update that still exist. Game crashes and loss of inventory, as well as levels? Yeah..those are really acceptable on Live.

I'm getting tired of saying this.. bu here goes yet again. Things may get fixed faster with more players, but the point of live, yet again, is to PLAY. The reason they even have a test server is so that those chosen to TEST will do just that, TEST the updates. Smaller updates such as Fleets took a month to be released, and a huge game changer should only take two weeks?

I have a suggestion as well. If you have a problem with people "complaining" about the updates, please quit complaining yourself that the updates need to come soon. The update will be here when it gets here, until then, be patient.

I played a lot today. Didn't have to work so...what the heck. The more I played, the more I realized just how not-ready-for-primetime this update truly is.

Today was laggy, buggy and glitchy. Animations were off and weapons performed oddly. Drops were found, collected and then just evaporated, never making it into the inventory.

Big glitches are so obvious that I am not sure if I even want to bother with some smaller ones. For example: I got a really AWESOME Pirate Blunderbuss. Attack score of something like 68. It has a breaker bonus called Stun Shot and it gives a +2 bonus on Take Aim and a +1 bonus on something else.

I loaded this monster with Silver Shot, Pointed it at General Sandspine in the Rats Nest, took aim and BOOM! It did 5900 points of damage. That is not a typo. Five Thousand nine hundred points of damage. But it has a bug. That Take Aim bonus? It is actually applied to Venom Shot. Is this a big deal? Does anyone need to know? But it IS why we test...isn't it?

I have gained back just about all the progress I lost in the last reset. I know we are testers and that it is important but the Resets are a morale killer. I don't want to lose my new BFG. :pirate91: I like it. But I will probably report the bug anyway. And the one with Fire Skull and the one where the stumps don't move, and the lag and the messed up animations and the freezing and the random boots...

I am not doing it because I am mean. But to not do it? Now THAT would be mean.

Semper Fidelis Mates

Keep in mind they keep reseting characters to fix the bugs on test, if such bugs migrated to live, they would need to be reseting accounts on live as to fix them as well. The reprecussions of reseting characters on live would be immense, which they know and is why they said they would "NOT" reset anyone on live.

Any bugs that require character resets to resolve must be fixed before going live.

Keep up the good work testers.

If they "reset" your characters on Live which they said may not happen as they didnt expect it to. It would be reset you back to level 1 just back to the way you were before the update.

Yes, the resets will bring you back to the level you were prior to the update being released. That still doesn't change the fact that they wouldn't require a reset if given time to fix the bugs on Test.

Imagine all of the people who will level, gather loot, etc. during that time. ALL of that would be lost in a reset. ALL new members who joined in that time would be deleted. None of that would be accepted by anyone on Live.

Again they said they did not "plan" on this happening this is why its still on test.

And that is why the updates shouldn't be released until the bugs are fixed... like we've been saying..

James, what exactly are your trying to say here? I feel like your contradicting yourself... First you say bring the updates to live, then you say they are still on test for a reason. A few other things you said contradicted previous statements as well. I'm a little confused?

Invasions are still messing up on test its the only time I get booted. Last nite I was repeatedly booted during invasions everytime I used the healing aura on my staff as soon as I clicked on it poof it crashed but only during the invasion.

Yeah they definitely need to fix that.

Not to stir up trouble hopefully but what if a character was created after the update then reset it?....Depending on how the Staff would actually reset it I think that would delete the character altogether....Although there may be other ways to fix bugs other than reseting things but I wouldn't risk putting things to Open without minimizing problems myself.

People are going to be excited for as much as two weeks when this does hit open.

Then, everyone and their brother will complain that we want POTCO back, instead of Pirates of World of Warcraft.

Not having F5 or F6 is such an enormous mistake, I just can't imagine what they were thinking. (Well, they obviously weren't.) Having absurdly powerful weapons loaded with new exploits doesn't seem like a positive move for the game at all.

Demanding that Disney release a broken implementation to open long before even cursory crashes have been worked out, seems to be very ill-advised. Of any update I've seen on test, this is by far the most ambitious. It is also the most problematic update I've seen hit POTCO. IMHO, 6 weeks of testing seems far too short for this.

Aye, alot more testing is needed. Keep in mind that the Fleets & Invasions are still going on test also. The Fleets seem to be okay, but bootitis does affect the invasions in a large degree. The healing aura skill does seem to cause being booted as stated. There appears to be many more pirates that have accessed test also. So, we have more pirates, more activity, & many more reports being filed. I believe Disney realizes that much more testing is needed.

I agree - I HATE that the belt only has four slots.

It makes no sense to me to limit it. If I want to be able to use the weapons like I have for the past two years, then I should be able to. Plus, one of the things I actually liked about this game was that it allowed everyone to access everything - no picking a "class", and no limits on what any given pirate could acquire. Though we can, of course, switch what's on the belt, it's tedious (good luck whipping a staff out to save yourself if it's not already on your belt...).

Honestly, I just fail to see any reason at all why four slots is better than six. If someone likes the strategic aspect, great, but no one would be forcing them to use all the slots if they didn't want to. I do want to, however, and I can't.

I reported the invasion bug and told them over at Live Chat and they basically said they wont fix it, which it sounded like to me. :/ :sadmh9:

I am going to disagree here. It may have taken me several sessions to get used to not having an F5 or an F6 slot, but I got used to it. And then realized that, for the first time ever, I had to put a little thought into what I would carry into battle.

Now I agree. Some of the weapons seem a bit TOO powerful. Noting ruins rep quite like a guy with a super powerful Blunderbuss. Plug away at Darkhart to maximize rep and BOOM. All gone with one shot from a big gun.

In this part? We are in COMPLETE agreement.

Whoa, I want one of those 'Kill Darkheart in one shot' guns XD.

I don't think t's ready for live... If it does go on live and it resets on live, then people are going to be MAD.

But what if I don't want to have to think? LoL

Honestly though, if I wanted a more complex game I would have never started this one - I'd be in WoW (which PotCO will never be able to compete with anyway; who's going to stick around for the gameplay if it changes to something that someone else is doing better in a game with a ton more content? IMO they should have kept the market they'd cornered in mind instead of stupidly trying to lure people away from "better" games).


But anyway, regardless, how would having all six slots harm your experience? If you want to be more strategic, just don't use them. ;)

Never said that having all six slots would harm the experience. I really just think that having two less slots was easy to get used to. But I tend to ignore my grenades and my staff...Don't miss 'em at all.

I never said you did. ;)

It was just a general question - if it wouldn't harm your experience to have six, though you're fine with four, but it does harm my experience to only have four, to me that's something that the devs need to rethink.

Well test is down. I wonder what they're fixing. Hopefully it will be ready from what i heard a lot and i mean a lot of bug fixes and maybe perhaps new content are coming as well. :)

no new content that I could see. Just a little smoother until I got booted again...changed the drop rate again too.

Is the drop better? Haven't been online to check it, just thought i'd ask.

edit: never mind, it appears to happen every single enemy now.. at least in my case.

F5, 5 (siege - at rank 5 with rank 5 long volley) is the ultimate panic button to save pirates in many, many, many situations. The notion that Disney can get away with RADICALLY CHANGING the user interface and not lose half its customers, is absurd.

Well, I don't see something as minor as that making a large portion of players leave. Some might, but it is easy to get used to. I personally don't mind it, but unless they have plans for a future use of the F5 and F6 buttons, they should allow them to return.

The only thing that can be done is complain to Disney. The same thing happened with the body types, and look what that got us?

Before the update: I often played on test.
After the update: I don't play on test.

(Not speaking for anyone but myself here. Draw your own conclusion.)
Will this mean I finally say good-bye to POTCO? Probably.

So what did they mess up this time?

Did they make it so Siege charge no longer does as much damage or what?

I want to know what this big change is that will make me quit the game. Because if there's anything that's going to keep me from paying 80$ on this game, I gladly will.

I like the game, but lets face it, some of us can't spend any amount of money on this game any more. 80$ is a couple of meals and if there's anything that's going to drastically change my view of the game from, "No, I need to play it" to, "Nah, I can be basic" I want to know.

What some of the posts are referring to is the reduction of the normal 6 slots for weapons, to 4. Nothing new to the update though.

I think the reduction of weapons slots is minor at best. I am certainly not going to get worked up over not having grenades with me. Leveled 'em up to 25 and stopped using them ages ago.

Siege charges always seemed to do as much damage to me as they did to enemies...

Yes, you've expressed your opinion, denying the facts that the change itself is yet-another-downgrade and that it will (and has already) driven people away. You can think that is minor, all you want.

I am not certain where the venom in your reply is coming from but I am certain that it is unwarranted.

Yes, you've expressed your opinion,

I know. Isn't democracy great?

denying the facts that the change itself is yet-another-downgrade

I am NOT denying the facts. I am DISAGREEING with your interpretation of the facts. If I ran around thinking that I am the "Keeper of the Facts" I could say to others, "You don't like the changes? Why are you denying the facts?" I honestly can't see how adding the tiniest little bit of strategic thinking to the game is such a huge problem. It is, in my opinion only, not a downgrade to ask myself, "What weapons do I want to have in an Invasion?" It is not a downgrade to spend almost four mouse-clicks and 7 seconds to add a weapon to the belt.

and that it will (and has already) driven people away.

Really? Because the on-line numbers of the guild I am in has doubled. More than doubled actually. And for the first time since the new caves went on line, I am seeing one or both of the test servers showing up as Ideal and not Quiet.

You can think that is minor, all you want.

I DO think it's minor and I don't need your permission to think it. POF is really a discussion forum and I like the two-way conversations we get into here. Lots of people disagree with me. I like that.

It is my personal opinion that the hardest part of the update to deal with is that it changes the way "it used to be." It is different and some of us hate different.

I personally want different ... it is the status quo on open that is losing older players or having them go basic and take a break from the game. Until disney brings in the updates and new content people that have played long periods are finding other things to do.

Your guild has more than doubled in numbers. Congratulations .

My guild has is nearly maxed and has been, members are waiting for new content and there has been numerous occasions in the past few weeks that only one or two members out of 480+ have been online.

We have been entertaining ourselves with sloop races, dolly tag and hide and seek, scavenger hunts, role play spying, pvp and privateering. Before you think disney has given us these wonderful things to do think again, they are what bored pirates come up with to do with the limited opprtunities we have.

I used to shop but clothes choices became fewer.

I guess I will go stand on a box and flip a coin a while.

Congratulations on doubling your guild. I never said for you to change your opinion, only that it contradicts with facts. I guess we agree to disagree. Good day.

The facts:

In the old mechanic F1-F6 represented each individual weapon category.

In the new mechanic F1-F4 represent specific weapon slots where the player can allocate any weapon type.


Those are the facts and they alone are neither positive or negative.


Pros vs Cons of the new mechanic:

Pros:
Players can assign multiple weapons of the same type to their bar if they so choose.

For example a player might choose to slot a rapier in F1 and a broadsword in F2. Using the rapier when fighting a single enemy and the broadsword when fighting multiple enemies affords the player an advantage that they did not have under the old mechanic.

Cons:
The player is limited to four weapons. This is a disadvantage because the player cannot have all 6 weapon types immediately available to them at any given time.




Personal Opinion:
I prefer the new mechanic over the old one because from my point of view the pros outweigh the cons. I rarely foresee needing more than 2 or 3 weapon types during any one battle, so that isn't really a big negative for me. The flexibility being able to switch weapons on demand is ideal.

I think the 4 spots are much better. Makes you think of what weapons to put on into battle. I know I would probably have a broad, staff, grenades and a dagger my weapons of choice.

I agree that the new weapons slots is more strategy, and I love that. I always hated having to remember a bunch of different keys for a bunch of different weapons anyway. I am like others in that I am only likely to use 2-3 at a time and this simplifies things a bit. It's actually more effortless for me. I don't miss the other keys at all.

I also think it's great that Disney is trying to flesh out the game and offer more overall content to the average player. This is something that has been missing from the game from the very beginning. This games isn't only for people who have been playing for a while, or people who have maxed characters. It's an overall experience for pirates of all levels, and I think they're doing a good job of adding to that.

Collecting items is something that I have always enjoyed in other games and frankly, without it, Pirates always felt like grinding to me - just button-mashing. Now it's a lot more fun. Seeing that Disney is serious about offering more gameplay value and - even more impressively - not rushing buggy releases and is actually trying to DO IT RIGHT, has me thinking about coming back to play. If they really do it right, that is.

It may not be for everyone, but if they keep doing what they've been doing, I think even diehard Disney cynics like me will be back and playing like they never thought they would. And that's saying a lot.

speaking of collection lol: my collection of 12 voodoo dolls



I was thinking Disney could have 6 customizable slots, so pirates who are used to the usual F1 - F6 buttons could still have 6 hotkeys for their weapons.

Those who liked the current F1-F4 method could still use 6 hotkeys for swords only or whatever they like best for battle, and not being restricted to F1 Cutlass, F2 pistol etc, u know what i mean.

That's what I'd like to see. I like the concept of the belt (being able to choose which weapons to have on it), I just want it to have six slots instead of four.