[Edward Edgemenace]

That matches exactly what I noticed on several separate quiet servers today. (Noticed! HA! Neighbors heard me scream, thought I was in danger.) Did some normal sailing on the 8th server I tried, long enough to get to level 30 and start the staff quest. After Cangrejos, I sailed out to pick up two marauders I spotted on the way in.

Had to chase them down...broadsides kept missing (war galleons don't miss - what is going on???) even at two boat-lengths away. French Cerberus spawned in adjacent to me, blasting explosive before it was visible on compass. Ducking away to finish off the marauders and leave it in the dust, it not only outran me, it outran my RAMMING SPEED. Once the cerberus was completely out of range/angle, I fired to finish off the marauder, only to see my cannons shoot almost perfectly forward. !!!

Fine. Open fire, blasted the cerberus that wouldn't leave me alone. Boarded it alone. Level 30 still (staff quest almost complete at this point) and the level 14 maitres kill me with their asp venom. WHAT IS GOING ON? I've encountered the stronger asp venom before, but this was about ten times faster than even that. There were four maitres. I had killed one by the time I pressed T to drink tonic (holy water, I think) then got another almost immediately. But the venom effects sped up at that point!

I am not used to going to jail, sailing. I'm not used to levelling up a baby level 30 pirate, either. But sheesh!

If sailing is going to be this way, I'll have to adjust my tactics tremendously. But sailing ultra-conservative-all-the-time is not a fun way to play this game.

Thanks Captain Seaford, HOWEVER, I am not talking about behavior that has been around for a couple weeks. This stuff was new, today. Not sure if it is restricted to quiet servers, or having all graphics settings set to high, or what. But it is positively different than it was yesterday.

North East of PDF was the worst. Once I got West and South of PDF over in Mariner's Reef, the NPC ships stopped acting insane. I have no idea if that was just coincidence, timing, or what.