Comments from open forum

[Aliese]

Release Notes - August 20, 2009

• New Game Features:
  • Notoriety Level Cap and Weapon Reputation Levels have been increased
  • Notoriety Level Cap increased to 50
  • Weapon Reputation Level increased to 30
  • Pirates can level their character up faster, as you get more experience when defeating enemies
• New cave environments in the following areas:
  • Murky Hollow, Port Royal
  • Royal Caverns, Port Royal
  • Thieve's Den, Tortuga
  • Lava Gorge, Padres del Fuego
  • Beckett's Quary, Padres del Fuego
  • The Catacombs, Padres del Fuego
  • Cursed Caverns, Isla Tormenta
• New cave environments feature new higher level enemies
  
• New Casa Muertos Quest (Quest available from 8/21 . 8/23)
  
• Game Improvements:
  • Ship Speed Improvements
  • You no longer lose all forward momentum when making small changes to your direction
  • A new speed meter now displays how fast your ship is moving.
  • Ships now move faster
  UI Improvements
  • The map in the compass now maintains consistent orientation with the full-screen minimap. The arrow in the center turns as the avatar turns.

Beckett's Quarry




The Catacombs





Lava Gorge




Murky Hollow









Royal Caverns





Thieves Den









Tormenta Cave







Ship Speed



ETA: Another change that's not listed is that screenshots now have their own subfolder.

[ukebec]

Found another addition that they didn't include in the release notes - when you run up to (what I think of as) a portal - say from the PR north beach into Royal Caverns, Royal Caverns to Governors Garden, etc. Pull a weapon before you reach the portal. As you run through the portal it puts your weapon away like always, but when you come through to the new environment the game automatically re-pulls the weapon you had out when running through! I've wanted that since the very first day I started playing this game!

The levels increases are a dream come true.

The new environments are unbelievable - Lava Gorge is now HUGE. Get ready to get lost in some formerly well-known environments. The attention they've paid to detail in the surroundings is excellent.

The increased ship speed makes island hopping a breeze - it's a snap to get to Tormenta now. I'm not sure how this will affect sea battles yet - haven't tried that.

There are now 2 Dregs on the beach at each of the entrances to the Tormenta caves. You can run past them, or choose to fight them before heading in.

I'm having a very difficult time adjusting to the new compass - not a plus in my view, but it's SO overshadowed by the positive changes they've made I'm not going to say too much.

Disney devs - thank you!!!!

E.T.A.: Have "lost internet connection" on test twice tonight. Now, at 7:03 CDT, I'm getting the "site closed for maintenance" message and can't log back in.

[Ducky]

I believe Mac users are having issues connecting to their servers.

[Crazypirate]

Doesnt look like on test that any credit was given for anything done after 40

[Juliana Maria]

It simply will not let me log in. Keeps saying:

Could connect to gameserver.test.piratesonline.com.7676.
Try again?

I'm on a Mac and I've tried restarting, re-downloading, EVERYTHING I can think of but still no luck.

Anyone else having this problem? Anyone know how to fix it?

[wmah]

Only thing i can say is the COMPASS SUCKS. I want it to move with the direction my screen happens to be facing like before. Anyone remember they tried this before on the ship where it stayed the same direction your ship happen to be going? That was bad enough but not to have it fixed in one direction and you have to tell your brain which direction you are going.

[lostmymarbles]

Awesome posting Aliese.. I was gonna post pictures but you thoroughly beat me to it.

I did finally get logged into Test and decided to map out a couple of the caves before I had to get some sleep.

I can't guarantee that I got all dig sites, but tried my best.

Murky Hollow Layout:




Royal Caverns Layout:




There was one odd circle that kept moving as I pivoted in one place.













Other things.. I actually like the compass. (just opinion)

And yes you can run through a portal with your weapon out and, even tho it puts it away automatically, it will be brought back out once you reach the other side.

[Bartholomew Foulsteel]

My views:

• Yes, aggression has changed. It seems to me that if they are lower level than you they won't attack. If they are higher, watch out. I got POUNDED last night.
  
• Caves are awesome as are the graphics. But I view it as eye candy. I diidn't want awesome caves, I wanted new content.
  
• I was able to glitch into the lava in Lava Gorge. I attacked an enemy form a "safe" location. He ran right up to me and destroyed me. They are not stopped by glitchers (good thing). However, you can now navigate those caverns by glitching and avoinding enemies alltogether (bad thing).
  
• The quest I had hoped was a new story quest. And it may be, what with mention of *things*. HOWEVER, it seems clear that even the lowest level players will be able to work on this new quest, since it begins at the uber easy level. It seems to be a parallel quest, not a follow-on story chapter. I was disappointed by that, but we'll see. I'm only on the second feller. He's hungry.
• I tried sailing. I like the new speed indicator and enjoy the fact that you can see how much your turn affects your forward velocity. Now, if we want to talk about reality (we don't?), I would suggest that the speeds of each ship need to be adjusted. I have a bit of sailing experience, from single-handing small sloops up to sailing as part of a crew on tall ships. Ergo, trust me on this. The light sloop should not be anywhere near as fast as it is. When it comes to sailing speed, thee longer the ship, the faster it is ABLE to be (called hull speed). The smaller, the slower it will be. Now, yes, dispacement and sail area and point of sail all matter (what did he say?), but there is no reason why a light sloop, the smallest boat in the game, should travel at 20 knots! Even in the Pirates movies, the Black Pearl (a Ship proper, or what the game would call a galleon) was a fast ship--nigh uncatchable. Okay. Now back to fun.

[Ducky]

No one with a Mac is able to connect to their servers. We log in fine, but get a message, "Could not connect to pirateserver.test.piratesonline.com:7667." I sent a bug report with log files to Disney and this was my answer....

"Our servers require TCP ports 80 (HTTP), 443 (HTTPS), and 7667 (game) to be open for sending and receiving packets. We apologize for any inconvenience and hope this helps to alleviate the issue you are having."

...Less than helpful, I have no idea what this means, AND I've had no trouble getting in game before this past update. SO FRUSTRATINGGGGG...I am planning on giving them a call tomorrow. Will let you know what they say.