POTCO Release Notes - 2007

Release Notes - December 21, 2007

 * Fixed issue with teleporting to friends and crewmates while swimming that was causing game crash

Release Notes - December 19, 2007

 * Fixed bug in the Lookout System that was causing players to be sent to the wrong game type
 * Added notification in the Guild Page that lets you know if your Guildmate is online or offline
 * Fixed bug that caused ships to occasionally zoom back and forth
 * Added in-game notification when a Guild invitation token is redeemed
 * Adjusted the velocity calculation of cannonballs to make it easier to hit enemies while on a moving ship.
 * Adjusted battle balancing:
 * Lower level enemies are now able to damage higher level players. Previously, they would always miss.
 * Lower level players are now able to damage higher level enemies. Previously, they would always miss.
 * Reduced Notoriety gain for Grenades and Voodoo Staff.
 * Added functionality to put players back on their original server after playing PVP
 * Fixed bug in server selection that was sometimes sending players to a different server than the one they selected at the login screen
 * Removed the server selection panel from the 'pick-a-pirate' screen for accounts that have no avatars
 * Added code to prevent teleport effects when teleporting while swimming
 * Fixed an issue with being sunk right as you anchor your ship. If you make it to land safely, your ship should never be sunk
 * Update made to the Quest tracking system to not track Quests that only direct you to a location (i.e. kill crabs on Tortuga)
 * Added server names to the Speed Chat Plus dictionary

Release Notes - December 10, 2007

 * Fixed bug that was preventing some players from being able to play Blackjack or Poker
 * You are now able to change your bid size in Blackjack
 * Fixed bug with Voodoo Staff charging that was occurring in combination with the Spell Lore passive skill
 * Several Lookout system fixes have been implemented to make the matchmaking feature more robust, including providing more feedback to the player as to what their chance is of finding a match
 * You are now able to select a server before you get into the game - some GUI was moved around on the pirate selection screen in order to account for this new interface
 * You will now be rewarded with some gold (at least) when digging up a treasure chest
 * A quest icon has been added to the world map for the quest that is currently being tracked - clicking on this icon will take you to the Quest Journal entry for that quest

Release Notes - December 7, 2007

 * We have raised the gold cap to 65000 to give people saving up for the War Frigate some space for additional gold
 * We have fixed the issue where players near the gold cap were not earning notoriety when defeating enemies

Release Notes - December 4, 2007

 * Names have been added to the taverns on Padres Del Fuego and Cuba
 * Names have been added to the forts in Kingshead
 * Tortuga and Port Royal are now more clearly identified on the world map (names have been moved closer to actual islands)
 * Waterway names have been moved closer to the center of the waterway on the world map
 * The bug that was causing players to "hang" while attempting to join PVP when another player had dropped out has been fixed

Release Notes - December 1, 2007

 * Founders program will end on Monday, December 1, 2007 at 12:01 AM (PT). You will now see different nametags for Unlimited Founders, Unlimited Non-Founders, and Basic Access players.
 * Added quest tracking for the "return to a townsperson" step in a quest. When a quest is completed, a ray of light will point to the townsperson you need to return to.
 * Fixed a bug with players and ships popping back and forth suddenly.
 * Fixed a bug where grenades were hanging in mid air if someone else was also throwing a grenade.
 * Fixed strange movement of grenade that occurred when a player is moving.
 * Fixed an issue when switching to grenade that caused siege grenade to always be selected -- now your pirate will use the correct grenade ammo.
 * Fixed a bug where players wouldn't be able to move when reloading small grenades.
 * Slowed down player speed when they are using the Long Volley Grenade skill.
 * Fixed an issue with the Voodoo Doll Swarm skill that was not recording damage correctly at long range.
 * Fixed a problem with a ship being deployed but still retaining some speed from its previous use.
 * Added feedback for when teleporting to a friend fails because the friend is unavailable for teleport (for example: in jail, playing PVP, etc...)
 * Added more feedback for when boarding a ship fails (for example: ship sunk, ship had no more space, etc...)
 * Fixed an exploit with Voodoo Staff that would allow players to switch between low level and high level skills to avoid long charge times.
 * Fixed some bugs that were allowing players to move while charging the Voodoo Staff.
 * Updated some loading screen hints.
 * Fixed a bug that was causing more than one arrow to appear on the radar.
 * Added a quest journal notification at the end of Chapter 3.
 * Guild name submissions are auto-capitalized, and ALL CAPS are automatically removed.
 * Fixed a bug in the Speedchat Plus chat mode where words that were not in the Speedchat Plus dictionary were not turning red as you typed them.

Release Notes - November 20, 2007

 * The Black Pearl boss battle has been temporarily disabled due to the fact that it was crashing.
 * Fixed a crash that was occurring when docking while grappled on to a flagship
 * A fix has been put into place for the PVP Team Battle server crash
 * The text for the Gunner Quest has been updated - it now reminds you where to find Olivier
 * We are continuing to update the text on a variety of Quests

Release Notes - November 15, 2007

 * A fix has been made to prevent the crash (caused by certain graphics cards) that occurred when going to Padres Del Fuego
 * Guild name submissions are now auto-capitalized
 * Fix has been implemented for the crash that occurred when trying to resize your window to 0 pixels tall
 * Removed latency info that was shown when pressing the F6 key

Release Notes - November 13, 2007
vAll of Sam Seabones' Quest Ladders
 * Added ability to invite a friend into your guild by giving them a guild code. Check your guild panel for the "Create Invitation" button.
 * Fixed bug in quest dialog that was causing some dialog to be missing when returning a quest
 * Fix for sparse population of enemy ships near the middle of the ocean
 * Made the following quests lines available for Basic Access members:
 * Black Mack's Quest Ladder
 * Tortuga Teleport Unlock Quest Ladder
 * Darby Drydock's Solo Quest Ladder
 * All of Josie McReedy's Quest Ladders (including the Random One)
 * R. Smith's Quest Ladder
 * Peter Chipparr's Quest Ladder
 * All Three Shane McGreeny Quest Ladders
 * Improved graphics of far-away ships
 * Fixed some loading screen hints
 * Fixed a bug where the player can purchase more than one of each weapon.
 * Fixed a bug where the player could purchase Grenade ammo before having the grenade weapon.
 * Fixed some incorrect skill descriptions for the Voodoo Staff Desolation skill.
 * Added some text to the Sailing Maneuver skill descriptions to notify the player that Maneuvers do not stack
 * Added a description to firebrand ammo in the store GUI
 * We are now limiting PVP mayhem matches to only 8 players
 * Mouse wheel on a Mac should now select weapon types
 * Repositioned the attune menu higher so it doesn't interfere with the friends page. Also scaled the buttons down a bit.
 * Fixed the name that appears when you attune a training dummy.
 * Fixed jail interior in Port Royal to stop player from getting out of game world.
 * Fixed jumpiness when steering Black Pearl, and some disconnect problems. There are still known issues with not being able to hit the Goliath properly, or taking damage from forts that we will be fixing soon. Thanks for your patience.
 * Fixed a bug when a pirate's name was rejected after it was initially approved, and the player could not rename their pirate.
 * Fixed some memory leaks that were causing the client performance to degrade over time

Release Notes - November 5, 2007

 * Fixed bug causing missing mouse pointer on Mac's
 * Fixed a memory leak that was causing Pirates to take up more system memory over time
 * Fixed Voodoo Doll attunement bugs where targets appeared to be attuned but were not taking damage
 * Fixed the bug which caused your pirate be invisible in Tia Dalma's cutscene
 * Fixed the bug which caused difficulty performing a cutlass combo while being attacked
 * Removed warning about being too close to shore when you aren't steering the ship
 * Made ships respawn in the world faster
 * Fixed rare server crash caused by a pirate ship sinking. There may still be cases where your screen will hang indefinitely after sinking, in which case you will have to restart the game.
 * Added new tips for the loading screens
 * Fixed a bug where enemies were not healing properly after retreating
 * Adjusted calculation for deciding when a server population is "ideal"
 * Removed high level skeletons near Tortuga town
 * Fixed bug in the healing option giving by NPC's that was giving players a speed and jumping boost
 * Fixed several bugs that caused crashes when creating a pirate and using the "shuffle" button

Guild name approvals - known issues:

 * Several guild names that were previously submitted were accidentally denied -- these will be placed back into the approval process. We apologize for any confusion this may have caused.
 * We have also fixed a bug where a user was unable to submit a new guild name if their previous request for a guild name was rejected.

Other bug fixes:

 * Fixed crashes that were occurring when using the shuffle function in Make-a-Pirate.
 * All newly created Pirates will now be placed in an Ocean that is ideally populated, instead of a quiet Ocean.

Release Notes - October 26, 2007

 * Overall level cap was increased to 40 and the weapon level cap was increased to 25
 * Raised the level requirement for upgrading ships
 * Added the ability to click on other players' ships to get info about the captain and crew
 * Added a "Port of Call" button on the map page, which takes you back to the last major island you were on
 * Increased maximum capacity on all ships
 * Fixed the rollup/rolldown sail animation that occurs when the player stops sailing
 * Fixed the bug that was causing player to end autosailing
 * Pulled the default camera distance back when sailing a ship
 * Added a hint on dinghys for players who don't have a ship
 * Balanced damage values for naval combat
 * More flagship fixes were made
 * When you grapple a second flagship, the first one will now sink
 * Fixed the bug where cargo was being misreported if you teleported to a ship mid-adventure
 * Fixed descriptions of 'Defeat Ship' quests so the ship class is always shown
 * A new wake effect was added on ships
 * Adjusted the level at which some quests are unlocked
 * Fixed the "unknown location" bug
 * Removed level 1 weapons from weapon shops
 * Balanced voodoo doll and voodoo staff skills
 * Added a team agro check - an enemy who agro's will also agro nearby enemies
 * PVP games will now take place on less burdened servers to decrease lag
 * Lowered the damage taken from the pistol "take aim" skill
 * Tweaked the skill set used by Davy Jones' crew
 * Fixed the bug that was causing players to start with incorrect Voodoo Staff skills
 * Added a visual indicator to weapons and skills that are maxed out
 * Added new animations for pain
 * Added new animations for being defeated
 * Re-enabled the quest indicator and ray of light for the graveyard and mansion
 * Added names to NPC's that were missing one (O'Malley, Peter Blakeley, Daisy, John Wallace, Philip Fuller, Clayton Collard)
 * Added more descriptive text in parts of the Greer, June and Nill Offrill quest lines
 * Fixed the Jolly Roger soul drain, poision, heal smoke, spectral smoke, and curse hit effects
 * Updated lighting inside caves to make it easier to see
 * Made some minor economy adjustments
 * Guild members are no longer able to eject the guild leader
 * New island music has been added, so every island now has it's own unique music
 * Updated both the tavern and sailing music
 * Made footsteps a bit louder
 * Added auto capitalization as names are typed in during Make-a-Pirate
 * Adjusted the size and placement of the Founder token
 * Some fixes were made to improve sorting of the friends list
 * Adjusted chat formatting and colors
 * Fixed Joshamee Gibbs' neck
 * Fixed the problem that was causing the Report a Bug page to come up when you logged out
 * Admin messages now use regular message popups and appear in the chat log
 * Changed the icon for open chat vs. speed chat plus. The speed chat plus icon is now: "+"
 * Adjusted the art and screenshots on the panel that appears when you are prompted to upgrade your account
 * Several server side optimizations have been made to address the lag issue
 * Changed server terminology to "Oceans" instead of "Worlds"
 * Early entry has been added for new installs. You can now start making a pirate before the full game is downloaded

Release Notes - October 19, 2007

 * Resolved a prevalent sailing crash introduced in version 1.0.10.11 of the release notes
 * Players no longer have to fear other player's voodoo dolls
 * Loading screen pictures have been restored
 * Kingshead bridge and pier have been restored
 * The tutorial Sea Chest icon's texture has been restored

Release Notes - October 18, 2007

 * Optimized AI to reduce latency and lag
 * Added several Flagship fixes
 * Improved the projectile collision system (relating to cannon balls)
 * Increased rewards for higher level quests
 * Polished some rough edges around the PVP system
 * Repaired several poker related crashes
 * Removed backgrounds from the Compass
 * Updated chat panel GUI for "SpeedChat-only" mode
 * Fixed a number of pirate creation crashes
 * Resolved several teleport-related issues
 * Updated numerous models throughout the game
 * Some quests can now only be completed once
 * Enemies now chase pirates more aggressively
 * Walking back from Pantano River no longer dumps you in the ocean
 * Nametags have been updated:
 * They are now visible
 * Guild name is displayed as well
 * Founder status icon added
 * Navy officers now hold their swords correctly
 * Cannon icon is now visible at the ammunition store
 * Take Aim skill slows a player down when being used

Release Notes - October 12, 2007

 * Added more server optimizations to address the lag issue on crowded worlds
 * Removed NPC's from ships - they will still appear when you board a flagship
 * Fixed the bug that was preventing people from purchasing grenades after they had earned them
 * Fixed the bug that was preventing people from leveling up certain skills
 * Moved the friends list to the right side of the screen and added online/offline icons to friend entries
 * Fixed the missing buttons on the friend detail panel
 * Fixed a bug that was allowing people to run extra fast and jump extra high.
 * Fixed the bug that was causing whispers appear as "blah blah blah" when sent to far away friends
 * Fixed some collision issues on the Warships
 * Fixed the bug that was sometimes causing the dig animation to not play correctly
 * Added sound effects for the drinking tonics, as well as the Full Sail and Ramming Speed sailing skills
 * New text was added for the Steal Ship List quest
 * Improved ship placement upon deployment around islands
 * A fix was added to prevent server crashes from happening when a grenade was thrown in PVP
 * Fixed the bug in the shackles attack for the voodoo doll
 * A text fix was made for all the broken quests relating to flagship captures
 * Added a work-around for the SiS video chips

Release Notes - October 10, 2007

 * Fixed the problem associated with avatars rapidly orbiting around enemies during battle.
 * Various bug fixes were made to the PVP system.
 * A reward description was added to the top level of non-story quests.
 * Added more server side optimizations to address the lag issues on busy worlds.
 * Added undead skins for the alligator, bat, scorpion, and wasp enemies.
 * Made improvements to the visual effects in the Bo Beck/Jolly Roger cut scene.
 * Fixed the bugs associated with whispering to non-visible friends.
 * Added a new hole graphic for sails on ships.
 * Fixed the bug associated with enemy ships spawning in incorrect areas of the ocean.
 * Fixed the crash that occurred when players leave the poker table and quit.
 * Added quest-specific speed chat phrases.
 * Removed the pirate code warning that was coming up when aiming at enemies that are close to another player.
 * Fixed 3D sound effects for the impact sounds in ship battle. Sound effects should now feel more distant when hitting an enemy ship.
 * An Exploit fix was added for being able to tag ships and allow other people to sink them.
 * Fixed some collision and texture problems on the sloop and galleon ships.
 * The weapon store interface tabs now have images instead of text.

Release Notes - October 4, 2007

 * Completed a number of server-side optimizations
 * Added and adjusted particle effects for the following: stun, smoke, fire
 * Fixed 'Shackles' bug - player no longer becomes permanently immobile
 * You are no longer able to break out of 'Stun' or 'Shackles' simply by switching weapons.
 * Issue with 'Stun' effect appearing over everyone's head during combat has been fixed
 * Added 'Stun' effect to Cutlass Brawl. Targets hit by the 'Stun' effect cannot move or attack anything for a few seconds, and become immune to further stunning for 60 seconds.
 * Fixes were put in for various server crashes
 * Fixed the bug associated with seeing a flagship's boarding timer and panel, even when you weren't battling the flagship
 * Added a fix for the Windows crash that would happen upon exiting the game
 * The Three Assassins is now redeemable

Release Notes - September 28, 2007

 * Balanced enemy difficulty and placement
 * Added feedback on the population of different worlds
 * Fixed backwards shovel bug for treasure digging
 * Enhanced player's status meter to indicate the Groggy penalty
 * Added low-level ships between Port Royal and Tortuga
 * Removed the Store Option from Bartenders
 * Decreased distance radius for credits on a land and sea kill
 * Damage-Over-Time buffs on a target reduced from five to three copies
 * Relaxed Enemy Ship AI and improved loot drop rates at sea
 * Improved whisper chat
 * District activity now displayed on shard panel
 * Changed pirate name approval/rejection terms
 * Modified auto-centering function on ship camera
 * Improved cannon tutorial timing and fixed low-end platforms

Release Notes - September 27, 2007

 * Increased the ability to see other ships from a farther distance
 * Fixed bugs associated with leaving a Parlor game from the Lookout system
 * Completed several server-side optimizations
 * Fixed various reported client crashes
 * The cost of ship repair has been reduced
 * Enhanced support for in-game shaders and reflections on the Mac version
 * Motion of a player swinging onto a flagship has been improved