POTCO Release Notes: 2007 — Disneys Online Worlds


March	April	May	September	October	November	December

March 2007

March 6, 2007

Hints:

Find Will Turner in the building across from the East India Trading Company pier.

To get into a player-vs-player battle, use the Lookout system. Hit L to bring up the Lookout panel.

You can find Joshamee Gibbs in the tavern in Tortuga (a building with a light blue door).

Known Issues:

Teleporting to Del Fuego will cause a crash

Chapter 3 quests are incomplete

Fixes:

Poker improvements: Better calculation of minimum bets. Bets double on turn and river.

Fixed missing ship rigging

Fixed bug that was causing camera to snap when using radial menu ship skills.

Building doors working now

Tutorial is now set at night

GUI

Several weapon and enemy balancing improvements.

Added the Grave Shackles Doll effect.

Enemies taunt the player when they outnumber him.

Added an enemy skill attack display below the status panel.

Increased cannonball power.

Differentiated between player and npc damage numbers.

Enemies added to Tortuga swamp.

High-level Mossman removed near Port Royal fort.

Signs added to functional buildings in Tortuga and Port Royal.

Randomized spawn points added to Port Royal.

March 12, 2007

New features:

PVP ship battles now available!!!

Multiple worlds are available now through your map page.

New radar indicators added for quest targets.

Options button added to Sea Chest.

Devil's Anvil island added - look there for Barbossa!

New sound effects added for grenades and daggers.

Bug fixes:

Fixed crash when teleporting or sailing to Padre Del Fuego.

Boarding a ship does not set you back to world origin now.

Known bugs:

Enemies cannot be attacked after they chase you and disengage.

Player will be unable to pull out a ship after it has been sunk.

April 2007

April 11, 2007

IMPORTANT NOTE: The game database is being reset for this release causing all avatars to be deleted. We apologize for the inconvenience, but we think you'll like all the improvements we've made to the game!
Enemy ships now shoot back.
Hit point changes are better synchronized with the server so you will not see your avatar die while still appearing to have health. Pick-a-Pirate interface now displays account name, subscription type, and allows selection of any subscription in your family account to play under.
Mayhem PVP game type added. It's every pirate for himself in this game.
Captain Barbossa pistol tutorial added. Pistol given to player and the lookout system is introduced.
Tia Dalma voodoo quests added.
Guild/crew/speak buttons added to chat functionality so you can direct your chat to specific groups.
Treasure collection quests added. Elizabeth Swann, Barbossa, and Will Turner will now give out treasure collection quests.
Kingshead Island added.
Tells added to Poker system. Player will now occasionally get excited or agitated while looking at their hand.
Prison Dog added!
Many crew system bugs fixed.
More enemy placement and balancing.

April 16, 2007

Improvements to server stability.

April 27, 2007

Taking a ship out via the dockworker has been simplified.

Added boss battle: Rescuing the Black Pearl.

Splitting and doubling has been added to Blackjack.

A Log-out button has been added to the options panel.

When you log in, you will appear on the last island you visited. Major islands have jails.

The ability to teleport to a friend has been added.

There is now a new user interface in place for currently targeted enemy.

Enemy aggro has been tuned so enemies don't gang up on people as often.

New name tags reveal the difficulty of an Enemy relative to a player. Red: Hard to defeat. Yellow: Near equal to player. Green: Easy to defeat. Gray: Very easy to defeat.

The Lookout system is now defaulted to Invite Crew.

You should not be able to buy or equip a weapon before you've earned the right to have it.

May 2007

May 2, 2007

A number of client crashes have been fixed.

Improvements have been made to reduce latency issues - this will help to increase performance during PVP battles.

Launcher and game interface artwork has been updated.

May 4, 2007

Fixed a bug that was causing a client crash when using broadside cannons.

Fixed a bug that was overflowing an 8 bit register and causing an AI crash.

Published a new version of the launcher application.

May 11, 2007

The player's user interface has been changed.

The jungles, caves and swamps in Port Royal and Tortuga now have names.

Buried treasure is more closely guarded by enemies.

VIP passes have been added to the game's lookout system, allowing players to specifically invite crew members and friends to join them in PVP combat and parlor games.

The "Challenge to Skirmish" has been fixed.

Navy Guards have been added between the town and Governor's mansion.

Gold drops from enemies have been balanced.

Auto-sail and auto-run have been added. Press Shift-W to enable.

Game Options should now stick upon restart of the game.

We are testing the Basic Access (free) mode of the game - all new accounts created with beta keys will default to this. Basic Access play is ad supported (will run inside an ad frame) and provides players with limited access to certain game features. Please help us test this mode of the game!

September 2007

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

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

October 2007

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

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.

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

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

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

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

November 2007

November 1, 2007

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.

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

November 8, 2007

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

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

November 13, 2007

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

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 of Sam Seabones' Quest Ladders

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 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

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

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

November 29, 2007

Founders program will be ending soon. This release will temporarily change your name tag to Non-Founder status. This will be reverted when we release a new publish.

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.

November 30, 2007