Patch Notes Discussion - 1.2.4

did Karen get her body tho? ',:^/

@khaleesibot I am not sure if it's a bug affecting only me currently or everyone all over the seas.
But i cannot feed the pigs with the Bananas. When it says "feeding" i press the correct button. My banana disappears but the pig is still in a "sitting" position crying until it dies. Even giving it 5 banana in a row doesn't change anything...

@bobafestus I know that bug.
I am (was) aware of this. Both options (feeding the pig and picking up) were available.

"Some Commendation requirements have been rebalanced. This change was made due to community feedback."
What community feedback? The only commendation issue (aside from them not being rewarded during Bilge Rat events) was concerning the merchant crates, and that was an entirely different problem.
I had 700 Castaway's turned in. 120 Chests of a Thousand Grogs. All that progress has effectively been wiped out, and I simply do not understand the reasoning behind it. If you want the game to last a long time it's good to have long-term goals in the game. But now the commendations are all very easy to complete, meaning the titles are not unique, and the dedicated no-lifers like myself have not only been robbed of progress, but have also been robbed of a long-term goal.
Yes, I'm salty. Very much so.

Any visual updates to Karen? I'll assume not since if they did it would have been in the patch notes. I would hope soon that they release some "surprise" updates without actually putting them in the notes. Like crab critters and Kraken body.

August 30th Patch - Changes to barrel inventory management.

Guys, I've been playing since 3 days after launch, and have hundreds of hours into the game. This is the first time I've had a significant reason to provide feedback on a development change. This new inventory system is going to cause some ruffled feathers. There are at least 4 issues stemming from this update to barrels.

1. You cannot see at a glance what your supply count aboard your vessel is without accessing the barrels.
2. You cannot see if a barrel is empty when approaching it, meaning that it will slow down harvesting materials, and crucial moments when in a fight and trying to eat that banana before you die. This also has an unintentional effect of causing frustration when a player may encounter several barrels in a row that are empty. This will also effect crew coordination when collecting supplies as a team.
3. It is much more laborious to interact with. Yes muscle memory will adapt, but seasoned players will see this as a step backwards. A simple task such as stocking or retrieving supplies should not feel complicated.
4. This further widens the gap in response and difficulty between xbox and PC players, as xbox players have a limitation on the amount of hotkeys available to use.

Solutions - Make supply count on vessels visible on the respective barrels aboard ship. Clearly mark resource barrels as (empty) if they are empty (although this is only a partial solution as clicking on a barrel that has resources you do not need still creates agitation). The other two issues, you guys are going to need to do some thinking on.

Reducing the commendations this drastically is a joke and an insult to the most loyal players. Players who, for the longest time, have had nothing to work on in this game. Players who quickly reached PL, Athena 10, and have had no other goals to reach, aside from commendations. Many players, myself included, and many much more dedicated players, have sunk countless hours into completing commendations for little reward besides a prestigious title that many players don't even recognize the worth of. These players have spent the past few months playing the game with nothing to work towards besides grinding commendations. Just as these players complete some or many of these difficult commendations, all their hard work is nullified.

At this point in the game, I see no more reason to play. This isn't really much different than the state of the game thus far, but at least we had commendations to do. Now, there is nothing. The cursed cannonballs are out which is cool, but they are so difficult to use fluidly. How can you expect someone to sort through 3 menus to select one cannon ball for proper use with proper timing in the midst of the fight? The barrel menus are horrible but I think you know this already. I have no factions to grind, no goals to achieve, commendations that I have been working on are worth nothing, the ones I didn't finish yet have been finished for me, and the one thing worth doing at the moment (experimenting with the new cannon balls) isn't even fun to do because of how difficult it is to pull them out and swap between them during a fight. I might finally have given up on this game.

Were going to add the reapers mark so pvp players can get more pvp, totally optional!
oh but if you want commendations, you HAVE to pvp...
oh and by the way for the commendations, you have to use the reapers mark but be in an alliance, which defeats the purpose of it anyway since everyone will just allign and wear the flag... but good job though, more well thought out commendations. not to mention the horrible update that is the barrel system, the commendation overhaul that slapped a bunch of people in the face that spent time working them, etc. etc.
ive had a lot of fun in this game, but after hitting athena 7, i didnt play at all for the first time since release date, all last week. i have no desire to grind out the rest of athena for a sub par figure head thats too expensive. cursed cannonballs just showing up randomly in barrels and able to be stock piled will ruin pvp, if you can even grab them out of your barrel and load one in a cannon in time to get a shot off before you get sunk from a ship that has 1k cannonballs on board...

good stuff

@shuoink - Thats a good point about the pace of battle. I spent maybe 20 minutes online this morning just to check out the changes. I had a brig sail up on me while i was still at port, just beginning, I set my boat off and distracted the crew, and then mermaided back to my sloop, turned around and went back to that brig. I killed it as a solo player, they weren't able to return a single shot. A 3 to 1 battle should have gone in their favor, had they been watching.

That new inventory and barrel system will really open up the door for new and interesting items.

The new commendation rebalance has effectively taken away any sort long term progression for the loyal and devoted community.

As a PL10 I found the long and arduous commendation grind to be quite rewarding. Titles were a mark of achievement, and at this point in the game, most of them are still uncommon to come by. It was a mark of achievement, something to work towards every day. Something I could proudly display to my friends and frienemies.

I have been grinding my way to 500 skull fort clears for the title of that commendation. I have more than double the amount (120) that is now currently required to have the title. In fact almost all of my Commendations are completed. Yes I play this game more than most but this is a complete slap in the face to the hardcore community.

Any sort of long term progression has been taken from me. I like goals. And now not having any I have no desire to play this game at this point in time.

I urge you to reconsider this commendation rebalance. While it serves the casual crowd upfront, your hardcore community (which is the one that is going to stick around) is furious right now. This is my first and likely only post in the forum. I have never been more frustrated with a video game update. Please don’t do this to the community that plays this game the most.

PS the inventory system needs a lot of improvement.

Dear rare, it is a wonderful game you've created.
You have to team and work together towards a common goal, it is in all aspects a social game and we've built communities.
There is a lot of things to enjoy about the game but you are really pushing us away from it.
PvP/PvE
We wanted servers with more ships so there was more interaction between players, we got skeleton ships that ram themselves into rocks (which to be fair isn't that uncommon with players)
We wanted more mechanics to board as the only way to do it right now against a good crew is a mast shot with cannons.

My friends and I have a lot of experience in the game, bought everything, athena 10, PL and all that stuff ages ago aside from commendations. Now that you've taken that from us what is left?

@knifelife Unfortunately, turning in one of each item will not revert the changes made to these commendations. I wish, though.