Blog Post Developer Insider: The Old Islands!

Ok, my first thought with regard to the old island would be to make them accessible through drinking a grog or potion. If it were a potion it would only be available to pirates that have mastered potions and have a certain level like 25 or 30. I like the idea of making them for mastered pirates with higher level enemies but not necessarily drop higher level drops like legendaries. I would like to see it as an area to grind from level 45 to level 50.

The other idea I had was that they could be used for seasonal quests like Hallowed Woods is for Halloween. Something like the St Patrick's celebration or the Christmas Celebration where it is only active for a limited time and have special items available at the shops that are only available during the time the island is present. Kind of like the old island phase into existence for the 25 days of Christmas once a year or something like that.

Anther idea that just popped into my head was to use them for invasions. Say that when Jolly Roger invades Port Royal it takes on the appearance of the Old Port Royal from the time the announcement of the invasion starts until an hour after the successful completion of the fight against the Army of Jolly Roger.
 
Ok, my first thought with regard to the old island would be to make them accessible through drinking a grog or potion. If it were a potion it would only be available to pirates that have mastered potions and have a certain level like 25 or 30.
Interesting ideas you have, @Cadeus. I particularly like the potions idea!
 
Posting now, while this is on my mind after reading the OP. I will come back and read the rest and add reactions/comments to those in a bit...

I have always thought that IF any of these islands came back to replace those currently in game, then it should be Port Royal. The reason I feel this way is because this is the only island we really got a good look at from a distance in the movies, and this island was designed to resemble movie Port Royal as much as possible.

I would be wonderful if that change could be made at some point... but I understand completely if it cant be done.

So... I agree with what I've glimpsed so far in the first couple of replies to the OP, bringing that nostalgia back from the old POTCO would be amazing. If they are added in as additional islands in other locations on the map, would they be named something similar to their original names from 08 POTCO? Port Royal, if I'm remembering correctly, was on Jamaica. Tortuga was a smaller island off of Haiti (Hispaniola). So maybe they could be named Jamaica and Hispaniola? Maybe change the name of old Padres del Fuego to Madres del Fuego?

I also briefly glimpsed the idea of harder enemies. This is definitely something that the level 50s need. We currently have those high level, tougher to kill bosses. Something different would be cool though.

Ok, gonna go read the rest.
 
This is my suggestion: Release new and interesting content to keep people playing instead of something that another game is already recreating.

Really? That's your idea? Ever heard of the whole "when life gives you lemons" thing? Let's be positive here. This idea has plenty of potential to satisfy both you, and people who are happy to just have the old islands back.

Simply create a new story, with new NPCs for these islands. Make them entirely new in spirit while keeping the old looks, minus the parts like the mansion which might need to be altered a bit to make it not exactly like the mansion on Port Royal for story reasons and such.

This is an opportunity to make a new quest completely your own with new NPCs and more, and that in my opinion should be the most exciting potential thing to come out of this for you guys, and us the players. Whatever you choose to do, in my opinion, any inclusion of old characters or references to previously completed quests should be kept to a minimum. Make it as original as possible.

I think this is an excellent springboard concept. New islands can be created still in time. This offers a great way to offer new content in the meantime and provide more of that sweet nostalgia many of us felt strongly when picking up this game once more after so many years of thinking it was dead and gone for good.

I think these islands should have GOOD reasons for both low level AND high level players to come to them. That way, people can experience the old islands and the new islands in a meaningful way without delay, regardless of their level. Similar concepts have been done before in other games. It can be done here. I may not have a specific quest concept thought out, but I think that my suggestion still makes enough sense without that.

(Thanks, by the way.)
 
Really? That's your idea? Ever heard of the whole "when life gives you lemons" thing? Let's be positive here. This idea has plenty of potential to satisfy both you, and people who are happy to just have the old islands back.

Simply create a new story, with new NPCs for these islands. Make them entirely new in spirit while keeping the old looks, minus the parts like the mansion which might need to be altered a bit to make it not exactly like the mansion on Port Royal for story reasons and such.

This is an opportunity to make a new quest completely your own with new NPCs and more, and that in my opinion should be the most exciting potential thing to come out of this for you guys, and us the players. Whatever you choose to do, in my opinion, any inclusion of old characters or references to previously completed quests should be kept to a minimum. Make it as original as possible.

I think this is an excellent springboard concept. New islands can be created still in time. This offers a great way to offer new content in the meantime and provide more of that sweet nostalgia many of us felt strongly when picking up this game once more after so many years of thinking it was dead and gone for good.

I think these islands should have GOOD reasons for both low level AND high level players to come to them. That way, people can experience the old islands and the new islands in a meaningful way without delay, regardless of their level. Similar concepts have been done before in other games. It can be done here. I may not have a specific quest concept thought out, but I think that my suggestion still makes enough sense without that.

(Thanks, by the way.)
Nothing wrong (at all) with the concept. It's the fact that the concept itself is already trying to be achieved by a different group. Like @Bonny Anne, I too agree with her. *Any back-n-forth debate though can be discussed at the below thread rather than this one. ;)
 
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edit: i am going to flesh this out in a Suggestions & Ideas thread.

ok i am aware this is really ambitious, but i just wanted to think of a super unique and exciting experience to reintroduce the classic islands. i feel like it would be a bit bland to just plop them in without some decent fanfare, savvy?

after completing the Black Pearl and Raven's Cove story quests and hitting level 50, you are automatically given a new story quest: rumour has it that, some ways away from our corner of the Caribbean, the EITC and Navy are building a massive armada to take back the Caribbean from both pirates and the undead. you then embark to these "new" distant islands. during the story quest, you would collect intel about the EITC and Navy's plans, defeat different Navy officers and high-ranking EITC members to cripple their leadership and hinder their conquest, and maybe even weaken Jolly Roger's voodoo powers along the way. your journey ends with a unique boss battle that takes place on both land and sea (possibly against Lord Beckett himself!).

this could very easily offer very powerful new enemies, ship types (both enemy and player ships, like carracks!), bosses and items (maybe even new weapon types? dual swords would be really cool. my story quest theme would also be the PERFECT time to introduce Norrington's Spyglass). it would also be a great time to implement a level cap increase, maybe to 60 or 70.

i think to kill the monotony and current meta of fighting bosses, each boss could be really unique and perhaps even require a group to effectively combat. by unique, i don't just mean different aesthetics and attacks: i mean something like different phases. let's admit it: the current boss fights are pretty dull. they're more or less normal enemies, but bigger and with more health. they don't generally do a lot too different from their standard counterparts. imagine if, instead of standing there tanking hits for a bit, General Hex switched from his cutlass to a blunderbuss and forced you to engage in ranged combat; should you get too close, you get dealt a hefty bit of damage. i personally feel like it'd be far more fun and engaging if boss fights required you to think on your feet and strategise a little more, instead of just clicking on an enemy for a couple minutes.

this could also be a good time to improve enemy AI and create new "types" of enemies, so to speak. perhaps some enemies strictly spawn and fight in groups. others patrol around a given path. maybe if you attack a certain enemy (maybe an officer or someone of high interest), they have the ability to intentionally aggro "nearby" enemies if not defeated quickly (nearby as in not immediately next to them, rather a good distance away). it would kind of allow for more strategic combat. for example, you can learn the path of a patrol and create a way to bottleneck and pick them off one by one.
 
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I like the idea of using the old islands to expand Cuba. They could be cut and spliced into Cuba to create an island interior beyond the Pantano River and an exit to Havana under seige by the British Navy, a bit like going through Beckett’s Quarry and El Sudoron to get to DH on Padres del Fuego. This could be a great way to introduce live Spanish enemies.
 
Ok, my first thought with regard to the old island would be to make them accessible through drinking a grog or potion. If it were a potion it would only be available to pirates that have mastered potions and have a certain level like 25 or 30. I like the idea of making them for mastered pirates with higher level enemies but not necessarily drop higher level drops like legendaries. I would like to see it as an area to grind from level 45 to level 50.

The other idea I had was that they could be used for seasonal quests like Hallowed Woods is for Halloween. Something like the St Patrick's celebration or the Christmas Celebration where it is only active for a limited time and have special items available at the shops that are only available during the time the island is present. Kind of like the old island phase into existence for the 25 days of Christmas once a year or something like that.

Anther idea that just popped into my head was to use them for invasions. Say that when Jolly Roger invades Port Royal it takes on the appearance of the Old Port Royal from the time the announcement of the invasion starts until an hour after the successful completion of the fight against the Army of Jolly Roger.
Please not potions!!! I love your other ideas!! <3
 
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