Is POTCO going downhill?

[Shamus The Brute]

Potco is not doing good and i don't think they will be a popular game much longer.

There is "something" to be said about the title of this thread...& it comes down to the principle of gravity in my opinion, lol.

Gravity is just a crazy thing, mates. If you don't believe me, just wait until you become older, rofl. *While I am no physicist nor rocket scientist, it is my own understanding that there must be a either a plateau or a uphill experienced in comparison to just about every "downhill" felt. *As an example, let's visualize the chase between Wild E. Coyote & the Road Runner (cartoon).

When Wild E. Coyote is running & in active pursuit to catch the Road Runner, what often happens? More often than not, the Coyote:

1. Runs out of land/desert
2. Stops running just beyond the edge of the cliff
3. Stands in mid-air & then plummets "downhill" much to the satisfaction of our laughter!

Question: Does Wild E. Coyote keep falling forever? NO, he luckily does not not. What results then? *The momentum of his body is abruptly & suddenly stopped by the plateau of the ground waiting for him at the bottom of the cliff!

***The great thing about Wild E. Coyote is that he does not give up, even after hitting rock bottom!!! His appetite for the Road Runner is relentless, always pushing himself to climb again (uphill) inorder to devise yet another plan to catch his meal. POTCO can be the same way.

As Wild E. Coyote, if Disney Interactive Media Group (DIMG) is serious enough about POTCO to return back to the drawing board...

...then perhaps there will remain less headache & "downhill" crashes for all involved!

 

[Deniz Can Keskin]

"much longer" ?!?!? Mate, The games popularity has grown up. Its popular. In the old days unlimited access players where realy rare + there was a lot of limited members. Now unlimited members are a lot normal members are rare. So this shows that the games popularity is not going down...

 

[Constance O'hara]

"much longer" ?!?!? Mate, The games popularity has grown up. Its popular. In the old days unlimited access players where realy rare + there was a lot of limited members. Now unlimited members are a lot normal members are rare. So this shows that the games popularity is not going down...

It's not popular. This game doesn't have close to a quarter of a million paying members - or even active limited and unlimited members. Just because there are a lot more paying members does not mean much - it just means that the small amount of people who play the game are mostly paying customers. It's never advertised, there are no promos at E3, or any other gaming conventions.
Tbh, this isn't even a real MMORPG.

 

[Ben Goldsilver]

just because there are more unlimited access players doesn't mean that it's getting any more popular

 

[nathaniel goldstealer :)]

no major updates lags, crashes, people are quitting

 

[LEO]

"much longer" ?!?!? Mate, The games popularity has grown up. Its popular. In the old days unlimited access players where realy rare + there was a lot of limited members. Now unlimited members are a lot normal members are rare. So this shows that the games popularity is not going down...

The game has way LESS unlimited players than it had two years ago and way less unlimited players from 3 years ago.... Reason you might be saying that is that there were so many basic players as well, but bot, unlimited and basic amounts were a lot grater than now. Basics do what they can and quit now since they barely have a motivation to upgrade with how the game is performing and how often it's being updated.

The following link is an article Shamus had shared a while ago and it's from early 2010...
http://admarketingmedia.blogspot.com/2010/02/disney-hopes-kids-will-take-online.html

It's more than just about POTCO so here is the POTCO part of it...

Meanwhile, Pirates of the Caribbean Online, the multi-player computer game that was launched in 2007, is taking on water. The number of online visitors fell below 192,000 in December from 500, 000 a year earlier, ComScore estimates.

"It's no secret it had some technical issues. There were some hurdles there," said Merrifield, who has been working to retool the game. "There were big downloads, and a lot of machines couldn't carry it."

Merrifield worked with the development team in North Hollywood to apply some of what he learned with Club Penguin. Players needed to be able to dive quickly into Pirates and play the game as soon as they launched their browser, he said, instead of waiting for a time-consuming download.

More fundamentally, Merrifield encouraged the Pirates team to depart from the game's linear storytelling to adopt Club Penguin's open-ended approach, in which the players have more say in the narrative and provide direction on the types of weapons, battles or quests they experience online.

The player part is in bold so in december 2009 it had dropped from about 500,000. Thats a BIG drop. Now that was in late 2009, early 2010 meaning thats when the game was actually doing somewhat better. In 2011, the game got some new stuff, no where near perfect and at a very slow pace. 2012, even worse as you can tell as I see this full year being almost empty of new content or even big fixes. So divide that 192 thousand by 3 or 4, and you should get a realistic (maybe) amount of players in POTCO today. So popularity wise, it has gone DOWN A LOT.

And of course, Mr. Marrifield, following the rest of the POTCO tradition, blamed some stuff on the player machines saying we couldn't handle the big downloads which god knows what those big downloads (someone please tell me what he is referring too) were and made promises of listening to us players which obviously has still to happen...

 

[Deniz Can Keskin]

The game has way LESS unlimited players than it had two years ago and way less unlimited players from 3 years ago.... Reason you might be saying that is that there were so many basic players as well, but bot, unlimited and basic amounts were a lot grater than now. Basics do what they can and quit now since they barely have a motivation to upgrade with how the game is performing and how often it's being updated.

The following link is an article Shamus had shared a while ago and it's from early 2010...
http://admarketingmedia.blogspot.com/2010/02/disney-hopes-kids-will-take-online.html

It's more than just about POTCO so here is the POTCO part of it...

The player part is on bald so in december 2009 it had dropped from about 500,000. Thats a BIG drop. Now that was in late 2009, early 2010 meaning thats when the game was actually doing somewhat better. In 2011, the game got some new stuff, no where near perfect and at a very slow pace. 2012, even worse as you can tell as I see this full year being almost empty of new content or even big fixes. So divide that 192 thousand by 3 or 4, and you should get a realistic (maybe) amount of players in POTCO today. So popularity wise, it has gone DOWN A LOT.

And of course, Mr. Marrifield, following the rest of the POTCO tradition, blamed some stuff on the player machines saying we couldn't handle the big downloads which god knows what those big downloads (someone please tell me what he is referring too) were and made promises of listening to us players which obviously has still to happen...[/quo

The game has way LESS unlimited players than it had two years ago and way less unlimited players from 3 years ago.... Reason you might be saying that is that there were so many basic players as well, but bot, unlimited and basic amounts were a lot grater than now. Basics do what they can and quit now since they barely have a motivation to upgrade with how the game is performing and how often it's being updated.

The following link is an article Shamus had shared a while ago and it's from early 2010...
http://admarketingmedia.blogspot.com/2010/02/disney-hopes-kids-will-take-online.html

It's more than just about POTCO so here is the POTCO part of it...

The player part is on bald so in december 2009 it had dropped from about 500,000. Thats a BIG drop. Now that was in late 2009, early 2010 meaning thats when the game was actually doing somewhat better. In 2011, the game got some new stuff, no where near perfect and at a very slow pace. 2012, even worse as you can tell as I see this full year being almost empty of new content or even big fixes. So divide that 192 thousand by 3 or 4, and you should get a realistic (maybe) amount of players in POTCO today. So popularity wise, it has gone DOWN A LOT.

And of course, Mr. Marrifield, following the rest of the POTCO tradition, blamed some stuff on the player machines saying we couldn't handle the big downloads which god knows what those big downloads (someone please tell me what he is referring too) were and made promises of listening to us players which obviously has still to happen...

Sadly your right ...
But i dont think it will collapse as Ben said
or it will collapse slowly not really quick

 

[Basil Darkratte]

The game reached a turning point when they had that GM Event and the Gm's were bombarded with "BRING BACK FAST SWITCH!!" & "IT'S A SKILL, NOT A HACK!!" It was an exploit. It came to the point where some Gm's just left their player online, and went to a different server. The game wasn't really the 'same' after that.

 

[King Arrguy]

and lets not forget NO SUMMER UPDATES!!!! i mean seriously they had better come up with something good soon or im out

 

[Zin]

The game reached a turning point when they had that GM Event and the Gm's were bombarded with "BRING BACK FAST SWITCH!!" & "IT'S A SKILL, NOT A HACK!!" It was an exploit. It came to the point where some Gm's just left their player online, and went to a different server. The game wasn't really the 'same' after that.

And I would also like to add that the GM's probably got tired of being shown no respect and not being allowed to conduct their event's. There were may a time were I wished the GM would have used their ability to knock a pirate out and send them to jail. If they returned and continued to show no respect, then send them to the dungeon where they could not return. Pirates disrupting GM events has no excuse. If they are not interesting in participating in the event, then go find something else to do and stop interfering with the pirates that want to enjoy the event.

 

[Sparks]

Ok I've been here since 2007, and i have seen big changes

1 I miss old Tormenta, it was great in there. Now, its garbage.
2 Nobody plays due to the lack on Updates, codes, quests, level cap increases, etc.
3 Hacking, too easy today
4 Maturity levels by players has plummeted.
5 Too much fighting, we used to just settle things by doing pvp and then after we are a big happy family again.

R.I.P POTCOundefined

 

[Coalsilver]

1 word. YES. Potco is going downhill lol. Have you realized that ever since they took down servers that there are only 3 ideal now, and the rest are quiet?

 

[Pretty Polly]

Yes graphics is really important in a game.
But I don't think potco is going down hill. Ok we had a lot of changes but the game is going good. Like, we didn't have a lot of players. And just USA and Canada players could be members. That was a really big problem for me and players from the other country's . So when POTCO opened membership worldwide the game become really popular. And after the inventory update there was a lot of new and good weapons.So At this point I don't think POTCO is going downhill.

Not the case me matey. I tested the game and have played since, and i'm from the UK
I love this game... warts and all! Ok so there's no new content yet but what brings me back every day are the people I play with in game. Friends from all over the world, who I wouldn't have met had it not been for this game.
I'm sure DIMG's hands are tied when it comes down to funding, but bless them they are trying with little resources they seem to have available to them atm. Lets just hopes the big cheeses remain Pirate friendly. I'll be here til the last wave hits the Caribbean shore.
Kids these days seem to want everything NOW, nobody seems prepared to wait, even for a moment. I think looting should have been made trickier to gain famed and legendary weapons. Some pirates need to learn how to level the legit way. Too much hacking and glitching, though I'm glad to say some has been sorted.
With this latest 'event' comes a new cutlass, for some their first Legendary. Finding Captain Shaw reminded me of old times. Roleplaying events were a blast. Immersed you into the game. I'd be happy for more things like this in the interim, until they have enough funds to preceed with what we all really want, the next chapter.

 

[Blade1]

Finding Captain Shaw reminded me of old times. Roleplaying events were a blast. Immersed you into the game. I'd be happy for more things like this in the interim, until they have enough funds to preceed with what we all really want, the next chapter.

Couldn't have said it better Polly! The role playing events were loads of fun! For example, When the EITC guards would knock us out, you just had fun with it and would go back for more! Don't forgot the big GM dance parties! It made you feel like part of the big picture. A real pirate chasing the dream in the Caribbean. For awhile there, the GM's weren't showing and the players were getting bored of the lack of work being put into the game. But as of present events, It looks like they are honestly trying and its a relief to see GM's out and about talking to players. Even if they can't update the game right away, as long as they show they want to improve the game and show effort, we should support them. It may not always be a smooth ride, but we all stay and fight for the game we love!

 

[Christopher3456789]

When i joined potco in 2010 it was great for me even though i was a basic.In 2012 it got bad people hacked and glitched but the reason i stopped playing was beacause somebody threatened me to trash a weapon i had or they would hack me so i didnt but the person hacked me and the next time i got on my Large brig was gone i had a lot of rusty cutlasses and i quit in 2012That was a hard day for meOne thing i hope is that they fight the hackers and other things:fightid that happen to anybody else

 

[Gastro]

When i joined potco in 2010 it was great for me even though i was a basic.In 2012 it got bad people hacked and glitched but the reason i stopped playing was beacause somebody threatened me to trash a weapon i had or they would hack me so i didnt but the person hacked me and the next time i got on my Large brig was gone i had a lot of rusty cutlasses and i quit in 2012That was a hard day for meOne thing i hope is that they fight the hackers and other things:fightid that happen to anybody else

Whoa, that's pretty harsh. I'm one of the lucky ones, never really had a hacker situation before. (Besides the hacker at the Revive POTCO 2nd Event.) I've quit the game and I'm only coming back when there's a reason to.

 

[Christopher3456789]

This is how potco is gonna be if hacking keeps going on:skullpeak::skullpeak: and fighting :fight: thats how its going to end up lol.Who thinks that will happen to potcoIf that happens to potco blame the hackers,glitchers and the dramatic people for potco's shutdown

 

[Shamus The Brute]

If that happens to potco blame the hackers,glitchers and the dramatic people for potco's shutdown

While I try my best to not point fingers at one particular group and/or "type" of POTCO player, I have found that it has become increasingly difficult to place all of the blame on Disney alone for POTCO's problems (especially when a legitimate effort has been made within the POTCO community to help support the reviving of the game).

People just need to realize that whatever it is that you do (whether good or bad), it does change, alter, and affect everything. In a way, it goes back to the notion of...if a tree were to fall in the Caribbean and nobody was around (except 'Jack Sparrow'), would it make a sound?

*The answer to this question for POTCO is "YES" it most certainly would!