Pirates Online - Ideas / Concepts

ElizaCreststeel

ElizaCreststeel

Wiki Staff
I realize as I post this that with Pirates Support being relocated to their Canadian location, it's very possible that no further game development may ever occur. But, still after compiling so many thoughts and ideas on what could make Pirates Online a better experience, I felt the need to create this compendium list. I'm sure a lot of these ideas you've heard of, talked about or even thought of yourself.

I'm posting this list here moreover as a matter of showing the potential this game had and still could have. I also encourage you to post your ideas no matter how small or off-center. At some point, once the compilation reaches a saturation point, I will turn it into a document that I can email or link for Disney. After all, you never know.

Pirates Online - Ideas / Concepts​
Game Play
  • Teleport Permission - Either an Accept Teleport Yes / No - OR an overall check box like the Dinghy Options (Friends, Guild, Crew etc.) to limit who can teleport to you. Could be very helpful in preventing stalking, etc.
  • Visible Ship Crews - Previously, it was possible to see a ship's crews and chat between nearby crews. It was also possible to use special cannon rounds against NPC and SvS ship crews.
  • Item Trading - Being able to swap items or an item for gold will be the foundation for an in-game economy and motivate players to either locate objects to swap or raise gold to buy what they want.
  • Item Crafting / Customizing - Using Smithing Skills, pirates could craft existing items from materials and/or crude items. Creating new weapons out of whole cloth is very much impossible, but using crafting skills to improve an existing common or crude to an existing rare or even famed weapon is not out of the question.
  • Ship Repair Icon – In addition to icons for cannon or helm, see who’s repairing.
  • Walk the Plank - The ability to Boot someone off a plunder ship similar to the option in SvS. Though this could be open for abuse, any captain who would jettison his crew would likely not get any takers on the next run or find themselves reported for abuse.

Character Ideas
  • Captain's Cabin or House to allow for a display of trophies and extra storage of weapons and garb.
  • Personal Totems - Leave them to TP back to a favorite place. Could be earned via a Quest.
  • Achievements - Sinks, Kills, etc. to earn special awards or access to special merchandise (like with SvS). Sinking or killing one of everything or all the bosses, surviving an invasion, tackling the Queen Anne, etc. Perhaps a 'title' the player could choose to display above their name once they earn an achievement. (Ex. - Kill 10 Rage Ghosts, earn the title "Ghost Hunter", etc.)
  • Pets - Dog, Pig, Gator, Monkey, Bird (All of these animals already exist in-game). Each could have its own special ability or some form of attack against NPCs.

Garb
  • Special clothing items could grant abilities or enhance skills (A magic hat or faster running shoes, etc.)
  • French / Spanish SVS inspired outfits
  • Native (Islander) garb
  • Short jackets for women (bolero style like Angelica wore in Pirates 4)
  • Sleeveless shirts for women
  • Flat shoes or sandals
  • Masks (or Face Tattoos that resemble masks) - Even if just for holidays.
  • Eye Patches
  • New Jewelry (Anklets and Bracelets, Necklaces)
  • Gloves or Gauntlets
Emotes
  • Instead of removing potentially abused emotes, simply ban suspended players from using them.
  • Is it possible to finish animations for all of the current ones? Some of the animations already exist (EX: /SEARCH).
  • Eye Roll - Head back, eyes roll up in exasperation (/eyeroll)
  • Facepalm - Hand to face, shakes head. (/facepalm)
  • Shrug - Shoulders up, arms out (/shrug)
  • Blush - Red cheeks, head turns away (/blush)
  • I Have an Idea - Raised index finger and an "AHA" expression. (/idea)
  • Come Here - Curling finger gesture (/come)
  • Stop - Arm out, hand up (/stop)
Skills
  • No more new skills without a quest to earn them.
  • Blacksmith - Customize Swords and Daggers
  • Dancing - Pirate can add new dances to their repertoire.
  • Fisticuffs - Martial Arts Skill for hand-to-hand combat.
  • Gunsmith - Customize Firearms
  • Gypsy - Customize Voodoo Objects
  • Musical Instrument - Pirate can play a flute, guitar, drums, violin or squeezebox.
  • Shipwright - Reduce upgrade costs or speed up repairs
  • Tailor - Customize or color clothes
Weapons
  • Axes - Treat like a dagger, swing or throw.
  • New Swords - Various blades from around the world could be added. To maintain simplicity, each new type would fall under the existing classes (Cutlass, Sabre, and Broadsword)
Rapiers (Sabre)​
Ninjato (Sabre)​
Scimitars (Broadsword)​
Katana (Cutlass)​
Chinese Jian or Dao (Cutlass)​
  • Spears / Pole Arms - For Royal Navy or Native enemies
Land Adventure Ideas
New Enemies
  • Island Natives - The cannibalistic Pelegosto tribe including Pelegosto Headhunter, Pelegosto Chieftain, Pelegosto Amazon, and Pelegosto Hunter.
  • Undead Staff Users - Undead Shaman, Undead Sorcerer (Uses More Powerful Staff Hexes), Undead Necromancer (Uses Staff and can summon other undead to protect themselves.
  • Animals - Giant Spiders, Jungle Cats, Monkeys, Snakes (Could throw things
  • Mermaids - Just off-shore, they could throw weapons or attack pirates who happen to be in the water.
  • Bandits - Villains from the Cannon Defense mini-game, basically masked pirates
  • Bosses - Should be able to call other enemies to help them. Only El Patron does this currently.
  • Raid Bosses - Random tougher bosses could crop up from time to time, like the Queen Anne did at sea. This would add a creative quality to when and where they could pop u
Merchants
  • Could the Ghost Merchants on Raven's become available after finishing the quest? Like Madam Zigana could actually sell tonics, etc.
  • Could merchants be added to Kingshead in the Armory Area
  • Random Merchants offering various items on special (ammo, weapons, etc.)
New Islands
  • Pelegosto (with rope bridges and a bone cage mini-game?
  • Isla Cruces - A new PVP location (the windmill)
  • Shipwreck Cove - The Nine Pirate Lords could have quests.
  • White Cap Bay - Mermaids?
  • A Ghost Island (Isla De Muerte?) - Only randomly appears for a short time.
  • Singapore - Could only be reached via teleport though.
Existing Islands
  • Kingshead - Finish the closed off areas, restore the secret cave, add merchants and NPCs
  • Raven's Cove - NPCs could become merchants after finishing quest.
Dig Spot Reward
  • In some cases, while on a quest a pirate can hit various Dig Spots and get a few coins while they search for something specific. Random rewards for trying various Dig Spots might be a pleasant surprise or being able to use a Dig Spot to hide extra treasure items.

Random NPCs and Quests
  • Add more NPCs offering more recurring quests. Besides 'kill this' types, 'sink this' or 'go here' or 'see this person' random mini-quests could be offered with a random loot pouch instead of just gold.
  • Maybe more random 'celebrity' NPCs other than Jack Sparrow to give quest
Sea Adventure Ideas

Ship Voodoo
  • Doll hexes - Increase a cannoneer's range and damage or temporarily boost Helmsman's sailing skills.
  • Staff Hexes - Ship protection, increased wind speed, better plunder or increased broadside damage.

Fleets
  • Undead Fleet - Before an invasion, a fleet of Jolly's warships could start making their way to the invasion site. This would give players a chance to do both parts or have a two-fold battle at once.

Ship Crew Stations
  • Pressing H wouldn't just show your ship status, but would display circles for cannons and repair stations and which ones are being used.
Fishing
  • New Fish -

Sailing Weather
  • Elements like Fog, Rain, and Wind can effect a ships performace but also combat strategy, especially in SVS where the ship with wind on their side can gain the tactical high ground etc. Placing a Wind Gauge below or beside the Compass would help a captain keep track. Fog could be replicated using the same technique already employed to create mist (swamps) or dust (Kingshead).

Events

New Invasions
  • Navy Raids, EITC Hostile Takeovers or even Cave Area invasions could be added to replicate the intensity of the Jolly Roger events, but with new twists. The NAVY and EITC events add a complication of being unable to use firearms during an invasion.
Random Major Bosses
  • Currently only small bosses are random. A major name boss popping up places like Tormenta, Raven's Cove, etc. would motivate players to jump into the fight.

Random Ship Bosses
  • Granted we have fleets and the Queen Anne, but how about adding the HMS Endeavour, the HMS Dauntless, the Flying Dutchman as well.

Mini-Games

Tavern Games
  • Liar's Dice - The great game of chance and bluffing from Dead Man's Chest
  • Dagger Darts - Use throwing knives to hit stationary and moving targets.
  • Coin Bounce - Bounce a coin into your mug for points
  • Arm Wrestling - Reaction, Timing and control movements would determine the winner.
Guild Items
  • Guild Bank - Members could donate and withdraw or borrow from a central depository. The GM and Officers would control the distribution. This would require Trading.
  • Guild Hall - A building that only allows members of the same guild to enter. In effect, this creates a private room.
  • Guild Achievements – Similar to player achievements once a guild has so many members or accomplishes tasks or rank.
 
A voluntary "mentor/buddy" system to help introduce new players to the game. :)

While POTCO tutorials for new players are helpful, if POTCO incorporated a pirate-to-pirate mentor/buddy...further progress could be made towards tipping the scale from pirates using basic/free online access to POTCO subscriptions.

Pirates whom volunteer to help as a mentor (especially 'mastered' pirates) could receive special incentives/rewards for mentoring someone whom ultimately decides to purchase unlimited access. In this respect, those whom were mentored could "refer" these pirates to POTCO customer support, providing evidence that they were legitimately helped by such-and-such individual.
 
Shamus, I did that idea posted and I think its something they could do. I do wonder about the potential complications, abuse etc. Does any other game do something like this?

How about a "Greenhorn" or "Landlubber" option where a player could post something like a Crew Call looking for a mentor or buddy to answer a question, etc?
 
ElizaCreststeel said:
I do wonder about the potential complications, abuse etc. Does any other game do something like this?

How about a "Greenhorn" or "Landlubber" option where a player could post something like a Crew Call looking for a mentor or buddy to answer a question, etc?
Click to expand...
An option as a "greenhorn" or "landlubber" would certainly be beneficial. I was just thinking that there should be a way for players to HELP contribute to the game's success. This way, we each have a stake and certain responsibility towards improving the game instead of just relying upon/hoping that DIMG would shoulder all of the responsibility and work.

Potential abuse of such a mentor system is definitely a concern but then again, such abuse could be alleviated if strict rules were enforced by DIMG. (Possibly a short 'essay' or something could be sent to game support and it would have to be reviewed and then accepted by a POTCO representative).

On a similar but different matter of concern, I also remain in support of a developmental (game) support/POTCO player "council" to where both players and game developers actively communicate with one another towards solving in-game problems and reacting to concerns. I remember reading about such a council pertaining to EVE online. Here is the link I read about this aspect of that game:
 
I also have a few things to add to the list

BIGGER INVENTORIES: Nuff said.

Henchmen/Followers: Obviously this would be a huge update and require a lot of work and changes, but if it could be done it would be pretty cool.

Higher Gold and Materials Cap: I believe the gold cap is currently 200,000 and material cap is 20,000. It would be nice to see them both become unlimited or a much higher amount. I'm more concerned about gold because few players actually have 20K of any material.

Return of Emotes: Return of the /kneel, /coin, and /bounce emotes.

Personal Account-wide Storage: Similar to the Guild Bank, storing gold and clothing/weapons and materials across your entire account.

Kingshead Teleportation Totem: If there are merchants added to Kingshead, there should be a totem there as well.

And a few notes on other ones

New Swords: I'd also like to see each new 'type' of sword have it's own combo style as well.

Guild Bank: Should also be able to store items, which would require a certain level to take out. For example if you're looting and come across a second famed weapon you want someone in your guild to have, you could put it in the guild bank. It would also require a certain level to take out, set by you, so a low level person can't take a sword they can't use. Also certain precautions would have to be taken to prevent guild hoppers from taking good stuff.

Achievements: These should also correctly include personal stats from people, and not make them restart. Achievements should go across accounts and not be limited to each individual pirate. Rewards for select achievements would be nice, too.
 
Something I thought of one night while playing:

Why cant we walk on the bottom of the ocean while undead? Instead of just turning undead when in PVP mode, how about adding another type of minigame where we are the undead and walking on the ocean floor like in Dead Man's Chest. Or even turn it into another quest. A quest would bring back Barbossa giving us the Aztec gold like he once did when we saw him for the Hand Cannon.
 
I definitely like the ideas presented concerning Kingshead as the amount of empty space that is NOT being utilized properly is "huge." (Just think of the various possibilities which could result from a better developed Kingshead).

Other ideas I forgot to mention include:
  • Sea Serpent enemies including the Kraken
  • the ability to "see" the current level of sailing skill a Captain has earned when a pirate is at the dinghy, looking to publicly board a ship
  • A mutiny option onboard a ship to where crewmates could "vote" against a Captain and automatically receive the bounty they currently hold before the ship ports/sinks
  • An option which permits the tagging of (SVS) ship's name to corresponding privateer chat
  • Additional SVS islands/nationalities
  • Parrots
  • Pegged-leg
  • Poisionous darts (either use for ourselves or coming from the natives of such islands you mentioned including Pelegosto)
  • Ability to "buy" a fellow pirate a drink at any tavern (does not have to be 'alcoholic' in nature)
  • Jar of Dirt (possibly utilizied as a quest item or used for PVP/grenades options)
  • Scurvy disease/infestation
  • Better utilization/exploration of Cuba
  • "Authentic" pirate garb (no more of this 'circus'/80's 'rock star' garb)
  • Ability to better participate/listen to Sea Shanties in-game
 
Great Ideas everyone - Glad I finally see some of my ideas posted here :)

If I may add, apart from the gaming content and activities, new Channels could be added. Besides the Local, Crew and Guild ones I think that it would be helpful and useful to be added a:
  • Help Channel - players who need help can post in this channel
  • Looking for Crew Channel - this would help to find a crew or host one when its time for an invasion or fleet
  • Colleague Channel - this could be a channel for Guilds only. A Guild can have a Colleague Guild like being 'Guild friends' . Also, I see many who wish their Guild to be bigger than maximum size, so the Guildmasters could make another Guild - with a different Guildmaster or friend of theirs, and be Colleagues. Would be great when its invasion or fleet time because Guilds can cooperate
Of course Channels should give the ability to people from the whole server to post things there, not just people in an Island only.
 
I love the Help Channel idea. And honestly if Disney had thought things through better a live in-game help option would have been awesome! Can you imagine sailing and you can't figure out why something doesn't work? You click on the Help Channel and pose the question. Players with help open would see it but also a Disney support person could post an answer. Obviously that might be overwhelming but they could easily block spammers.

Shamus, I didn't list peg legs or hooks because Disney might think dismemberment was a bit over the top. Likely that's why we don't see it - even with NPCs. Sadly, this may also be why there's no eye patches even though I want one.

Sadly, I think a Mutiny option would get abused. I dig the Jar of Dirt, maybe as a form of protection from Jolly, Davy's Crew or other undead.

And touching back on Boss ships, having things like random monsters pop up would fall under that as well. It doesn't have to be something gi-normus like the Kraken either.

There were also phase files referring to some kind of tower siege mini-game or feature and that intrigued me as well.Silly me, I meant the monkeys could throw things (not the snakes)
 
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Eliza, those are great ideas! I wish a bunch of people on here could just take over the development of the game! All those additions would make this game epic and bring back thousands of retired players which means more $$$ for DIMG. I wish they could see the true potential of the game.
 
New weapons - New swords would be nice, but I'd rather see more staffs, dolls, daggers and maybe even a couple different types of grenades.
Accolades/player titles - Accolades you could get from killing a certain number of undead, beasts/creatures (alligators, crabs, etc.), EITC, Navy; also accolades for PvP missions and even story accolades. And some could also give you titles, such as "PvP Master" or "Scourge of the EITC".
Increased gold cap - I believe the gold cap is 200k, which is not much, so it should definitely be raised.
Bring back the old islands - DISNEY!!!!!!! Bring back the old islands, PLEASE!!!
 
The only way the old islands would come back is if Disney redid them which is sad because I truly miss the old Port Royal streets and the Padres cliffs and Beckett's Quarry when it was truly cool and a little scary to go through.
 
I love all those ideas. They are well thought out, and would take our game to a new level. I just want a few simple things added that have not been aforementioned.

I want an eye patch! New ship classes, a pirate flag on my ship(even better if I could make it!). Also custom cannons. These cannons will boost different attributes like range, damage etc.

Everything else I would love to see is listed above!

ViVa! Le POTCO!
 
More Maps - Not their biggest concern right now. I'd like to see the bigger issues fixed and other features worked out first. But, when they have the time, I'd REALLY appreciate it if they made a new map. What good is naming a Lookout feature Treasure MapS, when there's only one? Heck, I'd be happy if they added just one more.

Antiques - Certainly not very important, but I'd like this feature. This won't be like treasures, where you just loot it and get a small amount of gold. I'm talking antiques, where if you wait a certain amount of time and go to a Rarities Merchant, (what it can be called) you can be paid a lot of gold. Of course, you'd have to wait about a month before the antique can become rare. Instead of having only quest items be dug up, you should be able to go to different digging spots and have a slight chance of finding an antique. However, there should only be about a 5% chance to find one, about the same rarity as a legendary. Worth can range from 50,000 gold to 80,000 gold. This could give new people the chance to get what they want fast, while also not making it too easy for them. It could also be a new kind of looting for high leveled people such as me, where the prize doesn't have to always be gold. Prizes can also be Famed, Rare, or even Legendary weapons, charms, or rams.

Ability to Choose Sides - Also might be a tedious idea for Disney, but the ability to choose what kind of side you want your pirate to be on when you create it. Maybe Dark or Good. Dark having the ability to do quests for Jolly Roger or Beckett and get unique prizes while Good can do quests for members of the Black Pearl and get skill boosts or other unique items, too. Gets their own dark/bright appearance. When doing bad deeds, the more feared you are by NPCs (leading to different dialogue, maybe even the NPCs insulting you but not in a crude way) and the more good deeds you do, the more happy the NPCs are to serve you.
 
ElizaCreststeel said:
Shamus, I didn't list peg legs or hooks because Disney might think dismemberment was a bit over the top. Likely that's why we don't see it - even with NPCs. Sadly, this may also be why there's no eye patches even though I want one.
Click to expand...
POTCO is a bit unrealistic, like how you can equip/unequip tattoos, so I think if peg legs and eye patches were like that they could be a possibility :D
 
Rannulf, thank you for the reminder about custom guns. After all there is enough phase file evidence to show it was in the works too.

Gastro, I always thought we should be given a chance to work for Beckett or Norrington on occasion - like when pirates did quests for Rott. Maybe have a Trustworthy rating of how often you work on the 'wrong side'. :)Great stuff gang, let's keep the ball rollin'
 
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All great ideas!!! So many possibilities! I would like to mention that I would love to see some improvement with the 'chat' filters. Even if they could let the person know what did not go through and then one could revise the sentence.
 
Moving this games rating up to T which hopefully would give DIMG more liberty to do some stuff with this game, also giving us the option to turn off the chat filters cause i'm sick of having to figure out 5 different ways to say something because the chat filters censor it.
 
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