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Cat Pirate Companion - Talent at Level 4?

AuthorMessage
Ensign
Dec 13, 2009
44
I am assuming the cat pirate companion from the bundle is supposed to level up the same as others?

Namely, that at level 4 it is supposed to gain a talent? The game certainly thinks so - I levelled it to 4, and Boochbeard popped up to say "This companion has gained a talent". But it didn't. The "Train" button stayed as "Train", and did not change to "Talent". I levelled it up all the way to 5, just to be certain, and nothing. I also logged out/in, to see if that would trigger it. Nothing.

Bug?

Dread Pirate
May 27, 2009
2131
My Cat Pirate companion got to level 4 and had a lightning bolt indicating a new talent, but I didn't get to choose one, it just went POOF and back to spending training points.

Ensign
May 09, 2009
2
I had a similar problem. My Cat Pirate never got a chance to choose
what Talent I wanted.

Ensign
Sep 23, 2012
15
Same here. I got the message also, but there is no option to choose a new talent.

Ensign
Jul 25, 2011
18
Yes the Cat Pirate is behind the other companions. It's odd considering it is a Crowns item. I thought this companion would be more dynamic as far as talents and epic talents go....
LOVE his dance though!!

Petty Officer
Nov 28, 2008
82
I didnt get a talent either.

Ensign
Dec 11, 2008
5
Same for this Pirate. Cat companion did not get a talent at level 4. Is this intended KI?

Ensign
Dec 13, 2009
44
Has anyone at KI noticed this thread & bug? No responses here yet to indicate anyone noticed it, or to tell us we are wrong and there is no bug, or anything.

I know y'all are pretty busy, I just don't want this matter to slip off the radar :)

Petty Officer
Nov 28, 2008
82
/bump

Glad to know I wasnt the only one who noticed it said I got a point for the cat and then it was gone.

Ensign
Dec 11, 2008
13
cats are sneeky like that, you should know better.

Ensign
Aug 27, 2011
3
I too had this problem with my cat pirate companion. It's a bit frustrating, I hope it gets fixed soon. On the plus side, I love this game.

Ensign
Dec 13, 2009
44
So, I'm seeing all kinds of updates being applies to the game, and I'm very glad the Pirate 101 team is so active and "on the ball".

But I have to be honest here - I'm significantly less interested in seeing ninja pigs get upgrades to their attack animation, than I am in seeing my *paid-for-with-real-money* Cat companion get his missing talent fixed.

Apologies if this happens to be some sort of very complex issue to fix, but aside from one post in another thread altogether from One-Eye Jack indicating that this thread has been "seen", there still has been no word, no replies, no anything about this bug, not even so much as an acknowledgment that "Yes, we at KI agree this is a bug and it is on our priority list of bugs to fix" or a "Sorry, the cat companion is not intended to be even remotely as good as other companions, so it doesn't get a talent, and won't be fixed".

Even the latter would be better than....nothing.

Developer
Ayreon on Oct 18, 2012 wrote:
So, I'm seeing all kinds of updates being applies to the game, and I'm very glad the Pirate 101 team is so active and "on the ball".

But I have to be honest here - I'm significantly less interested in seeing ninja pigs get upgrades to their attack animation, than I am in seeing my *paid-for-with-real-money* Cat companion get his missing talent fixed.

Apologies if this happens to be some sort of very complex issue to fix, but aside from one post in another thread altogether from One-Eye Jack indicating that this thread has been "seen", there still has been no word, no replies, no anything about this bug, not even so much as an acknowledgment that "Yes, we at KI agree this is a bug and it is on our priority list of bugs to fix" or a "Sorry, the cat companion is not intended to be even remotely as good as other companions, so it doesn't get a talent, and won't be fixed".

Even the latter would be better than....nothing.
At the moment the "bug" is that it is erroneously reporting the talent. You're not supposed to get a talent at 4th level.

When we fix it, however, we'll probably do so by... giving you the talent.

Please understand that we are very circumspect about changes to the live game, and try to limit ourselves (at this time) to fixing game-stopping bugs.

When I have an open window to fix the Cat Pirate-- poof!-- you'll log in one day and he'll be improved.

In the meantime let's please avoid the hyperbole of, "Not remotely as good as other companions."

Petty Officer
Nov 28, 2008
82
Ratbeard on Oct 19, 2012 wrote:
At the moment the "bug" is that it is erroneously reporting the talent. You're not supposed to get a talent at 4th level.

When we fix it, however, we'll probably do so by... giving you the talent.

Please understand that we are very circumspect about changes to the live game, and try to limit ourselves (at this time) to fixing game-stopping bugs.

When I have an open window to fix the Cat Pirate-- poof!-- you'll log in one day and he'll be improved.

In the meantime let's please avoid the hyperbole of, "Not remotely as good as other companions."
We appriciate the "fix" as you are describing. It may seem dramatic to you to hear "not as good as the other companions", however the tone people talk in is not translated in text. (said with a smile)

I think some of the frustation and why it seems like such a drama is that people have been asking about this since the beginning with no official response.. only talk from the patrons. This opens the door for doubt and then frustration sets in.

I do have to concur with the "drama" side... I paid for the Boochbeard on faith in your company and the good work in W101. I realize any perks given in the bundle are just that PERKS. With that being said, I would have expected the companion to be at least equal to the others. You say it was by design he didnt get a talent at 4th, thus placing his stats always lower than any other companion you recruit or purchase. Since he doesnt have an offensive Epic Talent for an attack like all the others, he is yet another step behind when weighing the capabilities. I think he has the coolest of all so far on kill emotes with his dance.. awesome. His attack damage is base so its equal to the others.. pending no player increases the damage output of the other companions. No player ever does that (sarcasm).

When putting capabilities on a scale for weighing, the cat comes up a little short every time. Hes missing an attack power that all the ones Ive run into so far have and he is short a talent. This basically relegates him to the better bottom of my list of companions. Its real cool to watch things happen in combat and think.. wow that was neat, but when it comes to winning, you have to go with what you think will give you the best opportunity.

And all this from the companion given as a gift for being willing to have faith in the company to commit to an entire year of subscription before ever even playing (no I was not in beta before purchase). I think thats where the frustration is.. based on no reply since it was brought up. There are other topics that will grow over time that havent received official response yet also. Then little issues will become big topics. Just saying (/smile)
My having to retire my hoodoo master is one. No response for KI yet and there have been several threads and multiple complaints about the abilities bar. I even "lost" 700 crowns thinking I could reset my skills and just skip all the ones I dont use. Nope. It just reset my practice points... bummer. Im still stuck with a bar full of specific instance abilities.. and cant get to my best attacks. Next I will have to remove my Crown gear and items to get cards off my bar. 25% defence is nice but my biggest attack is way more important to use regularly.

Petty Officer
Feb 24, 2012
98
shiver me timbers Ratbeard, i hope your busy days calm down soon, the "paid" for Cat companion, has been ignored long enough...i am looking forward to the poof of your magic...
this will be my last complaint about the cat, he does cast a mighty wallop! if only he could live longer ;)

ugly hope leech


Bosun
Sep 08, 2008
388
I have actually never noticed that, but I did notice one thing.

Both the cat and Sarah Steele, being level 5, have the same exact stats, except for one difference.

For Sarah Steele, I have chosen the +2 dodge talent. So Sarah Steele has +2 more dodge points than my cat. But, my cat has +2 more armor than Sarah Steele.

So, I suppose the cat has more armor, while the other Swashbucklers have something more in some other stat, depending on how the upgrades were made.

Ensign
Dec 13, 2009
44
Thank you for responding Ratbeard.

I do have to ask why the bundle-purchased companion would intentionally get less than the other companions I've run across, free or crown? As has been pointed out, 1 less epic ability than other companions to start, and one less talent as well (other companions DO get a lvl 4 talent). Why?

Calling the items in the Boochbeard bundle a perk is wrong. There were 2 bundles at first: Boochbeard (12 month sub, pet, companion, house, items) for $89.99, and Gandry (12 month sub, pet) for $59.99. That is a $30.00 difference which *paid* for the extras.

No stats were provided for the items, so it was a blind purchase on faith that KI wouldn't be charging money for sub-standard items. I can live with the cat companion not being up to par with every other companion I've seen - "buyer beware".

But I expected better regarding the official response or lack-thereof regarding a money-purchased item. I'm not whining about one of the free companions in the game, after all, and it wasn't even a complaint until not getting a response for so long! It was a bug report! I thought you folks wanted those?

I understand you are busy. I don't expect you to drop everything to fix a minor bug. But when I give you my money and then report a bug with what I paid for, I do expect acknowledgement one way or the other.

A comment like: In the meantime let's please avoid the hyperbole of, "Not remotely as good as other companions." is not very good customer service. It feels like you are trying to make me out to be the bad guy for making a bug report in the first place. If some of us are somehow incorrect in thinking the Cat to be sub-par, please explain how we are wrong?

I'm very disappointed in the way this matter has been handled.

Developer
We're still trying to decide the balance that we want to strike between the Crown Shop companions and the companions we consider the "central cast"-- that is, all the companions from your background, and the ones you meet along the way with speaking roles. I'd hate to see Bonnie Anne shoved way down at the bottom of the roster, right?

Frankly I am shocked that nobody noticed that the Cat Pirate has access to ALL of the epic talents, and not just a subset like every other companion... I would have thought that counted for something...

Of course not everyone is as savvy as ol' Ratbeard, but tactical considerations aside, I'd put the Cat Pirate into my roster just to watch him do his victory dance.

And I don't even like cats.

Dread Pirate
May 27, 2009
2131
Well, Ratbeard - here's one player who appreciates your blood, sweat and tears, and likes ALL of her companions, including my Cat Pirate - I think he's awesome. I wish he could have the very super-duper special talent of making himself very, very tiny so that he'd fit into the Shared Bank, so that each and every one of my pirates could enjoy his antics. I don't currently have him as my First Mate - I just had to give that to Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah when I earned him.

Ensign
Mar 12, 2010
13
"Of course not everyone is as savvy as ol' Ratbeard, but tactical considerations aside, I'd put the Cat Pirate into my roster just to watch him do his victory dance.

And I don't even like cats
."

With a name like "Ratbeard", of course you don't like CATS. That's a good one Ratbeard !!


Petty Officer
Nov 28, 2008
82
Willowydream on Oct 20, 2012 wrote:
Well, Ratbeard - here's one player who appreciates your blood, sweat and tears, and likes ALL of her companions, including my Cat Pirate - I think he's awesome. I wish he could have the very super-duper special talent of making himself very, very tiny so that he'd fit into the Shared Bank, so that each and every one of my pirates could enjoy his antics. I don't currently have him as my First Mate - I just had to give that to Eep Opp Ork Ah-Ah when I earned him.
Its not that we dont appreciate his work or his busy schedule. Im quite certain he is on limited sleep with the opening.

That being said, there were several threads about this and I even started one myself. This one dates back to the 8th and had no reply till the 19th.

A simple we acknowledge your concern and this is how we feel about it kind of message is all I wanted. Its a fully moderated forum. NOTHING is posted without their approval. So, someone (presumably Ratbeard since he replies allot) read it.

*Ayreon - I stand corrected. You are right. It wasnt a perk as the beta eye patches were. It was as you say, something we purchased. $30 dollars to be exact. In that light and under that thinking.. I fully do expect it to be at least as good as the ones I can get for free. Is it a "deal breaker"? Not even close. It doesnt even register on that particular scale.

I love the game and spend way too much time and money on it already. But it is a letdown to know they planned it that way.

I havent redeemed my ruby sword or other gear yet. I was holding it for 50th. Please tell me it the stuff Im holding will be at least as good as I can buy with crowns. I did in effect spend 30,000 crowns worth of money on them after all. Them and the house and the companion.. you guys get the idea.

Developer
A simple we acknowledge your concern and this is how we feel about it kind of message is all I wanted. Its a fully moderated forum. NOTHING is posted without their approval. So, someone (presumably Ratbeard since he replies allot) read it.

Let me clarify at least this portion of the misunderstanding. I do not moderate the boards. I reply a lot because I enjoy active engagement with the players, and I want you to enjoy and succeed at what we've created. But I do this (mostly) on my own time, and I don't have time to read every post, let alone reply to them. The best I can do is check the subject lines for stuff that's in my wheelhouse and answer the stuff that I can answer faster than waiting for it to go through all the channels.

And of course we want all of your bug reports, but I don't know that we are able to respond to every report. Your official moderator is One Eyed Jack, and if he's expected to reply to every bug report, we probably should be paying him more.

From my perspective, the Cat Pirate was on my fix list from the first time I heard about it-- and eventually I popped in to explain what the bug was, and how I intend to address it.

Administrator
I'm going to go ahead and lock this particular thread now. Please note that I did first see this report on October 8th over Twitter actually. Then again here in I believe three separate threads. I could have sworn I said we'd check this one out on one of those threads, but I may be a bit foggy on the details.

I believe it's safe to say this one will be fixed.

Thanks all for the discussion and for bringing this to our attention.

Sorry for the confusion. We'll get that cat companion fixed!

*One-Eyed Jack, Your Pirate101 Community Manager*