Your overall experience with the Pirate Quest was...

[GoofyGeggy]

Overall, my experience was pleasant. I like a big challenge and have desired a quest like this for a while - I've always enjoyed the Green Car Quests more because they are more of a challenge. The prizes were amazingly wonderful, as well...for a change!

However, two experiences have made the overall experience a little less that purely pleasant:

1)being bullied by a VMK_ to join a Pirates game or be booted, and
2)VMK not telling anyone, officially, that they were ending the quest earlier than what the time frame suggest...and then "updating" the website extremely late to show that change.

Kudos from me, overall, though.

 

[pixiewytch]

I vote terrible as well.

Now before I start complaining I want to say that this is the kind of event which really brings out the best in a lot of players who want to help. For that, I am always thankful. Even though, I didn't make it. I couldn't get past mansion before they ended the quest...a friend gave me a very nice surprise at the end.

As for vmk, well, I don't think words allowed on this message board can properly convey the disdain I have for the way they handled this whole thing...and I gotta say, I am normally one of those ppl who shrugs it off and realizes I can't have everything. I'm a big girl and I don't normally consider myself a whiner. People are always going to have more than you and always less than you. That's just the way it is....however...there are so many things wrong about the way this was handled.

As others have pointed out, way too hard. Challenging is fine. I'm up for it...but requiring three mini games in one quest with very high scores is just too much. It completely excludes players like me who can't sit on the computer for hours on end to complete something. It excludes children who can't master the difficultly level. It excludes new players or people who maybe don't have the friend base to help them through it. It excludes a lot of people if you get my drift which just doesn't seem cool..

and the way you had to score at pirates really is like cheating. Instead of playing for fun, you had to play a specific strategy which had you on pins and needles to get through. Is that what vmk wanted people to do?

Last but not least, why so much loot for one terribly hard quest? It may have softened the blow to give different items away for different quests, maybe increasing level of difficulty with rarity of item. It is just hard not to go away from this mad when so much was at stake. Sure, they are only pixels but these were a heck of a lot of pixels...

hence, also widening the gap between the vmk haves and have nots. This was like dream month but twice as bad. I'm an adult and bitter enough about it. I can't imagine how upset some of the kids must be and their parents who have been playing for days on end.

I want to say kudos to the caring players but shame, shame on vmk this time.

 

[Adventuredaz]

Typical exit poll How can I possible say it was pleasant "overall"

There were enjoyable aspects, I actually enjoyed the pirate task but the down sides were long lines, some people having pore coordination both in getting in the lines and in the games. The team work required was not bad. but some were unable to do this. Some have no pirate skill or poor computers others are trigger happy or uncooperative. Many were glad to help untill they got theirs, which was sooner then later.

They could not help my connection issues but it did not help with the experience. And then to shorten the time frame from what was expected killed the experience. So many people that helped or offered di not complete it but might have finished with 12 more hours.

I would have to categorize my feedback to them as less possitive then possitive so had to vote overall - unpleasant. They always manage to screw up events someway.

 

[goldengourd]

Although I did vote unpleasant, I didn't play VMK for three days as much as I could because it was terrible. I played because there are a lot of wonderful people who helped my family, friends and who I could help in return.

I don't mind a challenge. Although I will never ever pass the green car quest's fireworks score, I still try occassionally and don't really mind. The fact that the pirate's score took a team is okay. I am even okay, if not really happy with, that it was only three (and an half) days.
What I really am upset at is that the system could not handle the number of players. Many many more people could have gotten this quest done if we could have just gotten into the pirate's lobby and gotten into a game in a lot more timely manner, and no one disconnected in the middle of the pirate's game. The limiting factor was not even what was meant to be the challenge of the quest. Or at least I hope that VMK staff didn't intend to make the quest hard by the fact you couldn't get on, couldn't get in the room, and then would dc in the game. I am tired of VMK offering events that they can't handle the traffic for.

 

[mikeyandscoobyx2]

Im gonna show VMK this muauahahha

 

[Tiggerholic]

I would have to say my experience was a bit of both. Terrible in the aspect that I was constantly having to stop or "brb" because my mom needed to get up, was time for medication or food

Great, in that sooooooooooooo many people tried and tried helping me get through it and it took an outpouring of support this morning to help me finish it

TiDoubleGer

 

[Kasiks]

Unpleasant because of the way they decided to do the closing, it really broke "all the fun" of the quest.

 

[B_Real]

I hated this quest Saturday when i attempted to do this. Sunday I tried again and met quite a few friends. Monday made this quest for me. I was on a great team that got a few through before we had to break up. I received a PM from someone inviting me to look them up if I needed help. I also was invited to join a group (with some DIS'ers) in game that got me through pirates and they are witnesses that B_Real cannot sink a ship parked next to him with GOLD! I helped others go pass ghosts while i stayed behind. I thought I would have enough time today to finish. Although this quest was very time consuming and stressful for most of us, I truly believe that this quest was made to bring all of VMK back to the original ideal of friendships and helping others out. Although I did not finish the quest (was just under 1,000 short on the Jungle cruise portion), this quest made me truly aware of my friends in game and the overall community support of the DIS.

So thanks to all that helped this VMK land-lover stuck in pirates as much as much as u did.

 

[disvaclub92]

I would say unpleasant.

Only so many people we could help. That part was good, knowing I could help people but I could not help them all. Then to see the kids who don't have a parent who plays who fights so hard in pirates then cant succeed in Mansion or Jungle Cruise only to have the quest turned off.

Come on you VMK, at least let those who have started finished the quest. In addition, you realized the number of individuals who needed to play pirates to get that score, why not allow the rooms to let more people in and allow more instances of the room. Actually test the quest to identify capacity issues, just don't assume it will work and function as you had planned. Poor planning on your part becomes our problem.

You can clearly tell who spent a long time in the game to help others or try to complete a quest. In addition, you can tell those individuals who only care about themselves vs the people who care about others.

 

[LittleDragonErin]

The quest itself was great. It's been a while since we've had anything "challenging" to do. These are the kinds of quests I like doing, where you actually have to think...not watch some obscure movies nobody's ever heard of...or just going around clicking skulls and clovers.

I have great friends as it is. But this weekend, a couple of them truly shined, giving so much time and energy to help others...and not just their friends, but friends of friends and even some strangers.

Now, the problem was, the time constraint. A quest of this magnitude definitely needed a longer period of time to complete. How often have they had a mansion or pirates game in their quests and seen the full lobbies, crashing and lag? And yet, they give the most difficult score to obtain yet in Pirates and don't forsee these results doubled? Yesterday morning I ditched work and myself and few friends got several people through pirates without problems because we were able to get in and out of the lobbies. Once the east coast kids got out of school, back to the issue of waiting for lobbies to open up, then games to start, etc. etc.

 

[Yankeegal5]

i got so anoyed with this quest, and i lost sleep and time over it.
Very Very Hard Quest!

 

[pixiewytch]

Now, the problem was, the time constraint. A quest of this magnitude definitely needed a longer period of time to complete. How often have they had a mansion or pirates game in their quests and seen the full lobbies, crashing and lag? And yet, they give the most difficult score to obtain yet in Pirates and don't forsee these results doubled? Yesterday morning I ditched work and myself and few friends got several people through pirates without problems because we were able to get in and out of the lobbies. Once the east coast kids got out of school, back to the issue of waiting for lobbies to open up, then games to start, etc. etc.

Yeah, I mean why doesn't a quest like this stay up for months like these insipid Hannah Montana and Twitches Too quests that can be completed in ten minutes?

 

[steamboatpete]

I finished it, but it was horrible. My kids did NOT get finished, and the little one got frustrated and said she didn't want to play VMK anymore. She says webkins games are more fun and easier and she wants to play webkins now.

I noticed a few people with many of the new magic. If you had a good system going, and were home all weekend (I had the system, but only had web access for a few hours all weekend, including Monday), you could mule several times. Those folks will now get richer and richer with the TDM and the rest of the players will never catch up.

I hate to say this is the worst thing VMK has ever done, because I've probably said that about 3 or 4 other things, but if it isn't the worst, it's darn close to it.

If there are no repeats of the mega-quest, and those prizes never come out again, I will probably look back on this as the biggest abortion in VMK's 2 1/2 years.

I mean, seriously, why is the crap (Hannah Montana, HSM, T*witches) up forever, while the choice stuff is rush rush rush and next-to-impossible.

 

[mikeyandscoobyx2]

Worse then dreams month

 

[Coasterguy]

Major mixed feelings about this whole thing.

No real complaints about the Quest, VMK meant it to be challenging and it was. My two major complaints were about not enough resources to adequately support being able to play pirates for the Quest and the last minute notification that the quest would end at 12. I did send a message via Contact Us about this.

I was able to finish with the help of a lot of my friends and it felt good to be able and return the favor and help others pass Pirates and to see them be able to finish also.

 

[taz]

Seeing all your friends struggle? How is that pleasent?

 

[TikiIslander]

Overall, I liked it. I don't mind working hard for something I really want. The problem is, something that is a challenge for one person is completely impossible for someone else. That's just the way it is. That's why I don't have 2-star green car magic.

I also really enjoyed hanging out with friends while we were trying to help other people through. It was an emotional rollercoaster at times but overall very rewarding.

I thought the tasks in the quest itself were very creative. I like the way they had the NPCs giving you clues. Everything followed the storyline very well. The prizes were incredible.

My only real complaint is the ending. I don't like that they ended it at noon today and we only found out about it through hosts leaking the info last night. I'd love to know the thinking behind that decision.

I agree completely. Someone had a lot of fun making this quest, and I was happy to give it five stars. I was disappointed that it ended midway through the day and I'd love to know why that happened.

I shouldn't say I was shocked at some of the player behavior I saw, and I'm sure it was the stress of the situation, but it was very ugly at times. In the same way, I'd like to thank some members of this board for the good vibes you spread around the kingdom. I saw one member gently discouraging muling to leave room for actual players to finish, and you guys were all over the dock helping people get the magic 575. Yay teamwork!

It's karma (or car meh in VMK?) and I was happy to see such positive attitudes and helpful people in what could have been a disastrous event.

 

[TLinden16]

I have to say that I'm middle of the road on this, so I didn't vote.

I liked that a challenging quest came out with amazing rewards. It added a new excitement to the game, and breathed some fresh air into the game for some of us longtime players. Just look at your friends list and see how many people you haven't seen in a long time popped in this weekend.

I enjoyed helping many of my friends, and friend's friends get through pirates and ghosts. The excitment we felt after each victory in pirates or ghosts was a great moment to share with the person completing the task. Seeing their excitement always put a smile on my face.

What I didn't like was the frustration caused by the long lines for pirates, and the urgency in the air to complete the pirates tasks. Even if they had extended the quest through the weekend, it would have alleviated some of the pressure.

I wish that made TDM non tradable, and given people at least a couple of weeks or a month to complete the quest. Because combining the TDM does nothing to enhance the performance, there is absolutely no need for someone to have a multistar TDM--it just showoffish. I wish the TDM was handled more like the green car pins are--give everyone the chance to get one, and in another year or so, release a new quest to get a second one.

With each event, there always seems to be some frustation, but we still participate time after time. I just try to keep my expectations low so I'm not disappointed.

 

[steamboatpete]

What I didn't like was the frustration caused by the long lines for pirates, and the urgency in the air to complete the pirates tasks. Even if they had extended the quest through the weekend, it would have alleviated some of the pressure.

I wish that made TDM non tradable, and given people at least a couple of weeks or a month to complete the quest. Because combining the TDM does nothing to enhance the performance, there is absolutely no need for someone to have a multistar TDM--it just showoffish. I wish the TDM was handled more like the green car pins are--give everyone the chance to get one, and in another year or so, release a new quest to get a second one.

Those are all good common sense points. Why can't the heads at VMK think of such things?

 

[Mnementh]

I was right about what I said earlier. VMK's excuse wasn't good enough.