Buccaneer Issues

[Tablemat]

Magistrates Commendation for Excellence

There appears to be no option to turn these in for a buccaneer

Dark As Night career skill

The stealth section of this skill is somewhat lacking. On an Otter Skuda it reduces OS visibility from 50.0 to 49.7, a Cerberus is reduced from 57.1 to 56.1

Personal observations as of level 27

There appears to be no relevant need for this class, other than perhaps an economy alt / mule. It has little or none +damage, +reload, +accuracy, +speed. What it does have though is alot of +turn, some +damage resistance.

Group buffs it has would hardly even be noticed by a Cutthroat, with the exception of the level 40 career skill Wolfpack: Prowler, which only actually becomes significant when the group makeup is more Buccaneer than Cutthroat, but which then makes the Command series somewhat redundant (only 1 Command active at a time), and does not even begin to make up the shortfall of + damage, +reload .. etc.

Too much of its skill tree is gated, or only useable when certain requisites have been met, leaving the player somewhat stuck for being able to do anything.

Basically, it seems the class can : Spend skill points to gain access to distant AH's and the Pirate 'Conquest' channel, use larger cargo vessels than the CT without the pvp flag, and soak up a small % more damage whilst not significantly returning fire.

[Cat Swift]

I hope you are mistaken. Cutts got nerfed pretty hard and the Bucc is supposed to be required to balance pirate groups with national groups (according to the devs).

But you are probably right.

[Blackbeard the Pirate]

I have to disagree to some point. I find Buccs VERY useful for boarding because of their 60% crew damage resistance (from passives if you take the -20% crew one), and then stacking even more damage resistance buffs, you can get around 31% armor and 97% crew resistance (This is from what I see by their skillset though I havn't gotten too high with mine yet).

So basically at a close range, they are pretty deadly, but they have terrible long range DPS, no real speed buffs, and slow career specific ships, so they wont be catching any ships 1v1 in PvP soon.

[Gerrad]

I also wanted to add that FLS is contradicting them self cuz from early on they kept saying that Pirate class in POTBS is unique cuz they get the ability to CAPTURE ships but now Bucc's doesn't get access to this skill and they are like other nation class's have to earn their cash to buy ships or keep grinding npc's in high sea with salvage hoping they might get a deed which sucks ..

[Percival Haddoch]

My impression of the Buccaneer so far from lvl'ing one up to lvl 10 and having a good look at their skill tree is that they are not worth it. Simply too little dps and the group buffs are not good enough. Perhaps a group can use 1 buccaneer but I cannot see they use for more than one.

I am also rather disappointed by the ships the Buccaneer has. If I ever get a lvl 50 Buccaneer their is no doubt I will be sailing a Heavy Hercules. The Bahamut refit Bark is basically a pirate 4th rate, the Couronne has surprisingly little firepower. Last night my Cutthroat had a 1 vs 1 against a Couronne in a Olipant MC. The Couronne could not defeat my Olipant MC and was only able to live and fight another day because it was way faster. I am very glad Freetraders can use Heavy hercules now, because they really needed a better endgame ship than the Couronne.

[kungtotte]

The ship selection for Buccaneers and Cutthroats is damn near identical. The only two ships (so far) that are only usable to one of those two careers are the Red Devil Arcadia (Cutthroat) and the Bahamut Bark (Buccaneer). The old pirate refits (i.e Fallen Snow, Neptune's Disgrace, Cursed Blade, Abbaddon's Will etc.) are available to both careers.

Buccaneers can also use any deed that a Cutthroat can with the sole exception of the Red Devil deed. Admittedly the odds of national refits ever showing up on the AHs as captured deeds are rather astronomical.

[William Obvious]

Originally Posted by Percival Haddoch I am very glad Freetraders can use Heavy hercules now

I'm not. They're merchants, they're supposed to move cargo not fight battles. They were set up to be able to heal a great deal and run like hell when caught, not go toe-to-toe with Ships of the Line. That's so historically ridiculous and outside the scope of their career definition that they may as well rename the profession.

[Tablemat]

Buccaneers are almost inferior to Freetraders in every aspect.

They are superior in ... damage resistance by a small amount, and crew resistance. Otherwise, their buffs, self and group, are vastly inferior, their speed is incredibly poor. their special shots are inferior and also fewer of.

I honestly cannot see why anyone would choose one over a Cutthroat.

[kungtotte]

Buccaneers offer a distinct playingstyle, different from Cutthroats. I'm having a lot of fun playing my Bucc, and once I hit 50 in it I'm sure it'll see roughly the same amount of action as my Cutthroat will.

Buccs are super-situational and almost all the skills are gated, but that doesn't mean they're weak in any way. The one area where they have problems is with sustainable speed, but for a group-oriented class they are fast enough.

[Tablemat]

Originally Posted by kungtotte Buccaneers offer a distinct playingstyle, different from Cutthroats. I'm having a lot of fun playing my Bucc, and once I hit 50 in it I'm sure it'll see roughly the same amount of action as my Cutthroat will. Buccs are super-situational and almost all the skills are gated, but that doesn't mean they're weak in any way. The one area where they have problems is with sustainable speed, but for a group-oriented class they are fast enough.

Why would you take a Buccaneer in a group?

Command: Maneuver: +7.5% turn to group
Command: Evasion: +2 defence all, +2 defence sails to group
Command: Battle: +2 accuracy, +1% reload, +1% damage to group
Command: Speed: +3% battle speed to group

Bear in mind these are Non stackable, and only 1 may be 'up' at a time, negating the need for more than 1 Buccaneer with command in a group.

I cant see a Cutthroat whooping for joy over any of those buffs, especially the Battle one. Hell, as a buccaneer, i sometimes cba to even click one myself, knowing how very little it actually changes things.