Priv vs. Buc in 1.4

[elessaria]

Thanks Taelorn; good to know the finger is on the pulse and what we're seeing is a decent reflection of the nature of things!

[Sundown]

Originally Posted by Taelorn

I already made changes that relate to a few of these things but they aren't in testbed.

The Cursed Blade got some improvements, and Scrapper changed (it's quite similar to what's mentioned here). Command Lines are 3/8 currently, and the repair skills costs less morale. Repair Under Fire also repairs faster with a lower reset timer (3/12 or so).

Entangling Shot doesn't provide as much resistance reduction, either.

Since we didnt get much pirate love how about increasing or giving the pirates a range buff. Might fix alot of this kiting junk. Rember they get the same range generals so dont tell me to go get one of those.

[Taelorn]

Originally Posted by elessaria

*please* look at the timer for Break Morale. I nearly put a fist through my monitor every time that skill is used. It is *that* annoying. I mean ragequit after 1 fight annoying.

I assume you're talking about Break Formation? The timer is completely broken in the current 1.4 testbed, and lasts about 3x as long as it's supposed to.

[Kashka_Coolwater]

hrm.. well i actually played a spannie privateer in an intrepid on mauled the buc in the bark. Im not horrible familiar with the privateer skill set but I found the damage to be superb and the repair. I havent' sailed the new ship as a buc yet but it seemed these were the issues my opponet was having.

1. not as maneuvarable
2. seemed to not do well over 200 yds
3. sails were soft vs entangled + damage

i wish i knew the privie skillset to elaborate more on it.. but I was surprised that I could just skill up without much knowledge.. pick repair and damage along with some destruction and dominate. I am impressed with the privateer damage and repair.. even with my max damage intrepid. The man. of the intrepid is what really seemed to win the day compared to that of my opponent.

[elessaria]

Originally Posted by Taelorn

I assume you're talking about Break Formation? The timer is completely broken in the current 1.4 testbed, and lasts about 3x as long as it's supposed to.

Yes, that's the one. I get them confused but the NO one isn't anywhere near as "ragequit" inducing since I can still turn. Break Formation is really a bad idea fullstop IMO, but it did seem to be worse than usual; glad it's a bug!

[denmj]

Originally Posted by elessaria

Debuffs are the same as for a Cutthroat but it's not a problem I find I have with the Tough Crew chain maxed out. 50% resist combined with a 30% regen means it's very hard to rageboard. Don't know if you saw but your crew was hammered the whole fight and mine was pretty healthy.

My Blade mostly went with St. Elmos, Oddy (not sure I like them but thought I'd play) and Explosive Powder (my crew resist means I can afford it), with speed hulls and sails and wadding. On reflection I think Nimble Rigs might have been better.

I have not tried the tough crew chain so will give that a shot.

Originally Posted by elessaria

I think the Blade has no real niche now. The big gun-deck is nice but not heavy enough to do much at range, and the upper 6s are too small to matter at 3-500y where the 11s give the Blade an edge.

I agree on speed, with the exception that the situationals for the Buc seem really speed heavy, and in close that's not so useful. Scrapper could use less speed (2.5%) and more turning (5%) to make a real impact at the range it is designed for.

I noticed that the Buc doesn have the speed to close and I think that is the main point of that speed. But yes once there it is far to easy for someone to get away after we burn some of that speed or out manuver once we are close. I have not tried the Blade yet.

Originally Posted by elessaria

The Command Line needs to be more worth it; the 3min/10 is too harsh; I think 4/8 would be better. I also think Speed should come earlier in the line because rat groups are going to *need* it to compete and 4 points is pretty meh.

Distraction should have a target requirement since it currently highlights eevn with no ships in range which is confusing.

Deadly Force is *really* hard to get use out of at 40 seconds, which surprised me. I thought it'd be simple to get 2 shots off but it's actually a 50:50 to achieve it I've found.

I agree on both counts. I find the command line needs help if it is to be competative vs other classes simular group buffs.

Originally Posted by elessaria

Scrapper is a very nice (key?) skill for the Buccaneer, and this is a problem because it is very easily countered by stuns. You *have* to turn to keep Scrapper on and so a stun can essentially put you out of range within seconds. The range should be bigger I think and seriously; *please* look at the timer for Break Morale. I nearly put a fist through my monitor every time that skill is used. It is *that* annoying. I mean ragequit after 1 fight annoying.

I can understand higher morale costs on the Buc's repairs, but 50/40/40 seems very high indeed. I guess it's to offset the lack of toggles but still...

Bosun's Starter is greifing waiting to happen, just like Rescue Me. I refer you to this thread:
http://www.burningsea.com/forums/showthread.php?t=29716

All in all, I'd have to say I think the Buccaneer is a lot of fun, but is too click-heavy. You spend a lot of the fight with next to nothing to do except wait on cooldowns and in the meantime you have absolutely *nothing* in the locker, bar a 5% damage and relaod buff, mediocre speed, turning. That's a 1/6 of what a Priv or Cut can put up and I think it's too little.
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I agree the Buccaneer seems very much like a 3min wonder then you have to wait 10 min or more to do it again and in the mean time you just auto fire and do very little else. Gets old really fast. On a PVE note of that it just seems simpler to not even use your buffs or specials and just blow away the NPC's with auto shot which makes PVE grinding a sleep inducing afair.

Even with the changes listed below I don't think they will fix that issue. For lack of a better comparison the buc feels like a paladin from wow where you have to reapply a buff so often you start to say the heck with it and just ignore the buff. A few toggles would be a bit better for the class but also a single shot type on a less then 2min timer with no conditional on it to give us something to do while we wait for the clickies to come back off cool down.

I do like the economic skills combined with some good combat skills and the fact that you have hard choices to make if you want to take them. That style for the class is good. But so far if the class stays as a click fest like it is now I will have no desire to level it up or play one.

I would like to get in a few group combats with the buc to see how they work in a group that is the next major thing to test out. In some ways that might bring out some strenghts we have not seen in the class.

[Cat Swift]

Originally Posted by Garbad_the_Weak

I didn't have my career skills. I also didn't use consumables in some of the fights, so they looked closer than they were.

Ooof. Ouch.