The Blunderbuss is unbalanced, and possible ways to fix it.

  • Tugstone
    Sailor

    Well... This is one hell of a complicated topic will all the weapon combinations, skill and how players use them.

    But frankly, the blunderbuss is mechanically broken in the sense of how it interacts with other weapons and the game itself. I'm going to break it down to three parts, first will be how the blunderbuss works in game, second will be it's interactions in fights and the third will be what we can do better.

     What it does:

    The blunderbuss is a flat out defensive tool, working the best on ladders and small ships like the brig's and sloops, it does it's job pretty well, killing people in one shot but... What does one do if someone just sits on your ladder? Take a shot you know won't kill them? Go get a different gun and find they climbed up while you where changing? Double gun but loose out on the sword?

    The Blunderbuss just excels at close quarters engagements and nothing else, making it a stupid strong counter to the sword.

     Combat:

    The Blunderbusses main plan is to get in close, weather it's by running at the target, or waiting for the target to get close, you want to be point blank if your holding a blunder, and the problem is, two of the weapons counter this hard and the sword is the only one weak to this.

    Making the blunderbuss in theory, a bad weapon.

     What we can change:

    The Blunderbusses roll is good, the only weapon that has a true defensive roll, and frankly I'd love for it to keep its roll without nerfing it to the ground. Here are the stats for the old and proposed blunderbuss.

    Old blunderbuss:

    Damage: 10 (X 10pellets)
    Effective Range: point blank

    New blunderbuss:

    -Damage: 5 (X 12pellets)
    +(more pellets)
    +Effective Range: 0-7 feet (tighter spread, more reliable damage)
    +Knock back based on distance to target.
    +Increased knock back based on number of pellets hit.
    +Shooting at the ground can launch the user flying. (Blunderbuss-jump)

    So, with these changes, the new Blunderbuss works like this, the tighter spread gives the new blunder more range and reliable damage, can deal up to 60 damage per shot and deals a great amount of knock back, pushing players off ladders or cannons and giving the new blunder the bonus of a new form of vertical movement. Letting players jump high into the air or avoid possible fall damage by shooting the ground last second.

    If a sword player rushes you with the new blunder, you can pushes them away then use your sword or secondary gun to finish them.

    Overall I think the new Blunderbuss is better than the old one, instead of punishing sword users, it gives them a chance to deal damage and survive, making the Blunderbuss a spacing tool.

    Agenst snipers and pistols you can use the new Blunderbuss to "blunder-jump" to them, closing distance through the air!

    Allowing the blunderbuss to be a great defensive and movement tool, from pushing players away from your ladders to using the blunder-jump to board enemy ships that are out of reach to sword lunges.

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  • BurnBacon
    Vanguard
    Insider

    So you want a sniper blunderbuss? Why….
    As you said, it’s doing its job at close range.

    You have two other weapons for long range.

  • Tugstone
    Sailor

    @burnbacon I'm saying it's too good, why bother with a sword if you can just use blunder for close range? I mean most double gunners use blunder and sniper after all, sword users can't get close without risk being one shot, and the sniper is just a better pistol with a higher bullet velocity and damage at the cost of a slightly longer reload and more hip fire spread.

    The idea was to instead of punishing the players for using a sword was to turn the Blunderbuss into a sort of utility/more viable weapon.

    Reread the post cause you probably just skipped most of it, seeing as you probably missed the 0-7feet of range part, yea it's a greater range but that's for the damage, the idea was make the blunder a proper damage tool at a reasonable close range, but give it high knock back as well, basically using it to push enemys around.

    Reread what I wrote, you probably just skimmed over it I feel.

  • KommodoreYenser
    Lord
    Insider

    @tugstone said in Blunderbuss is mechanically broken, and how how it could be fixed.:

    @burnbacon I'm saying it's too good, why bother with a sword if you can just use blunder for close range? I mean most double gunners use blunder and sniper after all, sword users can't get close without risk being one shot, and the sniper is just a better pistol with a higher bullet velocity and damage at the cost of a slightly longer reload and more hip fire spread.

    The idea was to instead of punishing the players for using a sword was to turn the Blunderbuss into a sort of utility/more viable weapon.

    Reread the post cause you probably just skipped most of it, seeing as you probably missed the 0-7feet of range part, yea it's a greater range but that's for the damage, the idea was make the blunder a proper damage tool at a reasonable close range, but give it high knock back as well, basically using it to push enemys around.

    Reread what I wrote, you probably just skimmed over it I feel.

    Reasons to use sword:

    • Sword lunge, great maneuverability and being able to lunge off the deck onto another ship for the quiet attack without using cannons
    • Sword dodge, same as #1
    • Being able to block another sword user in CQC (this isnt as effective right now because sword is bugged beyond belief with blocking angles and stun not always registering who hit first correctly)
    • No ammo required, infinitely better to have on larger islands at least
    • can strike a group of players all for 25 dmg if the slash hits them

    The blunderbuss really only has two things it excels at:

    • guarding your own ship and ladders
    • CQC fights where you have some room to maneuver or you are a good shot for one taps.

    Saying all two gun users run blunder sniper is absolutely wrong. Depending on the situation I will run sword/blunder, sword/sniper, OR blunder/sniper. Always with 5 blunder bombs in my pocket though.

  • Monke6851
    Seafarer

    This is good but 60 damage is just not enough. Them people would just stop using it. It should be 70 or 80 so that it isn't one shot but still does good damage

  • Galactic Geek
    Seafarer
    Founder

    @Tugstone@ The blunderbuss is fine as is - powerful in its specific role, but poor at range.

    Did you know that there are about 30 different ways to avoid being 1-shot by that weapon? There is! Don't want to be outmatched by it while using a sword? Use your eyes to see them using the blunderbuss, then use your sword's additional manueverability to bait them into wasting their shot. It's easy! ...if you can keep calm under fire.

    Also, you forgot to mention the EoR's slower time to aim. 😅

    @Alphawolf123905 If the damage to the blunderbuss is reduced AT ALL, it automatically will become the worst weapon in the game - it needs that 1-shot potential to be viable. Otherwise, it just becomes a point-blank non-killing knockback tool that makes it even harder to set up your next shot (which is technicallyalreadythe case if you don'tget your 1-shot kill)...

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