New Blunderbuss Mechanic Almost Unplayable

I think if it was more consistent then I would enjoy it more. Sometimes I'll hit every pellet and they wont budge, but they skim the bottom of my shoe with one and I will go flying.

Agreed, the damage and knock back are very inconsistent and make it frustrating to use as a defensive weapon.

When defending, I used to rely on the blunderbuss to kill the enemy with one shot so I could focus on raising anchor, repairing, bailing, etc. Now, I knock them into the water and have to spend time watching ladders instead of tending to the ship. If I’m below deck, I now just knock them around while they run and eat.

Big miss on this one. I hope they make changes.

I wonder if the bigger issue is just how easy it is to board... well it's about to be a lot easier and there won't really be a counter play...

Agreed, not a fan of the blunderbuss changes so far - I really tried to give it a good go in both offensive and defensive scenarios but it really isn't working out for me. I am not the best pvp'er out there - don't really aspire to be but even as a player on a typically larger crew I am finding the blunderbuss is just skittling players all over the place but not really aiding in the boarder defence.

I can't really know what the devs were thinking/intending but my bottom line is, its just not as fun with these changes as before. I never minded the one hit kill, sometimes it benefited you, sometimes it worked in your opponents favour. But now fights are not really so decisive as they used to be, both parties just hopping around a ship, and drawing a fight out but not in a way I am finding particularly enjoyable. Doesn't feel like skill involved, with the inconsistency of the knock-back effect we might as well just role a D20 for which of you gets to jump overboard...

@wolfmanbush sagte in New Blunderbuss Mechanic Almost Unplayable:

This was always going to happen, very predictable outcome.

"I don't want to be one blundered" should have always just stayed feedback in the reality of SoT combat.

This is very much an example of "be careful what you wish for, you might just get it someday"

Now a whole bunch of underdogs are gonna pay the price for the "neener neener" win condition involving one-shot kills.

Trying to sell this as a defense weapon is one of the more wild messaging strats that I have seen in SoT, and I've seen many.

It's unfortunate that people push for things that go against their own interests so often by ignoring the big picture effects of these decisions, just to try to nerf something over preferences.

Smaller crews/solo should have never been excited over this change, this was always another buff for spammy brig/galleon crews and experienced larger crews that didn't like getting wiped (with the blunder) by more skilled pvpers.

Once again you are pushing the blame onto the players instead of the developers who are in charge. And you honestly wonder why I (and others) repeatetly call you out on that? I wonder if you even read what you write.
How is it the players fault the developers made an unfavorible change? Was there not a thousand different ways they could have changed the blunderbuss to adress the one-hit-kill issues some players had - if that was even their intent? I never minded the one hit kill, just for the record. I dont take a side.
But even from a neutral perspective: It is a poor design choice on the developer side, not properly playtested. Nothing else.
Stop pushing the blame on people who had 0 to say on the decision making!

@wolfmanbush "the devs gave some players what they asked for" - is a strawman argument. And even more blame-shifting. I repeat [mod edit] - even if players complained about the way the blunderbuss was, how is it their fault the devs took this specific route? Players have 0 to say on the decision making. Thats why I cannot take you serious. No, like it or not, the developers decide. And their decision is a bad one. There was a million ways the blunderbuss could have been altered.

@wolfmanbush sagte in New Blunderbuss Mechanic Almost Unplayable:

@parrotlord6426 said in New Blunderbuss Mechanic Almost Unplayable:

@wolfmanbush "the devs gave some players what they asked for" - is a strawman argument. And even more blame-shifting. I repeat [mod edit] - even if players complained about the way the blunderbuss was, how is it their fault the devs took this specific route? Players have 0 to say on the decision making. Thats why I cannot take you serious. No, like it or not, the developers decide. And their decision is a bad one. There was a million ways the blunderbuss could have been altered.

There is nothing that they can do with a 90% blunder that in any way makes it a defense weapon for underdogs in sea of thieves combat.

Some did not want to be one blundered and they haven't wanted it for years.

Rare listens to and caters to feedback.

It will never be a defense weapon now, because players were given what they wanted.

Of course there was. They could have given the blunderbuss a two shot option to kill for example. They could have added a blindness effect instead of the knockback on the attacked player, to enable a swift second killing blow with sword if said attacked player is not quicker in jumping away blindly (lol). They could have left the 100% dps, but reduce it when the other player is blocking with sword, so there was a way of countering the one shot in a fair fight (not on ladders ofc) and and and.
There are a thousand different possibilities how they could have kept the blunderbuss strong but enabled counters for certain situations imho.
I dont say those ideas are good or usable, but those are just ones i come up instantly without even having to think. A bunch of developers brainstorming should be able to produce something usable imo
I think you are not really interested in solutions, you just want people to stop complaining/asking for changes. I dont see how this is helpful

So. Because you stood still, and got blown off your ship. It’s unplayable? Seems to be working as it should. You just didn’t act

@wolfmanbush sagte in New Blunderbuss Mechanic Almost Unplayable:

@parrotlord6426 said in New Blunderbuss Mechanic Almost Unplayable:

Of course there was. They could have given the blunderbuss a two shot option to kill for example. They could have added a blindness effect on the attacked player to enable a swift second killing blow. They could have left the 100% kill but reduce it when the other player is blocking with sword, so there was a way of countering the one shot in a fair fight (not on ladders ofc) and and and.
There are a thousand different ways to keep blunderbuss strong and add some way of countering it in certain situations.
I dont say those ideas are good or usable, but those are just ones i come up instantly without even having to think. A bunch of developers brainstorming should be able to produce something usable imo
I think you are not really interested in solutions, you just want people to stop complaining/asking for changes. I dont see how this is helpful

The solution would be to bring back the one tap and work around a one tap foundation.

A bandaid (yet still an improvement for combat) would be to buff the pistol up significantly to be a more dangerous and quicker weapon at close-mid range.

Players needs kills to get out of tough situations. Quick kills. It is the only way to recover against larger crews. Players need power to call anything a defense weapon.

Buffing pistol is a whole different topic, not in any way related on to why it should be the players fault to ask for changes on the blunderbuss. And you could not adress my points about how there was a a lot of different routes the Devs could have went either. I think the argument is therefore clear now.
Again I wanna add that I do think that it is not helpful to go against parts of the community for voicing issues - or blaiming them when the solutions are not fitting.

@wolfmanbush

"This was always going to happen, very predictable outcome."
"This is very much an example of "be careful what you wish for, you might just get it someday""
"Now a whole bunch of underdogs are gonna pay the price for the "neener neener" win condition involving one-shot kills."
"It's unfortunate that people push for things that go against their own interests so often by ignoring the big picture effects of these decisions, just to try to nerf something over preferences."
"The devs gave some players what they asked for."
"Player accountability is what I have always focused on because there is a lack of it here."

is that you?

@wolfmanbush we are going in circles. how about you take the responsibility that you ask players to take yourself? I guess we can agree to disagree. I still think it is very dangerous and not helpful at all to shift the blame for bad solutions on the people asking.

@wolfmanbush
I've heard a lot from developers that the player knows what doesn't feel right, but they don't know what to do about it. Most (me included) like to talk about what we'd like to see changed. It makes for good discussion and it does on occasion get implemented. But the product is the responsibility of the producer. If I ask for coffee, and you give me week-old, rotten coffee, how is that my fault for desiring coffee?

If we're talking about what players "asked for", as you say, how can that even be right? I would have been content with a spread increase. That doesn't mean I asked for the current change.

I understand there's probably some schadenfreude for what the players who dislike the blunder got, mixed with your own dislike of the new blunderbuss for defense. But that doesn't make the original criticism of the blunderbuss invalid. Just because it was the best gun for solo, does not mean it wasn't overpowered... that was the reason it was overpowered. It was a one-stop shop for everything you needed in close range. Giving the blunder more drawbacks only brings solos more on the level of players who don't feel like using the blunder... and there's nothing wrong with that. Saying this blunderbuss change is the detrimental to solo play is just saying that you thought it was required for solo play.

@bones881812 I have no doubt they're going to rebalance the blunderbuss again. There's no way that the results we're seeing are what were intended with the rebalance...in fact, it's been the exact opposite of what Rare said the rebalance was for.

The best anti-boarding weapon in the game got rebalanced to be an anti-boarding weapon but instead actually became a hilariously powerful boarding weapon.

The blunder is not inconsistent, you can clearly see the person being knocked into the railing and bouncing off it. It's the angle your standing at that allows them to still board. Just use a blunderbomb to knock people off! This is a very fun mechanic added into the game and i love not being one blundered. The reason you go knocked off the ship in the first clip is because you had the space to be knocked off whereas you knocked your opponent straight into the railing. If you place yourself more near to the ladder and next to the helm this shouldnt be an issue!

@wolfmanbush A sloop tho always with another person. It's fun to shoot people in the air and also to be shot in the air instead of being one-blundered imo. Of course this isnt objective.

@wolfmanbush sagte in New Blunderbuss Mechanic Almost Unplayable:

@parrotlord6426 said in New Blunderbuss Mechanic Almost Unplayable:

@wolfmanbush we are going in circles. how about you take the responsibility that you ask players to take yourself? I guess we can agree to disagree. I still think it is very dangerous and not helpful at all to shift the blame for bad solutions on the people asking.

There are sloopers/solos out there right now fighting OP brig crews that just keep getting more and more buffed, rewarded more and more for spamming their way to success. Exploiting in high enough numbers to where launch exploits are common to see.

They are going to get boarded at some point no matter what they do, they are going to get demasted, and they are going to try to fight their way out a worsening situation with a popcorn gun. They are going to lose no matter how skilled they are.
I've been looking out for crews like that and in comparable situations on the forums for half a decade plus. I take full responsibility for my posts here.
They had power removed, whether they asked for it or didn't, that is their reality. That will continue to be their reality and it should not be, in a game that calls itself balanced.

Are there crews struggeling? Yes. But is it the players fault concerning the blunderbuss change? NO.
The DEVELOPER decided, not the player.
Are you still running with the argument here, that its the players own fault for asking changes?
Then: Are you really using the suffering players now for that line of arguments?
Let me give you an example of what you are just doing right now: Imagine the weak kid in school asking the school bully to not get bullied anymore. As a consequence, the school bully bullies him even more, all the while telling the weaker kid: "Its your fault for complaining! If only you would not have complained, then you would not need to suffer right now". Sorry what lol.

I'll hold up my hands and say that i'm disappointed with the new blunderbuss, despite my previous defense of it.
I believe that the change to the damage is good because it sucked to just be one shot while solo, but with the insane knockback, a solo slooper is sent flying off their ship while the boarder is fine, if the ship's anchor is dropped, the solo slooper will likely be unlikely to get up their ladders because now their ladders are being camped. The knockback needs to be toned down extensively as when the harpoon gun is added, boarders can just get on a player's ship and knock them off in a second.

All Rare had to do was just change the damage, that was all! Now i'm really concerned about how cheaters may go unnoticed with the harpoon gun and the extensive knockback, because I do feel that the inconsistencies with the blunderbuss can be, and likely are, exploited- likely with an increased knockback cheat to keep people off their ship

I quit the game;the blunderbuss change was a change made by peoples Who dont know the game and now we (peoples who play the game no peoples who play forum comment simulator) pay the consequences.

Im still astonished that theres some individuals thinking that if you run in front of a shotgun you shouldnt die,but well Sea of thieves community at his finest It Is.

Noobs with a big mouth and no skill requested the change Just to realise It was theyre biggest mistake.

Rare not listening to any feedback about the change, forum mods promoting toxic positivity in this forum deleting and silencing peoples complaining too much,warning peoples on discord for not much reason other than not being Happy about everything rare do.

We WARNED Just to get punished; now this Is the situation.