With the removal of one blunder, solo play was destroyed. Being able to one blunder was the ability to keep people off of your ship. Now you have to shoot both guns in order to keep people off the ship or mindlessly swing your sword at the top of the ladder. If you are solo against any crew bigger then solo, or a solo plus any type of pve, you are immediately overwhelmed the second someone comes to board. As a solo, you can't shoot both guns and get away with it against any larger crew. I've played for 15,000 hours, and went from sinking about 15% of the time to 95% of the time when playing solo. the harpoon gun was not a good reason to remove one blunder. Anyone that runs harpoon gun is running a sword, also it's like impossible to harpoon gun onto someones deck from a cannon shot. It always regs. No, people bring a sword with harpoon gun because it does not require ammo. You know what counters the sword? One blunder. Everyone that knows anything about the game is complaining about the blunder, the only people not complaining is sword users and new players that will quit the game inside of a month anyways. If Rare truely wants to listen to the community the biggest outcry that I've heard and continue to hear from everyone I know and I'm saying it too, if you want to do right by your community, the people that play and put massive amounts of money into this game, bring back one blunder so we can solo and ladder guard again.
Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.
This is not just about boarding.
This is about solo being unable to oneshot first boarder immediately, to have a bigger chance killing the second boarder.
Just say what it is. There is also a simple solution if you're ineffective with current blunder knockback - don't play solo. But you already know that.
I also expect the second complaint would be patching out quick swap, which almost served the same purpose. Since Rare patched it and won't be bringing it back, the only remaining thing now they can ask for is making BB oneshot again.
With the removal of one blunder, solo play was destroyed.
My solo play has improved. Im not dying so much on my own ship.
Being able to one blunder was the ability to keep people off of your ship.
Or off your own. heck you can still pull this off with Blunderbombs now.
Now you have to shoot both guns in order to keep people off the ship or mindlessly swing your sword at the top of the ladder.
Or set up Traps...set own ship on fire or the classic, Have snake baskets. ^_^
you are immediately overwhelmed the second someone comes to board.
You are overwhelmed the second you let yourself become this mindset.
As a solo, you can't shoot both guns and get away with it against any larger crew.
No but I can blunderbomb MULTIPLE targets, Blowdart, Trap + blunderbomb. I get away with it. Maybe not scratch free.
I've played for 15,000 hours, and went from sinking about 15% of the time to 95% of the time when playing solo.
I got....idk anymore. Hours have become years, my Sinking has...remain the same. (besides how did you get such %?)
the harpoon gun was not a good reason to remove one blunder. Anyone that runs harpoon gun is running a sword
Launch from cannon, fly over deck, harpoon down, switch to blunder. Bam. Surprise.
I run Grapple with Blowdart. ^_^also it's like impossible to harpoon gun onto someones deck from a cannon shot.
Implausible. Never impossible.
You know what counters the sword?
One blunder.Distance.
If Rare truely wants to listen to the community the biggest outcry
Toxic players, naysayers, complainers, and Server issues.
the people that play and put massive amounts of money into this game, bring back one blunder so we can solo and ladder guard again.
Coming from a D1 player, who has more play time, spent more money. I dont want one blunder, because as you said...
Everyone that knows anything about the game
Knows how to counter everything, and adapt.
Biggest mistake in the messaging was calling it a defense weapon/decision post nerf.
That's pretty much advertising that the challenging side of solo pvp has no seat in the decision making room.
This will never happen but I'd prefer realness over spin.
This was never about defense and it was completely dismissive of players that actually play in challenging ways (most don't in the feedback areas/cliques)
7 years in and they wanted to shake things up so they made decisions that some people have wanted for years. It was to serve a "victory" to inexperienced players that are gonna sink anyway and experienced players that think they should never get their big boat wiped by a more skilled tdmer.
At the end of the day the game is largely carried by vibers that don't really get that fired up about it. Especially now that so much of the game is just cheese strats or not caring about progress at all.
I think it's absolutely fair to criticize how they have handled combat in this game but it's a small and dwindling group that really care enough to cause a stink about it. They are gonna play, probably cheese more, probably fight less, and just lean more into the chill side of SoT, and stick to other games for pvp.
It's now a game of spammy brigs and sloopers that don't wanna be anywhere near spammy brig crews.
Haha. People always forget the legendary pirate who took down a skeleton fort with 100 snakes. (Not me) but it still fun thing to hear “oh god he has snakes!”
But admit, they die so fast..during fights :p
15k hours puts you up there with the most SoT addicted players. Like a I'm just not gonna believe you on that cus I've heard of literally 1 20k hour player. Not that it really matters cus the 20k hour player is also cheeks and a hacker 💀
Anyways, the one blunder was not great for the game. It simply removed a ton of opportunity and skill from the game. While I get the frustration of a solo player dealing with multiple hoarders now being harder, you should simply be adapting your play style to the fact boarding is a much more complex and diverse interaction now. You can do things like summon bone callers or place traps to shut down boarders, making the 10 less damage on the blunder pretty much obsolete. There are also plenty of other weapons that work outside of sword. I mean you can just pistol snipe and take them out before they get up the ladder. Is it harder and less practical? Yes. Is it impossible? No.
The true issue with blunder is the spread. It's absolutely atrocious and even being inside of someone with ADS you prolly won't hit every pellet. There was no reason to change the spread with the rest of the changes. The consistency of the damage was never the issue with the blunderbuss, it was the fact it was a complete shut down to any boarding with high KB and a one shot. Leaning into one of those two was the proper decision, but removing the consistency and reliability of the weapon to output damage and combo with other weapons had completely killed it.
SoT could have a perfectly consistent ttk by keeping everything to a one swap combo. Rather they opted to make a dumb change to spread, basically introducing a "hitreg" type experience to the weapon ON TOP of the already bad hitreg. It's made the blunder unreliable and unfun to play with and against. Please revert Blunder spread changes 🙏
@quexidea i play solo ALOT and the removal of one blunders is a blessing.
If you really feel that this has destroyed your ability to play solo then i am sorry to say you weren’t skilled as a solo but you had a massive crutch that was keeping you up.
There is multiple ways to keep people of your ladder/ship. As some examples:
- Traps
- Blunderbombs
- blunderbuss
- throwing knives
- sword (dash) at both while climbing and just hitting apex of ladder
The one blunder was OP and has been OP ever since it was introduced before the release of the game, this was strengthened with how unstable the games performance was making the blunderbuss kill at way longer distances then it should. To add to that the fact that people could just casually shoot the blunder, reload it and shoot again whilst being sword combo’d.
@quexidea said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
With the removal of one blunder, solo play was destroyed.
I favoured the one-blunder when playing solo and defending my boat.
It's a shame they nerfed the blunder & throwing knives, my two fave weapons. Both are now significantly more time consuming to get a kill, or even a hit, considering my accuracy & hitreg.
I don't miss spawn campers using blunder one-shot to kill you, before you even exited black screen though.I think Rare want every player to use the sniper. It's the most consistent & powerful weapon at any range. Too much so.
I think it would make sense to lower the damage of the sniper too, now they've nerfed the blunder into "why would I use it?" territory.If that's not gonna happen, please focus the spread of the blunder at least.
@fysics3037 said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
You can do things like summon bone callers or place traps to shut down boarders, making the 10 less damage on the blunder pretty much obsolete.
Bone callers and traps are silly plays for silly non-challenging fights in SoT (on the defense side).
No solid brig/gally or even solid duo is worrying about traps and defense bonecallers against a solo. All they gotta do is spam something, doesn't really matter what, a solo will run outta those supps long before they get tired of trying.
They don't add this stuff to benefit a solo in any way, they add it for the casual social media version of pvp and to buff larger crews.
Most tools in sot are gimmicky when it comes to challenging fights.
The main issue they have is they keep buffing casual brig play but a lot of people don't really wanna play that way. The attempt to get people onto bigger boats really hasn't worked.
I went on a brig for the first time in 3 years to just vibe for a bit in season 15 and we wrecked hostile experienced sloops while just having casual convo. Our first time even playing together and I play on a web browser through cloud with a controller. It's ridiculously easy to brig in this game and it doesn't need buff after buff to guarantee wins against servers full of sloops.
Same thing can be seen on any stream where streamers still run brig crews. It's mind numbing what combat has become in an environment where it's just about numbers and not individual skill.
It's not even just solo, duo has to deal with the silliness as well. Not difficult for a brig to get one or two bags and then it's over after that.
All they have to defend is gimmick weapons or the unrealistic option of becoming some of the best two tappers out there.
At some point in time the complacency of non-challenging big crew gameplay is probably gonna lead to some more dramatic changes. Just like the severe pve nerfs and safer seas, etc.
@wolfmanbush I haven't played in months. Mind expanding on what these "Brig buffs" have been? Because I haven't heard anything except them making the brig slower in general. Answer that and I'll give you a proper reply, I don't wanna say something based on inaccurate info
@smuntface if they nerf the sniper, the PvP side of the game is gonna crash out. That's no mans land. They can buff other things to be more equivalent to the sniper.
@fysics3037 said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
@wolfmanbush I haven't played in months. Mind expanding on what these "Brig buffs" have been? Because I haven't heard anything except them making the brig slower in general. Answer that and I'll give you a proper reply, I don't wanna say something based on inaccurate info
A larger crew has never needed and will never need a one shot.
Nerfing a one shot is nerfing individual skill. It's taking power away from smaller crews/solos and making it even easier for spammy big crews against even skilled solos.
The harpoon gun is entirely a big crew buff.
The reason I specifically talk about brigs is because they are the most imbalanced boat. Galleon is far less popular because there are actually consequences for using one poorly. Not the case with a brig. 1 person can do most of the maintenance on a brig and the rest are just spam resources against smaller crews/solos. Nerfs and tools are specifically being done/made to make it easier and easier to win on brigs against smaller crews.
I think people too often call what they like "balanced"
People can like something that isn't good for the game without acting like it's balanced.
I like the harpoon gun, and it's terrible for the game in combat when used against solos by larger crews.
A person can like that they aren't getting one shot and could still acknowledge how bad it is for the game but they choose to call it good/balanced because they like it.
Bonecallers are another example of a wild buff for bigger crews. People might enjoy them, still awful for combat in the game when the ships/crews are different sizes.
This game buffs the crews that are playing the easier way over and over again and then smaller crews are told to adapt. Lol, that's not balance or taking pvp balancing seriously. "not an esport game" is not a get-out-of-responsibility card for balancing the pvp part of the game. Even if it's a goofy pirate game.
@wolfmanbush I was the second best brig at the height of HG, at least on NAW at least (but nobody plays brig anyways) so I'm just gonna yap about how a lot of that isn't true or doesn't make sense. If you don't believe me, you can stop reading now.
First of all, the brig is the easiest boat to sink in. Not only is it the only boat with effectively a single deck, you can only bucket out of one position. This means all you have to do to sink it is spread holes and shoot bilge spot.
Now tbf getting to that point can be tough. And it's largely dependent on just spamming top deck until you get one balls. Because the brig is also the easiest boat to one ball people on. It doesn't have any real height changes and tends to sit fairly low in the water. This means that at pretty much every angle you can just shoot directly at their cannon line. And even if you don't one ball them, you can probably knock them off. Despite them trying to reduce popcorning in various patches, it's still extremely possible on the brig. If you're good and it's an adventure brig, pretty much all the time it should be a 2v1. Also the single bilge spot on brig makes it really easy to farm one balls. If they're bilging, just aim there and watch them backsplash, take tons of damage, and prolly get balled for free.
The brig is also super easy to rotate. The wheel is is literally in the easiest to hit spot on any of the ships meaning you just shoot at it until fully broken. Then you shoot blunders immediately after and boom! They're nosing you. There's quite literally nothing you can do about blunder spam on brig. It's actually a get out of jail free card.
Also conveniently enough, the brig is the easiest boat to demast. The masts are relatively far away from the main roles common spots, and there are only 2 masts. And these masts are pretty big targets. Usually it takes like 2 chainshots to take them down, and even if they do start to catch or raise them up, did I mention blunder bombs???
Now fighting a brig as a solo player is definitely no easy feat. But if you're playing adventure (really the only area you'll encounter ships with more people than you) chances are these brigs are pretty terrible at the game. Just place some traps at your ladders, aim for one balls, blunder anyone who tries to board, and win.
Oh yeah I forgot to mention this but Brig is the worst boat to board with. You instantly become a sloop with significantly worse bilge and cannon position. Not to mention the fact that if anyone gets on balled (extremely easy to do) you're absolutely cooked. So even as a solo, the brig should probably not be trying to board you, and if you can just defend the boarder you'll probably win.
I don't really know what any of this has to do with the blunderbuss changes or my request to revert the spread nerf. Actually not a single clue.
@fysics3037 said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
@wolfmanbush I was the second best brig at the height of HG, at least on NAW at least (but nobody plays brig anyways) so I'm just gonna yap about how a lot of that isn't true or doesn't make sense. If you don't believe me, you can stop reading now.
First of all, the brig is the easiest boat to sink in. Not only is it the only boat with effectively a single deck, you can only bucket out of one position. This means all you have to do to sink it is spread holes and shoot bilge spot.
Brig players thinking the brig is a glass cannon is def common in the SoT community but I'll just big disagree with that because you made a point I am more interested in.
Now fighting a brig as a solo player is definitely no easy feat. But if you're playing adventure (really the only area you'll encounter ships with more people than you) chances are these brigs are pretty terrible at the game. Just place some traps at your ladders, aim for one balls, blunder anyone who tries to board, and win.
Any seasoned solo with a lot of fights has sunk a lot of bigger boats and crews over the years.
The question is what kind of combat environment are they trying to create? One where more and more players avoid each other due to imbalances and unfun fights? I think there is a connection between how exploit filled the game has become on the pve side with how unfun and imbalanced solo/brig fights have become. I think people justify cheesy strats because they feel the deck is stacked against them in challenging combat. "It's easy to sink inexperienced players" is pretty irrelevant even though it's brought up so much.
Rare has been focusing too much on which crew they think should win and not nearly enough on "are we helping to create fun combat situations?"
So far the happy ones are the complacent crews that just want to win all the time and those that enjoy seeing other people nerfed.
@wolfmanbush the deck has always been stacked against solo players. They've really made no significant changes to ship combat recently, outside of a few things, like boarding, directly impacted by the hand to hand changes. I don't understand how you're argument being "Rare has made the combat worse by making changes that benefit only larger crews" makes any sense. Rare has always balanced so Solo play is difficult and an uphill battle. They've always been doing that, so I don't understand how only now it's an issue and only now they're favoring larger crews.
Also none of the changes have even been disadvantages to solo players. Removing the one blunder changed the dynamic for all crews, is it slightly harder to guard? Sure. But you can't get camped by 4 people and instantly die the second you spawn. There isn't a clear cut "nerf" to solo player or "buff" to larger crews. Most changes have actually benefited solo players. Like the respawn timer being significantly reduced for solo play, or players being unable to revive each other on your boat.
If anything solo play has actually gotten easier. So I simply do not understand how your argument that it has gotten harder and how larger crews are just now being unfairly favored makes any sense.
Also with your comment on the brig, it's not a glass cannon it's just a worse boat. A sloop with a cannon rowy does the same thing and is 10x harder to sink. Don't put words in my mouth please and thank you.
@fysics3037 said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
If anything solo play has actually gotten easier.
To do what? cheese content? run high value treasure from the bonus voyage spam of the last year to the outpost?
Between your view about brigs and calling solo easier I'm wondering how much slooping you do?
I love to check the tape in SoT. If you wanna show me gameplay clips outside of the forums of sloop pvp vs experienced brig pvp crews I'm always interested in that.
It might help me to better understand where you are coming from.
@wolfmanbush to do combat. You now spawn in like half the time than before the spawn changes. Also it's way harder to camp as any death means a trip back to your boat, not allowing the revives on enemy ships. Also it now takes 2 chainshots to take down a sloops mast.
Btw since you're so curious, I was also a top duo sloop player on NAW. I know my way around all the ships and have spent a long time picking apart the balancing of this game. The blunderbuss balance changes made a lot of sense except the spread change. Idk why you care so much about my skill tho. It's just weird.
@fysics3037 said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
@wolfmanbush to do combat. You now spawn in like half the time than before the spawn changes. Also it's way harder to camp as any death means a trip back to your boat, not allowing the revives on enemy ships. Also it now takes 2 chainshots to take down a sloops mast.
Btw since you're so curious, I was also a top duo sloop player on NAW. I know my way around all the ships and have spent a long time picking apart the balancing of this game. The blunderbuss balance changes made a lot of sense except the spread change. Idk why you care so much about my skill tho. It's just weird.
But so far you have boasted about your brig play and duo play.
I'm interested in the solo play. Specifically in challenging fights against bigger crews.
What you have been saying far more lines up with being a part of the brig play and the duo play than the solo play.
I've always been pro-underdog here and anti-calling people bad here. This has nothing to do with saying you are not skilled. You likely are quite skilled in this game at pvp.
Everything I have said exists in a mountain of footage that is created by solo streamers. I don't need to cherry pick. All seasoned solos that are left in this game are having a tough time outside of the non-competitive fights against inexperienced crews, in the footage. Specifically because of changes/features that favor larger crews.
Feedback doesn't always line up with what can be proven/shown.
@wolfmanbush I stopped soloing when I got friends. Either way, my personal solo skill doesn't have anything to do with how easy/difficult soloing is right now. You're choosing to ignore the myriad of changes that have made sloop play easier in general, and complaining about one that has changed the dynamic of the game for all players, but not the actual ship to ship interactions. I personally haven't seen streamers or YouTubers struggling against larger but inexperienced crews like you say. Rather I see many of them not running the blunderbuss in general, opting for weapons like the TKs or pistol for a more consistent damage output. That's why I think it's so important to make changes to the spread of the blunderbuss. Removing the one shot has worked out fine, people have a lot of tools to supplement that 10 damage and it's created a much more dynamic and fun combat system. The spread change has effectively deleted the blunderbuss from any chance of being viable and hurt the creativity and skill expression of the game.
@fysics3037 said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
@wolfmanbush I stopped soloing when I got friends. Either way, my personal solo skill doesn't have anything to do with how easy/difficult soloing is right now. You're choosing to ignore the myriad of changes that have made sloop play easier in general, and complaining about one that has changed the dynamic of the game for all players, but not the actual ship to ship interactions. I personally haven't seen streamers or YouTubers struggling against larger but inexperienced crews like you say. Rather I see many of them not running the blunderbuss in general, opting for weapons like the TKs or pistol for a more consistent damage output. That's why I think it's so important to make changes to the spread of the blunderbuss. Removing the one shot has worked out fine, people have a lot of tools to supplement that 10 damage and it's created a much more dynamic and fun combat system. The spread change has effectively deleted the blunderbuss from any chance of being viable and hurt the creativity and skill expression of the game.
I appreciate the honesty, and it was never about your skill, it's about the strats and gameplay of the opponents that you/others are facing.
I get that you are taking it as someone wanting to judge your skill but that was never the point. It's just about experience in specific types of fights/situations.
I liked the blunder one shot, it's too bad in my opinion that it's gone, but I feel that even with the blunderbuss not being able to kill people instantly defending as a solo is still pretty solid. There's the horn of fair winds if you have it (or the obsidian ashen winds skull), traps you can place at the top of your ladder in case they are able to get up, and even if you don't have any of that, I'm pretty sure a blunderbomb can knock someone off both ladders at the same time if you throw it right. It just means you have to be a bit more creative if the blunderbuss shot doesn't knock them far enough away.
@mastercheef3951 said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
Honestly just give me an ai companion for my sloop that repairs and be done with it.
Just find regualer players to play with, more fun.
@captdirtyoar I play with fiance all the time, and its better than anything ofc. That said, sometimes I also want to play alone, but SoT isn't nearly as fun without at least 1 other(even if it was ai) on your sloop. Manically racing around the sloop trying to fight a team of 2 is a nightmare.
@mastercheef3951 rather than doing that they should just add a proper lfc to the game rather than the terrible open crew system. You could even just make it PL exclusive to keep trolls out.
@shaggydog42084 said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
[mod removed]
Interesting thing about this is that safer seas literally exists because people used to say the same thing along the way when people were posting valid feedback about the experience.
It's likely that someday another dramatic change will happen on SoT because of people dismissing feedback while engaging in activity that isn't good for sustainability.
Solo and sloop play are a lot more organically popular that anything else. A lot more consistent, a lot more present on the seas.
Multiple times they have worked solo into the content specifically because of how popular it is. At the end of the day it's a good idea to at least consider what solos are saying.
@wolfmanbush said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
At the end of the day it's a good idea to at least consider what solos are saying.
This comment doesn't make any sense. There have been plenty of solo players in this thread that have disagreed with what was being stated. Don't misconstrue all solo players as thinking that blunderbuss should 1 shot, just because you and the OP think that.
@fysics3037 said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
@wolfmanbush said in Solo play was completely destroyed with recent update.:
At the end of the day it's a good idea to at least consider what solos are saying.
This comment doesn't make any sense. There have been plenty of solo players in this thread that have disagreed with what was being stated. Don't misconstrue all solo players as thinking that blunderbuss should 1 shot, just because you and the OP think that.
The topic mentions solo play. Solo play is a lot of things that are connected together.
I said "consider", all consider means is to not dismiss feedback as "crying" or "whining". And it applies to feedback in general, solo play in general, not just the blunder specifically which is just a part of "solo play".
I've acknowledged many times that there are some people (including solos) that personally like the change. It's understandable that some people like not getting one shot in the game. When people go on to to make statements (like you have done) that solo is easier than ever while acknowledging that you are not a solo player, that is not only dismissive of what some people say but it's trying to add an authoritative opinion to something that you don't even do regularly. That's why you attached your accomplishments on brig and duo in your posts. To use experience/performance to support your claims (I don't have a problem with it) but the experience has nothing to do with solo play in current SoT.
