Slow down the Burning Blade.

  • EligibleEel6171
    Marauder

    To be clear I'm specifically referring to when it is:

    A) Crewed by skeletons
    AND
    B) NOT engaged in an encounter. (i.e. just sailing between camps)

    I'm not asking for it to be easier to beat, less manouvreable when in battle, or to impact players' experience of sailing it. Just when it's an uncontested world event waiting for someone to come and engage, it should be slow enough that any ship, regardless of wind direction, can easily sail up to it.

    Is there something I've misunderstood about sailing/ wind mechanics to get more speed out of my boat? Genuinely open to advice if that is the case. I was sailing directly into the wind, in a sloop, with sails turned to the side. The Burning Blade was just sailing between camps (crewed by skeletons, not engaged in an encounter) and somehow felt like it was going faster than me (or at least matching my speed). Even after I got the encounter banner and music, it carried on beelining away from me. I had to chase it till it got to a camp and stopped before I could catch up and engage it in a fight.

    Is catching up with it meant to be part of the challenge? Am I meant to predict its path and cut it off rather than just going straight after it? The Burning Blade is supposed to be fearsome and intimidating. Having it feel like it's running away from you ruins the effect and feels out of character and kind of dissappointing.

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  • PC MonkFish
    Marauder
    Insider

    This PvE has rubber banding worse than Mario Kart - BB can zoom off whenever the feeling takes it.

    If the unmanned BB is running generally you can just catch it at the next skeleton camp as it loiters.

  • LT L00T
    Master
    Insider

    Hum i dont know what to say here... you just sail up to it and shoot it (treat it like a skelly galleon). The unmaned BB is actually very easy to beat even for a solo sloop. hum maybe watch a video or 2 about sailing speeds in SOT, try to find maybe a recent one because they changed how the wind works like 1 year ago maybe more idk. But the Burning blade is like a skelly Gally is behaves in the same way almost

  • Captain Knyt
    Master
    Insider

    @lt-l00t if skeleton ships wander away from you into wind you can't catch them, they are faster which is weird

  • EligibleEel6171
    Marauder

    @captain-knyt that's what I thought. Glad I wasn't just imagining it. Why do you think they made it like that? Is it an intentional choice or a side effect of something else?

  • EligibleEel6171
    Marauder

    @pc-monkfish, I had to look up what "rubber banding" is but yeah that does seem to be what's happening.

    That's what I did, caught up at the next camp. I guess it's not so much about the "challenge" of catching up to it, which (following your advice) is more about patience than skill. It's more to do with how the encounter feels from a story perspective, if that makes sense? Like you've got this huge impressive boat, bristling with cannons, captained by flameheart himself. Having it feel like it's running away from me when I'm on my own in a little sloop sort of ruins the effect. I don't want to struggle to catch it as it runs away; I want to get within encounter range and have it turn and broadside me with 5 cannons then blast me with the ashen roar and send me sailing away with my tail between my legs.

  • Soulstinger2k20
    Master
    Insider

    All skelly ships can put on utterly enormous bursts of speed in order to cut corners engaging players, in order to ensure they can tangle with us, whereupon they typically match your speed (regardless of ship type, which can be odd)
    Every now and then they will glitch and zip around at flank speed unneccesarily, and the BB is no exception

  • LT L00T
    Master
    Insider

    @captain-knyt That doesnt happen everytime, if you just raise sails and stay in one place he will just circle you

  • Captain Knyt
    Master
    Insider

    @lt-l00t I’m talking about when they are wandering, not aggroed on you

  • LT L00T
    Master
    Insider

    @captain-knyt i have never had a problem catching up with Burning blades and Skelly ships, i will honest i cant relate to this problem

  • RikJaxx
    Marauder

    I would LOVE if the Burning Blade had a server sized aggression radius. I WANT events where that ship spawns and then hunts all player ships - a win or die event. I know so many folks would cry if that happened, but I like the idea. Maybe 1-4 times a day the event spawns? It might even (temporarily) unite a sever against the BB, which is always a blast when that happens. Then reward ALL pirates who participated in the destruction of the BB, regardless of who claims it in the end, because time is money.

  • DerEchteTofu
    Seafarer
    Insider

    @eligibleeel6171 In my personal experience the Burning Blade (when commanded by skeletons) tends to instantly attack and even chase your boat a lot. Seems like the AI of it reacts differently based on the current situations.

  • EligibleEel6171
    Marauder

    @rikjaxx I love this idea. Even if it's not the burning blade, the idea of occasionally logging into a server and finding there's a server wide world event/ danger, that if it isn't defeated, will slowly pick off ships one by one regardless of where they are sounds like a lot of fun.

  • EligibleEel6171
    Marauder

    @derechtetofu that's interesting that your experience is so different. It would be helpful if we could find out what those situations are that make it react in different ways so those of us that want to engage it can do so.

  • xxNyarlathotep
    Ship Mate
    Insider

    My crew was about to intercept a sloop that was actively attacking the BB and we watched it kick into over drive and speed over to us and started attacking XD. It was honestly funny to watch as the sloop got left in the dust.

  • Magus104
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    Or don't let it spawn at all unless it's a season that it will contain chest of fortune. Which I don't think will ever happen again. But without it unless your hunting commendations it's not worth the effort. It just hinders the PvE gameplay for people who no longer need the commendations.

  • Lem0n Curry
    Vanguard
    Insider

    @magus104 said in Slow down the Burning Blade.:

    Or don't let it spawn at all unless it's a season that it will contain chest of fortune. Which I don't think will ever happen again. But without it unless your hunting commendations it's not worth the effort. It just hinders the PvE gameplay for people who no longer need the commendations.

    So people can only work on their Burning Blade commendations a month a year (if at all) ?

  • Magus104
    Captain
    Insider
    Founder

    @lem0n-curry Actually never again? Lol. Cause I suspect the CoF will never return to the BB. It's just an annoyance for those who have already completed the event. The ship is cool. But the way it roams, The fact it goes by outposts so you can just be attacked by a world event upon login is crazy. It's the whole reason they never wanted to let us spawn in the Devils Roar. It was supposed to be an opt in place and they didn't want new players 1st gameplay experience to be logging in and being bombarded by a volcano. Though since Morrows has been inactive for what 5 or more years now? It should have been a start point from that moment onward.

    The reality is the BB is fine I just don't like its pathing. Many times it has interfered with what I am trying to do in game, It's kinda similar to the ghost fleet. Like oh I need to goto this island but the ghost fleet is there, but I got bored of that event the month it was introduced. But sadly that event also takes the longest to despawn. Like 3 hours sometimes. Literally timed it. No other ships near it. Me on the total opposite side of the map. It's definitely a year 1 player problem. I have goals when I login now and a lot of the newer additions especially the skeleton ship changes have a huge impact / hindrance on just wanting to quickly get things done. Like I did some voyages of luck with some friends yesterday and no joke everyone voyage we put down we got a new skeleton ship spawn on us. They were all 1 chest stops so we barely spent 30 minutes playing.

  • EligibleEel6171
    Marauder

    @magus104 to each their own I guess. Burning Blade is my favourite world event by a long way. Very original and creative bit of content with a nice blend of PVP and PVE. I would carry on doing Burning Blade even if there wasn't a single commendation for it.

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