A detailed writeup on PvP and weapon combat

Note - Posted this over here from reddit too to entertain more discussion.

Okay - so to preface this I've been on quite the binge with this game the past couple of days since release. I'm signed on a professional organization for PUBG but this game is perfect for me to wind down and chill when PUBG undoubtedly get's unnerving. This info is irrelevant but mostly pertains to my drive to excel in FPS combat.

That being said I'm naturally competitively minded, and losing any fight will make me feel some type of way, especially in this game lol. So - to start off I'm going to tell you hands down what the only defined meta loadout is for PvP and why.

1. The PvP loadout, Blunderbuss / Flintlock. It's too strong. At the moment I have not been able to come across any pirate or crew that is able to kill me with this combo, maybe the occasional accidental death coming from a desync blunderbuss kill trade. But, never have I ever been mechanically outplayed with this combo in the slightest. Why is it so strong?
   You don't even have to ADS with the blunder buss, bunny hopping is VERY strong atm (especially since it's crossplay, poor console players..) and I am able to literally hop around, get close to point blank, hipfire the BBuss and then instantly swap to flintlock for a near instantaneous follow up shot. This basically will result in a quick kill 95% of the time unless the blunderbuss rng spray ruined you. Now, I'm not complaining that I'm able to easily 1v4 a Galleon crew with this combo and gratuitous amounts of bunny hopping, but what I do fear is when the average playerbase picks up on this meta and it becomes more widespread.

I've come across one Galleon that was even a semi challenge when it came to gun to gun combat on the board. Even then, it was just cause they knew how to bunny hop but were not mechanically adept enough to hit the flick shots required when multiple are doing this in a skirmish. I think this could devolve to a pretty annoying style of combat when the game is out for a while. What could we do to fix this? Here are my suggestions.

1. The sniper is abysmally weak. Not to mention that it is further lessened in utility by the (this method is beyond me) whole "PC players scoped in have a 99% sensitivity reduction" modifier. The only case scenario where I could see it even being worth picking up is if you're the crewmate to watch for gunpowder keg swimmers or swimmers in general. Even then the flintlock is better for consistency. I think reverting the sens nerf (I know there is a work around, doesn't mean it's right.) on sniper and increasing bullet speed would go a long way for it. I know this first one will scare a lot of people, but you need to realize any changes to guns indirectly affects the others. Wouldn't you reconsider "Blunder Buss always" if you came across a crew who could counter it with good shots who would roll sniper/flintlock? I think natural counters like this are healthy for PvP.

2. Blunderbuss is strong. I DO NOT think it needs any type of damage or bullet spread nerf. What it needs is a longer reload time.

3. Weapon switching has 0 delay. The moment you switch to your flintlock, or vice verse, before you even see the gun out, as long as you hit that weapon slot and it's equipped you can input a fire on LMB and it fires INSTANTLY. Just try it yourself, shoot your main gun and then secondary as fast as you can, you can basically make it look like one gun shot. There needs to be a 0.5 to 1.5s delay between swapping weapons and when you can fire the weapon. Another approach that would be easier to implement but I fear feel way more clunky in practice is not allowing switching of weapons while a reload is required for weapon in hand. This could reduce the effectiveness of the BBuss/Flintlock combo that mainly relies on that instantaneous follow up shot from the flint to finish anyone you don't 1 tap with the Buss.

4. Movement and the pacing of it in combat is about 10 times faster than the gunplay, it feels imbalanced. Right now I can see high end crew combat being mainly bunny hopping always to dodge shots while reloading and.. still bunny hopping after you reload to line up a nice BBuss 1 tap or near to finish with flintlock.. I think the jumping animation needs to slow down and include a "landing" animation where you can't input the next jump to reduce the effectiveness of bunny hopping.

5. The sword? Idk. It's amazing for pve, and I'm not sure if that's what they went for in the dynamic between this SMALL selection of weaponry, but it's outright useless in PvP. Swings slow, no unit collision on models, and with the state of the Blunderbuss you're just asking for a one tap. Maybe you kill people with it, but anyone who is worth their salt in this game and knows how to min max their effectiveness kit wise in the right scenarios will destroy you.

That's all I have, overall I actually still enjoy the PvP and mainly the boarding combat (i'm the boarder). It's super fun to 2v4 and 1v4 galleons while my crew just watches me and I say "ship sunk ill be there soon" joyfully l**o XD. Def needs work regardless however, look forward to it. I'm not bragging to brag either, I'm invested in a fun and dynamic PvP experience and right now it's just a bit all over. Here's a clip of a 1v4 to outplay a crew myself to make a Galleon sink, they were REALLY good too considering the amount of crews we've chewed through easily, wish there was a ships sunk counter.. we'd be up there...

Note: some people seem confused about the clip over in Reddit, well one person actually lol. The point of the clip isn't a 4 man wipe but the fact that the meta-mechanics I needed to use to outplay a 4 man squad that was actually DECENT is shown here and definitely a foreshadow of what to expect when the playerbase slowly rises in average skill.

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