The Blunderbuss

Make the blunderbuss have an ammo capacity of 1 or 2. If it's gonna instakill up close at least give it some risk for missing that easy kill.

Here's the thing: I like using the blunderbuss in PvE, but I agree that, especially in PvP, it gets dull, repetitive, and frustrating. I once rage quit because I shot a guy (who boarded my Sloop during a run-up to a raid) with a pistol two or three times, hit him with my sword twice and he was just fine, while he shot me (with a blunderbuss) once during my reload and I died instantly. I respawned and he did it again.
I didn't see less projectiles mentioned, or making it necessary to stand still to reload the BB, just anything to give it a downside is fine with me (along with a longer cool-down on eating bananas).
And I wouldn't mind having a buff to the rifle (like a slight damage increase from a certain range), just something to make it more enticing to use.
I love this game, it's a chill game most of the time, but when combat happens, even if the potential is there, I agree that it feels boring with the blunderbuss.

@wolfgang-abel This topic was just started, replace Eye of Reach with BB.

Trust me I hated the BB in scale tests and beta, and still do in fact. It's still far to used, but yet was way over nurfed (both in dmg and variance of spred) because they nurfed all three weapons before release (sword, BB, and the EoR). Personally I liked combat more before nurfs. They should have only buffed the pistol and a slight buff to the sword (like a move speed or jumping buff) and things would have been fine.

@wolfgang-abel I thought this initially, but I'm not sure now. The Bbuss is very short ranged, and i've seen pistols do 50% damage quite a few times now. It doesn't seem consistant (like the whole game right now), but quite a few times i've been at full health and died to two pistol shots, which arent always easy to land, but still. Pretty effective. The Eye of Reach i've never equipped, not sure what its for to be honest given the context of the game.

As an avid PvPer, specializing in boarding, I can say from experience that the blunderbuss is overpowered. I'm not saying this as a complaint, as I definitely use it due to its meta nature, but am saying it because it renders the next best weapon, the flintlock pistol, obsolete. The Cutlass has so much versatility that it cannot be passed up and the blundy being the only reliable one shot kill weapon makes it too impossible to pass up for PvP. I really don't think it should 1 shot outside of a headshot.

@lizardheart Yup, I agree, it should do less dmg on one target but more dmg if hitting more than one target. Then it would still be good for pve, but a slight nurf to pvp so everyone isn't using it.

@nihilent Yeah, no. Looting the enemy ships is pivotal to attacking them in the first place. There's already usually no loot in the form of items to turn in, so resources are at least SOMETHING to get out of it.

Also, preventing a boarder from doing their job is also stupid. Ammo is needed to stay alive. They have infinite respawns. You, as a boarder, do not. Defenders already get HEAPS of advantages over aggressors.

@nihilent Well, that's tactics, if he boards your ship guard your bananas and ammo crate.... He can't get ammo if you kill him on the way to the crate....

@nihilent Yes but that would also render the looting part impossible. Again, defenders are at a much larger advantage than an attacker on the ship. There's no need at all to tilt it even more in favor of defenders for no reason.

@tynaeusvane Make it so you can't bunny hop with the bussy.... nobody will use it lol

@zokraitz Oh lard. Even though this game doesn't really have Bhopping, not being able to jump and use the blundy would, indeed, kill it as a PvP weapon.

It shouldnt one kill you, reduce damage but have a better spread instead.

@nihilent I wouldn't be diametrically opposed to that, but making it an object in the world would likely be more work than the devs are willing to put into the game. Thinking more about it, I'd love something like that though, as I could then stack up other ships' supply barrels.

@nihilent yeah we already have chests to store such stuff, why not give us that thing right away.

Let us manage our bananas!

Blunderbuss also has very random damage on its spread. A shot from it may kill or may not, given the exact same distance. I rarely see anyone experienced playing with the rapier as a default weapon. Usually it's buss and flintlocl. The two guns just prevents people from getting to sword range usually. And the sniper is extremely rare as far as tier combat. The alpha and some betas had 4 active weapon slots. It was a lot to manage. When it went to 2 slots, in my opinion, that became too few. 3 slots would be ideal, especially if Rare Ltd plans on adding any new weapon types. Honestly, I think you should be able to double up on weapons of the same type of they're single handed. Imagine being able to fight with a sabre and a dagger, or two flintlocks. Maybe not. But its a thought.

@mexicated I agree with a lot of what's stated in this post. 3 weapon slots and/or being able to dual wield one handed weapons would be a cool addition to the game. 2 just forces one to use cutlass/blunderbuss just because of utility/easy 1 shot potential. At the same time, blundy as a meatshot into flintlock likely would become meta, so eh, I dunno. I have cognitive dissonance on the subject but I'd like to at least try it.

amen blunderbuss should be like like 4 time hit 1/4 hp shot in pvp tiered of being 1 shoted by pc players..... either that or add a drunk swivel to the shogun or something to make it less accurate at least.

@lizardheart
Dialing back the buss damage would be a solution to see other weapons become more prevalent. If not, I would also support a longer reload and less spare ammo. If you miss with a buss, it should be a very punishing dynamic. Likewise, I think swords should enable a delay in reloading if you get hit by one during the reload animation. I can't imagine it would be easy to reload a flintlock or buss while getting hacked on by a sabre.

@mexicated On that same topic, I really, really suggest that someone being hit by the cutlass' auto attacks should have their aim jump wildly. Nothing is more stupid than doing m1, m1, m1 on a guy just to have him panic and accidentally one shot you whilst being slapped. It's a rather easy fix and is known as "aim punch" in games like Counterstrike.

At least the Cutlass' heavy attack is viable in PvP but man, the slaps are just sad.

With aimbots becoming more and more prevalent, it shouldn't be a one-shot
Every fight currently is "Shoot blunderbuss, if miss run away kiting in circles, reload, approach again and shoot blunderbuss, repeat, use ammo crate on the ship you boarded"
Flintlock damage is too low to actually get a kill - right now (if you even do use it) it's just as a harasser / do 20 damage from a distance. Eating two bananas will completely cover all 5 shots from the flintlock - which is very easy to do with running/kiting.

I think that having aim punch would help a lot - I cannot tell you how many times I have gotten a BB shot off on someone, they shoot back, I close the distance and 3 combo swing sword as they're reloading and get one shot killed after they finish reloading. It has discouraged me from using the cutlass, and just keep a distance until I can BB one shot. Part of it obviously is me getting better as a player, which I freely admit

After having spent way more than 50 hours as one of the boarders of my crew, my loadout of choice for PvP has switched from sword/bb to pistol/bb. Blunderbuss is indeed quite powerful and a must have, but I wouldnt rule out the flintlock that easily. It allows you to deal quite a hefty amount of damage when too far for the BB, and in case you didn't OS your target because of movement or bad aim, a quick swap to pistol will take care of the remaining health. It's vital when boarding in 1v4 or 2v4 to quickly take out one of the opponents and even the scales a bit. Helps clearing out the uper decks so that you don't get stuck vs 3 swords while trying to prevent repairs below. That's for fighting on the ship.
On land and in the water, the flintlock is pure gold, whereas the BB and cutlass are useless against anyone with a brain. You just can't lose an underwater fight if you have a pistol and your opponent doesnt. That leaves sword and Eye behind. The sword has the lunge for mobility and stun, it's more of an utility tool than a weapon at this point, but because of that utility it's still a decent choice for covering huge distances. The damage is ok, if anything I'd see the Block giving a damage mitigation against bullets as the only thing it's missing.

@drahgoone I'd have to disagree, The sword allows for additional movement options which other weapons don't. A well times sword dodge can make the difference between a blunderbuss shot (with it's inaccurate scatter) being a 1ko - to just causing some damage, or missing entirely. Block-charging can be used to close the gap while they are reloading, a few good swipes, and they are down.

And that's without even drawing my pistol.

I often use pistol/sniper. But i always roll with a crew. Just....get better. 😚