I am starting to think that broadside combat is no longer fun. Back at the days at Skull Island they used to be pretty challenging but still doable. Now it's:
1. Boring - Now that I am in CR with a Monquista ship(this also holds true for a SI ship in Monquista), it becomes button mashing with only 20-40% of us boarding the enemy before it boards me (5% winning solo - which is how I roll). It gets harder and harder to win.
2. Repetitive - a lot of the tasks require you to defeat 10 to even 20 of ships (The Wind's Whisper, I am looking in your direction), and eventually this gets really boring (because of the reasons above) so all I do is just sit there and let the enemy board my ship instead.

I am a level 29 Privateer done with the Silver Bullets at Nautical Level 19. This is my first KI game (didn't like Wizard101 because the pace for all KI games feels painfully slow, and especially since I have a Toontown background, W101 was even more slow so I gave up) and before KI I played Toontown and several MMORPGs that requires some kind of button mashing. I usually collect all the side quests and stack quests as much as I can, and I do normal combat pretty swiftly (though still feels painfully slow for some reason)

Is it just me?

EDIT: Just bought a Bison Village ship as other CLs has suggested. Now stuff are easier but still requires some luck and it can still be dangerous if 2 enemy ships attack you at the same time. I guess this will have to do for now...

Cunning Finnigan S... on Feb 14, 2013 wrote:

Haven't I seen this before? It seems soo much like the Wizard101 message boards where someone is saying something is boring and repetitive lol. Pirate101's not completely different.

I don't really complain about the whole Broadside combat at all. Honestly, when you get to Cool Ranch with your Monquistan ship, yeah, it's hard the first go around (I personally prefer to get a little dirty and do a fist fight with the enemy captain then try to hit the ship down), but it's a terrific idea to go on and get your Bison ship as soon as you can. Makes things easier.

I don't think the pace of KI games is slow. It's only slow if you're making it slow. Kingsisle's games are more like moving books within a game. If you don't get into the story, then, yeah, looking at all the quests and thinking "how did I get this?" makes the game less enjoyable and an overall chore than getting the flavor out of it (a major problem I think is happening over in Wizard101)

I really think you should give Wizard101 a second chance. If you didn't get as far as Wizard City then I think you miss out on a lot. It gets pretty good, to me at least, later on. (But, hey, I don't force people) Besides, one of the BEST things about these "slow-paced" games is you get to see some pretty brilliant and laugh-out-loud puns and references at every corner. You miss that if you're killing your mouse to get past the dialogue and move on to a -how you say?- more boring, repetitive, chore-like quests.

I had been saving up all my gold and buy Companion Points here and there in case some companions are falling too far behind, but the original price of a new ship back at Scrimshaw scared me (I had 10000 on hand, it costed 9000) and I never thought of buying a ship again... until I came to the message boards. I don't like the idea that you have to "buy" something in order to advance normally, even with in-game coins. This, I feel, is the case with Broadside combats. You're always advised to get a new ship - but I don't think this should be necessary at all.

About the pacing, I think it's the overall animations that counts. Of course, the animations during battle are pretty interesting when you first see them, but after seeing them for hundreds over hundreds of times it gets boring. Of course there are new companions and I love their animation, but it just enters the loop again. This is the case with Broadside combat too I think. All you do is attack with a button -> move around -> another attack with a button -> board or be boarded. Sure you see animations and that is interesting for the start, but after doing it repeatedly you would stop caring because they're the same. These animations (each takes an average of 15-20 seconds) add up to become a 2 minute each turn (even in a normal combat) then makes the whole thing feel slow.

I do enjoy slow-paced games but sometimes I feel like KI games are just too slow. Surely I listen to all dialogues and watch everything, but I think it's the quest content (the battling) that makes me think so. Too many things to do at once... and sometimes it's hard to stack. My motto is "COMPLETE ALL THE SIDE QUESTS!!!" so it often occurs to me that I finish a lot of quests within the storyline and end up forgetting which is which. I guess this is part of the reasons it became a chore for me (which seems like a fair "punishment" :P).

OT: About Wizard101: Because of my TT background, I as a newbie feels that Wizard101 is playing a card then wait for 30 seconds. My friends that play W101 tells me this is obviously not true as you play along, I guess time will tell. :P

Off-topic:

Dr Zeppers on Feb 15, 2013 wrote:

Ship battles can take a bit of trial and error to become skilled at. Avoiding being teamed up on by multiple ships only takes a few minutes of observation of where the enemy ships travel, as well as observation while battling a ship. This is why I seldom see ship battles as button mashing, because it can require a bit of manuevering/navigation to avoid being sunk yourself.

I would recommend avoid being boarded, this is the slowest/longest way to get what you need.
You are more likely to get something you need from 1 boarded battle, vs 1 ship being sunk, but with practice you can sink 5+ ships, so using a big picture perspective, sinking ships is more efficient.

If I am battling ships, and I am boarded, I flee. Takes less time to recharge my pirate and return to where I am farming ships than it would to deal with a board battle.

Ship upgrades are a key as well. Ship battles are very hard if you try to procede with only the ships you receive in the quest line for free. I have found that it has been a big help to buy a Bison Frigate or Galleon as soon as the game allows, this helps me with ships until I get my Mooshu skiff.

It is nearly impossible to actually sink down a ship without being boarded first, even with a shop-bought ship, for me. I also am told that boarding the ship will give you higher drop rates, so that's why I always board.

I'm now not sure if it's just me who doesn't know the strategy. Sure, I can avoid being attacked by multiple ships but my healing rate is so slow I can drop below 100 and the enemy ship still has 35% HP. I hate dying (so far during my game I have died thrice, I count :P) because of the running required behind it (and that all MMOs before me punished me somewhat heavily for dying), but once KI fixes the too much running issue I should be less afraid to die, I guess?

tyteen4a03 on Feb 15, 2013 wrote:

It is nearly impossible to actually sink down a ship without being boarded first, even with a shop-bought ship, for me. I also am told that boarding the ship will give you higher drop rates, so that's why I always board.

I'm now not sure if it's just me who doesn't know the strategy. Sure, I can avoid being attacked by multiple ships but my healing rate is so slow I can drop below 100 and the enemy ship still has 35% HP. I hate dying (so far during my game I have died thrice, I count :P) because of the running required behind it (and that all MMOs before me punished me somewhat heavily for dying), but once KI fixes the too much running issue I should be less afraid to die, I guess?

If it seems impossible to sink a ship without being boarded, you may want to check out your equipment. It seems that some of the problems folks are having with ship combat might be fixed if you can simply adjust your way of thinking from seeing the ship as a crew member that should be held onto and grown to seeing the ship as just another gear slot. If you were battling in MooShu and still using gear you got on Skull Island, you wouldn't have much success either!

When you see the ship as a piece of gear, you realize that while sometimes you'll get better gear as a quest reward, sometimes you need to upgrade from a vendor! It is entirely possible to save enough money as you go through the game to buy a brand new ship every 4 player levels. New ship means higher ship hit points, stringer weapons and higher accuracy against your opponents.

I don't know if this is your issue or not, but it's usually the case. Other than that, look at your figurehead. Is it long range or short range? To my knowledge, the figurehead is the only slot on a ship that is affected by range. If it's long range, make sure you stay far enough away from the enemy that they stay orange. If your figurehead is short range, make sure the enemy is showing as red. If the figureheads are operating within their optimal range, they will become more accurate and you will experience fewer misses (always a huge help).

As a last bit of advice that everyone always gives, if you're having trouble, go out of your way to team up with someone. Even just one extra person can change the face of any ship battle from hopeless to demolition derby.

Avoid shipside combat! Unless you prefer it, it won't save you any time or effort. Quite the opposite, in fact.

I have my gear from Bison Village, with the best gear I can find in their store. My playing time does not allow me to team up (I'm not sure how much personal information is too much in KI eyes, so I'll just say I am located in the GMT+8 Timezone, in the northern hemisphere). Now I am nautical level 19 and I can't even do level 22 ships (unless the level on the enemy ships meant Nautical level, but their name show up as grey so I assumed)

What is figurehead?

Shouldn't all tasks be doable even if you are alone? That is the impression that I get from the normal combats plus dungeons. I wasn't sure if I could do 4man battles back at level 5, but then I did a few alone and has been doing them alone ever since. I even do dungeons alone, now I am 3/5 into the current game and I never had the need to team up with others. (My previous MMO experiences told me to always stick to the walls so I avoided a lot of unnecessary battles in these places, so I guess this is why dungeons are easier for me :P)

I really like normal combat better than broadside combat, I am much much more successful in these. Kind of why I don't like Broadside combats - almost impossible to do alone without being boarded.

tyteen4a03 on Feb 14, 2013 wrote:

I had been saving up all my gold and buy Companion Points here and there in case some companions are falling too far behind, but the original price of a new ship back at Scrimshaw scared me (I had 10000 on hand, it costed 9000) and I never thought of buying a ship again... until I came to the message boards. I don't like the idea that you have to "buy" something in order to advance normally, even with in-game coins. This, I feel, is the case with Broadside combats. You're always advised to get a new ship - but I don't think this should be necessary at all.

About the pacing, I think it's the overall animations that counts. Of course, the animations during battle are pretty interesting when you first see them, but after seeing them for hundreds over hundreds of times it gets boring. Of course there are new companions and I love their animation, but it just enters the loop again. This is the case with Broadside combat too I think. All you do is attack with a button -> move around -> another attack with a button -> board or be boarded. Sure you see animations and that is interesting for the start, but after doing it repeatedly you would stop caring because they're the same. These animations (each takes an average of 15-20 seconds) add up to become a 2 minute each turn (even in a normal combat) then makes the whole thing feel slow.

I do enjoy slow-paced games but sometimes I feel like KI games are just too slow. Surely I listen to all dialogues and watch everything, but I think it's the quest content (the battling) that makes me think so. Too many things to do at once... and sometimes it's hard to stack. My motto is "COMPLETE ALL THE SIDE QUESTS!!!" so it often occurs to me that I finish a lot of quests within the storyline and end up forgetting which is which. I guess this is part of the reasons it became a chore for me (which seems like a fair "punishment" :P).

OT: About Wizard101: Because of my TT background, I as a newbie feels that Wizard101 is playing a card then wait for 30 seconds. My friends that play W101 tells me this is obviously not true as you play along, I guess time will tell. :P

Off-topic:

Ok... (and I thought I was the only one who says a mouthful)

Anyway, yes, you don't have to buy a new ship to advance through the game. It is a bit tougher on that part because um you have a lvl 12 ship vs. level 17-20 ships. It's like saying sharks gonna loose against a tiny fish it could kill in a second. You will get a new ships in time as quests go along, but I mean Kingsisle is not gonna give you all the answers without you doing some work for it (i.e. give you a ship right when you need it without getting some gold for it). So getting an new ship should feel more like an excitement than a "I gotta do this to survive" thing. I mean naming your ship something awesome is pretty neat to me. (Probably something that pains people on gear in Wizard101)

I live and breathe that same motto, man, since Wizard101 came out and I still live it here, so don't think I don't understand about doing side quests cause I sure as Darkmoor is dark not going to spend on Compainion Training Points. It's best not to stack up on sooo many quests that you loose the main quest (it's good Wizard101 doesn't have nearly as many side quests in one world), but if you do, pay attention to your overhead speakers when you log in. You know when Boochbeard says "When ye last left of Pirate101..." You might fine where you left off.

That whole making out animations boring thing is probably what's gonna kill you (in a boredom factor), man. That's one thing that tires people out on Wizard101, seeing the same spell over and over, and soon enough it's gonna start on Pirate101. Yes, if you play this game over and over or any of KI's games over and over like I do, then yes you're gonna know what to expect of an animation. I really don't mind seeing the same hits by any of my companions, even if I've seen them all. They don't get old to me, because I don't let it bug me. I love to see Sarah Steele's first critical over and over. I love Cat Pirate's critical and don't get me started on Subodai's hits. Stop with the "I've seen this a million times" bit cause that is just another factor that makes things feel boring.

I still actively play Wizard101 more than Pirate101 but I come on every now and again. I'm in Azteca now with my Death wizard and, even though I've seen Avenging Fossil, it compares to nothing when I get to cast it myself (of course once I get it lol) You don't wait 30 seconds to make your move as you know. That's just the time you have until the battle's going to move on without ya.

Safe travels through the Spiral!

Cunning Finnigan Sharp
Level 17 Swashbuckler

tyteen4a03 on Feb 14, 2013 wrote:

I am starting to think that broadside combat is no longer fun. Back at the days at Skull Island they used to be pretty challenging but still doable. Now it's:
1. Boring - Now that I am in CR with a Monquista ship(this also holds true for a SI ship in Monquista), it becomes button mashing with only 20-40% of us boarding the enemy before it boards me (5% winning solo - which is how I roll). It gets harder and harder to win.
2. Repetitive - a lot of the tasks require you to defeat 10 to even 20 of ships (The Wind's Whisper, I am looking in your direction), and eventually this gets really boring (because of the reasons above) so all I do is just sit there and let the enemy board my ship instead.

I am a level 29 Privateer done with the Silver Bullets at Nautical Level 19. This is my first KI game (didn't like Wizard101 because the pace for all KI games feels painfully slow, and especially since I have a Toontown background, W101 was even more slow so I gave up) and before KI I played Toontown and several MMORPGs that requires some kind of button mashing. I usually collect all the side quests and stack quests as much as I can, and I do normal combat pretty swiftly (though still feels painfully slow for some reason)

Is it just me?

EDIT: Just bought a Bison Village ship as other CLs has suggested. Now stuff are easier but still requires some luck and it can still be dangerous if 2 enemy ships attack you at the same time. I guess this will have to do for now...

no my friend..it IS NOT, just you. THAT, is for sure