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?s for Ratbeard about Gladiator Gear from bundle

AuthorMessage
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Hello Ratbeard

I had a question about some gear from the Empire Bundle. I purchased the bundle for my son and he finally got to equip the gear when he reached level 60 (the level he chose to be able to use them). He asked me to help him with the Rooke battles/dungeon and I gave his pirate and the new gear a try.

My question(s) are about the Gladiator Outfit and the Gladiator Gaitors, or more specifically the powers that come equipped on them. The outfit has the epic talent Flanking and the gaitors have the power Walk In Darkness.

I was just curious as to why the outfit would give a epic talent that could be triggered by movement versus say an epic talent like riposte,relentless or vengeance strike. I ask this because it does not seem to be an epic talent that works well with the Walk In Darkness power. I did all of the battles correlating to the Rooke dungeon and about 15-20 various other battles and in over half of the total battles, the hidden power was canceled out by the flanking talent. This came after I made countless attempts to use stealth while hidden- sneaking around a group of enemies, trying to come in with an approach that would not trigger the flanking. So many times I stopped my attack short of a group of enemies because I did not want to lose the hidden ability. Then an enemy would pass by my pirate and flanking would trigger and whoops, my cover was blown. As I stated, in at least half of the battles flanking triggered and canceled the hidden in many various scenarios. I am pretty aware of how the flanking ability works- or at least I thought I was, but it seemed that unless a targeted enemy was separated from 'it's herd' the flanking would almost always ruin the element of surprise by the enemies' movements.

Also often, I like to use poison in an early turn of hidden (thanks to SlightlyMadWizard for the tip) because it doesn't cancel the hidden. When poisoning, I want to get as many enemies adjacent to my pirate as possible to take full advantage of the extra damage from poisoning. Having flanking attached to the great looking gladiator gear makes this tactic pretty much impossible or at least very difficult. So the strategy to hide, come in poison multiple enemies, buff/heal and then attack can't be implemented due to the flanking.

So my question(s) is/are, were these two talents/powers paired together with a specific strategy in mind that maybe I am overlooking. Or was pairing them together a bit of an oversight, seeing how easily flanking can be triggered by an enemy's movement, while your pirate was hidden. After all, we can't predict where the enemy will move and can only try to hide, buff/heal, and then prepare to strike on last turn of hidden to take advantage of the multiplied damage.

I would think that another type of epic talent that isn't movement based would be more beneficial to get the most out of the hidden power. I just wanted to get your thoughts in regards to this. So, I thank you in advance for any response.
Captain
Oct 26, 2012
524
ValkoorTheVictorio... on Feb 17, 2014 wrote:
Hello Ratbeard

I had a question about some gear from the Empire Bundle. I purchased the bundle for my son and he finally got to equip the gear when he reached level 60 (the level he chose to be able to use them). He asked me to help him with the Rooke battles/dungeon and I gave his pirate and the new gear a try.

My question(s) are about the Gladiator Outfit and the Gladiator Gaitors, or more specifically the powers that come equipped on them. The outfit has the epic talent Flanking and the gaitors have the power Walk In Darkness.

I was just curious as to why the outfit would give a epic talent that could be triggered by movement versus say an epic talent like riposte,relentless or vengeance strike. I ask this because it does not seem to be an epic talent that works well with the Walk In Darkness power. I did all of the battles correlating to the Rooke dungeon and about 15-20 various other battles and in over half of the total battles, the hidden power was canceled out by the flanking talent. This came after I made countless attempts to use stealth while hidden- sneaking around a group of enemies, trying to come in with an approach that would not trigger the flanking. So many times I stopped my attack short of a group of enemies because I did not want to lose the hidden ability. Then an enemy would pass by my pirate and flanking would trigger and whoops, my cover was blown. As I stated, in at least half of the battles flanking triggered and canceled the hidden in many various scenarios. I am pretty aware of how the flanking ability works- or at least I thought I was, but it seemed that unless a targeted enemy was separated from 'it's herd' the flanking would almost always ruin the element of surprise by the enemies' movements.

Also often, I like to use poison in an early turn of hidden (thanks to SlightlyMadWizard for the tip) because it doesn't cancel the hidden. When poisoning, I want to get as many enemies adjacent to my pirate as possible to take full advantage of the extra damage from poisoning. Having flanking attached to the great looking gladiator gear makes this tactic pretty much impossible or at least very difficult. So the strategy to hide, come in poison multiple enemies, buff/heal and then attack can't be implemented due to the flanking.

So my question(s) is/are, were these two talents/powers paired together with a specific strategy in mind that maybe I am overlooking. Or was pairing them together a bit of an oversight, seeing how easily flanking can be triggered by an enemy's movement, while your pirate was hidden. After all, we can't predict where the enemy will move and can only try to hide, buff/heal, and then prepare to strike on last turn of hidden to take advantage of the multiplied damage.

I would think that another type of epic talent that isn't movement based would be more beneficial to get the most out of the hidden power. I just wanted to get your thoughts in regards to this. So, I thank you in advance for any response.
I wish swashes will never get flanking. Seems like a good privy or buck talent in my opinion.

@Valkoor
A simple solution is to wear different gear. Several of my swash friends replace an item that give them talents such as repel borders or flanking, with gears that boost agility or possess a power like assassin strike. You usually never see someone with one set of gear (like the gladiator one), (unless for fashion purposes or otherwise) but with a mix of certain gears of levels. If your son likes the look of the gladiator outfit, stitching with a different chest piece is the solution. I also think KI did it to avoid the set from being OP I think. It is a counter for the set, and I think its fair for most other classes except swashbucklers. Still, I do think this set was targeted for swashes, which makes it vague.

Consider the following chest armor instead of the flanking one:
Kano Sensei Gi- Dropped my monkey king, Dr Noh (I think maybe), and it gives Assassin strike. In a PvP perspective this shirt wont be the best, but since you are not into it, perhaps this would be great for your son!
First Mate
May 01, 2012
402
It sounds like the problem is related to how close you are to your Companions. If you are two squares away from a Melee Companion (counting the square the Companion is on) or your movement or Companion's movement puts you in that position, then there is the chance that Flanking could be triggered if there is an enemy between you. Also, Flanking can be triggered each turn if you have the right conditions. To make this work, it sounds like your Pirate would have to separate from the group while being hidden to not have a chance of triggering the Flanking Power. I know is not the normal way I operate but it makes for a lot more planning. Also, the Flanking ability should NOT be triggering with a Long Range Companions (Bonnie Anne for example) and, if it is, there is a problem - contact support.

I like the idea of being able to equip something on my Pirate which gives the ability of Flanking since that allows 2 attacks per turn on an enemy if I set it up right. I am looking forward to it.
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Golden Guardian on Feb 18, 2014 wrote:
I wish swashes will never get flanking. Seems like a good privy or buck talent in my opinion.

@Valkoor
A simple solution is to wear different gear. Several of my swash friends replace an item that give them talents such as repel borders or flanking, with gears that boost agility or possess a power like assassin strike. You usually never see someone with one set of gear (like the gladiator one), (unless for fashion purposes or otherwise) but with a mix of certain gears of levels. If your son likes the look of the gladiator outfit, stitching with a different chest piece is the solution. I also think KI did it to avoid the set from being OP I think. It is a counter for the set, and I think its fair for most other classes except swashbucklers. Still, I do think this set was targeted for swashes, which makes it vague.

Consider the following chest armor instead of the flanking one:
Kano Sensei Gi- Dropped my monkey king, Dr Noh (I think maybe), and it gives Assassin strike. In a PvP perspective this shirt wont be the best, but since you are not into it, perhaps this would be great for your son!
Thanks Golden Guardian for the armor/outfit suggestions. He does already have an outfit with Assassin's Strike for his Buccaneer (I think it's the Arms of the Valiant dropped by Metal Guardian, which I have as well for my Bucc). He doesn't really do PvP either so sticking with that is always an option. I was just trying to get Ratbeard to provide his input on why the gear was set up the way it was.

I knew that I or my son could just equip something else or stitch it to something else. I just wondered what the reasoning was for including flanking on the Gladiator set along with hidden. I do agree that in most cases you absolutely don't wear a full set, but in a case such as a bundle like this, and I may be wrong, it appeared that KI intended for the full set to be equipped. I was just thinking, why would they give you a full set of armor, in which you wouldn't wear a piece or two or have to stitch. It does appear that they were trying to compliment each piece with the set and coordinate them all to work together. And for the most part they do, it just limits the use of poisoning multiple enemies while being hidden, without the flanking being triggered. Unless of course you get in close first then hide and poison, buff/shield/heal and attack on last turn of hidden.

Thanks again for the reply and advice!
Developer
Flanking will only trigger with another ally who uses melee attacks. Simply make sure that neither you, nor your ally, ends your movement with an enemy in the space directly between you.

Your strategy of using Poison is a very good one, but to make that work, you'll need to get out ahead of your allies so that your flanking does not trigger.

The Hide power also includes a built in damage bonus on your next attack, including the bonus attack you get from Flanking.

The damage bonus is the "easy" part of the Hide power to use-- you don't have to think much about it. But if you want to explore other uses for Hide, you will need plan more carefully.
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
SlightlyMadWizard on Feb 18, 2014 wrote:
It sounds like the problem is related to how close you are to your Companions. If you are two squares away from a Melee Companion (counting the square the Companion is on) or your movement or Companion's movement puts you in that position, then there is the chance that Flanking could be triggered if there is an enemy between you. Also, Flanking can be triggered each turn if you have the right conditions. To make this work, it sounds like your Pirate would have to separate from the group while being hidden to not have a chance of triggering the Flanking Power. I know is not the normal way I operate but it makes for a lot more planning. Also, the Flanking ability should NOT be triggering with a Long Range Companions (Bonnie Anne for example) and, if it is, there is a problem - contact support.

I like the idea of being able to equip something on my Pirate which gives the ability of Flanking since that allows 2 attacks per turn on an enemy if I set it up right. I am looking forward to it.
Thanks SlighlyMadWizard for the suggestions.

I do know that I need to keep my distance from my companions so that the enemy doesn't move close enough to me to trigger flanking and cancel out the hidden. What I was meaning to get at in my post was that, in using your advice, I like to hide, get adjacent to as many enemies as possible, poison all that are adjacent- so that while I am still hidden they can be taking damage as I buff/boost/shield and/or heal my crew. With the flanking attached to the gear, this approach is very difficult and hard to accomplish. Now, I know that I can just rush in and get in prime position to poison and either hide first or poison first but with hiding first you risk the enemy moving out of their adjacent positions in their turn of battle. So you may lose a couple targets for your poisoning or again be at the risk of losing hidden by flanking being triggered by enemy movement. If you're hidden first you can move in from a distance, poison multiple enemies while staying hidden and then buff/shield heal and attack in coming turns of hidden. Flanking kind of throws that approach out the window.

Now I do agree and believe that Flanking and Hidden work great together in general if you hide and keep your distance from the fray- including your own companions like you said. And then go in strategically against a secluded enemy (or one on edge of battle group) and get flanking plus attack and multiplied damage from being hidden. But I would much rather, in my first turn of hidden, be able to poison 4.5 ,6 or even 7 enemies without the worry of flanking canceling my plan and the hidden for that matter- than having that one extra turn of flanking attack. At 200-300 damage for 5 turns on just 5 enemies, that's a whopping 5000-7500 extra damage being done all while your pirate is still hidden and freed up to buff, shield, boost or heal. It just seems more valuable than that extra few hundred you will get by the 1 extra attack from flanking- although it can be triggered in each round so that is advantageous.

I guess with that combination of powers/talents (Hidden/Poison/Flanking) you have to have some give and take and can't expect them all to work perfectly together. But I absolutely agree with you that in general, having flanking attached to give you an extra attack is a great thing. Although for me personally, I think I would rather have an Epic Talent like First Strike attached to equipped gear. Since it is not movement based, it would not in any way interfere with the poisoning/hiding strategies. But I guess that would be to perfect a scenario and we can't always get what we want- where's the challenge in that, right?

Anyways, thanks again for the reply and the advice!
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Ratbeard on Feb 18, 2014 wrote:
Flanking will only trigger with another ally who uses melee attacks. Simply make sure that neither you, nor your ally, ends your movement with an enemy in the space directly between you.

Your strategy of using Poison is a very good one, but to make that work, you'll need to get out ahead of your allies so that your flanking does not trigger.

The Hide power also includes a built in damage bonus on your next attack, including the bonus attack you get from Flanking.

The damage bonus is the "easy" part of the Hide power to use-- you don't have to think much about it. But if you want to explore other uses for Hide, you will need plan more carefully.
Ok, thank you very much for this info Ratbeard. That explanation of flanking makes perfect sense and I appreciate you taking the time to provide this. I will definitely heed your advice and be more explorative in the future when using Hidden. By the way, every single one of your answers to our questions are fantastic. They allow us to brainstorm on our own and they always trigger (kind of like a movement based Epic Talent) other thoughts and concepts that we may not have explored, thus leading to a greater understanding and knowledge of (and respect for) the programming behind the gameplay. So for this, I say thank you.

I also had a few other questions in regards to poison. What influences the damage that is dealt by poisoning- on both the 'caster' and the target ends? I know that it is a swashbuckler 'attack' power, so would the damage dealt be influenced by your pirate's agility and the enemies' agility? Also, does the armor stat of an enemy come into play at all when determining the damage amounts? I have done poisoning damage ranging from 115 to about 335 with my maxed bucc and I was just curious as to what, if anything, produces the variations in the amount of damage put out. Or perchance is it a set total number that is distributed evenly amongst the successfully targeted enemies? Thus the more enemies the less damage is dealt per enemy.

I have attempted to pay closer attention to the numbers from poisoning and to the different variables but it can be difficult to for numerous reasons. Many times the poison damage numbers are concealed because they appear off screen due to finishing of critical strike cut scenes or just due to the angle of the camera (or being 'zoomed in' too far'. Sometimes a companion blocks the numbers. Also you can't see what stat numbers the enemy has (for agility, armor etc.) so it is hard to tell if those attributes' stats come into play at all.

If you could kindly share some of your wisdom on this, I would so appreciate it. And if you just want to reply that I need to study and explore it some more- that is perfectly fine too. I'll do my best.

Again, thank you for your reply and for sharing your knowledge.
Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
Ok, I have a question here. In my understanding of flanking it is triggered if there is an empty square between you and another melee ally. Be it the ally or you walks up and 'sandwiches' an enemy between you or your open space is there waiting for an enemy to step into and then they get flanked because they stepped in between two enemies. So wouldn't the problem you are facing be avoided if you did what we do when dealing with baddies like satyrs, keep everyone away from each other, or just away from you. If no one on your team or whoever is playing with you that is a melee fighter, gets near you than no flanking can happen. So if you want to target that group, just have your other companions or ask your fellow players to keep their distance from you until you reveal yourself. Am I oversimplifying this or am I missing something?
Developer
Poison damage is based on your spell power. There's not a lot of ways for non-witchdoctors to boost spell power, unfortunately-- unless you choose Krokotopia as your homeworld.

Poison damage does not get distributed over multiple enemies-- you always want to hit as many as you can!

Anytime an attack does damage, there's always a "damage roll" that produces some variation in the damage result, including (for most things) a chance to get a critical hit.

As for your other issues, we have been working on a few player-friendly enhancements recently that will:

1) Improve those camera angles,

2) Make damage values more transparent and easy to predict,

and

3) bring a few "behind the scenes" stats (like spell power) out from behind the curtain.
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Chrissy Th'Blesser on Feb 18, 2014 wrote:
Ok, I have a question here. In my understanding of flanking it is triggered if there is an empty square between you and another melee ally. Be it the ally or you walks up and 'sandwiches' an enemy between you or your open space is there waiting for an enemy to step into and then they get flanked because they stepped in between two enemies. So wouldn't the problem you are facing be avoided if you did what we do when dealing with baddies like satyrs, keep everyone away from each other, or just away from you. If no one on your team or whoever is playing with you that is a melee fighter, gets near you than no flanking can happen. So if you want to target that group, just have your other companions or ask your fellow players to keep their distance from you until you reveal yourself. Am I oversimplifying this or am I missing something?
No you are not oversimplifying Chrissy, you are not missing something and point well taken The issue was that I did not fully grasp the entire concept of the flanking and how to use it in conjunction with both poison and hidden, until Ratbeard further explained it and opened my mind up more- producing an A-Ha moment if you will. That is why I asked the question, I thought I knew and though I did understand parts of it, I was wrong in my thinking on other aspects of it. I apologize if my questions seemed a bit simple in nature and if there was any duh, factor to them- I was just trying to fully grasp flanking to better my playing experience and how to best use the talent with hidden and poison.

But I also believe that the scenario with the Satyrs is a bit of a different scenario than what I was referring to. The Satyrs have a ranged AoE attack and the reason that we keep our crew spread is to avoid them from targeting and damaging multiple adjacent crew members. Because of their ranged AoE they do not have to do much moving or searching for a target. If your crew is in range and spread out the Satyrs do not have to move to attack. Often when we are fighting them with melee attacks, to avoid damaging multiple crew members we attack them at their four corners, diagonally- which puts an empty space in between our companions and pirate. Against the Satyrs there is little to no threat of flanking being triggered because we are in range and the Satyrs don't need to possibly move into that empty tile to attack. Against melee enemies, in that same scenario, those empty spaces between our pirates and crew will create an opportunity for the enemy to move (which since they are melee they more than likely will) into that empty space and will trigger the flanking from the enemy being 'sandwiched' between our pirate and crew member. So, although I do fully understand your point, I do believe that the two scenarios differ in how a melee fighter with flanking (while hidden) would approach and attack in those respective situations.

Like I said, I was wrong in some of my thinking on how flanking worked. But now I have a much better understanding of it and I am glad that I asked the questions- even if they came across a bit simple. So again I do apologize if I appeared to be 'not getting it'. I just wanted to find the best possible strategies that involved coordinating and complimenting the hidden and poison powers and the flanking epic talent. The questions were never solely, "how does flanking work", they were more along the lines of how do I get the most out of Hide and poison while my pirate has Flanking.
Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
ValkoorTheVictorio... on Feb 19, 2014 wrote:
No you are not oversimplifying Chrissy, you are not missing something and point well taken The issue was that I did not fully grasp the entire concept of the flanking and how to use it in conjunction with both poison and hidden, until Ratbeard further explained it and opened my mind up more- producing an A-Ha moment if you will. That is why I asked the question, I thought I knew and though I did understand parts of it, I was wrong in my thinking on other aspects of it. I apologize if my questions seemed a bit simple in nature and if there was any duh, factor to them- I was just trying to fully grasp flanking to better my playing experience and how to best use the talent with hidden and poison.

But I also believe that the scenario with the Satyrs is a bit of a different scenario than what I was referring to. The Satyrs have a ranged AoE attack and the reason that we keep our crew spread is to avoid them from targeting and damaging multiple adjacent crew members. Because of their ranged AoE they do not have to do much moving or searching for a target. If your crew is in range and spread out the Satyrs do not have to move to attack. Often when we are fighting them with melee attacks, to avoid damaging multiple crew members we attack them at their four corners, diagonally- which puts an empty space in between our companions and pirate. Against the Satyrs there is little to no threat of flanking being triggered because we are in range and the Satyrs don't need to possibly move into that empty tile to attack. Against melee enemies, in that same scenario, those empty spaces between our pirates and crew will create an opportunity for the enemy to move (which since they are melee they more than likely will) into that empty space and will trigger the flanking from the enemy being 'sandwiched' between our pirate and crew member. So, although I do fully understand your point, I do believe that the two scenarios differ in how a melee fighter with flanking (while hidden) would approach and attack in those respective situations.

Like I said, I was wrong in some of my thinking on how flanking worked. But now I have a much better understanding of it and I am glad that I asked the questions- even if they came across a bit simple. So again I do apologize if I appeared to be 'not getting it'. I just wanted to find the best possible strategies that involved coordinating and complimenting the hidden and poison powers and the flanking epic talent. The questions were never solely, "how does flanking work", they were more along the lines of how do I get the most out of Hide and poison while my pirate has Flanking.
No, I wasn't thinking you were being a bit simple, not at all. It took me a while to figure out flanking and then it was a insightful teaching session with my mentor Angel Xiriga to give me my 'ah ha' moment so I very probably may have missed some nuances of using it. I was prob too specific to use satyrs in my example, I just meant we spread ourselves out to avoid damage. I was just thinking that keeping your swashy away from other players would stop flanking from happening but in a small battlefield I realize that would be tough. I will be the first to admit that I often fail to see the other layers in battle planning and I do miss some obvious things that make me do some silly things like planning to poison a large group and run by someone with hold the line to do it. Oops. This is why I read stuff here and other guides on the fan sites to try to teach myself to be a smarter player. You seem to have bypassed me in the heavy thinking and planing skills so I was merely fishing for what is probably obvious that I am just not seeing yet.
I never intended to make you look silly or like you didn't understand, I was trying to learn. My apologies if I managed to make it sound that way.
Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
Ratbeard on Feb 18, 2014 wrote:
Poison damage is based on your spell power. There's not a lot of ways for non-witchdoctors to boost spell power, unfortunately-- unless you choose Krokotopia as your homeworld.

Poison damage does not get distributed over multiple enemies-- you always want to hit as many as you can!

Anytime an attack does damage, there's always a "damage roll" that produces some variation in the damage result, including (for most things) a chance to get a critical hit.

As for your other issues, we have been working on a few player-friendly enhancements recently that will:

1) Improve those camera angles,

2) Make damage values more transparent and easy to predict,

and

3) bring a few "behind the scenes" stats (like spell power) out from behind the curtain.
Thank you for more of your great wisdom Ratbeard. These improvements are joyfully anticipated.
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Ratbeard on Feb 18, 2014 wrote:
Poison damage is based on your spell power. There's not a lot of ways for non-witchdoctors to boost spell power, unfortunately-- unless you choose Krokotopia as your homeworld.

Poison damage does not get distributed over multiple enemies-- you always want to hit as many as you can!

Anytime an attack does damage, there's always a "damage roll" that produces some variation in the damage result, including (for most things) a chance to get a critical hit.

As for your other issues, we have been working on a few player-friendly enhancements recently that will:

1) Improve those camera angles,

2) Make damage values more transparent and easy to predict,

and

3) bring a few "behind the scenes" stats (like spell power) out from behind the curtain.
Thanks again Ratbeard, that is some great and eagerly anticipated news as far as the camera angles and the "behind the scenes" stats being brought out a bit more. I really like to try and pay attention to the numbers that all of the attacks do and it is exciting to know that they may be more easily viewed in the future.

And thank you very much for the insight on poison damage- I just wanted to know for my buccaneer if there was any way that I could influence the damage done besides adding more targets to the mix. I appreciate all the help and info.

Ok, I hate to bother you again but I have one more question- I have the weapon(s) Coetl's Needles from the Tribal Crew Pack. Did the programming on this weapon just recently change? I was certain that up until recently the boost given to damage was from Strength. I also have the Azure Serpent Shards which were always boosted by Agility. I just recently equipped Coetle's Needles and noticed they said they were boosted by Agility. Because my pirate is a Buccaneer I always chose the needles over the shards, for the boost from Strength.

I was just wondering if this was a recent change or am I just losing my mind?

Again, thanks for all your help and insight.
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Chrissy Th'Blesser on Feb 19, 2014 wrote:
No, I wasn't thinking you were being a bit simple, not at all. It took me a while to figure out flanking and then it was a insightful teaching session with my mentor Angel Xiriga to give me my 'ah ha' moment so I very probably may have missed some nuances of using it. I was prob too specific to use satyrs in my example, I just meant we spread ourselves out to avoid damage. I was just thinking that keeping your swashy away from other players would stop flanking from happening but in a small battlefield I realize that would be tough. I will be the first to admit that I often fail to see the other layers in battle planning and I do miss some obvious things that make me do some silly things like planning to poison a large group and run by someone with hold the line to do it. Oops. This is why I read stuff here and other guides on the fan sites to try to teach myself to be a smarter player. You seem to have bypassed me in the heavy thinking and planing skills so I was merely fishing for what is probably obvious that I am just not seeing yet.
I never intended to make you look silly or like you didn't understand, I was trying to learn. My apologies if I managed to make it sound that way.
No worries Chissy, and absolutely no apologies needed or necessary. I was not slighted or bothered in the least bit. I too was trying to fish for more tactical advice and hopefully uncover something that I may be overlooking. I still have a lot to learn about the nuances of battle- so much of it is obvious but there are some underlying variables that I hoped to uncover.

And by no means have I bypassed you in any way- almost every post or addition you put on the PHP thread is welcomed, new information to me that I try to soak up. You are a wealth of P101 knowledge and I appreciate all that you share.

And besides I don't mind looking silly one bit if it produces more answers and grants us more wisdom from the powers above. Hey Silly is my maiden name after all.
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
ValkoorTheVictorio... on Feb 19, 2014 wrote:
Thanks again Ratbeard, that is some great and eagerly anticipated news as far as the camera angles and the "behind the scenes" stats being brought out a bit more. I really like to try and pay attention to the numbers that all of the attacks do and it is exciting to know that they may be more easily viewed in the future.

And thank you very much for the insight on poison damage- I just wanted to know for my buccaneer if there was any way that I could influence the damage done besides adding more targets to the mix. I appreciate all the help and info.

Ok, I hate to bother you again but I have one more question- I have the weapon(s) Coetl's Needles from the Tribal Crew Pack. Did the programming on this weapon just recently change? I was certain that up until recently the boost given to damage was from Strength. I also have the Azure Serpent Shards which were always boosted by Agility. I just recently equipped Coetle's Needles and noticed they said they were boosted by Agility. Because my pirate is a Buccaneer I always chose the needles over the shards, for the boost from Strength.

I was just wondering if this was a recent change or am I just losing my mind?

Again, thanks for all your help and insight.
Oh, sorry Ratbeard I just double checked the Coetl's Needles on my pirate and they do still say bonus from Strength. But I did discover, and this is what I must have seen, was that my son's pirate has the Coetl's Needles as well, but his says bonus from Agility. Every other stat is identical except for the attribute that provides the bonus. They aren't stitched or anything of that nature either.

Are there supposed to be two versions of Coetl's Needles? And if so are some of the other weapons from the Tribal Crew Pack boosted by more than one type of attribute?
First Mate
May 01, 2012
402
One slight clarification on Flanking while Hidden, is that your Flanking attack gets the hidden bonus of extra damage (usually it is the weaker attack). When you do the main attack, you are no longer hidden. This means that any special attack (ie Bleeding or extra damage) is always the second attack and this means there is no hidden bonus.
Pirate Overlord
Mar 10, 2009
6204
ValkoorTheVictorio... on Feb 19, 2014 wrote:
Oh, sorry Ratbeard I just double checked the Coetl's Needles on my pirate and they do still say bonus from Strength. But I did discover, and this is what I must have seen, was that my son's pirate has the Coetl's Needles as well, but his says bonus from Agility. Every other stat is identical except for the attribute that provides the bonus. They aren't stitched or anything of that nature either.

Are there supposed to be two versions of Coetl's Needles? And if so are some of the other weapons from the Tribal Crew Pack boosted by more than one type of attribute?
I too have noticed this and even took a bunch of screenprints (big surprise here ) of weapons that I noticed changed their bonus depending on who was holding it. I used for my example, the Sorcart's Set that changed from agility to will depending on who was holding it in their backpack. The first six shots showing in the album are the ones. I passed around the exact weapon to different pirates and watched the main stat change. I had planned on asking here why this happened and why it did not happen to all weapons and which ones could we 'know' that it was available for boosting in another class. I didn't see any indicators as to which ones were the chameleon weapons so I could know without playing hot potato with all my weapons through the shared bank to see who would accommodate my pirate's class but every time I tried to ask it in a concise and intelligent way It just came out sounding like I had been up too long and was on chocolate withdrawal.
So you my friend have opened the doorway and let loose my flood of queries as to what the skullduggery is going on and how do I make sense of it river. Would you care to sit with me and await our information that can get my weapons strategy back on an even keel? * Hands some yum and passes a plate of Highlander Fox brownies and snickerdoodles. *
Dread Pirate
Jun 17, 2013
2743
Chrissy Th'Blesser on Feb 20, 2014 wrote:
I too have noticed this and even took a bunch of screenprints (big surprise here ) of weapons that I noticed changed their bonus depending on who was holding it. I used for my example, the Sorcart's Set that changed from agility to will depending on who was holding it in their backpack. The first six shots showing in the album are the ones. I passed around the exact weapon to different pirates and watched the main stat change. I had planned on asking here why this happened and why it did not happen to all weapons and which ones could we 'know' that it was available for boosting in another class. I didn't see any indicators as to which ones were the chameleon weapons so I could know without playing hot potato with all my weapons through the shared bank to see who would accommodate my pirate's class but every time I tried to ask it in a concise and intelligent way It just came out sounding like I had been up too long and was on chocolate withdrawal.
So you my friend have opened the doorway and let loose my flood of queries as to what the skullduggery is going on and how do I make sense of it river. Would you care to sit with me and await our information that can get my weapons strategy back on an even keel? * Hands some yum and passes a plate of Highlander Fox brownies and snickerdoodles. *
Chrissy, either you have been up too long or have been recently deprived of chocolate? I kid, I kid. Talk about Twilight Zone material (album nod), this is surely along the lines of fascinatingly peculiar. And I am surprised that you would capture it with a screenshot...go figure. Knowing that your pirates are of varying classes that is very interesting that the stat changed when you passed it from pirate to pirate- in my case both my pirate and my son's pirate are buccaneers and still a different attribute boosts the same weapon. I fear we have uncovered a great conspiracy and should now be in fear of our lives. Run for the border.

I am glad that I provided you an outlet and avenue to share these strange findings. I do hope that Ratbeard can find time to offer some insight as to just what in the Wild World of Sports is going on here (sorry, if you couldn't tell I am a huge Blazin' Saddles and Mel Brooks fan). In the meantime, I'll gladly sit and wait, but I do envision that more than one plate of goodies will be necessary and absolutely needed. After all I am suffering from a bit of chocolate withdrawal myself...and I may need a keg of yum for that matter- to wash the goodies down of course.