This game is WAY TOO HARD.
First off, and my main problem with this game,all the enemies dodge/block rate is so high. I shouldnt have to keep going to a life fountain to revive companions because they keep missing and the enemy kills them. It's even worse with swashbuckler enemies, but i do understand. They're supposed to be rogues and have high dodge and i respect that. But i shouldnt have to waste 5-7 turns to land just 1 hit, JUST 1 HIT!( and i'm dead serious too). It's very unneccesary and it slows things down!
Secondly, the Buccaneer class is just terrible. Almost no attack powers and the ones we do have does LESS then our normal attack power, like what kind of sense does that make? The strength buffs are BARELY noticeable, if not, doesnt do anything at all. The talent Blade Storm? Why give this to a buccaneer? Why not get relentless or repel boarders or first strike or burst fire or mojo echo, heck ANYTHING but blade storm.
Third, the ship battles. I shouldnt have to waste 30k+ gold on a ship that will just outdate when i enter a new skyway (Which happens very quickly). Reduce the difficulty of these broadside combats. How frustruating is it to wait 20-25 seconds for a attack power that misses (sometimes 3 in a row)? Very. Also, give the ships a little more space from each other. Do they have some sort of a radar or something? When i attack a ship, another ship comes from nowhere and joins the battle and uh-oh! I'm in the yellow zone.

I'm sorry for raging, Kingsisle, but you really gotta look into this. If you dont, you'll lose a LOT of subscribers.

I would first like to say, there are obviously a lot of different perspectives on such a subject.

What the game is NOT, is a game that is simple enough to just click through, and enjoy the storyline (much like Wizard101 is). This is NOT Wizard101 with Pirates. I think this may be a point where many are finding Pirate101 "hard", as they expect the ease of Wizard101. Pirate 101 requires quite a bit more thought as you progress, gear stats, and your companions training, and stat selections can have a big effect on game play/experience.

I too have been frustrated by enemies blocking etc, but not to such an end that I was frustrated with the game. I recognized the game mechanics right away as being such that ones experience can be greatly effected by their selection of strategies, and other statistical choices they make along the way. I use accuracy boosts and boost accuracy stats on my companions to offset dodge/misses.

I find many of the things people are frustrated with simply would take a little more time in understanding, or finding different approaches. I have solo'd 80% of the game on 5 different pirates, on all 5 classes. My witchdoctor was the first to hit level 50, and my buccaneer the 2nd, I agree buccanneer seems lacking in attacks/moves, but is still a powerful class.

Ship battles can be tedious, but are rewarding, with Nautical XP, drops, and gold, besides quest requirements. I find this to be a fun pasttime, when tired of questing. Ships are about stats too, and to be effective it often requires you to buy a new ship. If one doesnt fall into the "spend all my gold on training tomes" snafu... then gold really starts to add up. Last 2 pirates I have quested with, I bought Marleybone galleons (ported to a friend) to stay under the gold cap, at/around level 18 through normal questing!!!

OFxSaint
Silent Sam Stern - Lvl 50 - Witchdoctor
Perilous Patrick Pace - Lvl 50 - Buccaneer

I know you start off with little gold,and it's hard to do the battles,but when I fight,I focus on 1 guy,then go for another.I also like to do all of my side quests first,so I am in charge when it comes to a battle.I hope these few tips help.

Reliable Logan level 14