July 5, 2019
Old Secrets Behind
Powers and Talents Part 2
In part 1, linked below, I revealed the meta’s shape pre-2014, discussed the impacts on each class, and introduced the pros and cons. In part 2, we’ll be covering talents and how they used to work back then. Let’s start with the big boss once again, Privateer!
Old Secrets behind Powers and Talents Part 1
Privateer
Privateer didn’t have any impressive talents at all back then besides 1 which happens to be Elusive!
Elusive was (and still is) a trainable talent for any pirate no matter what the class is can obtain. It is beneficial as it gives increased movement range and dodge when you are below 50% health. This is especially beneficial for melee classes, since they have higher base dodge. Swashbucklers know how to abuse it well! 😉
Repel Borders
Privateer could only obtain repel boarders one, making it quite bad. It only had a 50-50 chance to trigger when enemies approach, the damage output was and still is low, and you couldn’t obtain the 3rd rank of it, as advanced pets and equipment talent grants weren’t a thing back then. Privateers had a meh line of talents. However, their true power (pun not intended) came from their powers, as discussed in the previous article.
Witchdoctor
Witchdoctor had almost no talents. All they had was literally 1 talent, but it didn’t matter as their gameplay plan was depending on powers as well
Mojo Echo
Witches could only obtain mojo echo 1. But somehow, it had an advantage. What was the advantage? Every time you cast an offensive power or spell on the enemy, there was a chance to trigger Mojo Echo. This even included AOE attacks, making this feature very unique.
Musketeer
Musketeer had decent, albeit unimpressive talents, especially when compared to their barrage of bombs and trick shots.
Quick Draw
Musketeer only obtained 2 ranks of quick draw, meaning you couldn’t reveal hidden musketeer targets before they attacked you. Rank 3 was only obtainable after Valencia 2 in 2016 (and Rank 3 only revealed hidden targets in the Ranked PvP updated of 2015). This meant they got shredded by a Super Strike hidden Nausica or any hidden Musketeer target.
Double Tap
Back in 2013 it was a nice extra hit but only once you defeat an enemy. This means that if you use a super strike or if you crit a quick draw, for example, Double Tap wouldn’t trigger at all. It’d only trigger if enemy is eliminated.
Swashbucklers
Swashbucklers had a decent talent line around 2013. However, An important talent had problems. Especially in mirror matches..
First Strike
First Strike is the strongest of a swashbuckler’s talents, and it’s their main hit, allowing you to strike before any targets to struck them. Until August 2015, Rank 3 of it wasn’t working as intended. It was supposed to reveal hidden targets before hitting you, However, due to a combat bug, something prevented hidden attackers from being revealed. It was only fixed back in Ranked PvP Update in 2015.
Alert 1
Alert 1 gave Swashbuckler a great advantage vs Musketeers as you take half the damage from traps. This was and still is an excellent thing that I love about buckler compared to other classes that take the full damage from traps. It even saved them from blood flames back when it was usable in PvP to take only 500 damage instead of a full 1,000 damage per fire trap. 250 damage with a fort.
Buccaneers
Buccaneer back then was indeed at the same mess in the talents section just like their powers. However, it was and still always will be the class with the most talents. And that’s for several reasons. The talents weren’t bad at all, but it was how they worked back then. Not to mention that Buccaneer pirates back then couldn’t train relentless at all. Not even the first rank. Here’s the most important talents and the issues with their mechanics back then:
Blade Storm
Even though Bladestorm is a great talent now that bucks mostly relies on for hitting after relentless, thanks to their high critical, it was bad for the same reason double tap is on musketeers. If you crit or used a critical strike power, bladestorm wouldn’t trigger. It would only activate when you killed an enemy.
Relentless
Relentless wasn’t accessible for the main pirate, but it was well accessible for buccaneer companions and pets. However, it had one big issue: Relentless 2 only had 2 chances to trigger instead of 3. And that was of course due to a combat bug that was only fixed in the Spring 2014 update.
That was excellent and all, but what is the meta pyramid now?
Surprised? Don’t be. It shouldn’t be too shocking to see such a large change. What happened exactly? Let me explain further
Privateer didn’t get much of a nerf from 2013 besides balancing the crit powers and revamping the crit system and reducing zeal’s duration from 10 to 3. The class got nerfed, but they’re still the best of the bunch.
Buccaneer got a massive overhaul. And by massive, I mean it. From the ground to the top. From talents to powers. Tons and tons of tweaks, And then the ability to get relentless 2 on the pirate character trained.. Whew. Which took the class from the bottom to a competitively aggressive class near the top.
Swashbuckler got great adjustments as well, starting from Shadowdance’s duration to updates to hidden. Swashes would remain hidden after getting damaged in hide and no longer revealed easily.
Musketeer didn’t recieve any major changes. Barely any changes besides tweaking talents to work as intended. They obtained quick draw 3, their double tap was buffed, and they obtained the ability to get burst fire 2. Powers remained the same. Why? Simply because it is a balanced class. Why change something in a class that doesn’t have anything that is needed to be adjusted?
Witchdoctor, however, went from 2nd best to the very bottom. And that’s for obvious reasons, One of them is how players and their game plan and skill went drastically down as of Tower of Moo Manchu’s update. Not to mention complete relying on cheese sets (Known as summons like trees, scorpions, Old Scratch’s boosts etc.) and of course the most dangerous of all talent, Witch Hunter. Almost every pirate has it trained these days which reduces the damage you’ll get from their powers to half. Long story short, It’s a mini Valor Fortress for 1 round, which has completely ruined the class.
Will the meta change sometime again? Maybe. That only depends on Kingsisle and the adjustments they’d do the game in future updates. But hopefully for the best. Now that the article comes to an end, which class did you play in old meta for PvP? Did you enjoy playing it?
