Buccaneer Revamp Idea
So first, I just want to state that these are only my ideas, and I am completely open to constructive criticism and suggestions (including skill names) on any part of this thread.
1) Energy System - I'm not a huge fan of our current energy system so I would like some changes to this. First, it should be a toggle so that if someone doesn't want to charge up every time he attacks, then he could simply just toggle it off and the effect would simply disappear.
Second, instead of skills using energy at full charge, we should just mana. We never run out of mana anyways (except for boss 1/1 situations). Also, the energy bar could have a natural, slow decay rate. It would work like this: we would use skills (octopunch, bucc blast for example) to continually charge up the energy bar faster than the slow decay rate until it reaches full. When it reaches full, the current effects would be the same or similar (increased range, damage, 100% stance), except please, for the love of god, give us a new animation for a charge up state. At the moment of reaching full energy, we stay at this state for 15 seconds (regardless of whether we are attacking or not) until the natural decay rate begins again, in which we could simply use one skill to bring it back up to full.
I know this idea isn't the most innovative, but I feel that it would be better than our current energy system.
2) Dragon Strike - I'm all for having this skill as our main mobbing attack. I love this skill to death, just needs a revamp.
Anyone remember the skill "shark wave" or something that was used by thunder breakers years ago? I was so sad when they god rid of it, because it was such a cool looking skill! I was thinking about making dragon strike similar to this skill, except it would send a dragon instead of sharks. This is what I have in mind: Keep the animation before the actual hit the same, so that the dragon is clearly visible before the skill actually hits; then, send out a dragon in front of you AND behind you (OR just in front, please make suggestions on this) with more range and damage than shark wave. No, it wouldn't be as "OP" as our current buccaneer blast, but I'd much rather have this tradeoff for better bossing capabilities.
3) Octopunch - It was really hard to think of a good way to gain better bossing capabilities while simultaneously adding uniqueness to the class itself. The obvious way would be adding more lines to octopunch, but that seems pretty lame. I also thought about adding a dragon theme to the class and maybe having a skill like "dragon fish" or "dragon punch" or something, but the theme of dragons already belongs to Kaisers. The best I could come up with was improving the animation and increasing the lines to 9 or 10 (w/o hypers) and possibly decreasing the skill delay. You guys probably have better ideas, so PLEASE MAKE SOME SUGGESTIONS.
4) Pirate's Revenge - plain and simple: passively gives +40% pdr. That way our damage is more stable and it would be more useful to increase pdr from items, potentials etc.
5) Dice - Get rid of/change 1/2/3/6. Maybe instead of a dice, it should be coins, where each coin gives either 20% damage or 15% crit (OR min/max crit). Not sure. Please add suggestions for this also.
6) I honestly don't know if other buccs agree, but for being such a close range class, I think we need more survivability. Maybe tweak admiral's wings to give us more def or a new passive that adds def/guard rate. I'm honestly curious what other buccs think of this?
Well, thanks for listening to my ideas. I really appreciate your efforts to read my wall of text and I would really like to hear your thoughts. Thanks!
9 Comments • Newest first
[quote=kamikazedes]SP artificially doubles your lines, so it's a start in the damage department. Plus, it makes a lot more sense than whatever the hell the your summoned spirit does now.
And, unfortunately, I know a little bit about being forced into "the mainstream content of classes" (with the whole Hurricane clone and the whole Snipe clone), but there's a limitation to what maple can provide in terms of ideas and what not. We all basically get rehashed with the same old stuff in new sheep's wool. I would, however, like to see better combo-ability in Bucc skills, but that is (once again, unfortunately) unlikely, given Nexon's general malaise with Pirates.[/quote]
Have you played a Buccaneer before? I'm asking because the problem isn't our raw damage output in theory; it's the realistic damage output that Power Unity requires 40 seconds of charge to achieve, lack of mobility that puts us at risk and heavily luck based buffs(Even passives, such as Typhoon Crush), which when combined together, end up being lackluster. Giving us Shadow Partner doesn't fix ANY of that. The summoned spirit augments our moves as a manifestation of our power and skill when charged, for the most part; Shadow Partner makes just as little sense as it does now, if not less, because it's not a mimic.
There's actually plenty of ways to make classes unique if Nexon puts in the effort. They just don't, and suggestions like yours are the same suggestions they end up going with. Why bother being innovative when ideas like yours are easier?
Individual moves will end up being similar, yet play-styles can be quite different with some innovation. Shamelessly giving Buccaneers Shadow Partner does nothing to solve their REAL problems(Which come from a lack of innovation/flexibility on Nexon's part); they need different changes, and overall the system needs a change to promote effectiveness in classes which don't have excessive mobility, rapid hits, safety skills(Self-revives), etc. And that will result in a better experience for every class involved, not just Buccaneers, if done properly.
[quote=tricks122]Yes, because the laziest, most generic solution that tries to force us into the mainstream content of classes has worked out so well so far. Because despite having a Flash Jump, we don't have mobility problems. Despite having a spammable attack with single use, we still have poor damage.
Shadow Partner doesn't fix our problems, and slapping it into Buccaneers is a dumb move. If it's as simple as making every class have Shadow Partner, Flash Jump, etc, why don't we all just go play the same class with different animation sets? It'd be a lot more efficient than 'revamping' classes to be more like other, better classes, instead of making them better in their own way...[/quote]
SP artificially doubles your lines, so it's a start in the damage department. Plus, it makes a lot more sense than whatever the hell the your summoned spirit does now.
And, unfortunately, I know a little bit about being forced into "the mainstream content of classes" (with the whole Hurricane clone and the whole Snipe clone), but there's a limitation to what maple can provide in terms of ideas and what not. We all basically get rehashed with the same old stuff in new sheep's wool. I would, however, like to see better combo-ability in Bucc skills, but that is (once again, unfortunately) unlikely, given Nexon's general malaise with Pirates.
[quote=kamikazedes]I'm telling you guys, just make Energy Charge Shadow Partner when it's fully charged.[/quote]
Yes, because the laziest, most generic solution that tries to force us into the mainstream content of classes has worked out so well so far. Because despite having a Flash Jump, we don't have mobility problems. Despite having a spammable attack with single use, we still have poor damage.
Shadow Partner doesn't fix our problems, and slapping it into Buccaneers is a dumb move. If it's as simple as making every class have Shadow Partner, Flash Jump, etc, why don't we all just go play the same class with different animation sets? It'd be a lot more efficient than 'revamping' classes to be more like other, better classes, instead of making them better in their own way...
I'm telling you guys, just make Energy Charge Shadow Partner when it's fully charged.
Nexon can't balance Buccaneers, in my opinion, without a few drastic changes that either destroy the class or make balance for ALL classes possible. Two of those options are...
1) Make us like another good bossing class. This is their traditional route, and it's failed every time because we STILL lack what a 'good' bossing class needs, and our damage isn't anything to write home about(Probably being one of the worst practical damage outputs in the game). This is because of the limitations involving the damage cap, general bossing requirements(Mobility issues in particular, as well as fast attacks and safety mechanisms); it hasn't stopped Nexon from trying to make our game-play similar to other classes and murdering what Buccaneers once were, though.
2) Make the damage cap for EVERY class on a skill per skill basis(Or class per class basis). This means that Nexon can now start ignoring hits per second and their traditional way of making classes better(Give them more lines or faster attacks), and can begin making bruiser type classes with high damage per hit, but slow attack speeds. You can then introduce the concept of old Buccaneers with skills like Barrage and Backspin Blow, give us a way to cancel out of Barrage mid animation(With more hits of Barrage being given as they are dished out within the animation, but it's not a key-down skill such as Hurricane). Slap on a few chaining skills like we previously had, and then it's just a matter of fine-tuning the numbers so our damage output is respectable and our durability isn't bad(Seriously, it's atrocious with concepts like Pirate's Revenge...), and Buccaneers wouldn't be poorly balanced.
But of course, 2) is a lot of work for Nexon, and we all know how much work they like to put in for Buccaneers, just based on history.
[quote=xerces]I really miss the barrage, demolition and transformation...[/quote]
I suggest they give us back all the old skills (dont even need FJ), dump the lazor crap skills, and place us somewhere in the middle of the DPM spectrum.
EDIT: i-frames plz nxn
I really miss the barrage, demolition and transformation...
what they need is a combo system that combines both kicks and punches, allow you to combo, and replace dragon strike with a better more efficient skill allowing you to charge up energy or as a 1hko full map attack of some sort. that would bring me back from shade to buccaneer for sure.
What Buccs really need are:
1) a solid combo-brawling theme that works well with the energy theme if they are going to keep it that way. Remove some useless skills like Tornado Upper, Shockwave, Corkscew Blow, Energy Buster, and Power of Unity and give us attacks that makes sense. Removing the energy spirit from our attacks would also be a godsend.
2) Like you said, Buccs need more offensive and defensive utility. Admiral's wings should give 40% reduction and maybe 20% dodge rate and some HP. Remove Dice and give Buccs something like Enrage with 40% damage boost that can be used with the Energy System
3) A new transformed aura please. Whoever decided that a bright pinkish-purple aura fit the theme was high on crack period.