I believe I first joined Pirate101 about a month before the Marleybone/Aquila Update. Unless I am mistaken, back then you could no choose how your crew were selected for battle, the only guaranteed companion to be in the fight was your first mate. I'm aware that you can actually change this in your options, which I have done. However, there is something else I'm recalling from way back when...

First, a little context: I am working on maxing out my fifth Pirate, A WD, and I recently completed the dungeon where you break Billy the Kid out of the Frogerale Compound. During some of the fights, I noticed something different: on the hill going up towards the compound, the fight was 3v3 instead of your typical 4v4.

This reminded me of another thing that would occasionally seem to happen back before the companion and pet update. sometimes, you would get in a fight and it would be 3v5, or 4v4, or what have you. At least, that is how I remember it. I liked the challenge of those fights. They were fun, and gratifying to win. So: were PvE fights like that ever a thing? am I just having insane flashbacks to my 'glory days'? What is the air speed velocity of a swallow traveling northwind up the coast of spain? WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Oh, by the way, if it was a regular thing back then to have outnumbered fights, (which it doesnt seem to be now) is there a way to go back to occasionally being outnumbered?

Blixet on Jul 13, 2015 wrote:

I believe I first joined Pirate101 about a month before the Marleybone/Aquila Update. Unless I am mistaken, back then you could no choose how your crew were selected for battle, the only guaranteed companion to be in the fight was your first mate. I'm aware that you can actually change this in your options, which I have done. However, there is something else I'm recalling from way back when...

First, a little context: I am working on maxing out my fifth Pirate, A WD, and I recently completed the dungeon where you break Billy the Kid out of the Frogerale Compound. During some of the fights, I noticed something different: on the hill going up towards the compound, the fight was 3v3 instead of your typical 4v4.

This reminded me of another thing that would occasionally seem to happen back before the companion and pet update. sometimes, you would get in a fight and it would be 3v5, or 4v4, or what have you. At least, that is how I remember it. I liked the challenge of those fights. They were fun, and gratifying to win. So: were PvE fights like that ever a thing? am I just having insane flashbacks to my 'glory days'? What is the air speed velocity of a swallow traveling northwind up the coast of spain? WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Oh, by the way, if it was a regular thing back then to have outnumbered fights, (which it doesnt seem to be now) is there a way to go back to occasionally being outnumbered?

You are not hallucinating, many fights were the out numbered type. 4v3, 5v4. It happened a lot! You can now find that kind of fight with the Nefarious Five. ( Actually, I do miss those days of fighting more than my share of enemies - 6v3, anyone? )
African or European Swallow? Green!

Blixet on Jul 13, 2015 wrote:

I believe I first joined Pirate101 about a month before the Marleybone/Aquila Update. Unless I am mistaken, back then you could no choose how your crew were selected for battle, the only guaranteed companion to be in the fight was your first mate. I'm aware that you can actually change this in your options, which I have done. However, there is something else I'm recalling from way back when...

First, a little context: I am working on maxing out my fifth Pirate, A WD, and I recently completed the dungeon where you break Billy the Kid out of the Frogerale Compound. During some of the fights, I noticed something different: on the hill going up towards the compound, the fight was 3v3 instead of your typical 4v4.

This reminded me of another thing that would occasionally seem to happen back before the companion and pet update. sometimes, you would get in a fight and it would be 3v5, or 4v4, or what have you. At least, that is how I remember it. I liked the challenge of those fights. They were fun, and gratifying to win. So: were PvE fights like that ever a thing? am I just having insane flashbacks to my 'glory days'? What is the air speed velocity of a swallow traveling northwind up the coast of spain? WHAT IS YOUR FAVORITE COLOR? Oh, by the way, if it was a regular thing back then to have outnumbered fights, (which it doesnt seem to be now) is there a way to go back to occasionally being outnumbered?

Yes, back in the early days, there was much debate about how "fair" it was for there to be more enemies than crews... However, with the recent additions of advanced pets and so many Summon Aid doubloons, it's really rare to find yourself ever outnumbered at all. You could send every other companion but your best two out doing tasks and receive Boochbeard's tip about yer crew being too small OR force yourself to be outnumbered by keeping one companion completely un-trained and use him/her as your first mate. They could be defeated in the first round and leave you to face your enemies short-handed. But you probably don't want to do that.

The game needed to get easier to please more players, was the thought. I'm not sure that they didn't go overboard in that regard, but having played since Beta, it may just be familiarity speaking. I think they could occasionally sneak in an extra mob or two and it wouldn't be too much trouble?