Returning to the actual topic:
Carcarius needs something. He needs to have something that makes him unique and as strong as the other Trainer Companions.
Yes, I believe giving him a Mojo Flow power is a good idea.
But let's look at the other companions WD have - specifically the animal companions. No other class recruits these companions. Yet, they don't receive promotions. Giving promotions to these companions with epics would give WD more choice when forming a PVP team.
As soon as the problem with Charm/Charming Gaze is solved, I'm sure they will be returned to PVP use. That would be a major help to WD in PVP.

anecorbie on Mar 14, 2017 wrote:

Returning to the actual topic:
Carcarius needs something. He needs to have something that makes him unique and as strong as the other Trainer Companions.
Yes, I believe giving him a Mojo Flow power is a good idea.
But let's look at the other companions WD have - specifically the animal companions. No other class recruits these companions. Yet, they don't receive promotions. Giving promotions to these companions with epics would give WD more choice when forming a PVP team.
As soon as the problem with Charm/Charming Gaze is solved, I'm sure they will be returned to PVP use. That would be a major help to WD in PVP.

I agree about the animal companions - if we witchdoctors at least could promote our Crokagator to an UBER-crok, or our Sky Snake to Stormfang, etc., it could be quite useful.

Poor Carcarius... always in Scratch's shadow...

witchdoctor of awe... on Mar 15, 2017 wrote:

Carcarius needs an accuracy buff, and a replacement for purge magic. No need to make Scratch the weak companion he was, he was given the buff for a reason, tell me, did any of you actually use him before his big buff? I'll be honest, No. Maybe a few did, but he was from what I remember, one of the most hated companions before this buff, now, Giving it to carcarius, not a bad idea, but if this were to happen Scratch needs some kind of buff, because before this power, he wasn't super good, not sure why his jobu's breath never got upgraded to kiss, either way.
If having mojo flow really concerns you this bad, you might as well just not use him, I don't use him on my swash, because I don't NEED a 500 damage poison to stay in the game, I use my swash as I did 3 years ago, before the power, same as my musketeer, I have no intentions on using scratch on anyone except my witchdoctor, I do agree that he makes the battles way easier, but I don't believe nerfing him is the way to go on this. Also, if I recall, Ratbeard said that we wouldn't be seeing him losing this power, could have fogged memory, but eh?

I agree that swash, musket, and privy don't NEED 500 damage poisons and 900 damage bombs. But, there are people that rely on that, along with 2800 point absorbs to win matches. That's not skillful play. No matter what ratbeard has or hasn't said, it's bad design to give scratch mojo buffs to the current extent he has them. I believe that mojo buffs should be a signature ability for witchdoctors, not an ability that they benefit slightly more from that every class has access to. I'd be somewhat ok with giving Scratch restricted access to mojo buffs, (only giving him the 25% buff) and giving Carcarius the full line as a compromise. As I stated earlier in my posts, I also believe that some witchdoctor companions should be receiving the super strike line, like their ranged and melee counterparts. Restricting his access to mojo buffs and giving him a magical super strike (along with changing witchdoctor companion accuracy stats) would still keep him as a viable companion.

Matthew525011 on Mar 15, 2017 wrote:

I agree that swash, musket, and privy don't NEED 500 damage poisons and 900 damage bombs. But, there are people that rely on that, along with 2800 point absorbs to win matches. That's not skillful play. No matter what ratbeard has or hasn't said, it's bad design to give scratch mojo buffs to the current extent he has them. I believe that mojo buffs should be a signature ability for witchdoctors, not an ability that they benefit slightly more from that every class has access to. I'd be somewhat ok with giving Scratch restricted access to mojo buffs, (only giving him the 25% buff) and giving Carcarius the full line as a compromise. As I stated earlier in my posts, I also believe that some witchdoctor companions should be receiving the super strike line, like their ranged and melee counterparts. Restricting his access to mojo buffs and giving him a magical super strike (along with changing witchdoctor companion accuracy stats) would still keep him as a viable companion.

I'm not going to reiterate my arguments against nerfing Scratch or giving Carcarius such powers. What you propose isn't going to happen.
Let's look at the Trainer companions.
All the companions have this in common; they all have a buff to the class stats ( Will, Agility & Strength ), they also have a critical attack.
So, keep Carcarius' buff, take away Purge Magic and replace it with Greater Juju ( at current max promo ) & besides Jobu's Kiss give him a Mojo Strike ( like Mormo's ).
This will balance him with the other Trainer companions, IMHO.

anecorbie on Mar 16, 2017 wrote:

I'm not going to reiterate my arguments against nerfing Scratch or giving Carcarius such powers. What you propose isn't going to happen.
Let's look at the Trainer companions.
All the companions have this in common; they all have a buff to the class stats ( Will, Agility & Strength ), they also have a critical attack.
So, keep Carcarius' buff, take away Purge Magic and replace it with Greater Juju ( at current max promo ) & besides Jobu's Kiss give him a Mojo Strike ( like Mormo's ).
This will balance him with the other Trainer companions, IMHO.

"They all have a critical attack"
This "fix" to Carc you proposed doesn't give him a critical hit. Sure, he has two aoes. But in pvp, no competent player will stay bunched up to allow you to take full advantage these powers. Let's look at the 4 good trainer companions. They all have access to their class's version of relentless and bladestorm, allowing them to chain extremely efficiently. They also have the critical hit that you mentioned. Carc has NONE of these traits. He lacks mojo rising, which greatly limits the amount of damage he can put out. The reason why these critical attacks are good on the other companions is not exclusively their high base damage, it's the ability these companions have to create lengthy ensuing chains. Even if he HAD mojo rising, witchdoctor's accuracy is so abysmally low that he couldn't effectively chain. Fixing this would require reworking every witchdoctor companion. Without being able to chain or put out large amounts of damage, Carcarius will forever be a low tier companion.

Now let's say Carc was to get a significant improvement that didn't involve giving him mojo buffs. I believe that he wouldn't get used. Witchdoctors cannot afford to run multiple witch companions on their team. They're just too squishy. Without nerfing Scratch, or making Carc directly comparable to scratch, Carc will always play second fiddle to Scratch. Period. I have a problem with that. I'm sorry if you can't see why a signature companion being unviable is problematic.

Matthew525011 on Mar 16, 2017 wrote:

"They all have a critical attack"
This "fix" to Carc you proposed doesn't give him a critical hit. Sure, he has two aoes. But in pvp, no competent player will stay bunched up to allow you to take full advantage these powers. Let's look at the 4 good trainer companions. They all have access to their class's version of relentless and bladestorm, allowing them to chain extremely efficiently. They also have the critical hit that you mentioned. Carc has NONE of these traits. He lacks mojo rising, which greatly limits the amount of damage he can put out. The reason why these critical attacks are good on the other companions is not exclusively their high base damage, it's the ability these companions have to create lengthy ensuing chains. Even if he HAD mojo rising, witchdoctor's accuracy is so abysmally low that he couldn't effectively chain. Fixing this would require reworking every witchdoctor companion. Without being able to chain or put out large amounts of damage, Carcarius will forever be a low tier companion.

Now let's say Carc was to get a significant improvement that didn't involve giving him mojo buffs. I believe that he wouldn't get used. Witchdoctors cannot afford to run multiple witch companions on their team. They're just too squishy. Without nerfing Scratch, or making Carc directly comparable to scratch, Carc will always play second fiddle to Scratch. Period. I have a problem with that. I'm sorry if you can't see why a signature companion being unviable is problematic.

Then make a difference in your posts about whether you're talking about Powers or Talents, because right now, that's what you're talking about.
If you wanted to discuss Talents as well, you should have mentioned it, then I would have included Talents in my "fix".
There's no reason to rage at me for something you neglected to mention.
By all means, give Carcarius those Talents, I completely agree with that.

witchdoctor of awe... on Mar 17, 2017 wrote:

onto the PVE portion of Scratch
- I believe a lot of people started to use Scratch's mojo flow due to the defensive encouraging update of Valencia Part II, multiple enemies having vicious charges, assassin's strikes, they had to play defensively. So, They couldn't go Black Fog + Crits, they had to start being defensive, with the implementation of FS3, which completely counters hidden. and since most enemies have around 2500-3000 (4000 boss, from what I can recall, some buccaneers might have 3000-3500) a scratch poison lasted from 5 turns would make them red, where a dance of steel and an anne scatterblast could finish, I don't blame them for this, This update encouraged defensive play, and this is one of the strategies.
onto the PVP portion of Scratch
- I am not a pvp guy, so I can't provide insight on this, but I do know that mojo flow (100%) lasts 3 turns, not forever, and all of the buffs can be removed by just using purge magic, I understand that Scratch may help some out, but I seriously doubt they'll take it away.

On your comments to the pve portion: You are correct that pve was made much more difficult in the Valencia 2 update. However, it's still more than possible to complete Valencia 2 without it (with or without good gear) However, the original post didn't address pve. Id be fine with keeping him as is though in Pve.

Towards your pvp comments: Yes, purge can remove the buffs, but a smart player will not let you into the relatively small purge range. While purge sounds good in theory, it's not practically viable. Flow mojo flow does last 3 rounds (the pirate has 2 rounds of use), but those two rounds can and does make a large difference in the match.
I doubt they'll implement these changes too, but that doesn't mean I can't voice my concerns as to why Scratch is an imbalanced companion

Matthew525011 on Mar 17, 2017 wrote:

On your comments to the pve portion: You are correct that pve was made much more difficult in the Valencia 2 update. However, it's still more than possible to complete Valencia 2 without it (with or without good gear) However, the original post didn't address pve. Id be fine with keeping him as is though in Pve.

Towards your pvp comments: Yes, purge can remove the buffs, but a smart player will not let you into the relatively small purge range. While purge sounds good in theory, it's not practically viable. Flow mojo flow does last 3 rounds (the pirate has 2 rounds of use), but those two rounds can and does make a large difference in the match.
I doubt they'll implement these changes too, but that doesn't mean I can't voice my concerns as to why Scratch is an imbalanced companion

Yeah, for the pve portion, I completed it on my swash simple using my normal builds, had at least ten companion deaths, and a few trips to mitch, but it's possible.
And, I do see that purge range not being effective as well, perhaps increasing the range? Not sure, haven't pvped in awhile.
Also, didn't try to make it sound like I'm trying to not voice your concern.

AndrewDeathblade11... on Mar 19, 2017 wrote:

props to you for being told your comments were unwanted and still coming back to comment further

i found some of ratbeard's posts. this one concerns the hide power, like every other such instance i can find.
"I'm not a fan of balancing PvP at the expense of PvE"
sorry to attack you on your word choice (the pettiest form of debate on the internet) but you said "affect PVE" rather than "hurt PvE" and in this case whether or not nerfing scratch specifically constitutes as an expense to PvE is unclear. and that's up to public discourse. so to be honest, not necessarily do i care if old scratch is nerfed, but having the mojo flow chain on both scratch and carcarius at the same time sounds overkill, in both PvP and PvE, hence what i think gave reason for the OP's proposal.

side note, i agree that the charm power should be brought back to PvP, but not charming gaze, because of its duration, which seems to be either 2 or 3 rounds. if it were allowed in PvP i'd want it shorter. in my experience 2 to 3 rounds is a really long time, especially in ranked matches when the stakes are higher.

oh and carcarius should still definitely be nerfed but right now i'm too tired to come up with anything reasonable

You are correct, the KI devs don't want to balance pvp at the expense of pve. However, they have showed us in wiz they are willing to make balance changes that affect pvp only. If scratch is that "necessary" in pve (I personally think the pve experience is more than balanced without him, but that's irrelevant), change Carc and Scratch in pvp only. Carcarius would have the line in pvp only, scratch would have the line in pve only. In this situation Scratch would also have a super strike in pve and pvp, to offset the loss of the mojo line. Carcarius is fine as is in pve. He doesn't need a super strike.
The problem I have with charm is that it adds too much of an rng factor into the game. Since the charmed unit is under computer control, it can randomly use powers, which can have an extreme impact on the game. I'd be somewhat ok with charm if it performed like blast of discord. The charmed unit wouldn't be able to use powers or have access to their "chaining" talents (bladestorm, riposte, relentless, etc). This way the witch still keeps the disruptive, defensive nature of charm, while minimizing the impact rng can have on it. I agree with you on charming gaze.

Matthew525011 on Feb 22, 2017 wrote:

Currently, witch doctor is the worst class in the pvp meta. Due to witch hunter's newest update, a pirate can simply stand next to a witchdoctor and cut their damage in half with ease. In addition, their base dodge is so low that they struggle to survive chains. With the exception of Old Scratch, witch doctor companions are also nearly useless. A buff must be made to the witch doctor class in general.
The Pirate:
The witch doctor pirate's problem is not a lack of potential damage sources. Instead, it is a lack of survivability and inability to pressure adjacent melee pirates. Thus, I propose a passive "Turn the Tide" style set of epic talents be granted to witchdoctors
Rank 1- 25% spell power increase
Rank 2- 25% accuracy increase
Rank 3- 25% incoming damage reduction
Rank 4- 25% will buff
Rank 5- An additional 25% spell power increase at 25% health (+50% in total)
This grants witchdoctors a greater ability to pressure their opponents at critical health ranges as well as weather their opponent's strikes. It would be trained through rank 3 (like turn the tide) with additional ranks available from pets and/or weapons.

Companions: Witchdoctor companions have extremely low damage output when compared to their compatriots. Each companion is generally given 1-2 spells, which generally do much less damage than the super strike many "meta" companions are given. I believe that, in addition to all that they currently have, many of the current witch doctor companions should be given an epic/mega/super strike dependent on their current promotion. This would not make these companions "overpowered" since their lower accuracy makes them less likely to land the ensuing chains. Also, more witch doctors should have access to the mojo rising talent. Only mormo, the crab hermit, and the troggy chief have access to this talent. Bladestorm and double tap are a mainstay on most ranged and melee companions. Why is it so rare on witch doctor companions? In addition to guaranteed critical strikes, making mojo rising a more common talent allows witch doctor companions to legitimately pressure opposing teams.

Carcarius: Ah carcarius. All your counterparts are staples in their class's pvp builds. And well, you kinda suck. All of these other companions are unique and powerful, offering their team a very powerful and intimidating board presence. Thus, I believe carcarius should have the mojo flow line, rather than Old Scratch. Non witch doctor classes do not need the mojo flow line. It is entirely too powerful to be universal. It leads to very cheesy pvp strategies and exceptionally easy pve experiences. Giving these buffs to carcarius gives witchdoctor a unique, powerful companion that is more on par with his counterparts.

Feedback is appreciated!

popping in for a moment only to say i love the first 2 sections of the original posters ideas.. as for the third i partially agree, popping back out though since after test realm introduced p101 pvp I havent and most likely wont be playing pvp on here, and its sad :/

my main is witch(still my favorite class) I'm happily a witch/melee combo but my "natural style" of play is under-supported, nerfed, or pure dis-allowed.. as well as oftentimes scoffed at by current pvp-ers here on pirates.. I'm not going to say I dont CRAVE to play ranked and eventually tournaments? and I am highly grateful to Ratbeard for all the additions of useful weapons and choices I have now :3

its severely tempting.. but no, not yet, I'm not the type to be glued to a floor and wait until next player reckless frenzies my entire crew and self.. ah I'll hush cause ya lots i could say pros and cons.. but better to just ignore it as a whole.. I need diversity and variables not "this is the strat, play like this" "nope not that gear" "nope no friend viewing" nope nope nope.. leads to me saying >.> nope and then off to wiz pvp to slay and relax..

stormy jen silver

the class is fine, all the tools are there its just too technical for some, i have a friend jeremy nichols who is the best witch ive ever seen, make bucks run away from him and having to chase them down, the class is similar to the nightblade class in ESO a game i used to play until the devs ruined it (thank you ratbeard for not nerfing classes into the ground just to sell another super op class) where there is great potential and a lot of tools but the skill floor is too high so many cant make it work successfully, im not sure howd you do it but just making it easier to play would fix the class