Sorry about that....
I recently completed Brother Owl's quest and things have lightened up considerably. I groaned aloud when I saw that I had to beat even more Black Storm Raiders (seriously, that's overdone) but the world in general isn't as bad as I made it sound.

I do have some specific problems to point out, though.
1. I'm pretty sure Bison Scout Spirit's first epic talent (Return Fire) cannot be used by it on account of it not being able to stop ranged attacks from hitting it. I've had it for a few weeks now and it has not used it even once.
2. Witch Hunter is completely useless! I wasn't sure what it did so I looked it up and got mixed reponses, No-one seemed to be exactly sure about its effect. I have never seen it activate either.
3. I have noticed some serious problems with ship-to-ship combat, not just in Cool Ranch but in the other worlds as well. It seems that the ships you face are all so much stronger than you that it is pretty much impossible to sink one with cannons alone unless you gang up on them. In some cases, you'll be lucky if you can get their health down low enough to board them. These problems turn Broadside Combat from a fun distraction into a gimmick that really detracts from the overall fun factor of the game. Please either fix these problems or at least lower the goals on the ship fighting quests.

Hey Jdyer199.

I went through that little difficulty spike, but, I honestly did not think it was that hard. The only pain in the rear thing about Cool Ranch was that 90% of all monsters seemed to be shooters.

Now, I am the first person in the whole gaming universe to probably complain about difficulty and what not, but quite honestly, this game kind of allows you to make it all easier for you.

First off, train your companions, and grind a bit. Even if you are not into grinding, grind maybe one extra level, or push yourself to train your companions one extra level. Go back and do the side quests, especially if you don't like grinding. If you are having a hard time fighting ships, save up the gold to get yourself a bigger/better ship. Like the Cool Ranch frigate. Or the frigate for an even easier time fighting ships.

Since this is tactics, this is already a bit more 'hairier' than basic turn based one vs one. You can read Pirate101's post "Tactics, Tips, Tricks, and Strategy" and maybe read some suggestions/thoughts on there from the community.

As for aesthetics, I love Cool Ranch. I rather fly around in the Cool Ranch skyways than go anywhere near Monquista, the world I did not like whatsoever. Every time I see a monkey, I suffer an involuntary spout of trauma.

One thing I had noticed in general was that players like to do quests, and move on, and they don't do anything extra, to play as 'fast' as possible. The quicker you try to play through worlds, the harder things tend to get for lower level pirates and their companions. Take a good deep breath, and say "Alright game, I am going to train extra levels, and then I will kick you in the rear!"

If a person like me can hit a new world and start it with relative ease, then I am sure every person in the universe can do it too, because I am a wuss and the first one to complain about spiked up difficulty and challenges.

Cool Ranch being a new world, naturally steps up the difficulty level somewhat when we arrive. However its not all that bad. I was bringing my Buccaneer up through the ranks, and had been experimenting with my companions. I had not trained a companion since level 8 upon arriving at Cool Ranch. I even tripped through a bit of Cool Ranch before I finally trained my companions up to within 3 levels of my pirate, and most battles went smoothly from that point on.

The never ending ship battles can be a bit frustrating. But they are not as hard as one thinks if we take the time to upgrade our ships, and ship equipment. Cool Ranch is where I am usually buying my first ship, as the monquistan skiff we are given starts to fall a bit short. A bison frigate equipped with Blackstorm raider drops is a force as you get to the higher level ship battles in Cool Ranch, and there is nothing that a Bison Galleon cant handle well on its own if equipped with decent gear.
If anything many of the comments I read about ship battles prove one thing to me, there are definately different perspectives in play. Ship battles is one the things my friends like to do the most. They are a lot of fun when you gang up on them, and the nautical xp, gold, and gear drops flow readily.

For those having a hard time in Cool Ranch with ship battles I have basically 2 recommendations. Get friends, and upgrade your ships!!!

I'm in Cool Ranch myself, and while some of what you say is true, I have to disagree with other parts.

The El Toro [trumpet fanfare] arc is wonderfully entertaining and those who are older and know a lot about westerns will get most of the horrific puns in this section.

One big hint: Get a better ship. The skiff sold in Cooper's Roost along with the addons in the same location, will make ship-to-ship battles much easier.

I found that I actually enjoyed Cool Ranch. There were only a few truly difficult battles, and those were solved with a little creative planning.

Of course, I'm 8 levels over the normal player for the quests I'm on... Farming a witchdoctor outfit is apparently an exercise in futility.

Where can you buy Bison ships?

jdyer199 on Nov 24, 2012 wrote:

Sorry about that....
I recently completed Brother Owl's quest and things have lightened up considerably. I groaned aloud when I saw that I had to beat even more Black Storm Raiders (seriously, that's overdone) but the world in general isn't as bad as I made it sound.

I do have some specific problems to point out, though.
1. I'm pretty sure Bison Scout Spirit's first epic talent (Return Fire) cannot be used by it on account of it not being able to stop ranged attacks from hitting it. I've had it for a few weeks now and it has not used it even once.
2. Witch Hunter is completely useless! I wasn't sure what it did so I looked it up and got mixed reponses, No-one seemed to be exactly sure about its effect. I have never seen it activate either.
3. I have noticed some serious problems with ship-to-ship combat, not just in Cool Ranch but in the other worlds as well. It seems that the ships you face are all so much stronger than you that it is pretty much impossible to sink one with cannons alone unless you gang up on them. In some cases, you'll be lucky if you can get their health down low enough to board them. These problems turn Broadside Combat from a fun distraction into a gimmick that really detracts from the overall fun factor of the game. Please either fix these problems or at least lower the goals on the ship fighting quests.

I THINK Witch Hunter is the Vengeance strike of Witchdoctors.

My Batacuda is now lvl 26! Funny Blake Barclay, lvl 26 Witchdoctor.