I have not played on the test realm yet, and don't have my collective characters as far along as yours (Witchdoctor and Swashbuckler at 50, musketeer, privateer and buccaneer all in the 20 - 24 range).

My experiences are similar to yours. The buccaneer certainly seems the weakest to me. He is the only one where, once I hit Cool Ranch, I have had to be very careful about the sequence I tackle quests, and where with some fights if I see I a, outnumbered, I just to flee immediately since there was no way I can win. He is currently focusing on the main quest line, with its richer experience rewards, with the intent to doubling back to the neglected side quests which he will be taking on 4 or 5 levels after he received them. He is my only character who has had to use this strategy (other characters have had a problem with maybe one or two quests when first received, but those were rare exceptions). Part of the problem may be the class itself, and part may be that for whatever reason he doesn't have buccaneer-only items that give him decent area affect damage or party buff spells, like my other characters all seem to have. My level 50 characters hoarded a lot of cool items for the other classes to help the babies along the way - but between them they found very little for buccaneers that was very useful.

Again, I am talking about the game w/o the test realm changes.

-Michael

I do enjoy running him - but I do find he has a harder struggle to advance of late, compared to the other classes.

-Michael

Darthjt, Thanks for your good advice.

I do have decent gear that I had collected from leveling my other Pirates and even farmed for hours for gold to keep my companions at high levels. I know I can make it through the game as it is now, but I keep racking my brain to figure out what small changes would bring the Buccaneer class more in line with the other classes. Sadly I haven't been able to think of any.
If anyone has any cool ideas for Buccaneers please share your thoughts here.

The game designers have done an amazing job on Pirate 101 and I know they will continue to do so.

Never died with my buccaneer i feel good with him in live, with new patch additions will be awesome, the only thing i don't like too much is just that blade dance x 2, we could have something more useful instead of 1x blade dance but ehy every class get some "trash" (and classes with a lot of actives get way more trash than a buccaneer) so i don't bother too much about .

Valdrick on Feb 24, 2013 wrote:

What Bucs really need is an AoE ability, like a shout of some way of drawing attention to themselves. I have 5 pirates and the Buc is one of my faves but if he is going to be the designated "tank" guy and take the heat, he needs to be able to 1: hit 2: draw attention away from companions 3: be able to take lots of damage. Now KI has most of this done amazingly, but Bucs still lack this attention grabber.

I am optimistic and I know they will evolve into a even more amazing class.

I've been experimenting with some possible AoE's for buccaneers, and i happen to have a shout type of power called cry of battle, which ever sounds better, and it basically damages enemies in a certain area, and then threat to everyone. It's other ranks include roar of battle and roar of war.

Speed Switch on Feb 25, 2013 wrote:

you got to lvl 39 in the test realm??? wow i think buccaneers are great now, but above all, they should still have a KO stun but i give KI credit for what they just did also plz plz plz plz tell me tht ALLL buccaneers ARE SUPPOSE to have turn the tide? cus something keep telling when this is imported into the live realm only some crown buccaneers are gonna have turn the tide

THX for ALL!

Xavier

No. My Buccaneer was at level 38 or 39 when I started in the test realm.
Sorry I can't answer your question about all Buccaneer companions having Turn the Tide.

AstroStorm and Valdrick, your ideas about having a threat generating AoE sounds great.
Now we can only hope

Ratbeard on Feb 26, 2013 wrote:

1) With the exception of some low level enemies in the early game, all BUC units get Turn the Tide. Certainly your companions will have it; but I removed it from some enemies in the early game so as not to overwhelm new players.

2) The Buccaneer class is unique in that it is designed to be "simple to play." They don't have a lot of powers; instead we focus on improving them with talents that should "just work." This isn't to say that the Buccaneer is easy to play, just that it doesn't have anywhere near the complexity of the Witchdoctor on the other end of the scale. (Notice that Witchdoctors don't have a lot of talents, but have tons of powers.)

3) Buccaneers don't do AoE. That's the Musketeer's schtick, and we don't want to step on their toes. But we might give them one or two; let's see what happens in the next update.

It doesn't necessarily need to be AoE damage. I'd be happy with AoE threat gain so buccaneers can be tanks.

Ratbeard on Feb 26, 2013 wrote:

1) With the exception of some low level enemies in the early game, all BUC units get Turn the Tide. Certainly your companions will have it; but I removed it from some enemies in the early game so as not to overwhelm new players.

2) The Buccaneer class is unique in that it is designed to be "simple to play." They don't have a lot of powers; instead we focus on improving them with talents that should "just work." This isn't to say that the Buccaneer is easy to play, just that it doesn't have anywhere near the complexity of the Witchdoctor on the other end of the scale. (Notice that Witchdoctors don't have a lot of talents, but have tons of powers.)

3) Buccaneers don't do AoE. That's the Musketeer's schtick, and we don't want to step on their toes. But we might give them one or two; let's see what happens in the next update.

Nice infos thx Ratbeard, just a note: I started my Buccaneer time ago not because it is more easy (i did all the game with a musketeer for first), but because it doesn't waste skills on something wich will never use (like those 1x skills a musketeer has wich are usually discarded for some more damaging one), so at end having more passives works better than having a ton of actives, since passives are infact, always, active, so at end the time gaining is noticeable ( i end my combats faster with the buccaneer than with my musketeer since him aoes are ok but too much spreaded in too much many skills), for active skills i use gear with cards like a programmable skill bar; usually a battle doesn't last more than 10, maybe 15 turns if in group so it is not really needed to have like 20-25 skills :P.

So at end i would say that if there is some difficult, it is into find the right equipment more than using an extremely long premade skill bar with just stat gear ^^.

p.s. in any case an aoe taunt is needed, a swashbuckler as i said could do more taunt with a single aoe than us vs a single enemy, for now i could accept to use some magic aoe skill from items (example: fire temple amulet) for test but ofc they are not enough :).

I think the Buccaneers are needing something other than various improved charges. The bladestorm and vengence strike are the primary attacks. Gallant defense would be a usable ability for a warrior (tank) class and that the ability should be moved from Swashbucklers (damage) to the tank. Adding Relentless or First Strike talents would make it feel more viable. The swashbucklers get reposite at 37 in addition to their 15th level first strike talent. I respect the swashbuckler need to destroy a group of attackers quickly but, the tank class gets little that makes it a want to play class. I see a swashbuckler do the Dance of Steel and am green with envy

Bucisfav on Mar 1, 2013 wrote:

I think the Buccaneers are needing something other than various improved charges. The bladestorm and vengence strike are the primary attacks. Gallant defense would be a usable ability for a warrior (tank) class and that the ability should be moved from Swashbucklers (damage) to the tank. Adding Relentless or First Strike talents would make it feel more viable. The swashbucklers get reposite at 37 in addition to their 15th level first strike talent. I respect the swashbuckler need to destroy a group of attackers quickly but, the tank class gets little that makes it a want to play class. I see a swashbuckler do the Dance of Steel and am green with envy

ya i do wonder why swashbucklers have gallant defense seing that they are suppose t stay in the shadows and come out with surprise attacks, galant defense is PERFECT for buccaneers and it is just totally fit for thier nature