For the longest time I cringed whenever one of these doubloons popped up, because when they first came out I felt they had no purpose. Now that I have dozens of the thing and they keep popping up in every battle, even though they're at the bottom of my doubloon list, I've been trying to work out how to effectively use them.

You can't.

Because with the current game providing Epics such as Overwatch, Hold The Line, Blade Storm, Readied Spell, basically anything that activates when the enemy approaches and/or hits you, that's considered as using a power, and thus disqualifies the character that activated during the enemy's turn, which at the higher levels is every companion and pirate that currently exist (I haven't tried this with Flanking/Crossfire yet, but I assume that is the case as well).

In theory, these doubloons should be an excellent option for when you're in a pinch, but that clearly isn't the case and I can't foresee any one in their right mind giving up passive epics in the name of a few doubloons.

My suggestion is to change the way these doubloons work so that you don't get disqualified for powers activating when it isn't your pirate's turn. Keep the using powers on your turn cancelling the doubloon effect, that's fine, but don't punish the player for what happens when the enemy charges you.

Still cringing,

Charming Morgan Freeman, LVL 70
Corrupt Grace, LVL 70
Sheila, LVL 54.

I know that a free heal is a good thing, it is a very good thing. However my issue is that on my turn I will activate, and then click on done right after the doubloon. At most I'll send my team into some far corner of the map, which is usually 8-12 squares large. My turn passes in which I did nothing, then the enemy strikes.

It is this phase that I have no control, the game becomes nothing more than a cinematic. And it is in this cinematic that the enemy runs within 6 (readied spell max range) /4 (readied spell standard) /2 (overwatch/parting shot/coward's bane) /1 (riposte/vengeance strike/first strike) squares of my pirate and companions, triggering defensive epics. It is because of this passive activation caused by the enemy that you lose the effect before your next turn, which is where you get the first heal.

Essentially this doubloon denies anyone that is running any form of ranged weapon.

Unless you can miraculously find somewhere on the board where the enemy can't get within range on their turn, this doubloon tree remains redundant and I'll stand by this until it get revised.