I have taken some time to reanalyze the problems of pvp in general and have come up with a solution to the greatest of them all: Buff Stacking.

As we all know, buff stacking has been the single solitary problem about pvp advantages and disadvantages that has risen about all else. However, I propose one simple, fair solution to solve it all:

-Accuracy/Dodge buffs can only stack up to 50% - additional buffs will not increase it further

-Will, Strength, and Agility buffs can only stack up to 100% - additional buffs will not increase it further

-Therefore, additional buffs should be saved for later in the battle

-This way, a class can stack their first 2 buffs together OR their last one alone, and save the remaining buffs until after their current one expires

This poses as a much simpler solution than limiting which type of buffs can stack together, all that is unnecessary is to cap the percentage of buffs allowed.

Quick Mycin Ashbur... on Jan 1, 2013 wrote:

So basically you wanna force us to hold 1 or 2 spells in are hand for 10 turns? No thank you.

The "us" applies to all schools as they are all included in this plan. As I have said, this plan is still in progress and constructive criticism would have been a better approach.

Additional possibilities include:

-Companion buffs can still stack, even if your buff percentage is at the max

-2 of the same type of critical buffs can not stack, but 2 different ones can

Those stacks and buffs only last so many rounds, and most classes have cards that guarantee a hit, so no matter how much dodge you do, you are going to get that hit in. You can also move, not engage into combat immediately, surround yourself in traps and bombs, there are many things many classes can do.

It sounds to me, like most people are complaining just to complain. Not once have I heard anything that is factual or gives anyone a totally unfair advantage.

When some of you gain some facts and stats, then come post, but to keep stating, this is unfair or that is unfair, why, because you dont have patience or you dont have enough attack cards, why exactly is stacking so unfair? It is part of the game and does not guarantee anyone a victory if you can stack more than another person. Where is your proof that it does?

Darth JT on Jan 4, 2013 wrote:

Those stacks and buffs only last so many rounds, and most classes have cards that guarantee a hit, so no matter how much dodge you do, you are going to get that hit in. You can also move, not engage into combat immediately, surround yourself in traps and bombs, there are many things many classes can do.

It sounds to me, like most people are complaining just to complain. Not once have I heard anything that is factual or gives anyone a totally unfair advantage.

When some of you gain some facts and stats, then come post, but to keep stating, this is unfair or that is unfair, why, because you dont have patience or you dont have enough attack cards, why exactly is stacking so unfair? It is part of the game and does not guarantee anyone a victory if you can stack more than another person. Where is your proof that it does?

A few facts that may be helpful to understanding the frustration:

These buffs do last a limited number of rounds, yes. For many of them though, that limited number is 10 rounds. Assuming only about a minute of animations per round and 2 minutes of move selection, this is 30 minutes of "doing something else" per buff, and then the privateer has another buff they can throw which does as much as el toro and their lower level buff combined. This is over an hour of attempting to "wait out" buffs. And, truthfully, in anything other than 1v1 you're usually talking more time than that per round. Two teams animations, epics going off all over the place, pet moves. Plus the hiding and waiting doesn't work very well with so many units on the board, and those buffs are for an entire team, so their power is magnified greatly.

And yes, your powers are 100% accurate, but you rarely live long enough to cast more than one of them. Why? Because an entire team of companions with amazing accuracy will burst fire and relentless you to death in a single turn most of the time. El Toro will knock out 1,500 health on his own with a couple of crits and a good relentless streak.

This is even more of an issue for Swash/Bucc because they have their own epics - which do not have perfect accuracy. So First Strike or Vengeance Strike triggering pulls even more damage from units with Riposte, and increases their chance of a Relentless chain if they failed to do so on the initial hit. For Bucc especially, who does not have many attack powers anyway, this is a very big problem. Have them throw spirit armor onto a high damage companion so it takes 5 attacks to even begin to damage it, and you're in a very bad situation.

Battleboard size has a lot to do with this also. On the small 1v1 boards you can pressure an opponent before they have time to buff up, especially if you get first turn. On the bigger boards it takes several turns to get anywhere, and the buffs last a long time/reach teammates anywhere on the board, which makes them very easy to stack through the roof.

Some stats.

Assuming a 3v3 team of 2 Privateers and 1 Swashbuckler. Using my Swash base stats and my Bonnie/Toro base stats as examples.

Note: I've calculated buff stacking with Espirit De Corps by multiplying total dodge and accuracy by 1.25 at each step. If it works differently, I'd be interested to know.

Swash Base - acc:95 dodge:120
Bonnie Base - acc:108 dodge:52
Toro Base: - acc:80 dodge:103

Assuming they all have El Toro to use his buff, and 2 Privateers can find the 25% Espirit De Corps:

Swash - acc:290 dodge:365
Bonnie - acc:330 dodge:157
Toro - acc:243 dodge:314

Assuming the opponents have no Privateers, but were smart enough to all bring El Toro:

Swash - acc:186 dodge:234
Bonnie - acc:211 dodge:101
Toro - acc:156 dodge:201

This is a pretty big discrepancy. Is there something about the accuracy and dodge stats that I don't know, which make this not a big deal? Piling more Privateers on a team just makes the gaps worse, or last for even longer periods of time.

Even with Privateer out of the question, the stacking with El Toro alone is pretty far out there if one team doesn't bring this companion.

Yes, you do have 100% accurate powers.. but companions don't have many of those. 1-2 max? So after the first volley of attacks, you have 9 useless companions that can't hit the broad side of a barn, and 3 pirates trying to kill everything.. and probably being taken out in quick succession.

I mean, I'm not completely sure of how all the stat systems interact here, so I'd definitely like to understand more if there's something I'm missing.

It seems like, even with a liberal dose of Scatterblast hitting these units with your companions is not a very sure thing. Then they can throw in team heals, spirit armors, 10 round damage reduction buffs of 25-50%. And you're still faced with the opposing team's companions having much greater accuracy, and therefore chaining epics like mad. Add Critspiration and you're getting mowed down at amazing speeds.