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'Scratch'ing my head at ranked.

AuthorMessage
Bosun
Feb 25, 2012
329
I used to play Pirate101 a lot, but had to end my membership a while back. recently repurchased it, yada yada.

Back in the day, Ranked was all about that swashy fog. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see it not brought up at all lately. The less controversy the better, eh?

So earlier today I went ahead and jumped into a ranked pvp match. My swash, fan, nausica, and toro against a privy, scratch, toro, and ratbeard.

The Privy had the beast banner AND the nefarious staff. I expected him to summon scorpions, buff with toro, then throw up the banner. Fog didn't show in my hand, so I hid myself and- well, let me cut to the chase here. none of this rigmarole really matters.

*A Preface: What you're about to read may very well be the words of an exceptionally salty sammy.

privy buffed critical. scratch buffed spell power. next turn, dude dropped a barrage on me. did 1k or so damage all around. I was totally shocked. Realizing that there was no way in heck I would have any chance if i kept my team grouped up to get a fog, i split us up. I charged, dealing some decent damage to the priv. didn't matter. he put up a valors shield- for 26 hundred defense.

needless to say, I was mildly perturbed.

again, skipping the needless story telling, he wiped me.

It had never occured to me that a power like Scratch's would be THAT impactful. It had never occured to me that such an imbalanced thing would be introduced in PvP OR PvE. (I've tried it out on my lvl 50 WD, level 120 summons? What?!?) It's... It's genuinely ridiculous. I'm at a loss as to how one can effectively counter this, aside from sprockets key or just using an identical strategy.

Looking back on it, the guy didn't even let loose his best tactic, which was no doubt crazy boosted scorpions plus beast banner plus espirit.

I just... I hope I'm not coming off as a poor sport here. I really do. I just can't wrap my mind around how such an incredibly powerful ability made it into the game. It reminds me of when Battle Zeal lasted 10 turns. Ergh, I'm getting myself worked up just thinking about it. Is this just gonna be how ranked is? If so... oh man, I hope that next book gets here fast.
Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
Blixet on Mar 29, 2016 wrote:
I used to play Pirate101 a lot, but had to end my membership a while back. recently repurchased it, yada yada.

Back in the day, Ranked was all about that swashy fog. I was actually pleasantly surprised to see it not brought up at all lately. The less controversy the better, eh?

So earlier today I went ahead and jumped into a ranked pvp match. My swash, fan, nausica, and toro against a privy, scratch, toro, and ratbeard.

The Privy had the beast banner AND the nefarious staff. I expected him to summon scorpions, buff with toro, then throw up the banner. Fog didn't show in my hand, so I hid myself and- well, let me cut to the chase here. none of this rigmarole really matters.

*A Preface: What you're about to read may very well be the words of an exceptionally salty sammy.

privy buffed critical. scratch buffed spell power. next turn, dude dropped a barrage on me. did 1k or so damage all around. I was totally shocked. Realizing that there was no way in heck I would have any chance if i kept my team grouped up to get a fog, i split us up. I charged, dealing some decent damage to the priv. didn't matter. he put up a valors shield- for 26 hundred defense.

needless to say, I was mildly perturbed.

again, skipping the needless story telling, he wiped me.

It had never occured to me that a power like Scratch's would be THAT impactful. It had never occured to me that such an imbalanced thing would be introduced in PvP OR PvE. (I've tried it out on my lvl 50 WD, level 120 summons? What?!?) It's... It's genuinely ridiculous. I'm at a loss as to how one can effectively counter this, aside from sprockets key or just using an identical strategy.

Looking back on it, the guy didn't even let loose his best tactic, which was no doubt crazy boosted scorpions plus beast banner plus espirit.

I just... I hope I'm not coming off as a poor sport here. I really do. I just can't wrap my mind around how such an incredibly powerful ability made it into the game. It reminds me of when Battle Zeal lasted 10 turns. Ergh, I'm getting myself worked up just thinking about it. Is this just gonna be how ranked is? If so... oh man, I hope that next book gets here fast.
Yeah, you should see what a team of witches and privies do in the Tower with Old Scratch's buff ( not to mention what it does to Blood Flames. )
You need a VA or VF for Nausica to face a privy/scratch combo ( and pray to the immortals that Emmett isn't included on his team! )
Have her centaur charge Old Scratch, while you hide the team ( if you can ) and buff with Fan and Toro
Old Scratch may have an awesome buff, but the top Flow Mojo Flow only lasts 3 rounds; the others 5 and 10 rounds. So if you can defeat Scratch first, you'll have a better chance.
Then you can concentrate on the Privy.
Bosun
Feb 25, 2012
329
its just... in the course of 2 turns, a privy can give a unit plus 2600 health. one more turn and they could do it again if they've got the gear for it. and an aoe that can hit anywhere benefited by the power...

It all just seems SO excessive. yeah, scratch was bad a while back, but that was because he fizzled constantly. Now I don't even like to use Scratch in PvE because he makes the game too easy. I just can't imagine this being so much as considered by people to be reasonable, let alone be actually implemented into the game.

either way, I won't be participating in ranked for a while I think. All that anticipated unpleasantness and more seems to surround the place for some reason...
Pirate Overlord
Mar 16, 2012
10631
Blixet on Mar 30, 2016 wrote:
its just... in the course of 2 turns, a privy can give a unit plus 2600 health. one more turn and they could do it again if they've got the gear for it. and an aoe that can hit anywhere benefited by the power...

It all just seems SO excessive. yeah, scratch was bad a while back, but that was because he fizzled constantly. Now I don't even like to use Scratch in PvE because he makes the game too easy. I just can't imagine this being so much as considered by people to be reasonable, let alone be actually implemented into the game.

either way, I won't be participating in ranked for a while I think. All that anticipated unpleasantness and more seems to surround the place for some reason...
I'm sure you don't want Old Scratch to go back to being nearly useless. KI implemented this bonus to Scratch because WD were unpowered in the buffing companion department.
And are you avoiding Ranked because of one bad incident with a Privy? Don't you enjoy the challenge of PVP?
If so, get back on that horse and ride it!
Petty Officer
Jan 03, 2010
95
Haha, sounds like another has witnessed the extensive wrath of privateers in ranked.

Yep, a buckler myself, Privateers are by far the most difficult class to beat. I notice you drew a great amount of attention to old scratch and his role in that match. I would ask you, now having witnessed the absurdity that is 200% spell power big guns, would you ever consider bringing scratch on YOUR team? No doubt Toro Fan Nausica is probably the most common buckler team for ranked, but I personally find more success using old scratch instead of toro.

When you see 381 damage going on 2+ units for 5 rounds it's great, but watching it do 762 from a super W/ Scratch Buff is SOOOO much better, guaranteed to kill any unit if unshielded or healed (easy work for the rest of your team).

Well there goes my scratch story, watching your opponent inevitably die from poisons, not to mention we have boosted heals and bleeding from assassins aswell :P

Take it from a pvp champion, scratch=wins you didn't know where possible.

"Scratch your head" at ranked no longer ;)

Noble Wolf Hawkins
Lieutenant
Nov 26, 2010
163
You also pulled one of the top privy Lucas. Scratch isn't broken in 1v1 but u need to just learn how to value your powers now instead of relying on just pressuring them with a simple rush fog or not. Guarantee the kills now instead of relying on chains etc
Admiral
Jun 02, 2013
1472
I will agree that if you get dealt the wrong cards against a privy with scratch you will lose due to the big guns power
Bosun
Apr 28, 2014
398
I totally agree Blixet, sadly nobody cares about unbalance... pve with a team isnt even fun anymore.
Bosun
Dec 21, 2009
396
I think the Scratch update was fantastic. It is a little OP, but then again classes like musketeer have guaranteed traps, Swash have the infamous hide ability, and buccaneer can mutilate anyone who ain't a swashbuckler (no argument intended). Scratch really helps privateers who manage from behind and WDs that kick rear from afar. But you're right that it does really bring things up, just don't forget your own "super" powers.