Has the Boss Battle been dumbed down?

[Dan_OB]

I'll pick on Zep because his response was the most on topic and list the possible answers most succinctly.

Originally Posted by Dr. Zeppers

The first time I beat the boss battle, over a year ago, was with myself and 1 other pirate.
Weve even had pirates solo it back then as well.
Just noone talking about soloing it now I do not think.

Thats how I learned to drive a boss battle, a friend of mine and I did boss battles, just the 2 of us, till we both could win it consistently. Which is probably why I don't care about crew size in a BB now. With 2 mastered pirates and another in the 30's combined with the fact that I never pass-up an opportunity to take part in one i have considerable experience with them. I haven't kept track, but It has been ages since I have lost one driving and I can win with almost any crew. so I know what is required to win and have a good idea when a BB should fail. I've also read almost everything said about BB's in this forum - so I've at least read everything mentioned in this thread before.

I dont think they have changed it at all actually, I think pirates are just getting better at it.

No doubt , with the BB being repeatable and with so many pirates with nothing else to do, more and more people are becoming adept at it. But in the cases I'm talking about, the drivers clearly didn't know what they where doing.

Sure you may have had a few inexperienced, but it doesnt take a but a couple high level cannons to do the trick with a decent BB savvy sailor at the helm.

Emphasize mine

In the cases I'm talking about the helmsmen, far from being savvy, clearly didn't know what they where doing. In the BB I mentioned in the OP the captain did almost everything wrong (think of the worst steering job you have ever seen in a BB). In the past it would have been a near certainty that the BB would be lost. I mention the crew only to point out it was an average crew, not particularly powerful and not particularly weak , so probably not an answer to the success of the BB.

So a better title to this thread might have been: "Does the BB still require a decent BB savvy sailor at the helm?"

Luck is also a factor

This was my first assumption, but when you find yourself saying "that was lucky!" many times in a row you start to doubt that it is luck. I still hope this is the answer though, even if the odds are against it.

One thing that I do also know for a fact, the BB does modify its level of difficulty when it launchs (always has), based on the number of crew, and thier notoriety levels.
If you have low level pirates, and fewer pirates it is easier, the ship does not take damage as quickly as with large high level crews (in theory it is just as hard though due to having fewer, or lower leveled pirates).

Thought about this too. But as in the case I referred to in the OP, the crews where on the large size with average to low fire power and so this compensation factor would have worked against the probable success of the BB, not for it.

The reason I raised the question is that I have recently been in many BB's that where so badly driven that, in the recent past, failure would have been all but guaranteed, but yet they where all won.

A final note - If your a knowledgeable, experienced driver, your experiences driving aren't really relevant. I'm talking about badly driven BBs.