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Epics not always activating

AuthorMessage
Gunner's Mate
Jan 06, 2011
228
Sometimes epics, the reactive bonus attacks, do not activate when they should. I thought that only relentless, burst fire and mojo echo had just a chance to activate but I have seen almost every epic not trigger when it should. This is also not a new thing. I have been seeing it happen for quite a while now (I have posted about it before but not got any response) and it affects the enemies as much as it does me & my companions.

I'm not posting this in the bilge pump because it is a random thing and I cannot reliably reproduce it. However, I have noticed a couple of situations where it is more likely that an epic won't trigger.
On the first turn: This usually only happens with repel boarders and overwatch. I give my orders, then the enemy does theirs and moves into range but nothing happens. They aren't moving through anyone, which would stop it, and the epics definitely haven't been used yet.
With rank 2 epics: The first of the 3 hits usually activates fine, but if the next one should activate on a different enemy or during the enemies turn (if the first was in your turn) then is is likely that it wont trigger. And I am counting right, I know when there are epics left to trigger. This has happened on almost all epics, with the possible exceptions of bladestorm (I rarely get more than one kill per turn anyway) and relentless/burst fire/mojo echo.

Again, this is all random. There is no specific enemy or world where this happens, because it happens everywhere. I have probably noticed it a lot because I try to activate epics on enemies in order to activate my own epics (I like epic chains). And with enemies in MB having more epics it is becoming more obvious.

Ensign
Sep 05, 2009
26
This is nothing important, the developers created it so that epics would not always activate, it isn't a bug and there isn't a difference in how often they activate ( unless there is a difference in accuracy), turns shouldn't affect it either.

Hope this helped!

Loyal Matthew Ashford

Gunner's Mate
Jan 06, 2011
228
Matthew Ashford on Jun 9, 2013 wrote:
This is nothing important, the developers created it so that epics would not always activate, it isn't a bug and there isn't a difference in how often they activate ( unless there is a difference in accuracy), turns shouldn't affect it either.

Hope this helped!

Loyal Matthew Ashford
You wouldn't happen to have a quote or something from the devs confirming that. Because I thought that all epics (except relentless, burst fire & mojo echo) would definitely activate as long as the conditions were correct. Repel boarders used to have a 70% chance to activate but it was changed to 100%.

This certainly seems like a bug to me. Otherwise, why would I see it happen less with the first activation than on the second or third. Did I waste an epic slot by getting rank 2 of an epic?

Gunner's Mate
Dec 16, 2009
212
Yes I have noticed it too. It happens quite randomly. There will be times when overwatch doesn't activate, riposte doesn't activate, even flanking doesn't activate. Luckily it happens so rarely that it is not a huge issue as of now.

Gunner's Mate
Jan 06, 2011
228
I would have liked it if a dev had chimed in on this topic. It would be good to know if this was intended or if it really is a bug. Due to how random it is it's hard to tell.

Ensign
Sep 05, 2009
26
KiwiChickenz on Jun 9, 2013 wrote:
You wouldn't happen to have a quote or something from the devs confirming that. Because I thought that all epics (except relentless, burst fire & mojo echo) would definitely activate as long as the conditions were correct. Repel boarders used to have a 70% chance to activate but it was changed to 100%.

This certainly seems like a bug to me. Otherwise, why would I see it happen less with the first activation than on the second or third. Did I waste an epic slot by getting rank 2 of an epic?
Hmm, perhaps you're right I've been doing some research on it, haven't found any accuracy ratings, I'm not so sure it's a bug though... I'm planning on doing some farming to research this topic, also if any developer would comment that would be nice, I'm also going to continue looking but have not yet found the quote I'm looking for

Gunner's Mate
Jan 06, 2011
228
I hate to have to beg, but One-Eyed Jack can you please say if this is a bug or is it some undocumented "feature" of the epic mechanics.

Developer
KiwiChickenz on Jun 13, 2013 wrote:
I would have liked it if a dev had chimed in on this topic. It would be good to know if this was intended or if it really is a bug. Due to how random it is it's hard to tell.
I haven't been able to reproduce any issues with talents not firing when they should.

That, and having inspected the code, and especially due to the large number of valid reasons why even the 100% guaranteed talents would not fire (occupied tiles, hidden attackers, hidden attacks, attackers/targets moving (or not) to trigger the talent, equipped weapon/attack types, fire counts being used up, etc.) I'm not inclined to think it's a bug.

I also play the game, and I know what to look for, and I haven't noticed anything out of the ordinary. That includes Repel Boarders, Flanking, Overwatch... the works. I observe almost the full spectrum of talents. (Certainly the usual favorites that we all have in common.)

Anything you guys can provide to help reproduce the bug is certainly appreciated-- Kiwi, your first post is very good in that respect.

Gunner's Mate
Jan 06, 2011
228
Ok, I'll take your word for it Ratbeard. But I'll be watching to see if there is any pattern. It isn't a huge problem, battles just go much faster when epics activate.

Captain
May 02, 2009
525
One time in pvp, I was fighting this witchdoctor. She chose Bonnie, Zeena and Lefty. I chose Bonnie, Zeena and Argos. When I told my Zeena to kill Lefty, she did defeat him but didn't get Double Tap even though the witchdoctor's Zeena was in range. Then her Zeena killed mine and got Double Tap on me (cause Argos already died FYI). I feel like I was cheated out of a win Also my level 67 Zeena has almost 100 agility yet Bonnie still spams Burst Fire on her. I thought the more the Agility the less likely Burst Fire would activate. Then again she did give her Bonnie Burst Fire 3...

Gunner's Mate
Jan 06, 2011
228
I have another insight on this. With overwatch not working on the first turn, this is more likely to happen if I don't give my companion any orders on the first turn. But again, this is random.

Coolster, you mention the agility modifier for burst fire. I remember reading about that and I wonder if it is the same for other epics as well. It shouldn't be but it would explain things.

I'll try to record the game next time I play. Then at least if I think it is going wrong I can go back and watch the footage to check.

Gunner's Mate
Jan 06, 2011
228
I did some recording and managed to catch this happening. I made a post about it on Pirate101 Central and linked the videos there ( http://pirate101.centralforums.com/forums/showthread.php?39345-Epics-not-always-activating&p=153227#post153227 ).

Even though I did see it happening, I didn't see any pattern. It was quite random. Also, it seems to affect the enemy as much as it does my units, so I guess that balances out.