To be honest, when I first started playing it, I thought it was just another card game that was mindless in terms of combat power. But in the middle of the game, especially after starting the Nine Seas Conflict and Guild Naval Battle, I found that the balance design of this system is far more solid than expected. In the current version, the positioning of front-row human shields, rear-row cannon fire, and auxiliary captains is very clear, and there is no outrageous situation where a single character crushes the entire field. At least in the current mainstream lineup, the fault tolerance rate of pure output flow is very low. On the contrary, the configuration of one control, one milk and three outputs is easier to gain a foothold in the arena.
Let's talk about the character balance that everyone is most concerned about. Several of the more powerful SSR captains now, such as Jack Sparrow and Barbossa, each have obvious advantages. Jack's advantage lies in his flexible skill cycle and dodge linkage, which is suitable for continuous consumption; Barbossa is explosive and can quickly lower the opponent's health line with the Musketeer system. But note that these two characters require specific equipment and talent support, and they don't mean you can win by just picking them up without thinking. On the contrary, some SR characters, such as Elizabeth and Will, can work wonders in specific lineups, especially Elizabeth's control-removing skills, which can be called the key to a comeback when the opponent has a multi-control lineup.
However, balance is not without its pitfalls. In the naval battle mode, ship strength has a great impact on the battle situation, especially the gap between purple ships and orange ships is magnified in PVP. If the captains of both sides have similar levels of proficiency, the one with the higher ship level will often win. This results in early resource allocation being tilted toward shipbuilding, which reduces the diversity of character development to a certain extent. I know a few players who, in order to boost their rankings, spent resources on building an orange ship without even having their main captain full of stars. As a result, the arena was indeed easy to play, but the map push efficiency dropped again. I think the official version of this "ship overwhelms people" environment needs to be adjusted in the future, otherwise it will become a shipbuilding simulator.
In addition, the matching mechanism is quite reasonable. The arena is dually matched based on rank and combat power, and it is rare for a max-level boss to overwhelm a novice player. But cross-server battles are a bit of a show-off. Occasionally, you'll run into an opponent who has 20,000 to 30,000 more combat power than you. In such games, you're basically trying to get lucky and see if you can perform a wave of miracles through the control chain. Fortunately, this type of failure does not deduct too many points, and the frustration is controllable.
Speaking of version updates, a round of captain skill values were adjusted last week, which reduced the damage of the previously popular "double gun burst" and enhanced the collision effect of melee ships. This change is quite good, giving the originally defensive lineup more offensive options. However, the shield-type sea beasts are a bit too fleshy. Now the turtle shell lineup can be delayed in naval battles until time runs out, and the viewing pleasure is reduced. If the next version can add a time-decreasing shield mechanism or add armor-breaking methods, the competitive rhythm will be tighter.
Overall, the foundation of this game is very good, and the operators are continuing to pay attention to balance feedback. Although there are still some numerical flaws, in similar mobile card games, at least there is no cliché of "whoever has more krypton is invincible", and tactical matching and on-the-spot operations can all work. If you are a player who likes to study lineups and ponder skills and combos, I think it is worth a try🏴☠️