"What was the problem with Coppers in SvE in the first place?"
Your own explanations for your reasoning behind the current changes, while very helpful and informative, mainly form of "this solution was chosen because it fixes this problem in this way" rather than "we chose this solution because it fixes this problem in a better way than this other proposed solution." I would just like to see some comparisons between the viability of different solutions in this thread designed to discuss the changes.
I've given a basic summary already: Copperhead was too powerful. It's really, honestly, that simple. For a rough idea, you could kill the strongest ship in the game within 1-2 broadsides. Couple that with being near-unsinkable, and you've got yourself a recipe for disaster.
The different solutions boiled down to:
1) Lower the damage of explosive
2) Lower the % chance of explosive
3) Limit the max number of explosives per broadside
4) Tweak the stats such as turning radius, speed, or armor
The first would have major impacts on many different areas of the game, to the point it was ruled out.
The second and third are effectively the same solution, with different means of getting there. The main difference being, number 3 is easier to accomplish.
The fourth is seen as a needed change in conjunction with other changes, as alone it would not have solved the main problems at hand.
Please keep in mind that the above is a major simplification of everything, but I'm sure you can get the main idea from it.
I see that a lot of different opinions, mine as well has hit the thread, but the comment about complaints from sve about copperheads seems ludicrous at best and perhaps a attempt at an excuse at the expense of pve players for I can't think of a reason in the world to complain about a copperhead in the pve realm. That makes no sense. Pvp, of course, pve no way would I complain about a copperhead being to proficient in sinking npc's.
Hence, even with all your reasons, I still say this was a svs fix only. And ill conceived.
Yes, you did, however there was no detail about pve or listing or quoting any complaints from pve players. Pve seems to be added as a afterthought. Sorry, but that's the impression I get.
You're not the only person playing this game. There are hundreds of others each with varying opinions, and only a small fraction of the community posts on the forums. A majority use the in-game and on-site feedback systems, which we read constantly.
That being said, just because you cannot think of a reason to complain about Copperhead in SvE, doesn't mean other people are the same. So, regardless of what you think, this was not an SvS only fix, and was certainly not ill conceived. Nor was SvE ever an after-thought, we were specifically making this change because SvE was being kept in mind.
Regardless, I believe I have said all I can on this matter, and I think it best that I take my leave from here.
Fair winds, pirates!