Piggy Pirate on Mar 16, 2013 wrote:

Mr. Mew, I have some questions as well. Sorry if someone already asked them, I just skim the page. Anyways:

1. Will we ever see our class trainers in combat?

2. Is it possible we may get Avery as a companion?

3. Will there ever be side classes,(Such as moon, sun, and star in Wiz101)In Pirate101?

Thanks in advance, Obnoxious Wolf Armstrong lvl 50 Swash

1. It's pretty likely, though not yet certain.

2. As a Companion? I'd say no. As an ally in a fight, on the other hand...

3. That's a Ratbeard question. Beyond my purview.

Anne Radcliffe on Mar 20, 2013 wrote:

Dear Blind Mew,
1. You have kindly assured us that the mystery of the Mechanical Birds has not been forgotten. I am also curious about another thread: in 'Evans to Murgatroyd' (ha, ha) the wreck of the Zephyr appears to have been due to a peculiar steel alloy that looks Marleybonian but on close inspection is not. Shall this be investigated further? (Maybe I'm paranoid, but a sinister replacement requiring advanced knowledge of metalurgy sounds like the Armada to me)

2. Speaking of the Armada, who makes them and their ships & devices? The Armada individuals we have seen seem more militaristic than engineers and mechanics.

3. Is the floor on Marco Pollo's tomb a symbolic design or a map? I am particularly curious about the tangental curve that leads to a world symbolized as a star (which my imagination leaps to 'the Shining City') And the next question logically would be if Granchia is even still around by the time we get back there with the Armada Island-eating-machine at work... even if our characters in our imagination tried to slow it down by throwing a hammer into the works...

I perfectly understand if the answers to some or all of these would be 'that would be telling'. Besides, you always make me laugh when I read that.
Virtuous Anne Radcliffe

1. It will indeed.

2. That will be revealed in a future trip to Valencia.

3. Why yes it is a map. I fear more information about that feature would, indeed, be telling.

Dear Blind Mew,
I have a few weird, slightly-off questions I'd like to ask...

1. In Cool Ranch, there is occasional mention of a 'War Between the Flocks'. Care to elaborate?
2. Why do the Dogs of Port Regal and the Monkeys of Puerto Mico let the neighboring pirate colonies survive? Puerto Mico isn't very far from Scrimshaw, and the Marleyboneians could travel to the Scurvy Dog Hideout quickly. Plus there are easy connections to Skull Island Skyway and Flotsam Skyway.
3. I feel the Monquisition wasn't very much touched upon in the main story - will they be more involved anytime?
4. Does Valencia have colonies, or do they just conquer and trade? Can we expect a Valencian governor of a colony at some point?
5. Does Krokotopia have a major role to play at some point?

Blind Mew on Mar 21, 2013 wrote:

1. I don't know why you guys are so obsessed with betrayal... I'd never call Avery particularly trustworthy, but I think as the story goes on, he's being forced to take a definite side.

2. The Birds will be dealt with pretty definitively in the next story update.

3. See the above.

4. Unless it's the source of an easter egg or an allusion, it's not very likely. Depends on the magnitude of the spoiler involved.

The side I'm thinking of would be our side, the Pirates' side. And, I'm not one to truly complain, but would anybody please stop with this "betrayal" obsession already? It's getting to be a bit too much. All the questions of betrayal and still going. Save ourselves from grief, why don't you? Again, I'm not one to truly complain. Just stating out my point.

Will there be a new max level side dungeon, or gauntlet, added to Pirate101 really soon? I'm all for more major story adventures, which the team is still working on, i'm sure, but can we expect to see a new side max level gauntlet made? It's something for max level Pirates to do, for if they get really bored. Wizard101 got side high level gauntlets added for Wizards to have more adventures in, so should Pirate101 have those, too? I am highly requesting to have those in while major story continuations are being made!

Trimond297 on Mar 22, 2013 wrote:

The side I'm thinking of would be our side, the Pirates' side. And, I'm not one to truly complain, but would anybody please stop with this "betrayal" obsession already? It's getting to be a bit too much. All the questions of betrayal and still going. Save ourselves from grief, why don't you? Again, I'm not one to truly complain. Just stating out my point.

Will there be a new max level side dungeon, or gauntlet, added to Pirate101 really soon? I'm all for more major story adventures, which the team is still working on, i'm sure, but can we expect to see a new side max level gauntlet made? It's something for max level Pirates to do, for if they get really bored. Wizard101 got side high level gauntlets added for Wizards to have more adventures in, so should Pirate101 have those, too? I am highly requesting to have those in while major story continuations are being made!

Honestly, I don't understand why you're so obsessed with the fact that Avery will never betray us and always have our back. I wouldn't be surprised if when we got all the seven map pieces, he kicks us to the curb and runs off to El Dorado. Avery is not our Ambrose who deeply cares about us and sees us as bright stars. We barely talk to him anyway to go to another world since most times it's an NPC within a world telling us this like from Monquista to Valencia or Valencia to Cool Ranch. He's a Pirate at heart and will always be one. He'll lie, steal, and backstab just like any other pirate would if it gets him what he wants. And I think it's a very fitting twist for him to snatch the Map, only to get caught by someone and we have to swoop in to save him (would be kinda funny, too).

As for your second question, I think that's Ratbeard's forte, but I'm pretty sure that's in the works but this will take a lot of time. The first Wizard101 guantlet, Briskbreeze Tower, was not added until October 2009 close to a year after the game's release. So first off they need to find an empty tower, cave, etc. pre-exsisting in the game then build the dungeon. Since almost 90% of Pirate101's "empty" spaces have been filled for side quests and promotions this is hard to do, because now they have to build a complete new tower. However the closet things to the dungeons you discribe are the Bosses that drop awesome loot (which is really all most players do with challenging dungeons, farm and have something to do) and the new high level ships. Currently, I'd just wait until the Summer and Fall of this year and see what they do. Marleybone and Aquila, the Worlds I think are coming next, are bound to have fill-able spaces for challenges.

Thank you so much for these answers, Blind Mew! With all the references to pretty much anything in the game, is it possible to one day see a character that refers to Doctor Who and Torchwood's Captain Jack Harkness? (former companion to his friend, got stranded, became a leader of his own team) Also, will we ever see Celestia in P101? (no specifications needed, just a yes, no or possibly would suffice) Thank you again!

Cunning Finnigan S... on Mar 23, 2013 wrote:

Honestly, I don't understand why you're so obsessed with the fact that Avery will never betray us and always have our back. I wouldn't be surprised if when we got all the seven map pieces, he kicks us to the curb and runs off to El Dorado. Avery is not our Ambrose who deeply cares about us and sees us as bright stars. We barely talk to him anyway to go to another world since most times it's an NPC within a world telling us this like from Monquista to Valencia or Valencia to Cool Ranch. He's a Pirate at heart and will always be one. He'll lie, steal, and backstab just like any other pirate would if it gets him what he wants. And I think it's a very fitting twist for him to snatch the Map, only to get caught by someone and we have to swoop in to save him (would be kinda funny, too).

As for your second question, I think that's Ratbeard's forte, but I'm pretty sure that's in the works but this will take a lot of time. The first Wizard101 guantlet, Briskbreeze Tower, was not added until October 2009 close to a year after the game's release. So first off they need to find an empty tower, cave, etc. pre-exsisting in the game then build the dungeon. Since almost 90% of Pirate101's "empty" spaces have been filled for side quests and promotions this is hard to do, because now they have to build a complete new tower. However the closet things to the dungeons you discribe are the Bosses that drop awesome loot (which is really all most players do with challenging dungeons, farm and have something to do) and the new high level ships. Currently, I'd just wait until the Summer and Fall of this year and see what they do. Marleybone and Aquila, the Worlds I think are coming next, are bound to have fill-able spaces for challenges.

I'm not THAT obsessed about betrayal. I'm just stating my point for Pirates to ease up on talking about it. Sheesh! Doesn't anyone else want to ease up talking about betrayal?

I know it's Ratbeard's forte, and you're right. I was waiting a reply from him about it. You said almost 90% of "empty" spaces have been occupied for promotions and side quests, correct? If so, then they should make that new gauntlet on a new Skyway island. Well, that, and/or they could make a slight extension to one of the existing zones, be it safe zones or adventure zones, to make some room for that. A new tower? I might expect that, but it's got to be somewhere else, and I've known of Wizard101's Briskbreeze Tower gauntlet, which is fine. I'm wishing to see something better than a new tower for a high level gauntlet, like a huge fortress or some big field composed of linear small forts with a big fort at the end or a bizzare warp to some unseen, yet mystical realm via portal, or something I may expect out of crazy adventures. They don't all have to be towers, you know. Waterworks, on the other hand, was more of an adventure, aside from many chambers and rooms. And, the one thing I can expect from bosses in tough gauntlets are those kind of tough bosses who attempt to cheat their way to victory during battles. Still, I wish for KI to make something for max level Pirates to do while more higher level content and major story adventures are being made with it. Some time, it could take KI for them to do, but do you really think it could take them a long time to make a max level gauntlet? I'm thinking maybe not that too long.

Melody Fisher on Mar 24, 2013 wrote:

"6) Each Stormgate is keyed to a particular color of Windstone: you can't use a gate unless you have the right color. And each Stormgate goes to a specific Stormgate at the destination world. The Valencian gates in Skull Island and MooShu each go to different destination Skyways in Valencia. In time, you may gain access to the other gates..."

If each Windstone works with only one storm gate, why can we go from Monquista to Avernus and the to Valencia- two Storm Gates- with only one Windstone?

It actually says that a gate is keyed to a windstone of the right color. That implies that if there are two gates keyed to the same color, you should be able to use that color windstone with both those gates. It doesn't say each windstone will only open one gate. It DOES say that each gate is paired with one other gate in the destination world. One gate can't lead to more than one destination.

That's how I understood it, anyway.

Trimond297 on Mar 25, 2013 wrote:

I'm not THAT obsessed about betrayal. I'm just stating my point for Pirates to ease up on talking about it. Sheesh! Doesn't anyone else want to ease up talking about betrayal?

I know it's Ratbeard's forte, and you're right. I was waiting a reply from him about it. You said almost 90% of "empty" spaces have been occupied for promotions and side quests, correct? If so, then they should make that new gauntlet on a new Skyway island. Well, that, and/or they could make a slight extension to one of the existing zones, be it safe zones or adventure zones, to make some room for that. A new tower? I might expect that, but it's got to be somewhere else, and I've known of Wizard101's Briskbreeze Tower gauntlet, which is fine. I'm wishing to see something better than a new tower for a high level gauntlet, like a huge fortress or some big field composed of linear small forts with a big fort at the end or a bizzare warp to some unseen, yet mystical realm via portal, or something I may expect out of crazy adventures. They don't all have to be towers, you know. Waterworks, on the other hand, was more of an adventure, aside from many chambers and rooms. And, the one thing I can expect from bosses in tough gauntlets are those kind of tough bosses who attempt to cheat their way to victory during battles. Still, I wish for KI to make something for max level Pirates to do while more higher level content and major story adventures are being made with it. Some time, it could take KI for them to do, but do you really think it could take them a long time to make a max level gauntlet? I'm thinking maybe not that too long.

I'm not implying that you're not obbessed about betrayal. It's just you keep going on and on that Avery or our Companions will never betray us. It just puts limitation on what is and isn't. Whatever this "betrayal" will be, I honestly don't care about. It will happen in one form or another and we will await what the shocking twist will be. Until then, let whoever wants to spectulate on it, say what they need to. I don't think Blind Mew saw it as a problem when so many betrayal topics popped up. I think it may have simply been an observation or it's a really hot topic. I guess finding who the traitor is just gets everyone's attention. Anyway, it's best just to not stress yourself over it by just not getting into too much. I used to try to get into all that was said on the Wizard101 message boards and Youtube comments it was very...unpleasent for me. I no longer worry myself over that anymore. Not sure if that was really on point of a reply.

I do thnk it takes a while to make a dungeon for high/max level players. I mean you have to come up with a theme, levels, the plot, etc. It simply takes time. I think it'll be best, in terms of max level instances, to include them as major areas in future updates as the story progresses. Especially near the end of the Chapter or Book. That way level 50, 60+ have something to do at the end to amuse themselves. As it stands now, I think you are just getting impatient and bored and would like to see something new come out to do. I don't blame you for that, as this update does seem to really take it's time (and the wait for Book 14 is going to be brutal), but sometimes you just go to wait awhile for something A-MA-ZING lol.

In terms of the Wizard101 tower thing, no it doesn't have to be a tower, that's just something Wizard just does. Maybe they will expand there hard guantlets to be more like a Mapped-out areas with the cheating bosses or fortresses like Briskbreeze and such one day. They certainly did that with Sunken City, Tomb of the Beguiler, and Kensington Park. But for now we'll see what they do with all their Side arcs that will include these (as that is where this instances have moved: Crab Alley, Wysteria etc.)

Hello Blind Mew...

I got a couple of questions for you. It has been said that Pirates view magic as odd. But then we are able to swim underwater for a quite long time. So if Pirates don't use magic or have diving gear available, how can they be able to stay underwater for such a long time?

Also for some reason I keep thinking that when we defeat the entire Armada elite group, we'll stumble across a human being, or just someone not clockwork, that was operating them on purpose. Someone who was craving power. Almost like a student of Pollo Marco turning evil. It'd be a huge twist in the whole storyline. It'd be very shocking if it comes to that kind of conclusion. I hope it's that interesting! It could start a brand new storyline LOL. "Great, we gotta chase them all over again. Oy vey!" I won't ask you if that's possible ;)

But, I am curious about those huge gate doors in Hamamitsu Garden and Aragon Skyway. Are they actual places where we walk or are they sky passages to another area? What are they?

One more thing, will we be able to explore and visit Imperial Skyway where the Wizards are?

Thanks for your time!
-Kels

Blind Mew on Feb 11, 2013 wrote:

1. Since he's not going to promote until at least level 65, I honestly don't know yet, and am in no hurry to figure it out - I'm letting the question cook in the back of my mind for the present. With him, though, we get the opportunity to go more cosmic that with the other promo quests - I assure you, that's an opportunity I don't intend to squander.

2. They will, but not for a while - their first promo is basically shared, and fairly generic: budget didn't allow for much more. The next wave, a bit further down the line, will have separate quests for each (although between Jane and Wild Bill, its likely only one will get a full quest - don't want to give privateers 2 quests while everybody else gets 1), so you can expect most of them to get some good screen time. As to whether it will divulge more about their background, that will emerge on a quest by quest basis, as I write them.

3. It's pretty big. We're trying to set a standard for what a Book contains, in terms of main and side quests. The 30 sides per book is what we did in MooShu, and that feels about right.

4. I'm fond of the big side arcs too - the Monkey Theology quests were some of my favorites to write, and I loved weaving Moo Manchu into the narrative in so many different places, essentially having him show up once (or even twice) before your final show down. That said, the whole point of the side arcs is to make them side arcs - we tie them to the main story only tangentially. Moo Manchu, for instance, is only enacting his master plan because of the Emperor's troubles, which is also at the root of General Tso's rebellion and the Amber Horde invasion. And in the upcoming update, at least 80% of the side quests in [REDACTED] are being triggered by the [REDACTED] with [REDACTED] and [REDACTED].

5. At least a short visit is planned - as to whether we can get a whole new Skyway, that remains to be seen. Returning to the schism is a fond aspiration of mine.

6. You betcha. Won't be for a LONG time, though.

7. You'll find out...

Monkey King's first promotion is at level 65? Yeesh. That's 15 levels above the current cap right now. Well, I hope the next story update ups the level cap really soon. I'm one step closer to finishing Book 12. I wonder what it's going to be like, though. Must be interestingly amazing.

How is it that some companions have similar promotion quests that are shared, for example, Egg Shen, Kan Po and Wing Chun's shared opponent in their first promotion quests, the Iron Monkey, while others have different promotion quests, like Subodai's and Kobe Yojimbo's? Will there be some more sharing promotion quests happening later on, like say, Sarah Steele were to have her third promotion quest, but it is shared among others? Please elaborate on how you managed to throw in shared promotion quests, Blind Mew.

What is Shiruku Neko's first promotion quest going to be like, and what level is it set at? Will she have to undergo several tests to prove herself worthy of being more powerful? Is she going to go on a great journey with the PC that begins her redemption? I'm hoping to see what you've got for her first promotion quest!

Are you planning on adding a new Skyway to Skull Island off of Port Regal soon? I'm hoping to see a new colosseum added there, as a future major story Book expansion. I'm thinking of a rigged tournament being held inside the old colosseum plotted by the Armada in their attempt to swipe the Map pieces from the PC and bring them to Kane and to bring the Pirates back to their prison, which the Pirates will foil their plot to take the pieces and themselves, while an opportunity to take back a Map piece from one of the Elites' hands is in motion for Pirates to do, and succeed, which they will. Think of this. There are different stories that tell of different, yet rigged tournaments held by enemies in their plots to steal what the heroes are pursuing for, and/or to capture them. Think of it as a sort of reflection to a tournament in Robin Hood, but much more different.

Trimond297 on Mar 22, 2013 wrote:

The side I'm thinking of would be our side, the Pirates' side. And, I'm not one to truly complain, but would anybody please stop with this "betrayal" obsession already? It's getting to be a bit too much. All the questions of betrayal and still going. Save ourselves from grief, why don't you? Again, I'm not one to truly complain. Just stating out my point.

Will there be a new max level side dungeon, or gauntlet, added to Pirate101 really soon? I'm all for more major story adventures, which the team is still working on, i'm sure, but can we expect to see a new side max level gauntlet made? It's something for max level Pirates to do, for if they get really bored. Wizard101 got side high level gauntlets added for Wizards to have more adventures in, so should Pirate101 have those, too? I am highly requesting to have those in while major story continuations are being made!

A high level Gauntlet is an option that's being considered. It's definitely somethign Ratbeard and i want to make happen - the real question is how to best fit it into the schedule.

Toa of Light on Mar 23, 2013 wrote:

Thank you so much for these answers, Blind Mew! With all the references to pretty much anything in the game, is it possible to one day see a character that refers to Doctor Who and Torchwood's Captain Jack Harkness? (former companion to his friend, got stranded, became a leader of his own team) Also, will we ever see Celestia in P101? (no specifications needed, just a yes, no or possibly would suffice) Thank you again!

Captain Jack: Funny you should ask...

Celestia: Unlikely, at least in the near future - the Main Story gets to El Dorado without going there, as currently outlined. But I'd love to get Pirates there someday.