In my opinion, we aren't. Once I got to cool ranch at lvl 15, the monsters and ships greatly out lvled me and my companions. The problem is, there's no bazaar so I can't get the best gear available to me. And gold is so scarce I cant even buy a ship without spending everything I have. Right now I'm getting 3 companion points a level, I can't get them all up to my lvl. And I can't buy them cause gold is so scarce.

Its a cycle.

I can't lvl up cause I can't defeat enemies, I can't defeat enemies cause My companions and ships aren't high enough level, There not high enough level cause gold is so scarce, gold is so scarce cause I can't defeat enemies.

Without a bazaar, cool ranch is going to be really frustrating for casual players.

I think before we get to cool ranch, They need to level us up faster. I didn't gain one level in all of valencia part 1.

If you do the side quests you will gain not only money and some exp pts, but also companion points to train them.

In Cool Ranch, money starts to become better...the quest line hunting criminals (side) gives you 1000s of gold. The quest line in San Pollo from the Dos Amigos y Uno give an awesome level 20 sword (about the level as crown gear...

My guess is that you have about 3 or 4 levels of side quests to go...also will add to Nautical Level.

If you do all the side quests you can see you will level up a lot faster. I learned that lesson the hard way when my witch doctor did all the main quests with no side quests and got stuck in Monquista of all places! Do your side quests and manage your gold carefully and you should be all set. Happy pirating!

Hi. Yes it does seem very hard once you get to Level 15! I have made it to lvl 18 now, but it has not been easy! The Ship to Ship Battles have been hard, but i finally got that " Collect Info Quest " done. After that i made it through some tough battles to get to lvl 18. It is hard to keep my Companions leveled up! I can't seem to earn enough Gold to keep up with them. My weakest Companions show up a lot when i don't want to see them! I do all the side quests that give me a Companion Training point, but the T- Points do not go very far with all of the Companions that i have. I have 11 Companions now at level 11. Well my point is " Too many Companions " not enough T-Points! How are we supposed to do it? I really like the game, but i am disappointed with how our Companions are managed! I feel we should have more control over how we manage our Companions. After all they are " Our Companions " Deleting the ones that are weaker would be great, but i don't think that will happen. Something has got to give, or players might be quitting if they lose too many battles because of " Weak " Companions! Thank you! Michael

It is best to do side quests all the way up to Cool Ranch so you will hit level 18 when you start there. There is quite a leap in difficulty once you hit Cool Ranch.

Pick side quests that give companion points & nautical. Don't do side quests that give you companions yet. Hold off until you are a much higher level. That way, it will be easier to train your main companions.

Don't use tomes until your companion can level up at least 1 level. Keep your best companions at the top, so they will be more likely to be in the battle with you.

If you are a low nautical level, go back to the last level of ships and fight those for a while to gain nautical. This will help you tremendously in obtaining/purchasing better gear for your ships to fight the ones in Cool Ranch.

I do a little bit of questing with my friends, but I've pretty much soloed. Since I am a higher level (and in many cases much higher), I can help my friends with tough battles on land as well as with ships. I also take my friends to higher level ships, so they can get great nautical to move up fast.

Questing with friends will get you more gold when you fight. It also helps to have friends to do ship battles with whenever possible.

I'm currently at level 50, and several of my companions are now level 48-50. For my weaker ones, I waited until I could level them up 2-4 levels before I used a training tome. That helped a lot, plus the fact I didn't do the side quests to obtain companions until I was around level 45.

Hope this helps!

Lazy Lenora Leech
Buccaneer L50
Nautical L50

Thanks to some of you who tried to give advice, but i'm going to be honest, none of it actually worked. It sounded good on paper, but when you put it into action it didn't work out that well.

I don't have enough patience to do side quests, after all, there side quests. We shouldn't have to do them to get through the game.

I'v gotton every class to level 8, but I didn't like any of them really besides privateer. And right now , i'm flopping. Everything was fine, until... Cool Ranch.
My problems:
1. Why is my pet adding extra monsters? I have me and my 3 companions, vs 5 monsters. Thats 4vs5. My pet doesn't really help against a monster with twice as much value. Not only that, but sometimes when its me and 3 companions, I get 5 monsters. Now it really IS 4vs5. My companions are already not as high as the monsters due to lack if companion points, why add an extra to the plate? I am chewing more than I can swallow with this game, and i'm only lvl 24.
2. Why am I losing to MONSTERS. There's a difference between challenging and hard, 2 different words. Monsters are supposed to be CHALLENGING, not hard. I shouldn't be dying to monsters. Bosses I can understand, but monsters? This needs to be toned down EVENTUALLY.
3. How should the monsters be toned down you ask? Well, for one, there dodge and block is incredible. They have 2 times as much dodge as my companions.( talking about snakes, buffoloon, scorpians) Not only this, but to my companions without a promotion, the monsters have WAY to many abilities. Monsters shouldn't have more than one epic talent. Thats beyond frustrating. They also have twice as ,any critical as me and my companions, also higher lvl. Monsters shouldn;t critical 3 times in a row or dodge abd block 5 ataccks in 2 turns.

So, if you really want long term members,( talking to you pirate101 staff ) I suggest you tone down the Cool Ranch diffuculty. I plan on being a long term member. ( notice I said plan ) But if I'm dying 5 times a day, I'll reconsider.

** scratches head

You don't do side quests? The whole game's progression is based on quests, nothing else. If side quests had the potential to make you strong enough to pass Cool Ranch, you should do them.

Now, as for difficulty. If anyone has ever read any of my Wizard101 'difficulty' posts, anyone will know I am the most hung up on that kind of that. Difficulty factor can turn a game into not a game, especially for me. Hence the reason I no longer play Wizard101.

Now, I apparently was imagining things, because no one except me thought Wizard101 Celestia+ was getting difficult, so, I am BAFFLED as to how people think this game gets too difficult if this game already has level 50 pirates running around.

Oh, LOL, if you find Darthjt around (forums or otherwise), have a good talk with him about difficulty. He'll know what to say. (So do I, in fact.)

EcoMagic853 on Oct 22, 2012 wrote:

Here are a few ideas for at least getting some exp for leveling up and for getting gold.

1. (Battle) weaker enemies, land and/or sea.

2. Try doing some side (Quests).

3. Sell unwanted items to get gold for buying better (gear) and other needs.

4. Do the latest (dungeon) you did and did fine on.

5. Get some (friends) to help you

Thanks

Hey gang, to put a fine point on things, let me say: we watch the data on a daily basis; this tells us how quickly people are going through the content, where there are problem spots, etc. A few things that might suprise you:

- levels 1 to 10 in Pirate take (on average) about the same amount of time as Wizard
- levels 9 to 15, do take a bit longer in Pirate, but not a lot longer
- levels 16 and up are much faster than Wizard. You can gain a Pirate level in about 50% to 75% the time it takes you to gain a level in Wizard

We also track the % of player lost combats, and across the entire game players lose less often in Pirate than they do in Wizard (as a % chance of battles at any given level.)

In fact, most of the game (and in particular the latter half, levels 20+) the player loss rate in Pirate is far lower then the loss rate in Wizard. and by far lower, I'm not saying "players lose half as much", but rather "players lose a fraction of the time" compared to Wizard.

There are individual fights (and levels) that are still too hard, and need to be adjusted -- but the overall difficulty of the game, in terms of lost combats, is certainly not "much harder than Wizard."

If you are reading this and thinking, "there is no way! my play experience isn't like that AT ALL" -- then I would strongly suggest you look at the strategies that you are using, because the game was balanced to assume that players could make it through the game (albeit with some difficulty) without taking any side quests. As Ratbeard said:

1. in combat, team up your companions against one target at a time, to take them out as quickly as possible
2. don't spend all your training points to pull a few companions up to your level. spread your training points out, and try to get as many of them as possible within a few levels of you (but not equal to you, it's too expensive!)
3. promote your companions (by visiting a cellar in any Tavern) as soon as possible. The power level of a companion goes up dramatically when you train them.
4. don't forget to visit your trainer!

Hope this helps. Good luck!

J Todd Coleman

I haven't made it to Cool ranch yet, and just hit 15 today. Find and do every side quest, it makes a big difference in any game you play if you do that.

Gold is a bit tight for me, but that's my own fault, not any game mechanic. I tend to try to keep my companions 1 or 2 levels lower then my own at all times. Those books will chew up the gold fast. Never try to get the companions to your level until you have lots of gold to throw around, or max yourself out. The xp gains get smaller from the books the closer they are to your level.

I've only died in combat when I take on something a few levels higher then myself, or get unlucky during ship combat and have another ship spawn near me so there is now two ships firing on me. And so far, I've had very little trouble with the boss fights.

There are plenty of ways to level up in the game. The side quests are there for a reason. It really doesn't make any sense to be skipping them. Completing side tasks are a win-win situation. Not only do you get experience for them, you earn more gold and have the chance of getting equipment drops. If you don't want the items, you can always sell them for even more gold.

Another way to level up (although it is not the fastest) is farming. I have been farming for the armadillo pet from Johnny Ringo in Cool Ranch. Being that he still has yet to give the armadillo up to me, I have leveled my Privateer up 2 times from all the farming and have purchased over 120,000 gold worth of training points. At about 20 avg experience per battle, takes a little more time.

If you are having a problem with ship battles being too difficult, find some other people that are working on the same ships as you are. There is definitely strength in numbers.

Time to go back to Johnny and that blasted armadillo.......................

its tottaly true we arent leveling quick enough like im facing way hard bosses and i feel like i should be like 5 levels higher just to make a scratch! maybe kingsisle could increase the amount of the quest xp by maybe 5-10%

horrifingly yet nicely

Loyal Angel Everhart

THE WITCHDOCTOR MUAHAHAHAHA