burningtaco13 on Feb 26, 2013 wrote:

I have a few questions of my own i would like to add
1. Will we find out the name of the final unknown clockwork in Kane's Court?
2. Will we see Kane in person?
3. Do you have any plans for a side world thats has really nothing to do with the actually story?(Ex. Grizzlehiem in wiz101?)
4. How many companions will each class get in the new expansion?
5. Hw much of a difficulty jump will this next world be from Mooshu? (I know i should probaby be asking Ratbeard but whatever)
Thanks for answering all these questions from other people and hopefully answering mine.
Smart Jeremy Nightingale lvl 50 Die Hard Swashbuckler

1. Yes
2. Yes
3. Nothing firm at this point - our goal is to get the Main Story out there, as realized as possible.
4. That would be telling.
5. Yes you should - honestly, I have no idea. All I know is, we called for a lot of fights!

Blind Mew on Feb 22, 2013 wrote:

When I say "update" I mean updates with new Books - so no, the update I meant was the Story Update after the next Story Update - which is not in Test yet. Patience, Dragonfly...

As for most of the rest of your questions, they're far too specific for me to give you a real answer - what can i say but "soon." But bear in mind, we try to space the promos every 3 or 4 Books, which means that both Bonnie Anne and Ratbeard are technically overdue...

Oh. Sorry. Clarify the differences between updates next time.

Technically overdue? You mean... Ratbeard and Bonnie Anne may get their next promotions sooner than we think?

Blind Mew on Feb 26, 2013 wrote:

1. We're approaching the edge of my comfort zone when it comes to promotions, frankly - this question edges towards issues of balance and level caps that are beyond my purview - deciding which companions promote via quest and then making those quests as awesome as possible is my domain.

2. You have asked it before. My answer remains unchanged.

3. Yes on two of them, one will wait a little longer. As for what they hold, you'll find out.

4. Ooof - this is a long one. In some cases is crystal clear, but for some other books it's a little murky. I'll see what I can do here. Here are the biggest inspirations we drew from:
Book 1: Definitely Treasure Island
Book 2: Heart of Darkness (and its modern film remake)
Book 3: The Monkey's Paw and the third Indiana Jones movie
Book 4: This one's a vague chapter - no direct thematic overtones, but its built around the theme of the heist - sneak into an impossible place then sneak out again.
Book 5: Another vague one - it's a pretty generic Old West Cowboys and Indians story.
Book 6: Everything Zorro, from the old comics to the Disney black and white TV to Antonio Banderas.
Book 7: The Lone Ranger casts a big shadow here, as does the "Weird West"/undead gunslinger meme. I don't have a real good source for that, but it'll come back.
Book 8: Another heist/prison break - The Count of Monte Cristo and Man in the Iron Mask offer inspiration, but there are few direct references.
Book 9: The is the classic Old West - the Magnificent 7, Shane (Timmy!), and of course all the historical personages we reference.
Book 10: This is the huge return of the Weird West, and as many puns on Dead Man's Hand as we can make. The old "deal to cheat death" story is a solid old trope, with an Old West flair. Death himself is directly inspired by the Supreme Being from Time Bandits.
Book 11: This is meant to be the "Japan Chapter" of MooShu, so i was drawing more from history, particularly the shogunates and the tumultuous intervals between them.
Book 12: Journey to the West, and of course Fu Manchu.

5. I'd love to fit a wizard into the storyline - it's definitely a bit i want to do, we've just been waiting for the right moment. There's all sorts of ways to fit them in - allies/informants are great, but I'd love to have a wizard adversary too...

Wow...this is a LOT MORE than I was expecting...AWESOME. *Bows in honor to awesome writer*. Though I am curious about a few things...

1. Are there any books/movies/stories you would like to make part of the Pirate101 story? I mean, of course, use it as inspiration for a book or side content or anything along those lines?
2. I've been reading rumors that the mysterious female clockwork is Kane's wife - any comment?
3. Deacon is destroyed, once and for all (I hope). How is this going to affect the storyline? I can imagine Rooke being on a sort of vendetta for 'destroying his brother'...
4. Who is you're Wizard101 counterpart, out of curiosity? Here you're Blind Mew...are you perhaps Gamma over there?
5. This sorta ties to question 3, but we've destroyed the Dreadnaught Regal and snuck into the Armada Fortress in the Aragon Skyway - are these huge actions going to effect the story in a major way? I read one of your posts stating we'll be facing the war we started with Marleybone and Valencia in the face. Would that be a major repercussion?
6. This is less plot-based, more back story based - I am going to make an assumption here. The rats of Scrimshaw are from Marleybone, or the descendants of Marleyboneians, the monkeys are from Monquista, the Otters are Marleyboneian, Guinea pigs are Valencian, and numerous different peoples fit into the current worlds of the spiral that we know. But what about sloths like Barnabus - where are they from? And Subodai - according to the back story, the 'Amber Horde are from distant hinterlands'. It seems there are numerous different peoples of the spiral in the game without an origin world...though Subodai might count as a MooShu outcast since he often mentions 'Mooshu! My home!'

If Bonnie Anne's third promotion quest is going to be a part of the next story update, will she be able to defeat the traitor responsible for sending her, Calico Jake, and the PC to Deacon's trap? And did Calico Jake succeed in fending off the Armada troops and escaped, or did he end up being the Armada's prisoner and must be rescued after she and the PC left Monte Royale?

I don't know what Ratbeard's third promotion quest is going to be, but I'm guessing it's going to be more exciting! Will it have another of Ratebard's long time arch-nemeses he's dealt with in the past, not heard and seen before to the PC and must defeat? Will it uncover more of Ratbeard's backstory?

They do have their third promotions that are "technically overdue", as you said before, Blind Mew. Are they gonna be a part of the next story update in the works? Can't wait for them!

Will the Krakken Skulls Companions (Barnabus, Emmett, Sarah Steele, Mormo, and Louis Le Bisque) get their third promotions someday? Pirates are willing to see how their third promotion quests are going to turn out and what more of their backstories are. I know they have different level sets of their own, but will they get their third promotions soon?

CaptainFlint193 on Feb 27, 2013 wrote:

Wow...this is a LOT MORE than I was expecting...AWESOME. *Bows in honor to awesome writer*. Though I am curious about a few things...

1. Are there any books/movies/stories you would like to make part of the Pirate101 story? I mean, of course, use it as inspiration for a book or side content or anything along those lines?
2. I've been reading rumors that the mysterious female clockwork is Kane's wife - any comment?
3. Deacon is destroyed, once and for all (I hope). How is this going to affect the storyline? I can imagine Rooke being on a sort of vendetta for 'destroying his brother'...
4. Who is you're Wizard101 counterpart, out of curiosity? Here you're Blind Mew...are you perhaps Gamma over there?
5. This sorta ties to question 3, but we've destroyed the Dreadnaught Regal and snuck into the Armada Fortress in the Aragon Skyway - are these huge actions going to effect the story in a major way? I read one of your posts stating we'll be facing the war we started with Marleybone and Valencia in the face. Would that be a major repercussion?
6. This is less plot-based, more back story based - I am going to make an assumption here. The rats of Scrimshaw are from Marleybone, or the descendants of Marleyboneians, the monkeys are from Monquista, the Otters are Marleyboneian, Guinea pigs are Valencian, and numerous different peoples fit into the current worlds of the spiral that we know. But what about sloths like Barnabus - where are they from? And Subodai - according to the back story, the 'Amber Horde are from distant hinterlands'. It seems there are numerous different peoples of the spiral in the game without an origin world...though Subodai might count as a MooShu outcast since he often mentions 'Mooshu! My home!'

1. Oh, there's lots of stuff we've yet to mine. Typically, we begin work on a given book by deciding what sources we want to homage and the references that are must haves based on the theme of the world.

2. None. My reluctance to comment on her is based directly on how obsessed the community gets with her.

3. More than Rooke - every Elite Clockwork is none too pleased by Deacon's fall.

4. I don't have an identity in Wizard. Wizard's creative lead uses the handle Alhazred.

5. The war that started in Book 8 will definitely get referenced again.

6. I'm not sure where the Sloths come from - someplace with thick jungles (could be Skull Island!). As for the Amber Horde, the hinterlands they come from are places at the distant edges of MooShu - Subodai's from MooShu, but his people are from places far away from any of the skyways we've shown.

Blind Mew on Feb 28, 2013 wrote:

1. Oh, there's lots of stuff we've yet to mine. Typically, we begin work on a given book by deciding what sources we want to homage and the references that are must haves based on the theme of the world.

2. None. My reluctance to comment on her is based directly on how obsessed the community gets with her.

3. More than Rooke - every Elite Clockwork is none too pleased by Deacon's fall.

4. I don't have an identity in Wizard. Wizard's creative lead uses the handle Alhazred.

5. The war that started in Book 8 will definitely get referenced again.

6. I'm not sure where the Sloths come from - someplace with thick jungles (could be Skull Island!). As for the Amber Horde, the hinterlands they come from are places at the distant edges of MooShu - Subodai's from MooShu, but his people are from places far away from any of the skyways we've shown.

Who's gonna be the next Elite Clockwork to be destroyed in the main story's continuation? I've taken care of Deacon, so who's going to be next in line? Rooke? If so, I wish to battle him and destroy him one day, as Bonnie Anne thought she would! I hope to get a chance at it along with her. Hope her thoughts of destroying Rooke comes true. And when they do, boy will the Elites be even more upset!

A Skyway that begins with a W? Wonder what that means? Well, it's quite a puzzler, so... I'll try to guess it in my mind, but who's willing?

Will we ever get a chance to retrieve some Marco Pollo Map pieces from Kane in a Clockwork Armada raid? I'm willing to do it really soon! I wish to take back the pieces the Armada already has.

What next percentage bit of the first main story arc is up to be ready soon? I understand the first main story arc is 60% finished, which is great, so what's the set amount of percentage is the next portion of the main story, Blind Mew?

If a new world is released in a major story update, does having a new pack of Books that comes with it counts as percentage increase towards the main story, if said new Book pack is ready, that is?

Blind Mew on Feb 27, 2013 wrote:

1. If by "further closer" you mean will I say if you're getting a Map Piece in Book 13, I will politely decline to answer. The way I look at it, every Book gets you closer to El Dorado - if nothing else, you're learning where the Map Pieces aren't, right?

2. That letter was a means to directly link El Dorado and our main story to the Wizard101 setting, and the change to offer up some Extremely Oblique Hints was too good to resist. The Builders of El Dorado have a legacy in the prehistory of the Spiral, and I'm looking forward to revealing more of it in the future. As for Empyrea, I can't say much about the place. As it stands now, that world is outside our story - I'd expect Wizard to touch upon it sooner than we will. Though I love to see (and fuel!) speculation.

3. We've never thrown a world out. Some of our milestones have hit later than we had originally planned, but the kinds of wholesale "back to the drawing board" stuff you're talking about doesn't tend to happen - the biggest growing pains we had were pre-beta, back when we were learning how big battleboards had to be, and how much space we needed around them for the camera. Now that the core gameplay works, the biggest changes we run into tend to be early on, when we work with Art to set the scope of a milestone.

4. I've never done any Wizard101 work, no - Pirate is my sole responsibility. That said, the first 2 years I worked here I shared an office with the creative lead for Wizard and their head writer (Alhazrad and King Artorius i believe their forum IDs are). So there was always lots of discussion, especially back in the early days when I didn't know a thing about the Spiral. Since live, I have a new office I share with my Pirate writer underling, but the Wizard and Pirate creative groups stay in steady contact.

5. Tough question. Of the stuff that's live so far, I'd have to say my favorite bits to write were the promo quests - I love the chance to delve into their characters and put them through some hardship. I also really liked writing the Magnificent Seven's banter and Death. Monquista was tough to write: fun, but as i recall getting that chapter done was like pulling teeth - I was blocked for a while there, and it took a long time for us to hit the gags the right way with Donkey Hotay.

6. We will be revisiting worlds going forward. As for whole new areas or Skyways, I certainly hope so. The specifics will depend upon the world.

7. Uh yeah - that would SO be telling. The identity and nature of the Builders of El Dorado, and their fate, is a BIG mystery that I'm looking forward to unspooling slowly in the last third of the story. The Pollo letter to Merle is the most we've said about them, and are likely to say for some time. Who were they? Where did they go? You'll find out...

In relations to your answer of #1 um...I guess. You threw me off there lol. And also that would pretty much be a no then to number 2, no other world outside of Celestia has made contact with El Dorado.

So another set of questions I have come to wonder (man I feel like the Philosoraptor. "If actions speak louder than words, why is the pen mightier than the sword?" lol):

1. So you said El Dorado keeping a legacy in the prehistory of the Spiral. Ok so here's what's going on in my head: I play Wizard101 as well and still remember very piece to the stories. Azteca, which is a fragment of the First World, is an old world but only an echo of El Dorado. So El Dorado is way older than any world but only second to the Grandfather Tree, Bartleby, and Grandmother Raven, Lady Nightstar, (of course they are alive that is). The First World had 3 races: the Giants, Tritons, and Dragons, all of which were arguably Immortal beings. After fighting with each other over who was stealing what from who, the First World tore apart. If El Dorado holds an ancient and dire power of the Spiral, and maybe even existed during the time of the First World before it's destruction, could this dormant power be the power of the Giants, Tritons, and Dragons, as it was their fighting, their powers, that ultimately made the Spiral?

2. Ok, I know you can't give much detail on El Dorado or you'd ruin the big surprise at the end when we go there but can you tell me if El Dorado is a big world? Like more than one ancient Skyway?

3. Will we be seeing any worlds with similar ends like Azteca's? Unsavable and pretty much leading to it's own demise?

4. Ok, I know there is no confirmed plan of bringing Zafaria into Pirate101 but if there were, off the top of your head, how could you see a story going? For me, it would be the English and Arabic colonization on much of Africa. In this case, the Marleybonians maybe trying to enslave Zafarians (course I've never seen Marleybonians as any kind of racists or self centered people) or colonize Zafaria and reap the raw material there while on the another hand the Lynx of Mirage, an Arabic-inspired world, is flooding in through Krokotopia to stage a cultural take over. All in all the major worlds in this plot are Zafaria, Marleybone, Valencia, Mirage, and a little of Krokotopia. But that's just me. How would you write it?

5. Did the movies 9 and the Terminator give any major inspiration to the whole Valencia-being-turned-by-it's-own-creation thing? Like when I really think on it, I can see the Creator of the Clockworks making a very major error by not making them more "alive" and now they're out of control. The genius himself is either dead or in hidding.

6. You've said that Book 13 is a war story but did not examplify what war. Yeah I know the Monquista-Marleybone-Valencia triangle but is possible the war-torn land of Aquila will make an appearance?

7. Is there a difference between Marleybone Clockworks and Valencia Clockworks?

Trimond297 on Mar 4, 2013 wrote:

I began to notice one matter around Marleybone and Monquista. They both have an organization they call the Crown, but I don't get this. Is there a difference between Marleybone's Crown and Monquista's Crown? Is the current Monquistan Crown an enemy to Pirates and those who simply make accusations about it? What is it with the Crown in their long history in the war against the Opposition? Is the Marleybonian Crown a secret ally to Pirates who wish to take down those who wish to do harm to the Crown? What is there to know about the worlds' own Crowns? It's baffling! Can you explain this, Blind Mew?

Yes, they are different.

Back in the old days, it was customary to refer to the monarch of any monarchy simply as "The Crown" - think of it as essentially a synonym for "the King" or "the Queen" (or "the King and Queen" for that matter). So in Monquista the Crown is their royal resplendences etc. etc., while in Marleybone the Crown is her majesty the Queen.

The term is also used as shorthand for "the State" - so being a Traitor to the Crown of Monquista makes you the enemy of the nation of Monquista, and doing secret missions for the Crown on behalf of Marleybone makes you a discreet agent of Her Majesty's government. The two states are not exclusive.

The relationships between these various Crowns, and the complications they can inflict on a wayward Pirate, well that's just politics.

CaptainFlint193 on Mar 1, 2013 wrote:

Ok...man, you are relentless. Vague hints and all...but of course, there is more...sorry!

1. Any chance we'll meet a reformed clockwork? That would be a nice change of pace.
2. Is it possible for a future update to have more than one book? I keep hearing people saying 'Book 13, Book 13', but people seem to forget there have been at least two books per major world (apart from Monquista and Valencia).
3. Are there more than the six elite clockworks? I imagine Kane's Court (Kane, Deacon, Rooke, Bishop, Phule, and the mystery queen) but under them an elite hierarchy of clockwork generals and the like. Or are they all just Armada snipers and marksmen and marines?
4. Is Marleybone ever going to discover what we did at Fort Elena and Port Regal? I can foresee terrible things if that occurs...
5. How far has the Armada gotten Spiral-wise? We've seen them EVERYWHERE so far, aside from Monquista (that world seems so unimportant to them - why is that?).
6. Ok, this one has been bugging me for a while - I understand the Armada elites are named for chess pieces in a way...but why Phule? How do you even pronounce that correctly?

1. Perhaps - though I don't think it would be in the way you'd expect.
2. Don't know - it's possible, but that's a LOT of development (2 Books for example is about 100 quests!). We're still doing our shakedown cruise as a live team, and learning how much we can scope for an update.
3. There might be someday, but for now Kane and his 5 are the only ones I'm going to be using. The Court are the only ones who have personalities and emotions - they're something very special. The rest are more automatons.
4. Yes, that would be bad. Only time will tell...
5. They've gotten pretty far - bear in mind that Valenica is the most connected known world in the Spiral, Stormgate wise, and has been involved in vigorous trade all over the place for a long long time. Therefore, the Armada has the opportunity to visit lots of places very easily. There are, however, not that many places they've conquered or seized... not yet at least.
6. They're not all named for chess pieces. I was unaware of that Deacon naming variant that somebody here found (though hats off for finding it!). Phule is pronounced Fool, in deference to his role and costume.

Trimond297 on Mar 4, 2013 wrote:

I began to notice one matter around Marleybone and Monquista. They both have an organization they call the Crown, but I don't get this. Is there a difference between Marleybone's Crown and Monquista's Crown? Is the current Monquistan Crown an enemy to Pirates and those who simply make accusations about it? What is it with the Crown in their long history in the war against the Opposition? Is the Marleybonian Crown a secret ally to Pirates who wish to take down those who wish to do harm to the Crown? What is there to know about the worlds' own Crowns? It's baffling! Can you explain this, Blind Mew?

They are clearly the english monarchy and the spanish one (spain=monquista and UK=Marleybone). It was the spanish crown who gave the 3 boats to Marco Polo. The spanish were the conquistadores in mexico and english men went into the far west...

Blind Mew on Feb 22, 2013 wrote:

When we talk about which Companions will get promotion quests going forward, Rooster Cogburn is a name that often comes up – I’d love to see him get more story, but we shall see.

As for the MooShu gang: 3 or 4 Books between promotions -- the MooShu 5 promoted in Book 12, so expect to see them again in Book 15 or 16 (give or take).

3 or 4 Books between promotion quests for companions? Wow. Talk about a... juggling estimate. Which chosen companions are just about due for a new, recent promotion quest in the next story update... or overdue? I'm willing to guess it's going to be Ratbeard and Bonnie Anne! Or... perhaps... Ol' Scratch! Maybe... but I'm leaning towards those two. Since you've estimated the amount of Books a companion can reach a promotion quest, I'm guessing it's not going to be long before we see more new promotion quests real soon.

Hope that estimate set happens to the MooShu 5, (if that's what you wanna call them) be it Book 15 or 16. I'm willing to see how they'll turn out to be! Think the same may apply to Lucky Jack Russell, Dead Mike, Milo Graytail, Gaspard de Vole, and Birgus Latro? One can guess, eh?

What of the estimated promotion quests in a Book set for Barnabus, Sarah Steele, Mormo, Louis Le Bisque, and Emmet? They got their second promotion quests in Book 11, so what estimated Book is set for their third promotion quests?

Blind Mew on Mar 4, 2013 wrote:

Who will you destroy next? That would be telling.

The Skyway - yeah, but even if you guess the name, that may not tell you much about the world. That's just me being horribly oblique.

Considering you're going to need all 7 pieces of the Map to get to El Dorado, someday you'll have to get them from Kane. A tall order, to say the least...

Well, if we do 20 Books for the Main Story (not set in stone, but likely), and each Book would therefore equal 5%, I fear telling how complete the Main Story will be by the end of the next update would be telling. So i must decline to comment.

Not sure what you mean by that last question. For us, Worlds and Books are not necessarily synonymous like they are in Wizard. Look at Book 4, for example; there's as much Skull Island there as there is Valencia. We're going to keep that trend going as we move forward: a given Book will definitely focus on one world, but may hop to others for brief visits if need be.

I'm sorry to throw you in the loop about that question, Blind Mew. I guess I was, and still, used to Wizard101's process of how worlds are added for not long, it was kinda baffling of how the story progression of Pirate101 differs from Wizard101's own story update cycle. Before Pirate101 was live, I thought the story proggression was working the same way as it is in Wizard101, via world updates. Well, thanks for sorting that out. Now I know how the ways the story continues on in the two games are not quite the same as I thought it would.

I know that, Blind Mew. Still, I'm eager to squash out the Elites, one by one, before Kane himself. Here's hoping to do so!

By the way, not long ago, I've read somewhere that Pirate101 was in development for about "two and a half years". How did the development process for Pirate101 took much shorter than Wizard101's process? Previously, MMO's from back in the early days, nearly pretty much like Wizard101, took about a very long time to develop. Was the process much different and much faster than before? I'm interested to hear the history about how the development process was much shorter for Pirate101 than most people had thought. Just curious to hear about it's history, nothing more. Hope you could cover that with your answer about it, later on.

Would it be not too much trouble to work in a black silhouette of the game's upcoming Book, or Books, with the words "Coming Soon" labelled on it in the Chapter Pricing page? It would give about a very small teaser about it. I'm willing to see the silhouettes in. Seeing silhouettes about upcoming content does tend to bring up the thrilling, exciting suspense, doesn't it?