I'm sort of concerned about how the Great Machine was put out of commision before the skyway inside it was used. It just seems like a waste of a perfectly good door-ish thing.

On a more minor note, it seems illogical that Valencia should have two stormgates to Aquila. I'm sure changing the label on one of them should be easy enough as long as it's still unused.

I too would love to see what would have happened in another timeline. What have we missed? I love a good yarn and REALLY wish to hear the masterpiece you had originally planned..........Please?

I do admit to being a bit worried that after waiting so long to hear about all of this that a good chunk of it is a plea for help to get in more players, meaning more money to keep the story and game going. Are things really that bad? This game is the apple of my eye and as much as I have had faith and am totally dedicated to promoting it, this does make me wonder. I shall do whatever I can and hopefully more posts will draw in more players. Right now I am preparing a contest that will drive the contestants to Valencia in order to enter. Hopefully they will love it as much as I do and then bring in their friends.

*Chrissy Hugs* and welcome back to spinning yarns and your wonderful theories behind them. I am SO looking forward to peeking into your storycrafting workshop and seeing what we, together can find.

So, now that arc 1's gotten a more shortened, albeit unsatisfying finale, I may ask you this, will we get proper quality time & many epic battles with the next Big Bad before doing the proper ultimate final battle with the next Big Bad in the proper finale to arc 2? I'm just disappointed to see such build-up with Kane was wasted at the near-last minute.

Not to mention Kane doesn't even have many epic battles & the ultimate final battle with Kane that has multiple forms before he meets his ultimate demise in his final form. Very sad to see all that potential go to waste.

Regardless, I truly hope we get to have more proper quality time & many epic battles with the next Big Bad before we have a true proper multi-form ultimate final battle with the Big Bad in arc 2 & it's proper finale someday.

Why, I even sent my ideas on upgrading the P101 land combat system mechanics about battling larger enemies & larger battleboards, including multiple forms in mid-battle, even to Big Bads in ultimate final battles. Take the time to read it, if you've some time to do so, please. You'll like the idea about that.

Hope arc 1's end will give KI enough time to implement these in someday.

Will we still see the Home World 5 Companions in P101 someday, even if the 1st arc ended at Book 15? I enjoyed the groups of 5 companions depending on what choices were made in the tutorial, so I hope to see the Home World 5 in the story sometime soon.

Whoa! I almost forgot this one question to ask! Is there some P101 equivalent to the ancient law of Kan Davasi in W101? Knowing about Kan Davasi from the Castle Darkmoor storyline made me think, "Is there something like that in P101? Is there even an ancient pirate law that was long-forgotten in the past? What would that be like?". Interesting.

I really hope arc 2 will have more Books & longer Books with the proper build-up to it's Big Bad & the proper grand finale arc 1 should've had to begin with. I'm not a big fan of short stories, even shorter ones.

Delighted to see you posting again, Blind Mew! And I appreciate your information about Chapter 15. I think you and KI made the right decision to shorten it up and get it out there. I have only had one of my pirates complete the new chapter so far, but I enjoyed it very much and am looking forward to sending more of my pirates to face Kane (I tend to stop doing quests with them when they hit level 65, so they have to finish Aquila first). I am glad to hear that some of the material edited out may still reach us in the form of dungeons/gauntlets (please design at least some of these to be solo-friendly or even solo only!).

Fellow pirates, do not be so quick to write off the Armada. Kane has fallen, yes, but the vast Armada fleets are still out there, waiting for new leadership. When Alexander the Great died his empire did splinter, yes - but the "successor states" controlled by his subordinate generals dominated the classical world for generations afterward. And if the rulers of the Spiral realms are troubled by now renegade clockwork fleets and armies, who are they gonna call? The pirate(s) who defeated Kane, that's who!

-Indigo

In regard to increasing the number of pirates flying the Spiral - I hear you! I think the fact that there is a new update will help, esp. if new material (expansions, gauntlets, new packs) follows more frequently in the future. I have two other ideas. One of them I want to work on a bit and then enlist aid from my fellow pirates here on the boards. But the other is a humble suggestion for you and your colleagues (minions? crew?) at KI to consider: there are what - 40 million? - Wizard101 players out there? Bribe them to play Pirate101! Two ways to do it that I see, both based on the assumption that players love having a chance to acquire cool new equipment/pets/mounts etc. for their characters.

1. Set up a system where a player who has a WIzard101 account and a Pirate101 account can shift certain items from their Pirate account's shared bank to their Wizard account's shared bank (basically, create a master account shared bank). And then in every Pirate realm have one or two dungeons where the bosses drop unique and pretty cool WIZARD gear. So if Wizard101 players want this really unique wand or an extra pointy hat or a cracking new pet or something for their wizard, they have to create a pirate to go farming for it. Once you sucker - err, I mean convince - Wizard players to try Pirate101, some of them are going to be hooked.

To be continued (running out of characters).

-Indigo

Actually, now that you mention it, there is something KI could do for P101...

We need more new bundles in P101, 'cause it's been way too long since it had a new special bundle, that is to say, the Hoodoo Bundle, so I ask you this, will we see more new special bundles made? I would really like it to see more new bundles for P101 again, especially new housing gauntlet bundles, with new companions, pets, gear, & so on.

Also, when will we get new booster packs in P101? It's also been too long since it had a booster pack, so I thought I would ask you this question. They're neat to have, & I would really like to see more made!

There's also this question, even though it's a bit music-related.

The scene where Kane gets lifted by some dark mojo in and his Golden Mind is ripped out from his face after Kane is defeated in "Razing Kane", it has no unique cutscene music theme played while that scene is played. It feels too hollow to hear only sounds, & no unique music in that scene. Could you please pass this on to El Kaboing & the sound team? I would like to hear unique music played in that scene.

There's one more question to ask... will there be many more special cinematic story moments with unique cutscene music themes in arc 2? I really enjoyed these in W101's arc 2's end in Khrysalis and in Polaris in arc 3's beginning, so I thought this, "Why not arc 2 have special moments & unique cutscene themes throughout that, too?". That would make arc 2 a lot more memorable & have lots o' build-up than arc 1 would have, except the end.

Since you wanted to move with a cleaner slate, I hope arc 2 will be longer than the 1st arc & have a lot more variety with lots more new enemies, bosses, & NPCs, especially towards their unique appearances, rather than having re-skins of old characters, enemies, etc. The most we want in that & the story updates are greater variety. And, trust us, we do not want you to skip to the 2nd arc's finale &/or shorten it to make it ready too soon.

Hello, Blind Mew! It's absolutely wonderful to here from you again and give more information about Book 15.

I only got to see Book 15 through walkthroughs and my brother's adventures through the Book, but I have a pretty good concept of what that story in relation to the overarching storyline.

I will say that I am disappointed with the shortness of Book 15. I really wish a lot more time could have been placed in building the world of Valencia and including more arcs about the Nobility, how the war effected (or didn't effect) Valencia, Queen's role (I would imagine she prominently distracts the locals from the machinations of Kane and the Armada), and another arc on how Bishop recuperated after his defeat at Beachhead.

That said, with the resources and time frame you had, I think you all managed to produce a really good work of content and flavor for this story arc. I very much appreciated. But..., I do have my questions...

1. Was there no possible way to do Book 15 a la Khrysalis? Could it not have been broken up into 2 parts of where the first part focuses on building the world, introducing Queen, learning of the Resistance and finding Caligostro and maybe the second, released later, focuses on getting to Gazpaccio, finding a way to infiltrate the Machine and move focus to Bishop then Kane.

2. Is the El Dorado storyline on pause at this point or are you done with it all together? I remember you mentioned part of the old storyline would break away from the Armada and the search to learn other things. Is this that part of the story or a move to something completely, totally different and we should leave El Dorado behind?

3. I thought the bit with our parents saying we shouldn't go to El Dorado very weird. I wish that had been worded as not a complete shut down of the El Dorado to more of closing the arc, but leaving the door ajar enough to revisit. I can't think of an example, but I just wish they're lines where leading toward a gray area of going to El Dorado.

Also, I wanted to make note of Kane and his motives.
I am pretty please with Kane's motives actually. I'm very interested in villains/antagonists who want to perfect the world for the better or really villains who wish to do good or think they are, but do horrible things to achieve this.

As I understand it, Kane was made by Gazpaccio to get vengeance on the Tortellini's, only to have things go bad. Kane joins the Tortellinis and rises through the ranks, intrigue, and his intellect. Then the Polarian War starts. Kane is at a position to be Valencia's last stance against Polaris and imprisons Gazpaccio to "help" him make Clockworks to win the war.

When the war is won, Kane would at some point find flaw with how these political worlds carry themselves, piracy, and find flaw in himself (physically). So Kane finds Marco Pollo's map in his tomb at some point while grinding Aragon for better use and devises a plan to go to El Dorado and build the Grand Design. Kane wants to grind the Spiral, just as he does on Granchia, in order to make a better world where just things as war and inferiority are enigmas.

However, that's not how Kane comes off in his dialogue in The Machine. He sounds more self-centered and arrogant at his own intellect. He seems to only care about himself and his own perfection, which is find. But what I was hoping for was:

1. A more direct voice against imperfection regarding everything beyond his own mind, especially the thorn at his side that is us, the Pirate.

2. A relation from Kane's point of view of how the Polarian War or Gazpaccio might have shaped his mind set.

3. Some time of hatred of Piracy. Avery makes it clear that Kane wants to remake the Spiral with no room for Pirates. Shouldn't Kane make some type of note of how piracy goes against his order and perfection so it feels more direct toward with the Pirate?

What kind of vibe were you trying to create w/ Kane? Was it someone more cold, arrogant, and self-centered than what I thought?

Thanks!

One other thing, I believe it this was back around when Marleybone and Aquila came out, but someone asked something in regards to the Aquila storyline and you wanted to give us some notes on that. I can't recall the specific details, I'll have to look through the Musings to find it specifically (or if anyone would like to help locate that question), but I do remember something about notes on the story line that you didn't get a chance to talk about before the hiatus. I don't know if you remember or if they have any relevance now, but I would be great to revisit if you ever get the chance.

That aside, two more inquiries: What's the deal with Poseidon's and Hephaestus' visions during the Immortals quest foreshadowing the future?
Of all the Immortals, Poseidon's seemed the least prevalent or important to the story. What was he hinting at about the Trident being the Key? Was it pointing toward something we haven't seen yet or might it have been overlooked or cut during Valencia Part II?
And what did Hephaestus mean about the Hand, Eye, and Heart coming together that he'll be appeased?

Also is Valencia Part 2 the start of the more fast storytelling? After Cool Ranch, I think you mentioned that Chapters would start moving more faster than before. Should this reign true for the time being.

Sorry for so many questions. It's just been so long! Also my time on the forums in ending soon (until I get more Crowns) so I just want to get as many of questions as possible. Thanks once more!

Since you asked for questions

1) So.. will there be a Queen's court now? or will that be telling?

2) Will we get more insight on the Armada during the Polarian war? it felt pretty odd that G had nothing to say at all about what happened during the Napolgunic wars

3) Is there a reason the crab clans are named after pastas? think these foes make me more hungry than anything

4) I take it the Pc (and the rest of the spiral) is unaware of what happened at the end of book 15 for a book or so? or is something more devlish underway?

5) probably a better question for someone else, but, Will we ever get full sets of Armada elite gear for the rest of the elites? it seems Rooke is the only one with a almost full set..

6) We've seen the heart and the mind, but what of the hand? unless the hand refers to G's creation of the atomoation and Kane?

The Epic one on Jun 21, 2016 wrote:

I'm so glad you're back to the message boards!

1 suggestion: IF you want to make some revenue for pirate so you guys can create content then release a new pack! Players love packs (even if the companions are stingy (rip 100k crowns :( ) I do have a question though, what has been happening in Marleybone lately? Last we left off, Mycroft sent us after Calisatro. What are the ramifications of us as pirates being employed in Marleybone's special service? I look forward to the next book!

-Elijah

It's great that our loyal, existing fans are willing to continue to support the game.

But (and this is just my opinion) if I had the option of asking our existing fans to spend more on the game, or to just recruit or befriend one new player, I'd take new players every time.

Wizard101 isn't the more successful game because their players necessarily spend more to support it. W101 is the more successful game because they have a lot more players.

Players who create a fun, welcoming, enthusiastic environment to draw in and support new players are doing more to promote the game than those who create a negative environment, and I appreciate you all more than I would normally admit.

And now I will return to plotting horrible new ways to defeat your pirates.

Book 15 was, without a doubt, worth the wait. Especially the final battle. Here's some of my questions.

1. After reading your recent post, I found the most intriguing part of it the part about Kane 2.0, AKA Able. Was the plan to make Able a companion, or an ally?

2. Will the lonely Stormgate at the end of Avernus Skyway ever be used?

3. Three or four years back, a bug asking to buy a Krokotopia Skyway was found in one of Monquista's Stormgates. Was this perhaps one of the worlds in books 16-20?

4. What about the Skyway inside of the machine?

Just read your answers thread!

WOW - I am stunned at how the next few books would have turned out. Thank you so much for sharing what would have happened, even if you only did in a few paragraphs, it sounded amazing and Im truly crushed we didnt get to see that happen!!

It sounded great and I hope what you do next in the story is just as epic!!

Thanks for all you do Blind Mew ^_^