Pirate101 Monthly Newsletter

 
 
 

February 2020

FRIENDSHIP FEBRUARY


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It’s time to show appreciation for all your best mates – the Friendship Festival has returned! Join in on all the fun with the Friendship Festival Poetry Contest lasting through the month. As we like to do, winners of this contest will be announced on the next KI Live show! Details of the contest are below.

Earlier in January we had a lot of fun meeting new community members at PAX South in nearby San Antonio, TX. If you couldn’t make it to the show this year, we’d love to see you at PAX South 2021! Right after the event we also had the first KI Live of 2020 where we had a blast with a bunch of Pirates at an in-game Nautical XP Party.

Let’s take a quick look back on recent activities that occurred across the skyways:

  • JAN 10: 2019 Winter Wonderland Artwork Contest winners announced
  • JAN 15: PAX South KingsIsle office tour
  • JAN 16: PAX South attendance
  • JAN 23: Sale into 2020 Sale of ships and equipment
  • JAN 28: Puppet Pirates #87 winner
Keep updated daily on the latest news on Twitter and Facebook including special announcements from community fansites! Read on for more fun happenings with the community and their Spiral activities.


FRIENDSHIP FESTIVAL POETRY CONTEST


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A little poetry can brighten one's day, especially if it’s shared with friends, so today we’re announcing the Friendship Festival’s 2020 Poetry Contest!

While our games are filled with rich and detailed storylines, there is so much more to tell from the viewpoint of a player. We want you to write a poem about one of your more memorable experiences so far in either Wizard101 or Pirate101. You can refer to any pets, mounts, items, and of course friends you’ve met along the way to add personal flare to your poem.

We’ll select 10 qualified entries to win the new ‘Hearts’ teleport effect in Wizard101 and 10K Crowns each! A couple of the entries will also be read during February’s KI Live. We can’t wait to see what unique and creative poetry you come up with!

Read more about the contest, as well as the Friendship Festival, and then start writing your entry today!

ARTWORK CONTEST WINNERS AND HONORABLE MENTIONS


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Thanks to all participants for your amazing entries for both Wizard101 and Pirate101 themes! We gazed in awe at each entry's unique design. The talent that our community possesses is truly inspiring. From caricatures to beautiful landscapes drawn via pencil, crayon, paint, and various digital methods, the uniqueness of each truly deserves its own spotlight.

Since we only had so many entry slots, if your entry is not mentioned as a winner below, please feel free to share it on social media. Your entry may still make it into a future newsletter, or perhaps another artwork contest later in 2020!

Without further ado, here are the winners of the 2019 Winter Wonderland Artwork Contest:


Grand Winter Wonders


Alyssa
  

Victoria Starshade
  

Sarah Emerald Glade


Magical Moments


Nicholas Titanfinder
  

Julia Moongem
  

Nathan Darkblood
  

Brooke Nightsinger


Surprise Scenes


Alex Blue
  

Morgrim Thunderweaver
  

Autumn ThunderBlossom

Allison Dark
  

Golden Harmony Nightingale


Honorable Mentions


Sydney Silverbloom
  

Blaze Boompants
  

Alua Haven
  

Sierra

Jesse Willow
  

Alura Swift
  

Donna IronGem

Alyssa_BattleBlade

KI LIVE WITH SPARCK & PROFESSOR FALMEA


A new year brings new livestreaming fun! Our first KI Live of 2020 can now be watched on YouTube. We spawned a bunch of turrets around Skull Island in the first Nautical XP Party of the year!


For more videos and livestreams, be sure to subscribe to KingsIsle's YouTube channel.

A great Pirate101 tip from KI Live comes from community member Halloween Chick:

“Even if you prefer to solo as you travel the Spiral, make friends whenever possible -- you never know when you may come across a Group Plunder chest or a run of bad luck and need a helping hand from a fellow pirate.” - Halloween Chick

NEW KINGSISLE EVENT BANNERS


To spice up our event presence at shows and community events, we printed these three fine banners to show off our company and games!

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PAX SOUTH INSTAGRAM WINNERS


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We knew that only a few community members would be at PAX South, so we wanted to ensure as many others were still able to participate in some way. We thus decided to throw a fun giveaway up on our new Instagram channel.

Congrats to the following Instagram winners!

  • @eclipsefox
  • @kristinemarie0913
  • @johnyergermua
  • @mattcookchs
  • @me_is_jamesss
  • @peachpiepaige
  • @purplestorm13
  • @sea_wiz_101
Follow our Instagram page to see the latest photos from the event. Thanks to all community members who were able to attend, and to all those who participate in our social activities online!

macOS UPDATE WARNING – ACCESS TO PIRATE101


Apple has released its macOS Catalina update. A reminder that if you upgrade to Catalina, you will not be able to play Wizard101 or Pirate101!

We are continuing to work with our partners on making both games Catalina compatible. To ensure your game access is not interrupted, please wait to install Catalina until we announce full support for the OS.

Thanks for your patience as we work on this functionality. We will notify you as soon as support for Catalina is available!

ZONE OF THE MONTH - THE ISLE OF FETCH


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Name: The Isle of Fetch

Location: Westminster Skyway, Marleybone

Description:

The Isle of Fetch is famous throughout Marleybone as a skyside vacation destination, with a grand boardwalk including a Ferris Wheel and a wide beach. Walkies' Casino stands at the highest point on the island, one of the finest resorts in the Spiral. In its heyday the Isle of Fetch drew vacationers not just from Marleybone but from all over the Spiral.

All that changed during the war with the Armada. The island was evacuated, Walkies' transformed into a barracks, and the army raced to fortify the island. Fetch's proximity to the Isle of Dogs made it an ideal strategic target for the Clockworks – a staging base there would leave the Isle of Dogs and even Marleybone City vulnerable to invasion.

Don't Miss this Quest!

Fetch isn't home to many side quests, but it appears prominently in Bonnie Anne's third promotion quest. The infamous troublemaker Guy Fox has a secret lair in the sewers under the town.

Behind the Dev Process:

Marleybone was a major turning point in the story of Pirate101: instead of running from the Armada or reacting to their moves, the Pirate takes the initiative, attacking them directly for the first time. The exchange between the companions on Fetch right before the final battle presents a huge story beat, as the Pirate (through Bonnie Anne's admonitions) finally owns up to their mistakes and moves to make amends for starting the war, no matter the cost. It remains one of the writers' favorite moments in the entire game.

On a lighter note, Fetch is replete with Doctor Who references, especially to soldiers from UNIT. The Kurghas are a play on the elite Gurkhas that serve in the British Army, down to their signature knives. The Kurgha mutiny was loosely based on the Sepoy Rebellion in India (in the silliest of ways).

PUPPET PIRATES


Congrats Golden Christina, the community chose your funny quote for Puppet Pirates #87!

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Boochbeard: “You really need to be more careful where you are when you use the expression 'Kill two birds with one stone'.” ~ Golden Christina

Join in on the fun by watching Twitter and Facebook for the next Puppet Pirate reveal!

COMMUNITY VIDEO SPOTLIGHT


From The Craft Box, a walkthrough of the Privateer and Vulture Hunting!


FAN ART SPOTLIGHT


For this month’s fan art spotlight, we are showcasing a neat drawing from Golden Tim Oren!


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"I've played this game since the day it was release when I was once a kid. Making many friendships along the way...as a tribute I give my pirate (Golden Tim Oren) his moment to take in what he accomplished in the years of the making. The buccaneer still carries on, waiting for his time to be called into battle one day." ~ The Golden Tim Oren

Capture an amazing screenshot like a magnificent sunset or a monster about to eat your ship and send it to us at community@pirate101.com. We’re always interested in showing off more art, gameplay guides, and other content!

Thanks, Pirates!

THE MANY EASTER EGGS


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By community member: Wanted468

Pirate Wanted468 in the official Pirate101 community forums started a fascinating list of all the Easter Egg Surprises you can find in the game. Check it out and then if you know of an Easter Egg Surprise not on the list, reply to the post to add your discoveries!

Here are just some of the Easter Eggs on the list:

  • Gortez - Hernan Cortes, Spanish Conquistador best known for leading the expedition that destroyed the Aztec Empire and conquered central Mexico for Spain.
  • Napoleguin - Napoleon I of France, self-declared Emperor of France in the early 19th Century, and known for being an excellent military strategist, whose military campaigns help shape the power structure between the European power through much of the 19th Century.
  • Grand Admiral Prawn - Grand Admiral Thrawn from Star Wars, who originally appeared in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire book trilogy, and many more appearances in Star Wars content ever since.
  • Ratbeard - Inspired by Blackbeard, famous English-born pirate who, in his relatively short pirate career, captured more than 30 ships and struck fear in the northern Caribbean and southeastern US coastline.

COMMUNITY NEWS


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Keep updated on what’s happening in the community right here in our Community News section. Thanks to the following content creators for their contributions this month!

If you have an upcoming event or other news you wish to share, please send it to community@pirate101.com (include a link on social media if you have one) and we may share it on social and here in future newsletters.

Also, the unaffiliated-with-KingsIsle “Community Newsletter” had a great selection of Pirate101-related links this month from around the web. NOTE: Be sure to visit and follow their Twitter page for more information. To subscribe to their newsletter, send a Direct Message to them over Twitter inquiring to be added or email them at community.newsletter.101@gmail.com. You can unsubscribe at any time by sending them an email with the phrase “UNSUB”.


FOLLOW PIRATE101


Question for our newsletter readers - is there a newsletter section we should add? Tweet your suggestion to @Pirate101 and we’ll select the top idea we can implement to win 5,000 Crowns!

Be sure to follow the game and its community on social media!


If you didn’t get a chance to read our article on online safety, please take a moment to stop by our KingsIsle Blog and read the post titled Account Security Best Practices. There’s important information in the article to manage and protect your entire family’s accounts.