Pirate101 Monthly Newsletter

May 2014 Newsletter

Welcome to May 2014 in Pirate101! April was a fun month where we saw a new Mighty Steed Mount galloping across the farthest reaches of The Spiral, a new 101-Day Eye Patch, Spring Time Pets, and even gave away a free Earth Day Tree! Whew! Of course, those things were fun, but most players would agree that none of those were the most exciting thing to happen in April -- The Test Realm finally opened its doors last month as we began preparing Pirate101 for a ton of changes, improvements, and lots of new fun! You never know for sure, but it “may” happen that these updates will be released soon, so get ready for a really great month!

Read on for more information and our regular offering of fun features. Thanks for taking the time to read the newsletter, Pirates!

Rogue's Gallery: Shiruku Neko

Aha! Here’s a pirate companion that many of our players are fond of! To find her and have her join your crew, you need to venture a bit off the beaten path in MooShu, but what’s cooler than a Cat Ninja (She’s even getting a bit of an upgrade when the Spring 2014 update goes live)? Let’s take a closer look at the interesting past of our feline friend, Shiruku Neko.

Welcome to the Pirate101 Rogue's Gallery. Subject, Shiruku Neko. From the foggy streets of Marleybone to the vermilion Skyways of MooShu, the journey of Shiruku Neko, renowned in MooShu legends as "The Silk One," is shrouded in shadow and intrigue.

Stolen from her family in childhood, Shiruku was brought up in the Shadow Fortress, raised by the fearsome Shadow Clan of MooShu -- a deadly cult of Ninja Pigs dedicated to the worship of chaos and their dark lord, Hamakala. Her path to becoming the most deadly assassin in the Spiral seemed inescapable, until she was assigned her final target as an apprentice: Branch -- last survivor of the Cao-Lin warrior monks. Branch defeated Shiriku, and showed her compassion instead of hate. The hardened ninja cat began to doubt all she had been raised to believe.

With compassion and patience, Branch led Shiruko towards the path of light. She soon came to respect, and even love her new guardian who became her master and taught her the ways of Cao-Lin. It was through these arts, and the timely arrival of help from abroad, that The Silk One was able to finally defeat her old Master, Ozawa, and overthrow the Cult of Hamakala.

Her great mission fulfilled, The Silk One now plies the Skyways of the Spiral, continuing her fight against Darkness and seeking clues to her origin.

These pirates and more await you when you play for free at Pirate101.com.”

Vadima’s Visions: A Pirate’s Education in Powers

I have used the powers of the mystical crystal ball to see how my young scallywags are investing their practice points when it comes to learning additional Powers. Let us gaze deeper . . .

Dr. Heals Good -- The Commodore is providing the healing powers of Privateers to almost everyone. 98% of all Pirates will acquire the ability to cast Rouse. Almost 70% of Pirates will stick with Privateers Powers all the way through Refresh.
Not a Ghost of a Chance -- 80% of you come visit me in search of the Witchdoctor ability to cast Ghostwail. 60% of you continue with my lessons until you reach Jobu’s Breath, a powerful spell that heals you while damaging your opponent.
Release the Kraken -- The wise Buccaneer Mordekai is teaching 80% of Privateers and Swashbucklers how to call a Mighty Charge, and 45% learn Kraken’s Coils as well.
Take a Walk on the Wild Side -- The Swashbuckling move of Sneak Attack is sought after by 90% of Buccaneers and Privateers. 58% of Witchdoctors and Musketeers also train this sneaky move. Morgan LaFitte also trains 75% of Buccaneers and Privateers how to Walk in Shadows.
The Claws of Justice -- While Ol’ Fish Eye has the longest list of powers available for training, only about 30% of the other classes of Pirates visit him to learn Claw Trap, Grape Shot and Snap Shot. Perhaps my Witchdoctor students would benefit from knowing the Claw Trap uses your strong Will score when inflicting damage!

The fog creeps back in until next time my dear ruffians…

Puppet Pirates

Boochbeard: "Maybe advanced pets weren't such a good idea..."

- By Brave Alaric Bellamy

Who will caption the next Puppet Pirates? Stay tuned to our Facebook page to enter your caption on the next Puppet Pirates.

30k Likes!

April was a great month for Pirate101 on Facebook as we hit 30,000 likes! We were so happy, we gave away a free XP Boost Elixir to our fans! Thanks for subscribing to our Social Media. Hmmm, what should we do when we hit 60,000 likes?

Books for the Cultured Pirate

Welcome, Pirates! Thank you for visiting our wonderful library in Valencia. We have many colorful treasures here (a few have gone missing in Granchia, but that’s a discussion for another time). Speaking of colorful treasures, Doug TenNapel is one of my favorite graphic novel artists, and his new book Cardboard is a great story about an unbelievable friend, much like your companions and pets.

In Cardboard, Cam's dad feels bad that he can't afford to buy him a good present for his birthday - all he's brought home is a big cardboard box that a mysterious old man gave him for spare change. Marcus, the rich and super-mean neighbor kid, makes fun of Cam's present, but Cam is not only nice, he's imaginative. He and his dad team up to make a cardboard boxer out of the box.

Unbeknownst to Cam and his dad, the cardboard has super powers, and their cardboard person comes to life. But a walking, talking cardboard man isn't easy to explain or figure out, especially when Marcus finds out what's going on and decides he wants the cardboard for himself.

Read this book for a thought-provoking story of friendship, and if you know anyone who thinks that graphic novels aren't "real books," show them this! It just might change their mind.


Hints from One-Eyed Jack Each time we release a new Test Realm, I see a lot of our players get confused about the free fake Crowns they receive. Inevitably someone is going to ask, “Is this a glitch?! Do I really get Free Crowns?” Remember, if it seems to good to be true, it probably is! Mostly the confusion comes when Pirates don’t read the Terms and Conditions that you agree to when downloading the Test Realm. Let’s review: 1. This Test Realm is available to Members with an Active Membership. 2. This Test Realm is also available to Crowns Players who have made a purchase of $6 or more in the last 30 days. 3. This Test Realm is NOT available to Free to Play Players. Instructions and Conditions You will use the same Login and Password that you use in the Live Realm. Your characters are copied over from the Live Realm, however the level and status of your characters on Live may not match the level and status of your characters on Test. Newer items you have on the Live Realm may not appear in the Test Realm. What you do in the Test Realm does NOT affect your characters in the Live Realm. Any items you receive or levels you achieve in this Test Realm will not carry over to your Live characters. We may reset your characters on the Test Realm to a previous date without warning The Crowns you have in this test realm are fake, you have not been charged for them, and they will not carry over to the Live Realm. Once again, what you do in the Test Realm does NOT affect your characters in the Live Realm. The reason why we give you fake Crowns is because we want our players to be able to test all the new features coming out with the Test Realm . . . but not all of them – shhh, we usually hide a few new items from the Crown Shop to really spring a surprise on you when the timing is right. (Hint, there might be a few new “things” you’ve never seen before coming soon to the Crown Shop!) The fake Crowns are refreshed every time we update the Test Realm, and any other time we deem it necessary. If there are a lot of Crown-related items to test, we’ll usually give you a good amount of Crowns to test things with. Players are welcome to have “fun” with these Crowns, but if you do run into any problems or bugs, we definitely want to hear about it with a bug report. Also, try not to get confused and think you can “buy” Crowns in the Test Realm for Test Realm use. If you try, you’ll really be buying Crowns for use in the Live Realm. In general, the mantra with any of the items you purchase on the Test Realm with these fake Crowns is, “What happens in the Test Realm, stays in the Test Realm.” Thanks for all your assistance with testing the recent 2014 Spring Update! Party in the Test Realm There's a sparring party in the Test Realm tonight (May 2, 2014) at 5:30pm Us Central! Get the deatils here! There's going to be fun, prizes, and a CourtCam appearance! See you there!

Fan Site Information Galore

All of our wonderful fan sites provide quality information every day. Here’s a few highlights from last month . . . just in case you missed them:

There was certainly a common theme among Pirate101 Bloggers on April Fool’s Day as Ratbeard the Developer’s Tummy Rubbing technique was touted as a sure-fire way to increase your drop rate:
The Mighty Steed Mount was a big hit and several fan sites shared in the fun:
Hmm, now that’s a game I’d like to play? Spiral Radio gave us a good laugh with their proposal for a new “101” game on April Fools Day, ModernBusiness101
Beautiful Monkey on the Pirate101 Message Boards had us all asking if we sue WSAD or Arrow Keys for movement. Who knew there were that many arrow key users out there?
Duelist 101 was extremely busy putting together guides based around all the new testing they had been doing in the test realm. You’ll like this information!
Dr. Zeppers had a lot of fun with his Witchdoctor friends celebrating all things HooDoo Bundle related in his parody of Thriller, Hoodoo Time.
Mercenaries also pitched in with some insightful information on Pet Sparring
Pirate101 Skyways began to piece together a new Pirate101 Pet Guide.
Adrian Silver began putting together a nice guide to Doubloons on Pirate101 Central
Paige Moonshade held a fun “color me Jack” contest last month, check out the winners!
Paige also spotlighted some of the new Aquila Furniture she found on the Test Realm.
Adventures of the Spiral came up with some really good Pirate101 Trivia questions. They’ve now also posted the answers. Whew! Good questions!
Be sure to read this excellent post on Autism Awareness from Duelist101’s contributor, “Dead Sparrow
There’s a big party happening soon in May (May 3rd to be exact)! Hopefully you’ll read this in time if you’re not already aware of it! Alura has all the details here:
The Stars of the Spiral forums have a fun poll here . . . would you rather see Skull Island in Wizard101 than Wizard City in Pirate101?
Pirate101 has so many fun lines of Dialog, you should definitely add your two cents to this thread.
Another good thread on the official Pirate101 Message Boards last month asked the question, how did you name your Pirate?

Some Nefarious This Way Comes

Something nefarious is happening over a certain tower in Mooshu lately. What could it be? What could it mean?