Pirate101 Monthly Newsletter

You never Know What "May" Happen!

It’s May and you never know what “may” happen this month in Pirate101! If you’ve been following along with the recent chatter, then you’ve certainly heard about the revealing footage of Valencia, Part 2 during our recent KI Live. If not, be sure to check it out here. Also, we recently had a Pirate101 Producer’s Letter that’s a must read for information! That’ll be sure to get you excited for things to come in Pirate101, but let’s not just stop there. How about this incredible piece of new, never before seen concept art of the city known as Florenza?

Read on for more fun and information as well as a look back at last month’s highlights.

Rogue’s Gallery: Lucky Jack Russell

We’re continuing to take a closer look at the Presidio Five companions and flesh out a bit of their back story. This month, let’s take a closer look at a very lucky companion . . . Lucky Jack Russell!

“Subject: Lucky Jack Russell
Home: Marleybone
Weapon of Choice: Cutlass
Occupation: Adventurer

John “Lucky Jack” Russell was born on a dairy farm near the little village of Devon to Robert Russell, an ex-Royal Marine and Mary, a country doctor. Jack's father meant for the boy to join the service and become an officer, and Mary hoped her pup would take an interest in medicine. But Jack only had eyes for the sky. As soon as he was old enough, Jack arranged a berth as a cabin boy on the RMS Hesperus, a mail ship out of Devon. Jack had finally taken to the skyways.

But life on a tiny mail ship was less stimulating than Jack had hoped for. He dreamed of traveling to the outskirts of the Spiral, but the Hesperus mostly made “milk runs” from Albion to Westminster. It was hardly the swashbuckling life Jack had read about in adventure stories as a lad. He had nearly made up his mind to join the army when Polaris declared war on Marleybone.

The Hesperus and her crew were drafted into action as a dispatch ship, sending communications along the frontline - Jack was finally seeing some action! He only narrowly avoided being hit by a Polarian cannonball during his first day near the line – three times! From then on he was known as “Lucky” Jack.

But no one’s luck can last forever. Close to the end of the war, the crew of the Hesperus found themselves taken prisoner and held in a freezing stockade in the backwaters of Polaris. After a few months of below-freezing nights and little to eat, Jack began to despair that his nickname was nothing but a cruel joke of fate. As luck would have it though, he befriended a new inmate who told him a secret. The new inmate’s wife was planning to break him out – and Jack was invited along!

One daring raid later, Jack found himself free – just as the war was ending. Going back to dreary mail runs wasn’t in Jack’s cards though. He joined his fellow prisoner’s pirate crew! The war might be over but new adventures were just around the corner! He stood proudly by his new captain when he was married, and was shared in the joy when he became a father. The future looked bright indeed.

When the crew set off to seek the Lost Treasure of Aztechualpa, Lucky Jack’s luck continued to hold – even in the face of tragedy. Jack was blown overboard while on watch. He lived to tell the tale... but tragically, the rest of the crew was lost in the jungles of Skull Island.

Despondent, Jack joined up with a crew of Cutthroats and did his best to try and forget his old mates. When he was captured by Monquistans and taken prisoner to The Presidio he felt his luck had run out at last... But the day he was rescued may well have been the luckiest meeting of his life.

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

News from the Fans!

We hope you all enjoyed April in Pirate101! It was an exciting month full of awesome revelations . . . as well as some great fan site fun! Here are a few links that caught our attention from our amazing fans:

Of course the announcement of Valencia, Part 2 has been big news among our fans. We were really excited to see all of your thoughts and reactions. Check out the buzz:

Interested in Advanced PvP in Pirate101? Technomage gives a high level overview in this thread.

Are you a max level Buccaneer? If yes, what gear are you donning these days?

How many mounts do you own? Join in the discussion here.

If you’re following along with Wyntr Loves, you’ll be happy to know she’s made it to Monquista!

Also big news last month was the amazing amount of players participating in the annual Fansite Festival. If you’re looking for a recap and some information about the event, why not check out a few of these links?

Swordroll has an interesting post about the different modes of transportation found in Pirate101.

Is this truly the best piece of Bishop fanart you’ve ever seen?

MMO Master used a fun Photolab filter with his pirate101 character screenshot that we thought was kind of neat!

Ever wondered how to spec your Witchdoctor companions? Starbreaker has some great suggestions.

The Dragonspyre Pirate has a nice guide to getting a good ship in Pirate101.

Feeling silly, Pirates? Hobble your peglegs this way and share a few pirate jokes.

KvExperiences continues to quest through MooShu on his Privateer.

Puppet Pirates

"Boochbeard: Quietly now, collect the loot!

Gandry: Don't you mean the lute?"
by Crafty Ulysses

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

The Hunt for Hybrids!

It was a fun month for hybrids in April. We hope you had a chance to see Developer Decius Duelmaster when he joined our Community Managers for KI Live. He gave a great hint that eventually led to the discovery of a new hybrid . . . behold the Sarlac Scylla! We hope you get a chance to morph a Sarlac Scylla pet of your own!

Vadima's Visions Who's really worth a miracle?

Hello my Pirate friends and welcome back. Did you miss me last month? I’m a very busy Witchdoctor who attends to many secrets of the Spiral. My job as Avery’s soothsayer and Witchdoctor trainer keeps me hopping all the time. With all this hopping around, you’d think I’d have the calf muscles of Mordekai or the feet of Fan Flanders!

But you did not come to Vadima to hear of her problems, you came to hear the secrets of the spiral. To these ends, Witchdoctor Daruis had a very interesting question for me on the official Message Boards: “What companion has Miracle Mitch healed the most?”

Hmmmm, interesting. We’ve talked before about the most expensive healer this side of Skull Island back in April of 2015. Remember that? This question is a bit different, however.

Let us peer deeply into Vadima’s magic ball.

AHA! I see this is not as easy a question to answer as first thought. There are both companions who have been healed “the most” and companions who have been healed for “the most gold.” Interesting.

Look! The sign of the fox . . . Bonnie Anne clearly has been healed the most times and almost for the most gold. She is indeed a valuable companion. And now, the sign of the bull (or is that a minotaur) . . . El Toro is barely ahead of Bonnie Anne when it comes to the amount of gold spent on healing a companion, but comes in second when it comes to being “most healed.”

Also popularly healed companions are Fan Flanders, Peter Quint, and Chantal Livingstone. It also looks like Sarah Steele and Zeena pay frequent visits to Miracle Mitch. Rounding out the list are Kan Po, Kobe Yojimbo, Ratbeard, and Hawkules.

These are truly companions worth a miracle!

Be sure to drop by the Official Message Boards and leave me a message with your question that’s vexing you.