Pirate101 Monthly Newsletter

Yarr! We hope you enjoyed Semptembarrr! It was a great month, and we had a lot of fun bringing our players Pirate101 for the Mac and celebrating every Pirate’s favorite holiday: Talk Like a Pirate Day! October is sure to be another great month for *at least* two great reasons: 1- It’s our first birthday! 2- Halloween! (Notice that the words *at least* are italicized . . . that’s fancy talk for we may have a surprise or two this month!)

We return to a spotlight on our Class Trainers this month, with an interesting inside look at the Buccaneer’s best friend, Mordekai!

“Welcome to the Pirate101 Rogue’s Gallery. Subject, Mordekai.

Between the fall of the last Aztecosaurs and the arrival of the first colonists from Monquista and Marleybone, the great and dreaded Hammerhead clans ruled the skyways of Skull Island. Their time has ended; the last clan dwindled to extinction decades ago, overwhelmed by Cutthroat rivals and the strange new enemies that came to conquer their world. Only one Hammerhead remains.

Last known survivor of the dreaded Hammerhead clans, Mordekai was a prisoner on a Monquistan Prison Barge bound for the gladiatorial pens of Aquila when he was rescued by Captain Avery in a daring raid. Mordekai has followed Avery ever since, and was instrumental in founding the fort at Skull Island.

Morkekai's legendary skill with a great sword is a major factor in Avery’s plans, as Mordekai is now entrusted with the security of Skull Island Fort. The grim warrior also teaches the next generation of Pirates the way of the sword, showing them what it takes to be a true warrior, and that he is the most formidable Buccaneer in Skull Island.

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

Just as a side note, we reached 3,000 Followers on Twitter and 25,000 likes on Facebook during Septembarrr! Help us make that even higher by following us on Twitter and Facebook!

The flag one sails under . . . reveals much about the Pirate that captains the ship. I have looked into the colors and patterns our pirates have chosen and discovered some amazing facts; in fact, I am bewildered to find so many scallywags have simply accepted the default flags they were given during character creation! For this vision, we will look beyond the default symbol and pattern. (Madame Vadima loves to celebrate and explore the trailblazing spirits in true Pirate nature). Here are some facts about the custom creations being hoisted in the Skyways.

I see many flags bearing these emblems: This is not a surprise considering the skull and cross bones has a long tradition in pirating, and what better way to show your power than with a strong pair of crossed swords? With these fierce symbols, the three most chosen color combinations are Black & Red, White & Black, and Red & Black.

Those same color combinations are the most popular for choosing the background of your flag as well, and Pirates love to use these patterns to fly with their emblem:

Sample of a popular flag emblem, pattern, and color choice:

Now let’s talk about the path less chosen! Vadima’s crystal ball tells us that shells and insects are rare to find aloft a sky ship’s mast , also, the colors Peach, Lilac, and Tan are most often overlooked. For an exclusive flag selection, try using any of these patterns:

Sample of a unique flag emblem, pattern, and color choice:

Despite the fact that 90% of Color and Emblem combinations have been used and 99% of Color and Pattern combinations have been used, the full set of possible Pirating Flags is over 1.5 billion, and only the surface has been scratched of the possible combinations, giving the mavericks amongst the riffraff plenty of unique flags still left to create.

Gandry: "I do not think zis 'piñata' of yours is going to release candy ... But by all means!" - Silver Talon Ire

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

You know ‘em and you love ‘em! Pirate101 has fantastic fan sites who keep fun in Pirate101 number one! Here’s a few posts from last month that really caught our attention:

• Cret92 made a thread on Pirate101 Central showing off a few fun screenshots from his time in Beta and asked others to join in as well!
• Johnny from Pirates of the Spiral was celebrating his birthday with a lot of great prizes, fun, and even a few really insightful interviews: Fred Howard (VP of Marketing for KingsIsle), Paige Moonshade (Community Leader), and Kelsey Fireheart (Community Leader).
• YouTube remakes and remixes are awesome! Dr. Zeppers joined in with his tribute to Hotel Miranda (Hotel California parody), and Paige Moonshade and Adrian Silver answered the question of what the fox says.
• Our Rogue’s Gallery character spotlights are a major part of these newsletters and it was fun to see players inventing a “Rogue’s Gallery” spotlight on their own characters.
• Duelist101 cleared up some confusion around the Purge Magic Power.
• Mercenaries101 updated their clickable world atlas, now with Marleybone and Aquila maps!
• Pirate101 releasing on the Mac was big news in September, and we received a lot of great feedback on Central, Facebook, and even on Massively!
• A Pirate’s Portal shared a very well written digest of Milo Greytail’s first promotion quest.

Recently on the KingsIsle Blog, I gave a little hint to the Wizard101 players who might be coming over to Pirate101. The idea of Talents is something that may be unfamiliar to our Wizard friends! In that article I also asked for other helpful tips, and I wanted to spotlight a couple of them that seemed to emphasize the best tip of them all – it’s not the destination, but the journey!

“Not only do you have to learn about your pirate, but your pirate’s companion and their talents and powers, but your pirate’s ship and it’s spells during battle. There isn’t much for training, so I (recommend) staying near Skull Island for a while just navigating around and doing simple things, (I did this) until I felt comfortable enough to move ahead in the story. It takes time so be patient matey! Argh! – Allyn”

Very interesting! I like the idea of practicing ship combat before moving on. Many times we’re in a rush to get to the next quest and continue the story, but this poster shows a lot of wisdom to promote patience and practice! Enjoy the ride and earn some coin before you venture out to the unknown skyways! That sounds like a very wise tip. Thanks!

“Companion management is quite a different concept from anything Wizard101. There are many strategies to approach how companions are obtained, trained, talented, etc. Usually there is an initial desire to keep your companions up with your pirate level, but often as we play we see that if we wait awhile, it’s easier and cheaper to train our companions. Tips on training tome efficiency could definitely be helpful, as in how many levels they can train for depending on the difference in pirate and companion level.

Thanks for the excellent post. – Zep”

Zep makes an excellent point here! There is a kind of sub-game within the game where you have to balance your time, money, and companion training points for maximum efficiency. In fact, possibly one of the most interesting posts I’ve read so far was when one of our players played through Pirate101 to level 50 without ever spending a companion training point! Now that’s a challenge!

How did he do it? Well, by constantly arranging newly acquired companions to the First Mate slot and timing the acquisition of companions granted by side quests, he was able to make it all the way through MooShu without ever spending a training point! Amazing!

Of course, not all of us have the ability and patience to play Pirate101 at this kind of skill level, but you may find waiting to train a companion could net you a lot more bang for the buck per training point. A companion that’s a few levels below you can earn 1-2 levels with a single training point, and a companion that’s level one when you’re level 50 could even jump 15 levels with a single training point!

Now, some might argue “where’s the fun in that?” . . . and, actually, I can appreciate that statement as well. :) It is also very fun trying to keep your companions at your level and earning gold and rare equipment along the way. Playing that way also cuts out the joy of experiencing companion promotions, which are amazingly fun and make the game really unique. (Knowing which companions promote is something you might want to do some research on!)

Thanks everyone for your comments, and please continue giving your tips and asking questions! I’ll be keeping an eye on that blog post for future input.

Pirates, I have a question for you! Do you believe time travel is possible? Hmm. I see. Well, there is one thing we can agree on . . . it’s definitely something that makes the imagination soar! And I have an inspiring tale to take your imaginations to new heights . . . very small heights! Let me explain . . .

This month’s book is titled, “The Pirate’s Coin,” by Marianne Malone. This is the third book in the Sixty-Eight Rooms series, and it may be a little confusing if you haven’t read the first book, about how Jack and Ruthie go on a field trip to the Art Institute of Chicago and find that one of the exhibits is really a portal to other times and places in history.

In The Pirate’s Coin, Jack and Ruthie travel back to the 18th century and meet Jack’s pirate ancestor. But it turns out that meeting your own ancestor causes more problems than they realize! If this sounds like a book for you, check out The Sixty-Eight Rooms, the first book in the series, and Stealing Magic, the second book. And as a bonus, go online and see the real exhibit that Jack and Ruthie visited, the Thorne Rooms, at the Art Institute of Chicago’s website!

Make sure you read our KingsIsle blog post about all that goes into making one of our amazing commercials you’ve seen on TV. It features this wonderful video showcasing all the work that goes into making one of these amazing spots, from storyboard and concept art to animation, shot layers and effects.