Launch Day!

Visit the party! It’s over, it was… okay… in Avery’s Court and the shops area. It will go until 9PM EST. It’s in realm Morgan LaFitte. Come and have fun!

Pirate101 has been officially launched, and it’s nice and meaty. 😉 There’s a new trailer, and I expect to be seeing it on TV, as it’s only about 30 seconds! Here you go!

It looks great! If you’re new to the game, be sure to check back on this blog often, and search through my posts labeled with Tips. These will hopefully help you out in your gameplay and let you know what to expect! Download the Pirate101 game here, or sign up here! Just be sure to enjoy the game. Not much to read in this post, I want you to go out and enjoy Pirate101! It really is great, the graphics are amazing too. Have fun!

New Additions – Part II

Welcome to the second part of the “New Additions” post! As I said in the first, there’s been a lot of new updates to Pirate101, and KI gets ready for the full release, in 2 days!!! (At least for the Head Start). First I’ll start off with the news that…

Closed Beta Ended!

Closed Beta ended yesterday at 5:00 PM CST. Hope you had fun, but all Beta players will be included in the Head Start that begins tomorrow! All Beta testers who actually
played in the game will receive a Pioneer’s Eyepatch, which you can equip through the Token item slot, but actually appears on you character! Here’s the notes from Pirate101.com.

We’re thanking our Pirate101 Beta players with a special gift that not only screams, “I’M A PIRATE,” but also shows you’re one of our rock stars! It’s the Pioneer’s Eyepatch!

Pioneer’s Eyepatch Details:

• Equips to the Token outfit slot.
• Has a card of the Rouse healing power!
• Has no level restriction.
• Is classified as a No Trash, No Sell, and No Auction item so you’ll never accidentally delete it, and it is tradable between your characters through the Shared Bank.
• The star symbol on the patch will never be replicated on any other eyepatch in game—ever—and will let everyone know you played in Beta.

The Pioneer’s Eyepatch will be placed in your account’s gift window and will be redeemable in game starting the week of October 8th.

Note: You will not receive an Eyepatch if you played in the Pirate101 preview on 10/4/12.

New Bundles!

As I talked about in Part One of this post, there are new payment options for Pirate101! They’ve also added some new bundles, the Cutthroat Bundle ($39), a $20, and $10 bundles available at GameStop! Take a look at the pictures!

What do you think future bundles will be like? I see some similarities between these and the Wizard101 bundles, but isn’t it supposed to be like that? 😉 I, personally, can’t wait for bundles with two person mounts! Also, if you look at the Cutthroat Bundle, you can see that you gain an entire ship! That will be pretty cool to get, especially to new players. The $20 card has 2 months of membership or 10,000 crowns, plus a Walking Octopus pet. The $10 card has 1 month of membership or 5,000 crowns, plus a Crab Pet. These will be appearing in GameStop stores all over the country, but will probably go really fast too! Get your bundles as fast as you can!

Captain’s Log – Spiral Date 414722

This is the last of the news. The most recent update in Pirate101 was pretty subtle, because they are almost finished! It mostly fixed combat bugs, and there have been quite a few Hotfixes with little bugs since then.

We’ve made several small tweaks and adjustments to the newest version of the game as we continue to polish Pirate101 in preparation for launch!

Pirate101 is about to be launched, have fun playing tomorrow on Columbus Day! (For those of you who were in Beta and/or purchased a Boochbeard Bundle.)

New Additions – Part I

If you look on Pirate101.com, you’ll see that KI is preparing for the full release. Adding most of the features of Wizard101.com, fansites will be booming with material, especially when the Full Release is here! (10/8 or 10/15). There’s a whole lot of new Shop features, bundles, stories, storyline, and so much more! Where do I start? This post set will be separated into two parts. (First two-parter!)

The Pirate101 storyline is pay-as-you-go, or subscribe. It’s separated into twelve books as of now, and that’s how you’ll pay it with crowns. This is somewhat similar to the Wizard101 crowns-based system, check this out.

See some similarities? I can already tell that KingsIsle’s future games will probably be arranged about the same way. (Of course, because they’re in the Spiral! 😉 ) Back to the Pirate101 “Books”, as I’ve said the prices won’t be differed by street, but by book. The prices get higher for each book. Right now, it’s hard to tell if you’ll have to pay for each section of the book, or each book in all. Sections? Yes, each book has a summary and says what’s in it. Here’s a basic guide for all of them- they’re pretty self-explanatory.

Well, obviously you spend a lot of time in Cool Ranch. When I visited there, I sent lots of postcards of all the beautiful scenery! Unfortunately… I didn’t take many screenshots, and the beta characters got wiped. The storyline was great though, as you can see from chapters V-X (5-10). A lot of storyline is covered in Pirate101, in thirty short chapters. Those of you who aren’t in Beta, you’ll really like what you see when you start the game! Spoilers ahead, don’t read this if you want to discover the story on your own!

Skull Island Overview-

In Skull Island, you go through trying to get the basics of a pirate. Or, I could simply say a ship and money. After you’ve quested through Skull Mountain, Avery gives you his promised ship… er… boat… er… raft. You take your raft and fly it all around the Skull Island Skyways (chapters 1-2). You are after Captain Gunn’s treasure. He invented Yum, and has a fortune because of it! After you get the treasure, you are sent off to Puerto Mico on seeking diplomacy with the Monquistans. The whole mission turns on its heels and you are sent to the Isle Of Doom in search of the Golden Monkey!

Monquistan Overview-

You find out that Monquistan politics are in fact deadly. Caught in a civil war, you have to join the opposition of the Crown, and settle things best you can in the land of the monkeys. You go search for an ancient relic – the Monkey’s Paw, which you have to do a life-threatening search for.

Valencian Overview-

The Valencian storyline is quite short, as you venture into the heart of the Spiral, er… Armada. You learn about the map to El Dorado, and are sent on a search for it. You learn Avery’s single piece of the treasure, the sailcloth, was a piece of the map to El Dorado, the island of solid gold. You search in Valencia, but can’t find anything. When you look through the catacombs you find that the Armada have already taken the map, weeks ago.

Cool Ranch Overview-

A piece of the map to El Dorado, made by Marco Pollo, went to Cool Ranch. It’s being thrown around everywhere, and you struggle to find it while keeping Cooper’s Roost under control. You calm down the Bison, and keep searching for the map, which the Red Sash Gang has stolen- it’s been taken to the lair of Captain Blood. That means you have to find El Toro. El Toro, the guardian of Santo Pollo, After you find him, you must stop Santa Rana before it’s too late! You confront the Duck of Death later, to continue your search for the map. Now you have to go find Mustang Sally, who El Toro let go years ago. The Scurvy Dogs let you into Marleybone. Next you have to break Mustang Sally and Napolenguin, the most dangerous in the Spiral, out of the strongest prison in Skull Island. You have to save Tumbleweed, an abandoned town that used to be protected by the Magnificent Seven. Arise them and defeat the Wild Bunch to save them… bring it on. After that you venture towards the Haunted Skyway and the doomed town of Miranda. To get the second piece of the map, you just need to head into his lair. Great. More fighting.

MooShu Overview-

You head into MooShu to find the third piece of the map to El Dorado, as best you can. To find Egg Foo Yung and the map, you have to win a favor of the Yakooza. That means you have to storm corrupt General Tso’s fortress and get the map before the Armada get it! You need to gather the five Turtleballs to reach Cao Tzu and translate the Map. For the first one, you have to talk to the Monkey King… But can you trust him to help you? Once you have the last Turtleball, you must go to Maruzame and face the five Guardians to prove yourself worthy.

And that’s it, really, for the storyline. Check these two pages for more. Click. Click.

Sneak Peek Today!

Don’t know what I’m talking about?

 

 

Release Date Announced!!!

Here is the article in which the date is posted! But stay on this blog, I’ll tell you everything plus more. 😉
So yes, it’s true, Pirate101 is being released in one week! Well, the Head Start that is. If you played in Beta, get your credit cards out to buy membership because you’ll be included in the Head Start, as well as people who bought the bundles.

Speaking of bundles, on Swordroll’s Blog, there are some epic photos!

Pictures Removed, Please Visit Swordroll’s Blog

Thank you Swordroll! 🙂 These bundles look awesome, you can see they’re similar to the current Wizard101 bundles. The Cutthroat Bundle looks like a “Epic Bundle”, and you can kind of make out what’s on the card. The other cards look like the classic Game Cards, that cost $20 and $10.

That’s the big day, Pirate101 is coming out then! BUT, if you participated in Closed Beta or bought a Pre-Game bundle, you’ll get early access- one WEEK early access! That means for all of you Beta players, you get to start October 8th! That’s in one week! Here’s an interview posted on Massively… (Pirate101 articles are springing up everywhere! Again!)

There’s another article on IGN, which has a Pirate101 bundle giveaway that has 60,000 crowns! You just need to enter a Pirate haiku, and you’re in! The problem is, there’s already 1,500 comments, you have until midnight on the 7th, and there’s only 10 winners! Good luck!

___________________________________________

On another note, Pirate101 has been polishing up Beta, and as you can tell from all the news, it’s almost done! There was a recent beta update, Spiral Date 414722, that squished pretty much the very last bugs of Pirate101. It’s been very intresting to play the game before, and how much they’ve changed it! I don’t mean the entire storyline, it’s just the little things. They’ve put voices on all of the text, (VoiceOver), they’ve added wind in everyone’s sails, they’ve changed so many icons, and much much, much more!

As you can tell, I’ve never participated in a game’s Beta anymore. Thank you KingsIsle for the opportunity, it was great taking part in the early stages of Pirate101!

Help?

No, I don’t actually need help. But, I noticed a copy and paste from KI. Hehehe! (By the way, this will be a short post.) (Click image to enlarge.)

Rofl!!! So, this was just a quick post, bye!

Pirate101 Gameplay – Santo Pollo (Extra Content Included!)

We apologize for your post being interrupted. Breaking News released on Pirate101.com!

Pre-Sale Bundles are now avaliable on the Pirate101 website! They include… (image source)

These items will only be available for a limited time, so get them really quick!!! The Boochbeard Bundle even includes a Closed-Beta key for extra play-ness!!! 😀 Also, it has been stated on Forbes magazine online Pirate101 will be released in “early October“ so get ready for fun!

What is Closed Beta and how long does it last?

Closed Beta is a testing period where a limited number of players can play Pirate101 and provide game feedback. It will last up until the one week Head Start, so players who buy the Boochbeard Bundle early on will have more of a chance to play Closed Beta than players who wait. At the end of Closed Beta, Pirate characters will be wiped one last time. Once the one week Head Start begins, all characters are saved.

When does my 12 Month Pirate101 Membership Start?

Your 12 Month Membership time will not start until the one week Head Start of the Pirate101 launch. At the end of Closed Beta there will be one final character wipe, and after that the Head Start will begin. Once your 12 Month Membership begins at the one week Head Start, your characters and game items will be saved.

What is the one week Head Start?

When the Pirate101 game launches, Beta players and people who bought the Boochbeard or Gandry Bundle will get a one week Head Start on the game. The rest of the public will have to wait until the one week Head Start is over, and then Pirate101 will be available to everyone. This one week Head Start gives players to get a chance to quest and progress in the game before everyone else.

When do I get my cool new in-game items, like the Parrot Mount and the Castaway’s Cove?

Just like your 12 Month Membership, the in-game items from the Boochbeard or Gandry Bundle will be available to your character at the beginning of the one week Head Start.

Can I get these in-game items without purchasing a bundle?

No, these items will only be available with the purchase of a Boochbeard or Gandry bundle. They will be permanently retiredwhen these exclusive bundles are no longer available. This is the only way to ever get the Scarakeet pet, Castaway’s Cove, Parrot Mount, Cat Pirate Companion, Dread Pirate’s outfit, and the Ruby Slicer weapon.

Will I get a physical Pirate101 prepaid game card?

No, since these are online only bundles, you will not receive a physical card for the Pirate101 Boochbeard or Gandry Bundle.

Will my Pirate101 12 Month Membership Auto Renew?

Yes, your Membership will auto-renew at the discounted 12 Month price point of $59.95 one year after the Head Start date. You can change your Membership at any time by visiting My Accounts.

Thank you, your post will resume!

On Evan Keeler, my Swashbuckler, I’ve gotten all the way to Santo Pollo, Cool Ranch, without using Boochbeard as the first 15 levels! 🙂 I’m going to show you what I’m doing in Cool Ranch. (Skip the beginning of this post if you’ve read my CR gameplay posts and don’t want to see repeat screenshots.) Anyway, so far I’ve…

…Headed to Cool Ranch into Cooper’s Roost Skyway.

Once I got to Cooper’s Roost, I started to look for Merriweather Clark…

…Who had unfortunately been kidnapped by Bison. I taught them a lesson, then they told me why they took Merriweather.

Merriweather told me what I needed to do: find the Red Sash chicken gang. 😀

I fought some ships to find the map to the Red Sash’s hideout, the Hidden Valley. I went there and fixed everything up with the Bison’s graveyard. I went back to see Merriweather…
…But his house had been raided! I went and fought Monterrey Jack the chicken! Next I headed off to Santo Pollo in search of El Toro.

El Toro, the mysterious masked champion of Cool Ranch. Saving the innocent from evil such as the Banditoads, El Toro is a legend. He was almost never seen though. All we know is that he leaves a mark “T.” I am now defending the townsfolk so that I may get El Toro’s attention and get *that* much closer to getting the map. Here’s a quote from Pirate101.com just to sum up a little snippet of the Cool Ranch storyline.

Cool Ranch is a land of legendary figures: heroes like the Chicken Rangers, Wild Bill Peacock, and the masked hero El Toro, fighting lawlessness and standing up for the humble settlers; but the wild frontier has also fostered terrible outlaws like Libirdy Valence, El Guapo, and the dreaded Duck With No Name. Smugglers and pirates have always been drawn to Cool Ranch – far from everyplace, the dusty realm is an ideal place to hide.

(Sorry for the short post (other than breaking news 😛 ), I didn’t take many screenshots of my questing, and I haven’t done much.)

It is Decided! (Also, Feature on MooShu!)

I have finally decided for my posts that I will try to do guides, updates to the Pirate101 game, or the Pirate101 website on the weekdays since I will not usually have access to Pirate101 until the weekends. But during the weekends I will try to write as many gameplay posts as I can and shoot lots of videos to post on the blog! Today’s post is: Spotlight on MooShu!

This post will be relatively brief, since many of you will have received a notice email from KingsIsle that said they added a MooShu section to the P101 site. Since I haven’t quested to MooShu in-game, I’ll have to tell you what I’ve heard of it. (…And of course what KI tells us! 🙂 )

After you’ve flown into the beautiful docks of MooShu, the last world in the current Pirate101 game, you’ll see the setting sun, the rose skies, and mountains galore. This
world has been re-elaborated at KingsIsle, and it is brilliant.

MooShu is ruled by the Emperor, who is considered the Child of the Spirit of the Sun, and is served by legions of loyal Samoorai. The Cows of MooShu form the ruling class made up warriors, princes and master artisans. They are attended by Goat bureaucrats and ministers, while the Sheep and Pig peasants humbly work the land. The people of MooShu are notoriously secretive and suspicious of outsiders; foreign ships are only allowed to dock in one port, the resplendent city of Hamamitsu, without special permission, and only the mysterious Wizards have ever walked in the Imperial Skyway or visited the Imperial Palace.

MooShu is filled with spiritual action, down to the Moodha itself. But once the Emperor was cursed with dark magic, the entire realm has fallen into havoc. The bandits lying around the edges of the world began to thrive, taking prey on the poor townsfolk. The Samoorai try their hardest to protect the defenseless, but the Ninja Pigs and Yazookas seem to be getting stronger and stronger, and the outlook of the world overall and the emperor is getting worse and worse. Pirates are adventuring this world in its damaged state to gain profit from the damaged land.

Beta Key Giveaways!

 

Woooooooohooooooo! Beta key giveaways from official fansites! Sadly, this blog isn’t official. Yet. Well, for the giveaways, you can go here to get to all of them in one place. Most of them are quizzes, or have something to do with raffles. I hope I get in! Well, for the rest of the post I’ll have to entertain you with pictures. Good luck in the drawings! Also, there is a new Shark week page on Pirate101.com. Dittomonster has a new KingsIsle “sponsored” post, with all new pictures! Remember there is still an NDA. Here is Ditto’s post. Avast ye images!

 

 

 

 

Also, here’s the Monquistan King.

 

Thanks for reading, and good luck!

BETA BETA BETA!

It’s out! BETA IS HERE! The official press release on the Pirate101 website was just released today! I’m soooooooo happy! Thank you KingsIsle for finally doing this! 🙂 The only bad thing is, that I can’t post images, even if I get in. I think I can tell you, but I’m not sure. Time will tell. The press release is here, or below.

PLANO, TEXAS (August 3rd, 2012) – Avast me hearties! KingsIsle Entertainment is pleased to announce the Beta for Pirate101 is officially underway. The first round of Beta invitation emails has gone out to testers, and a variety of additional Beta key giveaways are planned over the next several weeks.

“The start of our closed Beta testing marks a massive step forward for Pirate101,” said J. Todd Coleman, vice president and creative director at KingsIsle Entertainment. “Design, art, technology, story—our teams have worked tirelessly to craft this fantastic new online experience for families. I cannot wait for our testers to get in and experience the new world we have created for them.”

In Pirate101, players take the helm of their very own pirate ship as they pursue an epic storyline of grand swashbuckling adventure. Intended to entertain a broad and cross-generational family audience, Pirate101 is accessible and simple to play for casual gamers, yet simultaneously offers systems with great depth and complexity for more sophisticated audiences.

Access to Beta:
Pirate101 is currently in closed Beta testing and will launch later this year. To be considered for closed Beta access, please sign up at http://www.pirate101.com. As part of KingsIsle’s partnership with AMD’s Gaming Evolved program, AMD will be giving away a limited number of Pirate101 Beta keys. More information about this exclusive chance at early Beta access is available at blogs.amd.com/play/2012/08/03/pirate101. Finally, ongoing updates regarding Beta access promotions can be found at http://www.pirate101.com/free_game/closed_beta_keys.

Also, a few new images have been released on J Todd Coleman’s and Pirate101 Central’s Facebook pages. Voila!

Zeke’s in Pirate101 too! Yay! I’ll have to see if I get into beta… That’s all for this week! Since beta is out, I may be posting more with updates from around the Spiral or around the Internet. 😛