One Eyed Jack is here with the first Pirate101 game play tip article, some tips on how to pick the perfect Pirate!
When you first create your Pirate, every player is faced with three questions:
- How did you lose your parents?
- Where did you grow up?
- How did you get arrested by the Armada?
It’s the backbone of Pirate101 and makes for some really fun re-playability because if you chose different answers for each of these questions – you’ll experience the game differently. Sure, you’ll still be crashing your way through the Armada’s forces and finding all the pieces of the map to El Dorado, but these small choices will cue certain punch lines and apply game altering affects for the rest of your character’s Pirate101 existence.
This post will attempt to demystify a few of these choices. Below is an example of how the choices you make early on will affect your Pirate later in the game.
Didn’t help? Here’s more:
1- The “How you lost your parents” question will directly impact which companion you receive after you completed the “Presidio” dungeon of Skull Island. A good Internet search will yield information from pretty much every fan website out there, so to avoid spoilers, we’re not going to give you them all outright! However, choosing storm will net you a Swashbuckling companion, choosing shipwreck will result in a Privateer companion, and if you lost your parents to any of the other choices, you’ll receive one of three really awesome Buccaneer companions. All of them are great companions, so you can’t go wrong with your choice here.
These “Presidio Five” companions will talk to you throughout your journeys, and each has their own distinct personality. Moreover, each of these companions knew your parents personally, so they will share insights about them when the situation arises. If you like finding all the unique little tidbits in the Pirate101 story, make sure to choose a different path for each of your different Pirates!
2- The “Where you grew up” question adds a very basic power card to your list of passive abilities. Of course your character will be able to complete the entire game regardless of what power card is chosen, but there are a few extremely detail-oriented players out there who might want to re-roll their character if they didn’t make the right choice here:
- Marleybone: Keen Eyes (+5% accuracy)
- Krokotopia: Naturally Spooky (increased power effects)
- Grizzleheim: Naturally Tough (+5% health)
- MooShu: Born Warrior (+5 damage)
- Skull Island: Born Sneak (+5% dodge)
All of these abilities play into a major question – which class will you be? As a Witchdoctor, it would seem Naturally Spooky is an obvious choice, correct? But what about Privateer? Naturally Spooky will help them with their healing, but arguments could be made for any of the choices above . . . it really comes down to how you like to play your character. If you like to put them out in the middle of the battle, you might choose health or dodging. If you like to do a lot of damage, you might be swayed in that direction, and almost everyone can benefit from accuracy because it’s better to hit your target more often than not, right? The debate is endless, but we definitely like to give you a lot of options here because we know you love options!
3- The last and most impactful decision you make is why the Armada arrested you — that directs both your class and your starter companion. Whether it’s hoodoo, dueling, brawling, treason, or smuggling, you’ll be off to adventure with one of what we like to call “The MooShu Five” companions.
- Buccaneer: Kobe Yojimbo
- Privateer: Egg Shen
- Witchdoctor: Kan Po
- Musketeer: Wing Chun
- Swashbuckler: Subodai
Just like “The Presidio Five,” “The MooShu Five” companions are powerful allies who will banter with you throughout your journey and serve as faithful companions with several promotion quests. They are awesome! Keep them leveled up and they will help keep you alive.
See you in the Skyways and thanks for reading.
One-Eyed Jack
Community Manager
Today we have a guest blogger who hardcore Wizard101 and Pirate101 fans are familiar with… Jester from Wizard101 and Pirate101 Central! Jester takes a moment to explain the full story of how Wizard101 Central began.
Olivia and I have been working with Wizard101 for about five years now and it seems like it was just yesterday that we got started. Time sure flies when you’re having fun! As I write this, I realize that despite being asked about how Wizard101 Central came to be more times than you can shake a sheep pet at, I don’t think we’ve ever told anyone the full story. Well, gather around and listen my fellow Wizards, for a little bit of history about Wizard101 Central.
A few years before anyone had heard about Wizard101, back in 2005, our young daughter was playing the top child-friendly MMO at the time. She was actively visiting a community website for that game where she was looking up tips, organizing events and socially interacting with other players who were as excited about that game as she was. While everything seemed fine for a while, one day out of the blue she told Olivia and me that she wasn’t visiting that website any longer. Surprised and concerned, we discussed the matter with her and it turned out there was a bully who was teasing other people on that fan site. Right at that moment we decided to start our own community for that MMO where we could be sure she’d be safe from bullies. This would be a place where people could discuss aspects of the game without having to worry about being teased and pestered. For the next three years, that site slowly grew and became a fun, bully-free alternative to the “other” community.
One fateful day in 2008, my daughter mentioned a new game to us that she had read about called Wizard101. We did as much research as we could about the game and the company that made it. It was a family entertainment game and was being made by a company committed to family high quality games appropriate to all ages. It also helped that the game looked really cool! Our daughter applied for and got accepted into the Wizard101 beta program where she began playing the game like crazy. Olivia and I also wanted to play this awesome game, so we applied to the beta program as well. Before we knew it we were all playing Wizard101 together as a family and having more fun than a fire wizard who just summoned a Helephant! The more we played, the more we realized this game was going to be something very special.
On August 12th, 2008 we started Wizard101 Central with a single purpose; Olivia and I wanted to create a fun, safe place for everyone to visit where bullying and rudeness would never be tolerated.
Both Wizard 101 and Wizard101 Central steadily grew in popularity over the next few years. While Wizard101 has grown to become one of the most popular child friendly MMO’s, Wizard101 Central has grown to become the destination for anyone looking for Wizard101 information on any aspect of the game and a great compliment to KingsIsle’s forums. Our Wizard101 Wiki is full of accurate information and is ranked as one of the top wikis in the world!
In the spring of 2012, we had the privilege of participating in the alpha/beta programs for KingsIsle’s next family friendly game, Pirate101. We immediately loved the game and began to create a safe community for it, Pirate101 Central. Even though this community is young, it’s growing and has quickly become the largest archive of Pirate101 information on the internet.
Central forum members are friendly, helpful and fun to be around. They are the reason the Central forums are the best communities I personally have ever been a part of. We even have a few active members that are still with us from our first MMO website back in 2005. I cannot say enough good things about our Central teams either. Each and every Central team member is extremely hard working and dedicated to keeping our communities safe for all ages. It’s a privilege to be associated with each and every one of them and they are all a true pleasure to work with.
So that, my fellow wizards, is how and why the Central forums came to be. Over the last 5 years we’ve suffered growing pains, server outages and a few other stresses along the way but we can honestly say that we have had a blast though it all. One thing is for sure, there is never a dull moment!
Jester and Olivia
Wizard101 and Pirate101 Central Founders
As a principal artist here at Kingsisle Entertainment, it is my job to create a style for all the different worlds we have for Wizard101. From the look of a ninja pig to the feel of the streets of Unicorn Way, it all needs to have the same treatment in order to create the illusion that this is a living, breathing world full of magic and wonder.
In this article series I will focus on how we achieve these magical worlds. We will go from concept, to 3D model, to texturing, to effects and then finally to a game asset that is viewed by millions of Wizards around the world.
Let’s focus on one aspect of Ravenwood – probably the most important aspect: Bartleby, the world tree. He is the source of all magic in Wizard City.
We start with a concept phase, which is a 2d painting of the character or world. This is where we play with a variety of ideas to establish what works and what doesn’t. What look and feeling are we trying to convey with Bartleby? Is he a sad tree? Is he happy to have Wizards running around his roots? Is he a wise tree? We asked several different artists to try their hand at what they thought Bartleby looked like.
Remember, this is a brand new world we had just thought up and had no preconceived notions of what it would feel like. We were playing around with ideas and having fun with it. We didn’t give the artists any rules or restrictions, but only gave them this simple parameter: Bartleby is a tree at the heart of a magical city. This should be represented by a crystal or a globe in the tree itself.
Here are several of those artist’s submissions –
This first one is decent, but the tree’s face was a bit too human for our tastes. The spirals in the tree are a nice touch, though.
This next one had a great grandpa feel to him, but he was deemed too cartoony for Bartleby.
I like the look of this one, but it had a more matronly look to the tree.
This one was a cool concept and we liked the green beard, but his faraway look was too passive for a wise old tree at the heart of an action-oriented story.
This tree has a more natural look to him. His face is melded with the tree instead of simply a tree with a face in it. Yes, there is a difference! We did think the buildings in his leaves were a nice touch though.
This is the one I submitted for this concept art phase. While it didn’t get picked, I think some of the colors and buildings surrounding Bartleby made it into the final Wizard City look you see today in the game. I still like the crooked nose and eyebrows of this one :).
Now even though this tree didn’t have a face in it, the color scheme and shapes of the buildings around it were chosen to establish the “Wizard City” look.
This last one is more like it! Look a bit familiar? We enjoyed the hawk nose, the beard integrated into the tree itself, the globe in the eye socket. It seemed to be all there.
Of course, all of these were great concepts. While this last concept was selected we actually incorporated pieces from all of the concepts into what would become the final Bartleby that you see in Wizard City.
In my next article I will discuss the process of translating these concepts into the 3D object that eventually became Bartebly’s game form. Stay tuned!
Jeff Toney
Principal Artist
I’m thrilled to announce the official launch of KingsIsle’s new blog. We truly have such a great community with phenomenal fan sites, players and (if you will allow me to gush just a little) excellent community managers. This blog gives us another means to share our passion with you as well as dive into a broader range of topics.
What can you expect of our blog? For one it’s another fun, playful environment that lets a little more of our creativity shine through outside of our games. Keep an eye out for insights into the gaming industry and perhaps a little guidance to those who aspire to enter it with us. We also have some wonderful “Guest Bloggers” lined up, and we certainly want to hear from you on topics you would like us to further explore. Perhaps most importantly, we want to give you a more intimate view of what we do here at KingsIsle and exactly why we are so passionate about what we do.
Okay, you know about the goals of the new blog… so what is my confession? It is simply this – I love what I do. No, really! I believe it is one of the things that set us apart as a company, because I’m convinced this feeling runs across every employee here at KingsIsle.
We work hard, but we certainly love gaming!
Sure, some days and activities are still “work” but never once have I lost my appreciation for how lucky I am to do what I do and to be a part of the KingsIsle community. Bluntly stated, I am proud of what we all do here. I’m even more proud to be a part of this this great community of Wizards and Pirates and more that you have created with us.
As I sit writing this first blog entry I actually have tears streaming down my face. Just five minutes before I started writing this post I received a call from the Make-A-Wish foundation. There is a 10-year old boy whose wish is to come visit our studio because he is such a fan of Pirate101. How amazing to be a part of something that has such a positive impact. Please accept my sincere gratitude for partnering with us to make something truly great. Thank you for making our jobs so rewarding!
Fred Howard
Vice President of Marketing
KingsIsle Blog 