Project What's Your Name

Ahoy mateys!

I have been having kind of an awkward problem on Pirate101 lately.  I have been adding people that I know from Wizard101.......and forgetting who they are. *blushes*  Okay, I mean no offense to anyone.  I love all my friends and readers and followers.  However, it seems that even though I am 80% pirate, I have everyone's Wizard101 names stuck in my head.  And I took an impromptu poll on Twitter and it seems I am not the only one who has this problem.

So here is what I did.  I started Project What's Your Name!  This is basically a listing of people's Pirate101 names and classes matched up with their Wizard101 main character name.  Confused about who someone on your Pirate friend list is?  Come here and look it up!

Right now there aren't many people on the list, but I am hoping that as word spreads, more people will submit their information to make this an extremely useful tool!  So let your friends know about it and let's get more people added.  All you have to do is answer 3 simple questions (4 if you would like to include your twitter name) and submit it.  This is completely voluntary.  I will not be adding anyone to the list who doesn't submit their information through this form

So have you ever been confused about who someone on your list is?  Would you like to be added to the list?  If so, click the link above, or click here to get started!  See you in the skyways! :)

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Pirate101 Introduces Henchmen!

Ahoy!

Yesterday the Pirate101 Test Realm opened up with a new update.....Henchmen!  If you are having trouble in a battle, you can now click on the crown shop and pay anywhere from 75-750 crowns to get a henchman to help you out.  There are henchmen for each class available at the following levels: 15, 25, 35, 45, 55 and 65.

If you are familiar with the henchmen in Wizard101, the henchmen in Pirate101 are kind of on the same idea.  You hire them to help you out in a battle.  However, in Pirate101 you get to control you henchman the same way you control your companions.  And they get all the epics, powers, talents that their level player should have.  So a level 65 henchman has everything for their class! EPIC!  You can see more details in the Update Notes.

I logged into test realm to try out some henchmen.  I didn't get to try all of them yet, but I did try out all the level 65 ones.  They are all awesome, but the buccaneer was definitely my favorite.  Not only does he look awesome, but he is really strong!  Here he is in action.

I can honestly say that I was never a huge fan of henchmen in Wizard101.  I did use them sometimes, but I mostly found them annoying since they would heal at the wrong time or use my traps.  However, the Pirate101 henchmen seem about a million times more appealing to me since we can control them.  I can't wait until they come to live realm!

Have you tried them out yet? If you have, let me know what you think of them in the comments section! I am curious to hear what people think of them! See you soon! :)

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Arrrgust Contest #2 Winners

Ahoy!

All the entries for my Arrrgust Dorm decorating contest have been received and looked at, and I have chosen the four winners.  All the entries were great!  I loved seeing everyone's creativity!  However, I only have four prizes left to give out, so I had to choose.  I based the entries off of creativity, overall decorating, the description and how well people followed the contest rules. Here are the winners:

Grand Prize

1 Random Class House + Pack O Porters + 10,000 Crowns

Dead Eye Justin

I love to hang out in my birthplace of Marleybone. But since it's captivated in war I made my last trip to Marleybone to get some mementos and bring them to my own home! From Marleybone I brought with me, couches, flags, a piano, maps, and fancy wallpaper! When I sit down at my desk I imagine I'm back in the Admiralty Foyer........ahhhh...........the memories. I also share my dorm with my best bud. Handsome Dan, or as I like to call him, Peanut Butter. One day we'll move back to our homeland. 

First Prize

Pack O Porters + 7,500 Crowns

Autumn Starwalker

Where my pirate calls home  she has a collection of her favorite items collected  from all through the spiral. This is her pirate's sweet getaway she spends her days and nights along with her favorite first mate over for a cup of tea and they share tales about their great adventures.

Second Prize

Pack O Porters + 5,000 Crowns

Captain Richard Sharp

This is where my pirates like to relax after a hard days piratin'; at their very own tavern. Here they share their adventure stories over a tankard of yum. Of course the furniture doesn't match because it just things they've looted or cobbled together from driftwood. Regardless it's the place the think of as home.

Third Prize

2,500 Crowns

Hunter

I think pirates will like to spend their time and relax. My room makes you feel like you're outside. There's lots of cool looking stuff to sit and relax from all the hard work of pirating around the spiral. You will feel so welcome in my dorm room you will be jumping for joy! 

Congrats to the winners! You will be receiving your codes shortly via the email you submitted your entries through.  And thanks to everyone who entered! Be sure to watch for more contests to be announced soon!  See you in the spiral! :)

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Autumns, Autumns Everywhere!

Ahoy!

It's been awhile since I made a post about what I have been up to in Pirate101, so I figured I would update you all.  To be honest, I actually haven't had a ton of extra time for gaming, which will hopefully change soon!  Here is where all my characters currently are:

• Right now my witchdoctor is pretty much finished the game, except for a few Aquila side quests.
• My Privateer is still level 27 and in Cool Ranch. I did quest enough on her to make one post, which will be up soon.
• My swashbuckler (the one I am leveling with my daughter) is currently on hold until we get her set up with a different computer.  That is in the works, so you will be seeing more Autumn and Chloe posts again in the near future.

So what have I been up to in game you ask?  Well besides the contests and events I have been hosting, I have also made 2 new characters!  And guess what their names are.....That's right! Autumn Walker and Autumn Walker!  First I will introduce you to my Musketeer.

I actually created my musketeer when Pirate101 went live.  I got her to level 5 before I decided to focus on my witchdoctor.  So when Edward Lifegem made a musketeer and mentioned maybe leveling a character with me, I had her ready made!  We have quested up to level 8 and just got our Presidio companions and new ships.  Next up is meeting One Eyed Jack!  Since Ed and I have to coordinate our schedules, I'm not sure when I will be leveling on here again, but I hope it's soon.  The musketeer class is fun!

The last Autumn Walker is a buccaneer.  Even though I haven't had too much time for questing, she is already level 13 and nautical level 12.  I am about to do the dungeon to get the monkey's paw, so almost done with Monquista! So far I haven't found this class too difficult, but I have died a couple times, so we'll see.

I probably wont be blogging about my questing on these 2 characters much, but I did want to introduce you to them.  I may make an occasional post if something cool happens, and they may pop up in other posts about game updates and events and such.  

Anyway, thanks for reading! See ye in the spiral! :)

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Sink101 Review

Ahoy!

The other day I had an NXP event to celebrate the blog reaching 101,000 views.  We were trying to sink 101 ships in the Achaean SKyway.  And guess what! We did it......times 2! Does that make it a Sink202 event? lol

I had a great time and we got some awesome ship equipment from Captain Spartacos, including the Kraken horn and the crowns equivalent rudder.  I still need the armor and figurehead from him though.  Maybe next time!

I would like to thank everyone who came! And  a special thanks to Ian Sharp (Stormstaff) for finding a really cool tally mark app that helped keep count.  I had to leave after 202 ships, but I think that they kept going for a little after I left.   If you couldn't make it to this event, don't worry! I love having these and will have plenty more in the future!   Thanks for reading! :)

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Road Trip 2013

Ahoy Pirates and Wizards!

I am back from vacation! Actually I have been home for a few days, but I needed the last few days as a vacation from my vacation.  As you will see in this post, it was VERY busy, but we had a lot of fun.  And I decided to post about it here because a lot of people have been asking where we went, if they can see some pictures, etc.

To answer the first question, we decided to take a road trip.  First we went to New York City, then New Jersey, and finally to Pennsylvania before returning home to good old New Hampshire.  We managed to do quite a bit considering we stayed only a few days in each place.  Now for the second part people were asking about.....Are you ready for picture overload?

Day 1

The first day was mostly packing up last minute things and then traveling to New York City.  However, when we got there we did have time to do a few things.....such as walk about 20 blocks from the hotel to Central Park.  We also stopped at The Empire State Building on the way. Here are a couple pictures.

View from The Empire State Building.  You can see Central Park.

Another view from The Empire State Building. You can see Freedom Tower
and The Statue of Liberty in this one.

As you can see, it was kinda hazy all the way up there.  I don't know if it always is, or if I just have bad luck, because the pictures I have from my visit 11 years ago are hazy too.  Anyway, after that, we walked to Central Park.  It was fun people watching on the way there.  And once we got there, Chloe and Aidan saw the people giving horse carriage rides and asked if we could take one.  So we did.  I don't have many pictures of the park from that day, but here is one of Aidan in the carriage.

I'm not positive, but I think this is in front of the Plaza Hotel.

Day 2

The second day was probably our busiest day.  Our first stop was FAO Schwartz.  And I have to say, this was a VERY cool toy store.  We actually spent a couple hours just looking around.  The kids played on the piano from the movie "Big" and there were a bunch of really cool statues built from Legos.

The BIG Piano

Lego Batman

Chloe trying to be a Skylander :P

When we left, we headed across the street to chill out a little in Central Park. I actually have some pictures this time.

Random Central Park picture. It's actually a really beautiful park.

Not sure if Chloe is contemplating life or Sprite :P

Aidan being Aidan :P

Then it was time to go to Times Square!  Okay, here is a word of advice.....If you ever go to NYC do NOT get food from the carts/vendors on the side of the road.  I'm not a picky eater at all, but everytime we got food from them, we got sick.  Anyway, we hung out in Times Square for a bit, just looking around and people watching. 

Times Square

Batman and Cat Woman......And Chloe and Aidan :)

Then we went to Madame Tussauds, which is a wax museum of famous people.  I learned something while there. Wax figures totally creep me out.  Seriously.  I didn't even get within like 10 feet of any of them. lol  I do have a TON of pictures of my kids with them though.  Here are a few.

With the Obamas

Um......Aidan....uh....yeah LOL

With Dracula

Rocking out with Jimi Hendrix

Uh....no idea who this hockey player is....or why
Aidan is making that face lol

The highlight of the day for Chloe...Justin Bieber

The Hulk!

Chloe and Beyonce

Highlight #2 for Chloe....One Direction!

Okay, so after I got totally creeped out by the creepy wax figures.....we headed next door to Ripley's Believe It or Not.  This place was so cool.  I have also been to the one in San Francisco, but I think the NYC one may be better.  If you ever get a chance to go to one, I highly recommend it. There are so many awesome, cool, crazy, unbelievable things there :)

Um...Mom?  Why are you making us stand next to the creepy guy?

This was cool. You dance in front of the screen and it makes different
colored patterns across the screen.

Aidan is in the pillory....Probably from being too silly or something :P

Day 3

Our plan was to head to New Jersey this day, but first we spent some time seeing a couple sites we hadn't gotten to yet.  We took the Staten Island ferry and got a close up of the Statue of Liberty, as well as some awesome views of the NYC skyline.  Then we headed to the 9/11 Memorial.  They did an amazing job on this.  It is absolutely beautiful.  Really sad though.

Battery Park

Aidan in Battery Park

Statue of Liberty.....And a PIRATE SHIP!
Kidding. I don't THINK it was a pirate ship, but ya never know :P

NYC Skyline

Part of the 9/11 Memorial. It's so huge that it was hard to get a good picture.

A close up of the Freedom Tower

Days 4 and 5

Our first day in New Jersey we were supposed to go to Hurricane Harbor, which is the waterpark at Six Flags. However, it rained....like downpours.  So Instead we went to see Despicable Me 2 in 3D.  It was a pretty good movie.  Then we found an indoor arcade place and played some arcades and laser tag.  Another thing you should try if you never have....Laser tag! It's a lot of fun.

The following day the weather cleared up, so we were able to go to Six Flags. First we spent the morning on the safari.  It was cool to see all the animals.  There were zebras, ostriches, bears, tigers, lions....tons of different animals.  Chloe and Aidan even got to feed the giraffes!  I have a lot of pictures of the animals, but I'm not going to post them all here. I will post a few though.

In the parking lot at Six Flags

Rhinos! It was weird seeing a rhino without a bunny on it (Ian Stormstaff) :P

Elephant

Sloth! You can see it's face at the left side of the basket. He was so cute!

Feeding giraffes

Kangaroos. There was one with a joey in her pouch, but we couldn't get a
picture.

The tigers were HUGE!

Day 6

The day after Six Flags we headed to Pennsylvania, but first we stopped at the coast to enjoy some time at the beach.  I say we stopped at the coast....we actually drove about an hour in the opposite direction of PA to get there.  It was worth it though. The beach we went to was beautiful and we got some cool shells as souvenirs.

We found tons of these sand crab things while digging in the sand.

The water was FREEZING! But the kids didn't mind :)

Chloe spent a lot of time collecting shells.
Aidan spent a lot of time throwing them back in the water :P

Sand castle! :)

Day 7

Our first day in Pennsylvania we went to Chocolate World!  It was awesome....free samples of chocolate everywhere! Yum!!  We saw a 4D movie, went on a tour and made our own chocolate bars.  Oh yeah....did I mention? We got to eat chocolate too! :)  After that, we went to Hershey Gardens which was fun as well :)  There was a kid's garden, lots of flowers and a butterfly house.  It was very relaxing!

Chocolate World!

Waiting to watch the 4D movie

Ready to go in to make candy bars!

Holding the candy they made.

Butterflies at Hershey Gardens

A flower at Hershey Gardens

This was cool.  When you jumped on it it made music

Chloe making music.

A fountain at the Gardens

Day 8

We decided to go to Hershey Park on a Monday, hoping it would be less crowded.  It was still pretty crowded, but probably not as much as if we had gone on a weekend.  Hershey Park was more fun than Six Flags.  The kids could go on a lot more of the rides, which was nice.  And they had a lot of fun making new friends in line at the rides they went on by themselves.  In addition to the amusement park rides, there are also water slides and a mini zoo here as well.  So we spent all day here, from 10:00am to 10:00pm.  It was fun though! :)

On a ride with new friends :)

Aidan and other kids I don't know :P

Face Painting! :)

Day 9

The day after Hershey Park we spent some time in Lancaster County aka Amish Country.  We went to a museum of sorts where you could see what their schools, barns, stores and houses looked like.  We also stopped at a couple of their farmstands and got homemade jams and rootbeer.  Chloe and Aidan fell in love with some kittens at one of the places, and the owner told me they could take one.  I said no thanks :P (She was joking anyway.) 

I did get a few pictures at the museum, but not at the farmstands, since I wanted to respect their beliefs of not having photos taken of them.

Totally random, but Aidan found a newly hatched cicada :)

In an Amish buggy

Inside an Amish school house...And yes, Aidan is being Aidan again lol

Day 10

This was the last day of vacation for us.  We headed home, but first we had one more stop to make.  We went to Crystal Caves, which is basically a huge cave you can get a tour of.  There are a few of these in Pennsylvania, but this one was on our way home.  The cave was awesome.  The pictures don't really do it justice, but here are a couple anyway:

This is actually at the deepest part of the cave looking back the way we came.

Um......Shiny rocks?  This was some sort of formation, but I forget what.
It's pretty and shiny though :D 

More rocks :P

So after that it was a 10 hour drive home.  I think that was the best part! (Kidding!)  Anyway, as you can see, we stayed very busy on this vacation.  It was a lot of fun though.  I hope you enjoyed reading about it! If you have any questions, feel free to post them in the comments. :)  Thanks for reading and see ya tomorrow with a Pirate101 post! :)

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