Easter Bunny Run 2016

Hey everyone!

Easter is coming up soon! To celebrate, Edward Lifegem from ATSWEL is having an Easter Bunny Run and I'm co-hosting along with a few other people! This will be a lot like the Santa Run he hosts in December, except with BUNNIES!  So grab your bunny costume (if you have one) and save the date below, because it's going to be a lot of fun!  Even if you don't have a costume, that's okay.  Still show up and join in!

We don't have all the details figured out yet, so I will be updating this post once I know more. Here's what I do know so far though:

When: Friday, March 25th @ 4:00pm EST

Where: The Commons, near the Rainbow Bridge

Realm: Vampire, area 1

There will also be a big after party hosted at a few different houses, as well as contests and trivia!  All that info will be updated as it becomes available, so be sure to keep an eye on this post and/or Edward's post.  I hope to see you guys there! It will be a lot of fun!

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Meet Thrifty Autumn Walker

Thrifty Autumn Walker

Hey everyone!

As you all may know, I have been making a series of posts detailing different challenges you can try out to make Pirate101 more difficult.  In my last challenge post I talked about trying to complete the game without spending any gold or crowns.  You can see the rules here.

I decided to make a new pirate to try this challenge out with, Thrifty Autumn Walker.  I will be blogging about her as I quest through the game.  I am actually pretty excited about this experiment since I have never done anything like this before.

One of the biggest changes I am going to have to make while questing is actually paying attention to what I receive as drops.  I usually don't.  When I quest, I just plow through and then when my backpack is full, I head to the Bazaar.  I don't even look at what is in there.  I just sell everything that is auctionable and then check out the no auction items.  Most of the time I end up selling most of that gear as well.  I do the same for ship equipment.  Then I use the gold from selling to buy whatever I need.

Scenic Skull Island

During this challenge I am going to need to pay attention to every single drop I get.  This isn't a bad thing and hopefully getting in the habit of doing this will help me on other characters later on. I will be taking screenshots of the drops I am planning on using, either right away or in the future, and add them to my posts.

Battling some angels in the tutorial

So anyway.......Now on to the fun stuff!  I started questing a little yesterday.  I did run through the tutorial for nostalgic purposes.  Then it was onto Skull Island to recover Captain Avery's amulet.  After fighting troggies and cutthroats and more troggies and cutthroats, I faced off with Fin Dorsal and got the amulet back!  Avery was so impressed by me that he gave me a "ship" and sent me to find Captain Gunn's treasure.

Troggies and cutthroats and Fin......OH MY!

I made it as far as Traitor's Cave and then decided to do the side quests I had picked up and farm for some better ship equipment and NXP.  I did the pet quest and got my first pet and then headed out to fight some cutthroat ships, batacudas and flying fish.  Once I completed all those side quests, I farmed Deadeye Deidre (a ship boss) for awhile before moving onto Red Claw ships and Waponi ships.  I received some cool equipment drops for my ship, which made farming much easier.

I managed to reach nautical level 7.  My character level is level 6.  And while I was doing all this, I was training my pet and got her to level 11!  I only had the 3 pet snacks from the pet quest, as well as 3 more I received from fighting Deadeye Deidre....Yes, I got caught on her ship a couple times.  I also used a few training tomes I got as quest/leveling rewards and trained all my companions to level 4 or 5.  I plan to try to keep my companions trained to 2 levels below my pirate level, but that may change.  As I get more companions, that may drop to 3-5 levels below my pirate's level, but we'll see.

So what's up next? I plan to reach nautical level 8 (so I can equip some cannons I received) and then pick up with the main quests in Traitor's Cave.  Today I will also be posting a poll on my twitter account asking whether or not I should try this challenge without using companion orders. (Click here for the poll.) I am thinking I might give it a try, but I am curious to see what other people think.

Before I go, here is a run down of all the notable stuff I received:

Gear - Pirate Daggers (starting weapon), Cunning Ring (ring), Voyager's Spyglass (totem), Corsair's
Jacket (outfit), Vagabond's Shoes (boots), Warrior Helm (hat)

Ship - Raft, Broken Wheel (starting wheel), Horn of Crimson Fog (starting horn), Used Rudder (rudder), Rigged Mainsail (sails), Skeleton Billethead (figurehead), Rusty Cannons (cannons), Iron Cannons (cannons - will equip at nautical level 8)

Companions - Subodai (level 4), Bonnie Anne (level 4), Fan Flanders (level 5), Sarah Steele (level 5), 15 training points remaining

Powers/Talents/Doubloons - Sneak Attack, Walk in the Shadows, Naturally Tough, Light Armor, Treasure Bath (2), Mark of Skull Island, Sluggish

Pets/Snacks - Tiny Daisy (Ostrich - level 11), 3 quest reward snacks (forgot what they were, used all 3), Banana Gumbo (2, used both), Scrimshaw Swiss (used)

I will try to find a better way to capture/post the items I get. Also, I am hoping to make posts about this character weekly.  Starting the game over again has been a lot of fun so far!  I hope you enjoyed reading this post! I'm sure the next one will be less long-winded. (Does that mean it will be short-winded?)  Thanks for reading and see you soon!

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Lots and Lots of Side Quests

Ahoy!

The past few days I have been pretty busy being a pirate.  It feels really good to be back in game questing again.  I didn't realize how much I missed it!

Me and my crew

One of my gaming New Year's resolutions was to finish the side quests on my Privateer and Buccaneer, so that is what I have been working on.  My Privateer had 18+ pages of side quests to complete when I started.  She is now done except for Pirate's Regatta and Tower of Moo Manchu, which I'll need help with.

All of the side quests I had were in Mooshu, Marleybone, and Aquila.  I think I had done the rest in a side quest spree awhile back, but I'm not positive.  Anyway, I had a lot of fun.  I haven't quested on my Privateer in awhile and I forgot how much I like that class.  Anyway, here are a few pictures I got while I was questing.  I didn't get too many, because I was busy trying to finish up, but I did manage to get a few from each of the three worlds I quested in.

My companions kicking butt in Mooshu

Ship fighting in Marleybone

El Toro in Aquila

So next up is my Buccaneer.  She has A LOT more side quests than my Privateer did.......Like 38+ pages.  That's going to take awhile.  And I still have to run through Pirate's Regatta and Tower of Moo Manchu, so if anyone wants to help with that, let me know.  I would be forever in your debt :P

I will have at least two more posts this week, so be sure to watch for them. Thanks for reading! :)

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Pirate101 Challenge #8: No Gold or Crowns

Ahoy Mateys!

I am almost done with the 10 Ways to Make Pirate101 More Challenging series!  After this post, there will only be two more!  Woohoo!!!!!  I mean, I have enjoyed making these posts and all, but it always feels good to finish a project.

Anyway, I have talked in other posts about how important gold is in Pirate101.  You need it for gear, weapons, ships, ship equipment, companions training points.......The list goes on and on.  So that brings us to the 8th challenge; complete the whole main quest line in Pirate101 without spending any gold.  Read on for more details.

Rules
1. Do not spend any gold on gear, weapons, ship equipment, etc.
2. You may equip a pet if you receive one while questing or farming on this pirate.  It may only be trained with items you also receive as drops.
3. You may only level your companions with points you receive through main and side quests, as well as free tomes found throughout the spiral.
4. You may equip new gear and ship equipment, as long as it was received as a drop on this pirate, through either questing or farming.
5. You may take advantage of using companion orders.
6. No crowns shop gear, packs, companions, pets, henchmen, ships, ship equipment, etc.
7. No morphing new pets.
8. No transferring items from any other characters you have via the shared bank.
9. You may only use companions you receive directly through questing. (No crowns shop companions.)

So basically with this challenge you should not be spending either gold or crowns on anything that would directly affect your questing.  Everything you use to better your pirate, pets, or companions should be received for free (not including being gifted).

Tips and Tricks
1. Farm, farm, farm! Especially for weapons, pets and ship equipment.  An awesome pet can really help a lot!
2. I already mentioned this above, but once you get a few companions, taking advantage of giving them orders to help you get stuff will really help out a lot.
3. Completing side quests will help you get even more free stuff, as well as open up new areas to farm.

Exceptions
1. You may purchase one new ship of your choice from a vendor (not crown shop) in the following worlds: Cool Ranch and Marleybone OR Aquila (not both). However, any ship equipment you use must be from drops.
2. You may purchase any houses or furniture you want, since these items do not affect questing.
3. You may purchase or rent a mount, since this also will not directly affect questing.
4. If you really want to stitch to get a certain look, that's up to you.  However, your gear stats should be from gear you received as a drop.

Variations
1. Make this harder by eliminating the use of companion orders.
2. Make this challenge slightly easier by choosing one thing to spend gold on: Ship equipment OR one set of new gear per world OR companion training points OR pet stuff (training, morphing, etc).

So that's it.  I have decided that this is the challenge I am going to try out soon with a new character, Thrifty Autumn Walker.  I should have my first post about her within the next couple weeks, so be sure to watch for that! I am also hoping to finish up this series next week.

Meanwhile, comment below and let me know if you have tried any of these challenges yet!  Thanks for reading and see you soon!

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Pirate101 Challenge #7: No Powers or Talents

Hey everyone!

Can you believe it's already March?  I can't! This year is flying by!  It feels like it was just a week ago that I was making a post about my blogging and gaming goals.  Speaking of that, it is time to work on finishing up this series of posts so I can start something new.  Only three more after this one! So here we go, on to the seventh Way to Make Pirate101 More Challenging!

This challenge requires you to quest through the game without training any additional powers from any class or mysterious trainer, including your own class.

Rules
1.  Quest through the game without acquiring any new powers or talents.
2.  Do not visit the mysterious trainers or any class trainers, including your own.
3.  Do not do any of the quests given by your class trainer that earn new powers or talents as rewards.

Tips and Tricks
1.  Focus on leveling up your companions as much as possible, so they can do most of the attacking.
2.  Farm for the best gear and weapon you can.
4.  Pets with talents and powers may be used and can help a lot.

Exceptions
The only exception is gear that provides you with extra powers.  Yes, you may take advantage of this
and in my opinion you should! It will help a lot, especially at higher levels.

Variations
1.  The only way I could think of to make this harder would be to not use either gear powers, pet powers, or both.
2.  Make this slightly easier, but still challenging by training only talents that will allow you to equip better gear.
3.  Another easier version would be to pick and choose up to 3 powers and/or talents to help you out.

Good luck to anyone who tries this out!  I would love to hear about your experiences in the comments below!  I am going to try to finish the last three posts in this series within the next week or two, so be sure to watch for them.  Thanks for reading!

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Wizard101 Exclusive Teaser

Hey everyone!

Wizard101 released their March 2016 newsletter yesterday and included the following teaser image:

Awesome image, right?  Well on top of that, the other fan sites and I received another teaser image to share with you guys!

I am so excited about this! I wonder if it's a series of new dungeons.  Maybe new one shot bosses we can fight?  Either way, it looks like we might be fighting Ra!  I'll have to go online and have a talk with him to find out why he has decided to turn against us wizards!  Mutiny!  Kidding!

Seriously though, I can't wait to see what other teasers Kingsisle may be sharing with us.  Comment below and let me know what you think Kingsisle has in store for us!  Thanks for reading!

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