Pirate101 Challenge #10: No Side Quests

Good morning Pirates!


Well, I did it! This is the last post in my Pirate101 Challenge series.  Thanks for joining me on this journey, especially since it took me much longer than anticipated.

This last challenge is one that many people might already do naturally while playing Pirate101, but with a twist.  The goal is to complete the main storyline of the game without completing any side quests. Let's take a look at the rules.

Rules
1.  Do not pick up any side quests, including companion promotion quests.
2.  No Prospector Zeke quests. This will give you less practice points to spend.
3.  No class trainer quests, including quests from your own class trainer.
4.  Complete as much of the main story through Valencia part 2 as you can by completing just the main quests.

Tips and Tricks
1.  Every time you have to fight ships, fight a few extra to help raise your nautical level.
2.  Battle extra bosses and mobs to help get more gold and raise your level.
3.  Focus on leveling and promoting companions that can be promoted with gold.

Exceptions
As stated above, you can still promote companions that are promoted with gold instead of a promotion quest.

Variations
1.  Make this harder by trying to complete the game without doing extra nautical and PvE battles.
2.  Make this easier by adding companion promotion quests back in.
3.  Make this harder by not promoting any companions, even those that promote with gold.

So that is the last challenge.  I would love to hear from anyone who has tried any of these.  Comment below and tell me your experiences!  Also, I will be posting a poll next week for a new character I will be making to try out one of these challenges with, so watch for that.

Thanks for reading and see you soon!

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Pirate101 Challenge #9: Badges

Ahoy Mateys!

I am almost done with the 10 Ways to Make Pirate101 More Challenging series!  After this post, there will only be one more, which I am planning on making later this week.

There are so many badges in Pirate101. Badges for completing quests, defeating bosses, discovering new areas, and more!  Another cool this is that some of the badges give you rewards when you complete them. This challenge requires you to complete all the badges in the game.  Read on for more information.

Rules
The only rule for this challenge is to complete every single badge in the game.

Tips and Tricks
1.  Many badges will be unlocked once you defeat a specific boss or type of enemy or visit a world for the first time.
2.  Here is a pretty comprehensive list of Pirate101 badges: Badge Guide.

Exceptions
1. Badges that are not included in this challenge are badges for PvP, Smugglers Arena, Moo and  Manchu Tower.

Variations
1. Make this harder by completing the badges for each world before you move on, including badges for defeating bosses (such as Gortez) 25 times, as well as the "Defeat a certain type of MOB" type badges for that world.
2. Complete the badges listed under the "Exceptions" section in addition to all the other badges.

So that's it.  While this may be one of the easiest challenges, it will probably be one of the most time consuming, especially defeating the amount of MOBs and doing all the side quests to get the badges.  I know all my characters still have several badges that need to be completed.

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 #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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Pirate101 Challenge #6: No Gear Upgrades

Ahoy Mateys!

I am finally back to making regular posts about Pirate101!  Yay!  This post is a continuation of the Pirate101 Challenges series.

The object of this sixth challenge is to make it as far as possible in the game without upgrading any of your gear, except your weapon. Continue reading for more information and rules.

Rules

1. Start out playing Pirate101 without equipping any gear, just using your beginning stats.
2. Continue playing through the game as far as possible with no new gear. 
3. Once you reach a point in the game where you cannot continue, you may equip level 5 gear and continue questing until you again cannot continue.  Then equip level 10 gear.  Continue this way until you finish the main story, trying to finish with the lowest level gear possible.

Tips and Tricks

1. Use the gold you would normally spend on new gear to buy training tomes to keep your companions leveled up as much as possible.  
2. Use your practice points wisely!
3. Pets can help out a lot!
4. When you get to a point where you are ready for level 5 gear, find/farm for the best gear you can get for that level.
5. In harder fights, keep your pirate back and let your companions do most of the fighting.

Exceptions

1. You may equip a mount, pet, and weapon of your choice.
2. You may upgrade your ship and ship equipment as needed.

Variations

1. Equip (low level) gear only for the battles you are really stuck on and then try to proceed without the gear.
2. Instead of not upgrading your gear, try to get as far as you can in the game with no weapon, following the rest of the rules outlined above.
3. Try not upgrading both your gear and your weapon at the same time, following the rest of the rules outlined above.

So that's the sixth challenge.  Let me know if you decide to try it out! I would love to hear about your experiences with this (or any) challenges!  I will have another Pirate101 Challenge post for you soon, so be sure to watch for it! Until then have fun! 

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Pirate101 Challenge #5: Companions Stay Dead

Ahoy!

It's time for another post in my "10 Ways to Make Pirate101 More Challenging" series.  I hope everyone is enjoying these posts so far, and that they are giving all you pirates ideas for some new ways to play the game!  Let's get started!

The object of this challenge is to complete the game using companions only until they are defeated.  See below for further explanation.

Rules

1.  Start out playing the game as you normally would.  As you gain companions, keep them available in your crew.

2.  Once a companion is defeated in battle, either assign them to a task or place them in your house for the rest of the game.  You may no longer use this companion.

3.  If at any point during this challenge you run out of companions, you may either consider the challenge over and resume playing as normal or choose 5 companions to add back to your line up and continue the challenge.

4.  You may continue leveling any companions that have been defeated and removed from play.

Tips and Tricks

1.  Keep all your companions leveled up as much as possible.  You never know when you might need to use one.

2.  Maybe wait to recruit side quests companions until you absolutely have to, that way they are starting off at a higher level.

Exceptions

If you continue leveling and promoting companions that have been defeated, you may still use that companion in its promotion quest.  Not for the main quests though.

Variations

1.  Treat pets the same way as companions and if they are defeated in battle, unequip them for the rest of the game as well.

2.  If all of your companions are defeated, continue questing by yourself as far as you can or until you recruit a new companion.

That's it for this challenge.  This is another one I am thinking of trying out, mainly because I have the same few companions I rely on for most of my questing and I think it would be a fun challenge to be forced to try out new ones.  Have you ever tried anything like this before? Comment below and let me know! Thanks for reading! :)

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Pirate101 Challenge #4: First Mates Only

Ahoy!

It's time for another post in my "10 Ways to Make Pirate101 More Challenging" series.  I hope everyone is enjoying these posts so far, and that they are giving all you pirates ideas for some new ways to play the game!  Let's get started!

The object of the fourth challenge is to play the entire main story with just your first mate.  This doesn't mean you have to choose one companion to use the whole game.  You just have to complete all battles with only one companion per battle.

Rules

1.  Give all your companions except your first mate tasks, or place them in your house/bunkhouse. This will allow you to enter each battle with just the companion that is assigned to be your first mate.

2.  You may use any spell minions or doubloon minions you have.

3. You may also use a pet.  However, the pet must start out at level 1, like your pirate and level up accordingly.

4.  You may switch out your first mate with any other companion at any point during the game, even before every battle if you want to.

5.  For companion promotions, make sure you set whichever companion you are promoting to be your first mate.

Tips and Tricks

1.  Keep several different companions with different classes and abilities leveled up so you can
switch them out for different battles.

2. Complete as many side quests as possible.  This will allow you to max out your companions to a higher level and let you equip better gear.

3.  Get the best gear you can for your level.

4.  You might play with trying out different talents on your companions than you normally would. For example, maybe focus on defensive talents more than offensive.

5.  Definitely train a second class on your pirate.  This is something I haven't had to do with any of mine while questing normally, but for this challenge, it would help a lot!

My Witchdoctor fighting Hydra with El Toro as her only companion

Exceptions

If you decide to complete side quests for this challenge, you may use the normal amount of companions.  Only for the side quests though!  Once you go back to questing on the main story, be sure to start using just your first mate again.  Companion promotion quests do not count as side quests for this challenge.

Variations

1.  To make this challenge easier, use 2 companions instead of just one.

2.  To make it harder, use only one companion for side quests as well as main quests.

3.  Try using the same companion as your first mate for the whole game.

Good luck if you try this!  I would love to hear about your experiences!  Just comment below.  Thanks for reading and see you soon with Challenge #5! :)

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Pirate101 Challenge #3: No Leveling Companions

Ahoy!

This post is to further explain the third challenge in my "10 Ways to Make Pirate101 More Challenging" series.

Just how important are companions to your questing? VERY!  And everyone seems to have their favorite companions that they seem to use for most battle.  Seriously, does anyone NOT use Bonnie Anne in their top 5?  This challenge will force you to mix up your crew and take advantage of other companions you may not think of using that often (or ever).

Rules

1.  One you receive a companion, you may not use any training tomes (either purchased, found, earned from quests, etc.) to level that companion up at all.

2.  You may not set any companions to the "Brawling" task to earn companion experience.

3.  You may recruit any side quest companions at any point during the game.

4.  You may change your first mate and companion order at any point during the game.  You also may set companions to any of the other tasks, other than Brawling.

Tips and Tricks

1.  Do as many side quests as you can before you recruit a new companion so that companion will be a higher level.

2.  Don't recruit side quest companions right away. Wait until you absolutely need a new, higher level companion.

3.  Companions from packs, bundles, Crowns Shop, etc.;  I have made no rules about using them.

4.  Save the gold you would have used on training tomes to buy better gear and weapons.

Variations

1.  Train your companions a little, but only until they need their next epic or talent.  After that, leave them at that level the rest of the game.

2.  Train up your companions with only the tomes you earn from leveling and questing.  Don't spend any gold on tomes.

3.  Level your companions normally, but don't do any of their promotions.

This challenge is one of the ones I am considering trying with a new pirate.  If anyone else decides to give it a try, let me know!  I would love to hear your experiences.  Thanks for reading and see you soon! :)

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Pirate101 Challenge #2: No Extra NXP

Ahoy Pirates!

It's time for another post about the next item on my "10 Ways to Make Pirate101 More Challenging" list.

The object of this challenge is to make it through the entire game without doing anything to get extra nautical experience.  This will greatly reduce your ability to get better ship equipment, making those ship battles more challenging.  But that's the whole point of these posts, right?  So let's get to it!

Rules

1.  You may only fight ships that are required for the main quest line. As soon as you have completed the portion of a main quest that requires ship battles, you may not fight anymore ships.

2.  Do not complete any side quests that require you to fight ships or that award nautical experience (see image below).

The icon circled in red indicates that a quest will award nautical experience
upon its completion.

3.  Do not give any of your companions orders to gain NXP for you.

Tips and Tricks

1.  Since you won't be able to upgrade your ship equipment as much, buy the best ship you can.  Also, save up your gold so you can buy the best ship equipment as possible for your nautical level.

2.  If you're having trouble defeating ships, remember that you can always enter into broadside combat.

3.  Try farming for better nautical gear for your pirate's nautical level.

Exception

The only exception to this is with companion promotions.  You may battle ships if a companion's promotion requires it.  However, treat the promotion quest the same as a main quest and stop defeating ships as soon as you have defeated the amount the quest requires.

I couldn't really think of any variations to this challenge.  However, if you can think of any, feel free to comment below and let everyone know!  I would also love to hear any experiences you may have had with any other self imposed self imposed challenges.

Thanks for reading. See you next time.

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Pirate101 Challenge #1: No Ship Upgrades

Hey Pirates!


I'm back today to talk about the first item on my "10 Ways to Make Pirate101 More Challenging" post.

For this challenge, the goal is to make it through the entire game without upgrading your ship or ship equipment, at all.  That means you will be using your Skull Island raft (similar to my swashbuckler's to the right) for the whole game.

Are you thinking this would be impossible?  Well, just to double check, I did some experimenting in Aquila to make sure those high level ships wouldn't totally destroy your raft in one hit.  Guess what! They won't! Okay, maybe they could with two hits, but that definitely gives you time to get pulled into broadside combat.

Rules

1.  Once you receive your raft, no upgrading it with ship equipment.

2.  You must use your raft for every ship battle in the main quest line, with one exception (see below).

Tips and Tricks

1. Timing is everything, especially in the higher level worlds. Don't stop and try to fight, just steer your raft straight into the enemy ship.

2. Since you won't be spending much gold on ship stuff, use your extra money for better gear and upgrading companions.  This should help all your battles go smoother.

The Scylla Exception

The Scylla fight in Aquila is the only battle that you will not be able to complete with your raft.  You can use any ship and equipment you'd like to use for this quest.   If you would like more of a challenge, maybe try using a Mooshu ship. I'm not sure if that's even possible, but it would be a fun challenge.  I have heard that Scylla can be defeated with the Marleybone ship, so you could always try that. However, I would suggest getting an Aquila ship and equipment, if you can afford it, since who knows what the next world will bring.

Here are some tips if you do decide to use a lower level ship:

1.  If you back out of range, any head that has taken on damage will heal itself.  However, once a head has been completely defeated, you can back out to give yourself time to heal without it regenerating.

2.  Focus on killing one head at a time.

3.  Remember that if your ship is taking too much damage, your blue potions will restore all of your hit points.  Potions can be used during any ship battle.

Variations:

If the above challenge seems too hard, try these variations:

1.  Complete this same challenge, except with the second ship you receive in Skull Island.

2.  Upgrade your ship throughout the game, but always use a ship that is 2 worlds below where you're currently questing.

3.  Come up with your own rules!

Remember, the point of these challenges is to add to your experience with Pirate101, not to make it totally frustrating.  Use these challenge guides as a jumping off point and tweak them to fit your questing style.

If any one does try to do this (or any of the others challenges I post about) I would love to hear about your experiences!  Comment below or email me at secretsofthespiral@hotmail.com.  Thanks for reading and good luck! :)

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10 Ways to Make Pirate101 More Challenging

Hello everyone!

I have been thinking about making a sixth character in Pirate101 to blog about.  However, I wanted to spice the game up a little to make things even harder.  I came up with a list of ideas and thought I would share them with all of you pirates looking for a new challenge.

Below you will find an overview of each challenge but I'm going to be making this into a series.  Each post will go more in-depth into the rules and different variations for each challenge.  Be sure to visit this page in the future for links to each new post!

Ship/Nautical Challenges

1.  Don't upgrade your ship or ship equipment.  In this challenge you'll be playing the entire game with just the raft that you get at the end of the Skull Island zone.  That means that almost all ship battles after Skull Island will most likely end up being hand to hand combat.  Also remember, no upgrading or adding anything to your raft either! Use it as is, from the moment you receive it.

2.  No extra nautical leveling.  In this challenge you can't fight extra ships at all or do any side quests that either require fighting ships or reward nautical experience.  The only nautical experience you should be getting is from fighting ships for the main quests and only just enough ships to complete whichever quest you are on.  This will allow you to upgrade your ship equipment but not nearly as quickly.

Companion Challenges

3.  No leveling your companions.  That means all of your companions will stay at the level they
were when you recruited them.  You can recruit side quest companions for this challenge, so you may want to choose when you do so wisely!  Another (slightly easier) spin on this would be to level your companions, but don't do any of their promotion quests.  Or else only level them until they get to a point when they need a new epic and then don't level them any further.

4. Only use your first mate.  For this challenge all of your companions should be assigned orders or set free in your house, except your first mate.  You may switch out your first mate for different battles, but you are only allowed to have one companion join you in each battle.  You may also equip a pet if you have any.

5. Your companions stay dead.  Once they die in battle, that's it.  They need to be either assigned orders or placed in your house.  No more using that companion for the rest of the game.  If at any point all of your companions die, you may either (a) consider the challenge over, (b) choose up to 5 companions to add back to your crew, or (c) try to finish the game without companions.

Pirate Challenges

6.  No upgrading your gear and/or weapons.  For this challenge, you quest through the game without equipping gear or a weapon (one or the other).  This would mean that your companions are even more important to you, especially at higher levels.  If at any point it gets too hard, you may equip your gear/weapon but only level 5 gear.  And once that gets impossible, you can upgrade to level 10 gear, and so on.  For an extra challenge, try this with both your gear and weapon at the same time.

7.  Don't train any powers or talents; from either your own class teacher or others.  This also includes the new mysterious trainers.  Try to make it through the whole game using only companions and/or weapon power.  Beware, this will also restrict the gear some pirates can use at higher levels.

8.  Don't spend any gold.  Even though it might not seem like it, this may be one of the hardest challenges on this list.  The only way you will be able to get anything new would be from quest rewards and drops.  That means no buying companion training tomes, only use the ones you are rewarded.  Also, no buying new gear, weapons or ship equipment.  You can only use what you get from drops.  The only exception to this would be purchasing ships.  However, you can only purchase one new ship for each world (except Skull Island, since you are given ships there), and the ship you purchase should be the least expensive one that world offers, so you are spending the minimal amount of gold possible.  Also, you may train up pets, but only with items and snacks you receive as drops.

Quest Challenges

9. Don't move on until you collect every badge for that world.  This quest isn't too hard, but it will slow down your questing a lot.  To successfully complete this challenge, at the end of each world you need to be sure to finish all side quests, as well as any challenge/combat quests.  This means defeating as many rats/ninja pigs/ophidians/etc or running through dungeons 25+ times.  No moving to the next world until you have every badge for the current world you are in.

10. No side quests.  Okay, some people may naturally quest like this, but to me it would be a challenge.  If you don't do any side quests, you miss out on extra NXP, companions, training points, etc.  So this challenge is NO side quests at all, not even companion promotion quests. Don't even pick them up.  Just keep questing through the main story line and see how far you can get.

Those are all the challenges I could come up with.  Some of them can be tweaked with different rules to make them either easier or harder.  Have fun with it.  I'm thinking I may try the no spending gold challenge, or maybe I will make a poll and you guys can choose for me! :D  We'll see.

Anyway, what challenges can you come up with or have you tried any of these?  Comment below and share your thoughts and experiences!  Thanks for reading and see you soon!

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