A Pack of Pirate101 Ideas

Hey Pirates!

Kingsisle announced another new pack for Wizard101 today and it got me thinking........again.  I would love to see some new packs in Pirate101.  This is something I have thought about quite a bit in the past, since I feel like it would be a good way to get Pirate101 some more support.  Here are five different pack ideas I have come up with that I think would be cool for KI to add to Pirate101.

Christmas pack - Even though we have the holiday gift boxes on Pirate101 (which are awesome!), I would love to see a Christmas themed pack. I would love to see a Christmas ship with coordinating ship equipment drop from a pack like this.  The deck could have ice on it, like a skating rink.  We could have a nutcracker figurehead.  Maybe garlands draped between the cannons.  Some other items that could drop from a Christmas pack are: holiday themed furniture, holiday companions (snowman or reindeer maybe), pets, holiday weapons, maybe nutcracker gear.  There really are a lot of possibilities for a pack like this.

Halloween Pack - Yes, another holiday pack, but Halloween is another awesome holiday that I feel deserves its own pack.  There is already a Halloween ship that is available, but more spooky ship equipment options would be cool.  It would also be awesome to have a Frankenstein/Frankenbunny or mummy companion that could drop from a pack like this.  Maybe we could have an epic drop that could be a haunted mansion. Or add a haunted mansion to the crowns shop and then have a selection of spooky housing items drop from the pack. Halloween costumes and face paint would also make cool drops! And how about a bat mount?

Class Specific Packs - I think it would be awesome to have five different packs, one for each of the five classes. These would drop class specific mounts, gear, pets, furniture items and companions. They could even feature a rare class specific power or talent that would only be available from the pack.  For example, the Witchdoctor pack could drop one or two sets of Witchdoctor gear and a cool staff or crystal ball weapon.  It could also drop a Witchdoctor companion, a voodoo doll pet, and some type of Witchdoctor mount. The power could be a fortune teller's spell or something that would allow you to see the opponent's next move so you can counter it. As fillers, have the usual pet snacks and furniture items, focusing on the Witchdoctor class, like skulls, WD banners, cauldrons, etc.  This example is for Witchdoctors (obviously) but the same could be done for all classes.

Nautical Pack - This pack would be everything ship/nautical related.  It could drop a couple different types of ships, tons of ship equipment, and maybe a ship cabin with cabin-type furniture.  This pack most likely wouldn't have companions, but it could have NCP's (like in Wizard101) that could be placed on your ship to look like crew mates.  It could also feature a skiff mount that could carry you as well as a couple of companions, or even just your first mate. Another idea I had for this pack is "NXP Tomes."  These would be similar to companion training tomes, except each one could give 100-200 nautical experience points and would only be available from the nautical pack. Another idea for this that I had (although I don't know that it would make a good drop item from a pack) is a house turret boss.  It could be a housing item that had a sigil for 4 people to enter.  When they did, they would be in a sky area and automatically equip their ship. There would be a turret boss to fight, based on the levels of the pirates in the battle, kind of like Smuggler's Arena, but for ships. This would probably be a better idea as a crowns shop item, but I figured I would mention it here anyway.

Treasure Hunter's Pack - This pack could feature items that focus on treasure or gold.  Chocolate coin mega pet snacks, a treasure chest pet that attacks by shooting gold coins at enemies, suits of armor for gear, treasure housing items, etc.  The main focus of this pack would be treasure maps though.  There could be new secret bosses in each world that drop rare items.  The treasure maps that drop from the pack could lead you these bosses, giving you access to fight them. This would be similar to skeleton key bosses in Wizard101, but with a pirate theme.  You would need the treasure map for the correct world to access its boss. For example, only a Marleybone treasure map could access the Marleybone bosses.

Anyway, these are just some of my ideas.  Pirate101 has so much potential, I would really like to see more things added to the game.  I know many of my ideas may be too far "out there" to actually be included at this point, but you never know.  Just.....please, please, please give us more Pirate101 content, Kingsisle!

Anyway, what are some ideas you would like to see in Pirate101 packs?  Comment below and let me know! Thanks for reading!

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My 5 Favorite Pirate101 Additions of 2016

Ahoy Pirates!

The new year is here.  I hope everyone had a great holiday season!  I definitely did.  We had our first white Christmas in years, so that made me happy! :)

Anyway, before I get started on new posts for 2017, I wanted to recap a few of my favorite things that Pirate101 added in the past year.  They had an awesome year with a continuation of the main story, as well as a few other updates along the way.  Keep reading to see my top five favorites!

1.  Valencia Part 2 - This was the largest update that Kingsisle added to the game in 2016.  After quite a long wait, it as great to get back in game and continue with the story.  This world is really beautiful to look at and a great challenge to quest through.  This update also brought new levels as well as the addition of new companions and promotion quests.  I can't wait to see what 2017 brings to the main story!

2.  The Armada Dreadnaught - In September, KI announced a new addition to Skull Island.  The Armada Dreadnaught is a epic turret boss type battle in the Skull Island Skyway.  Battling this thing is extremely challenging and fun.  Once you defeat it, you can go inside and battle it out with the bad guys, getting some awesome drops.  One of the cool things about the Armada Dreadnaught is that it's in a free to play area. While I haven't had a chance to run through this in the live game, I did a few times in test realm and it was a lot of fun.  Farming it in the live game is definitely on my 2017 To Do List!

3.  The Ashes of the Armada Pack - Along with the new dreadnaught, Pirate101 also go a new pack!  This pack gives out some awesome weapons and tons of cool furniture from around the spiral.  However, the reason it made my list is because of the Armada companions it drops.  Yes, that's right! Armada companions! I, along with many others, have wanted one since the game was in beta and now we can get them!  I was lucky enough to get Custos Modatrix, a buccaneer,  right before Christmas.  You can see a picture below.  I cannot wait to try him out in battle!

4.  New Powers, Talents and Epic Ranks - I think everyone loves finding ways to make their characters stronger.  I know I do!  Pirate101 added a host of new powers and talents to the game in the past year.   Some of these can be trained, while others can be acquired through special items and pets.  Stronger pirates means new worlds to come, right? :)

5.  New Holiday Decorations - This may not make some peoples' lists, but it does make mine.  I LOVE Christmas and seeing Skull Island all decked out for the holiday was awesome!  Kingsisle really outdid themselves with the decorations this year.  And let's not forget about the gift boxes! Those are always a lot of fun to open.  I hope they do the same thing next Christmas.

Anyway, those are my top 5 additions.  I could have added some other things, like new pets, mounts, ships, etc., but these really are my top 5.  Comment below and tell me what your favorite thing added in 2016 was.  And thank you to Kingsisle for make 2016 a great year to be a pirate!  Happy New Year!

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10 Things I Want Added to Pirate101

Ahoy!

Professor Falmea recently asked us pirates what we would like to see added to Pirate101.  I tweeted out my answer (crafting), but it also got me thinking about what else I would like to see added to the game.  Here are my top 10 choices, in no particular order.

1. Crafting - As I stated above, I would love to see crafting added to the game.  I actually made a post about it awhile ago.  In addition to gear and houses, it would be awesome to be able to craft our own ships!
2. More packs - While I wouldn't want to see dozens of different packs on Pirate101 (like Wizard101 has) I think it would be cool to have Halloween and Christmas themed packs added to the game.  I also wouldn't say no to a ship/nautical themed pack that offers an Epic ship and maybe the skiff mount.
3. A side world - Wizard101 has a few side worlds and I think it would be awesome to have one or more in Pirate101 too.  I have actually been working on some ideas and concept art for a Pirate101 side world for awhile and I hope to have that post out soon.
4. Ship PvP - We can currently test our hand to hand combat skills against our friends and other pirates with PvP.  How much fun would it also be to test our broadside combat skills with some ship PvP?  Imagine up to 8 ships all battling 4v4 in a skyway arena, fighting it out to see which team is best. It would also give us another use for the team heal and the AoE ship equipment.  I'm not a big PvP person, but I would love to try out ship PvP!
5. Companion gear - We can already customize our companions a bit with which talents we choose to give them, as well as our flag color selections.  However, I think it would be awesome to be able to customize them a little more with their own gear.  Not anything huge, but maybe offer some different accessories we could equip to them to give a slight boost in their non class specific stats (health, accuracy, dodge, etc.)  Accessories could include eyepatches, amulets, rings, maybe add a peg leg or a hook hand......Just something to set our companions apart from each other.
6. One Eyed Jack companion - One Eyed Jack is one of my favorite NPCs.  I was so happy when we got to revisit him later in the game for a side quest.  It would be awesome if KI added a new side quest in a future world that would allow us to recruit him for our crew!
7. Quest Finder - This is one of my favorite new features in Wizard101 that I would like to see added to Pirate101.  For those of you not familiar with it, Quest Finder is an option in your quest log that you can click on and it will lead you to the nearest NPC that has a quest for you.  It is so useful, especially if you're someone who likes to complete every single quest.
8. Daily Assignments/Events - This is another idea from Wizard101.  I think it would be great for Pirate101 to have something like this to get people back in game on a daily, or at least more frequent basis.  The more content available besides main story content, the more likely it is for people to log in consistently.  Plus the daily assignments and events have awesome rewards and items you can farm for.
9. A new high level turret boss - There are already 3 turret bosses in the game (in Cool Ranch, Mooshu and Marleybone) but I would love to see a new one added in either Aquila or Valencia Part 2.  This one should be extremely difficult (for max level pirates), requiring multiple people to defeat it. The Marleybone one is pretty easy for max level pirates now. I am able to defeat it solo with my Aquila ship. It would also be awesome if the new one dropped unique ship equipment and lots of scrip, as well as respawning fairly quickly, making it great for NXP events.
10. Doubloon vendor - Similar to the treasure cards vendors in Wizard101, I would love it if you could buy doubloons in Pirate101 from a vendor.  Still have rarer ones drop from bosses and such, but have a selection for sale as well.  It would also be nice to be able to sell and buy them at the Auction House.

So those are the top 10 things I would like to see added to Pirate101.  What would you like to see added?  Comment below and let me know! Also be sure to comment on the post linked above and let the developers know as well!

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5 Free Things To Do In Pirate101

Hey everyone!

Did you know that  you don't have to spend money to enjoy Pirate101? While it's true that you need either a membership or crowns to complete the main story line, there are plenty of things to do in game for free.  There are several areas in Skull Island Skyway that are free to play, including the whole island of Skull Island. 

I decided to make a list of free things to do in Pirate101.  I actually was going to make a top 10 list, but I decided to combine some things that seemed similar.  I also removed a couple things that seemed repetitive to other posts I have made (starting a new pirate and helping out other people around Skull Island).  Here are the top five I chose:

1.  PVP - While I still haven't done much PVP in Pirate101, I know a lot of people love it.  You do need to purchase passes to enter ranked PVP matches, but practice PVP is free.  You can also PVP with friends in some of the houses.  PVP requires a whole different set of skills to master than PVE does, so why not grab a friend and give it a try?  Or you could always hang out at Brawlin' Hall and meet other PVP fanatics to hone your skills against.

Brawlin' Hall

2.  Pets - Pets in Pirate101 are a lot of fun!  People are still discovering new hybrids through morphing.  Maybe you could be the first to discover a new one!  You can also spend time training your pets up.  While training pets in Pirate101 is more passive, you can still focus on trying to get the perfect pet.  Once you train them up, give pet sparring a try!

Circus Maximus

3.  Pirate's Regatta - If you are a higher level pirate and you like farming for pets, gear and other items, give Pirate's Regatta a try.  This is the nautical gauntlet in Skull Island.  Fight your way through fleets of ships and several bosses to receive amazing drops, scrip and gold.  Pirates of all levels can also find a challenge by trying to battle all the way through Smuggler's Arena.  Smuggler's Arena is a housing item gauntlet that sets it's difficulty based on the highest level pirate that enters and offers rewards based on how far you get.  While it does cost crowns to purchase it, using it is free.  So if you already have one, or if a friend has one, give it a try!  By the way, I do own this item, so if any one is interested, let me know and we can try it out!

Smuggler's Arena

4.  House Decorating - House decorating in Pirate101 is an activity and art all of its own.  There is a ton of houses and furniture available for purchase with gold, from vendors, the bazaar, the Black Market and the Crown Shop.  You can also get many different items as drops from mobs and bosses.  Gather together the items you want and then have fun creating your housing masterpiece! And after you're done with that, why not spend some scrip to get a cabin for your ship and decorate that too!

My Witchdoctor's House

5.  Have a Party or Event - This is one of my favorite things to do in game.  Parties and events can be a lot of fun!  Why not celebrate your love of the game by getting a bunch of friends and other people together for a party in your house, hanging out and talking or playing PVP.  You could also have a farming event, Sparring event, or PVP event as well.  The ideas are endless!  All you need is a few (or more) people and then let the fun begin!

PVP Party!

As I said before, these are just my top five ideas.  There are other free things to do as well, such as farming in Skull Island, starting a new pirate, helping out new pirates who may not be familiar with the game yet, etc.  The point is, even if you can't afford a membership right now, you can still play the game and have fun with it!  What is your favorite free thing to do in Pirate101? Comment below and let me know!  Thanks for reading and see you soon! 

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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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10 Ways to Keep Busy in Pirate101

Hey everyone!

As many of you know, it has been awhile since Pirate101 has released a new world.  This has discouraged some people, mostly because they think there is "nothing to do in the game."  I always laugh when I notice someone has said this because there is a TON of stuff to do in game, even if you have leveled all the way through the main quests.

To help everyone out, I have made a list of 10 things you can try out if you are ever wondering what to do in Pirate101.  Many of these aren't things you would necessarily do every single day, but they will keep you busy and entertained if you get the itch to do some pirating.  Here they are in no particular order:

1.  Finish up side quests - I recently made a post talking about this one.  You can read it here.  But besides all those reasons to do side quests, it is a great way to get back in game and just have fun being a pirate!

2.  Try out PVP - This goes for either practice PVP (which has been in the game for awhile) or the
new ranked PVP (which was just added.)  I have to admit, I haven't tried out ranked PVP yet.  But even just PVPing at a house with a friend can be fun!

3.  Pet training & morphing - Kingsisle added advanced pets to Pirate101 about a year and a half ago.  This means that pets now require you to train them up to reach their full potential.  You can even create new pet hybrids by morphing with other peoples' pets.  Why not give it a try and see what you can discover?

4.  Pet PVP - Once you get your pets trained up, you can face them off against other pets in pet PVP!  This is a skill all in its own.  I haven't yet tried it, but I have watched other matches and it looks like a lot of fun!

5.  Farming - There is a lot to farm for in Pirate101: Gold, scrip, NXP, gear, ship equipment, furniture, pets.......So much!  Do a google search for an item you want and go try to get it!  Friar Sand in Mooshu is an awesome place to farm for gold.  There is also the Tower of Moo Manchu and Pirate's Regatta that are popular farming places with amazing drops. The farming possibilities are seriously seemingly endless!

6.  Dungeons & Bosses - Even if you have already completed a dungeon or defeated a boss, there is no reason why you can't go back and do it again, especially if it was a fight you particularly liked.  I do this frequently on my witchdoctor.  I go back and do the Labyrinth, Hydra and Scylla fights sometimes just because I really enjoy them.  I'm not even trying to get any particular drops. Sometimes just going back and destroying enemies is fun!

7.  Help other pirates - If you ever have the urge to just blow stuff up, log in and find people who need help.  There are always others who need a hand with their questing.  I especially find this to be true with ship fighting quests.  Hang out in the skyways, or try using "team up" on dungeons and give lower level pirates a hand!

8.  House decorating - There is always new furniture and houses being added to the game.  So if you're in need of a creative outlet, try your hand at decorating!  Thanks to a past update, you can now even decorate your ship's cabin! 

9.  Have an in game event/party - One of the biggest advantages of playing an MMO is all the other people that also play!  So why not get a bunch of them together and have a party!  There are many different themes for in game parties, such as farming (NXP/Scrip, pets, gold, etc), PVP, or just hanging out and chatting.  Regardless, having and attending these events is always a great time!

10.  Do it all again! - Last but not least (and my favorite option), create a new pirate!  The game allows you to have up to 6 different pirates per account, so why not try out a different class?  I love the feeling of starting the game all over again from the beginning, feeling like everything is new.  You can also start a new pirate with a friend and do all your questing together.  I have done this in both Pirate101 and Wizard101 and it is so much fun to quest with someone!

So there you go! Plenty of ways to keep yourself busy until the next update happens.  Do you have a favorite way to stay busy in game? Comment below and tell me!  And as always, thanks for reading and see you in the skyways!

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10 Reasons To Do Pirate101 Side Quests

Ahoy Pirating Friends!

I have been working on clearing up some side quests on a couple of my pirates lately and it gave me the idea for this post.  I know many people don't bother with side quests, preferring to just concentrate on the main story.  Here are the reasons (in no particular order) why I think this is a mistake.

1. Experience, experience, experience!  This is one of the biggest reasons.  I know many of the side quests, especially in the beginning worlds, don't seem like they offer much in the way of experience.  However, every little bit helps push that experience bar to the next level.  Being a higher level will allow you to learn new talents and powers, get better gear, train up companions to a higher level and get a better ship!  As you progress through the game, especially once you get to Mooshu and higher worlds, you will be glad for all of these improvements to your stats, trust me!



2. Nautical Experience - While a new ship is always awesome, outfitting it with higher level gear will make you almost unstoppable!  Ships may have a level requirement, but all the ship equipment requires you to be at a specific nautical level to use it.  And other than fighting ships, doing all those side quests is a great way to gain nautical experience.

3. Show me the money! Or.....Erm......Show your pirate the money!  So many (maybe all) side quests give you gold.  And pirates need A LOT of gold!  From gear and ships to training up companions and pets, this game has so many features that require in game currency.  Not only will you get gold as a reward for side quests, but you also get gold for defeating the enemies. Double bonus!

4. Companion Training Points - Training up companions to their max level can take a lot of time and gold.  So why not speed the process up by getting more training points from side quests?  I am actually doing this now with my privateer.....Doing quests to get tomes so I can max out companions and set them to getting me even more tomes to max out even more companions. See how that works? :D

5.  Expand your crew - And I don't mean just companions, although you can earn many companions from side quests.  You can earn pets, as drops and as quest rewards, as well as unlocking companions in the crowns shop.  You can even unlock the Pegasus mount by completing certain quests in Aquila!

6.  Practice Points - This is mainly for the Prospector Zeke quests.  By doing these quests (one for each world) you can earn practice points, which you can then trade in for new powers and talents. Powers and talents, might I add, that you wouldn't normally be able to train on your pirate.  These are especially helpful for the new Mysterious Trainers that were just added in game.

7. Badges - Some people *cough* me *cough* like to collect the badges in game.  If you're one of them, doing the side quests is a must.  You can earn sooooo many badges for defeating bosses, completing quests, visiting certain areas, etc.  You can even earn badges for completing every side quest in each book!

8.  Farming - By doing side quests, you can open up new areas of the game that wouldn't be accessible otherwise.  Actually, a few popular farming areas are available only as side quests (Moo Manchu and Pirate's Regatta anyone)?  Who knows what you will be missing if you skip out on these.  So many awesome drops!!!!

9.  The stories - In my opinion, this is one of the main reasons to do the side quests.  The game's writers have really put a lot of thought and time into the whole game, including the side stories.  Some of my favorites are in Marleybone.  There are pop culture references galore in many of the quests. Why would you want to miss out on that?

Some of you may argue with a few of my points, saying that companion tasks allow you to gain NXP, gold, and training tomes. I will agree!  That is a great way to get those things and I use them as well.  However, doing side quests speeds things along.  And it brings me to my last, and MOST important item on this list:

10. You get to play more Pirate101! And who wouldn't want to do that?  I often hear people say that there is "nothing to do" in game.  Well, it makes me wonder......have they all finished every single side quest in the game?  I know some have, but I doubt everyone has.  If you want to play Pirate101, log on and tackle some side quests.  More swashing and voodooing and blowing stuff up!  How could you not want to do that?  And if you have done all of them, you can always grab a friend or three and do some farming!

Anyway, that's my list.  As you can tell, I am a big fan of side quests. They really do add a lot to the game and I think everyone should take advantage of their many rewards.  Good luck and thanks for reading! :)

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