September 2014 Pirate101 Update Notes!

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The Tower of Moo Manchu P.1.060 – Spiral Date 543454 Attention high level Pirates! If you have completed all of Mooshu (including the quest "The Great and Powerful Turtle") as well as all the Moo Manchu side quests (beginning with "The Moo Manchurian Candidate" given by Lord Chagatai in Subata), you will find a new quest from the Town Crier (or from Lord Chagatai himself) to embark upon a dangerous, and very profitable, adventure into The Tower of Moo Manchu! This ten level tower is full of danger and is meant for groups of players to bond together in the quest for rare loot, multiplayer chests, special badges, and to survive the nefarious trials that await you as you attempt to conquer the Tower of Moo Manchu. There’s even a special badge that will - never mind, we’ll let you discover this on your own . . . .

Cool Ranch Revamp We’ve taken another look at the world of Cool Ranch and made some improvements that we think you’ll like. First, Cool Ranch is an awfully big place! You’ll be happy to know a new fast transport service is now available in Cool Ranch to help players travel quickly from skyway to skyway. Drop by the docks of Cooper’s Roost, Bison Village, Junction, Santa Pollo, Tumbleweed, and Fort McMurtry to give the Stagecoach a try! Second, the major changes for players in Cool Ranch are as follows: Shortened the dungeons “Hidden Valley Ranch,” ”Dusty Arroyo Cave,” and “Miranda.” The Miranda encounter in particular has had a major overhaul, removing many unnecessary combat goals to reduce the total time investment to complete the goals. Bosun Budd has been improved, adding an additional tier and some interesting new powers to the encounter. (And if you happen to have Bosun Budd as a companion from the Crown Shop, you'll notice that your companion also a new promotion tier, as well as those new powers. Enjoy!) Fixed several Cool Ranch quests where companion dialog would block players from moving. In preparation for an all new Cool Ranch-themed Puppet Show . . . The Thunderbird has a new voice. Lastly, we’ve gone through many of Cool Ranch’s instances and problem areas and fixed a lot of bugs, and we’ve also improved the camera work and polish on several quests. Here are a few of the more notable fixes: Improved the drop rates of the items needed for the quest “A Spoonful of Stingers.” The location of the Stingtails encountered during the quest “Save Those Jolly Ranchers!” have been moved to a new location called Cueva de la Alacrán. Caltrops encountered during the battle with Deacon will once again cause damage. Spaced out the Black Storm Raider Ships that were bunched together in Tumbleweed Skyway. Cleaned up the quest goals and camera angles for the quest “A Merriweather Chase.” Soaring Skies in Cooper’s Roost now sells Frigates as well as Skiffs. The quest “Mighty Medicine” will no longer require players to defeat ships in Arroyo Grande. It’ll be a bit clearer when Captain Blood summons skeletons and fire in the Miranda dungeon. Players are now able to skip past a few fights in Froggo Villa’s cave. The spider encountered during the quest “Range War!” will no longer display as a treasure chest icon for its dialog. Players are no longer required to “Survive 13 Rounds” during the combat found during the quest "Lies, Lies, They're All Lies!" Added a new Duck of Death Puppet Show, which players will encounter during the quest, The Enemy Revealed. Those players who have already completed the Duck of Death quest will now find the new puppet show in their existing list of Puppet Shows.

Ship Emblem Alteration Service Rejoice orange and white colored companions! A long-requested feature from our fans is finally making its way to the skyways of Pirate101. There’s a new Ship Emblem Alteration service being offered for Crowns by a new character named Major Flagstaff, who can be found in the back of the Bazaar! Remember, changes reflect the flag of your ship and your companion colors. You’ll also find there are more than 20 new emblems for you to choose from. Also, when creating your flag for the first time, you’ll now get a preview of how your colors look on your first mate.

Doubloon Trading Found your max number of Doubloons in the level 10 range and want to pass them on to your friends? Now you can trade them! Step 1: Click on the person you’d like to trade doubloons with and select the option to trade. This will open up a new screen made just for trading doubloons. Step 2: At the top is a list of all your doubloons you own. Click on a doubloon to transfer it to the “I Will Give” section on the left hand side of the Doubloon Trader Window. Step 3: You’ll see the doubloons you’ll be receiving during the trade on the right hand side of the screen under the heading “I Will Get.” Step 4: When everyone is happy with the trade, click the "Accept" button. You’ll get a final chance to make sure you’re okay with the trade, and after accepting this, you’ll have made a successful trade. If you'd like to avoid getting doubloon trading requests, there's an option to turn it off in the Game Options under the heading "Privacy Settings.

Stackable Items We’ve heard your feedback on stackable items and now it’s possible to put stacks of items such as Pet Equipment and Pet Snacks in the bank and shared bank. In addition you can now buy and sell stacks of items to vendors or in the Bazaar.

Team Up! We’re happy to announce the Team-up feature has arrived in Pirate101! This feature allows players to find other players that want to play the same dungeon - even if they’re in different realms. Approach a dungeon and click X to enter the sigil as normal. But if the dungeon is eligible for “Team Up!”, you’ll see a new menu asking you to choose how to proceed. The button allows players to find other players that want to play the same dungeon even if they’re in different realms. When you select the Team Up! option, you will be asked to confirm your action. You cannot choose or reject the team that you are placed in. If you're not happy with the team you were placed in, simply leave the dungeon and you will leave the Team. If you leave the dungeon you will have to wait five minutes before you can “Team Up!” again. Players are able to leave the “Team Up!” queue at any time while it is forming, without penalty. Once invites have been sent, then there is a 5 minute penalty for abandoning the “Team Up!” queue. Here are a few extra details: To leave the "Team Up!" queue, press the Team Up icon that appears in the top right corner of the screen. This brings up a dialog box where you will find a "Decline" button. Press this to remove yourself from the queue. “Team Up” respects grouped players as a single entity. This means that if you are a party of 2 and would like to find a 3rd, then “Team Up!” will facilitate that. “Team Up!” does not use the 10 second sigil countdown, instead you are able to join the queue and then continue your other adventures while waiting for the Group to be formed. When one player is waiting, they will wait until a second player joins When the second player joins, a two minute timer starts. When the timer reaches zero, all players are teleported into the Dungeon. The exception to this rule is for GAUNTLET dungeons. Because those are tuned for 4 players, Team Up will wait until a full team of 4 has been found before sending invites. If a fourth player joins, the timer is ignored and the players are invited right away.

Return to Boss Ever wished you could just recall directly back to the dungeon you just left? Well now you can! If you are defeated or teleported out of a dungeon that you were in alone, you now have the option to recall directly back to the start of that same dungeon. An icon will appear near your Health, and placing your mouse over that button will show you the Dungeon name, and a countdown timer showing how long you have before the Dungeon closes. You will only see this icon when you have a currently recall-able dungeon available to you. If you are defeated or teleported out of a dungeon that you were exploring with other Pirates, you have the option to recall to the dungeon, but you will not see a timer. If your friends complete the dungeon without you, you will not be able to recall to the dungeon and will receive the message that the Dungeon has been completed. If you return to an entry sigil of your currently active Dungeon, you will see the option to Resume your current dungeon. If you choose to Resume your dungeon, you will immediately be teleported and will not have to wait for the Sigil countdown. This will prevent players from resetting your dungeon progress by joining you on the Sigils. If you choose not to Resume your current dungeon, you will start a new Dungeon and abandon all progress in your previous version. A message will appear to confirm that you want to abandon your previous dungeon, and start a new one. This message will also appear if you are trying to enter a completely different dungeon.

Account-level Tips Tired of hearing ol’ Boochbeard give you tips over and over like you’re new to the game? Now there’s an option to have these tips only happen on an account level through a toggle on your options screen. This allows you to hear a tip only once on your first pirate if you’d like; however, by default every tip will be repeated for every character unless you opt-in to use this feature.

Pets We’ve made a change to how morphing confirmation works. Now if you confirm a morph decision and the other player switches pets, it will unconfirm your selection so you won’t be stuck with a surprise morph combination. Pet tasks that will result in a pet not being hungry will now warn this in advance. Removed the incorrect tool tip about renaming pets at the old pet renaming NPC. Fixed a display issue with the Naturally Tough 1 Pet Talent that was showing it incorrectly increased Will. Pet snacks will less frequently appear as a reward for combat. Increased the size of the Candy Cane Sky Dragon pet. Fixed a bug that was giving Pets with the Witch Hunter talent an extra rank of the talent. Matched the Furry Egg’s icon to its actual appearance. Changes in Pet size will be seen by both players when it occurs (instead of only after zoning). Fixed a bug with the Turn the Tide pet Talent where it was increasing damage all the time instead of when health was low. Boochbeard correctly states your pet graduates to a "baby" (not a "teen") after hatching.

Companion Changes The Pig Raider Crossbowman has rediscovered his name! Sped up the delayed movement of the Yakooza companion. We've expanded the training options for companion talents to allow you greater control over customization. All companions (regardless of class) may now train all of the major combat stats: Accuracy, Agility, Armor, Damage, Dodge, Resistance, Strength, Toughness, and Will. In addition, all Privateer and Witchdoctor companions may train up their Spell Power with the Spooky talent. All Privateer companions may now train the Witch Hunter epic talent. The Witch Hunter talent now calculates its outgoing damage based on your Spell Power instead of your Weapon Power. All Swashbuckler companions now receive the Alert talent as a bonus talent. Higher level companions sent on the Pet Wranglin’ task now find more level appropriate pet snacks. Companions will no longer be able to restart Keel Hauling if a player out levels them and they were on the task previously. The cost of hurrying companion tasks for Crowns has been lowered. Added some missing battle sound effects to the Pig Raider companion. The Inoshishi Chief and Black Angus have new promotions levels available to them. Jim and Bat Masterson's clothing takes on a bit more of your flag colors. Adjusted the pet rewards that are given from Pet Wranglin', and players will now find higher ranking snacks. Removed a repetitive line of dialog in the Contest of Champions promotion quest. Lowered the name tags of all skarakeets (including Nikeeta) so they are closer to their bodies. Players must now defeat all enemies instead of escape from combat for Bonnie Anne’s promotion quest, In Her Majesty's Secret Service. Moresco De Valvida’s fireballs will appear correctly when juggled during his celebration animation. Added some sound variation between Beemish and Ensign Emmett and also between Samoorai Ronin and Kobe Yojimbo. Bosun Budd has a new promotion title beyond that of "Drowned Zombie."

Combat Changes We’ve made further positive adjustments to the amount of enemies that enter battle during multiplayer combat. With the exception of some specially scripted fights, players will never be outnumbered, and will find they can greatly outnumber the enemy when in larger groups. You’ll no longer see buff and debuff text like “Increased Accuracy” float one-by-one above your character and companions. The look of buff and debuff effects have been changed to be more symbol based and they will apply simultaneously. Ensured the “Hidden” of Black Fog, Walk in Darkness, and Walk in Shadows were working correctly. The Hidden status will double damage as intended. In addition, the Hidden status effect is no longer removed if the Hidden unit takes damage. This should allow all swashbucklers to make better use of this key class feature. All “Vengeance Strike” types of talents now activate immediately after the blow was dealt, rather than as part of a successive chain of attacks. In particular, this will change the way that Vengeance Strike and First Strike interact. The epic talents Bladestorm, Double Tap, and Mojo Rising will now also trigger when you perform a critical attack in addition to when you successfully defeat an enemy. The Mournsong, Soulreaver, and Ghostwail powers will now display damage numbers correctly. You will now see a colored dot on a battle board square when other players have moved themselves or their companions to that location. You can hover the mouse over that dot to see which unit intends to move there. This feedback improvement should help make multiplayer combat more clear. Inspecting the Follow Through talent from the “My Talents” interface will show more information about the number of follow through uses you receive. Players will more readily see their friend’s avatar picture when they port to you during combat. Charming Gaze will now only activate if the charming unit is targeted by the attacker-- it works more like First Strike, and the charming unit will attempt to charm the attacker first. Taking damage from AoEs will no longer break stealth. Blade Storm and Follow Through now break stealth after they hit. The Loud talent should generate a bit more aggression from enemies. Removed the long pause between some pets' magic and ranged attacks and the resulting damage or effect. Incapacitated players can no longer be used to activate targeted AOEs. The Dizzy stars animation now persists if a target is stunned.

Quest and Enemy Changes Reduced the number of Cutthroats needed to defeat for the quest “Into the Skull Cave.” Cutthroats in Devilfish Hollow now drop loot when defeated. The munitions crate found during the quest “Some Assembly Required” no longer count toward the goals of “Stop and Render Aid!” Also, the Anarchist’s Refuge found during the “Some Assembly Required” quest is now a multiplayer instance. Dead Mike’s promotion quests no longer award 1 xp. Mooshashi no longer sometimes disappears during El Toro’s promotion quest. Sarah Steele’s promotion quest previously named “Kidnapped” is now named “Curse of the Black Pearl.” Treants that defeat a companion with a critical hit will no longer act as if they were hit themselves. Lowered the names of all bone snake and sky snakes to be a little closer to their heads. MacCavity has been given more attack animations. Increased the chances of finding food for Orphan’s during the quest “Hungry, Hungry Orphans.” Raised the level of the Manticores encountered during the quest “Faun Baby, Faun.” Polished the fire and Ice combat effects encountered during the battle with the Hydra in Aquila. Added a missing attack animation to Vulture Raiders. Make sure to complete your Town Crier quests! The Town Crier will now only show four possible quests for players to undertake. Added missing zone entry text and map icons for Perdition's Cauldron, Dusty Arroyo, and Scorpion Rock. Players will now hear gold being given to the villagers during the quest, "Steal from the Rich."

Sound Changes We made a lot of changes to the way things sound in the Spiral, and here are the highlights: Improved the sounds for all generic Skeletal characters. Added improved sounds for things like fountains, bisons, ropes creaking, campfires, wall torches, pools, and more. Ghostly sounds now also accompany the ghosts found on the Flying Dutchman. Added some extra polish to El Toro’s combat sounds. The Fandango pet now sounds more like just a Fandango (instead of a fandango and an ostrich together) Added movement sounds to battleboard combat. Lucky Jack Russell will now sound more like himself during combat. The Monkey King, Friar Sand, Ophidian Archers, and Cyclops now have movement sounds associated with them during combat. Fixed a few voice over and text mismatches for a the following quests: “A Fistful of Feathers” ”Iron Monkey” “Cipher” “When East Meets West” “South Wind Rising” “I've Got the Powder” “Bigger Guns” “Miner Difficulties” “The Great Hunt” “Nice Shooting!” “The Commodore's” “The Things They Parried” “The Fruit of Creation” “Hear No Evil, See No Evil” “Evil Unmasked” “Inhuman Resources (Marchioness)” “Read the Manual” “Peacemaker” Adding opening chest reward sounds after sending a companion on a “Pet Wrangling” order Fixed a voice over and text mismatch error for Sly Winkum in the quest, Payback. Added more sound to all player combat animations.

Ship Changes Removed the nautical level requirement on Crown Shop Wheels and Horns. Improved the information given when inspecting unbottled ships from the drop down menu. Added some polish to the bar that players use to clear tokens from Broadside combat. Watch out! Ships can now switch targets if the first ship that engaged it is defeated. Fixed a bug with the bonfires on all Aquila ships so they travel with the ship correctly. The Ghostly Galleon Ship will display properly when visiting the dye shop.

Badges Added tabs to help sort through badges. New Badges for where you were raised and how you were orphaned.

Chat Changes Now menu chatters can say “Good Luck!”, “Great sparring match!”, and “Nice” during Pet Sparring. Fixed the spelling error in the Menu Chat phrase, "Let's meet in Skull Island."

Crown Shop The notifications that you’ve unlocked a companion in the Crown Shop will appear more reliably. Improved the Confirmation Screen for purchasing an item that you can’t equip from the Crown Shop. When the Crown Shop is unavailable, it will now ask the player to return when it is.

Other Changes Improved the look and feel of Corsair’s Channel. Rejoice Screenshot takers! The shortcut key Ctrl+G can now be toggled while in combat. Players will now be able to see how many items are currently for sale in the Bazaar while selling to Harvey Deuce, so they can gauge if Harvey has more than 100 items in stock. Players will no longer be able to teleport while browsing vendors. Traveling to Ithaca after defeating Scylla, no longer causes Mark and Recall to stop functioning. Riding over Flower Petals in a house with a mount no longer causes the player to flip upside down. Made minor grammatical changes throughout the game. Players will less frequently disconnect while creating a character. Added an appearance effect to the Opposition Champion badge. The PvP companion selector will no longer auto-fill with three companions. This was done so players may choose the ability to 1v1 without companions! Players no longer receive the message "You have been defeated" after being defeated in pvp combat and zoning. Tightened up the tool tip text given for the "Combat Unit Selection" toggle in the Options Menu. Players will no longer see "Stormgate to MooShu" as an exit point when looking at place names in Hamamitsu Garden.

Gear and Loot Changes We’ve added some new appearance changing accessories to the game beyond eye patches! Can you discover them all? A good place to start is on the vendors in Skull Island-- but you'll find the coolest stuff added to the loot tables for bosses. Added a new battle banner as a loot drop in game (so they are no longer only available with prepaid cards.) Players should once again receive the same items from chests after combat post-Skull Island. Players should all receive the same charm loot at the end of the Floating Dutchman dungeon. Fin Dorsal has a new unique loot item available. Happy farming! Antinous now has a Second Chance Chest. Tiger Claws are now put away when riding on a mount. Improved the looks of the Blades of Shade. The Spike Trap from the Metal Guardian Helm will now work correctly. General Tso's blade now appears as it should when using the Vicious Charge power. Hai San's Geta can now be dyed properly. Reverted the appearance on the Swashbuckler’s Clogs. Players can now sell permanent mounts to vendors for gold. Players can now inspect Doubloon Cards and Pet Snacks from the Notifications window. Rotated the backwards facing loot chest in the Aquila Apothecary Shop. The Crow’s Nest from the Admiral’s Bundle is no longer able to be sold in the Bazaar. The Great Train Robber’s Coat is now appropriately named that instead of “Great Train Robber's Hat” Multiplayer Group chests will appear more frequently in group combat. Removed several Multi-player chests that were incorrectly appearing in single player areas. Removed the treasure chest that could not be reached in Sacred Mountain. The treasure pile from the Treasure Bath Doubloon is a bit taller so it can be seen on battleboards in flooded areas. The Bone Drake pet is now influenced by Baron Samedi's Battle Standard. Equipped Items will stay equipped after stitching to them when possible. Huge piles of treasure are no longer able to be sold at the Bazaar.