Hoard Packs - What's Their Potential?

So far, Pirate101 only has one hoard pack: the Tribal Crew Pack. It’s filled with great loot that’s perfect for any pirate, including gear, weapons, housing items, training tomes, and even a rare shot at a companion. However, all we pirates currently have is this Azteca-themed pack – will there be more coming in the future? And, if so, what will they hold?

Hoard Packs in Wizard101

We’ve seen plenty of Hoard Packs in Wizard101. Many of them, in fact, have different “jackpot items” than the others. For example, the Dragon’s Hoard Pack was the first one that was introduced, the most sought item in there being the Bone Dragon mount. Additionally, it came with other cool items that had a lower rarity, the Dragon Wings mount, a variety of new wands, and exclusive gear among them. Compare this to Purreau’s Plentiful Pet Provisions which is entirely focused on pets. In fact, it was with this hoard pack that we saw many Star spells become may-cast talents on pets. Finally, the Shaman’s Lore Pack gives you a small chance to actually learn a new spell just by opening a pack – these spells are great whether you’re a lower level or a max level wizard.

Of course, these are only the main focuses of each pack. There’s plenty of other items within each one – many of them are good, but some of them aren’t as useful, such as common reagents or treasure cards that you could normally find at the Bazaar. In order to get something really worth it, then, you’ll probably have to buy a few packs to hit a jackpot item… or you could just buy one and try your luck.

Where Does Pirate101 Stand?

This is where Pirate101 begins to differ. With the Tribal Crew Pack, it’s pretty likely that you’ll get something worthwhile every time you open a pack. Of course, it isn’t guaranteed – a max level Buccaneer might not have use for training tomes or a Witchdoctor Staff. However, there’s plenty of great gear, eyepatches, and furniture that can be obtained through just a single pack. Check out this Azteca-themed room that was made entirely with items from the Tribal Crew Pack!

Not only that, but these furniture drops can’t be auctioned, so a friend who visits your house will know that you put the Crowns into it when decorating. Be sure to also include your Serpent pets and Dinosaur mounts that can now be placed in your house!

Keep in mind that the companions are very rare drops from the Tribal Crew Pack, so, when buying it, it may be a good idea to only purchase a pack for the other items you could get – receiving a companion would just be an awesome bonus to the rest of the pack’s loot. Not sure what companions you could get from the pack, their promotion levels, or what epics they can train? Check out their pages on our companion database here.

Future Packs

The Tribal Crew Pack is likely just the beginning of hoard packs in Pirate101. Despite not receiving a new one in a very long time, packs just probably haven’t been the top priority, especially with the previous Spring update and a new one that’s already being hinted at. Perhaps between them we’ll get another pack?

Even if not, it can’t be long before a new one is introduced, and there’s plenty of potential within that single pack. There’s several different ways that it can differ from the Tribal Crew Pack. Keeping the same idea – having companions as the jackpot items – has proven to and will continue to work rather well, but the packs can even be changed up a bit more to make them different but still just as rewarding to the players.

By making companions the epic item in the pack in terms of rarity, it gives much more incentive to buy that pack. They can be priced at 5,000 Crowns in the Crown Shop, so why not have the opportunity to get them for only 399 Crowns? Even if you don’t get one, you’ll still get new items from the pack just like with the Tribal Crew Pack. Additionally, some players may have all of the companions they want from the Tribal Crew Pack, so there could be another in case they want to try their luck at some more. Or perhaps you don’t want Azteca companions, but you would be interested in different ones.

There’s countless possibilities for a theme of new pack companions. Like the Azteca ones, they’d likely come in a set, all five of them being of the same origin but a different species. Grizzleheim companions have been suggested numerous times; maybe we could see a Buccaneer Red Claw Bear, a Swashbuckler Wolf, a Witchdoctor Raven, a Privateer Grendel, and a Musketeer Boar! Indeed, practically any world could be the theme of new pack companions… it would be interesting to see ones that we haven’t yet visited to get a preview of what we might see if we ever go there. Grizzleheim would definitely be cool to see, then, as there were a couple references to it in the Producer’s Letter…

New Ideas

What if companions weren’t the main aspect of a new hoard pack? Wizard101 has spells, but it doesn’t seem quite right for pirates to learn new powers from opening a pack. How exactly would that work? We aren’t able to decide which powers to use or not, so would the power always appear for us so long as we have a weapon equipped that allows for it to be used? That doesn’t necessarily seem plausible… but there are other options.

It would be interesting having a ship as a rare drop from a pack. It would have tiers just like all of the other gear and weapon drops, the level of it depending on the level of the pirate who opened the pack. What’s interesting about this is that there could be Skiffs, Frigates, and Galleons of worlds we haven’t yet visited and, therefore, there wouldn’t be a normal vendor to sell them to us. Not only that, but the ships could come with default equipment that could be changed so long as the new equipment has a proper world origin.

Maybe once you hit the jackpot from the pack and get the ship, new items could be available from the pack with the same world origin but better stats than what comes on the ship. This way, players wouldn’t be able to obtain ship equipment that they couldn’t use right away, only being able to once you have the actual ship. How cool would it be to finally get a Darkmoor ship just like the English Bill’s? An Avalon ship? What about a Polarian navy vessel? The possibilities are endless!

Perhaps a pack could even be dedicated to pets, just like with Purreau’s Plentiful Pet Provisions. With the new advanced pet system that was just released, having a pack that gives pets and pet related items would be just what every pirate could use.

And don’t forget about gear! For the pirates that don’t have the time to farm bosses, there could be pack gear that have item cards, though it could be a little weaker than what you’d get for farming the actual bosses to ensure that the players who worked hard to get their gear still remain on top. This would be especially useful since the gear that’s currently in the Crown Shop is more focused on stats rather than giving powers.

Conclusion

There’s plenty of possibilities for Pirate101 hoard pack… what would you like to see? Do you like the current loot in the Tribal Crew Pack or would you like to see changes in future packs? Be sure to let us know!