AoS Staff: Feedback Frenzy!

Many wizards have been seizing the oppor-tuna-ty to fish throughout the spiral and our staff is no different!  We’ve had a blast trying to fin-ish our collections and decided that we would like to share our thoughts and opinions with you! Whale, let’s get to it!

Vanessa Mythdust

What I like about fishing:  Fishing is a great way to keep players playing the game! Many people get bored when they hit max level and don’t have the patience for pets, or don’t want to farm long dungeons over and over again. Fishing was a great addition because not only can it keep players busy, but it also encourages us to travel back to old areas that we normally wouldn’t venture! The concept itself is simple to understand and is pretty addictive once you get into it! Of course, what I love most about fishing is discovering all those new fish, and the PUNS! Oh, the puns. There will always be something new to discover when it comes to fishing and I think KingsIsle did an amazing job bringing it into reality.

What I wish would be improved on concerning fishing: One thing I wish would be improved on is the incentive to fish. Outside of self-pride, gold and maybe a few pets or recipes, there is not a lot of incentive to fish. Maybe some better rewards would help interest grow and make fishing thrive even more. Even more problematic is the lighting in some areas when trying to fish.  Yes, I’m looking at you in particular Vigrid Roughland. I remember I was trying to catch a Polar Bear Acuda in Vigrid Roughland and I was having lots of trouble identifying the various school colors of the fish. To put things in perspective,  I got extremely excited when I thought I found an ice fish there, only be to disappointed when I reeled in a….bone fish! I had somehow mistaken a death fish (black) for an ice fish! (very light blue) Outside of color I think there should be some other identifiers so that poorly lit areas will not suffer when fishing. Maybe add some school symbols or patterns?

What I want to see with fishing in the future:  I would love for fishing to expand to other areas of the spiral as well as our houses! There are plenty of lakes and water throughout the spiral and we’re not even fishing in half of the available worlds! I love that each world and area has its unique fish and I can’t wait to see what special fish each world will see in the future! Or…maybe there are other things to reel in besides fish??? With the addition of the Shark Week fish, the Warhammerhead Shark, it’s apparent that more seasonal/ holiday fish are on the way as well! I think these will be a great addition and Kingsisle will continue to see what they can do to improve the fishing experience.

Sneaky Kevin

What I like about fishing:  Fishing is a great way to get worthwhile rewards if you don't have the time or resources for pet training or the best seeds for gardening. A simple chest can grant players plenty of gold, including reagents, gear, and a chance at aquariums - selling the fish you catch will boost your gold even more. While it may seem like a simple side activity, it really has great benefits to help you throughout the game regardless of your level, and what better way is there to take a break from saving the Spiral from destruction than going fishing?

What I wish would be improved on concerning fishing:  Currently it seems a bit too difficult to display every fish you've caught in your home with aquariums. Buying so many from the Crown Shop will be a huge Crowns investment, and crafting them all would take over 600 Lifecudas! It would be great if it was easier to obtain aquariums, whether from boss drops or being able to buy them individually from the Crown Shop. Being able to show off what you've caught is a huge part of fishing, and having that area worked on would greatly improve the activity.

What I want to see with fishing in the future:  The obvious answer here is... more fish! Hopefully fishing is expanded to more worlds in the future, especially ones that open up new possibilities such as Dragonspyre. Not only would lava fishing be especially cool, but more fish in general can expand the level cap for fishing, create more epic fish, and allow for new fishing spells. The more fish, the better!

Sophia Lifecaster

What I like about fishing:  Fishing is a fun thing to do whether in a game or in real life. Wizard101 Fishing has been a great implementation.  Fishing is a nice hobby to have or something to do when you have nothing else to do.  The best thing of it all is that many places are accessible to fish in and while you are hanging out with friends or just sitting around, you can go fish!  Another great aspect to fishing is discovering the new fish there are and just laughing about the descriptions of the fish.  KingsIsle is definitely full of creative and funny people.  Fishing is definitely something I enjoy and will be and have been doing regularly.

What I wish would be improved on concerning fishing:  There isn't much I can say I want to be improved.  I definitely think more ways to receive aquariums would be a nice thing to add.  I'm really looking forward to what KingsIsle might add concerning what we can do with our fish other than using it as reagents and getting gold.  Hopefully we'll be seeing a few more things being dropped from chests in the future as well.  Also, like Vanessa said, be able to see the school of the fish a bit better.  The first pond in Virgrid Roughland with the waterfall makes it hard to see the difference between an ice or myth fish.

What I want to see with fishing in the future:  Of course, I would like to see new fish in the rest of the worlds as well as underwater fishing!  Not sure how that would work but it's definitely something very interesting that can be added.  Fishing in castles or putting our own fish in the lakes in our castles would be a nice thing to add as well.  The thing I'm looking forward to the most is the fish we will have to discover.  KingsIsle has done an amazing job coming up with fish and their descriptions and I'm ready for more!

Sheldon

What I like about fishing:  I like how relaxing it is - I know it sounds weird, but with Gardening and Pet Training you have to keep clicking or actually physically doing something...but with fishing, you cast your orb and then you wait for it to bite...I don't know what could be more relaxing...Sleep?

What I wish would be improved on concerning fishing: Aquariums being dropped by Bosses, I think this is an important one. I think it'd be great to see more fish, to get more people fishing and having fun, because fishing is a very fun (and relaxing!) experience for all. 

What I want to see with fishing in the future:   Aquariums that allow multiple fish in one, A house just for fish, fishing in houses, fishing in dungeons, fishing in more worlds and more fish

Be sure to check out the Adventures of the Spiral's Fishing Database for all your fishing needs. 

Future Companions: What Can We Expect? Part 2

Last week we discussed the Starter, Kraken Skulls, and Presidio 5 blocks of companions. In this week’s post, we’ll take a closer look at Old Scratch, Ratbeard, Monkey King, Gracie Conrad, Catbeard, and Hawkules… how can they be improved and what can we expect from them in the future?

What About Bonnie Anne and El Toro?

Bonnie and Toro are already excellent companions – they’re practically considered the best Musketeer and Swashbuckler units in the game! Bonnie can continuously fire away at an enemy, attack approaching ones, and hit before other Musketeers get the chance to, plus she can lower the dodge of enemies, heal, and get a free attack in whenever she dodges a melee hit!

El Toro is not only the ideal Swashbuckler, being able to train multiple tiers of Relentless and/or Riposte, but his buff helps to support your entire team! In Marleybone/Aquila especially, where you may find it a bit more difficult to land hits or dodge attacks, having an extra Espirit de Corps can be game changing. He may not have a Guaranteed Critical Hit or any other attack powers yet… but that could definitely change in the future!

As for the other universal companions, they could all use some improvements in their next promotions. Let’s break down how useful they currently are and what the future could hold!

Old Scratch and Ratbeard

We recruit these two companions early into the storyline – all the way back in Skull Island! We don’t recruit many other Witchdoctors, so Old Scratch works great as a universal companion. Using Witchdoctors seems to be a matter of personal playstyle; for some, having such fragile units with low health, accuracy, and dodge might not be the best option. However, if properly protected, Old Scratch (and other WDs!) can be a great damage dealer. Upgrading his minion spell might be a good idea, but the Bone Drake might not necessarily be better than the Skeleton Corsair. A simple solution would be granting him both, and perhaps bringing back the Skeleton Pirate, so that he works as a “minion summoner” to help give you an advantage early on in the fight.

Ratbeard just promoted back in Marleybone, so he already has some cool improvements – he can reduce the accuracy of enemies, protect himself, AND knock them back (if you’re a Musketeer, that’s a great way to make use of your bomb powers!) Simply upgrading his protection power to the next rank would be a great way to improve him, along with upgrading his accuracy reduction power so that it grants increased movement as well. Ratbeard’s a great example of a melee companion who doesn’t need Relentless to be great. Perhaps he could even train a “Team Epic!” power that gives First Strike or Vengeance Strike for 3 rounds!

Monkey King and Hawkules

Both Monkey King and Hawkules are completely different than other mainline companions of their same class, namely El Toro and Ratbeard. Monkey King doesn’t have Relentless in his epic pool at all, while it’s likely Hawkules’ greatest asset. We’re generally used to Swashbucklers with Relentless – First Strike, Riposte, and more can only trigger against other melee units, while Relentless can trigger against anyone. While Monkey King can train Second Chance, it’s not giving him much of an advantage against Musketeers and Witchdoctors. Second Chance isn’t necessarily an extra hit in general – just making up for a missed one, and, while this is helpful on a Swashbuckler, it does make him fall behind a bit. Hidden powers are being improved in the Test Realm, and they do seem to work well with Monkey King’s theme – a trickster, and what better way to trick the enemies than to hide your entire team? Black Fog may seem a bit scary at first, especially with the lack of counters to it, but keep in mind that he likely won’t be promoting until Book 16 or 17 – that gives plenty of time for new strategies to arise against hidden while Monkey King will be able to give your team a huge boost against unexpecting enemies!

Hawkules is definitely in his starting stages, and he’s bound to get much better – he already started off with the ability to train Relentless 3, and is likely one of the toughest companions on your crew. He could use some more armor to reinforce this, like Subodai. An epic that we’re seeing on Test Realm (and one that’s already available on pets) is Merciless – this works similarly to Relentless, but it will only trigger on severely wounded enemies and is intended to deal the finishing blow. It’s never any fun when an enemy is left with just a few hundred health left at the end of the round… a creative epic like this on Hawkules could easily fix this!

Gracie Conrad and Catbeard

Both are Privateers, yet complete opposites of one another – Gracie’s strength comes within her War Golem, Mine power, and Vengeance Strike, while Catbeard shines through his Relentless and the occasional Riposte. After using both her powers, Gracie won’t be able to deal damage so easily – she will have to rely on taking hits, which can be a very dangerous risk. Since Vengeance Strike will likely be her main way of attacking aside from her normal hit, protection is crucial, as she isn’t as armored as a Buccaneer or as dodgy as a Swashbuckler. A simple protection power will fix this… maybe even Valor’s Fortress! Clearly, using it on her is a safe bet, though you could also use it to protect another fragile unit.

Catbeard could easily become a Privateer version of El Toro. By training Espirit de Corps, it would give your team yet another buff. Tough melee enemies could easily break through Swashbucklers’ dodge back in Marleybone and Aquila, so this will definitely help even up the odds. Furthermore, it will make Catbeard’s Riposte activate more often, which will deal more damage than his average hit or Relentless attack would. Privateers are meant to support the rest of your team, so that’s exactly what Gracie and Catbeard could do when they promote again!

Conclusion

There are plenty of more companions besides these universal ones (and the blocks of five that we discussed in our last post), but these ones are meant to be the top tier companions that we recruit in the game. Some of their promotions are coming soon, while some we may have to wait a little longer for… but, without a doubt, they’re sure to improve!

What ideas do you have? Do you have any favorite companions that we didn’t list here and have ideas for how they can be upgraded in the future? We want to hear!

In our final post of this segment coming up, we’ll discuss completely new ideas for companions that we haven’t yet seen in the game… be sure to check it out!

Design-a-Dungeon Contest! [CLOSED]

Ahoy pirates! It's the third week of August, and that means contests!! The new Nefarious Tower has hit the Test Realm just days ago, and plenty of pirates are taking on the challenge to climb to the top and defeat Moo Manchu yet again (while receiving great drops along the way!). Each floor will pose as a challenge to even the most advanced pirates, and this type of content makes us wonder... what other kinds of dungeons might we see in the game?

We want to hear what YOU think! For this contest, we want you to come up with an idea for a new dungeon - it can be long or short, part of the mainline or a side quest, or whatever else you come up with. The only real rule when creating your gauntlet is that it should be difficult! It doesn't have to be insane, but, like the new Tower, we're looking for something that will be a fun challenge!

Rules

Design an original gauntlet! Be sure to include its location and give us a breakdown of the floors/rooms.

Tell us a little bit more about your idea. Why do we have to visit it? Who's the main boss - is it someone we've encountered before like Moo Manchu, or an entirely new villain? What are we trying to accomplish there?

There's no restrictions on how short/long your entry can be, but be sure to include enough information! We want to be able to fully understand your idea so you have the greatest chance of winning!

Your idea must be original. While you can reuse enemies that we have already met/fought in the game, make sure it's your own work!

Feel free to create new drops, like those in the new Tower!
Are there cheats?

A major factor when judging will be creativity, so you can include whatever else you'd like, so long as it's relevant to your idea - drawings, computer graphics, quest dialogue, etc.

Your entry does not need to be very lengthy at all - have fun with it! Once you're finished with it, send it to us at admin@adventuresofthespiral.com with the subject "Dungeon Design Contest". Please remember to include your pirate's name (or your community name) with your entry!

Prizes

It is Arrrgust, after all, so that means prizes! The winning entry will be one that we at AoS really feel created an awesome dungeon that would be a great addition to the game - we'll award the grand prize winner with 10,000 Crowns. We'll also pick 5 more entries after that - these will also be ones that we really like, and these winners will all win 5,000 Crowns. The next 10 winners will be picked from the remaining entries, taking home 1,000 Crowns each. Please note that you must have a completely valid entry to be eligible for the random draw.

We'll pick the winners two weeks from the contest's start date - September 1st at 11:59 PM EST. That should give you plenty of time to come up with your unique idea!

We can't wait to see everyone's ideas... happy Arrrgust, everyone, and enjoy testing out the new Tower of Moo Manchu currently in the Test Realm! Maybe running it a couple times will give you some ideas for your own gauntlet!

Pirate Test Realm Is Here!

Have you heard the news? Pirate101 Test Realm has just been released, complete with the new Nefarious Tower (Known as "The Tower of Moo Manchu"), the ability to change your flag (and companion!) colors, doubloon trading, Team Up!/Dungeon Recall, and much more!

If you've completed MooShu and the Moo Manchu questline, check out the new tower for a tough challenge! With 10 floors, it's sure to keep you busy farming for quite some time as well as extending upon the beloved Moo Manchu storyline!

Features from Wizard101 have arrived, too! For difficult instances, you may want to try using "Team Up!" to get help from other pirates who are also requesting help. Also, keep in mind that group play has been improved so that less enemies will be present when you're with other pirates, so don't be afraid to give "Team Up!" a try! If you happen to be defeated in these difficult dungeons, don't worry - just click on the new "Dungeon Recall" button to teleport yourself right back inside!

Do you have plenty of Doubloons and want to share your fortune with your friends? Now you can! Just like with Treasure Cards, you can now trade Doubloons between pirates! This can help you clear out Doubloons that you don't need while getting others in return that may be more useful.

Not only that, but the widely requested feature has finally arrived: changing your flag colors! This will also be reflected on your companions, so if you aren't happy with how they look, just change their colors for a small Crowns fee! Seek out a new NPC in the Skull Island Bazaar for this new service.

There's plenty more, too - pets, companions, combat, sound, ship, badge organization, and more changes await you in the Pirate101 test realm! If you haven't checked out the update notes yet, be sure to do so here:

https://www.pirate101.com/free_game/update_notes/test_realm

Enjoy the Test Realm, pirates!!

Benefits of Fishing

There definitely should be a reward from fishing other than discovering new fish. Guess what?  There is!  You can get several rewards from fishing whether they are housing decorations or pets.

Chests and Gold

When fishing, you have a chance of catching a chest instead of a fish.  These chests usually come with gold, equipment/pet/aquarium, and a reagent.  You can also sell the fish you catch for a good amount of gold depending on the size of the fish and the rarity of it.

The amount of gold you can get from chests average to around 1,200.  This is definitely a good amount of gold from just a single catch.  You can sell your fish in several places.  In The Commons, you can sell your fish to Lucky Hookline (the NPC that you get your first fishing quest from).  You can also sell your fish to Haarek Silverscale and Frode Silverscale who can both be found in Northguard, Grizzleheim.  The amount of gold you get from each fish depends on the rarity of the fish and the size of it too.  The average sizes of that type of fish can be sold for the least and the bigger or smaller the fish is, the more it will sell for.

The equipment that can be taken from chests are wands, athames, rings, and amulets.  There have been reports of crown wands that can be dropped from these chests.  There have been several reports of crown pets that have been dropped from chests.  You can find several useful reagents that you might need for crafting in the future.

Aquariums and Crafting

Aquariums can be acquired from a chest but there are definitely several other ways to get them.  What is an aquarium for, you ask?  Aquariums are housing items to decorate your house.  You can put fish that you have caught in these aquariums.

Crafting is one of the most popular things that will be done with fish.  Yes, fish can be used as reagents in some recipes!  You can craft different tapestries, all the aquariums, and some pet snacks with fish.  

What Can We See in the Future?

This is only the beginning and I’m sure we will be surprised with a lot of different ways we can use fish.  Comment below other ways you think fishing can be used.

If you need any fish information, make sure to visit our Fishing Database!  If you have any questions, comments, or concerns, feel free to comment below!

Secret Message Contest! [CLOSED]

Arrrgust has arrived in Pirate101, but we want to give Wizard101 some attention! We’ll be hosting a contest where you have a shot at tons of great prizes: Energy Elixirs, Hoard Packs, Aquariums, and even the new Medieval Build-a-Castle sets!

So how does this contest work? Well, this very post has all the answers you’ll need! We’ll give you a cipher composed of several numbers - each series of numbers refers to a letter in this post, and, after decoding all of the clues, you’ll come up with a phase! The goal is to uncover the phrase within this post as fast as you can, email it to us at admin@adventuresofthespiral.com, and you’ll have a shot to win the prizes you see above!

Official Rules

Using the clues below, decode the hidden message within this post.

You may only enter once.

Email us your answer once you decoded the message - do NOT share the answer anywhere else or you are at risk of disqualification!

Include your wizard’s name, or community name, in your email to us - please not your real name!

Use the subject line “Secret Message Contest”.

Send all questions to us via email, as a comment on this post, or as a tweet to us at @OfficialAotS.

Prizes!

Everyone who successfully sends us the exact phrase will be entered in a raffle to win 2 Medieval Build-a-Castle sets, 2 Energy Elixirs, and 1 Hoard Pack of choice! There will be TWELVE (12!!) draws!

The FIRST 4 people to send us the phrase will win the same prizes as above - the castle blocks set, Energy Elixirs, and the Hoard Pack, PLUS a Regular Keeper Aquarium Pack!

This contest will remain open for five days, then we’ll draw the winners - be sure to send your entry in by Monday, August 11th at 11:59pm US Central Time before the contest closes!

The Cipher

The cipher will be written in a string of numbers. Each series of numbers corresponds to exactly one letter and is three numbers long. Let's use the example "16-5-2". This clue refers to one letter - the first number is the line of the post where that letter is located, and it keeps getting more specific. Can you guess what the second and third numbers mean?

*Note: Any form of punctuation does not count - only include dashes as separate words. Do not spaces, however. When counting lines, include titles ("Official Rules", "Prizes!", and "The Cipher"), though not lines that only consist of spaces. Also, be sure that you are viewing the site on Zoom: 100%. If you're doing this contest via mobile or there is another reason why you can't see the site normally, a picture of the post is below.

Letters are separated by semicolons (;) and words are separated by “|”. Also, we've scrambled the letters to make it more difficult... so, each word might not make sense until you unscramble them!

Here is the cipher for you to solve!

36-6-7 ; 10-7-5 ; 6-13-2 ; 12-8-2 ; 8-3-6 | 12-10-1 ; 12-10-1 ; 16-15-1 | 18-8-4 ; 12-1-5 ; 17-1-4 ; 2-15-1 ; 10-4-4 ; 18-8-4 ; 10-4-4 | 34-6-3 ; 1-5-2 | 16-7-1 ; 16-7-1 ; 5-1-4 ; 1-1-4 ; ! |

Remember to send your answers to us at admin@adventuresofthespiral.com before Monday night to be eligible for the prizes listed above!

Future Companions: What Can We Expect?

There are plenty of great companions already in the game. Bonnie Anne is the ideal sharpshooter, El Toro can buff and dodge hits effectively, and Zeena is a great choice for a Musketeer for any pirate. But what about the other main companions that you recruit? Whether it be the blocks of five or ones that everyone recruit, the possibility of improvement is limitless. And, what other companions could come in the future that may add variety to your crew? Read on in this three-post segment!

The Starter 5

The five starter companions have always been great – Kobe Yojimbo and Kan Po, for example, are ideal Swashbucklers and purchasing their Crown Shop counterparts (Wagyu Sanjuro and Keisuke Yagi) would be a great buy. These two in particular don’t need much improvement, as they can train multiple tiers of Relentless and Riposte along having guaranteed Super and Mega critical powers. Bring either of them with you into a fight, and watch how quickly you can take down another melee enemy! A talent like Alert as well as a Hurl Knife or Hurl Blades power would improve them while letting the other starter companions catch up.

As for Subodai and Egg Shen, the two Buccaneers of the group, they are great sources of damage with the ability to train Relentless 3, but could definitely be improved by giving them more Buccaneer qualities. Although Subodai already has great armor, it’s difficult to rely just on that to keep him from being defeated – after all, it’s quite possible for only a fraction of your armor value to be taken into account during damage calculation. Kraken’s Lament would be a good solution, as Triton’s Song is great on Ratbeard. With more protection, they can deal out damage while taking less themselves – just like a Buccaneer player would.

Wing Chun can be called the outlier of this group. He’s a Privateer and can only learn up to Relentless 2, and Riposte isn’t as effective on him as it would be on a Swashbuckler. This means you’ll have to give him something like Repel Boarders or Flanking, which are good epics, but, combined with his low damage, do cause him to fall behind a bit. That being said, he’s an exceptional Privateer – he can buff the accuracy of your units, heal wounded ones, and can land a critical on an enemy whenever you need him to with his Guaranteed Critical Strike power.

Privateer companions in general do need some improvement, as they’re frequently overshadowed by Buccaneers and Swashbucklers. Looking generally at their stats, nothing really makes them stand out. Of course, this is understandable, as the same is true for Privateer pirates – except they receive plenty of powers that make their low stats irrelevant to their strategy. This could be reflected with Privateer companions, making them more useful: give them more powers! By enabling them to buff, protect, and heal more efficiently, Privateers would become much more useful. And, when you think about it, that is the purpose of the class, isn’t it? Giving Wing Chun something like Focus Fire would put him more in line with the other starter 5 companions.

The Kraken Skulls 5

The Kraken Skulls 5 are a great set of companions, and they should be promoting again within the next two books! Considering that Louis le Bisque is from Valencia, as soon as we have access to there for the second time around, we may see another promotion in order for the entire group.

As with the Starter 5, some of these companions are better than others. On top of them all is definitely Louis le Bisque – that bomb power alone adds yet another to a Musketeer’s arsenal, and, with Buck’s Brim and the new Level 60+ Crown Shop weapon, he can supply your SIXTH bomb power! To improve him a bit more, upgrading his Bear Trap power to Scatter Spike would be fair and not too overpowered – even giving him Hall of Cannonballs instead of Rain of Mortarshells would be great.

Mormo, too, is already great, mostly due to his plethora of powers. Simply upgrading these, like with Louis, would greatly improve him – Davy Jones’ Reach would cause enemies to critical much less, and Raven’s Cry would give your weaker companions more epic ability bonuses than they would get with Crow’s Song.

Sarah Steele’s hidden power can be upgraded to Black Fog, essentially giving your pirate another chance to be hidden. That may not seem like much, but a second Assassin’s Strike with increased damage combined with Sarah following up with Guaranteed Critical Strike would improve not only Sarah, but Swashbucklers too!

Barnabus has become much better with his ability to reduce the enemy’s accuracy. With this and Triton’s Song, there isn’t much more he needs – perhaps upgrading Triton’s Song to Kraken’s Lament and giving him an AoE power (like Goronado’s Gorrila Warfare) would make up for the absence of Relentless from his epic pool.

Finally, Emmett probably needs the most improvement. His class was changed recently from a Musketeer to a Privateer, which doesn’t have any major advantages – in fact, his range was lowered, which can mean a lot for a ranged unit. Perhaps he could get a protection power at his next promotion – not necessarily Valor’s Armor yet, but starting out with Valor’s Shield would be great. At his next promotion, Valor’s Armor would be much more plausible; he could even learn Tower of Iron Will or The Big Guns now to make him even better.

The Presidio 5

Finally, we have the Presidio 5. Most of these companions aren’t top tier, but they all certainly play major roles in the story. They could all use a bit of improvement at their next promotion, so let’s take a closer look at their potential.

The three Buccaneers, Mike, Gaspard, and Birgus, don’t really have anything special about them. They can be fairly tough in a fight, but they don’t stand out like other Buccaneers may. The simple answer would be giving them a protection or a charge power, but customized ones could work too – Mike is good at taking hits, for example, so perhaps he could learn a self-only power that absorbs 50% of melee damage for 3 rounds and has a chance of stunning an attacking enemy. For Gaspard, who works well with a melee pirate due to his ability to train Flanking, could receive something to reflect that. A power that reads “Flanked enemies must select self for attacks for 5 rounds” – that would shift the focus onto him, a Buccaneer in the fight, accomplishing their roles in battles. Additionally, it would encourage pirates to train Flanking on him. Birgus could have a way of amplifying his damage output, such as having a power that increases his damage by 25% for 5 rounds but increases how much he takes by 35%, similar to Berserk in Wizard101.

To make up for his lack of Riposte, Milo could use Assassin’s Gloom – he can’t hit back after dodging, but he would be able to wound enemies for five turns, regardless of if they hit him or not. Even better, if he is defeated after using it, the power’s effect would still play out normally, giving him an extra advantage over other Swashbucklers. Eventually, this could even be upgraded to Assassin’s Shroud, prohibiting enemies from healing and making him a more viable choice in player verses player combat.

Finally, we have Jack Russell. He’s not bad at all, but, as a melee Privateer, he could have some problems landing a hit and dealing major damage. Jack seems to be a rather offensive Privateer – he doesn’t have a healing power like Wing Chun and Emmett do, but only a Guaranteed Critical Strike power instead. Fighting Fervor, then, could work quite well on him, as it would make your entire team stronger, as well as Dress the Line to add Repel Boarders, or another tier of it, to all of your units.

Conclusion

This post segment is made while having in mind that you can now choose which companions you want to bring with you into a fight. That allows for giving them defined roles like you see above – Gaspard to stay by other melee units and flank with them, Sarah to give your team another chance at being hidden and hit enemies harder, Wing Chun sacrificing his natural attack to make a certain enemy easier to defeat, etc.

What do you think? How can we expect companions to be improved in the future, existing ones and new ones? In the next post of this segment, we’ll discuss universal companions and their potential in the future.

Devil Ray, Gobblerfish, and Frankenfish...oh my!

Fishing has captured the attention of all the wizards in the spiral and with it comes some very interesting findings and speculations.

When a fish loads for the first time, it has the file name in the top left hand corner of the screen.  Upon closer inspection, it seems various community members have noticed fish loading that we’ve never caught! Do these fish exist but we haven’t found them? Or do they not exist…maybe they have a different purpose? Here are my thoughts.

Holiday Fish?!

One of the more mysterious fish that has yet to be caught in the game is the Vampire Squid. The squid was first seen by Katherine_Light on her launcher when fishing first came out. Since then, many people have tried to find this same screen on the launcher but have had no luck.  Finally, Wizard101 announced via twitter that the squid pop up had been taken out: “It was removed because it doesn’t exist…yet ;) “ Yet? Yet! This fish is definitely coming, the question is...when?

When I hear Vampire, I think scary, I think Halloween! That’s not the only clue we have to possible holiday fish though…

A Frankenfish, another fish that we’ve never caught, was spotted loading in Unicorn Way as well! Frankenfish sounds an awful lot like Frankenstein, yet another clue that we could be getting holiday and seasonal fish!

The concept of holiday fish is interesting, obviously they would only be able to be caught during a specific time, but could they reap other possible rewards? Kingsisle has hinted that fishing will be expanded upon in the future, I’m wondering what exactly they have in mind!

Gobblerfish?

The Gobblerfish was first seen loaded by Kelsey Fireheart and has since spurred many ideas. The most intriguing part of this fish is that different people seem to have a different association with the word “gobbler.”

Some people associate it with the munchy creatures over on Colossus Boulevard, oddly enough, there are no fishing locations there! If this idea were true, it’s possible that fishing might eventually open up there?

Another association people have with the word gobbler is the gobbler pets. Both the Gob-O-Lantern and the Red Gobbler pet are tiny little monster creatures that are maybe a bit creepy at first glance! With the trend of Halloween pets loading, it’s possible that maybe this Gobblerfish is a Halloween pet too? Gobblers are a little scary, aren’t they?

At first glance, my first association with Gobbler was actually Thanksgiving! Setting aside in game creatures, when I hear gobbler, I think of those cute turkeys that go “Gobble Gobble.” If this were true, we might be seeing some Thanksgiving holiday fish! Of course, it’s much more likely that the Gobblerfish refers to one of the two options above…but you never know?

Devil Ray

Swordroll was the first to notice a red ray doodle on the aquarium interface, and many people have had Devil Ray loading on their screen in Helgrind Warren! By the looks of the doodle, the devil ray has a striking similarity to the Sun Ray, a fish exclusive to Helgrind Warren. Given the fact that these two are similar in appearance, it makes sense that the Devil Ray is loading there.  Helgrind Warren does not yet have an epic fish and epic fish do tend to be snatched where their other class fish are located...

Everything seems to be in place for this fish… yet it has not been caught! Many have gone after this fish, but it seems everyone has sadly fell short. Is this fish in the game yet? Or could this possibly be a Halloween fish too? I would keep trying for it, Kingsisle is usually not one to add doodles of things that don’t exist yet!

Only time will tell, but there will definitely be more to fishing than what we’ve already explored.  I’m excited for what’s to come! Let’s bring on the holidays!

Disclaimer: There is no way to know for sure who actually spotted these fish first. I merely listed the people who I think did, and asked for their confirmation/approval beforehand.

Also, feel free to check out the blogs/sites run by the people listed above!

Katherine_Light-Mercenaries101

Kelsey Fireheart-Stars of the Spiral

Swordroll-Swordroll's Blog


Note: Some of these fish that were speculated when this post was made are now Holiday Fish that we can catch but the Devil Ray is still a mystery!  Check out our Fishing Database for information on each Holiday Fish!
Gobblerfish
Vampire Squid
Devil Ray