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

A Glimpse Into Grizzleheim

We know a lot about Grizzleheim from Wizard101, but what would happen if we see this Norse-based world appear in Pirate? And, more importantly, why would we have to visit it? It’s commonly thought that Valencia will be the next world due to the information we received at the end of Book XIV, but we may just see Grizzleheim before that.

Valencia Put On Hold

We hear that we need to go back to Valencia for special information as to how to defeat Kane. And, as of now, that’s our only lead – the two remaining map pieces, belong to Erika the Red and our mother, could literally be anywhere in the Spiral. So, logically, one of the only things that we could do is head to Valencia, find out Kane’s weakness, and escape. However, there could be a number of problems with getting access to Valencia… for instance, how are we supposed to get a Windstone?

In the case of Marleybone, we had to storm a highly secured fort in order to get a Yellow Windstone. With Valencia, however, the Armada is likely to keep their Windstones (likely Red ones) even more protected. So, perhaps the whole point of going to Grizzleheim would be to get a Red Windstone. The Bears are merchants, after all, so they’d have to have transportation to Valencia.

Since Grizzleheim remained neutral in the Polarian Wars, transportation there may have come to a halt long ago. Retrieving the only known Windstone and helping local residents along the way in return for information would make for a perfect storyline.

Erika the Red

Another theory is that we may need to search for Erika the Red. The problem with this, however, is that she’s probably more likely to not be in Grizzleheim. As a Viking, she’s likely to travel all around the Spiral… besides, if she has a piece of the map, why would she want to be easily found in her homeland? Thinking that it may be a trap, however, Avery may not be willing to send us off to Valencia just yet… instead, we could investigate other matters, such as collecting the rest of the map pieces. Our mother’s piece? Any attempt to find it would simply be a blind guess. As for Erika the Red’s, however, starting in Grizzleheim may not be such a bad idea.

Perhaps Erika IS in Grizzleheim… or at least her map piece is. But, then, we’d only have one piece left to find and then we can sneak back into Valencia and the main story will be over – spread across five remaining books. Two more non-back-to-back visits to Valencia are planned, too, and it wouldn’t seem like such a good idea to go there with only one piece remaining, get the information we need, find our mother’s piece, then travel back right away. Meeting with failure in terms of map pieces in Grizzleheim seems like the more likely route.

That being said, it’s hard to say what we would actually do there with Erika the Red missing. Just going around and helping all of the civilians there doesn’t really seem very piratey, and it wouldn’t make for such an interesting story. Perhaps the first chapter could be finding an old crewmate of Erika’s, under the assumption that she is still in Grizzleheim. For the second chapter, after we find out that she departed recently, we’d attempt to find out where she went and why. Maybe she got shipwrecked somewhere… Krokotopia certainly seems possible. It’s rather likely for us to go there in the El Dorado arc, and there wouldn’t really be any reason to do so otherwise… unless that’s where our parents ended up.

Additional chapters could really be anything. We already have all of the information that we need, so what’s the point of staying there any longer? There could be a “side story” in the middle of these two chapters – discovering that Erika the Red is gone and finding out where she is – to give the world a bit more length and to resonate more with the Norse mythology theme. Think Kurghas in Marleybone. Getting them worse food was inconsequential to our overarching goal, but we needed to do so in order to give the Marleybonean Navy a fighting chance against the Armada. Similarly, Grizzleheim could be having its own issues. What they could be is anyone’s guess, but it’s sure to make an interesting storyline!

Some Deeper Theorycrafting

We can’t forget about the Armada! Even with Deacon gone, they’re watching our every move… and it’s very likely that they know that they’re losing in the race for the map. They wouldn’t want to let any more pieces slip out of their grasp, and knowing the location of Erika the Red would be crucial to their game plan. So, could we see the Armada in Grizzleheim? It’s certainly possible. Kane himself is very busy, but we haven’t encountered that “Queen” yet – could she have been sent off to Grizzleheim, possibly as the Armada’s head of foreign affairs? We may be finally fighting that Armada elite, but possibly not completely defeating her yet. If there’s one thing to know about chess, it’s that the queen is the most powerful piece in the game.

Suppose that both we and the Armada find out about Erika the Red’s location… that would be the perfect opening to sneak into Valencia the following book. However, if we don’t get any map pieces then and the Armada already beats us to Erika the Red in Book XVII, then it’d be a tie at three. Or, to go even further, what if the Armada ambushes us – Phule, most likely – when we go to Valencia, stealing our three map pieces? That means we’d have none to the Armada’s six – if they beat us to the last piece, our mother’s, they’d be all ready to sail to El Dorado. That would practically force us to sneak back into Valencia for one final time before the Armada can make their move and get all seven map pieces back from them.

When you think about it, something like that would make sense. If the Armada has a couple pieces of the map and we have the rest, what could either of us do? Not very much. But, if the Armada has them all after Phule steals the ones that we’ve collected, that would make for a pretty epic conclusion of the El Dorado arc. It would also give us a pretty good reason to fight Phule… perhaps, after defeating him, Kane would appear for the first time, take the map pieces, and end our second trip to Valencia with failure. If only Avery didn’t have that idea to keep the pieces with us!

The Orange Windstone

As a final note, keep in mind that Windstones work in the order of ROY G BIV, but backwards – if we get a Red Windstone and go to Valencia next, what about the Orange one? Therefore, we may be seeing a world before Valencia based on that Windstone logic… Grizzleheim would be the perfect candidate.

We haven’t yet seen a “Stormgate to Grizzleheim (Requires Orange Windstone)” in the game, but that could be just to keep the surprise – Avernus does still have an empty Stormgate, as well as Marleybone and Aquila…

What do you think about Grizzleheim? Will it be the next world, or will we just be seeing a preview of it soon? Regardless, be sure to familiarize yourself with June’s Producer’s Letter… it has several hints towards Grizzleheim in it, as well as some other neat surprises that are in store for us soon…

Happy hunting!

Something Nefarious This Way Comes...

With the addition of the new Spring update to the game, there’s a mysterious new tower located in MooShu. After receiving a variety of hints, we are able to speculate on what this tower could bring to the game.

Something Nefarious This Way Comes

The word “nefarious” has been used over and over to describe this new tower. While it may just be a creative way of saying “evil”, it certainly could mean much more. Perhaps, it could be alluding to a new villain’s name or plot who is planning something inside of the tower, or maybe just the quest name. However, it seems very likely that this will be side content rather than main – the whole idea of a MooShu tower just doesn’t make sense with our return to Valencia. This isn’t to say that Book XV isn’t coming soon, though – perhaps both the tower and a new world could be released at the same time!

Describing it as nefarious over and over has striking similarities with the barmy update. While it didn’t completely shape the questline, it pointed out a certain line that gave insight as to some of what it would be about. That could very well be what will happen here, with various MooShu NPCs simply describing the plot as nefarious. There are unlimited possibilities at what we’ll find, so only time will tell.

A High Level Gauntlet?

Wizard has the Waterworks. The Tower of the Helephant. Briskbreeze. The Warehouse. Tartarus. So many optional high level gauntlets – as for Pirate, however, there really isn’t anything like that at this point. It would add a lot more to the game, for sure, as optional high level content doesn’t necessarily have to be fit for the “average” gamer. It can be extremely hard for those looking for a challenge and great rewards to go with it.

What would these great rewards be? High level gear, most likely. The issue with this, however, is that it would slowly eliminate the diversity between players’ equipment.  Where Pirate differs from Wizard is that there is no “best” gear – this results in plenty of unique and diverse strategies. Having one best item may not be such a change from what we have now, however; the Dragoon Autocannon (or perhaps the Armada Pistols) was the choice of most Musketeers prior to it being nerfed, and most of the new class weapons from the Crown Shop are better than any regular gear out there.

Having one set of gear that is strictly the best, though, may very well be a great addition to the game – it brings a great amount of potential for even new types of strategies to emerge. Players who are more content with their current playstyles can continue to fight as they normally would, while others may be more willing to adapt to new changes in the meta game.

Additionally, we need something new to farm for! Sure, there’s plenty of unique looking boss gear, but many players would simply want something to stitch to and would have no real use of any of the remaining gear, especially with no way to truly show the rest of it off. Gear with great stats, on the other hand, can be used and even stitched with that unique looking gear. Overall, there would be a much greater incentive to farm for new items, giving players something to do while waiting for a level cap increase and a new world.

Why MooShu?

This is a good question that many might not have even considered: Why was MooShu chosen to be the location of this new gauntlet? Surely there was some reason; game designers don’t just put large instances in random places!

The answer might actually be right in front of us. If we look all the way up to the top of the tower, we can see something that resembles a vortex near the top. While we’ve seen Aquila heavily focused on Greek beliefs (as with the gods), this hasn’t necessarily been true with MooShu (or most other worlds, though Monquista, for example, has many mentions of the Church).

What separates MooShu from these other worlds, however, is its potential is much greater. The Celestial Heavens of MooShu haven’t really been touched upon at all, and stealing power from it would make for a great questline and a nefarious villain.

This also raises even more essential questions: What is the vortex truly for? Where did it come from? How will the villain inside of the tower harness its energy and what will he/she use it for? And, most importantly, can they be stopped?

It would be pretty boring to just walk inside, defeat a few enemies, reach the final boss and then defeat them. What would be extremely cool would be to actually find a way of cutting off the source of power from the vortex, close it, and then defeat the final boss (who is now enraged that their plot has been thwarted though believes that they can find another way to succeed – so long as we are eliminated). Good thing we have a history with insane bosses in the Spiral!

Why?

Why would the villain inside this tower carry out this scheme? Surely there’s some reason – every enemy has one! Whether it’s Ratbeard’s to steal Gunn’s gold for himself, the Wild Bunch’s to take over Tumbleweed Skyway, or Bishop’s to eliminate the Marleybonean Royal Navy, there’s always something.

It could be very similar to General Tso’s drive – with the Emperor out of the picture, it would be a great time to wreak havoc in MooShu so that it can be taken over. However, it could be something even greater. Does the nefarious villain inside of the tower have a history with the Emperor, or perhaps another character we’ve met or heard about in MooShu? Do they just want power? Or maybe having immense power would lead them to pose a threat to the entire Spiral, much like the Armada.

Conclusion

Regardless of what it is, we’ll have to come in and stop them. In whatever manner that may be, it’s sure to be epic. With the tower being mentioned in the Newsletter this month and it being the focus of a recent Pirate101 Vine, it can’t be too far away. Open the doors and let’s find out what’s behind this nefarious scheme!