A Sad Day At KingsIsle

I know a lot of you have heard about the massive layoffs from KingsIsle and some of you were very confused. What is "lay off"? It means that the company cannot afford to keep the employees or had to let them go to refocus their efforts on other projects. It is NOT a bad thing. It is a SAD thing though. Nobody likes losing their jobs. KingsIsle would NOT lay off employees unless they had to. So I'm telling you that please do not blame anyone. Things happen and they stink. But it had to happen. It's very very different than fired. Fired means someone did something wrong and got let go. The employees today did NOT do anything wrong. They are innocent. Please give them some respect.

Please when you have a chance, tell KI's Former Employees as well as KingsIsle the company themselves, positive messages as well as using the hashtag #StayStrongKI for ALL employees, former and current. We need to rally together and stay strong together. This is the day to offer support. It's NOT the time to tear people down.

"To verify, many talented employees were released as part of a reduction in force today at KingsIsle Entertainment, and we wish them the best. This coincides with a couple of unreleased mobile games being cancelled. The strategy is to refocus our efforts on our MMO games and polish our more promising mobile projects, many of which are still slated for a 2016 release. Fans of our MMOs should know that Pirate101 is soon to receive an update and will be going to Test Realm most likely next week.  Wizard101 has new content updates in the works for both Summer and Fall 2016. " - KingsIsle, reprinted with permission

If you were worried or upset about the upheaval today and if it is going to affect Wizard101 and/or Pirate101, let the above quote let you rest easy. They will not introduce more new mobile games this year. Instead they will refocus on the MMOs we love, Pirate101 and Wizard101. This means they will be able to make the games' updates more frequent I hope and give us more content in-game. This is a GOOD thing.

As for Pirate101, we should expect to see Test Realm next week. That should make you excited. I know it did me! And for Wizard101, we will see updates for it in the Summer and Fall. Again, a GOOD thing.

It is sad that we have to say goodbye to those wonderful employees we have come to know through the years such as Leala Turkey, the Community Manager of Pirate101 and Wizard101 and the fabulous #JuliaFromKI and many more. I wish them all good luck and I hope that wherever they land, it's gonna be a great place.

How Many Seeds Can You Store?

The Gardening Benefit is back! That means double seeds, double mega snacks and more! But if the gardening benefit made you wonder just how many seeds your character could hold and store using the Seed Vaults only, I will help you figure that out. And I also will tell you just how many seed vaults you need to hold the maximum amount of seeds you can store.

First, we'll figure out just how many seed vaults we could hold. Remember each house holds one seed vault inside and one seed vault outside, so that's two seed vaults per house.

40 houses for one character

80 seed vaults for one character

240 houses per account

480 seed vaults per account

Now to figure out how many seeds our seed vaults could hold.

1 seed vault holds 100 seeds

80 seed vaults holds 8000 seeds for one character

480 seed vaults holds 48,000 seeds per account

As a bonus, I have figured out how many mega snacks you could earn if you could plant all of them. Keep in mind, this is based on the Evil Magma Peas & Deadly Helephant seeds. Too bad this is just a pipe dream.

Normal Harvest is when there's no Gardening Benefit. Remember, during Gardening Benefit, we receive double rewards which means double mega snacks, double seeds, so on and so on.

48,000 seeds could give 48,000 Mega Snacks during Normal Harvest.

48,000 seeds could give 96,000 Mega Snacks during the Gardening Benefit.

But if we could use up all 350 housing space for each house for the gardens.

350 plants per house x 40 houses for one character = 14,000 plants

14,000 plants x 6 characters for the account = 84,000 plants

For One Character:

That would give you 14,000 Mega Snacks during Normal Harvest.

That would give you 28,000 Mega Snacks during Gardening Benefit.

For The Entire Account:

That would give you 84,000 Mega Snacks during Normal Harvest.

That would give you 168,000 Mega Snacks during Gardening Benefit.

This would never happen because if you actually were able to plant all of those seeds, you would never have the time to sleep. Like the famous gardener, Timothy Titan, said...

"By the time you finally finish planting the last seeds, the ones you planted at the beginning will be ready to be harvested at elder."

So the time you are done, you would have to start all over again. Hope this blog post was interesting. It certainly was to me. After Timothy Titan corrected my math that is.

Stars of the Spiral's Exclusive Pirate101 Teaser!

Thanks to Pirate101 for giving us our own very exclusive Valentica Part 2 teaser. Those unicorn ladies are quite lovely! Check other official Pirate101 fansites for they each will have their own exclusive teaser.

Is This Area Locked? Part 2

If you have read my "Is This Area Locked?" part one, you will know what this is about. If not, read it HERE. I listed all of the areas that seem locked to us. But the blog post was not complete. This is why I have made a part 2 to finish showing you all locked areas or places we have not gone in. For Zafaria, it's all about bridges.

A broken bridge in Zamunda

I would love to be able to repair that bridge and maybe find a new NPC with new spells or quests on the other side.

A barricaded bridge in Stone Town

There's an area behind there that looks intriguing. I would love to be able to find a way through and explore the other side. 

A giant golden gate in High Road

Why was this giant golden door blocked? I would love to see the other side. If there's any danger, I am up for it!

A mysterious building in Cenote of Azteca

What is this place? This looks interesting. If we enter it, will we find a new area? What could it hold? More NPCs for new spells and quests? Or a future dungeon?

One of the gates in the Bastion

This is the ONLY gate in the Bastion that reminds locked. WHY? What could be behind this? I hope that we find out someday.

The Tree Roots in the Shadow Palace

We were able to access the Spirit Plane transporter on the left. But then that left the right transporter closed. Will we ever activate it and go through? Will we see the elemental plane? I sure hope so! 

Did we miss any? Are you curious as well about them? Let us know in the comments below.

World Password Day

Today is the World Password Day. Did you change your password lately? Are you sure that it's strong enough? 

Every day we hear about accounts being hacked, it's a real fear for many of us who use the internet daily. You do not want sensitive information come to light that would affect your finances or compromise special accounts that you care about such as games, banks, credit cards.

Here's a few, okay, many tips for you!

• Make sure your password has 8-12 letters minimum.
• Add numbers, capital letters, symbols and lowercase letters.
• Do not use common knowledge as your password. Like your birthday, your pet's name, your child's name, etc.
• Do NOT give your password to anyone else.
• Change your passwords every few months.
• Don't use dictionary words.
• If possible, make sure that the site has 2 step verification to protect your account just in case someone does try to break in.
• Make sure you have a different password for each site you use.
• Do not click any link on social media that you do not know.
• Always check the email address before clicking on anything in your email. Many of them use fake addresses even when claiming to be your bank.
• Make sure you log out on public computers.
• Don't enter your passwords on public computers because they could have programs to steal your passwords.
• Always check if anyone is watching you enter your password. Put your back to the wall and cover the sides if needed.
• Make sure you have up to date anti-malware software on your computer.

Be Proactive, Be Aware, & Change Often!

A New Teaser From Pirate101!

Today, Pirate101 has released a new teaser on their official Twitter account.

Dreaming of sailing the Calabria Skyway? #comingsoon pic.twitter.com/x9BgCIyLaD

— Pirate101 (@Pirate101) May 5, 2016

Calabria Skyway? YASSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS, My Ship Is Ready For This!

And if you have not received an email from Pirate101 today, here's what they showed.

Now that unicorn is mighty important it seems. Are they a royal? Or someone very influential in the Valencian renaissance perhaps? The outfit as well as the object in its hand sure makes it seem like we will be meeting someone from the royalty family or something. We will get to find out very soon!

Surprises in the Pirate101 Newletter & Producer's Letter

Today, Pirate101 had so much information in their Producer's Letter and Newsletter that it was enough to make me SQUEEE in real life. I almost fainted from the sheer excitement of it all.

If you have not heard yet, let me tell you the important bits!

First of all, the above photo is of the city Florenza. If it looks familiar to you, it should. I think that's the same place we saw on KI Live last month.

If you think about it, Florenza sounds like the real life city Florence which is in Italy. It's quite interesting to think about because Florence is the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance. And the present city of Florence was established by Julius Caesar. Yep, that Caesar. Makes you think of what we will encounter here. Whatever it is, it's gonna be amazing and crazy good because this city is gonna be the center of it all.

It's also very likely we'll meet Captain Hande, one of the famous pirate captains of Skull Island, who apparently will come out of retirement for "one last scheme."

I just wonder, will he be on our side or not? While reading his biography, I got this crazy thought. He sounds so much like Catbeard. Could they be related or owner/pet? Then I had a crazier thought.. If we ever did a spell on Catbeard to transform him into a human. Would he look like Captain Hande? Well probably not because of those legs and hands. But still.. I sure hope that we won't be chasing after a pirate that's in need of gold.

The look of him is just wow. So COOL! I never thought of a pirate with one limb intact.

"This is the long hidden hideout of a famous pirate, where secrets of the Pirate's past are waiting to be found... or lost."

Hmm, so will we find out about where we come from? Or even better, who and where are our parents?!

If you remember, there was also a picture of all of the special people that we've met so far. It had our mother in it, Erika the Red and a giant being that we do not know. What if we will finally meet them or at least find out what happened to them?

I love it! I so love exploring the mysteries of our past as well as the secrets in that photo.

The photo above looks very very familiar. If you watched the video from KI Live, they showed an island with a huge house. This has to be it.

Then suddenly at the end of the Producer's Letter, Pirate101 says yes, Test Realm is coming pretty soon. That we will be getting TWO CHAPTERS. That we will be getting five more levels. And that we will be seeing a conclusion to the first story arc.

TEST REALM SOON? YESSSSSSSSSSSSS!

My Thoughts

People think that two chapters and just five levels are not good enough. That it will mean a short story. I think that it's better than nothing. It's a great jump start from the long break Pirate101 has had from continuing its story. Even if it's a smaller update, it's still okay because what if they will introduce another smaller update later in the year? And two chapters could mean a long long long story. It all depends on how they set it up. I personally want to see two worlds at least. But it will be great, I know it. It's signs of life that we have been waiting for.

Some people also expressed concerns over the first story arc's conclusion being already here. Even I was concerned. I sure hope that it doesn't mean that we're already finished with the Armada. I feel torn to be honest. I have faith in Pirate101. But at the same time, I want it to last longer because we have only returned to the story after a long time. I can see years of stories just from the Armada Elite. But again, I want to wait and see how they made it to "end." People think that it means Pirate101 is dying. I'm sorry but no, that's not true. It has nothing to do with the game. Please do not think that way.

Maybe it just means that the arc's end is not that major. Maybe it just means we get to the answers we wanted, then we continue on. Maybe we won't confront all of the Armada Elite. Maybe one escapes, who knows? But maybe it's like trilogies or a book series. I mean look at Harry Potter. How many books did it have? But every book did not end. It just stopped at a good "end." Then it continued with a new adventure for the next. The cast is still the same, the enemy is still the same, and maybe that's the case for Pirate101.

I just hope that Pirate101 doesn't have short stories because in Wizard101, we now have three arcs and Wizard101 is only eight years old. So every three, four years, we get a new arc. I would love to see an arc last longer than that. Imagine if we still are fighting Malistaire? That he's just driving us crazy and coming back for more, but bigger and badder than the last? So it would be this one long story arc. But then, there's this danger. What if we get bored?

The thing is the reason why I love Pirate101 is because they have this amazing quality that makes you think that the story will last years and years. It honestly is a great feeling. I can't even imagine other enemies than the Armada because the Armada is just too epic for words. I mean really, what could be better than the Armada?! I don't even mind fighting them until the game ends which probably will be in 10, 15 years or more.

I just love how fluid and flexible Pirate101 is. It's all one path and it doesn't start and end with a world. And thank god, there's no side worlds. Wizard101 is very very different from Pirate101. It's something that I love about Pirate101. But that being said, I am still positive to see how this first story arc "ends" before throwing my hands up and going, "I don't like this."

I know that you might feel the same. But really, try to stay positive and keep an open mind. I know it can be hard. It is hard for me too. I just love Pirate101 so much that I wanna wrap it up in bubble wrap and call it my "precious." 

But you know... Maybe Pirate101 will surprise us. I hope that they do. I sure love surprises! Just remember, this is something that shows you that Pirate101 is still alive and kicking. That's the most important thing to remember. If you ever had doubts, let this prove you that your favorite game (and mine) is here to stay. And it will survive for a lot more years!

Soon enough, we will be gladly screaming through the new streets of Valencia and sailing through the new skyways. And all of this worry will be behind us all, like a leaf that's swept away in a river, quickly forgotten.

Okay, I am ready for Book 15! Test Realm, Come To MAMA!

PS: Apparently Lucky Jack Russell has been to Polaris. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Check out the new information for yourself -

Pirate101 Producer's Letter

Pirate101's May Newsletter

The Daily Assignment Quest Part 2

***Be warned, if you want to find out for yourself what happens in the quests you get from the Daily Assignments, do not read this.***

Every 15 days, you get a quest. If you have not already, here's PART 1 for the first quest from the first 15 days set. This post will be for the second quest for the second 15 days set.

The Daily Assignment quests has its own storyline. As you progress through every 15 days, you will get a new quest which will reveal more about what's going on. The storyline quest is all about mysterious Pekrons, what they mean, where they're coming from and more. Apparently it's powerful enough that if the wrong person dealt with it, it would have destroyed half of Wizard City.

After doing the regular Daily Assignment for Day 12, you will get a quest where you will have to speak with Aegon in Ravenwood who will tell you what to do.

Here's the dialogue of the entire quest I received for the second quest. You can expand the videoclips below if you need to read more clearly.

"What does it mean? I don't understand!" No Pekrons here! Other areas have Pekrons, some high concentrations, some low, but I have no idea why!

You... you've been working with me. You were there at Unicorn Park. Are you not completely flabbergasted with this business?

On one hand, it's entirely made up - Pekuliarities are impossible, but on the other hand, we saw it with our own two, er four eyes!

Bah! Stop doubting, Aegon! Stop doubting! We must try to figure out why some areas of the Spiral have higher concentrations than others.

There is another member of our order, a Necromancer named Jordyn Malniz - she's been doing some more... radical experiments with Pekrons.

I recently lost contact with Jordyn, and I fear some trouble may have befallen her. Visit her lab in Marleybone and make sure she's safe."

When I arrived in Knight's Court, I followed the quest arrow until I found Jordyn. Imagine my surprise when I saw her eyes!

"Hmm. A phenomenon. A being enters, or is it a doing? Whatever IT is, it cannot be seeing. That would be impossible. The being must be destroyed."

After this you get to battle her. She, a Death wizard, had only 1200 health and she does cast minions with 750 health. It was incredibly easy for me to defeat her.

"Oh my, it's.. it's gone, isn't it? That substance, that thing, it took complete control...!
Thank the crypt you came along. I am accustomed to experimenting with the dark arts, but that was something else altogether!
Aegon sent you, didn't he? Tell him I got too close. Yes. I did. I should never have... these forces... we are not supposed to even know about them.
Tell Aegon... tell him I'm leaving the Order. He should make no attempt to contact me. You neither. None of this ever happened. I was never here."   Aw, I'm sad that she had to leave the order! D:  

"You're back? I mean... you're back! But where is Jordyn? She's leaving the Order? That's impossible! Why would she... she became possessed? Oh dear!

I knew these Pekuliarities were dangerous, but not that dangerous! I will have to think on this. Yes. Indeed.

In the meantime, however, we will continue with your assignments. Keep checking in daily. Until tomorrow then. Yes."

Why was he so shocked to see me return? I found that suspicious. Am I nuts? Or did he really think that I'm not that strong of a wizard? OH THE NERVE! Marleybonians.. 

Oh well, I can't wait for the next quest assignment from the next set!