Farming For Futility

On Saturday, Pirate101 hosted a little "House Warming" contest. On a whim, I decided to try it. Here is the subsequent timeline of my pointless attempts at crowns and glory.

 (All times in Central for convenience)

12:10 AM: I remember that I got up at noon and really want 60,000 crowns. Why not stay up overnight and go after Medusa for the first challenge?

12:37 AM: Complete first run of Medusa. Get nothing.

12:45 AM: Realize how cool and underrated Iago is.

1:16 AM: Get tired after 3 or 4 runs of nothing. Decide to go inside with a random guy named Omar.

1:38 AM: Omar leaves, so I join up with a group including my only other friend online, Clumsy Calamity.

2:30 AM: First time hitting the gold cap.

3:13 AM: Openly wonder if Kingsisle will give the prize to whoever gets the most Nemean hats...

3:22 AM: Get a Frog pet. Ribbit.

4:02 AM: Group estimates that we've done 25 runs so far.

4:25 AM: No one anywhere appears to have gotten a Domed Pyre, and the first phase is nearly over. Give up and take a selfie with my frog.

4:37 AM: Join up with Duncan and Kat (cutest couple ever, by the way) against 3 Tysons for his Lantern Post.

4:41 AM: Get Armadillo pet on first run!

5:16 AM: Left to my own devices again, I start farming a couple other Cool Ranch bosses (to no avail, of course).

6:18 AM: After returning to Tyson for a little while longer, fatigue wins out. It was pretty foolish to expect to stay up for 36 straight hours, after all.

12:45 PM: Wake up and get back online just when Phase 3 (Solar Obelisk) is almost over. Start setting up for Phase 4.

1:30 PM: To everyone's chagrin, the next item is back in Aquila, with Zeena as the target. At least she drops some other cool stuff.

2:23 PM: Give up (again), accept that I won't win the grand prize, and wait for Phase 5 to at least have the chance at 20,000 crowns.

6:04 PM: Hurry back over to Cool Ranch and check the list of bosses who drop the Pilgrim's Campfire. Go on to do a few useless Jailhouse runs.


7:07 PM: Get momentarily excited when I find a Pilgrim's Campfire in my backpack... and then realize that I got it from Phase 2. Decide to revert to Tyson for farming.

8:12 PM: Get a Lantern Post... 12 hours too late.

9:18 PM: Mentally decide I'm done when I get a Lantern Post for the second time.

Quite frankly, the whole event was a big waste of time. The only thing of interest was that I got a neat new pet and met a couple other friendly pirates while occasionally annoying them :P. I was not destined to win, as spending 10 hours farming and then getting a Campfire and Lantern Post in the wrong phases seemed to suggest. Nevertheless, it was good to get involved in the community a little bit more; opportunities like that don't come by quite as often. Would I do it again?

Yes! Easier items! I wouldn't necessarily have a better chance of winning, but hey, it would feel pretty good to get at least one item (and not in the wrong time slot...)

Results, incidentally, are posted here: Kingsisle's recap post.

Congrats to Crazy Cassidy and all the 20k crowns winners! 

Happy Farming!

Quest A Day - 215 Days Later

"Cool Ranch by Christmas" was a pretty lousy guess a few months ago -- Valkoor entered the grand world of Aquila as 2014 came to a close. Harder enemies and longer battles in Mooshu and Marleybone had left me pretty tired of the routine, but Aquila's mythical baddies would prove to be the most challenging yet.

Actually, my Cool Ranch companions beg to differ :P

Troy was just Aquila's version of Moomori Clanhold... minus the wedding and kowbooki and corrupt cows... well, they were similar in that everyone died.

Oh, and I got to see that new puppet show thing. 

Aquila has a habit of diverting you to fight for some inconsequential stuff instead of, say, slaying the mythical beasts that are actually important. And those quests are long. Eventually, though, I was given the opportunity to get myself lost in a cavernous maze.

Props to my own long-suffering Minotaur for sticking through the journey. From single-hoofedly bringing down Cool Ranch birds to becoming bait for his own species, Brutus fulfilled his call of duty on this questing mission.

Couldn't have finished it off without the Son of Zeus either.

Still, though, my biggest challenges were yet to come. After catching up to my questing quota, Bat's level 60 promotion and the Hydra waited -- for about a week. It was, after all, a ridiculously long quest for a barely used companion and the hardest battle in Aquila. 

A couple few dozen frustrating attempts later, the magic three-headed dragon who lived by a lake went down in a puff of dust (see what I did there? No? Nevermind).

As much as Kingsisle has been doing to keep us entertained without actually releasing a new world, I think the Hydra battle takes precedence in the bug-fixing to-do list. Glitches mired my weeklong effort at cleanly finishing the battle, and I seriously considered cancelling the solo-only clause of Valkoor's journey. Fortunately, I made it through and got to stand on the pile of skulls --

Argos did, rather. That's just gross.

I fervently tried to make up the days of quests I had missed, but trolls were in the way. Trolls, of all things. No glitches here, but that Chief Antiphates battle was a headache. Every companion died (again), so another day of rest was in order.

Thankfully, the trip to Ithaca was easier than I remembered. To beat Scylla, you don't need a great ship, just enough potions to get by. With that, I was on track to meet my goal.

Just a quest or two from the finish line, I hit max! It's kind of nice how the game lets you hit the mark without side quests, but I kind of miss the extra struggle of doing things for hard-to-please citizens :P

I love the final showdown. It's the perfect piratey way to honor The Odyssey -- mercilessly bringing down abhorrent suitors.

With a photo bombing snake. And a fox. And the avian representation of Hercules. Never change, Pirate101.

Done!!!

Well, not quite yet. I needed better gear and a much better looking suit. A run of Moo Manchu's tower got one part of that over with.

Then came the unique gear farming -- specifically, Red Fox and Sato. My old English Bill jacket didn't quite match the fox's hat, though. I appeared to have a fashion crisis. So, stowing away all of that snazzy gear for my future Buccaneer and Musketeer, I came up with this look.

Witchdoctor-y? Heck yes. With that, Valkoor is all set for whenever Pirate101 decides to release new content. It was a fun journey, but I'm glad it's over. Also, remember, Kingsisle: the cap has been 65 for two years...

Happy Questing!

Testing Moo Manchu's Robe

Yesterday, I decided to do my 6th Nefarious Tower run. Nothing special had come up yet, but after a smooth ride with teammates Swordroll, Melody, and Kyle, we all got lucky.

Getting Moo's robe was apparently a first for all of us. To top it off, I only needed to use the loot chest twice to get the best Privateer weapon. :D

Needless to say, the end of that run was as perfect as could be.

If there was ever something that made you think "this makes me look fat", it's this robe. The stats don't seem like much at first, but the card it gives is worth being pudgy for.

What does 'Terror-Cotta Troupe' do?

Yep, it gives nine Terracotta Warriors. They all have 699 health and multiple epic talents. A normal attack does about 80 damage, but nine of them are going to account for a lot more.

They critical surprisingly often, giving Blade Storm a bit of importance. 

Most notable, though, are the other three talents. They're harder to hit at low health, with an ability to hit enemies on the run and stop advancing enemies.

As if those talents weren't enough, their first attack is always Vicious Charge. Aside from doing extra damage, it reduces the enemy's accuracy as demonstrated on the left. This poor Stymphalian Bird will have to deal with -108 accuracy for five rounds.

When does this spell come in handy?

The problem with nine of these guys is animation time. That's nine clay figures rushing out at enemies, attacking one by one. Most battles can be easily handled; there's no point using this spell all the time. Taking that out of consideration, this spell is very powerful, and in my opinion, overpowered in some cases. The low health and damage isn't exactly an issue when there are nine of them. Plus, the enemies typically struggle to get a hit off with all those Vicious Charges. 

Also, their Hold The Line 3 talent is tremendously useful if you're seeking to hold some particularly powerful enemies back. The Warriors can function as tanks here, with the added benefit of reducing their accuracy.

And they can be healed back to life (yay Privateers!)

I haven't tested it in the Tower itself, but the Terror-cotta Troupe could be very useful when coupled with Blood's Flames in holding back the Nefarious Five. The troupe would die before long, but the lasting impact from Vicious Charge cannot be understated. The Nefarious Five are hardy opponents, and making them miss on attacks takes many of their epic talents out of use. Hold The Line 3 also gives pirates time to buff or attack from long range (two ways to minimize the Privateer's love of Charming Gaze).

I did test them out on the Hydra battle. It didn't go so well...

The scene after one round :P

In summary:

 For specific battles, the Terror-cotta Troupe is a boon for pirates. Otherwise, they're just a time-consuming nuisance. 

Best of luck to ye farming the Nefarious Tower! Aye, it's a pirate's life to farm ... and sail the great seas and all that stuff.

(Happy Talk Like A Pirate Day!)

Pleasant Valley Sundays

As chronicled during a post last month, doing one quest a day on my Witchdoctor during the summer was no problem at all. With a busy year ahead, however, I've been skipping more and more quest days, to the point where I've had to make up for 3-4 days of quests. Plus, Cool Ranch tends to have longer quests with bigger EXP rewards, so I've made a habit of doing this backlog on Sundays.

Two weeks ago it was the saving of Nurse Quinn...

...which gets pretty fun when the Ghost Jackalopes get involved :D

 With such a slow questing schedule, I set all companions to Brawlin' duty, with training points used only occasionally. Last week, the time for Mormo's first quest finally came.

Mormo is even cuter when he's bossy ;)

His third-person way of talking almost becomes contagious. Valkoor likes Mormo very much - Valkoor is only too happy to have Mormo as a first mate.

For today's questing, it was dispatching ugly baddies El Guapo and Santa Rana. 

The Bison Spirit functions very well when it comes to tanking with an occasional big hit on the enemies. I'm pretty sure he's died a few more times holding Salamander stabbers at bay.

Gotta love English Bill's hat!

Meeting El Toro again was a welcome distraction from the cranky Frogerales.

Ah, faces only a mother could love.

Finishing off Castillo Sapo with a flourish. 

Over the next week, it appears as if Valkoor will be nursing the Free Ranger back to health while on the search for Tonka. Eh, could be worse.

Level 21 and taking inspiration from punk hipsters. This is what makes questing exciting -- what will Valkoor look like after Level 30?! Only time will tell (probably about a month :P)

As if I wasn't getting enough of Cool Ranch, I went through Laestrygon with some throwback companions last Sunday. Jacques the Swash likes to bring out some experienced hard hitters every now and then for Trolls and Manticores alike.

Even if he kidnapped the reincarnation of Selena Gomez, it's hard not to be impressed with Froggo Villa. Only in Pirate101 can you have a Salamander bandit facing off against Odyssey-inspired Trolls. 

After another busy Sunday, good night, Cool Ranch -- for now.

Happy Questing!

Piratin' to Sixty-Five

I haven't posted about Pirate101 much. This summer, I got through the grueling world that is Cool Ranch, and since then I've quested through the more enjoyable (and recognizable) worlds of Marleybone and Mooshu. I lost the pictures I took when I got a new laptop, but I didn't plan on posting many of them anyways :P

As an update though, here's what I've been doing in P101 recently:

Many a good time was had at Autumn Walker's Nautical EXP extravaganzas. Getting all that loot even bought me an Aquilan Galleon, something that seemed so far away when I finished Marleybone at a lowly Level 40 nautical level. Sadly, Autumn left the Spiral yesterday (<-- link to post). Although I did not know Autumn very well, she was on my friend list and I was hoping to become a better acquaintance through the biweekly NXP events she held through Secrets of the Spiral. Alas, Autumn's presence will certainly be missed in the community. Thank you for your efforts!

As I approached the level cap, I took the liberty of making a second character to fill some time. Almost up to Monquista on Jacques Jackson! (Nice alliteration bit there, no?)

Arlen's questing takes precedence, however ---

That's one krazy kat o_O

Owing to his stylish hat and robe, Swing has been beaten repeatedly by overzealous pirates. His fashions are a little extravagant for my tastes.

Quite a likeness there.

Catbeard swag.

I'm finding Pirate101 to be a lot more solo-able. The Hydra battle is the only boss I've encountered that's as frustrating as a pre-nerfed Aztecan beast. Kind of needed a henchman for that...

It isn't apparent from these stoned creatures, but Medusa was a surprisingly easy nemesis.

Gotta love crossovers. Where's Malistaire to help you now?! :P

It looks like we have to find a way into Valencia again. I'm thinking that may involve visiting Monquista's second skyway. There are a lot of theories floating around until new content is finally released. I wouldn't mind dropping in on Krokotopia, for one thing.

Won my current first mate in a Twitter giveaway. Him and El Toro can really blow the field away, especially with Riposte :D (one reason I created a Swashbuckler second).

In the meantime, I'm looking forward to whichever update comes first. Wizard's won't come out for at least another month, it seems. Morganthe continues to get a reprieve.

Until next time,

Happy Questing!