Hey everyone! I'm back for October 2023's Extra Credits objective to tell you all why I love playing Pirate101 while the game's 11th anniversary month is still onging! Now, I will admit right off the bat that my history with Pirate101 is not nearly as long as my history with Wizard101. While I do remember the hype when it was first announced, playing the game around the time of its launch, and logging on from time to time, I didn't actually play the game regularly and get to max level until around 2018/2019. Though when I did finally get into the game fully, it was a blast! I fell in love with it, and had no idea what I was missing. My core reasons for loving Pirate101 in this article are the same as my previous article for Wizard101, but that probably goes without saying if you know what I like, and the explanations for each of the reasons are different!
The Story[]

Say what you will about Valencia Part 2, but Kane's dialogue goes hard.
Given how much I loved the story of Wizard101 from when I was very young, the story in Pirate101 was naturally very easy to fall into love with as well. The game very notably takes worlds, characters, and concepts that Wizard previously established and adds onto them, making the Spiral as a whole much richer and giving incentive for players to experience both MMOs. Unlike the Wizard, the Pirate has a very clear origin (we even have established parents!) and they feel much more like an average resident of the Spiral who just so happenend to find themself on a grand adventure. And I LOVE that. It's pretty awesome to have two characters in the same franchise who are on complete opposite ends of the power spectrum but often end up in the same places, just not at the same time.
On top of that, the other characters we encounter are just amazing. Having Companions who follow you around from world to world and can speak to you and give you further context to what's transpiring in the storyline makes the game so much different than Wizard and arguably most other MMOs out there. KingsIsle put a lot of effort into that aspect of the game, and it's honestly very impressive when you consider that the dialogue you get throughout the storyline is different depending on your Class and Origin. You'll never have the experience twice! Besides the Companions and our other allies, you can't not mention the awesome villains. Kane and the Armada? Legendary. You'd be hard-pressed to find a better written MMORPG villain.
The Gameplay[]
If you've only ever played Wizard101 before, you'll probably assume that Pirate101 just plays very similarly, if not the same as the previous game. While that is true in some aspects, the combat is very, VERY different, and honestly much better. If for some reason you haven't tried the game yet, think of the combat as kind of being like chess, but less complicated. To simplify to an extreme, it's basically about moving yourself and your Companions around on a board (called a Battleboard) towards your targets and then unleashing attacks, sometimes after "buffing" (adding beneficial boosts to yourself or your team to increase Damage, Accuracy, Dodge, etc.). It's very fun, and much more dynamic than Wizard101 in the way that you often don't know exactly how things will play out. The RNG elements may be bothersome to some people, but I don't think they really bog down the gameplay and mostly serve to keep things interesting.

This is the best Skyway in the game hands down.
Besides the unique take on combat, there's another great thing that Wizard101 straight up doesn't have and that's sailing in your own pirate ship. While some may complain about the time it takes to get from point A to point B in certain moments of the game, I don't think I've ever been upset at being able to traverse a Skyway and take in all the scenery. Most of the Skyways in the game are very large and have a great sense of scale, making you feel like you're truly part of a giant in-game world. My personal favorite Skyway in the entire game is Westminster Skyway in Marleybone. While it's a warzone and has a very melancholic feel with the combination of the context of what's going on and the music, it's simply gorgeous to look at. I love me some good nighttime skies, and Westminster does not disappoint.
Ship combat does exist, but it's not the best. That's not just me saying that though, the devs themselves have been very open about not being huge fans of it. But honestly? It's a pretty good problem to have when one of the worst things about a game really isn't that bad at all. It's really just ship combat not being very engaging and being repetitive that makes it a problem. Other than that and the headache that is pet training, Pirate101 is designed masterfully from a gameplay perspective.
The Music[]
Do I even need to explain? Just the theme for Smuggler's Arena alone is proof enough for why this section exists.
The Community[]

The Wiki101 CSC team outside Tamagoyaki Tower (including me!) after a long series of runs.
Like I previously mentioned at the top of this article, the Pirate101 community hasn't been a part of my life for too long comparative to a lot of other people. But now that I'm very much in it, I can say I'm definitely glad that I am. Wiki101, which I adopted back in 2017, has always had Pirate101 content - but like previously mentioned, I really had only known Wizard101 at the time. So I caught up on the game, got involved with its community, and found myself being someone who proudly could call themselves an enjoyer of all things Spiral-related. One of my proudest memories is that I got the chance to help KingsIsle's Community team put together the Pirate101 Discord as part of a group of Pirate-related individuals who were helping Community Manager Hawkules get acquainted with the Pirate101 community in his early days. That was really fun! And then of course, starting Voices of the Spiral and being able to work with KingsIsle to publicly credit all of our favorite scallywags from the game.
More recently, I was very proud to have co-led the Wiki101 team for the 2023 Community Spiral Cup with my buddy Noodle, and we ultimately pulled through and won the tournament for the Pirate side! That was, by far, the biggest achievement of my time with the 101/Spiral community thus far. It's been months now, and I still can't believe that not only my team won, but that we will be getting a permanent mount in the game in the future! If any of our teammates are reading this, hi! You're awesome!
Conclusion[]

He also only speaks facts.
Alright, how do I wrap this thing up... Well first off, of course, happy birthday to Pirate101! It's been a bumpy ride trying to get regular updates again, but I believe the game is really starting to get back on its feet, and I'm very happy for that. The recent release of Sinbad Chapter 3 brought back the true main story content that we had been waiting for since Valencia Part 2 all the way back in 2016. It was a long road to get here, but we all made it! It's really great that a game like this gets a second chance at life, especially over a decade after launch. If all goes well, this should be one of the greatest comeback stories of any video game ever. I know that I'll be there every step of the way.
Thank you for reading this article, and Happy Hallowe'en!