Pirate week, Day 2: Companions!

I'm back, as promised! So anyway, let's get on with pirate week, shall we?

Day 1: Health and Life Fountains

Day 2: Companions

Day 3: Battle

Day 4: Training (changed!)

Day 5: Pets and Mounts

Day 6: Skyways

Day 7: Ships

Oh yeah, and I had a quest goal recently that said "Investigate things that should be left alone". Why investigate them if they should be left alone?

Companions

Companions are, in my opinion, one of the coolest things about Pirate101. I want to talk about how companions work, how you level your companions, and also talk about my opinions about my own companions. So in battle, companions are like friends that you control, or maybe running multiple accounts without the multiple accounts part. Out of battle, your companions are NPCs that talk to you, walk with you, and are key parts of the storyline. You also assign them different ranks on your crew, the highest being First Mate. Your first mate will always be in a fight with you (except for a few very special cases, where you have no companions with you). For all the other ranks, the higher the rank, the higher the chance that companion will be in a fight with you. All in all, companions are really totally awesome and a great part of a great game. 

However, when you first gain your companions they will not be ultra-super-powerful like you want them. To make them more powerful, you need to train them. Every time you level up, you get 3 or 4 companion training points, which you can use on whichever companion you like. You can also get these points from certain quests, and they also can be bought in taverns for gold. Be warned, though: These points are expensive! Be careful not to spend too much gold on these, because leveling companions extra can be addicting! Here's a little tip on training your companions: train them all, even the lamest companion in the lowest rank. There's always the chance that your lowest ranked companion could be chosen to battle with you, even though that chance is small. If you haven't trained this companion, this is a complete throwaway and you could lose the battle. Also, there's another way to make your companions better: promotion quests. You meet with your crew in a tavern, and then you do some quest goals. At the end, you can choose a new epic ability for your companion! Note: you don't choose when this happens. The companion eligible for promotion will give you a tutorial tip and you automatically get the quest.

Now, I want to show you my companions (the companions of a level 13 swashbuckler), and why I like them. This should give you an example of what the companions are like. Note: your companions and what powers and abilities they have may vary.

My Crew

Right now, I am level 13 and I have 8 companions. See how it says firstmate above the guinea pig in the green hat? He is my firstmate because even though he's not the highest level, he has the best abilities and is relatively durable. Now I am going to go briefly over what each of them can do.

Gaspard de Vole (firstmate) ~ Level 10 buccaneer. He has Critical Strike (guaranteed critical on one certain attack; I can activate this whenever I want) and First Strike (when an opponent tries to hit him, he might be able to hit the enemy first; this does not count as his turn, it's randomly activated and can activate multiple times).

Bonnie Anne (the fox) ~ Level 10 musketeer. She has been promoted through a quest, so she's one of my best companions. She has Line of Fire (shoot all enemies in a straight line and reduce their dodge, activate manually, one use), Double Tap (randomly attack another target if she makes a kill shot, activated automatically), and Burst Fire (attack again if her first attack is successful; activates randomly and automatically, does not always activate).

Pedro de Olid (the monkey with the feather hat) ~ Level 12 musketeer. Not as good as Bonnie Anne, even though he's a higher level; haven't used him much.

Old Scratch (the skeleton) ~ Level 10 witchdoctor. Can use ranged attack, and has Bone Chant (summon skeleton that you don't control; this is like a minion).

Don Luis Cebidas (the monkey with the helmet) ~ Level 12 buccaneer. Not as good as Gaspard de Vole, even though he's a higher level; haven't used him much. Note: see the lightning bolt next to his picture? It means I can give him a new talent! (Basic stat boost, not epic ability.)

Ratbeard (the rat) ~ Level 10 buccaneer. He has Critical Strike (see Gaspard de Vole), and I'm not sure who is better: him or Don Luis Cebidas. See the gray exclamation point next to his picture? It means he's ready for a promotion quest! (He probably will be better than Don Luis Cebidas after this.)

Sarah Steele (the girl mouse) ~ Level 10 swashbuckler. She's basically a clone of myself, and I don't need a clone of myself. She attacks big, though, and can come in handy if she does happen to get chosen.

Subodai (the horse) ~ Level 10 buccaneer. He's my very first companion and isn't all that good, but I need to train him anyway. You'd be surprised just how much he gets chosen.

See you tomorrow! (again)

- Sophia E