Pirate PvP in the TEST REALM

Good Saturday morning, fellow friends! Today is the first day out of NaNoWriMo since I started, but I still have my friends waiting for me at the bookstore this Sunday for a "huzzah-party" and maybe a brownie or two. In fact, I was there last night. At first, I couldn't find anybody, and I was left to walking around the food court waving my rubber duck around (ducks are the mascots). The regional chat wouldn't let me in, and I was left to my poor, computer-wasted eyes to look for everyone. What do you know, they were in the meeting room! I poked my head towards the glass - and yes, I tried to slide it past. I gave the "death-eye" to the host of the event until she waved me to the right spot, which happened to be around the corner. When I walked in, everybody started applauding and cheering for me, no joke! It was the warmest welcome that I have ever received. I wrote almost four THOUSAND more words and had some friendly competition amongst the Wrimos. It was one heck of a night, I tell you!

Read on for test Realm information!



Now then, for my personal P101 news before I get to the post. I am still trying to defeat Froggo Villa, and haven't gotten to it yet, and do you know why? I asked for help, and that's not it. My help asked me why I wasn't testing PvP in the test realm. I had a double-take. Especially after my post about the rapid-fire updates, I wasn't expecting Pirate PvP so soon. Read on for the rules, the realm, and (of course!) the pictures!


What Is the Test Realm?

You heard me correctly - Pirate101 PvP has hit the test realm! The test realm, for those who are not familiar with it, is almost the same game - just one major thing and several other little things added to it. The test realm is a whole 'nother download to the game and things will take a while to load up again, just like when you first played. (Yes, wizards - we're walking wooden puppets with pirate hats.) It's very aggravating, but when you test the new features, it's definitely worth it! Beta players who have not been in a test realm, the feeling is the same! You get to run around and test all of the new features and report anything that doesn't make sense. You get (what I used to call beta-crowns) test-realm-crowns to use in the shop if there's anything new. I'm guessing there is, because I have plenty on the TR. However, this update is to test Pirate PvP. Who knows - you might use a feature that will change the course of things, or you might report a bug that will save players' sanity! Fun, isn't it - there's a catch! Only members with a currently active game membership OR those who have bought crowns for more than six dollars (I'm pretty sure that winning crowns doesn't count unless you win a gift-card.) are allowed to play on the test realm. Free-to-play players or those without crowns for a month will not get to participate in testing new features.

What Are We Testing? Where Are We Testing It?

If any of you were in Wizard101 Beta or the very early days, you may remember an open PvP arena to join, just like the new system in P101. Of course, the grand arena and the ranking system emerged from that, and it seems like J. Todd Coleman is up to it again with Pirate101! In P101 PvP (or what I call PiratevPirate), pirates AND their companions will be able to battle against one another in team. The battles will all be "epic battles" so you can choose which companions you want to fight with. I normally go with my SI origin companions because I'm more used to how they fight. This consists of my Subodai, Bonnie Anne, Sarah Steele, Gaspard De Vole and Old Scratch. I normally use my Steele and Bonnie so I have a nice medley of attacks t my disposal. My only pet peeve is that I'm up against a lot of higher level people and they defeat me really easily. Oh well, all in good fun! There are four places to test the PvP - two locations in the shopping area of SI, and the Volcano Island and Castaway's Cove.

I'm Hooked, How Does It Work?

Back to early WvW (I think that's how I'll classify 'em..), you just hop on the sigil and then the battle unfolds! You are given a choice of "Red Team" and "Blue Team" to play on, and I'm still finding out which sides the imply by those. Open PvP has no class or level limits or balancing, nor are there any balances to how many people on each side. The Red and Blue teams are split up and one of them goes first.
The battle starts with one team getting their positions ready. The other team waits for them to finish and can't do anything about it besides flee. You can mouse over the board and plan, but there's not much else to do. When the first team starts attacking, the action starts! Of course, the next planning phase is for the other team, and they can start attacking, themselves! It's not unlike regulr Pirate battling, mind the wait phases.

The people around the test realm have been very kind to me as I run around their battles while I'm in glitches making me invisible to my screen, though I always ask, first. I've been in a couple videos, and one photo shoot! I got to announce my blog several times, and I ran into a few friends of mine! Overall, everybody was very willing for me to dart around and have a little fun taking photos and talking. I made a few TR friends who were interested in my beta adventures and I got to tell a few stories. Overall, I was very happy to be participating in this - watch out, Test Realm!

Keep Traveling!

Des

Good game, Swordroll!