2020 Plan

[Logan]

https://www.pirate101.com/forum/the-...b85167d?page=1

[Willowdreamer]

https://www.pirate101.com/forum/the-...b85167d?page=1

It is just very difficult for me to get any sense of hope from this. It sounds like too many comments made in the past that didn't really come to anything.

[Kingurz]

It is just very difficult for me to get any sense of hope from this. It sounds like too many comments made in the past that didn't really come to anything.

100% agree. Nothing about the comment alludes to something positive, especially with the fact the October update should have been already announced by now. It reads like a rephrasing of the same line we've heard for years now, "we're charting the course for the new year". In fact, it could just as easily allude to the final events of the game....similar to how games like FreeRealms offered Lifetime memberships and premium shop discounts before announcing the server shut down.

However, here's hoping for the best, since faith gets harder to come by each year.

[RealDux]

There have been a number of vague and unfruitful statements precedent to this one, so unfortunately, it just gets added to that pile.

[Starbreaker]

https://www.pirate101.com/forum/the-...b85167d?page=1

In other words there is no plan. It already october and they haven release wizard101 new world yet. At this rate it likely to be end of the month or november it takes time to make anything in game even if it rather a cut and paste from wizard101. The best they could do in such short time is add more key bosses or nightmare modes of past npc.

[Kingurz]

The other odd thing I forgot to put in my original post was the fact it seems like the Community Manager is "bothering" the development team to get an update. You would think after a year of no updates the development team/producers would be teasing/hinting or otherwise bursting with excitement to share whatever is to come (even if it was a small update), which is why I'm keeping my expectations to a minimum. If KI "hears the community" like they say they do......it wouldn't seem like pulling teeth by the Community Manager's part, no?

The only positive speculation I could offer is that they will announce that the production cycle will be delayed. In other words, it was too difficult for the very small KI team to produce a major Wizard101 world and a Pirate101 update at roughly the same time (which always happens in October/November). They might be pushing Pirate101 production into the "off cycles" of Wizard101.

[Willowdreamer]

The other odd thing I forgot to put in my original post was the fact it seems like the Community Manager is "bothering" the development team to get an update. You would think after a year of no updates the development team/producers would be teasing/hinting or otherwise bursting with excitement to share whatever is to come (even if it was a small update), which is why I'm keeping my expectations to a minimum. If KI "hears the community" like they say they do......it wouldn't seem like pulling teeth by the Community Manager's part, no?

The only positive speculation I could offer is that they will announce that the production cycle will be delayed. In other words, it was too difficult for the very small KI team to produce a major Wizard101 world and a Pirate101 update at roughly the same time (which always happens in October/November). They might be pushing Pirate101 production into the "off cycles" of Wizard101.

I had those exact same thoughts regarding the need for the community manager to have to ask what he can say - yet again. I'm sure they get tired of having to figure out another way to say that they don't have any plans or news or anything for Pirate101.

If they were going to announce a delayed update, surely they could have done so last month or the month before, or even when they announced Karamelle. That would have been the right way to do it, the honorable way to be proactive, and not this cowardly letting us think there was some small update planned for Pirate101 in October.

Does Wizard101 even have an "off cycle" anymore? I hate to be this cynical, but I don't think so.

[Kingurz]

It's official. No content being planned at all for the rest of 2020.

https://www.pirate101.com/forum/capt...2db1ba6?page=1

[Willowdreamer]

It's official. No content being planned at all for the rest of 2020.

https://www.pirate101.com/forum/capt...2db1ba6?page=1

I'm guessing Falmea posting in the Message Boards means we shouldn't expect a real Producer's Letter this year, either. There is simply too much going on with Wizard101 to spare any time at all for pirates.

Oct 14, 4:39 PM An Update on Pirate101 Hello Pirates, In the September 2019 producer letter, we discussed a bit about the future of our updates – specifically that we were not considering any new worlds but looking at other ways that we could expand the game. A year later, we find ourselves in the same situation. We’ll be celebrating Pirate’s 8th birthday all month long, Veteran’s Day, and the Holidays like normal, but unfortunately, we don’t have any new content updates planned this year. However, we are still actively looking at ways we can update Pirate. We have some ideas and plans but there’s nothing we can announce right now. When we have news, we’ll let the community know right away. Please stay tuned. In the meantime, thank you for having fun playing the game and interacting with us on KI Live, in the forums, and elsewhere. While we may not have new content to provide at this time, we very much care about the community and fully support your initiatives. In fact, we've seen some of our most dedicated content creators recently discovering or rediscovering Pirate. It’s very exciting to see some new and returning folks having fun sailing the skies with us. We want to wish each and every Pirate a very happy 8th, and we’re looking forward to seeing you in the Spiral! Sincerely, Professor Falmea

[Kingurz]

I'm guessing Falmea posting in the Message Boards means we shouldn't expect a real Producer's Letter this year, either. There is simply too much going on with Wizard101 to spare any time at all for pirates.

Oct 14, 4:39 PM An Update on Pirate101 Hello Pirates, In the September 2019 producer letter, we discussed a bit about the future of our updates – specifically that we were not considering any new worlds but looking at other ways that we could expand the game. A year later, we find ourselves in the same situation. We’ll be celebrating Pirate’s 8th birthday all month long, Veteran’s Day, and the Holidays like normal, but unfortunately, we don’t have any new content updates planned this year. However, we are still actively looking at ways we can update Pirate. We have some ideas and plans but there’s nothing we can announce right now. When we have news, we’ll let the community know right away. Please stay tuned. In the meantime, thank you for having fun playing the game and interacting with us on KI Live, in the forums, and elsewhere. While we may not have new content to provide at this time, we very much care about the community and fully support your initiatives. In fact, we've seen some of our most dedicated content creators recently discovering or rediscovering Pirate. It’s very exciting to see some new and returning folks having fun sailing the skies with us. We want to wish each and every Pirate a very happy 8th, and we’re looking forward to seeing you in the Spiral! Sincerely, Professor Falmea

Obviously it isn't a true statement, but rather a marketing pitch or "lip service":

1. KI has been "planning" for four years, especially in regards to providing the story in "bite-sized" pieces and/or "expanding" (i.e. a new side activity). None of which have seen the light of day. KI doesn't need more ideas on how to get an update......but rather the decision to commit resources to it. I haven't seen any new KI job ads for positions indicating that a Pirate101 surge is underway. Remember, Pirate101 moved its dedicated developers over to Wizard101, so unless they stop producing Wizard101 or mobile games for awhile......there is no hope (or some miracle of millions of dollars magically appears to rehire all the laid off positions from 2016).

2. The more telling piece of the post is not the announcement about no content update this year, but rather the lack of ANY planned update. Remember, what's left of the PvP community is STILL waiting for the old champion weapons to be rotated in, the cabin glitch continues to be a GAME BREAKING exploit for players, and other bugs/glitches that continue to exist in the game (of which community lists have been made for KI numerous times to never be addressed). The developers have not communicated ANY intention to even crack open the coding/database for ANY activity. The game is simply neglected. The only activity is rotating in old Crown Shop items and pushing recurring holiday environments.


If could hazard a guess, the announcement was a gesture to buy time before KI finds the appropriate time to announce the sunset of the server. I would encourage everyone to get as much Pirate101 play time as possible while its still running....but do NOT buy long term memberships (I've seen this situation far too many times for other games to think Pirate101 will simply survive now that its in an official non-production status).