Pirate101 Skeleton Key Bosses Announced

It's been 8 months since the last Pirate101 update, and now over 2 years since the last world, a fraction of Valencia in our second visit. It was therefore a pleasant surprise when the most recent Pirate101 Producer's Letter announced an upcoming Pirate101 update!

Skeleton Key Bosses

The major update discussed in the Producer's Letter is the addition of skeleton key bosses. If you don't play Wizard101, you learn a little bit about Skeleton Keys here. Essentially, you get key drops (Wooden, Stone, Gold in Wizard101) and you use those to open an associated door. 

Some doors contain chests and you simply use that chest to get an item (pretty good ones!). I don't think Pirate101 plans to add any chest-only rooms, though that would be an easy way to add additional content without too much extra effort, and would be especially attractive if the rewards were good. In most cases, though, you have to fight a boss for some drops. This is the route Pirate101 is taking.

Here's what the Producer's Letter says about skeleton key bosses:

• Skeleton keys can be obtained all over the game.

• This first round of Skeleton Key bosses are all for our highest level Pirates.

• Old Scratch will show you how they work, and he just might surprise you with his new abilities.

• Four new Skeleton Key bosses in total are added in this update.

• Some of the rewards are HIGHLY requested items

• We’ve got the second round planned for later this year – this one will be for all levels of Pirates!

This is really exciting news for a number of reasons. Besides just new bosses, it sounds like there's some epic new loot on the way! I'm trying to think what "HIGHLY requested" items they could mean. They also mention a second round later this year! This is a good indication that some work is being done on Pirate101. That's always encouraging news.

Other Updates

That's not all the Producer's Letter talked about. Here are some other quality of life items (particularly elixirs) coming to Pirate101:

• In the Crown Shop, we’re adding an Expand Backpack Elixir that gives you 40 more inventory slots. PERMANENTLY. Each Pirate can purchase a maximum of TWO.

• We’re adding 20 free bank spaces for everyone!

• Along with that, we’re offering an Expand Bank Elixir that gives you 40 more inventory slots (also permanently). Each Pirate can purchase a maximum of TWO.

• And, because we want to make sure you can keep track of all your maties, we’ve added an Expand Friends List Elixir to the Crown Shop as well. They permanently add 25 friends list slots each, and each Pirate can purchase a maximum of TWO.

It's not always great when something from Wizard101 is simply copied over to Pirate, but these are actually elixirs I was really hoping they would move over. It's exciting to be getting extra backpack space and other additional increases. The friends list expansion is interesting; I don't believe that one is in Wizard101. I also don't think they gave wizards 20 free bank space - that's a nice bonus!

Looking to the Future

These were the major things hinted at so far. We know that KI Live this Thursday will be taking a look at some of this upcoming content. I suspect we'll see a skeleton key boss. It's possible there are additional surprises to come when the Test Realm finally rolls around. We'll keep our eyes out!

What are you most excited for?

Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!