Tales of Pirates

Infobox VG| title = Tales of Pirates
developer = MOLI
license = Freeware
publisher = Internet Gaming Gate


version = 1.37
released = (Global) March 15 2007(Closed Beta)
(Global) March 30 2007 (Open Beta)
genre = Fantasy Massively Multiplayer Online Role-playing Game
modes =MMORPG
platforms = Windows(Windows NT/98/ME/2K/XP/Vista)
requirements = P3-800 MHz, 256 MB RAM, 1.0 GB hard disk space
input = Keyboard, mouse

"Tales of Pirates" is a free, 3D Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game developed by the Chinese company MOLI. Tales of Pirates is published by IGG (Internet Gaming Gate), who have also published three other games, Voyage Century Online,WonderLand Online and Myth War Online. Several versions of the game are available for specific countries or regions such as an older version Pirate King Online.

Overview

Once an account is created, players are able to log in to a server and choose a character to begin the game. All characters start at level 1 and initially level up through very simple introductory quests designed to teach the player about the game. These quests take a few minutes to complete and will give a new player an idea of how to move, control their character and other simple concepts. At level 10 a character can choose a specific class related to the character they chose. A "Phyllis" character can become an Explorer, Hunter or Herbalist, for example.

When a player levels up they receive 1 attribute point, but every 9 levels they gain 4 bonus attribute points. Starting at level 60, they will receive 2 attribute points every level.

*Strength: Increases melee damage for swords, staffs, and daggers. Recommended for: swordsman.
*Accuracy: Increases accuracy and critical hit rate for all classes. More damage for bows/guns. Recommended for: hunter.
*Constitution: Increases HP (health points), faster health regeneration, and defense. Recommended for: swordsman, herbalist, explorer
*Agility: Increases attack speed and dodge rate. Recommended for: swordsman, hunter.
*Spirit: Increases SP (spirit points) - magical energy - as well as increasing SP regeneration rate. Recommended for: herbalist, explorer. [ [http://www.freewebs.com/talesofpirates/ Tales of Pirates [FanSite | ] ]

In addition to the class-specific skills that characters can use, there are generic "life skills" available for all, such as Woodcutting, Salvage, Mining and Fishing. These skills allow characters to make money, do quests and support their ships at sea.

Starting at level 15, a player may purchase a ship with which they may sail on the water (which makes up most of the world map). Certain elements of the game can only be accessed by the water including the usage of life skills like fishing and salvaging, as well as access to the three mazes (Forsaken City, Dark Swamp and Demonic World) that make up most of the mid- and high-end game content. (Demonic World does not require a boat)

Inputs

The keyboard has numerous shortcuts to aid players. Some examples of short-cut combinations include Alt+Q which allows the quest window to pop up and Shift + the down arrow key which brings the camera angle down. There are also many other helpers such as Control + a to pick up all the items around you.

The mouse also aids the players. Right clicking another player allows numerous functions to be done to it and holding the mouse button down for a short while will cause you to move around without even clicking.

Unconsciousness

When a character's health points reach 0, they will fall unconscious. A dialogue box will display and allow the player to teleport to a re-spawn point. When the character revives, no items are lost, but they will lose all of their HP and SP and approximately 2% of their current experience points. Note that experience points are not displayed as a number but as a percentage progression to next level. It is possible after dying to have a negative percentage progression, meaning XP will have to be gained to work off the negative penalty. In version 1.33, if you die you will lose a max of 3% EXP. You will not have negative EXP.

In addition, a character will lose 5% of the durability of their currently worn equipment if the player is above level twenty. Players may also be revived through the use of the Seal Master,Cleric and Herbalist skill, revive.

Partying

While solo play is entirely possible and fun for lower-level characters early on or even high level characters almost anywhere, joining a party is often preferred, players can start having party's at lvl8. Support characters such as the herbalist, cleric, champion and seal master may find it harder to adventure solo and would benefit from belonging to a party.

Joining a party is a matter of right-clicking on another character and sending a party invite. If accepted the invitee joins the party. Up to 5 people can be grouped at once. While in a party, experience points are split among party members, and loot dropped by monsters can be picked up by any party member. It would be wise to indicate if there are any rules for splitting loot beforehand, otherwise support characters not at the front lines may lose out on loot.

Chat

There are 5 different chat channels:Note: Instead of typing the selected symbol to chat in a channel, a user has the option to use an automated chat type.

World:- By typing an asterisk before a message allows the message to travel to the world channel. This channel allows players to chat to each other where ever they are in the game as long as they are in the map. i.e. people in the deep blue region use the world chat to talk to people in the deep blue. In version 1.36 speaking in World channel costs 200 gold, then next message within 3 minutes costs 200 gold*2, then 200*2*2 etc.

Local:- If the first character the user types into the dialogue box is a letter, the messages sent can be read by nearby players. By typing in the local channel, the chat is more directed at the people near them as a speech bubble appears above the person who typed it.

Guild:- When one types and places an % as the first character, the messages will only be sent to the user's guild members.

Party:- ! is the symbol to type to one's party. When one uses it or when another party member uses it, the messages will be highlighted in the chat box allowing more attention from the party members.

Trade:- Many users type ^ before they chat allowing them to chat in the trade channel. The channel is meant to let users to trade, sell or buy items. The message will be read by all users in the world. However, most users just use the World channel for trades. In version 1.36 speaking in Trade channel costs 200 gold, it will not allow you to speak until the next 3 minutes is consumed.

Camp:- This newly introduced mode of chat is used for Sacred War to talk with team mates, e.g. a pirate guild member in the Sacred War map can talk to anyone in any pirate guild that is also in the map using the "|" symbol. (Shift+Backslash)

There is also Private Messaging, better known as a "PM", which allows a player to chat directly to another player with no one else viewing their speech. It can be done by left clicking another user's name, or by typing @character name, then typing the message to be sent.

Chat Channels: You can block out what you don't want to hear by clicking the speech bubble next to the area where you enter your text. It will give you the option to block out any of the channels stated above and the system.

Guilds

There are two guild types one can join or make: a Navy Guild or a Pirate Guild. Both have their benefits and obviously oppose each other. To create a guild the player must have one hundred thousand gold pieces, reached lvl 40, and have obtained the Stone of Oath item. It is most resonable to join a guild only after lvl 40 because most people don't want newbies (low lvl characters) on their guild as this will be disadvantageous during a guild war [ [http://www.talesofpirates.com/guild/index.html Guild Info [ | ] Tales of Pirates. Retrieved 2008-1-27] .

After joining or making a guild, you can participate in guild wars. Guilds bid to fight each other and reap the benefits of being able to buy from special NPC's as well as other benefits, such as status.

Item Mall

Tales of Pirates is free to play but some players may choose to further customize their characters by purchasing point cards via several methods of payment, which allows players to buy special items such as pet fairies, wings, costumes, etc. Updates (and occasionally new items) are added on a regular basis and there are special promotions at the end of every month. Current methods of paying are Google checkout, Pay Pal, Western Union, and cash payment. When you purchase from any of the methods except Google Checkout and Pay Pal you are automatically entered into the lottery contest giving you a chance to win up to 1 million gold in game. It is also possible to buy in-game mall points from other players. However, these are extremely expensive. It is a much better option just to simply buy the item you want from other players.

Mazes

The game also contains three dungeon-like areas called mazes, which offer considerably more experience and loot than the regular areas of play. The three mazes open in rotations of 3 hours each, and each maze has its own ranged level requirements. The mazes are also one of the few PvP areas in the game, enabling players to fight not only the monsters in the maze, but each other as well. Due to the PvP nature of the mazes, it's recommended to wait until a character is near the maximum level cap before attempting to traverse one. The mazes are Forsaken City (You can find skeletar chests here,FC level 30-45), Demonic World (You can find enigma chests here, DW level 50+) and Dark Swamp (You can find evanscence chests here,DS level 40-55). [ [http://www.talesofpirates.com/guide_con.php?EncyId=46 Maze Guide ] Tales of Pirates. Retrieved 2007-12-14]

hips/Commerce

There are several ships availiable for each city, ranging from a Guppy to a Great White Shark. Some are more suited for different tasks like commerce or guild wars. As your level increases you will be enabled to buy stronger ships, the level requirement ranging from level 15-45. If you plan on going to become a sea voyager it is recommended you choose either an Eagle or a Great White Shark as they are the strongest ships in the game. Commerce is a great way to earn money using one's ship, which involves buying goods from a trader on one harbor and selling it to another trader and earning a profit.

Commerce is currently "bugged", and not working on some servers.

Pets

Pets, or fairies, are a very important asset in this game as owning one can greatly improve your battle performance. You can add a specific stat on them by feeding them the corresponding fruits, e.g Shaitan Biscuit for adding SPR, Snow Dragon Fruit for adding STR, etc. You can also add skills (only three) that increase your health and spirit regeneration like Standard Meditation and Standard Recovery. The maximum level for a pet is level 41 and trying to feed it after that point will usually end in failure. Fairies can also be married when both fairies are level 20 and above to create another fairy depending on what object is used during marriage. To increase a pet's leveling speed there are fruit of growths and great fruits that add 2 stat points instead of one, but are much more expensive. (More detail to be added)

World

The game consists of three "lands": Ascaron, Deep Blue, and Magical Ocean

Ascaron

Ascaron's main city is Argent City, and is the most heavily populated land in terms of players. There is also another large city in the north, Thundoria Castle, which is surrounded by higher level monsters. The class changes of Swordsman, Explorer, Voyager, Champion, and Crusader are made here.

Deep Blue

Deep Blue's main city is Icicle Castle. This land is snowy and is frozen over. Hunter class change is available here, as well as Sharpshooter (SS). There are also Islands which do not have the snow theme. Such islands are Spring Island, Autumn Island and Summer Island - the home of the notorious Black Dragon.

Magical Ocean

The Magical Ocean is a sandy desert region. It's main city is Shaitan City. This city is well known as a place to forge gems into a players' equipment.

Classes

The classes available to a player are limited to the type of character that they chose. Players may advance to their first class at level 10, and when they reach level 40, they can advance to their second class. However, the second class depends on what you have chosen for your first class, so it is recommended to think carefully before you choose your character and your class before starting a new character.

Basic Classes

Explorer
Available to: Ami, Lance, Phyllis
Advanced Class: Voyager

The Explorer class is able to fight in melee with daggers and cast combat spells with the use of coral items. They also have spells that are designed to be used at sea to support their ship. The spells do large damage but have a cooldown time before they can be used again. They are the fighters that are fastest at leveling out of the basic classes. Their skills are Diligence, Current, Conch Armor, Tornado, Lightning Bolt, and Algae Entanglement.

Herbalist
Available to: Ami, Phyllis
Advanced Class: Cleric, Seal Master

The Herbalist class is designed for support through defensive spells and healing of party members. However they do have one offensive spell - Spiritual Bolt, that can do a great deal of damage if they choose to follow that route of character development. Spells this class has are Vigor, Spiritual Bolt, Heal, Recover, Harden, Tempest Boost and Spiritual Fire.

Hunter
Available to: Lance, Phyllis
Advanced Class: Sharpshooter

The Hunter class uses a bow's ranged attacks to fight enemies. They can exploit a glitch by shooting through obstacles that enemies have to go around. A major complaint of this class is their low defense, but this problem can be solved by specializing in agility to increase dodge rate and can produce a much less fragile hunter. Skills include Range Mastery, Windwalk, Dual Shot, Frozen Arrow, Venom Arrow, Rousing, and Meteor Shower.

Swordsman
Available to: Lance, Carsise
Advanced Class: Champion, Crusader

The Swordsman class is the only class that allows dual-wielding of swords. They are the primary melee combatants of the game, with specialized attack and defense skills, as well as ones that affect enemies. Their skills are Concentration, Sword Mastery, Will of Steel, Break Armor, Illusion Slash, Tiger Roar, and Berserk. [ [http://pko.mmosite.com/gameinfo/skill_swordsman.shtml/ Skill trees for all classes ] MMOsite. Retrieved 2007-12-13]

Advanced Classes

Champion
Available to: Carsise

Carsise can either be developed as a champion (being an agi or str champ) or a pure (a con champ). Although Carsise do little to none damage up to lv 45 or so (in contrast with the agi and str champs, that are considered one of the strongest melee), they catch up in higher levels. Other than the three paths of status build, a champ can be personalised by his skill choice. A Carsise (or champ, being the in-game slang name for this character) can take on offensive skills (like Illusion Slash or Primal Rage, etc.), or supportive/defensive skills (being Taunt, Howl, Blood Bull, etc.) A tank champion is always a good addition to a party because of the fact that he can dish out a lot of damage.

Cleric
Available to: Ami, Phyllis

The Cleric can either be developed as a support specialist with advanced healing, defensive and protection skills or a battle cleric with an offensive skill. Support clerics are invaluable to a party in higher-level areas of the game where monsters can deal hundreds or thousands hp damage within a short time. The spells available to this class are: Divine grace, True Sight, Energy Shield, Tornado Swirl, Angelic Shield and Healing Spring. Clerics also have the Herbalist class spells, Herbalist being the base class for a Cleric.

Crusader
Available to: Lance

The Crusader is another combat specialist, sacrificing some defensive capability for offense. They are the masters of dual-wielding weapons. They are one of the most popular classes in this game. Many crusaders specialize in attack speed in order to maximize their range attack skill, Illusion Slash and the main skill use is Stealth which a Crusader can obtain at lv40. This is often called the "slasher" build. Also, the crusader class is the class that can have the highest dodge rate, which compensates for the low defense problem. Overall the best melee damage class in the game.

Seal Master
Available to: Ami, Phyllis

The Seal Master is a deadly class, specializing in offensive spells that cause great deals of damage. As well, they are the only class that has meta-spells, shutting down spell casting and melee attacks of their opponents. This makes them deadly opponents in player-vs-player combat within the game. They also have curses that debuff their opponents, giving them the ability to act as a support character as well. The spells that Seal Master has, in addition to the Herbalist class (the base class) spells are: Divine Grace, True Sight, Cursed Fire, Abyss Mire, Shadow Insignia and Seal of Elder.

Sharpshooter
Available to: Lance, Phyllis

The Sharpshooter is a ranged combat specialist, using powerful guns to fight. Some of the disadvantages of this class are that guns have a shorter attack range compared to bows, most guns decrease the player's attack speed, and skills that require bows can not be used on guns which means some of the skills from the hunter class may no longer be useful. Despite these disadvantages, sharpshooters are still popular because of their strong ability in player vs player combats.

Voyager
Available to: Ami, Lance, Phyllis

The Voyager is a seafaring class with extremely powerful spells for damage and support. Voyagers can concentrate on land-based spells for dealing massive damage to groups of enemies, or sea-based spells for ship-to-ship combat and ship defense. Voyagers are known for their high damage and are welcomed in many parties. Overall the voyager is the best magic damage dealing class, but don't expect high damage through melee attacks.

Variation Advanced Classes

There are also different types of classes within classes

Agi/Con Champion
Champions are designed for taking a ton of damage and this build pretty much flips this stereotype on its head. This kind does not have as much strength as a crusader, but can take more damage than one. These champions are considered "average" since they have balance of defense and strength. You must have 210 attack speed to achieve a maximum Slash and the rest of skill points on strength. But generally for a champion, reaching 140 attack speed is enough to deal massive damage while maintaining their high hit points and defence. As most of the damage is done through the Illusion Slash skill it is unnecessary to pump strength before you have already reached 210 passive attack speed and maxed con Bow Sharpshooter
Keeps the bow forever. This characters are not very good as the best skills are usable only with a gun, but they have rare bows that can be obtained from manufacturing or from killing monsters. These bows also have irregular level requirements, leading some into thinking that the lvl 44, 54 etc. bows are just speculation and not actually true. This kind of Sharpshooter is generally not as strong as a gun-wielding Sharpshooter as they are unable to use important skills like Enfeeble and Cripple, but they can do rapid damage as they have no attack speed reduction since they don't have a gun.

Shield Crusader
These sacrifices their ability to use two swords in exchange for a shield. But I suggest, if you want to tank, to make a Champion (only avaliable as Carcise). If you plan on making a shield Crusader, remember not to learn any skill that requires two swords.

Slasher Crusader
This type of crusader's sole purpose is to max the damage of Illusion Slash, which requires having an attack speed of 210, and then increasing the strength stat. Some crusaders choose to use the skill Berserk to reach a 210attack speed, giving them the name "Berserk Slasher". This build is deadly to low defense classes like Acc. SharpShooters, giving the popular term, " 1 slash " meaning they die with one Illusion Slash. This build shines if the person is able to forge different gems to raise all their stats, the most important being adding gems to raise attack power.

Pure Constitution Champion Sacrifices all attack to have a massive defense making him almost undefeatable against melee attacks; their attack is low but around level 45 onwards attack begins to rise with strong two handed swords. These Champions are one of the strongest battlers in player vs player, however, most have little to none magical defense, due to the lack of spirit. This makes them quite vulnerable against magic attacks. True tankers will focus on spirit after maxing con, to raise magic defence.

Pure Spr Voyager These are not some of the best voyagers, sacrificing constitution for higher attack damage. Spr voyagers are not useful in team pvp, as they die with few hits unless they play with a subdued style. But in combat areas heavy with high lvl monsters these are the most exceptional with consecutive high hitting attacks due to their most powerful move Conch Ray dealing massive damage to many targets at once.

Con Voy This gives you decent damage with Conch. Very useful in PvP as it can give you a great amount of HP and defence if you max out constitution, this is very useful in mazes and helps you to stay alive for lots of time.

Con Seal Master This gives you lots of health so you would be able to last long in maze instead of dying quickly without having a chance to show your true skills. Seal Masters are very rare yet very strong, and would be a great help in any battle situation.

Con Sharpshooter This can become a support character or an offensive character depending on the monetary status you are in inside the game. It's meant to be able to survive because of its high defense and be able to seal opponents. This kind of build is also meant to be fast so it is recommended to get movement speed boosts such as windwalk, paw stones, etc.

Influences

There are many elements included into the game. The most recognizable are the characters, storyline, and clothes in game. Pirates of the Caribbean clearly had some influence. There are characters and items ingame that show this for instance, the NPC Jack Arrow, who represents Jack Sparrow. William, a blacksmith, Elizabeth, Captain Barbossa, and even Davy Jones' chest.

The game also borrows from the one of the most famous Shonen Jump manga and anime, "One Piece". The item mall has many clothes representing some characters from the show. Example: Straw Hat set, Femme fatal set, Shaitan princess set, Brutal Chef set, Smoker navy set etc.

References

External links

* [http://www.igg.com/IGG's Official Website]
* [http://toplatino.foroactivo.com/index.htm SITIO EN ESPAÑOL]
* [http://ir.moliyo.com/overview/profile.shtml Official Moli Website]
* [http://mmohub.org/2008/tale-of-pirate "Tales of Pirates" Review on MMOHub.org]
* [http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/785/785967p1.html IGN interview #1]
* [http://rpgvault.ign.com/articles/788/788045p1.html IGN interview #2]