[JM Ohara]

So, does anybody wanna guess where the invasions and the ghosts are leading? Just for the fun of it I'm wondering what everyone else's take on this is.

People who know my say I have an uncanny sense of D. This was true long before Pirates, when I played Pixie Hollow. My buddies who came over from the Hollow will tell you I just seem to get things right. As an example, a while back, in the spring, there was a lot of griping about a lack of real updates in the Hollow. (Ya, having been a pirate since July an seeing how long it's been here, that's pretty sad.) I dunno what it was, but I just got this vibe that something was coming, something big. I posted on PHF, I thought a massive influx of new would come on a certain week. Sure enough, said week, new rooms, new wardrobe, new shops, everything I said would come, did come. Not surprising, this has migrated with me to pirates. I've been pretty good at predicting not just days of invasions, but times, and which server to hop to after I'm done to still find good fights. I just seem to get D.

Unlike the Hollow, which is simply flat fairies on flat backgrounds, Pirates is 3D, (particularly now that they put the option in to play the whole game 3D.) It's a whole lot harder to mass add stuff into Pirates than into a flat world. Pirates has more dimension, depth and detail than the Hollow ever will. When we get things, it comes slowly. It comes in bits and pieces. That's why we waited so long for this.

So now I'm hearing all the time where is this leading? Is it all just another distraction to another let down? I wondered what everyone else thinks. But here's my 2 cents.

I don't believe the invasions are meant to be mere distraction while they work a story quest. I think they have said story quest. I believe what we see in Pirates today is what they meant us to see from the start. Every major change, every subtle shift has lead Pirates to this point. This isn't haphazard. D knows exactly what it's doing. They have been taking their time not to annoy people, but to make the game what it was meant to be. I've said since a few weeks into being a pirate, that the updates will come. I'll say it again, it's coming. Soon. And not D soon, Soon Or Otherwise Never. Actual soon. By normal standards.

We got revive first, and new bodies. I think both were meant to aid the invasions. The revive benefit is obvious. Reviving means less pirates land in jail all at once, an end up with huge glitch problems. The bodies I think they streamlined in an attempt to slow lag. They gave them to us far enough in advance of the invasions that a lot of the newest body type are well up in 20's 30's and beyond. Yes, they are largely funny looking, but I'm sure now that's why they redid the bodies.

Then we get the level cap raise, and the weapons cap raise. I don't think it had anything to do with the new caves and Thrall Captains and all that other fun stuff. I think it was for Jolly Roger. I think it was for what follows Jolly Roger. It can't just be we fight Jolly easier then nothing.

The night before the first invasion on live they threw something in the mix, that went right to open having never hit test. Constance. Sure, she's a GM in character. But she threw the twist into invasions that makes me sure there is more to this. Yes, at first, she had little to say. Save her husband John Moses by defeating Jolly Roger. I was there the day she first mentioned Old Soot. It was Kat O'hara, my big pirate, who managed to get the name out of her. She was hinting around about more help, and I asked who. And they threw us another loop. More ghosts. Old Soot, who also predicts invasions. But he's been hinting at things subtlety too. Grenades are good until they put his cannons on land. I don't think that was meaningless. Land based cannons were highly popular in that era. I have yet to find Cromwell, but I'd guess he's about more than just handing out a code for some gold.

So now we come to the heart of it. Invasions. Sure, it's a lot of fun to kill a bunch of skellies, a few stumps, an Jolly to get some great rep. What Jolly says makes it more. At the end, if he wins, he says move on to the next target. Then Constance tells us Tortuga is the next island to be targeted. So it's not just a holiday thing. It's not just a distraction on PR. This is going somewhere. But where?

Kat O'hara, my main pirate, has a gift. She is the Seer...

It will come slowly like a whisper in the night. The change will be subtle, but it is coming. Like the calm before the storm, the deep breath before the plunge, we have watched, we have waited. The time draws near when we will wait no more. Life will stir again. The next chapter will be revealed. From the ashes of fallen guilds, new have risen. From the darkness of doubt the Masters have left us. The time draws near when the Masters shall return. Old pirates, lost to shadow, shall find the light again! They will return to find their world is no longer the same. Guildmasters will return to empty guilds. Some will rebuild, and the past and the present will become one. That which was meant to be has come. The wait will soon be over. The storm will break, first with a trickle and a breeze. The hurricane will unleash, and wash away the years of doubts and waiting. The time is coming soon, when that which has been hoped for will be revealed. This I have seen, this I know...