Eatin' Yer Veggies

When it comes to questing I'm usually a completist. I'd rather finish every quest I can in one area before moving on to the next. I've even gotten a couple of badges so far for completing areas, so I know I've missed a couple somewhere. When I started Cool Ranch, though, I was so eager to see where the story led that I decided to skip all the sides for once and go straight up the story line. I did accept random quests as I found them, but I consistently went back to the main path time after time.

By the time I'd gone up through Port Regal and back to Cool Ranch again I'd built up about seven pages in my quest log, but Pirate 101 makes it easier to stay on track by reminding you of your current story quest every time you log in. On the good side, story quests usually offer the biggest experience rewards, so I was getting a new level or two every day. I started Cool Ranch at 18th level a week or two ago and just hit 33 night before last. I was beginning to wonder, though, if what they'd said about Privateers was wrong, that we get more Companions than any other class. I seemed stalled at a crew of a dozen, including a "mercenary" I'd hired from a Troggy Horde pack, when other folks at lower levels seemed to captain a lot more.

Last night I finally got tired of a steady diet of entrees and went back to clean up some of those tasty veggie side dish quests - and gained three new Companions in one night, including my very first Swashbuckler (a Unicorn). Apparently I'd picked just the wrong time to stick to the main dishes, leaving a lot of crew potential hidden out there in those sides.

This morning on the way to work, I was telling my son about one of my new Companions, a giant Buccaneer chicken:

"What kind of weapons does he have, Mom?"

"Well, he's a boxer or something, he just punches the bad guys with his fists."

"How'd you get him?"

"I rescued him from the Frogerales' jail."

"Whoa. They must've arrested him for cock fighting."

*groan*