Polaris: Pirate101's Next World?

It's one of the most-talked-about worlds in both Wizard101 and Pirate101. In the past, it was deemed to be confirmed that we'd be visiting Polaris in Pirate, but a change of direction makes that less certain. Mounting evidence, however, suggest that the next world for pirates could be a chilly one: Polaris.

Polaris: What's in Store? 

This is one of the worlds we know most and least about. When we think of Polaris, we think of its one most notable character, Napolenguin. However, our wizards visited with more emphasis on Rasputin than anybody, apparently long after Napolenguin's reign. 

I have written pretty extensively on Polaris - posts based on producer's letter hints, Pollo's crew, the Wizard/Pirate sides of the world. And yet, it's hard to say what could possibly be in store for our pirates there.

The big hints we have are pickled herring and icebergs. Undoubtedly, a Pirate101 version of Polaris would be more spread out, with less civilization and fewer towering empires, and more outposts and war zones. Some of the concepts that have popped up over time suggest heavy Russian influence on architecture with a lot of French characters. 

Blind Mew's Hinting

Too often I hear people ask if we're ever going to Polaris, but Blind Mew has already answered this question, and not with his usual "that would be telling." He has said that the pirate will take their time getting to Polaris, stating this as if to confirm we'll be going there in the future. 

If Blind Mew intended us to take our time going to Polaris, perhaps he meant that it wouldn't be in the El Dorado storyline, or it wouldn't be soon. Napolenguin will have or will have attempted to regain control of the world since being freed from Fort Elena. This could inevitably draw us into another of his wars. While Blind Mew has also essentially confirmed Darkmoor, Grizzleheim, and Krokotopia, Polaris seems the most likely next world for a few reasons that I'll cover once we have all the facts.

What does make me a little bit nervous is that Blind Mew, in his post-Valencia-2 answers, has used a less-assured tone, stating pretty much outright that without extensive player support, we may not see future worlds. His hopes are to have many, including Polaris, but he is withholding much more speculation (or in his case, information).

Valencian Stormgate

As if we didn't have so much evidence of Polaris already, from unique models and textures, to Wizard101 assets that could be reused, to Polarian furniture around Skull Island, the latest update gave us one more. There's a Stormgate to Polaris in Calabria Skyway, labelled and ready to go.

It certainly isn't uncommon to have Stormgates that aren't used. It's not even uncommon to have Stormgates leading to some place new that aren't used, like the Aquilan stormgate in Aargon Skyway that was present before the Marleybone and Aquila update. But this is now the only existing Stormgate with a label for a world we haven't yet visited. It seems a likely candidate.

Falmea's Feedback Friday

The icing on the Polaris cake has been Falmea's hinting on the official Pirate101 forums. In a Feedback Friday post, she said, " In fact, I just stepped out of a meeting this afternoon (of which there have been many before), setting our course, charting our map, and picking the direction(s) in which to sail. We've got some REALLY COOL ideas floating around, and while I'd like to share them with you, it's just too soon."

The use of cool might just be a coincidence, but the Frogfather's past newsletter used similar hints: "Remain Cool and seek shortcuts if travelling long distances." This could well be an indication of what is to come.

The Perfect Arc 2 Beginning

For me, the biggest piece of evidence that Polaris could be the next world is a combination of these ideas. First and foremost, we're finished with arc one. That means the Armada is temporarily out of the picture, and El Dorado is currently not a possibility (especially with Kane's map pieces missing). I might say we would seek them out anyway in arc two, but Pirate101 made the decision to include our parents telling us to "let it go" after defeating Kane. That's not a great setup for going to El Dorado, at least not now.

So now we can't just repeat arc one and resume map hunting and Armada defeating. But if the Armada isn't going to show up again until later (possibly still in arc two), and we likely won't seek out map pieces (we'll probably run into a few on accident), then what? Well Polaris, of course.

Polaris is the only world in which we have any potential non-map business. That's not to say they can't (and haven't) thrown us for a loop and we end up doing something else. But Blind Mew has hinted regularly that he'd like to see Napolenguin back, and this is the perfect opportunity. When we're saving the Spiral from Armada destruction, we can't take a day off for vacation to Polaris politics (does anyone vacation to Polaris?). Now we have that freedom, and I'm sure Napolenguin has all kinds of messes ready for us.

Do you think we'll be visiting Polaris next?

Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!