Edward Guncutter's Guide to the Raven's Cove Story Quest

The Raven's Cove Story Quest (RCSQ) is not the longest story quest, but may be the most challenging to date. Many others have completed the quest more than twice; however, both my journeys were quite different and present compelling reasons to pursue the different paths to completion presented here.

The RCSQ appears for every pirate immediately after they reach the level 30 milestone of notoriety. There are a two primary means of achieving this difficult goal: skills and quests. These play into important elements of the RCSQ and completing them quickly or completely. We will discuss both approaches to the quest to better understand which approach is more amienable to you now or for your next attempt.

Skills
The skills approach takes longer, but will make the Raven's Cove quest much easier to complete with lots of help. When pirate skills reach 20, they begin to master elements of their craft like much improved damage or damage avoidance. While the number of elements in the RVSQ do not compare with the Adoria's Family or Black Pearl Quest, they test higher levels of competence than many others. There are four (4) primary focuses in this quest: sword, fishing, potion making, and sailing.

Sword
Upon completion of the RCSQ, the pirate will be allowed to select one (1) of three swords: Bitter End, Nautilus Blade, or Spinecrest Sword. My first run through, I happened to use sword almost exclusively and had attained a skill level of 23 in sword; Bitter End requires 24, so I could use the sword shortly after receipt. If you like a particular sword type, sabre, cutlass, or broadsword, make sure your skill level is at least that of the sword you want to select upon completion of the RCSQ.

Fishing
Fishing is kind of a hidden element of POTCO. While all three major docks have fish buckets openly displayed by the sea, it is not featured in the other major story quests. Perhaps why it is included in the RCSQ. Fishing does provide great notoriety and many useful sea-faring tools like rams, charts, charms, and treasure. Catching a legendary fish for this quest only results in the Bandit's Sea Globe. A useful bouble for very low levels, but by notoriety 30, most pirates have found a sea chart that exceeds the globes offerings.

Potions
Potions are a great benefit to pirates during their crusades including boosting damage, accuracy, and even revival from near-death. Potion making can be tricky, but there are definite tips and tricks pirates can apply to make the process predictable, even quick. The RCSQ has a potion making element of concocting a Staff Enchant potion which requires the pirate attain level eight (8) in potion making. Should the pirate desire days or weeks of preparation, they can Master potion making and concoct the Staff Enchant II potion to attain the Burnt Staff. One reason to do this: Flaming Skull +2. In my opinion, this is the best staff weapon currently available with good range, great damage, and fast recovery time. There are faster attacks and more powerful attacks, but this has the best elements combined. The Flaming Skull is the only staff with good boost components. Tribal Staff and Juju Staff add Blast +2 and +1 respectively, but blast does minimal damage and is a directed, straight line attack. Be warned, to become a potion master will take many hours, but the long-term use of the staff is worth it.

Sailing
To be completed...

Quests
The Quests approach will not produce the extra elements the Skills approach provides, but I believe that pirates will attain notoriety 30 far quicker than through the skills approach. Completing the RCSQ means one major thing to any member pirate, cursed weapons.

To be completed...