An Interview with a "Super Death Wizard"

Hello fellow duelers, I have a very special Q&A interview for you today. I shall be interviewing the infamous Super Death Wizard!



He is infamous, but in case you don’t know who SDW (that’s Super Death Wizard for short) is, he’s a true fan of Wizard 101. Over on Wizard 101 central he’s currently been thanked 643 times in 215 out of his 1,257 posts.

That’s a lot of communication, and as you can see by the amount of times he’s been thanked, that’s a lot of GOOD communication about this game. He was an early subscriber to the game since beta and one of the original members of Wizard 101 Central. From my point of view, he really knows his stuff, and it’s a pleasure to have this Q&A session with him. It was also great to meet up with him last night and goof around a bit.


Super Death Wizard, Thomas Lionblood, and Kyle Skystaff pause for a photo shoot.

Friendly: SDW, you obviously have a lot of posts up over at Wizard 101 central, where do you get that drive to work on helping the community like that?

SDW: Well, Wizard101 is a game that just catches your interest. When people are interested in a game, they will sometimes join forums for more information and perhaps to even spread information. If you have the information to help someone or to aid someone, you should give them that.

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Friendly: You also seem pretty knowledgeable about the game itself. If someone wanted to learn as much about the game as you do, how would you recommend they do that?

SDW: If someone wanted to learn a lot, I think they should pay attention to other posts on the boards, on here, and the boards on the official Wizard101 site. They should also pay attention to some of the things in-game, probably make another wizard and ask friends about another class/school if you’re not that class/school.

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Friendly: How long have you been playing Wizard 101 and why do you like this game so much?

SDW: I've been playing this game since beta. I joined right when beta opened and was there before the first beta wipe. As I've said above, Wizard101 is a game that just catches your interest, with its many options in schools and its strategy, in its game play, to its varying styles and themes, and also that it has many good features based off of what other games have put together, they’ve made one enjoying game. Also, it appeals to many audiences, and you'll find lots of fun people.

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Friendly: So lay out for us a typical night of play for SDW on Wizard 101. What’s that like?

SDW: This varies a lot and depends on what night :P. When I come on, I might teleport to a couple friends to see what they're doing and maybe help them if they're in a battle. Then, before I was Grandmaster, I would probably go back to questing. When I was Grandmaster but still didn't have my favored gear drops, I maybe would farm with another friend or by myself. When my character is a Grandmaster, I might go do some duels.

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Friendly: What’s your favorite instance in the game and why?

SDW: That would be definitely "The Great Spyre" instance. Although it might "kill" the art of soloing, it's good they're still making sure people work together just besides battles. The reason I like it is because it's a really good place and ending for the current portion of the storyline, and the location was suiting for where to feature a major bad guy we've been chasing across four cities/worlds/lands.

It also has some really good drops. The Gurtoks drop athames and rings, Malistaire drops robes, and Tumok drops some of the other bosses’ stuff from the streets without actually walking all the way to them.

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Friendly: What’s your biggest pet peeve about the game? In other words, if you could change one thing, what would that be?

SDW: If I could change one thing about the game, I'd probably make an equip treasure card for each attribute. (Heal, Steal, Attack, Global, Ward, Charm, and Manipulation). I'd make mutations not be equip cards, and they’d just come like what they'd be already after equipping.

Also, I'd maybe add some more shops in some worlds as well as a library in each world with more treasure cards than the one(s) in the previous world(s).

I'd also probably adjust some of the global and minion spells, as well as the level 48 spells. Maybe possibly change the minion deck around or make the minions controllable. As for the globals and level 48 spells, I think each school should get a solid spell for whatever they do that affects all enemies.

Currently I think Balance's Dampen Magic also limits the user's side. Also I think there should be two sets of globals: one for attacks, and one for that school's purpose. Death's should be stealing and Balance's Dampen Magic should instead be a "Strengthen Magic" that doubles every value except health. However, I respect that KI has taken into consideration possible imbalances that might be caused for anything here that wasn't considered to be added at one point.

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Friendly: If you could implement just one feature into the game right now, what would that feature be?

SDW: Probably a function for grouping activated via Parental Controls.

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Friendly: What do you see for the future of Wizard 101?

SDW: Lots of potential there: new worlds, new adventures, new spells, and new students. Basically, I see a lot of great stuff added and maybe the game will gain some more awards and popularity . . . perhaps even one day compete with the big league games if it's not already :P.

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Friendly: Let’s talk for a second about our chosen class, the death wizard. What made you choose the class?

SDW: I was going to do a class that sounded interesting and made use of strategy. I was going to choose either Death or Balance when I first started in beta. I didn't know what to choose since I didn't play before, and when I took the quiz, the final gem stones were Peridot, Amethyst, Onyx, and Ruby at the end, and I decided that stealing health from opponents was what I wanted to do and since Death was a solo’er according to the quiz, I chose Death.

I also like how you can slowly build up pips while buffing and when you have a high pip steal in your hand, you can use it and regain any health the enemy could have taken away from you. Although, you have to use strategy to know if it's overkill or not so you don't take too much damage while buffing when you could attack and still get a K.O.

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Friendly: What makes one a “super” death wizard!? Do you have any insights to share on how to best play the death wizard class?

SDW: Death is mainly based on buffing up for attacks to steal a load of health. If you want to play Death good, I suggest just keeping the buff and steal cards at high levels for faster battles and not fill up your deck. If you’re a lower level, you won't have such a big deck and don't have to do this. However, this is only for PVE. In PVP I'd put in some more cards and know when to use them.

Necromancers draw upon the chaos of the universe, but don't let it turn against you! As far as gear wise, I'd get equipment that gives buffs, steal cards, and high attack and defense amounts. Power Pip percentage is also good too, but you should try to keep it at no more than 65% because at that percent, a Power Play will make your percentage 100%. With Power Pips, you can play a lot more even pip’d spells; although, the down side is some odd numbered ones such as Feint will sometimes waste one.

To all newer Necromancers reading this, good luck!

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Friendly: The floor is yours, what would you like to say to the Wizard 101 community?

SDW: To KingsIsle, thanks for making this game! I must say you guys are doing such a great job with this game; keep up the good work! As for the fans, overall, it's a great fan base despite a few of Malistaire's students trying to ruin the fun :P.

Remember, after finishing all the content, there's always the option to unsubscribe until something new comes out, start a new wizard, or farm for drops, and remember to be patient and not to rush some releases, or else...*Nightside music plays*

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Friendly: Any questions for the Friendly Necromancer?

SDW: It's been an honor to be in this interview. But, just curious, I forgot to mention this before, but how many gold coins is your Orthrus pet worth?:P

Friendly: Hey, the honor is all mine. We had a lot of fun buffing up Kyle’s orthrus pet last night when we met in game (see video below).



We'll make that crack 100k next time. ;-)

So, I went to the vendor and I selected to sell my pet to him . . . you know what he told me? My pet was worth zero gold. So I guess it goes a little bit like this:

1 subscription to wizard 101 = $60 a year
1 cast of a buffed up seven pip spell = a good chunk of time
1 orthrus pet = priceless
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From one fan to another, thanks so much for your time, you’re an asset to the community and thanks for all you do. I look forward to reading Super Death Wizard’s responses over on Wizard 101 Central and to hearing from you more.