Getting Closer!

Amazingly enough, my wife actually reads my blog, and so she knows that the current goal here is to get Kyle and Amber to 50th. And on that note, she's been logging them in one at a time (mostly Kyle) and doing a few quests while the baby is napping and I'm at work. LOL! What kind of alternate dimension is this? Oh, and if you've tried to talk to her in game . . . I just barely taught her that if you press "R", you reply to someone talking to you . . .

So, Amber's exp bar is now looking like this:



Almost there! In fact, just a couple more quests in Dragonspyre would probably push that to 50. We've been doing a lot of catch-up work in Marleybone: little side quests I missed. For example, this morning I finished off the "Mugsy" line of quests and earned a fancy ball of yarn for my efforts.



this morning's quests looked a lot like this:


and this:

Then I ran over to Grand Chasm and refilled my mana bar.

The fighting there looked a lot like this:


and this:

Am I sensing a pattern here?

Happy Dueling!

New High Hit Record--50836680

I don't know if you've been following the history of big hits in this game or not, but it's been kind of a side match involving a few of Wizard101's greatest players, names like Alex Jaderider, Ronan Wildgem, Donna Pixiesong, Super Death Wizard, Outrageous Autumn, Biggabe, etc. All the big players over at Central. The latest string of these big hits comes from Ironhawk. The same Ironhawk who makes all the cool guides at central. Up until this time people have been using the Wild Bolt spell when they made a big hit. This time a full 14-pip tempest spell was used and put out an amazing hit of over 50 million damage.

The thread is found on central here. He states in his words,

"just made more than 50 million damage using tempest treasure card with full 14 pips to kraysys. Thanks to my son for lending me his storm wizard also thanks to alex jaderider for telling the traps/blades he used to make a big hit in a thread somewhere in this forum i forgot where but i wrote them down and add several more traps. I put more than 20 different traps plus storm prism plus 7 different blades plus booster darkwind and also have 35pct damage bonus from gear. I forgot one trap so one of you can still beat this record later. Picture below was taken from the screen of my adept balance wizard who help putting blades/traps."

I first reported about the original big hit back in February. Since that time Alex kept raising the ante anytime someone would even get remotely close to his record until Donna Pixiesong's team beat that record with a 22 million hit in May. Then Angel Dragongem upped it to 29.5 million. This new 50 million hit will be broken at some point as Ironhawk hints to . . . he forgot one trap.

So . . . . what's the highest hit you've ever achieved? I've never really tried to go sky high like this . . . I think somewhere in the 12,000-13,000 range is the most I've ever done.

It's too bad they didn't keep the 100,000 hitpoint Malistaire in the game, or we all would have had to attempt those high hits. ;-) pffft, 100,000 on that Malistaire (who had a 200% damage boost when using life damage) would have only needed, oh half those traps, right? :-) I digress.

Gratz Ironhawk!!!

Happy Dueling!

Amber and Kyle defeated Malistaire, yup

Wow, ok, I feel like I'm waking up out of a crazy dream here. Yesterday, Silverheart, asked me if I had defeated Malistaire with Amber and Kyle. The answer is YES!

I was left scratching my head thinking, why in the world didn't I post about that? I mean, hello, that's monumental for the kids' characters. What in the world was I thinking about?

So I start to click through my picture folder that has 1,400 pictures in it (no lie . . . this is the curse of the blogger/wikia person), and I find this picture of Amber riding the dragon on 30-June-09.



In that screenshot there's a message I typed to Sean Emeraldweaver. I was talking about how I needed to hurry because I had to go to work soon. I then took a look at what I posted on 30 June. Oh yeah, Grizzleheim was opening the next day. Hmm, then the very next day I'm posting about this.

Right, so that's why. I was just CRAZY BUSY!!

Ok, well, sure it's month later, but this is still news!

GUESS WHAT? AMBER AND KYLE BEAT MALISTAIRE!!!!

YAY!


Amber disembarks from her drake at this point, and he wishes her good luck. I love this view of the Dragonspyre ruins, but they should have made it more epic right here . . . like you're looking down the edge of the Dragonspyre world that you're standing on top of. You have gone through a lot of fights to get to this point for sure.


We skipped through the first two fights and went straight to the elevator. Riding up that elevator has an ominous feeling to it. Malistaire's Lair itself is VERY epic feeling.


Strangely enough, I didn't take any pictures of Malistaire except for this one of Amber's Centaur delivering the final blow to his feet. You can see his arrow in the shot. He was really offended at the smell of those feet!


Here was the obligatory loot shot. No, Amber didn't get her robes, nor Kyle. So we're going to need to head back in again, and again, and again, and again, and . . . I also notice in this shot that Sean Emeraldweaver is revealing an embarrassing personal problem. YIKES SEAN! You're lucky my centaur didn't turn on you instead of Malistaire!


And finally, here's Ambrose telling Amber to get back to class. Nice. You and your buddies just off'd the main bad guy, and it's time for more school? The mind boggles.

So, sorry about that! My life has been a whirlwind ever since that day, and I've just been trying to stay afloat. Thanks for your patience.

:-)

Happy Dueling!

Isaiah's Comic Contest

Hello readers,

In case you haven't heard, Isaiah over at Defenders of the Spiral is holding a Comic Contest for Wizard101 related comics.

Here's the link

This is a really cool idea . . . and right on the heels of the 2009 Comic Con convention as well!

It's sounding like you have until 13 August to get your entries in to him at Isaiahspelldust *at* gmail *dot* com. Sounds like fun!

Hmmmm, Evil Twin, what do you have to say about it?


(click to enlarge)

Who out there thinks they have a good idea? Who's going to play along? Huh? HUH? I'm TOTALLY CALLING YOU OUT FOR THIS!

ahem.

Happy Dueling!

Maintenance, PvP Points and Bazaar Pricing

Professor Greyrose would like you all to know the following information!
_________________________________________________

Wizard101 Maintenance
Wizard101 the game will be offline during an extended maintenance period of 3am to approximately 5am Central US Time on Wednesday July 29th. During this time, players will be unable to log in to the game, and players who are in the game will be prompted to log out. During this downtime we will be addressing the following issues:

Player vs Player Points Adjustment
During the July 29th maintenance downtime, we will be adjusting the Player vs Player points.

Due to an issue with the Player vs Player ranking system, players were erroneously being awarded increased PvP points after a duel.

To resolve this issue, we decided not to reset everyone's Player vs Player points back to 500, but instead we chose to only reset those points that appear to have been incorrectly calculated.

To ensure a fair playing field, all scores above 950 have been reduced to 950. This will not affect the PvP Titles or Arena Tickets you have earned.

Bazaar Pricing Discrepancies
During the July 29th maintenance downtime, we will be addressing some of Elik's purchase prices for items that he previously was not giving full value for.

Elik promised he would give a better value for items than the regular shopkeepers, and we are holding him to his word.

After the update, if you still find an item that sells for more at the regular shopkeepers than at the Bazaar, please submit a bug report and let us know the exact item and the prices.
________________________________

Happy Dueling!

Onward to Grandmaster-dom!!

Kyle and Amber are now sitting at 49th level, hmmmm, about 49th and this much:



In Everquest we used to call those sections of an exp bar "bubs," short for bubbles because the segmented sections had more of a bubbly appearance. So 49th and about 3 bubs.

Both have quest logs with all kinds of side quests hanging out that they skipped, plus there's always Grizzleheim and a few instances they skipped, so it's not an impossible task by any means.

. . . just a time consuming one . . . but the Grandmaster title calls and I must answer!

Here's a few screenshots from this mornings' questing:


The next frame of this picture would be the storm lord applying some underarm deodorant I think. A storm lord must remain fresh while laying the smack down.


I believe our storm lord here is pondering the taste of fried frog legs. Delicious or scary?


And of course, mushrooms, flowers, and healing rainbow bits can only mean one thing . . . my mother's curtain set from the 70's paid a visit.

Happy Dueling!

FW: Looking for Deployed Moms

This just came to the community from Kingsisle!
________________________________

Students, Friends, and Families of Wizard101,

Are you a single mother who is deployed or has returned from deployment andplays Wizard101 with a child? If you are, we would love to hear from you! We'd like to share your story with others who are looking for ways to connect with children over long distances.

To participate, send an email message to press@kingsisle.com and tell us a little about yourself and your child. Don't forget to tell us how best we can get in contact with you.

Thank you for staying connected with us!
_______________________________

Go military moms!

Happy Dueling!

Player Trading Card of the Day--Gorman Ravenhunter

Here we go! I haven't done one of these for a long time!



Congrats Gorman! Keep at it and Marleybone will soon be a distant memory. And, excellent advice! Both Central and the Forums on wizard101.com are great places. In fact, they are my top two links up there in the top right hand corner of this blog. Good stuff.

Happy Dueling!

A Tour Through Friendly's Crib

Well, I still have a lot of slots to fill in my house, and there's more I'd like to do with the outside, but I felt it was time to do another video.

Hope you dig this, but know that the tour is much better in person! At the time of publishing this post, the video was still processing, so quality may improve later.


(Music: Take California by Propellerheads and A Forest (tree mix) by The Cure)

Happy Dueling!

Diapermancer 3--The Helpful Mander?

She's at it again . . .



So kind of you to offer your helpful mander to us to help around the house, Cassandra!!

(LOL, apparently I have obtained a new super power from a member of the fantastic four--GO STRETCH ARM!)

Happy Dueling!

Heck, Indeed, Hath Frozen Over

It's true!



Today at 2:10 pm, my beautiful, wonderful wife and I actually played Wizard101 together . . . at the same time . . . side by side. I'm marking it down in my calendar.

You may think you understand, but you don't get it. I've played many of these games. TONS of these games. I've tempted her, I've tried to get her just to run through a few quests. Before 2:10 pm on 25 July, the closest I had got was when she dabbled a bit in "the game which shall not be named" on a Sunday many years ago--for just a couple of hours (I still remember the wobble of her female troll shaman . . . yes, it's that geeky and vivid).

But, no, today this was of her own accord!

Let me lay this down for ya: She had made two characters (one on each account) a couple weeks ago and decided to tinker a bit while the baby was napping. I powerleveled her life wizard (Molly Earthsong . . . Amber Deathsong helped pick the name) a couple levels for her on the side. She played her fire wizard (Bailey Skystaff . . . mother of Kyle Skystaff of course) all the way through level 8. (On a side note, she also claimed the cartoon network death beetle pet as her own.)

Today, the kids were taken by the monster-in-law to see the new G-force film in 3D. The newborn was fed and fell asleep.

*clouds part and the sun shines in*

What does my wife do? She logs on Bailey.

OHMYGOSH!

I load up Molly Earthsong and before you know it, we're killing Haunted Minions on Triton Avenue.



And we kept going! We finished off the Kraken . . .



We finished off the Harvest Lord . . .



And then baby told us to stop.

*clouds return, but the sunshine remains*

It's one small step for geek, but it's one large leap for geek-kind!

Happy Dueling!

Thomas Lionblood's current gear

Someone had asked me to post up what my gear looked like as a level 50 necromancer . . . like forever ago. So, I knew I wanted to farm up those boots as a final thing before posting up my gear. So here's what I'm currently playing with.



That's pretty standard high-end cookie-cutter gear for a level 50 Necromancer except for the deck, the athame, and the sword. (I'd prefer to have the Gurtok Ender's Blade for the athame)

Of course, the place you want to look for all your gear information is in Ironhawk's guides on Central.

I had another question as well as to the appearances of two pieces of gear:

"why does the malistaire drake's ebon robe look exactly the same as the final curtain? i mean other schools get cool robes and i was pretty excited when i found out i got my robes, but when i put them on, it was as if i never even got them!"

(that question/complaint came from destiny deathgem btw)

I wasn't too concerned about the looks myself as I had been wearing either the level 35 old-school crown gear or dean darkflame's wardrobe, which I actually do like the look of better. I never wore the Final Curtain robes because I just didn't want to miss out on all the benefits of the other stats on those other robes.

But, yeah, I hear ya. You'd hope that Malistaire's robes would be incredibly unique looking. I don't have a good answer at all on that one.

Ok, it's 1:45 am in the morning . . . yikes . . . off to bed for me.

Happy Dueling!

Cyclops Treant Sighting! GASP!

So I was riding a train at a local amusement park when we choo choo'd past this amazing tree. It might just be that I've finally flipped my lid (don't laugh about that "finally" part), but I'm thinking I see a woman cyclops here



Do you see it? No?

How about now?



Still no?

So it got me to thinking, how come we haven't seen any female treants or cyclops in this game? Or female treant cyclops? hmm? I guess there is the Dryad, but that doesn't count does it? I think I may be on to something here, Kingsisle!

Nature is surely telling us something here . . . you got to admit this is better than the Michael Jackson tree image sighting, right?

um . . .

Happy Dueling?

Cassandra notices how awesome my shoes are and my general excitement . . .

with her MS Paint skills . . .



*clicks heels*

NEW SHOES!

Beckett's most recent info on Wizard101

The new issue of the Beckett Massive Online Gamer magazine was delivered to me today! Let me first, just give a plug to Stephanie Morrow (who I admire very much for her dedication to writing and gaming) who writes the Wizard101 related articles for this magazine. She's a hard worker and a great writer. Wizard101 couldn't ask for a better article writer from this magazine. I could be biased of course, since I think her blog rocks! (especially if you're a fan of everquest) The article itself won't tell dyed-in-the-wool fans like us much new information, but it's a great sales pitch for the game. Nice work, Stephanie.

Secondly, Do not miss the editorial director's blurb on page 8 where he talks about visiting the Kingsisle offices. Seriously, this is a don't miss blurb.

Doug Kale talks about his visit to Austin, Texas. (A trip I've wanted to make for a long time . . . just like Quinn did.) It's amazing how Doug fails to name Professor Greyrose's name (ms. Kiersten Samwell) in the article . . . she's only referred to as one of the two community managers. gasp!

Doug talks about the pictures on the walls of the Kingsisle offices. He mentions being rushed past the door to the area where Kingsisle is making their second project. He talks about watching a room full of employees creating the Grizzleheim content. He talks about being ushered to a sound recording studio and even getting the opportunity to become the voice for Ironsplinter in Grizzleheim. I'm telling you, these seven paragraphs are GOLD.

Apparently there are to be some pictures of Doug's visit put up at www.massiveonlinegamer.com soon, but I could not find them there tonight for the life of me.

Thirdly, on page 33 there is a one time use code for an Umbra Sword in game item. This sword gives you 5 cards of a 75 damage death spell. I decided to load that puppy up on The Evil Twin.





Seriously cool stuff there. Every once in a while a purple flash will run from the hilt to the tip of the blade. Love it. It's a great sword for your low characters to be sure.

**Buyer beware: this does look awesome . . . but you should know it casts like a wand. You don't attack with it like a mooshu sword**

Thanks all and I hope you get to check out the magazine!

Happy Dueling!

Advertising on this Site

Hey all,

I was clued in today on some questionable advertising that popped up on my site. Let me just say THANK YOU! You know, some RPG's just portray females so . . . inappropriately. If you guys see some advertising on my site that is questionable, please take a cue from the man, the legend, the myth, JESTER, and let me know about it. I can definitely block this advertising.

Of course, despite my seemingly large site traffic (it's really not that large . . . believe me), this advertising is netting me . . . pretty much next to nothing. I *should* just take this advertising off of my site completely and not worry about it. Actually, if Kingsisle wants to pick up my site and buy the advertising space, I'll be more than happy to work with you! ;-) (a guy can dream can't he?)

The original plan was to donate any funds from advertising to charity. I was particularly drawn to two charities: One I've talked about before. The other I found from a few Internet searches. Unfortunately, the first charity is pretty costly, and the second charity really only blossoms once a year around Christmas time.

And then of course, sometimes I just feel selfish. I'm human. It would be cool to be paid for what you do. Maybe someday, eh?

Thanks everyone for understanding!

opinions?

Happy Dueling!

I GOT THEM! (HOUSE PARTY TIME!)

Yesterday night I logged on to give those Kraysys boots one more shot. I had tried earlier in the day and rolled snake eyes time and time again.



(oh, btw, hi Ryan!)

As per usual, when Friendly logs on, the party forms around him and people are MORE than generous to help out. Besides, I whined enough about them the other day that people, you know, want to shut me up. ;-)

After about four attempts and a lot of laughs, BOOM!



People start freaking out, I start freaking out, dancing and clapping happen, and I put those suckers on.



After that, people start asking to come check out my house and have a house party (my house SO isn't finished btw). We port there and people check out the maze and the torture room and the adjacent party room. More laughs ensue.

Then Alex SandStone asks us to come check out his Dragonspyre house. It's looking awesome of course.



Then Padric StrongBlood asks us to check out his Marleybone house. Once again, this house is really well done. (really dig this throne here btw . . . anyone know where that comes from?)



Both houses put my house to shame.

So, sure . . . the boots were really only 10% death shielding better than the shoes I was wearing, but . . . you know . . . an upgrade is an upgrade. :-) It was yet another epic farming experience.

Thanks again EVERYBODY for the fun and for the help over the past week or so!

Happy Dueling.

Video from onRPG

Greyrose passed this on to the community. It is pretty cool when anyone does a feature on our game!

There's not going to be any new information in this video for my visitors, but this guy does have a pretty cool accent and is talking about Wizard101, that's gotta count for something, right?

Happy Dueling!

TFN breaks 100,000 page views

Around 4:20 p.m. today, this blog flew past 100,000 page views since 6 March 2009. It kind of makes me wish I would have put a counter up when the site started back in September 2008.

I e-mailed Professor Greyrose and she responded back, "100,000 'Thank You's from Professor Greyrose to you and all your fans!" She then went on to ask me if I had noticed any kind of trends from my time posting to this blog.

Yes . . . YES! I have noticed some things about you readers.

1- Summertime has been good to my site: views doubled!
2- The most active time of day during the school year was noon.
3- The most active time of day during the summer has been 2:00 pm to 4:00 pm.
4- A lot of my hits have been generated by people searching for either the promotional codes or ways to crack the Beckett MMO Staff code. :-)
5- Lately you all have also been hunting down things like mist wood.
6- From some of the search results I'm thinking you guys want my site to be a "helpful hints" site, which it is to a certain extent. Of course, I cannot compete with a community of information providers like Central. They are THEE site. But you know, the almighty Google finds what it will find.
7- The biggest day lately of course was when my wife's water broke and then again when I posted pictures of our baby. That went beyond the random and predictable web searches and daily hits jumped past 2,000 . . . it's so nice to know you all were concerned and interested and came back multiple times during the day. Thanks everybody!

My 100,000 "thank you"s belong, first, to the readers of this site for your participation and, second, to Kingsisle for making such a great game! Right?

I probably would have given up on my blog a long time ago if it hadn't been such a fun learning experience. It is a lot of work and has been mentally exhausting at times . . . it has kept me from some of my other creative hobbies . . . but it also has let me unleash my creativity in other, more Wizard101-directed, ways.

Time will only tell what the future of this blog holds, but for the next 100,000 hits I think I have a few tricks up my sleeves that I'm hoping you all will love to watch unfold.

Happy Dueling!

Diapermancer 2--Boys Bug Girls

In this strip it looks like Kyle Skystaff is trying to give the Diapermancer some helpful hints about being a boy.


probably need to click on that to make it bigger)

Diapermancer! *gasp* How about spreading some money love this way!

Thanks Cassandra! :-)

p.s. my favorite thing about this are the sparkles in Diapermancer's eyes in frame 6.

B r o a d c o n t e n t vs. Narrowcontent

I don't know what's gotten into me lately here . . . I'm feeling all ranty. whoa.

~~~~~~~~

As Professor Drake's message today indicated, the developers at KingsIsle decided to change their minds about how Grizzleheim would be released. They had plans to add additional levels and spells to have characters move beyond the Grandmaster (what's beyond a Grandmaster anyway? Supreme leader?), but they decided instead to make Grizzleheim--a world that ran alongside the current world.

Was it smart?


There are arguments that perhaps KingsIsle will lose customers because the level 50 Grandmasters will get "bored" now and quit for MMOs where they can feel that sense of advancement again. (The monster-in-law excels at telling my children that people who are "bored" are really just "boring people" btw.) And then there are those who don't necessarily argue against the way Grizzleheim was released and instead maintain a general feeling that, hey, this was a good thing . . . more content! awesome!

Yes, but was it smart?


I don't know. Before Grizzleheim, the Wizard101 world was more narrow and you could only snake your way through the maze one way, so to speak. And, still, you really do have to finish the main world quests in that same particular order to get to the cheese at the end of the maze, right? (It is cheese you're after, right?)

hmmm.

Now let's look at THEE MMO. You know which one I'm talking about, it's the MMO that shall not be named. We don't speak this MMO's name in the presence of our young. They are too gentle to understand its atrocities. But to give you a quick clue, this is the statue that part of my monthly subscription for a couple years helped build outside of their offices:



Now this MMO that shall not be named has a lot of races in it. Car races you ask? No no, that's freerealms (the other spawn of the other devil); I'm talking races races . . . like elves, dwarfs, humans, gnomes, cows, trolls, lions, tigers, bears, circus clowns, and aliens . . . in Wizard101 we have one race: the tween human. In the other MMO you have many many different starting areas, one to match each race (almost). In Wizard101 you have one starting area. One.

Broad vs. Narrow.

In this other MMO, you can jump around to a few different lands while leveling your character up to "grandmaster," but in Wizard101 (until the magic of Grizzleheim), you run one direction. (Of course, most people in that other MMO only run one direction anyway since they like to use Chinese power leveling guides $$6!!)

In this other MMO, when you get to the top, you discover that there isn't really one big evil thing like Malistaire, you instead discover there are a number of wicked things going on in the war-torn world that will net equally wicked rewards for your hero. Um . . . and there were wicked things that used to be wicked four years ago that no one cares about since they don't yield as wicked rewards anymore (dude, why would you raid ZG with some noobs when you can just go to HF and get better gear in like two seconds from some lame quest). In Wizard101, there's Malistaire and his robes. (dude, why farm the Jade Oni for that sword when you can just go kill the hoarder and get her better sword in like two seconds.)

Broad vs. Narrow.

You know what would be cool in Wizard101? Six more schools of magic with 5 more worlds that level you from 1-50. Imagine if you could choose between leveling in Marleybone (which some have a large disdain for) or some other world you've never quested before and fight against magics that are brand new to you with all new battle animations. It would be like building the game again from the ground up and wrapping it into the big gordito of Wizard101. OH THE CHOICES! THAT'D BROADEN THINGS UP A TON! (Todd Coleman rolls his eyes and says, "Excuse me Mr. Necromancer, does anyone have an extra three years to make that suggestion a reality?") Or maybe . . . just maybe . . .

Yes, yes, I know I know. They are two entirely different games and KingsIsle didn't even LOOK at that game when making their MMO. Yes, yes, I'm comparing apples and oranges.

Or maybe . . . just maybe . . . you're absolutely correct. I AM comparing apples and oranges.

Broad vs. Narrow
Apples vs. Oranges

Maybe Wizard101 should just stay an orange . . . you know? You can't escape it anyway since it's just the way the game works, and I think I kind of like the taste of oranges anyway . . . no matter how it's packaged. Give me a good storyline any day of the week.

Then again, some say the lasting power of the apple is in the fact that it is so broad and feels like you're playing a new game (at least at the lower levels /shiver at the Barrens) every time you make a new character of a different race.

Which do you want? Both? THAT'S JUST SILLY! WHAT A FRUIT BASKET! Well, over time, I think that's exactly what we'll get. A little more broad, and then a little more narrow, a little more broad, and then a little more narrow. Hey, we'll be a WoW clone yet! (GASP! THE NAME HAS BEEN SPOKEN! FLEE!)

Happy Dueling!

FW: Announcement from Professor Drake

This just in from Professor Drake!
________________________________________
https://www.wizard101.com/site/posts/list/9164.ftl

Maximum Level / Grandmaster XP

Wizard101 friends, fans, and customers,

When we first envisioned our sixth world we saw it as a world Wizards would experience after Dragonspyre. This world would have increased the maximum level beyond 50 and the supporting content (new spells, equipment, etc) necessary for the max level increase. However, when we dug into the overall Wizard101 game play and what would best serve our community we decided to launch Grizzleheim, a world that created a parallel experience and offered new content and experiences as players leveled thru the entire game and the other five worlds. While we hope that high level characters find the content enjoyable and engaging the immediate downside to this decision was that no level increase was introduced with this world.

Our decision to launch Grizzleheim also afforded us the ability to address several features that you, our community, had asked for. Features like the ability to group with other Wizards, control friend requests, trade request and new systems like crafting and the bazaar. We felt they were good, valuable additions, and so we made a decision to include them for all players new and old to enjoy.

That said, we did mention to our highest level players that the level cap would be raised this summer and we were not able to make that goal a reality. We apologize for that and would like say that we are continuing forward with plans to release new worlds that do push Wizards beyond level 50. In order to accomplish it, we need to make sure there are new opponents, quests, worlds, spells, and more.

If you're close to or already at level 50, we invite you to explore Grizzleheim, the new crafting system, and the Bazaar and hope you are interested in seeing what new things we have in store for you soon. Thank you for playing Wizard101!

Cyrus Drake Professor of Myth Ravenwood School of Magical Arts En Magus Nos Fides
________________________________________

Is it just me, or is this saying to not worry about the "loss of experience" that might be incurred from doing Grizzleheim quests when you're already 50? That's how I'm reading it. I bet they ensure a way for you to reach the new max level when the new content goes live.

What's your opinion on that?

Happy Dueling!

The Spell Phone and Comic Mischief in Wizard101

So, I've been thinking about this game for a long time now. It's something I've mentioned in a few posts, during interviews, and on a couple of threads. You might call it The Friendly Necromancer Rant (tm). Maybe similar to the rants from Tipa concerning appearance slots. We're bloggers, the blogger rant is practically a requirement for owning a blog, right? right.

So, from day, oh 12 or so, I've had in the back of my mind that this game really needs more comic mischief. Comic mischief you ask? Are you talking about anvils on the head, Friendly?

*turns off lights*

To explain I must take you back to the days . . . the days before Wizard101 . . . yes, it is dark and scary here.

*turns on lights and you find yourself staring at a magic video of a family playing together on a computer*

You see, we used to play on this site called Trollz. Oh look! It's still there on the Internet, glowing and shimmering. Sure, we played all the other sites too, like Everythinggirl.com and nickjr.com and sprouts.com and poptropica and neopets and club penguin and blah blah blah. Why? Because that's what we computer-inclined parents do. We find the cool kid websites and end up playing the games while our little kids giggle and clap their hands with delight. I digress.

So, you see, Trollz had (or has) this really cool feature called the spell phone (get it?! cellphone? spell phone? . . . it's so Piers Anthony). Anyway, as you made friends on Trollz you could add people to a friends list (as per standard) and use your spell phone to interact with them.

You can find your spell phone on the bottom left hand of the screen.


When you click on that you get this interface here:



Now, if you look at that interface and read on the left hand side, you'll see a description of exactly what you can do with your spell phone. And I quote, " . . . and best of all, cast spells . . . "

The spells you can cast with your spell phone can do a number of things to yourself and your friends. You can spend money to affix things like a bird beak on your friends. You can give them zits. You can give them a cool glowing aura. You can do ALL KINDS of things to your friends, including spend money on a counter spell to return your character to normal. THIS, this is the kind of comic mischief I would love to see in Wizard101.

I mean, look at the Weasley brothers in Harry Potter.



These guys had TONS of wizard tricks up their sleeves, right? This is missing in our Wizard101 world. Sure we have pets and cast cool battle animations, but where are the random fireworks, the magic tricks being cast on friends--you know, the kid in all the kids at wizard school?

You know, that spell phone has some other really cool features too if you look at it the tabs on the right hand side of that last graphic. Mail, music, photos, etc. Imagine being able to unlock a new remix of music for your spell phone from yours truly through a small crowns purchase in game? What if you could click through a bunch of old screenshots in game and send your favorite to a friend through your phone to theirs? There's a lot of cool potential there.

Comic mischief . . . Kingsisle . . . take a look at it.

I'm The Friendly Necromancer, and this is my rant.

Happy Dueling!

Kraysys has shoes for me

You may remember when Yeva was holding my hat hostage. If not, here's a refresher link. Ahhh, don't you feel refreshed now? Now we have a new enemy to talk about, Kraysys.

He's holding my shoes hostage. This is something I've been putting off for a long time. (It's kind of like this in real life for me too. I usually end up wearing the same pair of shoes for way too long.) I mean, my current shoes are pretty nice, but these here are *the* shoes. You know?

So, I have to say thank you to everyone who has been helping me try to get these shoes. Among others, it's been nice hanging out with Amanda Pixiewhisper (the evil goddess of pink) while farming these up! It's not every day you get to hang with the countess.



And, thanks to all the balance wizards helping me out, I was able to crack 12k again with a wraith while farming this dude. (I so love the balance wizards.)



. . . and then there's this kind of stuff going on . . .



Blaze earned points while farming, yes, but yet . . . I have not earned my shoes.

*cue violin*

And so I continue farming. Time and time again I've tried with you, Kraysys, and yet you will not relent. *sob* Oh sure, he gives Kyle Skystaff two pairs of my shoes, but not me! *trails off into inconsolable crying* THE PAIN! Why, Kraysys? Why? I thought we had something . . . You're punishing me aren't you? I'm being punished for getting my Malistaire robes on the first try. *tears*

ummmmmm.

Ok, I'm done.

Happy Dueling!

Gratz Cassandra!

My favorite MS Paint artist had an announcement to make to y'all!



Fun, Cassandra! I can't wait to hear about your "I turned grandmaster" party! hehe.

(btw . . . nice editing mark use there with the caret ;-))

Happy Dueling!

Make up Bloggers Meet and Greet

Hello duelers,

I was over at the awesome pyromancer's place and noticed that she's promoting a make up meet and greet for bloggers and readers in case you missed the awesomeness that was the original meet and greet due to it being held in Mooshu.

Here are the details:



(Is that obnoxious enough of an ad for you? Thanks, I made that obnoxious just for you guys!)

I'm not sure if I'll be able to make it or not, but I'd love to see this go over well for said awesome pyromancer.

Happy Dueling!

What's the deal with the Cartoon Network Pet Code?

Hello readers, I have some questions here from Kevin Wildflame:

Hi again. Have any of the cartoon network pet codes been released yet?
I do not have that channel and I don't wanna miss out. :) and a
question or two: will we be able to get all of the pets or is it a
system that you choose the one you want and enter that code? 2.
Is it true that if you used the code for summer dragon that you won't be able to get any of these cartoon network pets? Thanks so much.
Sorry for bothering you again. LOL.

-kevin wildflame.

ok, um, yeah there is just one code for the cartoon network promotional pets for Wizard101: brock2009

So far, that code is only giving out death beetles. I'm not exactly sure how it's supposed to be working, but from everything I've heard . . . it's death beetles for everyone! Now, the rumor is that you should hold out on entering the code if you want a different pet. Just close down the window and don't accept if it's not the pet you want. However, I have an e-mail out to Greyrose to confirm the rumor.

**UPDATE**: Professor Greyrose's official word on the rumor is: "Don’t believe everything you read" . . . so IMHO it's looking like it's death beetles for everyone. **UPDATE**

To answer your second question, I have a summer dragon from the summer dragon code and the brock2009 code went through just fine. My wife's level 8 character is now sporting a death beetle.

Hope that helps and stay tuned!

Happy Dueling!

Reagent Map Spree--Palace of Fire, Throne Room of Fire, Ravenwood, Unicorn Way, and Wizard City Commons

Well, the test realm is awesome for collecting these node points. I echo Evil Theurgist's plea that you NOT loot the nodes this weekend while the test realm is up. It really helps with making these maps. In the time that it usually takes me to make one or two maps, I made five. . . . and three of those are the most farmed areas of the game since they are the newbie areas.







Once again, if you have any corrections to these maps, let me know!

Happy Dueling!

Diapermancer Days--Episode 1

ROFL! Cassandra is too funny! She has her own version of Evil Twin Comics to share with us all.

Happy Dueling! :-)

Is there an adults-only group for Wizard101?

I just got a question from twitter that basically asked how adults could meet up for contests and questing and the like.

Well, I remembered that there was one I had read about on Wizard101 Central called Wizened Wizards.

. . . BUT . . . it's looking like this guild/thread is now closed. You might have some luck contacting Lady Nightowl directly over there.

So, question for my readers . . . do you know of any other adult-only guilds or organizations? I haven't heard.

Thanks in advance for your responses!

Happy Dueling!

Test Realm Re-Opens for the Weekend!

Professor Greyrose just sent this across:

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Wizard101’s Test Realm is now Open for the Weekend!

From our player feedback, we've taken a look at the Bazaar and added sorting of items as well as improved the overall experience with the Bazaar.

We need you, our players, to spend some time in the Test Realm at the Bazaar and really test out how the new system works. Buy and sell as much as you can, and remember what you do on the Test Realm in no way affects your Live Realm characters.

Once you've given the new Bazaar experience a thorough testing, post your feedback on the Test Realm section of the message boards.

To learn how you can participate in this Test Realm, please see our Sneak Peek Page.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Hmmm, I wonder what else is on the Test Realm? Might be fun to log on and poke around a bit.

Happy Dueling!

Cartoon Network Pets

Last night I was watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix with my wife, and all of a sudden Kyle Skystaff and Amber Deathsong come TEARING into the room screaming, "DAAAADDDDYYYY!!!!" They began to then tell me between gasps that if you watched the Galatic Battle D&P Pokemon marathon tomorrow on Cartoon Network, that there would be a code given for a free pet!

. . . and it's true!

1- Verified by Todd Coleman in a twitter today (thanks Starsongky)
2- On the main website here
3- Also posted on Diary of a Wizard and Rogue Wizard.
4- Also posted about on youtube by Potterplus.



So, if you're digging the Galactic battle Pokemon series (which we love at my house), be sure to watch!

. . . and I'm sure if you don't *someone* *somewhere* will have a code to share.

Note: It's also sounding like the codes will only work between 18-20 July 2009 btw.

Happy Dueling!

Pet Contest Winner--Ryan Stormcaller

Quick story time:

So I log in after eating dinner to see what's what with Gorman's pet party . . . and apparently I'm late.



It was funny, I ran kyle in right as someone was saying, "awww bummer. I thought I'd get to meet Thomas." And then he ported away. Well Gorman started calling people back for the unofficial/official post-pet party party. (You know, when friendly is online, the party is always going)



Esmee here was wearing the crown clothes and matching me one for one with cool stuff. So it was called that I should win the contest, to which I said . . . NO WAI and put up a bloodbat pet.

Then they asked me to choose the winner. A couple people there had the death scarab pets. I was going to choose those until someone said, no they're code pets not fair!

sigh, ok.

So I scanned the crowd looking for a cool pet when BAM! There was Ryan StormCaller with the same krokomummy pet I had put up just a couple days ago.



So grats to Ryan Stormcaller for the win!

And now as they say, it's time for the rest of the story . . .

I log off, watch Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix. sleep. wake up. log on.

BAM! Who is there?



It's Ryan Stormcaller, who helped me farm Kraysys a couple of times.

Nice meeting you Ryan and once again, congrats for winning the unofficial/official post-pet party pet contest!!!!!

haha.

Small victories are sometimes the sweetest.

Happy Dueling!

Pet Party moved to 8PM Central

Whoops! Gorman let me know there was a change of plans!

A pet contest will be held on Thursday, July 16, at 8PM Central, in the Death Tower, Realm Greyrose, Area: 1 (if full, move to 2 , etc.)

The host will be judging on coolness and uniqueness. Prizes will be Treasure Cards and Other stuff I can find.

8PM --- So like now and stuff.

Happy Dueling!

J. Todd Coleman's Twitters

So there were a few really interesting twitters from J. Todd Coleman yesterday and the day before . . . let's look at them, shall we?

The first to come across was this one:

just finished presenting a new combat prototype to bigwigs... turned out pretty cool, actually!

Of course, I was ALL over that and basically twittered back asking what kind of new combat prototype, hehe. You know, inquiring minds want to know . . . to which he responded simply:

@FriendlyNecro ooooh, no, I'm waaay out there in the ether now. i'm exploring stuff you guys may not see for years ;p

Oh I so don't know how to read that wink! Do you know how to read that wink? I so don't know how to read that wink.

Next was this twitter:

on loan to tom hall's project this morning, let's get these meetings going. who's bringing the breakfast tacos?

Very interesting! J. Todd went to go help on the super secret "second project" from Kingsisle. Right now all we know about the super secret "second project" is this from here:


Wizard101 has been so great, that I can't wait to see what the next MMO they produce will be. Any ideas?

Then we got this twitter:

testing co-operative CCG rules in the wizard universe., 4-on-1 against a humongofrog. eek!

What do you guys make of that message? Testing rules, 4-on-1 . . . against a humongofrog? Is he talking about an offline card game? But he says, "in the wizard universe." Could that be a card game within the card game? Or simply some new rules for cooperative play within the game itself?

And finally there was this gem:

is wondering if the harry potter movie is going to result in a influx of new wizard101 players

LOL, well, I certainly don't think it will hurt Wizard101 that's for sure! I can't wait to go see the new Harry Potter! Of course, you can't take a little 2 week old kid and just prance into a boomingly loud theater now, can you . . . *sigh* parenthood, you gotta love it. :-)

Leave your opinions on these interesting twitters from the creator of Wizard101 here. I'd love to talk about a few of those with you!

Happy Dueling!

Free Grizzleheim Remix, Fo' y'all

DJ Friendly Necromancer here!



HEY ALL! I've been working in the back channels with Professor Greyrose to get this Grizzleheim remix I made put on the Fan Art page. We couldn't work that out since that page is for visual fan art, but (after clearing it with the Kingsisle legal department) this remix of mine ended up on the Downloads page (psst, it's right underneath the Wizard101 ringtones!)

So, please, if you're into stuff with a crazy beat and dig the music of Grizzleheim, visit the downloads page and give my remix a spin in your itunes! The original music for Grizzleheim belongs to Kingsisle and was written by Nelson Everhart. Yup, the same Nelson Everhart. (He's such a nice guy!)

While you're at the downloads page, they've also added some new Grizzleheim ringtones for you to check out as well! How about that?

Thanks for listening and thanks for reading! I'd love to see this land into someone's youtube video sometime! (maybe my own, hehe)

Happy Dueling!

Diapermancer cartoon

These pictures that Cassandra Griffendreamer sends to me just crack me up!



I love how the horns on my hat are drooping in the first part. The shape of the baby's face is just LOL! So funny Cassandra! See all the coolness of MS Paint? So awesome. MS Paint pictures are truly an art form all their own.

Happy Dueling!

PET PARTY WOOT!

Gorman RavenHunter has passed on the following information to me:

A pet contest will be held on Thursday, July 16, at 8PM Central, in the Death Tower, Realm Greyrose, Area: 1 (if full, move to 2 , etc.)

The host will be judging on coolness and uniqueness. Prizes will be Treasure Cards and Other stuff I can find.

Sounds fun and a good way to bring everybody's Baby Abbey's together!

Haha! Question for my readers, do you still have any original Baby Abbey pets from when the only name dropped pets would get were "Baby Abbey"? Or did you rename them?

I've got two!

Baby Abbey 1:


Baby Abbey 2:


Happy Dueling!

Forgiveness and the Creative Commons Copyright

Skip past this post if you're looking for Wizard101 news or tips; this is going to be something a bit different here, but it's something I feel compelled to say to the community as a whole. I apologize in advance for being so serious. Don't worry, I'll be my light-hearted self again in no time. :-) I may be opening up a can of worms here, but . . . incoming wall of text!

~~~~~~

I am a very forgiving person--probably to a fault. I know that I've made a lot of mistakes in my life and if it weren't for people forgiving me, I'd be in a much different (and worse) situation than I am in today. I've been blessed by being surrounded by such loving and understanding individuals.

I truly try to have an open mind and heart about the people around me and I try to look for the good in everybody. I've been called naive for this. But when is the last time you met someone who was truly evil? Most are just a bit misguided or inexperienced or jaded . . . maybe in need of some direction . . . maybe just a bit lazy.

It is so easy to lock someone out, and it is so hard to put yourself through the fire of a hard relationship to find the diamond in the person. Believe me, there are a few people I've met in this game that I'd like to punch in the face for their arrogance and lack of concern. But yet, most of the time there's something more there inside of them that's just waiting to be discovered. You have to have restraint to do this. You have to find the will to be the better "you." And, yes, there are days where I'm not the best "me" I can be.

I have to tell you that the nature of my day time job is that sometimes I must be ultra-critical and precise. It's what I get paid to do. You have no idea the pains (when the occassion calls for it) I take to be absolutely perfect in my day job. Some days I leave work with a headache from the sheer intense focus I've had to maintain. Some days when I have finally finished editing a document, I feel like I have lived in it, fixed the place up, and had a couple kids there.

Some in my profession let that critical nature leak over into everything they do. They criticize and judge and try to perfect everything at every time. I don't do that. I know, instead, that it's the flaws in a diamond that make it beautiful, and that nothing you publish will ever be 100 percent error free. This is why I never comment when I see a misspelled word or an improperly placed comma or even when the English language is completely slaughtered at my doorstep when I'm off the clock. You're all safe with me in that regard. (and hopefully I don't get judged for my dangling modifiers and abuse of ellipses too harshly as well.)

I see a bit of sadness in people who will not forgive others for their mistakes . . . who miss the meat for the color of the texture . . . who miss the motivation behind the mishap.

I sincerely hope that when I screw up (and I will screw up time and time again) that my readers and supporters and cohorts will forgive me and keep coming back and help and guide me like they have been (I really appreciate it). I am nowhere near perfect and never have been.

So here's a plea from me to you fellow Wizard101 writers/sites/players/etc.: if and when you know you've wronged someone, try to make it right and ask for forgiveness. If and when someone has wronged you and they ask you for forgiveness, try to turn the other cheek and invite them to try again. These days the world is too dark to snuff out anyone's candle. From where I'm sitting, Wizard101 needs all its supporters, even the ones that may appear misguided or inexperienced or jaded on the surface. (notice I didn't say skeptical--because that's not where I'm going with this.)

Now, switching gears, I have a few things to say on to the subject of creative commons copyright. I've noticed in our little community we haven't specifically been saying anything like HEY, MY STUFF IS PROTECTED BY CREATIVE COMMONS COPYRIGHT SO DON'T STEAL IT WITHOUT LINKING BACK TO ME OR GIVING ME CREDIT AND NO! YOU MAY NOT USE THIS INFORMATION FOR PERSONAL GAIN! We've, for the most part, been very civil and respectful, and I hope people just know that it's a given around here. I have heard some rumblings that, in all our thirst for blogging content (which we live and die by), a blogger here or there may be snagging stuff off of other Wizard101 related sites (not mine) and claiming it as their own. This is not cool. Don't jump to conclusions just yet, I'm not pointing anyone out here.

Keep in mind that if you're a blogger, there's a good chance you will be a reporter of sorts . . . a reporter of whatever you choose. Your life, Your friends' lives, the happenings in the arena, etc. As a reporter you are perfectly in the clear to quote people. But if you don't cite your sources, you're plagiarizing plain and simple. And that WILL get you in trouble with the community.

I highly HIGHLY suggest that we all keep it civil, and if you know you're at fault . . . change what you're doing, go back and edit any offending post, add credit where credit is due, and blatantly ask for forgiveness. I'm pretty hopeful the community will understand and move on. If we all need to tighten up by putting the creative commons symbols up on our websites, then we will. We haven't in the past, but we're growing . . . and with that comes growing pains.

In the words of Bill and Ted's Excellent Adventure: BE EXCELLENT TO EACH OTHER! If we can do that, we will continue to grow and succeed, my friends.

Thank you for your time and Happy Dueling!

Diapermancer is . . . gasp . . . a life wizard!

We got an awesome surprise package the other day! Kingsisle had sent us a little somethin' somethin' from their webstore! We were completely floored to receive such an awesome gift! It was such a sweet gesture and just . . . amazing. I had a huge smile on my face. HUGE! We all had huge smiles on our faces! Amber, Kyle, me, my wife, the monster-in-law . . . mail time has never been such a happy occasion!

And then the worst thing imaginable happened . . . I turned the little onesee over to discover what they had chosen my Diapermancer to be!


NOOOOOooooOOOooOOoo! A life wizard!!!!!!! How can this be?! Amber Deathsong (Our resident life wizard) did a dance around the house, while I just hung my head.


At first I thought he would burn from the pain and torture of wearing a life wizard cloak. And indeed, he looks in pain doesn't he? It was like fire on his skin. HORRIBLE!

But then, in an instant, as if Sawyer was snuggling into Gryffindor like good ol' Harry Potter, he accepted his sorting hat. Seeing just how relaxed he became in his first ever life wizard robe, I relented . . . he certainly must be a life wizard.


*sigh.* I guess I can't always pass on the good genes. (I really hope he doesn't cast an imp on me in the middle of the night for saying that.)

haha! That onesee is a 6-9 months size, but we couldn't wait to post it to you all to show off our cute, little life wizard and publicly thank Kingsisle. Thank you so much for this awesome gift. You're truly a company with a heart of gold. Keeping this blog and getting to chat with employees of Kingsisle every once in a while has been a very positive experience.

THANK YOU!

HAPPY DUELING!

Where's the Wizard101 folder on my hard drive?

Here's another question from Destiny Deathflame:

oh yea its me again lol um i was just wondering how you find the wizard101 folder on a hard drive? thx so much

Here's a trick I use for Window's Vista! I right click on the Wizard101 icon in the start menu and select "Open file location." The Bin folder is where you will find all your screenshots.

You can also perform a search on your computer hard drive for "Wizard101."

You can also dig into your hard drive and Wizard101 is usually found in this path:

/Program Files/KingsIsle Entertainment/Wizard101

Hope that helps!

Max Friends?

I have a question here from the newest member of the blogroll, Kevin Wildflame from the Rulers of the Wand blog.

BTW! I do have a question, whats the max number of friends you can have on your friends list?

You can have up to 100 friends on your friends list. How do I know this? I know this because of the magical and super informative player's handbook! It's right here on this page.

I don't know how many people actually know about this handbook. It's got a ton of information in it.

Happy Dueling!

FW: Wizard101 July 14th Downtime

Professor Greyrose just sent this message through! Looks like some needed fixes will be going into the game tomorrow morning!
________________________________

Wizard101 the game will be offline from 3am to approximately 4am on Tuesday July 14th*.

This downtime is necessary to address the issues listed below:

▪ Wandering creatures in Dragonspyre will no longer gain Power Pips naturally, however the bosses of the Spiral still maintain this ability.
▪ Sgt Skullsplitter will be taught another lesson by Merle Ambrose and will stop casting interrupts on players.
▪ Baby Drakes will once again appear for the Break An Egg quest.
▪ Scarl Soomhowler will appear more frequently for the Clean Them Out Quest.
▪ Players will get a message after they complete Trade Voyage to seek out Merle Ambrose and gain access to Grizzleheim after level 20.
▪ Scarsnout will now properly resist Myth spells and be weak to Storm spells.
▪ Reagents in your Reagent section of your backpack will now be alphabetized.
▪ The creatures in Raven Fortress will be less aggressive and won't pull Wizards into combat as easily.
▪ Krokotopian Scarabs can properly be bought and sold from the Bazaar
▪ Yardbird Quest goals will be more clearly defined.
▪ Veil of Verdancy will no longer be bright pink and can now be dyed.
▪ Hood of Ashes will now have a level 45 requirement.
▪ Amaranthine Staff will no longer be eligible to sell at the Bazaar.
▪ The following house items will now work properly in your house:
◦Dogfish Statue
◦Dragon Wall Bust
◦Dragonwing Bust
◦Stone Fireplace
◦Brick Fireplace
◦Soda Barrels
◦Tiny Arched Door

If you do not see them where you placed them before tonight, you may need to go to your attic and pick all items up in the house for it to appear. We apologize for this slight inconvenience, but it may be the only way to ensure you can retrieve the item.

▪ The Eye will once again be an item players can interact with for the Eye of Truth quest.
▪ Tall Wooden Shelf & Rough Wooden Shelf can now be picked up once they've been placed in a Castle or Dorm.
▪ PvP Ranked Match results will now be correct after PvP match completion.

Please know this downtime only addresses the issues listed above, and we are working diligently to fix others that players have brought to us.

Watch the message boards and the Ravenwood News for upcoming information about additional updates and fixes.

*please note this downtime may be extended without notice, but we will try to message any extensions on the Wizard101 game launcher.
_______________________________
Thank you!

Meet and Greet wrapup

I'm sure Evil Theurgist will be writing a full report on the meet and greet. In the meantime, here's my version:

1- Mass friend invite session.


2- More people than place settings.


2.5- (submitted by Cassandra GriffenDreamer) DOGPILE ON CASSANDRA! (It's true, I called a dogpile on Cassandra and she escaped)


3- Lots of people on the steps to the Jade Palace.


4- Cass Lotusflower wins the Grizzleheim outfit contest!


5- Gathering at the rock garden for a photo shoot and Robert DragonHeart earns points.


6- bloggers form the traditional crime suspect photo line (*It was the guy in the Santa Suit officers*)


The rest was just kind of a blur. Have I mentioned how I need a larger friend list? I tried to prepare by deleting some old names off of my list (really hope I didn't delete anyone important by accident), but I still filled right back up.

Thanks again to all the other bloggers (you should check my MMO club list link off on the sidebar of the blog) and thanks so much to the readers! Sorry if I missed any of you!

Happy Dueling!

Remember what it was like on Unicorn Way?

I was playing my new fire wizard tonight for a little bit, and it helped me remember what it was like when the game was new. So much has changed over these months. It's hard to believe that the game is approaching one year old here soon. I wonder what kind of celebration Kingsisle will put on when that happens? . . . maybe nothing, but just maybe they will do something great!

So let me know, Do you remember what it felt like to be a new wizard on Unicorn Way?

For me tonight there was that familiar spark of excitement as I ran in to battle a few skeletal pirates. There was that feeling again of exploring a new world and of the fun whirl from the Wizard City Commons music in the air and the challenge of the golem tower looming in my quest log. I just had a big smile on my face tonight.


It's kind of nice to forget everything you know once in a while and just feel new like a kid again, you know? Sometimes our minds get so clouded with goals and past achievements in a game like this (and in other games . . . and in life in general), that it's hard to return to the wonder of it all and live in the moment. (Emotional baggage, right?)

I think those feelings of newness are supposed to be part of the magic that you have when you play Wizard City though. I embraced it tonight. So, just remember THAT when you're surrounded by griefers and node-stealers and port-and-flee combat jumpers . . . happiness can sometimes just be a new character away . . . if you can only allow yourself to forget that you've done it all before. :-)

Happy Dueling!

Full instance bug fix

Cassandra GriffinDreamer wanted to pass this solution on to you all.

Hi friendly,
Here's some help for you and wizards who need help.

Trying to port to someone often results to preventions. They prevent you porting by saying: "Your friend is in a full instance," even when your friend not in a dungeon or tower. Here's what you need to do to fix it.

1. Go to privacy options.
2. Switch allow friend teleports to NO and press OK.
3. Go back to privacy options again.
4. Switch friend teleports to YES again and press OK.
5. See if your friend is able to port.

This solution was brought to you by Cassandra GriffinDreamer.

I've seen a similiar solution also posted on Diary of a Wizard and Valarian's Pad. It may be posted other places as well.

It definitely doesn't hurt to keep spreading information on how to overcome this bug. Thanks, Cassandra!

Happy Dueling!

The bloggers meet and greet?

So I've been hearing a lot about a meet and greet for bloggers sponsored by The Evil Theurgist himself. Here's what I could lift for the details:

Blog Meet and Greet!

When
Sunday, July 12 at 5pm eastern time

Where
Mooshu Jade Palace under the roof of where Mini Games are, Realm, Wu Area 1 if Area 1 is full we go to the next area down and so on

What to do
Meet other bloggers, bloggers meet fans, Trading cards, and a best Grizzleheim outfit contest hosted by me (Evil Theurgists)

Contest? Prize?
Winner gets Rebirth treasure cards, Scarecrow, and anything else I can find lol.

2 Rules
1: Must be Grizzleheim clothes
2: Have Fun

Teleport bus
Autumn Duskhunter will be running a "teleport bus" service for players that haven't yet unlocked Moo Shu. Meeting BEHIND Golem Tower from 4:55 -5:10pm EST

I think I got everything right there.

Oh YEAH! And Autumn Duskhunter even made a cool flyer.



Now the big question for me is . . . will I be there? Um, I will see what I can do. No promises from me since the diapermancer may have me occupied, but I will try.

Happy Dueling!

How do I disguise a life wizard in pvp?

Interesting question here from Brooke DawnCloud:

username=Brooke DawnCloud :D
Question=I am a life wizard, and i always get
killed first in arena. I don't have
enough money to dye my clothes, so is
there another way to make me not look
like a life wizard?

Hmmm. Good question. Well, at least your name doesn't have the word "healing" or "pixie" or anything healer'y in it. It's too bad your name isn't something that sounds more like another class. Like Brooke Stormweaver or Brooke Hexblood. Names can be a dead giveaway.

Let's see . . . I got it! How about if you use a treasure card from a different class that would normally be a locked spell (meaning you can't get that spell by choosing that class as a secondary). The damage might give you away though.

Tempest would be a good one since everybody is usually busy putting up storm shields and you can't really buy that at a library. Actually tempest is your best bet since you can cast it early. It's a much better choice than say a poison treasure card from a necromancer.

I don't know outside of that. Good question. Hey readers! Do you have any ideas on how to disguise your life wizard outside of these and given the clothing restrictions?

Happy Dueling!

how do you take pictures of your character AND oni and minotaur statues?

I received another awesome e-mail today that I'd like to share with you all:

hi friendly! love you blog!! lol
well i was just wondering how you take pictures of your character? um not with a digicam of course, (deleting this part of the e-mail to keep the secret secret) so can you help me out?
and oh btw, i dunno if this is on the blog yet but do you know where the oni statue can be found? and the minotaur statue?
thx so much, and sincerely, destiny deathgem (fellow necromancer)
NECROMANCERS RULE!

hehe. Thanks and YEAH NECROMANCERS RULE! /cheer

SCREENSHOTS
Taking pictures of your character is as simple as clicking the print screen button. The real trick is knowing how to make those screenshots look good and where to find them after you've taken a screenshot.

Here's a little trick to removing all the little window elements before you take your screenshot. Press Ctrl+G, and use the left mouse while dragging to circle around to the front of your character before pressing Print Screen. That hides all the chat windows and health indicators and yada yada yada.

Finding the screenshot means going into the Wizard101 folder on your harddrive and then going into a little folder called "Bin." That's where you'll find your screenshot.

STATUES
Yup! I know where those are.

Minotaur Statue--Dragonspyre--Plaza of Conquests--Karuvian Scargiver
Oni Statue--Dragonspyre--The Crucible--Katia Firewinter

Have fun farming those up!

Happy Dueling!

What do disarm and infection do?

I've got a couple spell questions here from our friend, Silverheart:

Question=I've got two queshtons. the
first is I have a spell called disarm
it's a storm spell I've tried useing
it on a few undead just to see what
happend nothing happend and also
what does infecion do i got one the
other day when the death tree was
giveing them out for free.

Here are the cards in question:



DISARM
This is a storm spell that's been in the game since the beginning. It's purpose is to remove a blade spell or healing boost from your target. You know, those cool spinning orbs around your opponents head. Cast that and the blade goes bye bye. Personally I think storm wizards got the short end of the stick with that utility spell. Look how cool the fire wizard version of that spell is.


This is one of the reasons why fire wizards win over balance wizards in pvp. Balance wizards buffing their judgement spell against a fire wizard is just giving the fire wizard free ammunition. I'd much rather steal a charm than bust it.

INFECTION
This is a brand new death card in the game (available from Mortis the death tree) that casts a debuff on your target. It is consumed when the player (or creature) casts a healing spell. Their healing spell will then be at 50% effectiveness . . . just like it was cast under the hood of a doom and gloom aura.


Infection is very specific where as doom and gloom is an over sweeping effect. You'll notice both of these spells have no affect on death school wizards. It's because we drain life not heal. That's a distinction that makes these spells ineffective against us.

Hope that answers your questions and gives you a better idea how those cards work in relation to other cards!

Happy Dueling!

Reagent Map--Chamber of Fire

I did some running around in Chamber of Fire last night collecting nodes.



There's what I came up with! Let me know if you find any more there.

Happy Dueling!

What's the best way to use treasure cards?

I have a question here that I hope I can do justice.

username=Victoria Silver
Question=Maybe you can help me - what is the
best way to use treasure cards?
Right now I barely use them, because
they seem just a random assortment of
cards, and my main deck seems pretty
solid, I've got a lot of 0 cost things
I can use if I have a bad draw. What
should I be doing with treasure cards
to make them more useful?

I know, right?! I've got like a ton of these that I don't use. This has been talked about by a lot of people, but I'm going to give you friendly's version.

Consideration #1: You can beat the game without ever using one treasure card.

Consideration #2: There's usually setup time to using treasure cards "the best" way.

Consideration #3: Treasure cards in PvP is essential.

OK, with those three things in mind, let's talk.

Most treasure cards are junk. The best treasure cards are the cards to make new cards yourself; high level cards from your class; or situational shields, debuffs, or effects. Let's talk about each

CARDS TO MAKE NEW CARDS YOURSELF
Here's an example of the types of cards you can use to make your own cards with.



So the deal with those is you load a deck with your best card and you put a whole slew of these in the sideboard. Then go to Unicorn Way and find a spot where a bunch of noobies won't join in your fight. When the battle comes up, you discard a wand spell, and draw one of these treasure cards and apply it to your regular card. You keep doing this until you can't anymore . . . wand the monster that's been picking away at you to end the fight, and then start over.

Keep doing this until you build a huge stockpile of these self-made cards. Hopefully you have a friend to chat with or something else to distract you while you do this because it's time consuming and a little boring. But, having these cards will cut down your time when you're in an actual battle and will be using them.

So, to use these cards you set up your regular deck with only blades, traps, debuffs, and a couple emergency damage cards. You fill your sideboard with as many of your self-made cards as you can. AND YOU KEEP REFILLING YOUR SIDEBOARD AFTER EVERY FEW FIGHTS!

What does this do for you? I think you know the answer. Having these in your sideboard takes some of the randomness out of the game. When you have enough pips, you just discard an unneeded card, draw your monster card, and play it. No longer will you have to keep discarding and waiting for the turns to pass before your monster card *finally* shows up. It's just right there for you and it's a stronger or more accurate card than your regular card. perfect . . . except for that dreaded setup time I mentioned earlier.

HIGH LEVEL CARDS FROM YOUR CLASS
Notice I said "from your class" in the title of this section. You really don't want to be wasting your pips on a spell that isn't from your class. Sure it may look cool and it may "seem" to do more damage than a spell from your own class, but it's all about the power pips. The only time it might make sense to use a spell outside of your class is if you cast one of these three spells.



Those spells give you a short line of single pips. NOW, in that case, it makes sense to use a more powerful spell outside of your class; otherwise, you're just wasting power pips. I digress.

Say you're a level 40 something necromancer who does not yet have access to the ultimate AOE power for your class: scarecrow. It would be a very good idea to load your sidebar full of scarecrow cards.

I know that Myth wizards love the Ninja Pig treasure card. It's myth based, it's awesome, and they don't have a "single hit" 5-pip card outside of it. Do your myth wizard friends a favor if you find one of these Ninja Pig cards: open up a trade window and give them all your Ninja Pig cards. They'll love you for it.

SITUATIONAL SHIELDS, DEBUFFS, AND EFFECTS
Check out these treasure cards:



Those are just a few I had in my bags on Thomas this morning. In regular PvE play, I'm not going to be using these a lot, but in PvP, timing one of these is everything. Blocking damage is huge in PvP . . . and timing when you're going to block damage is everything. If I play a lightning shield card too early, most likely my opponent will break it with a weak lighting spell or wand cast. But if I play a lightning shield the moment before my opponent plays a Triton card against me . . . I win! In that case, once again, I'm using my sideboard treasure cards to take some of the randomness out of the game and adding predictability.

So, to sum up this big long post . . . THE BEST WAY TO USE TREASURE CARDS IS TO HELP REMOVE RANDOMNESS AND ADD PREDICTABILITY. And that's about it. Drawing from your sideboard will help you time your attacks and defenses.

Happy Dueling!

Reagent Map--Shoshun Village

I was in Shoshun Village checking out the reagent map made by Evil Theurgists and noticed a few additional spawns not noted on his map. Here's my update to it after about 80 cattails and 20 mistwood later.



Happy Dueling!

New Wizard101 Press Release (and Homework in a Graveyard plug)

Homework in a Graveyard did an excellent job of recreating the press release, so I'm not going to republish it here. It is very exciting news, so definitely go check it out. I'm hoping these cards may get implemented someday soon.

While you're over there, scroll down to this thread where Autumn Duskhunter (the keeper of said awesome blog) gives a breakdown of a really cool idea she had to expand the dueling circles.


(photoshop or not, Autumn, that's a pretty cool way to visualize a playing field)

I don't know, but I see "raid" potential with this idea. Imagine a group of 12 wizards taking on a dragon titan for loot that is better than any loot ever dropped in game before. Malistaire loot? HAHAHAHA! I laugh at your measly Malistaire loot!


(obviously not real . . . KI send me your font file! ;-))

Putting aside any technical aspects of how to actually come up with a raid for Wizard101 . . . Here's what I want to know from my readers, what do you think a raid encounter would do to this game?

Thanks in advance for you comments!

Happy Dueling!

Player Trading Card of the Day--Tyler Jadeblade

Today's trading card is Tyler Jadeblade.



Nature's Wrath is a fun card choice! (That's the one with the treant who chucks a rock at your target in case you were wondering)

You're right about questing with a friend. There's one special friend that I've never really talked about on this blog before. He's been my buddy since the old days of Everquest, and I really don't get to play this game with him as often as I'd like. I was lucky enough to get to play through a few zones of Dragonspyre with him with Amber and Kyle. Those times are really treasured for me. He's a good buddy.

Reagent Map--Royal Hall

I spent a good amount of time running around the Royal Hall tonight in an effort to map all these reagent locations in the Royal Hall.



We'll have to add those to the growing list over at central.

Happy Dueling!

Wizard101 Important Update!

Hello all,

This message just came across the wire from Professor Greyrose!

There will be an update to Wizard101 July 8th at 3am Central US Time that will include the following important updates!

Enhanced Boss Encounters Update
The bosses of the Spiral have been taught a lesson by Merle Ambrose, and they will no longer interrupt your combat! All the Enhanced Boss Battles are back to normal, but the bosses have kept their knowledge of Power Pips, and they will earn and use Power Pips just like a Wizard.

Crafting Updates
More Mist Wood and Scrap Iron will be appearing in the Spiral, and should be easier for Wizards to find as they learn the ways of Reagents and Crafting.
Cool down timers on some recipes have been lowered to allow Wizards to create items more quickly.

Reagents have been added as rewards for Mini Games!
The reagents needed for Treasure Cards have been reduced, most notably the number of Treasure Card ingredients needed to create the final Treasure Card.
The descriptions for some of the Craft-able Items were incomplete and should now reflect all the bonuses the items grant the player.

Treasure Card Updates
Harold Argleston in the Wizard City Library, and Zan’ne in the Krokotopia Library will have some of their inventory of Treasure Cards renewed, but at a cost. Treasure Cards in the Library will be more expensive than in the Bazaar, and the Bazaar will be more expensive than Crafting your own Treasure Cards. *

Quest Updates
The Weapons Cache in Merkholm will once again allow players to interact with it, without having to switch Realms.
Death Students will be acknowledged for completing the Sweet Revenge quest.
Stump Worms will be appearing once again for the Good Eats quest.

Housing Update
The Wallpaper and Floor textures that had suddenly turned pink and purple for many Wizards, will once again appear as their normal wallpaper and floor patterns!

Thank you to all our young Wizards who gave us feedback and bug reports!

See you in Wizard City!

~Professor Greyrose

This sounds like some very positive changes to the latest patch!

Happy Dueling!

Housing Item of the Day--Bear-Prowed Rowboat

Alex Dragonblade is now parking a new vehicle in his Marleybone Estate. Now all he needs is a flood to come along.



Alex reported that the Bear-Prowed Rowboat comes from The Stormfather, who is the last boss of Grizzleheim from what I hear. (I was just watching a youtube video of the fight done by Angel Dragongem.)

So, good vocabulary word in that item of the day: Prowed. . . . i.e. the front part of the ship.

Learn something new every day!

Happy Dueling!

New Jade Oni Fight

I played around a bit with the new Jade Oni yesterday and this morning! I hadn't experienced that yet. I'm sure it's old school for others, but it's new to me!

So I recorded a bit of the fight this morning and thought I'd youtube it for kicks.



Feel free to leave your impressions of the new fight here.

I thought it was quite fun myself. I don't know how tough that would be around level 40, but at least now I don't think it could be farmed by a group of 20's. /shrug

Happy Dueling!

Reagent Map--Jade Palace

I did a bit of running around the Jade Palace and the only Reagents I could find there were cattails. Let me know if you know of any more that I missed.

**UPDATED WITH NEW SPAWN POINTS**

Player Trading Card of the Day--Tristan Lightwalker

Hello readers!

Today's Player Card of the day is another Death student!



I like Tristan's advice to not rush though the game. This reminds me a bit of an interesting interview with J. Todd Coleman:

Wizard 101 : J. Todd Coleman Interview - Wizard 101 for PC at MMORPG.COM: "Of course! I'd love to have a magical content machine, so that we could release new worlds with the push of a button. Unfortunately, new content takes time. To produce one spell requires a pipeline of half a dozen people and over a man month of effort... there is a reason why most MMOs take four to five years to come to market."

I hear a lot of people talking about how quickly they beat this content that just came out. Tristan's advice is well taken.

Thanks and Happy Dueling!

Player Trading Card of the Day--Mitchell Nightheart

I have another death student trading card for you today! This one is Michell Nightheart.



It's true! Keep focused on your goals! Mitchell mentioned he makes avatars for the Wizard101 Central community. Here's a look at his avatar collection.

Thanks for reading and Happy Dueling!

Housing Item of the Day--Tree Lantern

Amber was running around Savarstaad Pass last night and defeated the mighty Ygnvar Sharptooth.



As well as telling me I was super cool and he almost felt like I was his own cub after I handed his behind to him, he also handed over this wonderful Tree Lantern.



It's fun . . . has a cool glow effect on it. Definitely worthy of a post on the ol' Friendly Necromancer blog.

Happy dueling!

Regeant Locations--Savarstaad Pass

Ok, so . . . I was talking with Evil Theurgists tonight over at Central, and he had taken my request to make a regeant locations map and ran with it. He had put together a map for one of the Digmoore Station locations (I think Hyde Park if I remember right). We may actually start taking this project on. Actually, if we could get a lot of people to chip in, that would be amazing.

So, I spent an hour or so running around Savarstaad Pass tonight and while I was running around, I had my graphics program open on the side. Anytime I found a reagent, I would open up the map and mark the location.

This is what I came up with.



Obviously I didn't catch everything, but I gave it a good shot.

What do you think?

Joe (Evil Theurgists) and I thought that if the community pitched in and everyone spent some time putting maps like this together, we'd end up with a fantastic resource.

Happy Dueling!

Player Trading Card of the Day--Valkoor Shadowhunter

Hey all, I have another Player Card of the Day here. If you haven't read the article I did a while back with The Infamous Super Death Wizard, you should go check it out!

Today, Valkoor makes a return appearance as the Player Trading Card of the Day!



I like that spell choice, Valkoor. I recently picked up the battle pig pet from a game card I bought at Rite Aid. That pet comes with one card of infection, which minuses 50% from the next healing spell. It seems like a great one for PvP.

Happy Dueling!

Where do you find mistwood?

Hello all, I had a question on my youtube channel:

im not mem but were do u find mist wood

Ok, well, I've found a lot of mistwood throughout wizard city. One thing you want to keep in mind is Wizard City is HIGH TRAFFIC. So, you may spend a lot of time looking for mistwood and not find it. I found a few pieces myself in Firecat Alley past the bridge area over by the Witch's house.

I would love for someone to develop a map someday that shows all the node points where they found crafting materials. Somebody put that on their list of things to do, would ya?

One thread that you should probably be following is this one over at the central started by Donna Pixiesong. She's keeping track of all the Reagents. That thread is sure to have some good info on it for you. Donna is awesomeness personified.

Notice that she recommends finding mistwood in Savarstaad Pass. That's a great recommendation. Grizzleheim is going to be off the beaten path for the most part.

Hope that helps!

Happy Dueling.

A whole family of wizards!

haha! I just got this fantastic picture from Cassandra GriffinDreamer! She drew a nice little tribute to our new addition. :-)



It's a whole family of wizards! Thank you Cassandra!

Also, in case you missed it, Sorion Hex over at The Reneverian Hex wrote some cool fiction and added some references to the newest wizard and our family.

We're home from the hospital today. whew. Thanks everybody once again for the well wishes and support for our family. And thank you for supporting The Friendly Necromancer blog. You guys make this fun!

Happy Dueling!

Brand new Wizard101 Poll - Transportation!

Hello all,

Jester has a poll going over at Wizard101 Central that comes from the developers of Wizard101. They want to know what kind of transportation you would like to ride in the game.

Go check it out on this thread.

The choices are as follows:

- motor vehicle
- magic carpet
- unicorn / horse
- dragon
- other pet
- speed boots
- none
- other

What would you say and why?

Happy Dueling!

Fwd: A Message from Cyrus Drake

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

Hello students.. 

I am hearing loud and clear the message that many of you do not approve of the enhanced boss fights, or at least the way in which they were implemented. 

The idea behind these was not to make the game more "hardcore", more difficult or to make it impossible to group. We simply wanted those encounters to be more interesting than 1. Defeat Monster, 2. Collect Loot. Each of the we changed bosses had a twist on normal combat, or required a specific strategy to be employed, like a puzzle. 

Rest assured, we have heard your displeasure, and we will re-visit the boss fights very soon.

Cyrus Drake 
Professor of Myth 
Ravenwood School of Magical Arts 
En Magus Nos Fides

Player Trading Card of the Day--Alex Dragonblade

Today's trading card is a balance wizard named Alex Dragonblade!



Alex is a faithful reader of this blog and makes a fine card of the day, don't you think? I like his attitude. Good luck beating Alex Jaderider (for those of you who don't know who Alex Jaderider is . . . he's one of the best PvP players in the game). hehe. ;-)

Happy Dueling!

Diapermancer

Ok, I got a good laugh out of this image that Autumn over at Homework in a Graveyard made up.



haha! Thank you, Autumn.

Also thanks to Sean for his well wishes! I don't know about a baby commercial for Wizard101, but stranger things have happened.

Here's a quick picture I snapped this morning of the new wizard with his uber cool rhinocerous pet . . . so rare . . . I'm totally jealous.



Also, thank you to the entire community and to my readers for pouring out the well wishes, love, and positive vibes. I've read and beamed over every message, you guys are fantastic.

Happy Dueling!

FW: All crafting slots are in use

Note about a recent error message in game:

Thank you to all our Wizards who have reported the "All crafting slots are in use" bug that they are encountering.

Please be patient and know that we are aware of this issue are taking steps to fix it. At this time, there's no need to report this issue to our Customer Support department, Mr Lincoln is up to his tail feathers right now, and he's working as fast as he can.

I’ll keep you informed about any updates, and again, thank you for your feedback!

~Professor Greyrose

Fwd: Movie Making Magic

Sent from my iPhone

Begin forwarded message:

Have you ever wanted to be a film director? Here's your opportunity!
Make your own Wizard101 video!

We've provided the background, you just have to use your creativity to visualize what Merle and Gamma are talking about in the Crystal Ball. We've made some examples to help spark your imagination. Follow the instructions on the page linked below and once you're happy with your video, post it on an internet video hosting website and email us the link!
 

Movie Making Magic

Well . . . Her Water Broke . . .

. . . um . . . I guess I'm off to the hospital to have a baby and stuff . . . uh . . . so you guys just keep doing what you're doing. UH . . . here's the mooshu wallpaper, gratz.


(click to make bigger and right click to save to desktop)

so . . . I'm off to go see the new wizardling, yo.

HAPPY DUELING!

Exclusive Moo Shu Wallpaper!

Kingsisle had another gift for you all my friends! It's the Mooshu Wallpaper!

. . . bbbuuuuuuuutttt . . . I thought I'd just tease you with it instead and make it mine alone . . .



I better see some super dooper kissing up or something, or NO WALLPAPER FOR JOU!

You can call me the wallpaper nazi, Just like Seinfeld had the soup nazi . . .



NO WALLPAPER FOR JOU!

Earthquake can't break rebirth shields?

I got a question here from a confused conjurer:

Question=Hi, I was just wondering
why earthquake can't break
absorb shields given by
rebirth? Is this a bug or is it
supposed to be this way?
Thank for helping all
wizards with questions! :)

Dear Confused, I have no idea. BUT, I sent your question on to Professor Greyrose and she in turn forwarded your question on to the QA department. Yessir, your question made it through to the top . . . and this was the response:

"Working as intended!"

On a side note, I just want you to know that all death spells that drain life completely bypass those pesky rebirth shields . . . so if you haven't considered any other counter to those shields, you might want to look into carrying a couple wraith or scarecrow cards around with you.

Happy Dueling!