The Awesomeness of Crab Alley and Deep Warrens!

I realize that for most of you this is completely old news, but I haven't talked about the new Crab Alley area of Wizard101 yet and there are people who still read my blog yet no longer play the game, so . . . let olllll' Uncle Friendly break it down for you.

Crab Alley. yup. Crab Alley Crab Alley. The same Crab Alley as Selena Gomez Crab Alley. *sigh* We missed it during the few months it was away, but KingsIsle has graciously reopened and renovated its interior to show us that it was merely under construction. *non-sigh* And that's cool, because it's even better now than it was before, but unfortunately it's no longer a free to play area. You'll have to shell out a membership or 750 crowns for admittance.

Is it worth it? Well, I have to say it's now the best done Wizard City area by far, and the awesome rock star outfit at the end is ROCKING!


That's Myrna Lionblood, my ice wizard. I took her through Crab Alley the other day to check it out, and it went extremely fast due to her level and AOE spells. Fights were over in one or two rounds unless someone else joined in, and I didn't mind. It was nice to make a few new acquaintances.

Megan Shadowleaf in particular was awesome.


The basic story behind Crab Alley is that King Thermidor has been usurped by King Amadeo while Thermy was off playing Justin Beiber.

In the process you find out that King Amadeo has the single best line of dialog in the game.


Malistaire is jealous of this line of dialog, or he would be if he wasn't so 2008. (He's just 2000 and late.)

Anyway, I'd totally leave King Amadeo alone after delivering a line of dialog as magical as nom nom, but since Thermidor's buddy Thomas Cromshell is being unjustly imprisoned and there's a promise of a new "breach in the river wall" area, I'M IN!


The breach in the wall is ssssszzzweeeeet! look at that!


Behind that is the new Deep Warrens! YES!


What's amazing to me is exactly how much KingsIsle manages to do with these two small areas that seem rather straight forward. Seriously, these two areas are just jam packed with quests and goodness. And the quests are varied enough to make them fun as well. Collection quests to build fortifications ala Mooshu's Crimson Fields . . . only with giant shells . . . and kill quests interspersed throughout. There's a nice pacing to the quests.

You also need to collect these little adorable guys and use them to light the way to the wailing caverns, where Thermidor is wailing up a storm on his own personal stage.




I desperately want each and every musical furniture item on this stage. DESPERATION!


Especially that drum set. *insert a picture of a grown man begging for virtual drums* (and if you could make the musical instruments interactive somehow I'm sure all your fortune cookie fortunes will come true for the next year, POSITIVE!)

And if you've ever wondered what's going on backstage at a concert, we now find out . . . it's a mad scientist ready to kick our butts with "applied science."


Well Doctor Zigmund turns out to be not that bad of a guy after all and you end up doing a few quests for him involving Telluric eels . . . bonus points have been awarded for KingsIsle using the word Telluric and pronouncing it in voice over quest dialog so I now know how it's pronounced. thanks for that. :)

Eventually you work your way back to Crab Alley to face the impostor king and laugh as a gargantuan'ed ice beetle defeats him in one round. MUHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! *breath* HAHAHAHAHAAAAHAHAHAHAA!


Whew. That was awesome.

So the king returns, Thomas is free, and what tale of two zones would be complete without having the chef and the king hook up through poetry.


Life is awesome.

Also awesome? Also awesome is every single item in Catherine the chef's room. Once again, I need every single thing in this area to be a furniture item. Look at the posters! epic! AND, fish in a birdcage is hilarious!


So, I had a great time working through these new areas, and I think they are a great addition to Wizard City. Seeing these two areas at a young level would definitely make me hungry for the awesomeness of Celestia if I was brand new to the game all over again.

Happy Dueling!