Wizard101 in 2024 . . . back to the sewers!

This past week my mind started returning to the game that changed my life, Wizard101. Oh, man! I haven't logged on to Wizard101 for a long time . . . in fact the last time I played it was back in January.  I'm going to be completely honest about some of the motivations last time for logging on: I was trying to get a job back at KingsIsle as a part of the Design team.  It would have solved so many problems for me at the time. I wouldn't have had to move. I could have stayed in the industry. I could have been working with old friends. I could have been working on a game that I love! Unfortunately, I just wasn't what they were looking for in that particular role and thus . . . it wasn't meant to be.

Anyway, I logged on X and shot out a very simple message to see what I'd get for a response. "Tell me about what Wizard101 is like now here in 2024. I want to know your thoughts on reaching endgame. Also, how many hours a day are you playing and what are you mostly doing?" The response I got back was surprisingly awesome. I had no idea I still had reach like this with the fanbase. It got 10,000+ views and garnered a ton of responses.

While you can go read through that yourself, I thought I'd take a second to summarize what I got back:

• Side Activities -- The endgame can be found in events and side activities, specifically Beastmoon, PvP, leveling pets, gardening, fishing, monstrology, and hunting for badges. There's tons of side activities now that I think about it.
• The gear grind endgame remains -- You will spend a lot of time farming bosses to equip your character. It's just kind of what everyone does . . . or you buy hoard packs and skip all that nonsense.
• Just being with people -- Helping friends quest and grouping up with randoms through the team-up kiosk continues to be popular at endgame.
• Guilds -- Completing your Guild museum and participating in Guild Raids will give you hours of fun (and the guild raids are apparently extremely difficult and unforgiving)

Outside of these, I got a few outlying comments

• The good -- As to be expected -- there are just people that continue happily playing the game no matter what they're doing, leveling a fifth character . . . hanging out . . . whatever. They're just happy to be playing.
• The bad -- As to be expected -- some people are burnt out and unhappy with a variety of things. The direction of PvP, the pay-to-win monetization, the decrease in production value, being stuck in difficult content, etc.  Those are all valid.  I respect those honest responses. *hugs the downtrodden* I hope stuff gets better!
• The broken -- These folks lack a computer to play, but love the game . . . they're also looking forward to a console release of Wizard101.
• The pirate -- God bless 'em. I'm a Pirate101 fan too. The upcoming update can't come fast enough.  

It made me log back into Wizard101, and I found myself exploring the side world that is the sewers under Wizard City, and unfortunately, where I left off was at a particularly difficult fight and one that was impossible to solo.

Not the best screenshot, but there's the Greggors . . . old and young.

This Sir Greggor fight took way too long to win, but after a couple attempts and not having friends to turn to, I realized that using blades and renting some crown shop companions were going to be my key to winning this.  I realized that what makes this game really difficult is not its difficulty, but rather its time commitment because of its turn-based nature. Thankfully not all fights are as time-consuming as the Sir Greggor fight. (I'm bracing for someone to tell me . . . just wait until you fight X random boss)

Thankfully the writers of the story were pretty great about summing up why the heck I'm fighting old Dragonspyre ghosts in the sewers of Wizard City. As it turns out the sewers of Wizard City are actually old tombs and there are some Dragonspyre ghosts here thanks to a time when a power-hungry prince from Dragonspyre tried to wage war on Wizard City. Got it.

Looks like I'm back to playing some Wizard101 and hunting down old ghosts . . . sounds surprisingly apropos.

Happy Dueling!

Freaking Asgard's Wrath . . . Why are you so good?

So it's been a hot minute since I had my super fascination with Asgard's Wrath 2. I was so in love with that game, and the Quest 3 I was playing it on. Just a great game and experience all around. Unfortunately, I had to give that Quest 3 back to Meta when WIMO folded because it was an engineering model and had to be returned (kicks dirt).

I love that some of my final moments in the game industry were spent playing that game. I finished it up just in time. I would have been incredibly distraught if I hadn't finished it before having to surrender the headset.

THAT SAID, Asgard's Wrath I and II came bundled with the Quest 3, and both of those games landed safely in my library regardless of the headset loss. I still have the Quest 2, and I had never even touched the original Asgard's Wrath, so I loaded it up and gave it a go!  What a treat! 

let's load this thing up!

In hindsight, I suppose I should have played the original first before playing the sequel, but it was new with a shiny 10/10 rating! Had I played it first, I would have realized so many features in AW2 are straight from the first game. (Now I'm wondering if I sounded dumb to people who already knew about the original?  Ahh well. I sound dumb most of the time anyway, so no biggie.)

Act 1 -- Sea Serpent!

The game starts out with an epic battle against a Kraken to teach you the basics. Starting out with a boss fight like that is perfect. You are the unknown god and Loki is there to teach you how to realize your potential as a god of animals because you can take regular animals and turn them into furries . . . erm, Animorphs! 

Egil the Sharkman for the win!

Whereas AW2 had 5 Animorphs, it looks like there may be upwards of 10, which is crazy.  The first two you get are a shark and a turtle, which help you work your way through the first two dungeons. The shark gnaws on zombies in cages to raise platforms. The turtle uses its shell to block flame traps. I think AW2 perfected this.  Each Animorph in AW2 had two or three different functions. It made them feel more impactful.

Hero in a half-shell! TURTLE POWER!

Of important note, giving a high five to your Animorph was not a new thing in AW2, and it's still awesome to do in AW1. *smacks a five with shark boy*

God puzzles are a thing, just like they were in AW2. Since I've only started, I haven't encountered any super complex puzzles yet. The first one was discovering your power as a god and the second one was constructing a simple totem and placing your shark companion on a platform . . . pretty basic. I'm hoping this gets just as fun and complex as it did in AW2.

Running into my now third God Puzzle.

Combat seems more about timing your strikes, which is good. It makes it so you can't just waggle your sword at something and have it die, unless it's a zombie . . . those are just intro enemy fodder. I'm playing the game on what I believe to be normal difficulty, and it's been a challenge in several moments, which I'm gladly taking in stride.

Crossing the Bifröst

So far it's every bit as beautiful a game as AW2 . . . I just wish I had the quest 3 headset to fully enjoy the graphics. That said, it's still pretty immersive, and I'm happily playing a new game that will be sure to hold my interest for a month or two.

Happy Dueling!

TFN's Blaugust 2024 Roundup

Blaugust is officially over and I made my goal . . . I managed to post every day of the month, earning the Rainbow Diamond Award! That feels pretty great, and while it was tough, it also made me realize how if I really push, I could keep going and make a lot more posts here than I have been in the past 12 years or so. Maybe . . .

 So let's take a look back at what I was thinking about this month.

Unfortunately, my secret Blaugust wish I put out to the Universe on August 1st didn't come true.  Our house in Texas still hasn't sold.  It's just a really hard time to sell a house.

Next, as predicted, I had a lot of fun in 7 Days to Die last month and made three posts in total about the good times that Dylan, his sons, and I had.  

A shocking bathroom discovery!

Baulder's Gate 3 also provided a lot of post-fodder as predicted! Thanks to a lot of fun trying to remake an Everquest Beastlord in BG3, I was able to rack up around five posts.

and um yeah . . . that just happened . . . 

Brawl Stars got three posts and Squad Busters got two. This all makes sense since sitting down at the computer to play was a bit difficult this month, but hanging out on my phone was super easy. 

Only four posts this month were about VR games, which is surprising. I thought I'd post more about VR games, but it just didn't happen.

The real surprise of the month was how much talking about real life got. Nine posts were chatting up things going on in my real life.  I guess it's a good thing that real life was so prominent this month -- it typically means I'm out having a lot of fun with my family (or I'm just too busy to game).

I find it interesting how much I still think about working in the Games industry. I would love to keep it going somehow even though I've checked out. This month had me thinking about my Dragon Jousting game pitch and the characters I made for Battle Bows. Maybe someday this blog will start to focus on me creating something new as a part-time indie dev. That'd be amazing!

I don't know what the future holds, but I'm keeping my house-selling wish alive! It's no longer a secret Blaugust wish, it's now an out-in-the-open-all-the-time wish. It certainly would let me and my family move on from feeling like we're in limbo.  I honestly can't believe it hasn't sold yet. Kind of a weird burden that I wish wouldn't be a burden anymore.

Anyway . . . so . . . readers . . . while I have your ear, any requests for future content here on The Friendly Necromancer? I'd love to hear your thoughts. Thanks for reading!

Happy Dueling!