The Most Interesting of the New Crown Clothes

I'm actually not wearing any crown clothes at the moment. I've gone pretty much with straight death wizard clothes from Dragonspyre. The one thing I miss though is seeing "resist" floating above me when I get hit with any spell instead of when it's just a death spell.

You see, the Astral Hat of the Helephant use to give me 8% shielding to all spells, and the Master's Garment of the Triton gave me an extra 10% shielding on top of that. Interestingly enough, NONE of the old school crown shoes gave shielding. That's what made me so excited about the Warded Footwear shoes from the Dragonspyre collection (not to be mistaken with the Gucci collection) of crown cloths.



Look at that! 6% shielding! No no no, don't look at that nasty -6 to damage. 6% shielding on shoes with a tower shield card! So if you mix these shoes with the two pieces from your old set (which stayed the same through the change, you just can't buy those old crown clothes any more), you're up to 24% damage mitigation . . . not bad.

The second piece of crown clothes that caught my attention were the level 5 shoes from Zeke in Wizard City.



I don't know if a lot of people know this or not, but traps from crown clothes do not overwrite traps from your deck. So I could cast this trap from my crown clothes and not overwrite the hex from my deck. For those who like to one hit bosses in PvE or see "the most damage they can do," then these shoes are pretty exciting. Now there is another set of shoes from the new crown collection in Marleybone with a blue card hex, but let's take a look at it.



The trap percent is actually 10% less than the level 5 shoes from Zeke in Wizard City. If I'm gimping myself for the sake of a card, I might as well go with the level 5 shoes.

Other than those two, as a necromancer, I'm not very excited about the new crown clothes. There's a ton of life wizard stuff to get excited about if you're a life wizard, but other than that. meh. From my point of view, crown clothes are now utlity clothes rather than the best clothes in the game. Use them at your own discretion.

Scavenger Hunt Winners!

Here they are!



More information can be found on this post.

Seriously . . . they earned this one. Nice work. I'm not worthy!

Search me?

At some point I'm going to put a "Submit a question" button up on the blog. But for now, I just examine the hits I'm getting to the site every once in a while and think . . . hmmm. That sounds like a good question; let me see if I can answer that (or confuse the daylights out of you).

Today's Search terms:

1- Wizard 101 Malistaire and Dragonspyre Wallpaper

Well, I looked in the right place for you, and that would be the downloads webpage at Wizard101.com.
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2- Oni Slayer Badge/Title

Ok, so you probably see a few people running around with a badge that says, "Oni Slayer" and you're wondering . . . How? How did they get that Oni Slayer badge? I want that! Well, it's far easier than you're thinking, but not. To earn the Oni Slayer badge you have to either be a subscriber or purchase the Jade Palace Area for 1200 crowns because "Oni Slayer" is the badge you get when you defeat the Jade Oni, which is the final boss of Mooshu. Now, you don't *have* to beat all the content leading up to the Jade Oni, but your friend who gets you into the instance and spawns the event *does* have to. Get it? Got it? Good.
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3- Penny Dreadful

Funny thing here. So there actually are TWO movies with a "Penny Dreadful" in it. Ahh the Kingsisle writer's sense of humor . . . . So if you're searching for the 2006 Penny Dreadful movie . . . here's a link to information. If you're looking for the 2005 Penny Dreadful movie . . . here's your link! As it turns out, "Penny Dreadful" is actually a term for any old British horror book where a subscription to read that horror trash cost a penny. I know this, because Wikipedia knows this.



Spooky, ain't it?

Someone needs to go update Wikipedia and put in *our* Penny Dreadful from Wizard 101 as a pop culture reference. (/winks at Kingsisle employees)

Our Penny Dreadful sits in Wizard City just around the corner from Merle Ambrose's place. You should do her quest line (which is easy) because it results in a cyclops pet. Don't get confused by her quests since halfway through the line, you need to go talk to Zeke to continue it. You'll get it.
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Thanks for searching my site! Hope you found it helpful!

Happy Dueling!

Evil Twin Chat Episode 17

haha! Just goofing off this morning. I actually have a soundbyte to go along with this one. ;-)

Happy Dueling!

Scavenger Hunts

So I've been trying to do the scavenger hunt over at Wizard 101 Central. I can't believe someone hasn't won that thing yet. People are on their 3rd or 4th submission because the angles have to be just right. This is apparently extremely difficult for more than just me.

I've given up for the moment. I have 8 more I'd need to track down (numbers 1, 13-18, and 20). I guess I'm far far less observant than I thought I was. sigh.

The whole thing got my kids pretty excited though, so I came up with a scavenger hunt for them!



They hid in their bedrooms while I wandered around the house looking at the random stuff I could find . . . there were no angles, no heartache over perfection; just the fun of the hunt.

I'm happy to say they found all that junk and the house was picked up at the same time! I even got two squirts of lotion for my hands out of the whole deal. I highly recommed you use this strategy to get your kids to help you pick up around the house. hehe.

Their reward? The fun of the game!

Happy Dueling!

p.s. You're welcome to join in my scavenger hunt! You have the unique challenge of reading my handwriting though. Good luck with that. ;-)

Of Shared Banks and No Trades

So, as promised, I ran into my dorm room and stripped the level 2 life mage of his christmas clothes and toys and put them into the shared bank.



and then . . . whoops. No trade. huh?



It appears that you can't trade the crown pets, but you can the crown clothes. Well that's interesting. I wonder why that decision was made? Maybe they were trying to avoid overpowering players with higher level cards than they should have . . . then again, I could trade Mister Amber the orthrus pet just fine. hmmm.



Then again, there are only a handful of these in game.

I don't know.

Let me ask Professor Greyrose if they have an official statement as to why certain items are no trade and others are not.

*sends e-mail*

(time passes)

*starts the scavenger hunt*

*gets 4 of the 20 screenshots and crashes out*

(time passes)

*hair dries monitor*

*checks e-mail*

Ok, here's what I got from Professor Greyrose:

"Making certain items restricted to one character makes them more rare and valuable. The number of items in the game that are restricted is a tiny percentage of items. We are constantly assessing which items to mark as No Trade and are listening to the community feedback on this and other matters."

Interesting, see I was thinking it was about pvp . . . like it had something to do with "balance." nope.

Oh well, it was good to get those Santa clothes off of the level 2 life wizard and put them into the shared bank. Now I just have to wait to see if the pets are reconsidered . . . or I may just call it a wash and delete that life wizard and make the fire wizard I want to make. ;-)

Happy Dueling!

Yeva Spiderkeeper Coughs up My Hat!

It deserved some kind of video :p



Little tidbit here . . . Yeva has become significantly harder since the latest patch. Her spider buddy now casts tons of death shields. In essence, her guardian now acts more like a guardian. She's now a much more intense fight.

p.s. how'd you like that hit for over 7k with a wraith?

Happy Dueling!

More Player Housing information from GDC

I told you the GDC information would start trickling out, didn't I? Didn't I?!

Here's another report, this time from the IGN Vault Network.

Here's a snippit from the article:

Coming in the near future is a full housing system. We were shown a bit of what this will entail. Called Castles and Lands, houses are little pocket universes. They are floating islands on which players will be able to fully customize every aspect. The islands themselves will have different traits depending on which city they are purchased from, but placing trees and plants and objects outside, to entering the house and fully customizing everything inside, will all be possible. It even goes so far as placement on top of objects. Players will be able to place a rug on the floor, then place a table on a rug, then place a vase on a table. And everything will be able to be moved around.

Don't miss the slew of screenshots they have available.

This Krokotopia one really caught my eye.



So fun.

Happy Dueling!

Player Housing Information from GDC Comes Trickling in

Ok, so apparently Todd Coleman, the Executive Director of Wizard 101, has been at GDC this week. GDC is a huge expo with tons of Game Industry experts giving talks, showcasing their stuff, doing tutorials, having summits . . . this thing is huge. From what I understand, day 1 and 2 are kind of the days that the press gets to interview people and there's a few good talks being given, but the main expo floor isn't open. Day 1 and 2 are over, and we're into day 4 of GDC today. Man it would have been cool to go to this . . .

Good news for us? It appears as though Todd was talking about player housing!!

Now this news to the true fan over at Wizard 101 Central is old news. Unfortunately (or fortunately however you want to look at it) player housing was fully spilled over at that site. Jester even had to pull some information about it and tuck some other information away.

Brenden Lidsey over at MMO Hub had this to say about his talk with Todd Coleman at GDC:

That's right, 'Wizard101' players -- soon your wizards can own homes of their very own! I met with KingsIsle's Director, Todd Coleman, at the Marriott bar in downtown San Francisco to get a glimpse at the upcoming feature, and learn a little more about it.

Yup . . . there are three screenshots over there, you best go check it out.

I don't think Brenden is the only person that Mr. Coleman talked to. I imagine we will start to hear more and more about player housing trickling in from Todd's time at GDC. /swami hat off.

I'll try to keep my ear to the ground, y'all. I think we're all pretty stoked about this new feature.



picture graciously borrowed from the MMO Hub article.

I can't wait to have my own little island in the sky. ;-)

Big Update Tonight!

Professor Greyrose shared this announcement about an hour ago! Hurray!

Wizard101 the game will have a big update tonight including the long overdue voice-overs for quests in Wizard City and Krokotopia, Shared Item Bank, Deletion Protection and many other improvements.

Wizard101 the game will be offline March 26th starting at 3:00am Central US Time and lasting until approximately 4:30am Central US Time.

To find out more about the updates being added at this time, please see our Patch Notes page

I'm excited to take the evil twin and his myth counterpart, Isiah, through the rest of Wizard City and Krokotopia with voiceovers!

Happy Dueling!

Yeva Spiderkeeper

Ahh, Yeva. With her upwards pointing pony tail, she tugs on my heart strings. I have no idea what type or strength of hair gel this lady must use, but I'm imagining extra strong. What's weird is that it's so floppy when she casts. That's some seriously good hair product. It's probably made from spider web extract since she's a spiderkeeper after all.

I've been dueling her the past month or so whenever I get the chance. You see she has this winged helm I want. It's not even that big of an upgrade, but I do want it. It is the nicest death helm from dragonspyre at the moment.

And so I farm. I farm and I farm and I farm. Farmer Friendly is my name. Oh SURE, Cheyenne gets the helm while she's helping me. Kyle gets the helm on my second account. Do I get the helm?

Well, we will see in the next few minutes as I'm dueling her as I type this. Odds should be in my favor since I've killed Ms. hair bob a TON of times.

(pause)

Just one more round now. I've got her on the ropes.

(pause)

Here comes the wraith with a blade, three traps, and a prism. It's a big hit of 2485.



Nope. Two more hats to throw on the fire.

*sigh*

Happy Dueling.

Evil Twin Chat Episode 16

If I can transfer those clothes in the shared bank, I'm going to make a Friendly Claus and delete that pesky level 1 life wizard faster than you can say ol' Saint Nick. ;-)



Scheduled for deletion.

Wizard Central Scavenger Hunt

I'm cross-posting this from the Wizard 101 Central forums. You DEFINITELY need to get in on this! It sounds pure awesome. 20,000 crowns and a Lord Nightshade poster for first place. It doesn't get much cooler than that. Then, the next six finishers will each get 5,000 crowns and a picture of Malistaire. You know the competition is going to be fierce for this.

You're invited

What: Scavanger Hunt
When: Friday March 27th 2009 at 8:00pm EST
Where: Wizard101 Central
Why?: Celebrating 10,000 sign ups

Wizard101 Central has reached 10,000 members and to celebrate we will be holding a scavenger hunt!

A big thank you to KingsIsle, who generously donated 7 posters that have been signed by the developers of the game, as well as a prize pool of 50,000 Crowns.

Your mission, if you choose to join in the fun is to run all through The Spiral. You will be searching for specific items. The areas in which you have to search are: Wizard City, Krokotopia, MarleyBone and MooShu.

To enter, post your own screenshots of the items we show inside the new Contest Entries forum.

Your entry will be reviewed and if any of them are incorrect you will be notified, however you will not be told which screenshot was incorrect. It's up to you if you would like to figure it out and re-submit your entry.

Rules

Post in the Official Scavenger Hunt Entries forum your screenshots and the information of where you found the items exactly. Don't worry, no one but the Central staff will be able to see your post.

Please post the full screenshot, with your character and it's name visible. Don't crop it. The screenshot must be taken from the exact angle as ours.

There are duplicate items in the game, so to be sure you found the correct one, pay attention to the background and details in our scavenger hunt images.

The grand prize winner will be the first person to properly post their correct entry. The remaining winners, 2nd place through 7th place, will be chosen in the order the correct entries are properly posted.

In the event that not all of the items were found, the prizes will go to the members who found and posted the most items on the list.

Don't tell anyone else where you found the items.

SCREENSHOTS: Press the "print screen" button and then paste into a photo-editing program, or even Microsoft Word then save the image. You must use the "manage attachments" at the bottom of the screen when you're creating your entry to host the images there. It looks like this:



Just click the button and hit "Browse" to upload an image. We will not accept entries that have their images hosted any other way!

Do NOT host the pictures in your Wizard101 Central album as the other members will be able to see them. When you click "Manage attachments" it will take the images directly from your computer.

Prizes Prizes Prizes Prizes Prizes Prizes Prizes

1st place:

20,000 Crowns and a large poster of Lord Nightshade signed by the developers of Wizard101.



2nd through 7th place (6 winners)



Will each receive 5,000 Crowns and a small poster of Malistaire Drake.

**IMPORTANT** Please get your parent's permission before entering this contest, as your address will be required in order to send the prize to you.

The scavenger hunt items will be posted on Friday, March 27th at 8pm EST, when the contest begins, so check back then!

Good luck everyone!!

Wizard101 Central staff and their families are not eligible to win.
Wizard101 Central and Kingsisle,Inc. are not resposible for any lost or damaged posters.

An Interview with Cheyenne Darkwhisper

Hello Readers. I have a very special interview today with a very special reader of this blog, Cheyenne Darkwhisper. You may know her for her creative images over on Wizard 101 Central. If you aren’t familiar with them, then please go take a look at her album.



Cheyenne has been a very faithful reader of the Friendly Necromancer and someone who even graces my friend list in game! She’s an all around nice person and a pleasure to be around.

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Q: Cheyenne! You’re awesome! How come you’re so awesome!?

A: Haha thank you! You’re quite awesome yourself, with your blog and all "P. Well, actually, I don't have any idea why I'm awesome, lol. I'm just told that I am and as always, I'm very grateful to hear that sorta thing, but I consider myself normal 100%. Ok well maybe not 100% probably like 75%. The rest of the time I'm goofy lol.

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Q: It’s not very rare to see a female gamer anymore these days, but it still is somewhat of a rarity. Do you think you’re treated any differently as a female gamer in Wizard 101?

A: No, not really. Sometimes I am but it’s rare. I think of myself as a normal gamer and I guess it rubs off on people ‘cause that's how they treat me. I don’t like to be treated extra special that much. Now and again is nice, but I'd rather be just like anyone else ")

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Q: So, back in the day I use to play a female elven cleric in Everquest. And, despite many jokes about it, a female human paladin in World of Warcraft. So, I rocked the female avatars, yo. I learned after a few years of that, that it’d probably be best (and I’d feel more comfortable) if I stuck to male characters. But, my question for you is, What do you think about boys who play girls in an online world? Circle one: Creepy, cute, or other. ;-) You have to explain your answer as well (of course)

A: Lol, well personally, I think its a little creepy. I had that happen to me once. (A friend of mine was a girl and I had no clue.) It’s kind of uncomfortable to me once I know. If I dont know, then obviously it’s not a big deal, but once I know, very strange lol. Probably just because how I was raised is the best explanation to why I think that.

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Q: What other games have you played besides Wizard 101, and what do you think sets Wizard 101 apart from those games as one of your favorites?

A: I've only played a few actually. ToonTown Online, Pirates of the Caribbean and Perfect World. I think Wizard101 is by far the best. I think what sets it apart from the others I have played is that it’s more my type of game, I guess you could put it that way. I am into the entire thing: Magic, spells, if it has to do with those kind of things, count me in! I actually started playing because my younger brother was telling me over the phone about this Wizard game he's been playing, and he thought I would like it because I am a huge fan of Harry Potter. As it turns out, I love it just because of that.

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Q: I noticed you closed up shop in Wizard 101 for making signature graphics. That’s unfortunate as I was hoping you’d make me something with that special Cheyenne touch! Do you ever think you’ll open shop again?

A: Yes, it was a big sigh moment for me. I've just been really busy lately, and I know a lot of people really loved my shop, and I really enjoy making my creations. I will definitely consider opening it again once things settle down a bit. So much to do, so little time, you know?

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Q: If you could explain a bit about where you get your inspiration for your signature graphics, then that would be awesome. Feel free to take a couple of your favorite signatures you’ve made and talk about them.

A: Well, usually my inspiration comes from things I like myself, such as music I listen to or things I see on T.V. Sometimes, I even get inspiration from my dog, Lucky. Yeah, I know, sounds weird. Trust me, weird to me too. I'll just be sitting there, petting him and all of the sudden, he looks up and me and BAM! Idea lol. Also, I get ideas by things I have experienced. For example, the one with the piano that says "Playing on the Keys of My Heart," that is actually a song I wrote when I was taking Piano lessons. That is the inspiration behind that one. So pretty much, when you’re seeing my work, you’re seeing the real me.

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Q: Do you create other art outside of these graphics?

A: Occasionally. I sketch sometimes, and paint a little here and there, but honestly, I'm horrible lol. I have no eye for that at all. I have been studying drawing though. Trying to help my eyes "see" better, thus helping me draw better. There is only one thing I can actually draw right now, and its a mouse called a Diddl. It’s quite cute, actually.

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Q: I have to tell you that I really love art, poetry, and music. When I go into a game world, sometimes I look for aesthetically pleasing moments that transcend time and place. Really, these games are like walking into a painting where you have it come alive and interact with you. Sometimes I wonder what our great grandparents would think watching us move our avatars around on our LCD flat screens.

In Wizard 101, what do you think is the most artistically pleasing world or area?

A: I would have to say Mooshu. I always feel like I'm stepping into a painting whenever I'm there. There are very few times I experience this, so you know it’s good.

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Q: What could make the experience of art in Wizard 101 better?

A: Actually, I'm not entirely sure on this one. lol

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Q: So enough about art, How does Cheyenne kick butt and take names in the game? Do you have any special strategy that we could name “The Cheyenne Strat”?

A: Lol, usually I surprise people with my battling skills. Depending on which of my 5 characters I use, I have different battling techniques. If I'm my Death character, Cheyenne DarkWhisper, I will set the enemy up and surprise everyone with a huge, overkill move. If I'm my Life character, Cheyenne PixiePetal, I usually just heal, lol.

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Q: Didn’t you recently change your main character to a death wizard? Why? Was it the gothic power vibe? Was it the soloing ability? Inquiring minds want to know.

A: Haha yes, I did change my main from Life to Death. I loved Life, don’t get me wrong, but something about Death just, I dunno, spoke to me. The idea that I could attack big but heal at the same time thrilled me. Soloing, yes that was something that made me sign up for Death A.S.A.P. I hated always having to bug my friends to come help me with questing. I don't like bugging my friends about that kinda stuff, thus one reason I changed. I enjoy having a bigger part of the action, instead of just being known as "The Great Healer." So, I think that would probably be why I chose Death. Probably also ‘cause I have a bit of a Dark side to me.

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Q: I see you hovering a lot in the PvP zone watching matches. What are you thinking about in there?

A: Yes, I will always watch, but rarely will you EVER see me in the PvP area. Usually when I'm watching a battle, I'm cheering the teams on, or I'm thinking about how well they battle and take a little bit of that information with me in my battling technique. Other times it’s just a way to pass time because I'm incredibly bored (or lazy).

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Q: So if there was one thing you could improve about Wizard 101, what would it be?

A: I think it would be the items, XP, and gold you get in the beginning, as a Novice. The items are ridiculous, if you ask me, and the XP and gold given out is so low, how are we expected to buy anything we really want? I remember when I started my Ice wizard a few weeks ago. I got a really cool outfit (finally) and wanted to dye it. I had been working my butt off for a week trying to get gold. Questing, random battling, you name it. I was doing it, and I never got enough to dye it. So, maybe that.

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Q: And what do you think is the most needed change?

A: Hmm. . . tough one. I would have to say the most needed change is how hard Kensington is. This is just a personal opinion though. Kensington is so hard it’s not even funny. Wizards fear it, young and old. I fear it so much, I never do the side quests anymore in Marleybone, for the fear I might get that dreaded quest again.

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Q: What would you like to say to our fellow fans and friends in Wizard 101? Are there any special shout outs you’d like to give?

A: I guess I would like to thank, first off Jester and Olivia for making the Central Forums, because without them I would have never met any of the wonderful friends I have today. Also, everyone I have met on Central is so kind and friendly. I would have never been able to get as far without all of them. And last but not least I would like to tell Lee Lee (Lenora, A.K.A TwilightCrystalz ) that she has helped me get through so much. Put up with me during quests or whatever it may be. So, thanks Lee Lee.

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Q: Do you have any questions for The Friendly Necromancer?

Cheyenne’s Q: Haha, you never need to ask if I have questions Friendly. First off I want to say thank you for interviewing me, it’s an honor ")

Hmm, I think one question that I would like to ask is why did you decide to make The Friendly Necromancer blog? It’s a great blog with so much information; it’s shocking and makes me wonder how you get so much information?

Friendly’s A: I discovered a long time ago that part of the fun of playing these games for me was writing and thinking about them. Obsessing is too strong of a word. ;-) Back when I was an officer in a couple Everquest guilds, I’d write compassionately about all of our guild-mates in the officer channels. I’d write long missives that dealt with human understanding and how they should play out in a game environment. I like to think I’m kind of an expert of inter- and intra-personal communication (my wife would probably laugh at that notion though /wink).

I use to keep a blog for LOTRO as well (now on permanent hold).

But, Wizard 101, ok, let's go back. You know, it all started with me writing to some old friends about this new game I was playing. They are actually the first four posts on this blog. I think when I figured out that Kingsisle had really put my kids’ safety in mind, yet they made a game that adults could play and like, it was then that I knew this game was worth writing about. From there it just kind of had a domino effect.

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Thank you so much for your time! I always look forward to seeing your responses on my blog. Thanks for being a regular and thanks for all you do at Wizard 101 central for the community!

OH NO!

Professor Greyrose had some disturbing news from the headmaster's tower!

Oh my! I just got this very ominous mesage:



Beware the Elementals
Young Wizards, we elementals; Fire, Storm and Ice, have decided to play tricks on the Wizards of the Spiral.

We are disappearing from your combat circles and playing havoc with your vision but I'm sure Merle will put a stop to it very soon.

Until then, you may not see us, be know that we are there...

Good to know . . . I think I'll go log on the game now and take down some invisible elementals.

Happy Dueling!

Evil Twin Chat Episode 15

The evil twin has received some size 10 powerleveling you know . . . level 16 with half of Wizard City still left to complete.

Evil Twin Chat Episode 14

heh. I have a hard time calling Wizard 101's characters "hot." /shrug

Better Late than Never

This in from Professor Greyrose!

Pat O'Gold is finally on her way to Wizard City. She will be arriving on March 19th at approximately 3:30am Central US time. To prepare for her arrival, we must take Wizard101 offline from 3:00am Central US time until approximately 3:30am Central US time. During this downtime you will not be able to log in to Wizard101.

This is the only item that is being added tonight. The Shared Item Storage and Voiceovers are still to come!

I was beginning to worry that perhaps I would never be taking this green shirt off that I put on to celebrate St. Patrick's Day. Thanks Kingsisle!



I'm finally feeling lucky.

Happy Dueling!

Quinn Hexthief Rocks Austin Texas in a big way

So yesterday, Quinn (aka Alpha Man as I'm going to start calling him . . . just keep reading, it'll become clearer), announced that he was taking a trip with some relatives to the Kingsisle headquarters.

I, of course, was instantly jealous. Not many people know this, but I actually applied for a job at Kingsisle and later (after a pretty good interview) decided not to pursue the job at the time because of the fact that I'd have to move my family over to Austin, Texas while my wife is pregnant. I really didn't want to stress her and the baby with 1- a career change and 2- a move. The timing just wasn't right.

I wanted to just take a trip over there to chat with them anyway, but Professor Greyrose talked me out of it and told me I should keep the money for diapers and whatnot.

So I didn't take the trip.

Now, I (and you all) get to vicariously and mentally take this trip with Quinn, who has put together a fantastic write up about his visit to Kingsisle.

You can read this thread over at Wizard 101 Central here. I'm reposting it on my blog here as well because it's just really exciting for me (and all of us). Awesome, Quinn . . . thanks so much for sharing.

Thanks Prof. Greyrose - and everyone else! It was really cool. O.o

No Hydras or Humgofrogs running about, but it still was pretty crazy. Everyone who worked their was extremely... well... COOL. And Creative, too! I met nearly everyone in the *Making of Wizard101* Video, and a few more.

So here's the play-by-play:

We walk in. I can tell this is the place- Posters of the Ravenwood staff hang around the front lobby. Soon, our Tour Guide, William H. (Producer of W101!) came to meet us. We first got to see something amazing- the Environmental Designer, whom, of course, I forgot the name of. -_-

Anyways, when we got their, his desk was littered with Video Game Memorabilia. On his screen, we could see him playing around with the Krokotopia Hub, the Oasis. He showed us how they made those Invisible walls to keep us flying off of the edge of Krok, as well as the textures they used to make the Pyramid of the Sun. I was in AWE. (Meanwhile, other member of our group were groping over the awesome concept art spread across the table.)

Then, we saw another envirormental designer working on the newest addition to Wizard101. In other words- the big thing. The Next amazing thing they had. It blew my mind. It was amazing.

Now your probably wondering 'WHAT IS IT ALREADY!?" Well... That I can't say. While they DIDN'T make us sign an NDA, we were friends and family of the CEO of Kingsisle. We knew better than to go blurting around their secrets. Plus they said the magic word, "please" Can't argue with that.

Anyways, I'll give little droplets of hints of what it might be. First off, it is NOT a New World. Sorry Celestia and Grizzleheim fans. Two, There will be Turtles. Finally, Nearly all MMO's have it: Toontown, ClubPenguin- but none have it as awesome as Wizard101 has it.

Anyways, while you all go chat about that, I'll continue:

We got to see the Character Design artists, those who literally build the 3D character from their 2D designs. Quite awesome- I got to see a few of their sketches that their trying to convince the Designers to work with. VERY COOL. (One was messing with an Animation of Katzenstein's Assistant [forgot his name] The Process they do it with is similar to Flash Animation- that being they have a time-frame underneath it and animate each one separately.)

Anyways, so behind them was the Cinematic Artist... the one guy who makes all the cool animations come to life! He adds the camera angles and little details that make Triton so awesome, or Leprechaun so... um... unique? Anyways- He showed us the Animation of a Water Elemental (AKA Storm Minion, aka Wavebringer) Each particle of water is actually a separate small square of texture flying off of him, giving the awesome illusion of water spinning around and flying. So cool.

We met one of the Lead Designers of the game- the guy that brings it all together and makes new stuff. He told us a lot about where all the ideas came from and so much stuff my brains burst with his logic. o.o He showed us these GIANT Sheets of paper that had all the quests in all the worlds on it, in a odd Tree Diagram. They used this to show the storyline and sidequests in each world. Quite a waste of paper, then again, the trees ARE already Dead. =[

Also, this designer took me aside and told me about the Level 48 Cards, personally. He told me they were to be released with Dragonspyre, but they're still finalizing a few things on it. Instead of getting the spells instantly, you have to go through a series of quests to get it, kind of like the 6-Pip cards.

ALSO: (This is for all BALANCE WIZARDS): There is no more *Dampen Magic* spell. They're replacing it with a newer, and much more AWESOME spell. Trust me, it will be the envy of all wizards around when it comes out, (can't say what the new one is)

Finally, we met Todd Coleman, the Director of W101. He told us much of the same stuff we had talked about earlier, and a ton of other stuff about the making of the game.

Afterwards, our parents (I say our, as I was traveling with a couple of younger friends), were lead to a meeting room, when us Teens were left to the Marketing people! (Dun dun dun!) There I met the *real* Prof. Greyrose, whose just as nice as she is on here, and we took a survey on the game. During this survey, they told us about a new way to get FREE crowns.

The idea is that you take surveys from other sites and after taking those surveys, Kingisle gives you crowns. I really liked that idea, what do you people think?

Anyways, at the end of it all I got a sweet Malistaire mini-poster and a (very)-limited edition W101 Mechanical Pen. o.o





I'm such a doofus, I should of brought a secret camera and snapped shots of everything I saw. Anyways, check out some stuff below.

Also, you may be wondering how I got this awesome opportunity to get a private tour to this place. Well if you must know some details... I've played this game since the very beginning- before Beta, where there was but one street with just Gobblers running around. Its so cool to see it now with 1,000,000 registered users, knowing that I may be one of the first.

Anyways, a few people (Friends and Family of Game Designers) got to play during this stage called ALPHA. Alpha came in this cool confidential disk... which I took a picture of. Check it out below: (Sorry for sad iPhone Quality) Notice the Version: v0.1.1! This is REALLY early in the development people. =P



And that's pretty much it. It felt a lot shorter than it felt like- I could stay there all day. o_O All the people there were full of creativity and awesomeness. ^_^ I can't wait to actually play all the new stuff I saw them making.

HAHA! Great story, Quinn.

so jealous . . . and yet, so happy!

p.s. in that picture of the pen. Are you scribbling your latest mix CD idea? COOL!

Happy Dueling!

Google Search Answers 17 March 2008

Once again, you have searched and I will try my best to answer. Today's episode of Wizard 101 Google Search answers will try to answer the following:

1- Remove Wizard 101 *gasp*
2- Where to get the storm bat for a pet
3- Wizard 101 pets
4- Wizard City Boss Drops

How do you remove Wizard 101?

*gasp*

Two ways that I know of . . . First way: Go to the control panel, click the add or remove programs icon. Wait for the list to populate, and then scroll down to Wizard101 (hint . . . scroll down to the bottom . . . you know . . . because it starts with a "W.") Click on that and the "Remove" button in the bottom right corner of the big blue row that popped up.

Second way: Unless you installed this game in a really strange location, you'll want to surf to the following directory on your hard drive:

C:/Program Files/Kingsisle Entertainment/Wizard101/

in that folder you should find a shortcut icon called "Uninstall Wizard101." Click that puppy and forget this whole wizard mess.

Go ahead. Leave. Sure I'll miss you, but you've got better things to do with your time . . . like play World of Warcraft or something. Whatever. Traitors.


Where do I get the storm bat pet?

Why in the world would you want a flappy thing like that? So irritating. Ok, ok . . . I'm insanely jealous of Tara's flappy. She flaunts it whenever she can.


so jealous of that bat.

Ok, you want to know? You're not going to like the answer . . .

In Moo Shu, you go to the Shiritaki Temple (that's the Plague Oni instance, yo), when you get there . . . kill stuff for 45 minutes or so until you get to the Great Water Spirit, AKA Wavebringer. Kill it. Cross fingers. Wash, Rinse, and Repeat.

If you get a flappy, post here . . . seriously . . . it'll just make me more determined to get one of my own. (I'm hoping)


Wizard 101 pets

Oh sure! Don't just stop your searching at the Lightning Bat pet. You want to know ALLLLL the cool pets you can get for your collection. Word. I'm totally with you on that quest.

Thee most comprehensive list is found over on Wizard 101 Central: click me!

And if you just want a checklist of sorts, I've gone ahaed and plagerized the names from that list here for you (current as of 17 March 2009 . . . I don't gaurantee that I'll be updating this. Best to just go to the central link above)

Limited Edition pets
Black Cat
Cupig
Friendly Dragon
Jack Frost
Jade Oni
Pioneer Dragon
Santa's Little Helper
Storm Hound
Valentine Pig


Vendor pets
Blood Bat
Death Leprechaun
Dragon
Earth Walker
Fire Cat
Imp
Lava Spider
Lava Spider ver. 2
Pig
Unicorn
Heckhound
Krokotillian
Brown Spider
Goat Monk
Ninja Pig
Jade Oni
Storm Hound


Dropped Pets
Spider Golem
Krokomummy
Ghoul
Blue Ghost
Yellow Ghost
Green Ghost
Fire Salamander
Clockwork Golem
Black Spider
Drips O' Slimey (Blood Bat)
Greater Imp
Dire Ghoul
Grumpy Snowman
Storm Salamander
Melty Jack (Evil Snowman)
Minotaur
Osiris Papyrus (Krokotillian)
Pixie 1 (Healing Fairy)
Rat Magician (White Rat)
Inferno Cat
Snow Serpent 1 (Serpent)
Snow Serpent 2 (Serpent)
Sprite (Light Fairy)
Dark Fairy
Storm Bat
Sunbird 1 (Sunbird)
Firewing
Treant (Tree)
Troll 1 (Troll)
Troll 2 (Troll)


Gift pets
Lucky O'Shanahan
Orthrus (Two-headed dog)


Good luck on your quest for the biggest, best pet collection ever!


Wizard City Boss Drops

aha! Ok, right . . . this information is a little hard to come by at the central and on the other forums because . . . well, there's little interest in this information since THE DROPS ARE ALL TRASH ANYWAY. But, YOU, YOU, the dedicated "free to play" and small time crowns player have a burning desire within you to know what's the best you can wear from the bosses in Wizard City. Am I right? Well, whatever your motives, I'm going to point you in the right direction.

Here's your list of bosses in Wizard City and links to wikia!:

UNICORN WAY
Lady BlackHope
Rattle Bones
Fairy Queen

OLDE TOWN
FoulGaze

CYCLOPS LANE
Eyus Maximus
General Akilles

DARK CAVE
nada

FIRECAT ALLEY
Melweena Smite
Wormguts
Bastilla Gravewind
Alicane Swiftarrow

TRITON AVENUE
Seargent Skullsplitter
Kraken
Harvest Lord

HAUNTED CAVE
Lord Nightshade

COLOSSUS BOULEVARD
Baron Greebly
The Great Troll

Prince Gobblestone
Baron Rotunda

SUNKEN CITY
Grubb
Norton
Paulson

Hope that helps, kids!

Thanks for tuning in to another "Google Search Answers" brought to you by the letters Y and R and U and "still reading this."

Happy Dueling!

Evil Twin Chat Episode 13

I overuse ellipses . . . one of my many downfalls.

Evil Twin Chat Epidsode 12

Click here if you don't get the joke. ;-)

Earning Crowns outside of Wizard101

Over on the main Wizard 101 boards, there is a thread in the Ravenwood Commons forum where Professor Greywood asks this:

Beyond the Invite a Friend program, we were wondering:

What other ways would players would like to earn Crowns outside of the game?

I'm not going to give you any examples, I want to see what ideas our fans may have about how you would want to earn Crowns outside of Wizard101.

You can post your ideas here, or if you do not have access to the message boards you can email your suggestions directly to community@wizard101.com

See you in Wizard City!

There's a lot of good suggestions in that thread, from surveys, to fan fiction, to youtube videos, to comics, to real-life scavenger huts.

So, I thought I'd give my two cents over here.

It might be kind of cool to tie in the crown gift with an in game title as well. You know how you have merit badges in boy scouts and girl scouts, right? You know, for all those accomplishments you do? By the way, why the freak are the girl scout badges so much cooler looking than the boy scout badges?


Look at that thing . . . so much more awesome looking than this scout badge for athletics

Anyway, aesthetics aside, there are at least around 100 merit badges between both . . . right? Probably more. (Stay with me here.) What if Kingsisle chose a "badge" every month/quarter and asked people to submit their entries on a contest around a theme and where people had to fulfill the requirements they put forth to earn the badge and crowns. Those lists could be a good starting point to pick and choose from. Obviously Kingsisle wouldn't want to tie themselves to any organization like the boy scouts or girl scouts, but they could examine thier badge lists for ideas. I think there's enough fuel in the idea to keep them going with this program for a long time.

So for each subject, have people answer a set of questions about the topic at hand (this would require some study). They must also submit an essay on the subject matter based on the guidelines that you put forth.

Here's just a few from the boy scout side:

American Business - In game badge could be "The Boss." Quiz and an essay on what kind of business you would start.

American Cultures - In game badge could be "The Melting Pot." Quiz and an essay on the variety of cultures in America.

American Heritage - "The Yankee Doodle", etc.

American Labor - "the Blue Collar Bastion"

Animal Science - "Zoo Land Savior"

Archaeology - "Bone Daddy"

Archery - "Honorary Fire Elf"

Architecture - "Wizard City Planner"

Art - "Tenuered Artisan"

Astronomy - "Star Gazer"

Athletics - "Muscles Master"

Auto Mechanics - "Vroom Vroom Vroom"

Aviation - "Balloon Car Driver" or "Mr. Personality"

And those are just the A's! ;-)

Although the crowns earned would be awesome, the in game title would be a big draw for adults as well.

(insert pregnant pause here)

So, what do you think, reader?

Happy Dueling!

Saturday Morning Ramblet

First . . . something funny I heard while playing The Evil Twin (tm). The Evil Twin has been working his way through Triton and a few other places. It's wild having a level 16 necromancer still working on intro stuff. ahhh, the powerleveling. haha. Anyway, I was over by the Kraken this morning and heard a toon by the name of Micahel Deathcaster say this, "Nasty! It's like the Bush Gardens here." (It's an east coast amusement park known for being over crowed with huge lines for rides.)


hilarious.

Second . . . I'm typing from the laptop today. I'm so out of my element on the laptop. I don't have a lot of programs loaded on it and I actually have to use paint for graphics. yicky! Why am I on the laptop? I knew you were going to ask that. Well, I have this LCD monitor that's getting older. Ok, it's pretty old. And one day it just stopped working on me and had this steady blip that indicated it was in sleep mode. DUDE! I searched everywhere for what might be causing my monitor to stick in sleep mode. You'll never guess what the answer was. It wasn't anything to do with drivers or video cards or the computer itself. Apparently there is a capacitor inside the monitor that is infamous for going out. What happens then is that the monitor can't tell if it's warmed up enough to turn on. The solution?



Well, you have to get the back of the monitor warm enough that it bypasses the capacitor and, whiirrrrrr click, the monitor flips back on. It's the strangest fix I've ever seen and it works.

It is saturday morning though, and I don't want to wake anyone up because I have to hair dry the monitor.

Third . . . I hope everyone has a wonderful saturday! I'm off to IHOP for breakfast in a little bit. I'll report more later. I will say that it was fun dragging Sean around last night to fight the jade oni and a couple bosses in moo shu. He's begging to do a Malistaire run. haha. We'll see. Maybe tara will be up for that today too.

Happy Dueling!

Evil Twin Chat Episode 11

*Flee*

Beckett MMO Gamer Magazine Article on W101

I'm sorry to do this to you all, but I was just beaming here today to see my avatar in full color in Beckett's Massive Online Gamer Magazine. So, here's my real ugly mug pointing at my fake ugly mug.



Oh I bet you wish I'd flip that page over and photograph my redeem code, don't ya? Don't ya?! ;-)

It feels like it's been at least a month and a half since Tara from West Karana and I did this interview with Stephanie Morrow aka Stargrace. She's ultra-cool.

So, within the magazine, if you pick one up (and you really should pick one up--go check a local comic book/game shop or get a subscription), there is a redeem code for a super dooper cool looking staff. I noticed I've been getting a lot of hits on the term "redeem code," so here's your answer: It's inside the mag. Surf here to redeem it.

Once you're in game, you'll get a nifty button that looks like this:



I made sure that I had room in my backpack, and then I clicked the magical gift button. Bing bang boom. There it was! A swirling staff of awesomeness known as the "Amaranthine Staff." YES! Add that to my wand collection! WOOT!

So I decided to wander over to the storm school (it is a storm staff after all) and showcase it while assuming my smarmy look and brandishing Ben, my lightning hound.



OH! IT'S SO SMARMY!

The article itself is a good intro to the game. Tara and I (that's Mr. Thomas Lionblood, sir, to you) get quoted a couple times.

Seriously though, it was AMAZING to see my avatar modeling a few digs. I'm going to have to take this to work and show it off to the noobs who play World of Warcraft now . . . and I promise you there will be smarmy looks involved.

Thanks Beckett for a great article and involving me!

and as always . . .

HAPPY DUELING!

Wizard101 Finds Its Voice

Hey all . . . press release from the boss! Lot's of great stuff here. J. Todd Coleman had mentioned voice overs in the interview with Nelson Everhart . . . he's a man of his word! Also, the shared bank is discussed . . . you read it here first! Work it, Kingsisle! Work it!

KingsIsle adds voiceover, shared item banks for players

Plano, Texas--March 12, 2009-- Online entertainment company KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc. announced today that the first two worlds in Wizard101 (www.wizard101.com), which recently surpassed its one millionth player, will soon feature voiceovers in all quests, cinematics, and boss encounters. Wizard City and Krokotopia voiceovers will be implemented on March 16, with Marleybone, Moo Shu, and Dragonspyre to follow.

"The voiceovers add an amazing amount of personality and richness to the world" said J. Todd Coleman, director of Wizard101. "In particular, the seasoned voice of Merle Ambrose is very entertaining and in line with our vision for the Headmaster of Ravenwood."

Additionally, players will be able to share in-game items they collect between all the characters on their account. Items can be stored in the player's dorm room and used by any characters the player has created. Each account may create up to six characters. "When a boss drops a really cool item after a battle that is meant for a different School of Magic, players can now share it with another character that can use it," explained Coleman.

Wizard City will be wearing green in celebration of St. Patrick's Day, with special wands, staves, and a unique pet available from Pat O'Gold in the Shopping District.

Wizard101 has received high praise for its wide appeal. Dragonspyre, the recently-launched first major world expansion, continues the storyline in an ancient haunted world where players face challenging new battles and ultimately discover the truth about renegade Death Magic professor Malistaire Drake's sinister plans. Several Player vs. Player Arenas were also added where players can challenge each other in either Practice or Ranked duels, with up to four Wizards per team.

Wizard101's family-friendly safety features include a collaborative play style, a chat system with many options and a character name selector. The game was awarded a 2008 Parent Tested Parent Approved Media Seal of Approval and has an ESRB rating of E10+.

Anyone with a Windows based PC (that meets the game's minimum specifications) and a high speed internet connection can play the Free-to-Play areas of Wizard101 indefinitely. KingsIsle lets players choose subscription or microtransaction methods for premium content. Family plan subscriptions are $6.95 per month and general subscriptions are $9.95. Micropayment zones give permanent access to particular streets or areas within the game for as little as a $1.

WTF(reak) are you saying?

A new player, Sean Emeraldweaver, was asking me about some of the terminolgy I use. I AM SO SORRY! I'm such a gamer. I've been playing MMO's for almost 9 years now, and there is a whole set of "gamer terms" that have developed because of it. I'm definitely not immune to using these terms every once in a while. I try to "talk straight," but sometimes I get . . . gamer-y.

The following site seems to be pretty good at collecting those terms and explaining them:

http://www.mit.edu/people/rei/game-terms.html

For instance, two in particular Sean mentioned are as follows:

- buff: (verb) To cast spells or perform some action on oneself or someone else to increase their stats or abilities. (See also "debuff") "I'm buffed and ready to go."
- buff: (noun) Spells or effects that increase stats or abilities. (See also "debuff") "I need a strength buff."

In wizard 101, that would be casting beneficial spells on anyone. The sorcerer is good at buffing other players. Necromancers have an excellent debuff that puts a -20% damage on all monsters in play.

Here's another term that Sean asked about:

farm: to safely collect experience or other bonuses from monsters or other characters (by killing them)

In Wizard 101 you sometimes have to "farm" certain bosses that are well below your level to get a certain pet or wand you might want to collect.

Let me give you an example of how this might work in reverse: One time I was used by a lower level guy on my friends' list to get to moo shu, he then invited all his lower level buddies to come meet him, and they all went and "farmed" a higher level boss with lower hit points. In numbers, the high level boss became easier for them to farm over and over for items that sold for a lot of gold. Then they'd go back to Wizard City and buy the lower level zeke clothes with the gold and become really powerful low level characters. I'm such an enabler . . . ;-)

Hope this helps, Sean!

Evil Twin Episode 10

OH SNAP! I'm too nice to do that kind of stuff to people. Be excellent to each other.

An Interview with a "Super Death Wizard"

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



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

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


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

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

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

___________________

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

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

___________________

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

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

___________________

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

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

___________________

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

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

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

___________________

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

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

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

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

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

___________________

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

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

___________________

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

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

___________________

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

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

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

___________________

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

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

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

To all newer Necromancers reading this, good luck!

___________________

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

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

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

___________________

Friendly: Any questions for the Friendly Necromancer?

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

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



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

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

1 subscription to wizard 101 = $60 a year
1 cast of a buffed up seven pip spell = a good chunk of time
1 orthrus pet = priceless
___________________

From one fan to another, thanks so much for your time, you’re an asset to the community and thanks for all you do. I look forward to reading Super Death Wizard’s responses over on Wizard 101 Central and to hearing from you more.