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!