What the heck is going on?! A Friendly Rambling . . .

HEY!

It's been a while since I've written here on this wonderful blog, and I thought I'd just catch you all up on the life and times of The Friendly Necromancer while taking a look at what's going on in Wizard101 as well . . . STREAM OF CONSCIOUSNESS STYLE!  Rambling is the best, and I'm in kind of a rambling mood . . . so read on fellow rambling people!

Cool? Cool.

So, Wizard101.  You all know that game, right? Of course you do. You're a big time fan and all that jazz. This also means that you know all about the limited-time Five B.O.X.E.S. event that's going on. It's super hip right now.



We've been reading about all your thoughts at KingsIsle. We've seen your posts on Central. We've seen your tweets and your mind dumps on Facebook. We've got emails. BLOGPOSTS! We've seen your posts on our Message Boards, and we've even heard you talking about it in game.

Yup.

You know what was fun for us? Preparing for it to launch and kicking it off in game!  That was great! Leala and I prepared and schemed and thought about how it would be received in the Community, and y'all didn't disappoint us. :)

You know what else? Hallowe'en or Halloweenfest or whateveryouwanttocallitthistime . . . is also underway!  There are these new fish you can catch. YEAH. First time you've seen that at Halloween time, right?  You know it is!! . . . And all the standards are back too . . . Nosferabbit and the towers and all that . . . .

Yup.

You know what else else? We've got a new friend working with us at KingsIsle . . . a brand new employee!

Yup.

We'll have to save introductions for later, but you might have seen that "Social Media Coordinator" position that was on our job listings suddenly disappear from the list.  That's our new friend. :)

Yup Yup!

Do you know what new friends mean?  New newbie characters that you can play with your new friends.  To those ends, I'd love to introduce you all to Fred Trollfinder.

He's finding Trolls.  That's what Community Managers do. :) (Beware impersonators . . . if you see a Fred Trollfinder in game and think it's me, ask to see the KingsIsle Support badge.) I'm Level 7 and saving Firecat Alley yo.

Awesome.

I'll have to do another mind ramble like this for Pirate101 a little later. For now, I just wanted to let you all know that I'm still alive and kicking and doing well. There's always TONS going on in the back channels of KingsIsle, and it doesn't always allow for me to speak as freely as I'd like to about upcoming features, but I really do hope you're all enjoying The Spiral lately and loving all things KingsIsle.

In the infamous words of Howard Jones, Things can only get better.

Happy dueling!

Nosferabbit . . . it's spookies!

Hallowe'en is a big deal in Wizard101. It was their first and only really big holiday content season. Sure, there's vendors and fun stuff for the other holidays, but when Halloween hits, there's towers, and quests, and decorations a plenty! It's fun, but after the hour or two of fun is finished, you were kind of like . . . yeah, I've done this before. yawn. next! However, that feeling coupled with all the in game legends about "what's behind the door next to the storm drain tower", and there's just a lot of awesomeness about this new holiday update for Wizard101!

Mmm hmm! It's a simple quest (at least for level 90 characters) that's cute and short, but it's awesome and a lot of fun too.

Sorry Professor Diapermancer, it took a few years, but now your answer to Bailey Firesword's question is incorrect.



It was Bailey's Skystaff's birthday yesterday, and (for a little bit of fun) we decided to give this new content a run through.

Dworgyn gave us the skinny.

Eek! Sure enough there was a sigil right there in front of the doorway that had been abandoned for so long.

Who knew it would be fortune seeking moles to break in there first and awaken the thirst of Nosferabbit and his undead veggies. After we entered, I ran ahead to check things out.

Bailey calmed my fears *cough* and in the end, we were just a couple meteor strikes and a Deer Knight away from Defeating Nosferabbit and getting to the real prize of this instance! Cheep Bird transformations and a Frankenbunny pet!

I think the Wizard101 team did a great job on this quest, and it was a lot of fun to play through with Uber Wife on her birthday.

We tried to run through Aquila as well, but we ran out of time before we needed to pick up "Professor Diapermancer" from school. :) I'll just save any discussion of Aquila for later.

Happy dueling!

Conversation Hearts from The Spiral

Happy Valentine's Day, readers! I'm so excited for all that the day will bring to you today. LOVE! Love is in the air!

So I have a lot of multi-person Wizard101 mounts to give away including a Blood Raven, Great Hornocerous, Hydra, Malorian Dragon, Scarydactyl, Winter Treant, Phoenix, and the mighty Trex! If you'd like a shot at winning one, all I need you to do is send me a conversation heart from The Spiral!

What's a conversation heart from The Spiral? Basically conversation hearts are those little candy hearts with text written on them . . . like this!


Here's a link to the website I used to create that, BUT you definitely don't have to only use that program when you make your heart . . . feel free to be as creative as you'd like! Heck, make a cookie heart and snap a picture of it if you'd like! (um, please, no real hearts /shudder) However you make your graphic, package it up and send it to thefriendlynecromancer@gmail.com (if you're under 13, get your parent or guardian's assistance) by 20 February 2013, and your conversation heart from The Spiral will be judged AND entered into a raffle. That's right, there's a raffle portion to this as well, so don't worry if you're not particularly feeling creative today. :) Just try to make your heart Wizard101 or Pirate101 themed.

We'll announce winners by 25 February (earlier if possible). :) NOTE: Only one entry per person!

Best of luck and happy dueling!

Beating the Post-Christmas Blues Raffle!

Heya! It's easy to slump into some post-Christmas blues my friends. When you think about it, the holidays are pretty emotional events where you're seeing family, giving and receiving gifts, and basically eating more comfort food than you should. It's a time when you're extending yourself beyond your normal reaches, and well, sometimes that just lends itself to "deflating" after the holidays.

No worries though! BUCK UP MY COOL RANCH COWBOYS AND COWGIRLS! You can definitely beat the post-Christmas blues! Get out there and exercise, clean your house, take a vacation, WORK, finish a big project . . . there are lots of awesome things you can do to get motivated.

So here's the deal . . . I have five codes for Wizard101 Epic Bundles that I'd love to give away Rafflecopter style. You remember epic bundles don't you? No? It's a retired card that's no longer available! It's the bundle that started bundles! Check it out!

Enter today (12/27/2012) and I'll choose winners tomorrow (12/28/2012)!

a Rafflecopter giveaway


The only thing I'm asking is that you leave me a comment below with an idea on how someone might beat the post-Christmas blues! Thanks! Have fun, and . . . .

Happy Dueling!

Halloween Raffle Explosion of Awesomeness!

Heya all,

We've run out of time for contests, but we'd love to raffle off these prizes (courtesy of KingsIsle Entertainment) to the readers of the Friendly Necromancer:

- 10 Death Houses (+ and additional castle elixir)
- 20 Decorating Packs full of Halloween stand-ups and pumpkins
- 20 5,000 Crown gifts

Wow, that's a lot of prizes! Best of luck, friends!

So here's how you enter . . . back in 2008, I asked a question to my much smaller audience and received no answers. Go see the post for yourself.

So here's the question again: Which is spookier, me with my Baby Abbey Krokomummy Pet or the ghoul stand-up, Mr. Slim Shady?



HERE! Use this Rafflecopter to enter. :)

a Rafflecopter giveaway


Prizes will be emailed out on Halloween, 31 October 2012!

Thanks and Happy Dueling

Happy Holidays . . . Whoa Boon Tree Gives Pets!

So, I harvested my elder Boon Trees, and guess what? Not only does the Boon Tree give Snowman decorations, but it also gives snowman pets as well! That's right, the Boon Tree is one of the only plants to EVER give a pet as a reward (The Holidaisy has a chance to give an ice elf pet).

Since I planted four of these trees (yeah, I was feeling festive), I ended up with a couple of Ice Elf pets, a Frostman pet, some rank 8 (lower end) mega snacks, a lot of Christmas housing items, four candy cane 7-day mounts, and a metric ton of Happy Holidaisy plants.



In fact, overall, I'd say that the main payout of the Boon tree through regular harvests and the elder harvest is the Happy Holidaisy. Unfortunately, I've never been too fond of the Happy Holidaisy plant. :/ Perhaps one of my pets would like to eat them though (I don't know if you've noticed, but it seems that feeding your pet crown items can result in a few points of experience for them).

. . . and for me, with the harvest of the Boon Trees this morning and with relatives vacating our house, it feels like the holiday season is almost over. :/ At least I have my virtual Christmas decorations to keep the season going in a room at some random house LOL.

It's been a fun Christmas at our house. The kids got a Kinect and a 3DS this year from Santa and a few other games like Disney Universe and Skylanders. Diapermancer has been going nuts with the Skylanders portal of power lol! He loves that thing.

Santa even left a game for me! Yup, Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword was poking out of the top of my stocking this year. woohoo!

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas, Hanukkah, Solstice, or whathaveyou! As I briefly mentioned over on my previous post, please let me know if you got (or gave) any fun gifts for the holidays! I love hearing about the loot! :)

I'm thankful for a lot of things in the real world, mainly my awesome family and all of our blessings. I'm so thankful for the great community of Wizard101. You all make this game fun to play.

"Happy Dueling to all and to all a good night!"

Buh Buh Buh Boon Tree!

As always, the people of Wizard101 Central are right on top of things, and have uncovered five likes for the new Boon Tree crown plant that came as a part of the 12 Days of Wizard celebration.

I had some evil magma peas go elder today, and I was feeling festive, so I bought a couple of these things. I remember the awesomeness of the giving tree from last year and decided, WHAT THE HAY! MERRY CHRISTMAS THOMAS LIONBLOOD!


I wonder if the natural rewards of the boon tree are good enough that I'll want to slow down its growth. If they are, I'll be sure to re-plant that despairagus I dug up and remove the likes I have now . . . If I'm not all that impressed, well, I'll plant a Holidaisy next to them and get this show on the road!

Happy Dueling!

The Awesomeness of Christmas 2011 in Wizard101

Yeah, in 2010 we got festive decorations, free hats, the Ice Elf appeared, and it was all about the giving tree.

2009 was about the same except for the addition of the Charity Meowmodon Mount. :) (So glad they upped the speed of that mount to 40%.)

2008 didn't have silent night caps I don't think, but we did have decorations and Felix Navidad.

BUT, 2011, Y'ALL!!!

2011 has been a lot of fun so far. As I type this, we're knee deep in the new Wizard101 "12 Days of Wizard."

On 9 December, The Charity Chrismoose was introduced into the game!


I laughed over this thing. LOL. It looked like a dog with moose horns tacked on . . . aka Max.


I'm really glad they've made the Chrismoose's nose glow and lightstrand on his antlers light up. that definitely makes max more awesome.

On 10 December, fans were treated to a poetry contest.

On 11 Decemeber, there was a one-day only free Christmas light strand housing item they gave us.

On 12 December, there was a one-day 50% off sale on the Horde packs.

On 13 December, the new Artic Ninja Pig made its appearance in the crowns shop.

On 14 December, a slew of cute new holiday housing items came to the spiral. Best thing about these . . . you can buy them with gold! Yay!

On 15 December, we all got a free snowman transformation. :) That's not a new thing in Wizard101, but free is free! I'll take it!

On 16 December, Candy Cane mounts! Hooray!


Today, on 17 December, an e-mail coupon code was mailed out to all Wizard101 fans. This code will randomly give you a discount on Crowns and Subscriptions purchased on Wizard101.com. You can get as much as 50% off the regular price of these items today. Wow!

As it sits now we still have four more days of gifts and discounts headed our way! I can't wait to see what's next!

This has definitely been the best efforts Wizard101 fans have seen for the Christmas holiday season. Thanks Kingsisle!

And thanks for this hilarious Christmas song . . . TAKE US OUT KINGSISLE!



Although that entire video is awesome. I'd have to say this is the best part. :)



Happy Dueling!

Happy Thanksgiginv 2011!

Can I just repost last year's Thanksgiginv message? Ahh, I guess I gotta do something a little bit special, right? Why? Well, Thanksgiginv is the best time of year where students of Ravenwood gather together to say thanks for all the things that are Wizard101. SO HIT IT MAESTRO!

*cue music*
*cue spotlight*
*cue Frank Sinatra voice*

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Thanks for pets and advance pets.
Thanks for safari student vignettes.
Thanks for derby and pvp!

Thanks for circles where we duel.
Thanks for awesome gobbler drool.
Thanks for reading blogs like me!

Thanks for Evil Magma Pea gardens.
Thanks for super Bazaar bargains.
Thanks for the Baobab Tree!

Thanks for Grandmother Raven.
Thanks for all the crowns I'm savin'.
Thanks for makin' Falmea a "she"!

Thanks for groupin up with buddies!
Thanks for cyclops minion huggies!
Thanks for that next world's Spiral Key!

Thanks for Malistaire and for Morganthe!
Thanks for chests that give a second chanth!
Thanks for the deep Celestian Sea!

Thanks for blue hair that's a mullet!
YES, thanks from the bottom of my turkey-stuffed gullettttttt . . .

Thanks!

Thanks!!!

Happy Thanksgiginvvvvvvvvvv!!!!

FROM YOUUUUUUUUU TOOOOOOOO MEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!

AND VICEEEE VERSEEEEEEEEEEe!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

*bows*


(Feel free to add your own verses in the comments! ;)))

Happy Thanksgiginv EVERYBODY!!!

Wizard101 Shows Valor!

Wizard101 players got a nice surprise today as they logged in.


By clicking the "Redeem Shield of Valor" today, Wizard101 players were redirected to Wizard101.com where the code "Valor2011" was entered into the redemption block after being directed to log in.


"In recognition of all those who have served their countries, we offer you the opportunity to claim a Shield of Valor housing decoration item."

It's a very cool looking wall hanging. I've been saving my secret room in my Massive Fantasy Palace for something special, and I think i just found what it will be for. VALOR!


I didn't talk much about receiving the Valor sword for 2009 (because I was busy answering questions), but here's a link to my Veteran's day entry for 2010, which is when I received my statue.

Back in 2009, if you sent KingsIsle an e-mail with a note about a family member that was in the Armed Services, they sent you a code for a Valor sword. That promotion obviously has now ended. My father was in the Army. He never felt quite right about being recognized as a veteran since his experience in the Army was quite different than most. As a matter of fact, my dad was a pretty stellar basketball player and ended up as the Center on the Army basketball team during the Korean War. His tour of duty was spent playing basketball and going to school to become a pharmacist while, he felt, others were sent to die for their country on the battlefield.

But, I don't think he understood that his part in the war was one of building morale. At his funeral they sent him off with a 21-gun salute and handed my mother a flag that had been flown over this great country. He was a veteran, and continued to serve his country in local government positions throughout his life. I'm proud of him, and so this one's for you dad!

Happy Veteran's day from someone who also tries to build morale and silently does his part for the country. Thanks, dad!

Happy dueling!

Friendly's Halloween MMO Wrap-up 2011

One thing that I love about MMOs and online games is that they all usually dress up for Halloween. :) They all seem to provide some kind of wacky and festive prize, and I loves me some prizes!

Here's a quick run down of a few of the games that I played during the Halloween season and got a little somethin' somethin' for it.

~~~~~~~~~~

Wizard101

The Spiral was once again alive with little ghosts floating all around Wizard City and pumpkins at every doorstep. The spooky cutouts were everywhere, and the Halloween towers were a good time for everyone. It's all packed up as of today, but it sure was fun while it lasted.


Just as a side note . . . my favorite quest for Halloween is blowing out pumpkins because I get to hear the narrator say "Halloween pumpkin" in an evil voice. I want to sample that and make a song out of it. HALLOWEEN PUMPKINNNNN!

Of course, the Nightmare packs and new crown shop pets made this an entirely different Halloweenfest than ever before. The nightmare packs felt totally handcrafted for The Friendly Necromancer. Thanks KingsIsle for making that pack! Tons of fun. From what I understand, those are going away from The Spiral in like a week. Get 'em while you can!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Dragon's Nest

There's a quest series in Dragon's Nest that you get from Irine in Canderock Pass where if you kill three pumpkin ducks and earned their "tickets" you can get a temporary Halloween pumpkin head for your character.


I played for a bit one night with Tipa from West Karana, and we leveled our clerics while hunting for these pumpkin ducks. It was a ton of fun. Thanks Tipa! We played enough that she could specialize her cleric as a paladin, and I could specialize my cleric as a priest. :) (That's 2/3rds of the MMO trifecta right there. ;))

There are other events in DN that you can do for Halloween, but this was the only one I participated in.

~~~~~~~~~~

Free Realms

The land of Free Realms was celebrating their Spooktacular event again this year. You can learn about all the new stuff in Spooktacular here. The bat ride over water is awesome. WATERSKI! Anyway, the city square of the Sanctuary area had a few quests you could complete from Halloween Harry (a skeleton named Harry is awesome). Since I've been back at leveling my soccer star profession (level 15!), I took the opportunity to go spook a few of the townies and receive their gifts. I love eating candy that turns you into a spider. :)


~~~~~~~~~~

Dungeons and Dragons Online

DDO was once again hosting the "Endless Night" festival. I spent an hour or so running around the Delera's Tomb area where a usually empty zone gets turned on its head as undead start spawning all over the place (lore note: That's because Mabar, the Plane of Night, manifests there--SPOOKY). Basically these undead drop items you can turn in for Motes of Night and buy yourself cool undead bane items . . . OR, if you're like me, 50 pumpkin grenades or so to throw at your friends to make them have a pumpkin head for 15 minutes.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Anything else?

No, not for me. Those were the only Halloween MMO events I attended this year. There were plenty other events . . . in fact you can check out a big list of them over on Massively. (Of course, Massively totally didn't care about finding Gary on Club Penguin this Halloween ;) Hope you had a chance to catch a couple of these! Did you get a chance to celebrate Halloween in another game besides Wizard101?

Happy Dueling!

Meeeeeerrrrrrryyy Christmas Everybody!

Nanamancer used to have one of these trees, and I use to say, "Merrrrry Christmas Everybody!" over and over and over because of it.



Well, I just wanted to wish everybody a Merry Christmas! I hope you're all getting what you want and deserve (hopefully crowns, right?)

Here's a picture of Bailey and Blaze by the big tree.



And of course, he's a picture of everyone's favorite Jollymancer! (head nod to @RogueSorcerer for coining Jollymancer, lol.)


Thanks so much for all the fun and awesomeness. I'm so grateful for all my friends and family that I get to play Wizard101 with.

Good night, friends!



Leave me a note and let me know what you got (or gave) for Christmas this year!

Happy Dueling!

*sings* All I want for Christmas is

(to the tune of "two front teeth") All I want for Christmas is a funny hat. a funny hat. yes a funny hat! All I want for Christmas is a FUNNY HAT SO I COULD WISH YOU A MERRY HATMAS!

And if you haven't heard the news, KingsIsle is giving us funky hats for Christmas!






Totally trying to look like Kiera Knightly . . .

So here's the skinny on how to get your Christmas hat: Log in between December 21st 2010 and January 1st 2011 to receive your hat, but the catch is that you only get one hat per account.

And you can read all about this promotion over on the Christmas promotion page!

OH! And while you're looking around at KingsIsle pages, be sure to check out the newsletter as well. Why? Because it rocks. PLUS, it talks about the ice elf pet. Here's a picture of me with my ice elf pet by the happy garden on the test realm.


As always, be sure to check out the talents at petnome. It's mostly a pet with selfish talents, but HEY, you get the card! Breed it with another cool pet or two and try to make the ultimate pvp pet! :-)

Happy Dueling and Bring on the Season!

Happy Thanksgiginv! (head nod to Blaze Mistshard)

What, Friendly? "Didn't you mean Happy Thanksgiving?" No Wai! I say it cool like Blaze Mistshard says it:


(That's me and the Mistshards) YES! I like it! Happy Thanksgiginv! I'm thinking "Thanksgiginv" is like . . . "thanks for the gig invite!" I think I'll say that now whenever someone invites me to a group and it goes well. Instead of, "Hey, nice instance run, yo!" I'll be like "Hey, Happy Thanksgiginv, yo!"

OK, so throughout the day I've been dropping into the game to see if any of my friend list peeps were on and there were indeed a handful who had taken a break from the Thanksgiginv feasting to play some Wizard101.

Check it out! Me and the famous Cassandra Griffindreamer:


Check out this Thanksgiving crew right here.


All good peoples to be sure.

I got another one of just me and Titanrider too.


Good times.

And now we disco:



hehe. A coworker sent that one to me.

Anyway, I hope you all are having a great day, and I want you to know how truly grateful we are here at Team Friendly headquarters for your friendship and caring. You all are wonderful people. :-)

Thanks for all you do! Stay happy and have a great holiday.

Happy Dueling

Happy Valentine's Day!

Thanks Witch Warrior for my Valentine's Day card!


/BLUSH!

So ITS (that's an acroynym for "in the spiral" as coined by the #diarykids) I farmed up between 10,000 and 20,000 gold each for Iridian and Bailey (the wife's characters) for Valentine's Day. hehe. I might head back in and farm some more so Iridian can buy her Balance house. Bailey is a ways away from getting her house still . . . that might take a while (We'll see how much time I get here today ;))

And in the real world, every Valentine's Day I cook a special dinner for my wife. I make these Cheese Stuffed tomatoes that are really really yummy and they accompany some crab legs. Believe me, the tomatoes are so yummy that the crab legs are like an afterthought.

I hope you have a wonderful Valentine's Day in and out of the spiral! Let me know what your plans are!

(/comfort to all the singles out there . . . may love find you this year!)

Happy Dueling!

Valentina Heartsong returns to Wizard City!

This community news release came across the wire today!

~~~~~~~~~~~~
Valentine Heartsong has joined us once again in Wizard City. She can be found in the Wizard City Shopping District near the fountain. She has lots of fun items for sale for Crowns, but just for a limited time.

We also have something special for our young Wizards for this year's Friendship Festival! You can download and print your very own Wizard Valentines!

Each Valentine has a space for you to write your Wizard101 Invite a Friend Code, so you can invite friends to join you in Wizard101.
Not sure what your Invite a Friend Code is? Click here to find out!

Click here to see the Valentines and to learn how to print them out!
~~~~~~~~~~~~

Excellent idea with the Valentine's Day cards wouldn't you say? I don't know if they'd be a hit around the office, but my kids might be raking in the crowns from it!

It was a good time last year with Valentina. My daughter still has one of the piggles in her backpack from then! It's good to see Valentina back. :-)

Happy Dueling!

Christmas Un-Wrap Up!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas! Santa visited us! I tried to stay up late to see him, but I fell asleep.

He gave us the gift of Playstation3! YAY! Little Big Planet is awesome. I wonder if I could build a Wizard101 level. hmmm . . . Anybody out there have this game and has built levels for it?


So what did you all give/get for Christmas?

I'm excited to hear about your presents!

Me? Oh you know . . . I got dad stuff. Like socks. (shh, I think the Playstation 3 will get a lot of mileage from me.) OH, and Amber Deathsong drew my name this year! She got me a $15 Itunes card. YES! I have a list of songs I've been wanting.

I need to say thank you to Cassandra G. (She's already listed her gift list over on her site--WOW, nice haul) and Leesha D. (Don't forget Ravenwood Radio 6 is this coming Wednesday!) for their gifts in game! Thank you so much!

Happy Dueling!

Merry Christmas Eve!

My blog buddy Cassandra put together a Christmas poster for a few of her blogger friends! yay!


Thanks Cass, you too!

I sent my friend list their presents today! I had to stop halfway through and go buy another gift card to finish LOL. Eye of the Bartleby packs for all those on my friends list! Merry Christmas!


I really would like to thank all those that continue to drop by this blog to make it a daily read. Hopefully you've found enough information here to save you all some time, and my hope is that you've used your spare time wisely.

I'll have more thoughts on the past year as we head into 2010 next week.

Peace, Love, Happiness, and Happy Dueling!

Player Housing, Facelifts, and Christmas are LIVE!

It's here y'all, log in and buy those houses!

You'll be happy to know that the storm house and the meowmedon are up for sale right now.


. . . And that's a significant savings! woot!

On a personal note, I looked to see if the permanent blue dragon was live as well, and no . . . no permanent blue dragon mount AGAIN . . . someday I'm hoping that goes live.


The Facelifts are in as well. I stopped by to wish skullsplitter a merry Christmas.


And the tree and felix are also in the game now. Go stop by the tree for your holiday photos!



Ahhh, Christmas last year was pretty much the same. Every time I look back on this Chirstmas post I LOL over amber and kyle's clothes.

And that's all the news to print. Go log on and enjoy the new stuff that's available!

. . . and I was never heard from ever ever again,

The End.