Awesome Thing #30 -- Mr. Personality

I actually have a unique blog tag for this guy he's that awesome.

Mr. Personality



. . . and I'll never forget how disappointed I was when KingsIsle made the Balloon Car rides optional. HA! Imagine if those transition phases were more popular than they were? We probably would have had a lot more of them in the game, which from this point of view wouldn't be so bad. Speaking of which, I like the dragonfly ride in the Bee House, it's like a kick back to these rides in my mind . . . only with much more looping and soaring. :) But less Mr. Personality. :(

He hasn't changed, but I have. :D



If anything, Mr. Personality's Balloon Car Ride gives us a wonderful view of this floating city, doesn't it?



Awesome.

Happy Dueling

Housing Item of the Day--Airship Photograph

Today our attention turns to Amber Deathsong, who, like Kyle, had a couple lingering Marleybone side quests in her quest log. The Purse Curse 2 had me running all over Marleybone and back, but eventually, Cathrine Dalton was satisfied that the purse curse had been lifted.



She was so overjoyed that she reached under her hoop skirt and provided me with a painting. I always wondered what she was hiding under there in a very G-rated way.





And now I think I know who Cathrine's heart really beats for . . . maybe, Mr. personality?



maybe?

Happy Dueling!

Test Realm Opens to Preview Housing in Wizard101

The wait is almost over! Get your sneak peek of housing now! Here's the press release:

Test Realm Opens to Preview Housing in Wizard101

To our Subscribers and players who have made a Crowns purchase in the last 30 days, we invite you to test out some of our new features on the Wizard101 Test Realm.

We will be looking to you to test out the following additions to Wizard101:

· Housing - Housing and housing item vendors can be found in all the worlds of the Spiral. Decorate your house or your Dorm room!

· Voiceovers have been added for Marleybone, MooShu and Dragonspyre

· Tips will appear to alert you to any items you have received as a reward.

· Run Speed modifiers can be found on Crowns items and as boss drops.

· Markers can now be placed that will allow you to recall back to a marked location.

· New messaging for Dungeons when you enter and if you log out while inside.

· New messaging for Quest drops such as 'Collect Armor'.

· Boat and Balloon rides are now optional.

· Friend Requests show more information about the character.

· The ghosts have fled from Firecat Alley and Triton Avenue to be replaced with different creatures.

If you see any issues with these or other features on the Test Realm, please use the Bug Report button in the game to let us know.

For more information on how to participate in the Test Realm, please see our Sneak Peek Page.

WHAT?! Balloon rides are now optional?! But won't Mr. Personality get lonely now? This is horrible news. I'm loading up test to verify! GASP! HOW COULD YOU DO THIS KINGSISLE!

*walks off in a huff*

Seriously though . . . there's a lot of cool changes in this patch don't you think? Well, except for making ballon rides optional.

*walks off in a huff*

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!

Digmoore Station

Digmoore Station. The smell of the air is like steam and oil churning in your nostrils. From the first time you enter its gates there is a sense of excitement, of movement, of reunions, and of exits. Airports often feel to me like how it must feel the moment you either die or are born: transition.



Why is it that all airports promote the city they reside in? Taxes! That’s why! The fine labor of the people that reside there sweats from every brick. And so the passing stop at digmoore station is complete with misery, joy, and pride in the works of the Marleybonians. The royal tapestry hangs from their wall to show the heritage of their kings and the desires of all their hearts: the golden bone beneath them all, terrier and daushund alike. It speaks of value, desire, and savings plans. It truly makes sense that Marleybonians are excavators, museum curators, and a bit stuffy.



Tracey Castleton at the ticket booth resonates with the fashion sense of the modern Marleybonian. The modesty of the canine-sapien is in full swing in Marleybone. Long dresses that barely skip from the ground. They excel in expensive formal wear that denotes station and hopes to accelerate the experience of the eye rather than give truth to the nose (a dog is a dog after all).



At the back of the station we see the local advertising space. Hairdini the great magician of Marleybone. It is not in their nature for Marleybonians to be wizards, but the imitation of one is big money.



The other advertisement is for the latest dramatic play “A tale of two Bostons.” Assuredly a fine reenactment of the classic by Charles Barkins. A tale where Lucie Dogette finds herself in the midst of turmoil, revolution, and awakening in Marleybone and . . . hmmmm, I guess if Marleybone is to England, then what other city is to France? . . . Dragonspyre I suppose. Yes, A tale where Lucie Dogette finds herself in the midst of turmoil, revolution, and awakening in Marleybone and Dragonspyre and as equally thrust into the turmoil, revolution, and awakening of love between her suitors. Tragic and beautiful. Although the poster kind of makes it look like a dance hall number. /shrug



Through all the pomp and transition, however, there is one pathway in Digmoore Station that an adventurer might miss: Air Dales Hideaway behind the Mayor. If all you look for are the figures who will send you on your adventure, you may miss an important discovery that could help you on your travels. It isn’t the strong drink of the bar you are after, it is the humble and somewhat dark trainer who yokels there.



And of course, you can’t have an airport without airplanes and destinations. Their engineered perfection and glorious statement of advanced civilization.



And it all leads to one goal for Amber Deathsong: Flexing for Mr. Personality. His hands never leaving 3 and 9.



Happy dueling!

Marleybone at Long Last!

Wouldn't you know it, my kid's characters have finally wrapped up Krokotopia. They found that krok wearing pink lipstick and soundly defeated her.



It's amazing how easy this game can be when it is duo'd instead of solo'd, you know? . . . especially when you're duoing with a life mage like Amber. She's awesome. Her brother Kyle agrees.

Sergeant Major Talbot deemed the Amber and Kyle team worthy of proceeding into Marleybone and handed over the key.



Thrilling. He seemed a bit tipsy when he handed over that key . . . I quote, "I ruff you guys. *hic*." Maybe it's best if we do the driving. You adults should remember to be as responsible as Sergeant Major Talbot during the holidays.

And, yes, of course I've been helping my kids out where I can (a lot of help, believe me . . . sometimes I think they'd just play tag if I didn't focus them on task and play their characters wee in the morning hours) and, yup, their quest logs are full of side quests. Oh well. Kids. Whatchagonnado.

Amber decided to spend a few of her crowns and bought this fantastic robe to celebrate. It's awesome. I'm once again jealous. I might just have to go buy me one as well for group pvp. LOL.



Then--

it hit me--

like a ton of bricks.

You know what this means?

Do you?

I don't think you do.

Do you?

Oh man this is hard to do to you all.



More face time with Mr. Personality.

Somebody save me.

Happy Dueling!

Yes! Magus!

Hooray! I hit 33rd level and earned the Magus title. :-)



Mr. Personality here tried to thwart me during my last bubble of 32nd level by trapping me on his balloon car . . . it worked for about 3 minutes. This guy is really milking his 15 minutes of fame.

If you can't beat em . . .

Join em . . .



Just call me Mr. Stoicism.

I think you can hear carmina burana in the background.

ominous . . .

Stoicism

Seriously . . . I'm on a quest to have Kingsisle name this toon Marcus Aurelius.



I mean, can't you just see him spouting, "How ridiculous and how strange to be surprised at anything which happens in life!"

why so serious?

This fella that flies the ship to Hyde Park . . .




. . . so stoic. Almost like a mannaquin. Unmoving. Dedicated. Loves his job. He didn't even blink at me when I stood in his line of sight. That guy is on autopilot for his entire existance. I wonder what his life is like outside of the balloon plane? hmmmmmmm. He probably doubles as a gangster informant for those burglers I've been killing there in Hyde Park. yeah, yeah, kinda shifty like that, yeah.