London Baby!

In my real life I am what is commonly referred to as a POM. Hailing from England, but living and now a citizen of Australia. In one of my earlier quests in Krokotopia I ended up with a new challenge "Marylebone Calling". I didn't need to be asked twice, off I went like a shot back to the World Gate. Yes, I still have Grizzleheim and Wysteria sitting there undiscovered - but Marylebone...... I was curious. Just what would KingsIsle do with a London themed world? When I got to the World Gate the door to this world was not there, so I had to go back to Krokotopia and continue questing in the sands, until it was time.......

As you can see...... I got there. And it's a strange thing! They have done an awesome job of creating the streets of London. I like that it is set back in time and not too modern. I like that they have, once again, taken time to create views - I mean how about this one over the roof-tops to Big Ben. I feel a bit like Mary Poppins up here!

There are some great details, take this old car for instance:

The old newspapers being blown in the streets, the red pillar boxes and the red telephone boxes, they all remind me of home. Cobbled Streets, little shops with wooden benches and wallpaper in dull colours - it's not just the views they have done well, it is the detail too. 

And it's kind of fun that they have chosen to use cats and dogs for the people here, with scurrying rats and cat burglars to quest against! And where else can you go and visit Barkingham Palace?

Well done once again Wizard101! I'm off to see some more of the sights in Old London Town....

Until Next Time,

Tabitha.

Also enjoying the views

Wizard101 is such an amazing place.  It is a game that has something incredible for almost everyone.  When I was reading Tabitha's post on the things she found spectacular, it caused me to reflect on my own experiences and I felt a need to share some of the areas that struck me during my time in the Spiral.

The first place to really notice something special was soon after I had taken the plunge and actually spent money on an online game.  I unlocked Firecat Alley.  Being a Fire Wizard and loving it, I really don't normally take after all of the red and orange typically associated with Fire, but I noticed this view coming back from a quest and it caught my eye.  I don't know if it was the keep or the massive floating parts of this area, but I do remember marveling at it.

Then, while recalling this, I remembered another, much later in the game.  Avalon was a world with some incredible scenery, and walking from the courtyard to this view was simply amazing.

But then again, why stop there?  Tabitha has just entered my absolute favourite world.  Grizzleheim.  This world is simply spectacular.  There are the normal parts of the world, there are those that are restricted to certain levels, and there is the amazing Nadavellir, where you get to meet the first of the truly bad guys - Jotun and his brothers.  And after all of that, there is Wintertusk - but more on that in another post.

On entering, Nadavellir, you notice that this is a very different place.  Awe inspiring even.

And don't forget to look behind you!  This is a place to drink in the atmosphere as much as it is to enjoy the step up in fighting difficulty.

As a level 30 something, I often wondered about the level 50s that kept appearing here.

Feeling a little daunted, I tried the door on the left first.  I was stunned at the health of these bad guys, but it was OK, I had some good spells too.  That was until the first round of fighting saw me badly injured and I didn't survive the second attacks.  Wow.  Needless to say, my first experience with Jotun was with Blaze and Alia and dug in for our first ever extended fight.

This post has gone a little longer than I expected, but such is the magic of the spiral.  Before I go though, there is one other shot that I thought was worthwhile.

I know it doesn't seem like much, but going from the caves with all of their crazy angles and rickety bridges to this majestic icescape truly made Ravenscar worth the wait and the first time you travel through an ice tunnel is just breathtaking.

Wizard101, I take my hat off to you (and now with hair styles I really can take my hat off!).  This game is just an incredible merger of art and magic - all in the name of enjoyment.  

And thank you to Tabitha for reminding me of some of these amazing places, and Alia for starting the whole "Sightseeing" idea :)

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

First Feint Spell Used

I leveled up to 28 yesterday and was given a new spell by Dworgyn. Now I know that minions exist in the spiral and have been in some quests where minions have been used, and I was keen to find out if this was my chance to summon a death minion!

So off I go back to Wizard City, (of course after a quick visit to the Bazaar to off-load all those items I had no use of!) down to the hidden death school, full of hope that a minion was on the way. But, alas, no. It seems I still have a bit of waiting before I get that particular card.

The card I got was a Feint. I have never used one, so was a little unsure. This one was a 1-pip Death Feint:

Being a 1-pip card, it is one that could get a lot of use, but not knowing what card the enemy will be hitting me with next, I thought to myself that this card would not actually be seeing a great deal of action. Adding 30% to a large spell is a risk I wasn't sure I wanted to take, as much as the 70% against the enemy was appealing. After all 70% additional damage could very easily be a quest clincher.

The next battle I am in, I load up on Blades, Shields and place Curse on the high ranking enemy. While I was doing this, the two enemies were doing pretty much the same, Using my 40% Blade along with a 20% Curse was enough to get rid of the higher ranking enemy. Next round I was ready to reload to hit the second one. I had pretty much escaped any hits by this stage, except for an ice-elf on that I had from the previous round.

Next round? There it is. The Feint. I was building up to a larger card to hit the enemy as I had done previously. I had 1-pip, needed 3 to play the card I needed. That card would not be enough to remove the enemy but would do a nice amount of damage. So the Feint would make all the difference..... what to do?Then I realised that I actually did know what card the enemy would be hitting me with in the next round..... the ice-elf. It still had two rounds left in it, and 30% additional damage to a 70 hit - well it was an easy decision! So I played the Feint, then passed. My 3-pips were in place, so time to play my card:

I needed 435 to defeat the enemy, the card with the Feint produced 510 damage. This battle was over and I had sustained no real damage at all. Excellent result!

I think the Feint card my just be a bit more usable than I first thought. So I'm off the re-align my deck and add in a few more of them. 

Until Next Time,

Tabitha.

Blaze's Tips and Tricks No.3 - Things Are Not As They Seem

I have a few tricks up my sleeve here in the Spiral. But this one is definitely one of the best. You know in the top left corner of your screen where you can access the Crowns shop? Well, it isn't just a Crowns shop.

The Crowns shop definitely has some pretty cool stuff and I always wanted lots of Crowns to get a permanent mount. But I never really could afford them. After fighting the Kraken almost everyday I just needed a permanent mount. It was when I was in Krokotopia that I realized this button existed...

In the bottom right corner of the screen there is a button that ONLY shows up if you are on a item that can be bought for gold. This was a BIG thing for me and meant that straight away I checked the mounts section. Sadly though the Swiftshadow Wings weren't on sale for gold. :( But what I did find was that lots of other mounts were. The Bengal Tiger looked good so I started saving up (this got a lot easier when I learned about Halfang) and soon wanted my very own Death House. 100 000 gold is a fair bit but is much better than 10 000 Crowns. There are mounts, houses, housing items, transformations and for the first time ever I saw a pet up for sale for gold! (The next picture shows the houses with the 'GOLD' button pressed.)

Well I hope this post helps you as much as it helped me. Make sure you check out the Housing Items as well because some of those are absolutely awesome. I hope you have enjoyed my third Tips and Tricks.

Until Next Time!

Blaze

Pets are Awesome!

Over my time as a Wizard, I have collected many pets, and initially I didn't really know what value they were, they were really more of a curiosity than anything.  Being a Firey, I ended up with lots of Firewings.  It seemed right to have a Fire pet and the card was more powerful than a normal Sunbird.   In fact, if you see my original house, it is littered with discarded Firewings!

Interestingly, going back and looking at them now, I had trained a fair pet.  A TowerShield card, 9% Spell Proof, Spritely and Pip-o-Plenty.  Not knowing any better I was happy with that pet and kept Sparky around for quite a while.

Now, my regular pet has almost perfect stats with 10% Spell Proof, Spritely, Fairy, Unicorn and mc Vengeance.  Very handy little lady she is and as a Penumbra Drake, she is nearly impossible to see unless you look closely.  She is the result of more than a million in gold for hatching and plenty of snacks and training.

But she is not perfect.  I want that pet with perfect stats.  I want a fire pet that has a card I can actually use, with the perfect set of talents.

The stats are easy, 250 all round.  I have a few Ianthine Hounds with this - they are perfect training fodder, and with a Dragonblade card, they are a handy pet.

The card and the pet - what is perfect for a Firey?  I know Blaze would love a Penumbra - being Death he would get great value from the Red Ghost.  But Fire is supposed to hit pretty hard, so the Dragonblade on the Ianthine is tempting, but with everyone out there having a strong fire resist, is that really what I am after?

Then along came the Coldfire Dragon and its Kirkur Axebreaker card, and I think I have found the pet for me.  The 9% piercing for all friends is a great addition.

Lastly, talents.  What are the best talents?  I think mc Sprite and mc Fairy are a must.  mc Unicorn is a nice to have, but it doesn't cast very often.  I have just revealed mc Healing Current, but I'm told it is very infrequent also.  Proof, definitely...Defy? Is 5% resistance enough to use up a talent?

Very keen to hear anyone's opinion on this as there is a lot to 'crafting the perfect pet...'

See you round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Enjoying the Views

Me again! Just had to pop on and mention the views. I love how the creators of Wizard101 have allowed views across the landscape. In Wizard City you can watch the Kraken quests for example. And now in Krokotopia I have climbed some pretty steep hills in an excavation site... so I turn to look at the view..... it is great to see the attention to detail!

Took a snap of a couple of the views to share here. When I get caught up in the constant questing and running around, it is easy to forget to appreciate the details..... and questing is a constant battle..... so taking time to look at the 'worlds' around us - and how different they are - is nice to do.

For example the views over Wizard City are very purple and grey, lots of waterfalls:

I recently opened Grizzleheim, and it is very different over there. I had a wander around but have not started questing over there yet. Take a look!

I'm really looking forward to heading off to a woody, green world... full of woodland paths. It has a lovely serene feel to it, and I think I will enjoy it more than the constant sands of Krokotopia.

In a strange coincidence, the KingsIsle Blog entry yesterday is titled "A day in the life of a KingsIsle Artist". It is a great insight into the background of the game.  Take a read yourself!

Until next time!
Tabitha

What is it with all the arrogant Ice?

OK, yes, I'm new to PvP and it has taken a while to tune my deck.  That said I am nearly there.

Nonetheless, what is it with all these arrogant and cocky Ice wiz in the Spiral?

I was doing a 1v1 the other day and as soon as the fight started, my opponent realised I was Fire and said "Hi" then "Check out my resist".  As everyone who PvPs knows, you don't talk - it just gives away your stats and gives your enemy a chance to find a soft spot.  But not this guy..."Jack Frost" or so his cheer squad called him, then proceeded to goad me for the next 20 mins.  With 92% Fire Resist, he was feeling invincible.

"Use Efreet like those other Fire corpses!"

"Ah, not talking - a classic noob"

It was funny though, he really didn't like my minion - lol

Well, with me surviving through the brunt of his attack with some handy Ice shields, I weathered the storm. Then it was clear that he was in trouble.  He was running out of cards, and I had found an Unbalance.

A +195% backdraft, a feint, fire bubble, infallible, extraordinary and a prism and...

...the cocky Jack Frost had fled.

Ice - if you are going to be cocky, you had better be good enough to back it up.

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Thanks!

Just had to quickly pop on and say a BIG THANKS to Blaze.

Being relatively new to the spiral I still need all the tips and tricks I can, and getting a mount was something I really wanted! So I followed advice and went to the Kraken boss for a few rounds. It wasn't long before I had a broom to zip around the spiral on!

I know it is not the fastest mount out there, but it sure beats running!

Thanks Blaze - looking forward to your next post.

Until next time,
Tabitha

Ice..tough fight

There are times that I love being fire, and times...well, when it is frustrating.  It is still the school I love, but when you see what these Ice Wizards wear in the Arena, it can get a little challenging.

Tonight Alia and I took on a couple of Level 89s, an Ice and a Death.  The Ice guy had 82% resist to Fire and 49% resist to Life.  What a battle.

Alia and I are still learning the PvP ropes, and are both Privates, these guys were a Sargent and a Commander.  We were in for a tough fight.  Worse, the Ice guy had a Fire mate who hung around the Arena taunting us for the first 90 mins.  No doubt a young kid, but annoying nonetheless.

We targeted the Death guy for the first part of the fight, but his pet was doing a pretty good job of keeping him alive.  After trading blows for an hour, the Death guy was dead, and the Ice guy was pretty much untouched.

Ice guy had a Life Amulet so it wasn't long before it was 2-2 again.  They had a lot of Smoke Screens, Dispel Life and Bad JuJu.  Very annoying.

At the one hour mark, we both had Guardian Spirits on and were healthy, thanks to the amazing Alia.  Death guy was coming back from the dead and soon after Ice guy got a lucky Lord of Winter on Alia and took her out in a single hit.  Of course, she bounced right back, but Death was waiting for her and took her out again.

Finally I got a decent Dryad onto her and we were back.

An aggressive Gnomes followed by a heavy piercing Efreet took out 50% of Ice's health.  He had reshuffled once by this time and soon after, Death was down to 150 health thanks to an unblocked Critical Efreet.  The Death's pet took over and got him back to 2000.  Neither Alia nor I, both having reshuffled, could draw the card to put him away.

By this time, we were 2 hours in. Everyone had reshuffled once, and Ice had done it twice.

Finally, a chunky Forest Lord swept away the rubble and left Ice reeling.  A Critical Helephant finally nailed our antagonists and we took the match in a little over 2 1/2 hours.

I can think of more productive ways to spend that time, but it has been a big week already...I am fine to take a little time out every now and then - and the advantage of dual monitors is that you can actually work on the other screen.  But who would want to do that :)

It was a very satisfying fight to win.  

See you round the Spiral and wish us luck for next time!

Morgrim

Amber Update

I like the fact that Tabitha has gone to Krokotopia and finds it amazing.  Just wait until she sees some of the other worlds!  They are all so very different and KI have done a great job on keeping the 'feel' right for each of the worlds.

I still can't understand why some people don't listen to the story as they progress through the Spiral.  KI have spent a lot of time on the storylines for each world and it really shows.  It adds such depth to the atmosphere of each place.

This isn't going to be one of my typical posts, just a quick follow up on the gardening for Amber. A number of my White Tiger Lilies have turned Elder and my strike rate for Amber is about 1 in 10.  Not great, and 

At the same time, I have a full field of King Parsleys, and they are struggling to produce much Amber at all.  I typically find that I get about 1 in 30, so the 1 in 10 for the White Tiger Lilies, while it isn't good, is certainly better!

I'm off to harvest again...the never ending task of the gardener.

See you around the Spiral.

Morgrim

Blaze's Tips and Tricks No.2 - Easy Temporary Mounts

Sick of running around the spiral not having enough crowns or gold to buy a mount? Sick of running back and forth from places hardly getting any questing done?

Well I'm about to share with you a few good bosses for crowns and non crowns players to get mounts daily until you can buy a permanent one.

The Kraken is a boss on Triton Avenue which costs no crowns to get to and drops a total of 10 different daily mounts. The Kraken often fills up quickly so I'm sure you'll find many friends to help you finish quicker. The Kraken is definitely the boss for non crowns players and with lots of friends it's quick and easy! To see what mounts The Kraken drops click the link below.
http://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Kraken

Another good boss for mounts is Alicane Swiftarrow. Alicane is pretty much the last boss you will fight on Firecat Alley and drops 9 different daily mounts.(Which costs 750 crowns to get to. Not for non crown players). You may need some friends or some others who want mounts to help attack him as people don't usually farm him. Mounts and drops for Alicane Swiftarrow are below.
http://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Alicane_Swiftarrow

Some bosses that hardly any one knows drop mounts are Lady Blackhope and Rattlebones. These two bosses are both located on Unicorn Way (the first place you encounter monsters) and both drop 9 different daily mounts each. These bosses towers do not have sigils so you will have to fight them solo. These bosses are easier then the first two but fighting them by yourself could be harder. The mounts and drops for each boss are in the links below.
http://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Lady_Blackhope
http://www.wizard101central.com/wiki/Creature:Rattlebones

I hope that this weeks Tips & Tricks have helped your journey around the spiral. Just 10 - 30 minutes a day of fighting these bosses can get you a mount and help you around the spiral much faster.

Until next time!

Blaze

Krokotopia

When I was thinking about Krokotopia, I really had no idea what type of world it would be. I mean "Wizard City", it kind of speaks for itself, but Krokotopia? Nothing was screaming at me, so I was curious to go check it out......

So it turns out that Krokotopia is a land of sand and pyramids!  It is so different from Wizard City! And I would never have guessed we would be moving to the desert. I hear Morgrim talk of these other worlds he visits, and I feel a little left out because I am so far behind in my journey, so it is good to see a new world. Lots of Fire too, so I guessing Fire Wizards will pick up some good gear.

It's pretty impressive, there are ancient digs and big statues.... and lots of new 'locals' to speak to! I'm looking forward to checking this out some more!

Until next time,
Tabitha