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Friday 28 February 2014

Ooooh - not Khrysalis Part 2 yet...

Hey Everyone,
Looks like the team at Kingsisle have been very busy listening to what everyone is asking for. I know there are plenty of Wizards who are patiently waiting for Khrysalis part 2.... but the test realm has been opened again to test some pretty exciting updates.

According to the updates page "This update is to help prepare for the Khrysalis part 2 world expansion by introducing Team Up! and Dungeon Recall. We are also looking at helping out young Fire Wizards who are just getting started."

So lets take a look!


It's like PvP for Dungeons!!

A Team Up! Button has been added to the “Press X to Enter” window of most dungeon sigils. The button allows players to find other players that want to play the same dungeon even if they’re in different realms.
When you select the Team Up! option, you will be asked to confirm your action.You cannot choose or reject the team that you are placed in. If you're not happy with the team you were placed in, simply leave the dungeon and you will leave the Team. If you leave the dungeon you will have to wait five minutes before you can Team Up! again.

Details

You will not be put on the same team as someone who you have ignored, or who has ignored you
Team Up! ignores Groups. Grouped players do not need to use Team Up! as you can just teleport to your Group members and join the dungeon together.
Team Up! does not use the 10 second sigil countdown, instead you will wait by the dungeon for others to join the team
When one player is waiting, they will wait until a second player joins
When the second player joins, a two minute timer starts. When the timer reaches zero, all players are teleported into the Dungeon
If a fourth player joins, the timer is ignored and the players are teleported right awayTeam Up! is available on most dungeons, but while this update is on the Test Realm, we encourage our players to congregate and test the Team Up & Dungeon Recall features at the following locations:

  • Sunken City in Wizard City
  • Waterworks
  • Emperor's Retreat in Krokotopia
  • Big Ben in Marleybone
  • Tree of Life in MooShu
  • The Great Spyre in Dragonspyre
  • The Chancel in Celestia
  • The Black Palace in Zafaria
  • Ghost Avalon in Avalon
  • Glimmering Chamber in Azteca
  • Nastrond in Grizzleheim
  • Tower of the Helephant in Wysteria
Ever wished you could just recall directly back to the dungeon you just left? Well now you can!

If you are defeated or teleported out of a dungeon that you were in alone, you now have the option to recall directly back to the start of that same dungeon. An icon will appear near your compass, and placing your mouse over that button will show you the Dungeon name, and a countdown timer showing how long you have before the Dungeon closes.



You will only see this icon when you have a currently recall-able dungeon available to you. If you are defeated or teleported out of a dungeon that you were exploring with other Wizards, you have the option to recall to the dungeon, but you will not see a timer.

If your friends complete the dungeon without you, you will not be able to recall to the dungeon and will receive the message that the Dungeon has been completed.If you return to an entry sigil of your currently active Dungeon, you will see the option to Resume your current dungeon.

If you choose to Resume your dungeon, you will immediately be teleported and will not have to wait for the Sigil countdown. This will prevent players from resetting your dungeon progress by joining you on the Sigils.
If you choose not to Resume your current dungeon, you will start a new Dungeon and abandon all progress in your previous version.


Fire Wizards are going to have a little more health in the early levels ( under level 15)
See the full update details for more information : https://www.wizard101.com/game/game-preview
Note: This update doesn't take into account the changes to your stats with the gear you are wearing...

In an attempt to balance the early levels of being a Fire Wizard, the health of some of the bosses on Firecat Alley are being adjusted, as well as modifications to the Fire and Ice Shields cast by creatures in Wizard City. The most noticable improvement for young Fire Wizards will be the changes to the initial damage of the Fire Elf Spell.

A great bonus is that the Fire Elf will gain varied animations. Be cool to see these, so a trip to Fire Alley in the not too distant future is on the cards!



From wizard101.com:

"Khrysalis part 2 is shaping up to be an amazing adventure. We're still continuing to shape and polish this culmination to Morganthe's story, but here's a sneak peek at some Concept art from Crescent Beach."



Hope you find this update useful, and exciting!!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Wednesday 26 February 2014

Return to ... Unicorn Way!!

You know, sometimes I like to duck back to two places, Unicorn Way and Hunted Cave.  I think I like them because Unicorn Way holds my first real Wizard101 memories, and because I didn't have Crowns for a while, Haunted Cave was my first really scary time.

I was doing the Cave once and a Wizard on a flying mount was watching one of our fights.  He jumped down to join in and wow...he had nearly 2,000 health!  Then he cast this spell that looked just like the scary pumpkin head things we were fighting - and it killed them all!!  In one hit!! AND he got energy from it!  WOW!

That was one of the first times I knew I wanted to be a high level wizard.  Every now and then, I go back and visit and help out the new batch of young Wizards that have just entered the Spiral.

Check it out though - my first fight, and it looks like I am not the only one playing games today :)

Then, of course, comes the satisfying finish!



Then it is off to Hunted Cave, and guess what?  First fight here and another high level!  Looks like lurkers everywhere!


Have you ever found yourself reliving those memories, but this time really punishing the enemies?  There is a strange sense of satisfaction being able to do it now.

Anyway, if you see me around, make sure and say "Hi!"

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Monday 24 February 2014

Wizard101 Weekly latest edition now available!

Hey everyone,

Another week starts and that means it's time to catch up on all the latest from Spiral.  Great news is the Wizard Weekly roundup from the last week is available now!

Top Stories this week:
  • Tabitha uses the Manual of Mastery to help with her stats and defeat Estrakir
  • The Lost Pages is back!
  • More February Goodies
 ....... Read all about it here!!



Enjoy and we'll have another one ready for you next week!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Sunday 23 February 2014

What if I can't sell it?

Before I bought a membership with Wizard101, my 80 backpack limit was constantly being breached, and I'd have to figure out how to clean it out again!  Since membership, with the backpack limit increased to 120, it is quite amazing to think that I have exactly the same problem.

Then again, isn't that the way life works? :)

So, when you have this issue, and your friend Professor Lincoln pops up, what can you do?  

Well, as it turns out, quite a lot really!  

You can start by putting items into your Bank (if it is not full too!).  You can also use your Shared Bank for those items you are able to share with your other character.  These two options are the obvious and most basic of ways to fix this problem, yet some people I have come across are not away of the ability to use the Shared Bank.

However, to actually get rid of items, I always start in the Bazaar.  Don't forget you can sell items directly out of your Bank while at the Bazaar. Before KI introduced this, it was quite time consuming to traipse backwards and forwards between your house and the Bazaar!!

Most things can be sold here and for decent prices too...but not every thing will sell.  Those things defined as "No Auction" cannot be sold at the Bazaar.

So, what then?

Did you realise that you can sell items back to the normal shops?  The shops in the Shopping District and around the Spiral will buy most items, Crowns or special, however even a normal shop isn't the best answer for a bursting backpack!

Funnily enough, once you have finished at the Bazaar, the next best place to go is Pet Pavilion and drop in on the Pet Shoppe Boys.  Not only will they buy your unwanted and most of your un-sellable items, they will also buy back your pets! (and this can be a real relief in the middle of a hatching spree!)

However, if you are out and about in the Spiral, or in a Dungeon, there is another nice feature that can be quite handy - The Quick Sell.  You can do it anywhere or anytime.  This will allow you to sell your items very quickly,  The money is not great, but it is very convenient.

Again, not everything can be sold using Quick Sell, but as an emergency it can be quite handy.  If the Quick Sell option doesn't appear, that simply means that item cannot be Quick Sold.

As a fallback position, there is always the opportunity to feed your item to your pet.  This can be useful for either Treasure Cards, Reagents or even Pet Experience...

...but as a final option, when all else fails - you can always just throw it in the Trash (Delete).

I know some of these sound silly or obvious, but I just know that finding about these options was something I learned over time.  I figure if I didn't know about it for a while, there is a fair chance that others might not have known about it either!

See you 'round the Spiral.

Morgrim

Saturday 22 February 2014

What did the Manual Say?

Hey everyone!

Last night I had one goal in mind.... to defeat Estrakir. I had tried this tower fight a few times, and always made it to the top - only to be defeated by those cheating bosses on the top level!! I pulled in the big guns to help me (Morgrim!), but I also decided that I would ask the Manual of Mastery to give me some suggestions
based on:

 1. Death Critical 2. Death Damage 3. Power Pips

It is obvious why I chose the first two, the Power Pips? Well I just like having those yellow pips. If I have great stats, but can't run my spells because I don't have the pips.... well really - what is the point?

In the Manual of Mastery I simply added the items I was wearing as owned, equipped those items to my wizard (the image to the left shows you what I am currently equipped with - the whole process took less than 10 minutes.), and then on to the optimizer.
1. Death Critical 2. Death Damage 3. Power Pips

I was very happy that the helm I had crafted in Grizzleheim was top of the list... obviously I am getting better at this! But my Robe and Boots were lacking - time to see how easy it would be to get these recommended items. And I wasn't worried about not getting all of them - the main gear was enough right now.... I can look at the other items some other time.

The Manual of Mastery will display the best recommendation, then you can double click on any of the recommended items and the wizard101/central page will appear. This will give you the details of how to obtain this recommended item. But first up, you absolutely have to visit my second home.... Take The Eclipse Clogs...... First port of call? Yes, you guessed it - the Bazaar. And guess what? There they are.... Yeah!!

Onto the Robe.... now the robe I am wearing is a crafted one from Grizzleheim. I was really pleased with this robe, but with the stats I wanted there is better out there. Again - off to the Bazaar. If not there, then I would double click on the item to display the full page and find out how to get it. Luckily though, in this case, there was the robe in the Bazaar. A quick re-stitch for all items purchased and I am good to go! Too easy!

Spent the next 90 minutes doing the quest with Morgrim. It was pretty simple. In the boss fight just get rid of the rats, then Knuckles and you'll be good. Those cheats are prevalent at the start, but reduce the enemy count and it is all good. The added benefit was the 3% accuracy for Death.... I did not fizzle on one Death Spell. And that really does make a difference. Even Morgrim commented that my hits were harder than usual.

Needless to say the battle was won. And I seriously need to go run some more battles and see how I go. But to be honest - right here and now - I am quite happy with the outcome. Patch gives great all round healing and sets me up with Vengeance. My hit is harder, my critical happens more, my accuracy is improved.

Don't forget if you have questions on anything (including the manual) just leave a comment. I seriously love hearing from you guys.

As for the evening? All in all - a great outcome.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Friday 21 February 2014

Another one joins the keep!

Hi readers, I have just joined the others here at the keep and will be with them along the rest of the way!
My name is Christopher Battlesmith, and I am only a low level (lvl 9) Myth wizard. This is my second wizard and I am still doing the basic things, such as the firecat alley and Triton avenue quests.
I have been playing MMORPG's (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games) for quite some time but I have only just gotten into wizard, so most of the concepts that I can see are understandable but some things are also very new to me.
I have played some with Blaze and Morgrim but other than that my experience in the game is quite low.
I have noticed that there are many awe-inspiring things in the spiral, things such as the design of all the characters and NPC's (Non-Playable Characters) and the spells.
The things I must say that I love about the game (although I am only new and in the beginning areas) is the music and the spell animations. The music is just relaxing and smooth and the spells are fantastic and amazing.
I can't wait to keep playing and keep blogging!
Can't wait to see you in game!

Christopher Battlesmith

The Barn


Do you know when I first started my Wizard journey I did not know about the Bazaar? Seems crazy to me now, but it was actually Morgrim who pointed it out to me.  I can't remember the context of the conversation now, but Morgrim had to talk me through how to get there!! I had passed that little shop by many many times - just never noticed it! So I guess I have Morgrim to blame for what has turned into a bit of an obsession.

Decorating houses in different styles has been a fun side of the game. At least now I have unlimited gold from Halfang! I've been working on the main room at my Barn for the last couple of months, and I think it is pretty much done. Of course, as always, working on means hanging at the Bazaar for my chosen style! Well today I picked up a new wall trophy - the first I have seen in a while. There was just enough space for the "Earth Dino Shield". The style of the room is "Trophy". A place to display all shields, masks, armour and many other items.



I took a quick picture of the room, but realised that you can't really see the items I have on display. Take this "Ornate Mask" - you can't see it in the room. So I decided to take some video of the room, so you can see the trophies, armour and unusual items I have been picking up. The Fur Lined floor fits in with this style, and the Stitched wallpaper is sufficiently plain to show off the items. I have developed a love for moving items, such as flames or steam, so you'll notice a few of those objects in the mix. My biggest problem is that the barn is big, but only allows 250 items inside, and I'm completely full. If anything else shows up then I will have to cull from other places to fit more in!


I am very happy with how it's all come together, but would love to know what you guys think!
Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Thursday 20 February 2014

Time to go see Harold again!

Hey everyone,

Looks like the Lost Pages are back in town for another round. I have still yet to complete this particular side quest, I never seem to complete it before it disappears again! Maybe this will be the time to do it!
This is taken from the Wizard101 site:


And a few notes:
Please remember that if you've completed his task already you will not be able to take the quest again. Participating in the Lost Pages Events can potentially yield great things for your Wizard...

Rewards for participating in the Lost Pages Events will scale to your level and the level of the creatures you are facing. A level 90 Wizard in Unicorn Way isn't going to get high level rewards, so seek out appropriate challenges for your level.


Oh and don't forget, if you've partially completed Harold's "Carpe Diem Society" quest in the past, you should be able to pick up where you left off. Check each in game character (shown here) to see if they have the next step of the quest for you.

Have fun!!

Until next time,
Tabitha.

Wednesday 19 February 2014

Grub Guardian - Ravenscar

You know, Grub Guardian is pretty addictive! I have been playing it for a while now and have gotten some good drops.  Energy Elixirs are my mine target, and I have had 2 drop so far, but plenty of Fortify Elixirs and even a few nice housing items.

BTW - chatting to Blaze, I found out that I would need to spend Crowns to get to the best places, and Tanglewood Way has been good to me :)

That said, back to the topic of this post.  Cruising through most levels, I came across Ravenscar.  Now this is close to my favourite world in Wizard101.  The scenery, the magic, everything - Grizz rocks.  But playing it on Grub Guardian is quite different, it is just another world/screen.

But wow, it was hard!

I don't know if I was getting lazy or not, but, especially after (Blaze's advice again) lashing out with more Crowns to buy a Star Tower, most levels meant I was cruising.

Ravenscar brought me back to ground.

At first, it was a seemingly simple setup.  A couple of Star Towers, and it was time to punish the bad guys.  Money was coming in thick and fast, and it was another easy level.

Whoa!  What happened?  From smashing one wave to being completely smashed with the next one!  It was all over and I was the loser!  Hang on...that doesn't happen!  Get back in there, I need to go again!

Before too long, it was wham bam and you are over and out again!

...and again...

...and again...

OK - now this just simply isn't right!  I don't lose at these levels?!?  Do I?

So I decided to think about this properly.  What was going wrong?  It was clear that some of these waves had a large number of tough guys and they were completely drawing my Star Towers while their little mates ate all my Grub.  Hmm...OK, let's try something new.

Let's mix up a few towers...some Myth, some Balance...that will make the difference.

...but no.

OK - we'll take a chance and throw in some Death towers for some random kills.



...that has worked a bit better - but still they are killing me.  At least I got to the final round that time!  I actually need to sit down and really think about this one!

Right.  They are strong - need to hit them early with early Fire and central Balance towers to start to bring them down.

Need some bulk Myth at the back to pick them off accurately when they are heavily weakened.

Need some near-maxed Death to get a good percentage of instant kills - and lots of minor Deaths for the chance kills to tip the scales in our favour.

A couple of weighty Storm to damage lines of enemies.

A strong Life to give everyone a boost.

...and finally, I'll throw in some Star Towers.  Hey, I did spend Crowns on them!  At least they will help with the toughest of bosses.

You know what they say, planning is worth the effort.  Have a look and see what you think?


Yep, that's right.  Got 'em.  It was such a relief to get there will all Grub intact.  In fact, for my efforts, I was well rewarded.


A gold medal!  What would my prize be?  Yep, that's right, some Gold and an Ambrose Bomb :(

Oh well.  I have to say, it was good to be challenged!!

And once again, Ravenscar has lived up to what I expect of it!

How did you go when you hit Ravenscar?  Are there any maps that you find difficult?

I know Alia has just started with Grub and she is finding some of the maps difficult as she has never played a Tower Defense game before.   If there are any maps you'd like a hand with, just drop us a note :)

See you 'round the Spiral.

Morgrim

Monday 17 February 2014

It's Here! The Wizard101 Weekly!

Hey everyone,

That time of the week you have been waiting for is finally here and the Wizard Weekly roundup from the last week is available now!

Top Stories this week:
  • Wizard101 has been inducted into the 2014 MMO Hall of Fame
  • Edward LifeGem is back and questing and updating his blog
  • Valentines Day came and went, with a flurry of items still at half price in the crown shop
 ....... Read all about it here!!



Hope you enjoy our little roundup of all things in the Spiral and don't forget to look out for a new edition next week!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Saturday 15 February 2014

Wizardly Competitiveness

Hey Everyone,

By now you all know that I am a bit of a lurker when it comes to the Bazaar. Always on the look out for any rare items, I usually start and end my Wizard101 time with a trip there. And I have been quite lucky, that or my patience has paid off. Take the snow globes. I now have 26 of them, the inside of my Winter Wind Palace is slowly filling with snow, to mirror the outside. If there is one there, I will buy it.

Well it seems that one of my Wizard friends has decided to challenge me!! Galen has decided that he will try and out buy me at the bazaar and buy all things rare. Daily I get the call "Have you seen this?" "Have you got this" "Bet you don't have this!". And unfortunately quite a few items I don't have and haven't seen in there. Of course there are a lot that I have already purchased. The worst thing is my luck seems to have deserted me somewhat too! I tell you I have to keep quiet about what I am after in case he gets in there before me.
For instance the Low Jade Table.... it has taken a while to get the number I required for my Myth House. For two weeks I have been very quiet about these tables, never mentioning them. But now I have enough it's all good. Although the Jade Chairs are costing me a small fortune to craft, but that's another story! The banners you can see in the image below can be trying to get hold of, but in saying that there were 23 of them in the Bazaar this morning - funny how that happens sometimes.

Trouble is, with Galen buying these other items that I don't have, I just have to search for more things. More time spent at the Bazaar - there won't be any time for questing soon! So the race is on, as soon as he knows he has something I don't - well he just wants to buy them every-time he sees them - just so I can't! 

It's all good fun though, and it goes to show how Wizard101 has something to suit everyone. It's not just about winning those fights! Maybe you can catch me at the Bazaar or Halfang - I need gold to get the reagents for those Jade Chairs!

Oh and Galen - if you're reading..... it's on!!!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Friday 14 February 2014

Will you be my Valentine?

Hey Everyone and Happy Valentines!!

This is another special day and a first time for me in the Spiral, so I was curious to see what made the list for the Valentines Sale items. And I was rather bemused to be honest. Not sure of the reasoning behind some of the choices, don't quite see how they fit into the whole world of love, although red is obviously the colour of choice!!

Here's the list, so you can see for yourself:


So tell me - will you be making any special purchases for that special Wizard in your life? Would love to hear from you.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha



Wednesday 12 February 2014

MC Fairy - being fixed today

Hey everyone,

There are some minor updates being applied tonight, and that includes the fix being applied to the MC Fairy Pets. The full details are below:

The following minor game updates will be added to Wizard101 on February 12th 2014

  • The Dark Fairy minion who accompanies Rattlebones will have her health reduced to match other Dark Fairies in Unicorn Way
  • The pet spell "May Cast Fairy" will now cast with the same frequency as the pet spell "Spritely"
  • A few individuals (approximately 150 people) with erroneous PvP score rankings (negative numbers, impossible loss rates, for example) have had their rankings adjusted. If this impacts you, and you want to know more about why your score was adjusted, send an email to our team athelp@kingsisle.com
  • Grinding down the grind - Celestia, Zafaria, Avalon, Azteca & Khrysalis have all had their minimum level entry requirement reduced. See the chart below:


WorldQuest Requirement
(this will still be required)
Old Level
Requirement
New Level
Requirement
CelestiaThe Final Countdown (Dragonspyre)4844
ZafariaThrough This Door (Celestia)6055
AvalonThrough Glass Darkly (Zafaria)7065
AztecaA Great Storm Coming (Avalon)8075
KhrysalisSpeaker for the Dead (Azteca)9085

Must admit that I wasn't expecting the levels to change, but looks like some of you wizards will be reaching Khrysalis earlier than you might have expected!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

My first Mega Pet!

Hey everyone,

As you know I have been training a new pet called Patch. This one was another Morgrim hatch, but with a Penumbra Drake. I used my best Ianthine Hound, Winston for this hatch. Now the reason I chose a Penumbra Drake is that they are 'Ace Avengers' - otherwise known as 'May Cast Vengeance'. I decided to try for this talent, as my critical hit was still lacking a bit.

Training started and luckily I had around 48 mega snacks to use. The first talent revealed for Patch was Curse Giver. This is not really want I wanted, but I carried on regardless. The pedigree of the two pets was good.... so this pet must have picked up at least a couple of good stats, surely?

Each Talent reveal after Teen was good, and I continued to train. Today was the day that Patch got to Mega status. Actually this is the first time I have trained a pet to Mega - I was chasing Fairy Friend. My garden is non-existent because I have chosen to train and I need energy.
Anyway the results are in - Fairy Friend, so once again I am doing the Happy Dance!

So in Order the Talents revealed are:

  • Teen - Curse Giver
  • Adult - MC Vengeance
  • Ancient - MC Unicorn
  • Epic - MC Spritely
  • Mega - MC Fairy


Now curse giver is the only  talent that I don't want, and the stats for Patch aren't quite perfect either. As you can see Intellect and Will are not at maximum level. I am thinking that maybe I should try another hatch with Morgrim's Penumbra Drake, but for now I am out of Mega Snacks and it's back to gardening for a while.

You know I was after a healing pet with MC Vengeance... and that is exactly what I got. Time to think about what else would be useful..... a Red Ghost card would be pretty cool.... As always I'll let you know!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Tuesday 11 February 2014

The Wizard101 Weekly is waiting to be Read!

Hey everyone,

The Wizard Weekly roundup from the last week is available now!

And I have to say a HUGE Congratulations to AluraRB!! Her blog is now an official Fan Site!!

This edition includes some information on playing Grub Guardian - why and how.... and Swordroll takes us back in time reviewing some history in Avalon ....... Read all about it here!!



Hope you enjoy and don't forget to look out for a new edition next week!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Monday 10 February 2014

Ravenwood Update

Unlike the rest of the family here at Wizard's Keep, I am still a fairly new Wizard and haven't yet completed my first year in the Spiral. This being my first February, it was nice to find out about Friendship Festival time. The latest edition of the Ravenwood Bulletin tells you more. They have even created some Friendship festival Valentines cards you can send to wizard friends.

More items in the bulletin this month are the announcement of the FanSite Tapestries. All the official sites (listed on that page) have competitions this month to win a tapestry. My most used housing item is my Bazaar Tapestry. And I often have other wizard friends porting to me when I am at home to make use of this very handy item. So try your luck... there are sorts of places you could end up!!

There are some super cute quotes littered over the page.... I have copied one of them here, and another at the end :)

"The things that make me different are the things that make me."

For all of you FaceBook users, the banner page is being changed everyday, and they are calling out for Wizards to provide the art work. You can take a screenshot of you with your fiends and send it in to their community email address - don't forget to press Ctrl-G to get rid of the interface elements in your picture. Details are on the Bulletin.

And then right down at the end of the Bulletin there's some concept art for Khrysalis Part 2, yet another sneek peek at the what's coming our way soon!


"I knew when I met you an adventure was going to happen."

 Head on over to the  Ravenwood Bulletin for the full story.  Enjoy!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha


Sunday 9 February 2014

Cyrus Drake on Pets not CastingFairy

I know this is of concern to many Wizards out there, and if you are not on the forums you may not be aware that there has been a change to the MC Fairy talent, and that the change has caused issues.

This is the official word from Cyrus Drake......



Looks like we can expect it to fixed real quick....

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Rant time!

OK.  I just thought I'd throw this one out there...

I love playing Wizard101 and I really enjoy all aspects of the game.  But sometimes, when playing the game, there are those little recurring things that just get me every time.

Tonight, for example.  I was wandering through Wysteria and ducked into Tanglewood Way.  I hadn't been there for a while and I enjoy going back and looking over some of the places that I visited on my journey through the Spiral.

As I ducked through the crack in the wall, there was a lone Wiz taking on those tree guys there.  She was doing fine, and I tried to sneak past along the wall.  Needless to say, one of those tree guys tapped me on the shoulder from behind and dragged me from nowhere into the fight I had just been watching.  I apologised to Jenifer and we proceeded to dispatch them.  I can remember how much I avoided those fights back then...but they are surprisingly easy now :)

She was badge collecting and I offered to help dispatch a few more of them.

Well, that is when it started - in the next 3 or 4 fights, all of my pet peeves hit in quick succession!

Pet Peeve Number 1: Deck Fail

I have previously posted by standard street-fighting deck.  It is pretty small and tight and I rely heavily on a meteor for a quick dispatch in round one or two.

But check out this hand! It took 4 rounds to draw a single meteor!  And for the next few fights I just couldn't get my meteors out when I wanted them.


Pet Peeve Number 2: Pip Fail / Noob Pips

After making a new friend in Jenifer, she went off to complete some other quests and I kept mowing through a few more tree men.  It wasn't long before I got a tap - could I give a quick hand in Stormriven.  Jenifer had forgotten that some of those guys can give you a fair whack.

I ported in, and fired off a meteor.  It took out one of the 3 bad guys, but the weakness I had picked up with them going first meant that two of them survived.  Grr...oh, a noob pip!  Ok, that means two more rounds before I go again, and even my wand jabs weren't showing.  Oops - another noob pip!  and another!  C'mon, I know I am Fire, but my Pip % isn't that bad!

4 noob pips launch the final strike, but seriously??!!??

And last night, this picture is a classic double pip fail in what should have been a quick Halfang fight...

Pet Peeve Number 3: Fizzle!
Part way through the next fight, again, ready to light up the sky with a colossalled meteor, and ...fizzle!  <sigh>

You would think I would be used to it by now, but no...it is still disappointing.  And why does it always seem to happen on the kill blow?  The bulk Efreet or the massive Rain of Fire to finish the fight?  Never the smaller spell, just the hammers.

It just seems to happen so regularly on the big hits, it is almost like the percentages work against you more in those situations!

Or maybe I am just paranoid :)

Pet Peeve Number 4: Tower Shields

Taking on these guys in Celestia is good fun.  Ice with 2400 health - I'll smash them all day...except when they through up those Tower Shields.

Fortunately, Jennifer shot off a violently ill and massively oversized Frog that took out the shields, so there was still the satisfying crunch of molten rock on bad guy to see them dispatched....so, yes, it is a Pet Peeve, but not one I had to suffer through...at least not tonight.

Another day, a different fight...another Tower Shield.  His mate died, but this guy lived to fight one more round...

Of course, if I draw one, there is a fair chance I'll use it!! :)

Do you have any Pet Peeves?  Something that just gets you, every time it happens?  If you do, let us know!

Now that I have that off my chest, I'm off and into it again!

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim