The Crafty Lloyd FallingWater - or "How to buy Castle Blocks"

When KingsIsle first announced the Arcane Builder's Bundle, people all over the world (except in the US of A!) were devastated.  The amazing new Wizard101 capability to craft your own castle was out of reach, unless we had friends in the States or we were able to get one from eBay.

It was good to see that, in one of their many game updates, there was a new visitor in the Shopping District, going by the name of Lloyd FallingWater.  This crafty little fellow had on sale - wait for it - recipes for Castle Blocks!  Woohoo!  We could all now build our own castles!

I went to visit our crafty friend and noticed that he was at the fountain - the place where the temporary visitors to Wizard City come to peddle their wares.  Hmm...did this mean that Lloyd would only be here for a short time too?  Determined not to let that be an impediment, and cashed up to the hilt, I decided I would buy every recipe...just in case the little guy disappeared off to another world that we haven't seen yet, and I couldn't get access to more of these blocks!

OK, wow...he seems to have a lot of blocks!  Where do I start?

I guess, seeing as I had made up my mind to buy them all, I'd just start at the very beginning.  This might take some time!

Well, it wasn't long before I realised that my massive (or is that meagre?!?) cash stores were not going to be enough!  At only 250,000 gold, I ran out and there were still plenty of blocks left to buy! I did NOT expect that!  Lloyd had 59 of these blocks for sale and he was certainly charging well for them!

That said, I was not going to let that stop me.  I calculated that I needed 481,000 gold to buy all of Lloyd's recipes so it was off to the Bazaar to sell off my secret cash weapon - Pet Snacks.  With all of the gardening that I do, I have lots of high-priced snacks, so I proceeded to cash in about 80% of them, but I walked away with 300,000 gold and I knew the end was in sight.

After finally buying them all (I was genuinely concerned that in his current location, there was a good chance he might leave!) that I reflected again on the value of Gardening.  It really does pay dividends to work hard on those gardens!

Now I am all equipped and ready to go and start on building (or enhancing) my Castle!

___

This post was written reflecting on what happened at that time.  Since then, there have been some significant changes!

The most significant change is that Lloyd seems to have found a home.  He has moved across the street and away from the Fountain.  That makes me feel more comfortable that he will be a permanent fixture - although KI can change this at any time, it seems less and less likely.

The other change is that crafty little fellow has been hard at work creating two new Castle Blocks, the 'Roof/Floor B Castle Block' and the 'Roof In Corner Castle Block'.  At an additional 25,000 Gold each, this means that Lloyd is able to bleed you dry of 531,000 Gold, but for that money you walk away with 61 recipes to craft the blocks that you need.

It also means, it pays to visit Lloyd from time to time - you never know what he might have!

The other change is that now you can see different Castle blocks appearing in the Bazaar from time to time.  They are pretty cheap, but it is a lucky dip to see if you end up with the Block that you need!

I am guessing that, for those Wizards without lots of stuff to sell, my friend Halfang is sure going to get a good workout as Wizards everywhere take him on to make some quick cash.

Enjoy your Castle Building.  Let me know how you get on - I'd love to see some of your creations!

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Pack Analysis: The "Build-a-Castle Medieval Set" pack

Pack Name:           Build-a-Castle Medieval Set
Pack Type:            Housing
Number of Cards:  7
Cost:                      249 Crowns, 225 on special during House-a-Palooza

Description
Well, wouldn't you know it?  As soon as I write a post about Packs, a new Pack comes out this week with the latest House-a-Paloosa.  The "Build-a-Castle Medieval Set" pack.  That, and another 2 Aquarium packs, brings the total Pack count to 58!

This pack is a pretty logical follow up on the 'build it yourself' theme that Kings Isle have been promoting lately.  It gives (according to the hover over) 7 cards from the Build-a-Castle Medieval Set.  The pack contains all the different blocks needed to build your Castle.

Given that I have purchased all of the recipes from Lloyd FallingWater in the Shopping District, I was curious to find out whether these items were new ones or whether they were existing ones - if they are, that would mean I didn't need to actually craft Castle pieces.

Let's see, I got 5 common items (to be expected, they are "common" after all!) and 2 rare.

A quick review of my recipes and it was a little disappointing, although fully expected, to note that all of these items, even the rare ones, were listed in my recipe list.  Basically, this meant that I had spent Crowns where I could have spent gold.

While I haven't been able to find a complete listing of what is contained in this pack, it is pretty clear that this pack is to help people with building their own castles, and because of that, it is a useful pack, especially for new wizards who have the creative flair needed in order to construct their own wonderful castle creation.

Morgrim's Verdict:  
High Level Wizards:  If you can craft, craft.  For me, Crowns are too hard to come by and are kept for the lucky dip of items you cannot find, buy or craft that can only be found in other packs and Crowns Shop categories.

Low Level Wizards:  If you love to build and create, this isn't a bad pack to buy.  It will take a lot of time to obtain the gold needed to buy the recipes and a lot more time finding all of the reagents needed to craft the items.  Although it is random, this should be a great start for your Castle Creating Career!

Let me know if you agree with my verdict :)

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim