Still Learning

Hey everyone,

I had a revelation this week. A revelation about my Wizard 'style' or maybe a characteristic I have unwittingly adopted... It is complacency.... I am too complacent.

You see, as a Death Wizard I have become so used to coming back from the brink.

My damage|health spells always seem to be there just when I need them. Or I play a Sacrifice Spell that goes critical. Oh, and as an aside note, when you are Death, go critical on Sacrifice, then block it - it's just awesome. Rebuilds almost all your health in one fell swoop!

So what happened? In a word - Ice. A fight with 3 Ice enemies of which one is a boss to be precise. I knew I would need to deal with the Tower Shields. They are always prevalent in an Ice boss fight. So I packed Poison to counteract that one. Tower Shields are an issue, but one that a bit of thought can overcome. Oh and I made sure that my wand was Fire. That way I could do maximum damage and another way to get rid of those annoying Tower Shields.
There are three main problems with this particular boss fight:

1. Prevalent Tower Shields
2. Stun
3. Starting second in a battle of 3 against 1

I am embarrassed to admit they are defeating me..... truth be told, they have defeated me 3 times so far!!! I cannot remember the last time that happened! It's time to think up a better deck strategy, in that respect I am still very much the student.

I will let you know how I go on this one....

Until Next Time,

Tabitha

May Gardening Giveaway!

May Flower Seed Sale!

Hey Everyone,

May continues to be a month to celebrate, with the lovely folks at Wizard101 getting into the Gardening spirit with a giveaway for ALL wizards, and a sale to blow your socks off!

Save Up to 50% OFF Seeds & Select Gardening Items

According to the update page - April showers brought May flowers... and now it's time to break out your garden in Wizard101! Now through Sunday, May 18th 2014 save big during this gardening sale!

Wizard101 are reducing the Crowns prices of seeds & gardening items up to 50% OFF. Save BIG on:

• your favorite seeds
• Red Barn Farm
• Moolinda's Green Thumb Pack
  

Remember, if you want to level up fast in Gardening, you need just one of the Key Lime crown seeds, so now is an excellent time to buy one of these - and the Red Barn Farm to plant it in!!!

And as if that wasn't enough to get excited about, you can also welcome back an old holiday favorite... the Happy Holidaisy! Another seed that keeps on giving, you only need one of these - plant it now and by the time Christmas in July comes around, you'll have fields of candy striped happiness !!

Free Seed Giveaway!

Use the code mayflower to get a free mystery seed! You could get an Angora Bunny Ears seed or one of the special seeds from game card packs!

That's all from this update, and all from me!

Until next Time,

Tabitha.

Numbered Items - Sooo much easier...

Just a quick note on one of the things I really appreciate about Wizard101.  Despite the popularity, KingsIsle keep striving to improve their world.  This makes the playing experience just that much more 'playable', and for us older players, that is invaluable.

Items in inventory have long been a challenge when the number of items you have increases.  When looking to place a new item in your house, the types and quantities of items that you carry can sometimes be unclear.  The times you really notice are when it is time to give your house a bit of a makeover :)

But - wonder no more.

The Item Counter in the inventory list is just great.

You know, although I realise that every pet is different, I sometimes think it would be very handy to know exactly how many of each pet type I am carrying too.  Still, then it would be hard to choose between Miss Heidi and King Pepper!

Oh, and I have to say, I LOVE the way the item name pops up now when you select it in your own house!  For the newer players, I know you won't believe this, but we used to have to pick up an item, then check your backpack to see what the item is called.  As many of us collect the rarer items, knowing what we have collected over the years has always been a challenge...

I realise it won't be long before this is just what people consider the norm, but for a long time player, this is improvement is just great!

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Super Spiral Stories !

Top stories this week.....

• The Last Wintertusk Dungeon - Blaze finishes Nastrond.... at last! 
• Morganthe's Memories - Swordroll on the Khrysalis storyline
• Onto Gardening- Edward Lifegen gets into gardening!

Did I tell you how much I enjoy putting the Wizard101 Weekly together each week? I never know what to expect, and sometimes when I'm having a busy week I just don't find the time to browse everyone's stories during the week. So I often find content that I hadn't seen previously when I get the news items together. I hope you find it as useful as I do.....

Now I have a few more stories to finish reading..... hope you find some stories of interest yourselves this week :) Enjoy!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Mirror Lake - Making it Interesting!

Hi all,

It has been quite a while since I have last had an opportunity to post!  It seems like an eternity.  There are just times that real life really gets in the road :(

Nonetheless, Blaze and I decided we'd have a bit of fun the other day and head on back to Mirror Lake.  If you have read our gardening books, you'd know that the reason that lots of people like farming this (semi)-challenging dungeon is that the drops are great.  Mega-snack (Pixie-stix) and high energy gear are the real
rewards here.  These are a good all-round snack and are great for most forms of pet training.

Given that this is a Zafaria dungeon, it isn't really that hard once you get up a few levels, so for Blaze and I, there was a choice to be made.  Blast straight through it like bats out of hell, or give ourselves a challenge.  We were in a mood for a challenge, so we laid out some rules and headed for the World Gate!

The Rules
This dungeon (for those that haven't played it) has a bit for everyone.  Lots of bad guys, and interesting bad guy strategies.  So, for us, being Death and Fire, we decided that we would attack it in this way:

• First fight, only Rank 4 Spells
• Second fight, only Rank 6 Spells
• Third fight, only Rank 8 Spells
• Finally, just go for it!

For those Fire-types out there, this is a real challenge.  We are fighting multiple opponents, but, other than the first and last fights, all the Attack All Enemies spells are out of bounds!  It was challenging and frustrating.

So, we set up our decks and off we went.

The first fight, I had my meteor.  Bulked up and with Blaze hitting well too, it was over pretty promptly and Tse-Tse was heading back to Morganthe with his tail between his legs.

OK, fight two.  No meteor, dragon or anything else useful against multiple ghostly opponents.

This wasn't a fun fight - look at those noob-pips!  Worst of all, this shot was taken just as my blades were getting quaked off me...

So, what do you do when you get lots of noob-pips?  Play a nice off school spell :)  I had made sure that I had loaded up on a few 6 pips off-school spells in my treasure deck, so I decided to have a little fun.

Given that Blaze was on my left, and he was Death, look who decided to join us?

Yes, that's right, the increasingly confused Malistaire!  (is he good?  is he bad?  is he dead?  just what is going on here?)  And who would have thought it?  The guy can fight!

(if anyone is confused by this, when playing Grub Guardian, you get quite a few Minon pack drops...Malistaire is one of the guest appearances)

Well, it went on from there.  We finished the 2nd fight a little slowly, and the 3rd even more so, but after that Blaze and I just opened up and ripped through the final fight.

All in all, a solid session.

For those of you who are getting up in the levels - what kinds of 'games' and challenges do you set yourselves?  It is interesting to hear about how other Wizards spend their time, so drop us a note and let us (here at the Keep) know a little more about how you play.

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

(it's good to be back!!)

Minigame Madness - Chapter 8

The eighth and final chapter of minigame madness has arrived!

"Dueling Diego" has fought his way into my adventure! This minigame is by far my favorite, it is difficult, fun and has a point to it!

This is the only minigame where you advance properly in the sense that you play as Diego the dueling master fighting against a horde of Gobbler pirates! You control Diego with the normal up, down, left and right keys and attack with the a (High attack), s (Mid attack) and d (Low attack) and the spacebar to jump.

The first round is below deck where you fight normal gobblers, blood bats and jump barrels. When you reach the end you must fight the captain who takes 5 hits to kill. The strategy to hit him is to go right up to him for a moment and attack when he attacks then jump back and do that again.

Don't worry all that much about the hearts as they will regenerate over time. Although as you get further into the game it takes longer to heal. I only managed to make it to the third area but it is refreshing to play a minigame where I feel that I am actually advancing. I will most definitely be coming back to this one and attempting to beat it or at least get as far as I can!

So all of those games for one little bottle of potion, but hey they were fun and I enjoyed all of them. At least I now know which games I like and which ones I will leave alone.

What is your favorite minigame and why? Or do you just buy the potions?

Can't wait to see you in game!
Christopher Battlesmith

Nastrond!

I am a level 94 death wizard. I only just finished Nastrond.

I know, I know, it's pretty bad that I hadn't even finished the last dungeon of Wintertusk, but the thing is... There just isn't enough experience available in the whole world of Grizzleheim (COMPARED TO MAIN STORYLINE WORLDS).

Anyway. I decided to knock out all of the quests from other worlds before finishing Azteca and starting Khrysalis. First on the list was Grizzleheim. I checked the quests that I had to finish for Nordrilund and started.

 Grizzleheim is mine, and Morgrim's favourite looking worlds in the spiral. These are the sorts of things that you can find while questing through Wintertusk.
I had lots of fun collecting the seal from Nordri (even though it was relatively easy considering that I am such a high level) and was ready for Nastrond!

I went to the tree under Grandmother Raven (my all-time favourite NPC so far) and asked a friend to help me with the dungeon.

My friend was also high levelled and we breezed through. It was still an incredible storyline though. We were racing against time to stop the Coven from awakening the Ice Titan.

We came to the final boss room... There stood all four of the brothers. Austri, Vestri, Sudri and Nordri.

They weren't overly powerful our levels and we did it! We saved the world from Eternal Winter!

Thanks for reading and I hope that you have enjoyed!

See you next time!

Blaze

It might be the Conclusion, but it is certainly not the End...

On the back of the Khrysalis Part 2 release, news in the Spiral quietened down a little as we were all busy questing talking in general about all things new.....

• Four Years Producing - Professor Falmea looks back ... and forward 
• Test Drive - Tabitha has a play with her level 68 Spell
• Looking Good - check out the definitive guide to craftable gear

Whilst Khrysalis Part 2 continues to take a strangle-hold on Spiral stories, a few of us just got back to business as usual.......

With the promise of a roller-coaster ahead, what will the next week bring us? Who knows... but for now it's time to put your feet up and enjoy our round-up from the last week.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Professor Falmea - A letter to you all

Hey everyone - thought this was worth sharing with you all. Hope you find it of interest!

Wizard101 Producer's Letter My Dear Wizards,

Spring is the season for rebirth, awakenings, a great time for Life students, and the precursor to every Fire student’s favorite time of year: summer. The longest days, the hottest sun, and the most fun, in my opinion.

This spring is also a time of endings – particularly the release of the finale of Morganthe’s storyline. Let’s take a look back at our travels over the last four years, shall we?

Celestia, the sunken realm, is where you first encounter Morganthe and her army. You learn of the prophecy: "The Mirror will break, The Horn will call, From the Shadows I strike, And the skies will fall…”, as Morganthe attempts to steal the secrets of Astral Magic. You also meet some really cranky sharks and water moles and discover some ethereal Celestians with nifty technology.

You travel to Zafaria to investigate the mystery of some missing students, where you discover Morganthe is behind it in a scheme to rebuild her power. 

You recover the missing students, and help the Lions, Zebras, Elephants, and Gorillas of the world resist her, but you are unable to stop her from recovering her precious Deck of Shadows She leaves this world with a parting gift – the destruction of Mirror Lake.


The next stop is Avalon, which was once Headmaster Ambrose’s home, full of foxes, badgers, dogs, and otters; as well as goblins, faeries, giants, and other mythical creatures, in your search for an artifact that will aide you on your quest – the Sword of Kings. You also learn much of Morganthe's history and face her in a dream of long ago. 

In the end, you break the curse on the Pendragon and restore both King Artorius and the land itself to their former glory.

Azteca is rumored to be the oldest world in the spiral – thought to have been destroyed by a comet, but is indeed still intact and populated by dinosaurs! However, when Morganthe arrives here it causes the dead to rise in her wake! Morganthe and her minions are searching for the Horn to call, and for the oldest spirits of the Spiral: the Lords of Night. In the end, she brings doom to the land, and a great shadow falls upon the Spiral.

Morganthe returns to Khrysalis, her place of power, to learn the Song of Creation so she can finally rewrite the Spiral to her liking. You are sent there to defeat her and free the Lords of Night. 

Along the way, you get help from many courageous folks, most notably Dyvim Whiteheart. In your travels, you also discover for the secrets of Shadow Magic – to defeat Shadow takes Shadow itself. You travel great distances, across impassable seas, through waking dreams, and the prophecy, as it is destined to be, will be fulfilled… just perhaps not as expected.

Four years ago, I became your Producer, and it has been a wild, awesome, fun, fantastic ride from that day forward. I’m constantly in awe of this amazing opportunity I’ve been entrusted with, working with a great group of people to tell this story, to see it through to the finale. It is equal parts thrilling and a little sad to say goodbye to this arc – it’s been a part of our discussions, meetings, emails, phone calls… our lives… for the last four years. Just as in the early days, it was all “Malistaire, Malistaire, Malistaire” back then, Morganthe has been a part of our lives for quite a while.

However, what’s completely thrilling is the team and I are continuing to plan out the next years, the next stories, and the next rollercoaster rides you’ll take in the Spiral. Those discussions are exciting as the details start to come together!

Since we last chatted – besides the epic conclusion of Morganthe’s story – we have certainly kept busy adding and polishing up other areas of the game.

And, we’re not resting on our laurels. Not a chance. What’s happening this summer is going to rock your boat with a vengeance. Oh, yes. You’ll have to make sure that you make time to spend in the Spiral this summer. Because, if you come by regularly, you’ll certainly find it very… rewarding!

Until then, as always, I’ll see you in The Spiral,

Leah "Professor Falmea" Ruben

Producer, Wizard101

And that's all from me too. 
Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Minigame Madness - Chapter 7

The seventh chapter of the minigames, the end is closing in!

Conjuring up "Conjuration Concentration" to play next in my adventure. This  is basically a game of memory. You start with the images periodically revealed so you can see where each one is; you can watch this for as long as you need to memorize the cards.

When you are ready select one of the cards and the timer will start. You will gain more points through combos and having a perfect level (not getting a single match wrong). The game doesn't get difficult till about the 5th level, although then it becomes rather tricky to play. Even though you can see the cards, sometimes you may miss one in the match and then have to look for it. Once momentum is lost it is easy to forget all the cards you just tried to memorise against the ones you have already flipped.
The timer gets quicker and quicker as the levels increase, to further increase the difficulty!

But all in all the game was rather fun and definitely challenging around the 5th level. I may come back to this one to see if I can win some of the extra prizes as it was an enjoyable game.

Can't wait to see you in game!
Christopher Battlesmith

Time for a Test Drive!

Hey everyone,

Had the opportunity to take my new spell out for a test drive today. Love the attention to detail in this one, so captured a few images while it was running.

It's pretty awesome in that you see Dr Von Katzenstein bringing the monster to life, just like in the old movies that I am sadly old enough to remember!

 I had no blades or traps, but Patch had given me Vengence just before I gained the final pip to run the spell..... Great to see that was enough to send me critical..... best way to run that spell first time. Looking forward to using a Blade or three and maybe a Feint or two to get really get a high damage score.

As you can see it scored 3722, and much of that damage comes straight back to me.

It really is great being a Death Wizard.

So often it has looked like I am losing a battle only to have either Wraith or Scarecrow bring me back from the brink. And now I have this Monster to add to the mix!

I must admit I pack more of the returning health spells than I do the others, although their respective hits are smaller, their return is well worth the shortfall.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha.

The Week ended in a Spiral!

IT's HERE!!! Khrysalis Part 2 was finally released this week, and with it came a whole heap of other updates.

• It's Here! Khryalis Part 2 - Tabitha notes some of the cool updates 
• Poison Hivey - The mercenaries guide on the cheating Hive bosses 
• Truth from the Shadow - Swordroll takes us through the new history quest.

No more guessing.... the update arrived and sent the Spiral... well in a spiral! Wizards everywhere have been busy questing and levelling up with the culmination of the Morganthe story... maybe......... Click on the image below to view all the best of the stories......

No doubt next week will be filled with stories, hints and tips about this latest piece of the Spiral puzzle.... check back then to find out, but in meantime put your feet up and enjoy our round-up from the last week.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Khrysalis 2 - Pets, Crafting, Housing, Tours & Gardening

Hey Everyone,

Time to let you know a bit more about some of those updates that came with the Khrysalis 2 release a few days ago......

Crafting Updates

One for all those higher level Wizards.... If you've completed your Crafting tasks for Oztomeca in Three Points in Azteca, and obtained the Crafting Title of Transcendent Crafter, then Oztomeca has a new task for you.

Visit him in Three Points in Azteca to obtain the quest "Way of the Crafter". That quest will send you to Stendill HammerTail in Silent Market, Khrysalis, to continue your training. The quest Stendill HammerTail will give you is (of course) "Stop! HammerTail".

Crown Shop Reagent Bundles

Not looking forward to collecting more Stone Blocks? Run out of Scrap Iron again? Where is a patch of Deep Mushrooms when you need them?
Never fear! Collecting certain reagents will never be the same again, if you have crowns to spare that is! New Reagent Bundles are available in the Crown Shop:

Gardening & Housing Updates

• Moon Flowers, which are a Rank 1 plant, will no longer attract Rank 2 pests
• Blue Huckleberries, which are a Rank 1 plant, will no longer attract Rank 2 pests
• Honey Bee Plants, which are a Rank 1 plant, will no longer attract Rank 2 pests
• Angel Oak must be planted in Enchanted Soil
• Melting Cheese Trees have begun to attract pests
• Unfortunately, we have been unable to address the issue of rank 5 gardening spells not stacking. We'll continue to work on this and it will hopefully be addressed in an upcoming content update.

Housing

• When in Decorating Mode, items of the same type will now stack in the item placement window
• When in Decorating Mode, the name of the selected item is now displayed when you are placing or adjusting an item
• Avalon housing items are now available as rewards from duels
• More House names & phrases have been added to the Customizable Housing Signs
• Medal Display, Medal Display Case and Commemorative Statue can no longer be sold at the Bazaar
• Curved Vase Case & Vase Case are now properly labeled as Furniture not Decoration
• Items picked up in the world can now be sold in the Bazaar

Castle Tours

When Castle Tours first made an appearance there were some clear issues. Houses were appearing that had not been decorated at all, and that was clearly not the intent of that update. Good news is that this has been fixed and Houses must have at least 50 items inside and 50 items outside before they can be added to Castle Tours.
Additionally, players will be prompted to confirm that their house actually contains a maze when adding a Maze themed Castle

One of the things I always wondered when I had my MooShoo house in the Castle Tours, was how many Wizards had popped over, so it is great to see this update - Castle owners can now view the number of days left on the tour and the number of visitors to their home.

New School Pets!

New Pets have arrived to stand by your side in peace and combat. If you are a minimum of level 98and have your level 78 school pet, speak to your School Professor for your next pet quest.

That's it for this update. As you can see KI have been very busy indeed!

Until Next Time!
Tabitha.

Khrysalis Part 2 - News on Spells

Hey everyone,



The biggest news of the year is here - Khrysalis Part 2 is now live, but with this update comes a whole heap of new and improved things. Almost all parts of the spiral are touched in some way! I have decided to list the changes and improvements to spells, in this post.


Shift Spells!

Shift Spells are part of Moon Magic. They are single-round polymorphs that allow you to perform a creature’s natural attack for one round, after which your Wizard reverts back to their original form.

Players who are level 98 or higher need to speak to Arkyn Moonblade in the Eclipse Tower to train these spells.

These new spells include:

Death SchoolShift Sugar Glider 
attacks for 380 Death School Damage and adds a ward to the target for -25% to target's outgoing damage and -50% to target's next outgoing heal

Storm SchoolShift Piscean 
attacks for 460 Storm School Damage and steals one pip from target

Myth SchoolShift Ogre 
attacks for 340 Myth School Damage and removes 1 shield and 1 charm from target

Ice SchoolShift Dread Paladin 
attacks for 360 Ice School Damage plus adds one of three possible increases to incoming damage for the target (15%, 30% or 45%)

Life SchoolShift Greenoak
attacks for 340 Life School Damage and adds a -25% Damage ward to next spell for target plus a +25% Damage blade to next spell for Self

Balance SchoolShift Thornpaw 
attacks for 390 Balance School Damage plus adds +10% Armor Piercing and Accuracy to self

Fire SchoolShift Grendel 
attacks for 115 + 360 damage over 3 rounds plus adds one random accuracy ward (-25%, -45%, -65%) to the target

New Global Spells



Global spells are the 'domes' that appear over the entire dueling circle, encompassing and impacting all teammates and enemies alike!

New Global Spells have been added for players level 97 or higher. Speak to Amelia StarDust to obtain the quest "A Dream of Avalon" which will grant one spell for your main school of focus.

Fire School
Combustion adds +20% Fire Armor Piercing, +17% Fire Critical Hit
Ice School
Katabatic Wind adds +25% Ice Armor Piercing, +10% Ice Critical Hit
Storm School
Astraphobia adds +20% Storm Armor Piercing, +20% Storm Critical Hit
Myth School
Saga of Heroes adds +20% Myth Armor Piercing, +15% Myth Critical Hit
Life School
Namaste adds +20% Life Armor Piercing, +12% Life Critical Hit
Death School
Age of Reckoning adds +20% Death Armor Piercing, +15% Death Critical Hit
Balance School
Counterforce adds +20% Balance Armor Piercing, +15% Balance Critical Hit

Look for upgrades to the effects on the current global spells too - cast your school's global spell today!
(Time of Legend for Myth, Balefrost for Ice, Doom & Gloom for Death, Sanctuary for Life, Darkwind for Storm, Wyldfire for Fire, and Power Play for Balance)

Spell Changes

• Insane Bolt has an insane new cinematic
• Look for upgrades to the effects on the existing global spells
• Legendary Treant spells are now more powerful
• Cloaked spells that are Pierced should now show the correct damage text
• Wildfire Treant Treasure Cards will now only steal positive charms from opponents
• Backlash will no longer stack when players cast additional shadow forms while currently in shadow form
• Cloaked shields were causing player health to appear differently than their actual health. Sometimes this resulted in a defeated player "popping" back up with some of their health left. Cloaked shields will no longer impact the display of a player's health in PvP

That's all the news on spell changes in this release. I will pop another post on some of the other changes too.

Until Next Time,

Tabitha

Minigame Madness - Chapter 6

Chapter six unravels itself below!

"Potion Motion" was next in my adventure of minigames and I enjoyed this one thoroughly - it was a good mid- level of difficulty and it is played fast and quick.

The timer starts when the first move is made, regardless of whether it matches or not. The aim of the game is to match three or more of one type of potion to make them disappear and bring new potions in.

The game will not tell you when you change levels, but you will notice that new potions appear to make it that little bit harder. You just keep playing until you run out of time, but when a potion match is made the timer extends. The timer starts getting faster and faster each time you level up.

Morgrim told me about a trick that Edward Stormglade uses, and that is to just randomly throw the potions everywhere and apparently it works well for him, but when I tried it I didn't end up with as much luck. This game was fun and slightly challenging but still allowed me to get a decent reward, I will also be definitely be coming back to this one.

Can't wait to see you in game!
Christopher Battlesmith

Bunnies, Hares.... but no Khrysalis Part 2!

Happy Easter everyone! This week's top stories from the Weekly are:

• Tabitha's Wizardversary - Tabitha reflects on one year in the Spiral
• Spring Mounts - lots of people hopped on the bandwagon when the new mounts were released! 
• Drawing Dalia - More great art by Alura....

Spring is definitely in the air, and Easter is being celebrated all over the world.... including in the Spiral. New bunnies and hares are hopping round the Spiral.... and again another week has passed with no more news on Khrysalis Part 2..... Click on the image below to view all the best of the stories......

Who knows what next week will bring? Enjoy, and we'll bring you another round-up this time next week!

Until Next Time,
Tabitha