Grub Guardian - A Beginner's Overview

One of the things that Blaze has often enjoyed was Grub Guardian.  He would constantly work on us to get over there and play it with him.  For me, this was always a challenge of benefit versus time spent.  Honestly, Wizard101 takes a lot of my free time, I just didn't know how much time I would have left to play this thing called Grub Guardian.

Well, now I am a convert, and I admit, I do play Grub Guardian on a semi-regular basis.  Why? What changed my mind?  Two things - First: free Energy Elixirs, Second: Unique housing items!

Some of these are very unique. I thought I had every rug in the game...boy was I wrong!  There are at least 7 unique rugs available.  Add to that packs, elixirs ... the list goes on.  This is a treasure trove of Wizard101 items.  For a reasonable list of what is available, click here to go to Wizard101 Central.  From experience I have found that it is not 100% accurate, but it is a great start.

So what is it really?  At its heart, Grub Guardian is a classic TDG - A Tower Defense Game.  This means, you have something you need to protect ("Grub for your Pet", or "10 items of Pet food") from the numerous waves of bad guys who want to eat your pet's grub all for themselves.  The way you protect them is with your Pet (yes, your actual pet from the Wizard101 game), and a series of Towers that each represent a different school.  Each Tower has its own unique ability that can be used to defend your bowl of Grub.

Normal Towers
These are the normal Towers in the game that everyone can use.  Not all Towers are available to be used in every Map.  On the map in this image, the Myth Tower cannot be used, much to many people's annoyance!

• Myth - A cheap, fast, single shot at a time Tower.  Quite effective upgraded to Level 5 with a Life Tower boost.  A useful Tower in almost all occasions.
• Fire - A burning flame to keep up the pain for the hoards over time.  Can attack multiple targets simultaneously, but takes time to deliver the full impact of the blow.
• Ice - A freeze Tower specifically designed to slow the approaching hoards.
• Storm - A lightening bolt designed to take out anything in its path.  Can be quite useful, but fire rate is a little slow.
• Death - A very handy Tower that can instantly kill a bad guy.  Very useful in numbers!
• Life - A boost Tower.  All Towers within range of the Life Tower will have increased fire rates.
• Balance - A great multi-hit Tower that can also 'chain' the attack to all bad guys in the immediate vicinity, even if they are beyond the actual range of the Tower. Can be very helpful against large numbers of low level targets.

Crowns Towers
There are few Crowns Towers to choose from.  These include:

• Star Guardian - If you want to spend Crowns on a Tower it is hard to go past this one!
• Sun Guardian - Opens a crater that burns and slows the enemy when they pass through it.
• Moon Guardian - Generates extra cash if bad guys are killed near it.
• Avalon Guardian - A chain attack that uses lightening, fun and effective.

Each Tower can be upgraded during normal game play.  Just click on a Tower and the following will appear (unless it is full upgraded!)

From the image here, you can see that there is useful information about upgrades and what they will do for you.  To upgrade, simply click on the bar at the top (with the images in it).

There is one word of caution though.  If you have two Towers, one in the square directly below another, it is easy to accidentally sell the Tower at the top.  You think you are switching to the Tower at the bottom, when actually you click on the Sell coin!  Poof!  There goes your Tower!!

Pets
When selecting your pet, your choice will make a huge difference on your game!  Choosing your highest level Pet is a definite advantage as it adds to both its ability to help you, but also the Tower value, calculated at the end of the game and one of the factors in calculating your total Score.  I use a Mega Coldfire Dragon.  Miss Ellie can hit and burn bad guys from almost anywhere on the screen, making her a deadly weapon against the waves of lower level enemies that will try to distract your other Towers.

How to Play Grub Guardian in Simple Terms

When you first start playing Grub, it will ask you to sign into Wizard101.  This will allow the game to know who you are, what pets you have and how much Energy you have available.  You can now select your Pet, and then, once you are at the first map, decide whether you want to use your Energy to actually train your Pet (yep, you can train your Wizard101 pet in Grub) or whether you want to play for prizes.  For me, it is easy, prizes EVERY time!

To actually play Grub Guardian is pretty straightforward.  Milo will take you through the basics at the start.  Unicorn Way is a nice simple map to get you started.  You really only need one Tower to complete it, depending on the type of pet you have.  I'll overview that for now, and Blaze might post a few of the trickier maps in some later posts.

For Unicorn Way, place your Pet somewhere central, then place a Fire Tower as per the image below:

Before you click on GO, select your Fire Tower and upgrade it.  It will turn into a Spiral.  Now click on GO.

You can upgrade your Tower once more when you have the available funds.  That should be enough for you to survive Unicorn Way and come away with a Gold Medal!  If you do not, it will be your choice of Pet.  Upgrade your Tower again and you should cover it :)

Once you have collected a heap of prizes for the day, the game will tell you you have hit your limit.  Now it is time to enter the Wizard101 Spiral and claim your rewards!

One key point to note - you cannot be logged into Grub Guardian and Wizard101 at the same time.  You will be kicked out of one if you start playing the other.

I hope this has been helpful.  We'll start posting more blogs on Grub Guardian over time.  If there is any map in particular that you need help with, just leave us a comment.

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Can you believe it?!?

You know, I have been working on getting the best Gardening gear I could for quite some time.  I have purchased packs, farmed Mirror Lake, and the best I could do was a Flameborne robe.  Hey, 5 Energy is better than 2, which is what I had before.

Then came the Pack-a-Palooza and I put together a post on what I thought my best options were for buying packs.

Tabitha got herself some boots.  This was a great start.

...but guess what?  I actually followed my own advice and 4 packs later ...I GOT MY ROBE!!  WOOOHOOO!!!

That is 145 Energy for me now.  Aaahhhh...makes life so much easier!


Now I can think about running 3 large gardens at the same time.  It will also help with the 50+ White Tiger Lilies I have been collecting.

I know I also got a LOT of housing and gardening stuff, but it really was all worthwhile.  I don't mind wading through those extras and selling them at the Bazaar if the result is the one thing I am really looking for.

You know, I thought I would have to stitch it straight away, but then I found I didn't mind it that much after all.  I probably will stitch it, but for now, I am kinda happy.

What do you think?  To Stitch or not to Stitch?  Let me know!

Just the Night Wyvern to go!  Wish me luck!!

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Latest Edition Available!

Hey everyone,

The Wizard Weekly roundup from the last week is available now!
This edition includes some news on the Manual of Mastery as well as details of the Tapestry Competitions and give-aways from PaigeMoonshade and StarsoftheSpiral....... 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

Keep an Eye Out

You know, I'm glad that Pack-a-Palooza is back in town. These are good days for doing yet more stalking down at the Bazaar. If you don't already spend too much time down there already, that is!! Sadly I do,

 but this also means I get to pick up some awesome items, or say 21 snow globes. Actually now I have 23, but I think I need to curb the obsession at 11,250 gold each!

Pack-a-Palooza inevitably means that more packs are being bought. Some of those items are useful to you.... some are not. So more Wizards are selling at the Bazaar. More items are being  sold.... and some of those items may be a little rare. Take for instance the humble Snow Globe. Although fairly rare, they could be found at the Bazaar. As you can see from my posts about it, I managed to acquire 21 without too much fuss. However, very soon after they became pretty much extinct. They were never at the Bazaar - I would know, I always check... even now.

Well that has changed! The Snow Globes can be found with much more success at the Bazaar, thanks to all the Wizards buying the Yuletide pack again. And there are plenty of other items that have become available.

For instance, Alia has a pretty dresser with pink flowers on it. I have never seen it at the Bazaar, then low and behold it was there yesterday and I managed to pick one up. Here it is in situ at my new house! A few more items I have been trying to hold of are also in better supply, but I need them - so they will have to stay my little secret for now!

Thanks to Morgrim's detailed post of choosing the right pack I chose to buy a couple of Wyvern's Hoard packs. This is because I want the High Energy gear, so I can garden even more!! Oh and still have enough energy left over to pet train sometimes too.

So I am now the proud owner of Greenwarden's Energetic Boots... they don't look too bad with the rest of my gardening gear either, but the extra energy is awesome! An additional 12 is 10 more than I had, and in the energy stakes that is pretty good in my book.

I also got a new a shiny new mount as you can see. A bit too purple for me, but I do like the wings so you could see me whizzing around the spiral with these on! I reckon I will be buying a few more while Pack-a-Palooza is running. And then you'll find me hanging out at the Bazaar looking to buy those rare items other Wizards don't need!

Until next time,
Tabitha.

Pack-a-Palooza - What Pack to Buy?

Ok, it's Pack-a-Palooza time again!  You've got some Crowns and they are burning a hole in your...um...whatever it is that Wizards carry Gold around in...

You know you want to buy a Pack, but just what pack is right to buy?  Which will give you the BEST value for money?

Hmm, a tough question to be sure, but that just means that we'll have a go at answering it!

Before you can answer this question though, the real question is, what are you looking for?  There are packs for:

• High Energy Gear
• Great Seeds
• Awesome Mounts
• New Spells
• Rare Pets
• Some of the best PvP gear
• Fantastic Wands
• Amazing Healing bonuses
• ...and absolutely heaps of Bobbleheads (and other stuff you really don't want!)

It makes it hard as there is a definite element of luck involved, but let's see if we can untangle this a little and come up with some good, solid choices.

High Energy Gear

If you want High Energy Gear, the Wyvern's Hoard pack is for you.  If you have read my book on Gardening (if not, click on it over there on the top right of this page!) and you'll find that this pack will give you the best 'pack' Energy Gear available, followed closely by the Hoard of the Hydra.

Great Seeds
If you are looking for a cheap way to grab the incredible Evil Magma Pea (or EMP), it is, once again, the Wyvern's Hoard Pack, but the White Tiger Lily is in the Raven's Hoard pack - still, these do not replenish themselves and can be purchased in the bazaar, so it might not be worth buying a pack just to get one.  Couch Potatoes can be found in the Wyvern's Hoard pack and the Hoard of the Hydra pack.  You might have other seeds you are after, but these are the ones that I personally farm for.

Awesome Mounts
OK, I know, how subjective is this one? Well, for me, you'll usually see me flying around on my magnificent Cloud Wyvern, so for me, Wyvern's Hoard pack again (still want a Night Wyvern).  If you want a 3-person mount, the Hoard of the Hydra pack is for you.

New Spells
These can be found in the Keeper's Lore, Knight's Lore, Ninja's Lore and Yuletide packs, but all crafted spells can be obtained from the Loremaster if you are patient enough!

Rare Pets
Yes, you can definitely get some rare pets from Packs, but I still think the best way to get a pet is to hatch, so this doesn't rate that highly for me.

As for the last 3, PvP gear, Wands, and Healing, well, the options are many and varied.  For me, this is where I turn to the Manual of Mastery!  I tell it what I am looking for and it will tell me if I need a pack to satisfy it.  Let's face it, that is one of the reasons we made it in the first place!  Needless to say, for generic critical the Islander pack is handy, and the Nightmare pack has some good all round gear.

So, for me, I like Gardening and Energy, so I'll be buying more Wyvern's Hoard packs.  I need heaps more EMPs and a few more Couch Potatoes.  I still don't have the Greenwarden's Energetic Shroud (stitched of course - that robe needs stitching more than any other, surely!!) and I do want that Night Wyvern.  It is a pack made for me! lol!

Tell me, what is your favourite pack?  And why do you like it?  We love to hear from our readers, so shoot me a note and let us know!

See you 'round the Spiral.

Morgrim

Just what is "The Manual of Mastery" for Wizard101?

Ah...just what IS "The Manual of Mastery"?

You know, that is such a good question - and funnily enough, here at the Keep, we know the answer.  But first, let me ask you some other questions:

• Have you ever encountered a new item and weren't entirely sure if it improved the stats you were after?
• Have you ever wondered what the best possible Healing In / Healing Out could be for your Wizard, out of all the items in the Spiral?
• Have you ever considered what might be the best gear for PvP?
• Have you ever just leveled up and wondered what the best new options for gear are?

If you have answered YES to even one of those questions, you need to read on, there is a fair chance that the Manual of Mastery is for you!  If you want to truly Master the Spiral...you should check it out.

The Manual of Mastery is a Wizard101 Companion unlike any other.  It doesn't matter what level you are, what school you are, the Manual of Mastery can help you.

So, just how does it work?

First, you enter your Wizard - name, school level etc.  This will become the basis for the calculations that are being made.

Next, you have the option of adding those items you have in your inventory.  With nearly 10,000 items included, including the Khrysalis gear, it makes it easy to select your items.  We update the items list regularly, but, if between updates Kings Isle brings out new items and they are not in our database yet, you can always add them manually.

This is the same for your pet, as we all know how important a role your pet can play.

As a bare minimum, adding your pet can be very helpful.

Now you can equip your Wizard.  Add to them the items that you are currently wearing.  This step is also optional, but it will give you your current stats.

Now, whenever you get a new item, you can add it to your backpack and compare it to what you are wearing.  Because all of your stats are displayed on a single page, and there is a direct comparison, you can see the + or - that the new item would give you.

But, do you know what the real value is?  Where the real magic happens?

The Optimizer...

...imagine being able to select a few key criteria and getting the top 3 recommendations on gear?  This is a complex little part of the software, but what it tells you is amazing...I know I am constantly surprised!!

(and if you want to know more ... just click here http://manualofmastery.com)

BUT - more on that in my next post... :D

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Wearing with Pride

Hey everyone,

Yesterday was big day for me in a gardening sense - I leveled up to 15 Legendary Gardener. Prior to the Khrysalis realm this was the highest level a gardener could aspire to. I'm actually very surprised I have reached it so quickly, but then I guess if you read my posts you'll see I often mention how much I garden or how much gardening allows me to craft or pet train so much easier. I garden a lot lol!

So the first thing I did once I had finished servicing my plants was go to my character page and update my badge. And it got me wondering about you guys.... do you change your badge for your character when you get a new one? Do you change your badge at all for that matter? I know some don't, and then I wonder why they don't because it is what everyone sees! Morgrim for instance, changed his to Mastermind a long time ago, and has not updated since. I have seen many 'A+ Student' and 'One in a Million' badges too. Then there are the proud crafters and gardeners.

Would love to hear from you... do you wear your badge with pride or not bother?

Oh and if your interested, Alia wrote about badges back in September and left a link to look up all badges available. You can see her post here.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Don't be Fooled

Hey everyone,

You know the first couple of times I hatched with Morgrim we hung around after for a chat, while waiting to view the stats on the pet. If you read Morgrim's earlier post of Pet Training when he notes you can quickly see what pet you got, prior to hatching (pet-training-simple-trick) I would already know what pet I got.

In fact in all cases of hatching with a few of Morgrim's pets, I got the same back - an Ianthine Hound.... and that was cool by me. As I have said before, I prefer a pet at my feet! When your pet has hatched the pet symbol will appear on the left of your screen. When you hover over that little pig, you will see the stats for your pet.
But - the story does not end there. The stats shown are the BASE stats for the pet you have.

The stats you actually get will depend on the parents and can only be viewed when you go into your backpack and view the Pet itself. I remember being really disheartened when I thought my stats had actually gone down, because I was looking at the base stats. So don't be fooled by that.

Another thing worth noting is the amount of items in your backpack.If you hatch when your backpack is full... your pet will go straight to your bank. So when you go to your backpack to find your latest pet - you simply will not be able to. It will be in your bank instead.

Last thing.... your pet name. Let's face it the random name generator used in Wizard101 can provide some pretty weird names! I tend to train a pet to Adult to see if the pet is worth keeping. Once I am happy to continue the training process, I need to rename to something, well, just a little more fitting. You won't always have to - the pet I am training at the moment is called Patch. That was his given name - and he is the first 'keeper' pet I have not renamed. If you don't know how to rename you pet, just go on over to the shopping district and look for the dye shop. This is where you can dye your gear, but also where you can rename your pet. It costs 100 gold to do this. I have created Murphy, Lexie and Winston here!

Until next time,
Tabitha

Hammer Time!

Hey everyone,

Last night I was doing a bit of questing, one of those that have been sitting there for a while.... one that takes you back to all the worlds I have opened so far. Moo Shoo and Dragonspyre were on the cards last night. While I was in one of the battles, one of my Wizard friends started text chatting - specifically about my new wand. Obviously he had been doing a bit of Wizard stalking and had noticed that my wand really wasn't a wand at all but was a hammer.

He wanted to know how I got it..... it was a crafted item. I have been busy crafting. Having access to Vestrilund has meant two things. The first is that I have access to the Spiral's Bank (Halfang) and the second is access to new recipes for gear. And these are really useful.
So why did I choose this particular 'wand'. Well the reasons here are twofold too. Firstly I was interested in the cards it gave me. The school specific strikes are really handy, especially when you have a weakness on you, or you need to clear a shield, but I liked the idea of being able to heal others, and this hammer hit the mark, so to speak. The second reason was that, thanks to my gardening, I had everything I needed except the treasure cards, so it would be an easy craft.
I'll admit that the treasure cards were a bit of a bind in the end. It took several days at the Bazaar refreshing the life TCs to get just four of them. But persistence paid off, as it often does in the Bazaar. Off I pop to my Red Barn Farm as that is where I keep my crafting tables, but when I go to craft the recipe is not showing up. Then I remember a previous post by Morgrim.... I checked the recipe card again and found that the Grizzleheim crafting anvil was required.

I love it when a recipe takes me over to this Anvil. It really is quite stunning. So job done and I now have a shiny new hammer. I have been using it in the bigger battles when I am not on my own, and it is proving to be very useful. The rest of my crafted gear has been stitched from gear at the Bazaar. My choice in what the gear looks like has changed considerably since I started! In those days I favoured black and red mostly - very different to now lol!

Until next time,
Tabitha.

Castle Tours - Much needed Improvement!

Hey everyone,

Have you wondered how the ratings work for the Castle Tours? Or maybe just thought it unfair that a clearly unfinished house is rated top, when there are so many great houses out there? Now I know that the houses with the dungeons rate high, as everyone wants easy access to them. But some houses look like they have just been bought with no decoration inside or out, or maybe just a few scant items.

Seems unfair to me, that some Wizards go to so much effort - those houses deserve to be seen by everyone!

So I was happy to see that one of the other updates that will be included with the Khrysalis Part 2 update is as follows:

This is great news, and clearly shows that KI, once again, are listening to the masses and giving us great improvements in addition to the next part of the Khrysalis story. I understand that only level 10 wizards will be able to rate houses with this release too. Nice one!

Until next time,
Tabitha

Read all About it!

Latest edition of the Wizard101 Weekly is now out.... This edition includes some news on the forthcoming Khrysalis Part 2....... 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

Get the card you want - but don't run out!!

This is just a simple, quick post to answer a few questions we have had here at the Keep - "where is / what is Reshuffle?"  ...and "why can I never seem to draw the card I want?"

Well, let's approach these two questions, but in reverse...and I hope you'll see why.

While we cannot tell you exactly how to draw the cards you want, there are definitely ways to make it easier!  It is interesting, but as you increase in level, you get access to more and more spells - those that you learn and those that you train in (or buy with Training points).  The decks that you get have more and more Spell Card slots and there is a strong temptation to fill them all.

Now that is a near certain way to not draw the card you want!

Have a look at this:

This is my 'street fighting' deck.  I know I could trim it further, but as it stands it will serve me well for any regular street fight right up to mid-way through Azteca.  In fact, with damage bonus and enchants (and the right pet), this deck can usually be fine in a boss fight up to Zafaria - but it is a far cry from having a full deck of spells!  In this way, it is more likely that I will get the spells I want, but the story doesn't end there.

As you can see, in a simple Triton Avenue street fight, I didn't draw my main go-to spell, Meteor, for two rounds!  That is where 'Discard' is essential.

Next time you are confronted with a handful of rubbish (relatively speaking!), then a simple right-click on the card you don't want will discard the card as if you have used it.  Now you have multiple gaps in your hand and the next round will present you with lots of new cards.  This will let you shuffle through your cards much more quickly, increasing the likelihood of drawing the card you want.

Which brings us to the next logical question - what happens when I run out of cards?  Well, you lose the fight!  Not a very good outcome at all...

That is where Reshuffle comes in.

Reshuffle is the one card I cannot do without, in any deck, and I usually have more than one (you'll notice that I have two in the mini-deck above).  It is a Balance spell with one simple goal - get me my cards back!!  I first mentioned it back in October and promised a follow up post...it has taken a while :)

Reshuffle has a bit of a history.  Originally, you only needed on Reshuffle in your deck because it too came back when you reshuffled your deck.  This basically meant that, unless you Discarded your Reshuffle, you would have an unlimited deck.  It was important that KingsIsle put a stop to this practice.

Now, each Reshuffle card can only be used once per fight.  It will still Reshuffle your used cards and unused Treasure Cards back into your deck, but it will not replace itself.  For my street-fighting deck, I'll carry two. For PvP - I'll carry as many as I need :)

So, where can you get this wonderful card?

If you have been to Colossus Boulevard, there is a fair chance you have passed it right by.

Next time you go down and visit Mindy, look to your left and down the side street there.  Right at the end, there is a shop!  From the smoke coming from the top, you can guess that someone is home.

Say hello to Mildred Farseer.  This is the lady that will sell you Reshuffle for the very reasonable price of 1 Training point.  And it is well worth it.

Once you have your brand new card, make sure you carry one in your deck.  You won't regret it.

Have fun and...

...see you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Monstrous? That's so Yesterday!

One of the BIG reasons that I wanted to get my new crafting badge was to upgrade my trusty Monstrous card to Gargantuan. I have mentioned before how handy these enchantment spells are. I have been buying these at the Bazaar and they have been costing me minimum 338 gold each time. Gold I could use elsewhere, and less time hanging out at the Bazaar refreshing the Astral Spells page = WIN WIN !

So last night I popped over to Celestia (using my marked location, as I still haven't got the world) and bought the recipe. It cost 500 gold.

You can see that I already have enough reagents to craft 16 of these without any further outlay. Again, I have my gardening to thank for that!

I'm sure Monstrous will still get a look in, depending on the reagents I have available down the line, that 175 extra damage is still worthwhile. But right now.... that is so yesterday..... must go. Crafting to do.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Slaying the Pendragon - Quick and Easy ... if you know how!

There are many fights in Wizard101 that are quite challenging.  Bosses that cheat, myth bosses (you just gotta hate Earthquake!) and minions that shield.  Some of these fights can really take ages.

I still remember my first 'hard' fight.  I was with Alia and Blaze and we were taking on Jotun and all of his brothers (although I think they have made this fight easier now - I don't really like it when they do that).  The fight took us nearly an hour - <phew> What a marathon.

Of course, now poor Jotun is easy pickings...and I know that some fights can take much longer, especially a tough PvP, depending on your level.

Still, KingsIsle keep finding ways to make fights challenging.  I like a fight where you actually might die - one that requires skill instead of simply pounding.  The Tower of the Helephant is a good example of this.

But, back to the topic today.  The penultimate fight in Avalon - the Pendragon.  The Avalon story is nearly at a close, but there is another twist...as you are about to discover!  (don't watch the video, spoiler alert!)

The Pendragon fight is an interesting one, with a cheat that you can really use against this poor boss.

As soon as you start the fight, a Fire Dragon is cast by the Pendragon (so stagger your entry into this fight if you cannot finish it quickly).  This is no ordinary Fire Dragon, this one goes for 200 rounds!  It is not particularly powerful, but it is annoying, and it just keeps going around.  Before you realise it, you can have lost a fair bit of health.

Well, thanks to the ever tricky school of Myth, combined with one of the most useless Fire spells available, there are ways and means of beating this tough guy without even breaking a sweat.

First, we make sure the Pendragon has cast his Fire Dragon spell and it is currently activate.   Then, it is a simple case of "Shift" to push the spell back to where it came from, followed by "Detonate".  This will then instantly apply all 200 rounds (or whatever is left) to his hide, and with any luck there is enough left in it for an instant kill!

Check the video to see what Blaze and I did to him while Blaze was farming for Huckleberries, with only one card in my deck :)

So there you have it.  One dead Pendragon in no time at all...

Understanding your spells and their capability is a key part of winning the game of Wizard101 - enjoy it!

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Khyrsalis Part 2 - getting close now!

I imagine there is much excitement out there in the Spiral right now... the news we've all been waiting for is here:

The following little snippet from KI promises much:

Khrysalis part 2 is shaping up to be a fitting culmination to Morganthe's chapter in the story of the Spiral, and watch for news on this upcoming world expansion.

If you head on over to the Wizard101 News page, there are details of other bug fixes and specifics that KI would like the community to test. I hope they have fixed the stitching bug, as I have been very frustrated with that one! Also the rules for the Test Realm are there.

Was chatting to Morgrim about the test realm yesterday, and he told me some people train their pets over in the test realm so they can preview talents without using 'Live Snacks'. As I am training at the moment, I like the idea of this. Last night I trained Lexi, one of my Ianthine Hounds up to Epic, and the talent reveal was Pip o' Plenty of 4%. Not what I wanted. My other hound, Winston requires training so maybe I'll head over and do that in preview mode....


So are you planning to go over to the Test Realm, or do you prefer to wait for everything to be Live?

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Alia's Sightseeing through the Spiral - H

H - is for Hatchery

Basics for Hatching - 

The Hatchery is the only place you can go to hatch two adult pets together to get a new pet.  You can either hatch with another wizard or hatch using two of your own pets.

The Hatchery is located in the Pet Pavilion. This area is where you can buy and sell pets, and train your pet to get them to be an adult.

You begin by getting a pet (egg) from either a drop, a quest or buying one.  After this pet has hatched you will be able to start to train it.

You train your pet by playing games.  I have tried all of the games but have found my favourites are the maze game and the dance game.  The maze game is a bit like pac-man where you just eat the treats around a maze.  If you get more than 70 snacks then you score a perfect round.  You have 60 seconds but can add to this time by eating the clocks.  The ghosts will try to freeze you if you are just in front of them, although you can also get speed bonus and anther bonus where you can eat the ghosts for a limited time.

Scoring a perfect round gives you 4 points for the game.  Then you are able to feed your pet a snack.  This is where having mega snacks can be handy.  The snacks are worth 1 to 50 points so always try to feed your pet the biggest snack so you make your way to the next level quicker.

You need 125 points to advance your pet to teen, then a further 250 points to train your pet to adult.  Now that you have an adult pet you are able to hatch with other people.  You do this to either get a new type of pet, or to increase your stats and talents.

This is a picture from inside the hatchery. Once inside, you can hatch by selecting the wizard you wish to hatch with and selecting hatch from the menu or you can stand on the blue lit up area, with them next to you.  The orange lit up sigils are for standing on if you wish to hatch two of your own pets.

There are many different types of pets and talents available so have fun.  If there are no wizards you wish to hatch with, or the Hatchery you are in is a little quiet, just keep changing realms until you find the pet you wish to hatch with.

There are other posts on our blog about pets, training and talents when you have mastered the basics.

Enjoy :)
Alia

Read All About It!

Don't forget to check out the latest edition of the Wizard101 Weekly!

We publish a weekly round up once a week. Take a look and make sure you haven't missed any breaking stories this week in the Spiral.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

Ran Out of Patience

For a while now I have been wanting to get to the new crafting level - Grandmaster Artisan. I knew I would get it at Celestia, but I have been waiting for time and friends to help me battle Malistaire.... and it just taken ages..... and... well..... you know how it is. I have filled my time to do others things, but now I have to face 3 big dungeons or fights to move on. There are a couple of quests in Wintertusk to do, so I could keep moving through there, but to be honest - I want to craft. So I need that badge.

So last night I gave up on patience and asked Morgrim for a lift to the Floating Lands in Celestia. I would assume that there is a bit of effort involved in getting my next badge, so I wasn't totally sure that I would be able to complete it without full access to Celestia, but I decided to give it a try.

Thanking Morgrim, I go visit Pierce so I could see what my quest would entail. It is an amulet. I have to craft an amulet. The recipe for this one is:

5 Polymorph Treant cards
7 Perfect Jade
5 Pristine Vials
6 Suntone
11 Goldgen Pearl
8 Fish Fin
10 Sandstone

I look at my backpack and find that I have everything except the Treasure Cards.I hadn't seen these before, so I take a look at Wizard101Central to see where I can get hold of it. The answer is: The Archivist. Again this was somewhere I had never been, though a knew it was Celestia. So had to ask Morgrim for another quick lift over to the Archivist so I could buy these cards. (Thanks again!)

But it just goes to show how useful Gardening is, saves me the drama of having to go find these reagents and probably spend a ton of gold to get.

The amulet can be crafted at the Equipment crafting station, so I hot foot it back to my Farm and go craft 1 of the amulets. Immediately I am called back to Pierce (I had previously marked my location!), so off and go and this is what he says:

Seriously? That's it? I was expecting to have to craft a few different items to get this badge, and I got it in 2 minutes!! Good news is that I didn't see much of Celestia while doing it, so I still have all that to look forward to. I don't think I've spoilt things being impatient. Though it is definitely not something I intend to do much, I still like running through things in order and enjoying the story that is being told. KI have put so much effort into the story behind the game.... really it is the least we can do as Wizards!

So now I have access to buy the recipes for the better gear in Vestrilund, and I need to head back over to Celestia to see what other crafting items have now opened up to me.

But all this for another day. For now I will wear my new badge - I think it may be a while before I move up to the next level of crafting!

Until Next Time,

Tabitha

LOTS of Gold - the easy (legal!) way!

You know, with all this talk of accounts being banned due to people exploiting yet another bug, this time the "orange basket" bug, you would think that people would realise that this really isn't the way to go.  It was clearly a problem and should not have been taken advantage of.

I'm sorry, but the explanation KI was spot on.  If you are doing it thousands of times, surely there is a real problem there.  But...still people find a need to try to 'do it easier'.

Well, we have had a number of tips on how to make gold more easily, from Halfang to gardening, and this quick post is another along those lines.

If you garden a fair bit, and lets face it, I do, you might just be surprised at the value of your snacks over time.  You just tend to forget about them, but they really do add up.  Check out this clip of me making more than $225K with a sale of only one type of Pet Snack:

If you really want money, there are so many different ways of doing it that it is quite important to play nice.  There is just no way you want to invest a lot of time and (real) money in your Wizard101 account only to have it banned.

Remember, we are here to enjoy the game!

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

My new Best Friends!

Friends are those that help us right? Maybe make things a little easier? So I don't think I'm stretching the limits too far declaring these 3 beauties as my new best friends!

Let me introduce them to you - they are three astral spells....  Vengeance, Gargantuan and Elucidate. If you've been reading the blog then you''ll know that I craft those Monstrous cards all the time. Every day. And I still do. When I eventually get the Celestia, I'll upgrade that recipe to those that give more bang for my gold.
But for now, these I get at the Bazaar.I'll show you each of them, so you can understand just how useful they are....

First up is Vengeance... It increases your chance of going critical by 25% over 4 rounds. I currently have critical rating stats of about 110-130 for death school, depending on what gear I am wearing, and with a vengeance card played, I can almost guarantee that critical hit.

Next up is Gargantuan. This is the big brother of Monstrous... it will increase your spell by 250 damage.That is a significant increase, and with a critical too - those enemies won't stand a chance! These are slightly more difficult to get hold of in the Bazaar, but they do show up - with a bit of patience you can pick up a few. And every now and then you'll see 25 - and the race is on to see which wizard gets their hands on them! My wizard level is high enough to buy the recipe for this card now, but my crafting level is not. You can train in these spells, but you have to work your way up through the family: Tough, Strong, Giant, Monstrous.... that is a lot of training points!

The last one is Elucidate, which quite simply reduces your spells Pip cost by 2. This treasure card is not easy to get hold of in the Bazaar. I am told that they are in the chests in Celestia and you can get them as drops. I have only seen them a few times in the Bazaar and I buy them as quick as possible. Make sure that the battle you use them in is worth using them though, in case you can't get any for a while. This card also has a little sister - Simplify, which reduces the Pip cost by 1. Again very useful and I will buy these as soon as I see them too. You can't train in these spells anymore due to PvP abuses, but they are out there if you search them out.

Would love to hear of your favourite enchantment spells, so drop me a comment!

Until next time,

Tabitha.