Blaze's Tips & Tricks No. 9 Extra Energy!

Hey everyone! I'm here today bringing back something you haven't seen in a while! As you can tell, it's the Tips & Tricks series! I know a lot of you like these posts so I've decided to try and bring them back. Anyway, let's get into today's Tips & Tricks, Extra Energy!

Energy Gear is a unlike your regular everyday fighting gear and is often not very effective in battle. It instead, caters more to you whilst you're asleep or away from the Spiral for a while... Energy Gear is gear that adds to your max energy which lets you build up more energy during downtimes. If you can get the right gear, you can increase your max energy by huge amounts, up to even 234 at the very, very highest (includes sockets).

There are all sorts of energy gear and you can get the energy bonuses on all gear excluding decks, wands and mounts. You can even receive energy from pets such as the Dapper Corgi! Energy gear is any gear that gives you increased max energy, meaning you can build up more energy whilst equipping this gear. An example of when this is effective is whilst you are offline, you can build up energy for gardening, fishing and pet training.

Now, you obviously don't want to fight in this gear and switching out constantly, this is where gear sets come in handy! KingsIsle even including an 'energy set' name as a possibility to name a set. With this, just one click of a button and you can build up your energy to a greater extent.

There is one final piece of advice that I have for anyone buying energy elixirs. If you are going to buy an energy elixir, make sure you get your energy down low first than make sure you've got your energy gear equipped. This will again, give you more energy.

Well, thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!

Until next time!
- Blaze

Pets that give Energy

You know I wasn't too excited when I saw new pets were available. I have enough trouble finding time and (I hate to admit it) inclination to train what I have so I didn't look at their stats. I just wasn't interested enough.

So tonight when I logged on and found Maintenance scheduled 10 mins later, I thought I would check out the Crown Shop and look at the couple of new offerings. Dapper Corgi was the first one I looked at, and I very nearly fell off my chair!

This was something new, I'm pretty sure I hadn't seen it before.... I did some reading on some forums and that seemed to confirm my suspicions.....

This is a pet that has 8 energy at baby.... yeah baby! 8 energy!


There are a large number of new pets in the Test Realm right now and many, many wizards are training to reveal the talents for us. I noticed there are some May Cast fishing talents being revealed as well, though I am pretty sure that this is the only Energy giving pet available right now.  With energy being the elixir of gold in the Spiral for gardeners and anglers alike, I guess we can look forward to a new era of pet talents.

Exciting times ahead, I just need to find some extra motivation to do the training - I have over 200 mega snacks just sitting in my back-pack waiting to be used.

So have you bought one? What talents have you revealed?

Have fun, until next time,
Tabitha

Pack Analysis: The "Wyvern's Hoard" Pack

Pack Name:                      Wyvern's Hoard
Pack Type:                       Gear
Number of Cards:            7
Total Number of Items:   143
Cost:                                   399 Crowns, on special from time to time and up to 50% off
Availability:                       Currently in Crowns Shop

Description

Now this one, for me, is pretty special.  While I got my robe from the Raven's Hoard pack, I got my mount from this one.  I love my big, beautiful Cloud Wyvern.  He was brutish to ride at first, and got me into no end of trouble in Dragonspyre, but once you master the sway of the beast, it really is a great mount.

Then, of course, is the Energy.  I consider this pack the "Energy Pack" as it has the best drops to send your Energy into overdrive - but more about that later - or just read my eBooks, click on the links on the side of this blog if you haven't read them,

This is predominantly a Life focused pack, but it really does have something for everyone.

OK - Let's check this pack out and see what wonders it contains...

Pets - 6
Given the age of this pack, there are a couple of good pets in here.  Out of the six pets, two of them, the Earth Walker and the Pixie Queen are both high stat, high pedigree 1st Generation pets.

The Pixie Queen that comes with this pack is an incredibly rare drop.  You can tell the difference between this pet and the normal Fairy Queen, as it is a pedigree 57 pet with a Fairy card.

!!Update!! Thanks to our good friend Scarlet Frogslinger, I have been informed that the Pixie Queen can now be purchased from the pet vendor, Kellen ForestTail, in Khrysalis for 10,000 Gold.  It seems that she just won't be that rare anymore!!!

Mounts - 11
Ahhh, the mounts.  There are five wyvern mounts in this pack, and I have four of them  The Night Wyvern still escapes me.  My favourite two are the Cloud Wyvern and the Night Wyvern, so I can see that I'll be buying a few more of these packs as time goes on!

Other than that, there are some pretty Fairy Wings...not really my thing, but a lot of people do like them.  There are 3 different types of these wings, and they in both Permanent and 1-Day options.

The mounts are a big part of this lucky dip, and you never know what you are going to come up with...

Snacks - 0
OK, probably best to know that if you are after Snacks, don't buy this pack!!

Treasure Cards - 18
The Treasure Cards that come with this pack are top notch.  From Baby Sunbirds to Rebirth, from the Massive Pest Zapper to Satyr, the only poor card is Leprechaun.  Not bad when there are 18 cards to potentially drop!

Seeds - 21
Now for the seeds.  When you take out the ones that you can buy from the various gardeners, there are 9 seeds left, slightly less than half.  It is when you see what seeds they are that it is pretty impressive.

My favourite seed, the Couch Potato, is in there, as is the Evil Magma Pea - considered by some as
the best seed in the game.  There is the King Parsley - useful in large numbers for Amber, and Key Limes, the best seed to level up quickly in Gardening (just ask Tabitha!).  I often call these two "the gifts that keep on giving" as they multiply rapidly, but can be used to level up your pet if you feed your surplus to it.

There is even the DHE or Deadly Helephant Ears, and the (potentially buggy) Silver Trumpet Vine.

An amazing array of high quality seeds in a single pack.

Reagents - 7
Every pack has its weakness.  For the Wyvern's Hoard pack, that weakness is the Reagents.  You really don't want to get these after spending your hard earned Crowns.  Probably the less said about these the better!

Clothing - 9
This pack was one of the 'transitional' packs where the different items started to be grouped together. In this case, it is the "Brilliant", "Energetic" and "Peaceful" sets of Greenwarden's clothing.

There are some upsides and some downsides with this clothing as there often is with any item.  The main downside is that it looks terrible unless you are a tree!  Also, given it is an older pack, some of the critical / block combinations are a little different.

Greenwarden's Brilliant Gear - This gear is pretty balanced.  It is a good generic set of gear.

Greenwarden's Peaceful Gear - This gear is not bad, a little bit of Energy, and some attack, some defense, some accuracy.

Greenwarden's Energetic Gear -  Now this is the good stuff.  The real gold. I don't know how many packs I purchased for this.  It is *easily* the best Energy gear in the game.  At level 100, this gear adds a mighty 69 points of Energy to your total.  Amazing stuff.  With the extra emphasis on Energy for Fishing, this is even more valuable now!

Wands - 11
The wands continue the naming trend and are all pretty similar.  The Brilliant Wand ends up with a nice big Block, while both the Energetic and Peaceful have both Critical and Block, with the Energetic with a bit more Critical and the Peaceful with a bit more Block...as you would expect.

Housing Items - 60
The housing items are largely focused on trees.  There are lots of them!  Most of these you can get from the Bazaar, along with many of these housing items.  That said, there are even great housing items in this pack! The Porters drop pretty regularly and it certainly saves crafting or buying them in the Porter Pack.  Great when you start to have a few houses!

Morgrim's Verdict

Low Level Wizards
Buy this pack! The pets can give useful cards for low level Wizards, the mounts are impressive and the gear is excellent.  The treasure cards are powerful, and even the potential seed drops are first class.

As an all-rounders pack, this is arguably the best.  A low level life Wiz casting a Rebirth is always great fun - especially if it is their first time!

High Level Wizard
If you need Energy, buy this pack!  It is just amazing the difference it can make to your overall energy.  Mega-snacks, this pack can ensure you have a never-ending supply! Graceful mounts? Yep. Even looking for a rare pet? ...got that too.

You may have guessed by now, I am really impressed with this pack, but that is because it drops the things that I value.  What do you think?  Are these things useful to you too?

Let me know if you agree with my Verdict!

See you 'round the Spiral.

Morgrim

(This post is accurate as of September 2014)

Shark Alert - Predictions - Energy

Hey everyone!

• Shark Week -  and the release of the Warhammerhead shark
• Energy Elixirs -  Grub Guardian can help
• Seeing the Pattern? - Future Predictions?

So this was the week that House-A-Palooza drew to a close and Shark Week was once again with us. Exciting that a new shark was released for this week only, so if you haven't got yours, you haven't got much time left to snare one! Frostcaller has put up some tips on getting Energy Elixirs using Grub Guardian - these things are like gold dust with all the energy needs around the Spiral. And one of those past-times is of course fishing. It is still hard to go any length of time without another style of fishing post. For this and all the other stories shared by Wizards around the globe, click on the paper.

We'll be back with another copy next week.

Until Next Time,
Tabitha

The Secret Weapon - Just what is it? And will it be enough?

I am guessing, if you are a regular reader of our blog, you will know that Tabitha challenged me to a "race to Rank 20 Gardener".

Of course I accepted, but with a one Level head start, and more energy...well, it actually posed me quite a difficult decision.  There are only 78 different seeds in Wizard101, and this means, only a certain number of strategies.  There were no rules, so I decided I would play with a 'no Crowns' policy and see if simple choices would be enough to get me over the line.

If Tabitha went with the most likely option, I would need a lot more than my 145 Energy to beat her!!

So, how to get this - with no Crowns in play?

Oh...and the other challenge will be, I need to max out my house(s) and yet still be able to service them, knowing all the while that there is a 69-plot limit to a Large Area Spell.  To do this, I need those special Treasure Cards that are usually found in - Moolinda's Green Thumb Pack.

But again - no Crowns?!  Is this even possible?

Enter - the Secret Weapon!!

Now, I know that Tabitha has a lot of theories about what this could be, but I am not sure she has guessed this one.  It isn't really conventional, but with a lot of work (and a little luck), I can triple my daily Energy and really give myself a chance!

So, just what is the Secret Weapon?

Yep, believe it or not, my strategy was based on good old Grub Guardian.  You can get both Energy Elixirs and Moolinda's Green Thumb Packs from this great little game.  I have my favourite map and I can play it quickly, easily and my target is to get the exact same score every time.  Honestly, I don't know if this makes a difference or not, but it has meant at least one Elixir and one to two Green Thumb Packs per day.

Given this, I figured I had about 290 Energy per day to use, and it has actually worked out very well.

Now, Tabitha's strategy will be hers to share, but I have suspected what it might be for some time.  For me to combat that, I needed a combination of things I could control (seeds I had and seeds I could buy) and things beyond my control, where I needed luck, such as drops from fights and mid-harvest seed drops.

For Power Leveling without Crowns seeds, there are not many options.  You need something you can buy and something with quick cycle times.  The best option here, believe it or not, is the Frozen Fly Trap!  The very seed I failed on when I first started playing Wizard101 (you can read more about this in my book on gardening!).

These seeds cycle about every 216 hours, but with likes, that is more like a few days.  The first harvest is a bit more than 24 hours after the seeds are planted.  This is reading well so far.  The bad news is that they are only worth 50 xp per harvest and 500 xp at Elder.  Compare this to those seeds that require luck (or Crowns) and they are 300 xp per harvest and 3000 xp at Elder.  Hmmm...all of a sudden they do not look that good!

Assuming that Tabitha has planted out her Red Barn Farm (I know I would) with 3000 xp, fast cycle plants, I will need 6 times more seeds to be 'in the game'.  That means that, assuming the Red Barn Farm is full both inside and out, that is a maximum of 300 seeds.  I need 1800 seeds!

<phew> that is a lot of seeds.  Is that even possible?

Then there is the Energy to maintain it all.  WOW!  That is not going to be fun!

OK, now I have 30 Couch Potatoes that I have farmed over time, so that will help (30 x 3000 xp), bringing my target down by 180 seeds.  I also have 12 Evil Magma Peas, that is another 72 less.  I now need about 1550 seeds.

I have the houses, but I will need to build the gardens...that is another 5 Energy per location (3 for the Enchanted Plot and 2 for the Seed).  This is going to be tough.

I will need to call in backup.  I have a few White Tiger Lilies that I have been collecting.  That is a start, but I need more.

For that I need to farm Night Goblins in Avalon.  I won't say why, as there might be some overlap here, but let's just say, that farming has been extremely tough with very little, but not zero, payback.  I got one of what I needed, but I fear it may be too little, too late.

...but let me know if you can guess what I was after there?

If Tabitha has done what I suspect...I am in trouble.  Still, I don't give up.  We'll see what the week brings!

You know what though?  If there is anyone I am going to lose a challenge to, I don't mind it being either Alia or Tabitha...so in the end, I have learned a lot more about gardening and either I will win or one of my favourite Wizard friends will, so there is no downside :)

See you 'round the Spiral!

Morgrim

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

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

Mega! Mega! Mega!

I haven't updated you on my gardening prowess recently, as I have been waiting for my stacked garden to go to elder. Of course not all plants go to elder at the same time, so I have had to be patient and wait a couple of days. But hurrah! Today is that day.

As there is so much going on in the garden, I decided to record it and talk about some of the plants, the harvest and the garden in general. Sorry if there are lots of 'ums' in the chatter, it's my first time!

So I managed 26 Mega Pet Snacks from that harvest. Enough to fulfill my pet training needs right now. I planted the garden back as soon as this completed. Oh and I popped a Dragon Fly spell on it too. That will prevent level 1,2, 3 pests for 48 hours - which means I will have enough energy to do that pet training too.

This is how the garden looks again now:

Off to do some pet training now!

Until Next Time,

Tabitha

New Year at the Keep

Hi all,

This has been a very interesting year in the Spiral and it has been a lot of fun sharing it with you all.  Some of the more notable things that have happened include:

• The emergence of Our Wizard's Keep online, which has been a lot of fun to share our experiences and learnings with other Wizards
• Tabitha has joined us in the Spiral, giving us another new friend reminding us of all the fun that we had as we first found our way around the Wizard101 world
• Blaze hit level 90 just so he could get some of the Aquila gear he has been so keen on :)

It was a year where rumours ran rife about the future of Wizard101 as Pirate101 takes off and we saw the demise of a number of major Disney titles.  Well, Kings Isle put pay to those rumours in the best possible way...and haven't let us down either with:

• Aquila coming online, with its great new gear, secret bosses and level specific dungeons
• Halloween has seen Dworgn open the secret gate in the back of Triton Avenue, revealing the Nosferabbit and the great Gardening Spell drops from the battles there
• Khrysalis Part 1 and the emergence of Shadow Magic have changed the game at many different levels, both questing and, more importantly, in the PvP Arena
• The new gear and items in the Yuletide pack have also introduced the adorable Rescue Rover, the big loveable dog that lopes along beside you 
• The promise of Kyrysalis Part 2 early in 2014 just to tempt us all with where this game is going to take us next!

With this level of ongoing expansion and investment, there is plenty of life in this game yet - much to the excitement of all of us fans :)

• Here at the Keep we also embarked on a couple of things we never thought we would, including:
• Writing an eBook on Gardening (with all sorts of hints, tips and little known facts), that actually turned into 2 eBooks!!  Where else can you find:
• How many plots for a Small plot, Medium plot and Large plot garden?
• How many plots can a Large Area spell service?
• What is all of the Energy gear in the Spiral and where can you get it?
• How to make your Energy stretch to go further?
• and much, much more...all in one place?
• (see the links on the right to get your own copy of these free eBooks)
• We tested out our terrible vocal chords and created a video for the 12 Days of Christmas Wizard101 Style :)
• And a very special, highly secret project that hopefully will provide assistance to all Wizards of the Spiral from the day your new Wizard begins their Wizarding journey all the way through to the highest and most experienced Wizards - but more about this in the first week of the New Year :)

2014 in the world of Wizard101 will be bigger and better than 2013. We hope you choose to join us as we keep sharing what we do and learn.  And if there is anything you want to know more about, just drop us a line and we'll do our best to help you out.

From all of us here at Our Wizard's Keep, have a wonderful and safe New Year's Eve and a fantastic 2014.

...and remember to have FUN!

Morgrim, Alia, Tabitha, Blaze and the rest of the family.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Epic!

Hey everyone, Blaze here!

Recently I have been pet training ( thanks to the wonderful Couch Potatoes ) with lots of Mega's to get my new Penumbra Drake to Epic. First, Spritely, I was very happy with this and decided it was worth more training, I got him to Ancient and Unicorn was the one. A pretty good pet so far! Decided to keep going and got MC Vengeance ( to get this pet I hatched with Morgrim and the pet was getting the same as his ). This pet was getting great. For the perfect pet all I needed was Spell Proof and Fairy Friend and maybe Spell Defying instead of Unicorn. I got Midnight to Epic today and guess what....

Curse Giver.

It's a little bit sad really. Well this pet won't be getting what I want so no point training it further. I'll keep everyone updated on what talents I get training my pets and what stats they were at when they levelled.

Until next time!

Blaze

Gardening and the Power of the Pixie

Continuing on the theme of Gardening and Likes, possibly the best like you can get is the Pixie.

This one Like can reduce total harvest time by 25% on many seeds, and most seeds like Pixies.

So - how can you get a Pixie?  There are some plants that can attract Pixies, and all serious gardeners have their Pixie seed of choice.  For me, it is the Fiery Boom Shroom (perhaps it is the Fire in me?).  I have never been let down by these guys and you'll always see one around my garden.  Just make sure it is a seed with a long life before Elder.  For example, Alia loves Angel Oaks, but I find that Angel Oaks mature too quickly for me.

Historically, you could plant your "Pixie seed", then, once it attracted the Pixie, you could just let it die.  This would trap the Pixie in the dead plant and all other seeds planted in the area would take advantage of the Like from the Pixie.  Well, Kings Isle decided that this wasn't really fair on the poor little Pixie, so in one of the updates in 2013, a dead plant with a Pixie was just a dead plant.  No more Pixie likes.

So, now it is important to keep your Pixie seed alive once it gets its Pixie.  But it isn't quite that simple.

Firstly, the source for my Pixie seed.  You can get the Fiery Boom Shroom from Red Huckleberry drops, fight drops, packs or from two vendors, one in Nordrilund and one in Zafaria.  The guy in Zafaria (Narley) is much easier to get to, but I like visiting Ivaldi Silverpelt in Nordrilund.  Once again, there is a chance to showcase the beauty of the game, as you need to cross a bridge that spans a river of lava that splits a snowdrift.  The snow is nicely pushed back from the boiling mass of molten rock, and you have to admit, it looks spectacular.

So, once you hand over your 3,000 gold to Silverpelt for the seed, you can take it back to you garden and place it in your nicely prepared small plot, preferably on the outside of your field.

Let your plant grow until it is mature, servicing its two needs, and (hopefully) lower level pests.  Once it gets its Pixie, no more pests will appear, so a little water and a little magic once a day keeps this little guy very happy.

No matter what your chosen Pixie seed is, watch it as it grows.  When it starts getting close to Elder, stop!  Stop servicing its needs - it cannot be allowed to mature to Elder.  Once this happens, the Pixie will leave.  Instead, monitor its progress.  Once it starts to wilt and the status changes to "Progress to Dead", then get back in there and give it some help.  Again, a little water and a little magic, and the cycle starts again.  You have kept your Pixie and plant, and all the other plants that Like that little Pixie will continue to gain value from its presence.

Happy gardening and see you round the Spiral!

Morgrim

Making the most of your Energy - Likes and Gardening

When I first started gardening, I thought it was a little boring and took far too long.  The rewards were kinda lame and I couldn't see the sense in it.  One day, in Celestia, I met two Wizards with very similar names.  They were farming a boss there.  After speaking with them for a while, I found out it was the same person, playing two different Wizards.  It seemed that they were looking for Amber.

That was when I started to see that gardening did more than give you Mega snacks, although that was pretty useful!!

So, back to gardening I went.  The good ol' King Parsley (KP) is a simple option for people starting on their quest for Amber.  One seed can fill a garden fairly quickly and it is the gift that keeps on giving.  But more on KPs in another post.

King Parsleys take some time to grow and it drained a lot of energy keeping them going.  I needed a better way.

So, I started to look at these 'likes' and 'dislikes'.  What did it really mean?  Well, thanks to Wizard101Central, that font of considerable wisdom, I realised that likes would really help improve the speed of my harvest.  Ever since that time, if I am planting a field of a particular seed, I'll make sure all the likes for that seed are already in place.  That saved a LOT of time and a LOT of energy.

This is my "Medium Plot" garden.  I'll cover garden planning in another post, but for now, it is important to see that this field is ready for my 3 main medium plot crops: King Parsley, Honey Sickle, and what is arguably the best seed, the Evil Magma Pea.

It is important to make sure none of the likes and dislikes clash, but as a general rule, stay away from Stinkweed!! (makes sense really).

Yep, those are dead plants in the front.  One of the good things about Likes is that, if a seed likes another seed, you simply plant that seed and never address its needs so it will die.  Dead or alive, the seed that likes will still like it!!  I find that sometimes I need to set this up prior to planting the field as servicing the needs of the field can sometimes keep these likes alive ... and you don't want to take one to Elder, accidentally harvest it, and then have to remember to plant it again.

Some of the Likes will need to crafted, and others are drops from packs etc., so plan well.  Still, once you have the Likes you need, your harvest time is considerably reduced.  You get to keep that extra energy for other things, and you get to take advantage of your harvest drops that much sooner.

It is also useful to note that Likes and Seeds are not 1 for 1.  If a seed likes a Gong, you don't need 4 Gongs for 4 seed.  Just placing the Like near the garden will be enough for the seeds in that garden to take advantage of that Like.

But how can you tell if the seed is taking advantage of the Like?  I struggled with this for a while, but simply hovering over your seed while in Gardening mode will show you what Likes that seed is using.  With the introduction of the Red Barn farm, you can have up to 6 likes per seed!

Have fun with gardening!  There is still plenty more to discuss, but knowing about Likes will make a real difference.

See you round the Spiral.

Morgrim

Energy ... it comes all too slowly and it goes all too fast

Energy is the thing that you never really notice until you start to look at Pets or Gardening seriously.  KI are kind in allowing each Wizard to have just that little bit more every time they level up...but the process is frustrating as there never seems to be quite enough to keep that garden going strongly, or to get your pet to that next level.

So, what can you do about it?

There are a few traps and tricks that I'll go through in this post, and when I have a little more time, I'll go into this a little further.

As a member, energy comes back a little quicker.  If you aren't a member, then you are stuck to a very slow renewal and that means every drop of energy counts.

A few Traps to watch out for:

Trap 1 - Don't think that making another Wizard and passing your pet to them will let you level it up more quickly. This little bit of lateral thinking first was raised in our team by Blaze, but the reality is very different.  Once that pet goes into your Shared Bank, you will lose ALL of your energy when you try to remove it.  Not only is there no energy to improve your pet, but that Wizard now also needs to have their energy renewed!

Trap 2 - Gardening as soon as you get a 'need' on your plant is a real Energy killer.  Your plants will keep growing for a while, even with needs. It is only if you leave them too long that you will get the "Progress to Dead" message.  Once you see this, you need to clear all needs to allow the plant to grow again.

Trap 3 - Don't clear pests until harvest time.  I have not found any seed that deteriorates with pests.  Using your before harvest time is just a waste, but you will need to clear that pest when it is time to harvest.

And a few Tricks to try:

Trick 1 - Every time you level up your character, you get your energy refilled, so make sure you use all of your energy just before you level up.  Once you level up, you energy is refilled - It's like getting a free Energy Elixir!

Trick 2 - Don't spend your Energy until you have all (or close to all) of the needs on your plants, and (normally) once every 24 hours is enough.

Trick 3 - Keep similar plants together.  Plants with the same needs can be all serviced at the same time.  Check the needs for your seeds at Wizard101Central and it will save you a lot of Energy.

This is one of my Fiery Boom Shrooms at the farm.  I don't actually harvest this guy, but more on that in another post.  (and yes, that is a dead plant, and it is dead for a reason!)

There are lots more, but for now, see how you go conserving your Energy.

See you round the Spiral,

Morgrim