Teamwork - Meet-ups, friend lists, and quest buddies

      Well, I know this isn't new when it comes to Wizard 101 (or gaming in general), but I've been seeing this trend for a while now where players will meet other people in the game, do a few quests together, and decide that hey... it would be cool to be partners. Like, permanent quest buddies. There are certain schools (I'm lookin' at you, storm and life) that are geared toward group play since there are major weaknesses in offense or defense, and having a buddy who's got your back for every tedious quest is really beneficial and makes things go a lot faster. This ranges anywhere from two to four people (since that's the most that can fit in a dungeon at one time).

      Anyway, I've looked around on the internet and I've seen lots of threads suggesting to KI that they add a guild feature to the game. I think that would be brilliant, since sometimes having a friend list just doesn't cut it. I mean, some people don't want to be added just to be asked over and over again if they could help someone. But if there were guilds, requests for help be guilt- and debt-free since it comes with the territory. I know groups are supposed to be kind of like that, but you would have to invite people to be in it over and over, whereas with a guild it would just be a one-time invite. Also, guilds could be named, wheras groups cannot. It would also be cool if said guilds could have special club-houses to live in, but I know that's out of the question since you could just port to your friend's house and hang out there :P Wishful thinking, I know.

      On a side note, I wish there was a way to transfer a buddy list from one character on an account to a different character on the same account. I mean, there might be a simple way to do it that I don't know about, but as far as I can tell you would have to do it the hard way. You know, logging out of your one wizard, logging into the other, finding the person in a specific place, and then adding them manually. The easy-add would be so useful because I have a lot of grandmaster friends who are starting new characters and we want to be friends on our new wizards. Just thought that would be a cool new feature, if KI ever considers it.

      I was throwing around the idea of starting a guild on Diary of a Wizard, but I'm not sure if many people would join it because there isn't a convenient feature for it. But we'll see if it's added in the future. The KI team seems really efficient when it comes to addressing player's ideas and concerns. :D

      Aaaanddddd.... that's it. I'm meeting someone from DoaW in the game today at 8!

Fighting Malistaire - The biggest anti-climax I've ever experienced

      Well, last night I finally fought Malistaire on my life wizard - twice! Thanks to the best teammates ever (props to everyone)! Even though I made a ton of gold, got a bunch of drops and had lots of fun, it was sadly the most anti-climactic ending ever. All this build-up for 50 levels and... what, Malistaire and his wife's spirit just disappear? No big resolution? No long-winded monolog from Ambrose? I want plot, people! Where is it?? I dunno, maybe my expectations were too high. I realize that the point of the game is the journey and not the ending but still... I'm a writer. I look for the story in everything. I really hope KI will be adding more plot soon with Celestia (if they actually are developing it). Oh, and sadly, the only things I got from Malistaire were a Death robe and a Storm robe. Boo.

      I worked on my death character a bit more today too. I must say that I'm liking necromancy more and more every day :D And now that I have death prism it will make fighting bosses so much easier (not that it wasn't already). I'm really excited to get through Krokotopia, though not too thrilled with the prospect of doing Marleybone again. We have a history, gearheads and I; one wrought with much drama and frustration. I will spare you the details since it's way too "interesting" to listen to.

      Oh, and I have a question for any other necromancers who may be reading this (which I doubt, since nobody reads this :P) -- does anyone have issues with never getting any gear from their school? I mean, I know everyone encounters that now and then, but seriously I've only gotten like 2 or 3 things for death school, the rest are either life or ice. It's really bugging me. I'm holding out hope for getting better stuff in Krokotopia, but honestly I never had it this bad with my other characters. Weird.

      And......... well, I guess that's all for now. I'm hoping for better days :P

Grind - The slow, painful process of levelling up.

      I worked on Victoria a bit more today! She's level 9 now and I'm really diggin' how easy it is to be a necromancer in Wizard City. I imagine it only gets way harder from here on in, but for now I'm enjoying my school. Just as I expected, it totally sucks being a noob again after having such a high level (read: awesome) wizard. But I'm excited to see how necromancy compares to theurgy. I'm guessing now that I have a ninja pig pet that comes with dryad, I'll be pretty close to unstoppable. *evil grin*

      Made my first friend on that character today as well, and I suspect he's foreign. His English is just a tad on the awkward side, and he keeps calling me a beautiful rose. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so creepy :P He's pretty handy to have around for when the more daunting bosses come up. I didn't get many drops today, but I sell whatever I get, and I plan on saving all my money. Why? Oh, no particular reason...

      Oh, and I also got to Malistaire's lair today with my life wizard. Gave up because of too many setbacks. Plan on finishing sometime tomorrow, no matter what it takes. Seriously, no matter what.

OMG - Yay!

      Autumn is now a Grandmaster Theurgist!

      Yay me!

Story time - "Journey of a Young Wizard" Chapter 1

Hey, I've decided to write a fanfiction! Yay!! Please let me know what you think :D



READ IT BY CLICKING HERE!

Idle - Between the quests.

      Well, it's happened again. That distinct feeling of boredom I get when I'm stuck on a quest I don't wanna do. (Specifically, one where I have to kill a zillion crystal spiders to find something or other for some lady.) Yup, this is what happens when things get too tough. I retreat. At least that's what my therapist would say*.

      So what do I do when I'm not questing? I can't stand to give up my one and only love (read: Wizard 101). I finally got around to decorating all my houses, which is why I'm broke now. Of course there's only so much someone can do to their own virtual house, so I had to do something else. I went on a tour of all the houses in the spiral, even enduring the annoying comments from the tour guide. (By the way, amazing tool, KI! So glad you added this feature!) Also splurged and bought another mount. (IT WAS ON SALE, OKAY? DON'T JUDGE ME!) Now at least my main characters will both be really fast, and therefore eliminate a lot of stress. Thank goodness we're allowed to trade mounts between characters.

      Oh yeah, and I finished crafting for Autumn in MooShu, which oddly enough was WAY easier than in Marleybone. Was it supposed to be like that? I thought it was supposed to go from easiest to hardest. Weird. I literally got it done in like an hour (or would have if not for the outrageous cooldown times). Anyway, I received the crafting quest for Dragonspyre. Clearly I won't be finishing that for quite a while. 18 diamonds? 8 ghost fires? I've never even heard of ghost fire! Where in holy Bartleby do you find it? I'm guessing somewhere in Dragonspyre Academy, right? I dunno. Gonna have to go ore hunting later!

      Also, my necromancer is now the hero of unicorn way. What can I say, I really hate fighting ice spiders! :P I can't tell if I'm really good at this or if it's just the repetition that makes it easy for me. So far so good with the death school, then again I haven't gotten to the enemies that have resist yet so... we'll see! Oh, and I still haven't chosen a secondary school. So many choices, so little time! I'll just keep it in mind for later.

* I don't really have a therapist. Just a voice in my head.

*Growl* - Rudeness. Anger. Fellow gamers.

      Reading a few threads on Wizard 101 Central has reminded me of something about online gaming that really makes me... well... less than happy. And that is rude people.


      Of course encountering rude people is gonna happen. Happens in real life, so of course it's going to leak into online life, especially because the anonymity eliminates a lot of the consequences associated with being a jerk. Doesn't make it any less annoying.

      One bit of rudeness I've experienced a few times is when someone will jump into my battle uninvited, which brings in another enemy, and upon realizing the high amount of health the enemy has, the person will flee. Leaving me to get beat up. This usually happens when a novice thinks it will be cool to see if they can take on enemies in Dragonspyre, 40 levels too soon. That's already happened to me twice in DS. There are other variations of the "runner": there's the "voyeur", the person who stands and watches while you're getting beat up and if you ask for help, they don't respond. There's the "usurper", the person who stands and watches as you battle enemies, then at the last second they jump in and steal your experience/drops. And of course you have the "vegetable", the person who joins a battle and then... does nothing. Except stand there letting the timer between each round run out, making the battle take forever. (And to add insult to injury, they get all power pips.)

      Worse than those people are the ones who spam. By Bartleby, I hate spammers. I'm not talking about the people who are like, "PARTY IN THE ICE TOWER BRING YOUR PETS LOL!" (Although those are extremely annoying to read as well.) I'm talking about beggars, solicitors, and theives. People who offer "codes for treasure cards", or asking for a free account with a high level wizard on it, or, most recently, people asking for a free mount. *rolls eyes* I'm a really nice person who helps out other as much as possible, and still I don't know anyone who would give me any of those things for free. Except for treasure cards, but I was just in the right place at the right time in those instances. I had an experience with someone like that on a few occasions. The funniest case was when I went around the commons trying to find a Master of Nature to help me see Oakheart (I hadn't found my way around that glitch at the time). What I got was a level 25 Sorcerer saying they would help in return for a Tempest treasure card. I reiterated that I needed a Master of Nature to help me. And he reiterated that he would help if I bought him that treasure card (read: idiot). Needless to say I blocked him. Good riddance to people like that.

      I also can't stand when random strangers add me (I call them "addicts"). I know some people do it because they like making new friends or really need help from someone. But is it so hard to try talking to me first? Maybe asking if it's alright to add me as a friend? I always ask first because I realize how annoying it is to be added by strangers constantly. In fact, I learned that lesson a long time ago. I actually used to allow random people on my friend list, until I noticed that they would constantly demand help from me, but would never return the favor. This pattern repeated for a while until finally I locked incoming friend requests. Now I only let people I've talked to for at least a few minutes add me.

      Last but not least is the major jerk. You know, the kind that will demand your help and never say please or thank you. The kind that will make personal (rude) comments about you. The kind that will use you just so they can get to the worlds that are locked to them. The kind that expects your whole gaming experience to revolve around them because obviously their quests are so much more important than yours. I actually had a "friend" like that (I won't name names). I like to give people the benefit of the doubt, so I kept him on my list in spite of how mean he was to me all the time. And then he would play mind games and turn it around on me like I was the one being mean. Then finally enough was enough, and I took him off my list. Come to think of it, that reminds me a lot of my ex boyfriend. Creepy.

      In retrospect, Wizard 101 is actually pretty good about these things compared to other games. I mean, there are some MMORPGs that have way worse people on there. But it's players like this that really ruin the game for others. A word of advice: don't be like that!

Victoria Ravenblood - Death is just the beginning.

      I started a new character last night, my first Death wizard! *is excited* I haven't decided what I want her secondary school to be. What's a good supporting class for death wizards? Not sure if I should choose an element school or a spirit school. Hmm...

      Anyway, this is what she looks like! I haven't finished my adventure with Autumn yet so I won't be focusing entirely on Victoria, but I'll be blogging the adventures of my death character from the beginning to the end.

      Her hair cracks me up, btw :P

Broke - My addiction to the Bazaar.

I had around 30,000 gold last night.

I have three houses and wanted furniture in all of them.

I have a serious problem, guys. I am a compulsive shopper. I buy and buy until I've got no money left (well, only in the virtual world). I was planning on saving gold so I could buy a mount for my other characters, but nooooo. I just had to have the Imperial Sofa. Just had to get that Short Table for the den. Couldn't help purchasing that Krokotopian Scroll Shelf.

And so, once again I am broke.

On the bright side, my houses look smashing!

Weird - Glitches. Frustration. Fist shaking.

      I've noticed a few mysterious things taking place since the updates. Not all of them are necessarily taking place because of the recent updates, but they're happening nonetheless. I make angry frown >:(

      Numero Uno: Has anyone noticed that the enemies in Marleybone walk in the middle of the street now, instead of the sides? That threw me for a real loop and it took me a few times of being pulled into battle to realize that hey... suddenly their walking pattern changed! The good? Now we can all walk on the side like we're used to. The bad? When they make a circle in their little conga line, they get really close to the edges of the roof where we walk to avoid them, which can pull an unsuspecting person into battle. Bottom line: this will take some getting used to. Fortunately I already finished MB with my life character. My fire character will struggle a bit though.

      Numero Deux: Mossback has disappeared from certain parts of Mooshu! Not sure if this is for me or everyone, and fortunately I already finished those quests. Kinda weird though. Oh well. (Note: sorry, but I can't be bothered to take screen caps right now, computer is being SLOWWWW.)

      Number Trei: I finished a quest in the Crystal Groves in DS, and received an item: Crystal cluster. And then when I went to my house to put it somewhere, it disappeared! Like it never even existed. Looked for it in both banks, all through my backpack, and I know I didn't sell it. It's just... gone. Really weird, and sort of disappointing :(

      Le four: Went to my house later and it would not let me even put down any furniture at all. Wouldn't even let me open the tab to do it. I have a feeling it's some sort of bug with the patch since any new thing you receive needs to load the data. Or maybe the Wizard graphics client was just being lame (I had been running the game for like two hours). Either way, very worrying. Hope it won't be a serious problem next time I run the game. They're doing some updates tonight. *crosses fingers*

      El fifth: They said they'd make crafting easier by lowering the required crafts in the quests and also making regents more available. Well, they made good on the first part, but the second part? Not so much. I had a heck of a time finding scrap iron. This was today, at around five o'clock, on a Perfect realm, in an empty area. I searched for over two hours in order to find the very small amount I needed. I'm not really having that issue with common stuff (like mist wood and cattails), but then I never really had a problem with those to begin with. It seems like scrap iron is still just as tough to find as ever. And I know there are exceptions, but I'm not willing to stay up till all hours of the morning just so I can have an empty realm to myself. I hate to be a Negative Nancy (oh who am I kidding, I love it), I just was hoping to see some more of the really rare stuff lying around. Maybe it was just wishful thinking. But anyway, I did manage to finish the Marleybone crafting quest... about time, too! Now to wait eight hours for my slots to open again  T_T

      Sixth: This is actually a glitch I experienced prior to the addition of the crown shop, but apparently it is very common among life wizards. On the quest to get the final spell for life school (Rebirth and a Satyr pet), we have to get items from three trees across the spiral. One of those trees, Oakheart, is in Mooshu, and in order to get to him you have to complete all the Mossback/Wavebringer quests -- in a certain order. I completed all the quests, in the order I received them, and yet when I went to see Oakheart in the Jade palace I couldn't get in. Apparently the order I did them in was not the correct order, and there was no way to go back and do them over again. So I was stuck, unable to get the last item to move on. I had to bother several people (specifically Grandmasters) until I finally found someone who could enter, and I ported to them.
Now, I know this seems like an easily solvable problem... just do the Mossback quests in the certain order. Even the administrators on the Wizard 101 website say that, so it has to be the solution, right? The thing is, there are so many people who do the side quests out of order because they're not crucial to the main plot, and they're not necessary in order to advance in the storyline. And trust me, if you've ever been to DS, you know that soon enough Rebirth becomes essential to a life wizard. Having to follow such a strict guideline in order to gain that spell kind of defeats the purpose of Wizard 101's "at your leisure" atmosphere. It makes questing such a chore. I really, really hope KI fixes this somehow so that level 48 theurgists can gain access to Oakheart without completing the Mossback quests "in order". If not, I have that spot marked in case I encounter any more struggling theurgists. :P

      Anyway, that's all I got for now. I'm hoping this down time is going to be used for fixing some (if not all) of these issues. Until then, I will be waiting eagerly, and wondering where in the world that mysterious crystal cluster ran off to...

Mounts - The best thing since sliced bread.

      After waiting and waiting all day (due to hanging out with a friend and then the patching taking forever) I GOT MY VERY OWN FOREVER MOUNT!

      And after using it for all of half an hour, I can already say... how in the heck did I ever get along without it? So many unnecessary battles that could have been avoided if I could go as fast as I do now. So much time I could have spent doing the important things rather than taking forever to get from one place to another (although the new port stones they added to Mooshu and Marleybone help a lot with that issue as well). And all this euphoria only costed me 5,000 crowns!

      By the way, all of them go the same speed, but the brooms are the cheapest. The animals are more expensive just because of the novelty of them being... well... animals :P If you're thrifty like me and you don't mind the cliche of a witch on a broomstick, I highly suggest buying one!

      Downside: hate to say it because I don't like to complain when everything's pretty much perfect, BUT... all the people riding around on their mounts makes my eyes go crazy! Everyone whizzes past so quickly it always catches my attention and confuses me. Also, the sounds of people mounting/dismounting gets pretty annoying after a while. Other than that, it's good!

      I think I will take a tour around the spiral on my new ride, tomorrow :D

New Stuff - Mounts, crown shop and quests. Oh my!

Mounts.

Yeah, that's right. MOUNTS.

They have arrived in Wizard 101.

You know what I'm gonna be saving up for? A MOUNT. Cause yeah, that's where it's at.

And it's taking an ungodly amount of time to patch. *Pulls hair out*

MOOOOOUUUUNTS!


EDIT: Is it wrong that I look forward to this WAAAY more than hanging out with my friend to celebrate my birthday?

Kandy - The gamer. The blogger. The geek.

As I'm sure my friends had predicted, I've decided to jump on the bandwagon and keep a blog about my Wizard 101 gaming adventures. Why, you might ask? I fail to see the reason for it myself, as everyone who plays the game goes through the same journey. Unlike most of the other players, however, I tend to go it alone (unless I absolutely need someone to help me with a dungeon or something). This is not common for Life wizards to do since we get very few attack spells in our class. But, having observed and adopted special secret techniques, I do pretty well on my own with just the help of my pet, Sir Rex. (I am so alone.) What is my technique? It's a secret, so I can't tell you. (A boatload of blades, traps, and healing spells.)

I actually have three wizards: Autumn, a level 48 Theurgist; Scarlet Lifeblood, a level 32 Pyromancer; and Jasmine Blossom, a level 8 Sorcerer. I started playing Wizard 101 in June of this year with Scarlet, and I got halfway to being a Grandmaster before realizing I hated being a Fire wizard. (See, I had this problem where I constantly died.) So I tried again with Autumn, figuring that it would be way harder to die if I had the ability to heal over and over. So far so good, just kind of sucks not having very many attacks. Autumn's secondary school is death, which stinks as a secondary school because life enemies are hard to kill. Bad choice on my part. I chose storm as a tertiary school for Autumn because it hits big even without traps and blades. After I manage to get her to Grandmaster status I will consider finishing with Scarlet. And Jasmine, oh my, Jasmine. Not sure what to do with that one. I know balance is a good school but I basically made that character as a service to my little brother and sister. I don't want to start out as a noob again after getting to such a high level :P I guess we'll have to see, after I finish with Scarlet.

Either way I may start the game over with another life wizard after I'm finished with Autumn, so that I can blog about the journey better. For now, I will simply leave you with a word of wisdom: Dragonspyre is really, really hard.