Another Ring on the Pet Tree of Life

I was helping my friend try out Wizard101 the other day, moving some gear from other characters into the shared bank for her, when I started thinking about pets. It's really nice to have a powerful, stats enhanced, spritely every other minute kind of pet when you're playing as a level 3 in Unicorn Way. As I moved a pet into the shared bank for her it struck me how my love for all things Red Gobbler has permeated its way into my real life friends' and family's accounts. We really do have gobblers coming out of our ears. It's time that I clean up some of the more disastrous failed hatches, and just get over it and delete them already.
So as I was looking for pockets of gobblers scattered around a dozen shared banks and attics, I noticed how many different types of pets we actually had. From Aqua Dragons to Zombies, I counted them up, spread over my wizards I had over 135 different types of pets. That's a huge number! Particularly since I have multiples of most of those. But what I think is even cooler is that the pets I've collected are like the rings on a tree.

They span across the four years (my wizaversary was in March) I've played and tell the story of my relationship with Wizard101. I still have the my very first pet ever. It is a Unicorn pet named Queen Ellie. Actually the reason I decided to try Wizard101 was because you could have a UNICORN PET. Hello! That's awesome. Then there is the Krok pet Lord Winston I had for most of Krokotopia until I got my very first pet drop, Evil Snowman, in Marleybone. I recalled the hours I had farmed with friends (lots of them don't even play anymore) and the great times we had. This is taking a schmaltzy turn-- my point is, that I don't see some of the freaking awesome pets around anymore. Needless to say this makes me sad. So I encourage you-- yes you! To think about playing with some of the 'old school' pets. I mean, who doesn't want an epic SPUDF Ianthine Spectre, or Mustard Troll? Hmmm? Crazy people that's who!

You officially have my permission to ask your friends, random people, and me if they have any old school pets they'd be willing to hatch with. I also am totally willing to help out anyone who asks with some hatching assistance. Leave me a comment, or better yet sent me a tweet (@HeatherRavenWiz) and we can hopefully find a time and pet to hatch.

For you people who already have your Mega Death Cyclops. I virtually high-five you. You are awesome.

What's your favorite pet that you consider 'old school'?

~Heather

Black Friday, Or Else

Another year, another Black Friday. We're reporting on some of the scenes to be found around the spiral today as shopping madness ensues. Some wizards have resorted to near violent measures in order to obtain a deal. Incidences have included pyromancy, pets eating wears, and several bone dragon stampedes have also been reported.

We recommend shoppers to stay safe this Black Friday. Wait respectfully, and use the buddy system. Wear something reflective and carry identification.

Happy holiday shopping.

Victoria's Black Friday technique, intimidation. 

The scene outside Toney's Terrier Toys.

Waiting for iBone 6.

Overload

Well my system has gone into game overload.
First Glitch invites came out, and I hopped on that game.
It's super-duper awesome, and I looooooooove it.
This is my house. You can't see the inside because it's a royal mess.

Then the Wizard101 test realm came out with a bunch of new pet stuff. (Note: I will update and continue the hatching series after the new patch because things will slightly shift and I'll want to incorporate that. But the basic notion is still the same! ^-^)

Then everyone is all "PIRATE101 BETAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!! OH EM GEEEEEEEEEEEEE". Personally I am adrift in a sea of too much gaming goodness. System overload. Failure to respond. Please shut down windows and try operation again. Please reboot. 

~Heather

Hey, Where's Heather?

I can imagine walking down the streets of the spiral and bumping into one of my old friends. They say to me "Heather! Where have you been all this time?" And would say "well..." and probably break into some Phineas and Ferb style musical backstory review.
Well I decided not to try my hand at writing, directing, and animating a clip for you so I'll just tell you. I've been right here. Under the surface. It's like I've been in the conductive zone of the sun, just wandering around bouncing from one thing to another while slowly building up enough energy to write.
And I have decided it's good to write. Not just in 140 characters on twitter, or in long private conversations with friends, but on ye olde blog.
So, back to the story. Well mostly I have been leveling, I mentioned Heather got to level 80 right? Well she did that. And then I got her through the rest of Avalon. Then my friends helped me get One-In-A-Million, which I missed because my internet went down the instant I cast the spell. Apparently I made it because I have the badge. Yup.

Ooh she looks so tough.

Then I took my storm wizard, Kestrel, all the way through Avalon. So she's level 80 and all powerful.

Kestrel's new giant paper weight.

Then I kind of kicked around, without any particular motivation. All of my wizards were stuck in annoying areas (take my death, Lenora, for example. She gets to pick between Grizzlehiem and Celestia. Bleh!). So I turned to Star Trek Online (STO). I like STO but I kind of have no idea how anything works, so I push all of the buttons I can and hope I get shiny stuff. That's about it.

Me bossing around my Science officer Zog.

Me looking like I actually have control of this ship.

Hopefully I'm back into the swing of things. Hopefully my new strange beast will get spritely at epic and be Heather's first SPUD pet. Hopefully I won't blow up my starship. Again.

Hopefully,

~Heather

Hogmanay Hall

It's Just a Model

Still having more fun in Avalon. Here's some pictures from my travels: 

A crushing blow to the Jabberwock

A glitch that I keep running into, but rather like

Me and my camel, Abu

I happened to get a Raven pet

 I was able to get my Basilisk pet a level early. Ooh. Glitchy. So I reported it as a bug (and if you can get your level 78 pet you should do the same). But now I'm level 78... so... 

 This sword I thought was pretty decent! I got it from the Winter Wyrm in the Wild.

 EMPs! 

You know, I can't help but sing this song every time I go and talk to Queen Gwendolyn and company out in the knight's hall. 

Our command performance

Haha! Yes! Another song from Abbey Road! Muahahaha!

I will never run out of songs from this album!!!

*evil cackle*

~Heather

Here in Camelot

Avalon. I'm not going to go into much detail about the world, because I'm sure many others will be outlining it in great detail. And I'm a little bit tired, so all I'm gonna attempt is a first glimpse!

As many have mentioned, the world is based on Celtic legend and King Arthur. Camelot! What? You aren't familiar with the magical land of Camelot? Here's a musical description:

Here's another, slightly more realistic description:

I managed to jump on the test realm for a little bit with my friend John and Eli. Here's what we saw:

Well I think the test realm was a little glitchy. I kept holding my wand and my moose's ear at the same time. Oops! I kinda like it though.

This is what Avalon looks like when you first enter through the spiral door. So in other words, Stonehenge!

One of the first places that we went was "Abbey Road". Haha very funny. Beatles Crossing! (My favorite song on the album. Oh and you can see the lyrics in the description on Youtube for those of you who don't have them memorized.)

I don't really know what place this is because I haven't done any questing. I'm calling it the "rose hall". John and I were both drooling over the stained glass windows. They made me really happy because they reminded me of one of my favorite movies as a little girl, Beauty and the Beast.

Here you can see what I'm talking about:

(Hearing impaired wizards can get the text for this prologue in the description of the video. Click on over to YouTube.)

John pointed out that the ceiling of the Library was really awesome.

This door was the subject of much debate amongst us. It strongly reminds me of the West-gate into the mines of Moria in Fellowship of the Ring the first book of the Lord of the Rings trilogy. There is a hammer on that door as well. My best guess is that Gimli is trapped behind the door. Don't worry Gimli! We'll getcha out of there! Eventually...

It looks really pretty. It also looks like there might be a few Rings mentions. Kinda makes me want to reread my favorite book. Yeah in my "spare time"! Bwahahaha!

What I'm actually going to be doing in my spare time is finishing quests off on my wizards, and getting Victoria through Zafaria. Ugh. I'm not looking forward to the lions, but I do like to have wizards that can go to the shiny new places, so that's the price you pay I guess! I'm a little more excited now that I've actually seen Avalon.

I can't wait to see the level 78 pets too! I wonder what Myth will get...

~Heather

Please Hold

My internet of fail suddenly decided that Wizard101 was the root of all evil and that I should be banned from both the game and the website. Needless to say this has made me very grumpy.
In the meanwhile, I'll try and figure out why my internet is messing with my mind, and you can ooh and ahh at my super cool new robe I got when I became commander a couple days ago!

Alright, maybe it isn't that exciting for everyone else. But I am so excited to have this robe. I've been admiring them since I joined the game! I now officially look like a "cool kid" or some one who "knows what they're doing"! I could not be happier!

Also don't forget to enter my little contest (everyone has a shot at the prize!) which ends on April 2nd.  You could win Magma Peas! Which are crowns seeds and will give you mega snacks. They are very nice I have several myself.

Hopefully, nothing TOO awesome will happen whilst I cannot get into the game. 

~Heather

P.S. Yes. I know that I've just jinxed it.

Seeing green

St. Patrick's Day is always fun around my family. We eat our traditional irish potato soup, and watch the film The Quiet Man. Good times.

This year I caved and bought some holiday wands that I've been eyeing for three years now. I usually like to farm for them but I've been short on time because of school.

I really like the shillelagh. It's unusual, I never see people with it. It also makes me feel a little bit like Yoda. 

source

~Heather

We are not amused

Pack-a-palooza. Really? Okay, now let me move onto-- can't you people think of anything better to end in than 'somethingsomething-a-palooza'!? It's just getting old. And boring.

Also I would like to mention while I've paused for a rant, that I personally mentioned how I would like to see a Kirin mount in October whilst having a twitter conversation with my friend Connor Mistblade. We were theorizing about a new Mooshu themed gamestop card. I wanted Osaka Castle and a Kirin mount to boot. What do I get? A pack. Noooo, no, no. Fail KI. Just fail. If you were looking to gather ideas for your packs from the players you picked the wrong girl. I am so pleased that they decided to include the idea Connor and I were discussing, in the game, but they have sure lost a whole lot of potential money from me. I was hoping to spend at least $40 on this, and now I'm going to spend less than $5. I would love a Kirin mount so much. But I cannot afford to spend $40 worth of chances. I would like to know that it's there, and that I can have it.

As most of you know this blog and my Wizard101-ing is in semi-hibernation, although I am playing PvP with my team of good friends. It's been hard to keep up with Wizard101 and the community due to colds, schoolwork, and my other interests. And (it makes me sad to say) I don't feel I'm missing that much. Back in the old days, we were all still figuring things out. For me that was a much more interesting time, when it was really exciting to sit down and see what everyone was up to and learn more myself. I look forward to the rest of 2012, and I hope that KI will continue to produce a game like that. Maybe then I'll have more patience for annoying distractions like the packs of doom.


~Heather




edit to add: I don't claim that the kirin idea was mine alone. I'm sure other brilliant individuals suggested it as well. They also have been gypped. (Okay maybe not gypped. But certainly hard done by.)

Blame it on the Decongestants

That's right I have a intense head cold. I think it's starting to make me rather silly.

Behold the Uggs of the spiral.

I seriously thought about getting everyone Uggs--I mean Santa boots for Holiday gifts, but fortunately my friend talked me out of it.

 I have been working on my winter house Hogmanay Hall.

I have been crafting a few things...

I would give you more of a view, but since Wizard101 is down right now, extrapolate from this picture!

 I also went to Luke' s party. By the by, really nice inside Luke.

Where long PvPing ensued. 

Contrary to Fallon's belief, I have not been practicing with TPC without her knowledge.

I have however, been doing some ranked 1v1, I actually got to Veteran. Which is a big deal for me.

And I have been playing some team stuff in the practice arena, but more on that later.

So for now I shall say Happy Holidays! I didn't get you Uggs.

~Heather

Mirror Mirror

So today I was bored. Really bored. So bored that I decided to finish Zafaria.

That's sayin' something!

So I run around the Elephant Graveyard and fight some people, then I talk to some animals and BAM! I'm off to Mirror Lake.

Well that was quick.

So I decide to take a peek into the instance, and size it up. Just me and my friend's wizard.

We hop on the sigils and start working our way through the instance.

We fought bosses. Then we fought some more bosses. Long story short, we fought a lot of bosses.

I kept wondering when the epic Morganthe show-down was going to happen, and thinking we'd probably die in that fight if not before.

Then we fought some spider bosses.

Then we got loot.

We finished it. Me and my friend Elijah (who is fire). Just us.

I was all: O_o

Okay apparently Mirror Lake isn't that hard.

It took us a while, but I think that was mostly because we had no clue as to what was coming next.

Zafaria...

DONE!

I wonder what world we'll see next? 

~Heather

Home for the Holidays

After much bustle and hubbub, I've finally been able to get in some playing time for Wizard101.

Zafaria! I haven't finished it yet, but I have gotten up to level 70 and tried out my new spell Basilisk. Very cool. But I don't have a great understanding of DoTs yet so it'll take me a while to figure out how to use it effectively.

I've also been working on finishing up some houses I've been working on... Hopefully you'll get to see them really soon. And also I have more fun surprises coming up in the near future too! Stay tuned!

That's it for the status update. I hope you all are having a wonderful break, and I wish everyone luck on their finals!

~Heather

Déjà vu

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice shame on me. 

Fool me three times?

...

INCONCEIVABLE!

("that word you keep using...") 

Introducing the Nightmare pack for Halloween. Lord help us now they're seasonal.

Hmm anyone else having Déjà vu?

"  ...I think adding a feature like this into the game is not .... healthy. If any of you can remember WAY back to when there was the big backlash over wishing wells (Here's a TFN post talking a little bit about it) well I was painfully reminded of that when DH packs came out. The only difference is the fixed price and the way they package it. Basically it's gambling. ...You aren't guaranteed anything but spending money. Who's the one winning? KI! Right. They want to make money, that's reasonable, they are a company and it's part of how you keep the game running. But there are alternatives. What they could do is have a DH or WH pack and then offer select items from the pack in the crowns shop so someone who just wanted that really cool sword, or bone dragon mount could get it. But of course at some expensive cost, so that the DH/WH packs would still be appealing. "Ooh I have a chance of getting something for only 399 crowns instead of 7,500! I guess I'll buy one!" But obviously they don't want to do that. They want to make as much money as possible with the DH/WH pack system. (I seriously hope they prove me wrong here.) Also did anyone else notice that they, just happened to not release it on the test realm, they saved that surprise for live? Are they so worried that they will get so much backlash that they won't even let people test this feature?

Well until something gives here there will be no more Wyvern's Hoard packs in Heatherville. Because as the old saying goes: "Fool me once shame on you, fool me twice shame on me." "

That was "On How KI Drives me Cukoo for Coco-Puffs Somedays" August 19th, 2011. (Is it just me, or are they increasing in frequency? Ruuuuuuun! They're multiplying!)
Okay. Unfortunately KI is just living up to my worst expectations. Not only did they add another new (seasonal! YIKES!) pack, they have not made anything available for straight up purchase. And once again they bypassed the test realm-- even though there was content up there that they realized as well!

As usual, we (ze #twizard community (twitter wizards)) exploded. There were split camps. I'm just going to adress some highlights from what was said there, because some of it is really interesting food for thought:

@witchwarrior said: @LukeGoldHorn I agree with you to a point. These packs would work better if they made them a little cheaper and less random.
<-- Alric pointed out that they are actually 100 crowns cheaper than the usual, and he did get a nightmare mount on the first try.

@AlricRavenWiz went on to say: @LukeGoldHorn It's only gambling when you don't have the will to stop. If you can't stop buying a pack then you can't stop playing the game.In part thats not only gambling crowns that gambling life and time for kids who become addicted. So should [there] be no more games?

<-- I rebutted: @AlricRavenwiz Gambling in Merriam-Webster as defined as: to bet on an uncertain outcome 2: to stake something on a contingency take a chance ... All of the hoard packs live up to that definition. ...I was just saying that "gambling" and "gambling addiction" are [two] different things and you *can* have one without the other.

For me this is disappointing. I remember us being pretty vocal about Wyvern Hoard Packs when they came out mid-August. I really love Wizard101 and I don't see how this feature enhances the game in a positive way. It just make people like me go "OH NOES!" and have heated debates about crazy things like gambling addictions. It's actually comical! Wow this a game and it's supposed to be fun! Good grief Charlie Brown. We all (yes KI too) need a bit of a reality check. New mantra-- Games are fun.

To end this on an upbeat: I don't have anything against people who buy the packs. Have fun! I hope you get all the awesome swag! (I cannot join yous since I have exactly one crown. Hehe.) I love you guys no matter what. Group tackle hugs!

So... what do you think the mystery pet that we're going to get will be? And what do you hope it will be?

~Heather

What we do when you're not looking 2.0 or Gaga ooh-la-la!

Some of you probably know that I've been working on a killer PvP (WITH MASSIVE HELP FROM ONE DONNA SPELLTHORN! There I said it, are you happy now?) ring of my own for a while now. Today I finally made it public. 

It's not without it's flaws. Actually it has some major ones. But when I get some time to fuss with it (and some more ingredients for teleporters) I will be working on correcting it.

Thanks everyone for coming out to PvP! I hope you all had some fun.

Here's a behind the scene's look at the construction:

minion!

partners in crime

many minions!

minion go bye-bye.

~Heather