Island Time

You might say that I'm really slow in just getting Kestrel to the Floating Land when it's been out for .... um.... a really long time! I'd rather say that Kestrel just likes to run on island time.

It's actually really nice to be working in this sunny part of Celestia while it is all dark and wet and wintry outside. Ahhhh I just need some surf tunes....



Um. Now all I need is a tropical drink with a little umbrella!

...

What? No help here?

The Street Style Project

Have you ever heard of "Street Style" or "Street Fashion"? It's a style of fashion blogging and general observation where people take pictures of the fashion of everyday people who catch the eye. I don't know about you but the "street style" of video games intrigues me. I find it very interesting when someone puts two pieces together that aren't intuitive, or puts colors together that are unusual. Whenever I see a person with an outfit I really like or think is really creative, I snap a screenshot of it. I have a collection of over 100 screenshots of interesting and remarkable outfits. It's about time I share them with you.

You can find a huge slideshow of my collection on the new Street Style page here. And starting today, I will feature a weekly snapshot, so as to go into a little more detail.

This week...

Esmee. Spotted in the Hatchery.

Black & White.

~Heather

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

Celery

I think most of you know by now. The Professor, is a blatant Doctor Who spoof.

But what you might not know is that they aren't just spoofing one doctor but a good handful of them.

Observe:

Long striped scarf -- clearly Tom Baker's (the fourth doctor)

Tennis shoes -- could refer to David Tennant (ten) or Peter Davison (five) as the both wore tennis shoes

Bow tie -- while plenty of Doctors have worn the tie, it's safe to say Matt Smith (eleven) made it an icon

I thought to myself: "Cool. They picked some icons, slapped them on a dog, and called it good. Groovy."

But then I was passing by this morning and saw this.

A leaf! 

And you know what that means.

It means celery.

Snack anyone?

Peri : "Doctor, why do you wear a stick of celery in your lapel?"

The Doctor : "Does it offend you?"

Peri : "No, just curious."

The Doctor : "Safety precaution. I'm allergic to certain gases in the praxis range of the spectrum."

Peri : "Well how does the celery help?"

The Doctor : "If the gas is present, the celery turns purple."

Peri : "And then what do you do?"

The Doctor : "I eat the celery. If nothing else I'm sure it's good for my teeth."

-- "The Caves of Androzani"

Peter Davison (the fifth doctor) my personal favorite classic doctor has been payed homage to.

Bravo.

I am happy.

~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

You oughtta be in pictures

If Lenora was a punk rock star, this would be her poster.

Victoria and Ryan in this shot almost look like they should be in Vogue's fall edition in the article on Mod. They is too cool for school. 

~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

Boo

Muahahahahahaha. Have to checked the calendar yet?

Yes?

October! That means Halloween is just around the corner. 

I do love Halloween. It's oh so fun trying to scare yourself senseless. 

While Halloween is only one night, I don't see why you can't enjoy it for the whole month of October. 

So I've complied a little list of spooky entertainment for your enjoyment purposes. 

(The Mythspent Youth features something everyday, if you need a daily dose of cobwebs for your health.)

Ghosts
Throne of Blood (1957)
*Topper Returns (1941)
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe
Shakespeare's Macbeth (I recommend the new Patrick Stewart version. Seriously creepy. No, I mean seriously.)

Mystery and Murder
Murder on the Orient Express (1974)
Strangers on a Train (1951)
Dark Passage (1947)

Monsters, Aliens, and other baddies

"Blink" -- Doctor Who Season 3

"Thriller" by Michael Jackson

"Monster Mash" Bobby Prickett

War of the Worlds (1938) as performed by the Mercury Theatre

If I think of more wonderfully scary things, I shall add them to the list.

Happy Haunting! 

~Heather

P.S.
*Topper is actually a really silly comedy. FYI. =)

Say it with a sign

I guess there shall be double posting today. Oh well. *shrug* Just don't get used to it.

You've probably already heard, but the test realm is up currently for some little things.

Panther mounts are now available for in permanent for 5,000 crowns.

And also they've added these cute little signs with pre-programmed messages for your house!

 They range from 500-1,500 crowns each.

Here are some of the winning phrases:

And of course:

Overall they have very nice options but they are really missing an obious one.

"Don't feed the plants".

Please? A girl's got her Menken & Ashman fangirl needs!

(if you're not farmilar with them-- you are. They did the music for insane things like The Little Mermaid. And if you have not watched that, or one of their other classic disney movies that you did, you are dead to me. DEAD TO ME! Just sayin'.)

I mean... Little Shop is so prime for a KI corny quote!

My Fly Trap garden needs that sign. Really badly.

I think you should all help me pester KI to add that option. Hehe. ~.^

~Heather

You've got mail

Just a quick note to remind y'all to check your email, I think that KI's sent out some of their "Thanks for voting! Here's your free Wyvern's Hoard Pack!" emails today.
You could even get....

Um. Junk like me! WOOT!

~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