BUN: One Week...

(sung to Barenaked Ladies' "One Week")


Blog:

"It's been one week since you wrote on me,

Got up and left for Petnome, now I'm empty,

Five days since you sat with me saying

'Too much to do, I'll come back when ready.'

Three days on the Twitter Feed

I realized I wasn't there, it's just the P. P.

Yesterday you looked at me

But it'll still be two days 'til you say you're 'ready.'"

Kevin: 

Hold on now, don't have a brown cow,

I know it's been a while,

You'll think you're being so neglected

I brought you news to diffuse, although I would rather choose

To write it out 

In a way that's much more completed:

In the paragraph form like the good times,

Share what's on my mind,

Because I'm all for the readers.

But because you do insist,

Here's a real big list; don't get fined for being a speeder:

Opened site at night and 'twas alright;

Not as popular as "Twilight";

I like PBworks, it's the finest of the Wiki's,

Gotta check us out, and you'll be "wow"-ed

How well-endowed we're with the crowd

Of bustling Petnome Pages,

You would think that we're kinda geeky.

How can we help it if we've got a lot o' Pets to board?

Tryin' hard to keep up and update it more...

We're the kind of Team bent on aiding Wizards all.

Can't understand why we do?  

It's just natural.

I have a new member to introduce on the Team!

I have here Sierra Starsong and here's her blog--"

"Still, been one week since you hung with me

Even Mistblood's slowed down; I'm getting worried.
Five days 'til it's Saturday

You've got until then for a new release (*hint hint*)

Been three days since your tooth's removed,

You distracted yourself in arena; many got schooled.

Yesterday you came to see me

And now I sit back and wait 'til you say 'I'm ready.'"

"Saturday morning, the Warehouse run was

Delayed way past one; my late nap a faux pas;

Though it actually turned out okay:

Took L.R. Jonte

With Lifecaster and Deathslinger.

Like a bulldozer we pushed right on through

Like nothing was new

Like "that," Estrakir popped and died.

Then soon right after, farmed Kensington,

With good John Lifeglen

Who hosts All-Star Meet-and-Greet this Thursday night.

Gonna get a set o' Petno' mail

Gonna search on through the clustered trail

Just so the info' isn't always giving you the wrong things;
Gotta use the pics and edit tricks
'Cause the website has got 2 GIG storage space;
Hopefully very soon we'll finish uploading.

How can we help it if we've got a lot o' Pets to board?

Tryin' real hard to keep up and update it more...

We're the kind of Team bent on aiding Wizards all.

Can't understand why we do?  

It's just natural.

We are proud to present that we've got the Crabling.

Now looking to map other pets...

And all last week I was busy, see...

Farming fast, crafting snacks, playin' with Missy.

Five days since I looked on through

And noticed that I'm featured in Diary's frame two.

Three days since the weekend came

Time flew fast and now we're back, feelin' blue.

Yesterday, shared some strategies

And now it's two days 'til we're in a new Hall to study..."

First Full Reunion with the "Crew", After 5 Long Months

Battleblood Style: Warehouse

Alright, so it seems that a guide about the Warehouse has been released on Central a few days ago, which you can look at here.  It’s very detailed; it includes the health points of each monster on each floor, and dips a little into exactly what the Bosses and their minions do.  It covers plenty of information, but a few missing tidbits here and there (since I last saw it), so I’ll fill in more of the details.  In addition, as I mentioned in yesterday’s post, it’s a guide geared so specifically to the Warehouse, that some of us may feel lost when it comes to fighting a new Cheater.  So, let’s look at something you can apply to almost anywhere, and create a more streamlined run/farm!

Note:  This guide is intended for Grandmasters with Text and Open Chat.  (kudos to Arlen Dawneyes and Thomas Lionblood for pointing out the importance of communication)

(I strongly recommend having a Life player when doing Warehouse, especially if you have had a hard time with the instance after many tries; there is one tactic that Central’s guide is critically missing, which I will cover later.  However, this tower CAN be done without a Theurgist.)

ZERG RUSH (AOE Decks) – Rule of Special Decks

The term “Zerg rush” comes from an old, favorite RTS (real-time strategy) game of mine:  Starcraft, created by Blizzard Entertainment.  It’s coined after a tactic where a Zerg player will unconventionally create nothing but their weakest and inexpensive attackers, and send them off to attack an opponent within the first few minutes of the game.  The intention is to harass their opponents enough that their progress will slow to a game-changing point, and when the Zerglings are in large numbers, the match ends faster.

A “Zerg Rush” in Wizard101 means knocking out your enemies in the first, second, or third turn through a combination of Area of Effect (AOE; not to be mistaken with Global, which means “affect everyone”) attacks, with a full team of Wizards (4 players).  If you treat your whole team as one entity or body, the “Zerg Rush” allows your team to escape a battle faster, and thus with the fewer scars.  Let’s call it the “All Rush” strategy, so our Text Chatters can see both words.

The “All Rush” strategy works beautifully with saving time, health, and mana; it may even allow you to end a tower with all potions full!  This is what I used in Big Ben (modified to kill on the first turn), the Secure House (where Redwind’s Sword (Life-100 damage) is dropped; got four of them within two weeks!), Briskbreeze, and any other long, grueling tower.  Kensington dropped down to around an hour to complete.  This method will help you clear the floors up to the bosses very quickly.

What this requires (if you don’t have an extra “sandbox” deck on hand) is a small alternative deck, perhaps around 15-20 cards.  Yep, you read it right: Grandmasters with Krokotopia-level decks.  In this deck, you need to “max out” (use the maximum allowed) your Rank 4 AOE, if you have one (Balance, Fire, Ice, Storm, Myth).  If you are Death School, max out your Scarecrow.  If you’re Life, stock up on full Unicorns.

Next, if you are using Rank 4 AOEs, stack your deck with your School Blade.  If you are Death School, you will need Empower*.  If you are Life, you will need Guidance.

*Empower does not act accordingly to its description.  It does not cost one pip to give you three; it instead adds two white pips, with no change to what you have already.

No other cards are needed (no shields, no traps, etc.  Maybe a Prism if the monsters are the same school as all of your attackers). 

Your goal is to clear the floors of the weak minions in TWO turns. 

·         For those with the Rank 4 AOE, Blading up and removing duplicate Blades and Wand Attacks will be your first move, that way your AOE shows up if one’s not already in hand. 

·         If you are a Death Player, ask that your teammates allow you to be positioned in the Sun circle (first player).  You will need the most enemies alive when your Life Steal hits in order to recover from Empower’s damage. 

·         If you are a Life player, make sure you are entering on the Moon circle (last player).  You will need to cast Guidance the same turn everyone uses Blades or Empower, for a sure chance of killing, and so that your Charm is not used on those Spells.

On the second turn, all players will use their AOE attack or Unicorn.  Do a little jig at the end of the animations, and proceed to the next Barbecue.

CHEATER BOSS BATTLES

This section will cover the cause and effects, and the strategy my team and I used on both Cheater floors.  Remember, the only knowledge about the tower we had was that there was Storm Lord, Frost Giant, and Rebirth somewhere.  We encountered rumors that these spells came randomly, but when we tested around, it turns out that these Rank 7 AOEs (along with others) happen during specific events.

·         Crab Cheater (CC)

o   Any damage to CC will result in him yelling “HELP ME!”  When the turn is over, the Storm Skeleton will then cast a Storm Lord, which does stun.  Because he forms a Storm Seal, Dissipate will prevent the spell.

o   Like Orrick from Briskbreeze, CC removes traps placed on him, one at a time.  He also sports a Tower Shield and automatically replaces them when hurt.  Thus, you can use Steal Ward open him up for full damage.  – Patching changed his Tower Shields to a *casted* Interrupt, so Melt will work in preventing his spell.  Also, it doesn’t seem that he replaces Tower Shield right away anymore.

o   He is glitched a bit; I believe he is meant to cast “Pierce” to remove one *positive* ward, but instead, he will funnily remove a negative ward.  In other words, when you shield, he will cast a “break” spell, but instead of your shield, it affects any TRAPS on you.  I wonder how many people will actually report this ;)

o   We killed off his skeletons in this order: Life (because he was shielding against Fallon Deathslinger heavily), Ice (to reduce the chance of another Tower appearing), and Storm.  Without his minions, CC will still cry for “HELP!” but no one is around to hear him.  (Concept of Disarming)  After the last skeleton dies, you will be given the MC Hammer effect.  Shrug it off and cook that crustacean!

·         Final Floor

o   You will encounter some dialogue between Estrakir and one of the mice minions; a hint is given here, stating that the rats should do something to us when Global/Bubble spells are casted

§  John Lifeglen tested this in another run to see what happened: the enemies returned after being defeated…at least twice.  – Possible bug after Patching.  Enemies returned for my second run, without use of Global.

o   Rats (2)

§  They will add triple shields around and specifically a Tower Shield to Knuckles whenever he is attacked.  Thus, they must be taken out first.

o   Knuckles

§  He is definitely a copycat.  Whenever any type of recovery spell, be it Helping Hands, Sprite, etc. is casted by a Wizard, he immediately casts a fake Rebirth, which heals for 750 HP.  The awesome catch is, the enemies aren’t given Absorbs.

·         The plan was to have Fallon be the only attacker, since I assumed Absorbs were to be bountiful on the enemies.  But, it looks like that won’t be a problem!

o   Estrakir

§  The head honcho has a variety of AOEs at his disposal:  Dragon, Fire* Nova, and Scarecrow

·         *Fire Nova is the same graphic as the Balance spell, but has outgoing Fire damage; bring those shields if you don’t have Quench

·         Dragon is unleashed every few turns after you hurt Estrakir (small or large damage; we tested with a wand attack) while his allies are still up.  Therefore, try not to hit him when against 4 units!

·         Fire Nova is casted whenever any attack goes off (this Interrupt stacks with Dragon’s Interrupt, so you definitely don’t want to aim for him right away), but that also means be prepared to heal after killing off his allies

·         Scarecrow is casted every other turn after his allies are dead.

PVP TACTIC

I’ve mentioned a few times that I implemented some strategy from the arena in our fights against CC and the Final Floor.  I call this method the “Iron Medic.”

(keep in mind that this was our first encounter with each boss, so the fight took longer than it should have)

Our Life player, Taryn, removed as many attacks as she could (save the Centaur from her gear) and placed in nothing but Shields of all types, Rebirths, Unicorns, Guiding Lights, and Guidances, and any other heals she could fit in.  Plus two Reshuffles.  We were expecting a long fight ;)

Any shields that came up in our hand were all placed onto Taryn.  The less she had to worry about healing herself, the more her pips could be focused on keeping the whole team alive.  Also, while we experimented around, her Group Heals were the main basis of aggro, so we were prepared to protect her against four attackers.  Because the enemies passed a few times, we ended up blocking them faster than they could tear shields off of Taryn.  Overall, we were able to keep our cool knowing that we had virtually infinite recovery.

Let me know how your Warehouse runs go!

Warehouse Run: Video

The Warehouse Run starts around 46 minutes in!
The beginning of the show follows a light-hearted convo between me, Christina Icedreamer, and Fallon Deathslinger.

Text guide will follow shortly as I revise it to be updated to match the Patch!

Test Realm: Warehouse Run #1 is a Success!!!

"Worship" Astral bodies, not draw power from...hm..

Note:  The following pictures do not depict the actual number of enemies you fight on the final floor of the Warehouse.  This is only the end of the battle.

John Lifeglen kicking some Shadow Weaver rump

Fallon Deathslinger elegantly forming a Death seal...

...through which an ominous Wraith appears...

...and draws upon the remaining life-force of the enemy.

Down the Shadow Weaver goes.

Beat the Warehouse on our first try!!  (also pictured: Fallon Deathslinger*, John Lifeglen, and Taryn Willowgrove)

*thanks for the edit, Malorn

Screenshot!  Yeah, I'm in my Tank Gear (wolf head and overlord armor)

 

 Here is the full set of the Wayward Gear (Level 48+)

(click to enlarge each picture)

I'll write up a Warehouse guide and post it sometime this weekend...unless there's a mob asking for spoilers, then I'll post one before Thursday.  Gotta let you guys figure it out, too!