Vlogs #8-12: Wintertusk Adventures

Wintertusk Checklist and Analysis

Wintertusk is coming out today!  Too bad for me, I'm stuck with studying for a final for Thursday... -_-  I'll try to manage my time best to maybe even squeeze in some time for Ravenwood Radio 40 tonight, but no promises!  We'll just have to see if I can plow through or avoid some unnecessary chapters...

BUT, nevertheless, I've created a personal checklist while playing the Test Realm to remind me of some in-game obligations and duties for the Live Realm (once I'm free from academic burden).  This list is made public to help some of you PvPers manage your time, decisions, and resources to efficient use:

Concept to Grasp

A new generation of PVP has arrived, with 15 new spells.  Eight are completely new utility spells, and seven are upgraded versions of existing spells.  Various mechanical changes have been implemented, such as Earthquake no longer removing Stun Blocks, but stunning spells providing just one Stun Block of protection, opposed to four.  To balance this, Stun Resist gear has been added to Dueling Diego's supplies.  Also, the gear that's dropped within the Waterworks dungeon is for Legendary Wizards (Lv. 60), and provides Universal Resistance regardless of school.  New Crafted Gear is also available, allowing for an expansion of many new strategies (which I'll extensively be exploring and developing over the next few months).  Level 58 pets will also take us into a new dimension of PVP with new abilities and unique Innate Cards.  An additional Training Point will be provided through a new Zeke's quest.

The following checklist will be completed before my Ice Wizard returns to the Arena:

• New Spells
• Obtain Level 35 spell (Legion Shield)
• Great counter against Area of Effect (AOE)-Damage over Time (DoT) spells, allowing me to protect allies for an addition 30% resistance to next incoming damage.  Also helps me reduce damage for all allies if I can't make up my mind on who to protect.  A must have.
• Learn an additional spell from Zeke's Trogg Finder quest.
  
  
  
• New Items/Gear
• Purchase Stun Resist Amulet from Dueling Diego
• Replacing my Life Mastery Amulet, since Perfect Catch has vigorously trained and adapted to a Pip-building style before the Amulets were released; it shouldn't be unfamiliar territory.  I'll then have a 15% reduced chance of getting stunned.  Because stunning spells will provide just one Stun Block, the number of Chain-Stunners can be expected to increase.  Thus, having an innate chance of resisting a Stun can be advantageous against a team expecting to win by pure immobilization.  I would rather keep my Stellar Signet and Cosmic Kris for massive Incoming/Outgoing boosts to complement Spritely, so I will choose to stay at just 15% max Stun Resist (as opposed to 30%).
• Stitch Wands
• Personally craft one of the new weapons with help from someone who has access (going to port to them; thanks to Aiden for helping with clarification) to the wand recipes, stitch the Hammer of the Stone Sky to my "Banhammer" (a promo wand called the "Galvanic Hammer" from Beckett's).
• This wand allows for a variety of AOE support spells such as Bladestorm (increase team's damage), Brilliant Light (increase team's recovery rate via casted spell/Spritely), Legion Shield (increase team's resistance), Unicorn (increase team's damage recovery), and Guidance (increase team's accuracy).  All these spells have 100% accuracy, so the chance to fizzle will be very low (given that there is a Smokescreen or Black Mantle upon us).
• Will stitch my Lifeforce Sword to another model
• Just for aesthetics
• Repeat Waterworks with Perfect Catch until all members have their complete Legendary Gear before questing in Wintertusk.
• Gear boosts will allow for faster questing (higher critical rating without sacrificing survival via resist)
• Ronan's boots, hat, robe
• Fallon's boots, hat, robe
• Cassandra's boots, hat, robe
• My boots, hat, robe
• Create a new generation Perfect Catch Defender Pig, and research the Weakness talent more.  (Spell Proof, Spritely, Snow Shield/Weakness, Sharp-Shot)

Spring Break Plans

Wooooooooooooot!

Kicking off with an early ending to US History because of a test (the essay portion got me this time...bleh...), I'm now off for the rest of tonight, the weekend, all week next week, and another weekend....and then two weeks of school left.  Finals are around the corner...dun, dun dun....

But, all that means is that I can focus my attention on some priorities such as...

• completing the transcript for Ravenwood Radio 37
• completing the transcript for the explanation behind "Perfect Catch"  link
• Petnome Project Contest #2 link
• Petnome Project maintenance
• upload/commentate PvP videos (about 5-7 epic matches from Ranked!)
• work on some ICH posts...heh, heh...
• hang with Perfect Catch in questing, farming, partyin'...
• hang out with some IRL friends
• completing the transcript for Ravenwood Radio 38 (when it comes out)
• study for a Humanities quiz
• job searching

So, be on the lookout for some items heading your way!

Vlog #1

Trying out something different...

Topics: Battleblood Updates and News (BUN), Petnome news, small mention of the upcoming Smash 'n' Bash, and my best route for Black Lotus.

(captions provided in near future)

Floating Large Soil

Small post today, but "large" results! Thanks to Jacob Taleheart for revealing that soil can indeed be floated too!

BUN: Adventures in Celestia (Tales and Tips)

The past few days have been such a blast with all the new spells, equipment, monsters, quests, income rate, challenges, pets, and strategies that have flooded into the Spiral on the Live Realm.  As with our characters, we were submerged into a whole new world called Celestia, and my PVP team "Perfect Catch" and I were ready and anticipated surprises or twists along the way.  True, some of us were able to touch on the new features in Test Realm (TR), but a few changes, such as the removal of the spells Simplify and Elucidate and the adjustments made to Level 55 weapons, meant our experience was going to be much different.  Similar to how we explored the new world in TR, we split up and played "individually" instead of as a group.  Different schedules called for varying progression rates.

Normally, I am a solo-type gamer, meaning I usually dislike playing with others.  However, the aspects of Wizard101 have undeniably shown that this game was developed with a lot of hindsight to the negative factors of multiplayer interaction.  Instead of a "Greed or Need" system, everyone has the same chance for the same loot, regardless of party size or damage dealt.  Without competition amongst companions, more focus can be placed on similar (if not the same) goals.  If one of the ingredients is a great friendship, then you've got a recipe for success as a team.  With the amazing people I often play with, there was not an excuse for me to jump back into being a hermit.  So, I took on Celestia with mainly Missy, and tripled up with Ronan Dawn towards the end.

Armed with some experience from the TR, Missy and I set straight off to picking up some core, utility spells:  Conviction (Star) for PVP which increases the chance to avoid Critical Hits and Stuns, Fortify (Star) for increased resistance, and Strong (Sun) for increased damage on applicable cards.  I took on the Damage Tier of Sun School since I could rely on a Pet for Accuracy if necessary.  +100 damage to a Blizzard is adding nearly half its minimum value to the spell.  At the highest rank, Gargantuan does +225, which is a 90% boost to my Rank 4 AOE's minimum.  I think farming as a group in Kensington by killing on the first turn is more than possible now!  Seraph, here I come!

On my first day and first fight against Cuthalla in the Grotto, this dropped for me:

I still haven't trained it, surprisingly, but it's most likely because I'm currently working on a new PVP/PVE-based pet.  Surprise, surprise.

I love the new Spritely animation, by the way.  It's somewhat comical, because I don't think any of the other healing spells create this visual:

Looks like a cool effect to use for a new Mistblood logo, huh?  Hmmm...anyway...

What was notably different about the Base Camp Astral trainers on the Live realm was that some spells were relocated to "secret trainers," while others were discontinued/removed.  (On TR, you could see the entire "Tier" or "skill tree" of the Sun enchantments, all of the "basic" Polymorphs, and all Star auras that weren't PVP-based.  Empowerment, Vengeance, and accuracy/damage boosts above Keen Eyes/Strong were viewable in Celestia's "Commons" trainers.)  Also, the Pip Reduction spells of the Sun School (Simplify and Elucidate) were removed.

Thus, my Astral build changed slightly, leaving me with 3 free Training Points after picking up all the new spells that I needed.  I've maxed out on Sun School's Damage tier (Gargantuan), picked up the Fortify and Empowerment auras from Star, and naturally adopted the Gobbler Polymorph from Moon.  Through these combined powers, I became Captain Tank-It!  With Empowerment, I'm getting a faster Pip generation; whenever a Rank 4 (or above) spell is casted on me, be it damage or a heal, I get 1 Pip!  The only catch to this spell is that X-based cards do not trigger the special effect; if Judge, Dryad, Heckhound, or some Boss's natural attack that uses all of its pips is targeted at me, my aura does nothing.  Neat balance!

Before I forget, if you're wondering where you can find additional Astral spells, keep in mind that two trainers are inside their respective instances:  Stellarium from the District of Stars has the Star Trainer, while Lunarium (entered from "Using the Moon Portal") has the Moon Trainer.  There are multiple posts in each of these instances to pick up the spells from; you just need to do a little exploration!  As for the Sun Trainer, you have to go outside for a little tan on the beach to find that kind of magic.  What better place to do that at than the Floating Island?  Just walk up the ramp next to Pierce and past the Teleporter posts to find it.

Speaking of the Floating Island and Pierce...

Mmm, I love Kelp!

With a higher rank in Crafting, I managed to keep my promise of obtaining this:

With the Iceblade Vial, I can stack two Rank 0 blades for +40% and +45%, more than doubling my damage!  Adding Gargantuan onto that, and I'm more effective than a chill pill.  

On the subject of Amulets, Jewel of the Feint dropped for me after fighting Ptolemos, the Moon Boss of the Trial of Spheres.  I think there are some other places where it drops, too (Solar instance, according to new friend Lauren Ironbane), so keep an eye out and cross your fingers!

So, with the mention of making it to the Trial of Spheres and doing every side quest along the way, Ronan, Missy, and I became Spiral Geographers and Legendary Sorcerer, Diviner, and Thaumaturge together, on Friday.  In my next post, I'll elaborate on our reasons for advancing through the world so quickly, but keep in mind, we're not yet through with this new world!  The content is still fresh and fascinating; beating Celestia once or twice or seven times still would not be enough to quench my curiosity on every story on the game (well done, KingsIsle!)  It may be purely coincidence, but I still can't get over the similarities between the nature of Astral Magic and the general nature of magic in my fan fiction comic Mistblood:

"Mind, body, and soul" used in Astral Magic and Mistblood

But that will be another post for another day...

Before we part from this transaction of communication, here are a few helpful Tweets I've made that just can't be elaborated on further:

Star Auras

Every Turn Counts

New Snacks Are Better

In Regards to the Crafting Quest

Critical on a Hydra/Orthrus vs. Block *confirmed*

Repetition is Sometimes Good

False Experience Displayed

Why Celestian Fashion Fails

How to Gain Training Points (part 1) *must read*

How to Gain Training Points (part 2) *must read*

New Endgame Badge *unconfirmed*

Two Sets of Level 58 Armor

Post a comment if you have any questions or thoughts....thanks for reading!

Grandmaster Crafter Preparation on Live Realm

Good news!  The latest Test Realm update reduced the difficulty to advance to Grandmaster Crafter!  Check out this table I've made showing how you can prepare in the Live Realm before Celestia is released (click to enlarge):

Of course, these numbers are for the dedicated Artisans who want to obtain that badge within the first hour of Celestia's Live release.  I'd rather farm mobs and nodes for most of those Pearls and Stones...

In case you didn't know, you can transfer reagents from one Wizard to another in this update.  So, if you've been doing lifelong collecting sprees on your main or alternates, you're well on your way to the next badge.  Good luck, happy hunting!

Test Realm: Celestian Pets

Because this post would have created an unnecessarily long Test Realm recap, here's a short analysis for each of the new, purchasable pets introduced with Celestia.  At time of this writing, the first four pets can be bought for either CROWNS or GOLD (Test Realm):

Hands down, the Spinyfish is a must-have for Storm Wizards!  This frowning little guy actually brightened the Team up, seeing how it has only ONE passive talent (Eager), while the rest are actives (direct benefit to the Wizards).  That means there's very little chance that you'll feel disappointed after raising this creature up a few ranks.  Of course, if Stormtrap and Stormblade actually worked and wasn't bugged, then there's almost no chance you'll end up with a non-functioning sidekick.  Come on, KingsIsle, what's up with these inactives?  Anyway, even if those May Casts aren't going off just yet, this fish is a great investment!

The Sea Dragon is probably the most impressive pet I've yet to see; it's the first pet I've seen to give all active Talents, meaning it is free of Stat Boosts.  Thus, the bonuses that this First Generation gives will already contain your best possible windows for the Fire School.  If you're a Pyromancer, get this little goofy guy as soon as Test goes Live.  If he doesn't produce the exact Talent combination you want, he will serve as a key pet to Hatch against.

While this creepy Starfish is not yet complete like the other two, he is bound to be in a Thaumaturge's collection, especially mine as soon as Live is updated.  Nothing's greater than having the best health out of all schools AND having blades or traps set for you while you shield up!  Heck, with all the PVP players out there now carrying Melt to prevent a Tower Shield from being used, it's definitely going to be handy to have an Interrupt by this guy with an Ice spell, which will help remove those Dispels.  Of course, like with the Spinyfish mentioned above, those May casts need to start working.  Then again, I'm really trying to think about buying this pet, carefully at least...I'm just not too fond about his cheesy grin.



 Hmm...its active Talents aren't as diverse at the preceding pets, but the Sea Turtle has a satisfying seven to choose from.  It's Life-based and has Sprite Time (note:  not Spritely, unfortunately), but that's all there is for non-standard (-Giver, -Proof, -Shot, Pip O'Plenty, Health/Mana Gift) abilities.  Thus, if you're focused solely on cosmetics and would enjoy having a shelled follower, by all means grab this pet at will!  Otherwise, if you already have a decent Life pet, take a rain check on this creature.  

I didn't think that Jellyfish could be cute at all, until seeing this one...Wizard hat on an invertebrate:  goofy!  Good news is that we all get this pet, as soon as we "Use the Moon Portal."  That's a long way's to go...Missy and I were around 54 or 55 by the time we were given this quest, and we were using XP potions on all of our quests.  We haven't uncovered this creature just yet, but I don't have high hopes of this pet turning out to be phenomenal.  So far, we discovered those standard active talents, which are great for Necromancers, and found that this critter has  chance to manifest Curse Giver!  I'm hoping Talent Slot 5 would be some kind of "May Cast" talent, like Deathblade or Deathtrap.  Not sure what the final uncovered Rare one would be, but I'll put a few gold down and say it'll be something like Eager (like Spinyfish's) or another Passive Talent.




KingsIsle did mention that there were other pets out there that take some work on finding...I'm guessing those would be drop-only pets!  So, readers, if you find any new Celestian pets out there, be sure to let us know, either by emailing petnome at hotmail dot com (I'm noticing some spam mail lately, so I'm following in Lisa Jonte's footsteps) or replying in the comments section below, so we can get started on those pages.  Thanks for reading!

BUN: Underneath the Sheets of Forms

Hey all!

The past two weeks have been such a blast with many ups and downs, and I was busy, busy, busy; just in case you haven't kept up on Twitter:

Last Wednesday was my birthday, and I just want to personally thank everyone for the birthday gifts, whether they were vocal shoutouts, a blog birthday card (Heather Raven), in-game gifts (Isaac Mistheart, Paige Moonshade, Fallon Deathslinger, Heather Raven, Ronan Dawn), or a broadcasted song (Christina Icedreamer and Stormywiz).  You guys and girls all made that day for me!

On the same day, KingsIsle announced their cross-promotion with Selena Gomez's recording agency, and that there was going to be a small contest involving the Disney star.  All I could think of was the release of the Test Realm; with this, we'd have CROWNS, CROWNS, CROWNS!!  250,000 of them, all for our own personal disposal.

In Battleblood lingo, that's pretty much Petnome Project Heaven.  So, that's where I've been the past week;  I couldn't help but take advantage of speed leveling through Crowns.  With Mega Snacks donations coming in from friends and strangers, we've managed to complete at least EIGHT pets as of today:  Silverback Wildclaw, Pixie Queen, Pale Maiden, Blue Cyclops, Red Gobbler, Green Cat Thug, Myth Sprite, and Wood Golem.  This is a list of non-Petnome Team members who helped us out with some donations:

Aaron Stronghand

Scarlet Deathblood

Blake Legend

Courtney Emeralddust

Jonathan Storm

Allan Spiritrider

Matthew Skullrider

Austin Thunderheart

Cassandra Griffindreamer

Fallon Deathwiz

@AmberHartz

Alric Ravensinger

Cassandra Dragonheart

Leesha Darkheart

Scarlet Moonflower

Thanks a ton everyone!  We'll have you listed on the Petnome Page soon!

This week, our Test Crowns were reset, but there was also a good amount of patching going on.  Along with Fallon Deathslinger and Ronan Dawn, we trekked over to the Coven to test and see if prices did indeed halve due to the drop in Dye prices (thanks for the tip, Missy!).  Sadly, they are affected, in the Test Realm at least.      So, here is my tip regarding Live Realm while Test is still active:

Currently, with word from Missy that Coven Drop sell prices being halved on Test Realm, we should strive to farm and hatch as much as possible, without training our pets right away.  With "Crab Alley" being a temporary location made solely for Selena Gomez's promotion, I can only guess that there will be frequent spurts of the Test Realm in the near future, slowly introducing "paying" players into Celestia.

Thus, with a large family of hatched Baby pets to raise on Test after our research for the Petnome Project has been exhausted and we run out of new pets to study, we can then evaluate which pet would be best to invest resources and time in.  Instead of dumping around 125 + 250 + 500 + 1000 = 1875 XP of food onto a pet that we have no assurance in (regarding its usefulness), we should conserve that "energy" until we are certain that a pet will develop into something we want.  Pets that turn out to be "just expensive furniture" should not be composed of lost Snacks.

Let's see...lowered dye prices OT (on Test) means lowered sell values for equipment OT?  Proportionally, that means Hatching prices have indirectly raised.  I wonder if there will be compensation or some kind of tweak to either Hatchery fees or the way hatching/raising works.  For example, if mixing prices do not lower, perhaps KingsIsle will allow players to see what abilities a pet will have in just the Teen and Adult stages (not in Ancient and Epic, to at least conserve the mystery and "risk" factors of pet growth)?  Time will tell, but while that's passing, let's try to make our voices (and reasoning) heard--that is, if we're hurt by this economical transition.  In the mean time, let's stock up on some Krazy Fried Coven.

So, in short, build your army of pets up while gold is still high, and save up your snacks until another Test Realm hits (unless you don't have a super pet to use for the time being).

Have a good one guys!  Feel free to send in any questions here, I'd be happy to answer them!

BUN: Pets and Bloggers

Hey all!

Now that a lot of us are heading back to actual classrooms and dueling these, these, and these monsters instead, things may seem to slow down a bit.  Even yours truly is hitting up the books again...but, it doesn't mean that progress on the Petnome Project, Mistblood, or blogging will cease or slow.  These Wizard101 Projects have partly served as a means for an escape from stress from the real world without having to log in and play.  So, while game time may be shaved down to Pet training, crafting, and gold farming, my community contributions won't.  With school work as a priority, I have a feeling that there will be a larger sense of discipline with whatever I am focused on, and that mentality of "completing something that's started" will integrate itself as a habit.

It's been a pretty busy Wizard' weekend the past few days, mining gold via Wayfinder hats and Coven raids.  Mistblood got his contractual paycheck; for the rest of the gang, some Hatching funds.  What did they do with all that money?

I got some Dragonblades added to my spell collection:

3G Talented Piggle (my Krokotillian and Fallon Deathslinger's 2G Talented Piggle; courtesy of John Lifeglen's Zeus)

5G Frontier Dragon (my 4G Defender Pig and Ronan Dawn's 2G Frontier Dragon)

Speaking of Lord Hunter, the above 4G Defender Pig, here are his parents.  Then check out his manifests!

After ten hatches and a lot of cross-generational breeding, and raising about 8-9 of the offspring to Epic, I finally obtained what I had been searching for ever since the Test Realm went Live!  With a surplus of gold on my other characters, I produced 4 more little Defender Pigs (all 5G), using Lord Hunter and his parent Duke Honey ("eww" "gross" "how could you?!?"  "never eat a furry lollipop"):

These two were the ones that came out decent....

Yes, they look the same, but the manifest order was random; one pig got their Pip O'Plenty first and Spell-Defying last, while the other got theirs in the reverse order.  These will be staying at Ancient until the Test Realm opens again...I'd like to work on Lord Hunter all the way to Epic, since his double Universal Resist is a "sure thing."  I'll be sure to update on what he gets!

Speaking of Epics, I should update my list over there to the right, eh?

Then here are some Pet Drops from the middle of Tree of Life (we fought only Akuji and Youkai):

I'm very happy with getting the Minotaur...now I can try for a solo mix for the Nightwalker, giving the Death Minotaur card!

Oh yeah, and this neat card dropped for me too:

It's supposedly a very rare card, one that I could "trade forum gold for," as the alluring SorceressMiklai from "Hexing Spells and Vexing Tales" put it.  Yep!  She's a new Blogger, and one of the ladies of the newly created group "BACK."  The other, Cassandra Dragonheart, has also joined the Blogosphere with "From the Heart of a Dragon".  I met both of them through our very own Alric Ravensinger.


Speaking of bloggers, our own Heather Raven is the newly appointed Public Relations representative for the Petnome Project!  In addition to helping out with maintaining the site, she'll help keep it fresh and polished by connecting with contributors and community.  It's a wonder how she isn't our H.R. person....hah hah?  Okay, I won't quit my day job.  Anyway, check out the first P.P.P.R. survey here!

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

BUN: Celestia "Prequests" and Game Updates on Live Realm

Now that the "Gone Fishing" sign is off the door, save for KI's response, it's time to share some thoughts and occurrences!  The past few days have been great enough to overshadow the few disappointments I had here and there regarding the game, such as Warehouse being stripped as a requirement for players to access Celestia and the second "Item Hurricane" within a  few weeks.

On Wednesday, my long-gone, pioneer best friend Missy, a.k.a. Scarlet Deathblood, whom I mentioned a long time ago and made a "tribute" video for, has finally returned.  We reunited in Unicorn Way, where she was given her return present of Swiftshadow Wings.  Over the weekend, I did my best to explain the new Pet System and expectations to have for the coming of Celestia.  We have been questing around together to help her towards her second Grandmaster (and my third), both of the same school!  I'll update you guys when we're finally in Dragonspyre, but just for kicks and giggles, here's an interesting fact:  my character has yet to finish the Lady Blackhope quest.  At level 34.

On the same day, I managed to finish my third Epic pet:  Duke Honey, the 2G (second generation) Magma Colossus.  Check out what he got after hitting the 1000 XP mark:

These are his parents:

And this is him, in his entirety:

The Defender Pig had a max Universal Resist of 10%.  This guy has 11%, plus 5% Power Pip boost.  Durable and Tenacious were both needed to achieve the new limit.

Speaking of pets, I would like everyone to please welcome both Kestrel Shadowthistle from the Shadowthistle School of Wizardry and Heather Emeraldflame of Heather Emeraldflame & Friends...to the Petnome Team!  Kestrel will be helping extensively with the internal stuff, like data and site management, while Heather will be out on the field, collecting resources that we do not have available (like pictures of pets, etc.).  A round of applause to Heather, who has been more than kind to raise around a hundred of her pets to Teen to add to the database!  So, yes, we now have two Heathers on the Petnome Team!

---

On Thursday, Cassandra Hexthorn of A Life of Fire and Fallon Deathslinger helped me with collecting the rest of my ingredients for that mammoth Grizzleheim craft:  The Watchtower Hall.

The front page of the login screen revealed that Updates were coming that night...with the news that the Warehouse was not required to access Celestia.  A frown inducer for many of us (9 to 6 vote, in favor of keeping the instance as a requirement) across Twitter and Facebook, but there lies the limitation of communication for Menu Chatters, who deserve as much as we Closed and Open Chatters do when it comes to traveling to the new world.

---

On the night of the update, Friday, I had a lingering thought about Earthquake's change to take off Spirit Armors created by Rebirth:  what about Steal Ward?  For those that don't know, Steal Ward does not work on Rebirth armor...I wonder if that will change sometime soon?

I noticed that Pet Abilities have also been updated.  Originally, we were planning to release the Petnome results around this weekend, but the game changes put that progression to a halt.  We are currently working on overcoming that issue, however :)

I emailed Professor Greyrose to see if it was possible for a changelog to go public or sent directly to us whenever Pet skills were changed...but her reply indicated that it was up to us...the Community and "loyal contributors"...to create a reliable fansite.  We'll need everyone's help more than ever!

Back into the game:  I lost Platae, my Tiger mount.  But the highlight of that night:  beating Warehouse with two Death and Ice:  Gabriel Heart (Ronan Dawn), Missy, and me.

---

On Saturday, I finally got the recipe for the House after grinding in the Coven den.  Then came a major Warehouse marathon as I powerhoused through the instance with the entire cast of Wandcast (Dustin, David, and Kestrel), my "employer" Leesha Darkheart, both of my Petnome teammates with the first name "Heather," and Scarlet Moonflower, and many others (I'm sorry if I forgot!!) with my good friend of a friend, "Taryn."  No losses or defeats to report yet, but the runs were pretty formulaic, to be fair.

---

On Sunday, I mated Duke Honey with his predecessor, Rusty.  That's right.  Cross-generational breeding.  I hope there are no negative repercussions to this ( >_< ).  My intent was to use a Stat-filled pet (Rusty) and combine that with a pet with desirable skills (Duke Honey, with his resist and power pip), to create a child with even more resist and power pip potential (Mister Ruby).  I ended up with a Magma Colossus 62 (the first Generation is 61), meaning Mister Ruby took on more Ultra-Rare or Epic abilities compared to his father-grandfather.  (Oh lord, I am shivering now).  And, he has an Epic talent that Rusty didn't have (meaning Spell-Proof, the resist, was inherited).  Now I am hoping that actually manifests!

In the same day, I received a really great gift from Alric Ravensinger from The Raven's Vault:

That's my trusty Ice Bird, Duke Piper, showing off his wings next to me.  Nice work and thank you, Alric!

On my unconventional leveling method, I learned that you can collect both "book quests" from Marleybone and Mooshu, and actually complete them at the same time (reading "Return of the Emperor" from the Jade Palace means you also read "Marleybonian Civil War"; reading "A New Beginning" also completes "The Golden Age").  I wonder if that'll be fixed soon...

---

Then yesterday, not too much went on other than chatting with friends while I waited for my crafting slots to open for my new Watchtower Hall!

I loved the way the interface counted down while the ingredients were consumed!

---

Here's another sneak peek at the Petnome results site  (click to enlarge; click on the picture in the new window again to enlarge further!):

See you guys in the Spiral!

Advanced Pets Tips: F3 (Farm For Food)

First, a quick update on Petnome Project:  Thank you to those who have taken the time and blog space to spread the word about the research study.  It makes me proud to know that we're a community of mutuality and support.  We have fantastic responses thus far; over 200 submissions ever since PP's debut.  While every piece of the puzzle is just as important as another, I can't overlook the fact that many of these components come from just 13 of our community, including myself!  So, on average, that's around 15 submissions per person...yet, that isn't the case here.  Thus, I want to recognize the following people who have gone to great lengths to spend a grandiose amount of their time to help us reach that number:

Kestrel Shadowthistle - The ShadowThistle School of Wizardry - 32 submissions*

Heather Raven - The Wandering Conjurer - 47 submissions*

Sierra Starsong - Modern Auto Magic - 59 submissions*

*Note:  These submissions were made in a single day!

Thank you, everyone!  Keep it up!!  And now, onto the show:

NOTE:  This is a guide for Grandmasters with as much of their Grand gear obtained.

Given how slow training can be in the Live Realm, especially when the supply of Crowns have shot down to becoming narrow and fragile in our wallets, Wizards all over the Spiral most likely are dreading and wishing to return to the experimental era of free digital currency.  Without a bountiful supply of decent snacks ready for our pets after every minigame, the journey to raise them to Ancient or Epic becomes thousands of miles longer.  But do not feel despaired, for there is an actual Pot o'Gold at the end of one Rainbow.

Huh?  That Rainbow is........get ready......


Big Ben. 


GET OUT!  No, why don't you come in?

First, let's consider what the Snack Pack, the little "expansion pack" that Wizard101 offers in the Crowns Shop, gives.  Seven (7) snacks are randomly chosen, between the ranks of 1 through 5, are given to the buyer for 115 Crowns.  The thing is, the snacks are usually around Rank 2-4, a very unfavorable range of food for that amount.  Luckily, there is an area that gives a much, much better deal.  Check this out:

NUMBERS?!?  Hear me out, first.  These are the results of 4 different Big Ben runs...that's right, that end-world instance of Marleybone, where you finally fight the cowardly Meowiarty.  I'll break that table down for you.  What it shows is how many snacks were obtained on each floor, with the total number of snacks obtained, in one run, at the bottom, for each player.

The yellow column represents what "wave" or floor the snacks were obtained on.  As you can see, there are a total of 12 battles you must enter in order to clear the entire dungeon, with the boss floors marked by their names instead of numbers.  The columns next to that have the players' names at the top, and are color coded to signify different runs.  For example, the dark grey column next to the yellow represents what I recorded for myself.  To review a wider range of samples, however, I started adding my teammates in each run and recorded their collections of food.

Want to see something unbelievable?

Paul Icebreeze captured 20 snacks in one run.  That's nearly the amount of THREE Snack Packs, and not even those will give you all Rank 4 food!  However, as shown in the circle below the arrow, there are...um...dry spells...ahem....where you may get just one snack....yeah...

Nah, I'd rather be farming bosses for Pet drops and the chance of food...Big Ben is way too long...

Not so fast, friends!  There's a reason why this is efficient for Grandmasters (per the note above).  With our Power Pip chances at max and a hefty Power Pip sword to accompany us, we have the opportunity to wipe out one floor in one or two turns, via our Area of Effect (AOE) spells, that is, if you have at least three wizards, in case you choose not to take a preliminary turn to Blade, use Prism, or Trap.  If no one fizzles, and you have a variety of schools in your group, monsters who resist one school will be knocked out by full damage by the other two.  Sadly, the First Turn Kill method applies to schools with Rank 4 AOE, meaning you require at least three of these schools:  Ice, Fire, Storm, Myth, and/or Balance.  If you plan to kill on the Second Turn, you can add in Death, with the use of Empower on the first turn (kudos to Thomas Lionblood from the blog site The Friendly Necromancer for revealing this in a Big Ben run last night).

So, would you rather spend 115 Crowns for a chance at 7 Snacks that are, on average, around Rank 3, or would you venture into Big Ben and...

• earn 83 Quest Gold every run; and
• earn gold every battle (around 80-100, and there are 12 fights in the instance); and
• loot equipment, ranging from 80-350 in resale value; and
• score a chance at the White Rat Magician from Spike the Crusher (remember to spill his milk thrice); and
• score a chance at the Myth Ghoul (Crowns Only) from Spike the Crusher; and
• have the opportunity to win some fancy designs from, once again, Spike the Crusher; and
• score a chance at the Krokotillian from Meowiarty; and
• score a chance at some other fancy designs, also from Meowiarty; and
• score a chance to win a brand old car from Meowiarty;
  
  but most importantly, and as the whole point of this post...
  
• to gain an average of 6 Snacks per run, all at Rank 4?

Yeah, I think I'll go with the second option too.  Happy Hunting!!!