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)
Showing posts with label mistblood comic. Show all posts
Showing posts with label mistblood comic. Show all posts
Monday, March 14, 2011
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)
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)
Tuesday, December 7, 2010
Beyond the Spiral: One Year Later…
An amazing revelation hit me on my drive home from class tonight. My group and I had just blown away our Group Communication class as we tackled our project and presentation. A few weeks ago, as our deadline approached ominously, I decided to amplify my lead role on coordinating our team, and analyze our needs. Between a group of six of us, none of us are close to being experts at art, yet we took on one of Van Gogh’s most favored and seldom known pieces, “Potato-Eaters.” Here’s what it looks like:
It was a grueling challenge to dissect this piece and describe why we saw this as “art.” To me, it was trying to answer how this picture is “beautiful.” Yet, we managed it, and even went above and beyond, I believe. The professor even mentioned to me, “For an ‘engineer’ type, you communicated really well in your speech.”
I would have never expected to evolve from an introvert into someone who was able to direct, manage, and speak to a large classroom effectively. I give credits to the class and professor for helping me understand and grasp a lot of leadership concepts, but the true kudos for my “evolution” goes to my experience with Wizard101 and its community.
My in-game friends (Missy, Cheryl Fire, and Ronan) all played a monumental role in supporting me as I took my interaction with the game to a higher level. Instead of having a sardonic attitude when they learned about my proposed projects for a Youtube channel and comic series, these three whole-heartedly jumped up to help whenever I sought for aid. Because of this, I did not end up shying away from expressing my interest in the game. Again, I mention that I come from a highly competitive gaming scene; the thought of creating videos or fan fiction for a family-friendly genre would have never come to my mind.
Of course, a lot of inspiration did come from the existence of our very own Friendly Necromancer. The fact that a family man is dedicating his gaming interests into a decently-created MMO that’s not as widely played or known as some other games was just enough of a spark. If he can blog about this fantastic game for two years straight, producing a new article almost every day (during the time that I discovered Tom) to share and express himself while motivating others to “think outside of the box,” there’s no reason that I can’t record my adventures proudly, or develop my own storyline.
Eventually my projects spanned out to also include blogging, which is still a textual representation of my thoughts, rather than an online journal. To be honest, I was hesitant on creating “The Chillanthropologist.” I admit I wasn’t a very decent writer to begin with, especially when I have a stronger passion in communicating through numbers and equations (math major). Heck, even to this day, I notice that I have run-on sentences here and there which may create awkward messages from time to time. Secondly, I initially believed that the words and thoughts of Thomas Lionblood would naturally overshadow anyone else’s, so putting time and effort to sound coherent and organized seemed pointless. Third, I had only been playing for a few months at the time. I considered myself a “newbie” even if I managed to reach Grandmaster, but I was relatively new to the Wizard101 culture and community. I didn’t think anyone would notice.
So, I was shocked when Fallon Shadowblade from Diary of a Wizard featured my post about the community. That was enough motivation to continue writing and exercise my communication skills. Before I knew it, I was putting more time and thought into explaining details, playing Devil’s advocate with myself, and spending hours drafting my posts before they went public. Even to this day, especially when I’m writing for the “Arena” series, I would invest a few hours to produce up to four paragraphs.
I put more thought into whether my message was clear enough for any reader, and if what I wrote allowed for a continuous flow of interest from an audience. It became a strenuous mental effort to put myself in a reader’s shoes and try to interpret my sentences in a multitude of ways. By doing this, though, I managed to catch myself from being misunderstood or misinterpreted. As a result, writing coherent and “readable” essays came more naturally to me. I am now spending less time outlining, and am jumping into developing full, first drafts off the bat. This is all thanks to having my textual voice on the spot on every post, and I needed to have such diligence.
Around the time that I picked up on Twitter, I was also becoming more involved with Ravenwood Radio, and even became an off-air guest in Episode 14. I was so nervous about my performance in that interview that I even apologized to Leesha after the recording, for my accidental interruptions (which were edited out by her, of course). So, even with a headset and computer screen between me and the other speakers, I still could not quench the jitteriness at the time. Even with notes in front of me, I wasn’t confident in my voice and message. Nevertheless, the reoccurring theme of a supportive community eventually helped me out in this aspect.
I forget which episode it was in, but my Gobbler Drop guide for the show took hours before a successful recording was completed, and then a few hours of editing; it was completed over two consecutive days. True, there wasn’t a visible audience to make me nervous, but the greater challenge was trying to find a presentation format that would hold interest while being informational. I really lacked personality and energy in that one, IMO, and that is the main reason I felt disappointed, regardless of the positive comments shared with me. But, because there were many opportunities to be on-air (“coached” the Death team in the Warehouse run; guest interviewer for Death Study hall; Petnome segments; and, more recently, Star Study Hall), I slowly stopped feeling as nervous as I used to be.
The positive environment that I found in this game and in all of you was my main driver for self-improvement. My privileges and experience in working around Wizard101 directly benefitted me in becoming a stronger individual, and with that newfound energy, I delivered quite a punch in my portion of the presentation tonight. Transitions were smooth, I stayed calm and steady, and though I stuttered a few times, I never lost eye contact with the audience. Even the cute ladies smiled back!
Interestingly enough, today is also Kevin Battleblood’s Wizaversary. One year ago, I was more kept to myself, shy, and hated public speaking. One year later…well, that’s definitely a different story. Thank you everyone, for all that you’ve directly or indirectly done. This change in me couldn’t have happened without your interest and support in what I enjoy doing, whether it’s writing strategies and stories, managing a large pet project, or playing this game. I’m proud to be where I am today, and am looking forward to another year of contributions, contemplations, and conquests.
Monday, November 1, 2010
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.
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:
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...
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...
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| 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:
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| "Mind, body, and soul" used in Astral Magic and Mistblood |
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:
Critical on a Hydra/Orthrus vs. Block *confirmed*
How to Gain Training Points (part 1) *must read*
How to Gain Training Points (part 2) *must read*
New Endgame Badge *unconfirmed*
Post a comment if you have any questions or thoughts....thanks for reading!
Friday, October 15, 2010
Thursday, October 14, 2010
New "Mistblood" Released: Page 29
Very long overdue, but the series shall continue! Thanks for everyone's patience!
For the entire series, please click here.
For the entire series, please click here.
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| Page 29 |
Saturday, July 31, 2010
Monday, July 26, 2010
BUN: One Week...
(sung to Barenaked Ladies' "One Week")
Blog:
Blog:
"It's been one week since you wrote on me,
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
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.
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
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
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Monday, June 21, 2010
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
BUN: I Just Want To Thank...
...the overall Wizard101 Community. Because of the strength behind and within us, which I posted about back in April of this year, Mistblood was formulated in mind. It would have stayed as "just an idea" if we had not been such a welcoming and inspiring group.
But what shot the comic off into an actual project, I personally owe to my closest friends, who, have supported and helped me by taking time out of their PVP or questing activities to do the earliest scenes:
Cheryl Fire
Ronan Dawn
Kestrel
Tatiana "Toto" Legendweaver
Allan Spiritrider
They may not be as active as I am in our community, but as some of you know, they're the reason why I've reached where I am today, still doing my crazy experiments or projects.
Also, special thanks to Leesha Darkheart for pointing that post out to me...I would've missed it all :X
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Thursday, June 3, 2010
Sunday, May 30, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Friday, May 21, 2010
New "Mistblood" Released: Pages 14 and 15
Let me know what you think about the new speech bubbles! Love it or Hate it?
Page 14
Page 15
For the entire series, click here.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
Special "Mistblood" Released, Page 13
Specially dedicated to Sierra Starsong (starsongky) and Christina Icedreamer (icywiz).
(click to enlarge)
For the entire series, click here.
Friday, May 14, 2010
Wednesday, May 12, 2010
"Mistblood" Released! Page 11
Update: Got the right one uploaded now....sorry!
Jumped right on Paint, Microsoft Word, GIMP, Diary of a Wizard's Connect X Image Editor, and my Wizard101 screenshots as soon as I got home (four and a half hours ago....oh my). Then also had to log on to take some new ones, and put it all together. A long (and exciting) process...
Hope you guys enjoy! By some demands, I'll put new pages on the blog from now on, so you can see them right away.
For the entire series, click here.
Jumped right on Paint, Microsoft Word, GIMP, Diary of a Wizard's Connect X Image Editor, and my Wizard101 screenshots as soon as I got home (four and a half hours ago....oh my). Then also had to log on to take some new ones, and put it all together. A long (and exciting) process...
Hope you guys enjoy! By some demands, I'll put new pages on the blog from now on, so you can see them right away.
For the entire series, click here.
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