Petnome Project: Updates and Blog Move

Minor update:  All is fixed now!

Hm...no Mistblood this weekend...

Lack of a real blog post until now...

A lot of frustrated Tweets...

Check out the URL you're on ;)  That's the web address at the top of your browser window, starting with "http://"  Yep, no more "blogspot" tag.  But, don't worry about updating your links or anything...I've set it up so any visitor to the old web address with the Blog*Spot tag will be automatically directed to this one.

It's now official...   http://petnome.com  The only thing is...there's nothing there quite yet!  Just a simple welcome message and the Petnome Form

Here's a synopsis of my recent adventures:

It has been a very, very long weekend for this Thaumaturge.  Starting on Thursday evening, I was suffering from a very painful episode of a theoretically infected wisdom tooth, but eventually the antibiotics kicked in the next day.  But, it did keep me up all night, so I did some exploring and searching for a new home for the Petnome Project results.  Originally, we were going to host it at a hidden wiki of Fallon Shadowblade's, but there were some questionable ads on there.  I'm pretty sure you Witches and Wizards can shave on your own just fine.

Sierra Starsong and Fallon Deathslinger were kind enough to step up and offer their services for hosting...because of another secret project will be in the works, I decided to go along with Sierra's to initialize, and allow myself to start working on my first server from "scratch."  Of course, Sierra's husband, Gazerwolf, was watching over me, batting away a lot of frustration and dealing with the nasty complex codes; thanks, Gazer!  For those wanting to learn more about how the internet works, getting hands-on experience with these is the best way to go!

So, the Petnome Project now has a home!  We've finished dusting off and are pulling everything out of the boxes and setting up furniture!

This is the temporary banner that will be displayed on the Home page (petnome.com) as you enter:

Also, here's a temporary logo we'll be using:

The images are subject to change as we're working on a more detailed, original logo, and schedule a photo-shoot to gather in as much of the community as possible without time being a factor!

Well, I'm off to the Spiral to train a bit, work on the Project, and head off to work.  

Oh yeah!  Today is the day that Leesha's heading off to KingsIsle!  Wish her a fun time, and to not be so nervous that she forgets to give them my suggestion on changing how Taunt looks in battle.  Wouldn't it be awesome if the Ice Wizards could hop in the center (like they're about to perform a sword attack) but face their own team, wiggle their hips as they moon each enemy?  I mean, if the Gobblers can flatulate at us, why can't I shake my gold-maker at the Coven (Raven$) or Malistaire?  Come on, let's make this a two-way street on slapstick humor!

Speaking of the Overlord, remember, Ravenwood Radio is broadcasting TOMORROW, Tuesday June 29.  NOT Wednesday.  Leesha's real life employer decided to keep the exit blocked a lot longer, so she won't be able to make it that day.  Also, there's a surprise guest Mod...Christina isn't able to make it to the new show date...can you guess who it'll be?

Alright, I'm off!  Have a great day!

Ghost Rider Glitch

Hey Witches and Wizards,

So, below is a video of what happened when I got a little too excited and multi-tasked, acting too many steps ahead of myself. The second tiger, second pig, and broomstick belong to John Lifeglen over at Through The Eyes of a Sorcerer.

Please do not ask me or John on how to reproduce this. I reported this directly to Ian when I discovered this, mainly because it does modify game play entirely. But, before it disappears forever, I captured our fun as we "ghost-rode" through the first four worlds. Enjoy!

Hm...reminds me of my glitching days in Ocarina of Time... :)

KingsIsle: Ten Million Wizards and Photoshoot

These pictures were from the unannounced "marketing photoshoot" by KingsIsle earlier today...Ian was kind enough to invite me during our chat about customer service activity (they're still helping Wizards out with reimbursements!  I even got my Reinforced Helm back....time to switch back to Straw Hat?.....maybe in a few months...).  Where will this photo be posted?  No idea...perhaps in an ad, with less names on the screen?  They were having everyone from Ravenwood gather into the picture, so it took a tad longer to load than usual, but what a sight.  Thanks, Ms. Emerald!

The balloons and streamers and banners were all set up all over Wizard City to celebrate the Company's ten millionth-and-first account, a very commendable achievement for a business's first MMO, let alone being over a year old, AND with a lot of content to yet be released.  I mean, I know a lot of us have been wondering what other worlds they have in store for us, given that there are four worlds yet to be completed; Celestia being one of them, of course.

Four worlds??

Look at the Spiral graphic when you are traveling between worlds, or go to Gamma's room, and look at the "blue" worlds.  They each have some kind of monument in them signifying which world they are.  Then notice that there are four red worlds, with a "chunk" of land in each.  Hm...world with monuments...then four worlds with rocks in them...monuments on completed, released worlds...then four worlds that look incomplete...

Makes you wonder...  Perhaps Candy World, where my professor comes from?  It would be interesting to see some candy cane pets running around....

New "Mistblood" Released: Page 24

(click to enlarge)

For the full series, visit http://mistblood.blogspot.com

Advanced Pets: Appreciate the Small Things (Inherited Pedigree #'s)

Over on Twitter earlier today, there were a few Tweets made between my good in-game friends, Fallon Deathslinger and Heather Emeraldflame, expressing their concern about the behavior of Pedigree number(s)--which I will from here on forth denote as Ped#--of higher generation pets, such as the second and third.  There are instances where there is a significant decrease in the Ped# of the offspring.  For example, a 54 (10) parent mixed with a 54 (10) parent has a chance of producing a 48 (0) child.  Before you read on, if you have yet to understand exactly what Pedigree Numbers represent, please visit this page for a thorough explanation.




The drop in the figures may seem disappointing, initially.  After all, we have become so used to thinking that "higher is better," and are mild victims to our natural need and desire for completion.  Generally, that means pursuing for the most beneficial equipment, and in Wizard101, it's about greater values of n, whether that's damage, accuracy, resistance, or Power Pip chance.

Unconventionally, Ped# strays from this concept.  Remember that it only signifies the sum of Rarity Points potentially available to the pet in question.  Thus, when the Ped# of the child is greater than one of the parents', we know that it inherited "rarer" Talents and Derby Skills (i.e. child sports many Ultra-Rare skills while the parent has 2 or 3 Ultra-Rare and the rest are Rare). 

But, on Twitter, you said that it's not necessarily a bad thing...wouldn't we rather have a pet with more Ultra-Rare or Epic Talents?

While it is true that the "rarer" the skills, the more powerful or flexible (in terms of what classes are allowed to use) they are, it doesn't mean that they will be useful for your Wizard or Derby Pet.  For example, some pets have the ability to place obstacles across all lanes in the Derby, and those generally tend to be Epic skills.  However, if your pet does not have a protection ability such as Clear (uncommon) or Immunity (ultra-rare), you are giving your opponents a chance to pass you on the second lap if the obstacles are permanent and if the other contestants have protection.

Now, for those of you who don't Derby and/or are more interested in the Talents (beneficial to Pet or Wizard), take a look at the picture down below:

This was taken inside the Hatchery window.  Let's say that we are after a pet that has both Life-Shot and Life-Proof, combined with Pip Boost and Courageous.  Take note of the Rarity Points of the Life-based skills, and compare it to the Talents' rarities on Rusty.  Here's a picture with the Ped# based on Talents only, and a *possible* child:

Keep in mind that this is just a visual; this is not in any way the actual result or process.  This also represents how inheritance of Talents work in the Hatchery.  The child will randomly take 5 Talents from each parent to form its own Talent column.  Note that the child's Ped# is higher than either of its parents; instead of a second Rare slot like the Magma Colossus has, the child has only one Rare Talent.  Naturally, we would assume that the pet has become improved and stronger.  However, that's not the case.

The five Talents taken from the Pixie Queen are not any of the Life-based skills we wanted!  Had the Ped# in the child been one unit higher, meaning all Ultra-Rare skills (30), then there would be ZERO percent chance of the Life boosts manifesting, since the child would require Rare traits for those to unlock.

To obtain what we wanted, we would have needed a baby pet with at most a Ped# of 28.  Thus, in this case, higher Ped# would act against your goals.