Test Realm is Open

It seems like just an basic update not a new world or such.  Sadly the pet training is broken at the moment which is one of the main things I want to do when I get into test realm.  (Nothing like a sneak peek at what talents your pet will get)

Check it out as they have a few things to test including new maps, panther mount and housing signs etc.  So get out there and test those pathways and bridges and make sure its safe for the new wizards!

See you there,
Valerian Nightbringer

Second School Amulet Fun

Second school amulets in Wizard101 are amazing.  If you were lucky enough to win one, buy one or try one in test realm you may have already realized how cool they are.  I used a fire amulet on my ice wizard to get through Wintertusk which had a gazillion ice bad guys.  I set up just like a fire wizard with elemental tri-blade, a few meteor, a pet that may-cast fire blade and a fire dome and a couple gargantuan for good measure.  I even created the Celestia fire/ice hat which gives some extra fire accuracy and extra critical for the second school.  It really made questing much easier.

I have to admit I've had very limited success with the second school spells in arena however.  Right now life wizards with myth amulet are unbeatable unless you get a lucky critical hit that's not blocked.  Death/Myth just can't survive long enough due to extremely poor resist and wimpy pips.

I wanted to test out an amulet on another wizard on my account and was sad to discover what some of you probably already discovered... you can't bank and trade your amulets to other characters.  So now I need to buy or win another amulet on my ice.  My death wizard has won several by laying down a lot of feints in the final battle.  As usual the one that puts down the feint gets the best prize usually after some big hits.

Most wizards I know try to use amulets that allow them to take advantage of their spirit or elemental blades.  Are there any wizards out there that have crossed the line and used an elemental amulet for their spirit wizard or the other way around?  I'd be really interested to hear how you like it.  Are there any good combos I should try?

battle-on!
Valerian Nightbringer

Zeke's playlist revisited

I thought I'd try to do a little mix from Wizard101's Zeke quest play list.  My html kung fu was suffering tonight so I didn't get the player mashed into the sidebar like I wanted to so you may need to stretch the window a bit.

Check out this list of hits from some obscure and less obscure bands (mostly British) that Zeke seems to really like.  Even the younger wizards have probably heard The Wallflowers but some of the older Wizards know many of these songs.  I have to admit I'm partial to The Smiths.  So kids, hop in the way-way-back machine and play though the list to experience some time travelling musical hits.

See you online,
Valerian Nightbringer (Vale)

Vote for Wizard101 and receive a prize

Wizard101 is up for an audience choice award.  They love us so much they're not above letting us share in the reward.  See below for details.

http://www.gdconlineawards.com/audience.php

Game Developers Choice Online Awards organizers have announced the opening of the Audience Award, encouraging online game fans worldwide to vote for their favorite persistent online game from September 8th until September 22nd.

To vote for the Audience Award simply enter the name of the game and a valid email address at this website: http://www.gdconlineawards.com/audience.php

Deadline to vote is Friday, September 22nd at 12am PDT.
Note that an email address is required as they require vote validation.

Once you've received your validation email and confirmed your vote for Wizard101, forward that validation email to community@kingsisle.com. We'll be announcing rewards for those who voted very soon!

Have fun and thanks for voting!

New Wizard in the family

A close friend of ours on Wizard, Suri Spiritcaller, had a papered Yorkie who happened to mix with another Yorkie.  (I don't think this was planned) They had a puppy and gave it to our family.  He has been a joy to us and has enriched our wizard family immensely.  We call him Rockwell Nightsong (last name after Suri's other wizard's last name) and his first name is named after a sheriff/frontiersman/cowboy of some renown.  Sometimes we call him Rocky and I like to call him Rock because he's a solid little thing.  (and it reminds me of "The Rock" and his wrestling intro that goes: "Can you smell what The Rock is cookin'!?")

Here are some pictures of the new Wiz and his big bro Jack ( a German short-haired pointer).  Jack has been feeling quite bad with serious hip problems but Rocky has cheered him up a lot and the two of them share everything including a lot of adventures.  Jack is getting sicker and may not be around much longer but he's been very happy to have a buddy as are we.

 A cuteness duel

 Synchronized napping

 Psychic communication powers

 I bet this is what ice hound looked like as a puppy

 Little Rock using disarmingly charming spell.

Tower of the Helephant Conquered

Suri Spiritcaller, Luke Skywalker, Kestrel Spiritblade and myself in the form of David Dragonheart finally beat the tower of the Helephant.  The bosses in the tower cheat pretty bad but the creators of Wizard101 have given you the tools, and spells to save your own bacon if you are crafty.

Here are the basics of the tower:

First set of bosses - balance, balance, myth (nasty minotaur), death/storm
The worst of these bosses is the minotaur who casts tons of smoke screen and if you fizzle his buddy hits you with a critical bone dragon spell that usually comes close to killing you.  The goal of surviving this battle is to kill the balance minions and minotaur first.  You will find these cards useful in your treasures: fire dispel, life dome, triage, ice dispel, storm dispel.  The minotaur will also cheat and take your blades away.  He is immune to most spells like beguile etc. :(  Basically you need to keep your 1 pip fire dispels on the minotaur to shut down his cheating ways.  Once the minotaur is done the death boss will throw leviathins constantly (even on 2 white pips).  Even with storm resist they hit for 1400 or more if they're critical, so keep the deat boss dispelled for storm.

I strongly advise you have a good life wiz with you... just sayin' :D

Then there are 3 levels of regular 1400 health guys that you can blow through pretty fast.

Then you fight the helephant boss who's kind of a push-over.

Finally you fight 1 storm/ice boss with 3 myth minions.  This battle again is kind of nasty as you have quakes going constantly, and if you kill the minions the boss calls them back again.  Again, you want ice dispels for this boss because he constantly throws gargantuaned blizzards (Whoever set up this tower must have faced our ice team before :)  - With how much these guys throw quake you'll need to keep a dome up and do just-in-time blading.  If someone can hit the others will need to provide blades.  Keep your ice shields up and your ice dispel flying and you'll eventually survive.

Here are some highlights from our battle:

This boss loves to have a crowd

 He shows us his icey heart

 They are looking a bit ragged after some big hits

 Forest Lord has something to say about this

So-so prizes and random dancing

Give Helephant tower a try and let me know how you do.  One last tip is that these guys don't like feint so much :(

Enjoy!
Valerian Nightbringer

I haz teh codez

Woot!  I've been told by a reliable source that the codes are back on www.kifreegames.com AND you can claim a random party prize from Wizard101 by logging into the web site and redeeming this code: 3rdbday
Or simply start wizard and click on the link in the loading screen of the app.

Enjoy!
Valerian Nightbringer