From Another Point Of View

I could use the excuse of school, laziness and computer issues, but lets face it: It wasn't a very active January, no? Still, we had the Raven's Hoard, Grub Guardian, and new transformations. This looks to be a more active February for me though, with the Death duo inching towards Dragonspyre..

Yes, now you're able to see cats in Celestia, wolves in Wizard City, manders in Dragonspyre.. you get the point. Pretty cool new transformations, but still just cosmetic. It should make for fun parties, though! As for the level 70 gear.. no power pip or accuracy %? The critical ratings and the fashion is very decent, but it's hard to go without those. So, as you can tell, overall opinion = not worth it. I do like the astral throwbacks a lot, though. I feel much older now, having had several pairs of that old astral gear from '08-'09.. ah, the old days..

So now we get into a little, say, psychology portion of the post. I *accidentally* got a family friend (in late elementary school years) hooked, now as a Level 33 Necromancer, I believe. So, I borrowed a few of his many screenshots (14/113 of them, to be exact.. yikes) and cropped them some for better pictures. Here are some of them, sort of through the view of a newbie to Wizard101.










The striking thing here is the Magma Man having 5 pips :o






Ah, he saw the midget bear. Of course.









Strangely-timed picture immediately following a storm hit.. head in the clouds much?












Treants in a cave..

Ever had a tent-flooding, Bristleback?








I dub thee lightning-breath.. :&

Do I see a gentle hint for a furniture item here? I've always wondered what those little school-decor-pool-thingies are. Future housing item? Pleeeeezzze?

Oh my Bartleby..












Delicate dragon mosaic - nice Wizard's Watchtower catch. Feels like a dragon church :P










Though this would be a menacing entrance for a churchgoer..







Which reminds me - Happy Chinese New Year! This year of the dragon ought to be interesting.










Uncomfortable close up, lol









BOOM.












And lastly, as well as oxymoronically, if thats a word. Snowman in Krokotopia!





And, onto the Death duo! Admittedly, I haven't covered them much on here, but I have made lots of progress. Skipping side-quests makes Marleybone pretty quick. And I dare say that's a nice reward for my 4th Big Ben run (2 spoiled by lost connection. Egk.)












What's with all the quests being questions? Don't think that's a great sign..






And, another well-deserved reward, this time for helping my Ice character Sophia finish the Trial of Spheres.. which I found out she had never done. Oops. After the Death duo, I'm really going to need crowns on that account for Zafaria, and I just found that Tavia hasn't finished the ToS also. Grrrr :P

I would of covered this project too, but I figured I'd start it after the Raven's Hoard pack came out and finished it about a week ago. Why another house crafting project? With all the new items from the Raven's Hoard plentiful in the Bazaar, I realized I could use this nice house. So, hours of TONS of reagent collecting and buying (all characters on the account making it are broke), success. *droops in exhaustion* Ok, that was worth it ^-^. Can't wait to decorate the house, though I still need an overall theme. My Dragon's Fjord on Tarlac (which I updated and is nearly finished) has a camping/cabin motel theme, and a big kitchen. So, I'm thinking Sophia's Watchtower Hall = battle theme, with quite a few hammers, trees, and frozen warriors dotting the landscape. Creepy. We'll see how it turns out, I'll work on it.. eventually ;P.

Well, since I'm sort of on the Hoards topic, I'm sure you've all seen Pack-a-Palooza out. As much as I want those pets and an ice wand (or axe, or bow.. whatever..) for Sophia, I have to hold out. My main account does have 2800 crowns, but must. save. Well, maybe just 3 to even it out around 2,000..*noooooooo*. Since everyone else seems to be giving their opinion on Hoards lately, mostly negative, I might as well give mine as it is---

• The packs aren't necessarily useless. You still get a lot of stuff, even if it's not what you want, you can sell it or what not. That being said..
• The Dragon's, Wyvern's and Nightmare Pack were enough. Now I audibly groan whenever a new pack comes out. Don't succumb to temptation too often.
• Solution: As others have pointed out - let major items from the Packs sell individually, so we don't have to keep risking it. Some people just want the mount or whatever, and they use up 40,000 (What is that, $50 or so?) crowns just to try to get this one item. Let it be a choice, basically. Also, no more packs. Keep the ones you have, but no more, please? From personal experience, it's a bit like taking advantage of kids---that family friend earlier has been spending most of his crowns on the latest Pack, thus setting him back on buying areas instead. He's had 50k crowns so far, only 2/5 (more or less) spent on areas.

Granted, my opinion was much different at the beginning: I mostly welcomed the first several Hoards, but I think their popularity is a bit like Hoover's 1928-1932 presidential ratings - good at first, but a very noticeable decline as time goes on, and more packs are released. (History lesson! Find out about Hoover's ratings yourself :P).

Well.. that's pretty much it. The Death Duo has gone well into Mooshu---I'll provide more screenshots from them next time! I'm probably forgetting something else too, but it's been a whole month, a lot has gone on :P. Hope everyone has a great February (and Super Bowl tomorrow!)

Happy Questing!