Wizard101 Year In Review

2014 wasn't the most eventful year in my gaming career. But it was all worthy enough for a blog post, especially since I'm still catching up. :P

Note: Dates come from the day I took the screenshots, not when I actually included them in certain blog posts.

January 1st, 2014: Ghost Dog goes down to ring in the new year. A brief wait for Khrysalis pt. 2 begins.

February 14th: On Valentine's Day, the Sirens were serenading Warehouse baddies. Many levels later, I effectively earned my revenge against a 2010 archenemy.

February 24th: The Sirens got even more action when Mycin and Sophia began Azteca. It's been fun, dinos.

April 25th: A day after Khrysalis pt. 2 opens, Arlen crossed the sea on a giant bug.

Annoyed by the lack of trees on the other side, Arlen then turns his farm into a strange forest of everything from pines to palms.

April 30th: Five days and many boss battles later, Arlen hits the level cap!

May 3rd: Morganthe goes down! And Old Cob does something weird. Nevertheless, only joy is felt when the Spider Queen plummets into space.

July 11th: Mycin and Sophia wrap up Azteca with their new level 88 spells! It's the end of the world, but they're feeling fine.

July 22nd: Chase impersonates another Ravenwood student and almost gets away with it (if it weren't for those meddling noobs...)

August 7th: A month after wizards started casting their reels, Tarlac finally finds that last pesky Silver Streak for his collection.

October 3rd: The BOXES make a sudden appearance around the Spiral, and Arlen gets to save Halston from a life in Newgate -- over stolen jewelry (surprise surprise).

October 26th: Dugan blazes through Wintertusk and sends honorable bear warriors to... somewhere over the rainbow, presumably.

November 24th: Mycin and Sophia begin Khrysalis with a surprising amount of allies -- namely, Mary and Morgrim Dreamshade and Dyvim doppelgangers.

December 26th: In the House of Scales, being turned down results in an afterlife of misery, but that doesn't stop Arlen and Mary from going all "turn down for what" to the new member emotes.

December 31st: More dancing highlights the New Years Eve festivities as the Commons celebrates the coming of 2015!

Here's hoping there's a lot more to dance for in 2015.

Happy Resolution-breaking!

From Storm Sharks to Owls

 Some years ago, I randomly made a third account and stocked it with various Doodle Dug rewards. When KI Free Games released their trivia-for-crowns, I figured, why not make use of the long forgotten newbies?

My highest level wizard was a level 5 Diviner, so I got started on him. Luckily, there was a brief zone sale going on, and I had just enough KIFG crowns to buy every Wizard City area for 375 crowns apiece.

Foulgaze and Nightshade, as always, were quite an annoyance.

Dogs and Clockworks living together? What kind of world do we live in?!

That first power pip is such a proud moment :D

Not cool, man. Houses are .. uh .. friends! Not food.

I'll probably do each area(s) after achieving enough crowns to get by, in the meantime. Looking at my trivia-roundup post two months ago, Krokotopia takes almost 4 months. Of course, I'll probably forget to do some trivia here and there, so it will probably be more like half a year until Marleybone. Good things come to those who take trivia, I suppose.

On the higher-level questing front, my other Diviner has been receiving support from my Thaumaturge. A tank and a damage-based character make for a great team, especially when deep into Azteca.

Although it was nice not worrying about dying, I had to solo for new spells eventually. Enemies ranging from Eke Chuah to Tempest Eels posed a fun new challenge. I wasn't about to try and solo Xibalba, though.

Gross name, funny musical reference :P

The final fight ended up being a vicious cycle of one wizard dying, returning, and the other wizard taking all the incoming attacks and dying. I wasn't very lucky, but thankfully finished the battle after running through several batches of potions.

This moment was just as exciting the second time around, lol.

Not sure when I'll step into Khrysalis again, although I am anxious to reach Exalted on both accounts. For now, here's the status of all 11 wizards (discounting the newbies for now) --

Exalted: 1 Myth

Promethean: 1 Storm, 1 Ice
Archmage: 1 Life, 1 Myth

Transcendent: 1 Death, 1 Fire

Legendary: 2 Balance, 1 Death, 1 Fire

All I can say is, the four wizards waiting to do Zafaria are probably in for a long wait. Sorry, Sorcerers!

Saving Pirate101 for last, I recently created my third pirate, Valkoor Vane! For the first time, I'll be going through the game on a ranged pirate (sorry future Musketeer, you're last in line :P)

Valkoor attempting to look wicked at too early a level. Apparently he forgot that the staff is what completes the outfit. 

After quickly reaching Level 5 and Lasko's new quests, I had an amusing idea. Why not go questing on Valkoor at a pace of one quest a day? Surprisingly, it's been smooth sailing (pun unintended-ish) so far, and I have gotten used to a very steady diet of pirate questing :D

It's a little early, but Mormo is the early front runner for cutest companion ;)

Although I have skipped a day here and there, I made up for it in due time. Questing once a day almost makes me nostalgic for, say, three weeks ago... if that makes sense. Everyday I catching myself thinking: "I was doing that quest in that area over a month ago?! Wow, feels like yesterday."

I'm mostly curious to see how long Cool Ranch will take (I'm guessing I'll still be there by Christmas), and where this pace will take me, really. In fact, I just found the Monkey's Paw a few hours ago. Thankfully, it looks like Monquista will *only* take a couple weeks.

It's okay Pancho, I feel the same way.

I'll be back soon for a fishing recap of my nearly complete Angler's Tome -- Until then,

Happy Questing!

                                                                 

Apocalyse Now & Then (Pt. 2)

Continuing this weeks theme of posting Part IIs, here are some comparison screenshots of Azteca before and after the apocalypse occurs. Don't worry, this post will be a little shorter ;)

Cloudburst Forest - Before

Although the quests are tedious as usual, Cloudburst Forest is my personal favorite area of Azteca. Not only is the music theme wonderfully orchestrated, but it is screenshots like this that become my laptop background.

 Cloudburst Forest -- After

It's rather difficult to see the effects of the apocalypse unless you glance at the forest canopy. Then a piece of comet comes hurtling toward the Tehuano Spirits.

Alto Alto -- After

Apparently I was too lazy to gather some 'Before' shots for this one. Just imagine those two flashes wrecking havoc on toucan houses aren't there.

Being higher up in the forest, it's a little more apparent that the apocalypse is nigh.

 Floating Mountains - Before

Just a nice little shower next to a huge electricity source.

Today's forecast: A few flurries with a 30% chance of impending doom.

Floating Mountains -- After

It's raining too hard to see any comets, but the sky tells the story.

The lava pool's probably safe considering it melts dirty ice in a heartbeat.

Can't say the same for way up in the Islas Nevadas, though..

Twin Giants - Before

I think I know what area will be the first to go :P

 ... On second thought ...

Going into Xibalba to trigger the apocalypse, what fun. On that note, I wrote parts of this post while my Storm and Ice wizard reached Khrysalis. Yay alt leveling!

Twin Giants -- After

A look back at the Floating Mountains, and what is now a scary death spiral.

Not a great time to go flying, I think.

Xibalba remains open, but going there is essentially fruitless. And thus marks the end of Azteca's saga. A picture is supposed to be worth a thousand words, so this post might as well be a 17,000 word chronicle.

A tale of two Aztecas is indeed a sad story, but it is one of the final steps towards Morganthe's defeat. The end of this world is indeed the end of the world, which is unique as it goes.

Hope the screenshots were enjoyable,

Happy Adventuring!