Revisiting Top 10 Lists

While perusing some old posts for my latest post on the Labyrinth, I stumbled across an entry from August 2010 that was actually pretty interesting -- Top 10 Lists. Given that David Letterman just retired, I feel a post full of my favorite things across Wizard101 and Pirate101 is only fitting. And so, I bring you another "Revisited" post, although this time, there are going to be some pretty different lists.

Top 10 worlds in Kingsisle games
- For the sake of argument, I'm leaving Skull Island and Wizard City out of qualification, as I wouldn't know where to rank the real hubs of Wizard101 and Pirate101.

10. Aquila (P101):
It has its share of frustrating long quests. The mythical monsters, though. And that Odyssey-inspired trip and final showdown with Antinous... great stuff. As long as you don't bide all your time here in the two years since Pirate101 released it, Aquila is quite interesting.

The saddest moment ever.

9. Khrysalis (W101):
Speaking of long and frustrating quests... despite being a grueling challenge most of the way, Khrysalis seems to have an unlimited share of moments that are purely epic. We put Morganthe out of her annoying misery, and, well, Khrysalis has Dyvim Whitehart. Enough said.

8. Krokotopia (W101):
I've come to appreciate this world over the years. Yeah, it's mostly nostalgia. After all this time, though, the pyramids retain a sense of familiarity and mystery at the same time. I've been looking forward to questing through the land of manders and crocs once again.


He doesn't need two arms
 to be the coolest dude ever.

7. Marleybone (P101):
We can't get enough of the Armada, from Beachhead to Trafalgar. All the same, the admirable Admiral Nelson does win in the end. Apart from all the war stuff, there are some very intriguing Radicals, gang members, and sweet little orphans to deal with.

6. Avalon (W101):
I really like how Kingsisle somehow managed to make every area completely unique, even as you would think this world would be pretty straightforward. The whole missing sword plotline is annoying, yet I'm always amazed by the characters and settings just around the corner.

It's the island greeting that we send to you...

5. Celestia (W101):
Admittedly, some of my love for Celestia may stem from just making it there after all those months of impatient waiting in 2010. It really does mark an interesting turn for Wizard101 as a game. Almost nothing was the same afterward. Celestia, though, just felt like a magical underwater adventure.

4. Grizzleheim/Wintertusk (W101):
The longer, the better, in this case. Grizzleheim is kind of boring, it's just the scenery that's so amazing. Wintertusk is mercifully shorter while retaining that beauty and adding an extra challenge. Still, lots of memories were made at Jotun and the Raven$ (ever realize that certain bosses in both GH and WT have always been relentlessly farmed for gold?)

3. Mooshu (P101):
Somehow, Pirate101's Mooshu adds an entirely new dynamic to this amazing world. And not just at Moo Manchu's tower. We get giant turtles, Shiruko Neko, and villains with names that would be better served at the Chinese restaurant downtown.

2. Marleybone (W101):

The Orthrus in its natural habitat. Yep: Mooshu.

Okay, if the sidewalks haven't been nerfed enough for everyone else to love this world like I do, just go through it again. Steampunk dogs and cats and rats are all engaged in late night shenanigans. It's Sherlock Bones versus Meowiarty. I could go on all day.


1. Mooshu (W101):
I looove the setting, the way we get drawn into the story, and just, I don't know, ninja pigs? The Tree of Life will forever remain my favorite dungeon for the secret bosses and really ethereal pre-dawn feel. It's a struggle to come up with a bad memory, frankly. Mooshu is so mooving.




Best Wizard101 music themes
- For this list, I decided to deviate from the Top 10 style, instead compiling 32 of my favorite themes (30 from Nelson Everhart, 2 from Nick Jonas) in the game, and breaking down my absolute favorites bracket-style. There were a few decisions I had a really tough time deciding (denoted with an *asterisk), so I went to former blogger Alia Lotuspetal for a second opinion. Winners of the first round are bolded, winners of the second round are projected on the right, and the final four are underlined.


Avalon Wyrd vs. Avalon Haunted*
                                                                                              -- Azteca Zultun
Azteca Zultun vs. Azteca Haunted


Dragonspyre Main* vs. Dragonspyre Buildings
                                                                                              -- Dragonspyre Main
Austrilund vs. Nastrond



Grizzleheim Dungeons vs. Grizzleheim Main
                                                                                              -- Grizzleheim Main
Grizzleheim Battle vs. Grizzleheim Pet Derby 


Hametsu Village vs. Yoshihito Temple*
                                                                                             -- Yoshihito Temple
Hive vs. Khrysalis Main 1*



Khrysalis Shadow Combat vs. Khrysalis Combat 2
                                                                                             -- Khrysalis Shadow Combat
Krokotopia Main vs. Krokotopia Dungeon 


Marleybone Main vs. Royal Museum*
                                                                                             -- Last Wood
Last Wood vs. Sardonyx



Tyrian Gorge vs. Shadow Palace
                                                                                            -- Shadow Palace
Scotland Yard vs. Floating Mountains


Shoshun Village vs. Temple of Storms
                                                                                            -- Wizard City Tower
Wizard City Tower vs. Wizard City Dreamworld



I was all but done with this list when I realized that I completely forgot Celestia. Oops. Just as a side note, I'm adding my favorite Celestian theme as the #5, which happens to be a pretty accurate placement.

5. Floating Lands 
This is the one area where the music just initially stood out to me. Never mind that it's the only above ground area in Celestia... me from 5 years ago loved this tropical ditty.
4. Last Wood
In this theme, Dyvim's homeland is evoked very well. I can see all the pretty flowers and streams of Khrysalis' Last Wood mixed in with all the blight brought by the Shadow.
3. Yoshihito Temple
As mentioned earlier, the Tree of Life is my favorite dungeon, and this brings back those memories more than anything else. It's also an appropriately beautiful and somber theme for all the spiritual undead stuff going on in this area of Mooshu.
2. Wizard City Tower
If you need a break during Golem Tower, just stop and turn the volume up for a bit. This theme seems to incorporate jack-in-the-box tunes, Marleybone's steampunk, and Celestia's angelic feel. It's like the hidden masterpiece within Wizard101's free content areas.
1. Azteca Zultun


I only really paid attention to this theme in the summer of 2013, months after Azteca was released. Then I made a point to fully immerse myself in it. You can almost feel the imminent despair amidst the current thriving life in the jungle. It's a bit of a shame that the Apocalypse theme, while also beautifully haunting, takes over the entire world after the completion of Xibalba. I didn't love questing here, but the second half of Azteca is very nice in its own way.



Coolest fish
- Difficulty, type of fish... none of that matters. It's all about how cool they look. And yes, I'm going with the bracket of 32 species again. (Compiled with help from Duelist101's guide and Swordroll's guide)


Black Catfish vs. Be Mine Fish
                                                                           -- Codfather
Boss Hog vs. Codfather


Cold Cod vs. Doodlefish/ette
                                                                          -- Ember Parrot
Ember Parrot vs. Errol Fynn


Execushiner vs. Frankenfish
                                                                          -- Freshlava Smelt
Freshlava Smelt vs. Gargoyle


Hard Albacore vs. Jackson Pollock
                                                                          -- Hard Albacore
Kid Carp vs. Krokotopian Eel


Mistletoe Angler vs. Musushi
                                                                          -- Musushi
Ninja Fish vs. Origami Fish


Polar Bearracuda vs. Rainbow Trout
                                                                          -- Polar Bearracuda
Rambo Fish vs. Royal Gurnard


Rune Fish vs. t Bass
                                                                          -- Sharkspeare
Samurai Fish vs. Sharkspeare


Shamrockfish vs. Stormacuda
                                                                          -- Todd Pole
Todd Pole vs. Vampire Squid



4. Todd Pole
J. TODD COLEMAN!

3. Musushi
The silly little beard and ponytail make this really difficult little guy worth catching.

2. Freshlava Smelt
This new fish has a really sleek orange look, like it's brimming with steel and lava. Also, I really like the screenshot on the right that I took.

1. Codfather
I didn't exactly expect to settle on Codfather from this list. He's just, you know, the Codfather.



Top 10 Cool Companions (so far)
- As a disclaimer, none of these companions will be Buccaneer or Musketeers specific, as I have never played those classes. Hence the "so far". Sorry, axe and gun wielders.

10. Goronado
The only companion I don't have among this list, I feel the need to include him because he just gets stuff done when I see other pirates use him. And, you can only unlock the ability to pay for him via a Heart of Darkness showdown. That's pretty cool.

9. Iago
He's just another Privateer-only dude, but he's also a knife-wielding unicorn. Those three words give him a spot here.

8. Bonnie Anne
Ah, let me just admire my appearance in the mirror before blasting this guy behind me. That move is pretty sweet. Not to mention her really interesting Radical background.

7. Sarah Steele
A fencing mouse is bound to have a lot of good qualities: cute, nimble, and deadly when necessary. Sarah has a nice bit of alliteration going on in her name, too.

6. Kan Po
This kickboxing goat just becomes so much more intimidating when he's out battling baddies. He really packs a much-needed punch for Witchdoctors.

5. Hawkules
Unbridled egotism aside, he did trap the Minotaur and smash the heads in of many Aquilan beasts. Strength and a really punny name goes a long way.

4. Mormo
He's really cute! Especially when he summons all those little versions of himself. But I suppose he doesn't want to be known for that.

3. Shiruku Neko
Not only is she a ninja, she's a ninja cat. Plus, you have to save her master from a ninja curse. This is the one Pirate101 side quest that absolutely cannot be skipped.

2. Subodai
My post about the parallels between the Mongols and the Amber Horde spurred me to create a Swashbuckler, which resulted in this follow-up post about Subodai. One of the most expansive and most interesting empires is represented well in this awesome horse barbarian.

1. El Toro
The man - or bull - behind the mask, El Toro does everything with a flourish. It's a little weird that he married his stepsister, but the whole father-son dynamic we have to salvage humanizes this great hero quite a bit. In battle, his skills are integral to every class. He's the most interesting hero in the Spiral, to say the least.

Four of those was more than enough :P

Happy Listing!

A Quest A Day Keeps The Juju Away

..Although I didn't entirely bind myself to one quest a day, per se. It was more like, 3 quests during the week and then 4 to catch up on over the weekend. Nevertheless, Wicked Valkoor Vane is done questing! Here is the first of two posts with his travels over 3 worlds in approximately 3 months.

Barely level 40, Valkoor sailed into Mooshu relying on Dan Drake's sharpshooting. To be fair, I did have my companions set on random.

After breaking up some weddings in Mooshu, it was evident that maybe a few Cool Ranch companions were becoming obsolete. Sorry, Skyfire. I love your name but would prefer tasking you 24/7.

When doing one quest a day, you realize just how long the infamous Inoshishi quest is. For once, I entirely agreed with Ratbeard.

On the guise of getting Mormo a cooler Mardi Gras mask, the introduction to Moo Manchu went off with few hitches.

Okay, I cheated a little and did a side quest too.

...but it was for an awesome, fire-wielding helephant. :D

General Tso's dungeon was a real challenge -- enough that all but 3 or 4 of my companions had died after several battles with him. [T]so, I only had one more chance with Carcarius as my best companion.

After a long battle and minimal health left, the chicken was successfully threatened! On to Khotan!

First, an obligatory Stormzilla screenshot. Tiny arms are your worst enemy when tumbling into a hill.

With enough Will and a Super hit, I was pleasantly surprised with the damage Valkoor could do. With regular hits of 1000+, Khotan was smooth sailing for the most part.

The awesomeness of Kan Po really comes through at pivotal moments. Hamakala Temple is one of my favorite battles -- very difficult but not terribly frustrating.

The Metal Guardian challenge, though... that's pretty frustrating.

With Mooshu complete, I took a moment to hang with the levitating cow.

Oh, and Kan Po took care of the whole Yak-wearing-sunglasses dungeon. On to Marleybone!

A little comfortable bliss before all the war stuff.

Nothing like Beachhead for action movie screenshots!

Bishop is also a fun battle, with or without the sweet Witchdoctor powers.

Bad breath rebels, on the other hand -- not so much.
Even if many of my companions regularly died, I got through Marleybone with relative ease. Having one quest a day can actually be pretty convenient with the recent (well, ten months old, but it doesn't feel that long ago) Advanced Companions update.

I also came through with a cleaner conscience! Sort of.

Catbeard... not so much.

On to Monquista! Err, Aquila.

Like Gortez and his Queen, may your Valentine's Day be regal... and not full of civil wars and monkey business.

Happy Questing!

Pleasant Valley Sundays

As chronicled during a post last month, doing one quest a day on my Witchdoctor during the summer was no problem at all. With a busy year ahead, however, I've been skipping more and more quest days, to the point where I've had to make up for 3-4 days of quests. Plus, Cool Ranch tends to have longer quests with bigger EXP rewards, so I've made a habit of doing this backlog on Sundays.

Two weeks ago it was the saving of Nurse Quinn...

...which gets pretty fun when the Ghost Jackalopes get involved :D

 With such a slow questing schedule, I set all companions to Brawlin' duty, with training points used only occasionally. Last week, the time for Mormo's first quest finally came.

Mormo is even cuter when he's bossy ;)

His third-person way of talking almost becomes contagious. Valkoor likes Mormo very much - Valkoor is only too happy to have Mormo as a first mate.

For today's questing, it was dispatching ugly baddies El Guapo and Santa Rana. 

The Bison Spirit functions very well when it comes to tanking with an occasional big hit on the enemies. I'm pretty sure he's died a few more times holding Salamander stabbers at bay.

Gotta love English Bill's hat!

Meeting El Toro again was a welcome distraction from the cranky Frogerales.

Ah, faces only a mother could love.

Finishing off Castillo Sapo with a flourish. 

Over the next week, it appears as if Valkoor will be nursing the Free Ranger back to health while on the search for Tonka. Eh, could be worse.

Level 21 and taking inspiration from punk hipsters. This is what makes questing exciting -- what will Valkoor look like after Level 30?! Only time will tell (probably about a month :P)

As if I wasn't getting enough of Cool Ranch, I went through Laestrygon with some throwback companions last Sunday. Jacques the Swash likes to bring out some experienced hard hitters every now and then for Trolls and Manticores alike.

Even if he kidnapped the reincarnation of Selena Gomez, it's hard not to be impressed with Froggo Villa. Only in Pirate101 can you have a Salamander bandit facing off against Odyssey-inspired Trolls. 

After another busy Sunday, good night, Cool Ranch -- for now.

Happy Questing!

Test Realm Eclipse

As with the lunar eclipse last Tuesday, the Kingsisle games have converged their test realms. The sun and the moon will eventually return to their different places in the sky, and so shall Wizard101 and Pirate101. For now, though, we've got just a little more waiting to do.

The much anticipated KR-2 update is out! Not many new thoughts about this, as I will have to wait for the live release to try it all out. However, there are a couple of other items - some good, some meh.

The Good:

Crafting: A new crafting quest, new craft-able items, and reagent bundles. It's a good time to be a crafter. Some other things also caught my eye:

New School Pets: Medusa is sweet, but offhand I'd have to go with the Leviathan and Sabretooth as my favorites.

Shadow-Forged Weapons: Swords acting like pets?!? It appears that the Enchanted Armament pet may have acted as a sort of teaser here. What's next, weapon training? (Seriously though, there are some sweet possibilities when you give a sword a mind of its own.)

Shift Spells: Those are some pretty big 3-pip attacks, but I suppose that advantage is offset by having to waste a round casting the transformation spell. Still, one round transformations aren't a terrible idea.

Global Spells: Don't see myself taking out the two-pip global spells for these, especially with the four-pip cost. These would be really useful in a boss battle... but most bosses have unrelenting critical block rates. If those are toned down, I would use 'Saga of Heroes' regularly. Also note the new cinematic effects on the two-pip ones - some of them actually look pretty cool, notably less distracting.

The Meh:

Shadow Creatures: Inevitably, there are more shadow magic spells. The new 'creatures', however, come with a twist. Using spells they like will increase their effectiveness and vice versa. My only qualm with this involves how complicated these guys will be. Even the most experienced duelers have a lot to process when going into a battle -- adding a whole new element of battle is one thing, forcing wizards to remember when to cast what is another. Maybe I'm skeptical about shadow magic, but I just don't know whether they are making battles fun or over-complicated. Swordroll's recent guide expounds on how to use them. Dark Shepherd seems to be based on Life/Death, Dark Nova/Fiend being more damage-based. Interesting. Of course, the main thing to remember: Use Shadow Magic wisely, and you will be rewarded.

Miscellaneous:

•  Players no longer able to teleport into the Hall of Valor: How is this dungeon a task "a wizard must face alone"? Jotun and his brothers were once the hardest (non-cheating) battle in the game. I don't understand the logic here :P
• Creatures patrolling farther from sigils: If I recall, this was especially a pain in the Stellarium. Thanks Kingsisle!

Moving on to Pirate101's huge Advanced Pets/mechanics update. Soooo much stuff that I'll just outline what I think is "good" and "meh", apart from the main things.

Advanced Pets: More powerful armadillos, anyone? Although the update seems to borrow from Wizard101 (as cleverly admitted in the puppet show intro), there are a couple big distinctions. In the place of the Pet Derby is Pet PvP, which has raised some concerns about the parallels to illegal sports like dog/cockfighting. I'm fine with it, though. Activities are also not tied to mini-games, meaning less wasted time in the Cannon or Dance game, thank goodness. Similarities include the hatching system - what new talents will combine to form P101's "dream pet"? Is the ostrich the new piggle? Overall, it will be a very intriguing system that may take some time to get used to, but one that really helps a big part of the game.

Advanced Companions: Already a unique Pirate101 feature, companions are getting a major change. I like the new management and lowly companions being kept busy, but not really the fact that randomness of selection won't factor into it any more. However, giving orders to lesser guys in order to get pet items, nautical EXP or even companion EXP is a great idea. I'm relatively conservative with training tomes and don't level on ships much, so getting this without using free time or gold is just great. I think the new companion system is a little better than the old, and not too complicated, so I'm looking forward for this to go live. Also eager to get Fan Flanders on my Swashbuckler -- how awesome is a Marleybonian convict?! A kooky monkey who wants the proletariat to rule is also a great touch for Privateers :P

Intro Expansion: This doesn't sound anything like Unicorn Way - crazy new areas for low level pirates is a boon to explore even for those with all level 65 pirates. There's even some new crazy good gear! Nothing wrong about a much roomier Avery's Court, either.

Doubloons: Uh... treasure cards for Pirate101? Odd. I've heard these special talents are pretty powerful and rare, though, coming mainly from the new Group Plunder chests. Interesting to see how these will work out.

For the many other updates . . .

The Good:

• Mark and Recall: Sure, it's a direct influence from W101, but this will make travelling across the skyways so much easier.

• Interface Changes: The game suggesting things for us is actually really cool, particularly the weapon notification. And the swashbuckler effects (pictured)? Awesome.
• Damage Changes: Damage bonuses now scaling at percentages is big, but actually a big help when leveling up. It will mean, for instance, that using an 100 Will spell now results in 20% more damage (for Privs & WDs) instead of +20 damage, which would have a less effect when damage is over 100. Nice.

Among Others: New Accessory slot, speedier ships, Housing previews, reduced kill counts in Cool Ranch, Burly's Gold reward, updated Zeena's Rain of Fire, Skyway Chat.

The Meh:

• Wounded Companions: Pretty sure I'm going to give my Privateer's heals a little more love soon. Aside from this obvious new pay-or-wait approach to defeated companions, the pay method involves visiting a rather odd dude with a New York accent/attitude - Miracle Mitch. I understand the scaling to level, but after testing (i.e. killing off companions), the average rest time for a level 65 companion is 7 hours. Why punish higher levels so much? Additionally, the price for healing is a whopping 30,000 gold for such companions. Seriously?!? I would recommend establishing a cutoff rest point at maybe 2-3 hours and dropping a 0 from that price tag (to the tune of 3,000+ gold) instead. The approach to wounded companions is understandable given the update, but the price is just way too high in my opinion.

• Exact Damage: Eh, I just like the idea of attacks being a little inconsistent, like Wizard101 spells - it shakes things up a bit. However, everything will now do a certain amount of base damage (minus power-ups). Although most updates to the combat interface are fine, I'm just a little wary of this change in particular.

Meow! Chat Noir was a famous
Paris cabaret in the late 19th century.

• Critical Names: Uh.. why? "EPIC HIT!" sounds way better than "Super Hit!", so shouldn't it continue to reflect more damage? Then again, there is a Superman but no Epicman... yet.

• Le Chat Noire: How dare they change my badge?! Well, at least it's spelled correctly in French now, right? ;)

That's that for a monumental mechanics update in Pirate101. I've  been playing that game a lot more recently, as questing W101 alts in Zafaria/Azteca gets old fast. Swashbuckler Jacques has been questing for awhile and I now have him at the end of Cool Ranch. Look out, Mooshu! (and Khrysalis, soon enough)

Enjoy your chocolate bunnies today -- no, I didn't forget the occasion :P

Happy Easter!

Yarrr.