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!

Apocalypse Now & Then

Top Layer: Apocalypse Azteca
Middle Layer: Normal Azteca
Bottom Layer: Azteca... at dusk?


Once the inevitable has occured and Xibalba has hit Azteca, the world just doesn't disappear for us. It's still there to visit, but drastically different. The sky color is eerily similar to Khrysalis, icy bits of comet rain down every which way, the "Song of Creation" riff plays its endless hums.

Whenever a wizard quests through Azteca, every area they encounter will be different once the sky has fallen, so to speak. Here's a comparative look at certain scenes, before and after the apocalypse. Even if tedious, many parts of Azteca are very vibrant and great to explore, but they all end up undergoing this significant change.

** Note: This post won't exactly be text-heavy, but will indeed be very large in pictures. Remember, click to enlarge! **


Three Points - Before

A tranquil marketplace set against the forested backdrop. But a look from the other direction isn't quite as serene..

Perspective changes things, folks :P

It gets worse, though.

Apocalypse loading, aaand...

Three Points -- After

 General calamity, multiple pieces of comet crashing into buildings, three shades of color in the sky. Basically your everyday apocalypse.

"As you can see to the left, the prophecy is indeed coming true, my cold-blooded friends."

Cenote - Before

Mycin, just now coming upon the end of Azteca, checks out the still-tranquil sky while prowling zombie dinosaurs lurk nearby.

Cenote -- After

If not for the overhanging plant life, Arlen might as well be at the center of a pitch black zombie apocalypse. No specks of comet around, though.

Mangrove Marsh - Before

Similar to the Cenote, just some weird purple wisps.

Open air, a plaza, plenty of water - no wonder the reptiles wanted this area back from the avians.

Mangrove Marsh -- After

Unlike the Cenote, the apocalypse feels free to disturb the din.

Conflicts just seem petty now that the air is cloudy and the plaza will become rubble.

Saltmeadow Swamp - Before

Why search for a Fountain of Youth when a comet will kill you? :P

A nice summer shower is usually a good thing...

Saltmeadow Swamp -- After

Sky and swamp turn the same color (and so will the Monquistans when they see what happened)

...Unless you have a comet raining down.

Zultun Dock - Before

The avians tend to pick out good spots, complete with treehouses that look like faces.

Zultun Dock -- After

You guys can fly, right?

There's the differences in the first half of Azteca. Rather similar only if you don't look up or notice crashing pieces of ice all around. I've somewhat warmed to the atmosphere of Azteca while questing, but going there after level 90 is rather gloomy. Hearing the depressing "ah, ah ah ahhhh ... ahhhah uhhh" Apocalypse Theme doesn't help that feeling :P

The other installment (Cloudburst Forest - Twin Giants) will come in a few days. Better not to make one huge post of pictures in this case.

Happy Adventuring!

S.G.S Warehouse Revisited

First off, Happy St. Patricks Day! 

Remember to get your all-new Green Spider pet before Midnight ;)

My favorite part of St. Patricks Day :D

I like to think of my 2010 blog days as cringey n00b nostalgia.

My 2011 days weren't much better (I tried way too hard to be funny on my post titles).

That said, you have to go back to 2010 to see my first encounters with the dreaded Warehouse (here and here). I was very, very unlucky. I believe I eventually beat Estrakir, but I can't find that particular post. Nevertheless, he became my worst enemy during those 2010 days (which is saying something considering the grudge I held against Yeva Spiderkeeper).

Thus brings the point of this post: revenging old "unfortunalities", as I once put it.

At some random point a couple years ago, I decided to pick up the Warehouse quest for my Storm wizard, Mycin. That quest has lingered - and tempted - long enough.

The sage Daren (wearing silly low-level gear) marks the beginning. Four people?! Pshaw!

Curiously, the early floors feature Marleybone mobs with Dragonspyre-health. Nothing a blade and a Tempest can't handle.

Haven't manders suffered enough? :P

Never underestimate a crab in a clocktower. It's good to hit hard and quickly here.

Example #1

Did I mention that this is no (crab)cake walk?

This puzzle requires four wizards to stand on four sun tablets simultaneously. 

Another mob battle for me, then.

You and me both..

The bug himself. His business-as-usual attitude is arrogant but refreshing. It's definitely a change from the typical boss reaction, which goes more like... "What's this? A wizard listening in? NO! IT CANNOT BE! KILL HIM!"

There were certainly no pets casting Unicorns in 2010. In fact, the Advanced Pets update was put in only a month before the Warehouse was introduced. I'm willing to limit historical accuracy for the sake of beating this guy, though :P

So I assume a key was found and magically fixed for those who didn't brave the Warehouse. Alright then.

Soloing Estrakir on Mycin didn't come with initial success. I needed a critical at the perfect moment after two previous defeats. However, Estrakir proved to be easier with Arlen - who was, after all, the subject of many defeats at level 50. I filmed the end of my "revenge run" for viewing pleasure:

Okay, I got another critical at the end, but I would've won anyways :P

When Morganthe is gone, I'll have to pick a new archenemy besides Estrakir Gloomthorn, I suppose.

Happy... lucky wouldn't make sense.
Happy Pot O' Gold Finding!

Goals And Ghost (Avalon)

So, it's been a month (and a half!)
Honestly, I have excuses, but I've had more than enough time to write a post. I've just gotten a bit bored of the routine of picture-posting with somewhat witty captions.
That doesn't mean I'm thinking of shutting this down, by all means. Although it will probably mean very inconsistent posting, especially come next school year, which promises to be much more hectic than the last. It's a little depressing to see 12 posts this year, 100 less than 2011 so far. Basically, I'll post when I want to. That might mean very little, or maybe even more posts. It all depends on that creativity meter in my head.

That announcement aside, I missed my 3rd blogiversary! Now there's no excuse for that, right? Next year, maybe me and Talon could fix something up, just 2 days apart. Also, my birthday was last week, so you gotta love summer if you're me ;)

6 months ago, I came up with some goals that have a deadline of today. Expired, passed on, deceased, no more. But they aren't pining for the fjords. So, let's catch up:

1. Get Death duo to Transcended, maybe another character to at least Grandmaster


---The Death duo DID make progress, but to Legendary, not Transcended. They're on hold for awhile as I do Avalon on Arlen and Tarlac, as w ll as ZF on Mycin/Sophia. Incidentally, how is 'Arden' and 'Earlene' on spellcheck, but not Arlen?
--- Alura Dawneyes, Arlen's little sister, is in the low 30s in the middle of Mooshu. I came pretty close on both of these, at least.


2. "Perfect/Dream pet" goal again.


---No luck here. I've achieved a couple more pets with 2 great stats, but not even 3 yet. Oh well.


3. Complete at least 2 relatively new houses 


---Nope. Slacked off on housing again, what can I say?


4. 5+ Grandmaster Artisans


---I have 7 or 8 Grandmaster Artisans now. WOOT! Finally met a goal :)


5. Get most of the Music Players... become a Warlord in Derby/PvP on 3 characters


---I have no idea how many Music Players I have, to be honest. I do have all of the ones I need, though, so I guess this goal met with success. 
---I know I have 2 Derby Warlords (Arlen and Mycin). It's going to be a long time before I step into PvP again, most likely. Yep, Tristan's still a Commander. It's also been a long time since one of those impromptu #twizard Friday Night parties. I'm up for another one of those sometime!




And now, it's time to set some goals to be met by January 1st, 2013. Got to be realistic, though!


1. Get 2 duos to Archmage---whatever happened to the TR 'Omnipotent' title? lol


2. Get a pet with 3/4 dream talents.


3. Complete a house; Hold a little PvP party in one! 


4. 3+ Legendary Artisans (1 now, 1 close to it); 2 other GM Artisans


5. 2+ Legendary Gardeners ... and have fun!


I should be able to complete more than one of these this time. Having my own computer would help!


On to what I've been doing (relatively little) in the last few weeks-

Tarlac put lots of work in on an Avalon-questing spree, beating up owls in the process.

Enjoying the view in Caer Lyon.. why are there rugs on that roof?

And the last Batman movie comes out this year! Talk about karma :P

A very well-fought match with Malgrin lets Tarlac into the Outer Yard..

..Where he currently sits. Actually, I finished it last week, so now he has to beat some deer at the Lakeshore for some cute little Lion--okay, Alphyn-- statues.

Arlen finally gathered a team with fellow #twizards Angel and Tatiana for Ghost Avalon. It was confusing yet hilarious at the same time. I should group quest more often!

Posing at the last Knight statue. Only a showdown with the Pendragon awaits!

..Okay, I've severely procrastinated at the Keep of Ganelon too. Once Wizard101 runs on this computer a bit better, I'll do it. Really.

..Meanwhile, I did some long-awaited Zafaria questing with Mycin and Sophia. My second account finally got a load of crowns, so it was time for some questing. Sophia hogs the spotlight, as usual.

At the top of Pride Rock. The view is great, but not worth piles of Lions to fight over.

At a secluded meeting with some zebras, the two make their way into Zamunda. After some more questing, I've stopped there. Probably at one of the quests where I fight more rhinocer....i?

Lastly, it's also been a while since a design change on the blog, and I know it's hard to tell a comma from a period with the font, so I'll tidy up the blog following this post. Another poll should be up, too :)

That's it for a long awaited posting. It will be a little while, being away from home with computer problems, but I'll get back on Wizard101 soon.

Happy Questing!