The Labyrinth, Revisited

Nobody likes the Labyrinth. At first. You have to go back for the obsidian chest and, for some, a level 48 spell. It's like the catchy song you don't want to hear at first, but end up listening to on repeat. 

Just snake (snake snake snake snake) it off.

In all seriousness, the Labyrinth used to be hard. I rated it #5 on my list of hardest dungeons before Celestia. It is still rather long, though. Imagine 7 bosses in a row in Khrysalis. By level 150, that dungeon would be a breeze, albeit a lengthy one.

Though no one's really going out to farm for level 45 gear, the Labyrinth is still a surprisingly nice place for loot. Love pets? Vladimir Darkflame drops three of them. Two of them are crowns pets: the Death Leprechaun and Pale Maiden, the latter being retired from the Crowns Shop. 

Rare statue? Yep.

New jewels? Got them.

It's a pretty neat place to fish, too, although there's only one unique species.

Bottomless cliff fishing. What could go wrong... right?

There's also plenty of weird phenomena going on in this otherwise calm area where criminals walk the streets. Kind of sounds like Gotham City, really. It's when you get behind the gates that the Labyrinth becomes a little bit of a freak show. 

It has...

Boss clones. ✔

Mobs invading your personal space. ✔

Like, really invasive mobs. I can't fish and kill you at the same time.

Lastly, I felt like Lord Spike - my old Orthrus who still holds a place in my heart and blog banner -  needed some closure. I paid a visit to the old owner of his dog collar.

Ranulf, the red-faced... whatever the heck you are.

You could even say his face glows after being hit with cartoonish vomit.

I then observed another weird phenomenon when I logged off and came back.

Yep, the dungeon restarted. And I was still behind the gate.

Locked in with the personal space invading monsters?!? This was too much. I had to log off.

Curiously, I couldn't seem to replicate the glitch. I guess it only happens after you beat all 3 floors of Ranulf's tower (and you can only be a Myth wizard to do that). Perhaps it's for the best though. Imagine being roommates with those discolored trolls and minotaurs.

Last but not least, I had to take this opportunity to do the Labyrinth's reagent map. I wasn't exactly looking forward to it, but I did get that Wyrmkin statue and neat jewelry from all the repeated battles.

Voila. Red-faced Ranulf approves, I guess.

Happy Crafting!

Farming For Futility

On Saturday, Pirate101 hosted a little "House Warming" contest. On a whim, I decided to try it. Here is the subsequent timeline of my pointless attempts at crowns and glory.

 (All times in Central for convenience)

12:10 AM: I remember that I got up at noon and really want 60,000 crowns. Why not stay up overnight and go after Medusa for the first challenge?

12:37 AM: Complete first run of Medusa. Get nothing.

12:45 AM: Realize how cool and underrated Iago is.

1:16 AM: Get tired after 3 or 4 runs of nothing. Decide to go inside with a random guy named Omar.

1:38 AM: Omar leaves, so I join up with a group including my only other friend online, Clumsy Calamity.

2:30 AM: First time hitting the gold cap.

3:13 AM: Openly wonder if Kingsisle will give the prize to whoever gets the most Nemean hats...

3:22 AM: Get a Frog pet. Ribbit.

4:02 AM: Group estimates that we've done 25 runs so far.

4:25 AM: No one anywhere appears to have gotten a Domed Pyre, and the first phase is nearly over. Give up and take a selfie with my frog.

4:37 AM: Join up with Duncan and Kat (cutest couple ever, by the way) against 3 Tysons for his Lantern Post.

4:41 AM: Get Armadillo pet on first run!

5:16 AM: Left to my own devices again, I start farming a couple other Cool Ranch bosses (to no avail, of course).

6:18 AM: After returning to Tyson for a little while longer, fatigue wins out. It was pretty foolish to expect to stay up for 36 straight hours, after all.

12:45 PM: Wake up and get back online just when Phase 3 (Solar Obelisk) is almost over. Start setting up for Phase 4.

1:30 PM: To everyone's chagrin, the next item is back in Aquila, with Zeena as the target. At least she drops some other cool stuff.

2:23 PM: Give up (again), accept that I won't win the grand prize, and wait for Phase 5 to at least have the chance at 20,000 crowns.

6:04 PM: Hurry back over to Cool Ranch and check the list of bosses who drop the Pilgrim's Campfire. Go on to do a few useless Jailhouse runs.


7:07 PM: Get momentarily excited when I find a Pilgrim's Campfire in my backpack... and then realize that I got it from Phase 2. Decide to revert to Tyson for farming.

8:12 PM: Get a Lantern Post... 12 hours too late.

9:18 PM: Mentally decide I'm done when I get a Lantern Post for the second time.

Quite frankly, the whole event was a big waste of time. The only thing of interest was that I got a neat new pet and met a couple other friendly pirates while occasionally annoying them :P. I was not destined to win, as spending 10 hours farming and then getting a Campfire and Lantern Post in the wrong phases seemed to suggest. Nevertheless, it was good to get involved in the community a little bit more; opportunities like that don't come by quite as often. Would I do it again?

Yes! Easier items! I wouldn't necessarily have a better chance of winning, but hey, it would feel pretty good to get at least one item (and not in the wrong time slot...)

Results, incidentally, are posted here: Kingsisle's recap post.

Congrats to Crazy Cassidy and all the 20k crowns winners! 

Happy Farming!

My Favorite Year: 2010

2010 had a little bit of everything:  a new world, a new pet system, Gardening, and a general blossoming of the game we've all come to know and love.

That Spring, I got back into the game I had discovered a year earlier. It marked a personal renaissance, but also a new era for Wizard101. Not long after I had rejoined the Spiral, a mysterious press release appeared promising the release of Celestia and an Advanced Pets system.

How exciting was that?! Sure enough, Advanced Pets was released a couple months later. This update brought hatching, derby races, and a fascinating complexity that encouraged a growing community to work together on new projects like Petnome, which debuted later that summer. 

Of course, everyone couldn't wait to explore Celestia, but that summer of anticipation was unlike any other. In the meantime, we had distractions like July's preview quests (highlighted by the unforgettable Warehouse), and the brief celebrity appearance of Selena Gomez. Even if you weren't a big fan of pop music, Crab Alley was the first underwater area and was open to all wizards who had completed Unicorn Way. Novices and Grandmasters alike got to swim "round and round" and discover a new environment.

At last, a good seven months after the press release, Celestia came to the Live Realm in late October. Those last twenty minutes spent waiting for the servers to load were the peak of excitement for every Grandmaster back then. Many new friends were made under the sea, whether testing out the new moon spells (many laughs were had with the Gobbler) or beating a new boss who had the ability to do critical hits.

Celestia was enough to make 2010 my favorite year, but it wasn't over yet. In November, wizards were introduced to Gardening! The system wasn't easy to master, but to this day I still check on my large plot of Couch Potatoes. Mega snacks, anyone?

Even in between all the updates, I quested through the game all over again with wizards from different schools. After all, I needed more than one character ready when Celestia opened its doors. In that time frame, I got to discover the sheer power of Storm, ability to stay alive with Life, and had fun soloing baddies across the Spiral with Fire.

Perhaps it's purely nostalgia... 2009 might have been my favorite year if I had been around more. Everyone loves Grizzleheim's scenery and the utility of the Bazaar, after all. But even after four years and six worlds, Wizard101 in 2010 will always hold the fondest memories for me. 

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.

..And A Happy 2014

As 2013 comes to an end, I realized that I never posted my romp through the Floating Lands on Christmas Day. I should probably include something else as well, since I just took pictures of Tarlac killing bad guys ...

That was fun. I did most of it while watching Hawaii Five-O, too. Extra Tropical Christmas points!

On a more productive note, to finish 2013, I completed a long sought-after resolution.

3 awesome talents, on the same pet.

I would like to thank my new Yuletide Spirit for the Unicorn gene, to my Couch Potato/EMP garden for excess pet snacks, and to the Cannon Game for easy training.

Here's for 4-5 awesome talents on a pet during 2014! I'd make more resolutions, but meh. Who remembers those?

Happy New Year!

P101: Cruising Round Cool Ranch

 Off and on, Two-faced Arlen has been grinding away in Cool Ranch, home of the brave, Bandits, and Buffaloons. It's an amusing configuration after the brief glimpses of Monquista and Valencia, to say the least. But five extra skyways? Dang.

Boot Hill was pretty congested..

I found the El Toro saga to be interesting, albeit long.

Multiple times I found myself doing favors to help out an NPC so as to get to another NPC, do some more favors for him so as to get to yet another NPC, then find out something redemptive in my quest for the Marco Pollo map piece. And then the cycle repeats. With that pace, I was relieved to make a brief stop in my quests at Port Regal.

Indeed, wars have been started in all sorts of peculiar ways.

For instance, a wrong turn effectively started World War I. On June 28th, 1914, a car carrying Austria's Archduke Franz Ferdinand took a wrong turn, providing an assassin the opportunity to lean in the car and shoot the Archduke. This event triggered a mass of confusing alliances and treaties to go into effect, sparking the greatest war in history up to that point. 

In America's own Revolutionary War, hired hands played a part for the opposition - German soldiers, known as Hessians, were loaned to the British Army for King George's use against the colonies.

Brief history lecture aside, Catbeard would make a terribly cute lap cat.

Ft. Elena is chock full of Armada troops obstructing every path. Otherwise, Port Regal is like Marleybone in daytime, something I can't complain about.

Can't beat hoodwinking an old dog, either :P

Buck Bronco's Cave was the only place I really had trouble soloing - particularly the ugly spiders. 1v3 with enemies that are about my health, yeesh.

Ghosts?! I didn't sign up for this O_o

Last but most, the Haunted Skyway.

Pretty much everything I expected.

Okay, not sure if I suspected that..

Going through the Haunted Skyway - which Jim Masterson calls home - got me to thinking about the mysterious world of Darkmoor. It sounds like a great place for Morganthe to roost, bringing me to think that it could be the next Wizard101 world. It's never been mentioned in the game yet, but the last three main worlds (ZF, AV, AZ) weren't either. Monster movie references, anyone?

El Toro is right - one should blow up rocks in style.

Getting there!

Lastly, I joined the first P101 Petnome farming event - against Tyson for his array of Cool Ranch pets. Unlike my various failed attempts at the W101 farming event for the Hollow Knight pet..

 .. I got the Armadillo. Love the 2 epic abilities :D

I realize that simply posting a variety of screenshots and my personal commentary can get pretty dull. I've got some more original content prepared for later posts, some of it already partially written. With a very busy year up ahead, I don't think I can write many new posts, so I'll have to spread them out a bit.

Next up, I've got a post I mainly worked on in July. It's still good though :P

I've also got a small planned giveaway coming up - a small prize at the end of each new post, maybe, I haven't decided on details. I've got plenty of crowns to spare on my main account, so why not? 

Until then,

Happy Questing!