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Monday, January 31, 2011

Test Realm: Celestia Housing and Malistaire an ally?

Hey everyone! The test realm is open and here are the new updates that are coming!

Celestian Housing:


Direct from Celestia - Two new Castles!
We know you've been wondering when these Castles & Lands would arrive and the industrious residents of Celestia are ready to open up shop. Here's a peek at the two new houses.

The Island Getaway

This item can be purchased for Crowns or Gold in the Crown Shop.





The Celestial Observatory
This item will challenge our players, as it will need to be crafted. See the housing turtle in Celestia for the recipe.




Those are both really cool looking! I like the Island Getaway, but the outside walk-able area (first picture) looks too small for my decorating space needs. :)

The Celestial Observatory is AMAZING! I love how it has the three different sections and the teleporters (second picture) are really cool! It even has a dueling circle! I love it! Great new incentive for crafters!

Next part:

How does your Garden Grow?
Since we've released Gardening to the Spiral, you've given us some feedback that let us see how players are Gardening, what's missing, what's confusing and what needs to be made more fun. Here are some updates to Gardening that will address some of these issues
  1. There is a new tab in your Gardening window for pots and items.
  2. The base of plants will now glow when they are ready to be harvested.
  3. New Dorm rooms will start with two pots of soil.
  4. To avoid confusion, the wording "Time to harvest" has been changed to "Time until Harvest" to better reflect the time is indicating how long before you can harvest that plant.
  5. Gardening Treasure Cards can now be trashed by right-clicking them in your deck.
  6. Also to avoid confusion, the icon indicating your plant needs magic now has a white pip to represent magic, and no longer a yellow pip which was easily confused with the 'needs sun' icon.
  7. All plants now like pixies.
  8. Stinkweed will now grow faster!
  9. Once a plant is in a pot, you cannot pick them up!
  10. You can now harvest plants while you are in the Gardening window.
  11. Gnomes will no longer trip you up as you run around your Garden.
  12. Treasure Cards that affect all plants now clarify that they only affect plants in the current zone of your house (indoors/outdoors)
  13. Pots and plants now count towards your housing item count. There is no longer a 'gardening' item count. Each pot, plot and plant individually counts as an item in your house.
  14. Enchanted soil spells now cost the correct amount of energy shown on the spell.
  15. For those of you who navigate the Spiral using your mouse to move, you will no longer cast a gardening spell when you release the mouse button used to walk.
  16. The Imperial Palace contained an area that you could plant on, but not reach to harvest. You can now click on plants in those areas to harvest them.
 Ok, so since I haven't started gardening yet, due to my opinions on it, I can't really comment on this, but I don't like the idea of plants counting as housing items. I find that stupid. Anyway, next update.

Life is change. Here are some minor changes in the worlds and creatures of the Spiral.
    Wizard City
  1. So as not to confuse our new players, Pet Snacks and Reagents will be removed from the creatures in Unicorn Way.
  2. Boris Tallstaff has taken up a new location in the library.
  3. Players will be given the quest "Grim Tales" at a higher level.
  4. More chests have been added to Unicorn Way
  5. Players will be able to get the quest "Pesky Pirates" after they have completed "Stop the Maker".
  6. Grizzleheim
  7. Orn in Grizzleheim has a new quest!
  8. Krokotopia
  9. The clue to direct you to Oka's chest is a little clearer to decipher.
  10. Mooshu
  11. Ahn Fu has decided to take a new ancestral name and is now known as Ahn Nao.
  12. The Emperor is no longer missing from his bed when the player is on the quest "An Imperial Cure".
  13. Dragonspyre
  14. Dungeon time indicators have been adjusted to more accurately represent the approximate time it will take a player to complete the area.
  15. Celestia
  16. Selwyn Skywatcher and Unimatus have learned the error of their ways and will no longer cheat.
  17. Celestia creatures that were appearing to resurrect after defeat should now stay defeated.
  18. Speak up! Celestia characters that had no voice will once again speak their mind! You will download individual files for those that were missing their voice chat.
Other than a new quest in Grizzleheim, and Selwyn Skywatcher and Unimatus no long cheating, nothing too exciting there.

Here's some membership updates.

Current active subscribers who have paid with a credit card are now part of our Wizard101 Membership Program! As part of our Wizard101 Membership Program, players who have made a subscription purchase with a valid credit card in the last 30 days, or have an active recurring subscription will have these added features:
  1. Energy will refill twice as fast.
  2. Your backpack will grow to 120 slots.
  3. Your Crafting Timers will now reset twice as fast.
  4. Your friends list will expand to 120 people.
This does not apply to players who use their credit card to purchase Crowns.
This does not apply to players who use Gift Certificates or Gift Cards to make their purchases in Wizard101.
You will have these benefits as long as you have an active renewing membership. These benefits expire when your membership expires.

Please note, when your membership expires (you are no longer an active subscriber) your backpack will return to 100 slots and you will not be able to put more items in your backpack until you empty out the overflow. Your friends list will also return to 100 maximum, and you will not be able to add new friends until you remove the overflow.

So that's pretty cool for subscribers. I don't need to mention my views on the discrimination of crowns players

Here's some shopping updates.

    Crown Shop
  1. Some Gold prices have changed.
  2. The 'Sale' Tab has been renamed to the Featured Tab and will now Feature items that are both on sale, and not on sale.
  3. Henchmen will now sort by level not school. You can easily reorder the Henchmen in List View.

  • The following items will be removed from the Crown Shop, and from Zeke where applicable:
    1. White Mare Mount (permanent, 7 day and 1 day rentals)
    2. Purple Glider Mount (permanent, 7 day and 1 day rentals)
    3. Faithful Dragoness (permanent and 7 day rental)
    4. Celestian Sword
    There's always the chance these items will return in the future, but for now, they will be removed from the Crown Shop & Zeke. 


  •  So nothing terribly exciting there either.


    Here's the next (and possibly coolest) part of this coming update.


      Crafting
    1. Golden Pearls and Pearls will be slightly easier to find.
    2. Arcane Ampule recipe now calls for Mutate Minotaur Treasure Cards, not Elucidite Treasure Cards
    3. Celestian Stilletto recipe now calls for Giant Treasure Cards, not Simplify Treasure Cards
    4. Pets
    5. Ice Hounds will now cast their own spells, and won't make the player cast for them!
    6. The Polar Cat now gives 1 Dragonblade Card as intended.
    7. Jade Oni and Earthwalker pets will now have the chance of manifesting spells that match their school.
    8. Mounts
    9. The Charity Meowmodon has had its speed increased to 40% to match the other permanent mounts.
    10. Housing
    11. The Housing menu will now indicate how many free Housing slots you have.
    12. Owners of the Castles & Lands that contain a PvP circle can now boot any players engaged in a duel in their house.
    13. Players can no longer sell a house that still contains pets.
    14. Grizzleheim wallpaper & tile are available at the Grizzleheim furniture store!
    15. Spells
    16. A new Treasure Card Pack has arrived in the Crowns Shop: The Hand of Doom Pack! Summon world bosses to fight at your side!
    17. Efreet's Weakness effect can now be removed by Cleanse Charm
    18. Level 60 Ice Henchman has an improved deck and will taunt less frequently.
    19. Energy
    20. So as not to confuse our new Wizards, the Energy globe will not appear until a player has a pet or completes the Gardening introduction quest.
    So, easier crafting, better pets, increased Meowmodon speed (should have been +40% from the start,) more control of who's in our house, safer pets, new Grizzleheim housing supplies, and what's this? Yeah, 'The Hand of Doom' is going to be beast as heckhound! I can't wait to pull out a Meowiarty card and fight with that cool cat! And it's not little bosses like Lady Blackhope, (although she IS pretty powerful [Ambrose to Zeke's fan-fic]) it's going to be JUST world bosses! (Lord Nighshade, Krokopatra, Meowiarty, Jade Oni, Malistaire, and Mithraya [possibly Astraeus and Ptolemos too!]) It'll be SO cool!

    So, hop onto that test realm and let me know how that is!

    Happy Gaming 

    Wednesday, January 26, 2011

    Wizard101 Central Banner Contest

    Hi everyone, just wanted to make a quick post to tell you the story with my banner.

    So the other day (Sunday) was the day that the W101Central banner contest ended. It said 12:00pm EST, without thinking I figured that meant midnight when the date would change to the 24th, as this is how most contests end. Just to make sure, I checked the post on the homepage. It hadn't been marked as closed, so I didn't think anything of it. That night at 7 I put the finishing touches on my banner design and worked really hard to make it look nice. I go to the submission thread, and guess what? It was closed! So I pm'ed Jester and he told me he couldn't accept my submission and that he's had to turn down many others.

    Now, if I were running a contest like this, I would value all submissions. I honestly wouldn't care if it was a few hours late. I mean, if it were the next day I'd have to say no, but if it's the same day, then there wouldn't be any hesitation with me accepting it. True, if it was just one person, I might turn them down, but if it was a bunch of people, I'd snatch up those entries in a minute, I mean, it's for the good of my website, why not accept it?


    So anyway, I couldn't get Jester to take my work, but here it is. (Yeah I put a watermark on it.)



    As usual, you can click to make it bigger. I mean, I think I did a really nice job on it and it would've had a good chance of getting picked, but I guess I just need to hurry to submit net time. So, let me know what you think, and don't forget to enter MY contest. (Yeah, I WILL take entries on the night of the 31st. ;D)


    Happy Gaming

    Wednesday, January 19, 2011

    Thanks!

    Hi everyone! I just wanted to give a big "thank you" to all of you out there for supporting me in my time of blog sickness, I guess you could call it. I really appreciate all the wonderful comments and such.

    The contest WILL continue and I encourage all of you to enter if you want to. I just need a comment on any post (up until the post concluding the contest) giving me your name (the name you go by in the W101 community) and an e-mail or central username. I understand that I've "lost" a few potential entries because of the song choice. I'll just know for next time, maybe to take song suggestions from you guys and use them in a poll, rather than just my ideas. After all, blogs are more than just the blogger. (They're YOU!)

    Also, I'm definitely going to start getting some more in-game content as suggested. I'm going to get back into the game. (I need to fight Nereus [I think. The one in the castle with the starfish blocking the door] in the grotto. So if anyone would like to help me or are at that point also, or you just wanna tag along, you certainly can.)

    Thank you all so much. I'm going to try to be a little less concious of how many comments I get and more on the hit counter ;D

    Thanks again.


    Happy Gaming

    Tuesday, January 18, 2011

    Contests x2

    Hi guys. It's another snow day. That's 3 in the past week (and we had yesterday off for Martin Luther King day.) At this rate, we'll get out in July. Haha.

    Anyway. I've just been noticing a lack of feedback since I've starting blogging again and I just want to make sure that you guys are still listening. I think I'm doing good stuff. I'm having a contest, I do polls, I mean, I love you guys. I just need to know you're there sometimes I guess. I've only gotten 3 entries so far in the contest and I haven't heard any feedback on my Facebook deletions. (Which I suppose isn't a bad thing.) Please, though, even if it's just a quick "hi I love your blog." I'd be happy. I really like hearing from you guys.

    Now, I'm not here to just whine and complain.

    I've also got some cool news for you guys. Wizard101 Central is holding a banner design contest. Since I love graphic design (and obviously Wizard101) I've decided to enter.) I'm not going to be able to show you guys my work until the contest is over (in case people try to pass it off as their own.) and even then, I will put a watermark on it.

    Thanks guys.

    Happy Gaming

    Saturday, January 15, 2011

    Back to Wizard101 and The Phantom Zone!

    Hey guys, I finally downloaded Wizard101 onto my new computer! I'm finally coming back into the Spiral!

    So as I'm downloading all the files onto my computer I see this:


    You're going to have to click and make it bigger to see it, but in the top left corner where you can see the file download process it said: "ThePhantomZoneWorld - World Data" Now, for those of you that don't pay attention to the names of the files that quickly flash by as we load up W101, there is a file for everything in Wizard101; the different gear, objects, areas, etc. So, if I'm correct in studying these file names for the year+ that I've been on W101, this means that there is a "Phantom Zone" somewhere in one of the worlds (World Data is where the areas show up.) I haven't played through all of Celestia yet. I wouldn't even say I'm halfway yet, so this might be a legit area, but I haven't heard it anywhere before. So, if any of you have any ideas of what "The Phantom Zone" might be, just let me know in the comments.

    Before I go get into Wizard101, let me just remind you about my contest here. To enter just post your name and a way for me to contact you (W101Central username, e-mail, blog, etc.) in the comments. Thanks

    Happy Gaming

    Wednesday, January 12, 2011

    Facebook (Part 1) and Ketchup

    Ok, so a few of you know about a page that was created on Facebook about Jason Willowheart. The title of the page was explicit so I will not repeat it. The reason I found out about this page was because it was suggested to me. Now, I of course reported the page and it was taken down, and myself, Jason, and the creator of the page worked things out, but this leads me to a big issue.

    Treat others the way you want to be treated.

    Yeah, I know it's a cheesy thing to say, but it's true. Don't do things that you wouldn't want done to you. We need to do our best to keep this world a nice place. Now,m I don't want to get all crazy guru-esque on you guys, but I just wanted to throw that out there.


    I know I haven't been porting a lot, but like I say on Twitter on occasion "High School Isn't A Musical." Midterms are coming up (For those who don't know what those are, they're big tests halfway through the year that test your knowledge of all that you've learned so far in the class that year.) and I've been busy studying and whatnot.


    When I first started this blog, my goal was to post every single day like Friendly. Now, I broke that way back in August. (Not including skipped-a-day posts.) I really want to try getting back into my blogging groove, but it's difficult, and I really appreciate all of your support.


    Anyway, back to today's topic. I've been getting really frustrated with all the application requests and posts on my wall with inappropriate things, so I decided to go through my friends list and weed out those who I don't know. So, I made a list of all those that I've removed. So, here is the first of many to come. Now if you are on this list and do actually read my blog or know me, then just post a comment letting me know that. Thank you. Here it is:



    • Aaron Sandmask
    • Abdullah Al-shkanbeh
    • Adam Mythhunter
    • Alex Checkerez
    • Alex Drake
    • Alexander Moonwraith
    • Alexis Sungrove
    • Alicia Hellgirl
    • Alistar Soulslayer
    • Alyssa Blood
    • Alyssa Mistbreath
    • Amanda Moonhorn
    • Amanda Willowheart
    • Amber Dark
    • Amy Soulwielder
    • Angel Winterspear
    • Angela Louie
    • Anna Icegem
    • Anthony Blade
    • Anthony Nevergiveup Fortney
    • Anthony Nguyen
    • Ariel Abraham
    • Artur Mooneyes
    • Ashley Aaron Raether
    • Autumn Dark
    • Blaze Firesword
    • Blaze Shadowhorn
    • Blaze Starbreaker
    • Brenna Burgess
    • Brian Cofradia
    • Bridger Skye
    • Caleb Legendblood
    • Cameron Ironblade

     Ok, again, if you are on that list and know me and read my blog, then just post a comment and I'll be happy to add you back. Thanks.


    And now for the ketchup. Not many of you have commented on my Music Video Post. If you don't know what I'm talking about, then after this you finish this post go read that one. In short, I'm having a contest for my Wizard101 music video. All the details are in that post. Yeah, I'm pushing the link. Mainly because I've only had one entry. Not good. The contest will end on February 1st so, just make a comment saying you'd like to enter with your e-mail / central username / or some way for me to contact you to let you know if you win. Thank you.


    Also I have a cool thread sent by Isaiah Boomcaster (one of my devoted readers) from The Central (Wizard101Central.com) with all the best Level 60 gear. Here it is. That's going to be really helpful. Thanks Isaiah! Also, he sent me the link to his blog. He's just starting out, so give him a good ol' follow. He really loves Wizard101, so I'm sure it will be a fantastic blog!


    That's all for today, and be sure to enter the contest...here. ;D Thanks.

    Happy Gaming