Mystic Worlds

W101 - Did it really need a 4 hour instance???

Holy Beegeebus, I never in my life would have expected any instance in Wizard101 to take upwards of 3 hours minimum to complete.  What-were-they-smoking?  Anti-social me, has made some really nice player friends in Wizard101.  Like my gaming style, I might have to reclassify myself here soon.  I went from calling myself casual to figuring out that I'm really free-style.  I was rather social in Warhammer  Online with the Casualties of WAR guild members, and now very good pals in game with Capn John and his son, Tipa and her friends (Friendly Necromancer), who I'm slowly meeting.  Maybe I'm not so much anti-social as I am cranky.

I was kicking back checking email when I saw a note from Tipa.  She and a friend were already in game and were trying to form a group to do Kensington or Big Ben.  I knew from the forums that Kensington was a difficult instance and not very popular.  I'd read that it took three people minimum, wasn't required content and didn't have any outstanding drops so players weren't bothering with it.  I didn't have anything in particular planned so I jumped in the game and hoped that I wasn't too late, and I wasn't.

Playing in a larger group with longer encounters was enticing.  I wanted to experience playing my character in her group role.  I guess my magic school Balance, is like the WOW Druid or Paladin?  I can tank a bit, do moderate damage, play support role, I will eventually have a rez and I have a moderate one-trick-pony heal.  It's an excellent option for soloing and flexible for group play.

Adventure Soloing Katz Lab

Accompanying photo album

When I stepped into the zone and completed the puzzle to unlock the two gates, I knew it was going to be a rough ride.  The wooden mannequin-like soldiers were running all over the area that I needed to traverse.  I hate them with a passion.  They’re very fast and they often travel in a zigzag pattern making them hard to avoid, which means you have to fight them along the way to your true destination.  Fighting them along the way means more time to complete the instance, along with depleting your mana.  Worse off for me, is that they were Balance school magic, as am I.  Ugh.

I’ll rush ahead and not bore you with the details of fighting them as Balance, them as Storm and all the other trash equivalent mobs I fought while doing pre-requisite mini quests to gain access to the Lab.   Suffice it to say, that I’d already used two potions by the time I made it to his lair.  Constantly pulled into battle before I’d gotten enough health back, replaced cards in the Treasure stack or swapped base cards for the appropriate shields, was nerve wracking and painful.  Bit by bit and fight by fight, I made it to the entrance

Suri Jadeshade Pet Hunter: Knight’s Court Doom Scurrier

An agenda item of mine in Wizard 101 is collecting unique pets.  So far I’ve been lucky enough to have two of them drop while working on quests.  Recently I decided to purposefully farm one that drops in my current zone, the Doom Scurrier spider which comes from the Black Widow in Knight’s Court, Marleybone.  Here’s a retelling of that adventure.

Here’s Suri, as her crime-fighting alter ego, Melanie Clotheshorse…

No offense to Louie, but he can be a bit of a stick in the mud.  He’s not nearly as daring as you’d expect for a full-blooded Ghoul.  I mean, he’s already dead so what’s the worse that can happen?  Yet on more than one occasion, I’ve found him lagging around the corner when I’ve decided we should plunge head long into the unknown.  He’s also impatient when I’m trying to find the perfect attire for a rendezvous or encounter.  The sound of his toe bones tapping impatiently while waiting sets my nerves on edge.  So as much as I love and adore my long time companion, Sir Louie, even the best of friends sometimes need a break.

My contract work for Sherlock Bones requires subtlety and daring.  I’m just a starting protégé so I don’t get assigned to anything extremely dangerous.  Yet the presence of the sinister is always near when dealing with criminals of the under world.  I thought Louie would be perfect as my companion, and he is at times.  But I need someone who’s not afraid to get really dirty and devious when needed, and I think I’ve found the perfect candidate.

The Black Window clan, infamous Doom Scurrier kidnappers and trainers, are reported to be operating once again, in Knight’s Court.  The initial report came from an undercover operative from Scottland Yard, who hasn’t been heard from in weeks.  If I can infiltrate their hide out and defect the ringleader, I might find a Scurrier who hasn’t been wholly corrupted and convince him or her into taking up a life in law enforcement, in order to get a little revenge.  Devious to be sure, morally questionable maybe, but one must fight fire with fire.

Suri's Marleybone Farming List

Oh the joys of drooling over good lootz.  I read through the wonderful Marleybone Boss guide I posted earlier.  It's like when I was a kid, flipping through all the toy catalogs around Christmas time.  *Sigh*

I'm not going to spend a lot of time farming.  However, there evenings when I feel like bumping around the game but not questing.  Unlike other MMOs I've played, W101 is a very contained world without many exploring opportunities.  You can discover hidden rooms, shops and NPC characters but it's not a rolling landscape in which to get lost.  Consequently, I farm bosses when I want to just piddle around.

Excellent Marleybone Boss Guide

It might not have every item, but this is an excellent compilation of the bosses and their unique drops.  I'm about half way through Marley and see a couple of items that I'm going to casual farm while I'm still in the zone. I found it here on the Wizard101 Central Forum.

Virtual Savvy World

Yesterday I was cleaning up the inventory in my dorm room.  The very limited storage space we are allowed was filling up rapidly.  Out of the blue, I received a random text message.  I didn’t recognize the name so it must have been from someone who’d asked to be added to my Friends List when I was in a good mood.  “Today is my birthday,” the message began.  “Please come to my party for a little while.”

One of the VERY convenient features in Wizard 101 is the ability to portal to your friends.  Immediate portaling to your friends greatly simplifies grouping up to do content.  Eliminating unnecessary travel time also encourages players to lend quick hand.  I wasn’t doing anything in particular and if some young person’s day would be brightened by having a virtual party, I could certain spare a few minutes.

W101 - Short Decks and Deck Variation

For the past week I’ve been experimenting with very short decks.  Being a Balance Wizard, my strength is being a jack-of-all-trades.  I only have moderate damage unless it’s been buffed.  As an offset, I have spells that allow me to do very versatile de-buffing and damage mitigation.  Until now, I’d been playing with a large deck, always upgrading to the largest deck possible as I leveled.  However, I found that playing a large deck lengthens combat time and as I received more “kill-x something” quests, I was motivated to investigate options of killing more swiftly.  I felt a shorter deck would aide me in achieving this goal.

The first problem I had was coming up with the right mix of spells – offensive, defensive and augmentation.  How many Balance cards should I stack which have have lower damage but higher accuracy, versus my Storm cards with their higher damage but lower accuracy.  After a few playing sessions I came up with a really nice mix.  The only problem was that I had to change the composition of damage, buff and mitigation based on the magic school of my opponent.  Changing quickly and on the fly, often messed up the delicate mix of spells in my shorter deck.

What do you do when you can buy your gear?

In my mind I thought, "I'll never seriously play a game with RMT."  I mean, what would be the point of the game if you can buy whatever you want?  I know there are Asian games with RMT that do very well in their demographic. However, since no Asian game has ever appealed to me, I assumed RMT wouldn't either.

In comes Wizard 101 and my experiences in that game have changed my opinion.  It wasn't until I reached the second world that I realized you could by more than just vanity items.  It was there that I found full gear sets, weapons and accessories for sale via in-game gold or crowns which are purchasable with real money. 

Shortly after my discovery I purchased a set.  Good gear is always valued, even more so when you solo.  Since most MMOs have you progress by questing for, grinding for and collecting gear and other possessions over the course of time, what do you do in a game if you can just buy gear?  The answer is simpler than you think.  You just play the game.

W101 Friends List: It shouldn’t be this hard.

A frantic Miss Melany Clotheshorse filed a missing persons report today at Scotland Yard.  The missing persons are her cousin, Suri Jadeshade and family friend, John Lifesinger.  The trio had arranged a meeting outside the Royal Museum to exchange Friends Lists.  “It’s such a horrible inconvenience,” complained Miss Clotheshorse.  “If there’d been an easier way to complete the exchange other than meeting in person, this never would have happened!”

The trio was set to meet outside the famed Royal Museum just before closing.  Recent thefts and vandalism by the Puppypound Gang, makes the area unsafe after dark.  When questioned about what time she was supposed to meet her friends, Miss Clotheshorse hesitated.  “Well, I might have been a touch late,” she explained.  “I mean, what lady can pass Madame Lola’s robe shop and not stop in for a few minutes.”

Although Miss Clotheshorse insists she was only late by a few minutes, her long time companion Ghoul Louie, claims they stayed in Madame Lola’s for over two hours!  He was certain that is was dark when they left the shop.  Scottland Yard has its best MP squad out looking for the missing pair.  Anyone with information is urged to contact Officer Crowley immediately.

Continue here for the real story…

M-A-R-L-E-Y-B-O-N-E, I’ve arrived!

Woot, I made it to Marleybone, the third world in, Wizard 101.   This was not an easy journey.  Kiddie game or not, you have to work to progressively access the content.  After dying to the final boss in a long chain, where he only had 17 health left to my 53, when my spell fizzled, I was very…err…uhm, unhappy!  It was late and I couldn’t believe that I was going to have to start over.  Determined and obsessed with reaching Marleybone, I set my alarm for 5 AM so that I’d have time for another attempt before work.  Yeah, that’s bad but I was so friggin’ pissed that I couldn’t stand it.  “He must die.  His minions must die.  The whole freakin’ creepy slithering croc-tailed lot of them must die!! *Takes a deep breath*

At 5AM ET, I got up for a white knuckle attempt at completing the instance.  If I couldn’t solo it this time, I’d have to put out a call for help from Tipa, Star or Capn John.  I was more prepared having done the encounters the previous night.  Even still, it was no cake-walk.  Every mistake in judgment made my heart lurch.  Every close call was a mini heart attack.  I know for a fact that I now have grey hair.   By 5:45 AM ET, I was doing the final sequence of fights before stepping in front of Krokopatra.  Here are a few pictures to commemorate the end of the journey.  I didn't get any good ones of Krokopatra who I had to battle completely alone as the card for my minion just wouldn't surface.