MMORPG

Proving again just how awesome they are, KingsIsle will patch in some reagent and crafting changes early tomorrow morning. I’ll have an “in game” report about the changes tomorrow evening. There will be an update to Wizard101 July 8th at 3am Central US Time that will include the following important updates! **Enhanced Boss Encounters Update ** The bosses of the Spiral have been taught a lesson by Merle Ambrose, and they will no longer interrupt your combat! All the Enhanced Boss Battles are back to normal, but the bosses have kept their knowledge of Power Pips, and they will earn and use Power Pips just like a Wizard. ...

Wow, it’s been awhile since I did an EQ2 fashion post. But, ahead of my (soon to be) triumphant return to the game in a big way – waiting on the new character transfer service to carry my characters to a new home on Antonia Bayle server – it’s time to start getting things ready for the trip. I really hope that Antonia Bayle server will be a more relaxed, casual experience than my current home, Najena. I was goofing off last night, listening to channels, and it sounds like T2 TSO armor PLUS mythical weapon is the baseline for TSO groups now. My main, Dina, has T1 TSO + Kunark raid armor (and her mythical), but my cleric? Her armor is just RoK group armor – and no fabled, much less a mythical weapon. My goal is to get Dina her T2 armor, and to get Dera (cleric) T1 armor + Fabled epic. ...

With the Grizzleheim expansion, KingsIsle also brought crafting to the world of Wizard 101. The crafting system chosen is the most … um … unique(?) … that I’ve seen in any MMO. Crafting in the real world was once the domain of skilled artisans who devoted years to learning their craft, and then spent the rest of their careers making items of art and utility for their customers. A good craftsman’s name was known far and wide, but every village had a smith, and larger towns and cities would have entire quarters set aside for the crafting trades. ...

Along with Grizzleheim, the folks at KingsIsle introduced new boss battles more along the lines of bosses from traditional MMOs like World of Warcraft or EverQuest II, which required specific strategies to defeat. In particular, the fight against Malistaire went from a rather ordinary fight to one requiring a quite specific strategy. I personally believe we haven’t yet found the strategy the designers intended, as there are no (or very few) master crafters. But nonetheless, the folks at KI have decided to give these encounters another look. The picture above has what I imagine Drake really WANTS to say, but what he ACTUALLY says is: ...

I probably shouldn’t have titled this post “First Night in Grizzleheim”, because I hardly went there after doing the quests to open it. At 50, Tara doesn’t get any experience rewards from defeating monsters or completing quests, nor are any of the gear rewards any upgrade, so she has no reason to go. Allison, my Balance wizard on my second account, just hit 30 and is a perfect level for Grizzleheim – but she’s been partnering with my level 13 Myth alt, Marissa. And level 13 is too low for Grizzleheim – she can’t get any of the quests yet. ...

Yesterday, EverQuest launched its new 51/50 server to rave reviews, and this morning, Wizard 101 launches its latest expansion, Grizzleheim. So many cool things happening, but who has the time to play them all? Inspired by the Star Wars: Galaxies news out of SOE’s Fan Faire last weekend, Werit jumped into the game after some time away and found a lot to like with the new battlegrounds, player-created content and factions wars. He even has some video! ...

Grizzleheim, the Bazaar, crafting, groups, open chat, and newly enhanced boss mobs comes to Wizard 101 July 1st, after an extended downtime. Wizard101 will undergo an extended maintenance window on 01 July 2009 from 3am to approximately 5am Central US time. This downtime may extend beyond two hours and we will message accordingly. Wizard101 is going offline to add Grizzleheim, Crafting, Bazaar and Enhanced Chat features to the game. For more information on what is being added to Wizard101 at this time, please see our Update Notes. ...

EDIT: I apologize – the service I used to host the wallpaper instead shrunk it. I have replaced that link with a link to the full sized, 1280x1024 version.*** I got a shocking letter from Fernando Blanco of KingsIsle today. As a thank you gift for all the Wizard 101 players who read my blog, the artists have drawn up a “cast list” of all the faculty and staff at the Ravenwood School for the Magical Arts… look closely, because if I’m guessing right, Wizard 101 Director J. Todd Coleman himself (or someone who looks a lot like him) sneaked in while they were gathering for the photograph (see if you can pick him out)! ...

Only 178 days till Christmas! With 2009 halfway gone now, I thought you’d want to know. I predicted this year would be one of the best ever for MMOs, with some high-profile releases and expansions, but with many titles delayed and some now not due until next year (like Star Trek Online and EQ2’s Sentinel’s Fate expansion), 2009 just might lose the “best year ever” crown to 2010. My being bad at predicting was harshly lit when I predicted last year that the expansion that would turn out to be Shadow Odyssey would be Odus, and this year, when I predicted Velious, it really WAS Odus… and what’s worse is that it really is about what you’d expect from a generic expansion. ...

So, that’s that.