Wizard101

I received over 1,400 correct entries to my Manta Ray giveaway! That was a LOT! So, I guess the answer (A ARMY ANT) was pretty obvious, and maybe letting everyone see what everyone else answered made it REALLY easy but hey, I wasn’t interested in giving the SAT here :) Extra smiles to the people who said “ANT MARY”! I’m from New England and we pronounce “aunt”, “ahhnt”, so I didn’t get the pun until several people pointed it out to me :) That was considered a correct answer as well. ...

Discovery Channel may have their Shark Week, but that’s kinda lame, if you ask me. They’d be better off having a Manta Ray week. The first place they’d have to come to find the Very Best Manta Rays would be very deep in the Spiral, in a watery realm called Celestia. Maybe Selena Gomez could mention it to them because, heck, she’s been there already. She’s scoped out the fine mantas of Calypso’s realm for sure. Camera crews might be on their way – in fact one camera crew surprised me in my home while I was training a new crop of rays. ...

After the couple of weeks at Master Gardener, I didn’t expect to get to Grandmaster Gardener quite so soon. It was those Silver Trumpet Vines that did it; 300 xp per harvest, 3000 xp when they went elder, and I had four of the plants, the only remainders of my once-flourishing garden. I had a whole new plot picked out that has never seen a single seedling. Now that leveling isn’t a concern any more, I’ll have to pick out plants for what they harvest. With all the pet snacks they’ve given, maybe I could finally level up one of my pets :)

Who owns your MMO character? The game companies say they do, but they didn’t put hundreds of hours into turning the character from an animated paper doll into a person with relationships, memories, friends, victories, stories and history. But it’s precisely because you HAVE taken the time and done all these things that the companies can keep running their game. But as long as game companies control access to your character, you’re paying them so that you can add value to their game. ...

I suck at predictions, but everyone else is doing them. Luckily, I have a Magic 8 Ball. I’m just gonna list some games, and ask the Magic 8 Ball what it thinks of them. Question to the 8 Ball for all of these games: Will this game have a good year in 2011? Age of Conan: “Outlook Not So Good”. AoC released its first expansion, “Ride of the Godslayer”, last summer, and that’s pretty much the last I’ve heard of the game. I don’t think the Magic 8 Ball is correct; I think Funcom is content to support their current player base without feeling the need to go F2P. Their massively hyped launch should have helped them recoup their development costs years ago. ...

I long ago pre-ordered SOE’s DC Universe Online, but this was my first opportunity to play it, in beta, on the PC. Though it’s on the PC, the little picture hints and controls clearly expect you to be using a PS3 controller to play the game. I don’t have a PS3 controller, but I do have a XBox controller, so I plugged it in and away I went. ...

I’d hoped that the Giving Tree would give, as its final gift, the seed for another Giving Tree, but – no such luck. A bunch of rare Celestia harvests, a handful of gold and Rank 7 – Expert Gardener – will have to do in its place, I guess. I’d been saving a Rank 7 seed just for this occasion, the Maelstrom Snap Dragon, which was intended to fill the Giving Tree’s empty plot. The Large Enchanted Soil required for the plant couldn’t fit in the spot where the Giving Tree had been planted, so I had to plant it across the path, which is going to be inconvenient. I planted more Baby Carrots where the tree had been, instead. ...

I SHOULD be playing the BTCNBM… oh what the heck, I should be playing in this weekend’s Rift beta event. And I have, but … past few days, I’ve been getting closer and closer to finishing Celestia. The turning point was getting Ra and the Forest Lord. With a one-two AE punch that could clear through trash in a couple rounds, the remaining quests went MUCH faster. ...

It seemed level 58 would never come to my dynamic wizarding duo in Wizard101. Slogging through grindy grind after grindy grind. Last night, The Friendly Necro kindly help me kill a bunch of Megamind-style Minions in the Science Center for one sort of thing. THAT took forever. Then the quest continued – I had to go back and kill the OTHER kind! Ugh! So I logged off. ...

Plant a tree for charity! KingsIsle is using its new Gardening system as an innovative way to give to local children’s charities. Simply buy a Giving Tree seed in its cash shop, plant it, and harvest the unique rewards while helping kids in need. Give the Gift of Magic with this Giving Tree! Last year our players raised $125,000 for Charity! This year, we are offering our players a chance to give a little Magic to someone in need. ...