Wizard101

This is Mithraya, the final boss in the Trial of the Spheres. I’m not certain, when Celestia actually goes live, that the Trial of the Spheres will turn out to be the ultimate dungeon in the world, but it IS the one that drops all the level 58+ legendary armor. Putting traps on Mithraya is pointless; she just removes them. I’ve heard again and again that Celestia is very difficult. I heard on Twitter that some are pronouncing the short deck dead in Celestia. That is wrong on both counts. We fought Mithraya with three wizards – a level 50 life wizard, a level 50 balance wizard, and a level 58 (and again at 60) fire wizard. There was never any doubt that we would win. Sure, the bosses in the Trials CHEAT – all Celestia bosses do. Sure, they start out with six power pips. But they don’t pump out the damage the way the bosses in Briskbreeze or the Warehouse do. ...

Before I get started, wow, thanks KingsIsle for the stuff! I was shocked to find a code in my in-box this morning for a new house (a Fairy Palace!) and some other random items. Shocked, and overjoyed :) W101 truly does have the best community team – and the best community. I’m so excited to be so close to Celestia. Some of the people on the Test Realm have already completed all the Celestia quests (aside from, perhaps, defeating the Umbra Queen, the final boss). One wizard claimed to have completed the expansion in less than 24 hours, which seems a little… over-enthusiastic. Nonetheless, wizards with their special level 58 class spells are not uncommon in the Test server. Dedicated players have almost solved the collection quest (“Lounge Lizards” – in a nod, no doubt, to the satirical bluegrass group, “The Austin Lounge Lizards”). Some players have already settled in to start farming the high level gear. ...

Updated! Links to information about the new spells at the end of the post. Whoa! Celestia’s finally on the Test server! I’ve been playing on it a few hours, just long enough to learn the mystical incantation which allows wizards to survive underwater and to start investigating the Crab Realm. The crabs, you see, have been attacking the underwater city constructed by the Marleybone explorers, who traveled across the Spiral by balloon. ...

Sure, Wizard101 is free… for certain values of free. I guess I’m just going to have to fall back on definitions, here. I was thrilled to have the opportunity to talk to KingsIsle’s VP of Marketing, Fred Howard, today! Thrilled and a little surprised. What about yesterday’s Wizard101 post, I wondered, could have caught his attention? The gentle fun being poked at the humorously irrelevant Facebook sidebar ads? ...

I know this Selena Gomez promotion KingsIsle is doing isn’t MEANT for me. But we adult W101 players get pulled in anyway, because, hey, we want to play Celestia, and if playing Celestia TODAY means we have to do it while KI lends itself to the Disney megacorp publicity machine, then I guess I’ll play. So my characters, having battled the thousands of other players to FINALLY get their Tower Captains last night, managed to get their Selena Gomez fan kit – statue and poster – and had to come up with a place to put the things. And that became a little contest. ...

Seriously, KingsIsle? You’re blatantly shilling teen actor/singer/Disney creation Selena Gomez’s new CD in the game? It’s the one that’s driving all the amphibians and crustaceans in the Spiral MAD! Talking fish can’t get enough of her intoxicating beauty! The indescribable sweetness of her music! She MUST become queen of Crab Alley! Except that her parents would freak that she, like, disappeared. The same way all the parents of every other wizard in the game (all presumably separated from their families back on Earth) don’t. ...

As part of Wizard101’s second year celebration, every account gets a ninja pig transformation potion. Now everyone can understand for fifteen minutes how Myth wizards feel every day of the year. Awesome. In the September Producer’s Letter, Leah Ruben drops some hints about upcoming features, and precious little about Celestia! My number one Celestia question? Not that anyone asked, but if I could have her answer one question in her NEXT producer’s letter, it would be how come Celestia is an underwater realm? The old Celestial Armor, before it was removed from the game (and later returned to the Crowns shop) had wings all over it. We know Celestia brings us Astral magic, based on the Sun, the Moon and the stars – things of little concern to undersea critters (except the Sun). Well, arguably, both the Sun and the Moon affect tides and…. ...

My friend Michael Stormpyre and I were farming for grandmaster gear the other night. I was on my myth wizard, Marissa Spiritcaller, and I was getting a little frustrated by the awful nature of the higher level myth spells. My Minotaur and Orthrus spells did a trap-destroying weak attack before the now-debuffed main attack. Setting up an attack required casting two myth traps, two feints and so on, so that, having wasted traps on the weak hit, I would still have some left over for the main damage. Otherwise, I would be very lucky to break 1K damage on blades alone. ...

I should be preparing for my trip to NH for a family reunion tonight, but I couldn’t resist the opportunity to help a friend with Labyrinth… a couple of times… and also finish up the Dragonspyre stone rose and books quests. Combined with another side quest I’d totally missed first time around, and Marissa gained the last two bubbles to hit Grandmaster Conjurer. First thing: Put on the Malistaire robe she won. Second thing: Take that UGLY THING OFF AGAIN! Since she had hit the money cap (150,000 gold), she couldn’t even sell her stuff, so she went to the Bazaar and bought a good outfit for stitching – price was no object. Stitched it to her robe and level 45 hat and boots and another well-dressed Myth wizard is ready for Celestia. ...

In a vain attempt to get my Myth wizard to 50 (so close!) AND also get the rest of her level 50 gear, I’ve been farming Yeva Spiderkeeper for her Myth hat. No luck so far after about ten tries, but I DID get the Queen Spider pet (seen above) on my first try. So that’s something. The big question to my mind, though, is… where’s Celestia? I was hoping it would be out in July, but we’re approaching the middle of August and it’s not here. ...