Wizard101

The dynamic duo was on the prowl in Grizzleheim once more. The wolves of Mirkholm Keep, once at peace with the bears, have had their trust betrayed by raven lies, courtesy of the evil Munin. Munin was one of two ravens that the All-Father, Odin, used to keep tabs on the world. Even though he only had one eye, he managed to still keep the whole All-Seeing title by sending Munin and his brother, Hugin – Memory and Thought – around the world every night so they could report back all the things they’d seen. ...

The weekend wasn’t ALL EVE Online, though it could have been. That game is just SO addictive, though, that I have to consciously NOT log in, find something else to do. Thankfully, I had Torchlight backing me up. My Torchlight Vanquisher is about 4/5 of the way through the main storyline, and I’m already thinking about her retirement. In Torchlight, once you’ve finished the main storyline, you can continue on with custom maps or user mods, or retire the character. Retired characters can pass along one special item to their heir, and this item will become simultaneously more powerful and lower level. You can keep doing this until you eventually make the most powerful item in the game that can be wielded by a very low level character. My plan now is to retire the Vanquisher Marksman and start a Vanquisher Rogue – a two-bladed dervish of spinning steel, and then use that character to run user mods. ...

The latest update to Wizard101 hits the servers Friday, and it has all the things we saw on the test server, and more! (Well, and less – the Wishing Well will not be coming to Wizard City after all). Announcing Mounts for you to Ride! The next major new content being developed for Wizard101 is a series of Wizard Mounts that provide a fun, fast, and stylish way of getting around. Many different types of Wizard Mounts will be available with more to come in the future. Initially, four will be introduced: Brooms, Horses, Cats, and Dragons! ...

Earth Eternal’s Sylvan have to put up with this every day…. First off, responding to parental concerns that their children would be gambling away their RMT currency for minimal rewards, KingsIsle has announced that the “wishing well” cash slot machine will NOT be making it out of test. Thanks to Fallon of Diary of a Wizard for the scoop! Kaozz of EC Tunnel has compiled a list of a lot of Octember All Hallow’s Eve events for all the major MMOs – including Maple Story, big props for including even the MMOs that are way more popular than WoW – so there’s your to-do list for fall fun. ...

We last left our intrepid duo of Marissa, 34 Myth wizard, and Allison, 36 Balance wizard, exhausted from having herded half a hundred howling cats in Katzenstein’s Laboratory. Needing a rest before pursuing the evil Meowiarty up the numberless lifts and staircases of the Big Ben clock tower, they went their separate ways, but came together last night to complete the job: to prevent Malistaire from getting his foul hands on the sacred Krokonomicon, once stolen from the Order of the Fang by Meowiarty’s murderous clockworks, with which he will complete the destruction of all the worlds of the Spiral. ...

I’ve been playing a bit of Earth Eternal since it went into open-closed beta yesterday. Since I think we’re still unable to actually show the game, here’s a picture of the upcoming stop motion/cgi film, Roald Dahl’s Fantastic Mr. Fox. Now, I don’t KNOW that Sparkplay’s gonna close down to go to the premiere, but I wouldn’t be surprised. Should kids gamble on the Internet? Evil Theurgists wonders why KingsIsle is encouraging kids to blow their parent’s moolah spinning the virtual wheels of Wizard101’s new slot machine – where you spend 15 (and up) Crowns to win the usual prize of 20 gold. You get 15 twirls a day and the rewards are minuscule so… let’s hope this is one feature that doesn’t make it out of testing. ...

Fourth time through the Master/Hard tower, the big baddy drops the Spider Golem, which would be the yellow character there. WOOT! I now have one of the rarest pets in the game! NOW what do I do with my life? Well, I went back to taking Marissa and Allison through Marleybone… Working on Knight’s Court now. I can feel the wonderfulness of Katzenstein’s Lab coming closer and closer… and then I’ll go back to Grizzleheim, I promise. But I have to go see Doc Katz first!

In the next major update, KingsIsle’s Wizard101 will, for the first time, allow players to purchase gifts, for real money, for people on their friend lists. Where once crowds of new characters would beg for treasure cards, now the beggars have entirely new things for which to beg. All of these are based on actual things heard within the space of a few minutes in Wizard City Commons on the Test server. ...

Want to know the worst thing about Halloween in Wizard City? Everyone wants to come as a witch. I’ve been trundling through the Master Tower, looking for that elusive Clockwork Spider, but no sign of it. I’ve gotten a wraith statue and a bunch of dead trees, though, so I guess that counts for something. Makes for a really nice Halloween tableaux, anyway…. :)

Ever wondered what kind of tricks KingsIsle has in store for those brave enough to step into their new instance? Yeah, me too. The quest that starts in Olde Town leads eventually to a new tower in Colossus Boulevard – Briskbreeze Tower. Now THAT doesn’t sound too bad, right? And it isn’t. The first three floors are groups of four rank 7 and 8 elite mobs, so no worse than many ordinary trash mob encounters in Dragonspyre. ...