Family Portrait

Just in case there's some confusion, I'm playing multiple wizards together on one account. I put them all together for a virtual family portrait.



Sierra Starsong (in blue & white) - Level 50 Ice - Beat Malistaire before Grizzleheim was discovered, finished Grizzleheim through Helgrind Warren

Olivia Starsong (in green) - Level 48 Life - Completed Grizzleheim, working on Crucible in Dragonspyre

Danielle Starsong (in purple) - Level 30 Storm - Finsihed Grizzleheim through Mirkholm, just started Chelsea Court in Marleybone

Jordan Starsong (in orange & black) - Level 9 Death - Finished Triton Avenue, working on Cyclops Lane / Firecat Alley

Dusting Off the Wand

Hello, this is Sean EmeraldWeaver here (remember me?)  And yes, folks, I am dusting off the old wand and working up the oni.  Though my subscription is canceled I remain posting news, features, and the like.  In the real world school is going… School like.  Teachers, Homework… But two music classes and going home at the end of the day makes it worth it.  Thanks for reading,

 

Sean E.

Camera Angles

Dear KingsIsle,

Can we please get some better pictures for housing items?

Everything is shown from a straight side-on view, which is okay for chairs or book shelves, but what about flat things? All that shows up for a rug is a straight line. How am I supposed to know if it clashes with my favorite wallpaper if I can't see what color it is?

Another problem with housing photos is scale. The pics are all just floating in space, nothing around it to tell what size it is. Will that statue fit on my desk, or even squeeze into my dorm at all?

So, here are some better shots of things with bad catalog photos.



First up, the Low Statue Base, crafted from one of Eudora Tangletree's recipes in Olde Town. I've got a Large Potted Fern on this one.



Next is the Ornamental Stepstone, another crafted item. Wul'yam in the Krokotopian Oasis sold me the recipe. These same stones are in the MooShu gate room, just as you come down off the central platform. There's no way to tell what shape this is or if it has any kind of design on it from looking at the recipe.

Are there any items you're wondering about? Let me know and I'll try to get better photos for you.

Party Time!

Wizard 101 had a fairly extensive update early this morning, so don't be surprised if the game takes quite awhile to load the next time you play. (I'm posting this while mine's working on it.) And what did they do? Decorate for the birthday party, of course!

From their announcement page:

Come join the party!
We've decorated the Commons, Shopping District and Ravenwood with streamers and balloons to make the world more festive!

And what's a party without a party hat! Each player will receive a party hat!

To receive your hat, follow these steps:

1. Go to Wizard101.com the website
2. Log in to the website with your Wizard101 login and password.
3. Click the words "Redeem Card or Code" under your name.
4. Click "Wizard101 Promotional Codes"
5. Enter the code "party" and click Continue - follow the instructions on those pages to receive your hat!

The next time you log in to Wizard101, your hat will be waiting for you.

Thanks for celebrating with us and see you at the party!

It's one party hat per account, but it's tradeable so you can put it in your shared bank and let all your characters take turns wearing it. Unfortunately it's not dyeable, pink's not really my color. I saw another girl with a pink hat as well, so I'm guessing the boys get blue. If anyone has both boy and girl characters, let me know if the hat changes color depending on who's wearing it.

It can be done!

My husband, playing as Wolf Skythief, has been farming Grubb off and on for a long time now, trying to win a Wraith statue for his house. Sunken City is pretty easy for a Grandmaster Necromancer to solo, a blade and maybe a prism or two, then pull out a Scarecrow and Boom! fight's over. I caught him starting another run last night, my Storm wizard hadn't done it yet, so I asked him to let Danielle tag along. We go through fight after fight, Danielle even gets in a hit or two, and we make pretty quick work of Grubb and his buddies.



You guessed it - Danielle got a Wraith statue without even trying, and hubby got stuck with yet more low-level gear for a school he can't use. Yes, this thing is HUGE! It barely fits in Danielle's dorm room, the top of her hat comes right up to its knees. At least we found out it's no trade / no auction (limit 1) so Wolf can quit haunting the Bazaar for it.

Quick Tips

I've learned a couple of new tricks recently. Maybe these are obvious to some folks but I missed them until someone told me, so here they are in case you missed them too.

I've been working on the first Dragonspyre crafting quest for awhile now. I have to make five rings, each of which requires fifteen diamonds. (That's 75 total, if you're keeping track.) Diamonds are one of the Rare Harvest reagents, found sometimes with Ore. When they say it's Rare they're not kidding - I'm lucky to find one or two for every hundred Ore I pick up. So when I get tired of running around and hoping, I spend awhile in the Bazaar hoping to score a Diamond or two there before someone else snatches them up.

Did you know you can Refresh the listing of items for sale by clicking the icons at the top? Instead of closing out of the Bazaar and then bugging Elik again, I just click the Reagent symbol to see if anyone's sold more Diamonds since the last time I checked. It's definitely faster than waiting for eighty-odd pages of hats to load, and speed is the key for snagging those rare finds.

The main reason I've been working toward that Master Crafter badge is so I can start building cool furniture. I've heard it can be done, and I've already bought a Housing craft station, but I couldn't find any recipe vendors selling the plans for those carousels and wall clocks I've seen.
Just like your backpack, you can click the House icon to see any Furniture recipes for sale! So far the only ones I've seen offering furniture are the main dealers, the ones handing out the crafting quests. But at least now I know where to look.