The Santa Run

What is it?

The Santa Run is held every December which is hosted by my great friend AroundTheSpiral. The intention of this is to bring the community together to have fun, chat and interact with other wizards, and bring out some prizes

Now what are the Prizes?

There are so many to list off but I don't wanna list them all here (It would take forever to be honest) so instead to see all the infomation about prizes, head to http://www.edwardlifegem.com/p/current-contests.html

Any Notable Things for this year's?

There is actually in fact some huge things compared to last years, such as a dedicated streamer who will broadcast the entire event for those who aren't able to attend this years. There is also a bigger emphasis on this event because of the Promotion from Thursday's KI Live and I will have the Krampus staff on hand :)

Who Do I follow for the latest Run Updates?

I recommend you follow @Brimstoneconnor (He's the official streamer for this event), @AroundTheSpiral (Host main account), @EdwardLifegem (Host Secondary Account), and lastly @Adreamwalker (Co-Host)

Faction Vendors: Are they worth the badges?

Hello everyone, ever since my badge questing with Kelsey Fireheart yesterday, that got me thinking: Is the badges really worth the faction vendors? To that I ask myself 2 things, How do they benefit me and What are the costs to get an item such as this. So here are the things that I listed below based of the two things.

To really consider these faction items is asking if it benefits you at all. Several items in both equipment and housing are indeed very useful to get such as the Faction Mounts which require you to have the Badges "Dunes Warrior" which requires defeating 50 djinn and the faction based badges of defeating 50 of X. Say for example for the serpentine, the mount displayed below requires us to get both Dunes Warrior and Serpentine Scout.

 

That will require us not to only defeat 50 Djinn but to also defeat 50 Calixco guardsmen/women in Rubal Wastes and that is not a easy challenge since most of the Djinn are balance and well they typically spam loremaster while the guardsmen try to one shot you with a backdraft, I was able to do these requirements under 2 hours. This is an amazing way to get new mounts without resorting to using Micro-Transactions to get the mounts. Keep in mind that Dunes Warrior is required on every faction mount so if you want it, you have to defeat 50 djinn.

Moving on to housing, if you really love decorations of a certain faction then go on and buy it but the certain item I wanna talk about are the tapestries that are sold throughout mirage. These tapestries require you to get a higher rank meaning defeating 100 of X. So again, going back as serpentine we discover there's a tapestry to Istanboa, however there is a higher badge for you to do this time around. Luckily it doesn't require a secondary badge like with faction mounts.

This single badge though requires you to defeat 100 Calixco Guardsmen/women so that you can buy this. I really say this is something that is worth investing in if your a tapestry master. 

My Final Thoughts

Mirage is quite an interesting world in general and is the first world in a long time that really gets you involved but that's besides the point. The point here is that the faction vendors are indeed worthwhile if it benefits to your cause such as new styling of carpet mounts or tapestry to certain areas of mirage for your novices. I'm not sure whether or not you guys care about faction vendors but I do have a feeling we will have an expansion on this soon in other worlds.

A name change: Is it something we need?

I've been thinking, in real life we are able to change our names legally if we want to. But then when I looked at a post provided by Rylee Ravenheart on wizard101 central, she wanted to give the option to change the name of your wizard which is something I am for but while at the same time I feel as though this can be abused a lot if it was allowed infinitely. If it was only set to twice or 3 times, I would be satisfied with it, I mean lets be honest, not all games last forever. I would also like to make it gold based instead of purely crowns because not everyone can afford it however if KI decides to take the real life route, then it would indeed cost In game premium currency or U.S dollars. Rylee Ravenheart has some great suggestions about this and you should read the rest here: http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?476725-Paid-Name-Changes&p=5371600#post5371600

Overall what do you guys think about this idea? Please post your responses to @Brimstoneconnor 

Burning's Viewpoint on Level 120 PvP (Gearwise)

I came down with the stomach flu shortly after thanksgiving so this article may have been delayed a few days.

Hello guys, its been two days since my last post and I wanted to take a look at the other half of Level 120 PvP in terms of Gear and well from my outlook, it really could be broken depending upon how KI uses these convert percentages are used. The friends over at Duelist101 provided neat screen caps of the new items and I decided to include in the most IMPORTANT aspects for PvP, Athame, Amulet, Ring, and Deck.

  

                   
 

Athame:

The Level 120 version is basically an upgraded 110 athame with some percentages added here and there which is something I really like and dislike at the same time. Although in the first place, why couldn't we see something unique and different with the incoming/outgoing? Overall, the athame is something only very enthusiastic PvP players should get.

Ring:

Like the level 110 Ring before this one, it really didn't stack up against the level 100 ring. I admire KI for trying to add in critical as a mainstream staple but for PvP purposes it really isn't helpful unless your trying to critical on spells all the time. Instead what KI should do is focus on placing in 35 block rating, 3% universal pierce, and 45 critical rating just so it balances all out to what the 120 ring has now. The ring I recommend for now is still the level 100 ring.

Deck:

This is certainly an upgrade, since the introduction of mirage we all heard about Pip conversion and well we were kinda meh about it. So KI decided to place in Universal Pip conversion onto this new piece of gear. This is something that KI has to experiment more about since of course this is a very new concept and they don't know how to officially set percentages according to level yet. So for the time being, get the deck and test out the pip conversions :)

Amulet:

The amulet is almost no different from the 110 amulet with the one exception being the inclusion of pip conversion. The level 120 Amulet is pretty good and like the item cards before it, it got upgraded a bit from colossal item to epic item. I would say this amulet is a pretty good keeper to buy and I would recommend this as a first purchase with your tickets.

Burning's Viewpoint on Level 120 PvP (Matchwise)

Hello everyone, it has come to my attention that Mirage is coming soon within two weeks or less right? Well, if so then I am kinda uncertain about the 118 spells being used in PvP and I'm thinking on scenarios of what would happen if the 118 spells are used in the 4 types of PvP (1v1,2v2,3v3,4v4).

1v1

This one certainly is gonna be a big changer in how we battle. Since the 118 spells are 4 pips + 1 shadow and we can select who we target to, its easy to assume that its just gonna be all on 1 guy. There are certain instances for like an example life is better off with the 5 pip spell Hungry Caterpillar then this purely because of damage and the added effect of a shield. Same goes for fire with Fire From Above because of damage and the added effect of 3 traps which has more combination potentials. Lastly, balance is also better off with their 5 pip spell, Gaze of fate for this one because not only of the damage, but the way it deals damage along with the benefit of having a +25% bubble for Balance. Notice how i'm only picking on the schools that had single target spells in darkmoor but not the others like Myth, Storm or Balance? Well these 3 schools can benefit from this in someway. In general though, I can see this as only a cheaper 5 pip darkmoor spell without the effects and as a result this is only good if you want to end your opponent early in the match.

2v2

Now this one is somewhat good in the sense that its divided among 2 opponent wizards. Lets take for example fire's Scorching Scimitars, when divided among 2, it does about a colossal enchanted meteor but when enchanted with say Epic, its almost like a 6 pip raging bull without the -25% mantle which is something I could see in the future being used. Same with ice's Climaclysm & balance's Sandworm , when divided among 2, it does about a gargantuan enchanted max damage blizzard/sandstorm but when enchanted with epic, it does the same as a mystic colossus. Believe it or not but Storm's Iron Sultan is much better then tempest because the vast amounts of combos it can do in the aftermath then when compared to take all your pips tempest. As for death, the damage is almost the same as a epic enchanted deer knight, but I think for them they should avoid using this spell in 2v2 situations unless it turns in a 2v1 or 1v1 like situation plus the damage over time aspect of deer knight is much better then just damage. Myth's damage of their spell is the same as a epic frog which is something I'm happy to see myth get and when enchanted its basically a 4 pip mystic colossus with more damage. Life well in short sense is basically a weakened forest lord of 492 but costs 4 pips but when enchanted to epic it does 792 which is something I'd say that its not too bad for life after all.

3v3

This is where at the point I avoid using the new 118 spells since most of the damage will be weaker then what you will get if you used a enchanted non shadow spell such as Blizzard, Sandstorm, or Meteor Strike. The only way I can see this in PvP is if your doing a 3v3 with all schools being one and one of the team members used the new spell to clear out any shields or otherwise using this in quick match tourneys.

4v4

Whatever the 3v3 scenario has also applies to here with one exception, using this in quick matches. Sorry to disappoint but the 118 spells are not useful as AoEs after all.

Burning's Opinion: Mirage Test Realm

Hello everyone its been a while since my last post but here I am once again with test realm updates and my opinions on them. 

Fun Fact: KI released Mirage onto test realm around the same day as when Polaris went live realm. 

Mirage:

Mirage of in itself is really something towards me whether its the intentional puns that Alexander Lionheart wish he would say or several notable Easter eggs throughout the world that were intentionally placed for fan service. This world offered up a bigger play area in terms of the variety of mobs we face, how huge each area is, and well the new street bosses roaming around the areas. 

Street Bosses

Speaking of Street bosses, as of the end of the "Spoilers" free part of Mirage, there are about 5 street bosses in total to fight which is a step up from Polaris's one street boss and eventually one key boss. These Street bosses are indeed difficult to face since they all use shadow magic plus some notable cheats and like polaris, the pets also join in on the fun too which offers up a challenge to those who want to try looting up a pet. 

The New Spells:

As for the newest spells on Wizard101, they arent half bad. From a visual standpoint, they really stepped up their game and made it as though we are gleaming at a hopeful remaster of wiz in HD ( I know its a long strech but it could happen)

    

All these spells divide damage based on the number of enemies you selected (Max 4) which is something I am intrigued in since I feel more people will use this in PvP in terms of both power and a way to combat beguile users. However I feel as though its very weak when its selected as AoE since its divided among all enemies. Life for example has 984 damage to one, but when its divided into 4, its only 246 damage to all enemies which is weaker then ice's blizzard card spell that you can train at level 22. Speaking of which, Ice also shares this since their shadow spell gives off 984 damage. In fact, all of the spells listed above do about relatively the same amount with the difference is just 10-25+ more damage, I get that KI wants to accurately portray which school hits hard and which doesn't. So if your using this in 4v4 PvP, your best off to your regular AoE Spells (Except life cause this is the ONLY option they have as an AoE). As for 1v1, I see this as a new "Burning rampage" of sorts but not as impactful as that spell since this is restricted with a shadow pip. 

Pip Conversion

Now for the part that NO ONE even bothered to look at, the power conversion. This is something I am uncertain this will become a big thing like piercing but no one sees a Pip Conversion Jewel (Yet) in mirage which is something of a relief, but I do see this as a mainstay of wizard101 for years to come.

Housing Magic

Housing magic in summary is really fun. Its almost as though KI looked at Disney Infinity and said "We need to make housing look great again". So then they took the idea of that and well, it really is fun to use. Although the mechanics behind it may seem a bit complex at first but once you know, you can just imagine the endless possibilities.

 Overall, I can say that KI really outdid themselves with letting us wizards gain the ability to be more creative with our house.

                                            

Happy B-Day KI, here's to you: My 7 year reflection on wizard101

Beginnings:

           I was young and wasn't really the brightest back then so I decided to mess around online to look for amazing games. At the time, Fusionfall was really the best thing I was able to play since Cartoon Network at the time wasn't really doing good on its TV channel. I eventually got bored playing Fusion Fall since I was at the max level there and I got some of the best looking gear that includes these amazing white wings in wizard101 only its much bigger and animated. I founded wizard101 by a coincidence, while one day going on to the Fusionfall website, there was an advertisement that promotes a new game style which is all card combat based while using WoW exploration as the main driving force. The story at my younger time seemed amazing and interesting so I was convinced that next time around I would try out wizard101 instead of fusionfall. 

       So I tried out wizard101, hoping that this would be something uniquely different to games such as WoW and to my surprise it does. The gameplay was a mix between WoW and Fusionfall and I felt as though I was playing those 2 games in one. Back then my first ever wizard was ironically (Since I dislike balance now a days because of how broken it is) enough a balance wizard named Austin Deathcoin which at the time was level 60 MAX. Then I decided to played more of wiz and was enjoyed by its new content at the time which was Celestia. 

"MAX" gear in the history of wizard101, Did I like it?   

Level 50

At this time, we didn't care for universal resist (aside from ice school) and didnt care about PvP that much, rather we focused more on defeating this malistaire who was at the time one of the strongest bosses in game (Look up "Wizard 101 - Malistaire!!! (Enchanted version)" you'll understand what i'm talking about) but he dropped the best gear for each school kind of what we have for level 100 later on in Wizard101's lifespan. Level 50 gear to me at the time was amazing so I liked this era's MAX gear

Level 60

Waterworks to me was at the time one of the hardest dungeons to complete next to malistaire back at level 50 but the gear this time had universal resistance to all schools for the 7 schools of focus. The gear set looked silly but still was nice enough to be stand out on its own. This is around the time I admired harder bosses = better loot.

Level 70

Well, there wasn't really a major upgrade since KI at the time was focused more on Zafaria storyline and the behind the scenes of Zafaria. I mean after all, this was the first world in Wizard101 that we got to know a little more about morganthe who wants to engulfs us in a world of shadow by bringing destruction to the worlds.

Level 80

    Back when the max cap was at level 80 and avalon was introduced, I felt as though nothing could go wrong since the gear at the time was catering to what school's strongest attributes are like for example ice with its tanky resistance but low damage or storm's high damage but low resistance which is why I love this era of MAX gear the most.

Level 90

However, once it reached level 90, it started to kinda get there with OP status gear such as with the introduction of the current ring all 110s use today which is the Alpha and Omega ring and Blade of the Fallen Titan. Those 2 items included high universal damage which at the time, it was unheard unless you were a legendary crafter or above. The gear itself wasn't too bad since it seemed op but it had at least one flaw within its status design. This era of gear is kinda broken but not too much since it has at least one flaw and at the time, there wasn't any socket jeweling that can give a person accuracy boosts.

Level 100

Then the big mark hit and it all got loose, gear with perfect stats catered to each school. Piercing was also introduced as a mainstream stay for both PvE and PvP as we can see later on with both Jewel Socketing and mobs in Polaris which is why I think this current era and beyond will be a broken one for both PvP and PvE despite the easier malistaire the undying boss battle and nerf to critical in PvP. 

What am I now?

Today, I still play wizard101 for the enjoyment of others within the community and to interact with them. I also love to enjoy their new updates that they release such as the recently refixed tourney system which now is gold for members and new spells for 110s to learn while waiting for the next world of Mirage. I twitch stream whenever I can just so I can record myself playing wizard101 and for others to interact with me and play on stream. I also started talking with the #Twizard community about the game and see whats on the up to date news about KI's newest update patches. I got to meet several interesting people there including @garyscottsmith2 (The Original Spoiler), @friendlynecro (Also known by me as the Rockin Tom), and @edwardlifegem (Amazing Blog author, check him out).

Here's to another year of Wizard101!

From the depths of Dragonspyre, I wish you a Happy Birthday Wizard101

Jason Summerwielder