Halloween-fest News!

Hi there. It's been a while since a good ol' proper post, because of both being buried under the weight of work for our most recent Ambrose2Zeke Champions Contest, and of course IRL work being super heavy. But that's no excuse to miss out on the latest and coolest Wizard101 news! So much has happened!

New Dark Wraith Gear, and a brand new Halloween Pet!

First off, Halloweenfest is here!! (Hooray!!) And with it comes a pile of the usual Halloween ghost catching and lantern finding quests, which are a ton of fun to do, plus this year the quests can be repeated by those who have done them already in previous years! For those wanting an extra challenge, the Halloween Towers have risen again in Ravenwood, so why not put yourself to the test and see if you can come away with some special seasonal loot?

That's not all! Brand new pets and crown shop items have been added for this year's spooktacular celebrations, including Ghostly Dragons and Zombie Piggles! Be sure to pay the Crown Shop a visit whilst you can to grab yourself some of these hauntingly cool items, or else you may find yourself waiting until next year as they may be available for a limited time only!

The Nightmare Mount - The rarest reward from the new Nightmare Packs

PLUS another awesome chance pack is in the Spiral, the deathly themed "Nightmare Pack" just for Halloween! As always this pack contains lots of unique and never-seen-before items, including the rarest of the rare Nightmare Mount! Even if your not so lucky to get one of these extremely rare mounts, there is also a chance for eerie Dark Wraith gear, as well as Scythe-like wands, and the brand new pets as mentioned before!

So I think that's enough news, don't you? Surely there can't be anything more from Kingisle so exciting? No way could there be a brand New Super Bundle, Hawk Bundle, and hints towards a fantastic New World?! Well actually yes, there could! We'll bring ya full details on all those things in another post soon!

Neigh! Flap! Neigh! - We got Pegasi Mounts!

If you follow me on twitter, you may have heard a while back that I predicted Pegasi would become mounts! It wasn't exactly that difficult to guess, but suddenly today.. Boom! We got Pegasi Mounts!
There are two varieties for you to choose from, both +40% speed:

The Nightflame Pegasus: Black with White mane.
(As seen in the gif supplied by KingsIsle on the left.)
The Skyracer Pegasus: White with Blue Mane.

In my personal opinion, they should sparkle just a little! I mean you can't have too much sparkle can you? At the price of 12500 crowns, a Pegasus won't be a purchase bought on a whim, but something so awesome has got to be worth it, right?

Oh and there are 2 new houses available too!
I'm sure Bertlebye Real Estate will be showing you through those later!

Wysteria Update and the Wyvern's Hoard

Guess what Wizards! Wysteria is live!
-throws confetti-

You can find my original post about it on test realm here, and be sure to check out the official update notes, as there are also a few useful tweaks that make your experience around the spiral just a little easier. PLUS we now have teleporters! They can take you between your own houses, or within just one house, and can be crafted using recipes from Celestia Base Camp or purchased in the crowns shop.

What really interests me about Wysteria are the hints to new worlds thrown in here and there, such as this spiral cup contestant from the world of "Mirage", and the strange plants you have to find in Pegasus Place, they're growing candy, and the quest-giver suggests they appeared the same time as the goblins.. meaning that a world of Candyland might be inhabited by goblins and - of course - filled with candy!

I did manage to craft a teleporter, they are really fun to play with, although maybe a little confusing if you forget where you placed them! Definitely a great addition to housing, and I can't wait to see what people do with them, whether it's creating a little hub which ports to all your houses, or creating mazes, puzzles, and secret areas!

Lastly there is the new Wyvern's Hoard, which has a small chance of containing one of a variety of coloured Wyvern Mounts, some colours rarer than others although in my experience getting one at all is rare enough! Be careful and sensible with your crowns here, it's very easy to spend them like crazy! Other possible prizes include teleporters, housing items, new "Greenwarden" gear and wands, seeds, and lots of trees and foliage for your house. Oh and a chocobo chicken coop!

For me, Wyverns are officially the new Chocobos, I want one SO badly, but they are so rare - and the chances of me getting the blue and white one are super-super slim!

Nevertheless, I cannot help but hear this theme when I see them, just because I love Chocobos, and I love the new wyverns..

Okay, I'll stop the final fantasy references now!

~John Spiritshade

Psst... Psst! Yes I'm talking to you! Shh! Be quiet, we are being watched by the Ice Queen!
Sparrowood is under great danger, and we need your help! Attend the secret "Clearing Snow" group on My.DiaryOfAWizard.com before the 28th to enter this event, if you succeed in helping us you will not go unrewarded! I cannot say much now... she is watching! Be quick!

Wysteria Hysteria - A quirky new side-world for Wizard101!

The world of Wysteria is now in the Test Realm for Wizards level 25 and above!

Visit the weird world of Wysteria, home to the Pigswick Acadamy, inhabited (mostly) by pigs! But.. you might find the staff teach things a little differently here!

Discover the amazing competition for the Spiral Cup, and uncover new secrets, mysteries, and meet new characters from all over the spiral! This latest expansion also brings new Gear, Furniture, Crafting Recipes, Gardening Seeds, and of course quests to complete, monsters, villains and bosses to duel with!

After just a few hours play in the Test Realm, I have noticed quite a few hints to possible future worlds. See if you notice them, but this new world to explore is definitely going to be a very unique and unmissable treat.

Level 60? This expansion is also bringing a brand new tower for you, said to be even harder than the Waterworks!

~John Spiritshade
:)

Who let the Dogs out?

KingsIsle sure did, with their latest awesome Wizard101 event!
The first ever Pet-a-palooza has begun both in the Spiral and on KIFreeGames.com!

All Pets in the Crowns Shop are on sale for up to 50% off! Plus, previously retired pets are temporarily available again for this special event, AND we may be seeing some NEW pets throughout the month of June!

If that wasn't enough, hop on over to KIFreeGames.com, and some extra special prizes have been added throughout the month of June, including Guaranteed Gold, Pet Snacks, Possibly even Mega-Snacks, or an Energy Elixir! And if your still not satisfied - even some Awesome Pets, including Death Scarabs, Storm Beetles, FOG Unicorns, Frogs, Red Gobblers, Ianthine Spectres, Viridian Cyclops and more! There really has been no better time to start playing some of those minigames!

Read all the possible prizes you could get throughout the month of June at http://www.kifreegames.com/onlinegames/freegamecodes/scoring

---

Now in other news, the winners for Week 1 of DiaryOfAWizard.com's Ravenwood Ball & Birthday Bash Contests have been announced! And I'd like to give a huge thank you to DiaryOfAWizard, because our poster won the poster contest! Thank you so much!
Thank you also to everyone who complemented me on the poster, I'm really glad you liked it, I did put a lot of hard work into it!
Be sure to check out the runner up posters too, they were all awesome!

http://diaryofawizard.com/main/2011/06/06/wizard101-ravenwood-ball-week-1-winners-new-contests-for-week-2/

AND the above link also contains info about Week 2's contests! Be sure to enter, because there are literally a ton of Wizard101 prizes to be won!

Wintertusk brings an Avalanche of Updates to Wizard101!

The following updates are only in the Test Realm at present.

 It's here much sooner than anyone thought! It's Wintertusk - the new continuation of Grizzleheim that brings with it a huge insight into Wizard101 Lore, and a plethora of features and updates we have all been wishing for - including Wand Stitching!

See the Wizard101 April Update Notes here!

New Level 58 Pets! New and powerful pets can be obtained through a quest given to you by your school Professor! You must be at least level 58 and have completed the quest "Nordrilund Exposure", previously thought to be  the "Blackbird in a Cage" quest, however this is no longer the case and the "Nodrilund Exposure" Quest is needed to be completed in Wintertusk! You must also have completed your previous level 48 Pet/Spell quest to obtain this quest. The new Level 58 Pets are as follows: Ice: Ice Wyvern Fire: Phoenix Storm: Kraken Life: Forest Lord Death: Scarecrow Myth: Humongofrog Balance: Judgement Each new pet gives you an improved version of their spell! AND Speaking of new spells... New Level 35 & Level 55 Spells! Talk to Baldur Goldpaws in Olde Town after completing "Blackbird in a Cage" at Level 35 and "Thief of Spells" at Level 55 to aqquire a new Utility Spell, and an "Upgraded" Spell for your school! AND Crab Alley returns Bigger and Better! Now including new quests, and an instance for legendaries! Plus you can pick up a "Rockstar Outfit" whilst you're there! AND!! You can now Stitch Wands! Now you can cutomize your wizardly appearance to the max, choose any appearance of wand, and stitch it with any wand stats you like for 100 crowns, just like stitching normal gear!4 AANNNDDD IF THAT WASN'T ENOUGH... Mounts can now roam your Castle or Land! From Broomsticks to Bengal Tigers, place them in your home and watch them wander! Plus - Be sure to visit and explore Wintertusk, for many very interesting drops and equipment with fascinating stats and even spell cards can be found there! And believe it or not, there are even more brilliant updates on top of all this! Read the complete update notes to learn about them all! ~John SpiritShade :) Discover more fantastic Wizard101 Stuff at our official website Ambrose2Zeke.com!

New World - Wintertusk!

It looks like Celestian Fever will return again in the form of Wintertusk - the newest addition to the spiral! On March 15th, the first few golden nuggets of information were scattered across the community and upon the Wizard101 Website!

"Wintertusk will complete the epic storyline that began with Grizzleheim and will offer new things to do, and areas to explore for all levels of young Wizards.

Along with Wintertusk, we will also be launching new spells and new level 58 class pets for each main school of focus. We will also be bringing back the underwater area of the Crab King in sunken Triton Avenue, to tell a story about life in Crab Alley after the departure of Selena Gomez."

Thus, Wintertusk is a continuation of Grizzleheim! But not only that, we will get new spells and pets? Now that is what I call awesome, not to mention extremely exciting!! Whether the new Morganthe storyline that Celestia started will take any place in Wintertusk is unknown, however I believe we may discover lots more about the original Wizard101 Lore because....

"Have a sneak peek at Grandmother Raven, and for those of you following the story, Grandmother Raven's appearance will solve many outstanding mysteries of the Spiral!"

Will we meet the Grandmother Raven? She has been mentioned discretely in the past, throughout quests, and books, but it has all been very much enigmatic! Wintertusk is sure to have some very interesting snippets of wonderful lore!

I reckon we will be getting a lot more little droplets of information down the line from now, as Wintertusk is probably a while off! But the anticipation and speculation just makes it all the more fun!

What do you think Wintertusk will hold in store for us?

~John Spiritshade

:)

Discover more fantastic Wizard101 Stuff at our official website Ambrose2Zeke.com!

New Subscriber Benefits!!

Along with the plentiful multitude of wondrous updates coming up this February are new benefits for Wizard101 Subscribers! Now as you probably already know, there have been two ways to pay and play for a while now, and let's be honest, however much crowns player may rant, paying by crowns has so far been, and is, the "better deal". No recurring fee - therefore subscribers will probably end up paying a lot more in the long run, and if they stop paying - it's no Wizard101 for them. 

So first of all, don't cry about these new benefits! They are good! I promise! Incase you don't know what these new benefits are, take a gander below.

"Current active subscribers who have paid with a credit card are now part of our Wizard101 Membership Program! As part of our Wizard101 Membership Program, players who have made a subscription purchase with a valid credit card in the last 30 days, or have an active recurring subscription will have these added features:

1. Energy will refill much faster.
2. Your backpack will grow to 120 slots.
3. Your Crafting Timers will now reset twice as fast.
4. Your friends list will expand to 120 people.

This does not apply to players who use their credit card to purchase Crowns.
This does not apply to players who use Gift Certificates or Gift Cards to make their purchases in Wizard101.
You will have these benefits as long as you have an active renewing membership. These benefits expire when your membership expires."

Crowns players are not losing anything through these new benefits. Nothing at all. However the subscriber offer is simply becoming more desirable, and in all honesty, I believe more fair. Previously, the only benefit Subscribers have had is free Player versus Player, whereas crowns players have had to pay a minuscule fee. Infact, previously I believe, that crowns players have had more benefits than subscribers - unlocking any part of the game they wish - forever! This is a great thing, don't get me wrong, but at the end of the day the subscription option should be the most desirable, because it is a reliable source of payment to kingsisle, whereas with crowns, it is an unreliable, unsteady flow of cashola for kingsisle, who need money to make, and host the game.

Now remember, Crowns Players are not losing anything! However the Subscribers gain just one thing - more convenience. All these new benefits are simply convenient, reducing the times it takes to do things, etcetera. And they in absolutely no way stop or prevent crowns players from doing anything, as a crowns player you may simply need to be more patient, or infact, if you are a crowns player, maybe the reason you do pay by crowns is because you have less time to play, or like to take your time, thus, this isn't that big a kerfuffle is it? :)

Why not wander over to Kestrel Shadowthistle's Blog or Heather Raven's Blog to see what they have to say about it all!

In conclusion, neither option is now the "better deal" - and it probably never was. It all really depends on how you play, and if you are willing to trade your money for mere convenience.

See ya soon,
~ John SpiritShade

Welcome to the Celestial Observatory - New Castles and Lands!

 

Coming to a Housing Crafting Station near you, is the Celestial Observatory!

Yes that's right - Celestian Castles and Lands are here this february, including this wonderful craftable observatory, and the Island Getaway available in the crown shop!

  

One of the great aspects of this new abode, is it's exquisite dueling circle for all your Player VS Player needs!

Of course there are many more really exciting updates in this upcoming patch, and you can check them all out at https://www.wizard101.com/game/community/updatenotes/january2011!!

These updates are also available now in the Test Realm!

Gardening Comes to Wizard101

Yes that's right! A brand new feature is coming to Wizard101! Gardening!

See the Wizard101 November Update Notes here!

( Note! The System is still Work in Progress, and is subject to Change!! )

Here are some other more minor, but extremely interesting updates:

Celestian Furniture
Yes you read that correctly! Celestian Furniture has come to the Spiral, as well as recipes for furniture from our newest underwater world!

Menu Chat
New phrases have been added to Menu Chat, including a quick 'Thank you' for our very polite Wizards!

Quests
The Final Countdown quest can now be completed by a solo player. There is no longer a timer to activate the power crystals and there is also no longer a timer for the two set of creatures that trigger the doors to be opened that are right before Malistaire's room.

Crowns Shop
When an item is on sale in the Crowns Shop, you will now see both the full price with a strikethrough and the sale price, so you can see how much you are saving.

Recipes
Equipment, furniture, pet snack, treasure card and transmute recipes have been added to Celestia!

Reagents
Sandstone and Sunstone can now be found on bosses in The Solar District and the Trial of the Spheres.

^ And Look! I harvested my first Plant in test realm! ^

~John Spiritshade
:)

Discover more fantastic Wizard101 Stuff at our official website Ambrose2Zeke.com!
 

After Celestia! October Producers' Letter!

This month Professor Falmea ( aka Leah Ruben ) finally lets the firecat out of the bag as Celestia goes live on the Test Servers! She talks about Spells, Visuals, Creatures and Story, Difficulty and more, but she also mentions...

"We are also looking towards what comes next after Celestia. Don't worry, though... 99.99% of our attention is focused on making Celestia great. We’re just doing a little bit of scheming and plotting. I can't wait to introduce what we’re cooking up here. While Celestia is very focused on our most accomplished and powerful Wizards, this will appeal to Grandmasters and Novices alike."

That sounds exciting! Could it be another world like Grizzleheim? Or a new feature like the Advanced Pet System?!

You can check out the full October Producer's Letter here!

Wizard101's newest World: Celestia is here!

That's right folks! Celestia is now in the Test Realm! As I am sure you have already heard, many new spells and adventures await you, so I dug out some info from the Sparrowwood library... This is so exciting!

Just SOME new things in Celestia:

1. Celestia is an an ancient world which was plunged into the water due to a great cataclysm!
On your adventures in celestia you will be not only questing through undersea air domes, but also swimming in dangerous and magical waters!

2. The level cap has been raised to 60!

3. There are new Level 58 spells for your wizard!
All of them are really awesome! Here is a video from IGN showing them, and also some celestian areas too!

4. New Secondary Schools of Astral Magic: Sun, Moon, and Stars!

Sun: Cards similar to tough, keen eyes & mutates can be used to buff cards!

Moon: Transform into a totally new form for a few rounds with completely different stats and deck!

Stars: Use "Auras" to add additional buffs to yourself for a few rounds!

Check out our new book on Wizard 101: Astral Magic for Beginners!

5. Critical & Block statistics!

These are just a few things, there are literally LOADs of cool things added, check out the test realm and read the October Update Notes for more!

Discover more fantastic Wizard101 Stuff at our official website Ambrose2Zeke.com!

Celestia! Now?! GDC Gossip!

Today An event called GDC ( Game Developers Conference ) begins, and our Wizard101 "rockstars" Leesha Darkheart from Ravenwood Radio, and the Friendly Necromancer have both gone and visited! J Todd Coleman was even interviewed on Gamebreaker Tv ( more on what he said later ) and Leesha even managed to get in the camera's view with him after his interview haha! All wizards in the spiral are very jealous of those who have gone to the event! We hope you have fun!

Anyway In J Todd's interview, he said "celestia is just around the corner"! He even mentioned a turtle mount, starfish pets and the advanced civilisation of Celestians.
Regarding Training Points, J Todd revealed that we will be able to aquire more training points after 50 form our new higher level spells, so there is no need for us to waste those crowns and retrain!

As the gossip unfolds, we'll try to keep you up to date!
Check out gamebreaker.tv for live coverage of GDC.

~John Spiritshade
:)

Ps. Writing this post on a mobile device, so I will update it soon with pictures etc. Sorry!

Another Celestian Reveal!

 

Sweeeet...  Totally....

A super cute turtle makes an appearence on our newest Celestia Wallpaper Update!!

I really hope it's a pet, because its just so cute!
UPDATE: The Turtle has been confirmed to be a Pet!!

And for those who got the nemo reference, kudos to you!

~ John Spiritshade

PS. You only have a few days left to enter Round 1 of A2ZC!

Ends 29th! Enter now for Wizard101 Prizes!

Get Out of the Water!! Now!!

SHAARRRRRKKKKKKK!!!!!!! 
MOUNT! :D

Hooray! The Selena Gomez Quest is now Live! And along with it, is a brand shiny new Shark Mount!!

( Whom I have dubbed, Sir Jaws. )

Along with this....

A few small changes have been made to the Spiral at this time:

1. Dying your items will be less expensive now. All Dye Prices have been reduced. This will also affect the SELL value of items. We will soon be adjusting the gold value of some items to compensate for the difference.
   
   Yaaay! These dye prices are much better, I checked them out, It's great now!
   
   
2. All starter Dorm furniture items are have been flagged as No Trade. These items can no longer be placed in your Shared Bank.
   
   Hmm... Interesting. I suppose this makes sense!
   
   
3. The Celestian Sword now gives 5 cards, instead of 1.
   
   Personally I dislike this! It was a very unique Sword only giving one card, and added more to strategy... But there you go.
   
   
4. At level 50, the Wizard character page now displays experience as "MAX" and the Experience Bar at the bottom of the screen is hidden. When the level cap is raised, players who are currently level 50 will see their Experience Bar return, and once again be able to earn experience.
   
   Oooh!
   
   
5. Mystery solved! Players should no longer spontaneously revive after being defeated in PvP. Players can still be revived by team mates.
   
   I have never experienced this bug, but sounds annoying if you're trying to win a PvP! Glad this is now fixed.
   
   
6. Fizzles no longer look like grey popcorn.
   
   This has to be my favourite update... Nobody likes grey popcorn.

Many more updates will also be coming when Celestia arrives in the Spiral later this year.

Later this year? Does this mean the release has been set even further back?

Beta the Owl will be back soon with a review of our recent Seraph AoE Poll!
& Remember to enter A2Z Champions Round One!! There isn't much time left!

~ John Spiritshade

:)

September 02 2010 Press Announcement!

"In early Fall, the next chapter in the Wizard101 story will begin with the introduction of the world of Celestia, the game’s largest and most ambitious expansion to date. In Celestia, Wizards will achieve new heights of power as they progress to level 60, discover extraordinary new spells, venture beneath the ocean and learn the deepest secrets of long-forgotten magic.


To promote the launch of the new world, later this month KingsIsle will launch a quest featuring one of the hottest teen icons on the planet. The quest, which will introduce players to new underwater environments and preview features of the upcoming Celestia expansion, will be available to all players in the game."

Who is this teen icon then? Hmm...