Yeah, the posting has been sparse.

Sorry for my lack of posting, lately. Fortunately there are, nowadays, a plethora of excellent bloggers to cover all aspects of W101. More often than not, it seems my posts aim for what *isn't* covered, and I'm fine with that. It allows me to be quirky and philosophical, while still ensuring our wonderful blog world gets all the info it wants. I truly appreciate each and every w101 blogger, from Friendly (Our Blogging Greatfather), to whoever blogs next.

It's given me some time to work on one of my *other* blogs.

Yeah, I have more than one. More than 2, actually, though one is now dead, (and it's not this one)

So, please indulge me this little bit of advertising, because I believe the w101 community to be bright, and readily informed, as well as constructively critical. (short version: " I really like you guys!" )

The *new one*, the one that really inspires me, is now up and running. C0dehexwitch.

 (Yeah, the witch is definitely Necromancer-inspired. )

The new blog is all about "Augmented Reality", so it's not necessarily W101 related. But it could be. Which is why I'm re-visiting a post from the Graveyard, today.

Just got a new comment today, regarding a post from this blog in 2009. Now with a new perspective, it seems more "do-able" than ever.

Eye of Judgement I'd love to see a Friendly Version. (no pressure, Mr. Lionblood.) ;P

Can you imagine if KI took Friendly's card deck, and made an AR game from it? Major 'cool' points.

Heck, they've even brought back the good ol' Rock 'em, Sock 'Em Robots:

Horrible commercial, great product Idea.

Even if this never comes to pass in W101, could we please, please have Home Dueling Circles for Lands and Castles?

Your thoughts?

Major milestone

How about ..10 Million..wizards?

Yeah, that's right. One to the Zero to the Zero to the Zero to the Zero to the Zero to the Zero ? Yeah, you get the idea. Ever think the commons were crowded? Now, you know why. 

From the Official Press release:

TEN MILLION WIZARDS JOIN FORCES TO SAVE THE SPIRAL

IN WIZARD101

PLANO, TEXAS (June 22, 2010) – KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc. today announced that since its launch
in September 2008, more than 10 million Wizards have registered to play Wizard101. Today, the Wizard101
player base continues to grow at an accelerating rate and KingsIsle expects rapid growth to continue for the
foreseeable future.


“Over the last twenty months our domestic launch has taken us from an unheard of company with an unknown
product to running one of the most successful properties in the family entertainment space,” said Elie Akilian,
chairman and CEO of KingsIsle Entertainment. “I am profoundly grateful to the millions of extraordinary people
who call Wizard City home and the  talented writers, artists, designers, producers and engineers who have come
together to create this magical world.”


While the technical and creative design requirements to create a virtual, safe and compelling online universe such
as Wizard101 are enormous, it is the active and enthusiastic community of players that truly makes Wizard101 come
alive.


“We are overwhelmed and honored by this huge achievement,” said J. Todd Coleman, VP and Creative Director of
KingsIsle Entertainment. “We will continue our work to add exciting new content and features to Wizard101 through
the launch of our next world, Celestia, and well beyond.”


As a small gesture of thanks to the wonderful denizens of Wizard City, KingsIsle Entertainment is offering every Wizard
a complementary “Party Pack” and encouraging them to throw a grand celebration welcoming Wizard #10,000,001
to the Ravenwood School of Magical Arts. Each Party Pack will contain a decorative banner, balloons, a festive party
hat and a celebratory cake.


To receive this FREE item set, simply go to www.wizard101.com/promo and enter the word PARTYPACK. 


In Wizard101, kids and families enter the magical world of Wizard City as student Wizards setting out to hone their
Wizard skills, cast spells and summon powerful creatures to fight evil forces. The characters and worlds of Wizard101
are influenced by literature, history and pop culture, giving the game a depth and quality appreciated by families and
players of all ages.

I...AM...CopperMan

Next reveal is out...

And, altough it's not Duracell, it's certainly a Copper Top. (Okay, maybe brass)

If this ain't steampunk, I dunno what is.

Also, I have to go check previous reveals, but I don't remember there being a Celestia script.

Time for some letter substitution. Let's get crackin', cryptos!

New Header graphic

Courtesy of Taji34 , over at Sorcerer's Corner. It is a very thoughtful "welcome back" gift, and I am very appreciative.

"Homework"'s new Header. Thank you, Taji34!

Sadly, Taji's Party kinda evaporated, and the hours I work on the weekend are difficult to work with, so perhaps I will have my (first ever) "Homework" meet-and-greet. Hmmm..I *still* have a Gobbler to give away, too..I have something in mind...heh, heh, heh,,,

365 days does not equal a year.

Well, wanderers, by chronological standards, "Homework" made it to the"1 year" mark on June 6th. I'm not entirely 100% on claiming this 'anniversary', since I *did* take an  8-month 'hiatus' (as KI so politely put it).

There is so much more left to do, and time seems to be the one quantity I don't have enough of. 

So, for the sake of getting past this point, I'll go and say it:

Happy Birthday, Homework.

Ravenwood Newsletter- June

Little Drummer Crab
Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?
Holding up a spear, Little Crab.

Do you see what I see?
Do you see what I see?

It's soon, it's soon.
As early as Late June.
With a quest chain Celestia is nigh.
With a quest chain Celestia is nigh.

Yes, The June Ravenwood Newsletter is up. Go read now.

New Book of the Month, Tips on Video Drivers, and more.

Ravenwood Ball

Two words:

CRAZY BUSY

I mean, wow. Almost *too* many people, (if there can be such a thing). That, and trying to co-ordinate with Ravenwood Radio. After a bit, I just handed Ashley the computer and said "Here, you go do it.". I may have to set up an individual "Meet the author" event, for those that who want to add me, but couldn't find me in that Sea of Blue. Heck, just trying to get to Area 01 was a trial in "outsmarting the server", lol. I was getting all sorts of graphical glitches around Bartleby,,like massive "white outs" that split him right down the middle.

It's kinda funny. Next time KI wants to "stress test" a server, all they need to do is have all the bloggers announce a single event.

Pets are LIVE

Yeah, after staring at this for a while:

You'll be in, and pets are officially live. Have fun! Oh, and crowns are on sale again..this would be a good time to grab some! (Expect some time in updating, there's a lot going on.)

Also, THE CODES ARE IN! Thanks to Professor Greyrose, the following individuals need to comment me an email address (using the same logins used to win the Great Gobbler Giveaway on Homework.) Email addresses will NOT be published.

"Sailing with the Captain" delivers!

It's alive...

Yes!

Anticipation...an-tici-paaaaa-tion. It's making me wait.

And you know what that means. I got the codes! Thank you, Professor Greyrose!

Theory crafting on crafting

Hiya, Graveyard wanderers!

Haven't done any good theorycrafting for a bit, and I thought I'd just throw a thought out there. Mind you, it's probably "already been thought of", (because a truly original idea is a rare thing, indeed), but honestly, I am not going to go check out every nook and cranny to see if anyone else has brought it up. My little Grizzleheim post really took the air outta my balloon, thataways.

So, that being said, let's move on to the theorycrafting proper, shall we?

1) All of us wizards have stats, right? Most of them are visible (power pip chance, attack, defense, movement speed, ect, ect.).

2) Most of us have at least *a* house, (okay maybe it's not the uber house of your dreams, but even a dorm room is a workable space.).

3) We have crafting (cough, cough).. umm. yeah. Love it, or hate it, we have it. Completely optional. DO the time, reap the ...rewards?.

Hmm..#3.... rewards. Aside from getting some titles. What is crafting good for? Well we know that pet snack crafting is gonna be a 'big thing', right? Well, I say we already have an untapped potential for crafting, and it's already "in place" (the game coders must really hate when I so casually dismiss how 'in place' everything is).

Right now, what good is "Master Artisian"? Aside from "Wow, I can't believe you *actually* got all those Black Pearls, and Blood Moss, gratz!", and being able to craft some nifty decorative items, where's the real *drive* for crafting? Once you got your title, where's the impetus to *keep* crafting?.

"Autumn's Easy Answer":  passive bonuses.

Say what, Autumn?

Hear me out. Nothing 'godly', mind you, but what if KI went ahead and said :"Craft furniture in your (active house, only), and you'll get a passive character bonus, depending on your crafted item!" ? How fast would crafting, and reagent hunting pick up, again?

Autumn's collection of completely theoretical examples.

Of course, this would not be a simple task. Nothing is. However, I feel the coding deities at KI could make this happen, without any serious imbalances, (like "1 boost, per type, per house", or something), and encourage crafting beyond the "look what I made" decoration scene.

This...is...Celestia!

Yeah, you know it. Reveal , the next, is out:

Clicky for biggie

and, now *this* is a lobster:

You know everybody is going to say it, at least once.

(For those of you who don't know the reference, it's from a movie called "300". Since the movie isn't really kid friendly (at all), I had to find a *giggle* "suitable" *giggle* trailer to *snort* show you):

Giggle. Um, yeah..the movie was *just like that*. Ahem...

So, yes, we now have a lobster. A true lobster. A true Centurion. Notice the Galea with red bristles, the War Skirt, ect. ect. Oh, yeah. Hail to the Emperor, baby!

Truly fun for all ages

Well, here I was, doing some light grinding in Golem Tower. By my side, 2 little ones, ages 5(girl) and 3(boy).

The 5 year old has taken to asking :
"Are you playing Won-Oh-Won?"
"Is that Won-Oh-One?"
"I like Won-Oh-Won."

So, I had a young fan club watching with rapt attention, as I monotonously swept through the floors, repeatedly dancing around the Iron Golem. Soon enough, the 3 and 5 year old displayed their understanding of what was going on, in their own curious little ways:

"Oh! Vampire is going to put the robot in time out! Bye-bye, robot!"
"Flap, flap, flap!"
"Shovelman!"
"Arrrrr, matey!"
"Hahaha! He fell apart and made a big mess!That's silly!" (Iron Golem)
"He hit you! He's naughty!Bad robot!"
"no leper-cons!"

It's always refreshing to see the world, through new eyes. Long ago, I had a Sensai that told me to "always keep your beginner's mind". What he meant by that was " do not let your accumulated learning weaken your original hunger to learn all you can".short version: "Don't get jaded."
You know how it is. Remember your first day in Wizard City, when *everything* was new? All you knew was "how much you didn't know". And so, you learned. A lot. As much as you could.

Fast forward to present day. Do you still have that same "gotta learn it all" enthusiasm? Odds are, "no". That's not to say that you don't love the game, but it's a natural part of human nature, (often coined negatively as "Familiarity breeds contempt", or "resting on your laurels"). We get so used to a "thing", (in this case, W101), that sometimes we forget the magic that swept us up, in the first place.

Thanks to the don't-know-any-better wisdom of a 5 year old, and a 3 year old, I have been reminded to "keep my beginner's mind". Food for thought.

Be well!

History of Wiz 101

Hiya, Graveyard Wanderers,
Just passing on a bit of W101 update notes, about....um, update notes. You *do* read the update notes, right?

Just a quick look at the synopsis, shows just how far KI has come, in (really) so short a time. The fact that the game you play 'today' is not the game we played 'yesterday'. Almost 2 years, already? Wow.

Finally got around to re-testing the test realm, and was pleasantly surprised by the small 'tweaks', that I noticed, (not all of them related to pets). Each of these small, seemingly unrelated adjustments seems to be 'minor', in and of itself, like a single drop of water in a cup. Given time, though, those drops add up, and soon enough, our cups runneth over.

So, why not take a moment, and see just how full our cups are now, as opposed to where they *were*, (and then project that forward to where they *will be*).

I think we need bigger cups.

Be well.

Test Realm Reset

This, according to post at Wiz101 Official:

So, it's only a 4 day rollback. No 'biggie', really, but it has me curious. A 4 day rollback is nothing epic, (and certainly not game breaking, since it *is* Test Realm, after all. I just don't get it. In my experience, a MMO rollback is usually to address an unintentionally coded 'exploit' being used by players. If that's the case, I say 'serves them right', and better that it gets fixed now, as opposed to live. Anyone who has the 'cheat' to get ahead lacks honor, imo, and thus respect. And can someone please tell my *why* there should be people begging for crowns on Test Realm? Actually had someone ask me (and this, after the second issue of the free 100k). Ridiculous. Our main purpose for the Test Realm, (this time around) is the pets.

 "Oh, I bought a couple houses".
On Test Realm? Boggles the mind, it does.

Or, (even better), "Can you help me beat [insert Boss name here]? I beat him once before, but now I have the quest, again.". *sigh*. And guess what? When you go back to live, you've still already beat him.

"Why so serious, Autumn?" "You should lighten up, a bit"."It's probably just a coding issue, on KI's part, that they're fixing".

Meh. It's not really in my nature to look at the "bright side". And besides, The Death School already has a Star Pupil to handle all that: Friendly. Now, don't get me wrong, I respect Friendly to Dragonspyre-and-back, but his level-headedness is not my level-headedness. He'll give a person the "benefit of the doubt", whereas I'll just usually doubt. He'll (usually) give a person the opportunity to correct their errant ways. Me? I'll see their head on a pike at the castle gates, if I had my way. There's a reason that Friendly is the one we all look to for inspiration: He's just that darned good. Me? I tend to slither by on sarcasm. Fortunately, there's room enough in The Spiral for all types. ('cause if it came down to Friendly vs. Me, even I wouldn't vote for me)

A Tale of Two Necros

"Good Necro, Bad Necro". You know which is which.

Okay, this post is going waaaaay off topic. Back to Test Realm Reset.

One way, or another, it shows KI's active development, and bodes well for all future product. (And the 250k crowns is a very nice "sorry for the inconvenience". Keep it up, KI!

Need to do something

Hmm..contest? How about a:

You know the drill. First commenter to answer all 5 correctly wins. All answers can be found within the blog. Pop quiz prize: 5k crowns/Happy Piggle.

1) Of the 2 types of lobsters, which one is not "true"?
2) Who did Headmaster Ambrose joke "was behind it all?"
3) What Test Realm "furniture drop" did I think would be perfect?
4) Where is Gordon Sumner located?
5) Who was watching me suspiciously?

Da Rules: (CONTEST CLOSED)
1) Everybody gets "1". As in, "1 shot", so check your answers carefully, (and your login). ;)
2) DO NOT post your email, I will ask you for it if you win.
3) Everybody is eligible for this one. ( I can't believe I spelled 'eligible' right on the first try!)
4) The Joker is NOT wild, on this one..no surprises...this time.
5) Comments will no be posted until someone gets all 5 correct.

Finally.

Hiya, Graveyard wanderers,

I know I've been a bit quiet, these past couple days, but I've been zoning out in MooShu, and Colossus Blvd. Yeah, doing the who Zen farming thing. But, finally, my hours of looping and realm hopping have paid off:

Yeah, only 8 months late.

Special Thanks to Kevin Battleblood for encouraging me on.

So, now it's "kill x of this, kill x of that" to finish up my unfulfilled badges, and hopefully, Celestia will roll around that time. I need an idea for a contest, any suggestions?

New Celestia poster out!

 Clicky for biggie.

And today's revealed creature:

A Roman Larry the Lobster! Spongetastic x2, peeps!

"Party time! Has anyone seen my toga?"

J.Todd Coleman *did* infer a “How about an Empire of Crabs with sort of a Roman feel?”, in the May/June Beckett's Massive MMO magazine interview...

Why, though is the revealed guy such a shrimp? (pun intended. okay, maybe it *is* a snapping shrimp, but I'm going with 'lobster', for the moment) I mean, look at Larry, from Spongebob, pretty 'buff', right? Well, he's nothing, compared to his South Australian Cousin, (also named Larry):

In Australia, a lobster puts YOU 'on the barbie', shrimp.

Lobster "Did you know?": (from HERE)

Lobsters are invertebrates, members of the Class Crustacea of the Phylum Arthropoda. (This class includes animals without backbones and with hard shells like crab, shrimp, crayfish, water fleas and wood lice.) 

There are two kinds of lobsters, the "true" lobster (also called American lobster) and the spiny lobster. The true lobster has claws on the first four legs, lacking in the spiny lobster. The spiny lobster has a pair of horns above the eyes, lacking in the true lobster. Spiny lobsters also have two large cream-colored spots on the top of the second segment of the tail.

Lobster can have many different colors, including blue-green, blue, red, yellow, red-orange and white. Some lobsters come in two colors, having half of their shell one color and the other half another. 

True lobsters have two very powerful claws. One claw is sharp and used for cutting, the other is bony and used for crushing. Lobsters that have their heavy ("crusher") claw on the right are considered "right-handed" and the others are "left-handed". Some lobsters are ambidextrous, they usually favor the claw that is the largest.

Lobsters can lose claws, legs, eyes and antennae through accident or self-defense, but are able to regenerate them. 

If it *is* a 'Snapping Shrimp', though, like the 'pistol shrimp', this guy will be scary. Check out this video:

Judging by the 'reveal rate', it seems we still have a ways to go, for Celestia. Good thing we got the Pet Pavillion... Keep at it, KI!

Writing Contest Prize Winners Announcement

Thank you to everyone who entered the "Young bloggers for Dworgyn" writing contest. We have a winner:

Heather Raven wins! 

Hold on...what's that? A message? An Important message? Folks, don't stop reading yet!

More? What *more* could there possibly be, Autumn? Read on!
Remember how I said that posting the Dworgyn graphic on your blog was your 'ticket'? Well, I'm putting the 'prize' in surprise, baby! I'm a going to now disclose an 'unpublished' part of the contest: The Unadvertsied Advertiser's Award! Okay, it's not as cool as winning first place, but it's not zero! This has been a contest where there are no losers!

 The Unadvertised Advertiser's Award!

Winners: Jessica Fairyheart, Taji34, Isaac Mistheart, Amber Stargem, and M.W.S!

So, basically, *everyone* who 'played along' and participated gets something. All of you need to comment me your email address (will not be published), and I'll get you your card codes sent right out!

Time to update the Graveyard Prize Vault, again.

Commercial outtakes

Good ol' Headmaster Ambrose, always good for a giggle. I admire when a virtual product has 'outtakes', like the end of Toy Story 2. Anyways, here it is (audio). How many cultural references can you find?:

Experience issue.

Hiya, wizards/witches.

Just puttering around in the pet park with Lord Luna, trying to perpetuate a predisposition for pet performance, (curse you, Milo Barker!),and I came across what I see as a 'brick wall', of sorts, and it's not the type you toss out on the derby track, either.

See, here's my issue, (as I'm sure many of you have found, as well) Here's Luna's current stats:

and here's the exp gain after a 'perfect' minigame:

and with a favorite snack:

2 exp? Gee, that only leaves me 844 more exp, to go. So, that's only 422 more minigames to play.Doh! Make that, 421..and these don't even count. Test progress go *poof*.
'Epic' truly is, as in 'I have an Epic amount of free time and crowns to level a single pet" So, I ask you, graveyard wanderers, should KI:

a) Leave it well enough alone. You're not supposed to level easily.
b) Make the minigame 'exp scalable' to the pet age
c) Sell yet another crown item "Pet exp boost". Yay, crowns!
d) There's another thing you haven't considered, Autumn.

Feel free to let me know your opinion.

Reminder: This is the last day to register for the Chillantropologist's Challenge for tomorrow, and you only have 3 days to enter the Young Blogger's for Dworgyn writing contest.