Friday, June 24, 2011

Censorship!

Hey Gang,

So last night I was up late at night, and I was hanging out on Twitter. People were talking about writing last night, and I mentioned that I love to write. Diana WildHeart, who's an awesome person and wizard, gave me the idea of starting a blog specifically for writing. So I did, and you can go to it.

HOWEVER

PLEASE NOTE THE SIGN:




Please do not enter if you are offended easily. There have been some messages on Twitter going out saying, "Don't curse" (as you might have guessed, these messages were sent out by Twizards). I can assure you one thing: NEVER EVER EVER EVER NEVER EVER EVER will you read a curse word on The Pyromancer's Digest. However, I censor myself for Wizard101 only. If you chose to read one of my blogs that curses, that's on you. I've warned many people that censorship will not be of my concern when doing anything other than Wizard101.

"But why, Luke? Why do you care if you curse or not?" Again, I honestly don't mind censoring myself when it comes to Wizard101. But when it comes to situations in real life, I'm not going to censor myself because there may be a few young people reading it. Wizard101 is different for several reasons:

1. It's against the Terms of Use that I agreed to.
2. It's a game where many children play.
3. It's not seen as publicly acceptable

Basically, my point is this; when you read something of mine that isn't Wizard101 related, PLEASE don't expect me to keep things squeaky clean for the little ones. This is my official warning label. This is also my last warning on the issue (I must have warned everyone a billion times by now). SOME THINGS I SAY THAT DON'T REGARD WIZARD101 MAY OR MAY NOT BE CHILD FRIENDLY!

That being said, for those of you that are interested in this new writing site of mine, it's called PAVed Destiny (you can find out why in the first post: www.paveddestiny.blogspot.com). I don't curse excessively (there are only two curses on the site so far). Again, there is some un-child-friendly material there, so PLEASE take caution!

P.D.

Sunday, June 19, 2011

My Old Idea

Hey Gang,

So have you ever had to go out on a long (or short) trip out of the house but need to get some chores in-game done? This has happened many many times for me and pet training. It seems that when I need to get pet training done the most, I have to be somewhere else or I'm simply not in the mood for repetitive minigames. Well, I have a suggestion for KingsIsle that's been thrown around in my head for quite some time: The Pet-Mobile!

I know, maybe doing a corn spin-off of the Book-Mobile wasn't the catchiest name out there, but you get the idea; pet training on the go! There could be an app where you could train your pet while you're on your way to a location like school, dinner, or a family event. Not only would this allow people to play [semi-]new minigames for Wizard101 on the go, but it would also give players a chance to get some tasks done even if they aren't at the computer. Here's how it would work:

You'd click on the App on you iPhone list of Apps. The same screen that shows when opening Wizard101 and WizardBlox opens of the KI logo. After that, the screen with Merle Ambrose and the Crystal Ball Appears, asking if you are a new or returning wizard (the same screen we see when you redeem a code on the WizardBlox App). After you sign in you'll see six boxes; three on the top of the screen and three on the bottom. These boxes will have your character(s)'s names printed below, along with a school doodle (Death Student Doodle, Fire Student Doodle, etc.) representing the school of that wizard.

When you tap a character, a list of pet names that are currently in that character's backpack will appear. The menu will be a single-file drop list of pet names with portraits next to the names (you may scroll up or down on this list). When you select a pet, a big circle will appear that's split into four pieces. Each will have a name of a mini game as well a a screen shot of the game being played. When you press on the piece of the circle. It would take you to the rules of the minigame, and below that would be what we normally see below the rules; the different snacks we could play with. Touching a snack would bring you to the minigame. Here's how I pictured each of the games working:

1. Cannon Game:

This minigame is probably the most compatible with the iPhone/iPod/iPad touch screen movements. The buttons to move power, position, and tilt can easily be taken out and can successfully be replaced by simply sliding your finger along each gauge. Example of gameplay is shown below:


2. Dance Game:

This was one of the simpler games to adapt to the touch screen of Apple's products. All that's needed to replace your directional keys is buttons on the screen to represent the directions that your pet needs to imitate. While sliding your finger along the screen could probably work as well, it may get confusing for the iPhone/iPad/iPod to determine which way your finger is moving and may mark it wrong when it was indeed right. Example of gameplay shown below:


3. Maze Game:

Adapting this game to the touch screen was probably one of the hardest. This game needs to have the space for a player to see, and putting a directional pad to the side might inhibit the player's sight on the side. Therefor, I decided to put the directional pad on the very bottom of the screen. This made it so it would not interact with the sight of the player however it would still function well. Example of gameplay shown below:


4. Gobbler Drop Game:

If I had to pick which minigame was the hardest to adapt to the iPhone/iPad/iPod, it'd have to be the Gobbler Drop Game. There are several actions needed to be successful in this minigame, and squeezing all of those buttons onto a tiny touch screen can make it kinda crowded. In the end, I decided on a directional pad to the left and a "Jump" button to the right, however I wonder if the directional pad would go best on the bottom like the Maze Game. Example of gameplay shown below:


When the game ended, you'd be brought to the same screen you are brought to when you finish a minigame on the computer where you may feed your pet a snack and choose to either play again or leave the game (at which point it would bring you back to the circle with the four minigames).

I hope you liked my idea! Don't forget the Diary of a Wizard party is THIS Saturday! Also just some personal news: I recently completed my Legendary sets on Diana and Luke! So congrats to them! Noah is blasting his way through WinterTusk (FINALLY!), as he is currently starting Sundrilund (but after that, there's really only Nastrond :P). After that, I must finish up with Mycin in WinterTusk (he's in Vestrilund) and finally Gilroy (who's currently has to face Jotun still).

I also trained a Sea Dragon I got to Ancient which obtained Pierce Train, Tower Shield, and Dissarment (I had another Sea Dragon who obtained Health Gift at which point I stopped training it), so I'm hoping to scrounge up the gold to mix it with my Shadow Phoenix.

That's really all I have for now. Until next time!

P.D.

P.S: Sorry the pictures are so horribly drawn, it was midnight so I was tired and I'm not very good at drawing on the computer anyway!

Saturday, June 18, 2011

Party Analysis

Hey Gang,

Every scientist knows that the best way to come to a conclusion for a problem is to analyse the data of your experiment. You could say my party was a social experiment, because, well, I had a lot of facets to my party that were never really used before. So, I'd like to point out some tips for future party-planners (and some can even be used in real life situations):

1. Something may sound good in theory, but...: The Red Carpet sounded like an awesome idea in everyone's heads. I'm pretty sure that was the most anticipated part of the party. However, there were some challenges that I simply didn't think of. Some Featured Wizards couldn't tune in to the livestream because their computer couldn't handle it. Others were deaf and could not hear me call their name. And some were just embarrassed and didn't want to be put in the spotlight. All in all, this part of the party wound up a being a complete disaster. People who weren't Featured Wizards were trying to get on the Red Carpet before it was open, which really frustrated me. Then some would start freaking out on me when I sent them away because they were not supposed to be on the Red Carpet. It was way too stressful and it simply didn't yield anything worthy of going through that amount of stress. If you would like to try the Red Carpet idea for yourself a few tips I would give would be:

a. Have a practice or two before the day of the Wizaversary for the Featured Wizards to know what's going on. A confused Red Carpet Event is a bad Red Carpet Event. This will also give you more time to deal with the problems presented.

b. Get a headcount of the Featured Wizards attending. You can do this over Twitter, Facebook, or by simply asking the Featured Wizards to comment saying that they will attend.

c. Have what you're going to say about each Featured Guest prepared and ready. For those tuned into the livestream during the Red Carpet Event, you'd know that I was a mess when talking about each guest. While I thought that I could just wing it, I learned that writing it out before time would have made it seemed organized. Also, if you plan on having a featured guest that is deaf, be courteous and at the very least write out your thanks to them in chat.

d. Have what you're going to say about each guest short, sweet, and to the point. Don't ramble on about each guest, and don't take so much time to do the event, because guests (even the Featured ones) get impatient and bored. Constantly entertain your guests.

If you're planning on trying a Red Carpet Event, I wish you luck. Not only was it challenging to scrounge up the gold and materials, but it made a lot of people impatient and angry. I have to admit, not one of my best ideas. But like I said, it DID sound good in theory.

2. Keep your guests busy: I already said this in the previous point, but I feel it should be emphasized. People have short attention spans. Watching people PvP can get boring. Do something out of the box to entertain them! Have some people running instance, have a dance floor, and come up with some of your own wacky ideas to keep your guests entertained. Even if a plan doesn't work out, at least you know for the future.

3. Keep ALL your guests in mind: Again, I realize I already talked about this, but this is a HUGE tip that needs to be stressed. Try your best to make the event for everyone. Write out things for people who can't hear or for people who can't tune in to listen to you talk. Have something to do for people who don't like to PvP like a Fashion Contest. If you can keep your event as open as possible, it will turn out as best as possible.

4. Do a LOT of Decorating: I worked very hard on my Sultan's Palace to make it look the best it could, and from what I'm hearing from attendees, it sounds like all my work paid off. Hundreds of thousands of gold and Crowns were dumped into those decorations, as wells as a ton of time and opinions (*cough**cough* Paige MoonShade :D). Take your time on setting up the house, and finish decorating a week or two early. Also, come up with your own unique ideas for the house, or build off of another's idea (but don't steal it!). Use other people's housing decor as a spring board to do something even better.

5. Invite your guests to explore your house: As I stated above, a lot of time went in to the decorating of the house. But I wonder exactly how much of the people actually explored and how many people just ran straight to the dance floor. Create a unique and interesting way to invite your guests to explore the house. Of course, there will be some guests who will do this on their own. But there are some who are just there to party, so create a way to make them appreciate all the hard work that went into accepting that huge project.

6. Don't take on a ride that's too tall for you: This kinda relates to my first tip, but it's not exactly that. I'm not sure if anyone saw the huge garden of Trumpet Vines, but that was a roller coaster that I simply wasn't tall enough to ride. With the Dragon Hoarder's Pack just releasing, I spent around 10,000 Crowns just trying to get that Skeletal Dragon (oh yeah, I totally regret that). I didn't have the crowns to buy Energy Elixirs to take care of my Trumpet Vines, so they kept wilting. This was simply too much for me too handle, and I recommend learning from my mistake by not doing something you can't handle.

7. Be Organized: This also relates to not taking on challenges that are too big. If you're not organized, things are going to get pretty messy. As I learned with the PvP Tourney and the Red Carpet Event, being organized is key. Get contestants you can rely on, and don't take maybe for an answer. Your contests and your Featured Guests have to be 100% sure that they can make it to the event. If they aren't sure, don't accept them.

That's pretty much all I have to offer as far as tips go. The party did turn out to be cool in the end. Here are some photos in case you missed it:
















Also, here are the Winners of the Contests:

*PvP Tourney*:

1st Place- Abigail DawnPetal (Diana WildHeart)

2nd Place- Connor MistBlade

*Fashion Contest*:

1st Place- Katherine LightWalker

2nd Place- Ben FrogStone

3rd Place- Jasmine Smith

Ok, well, I've got a lot of work cut out for me. I hope everyone has fun in the Spiral!

P.D.

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Party Invite

Hey Gang,

This will probably be my last post before the party, so I'm just gonna shove everything about the party into this post? You ready? Ok, first I'll list times:

1. Featured Wizards:
A. Realm~ Phoenix
B. Area~ One
C. Toon~ Oran FoeHammer (Level 17 Theurgist)
D. Place~ Fire Tower, Ravenwood School of Magical Arts, Wizard City
E. Time~ 5:40-5:50 Central Standard Time, Friday, June 17th, 2011 SHARP

2. Party Guests:
A. Realm~ Phoenix
B. Area~ One
C. Toon~ Erica GoldHorn
D. Place~ Life Tower, Ravenwood School of Magical Arts, Wizard City
E. Time~ 5:50-6:00 Central Standard Time, Friday, June 17th, 2011

If you have any further questions, please don't hesitate to ask. In case of confusion, here is the list of Featured Wizards:

  • Fallon (Ravenwood Radio and The Perfect Catch PvP Team)
  • Stephen SpiritCaller (Ravenwood Radio)
  • Ditto Wizard AKA Digby HexCrafter (Ravenwood Radio)
  • Christina IceDreamer AKA Icywiz (Ravenwood Radio)
  • Ian AKA Stormywiz (Ravenwood Radio)
  • Thomas LionBlood AKA The Friendly Necromancer (The Friendly Necromancer)
  • Bailey SkyStaff (The Friendly Necromancer)
  • Alia LotusPetal (Wizard101 Addict)
  • Fallon ShadowBlade (Diary of a Wizard)
  • Valdus SoulPyre (Diary of a Wizard)
  • Paige MoonShade (Wizard101Central and Paige's Page)
  • Alric RavenSinger (The Raven's Vault)
  • Cassandra GriffinDreamer (Witch Warrior101)
  • Ronnan Dawn (The Perfect Catch)
  • Cassandra DragonHeart (The Perfect Catch)
  • Kevin BattleBlood (The Perfect Catch)
  • Fallon MoonGem (Diary of a Wizard and Twitter)
  • Kestrel ShadowThistle (Shadowthistle School of Wizardy)
  • Blaine StormMender (Close friend)
  • Jasmine Smith (Randomly Selected Featured Wizard)
  • Isaac StormFlame (Randomly Selected Featured Wizard)
  • Diana WildHeart (Randomly Selected Featured Wizard)
  • Elijah LightThief (Randomly Selected Featured Wizard)
  • Connor MistBlade (Randomly Selected Featured Wizard)

Make sure you double check that list! I think I see some new names on there!

***NOTE FOR FEATURED WIZARDS: PLEASE BE SURE TO HAVE YOUR PORTS OFF***

Here are our judges for the Fashion Show:

1. Luke GoldHorn
2. Fallon
3. Jasmine Smith

Fashion Show Prizes:

Grand Prize- Mega Bundle Gift Card Code
2nd Place- (1) Dragon Hoarder's Treasure Pack
3rd Place- (1) KIFreeGames Code

***PLEASE NOTE: If you show up to the party and you are there until the end of the PvP Tourney, you will automatically be entered for the Fashion Contest***

PvP Prizes:

1st Place- (1) Mega Snack Pack
2nd Place- (1) Dragon Hoarder's Pack

Ok, I think I pretty much covered everything there is to cover on the party! I'm so excited and I can't wait to see you there!

P.D.

P.S: If you haven't read my "Wizaversary Post", I recommend you do; I heard people enjoyed it :)

There and Back Again: A Pyromancer's Tale

Hey Gang,

So two years ago from this day exactly, I began playing Wizard101:

It was a very nice day, and I'd been on summer break for around 12 days. I had just graduated 8th Grade, and with absolutely nothing to do on a fine summer afternoon, I decided to take a walk over to my neighbor's house. When I got there, I saw him on his computer playing some ridiculous child's game. When I asked him why in the world he was playing something so childish, he tried to convince me that it really wasn't all that bad, and he told me to make an account so he could show me that it was pretty fun.

So I went home thinking I was going to completely bash this game next time I saw him. I made an account, took the test and got Balance. I thought this was pretty neat, but my neighbor said that the Balance School was in a completely different place other than where all the schools are. So I took the test again (maybe a bit more truthfully this time) and I got Fire. I was revolted by this idea, for back in my World of Warcraft days, I was a Frost Mage, and I honestly just loved my Frost Specd Mage. However, my neighbor was an Ice Wizard, and I didn't want to be the same school as him.

So I went on with the Fire School. I went on designing my Wizard and creating my name. I decided to create my wizard wearing black robes with red lining (although I didn't notice it at the time, I had the wrong hairstyle selected and I'm eagerly awaiting a barber to visit the Spiral!). I thought this looked particularly awesome, so I went on to naming my wizard. At the time, I was reading a book called The City of Bones (interesting book, if you ever want to pick it up), and there's this character named Luke GrayMark (in the series, he's a werewolf and honestly one of my favorite characters in the series). Since the Wizard101 name creator didn't have my real name, I figured I'd stick as close to Luke GrayMark as possible. When I saw they didn't have "Gray" or "Mark", I decided to go with a color and an object. And so, the name "Luke GoldHorn" was born.

After playing it for around two hours, I suddenly found an interest in the game. I was planning out all the different paths my character would take (For example, my secondary school was Myth for quite some time). I had loads of fun staying up late and farming the Kraken and the Harvest Lord with my neighbor. Before we had even gotten to do Firecat Alley and Cyclops Lane, we were both level 12 (which is pretty high for the area in the game). Then, I bought myself a membership (boy, I can remember the trouble I was in for buying a membership with my mom's credit card without permission!). I played the game for a solid month, exploring Krokotopia and most of MarleyBone. When my subscription ended, I wasn't allowed to purchase another, so I was forced to leave the game at Level 31 a little before Katz Lab.

When October hit, my neighbor was still playing the game with a membership he manged to get (with or without permission, I have no idea). I kept telling him to stop playing, but he claimed that it was too fun to pass up. He mentioned this extremely crazy idea of spending $80 on buying the whole game. I asked him if he hit his head early that morning too.

Eventually, he talked me into playing again, claiming I should save extra lunch money to purchase crowns and buy areas. So eventually, little by little, I progressed into Mooshu (I'd say around the end of November or mid December). Mooshu was such a great time, and I can remember being so happy and proud seeing my little wizard evolve into such a powerful Pyromancer. By January, I was in DragonSpyre.

When I tell you that I was excited to be in DragonSpyre, that's an extreme understatement. I must have done a victory dance for hours. I remember being so surprised when I learned that you'd have to fight Cyrus, as well as scared. When I beat him, I gave a huge victory cry. Throughout January and February, I trekked through the ruins of DragonSpyre scrounging up every drop of experience I could. I remember the joy in my heart when I got my Dragon spell and, even more exciting, my new Helephant (which didn't have to hatch way back when).

It was by the end of February that I had beaten Malistare and reached GrandMaster. I was so proud of little Luke, that I decided to make two more wizards; Mycin StarGem and Patrick FrostHorn. My neighbor picked out Mycin's name and had trained him through Wizard City to Colossus Blvd, however I picked Patrick's name and trained him through by myself (Patrick was also made before Mycin). I decided to do Balance on Patrick because that was my original school (and because I heard they were amazing at PvP). This was also when I made my first blog on Wizard101 Central.

During the month of March, I focused on leveling these two Wizards up and posting on my blog. I did some theory-crafting on Celestia, and the Astral Schools back when they were just speculation. The month of march was pretty uneventful in game other than leveling up Mycin and Patrick as well as the occasional BriskBreeze run, however there was something pretty cool going on around this time. During this time, I made some friends in the community like Stephen SpiritCaller, Christina IceDreamer, Leesha Darkheart, Thomas LionBlood, Alric RavenSinger, and so much more. Poor Stephen was so nice to me, letting me get an interview with him back when Ravenwood Radio was in it's early stages (I imagine it was probably really uncomfortable for him because, well, I was awkward!).

April was super exciting, as this was when not only Celestia and the Astral Schools were confirmed to be coming soon to the Spiral, but we were told that a "secret" new update was coming sometime in May. People began speculating what was going on, but no one could really pin the nail on the head. I had loads of fun speculating on my blog and with my neighbor. This was also a time where I started to grow apart from Central, as I saw that it was limiting my blog as to the things I could write or do.

During May I disbanded from Central completely, making this blog here on Blogger! I'm so grateful that I made this decision, because I was nervous about doing so at the time. I was worried that people wouldn't see my blog, which was true for some time. But with the help of some friends, I learned that I could get even more views right here on Blogger. Another thing that happened during this month was the Pet Update which was very confusing at first. I had very long conversations with my neighbor talking about how it worked. I remember being in Drama Club asking if I could leave early because of the update but being forced to wiggle around in my chair due to all my excitement!

I also grew closer to Christina IceDreamer during this month, as I interviewed her as well. The original interview had my neighbor in it, however the interview wound up being over two hours! We planned on doing it again due to bad recording and editing software on my part, so we did another interview that lasted another two hours! That was such a good time in my Wizard101 life and I'd even stretch to say it was also one of the best moments in my real life as well.

Another thing about this month that made my experience so much better was meeting Paige Whisper, a Life Wizard. I met Paige leveling Mycin through DragonSpyre. She was so polite and had some awesome retro Crowns gear on from back in the old days as well as a nifty Pioneer Dragon (only players who played Wizard101 within it's first week of launching could obtain one). She was part of a team of wizards my neighbors and I decided to train: Noah GoldHorn, my Myth Wizard, a Life, a Death, and her Death Wizard. Our goal was to get these Wizards to GrandMaster by the end of the Summer.

In June the Celestia preview came out. I can remember the planning Piage, my neighbor, and I did to figure out different plans and strategies for the tower. The only wizard that actually went through and completed this dungeon was Luke, but I figured it wasn't such a big deal.

We accomplished our goal by the end of July as we constantly played throughout our Summer break. I noticed that each time I leveled up an alternate character through the game, it seemed to go faster and faster each time. So I decided to take on the challenge with Paige to see how fast we could level up alternate characters. I created Diana GoldHorn (inspired by my mother) and she created Ryan RainCaller (who was a girl; she was constantly made fun of all around the Spiral for having a "guy's name" on a girl character). We got these alts to GrandMaster in two weeks!

By this time, it was August, and everyone was getting ready to go back to school. By this time in my gaming experience, I had 5 GrandMaster Wizards, and I decided it wouldn't hurt if I played and Ice and a Death through the game as well. With the help of my Summer job, I created Valdus GoldHorn on another account as well as Gilroy SkullFlame on my main account. They didn't reach GrandMaster until the middle of September, and I was proud to see that I had a GrandMaster of every school. During September, I also made my Wizard101 Twitter Account.

When October came around, so did Celestia. Paige and I (and even some of Paige MoonShade :D) blew right through this underwater treasure, I on my Balance and Paige on her Fire. We had a lot of fun discovering all the new areas and spells, and we even made a Lounge Lizard guide on Central. When Celestia hit the Live server though, Paige had exhausted herself, and eventually wound up quitting the game. Before she left, though, I bought her an Epic Bundle Gift Card, which was all the rage back in November.

November and December were honestly kinda dull, as there wasn't too much going on. Gardening came out, which was kinda fun I guess, and I had Luke at GrandMaster Gardener in no time. I also got an Epic Bundle for Christmas, which I was very excited about.

January, Feburary, and March were a blur as well. All I could remember really was being involved with some drama on Skype and leveling Luke, Noah, and Valdus through Celestia (Mycin was my first to get through the entire plot). April was pretty exciting, as we heard of WinterTusk, and in May it finally came. In May I quested with Cassandra GriffinDreamer through WinterTusk, and I currently still have three wizards needing to complete it (Noah, Gilroy who still has to defeat Jotun, and Mycin).

And now, here we are in June. I hope you enjoyed listening to my tales and adventures throughout the Spiral, as I honestly enjoyed telling the tale myself. It has been an honor to serve this community along my friends. Although I've given even if just a tiny bit to this community, I have taken a lot from it. This game and this community has helped me with so much that's been going on in my life, and I really just want to take the time now to say thank you so much. I will always remember each and every one of you just as I hope you might remember me.

Thank you for making this experience truly an astounding one,

Luke GoldHorn

P.S: Don't forget to check back later to see the winners of the Featured Wizard Contest!

Tuesday, June 14, 2011

PvP Tourney Match-Ups!

Hey Gang,

Very short post, but I just wanted to inform you on who will be facing who in the PvP Tourney! Please not that these were not personally hand-picked, but were randomly selected via www.random.org. Here we are:

Arena One (Hosted by Panglou): Nicholas DawnStider V.S. Michael FireBlade

Arena Two (Hosted by Cassandra GriffinDreamer): Abigail DawnPetal V.S. Blaze ShadowHorn

Arena Three (Hosted by me, Luke GoldHorn): Jasmine Smith V.S. Ben FrogStone

Arena Four (Hosted by Blaine StormMender): Isaac StormFlame V.S. Blaine StormMender

I'm REALLY Excited to see what comes of this Tourney! If you'd like to view a specific battle, don't worry; I'll have port buses at each of the locations.

Be sure to look out around noon tomorrow for the post of the winners of the Randomly Selected Featured Wizard!

P.D.

P.S: My REAL Wizaversary is tomorrow! YAY! :)

Sunday, June 12, 2011

Party Updates and 200th Post!

Hey Gang,

So something needs to be cleared before I even start going over the tiny revisions and updates made to my party (don't worry; what I'm about to say nor the updates of the party is anything catastrophic). The party is still on. Lately it seems as if my leaving in a few days has led to misunderstandings that my party has been canceled. This is not the case, and I am absolutely psyched for the party! So please still plan on attending the party this Friday (June 17th). To make sure there is no confusion, I will re-post the times, realms, areas, locations, and characters that you should be meeting for the party.

Anyway, there's not too many updates/revisions I have for the party. Submission comments for the PvP Contest and for the Featured Wizard Contest will be not be accepted if submitted anytime after June 14th, 11:59 P.M. Yes, the date has moved back a day because I will be busy IRL on the 16th. So on June 15th, I will post the winners and announce who will serve as a judge along side Fallon and I. So if you're interested in entering any of those contests or if you're interested in hosting a battle for the PvP Tourney, be sure to comment on this post. Thanks to the people that entered! Without you, this party would be impossible to hold!

Also, just a little side-note, this post is my 200th post! I never thought I'd make it to 200 posts, much less one hundred. It's been an honor serving this community along my fellow bloggers. It's really been so much fun!

Aside from that, there isn't much going on. I have this garden in the Sultan's Palace that's just been driving me crazy. I only have enough Crowns to buy one more Energy Elixir, which I'm saving for the actual day of the party because, even if some of the plants aren't adult, I think it'd look sloppy to have them with needs over their heads. So taking care of them has been REALLY stressful. Wish me luck!

P.D.

P.S: For the winners of the Featured Wizard Contest, I will add your names to the list once you have won.

Thursday, June 9, 2011

A More ... Appropriate Explanation

Hey Gang,

So remember how I said I was leaving? Yeah, I have until next Friday until my white ship sails on the elven sea of adventure! Who knows where it will take me; Star Wars: The Old Republic? World of Warcraft? Playstation, Xbox, or Wii games? Only time will tell...

But for now, I'd like to talk to you with the such small time I have left ... while my life force is still burning, though dimly, throughout the Spiral.

So I'd like to take a bit of my time to give a bit more appropriate explanation as to why I am taking my leave from the Spiral. While the recent drama that's been going on made me pack my bags twice as fast, there's also another factor that made me start packing and planning in the first place. It happened sometime near where the Sultan's Palace hit the Spiral. The thing is though, it hit me too, hard even. I realized that through always trying to get more and more, I was getting bloated.

Does that make any sense?

Ok, maybe this is a better explanation: So you're mom calls you down to eat, and you're really starving. The food smells amazing, and you just can't wait to get down there and fill your stomach right up! You finish at least two or three platefuls of food in less five minutes when suddenly you feel like you're going to explode. You simply can't eat anymore, and the pure thought of food makes you want to dash for the bathroom.

Now, let my try again; when all this new stuff started coming out like the Sultan's Palace and the newly released Dragon Rider Packs, I couldn't get enough. I just wanted more and more and more and more. Finally, though I realized that, with less and less space available in my house with all these new items, there was less and less room for my life force of the Spiral to shine through. The new things smothered me and my active attitude in the Spiral. It put it out like a light.

Things like this made my fire dimmer:


So I recently made a decision to drop all these Spiral possessions and to travel on to see all (or a lot of) what the cyber world has to offer me. I needed to give my fire more room to breathe instead of bloating it with items. The drama only made me realize this and recognize. Do you see what I mean? Is it making sense?

Again, I'm sorry if me talking about my trip away makes you sad. If it doesn't, then awesome; good for you. But to the people who are feeling sad about my departure, I'm sure the elves will let me stop by every once in a while to say hi to all my old friends. Plus, I'll still have my Twitter. On Saturday, June 18th, it's changing from @LukeGoldHorn to @PVenuti, so I'll you'll have to do is tweet at me there.

There's also one more thing I'd like to talk about, and this is a happier subject! The prizes of my contest have been altered a tad bit! You can click here to view them on the official entry post. Don't forget to enter the two contests; there are only 5 spots remaining for the PvP Tourney and only 7 wizards entered for the Featured Wizards Contest, so don't forget to enter those if you haven't already!

See ya in the next week,

P.D.

Sunday, June 5, 2011

My Farewell Address

Hey Gang,

So yesterday I woke up did my little thing I've been doing in Wizard101 recently; Gardening. I started Gardening again (I stopped in February ever since I became GrandMaster Gardener), so it's one of the first things I try to do in the morning. After that I continued on to blogging and checking out other blogger's post, when I stumbled upon this post on Fin and Quinn's site (the actual article linked was written by Quinn).

To give you the deets, it's basically Quinn's opinion on what KingsIsle is doing with the whole Official Bloggers Club and being Famous and stuff. Honestly, I give major points to him. Do you have any idea how much I just wanted to rant about KingsIsle being stupid and doing this? The answer is ever since it happened. I am glad that they updated their site to say that they aren't accepting instead of just flat out denying you with no reason. So they don't want any submissions right now; big deal? What I'm mad about is KingsIsle and their judgement calls, and I'v actually found that most of my current anger is being channeled at a few wizards in the community. I wont say who though; in fact, for the people that checked out the comments of the post, you can probably guess who two of them are.

Anyway, that's not the point of this post. I'll continue with my story: So I read this post thinking, "Oh my gosh, that was so brave. Kudos to Quinn!" It was then I got to the comments. Someone, who is an official blogger, started going off about how Quinn doesn't know about the work it takes to be an official blogger and how it was just for promotion. When I saw this, all that was going through my mind was, "...the nerve of this person ..." So I responded their comment, saying how:

1. It's hard for an Official Blogger to understand an Indie Blogger's point of view (What I mean by an Indie Blogger is a blogger who is great but isn't recognized by KingsIsle, like the Mainstream Bloggers are. Yes, these do exist. The terms "Official Blogger" and "Unofficial Blogger" can be substituted with 'Mainstream" and "Indie" without any lack of clarity or truth, however this isn't always the case.). This is especially true with the Official Bloggers who have been around for quite some time. Some of the bloggers who are official were just lucky enough to have an ok blog that was submitted just in time before KingsIsle stopped receiving blogs that had any association with free sites. It's hard for them to understand the frustration and the point of view that an Indie Blogger has with this situation when you've been official for around two years.

2. KingsIsle doesn't need the extra advertisement from every single blogger in the Official Bloggers Club. Putting it on the launcher (which they have already done) is just fine. If you think about it, no one who doesn't play Wizard101 is going to go on a Wizard101 Official Blog. So, in theory, if you're advertising a game for your product via an Official Blog, only people who are involved with the community will see the advertisement will actually see the endorsement. Now putting it on the launcher and maybe giving it to the bloggers/fansites that not only are popular but also stick to the rules will open your audience up to tons of more people because everyone who plays the game checks the launcher. You have to in order to log into the game. If KingsIsle is aiming to target new customers with this giftcard, then they need to make a Television Advertisement for this. Do you see where I'm getting at?

3. Just because people are upset that they didn't get free stuff doesn't mean they're jealous. Jealousy: Resentment against a rival, a person enjoying success or advantage, etc., or against another's success or advantage itself(Resource:http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/jealousy). This is not what me or a ton of other people were feeling when we were angry about what KingsIsle was doing. In fact, to be honest, I don't care if people got the codes for the free stuff (and yes, I know they didn't get the crowns). Heck, I got it before any of them, so I honestly simply don't care. What I and others are mad about is that KingsIsle is depriving blogs that are worthy of being "Official". Which brings me to my next topic...

4. There are blogs out there that are Official and simply don't deserve it. I see tons of blogs that are official that constantly post about real life occurrences. Some of them aren't even about gaming. Honestly, I don't even mind when someone posts about other games. But this is your Wizard101 blog. Post about Wizard101 things. I came to the site for Wizard101 info, not what happened in band or school or glee club. If you wanna blog about your real life, please make a separate blog for that. If you're worried that you wont get many views, than let your fans know that you have another blog that talks about your real life and to drop by if they're interested.

5. The hypocrisy level anymore is just unbearable. I hate it when people say things like, "Take the venom out of that post!" yet they sit there and continue to be just down-right-fierce (sorry, had to make some comic relief! For those that don't know what I just referenced, Google "Down-Right-Fierce".) with me. If you don't want me to be mean and angry, firing mean and angry at me only causes rage. Need it in equation form? Mean and Angry + Mean and Angry -> Rage.

6. I can't take the amount of ignorance in the community anymore. At least three people were talking about me indirectly. You know I follow you on Twitter. You know I read your blogs. I see the comments you're making about me. Don't try to be indirect just because it doesnt make you look as bad by calling someone out. If you have a problem with something I've done or said, say so to my face. It's much more respectful, believe it or not. It just angers me how it's so hard for people to say something bad about someone to their face, so they decide to attempt (and fail) to talk about me behind their backs. I understand the whole "Don't say bad things," quote, but everyone gets mad at people sometimes, and when that happens it's just best to talk it out with them. I'm not an unreasonable person; heck, yesterday I was forced on Twitter to apologize. I honestly didn't have a choice because people kept harassing me to apologize to Kestrel ShadowThistle. So you know what? I did. I was extremely upset, because apparently, in Kestrel's words, I was cyber-bullying. See how I'm saying her name instead of saying, "Someone,"? Yeah, that's what you're supposed to do.

Again, I've linked the post, so if you'd like to see the actual comment, click there and check it out. That was more of a summary of what exactly I was saying.

So I've made a decision. It's a decision I've not only thought long and hard about, but also a decision I've made before. I've decided I'm taking a break from Wizard101. There. I said it. Notice I did not say quit, because I know I'll be coming back sometime soon. I feel that Wizard101 has lost the charm it had two years ago, and it's time I've switched another game into my Main Game slot. I'm gonna try to get back into World of Warcraft (if I get the GameStop job) and in the fall Star Wars: The Old Republic.

Yes, the Wizaversary party is still on. However, that night will be the last night anyone sees me online in the game for quite a while. So the party will also be a sort of "Farewell Party" as well. I will also be in-game online here and there up to that point as well as blogging at least weekly until then, so you can expect at least another two posts from me. The only thing that could really get me to stay is the announcement of a new expansion or something along those lines. Something new.

I hope the people who caused this are happy. You know who you are. There are so many people that, I'm afraid if I tried to list them, I'd miss a few. So I'll leave it up to yourselves to figure it out. I hope you've gotten so much joy from burning the bridge of mine that was an escape from reality. I hope you're happy that you ruined one of the few things that brings me joy anymore. I hope you're happy that you made a lot kid trying to find his way along life a confused pile of poo. *clap*...*clap*...*clap*. Bravo.

That's really all I have to say right now. Feel free to bash me all you'd like in the comments, as nothing stops you from doing so on other's sites, which includes twitter.

P.D.

***EDIT: My comment has been delted because apparently it was hurtful. Figures...***

My News Gland Is Shriveled

Hey Gang,

So there's absolutely NOTHING going on in Wizard101 right now. There really hasn't been anything new to talk about for a week or two, save the new Mega Bundle Giftcard. So, I'm just going to talk about random scrambled things I have on my mind that are Wizard101, Blog, or Game Related.

Recently I applied at my local GameStop. On Wednesday I went and tried to apply, but the guy who I talked to said that I might have to wait until I'm 17 (another year) because he wasn't sure if the manager was ok with hiring a 16 year old. It was an issue with M[ature] rated games. But I didn't understand why it would be an issue for the following reasons:

1. I can buy/do buy M rated games if I have an adult with me.

2. I do play some M rated games, so I'd be able to talk with the customer about my opinions on several M rated titles.

3. There was one foreseen issue that involves GameStop Employee Benefits. GameStop Employees may sign out one Used Game if it is currently not in demand and play it for one week. There are used rated M games. However, this could simply be solved by not letting me sign out M rated games, or by having my mom come in and telling them that she will allow me to play it. I probably wouldn't use this feature much anyway.

So I had to go in and speak with the manager on Friday. It was quite funny, because she didn't even ask me any questions regarding age when I handed the application to her. She just took it and said she'd give me a call and let me know, so I'm passionately waiting by my phone.

I've also been putting the finishing touches on my Sultan's Palace for the party. Everything is crafted and in place; now all I need to do is finish up with the gardening portion of my house. I can't believe it's in 12 days! That's less than two weeks away! Also, only one person has officially submitted their entry for the Randomly Selected Featured Wizard, and no one has even registered for the PvP Tournament yet! If you'd like to register and/or see the prizes I'm giving away, please go here.

I also now have 59 followers! While I don't like to sit here and talk about followers (because honestly I think it's quite superficial), I'd just like to point out that I'm only one away from sixty! :) So thanks to everyone who has supported me along the way, especially Diary of a Wizard, who was in fact my first follower! :)

That's really all I have to post about

Wednesday, June 1, 2011

Entry Post

Hey Gang,

Just wanted to post real quick saying forget the forms; they're not working well for me. If you want to enter the PvP Tourney or the Featured Wizard Contest , comment here.

If you are entering the Featured Wizard Contest, make sure to:

1. Leave your Wizard's name.
2. Leave a description about your wizard here.

If you are entering the PvP Tourney, make sure to:

1. Leave the name of your wizard.
2. Leave the school of your wizard.
***Remember, the tourney is only 1v1; so no teams. Entries for both contests are due June 15th, 11:59 P.M. CST.***

Here is the list of people who are currently enrolled in the PvP Tourney:

1. Ben FrogStone

2. Abagail DawnPetal

3. Blaze ShadowHorn

4. Jasmine Smith

5. Nicholas DawnStrider

6. Issac StormFlame

7. Blaine StormMender

8. Michael FireBlade

No spots remain!

I also need help with PvP circles. As it goes, we may not have enough time for the PvP tourney, so I'm going to let people host some of the PvP matches. I will need 4 in total, along with one or two back-ups:

1. Cassandra GriffinDreamer

2. Dustin GriffinFlame

3. Panglou

4. Blaine StormMender

Again, First Come, First Serve!

Here are the listed prizes for the following contests:

*PvP Tourney*

1st Place: Mega Snack Pack.
2nd Place: Dragon Rider's Treasure Card Pack.

*Fashion Contest*
1st Place: Mega Bundle.
2nd Place: Dragon Rider's Treasure Card Pack.
3rd Place: My Best Treasure Cards!

That's pretty much it for now. I'll see ya later!

P.D.

***EDIT: I've posted the Featured Wizards Guest List here in case you didn't know where it was before:

  • Fallon (Ravenwood Radio and The Perfect Catch PvP Team)
  • Stephen SpiritCaller (Ravenwood Radio)
  • Ditto Wizard AKA Digby HexCrafter (Ravenwood Radio)
  • Christina IceDreamer AKA Icywiz (Ravenwood Radio)
  • Ian AKA Stormywiz (Ravenwood Radio)
  • Thomas LionBlood AKA The Friendly Necromancer (The Friendly Necromancer)
  • Bailey SkyStaff (The Friendly Necromancer)
  • Alia LotusPetal (Wizard101 Addict)
  • Fallon ShadowBlade (Diary of a Wizard)
  • Valdus SoulPyre (Diary of a Wizard)
  • Paige MoonShade (Wizard101Central and Paige's Page)
  • Alric RavenSinger (The Raven's Vault)
  • Cassandra GriffinDreamer (Witch Warrior101)
  • Ronnan Dawn (The Perfect Catch)
  • Cassandra DragonHeart (The Perfect Catch)
  • Kevin BattleBlood (The Perfect Catch)
  • Fallon MoonGem (Diary of a Wizard and Twitter)
  • Kestrel ShadowThistle (Shadowthistle School of Wizardy)
  • Blaine StormMender (Close friend)
If you think I've missed a wizard, please comment and I will change the list if they are truly missing. Thanks for you cooperation!***