West Karana

Finished Moo Shu’s first quest hub, Hametsu Village. It’s nice to have kinda-safe sidewalks to run around in; there’s nothing more annoying than the Marleybone rooftops, where the middle of the roof is safe, most of the time. Unless the mobs have decided to use that roof to turn around, in which case — grats on being chain-pulled into encounter after encounter.

The night started off with one last Knight’s Court quest, in Marleybone. I had to talk to a lady there about her purse. Well, I guess she had borrowed it from someone else, it got torn up, needed to be repaired, was really someone else’s, and her purse had been stolen, so needed to defeat larcenous kittens for that one, then re-deliver everything to everyone, and so on — this kind of quest chain is really common in Wizard 101, and I think the main purpose of this quest series is to get you to run along those traitorous rooftops some more :P

While I was there, I bought an airship ticket to Kensington. Not because I was about to do it, but because taking the airship there was the final airship trip out of Digmore Station, which gave me the Aeronaut badge. Don’t see many people with that one, so why not?

Back to Moo Shu afterward.

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It took the better part of two days and the help of a handful of friends, but I finally finished the story line missions in Marleybone to unlock Moo Shu, Wizard 101’s fourth (and so far, final) world.

What was the hurry? None, really. But — I love Wizard 101. It’s original, has deep, strategic gameplay, it’s different, fun and funny… So when EQ2’s expansion, The Shadow Odyssey, comes out, and Chronicles of Spellborn, I don’t want to just dump the game.

Just like World of Warcraft was for me, when I played, what I like about Wizard 101 is that it’s a MMO you can finish. There is a storyline that runs through the game, and each “world” is another chapter in it. And though you can’t finish the story yet, you can play through the first four chapters — the corruption and evil of the Professor of the Death School, Malistaire, in Wizard City. His search for the source of ultimate evil, the Krokonomicon, in the Egyptian-themed world of Krokotopia. Following the book to the Victorian, steampunk world of Marleybone, where it had been shipped unbeknownst to the Royal Museum. The theft of the book by master criminal Meowiarty, who sold it to Malistaire, who took it too his home in the world of Dragonspyre. Traveling to the Oriental world of Moo Shu in hopes to discover a path to Dragonspyre.

That’s as far as the story goes. So I figure I have about a month to get to the end of the story and to help all my friends get there as well, and then I can put the game away until Dragonspyre is opened .

So as of this afternoon, I am in Moo Shu.

But first, the clothes. There’s such an enormous variety of outfits in the world that after awhile, you have several sets that have decent enough stats that you can pick out what looks best to you. And you can dye them any combination of colors.

Here’s mine :)

Level 30	Level 31	Level 32-33
Level 34	Level 35

I liked the black one in the center the best. I wore that for a long time. Around the same time I picked up a steam-power staff which you just have to admire for the sheer kookiness of it. It casts Myth magic which, unlike my previous Life magic staff, doesn’t trigger my Life blades and traps, so it makes it a little easier to play my hand for maximum damage.

The robe in the last picture is an RMT robe from the Zeke in Moo Shu. Why buy one? My old robes weren’t bad by any means. But I had the Crowns, so why not? I got to level 35 without them, so the better stats and the special card that comes with it — I didn’t need.

Besides, I had my Sprite Guardian to keep me alive and a bunch of friends to help the time go by swiftly.

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Marleybone’s Regent’s Square at the end of last night’s adventure. New staff, the Staff of Rejuvenation; my school, of course, which is kind of a bummer because using it triggers all my Life traps and blades, but with careful planning, it works. Its advantage over Britt’s Flamelicked Staff? 75 Life damage vs 70 Fire damage means slightly more damage and somewhat more effective against Fire enemies. It also gives an extra pip at the beginning of every battle which means getting the good spells out becomes significantly faster. Since I begin most boss battles by trying to bring my four pip Sprite Guardian out to handle healing, being halfway there on the first round — and with luck with power pips, 3/4 of the way there — is extremely powerful.

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I didn’t intend to spend all night playing Wizard 101, but after I finished the Hallowe’en quests and finished the Krokotopia quests I’d ignored to get to Marleybone, I met up with a couple of friends and we spent the night working on Hyde Park quests.

So this is going to be kind of a long post.

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And I have the title to prove it.

I didn’t reroll as an Ice wizard :) I was just spending my mornings as I often do, killing Bastilla in Firecat Alley to try and get one of her rare pet drops — it KILLS me that I haven’t gotten a rare pet yet — and she dropped, along with a rare staff, some rare robes, Chillcloak. For all that it looks like Luke Skywalker’s second best clothes, it’s a pretty unique look. Half cape slung casually over one shoulder. Matching hat and shoes to complete the outfit.

If you look behind Tara, you won’t see the crowds of Wizard City or the blinding glare of Krokotopia. Tara is standing in the central square of Marleybone, its eternal night lit dimly by the glow of shop windows and the flickering magics of the minigame portals. She finished Krokotopia. Well, that’s not *exactly* true. But she did earn the right to go to Marleybone; she didn’t get there by tagging along on someone else’s ticket.

The Arena Master.

I started off Saturday night, after getting back from helping my son move to college, having just barely achieved access to the Krokosphinx, the second quest hub in Krokotopia. The main storyline for that section is the rebuilding of the Order of the Fang, an ancient society that once protected the Krokonomicon from misuse by those undeserving of power. That vile tome was stolen and the Order killed or scattered. Those wizards who venture into the Krokosphinx are there to gather them together once more, both the living and the spirits of the dead. And if the situation of the servile Mander people may be improved, so much the better.

I met up with someone who was just a quest or two ahead of me. He helped me catch up, and we worked together through the Grand Arena and the Vault of Ice.

In the Grand Arena, the Arena Master sets you ever greater challenges to prove your worth to (if I remember right) earn one of the three badges that identifies the bearer as a member of the Order of the Fang. That, and a trip through the Vault of Ice, earns you the right to defeat the minotaur champion at the front of the Sphinx. There’s always people willing to help with that boss, who has 2000 points of health and three friends, because he has some interesting rare drops.

The Order of the Fang sends their love.

That fight ended the night. This morning, I soloed the Emperor’s Retreat instance (which I did again later to help someone with the scarab collection quest), and that earned me my second badge and membership in the newly invigorated Order of the Fang. I left them to continue the good fight and headed into the Temple of Storms.

Somewhere along there I picked up a friend, Oran Ogrestrider (or something like that, call him Oran O.) He was level 10, and I’d probably met him while farming Bastilla at some point. There was definitely no reason for him to be in Krokotopia — 15 is really the minimum level for the second world. But, what the heck.

Unlike most kids who zap in to high level zones, he would stay to fight. Even low level people can be somewhat effective, and while I wouldn’t want level 10 people popping in in Marleybone or Moo Shu, Krokotopia is still easy enough that it doesn’t matter so much. Farming boss mobs so much gives me fairly decent gear (though no rare pets…).

I’d been hanging out with ANOTHER Oran (call him Oran T.), helping him with some boss kills, and zapping over to Oran O. to help him with boss battles in the Krokosphinx, a place he couldn’t even get to without help. I enlisted them both to help me in the final instance of the Temple of Storms. I could use the help, and the final ten bosses or so might drop good loot for folks.

There’s plenty of other things to do in the Temple of Storms, but I was getting impatient to get to Marleybone, just the same way I’d been eager to leave its sands behind when I played in beta. The secret is, you only have to finish the storyline quests to move to the next world. There’s a lot of quests left waiting for me in the Temple, but…

I didn’t get the kill shot. It sure wasn’t my Guardian Sprite who, like usual, was making her own healing her number one priority. Oran T had some sort of lightning elemental pet, probably that got the kill shot. But — DUST! The Buffy fan in me screams with glee.

This is me and Oran T. dusting the ultimate boss of Krokotopia. Oran O. was helping, but left mysteriously during the Trial of Strength. Oran T. asked me why I kept Oran O. in my friends list when he was kinda annoying. That was a good question. I’d been thinking about removing him from my friends list so he couldn’t tag along all day, but didn’t.

I told Oran T., finally, that if we were playing a kid’s game, we kinda had to expect kids were going to act like kids.

So I don’t think I’ll be removing him. But I do hope he learns to call first before porting.

Some Marleybone pics (you’ll be seeing a lot more of these as my friends and I work through this alternate version of London):

Marcel Meow… hey, I don’t name ‘em.

By Jove, Holmes, you can’t be serious!

I’m not supposed to be in Marleybone. I’m supposed to be mediating the eons-old feud between the Djesserit and Anjit clans of Kroks, a feud that started over where someone was to be buried. The Kroks are so focused on death, they love nothing else so much as the touch of the grave.

It’s depressing.

That’s Tara in front of the portal to the Tomb of Storms, the final zone in the world of Krokotopia. That’s my work outfit, the one I use to get things done. Notice it is covered with the Sigil of Myth. My entire outfit is in the blue and gold of the Myth school. So when people ask me what kind of wizard I am, I usually say Fire.

And the funny thing is, I’m not lying. Every Wizard has a primary school, where their most powerful spells come from, and the ones they can cast the quickest. But ever wizard also has a secondary school where they spend their training points. Mine, is Fire. My wands cast ice spells or lightning spells, so no matter what I come across, I can fight it, if I have time to rebuild my deck first.

I have some nearly endless fights coming up; I’ve helped other people with them. I just really want to move on to the next world, the Victorian Marleybone.

I’ve been piggy backing off friends; teleporting to each one in turn until I find one in Marleybone. This morning I happened upon a group doing the awesomely long final series of battles in Marleybone, short of going to the fourth world, Mooshu (which I assume has to do with Oriental-themed cows).

I did a bunch of quests in Marleybone, and have finally started the storyline quest which should bring me through the world. I have already opened up the second area in Marleybone (after Regent Park), Hyde Park. It is full of cat burglars. Who are cats. The police and the civilized folk are dogs. Sherlock Bones. McDuff the Crime Dog. Oh, yes. They aren’t too far from Barkingham Palace.

Okay, I’ll stop.

Since I last wrote, everyone has pretty much discovered how to set their account so they can use Dictionary Chat — where you can write freely, as long as every single word is in their dictionary. Aside from such puzzling omissions as “one”, “two”, “three” and the like (though the ordinal numbers “first”, “second”, “third” and so on are okay) conversation is more fluid. Someone still using the choose-a-phrase menus are seen as quaint. But there is still censorship, of a sort. Big words are simply not there. You can say what you like most of the time, as long as you use little words.

Battles are still fairly lengthy and somewhat tedious; there’s no such thing as just wading through trash or ignoring fights. If you get too close to any mob, it will force you into a circle and begin to attack. And all you can do is pull out your wand and deck of cards and play it through. Because of the design of the circle, you can only meet four mobs at once. Before the patch, they would line them up in ranks if they needed more. Now they just open a door to another fight. And another fight. And another fight. The fight in the picture above was one such; we must have done a dozen cookie-cutter fights before we hit a mini-boss, after which I had to go to work. You get low on power and health and have to take quick trips back to the city to plat mini games for health and mana once your potions have run out. These long fight series would be impossible alone. Eventually you would have to leave to regain health and mana… and then you would have to start over again.

And that’s where I am, and where I am supposed to be. In the Tomb of Storms. I have to solve the Anjit clan’s problems, then do the Emperor’s Retreat — an instance you have to complete in one session (I think) that has some fights impossible to solo, and then the Temple of Storms which I have not unlocked, and a blocked tunnel which goes I don’t know where.

It sounds tedious and Marleybone won’t be any better (though the clothes are nicer). It’s a casual game and casual games aren’t supposed to be about the destination, they are all about having fun where you are. And it is fun. I pop around and help friends with their fights and they help me with mine. I play with different outfits, collect pets, try out different deck builds. I’ve even dueled a few times.

I caught W101 as it was uploading Mooshu to my computer tonight. Looks like there is a zone called the Battleground. I don’t know if that is just the name of a zone or some sort of PvP thing — I hope the latter. That could be kind of fun.