Achieving Grandmaster Artisan...

...Nearly made me cry. Seemingly endless pearl farming in the Portico, hours spent bazaar-sniping sunstones and sandstones...I came very close to a mental breakdown many times.

This harrowing journey to Grandmaster Artisan-hood has changed my views on anyone else who's achieved this rank. Before, I regarded Crafting as an easy, 2-second thing. Boy, was I wrong. To anyone with more than 1 Grandmaster Artisan, I applaud you. I would never want to re-experience that type of grind, hour after hour after hour...

I also learned in the course of finishing the quest, was to read the directions very closely. Everything up 'til GM Artisan, you had to craft 2 of an object. So, like a total dummy, I assumed the same for the Seal of the Seven Seas. Had I read the quest dialogue, I would've found directions to only craft one Seal. That was 2 hours wasted on bazaar-sniping, and another 2 wasted banging my head on the wall.

The beacon of light that shone through the darkness, though, was that the Sunstones were needed for the Cosmic Kris and Stellar Signet. It left me thinking, "Do all of the recipes in here require sunstone?!"

In case you didn't know, the Cosmic Kris and Stellar Signet are an athame and ring. Together, they give 400+ HP, 32% power pip chance, and about an 82% boost to heals (incoming and outgoing combined). They're all the rage amongst PvPers because let's face it: 82% is a huge boost.

Here's the mathematical proof:
Pixie (normal) = 400 HP
Pixie (with Infection) = 200
Pixie (with Infection and Stellar Signet and Cosmic Kris) = 364

See? With this set on, you could get nearly normal heals even with an Infection on you. This set is like the new-and-improved Malistaire set. It's also my next goal. Wish me luck as I embark on hours of bazaar-sniping and head-banging!

Jess.

Open Chat Update: My Thoughts

Ah, that fateful day when KI took away the Open Chat from the kiddies...I remember it like it was 10 hours ago...

The change: all accounts must be actively subscribed to maintain the Open Chat feature. 

I'm not really one for big reactions, but I will say: we've had this coming for a long time. It started when under-18s got Open Chat, continued with the potty-mounthin', and it ends now. 

Being guilty myself, since I do have Open Chat for PvP purposes, I guess by writing this post, I'm a hypocrite. But it's like real life: there's always one kid in the class that makes everyone get after-school detensions because he decided to be a smart-alec. In this case, it was that small population who just couldn't resist keeping their bad words to themselves.

I was protesting this update at first, but now I'm starting to see reason. 

KI did this because there were way too many underaged Open-Chatters (I'm guilty too). That might have been okay, but the teens and kiddies brought their...colorful vocabulary to the Commons, the Arena, etc. I can only imagine how many Foul Language Reports KI had to sort through. 

And so they changed it. Now, the young population of Wizard101 has to keep a subscription if they want their Open Chat still. Meaning? You have no valid reason to keep it once your sub ran out, thus preventing a lot of the younger population from getting Open Chat:
Kid: Can I renew my subscription?
Dad: Why?
Kid: So I can type whatever words I feel like to negatively affect people.
Dad: Sure!
Yeah, that definitely won't convince any reasonable parent. 

So don't be mad at KI, or send any angry letters you'll later regret.

As some of the #twizards said: this is a game, not a chat service. If I lived a year and a half in this game with Menu Chat, you can live a few months with Text Chat. Not getting Open Chat is absolutely no reason to quit the game. 

Finally, I'd like to apologize to all the above-18s of the Spiral. I'm wagering not many of you have bad-mouthed someone recently, correct? So this update is like a double-edged sword for you guys. It's too bad your lot has to suffer along with us :-/

Jessica

My First Ranked Match

Sorry I haven't updated this thing in forever. School, projects, all of that stuff. But....guess who won her first ever ranked match? 

Me!

Prior to this, I've only done PvP on Practice.

The matchup ended up being me and my Myth partner (Talon) against a Myth and Death. 

So me and my Myth teammate started the match going second. Immediately, I did a *heddesk* Going second usually prolongs a match for about half an hour. Annoying, no?

However, I got the feeling the other team didn't exactly know what they were doing. The opposing Myth passed twice and the opposing Death put up Elemental shields, which were no help against us.

In four turns flat, Talon whipped out a Medusa (and lucky for us, I had a Feint) and the Death was out. 

We thought we had it won, but neither of us had Infection and the opposing Myth Polymorphed into a Treant. However, with a very well-placed dispel, I managed to rid him of all his pips when he used Dryad ;)

Eventually, he used two Satyrs, but was knocked out by Talon's Medusa and my Forest Lord. The Myth followed soon after. 

I think we got lucky, too. I drew just the right treasure cards at the right time and we didn't fizzle. 

Good fight, it has really opened my eyes to the amazing world of Ranked PvP.

Whew, sorry you had to endure that super-long narration. I'll have my deck posted later; always opened to suggestions :)

Celestia!

Why on Earth are you reading this? Head over to the Celestia Update notes!
https://www.wizard101.com/game/community/updatenotes

The Spiral Unbalanced??

Hey Spiralites. Been kinda scarce lately because of school and such. If perhaps you live under a rock, you may not have heard: the Selena Gomez quest has gone live and Celestia is coming out in the very very near future. And if you DON'T happen to live under a rock, you're probably saying "Duh! You're so late!" Am I right?

Anyway.

I've been questing with DreamRiver, the Balance wiz (just turned 36). And I bought a permanent Faithful Dragoness mount for about 62,000. And you know what? It was so easy to save up for because since all the Dye prices have been lowered, all the Bazaar sell and buy prices have been raised...and none of the buy-for-gold amounts have changed in the Crowns shop. Which means until KI realizes this, it'll be almost easy farming 60,000 or so to get that awesome mount ;)

Shh...

Of Reaching Grandmaster and Bad Farming Luck

I am on a ROLL--3 posts in a day!

So today, I got my very first GRANDMASTER! *sqee* She was the first character I had ever created, Life, and *sniff sniff* my lil Novice is all grown up. Bad news is, though, I hadn't even finished the Dragonspyre main quest line. Probably due to the fact that before I started paying, I got to level 13 in Wizard City, lotsa Scarecrows dead because of me :D

So, meaning, I can't go to Malistaire's Lair, and therefore--cannot get my GM robe. Darn.

Another bummer: I farmed Viktor Snowcrusher for two hours today. Nothing. No boots. Zip. Nada. I did, however, get the GM Balance hat, shoes, and athame. In the words of my ITS friend, "Geez, it must be a good day for Sorcerers everywhere!" And I got Malistaire's Storm robe and Snowcrusher's Ice boots.

Although my luck was bad (or regular--I don't have much farming experience) I did manage to get 2 Skeletal Warrior pets while the poor Pyromancers beside me got 3 pairs of GM Life boots. It's times like these that make me wish for an "Item-trade" button.

Happy questing in the Spiral!
-=||Jessica GreenRiver||=-

Question of the Day:
How long did it take you to get a full set of GM gear?
I look forward to hearing your answers!