As Summer Draws Upon a Close

KI has been hard at work this summer and the holidays aren't even here yet! I am so looking forward to the new things that I anticipate coming to the spiral at the end of 2011/beginning of 2012. Here are just some highlights of the great things that W101 has brought to us players:

April-New pets were brought to the spiral via the Crowns Shop, hatching, and the Easter vendor, Eggbert.

The Pet Rock was KI's April's Fools Day joke to the wizards of the spiral. This rock was only available for the first week.

Some wizards found a new hybrid pet by hatching a lvl 48 Helephant pet with a WC pet shop vendor Unicorn pet.

The Pet Egg was available in the Crowns Shop and some resourceful wizards found a way to create a hybrid by hatching with an Ice Colossus and Dragon pets.

Mount-A-Palooza came to the spiral and with it an influx of new mounts in the forms of ponies. The permanent Starlight, Moonlight, and Sunshine ponies became all the rage.

May-We were introduced to the continuation of the Grizzleheim quest where the Coven were determined to bring about the Everwinter to the entire spiral by waking the Ice Titan in Wintertusk. If Wintertusk is just a side world, I can't wait to see what KI unleashes upon us with a full scaled main storyline world. Wintertusk was absolutely beautiful with friendly characters and bewitching enemies that we had not encountered yet. The scenery was astonishingly breathtaking.

When test realm came out, I rushed through it really quickly on my Fire/Storm wizards, Jordan/Brianna so they could get their level 58 pets. Once it came to live realm, I really took my time listening to the dialogue and gazing at the landscape and surroundings. I am so glad I have 24 wizards who will each get to experience that parallel world because I could never get tired of the quests or the areas.

Added to the new areas is a familiar aquatic wonderland that was brought back this time with its own storyline, challenging tower, and extended places to explore. I am talking about Crab Alley in the middle of Triton Avenue. It offers quests and challenges for low level and legendary wizards both.

New school specific pets were given to wizards that were level 58 and had completed certain WT quest requirements. Ice got their own Wyvern, Fire a Phoenix, Storm a Kraken (who sneezes), Balance received Lady Judgment, Life calls forth the Forest Lord, Death has a Scarecrow, and Myth got their own choco...ahem Humongofrog.

Each school also got new spells to use at level 35 & level 55.

Ice-Legion shield gives a 30% tower shield to all players on your team & Frozen Armor is a higher end version of Ice Armor which can be used on any of your teammates.

Fire-Fuel gives three fire traps at once which works great on DoT spells & Power Link is the upgraded 'heal you/attack them' spell of Link.

Storm-Supercharge adds more power to storm in a version of a blade that can go as high as 140% if you use all your power pips for it & Insane Bolt which is a crazy version of Wild Bolt that does either 1,000 damage to a single enemy or 10,000 damage to yourself.

Balance-Elemental & Spirit defuses will ensure that your enemy fizzles any spell they cast while this is on them & Availing Hands which is an upgraded version of Helping Hands.

Life-Triage is great for taking off those pesky DoT spells & Brilliant Light which is placed on each team member will help when they heal themselves, another teammate, or when spritely goes off from their pets.

Death-Dark Pact falls along the same lines as Sacrifice & Empower in that it does damage to you when you cast it but you get a universal 30% blade to use for yourself or another teammate & Virulent Plague which is an updated version of Plague because it causes 40% weakness on all enemies as opposed to 25%.

Myth-Shatter is a smaller scaled version of Earthquake since it only takes off positive shields not traps or blades of the opposing team & Talos is the greatest minion in the game in terms of size, health, and spells he uses.

Mounts were also introduced as a new roaming feature for wizards' houses. With this introduction came a new way to decorate and show off your own wizard domains.

June-Most of June was spent trying to get those 'hard-to-get' pets and wands/staves/swords that were only available during certain times or in specific contests. KI changed the prizes on the various tiers of their KI FreeGames site and plenty of #Twizards and Central members paused their own wizard questing and began to delve earnestly in racking up the high scores in Doodle Dug, Sorcery Stones, and Dueling Diego for those sought after codes. Some were so adept at Doodle Dug that they were generous enough to open their own code shops and thus give back to the wizarding community.

For myself, I was able to finally get a Death Scarab, Storm Beetle, Umbra Sword, and Staff of the Querent. I was even lucky enough to score a few Mega Snack and Dragon Hoard Packs.

Speaking of Dragon Hoard Packs. OMG the loot inside those and the price was a real value! It became akin to gambling and/or the lottery. Everyone was wanting to get the rare Bone Dragon mount or Dragon Wings. For the gear, plenty were vying for the two-handed Dragon swords or the unique level specific hats, robes, and shoes that offered varying stats and innate cards.

July-New pet in the Crowns Shop in honor of the Fourth of July-the Patriotic Leprechaun. Dressed in red, white, and blue to help celebrate Independence Day, he was sure to boost your spirits when he was in a Pet Derby race with all those epic skills.

Another hybrid pet was found, the Fire Beetle, by crossing a Storm Beetle and Firecat.

Petnome had their first birthday and to celebrate they were giving away the gifts! Prizes for the various contests included crowns and an menagerie of pets.

August-Test Realm is once again open and this time KI has done it again! There is new content in the form of Wysteria which is a parallel rival school to Ravenwood. There is a new tower for those level 25 and up as well as an even more difficult tower (is it possible?) for Legendary wizards who have grown complacent with the Waterworks.

Housing perks include two new houses in the form of a dragon's castle called the Wizard's Watchtower and an underwater Sunken Palace. I am thinking KI decided to appease Miss Paige Moonshade who wanted Calypso's Sunken Ship for the longest time. At least now Calypso gets to keep her ship so we can continue to farm her and Paige gets her own house to decorate and float items that I am sure she can't wait to show us. Nice move, KI! All wizards get to be happy now.

With the houses come...HOUSE-A-PALOOZA! Seems that most of the W101 fansites are sponsoring contests to give away the various houses of the spiral. This is a great time to enter if you have a penchant for house decorating and would rather spend your gold on the housing items needed. This is a great time to try to win a house for your newest wizard who would like to move out of their dorm rooms.

It is Central's third birthday and they are celebrating by holding contests and giving away crowns, Dragon Hoard gear,  pets and other miscellaneous items.

August 19th will also be my own second Centralversary since I joined their fansite on that day in 2009. Unfortunately, I will not be hosting anything remotely as lavish as what they are doing. At most, I will probably just get together with a few of my closest friends and work on completing quests or farming for a particular item.

September-Has not come yet, but what do we think/hope that KI will bring for their own third birthday? My own birthday is on the 5th and I am thinking of following the same paths as others and hosting my own contest where YOU get the prizes!

Leave ideas of contests you would like me to hold as well as your own predictions of what KI has in store for us for the remainder of the year.

Until then...

Follow Your Own Path

SorceressMiklai