Wizardly Love

For 2 years now, I’ve lead a double life. Gasp! I know, I know. I should be ashamed of myself. *hangs head low* Really, it’s not what you think though…. My other life is – a Wizard. Well, a bunch of wizards, actually. *blushes*

It all started with a search for kid friendly mmorpgs. Two years ago, it was slim pickin’s. When I came across Wizard101 (W633D-6L353-2QD2M-8L36Q), the then recent Harry Potter fad was still warm, but cooling down. Collectible card games never interested me, but the graphics and genre of this game just sucked me in.

I started out as a beta tester and then never wanted to leave. giggles

My main alter ego is a beautiful, blue-haired, turquoise-eyed thaumaturge (that’s a wizard that studies ice magic) named Kayla Ash. She has been my baby since day one of beta testing, having been wiped and recreated (rerolled) 3 or 4 times now. Of the current 7 schools of magic available for study, ice is by far my most favorite.

There are 7 magic schools – the elementals – fire, ice and storm – the spirit – death, life and myth and then balance, which combines a bit of all of the other 6 schools.

I have wizards in at least one of every school. I wouldn’t say I love them equally, but I really do love them all. They all have their pros and cons, but at least one school of magic should fit everyone like a glove.

Balance has pretty high life, mostly accurate and is good for solo or even better at supporting the other schools.

Death has average life, mostly accurate, not overly strong, but steals health to heal, so is very good to solo.

Fire is pretty low on life, not so accurate, but deals fairly high damage.

Ice has the highest life, fairly accurate, lowest damage, but is considered the “tank” of the game and pretty easy to solo.

Life has high life, most accurate, average damage, excellent at keeping everyone alive, so good to group or solo.

Myth has average life, pretty accurate, average damage, and relies on minions to help. I personally found it difficult to solo, and works better in small groups due to the reliance on minions.

Storm has the lowest life, lowest accuracy, but highest, most powerful damage. Best in group, imo.

To date there are 6 huge worlds and a 7th to be released end of summer 2010.

Wizard City is what you would expect as a fairy tale world. Krokotopia (or Krok) is Egyptian themed. Marleybone is Victorian England. Mooshu is oriental. Dragonspyre is somewhat Russian with a dragon and ruins theme. Grizzleheim is Nordic. The newest, unreleased is Celestia and set underwater like Atlantica.

The battles are turn based, non-gory, and similar to Pokemon in that you choose a spell card to attack your enemy with.

The spoils are divided among those survivors that participated in the battle.

You can quest, farm (battle for spoils/drops) or pvp (fight against other players in an arena setting).

With so many options of game play, and magic schools, i don’t honestly see how anyone could be bored.

Wizard101′s target audience was initially 7-14 I believe. In the years I have been playing, however, I have met and made many friends of ages, young kids through grandparents.

It’s a Torn World

So, a friend tells me about this game he plays. Says it’s the kind where you can just play occassionally – once or twice a day for 5-10 minutes. Torn City? Hmmm, what’s it like? Text rpg game, like a MUD. Set in a seedy city, where the goal is to commit crimes and become the best at it.

I’m thinking this is SO not my thing. I’m a happy-go-lucky, straight-as-an-arrow, spread-the-love kinda girl. I don’t even like to play games where things actually die, just maybe get stunned, fade away or fall asleep. ^_^

I dismiss this game and continue feeding my addiction with Wizard101. A few weeks later I’m still wondering how he could find so much interest in this game? What exactly about it could hold his attention?

I make an account to check it out. Checking out the site, I do my “crimes”. With only 10 nerve and beginners level, I’m only able to do the “search for money” crimes. “Search for money? No harm in that, right? Not hurting anyone. Maybe I can even turn it in to the police…”

“Hmm, I can go work out at the gym. That’s a nice idea. Could use a little toning and some pound shedding.”

“Oh, and I can get a job – Casino job looks nice. Yay! Education. I can better myself. I’ll start with some Computer Science courses. (Hacking sounds exciting and white collar crime is not as bad as murder.)”

I spend a short time on Torn City, setting myself up, then log out. This game isn’t so bad. Why was I so worried?

Next day I have a few questions and message my friend who sends me a link to a comprehensive and extremely informative guide/fan site – Torn City Basic. I start reading and learning, ask some more questions, then log back in to Torn to “do my dailies”. A few more “crimes” (no ability to turn found money over to police, sigh). Work out a bit more at the gym and find out I can help some people if I break them out of jail. “Wait! What? Well, I’ll just break out a few of the noobs. After all they need some help, and it will be my kind act for the day.” ^_^

I, myself, got caught a few times, sent my appropriate Thank You letters to those kind souls that busted or bailed me out and went on my merry way. Oh! “Congratulations! You upgraded your level to 2!” “Looky there! I leveled up! Wow, that’s kinda cool. Yay! That wasn’t too hard, and I didn’t really do anything bad…”

One of the guys that busts me out seems really nice responding to my Thank You. We continue mailing back and forth a few times. He sends me some money, from his casino winnings. “How sweet.” A few more people take pity on my noob status and send me some money too. I never expected to actually find “nice” or “good” people in a game such as Torn City.

Long story shorter – I begin playing more and more, longer and longer, every day until I’m mugging Old Women, bringing home thousands in Casino winnings, busting out hardened criminals, beefing up my battle stats, buying guns and ammo, becoming co-leader of a faction (albeit a peaceful one), getting married, moving out of a shack and into a palace, and slowly but surely becoming addicted to this seedy underground society that I hope never becomes a real world reality.

Join me. You know you wanna….

It’s a Zoovolution out there!

K, I have checked out the now open, Zoovolution. It is in beta and is free to register right now. Great graphics, somewhat reminiscent of VMK. Still a bit small, with a limited amount of places to visit. Quite a few games. Great source of animal information – endangered species. Not heavily populated at all so far. I met one other person on a Tuesday night around 9 pm. The other member tells me that more people show up on Saturdays and for the celebrity appearances! How cool is that? Guess I’ll have to check it out this Saturday. Overall, it has some real potential. I look forward to the coming summer months when it might just perk up a bit more. Good Luck, Zoovolution!

All-Star Buddies

After test driving this mmo, I can say that it appears to be perfect, in terms of visuals, for the younger crowd.  It does, however, lack content.  I liken it to an anorexic Club Penguin.  Graphics, environments, & charcters are bright and colorful.  There are flash games to play, some educational and some just for fun.  All in all, though it was all very minimal.  I can’t imagine it holding anyone’s attention for very long, though it appears to have great intentions.

Elf Island

K.  I got my cruise ticket to Elf Island yesterday!  Woohoo!  I can’t say much about it, since it is in beta (and I agreed not too – lol).  I recommend that you sign up for a test drive, though, as this little mmo looks like it’s on the right track. 

Missed the boat….

Bleh, missed the Elf Island boat (#8) again.    Ah well, while waiting for my boarding pass, I did some MORE researching….  lol  I’m now checking out this chat site, Chamber of Chat, that is a Harry Potter based theme. 

From there, I’ve also discovered a new BETA world.  Can I find them or what?  giggle.  It’s called Zoovolution. 

Geez!  After reviewing the company that produces Zoovolution, I’ve found yet another virtual chat world….  All Star Buddies. 

Hmmm, 3 new sites to keep me busy for at least a little while. 

 

FYI – I highly recommend you sign up NOW for Cartoon Network’s Fusion Fall!  It is in closed beta, but accepting new members.

Hurry up and wait…. Part II

Ah, so checking up on Elf Island (view trailer here), I see that there are “boats” of pre-registered users with a list of names on each boat – to date, 7 boats. I am, sadly, not on any one of them – yet. Their blog reports that they will launch new boats for the next 2 weeks. *Fingers crossed for next boat, #8* Now that HKO is in limbo again, I hope to join a new MMO to pass the time.

Aww. :( Hurry up and wait. :P

Well, Hello Kitty Online Founder’s Beta ended Saturday night (I wasn’t able to finish the quests, unfortunately). Next should be Open Beta wth a rumored date of early December. Supposedly there is a special surprise in the near future! In game GM’s and the official website posted not to delete the client as something was going to happen! Hmmm, I wonder….

Updates on MMO’s

In case you hadn’t heard, Hello Kitty Online Founders Beta is up and running. Not sure if you can still sign up for a founders account or not, but it’s worth a shot. Very nice MMO if you aren’t into violence, and really like questing and cute characters.

Also, and update on Dizzywood is that they are in full blown Halloween mode that started this past weekend. It lasts until Nov 2, I think. Check it out!

My beloved Wizard101 is also ready for Halloween with some new Halloween quests, Halloween gear, and black cat and a lollipop wand. Man, I love this game!

Poptropica had Halloween costumes you could wear, now you might still be able to using another member and the costumizer feature. They have a new Cinnamon Toast Crunch game and adventure gear to win.

Virtual Family Kingdom (VFK) is also ready for Halloween with some new quests and spooky gear. They even have a haunted forest you can buy!

Lastly, I’ve stumbled across a new game that appears to be almost ready to launch beta. It’s called Elf Island. Looks like it has great potential. They’ve posted a Halloween game and you can view the trailer here!

More Adoptable Pets!

I’m so excited about my dragons, that I search for more adoptable critters. I found a really great site if you like cuteness and puzzles! It’s called Moshi Monsters. Check it out.