Category Archives: Guides

Jewels

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What are Jewels?

Jewels are items in the game that can be added–affixed–to equipment. (Athames, rings, amulets, decks, and even pets!) There are five different types of jewels–circle, triangle, square, tear, and star. Each different shape gives different boosts to stats.

Square jewels boost resistance, stun block, critical block, and incoming healing percent.

   (The square, tear, and triangle shape jewels.)

Triangle jewels boost shadow pip percent, power pip percent, accuracy, and can grant cards.

Tear jewels increase mana, health, energy, and fishing luck.

Circle jewels boost damage percent, critical chance percent, and outgoing healing percent.

Star jewels are equipped to pets, and can offer a multitude of different things; accuracy, cards, damage, resistance, and can even increase your gold obtaining rate. Star jewels can also boost your pet’s attributes. (Suffice to say, star jewels can give your wizard a handy little boost.)

(Know that jewels can boost specifics as well. A square jewel that is red will give you a boost in a fire resist. Jewels that are rainbow colored are the jewels that are universal–universal resist, universal damage, universal accuracy, etc.)

 

When you affix–socket–a jewel to an item, you must shatter–break–it to reopen that slot. When you shatter a jewel, the jewel will usually disappear. There are exceptions to this rule, so before you affix a jewel to a piece of equipment, double check that it is, in fact, shatter-proof.

You can carry up to a hundred jewels in your bag. They can be trashed and sold, but they cannot be auctioned. You can put jewels in a bank and the shared bank.

Obtaining Jewels

Like mostly everything in the game, jewels can be obtained be farming, buying off of vendors, or crafting. (You can even find jewels in fishing chests.) Some jewels can’t be bought, some can’t be crafted, some can’t be farmed. It’s annoying, but it’s life.

To craft jewels, you need two things: the recipe and the jewel crafting station. (Which is obtained from a quest at level 15.) All jewel recipes require three fundamental things: a type of metal, a type of gem, and a type of treasure card. What type of metal, type of gem, and what type of treasure card depends on the recipe, but that’s the blanket rule.

For example, the recipe for a random ice school jewel for levels 45-65. In the bottom left, the ingredients needed are listed. 15 sapphires, 4 bronze, and 4 ice spear treasure cards.

Farming for jewels works just as farming for any other type of equipment. Do your research before setting off. Buying jewels from a vendor is just like buying gear from a vendor.

 

This is a novice’s wrench.

Opening Sockets

Some items have sockets that have a lock over them. This means you must open the locked socket before you can affix anything to it. This requires an item: a wrench. Different items require different wrenches. If you don’t have the correct wrench, you can pay crowns to unlock the socket. Wrenches are traditionally dropped by bosses, but a variety of bosses drop different wrenches.

Affixing Jewels

Courtney, you say, I have the jewel I want to affix, but what do I affix it to? 

Great question, young grasshopper.

You affix jewels to gear you know you will be using. The better the jewel, the more you want to ensure that it will get used.

Just recently, I got my gear from Darkmoor. My ring, Band of the Chilling Light (dropped from Aphrodite, the gold skeleton key boss in the Graveyard) gives three sockets: a circle, a tear, and a square. Since I plan on using this equipment piece of a long time, I would choose to affix a good jewel, perhaps a universal resistance jewel, a health-boosting jewel, and a really good damage jewel.

The ring I used before I got this one was one I got in Zafaria. At level 66. I never replaced the ring because I had my best jewels affixed to it, and the rings I found later on never matched up to it.

When you’re a lower level, you switch gear a lot. When you’re level fifteen, there’s a good chance you’ll be using a different athame at thirty. There’s nothing wrong with that, and I highly recommend you do not use a level fifteen athame at level thirty. Don’t equip a rare/good jewel you just found to an athame you’ll use, perhaps, for five more levels. (This is a suggestion, not a requirement. What I’m trying to get at is to plan out how long you’re going to use a piece of equipment. It does no good to waste jewels you spent hours farming for.) 

Shattering Jewels

This is the downside. I mentioned it above, but for almost all jewels, when you affix them, to get rid of them you must shatter them. This breaks the jewel, and you can never get that jewel back. There are jewels that are shatter-proof, but there are more jewels that aren’t. Be very careful what jewels you choose to affix.

 

I was very fond of the +17 ice damage as well as the +32 fire resist. I also never really found a better ring, but that could have been me forgetting to double check my gear.

The process of affixing/shattering a jewel to an item

 

 Community Contributor Courtney PixieBreeze

NEW Aero Plains Bundle

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So with the release of Empyrea Part 2, Kingsisle has released a brand new bundle!  The all-new Aero Plains Bundle is related to the Aero Dwarves of Empyrea, some of my favorite area’s and characters!

With it, we get a load of new items like:
– The Aero Village House
– The Squirreligig Pet
– The Aero Dwarf Gear Set
– The Aerocannon Wand
– The Blue Ox Mount (Perm)

So how does this bundle stack up?  Is it worth your purchase?  Well, let’s take a look, shall we?!

The Gear

I think a lot of you will read this because of the gear.  Whenever a new bundle releases, there’s always the question of whether the gear will be an absolute must-have, or not.  Well, it’s not bad!

  

I think an immediate fun feature to note is the variety of cards!  They’re all smaller pip versions of the originals and could be a lot of fun to mess around with!

The stats are also not too horrible, and could serve as filler gear while you farm for your new Paradox gear!  The shadow pip chance is good, providing a combined shadow pip bonus of 11%!  This universal gear would be especially useful for a Balance wizard!

The wand could also be fun, especially in PvP with that may cast Mana Burn!

The Pet and Mount

The new pet is simultaneously the cutest and coolest pet I think I’ve ever seen!  The aptly named Squirreligig is a two-tailed blue and white squirrel that flies by spinning its two tails like a helicopter. Is that not just the most amazing thing ever?!

With it, comes an Unstoppable card and 4 Epic talents!  It also has decent stats, meaning transferring stats to this cool dude won’t be too hard!

The new mount, the Blue Ox, is a pack horse version of the Blue Ox mob from the
Aero Plains!  It makes a super adorable little jingle noise as it bounces around the Spiral!

It’s my new personal favorite mount and I love its design!  I personally would buy 5 more of these bundles just to have a Blue Ox on each character!

The House

While there’s not an abundance of outside space, there’s plenty of room to create an amazingly built up house!  Personally, I plan on building a super fun community focused house!  A fun area for a whole lot of friends to just hang around in!

With fishing available, it seems like there is something to please every type of Wizard101 player!  As for the house itself, there are 10 separate outside entrances all leading into the same massive interior.  It is an actual maze inside.  It is, and I’m not exaggerating, HUGE on the inside.  With multiple levels and some massive rooms, designing the interior of this is not only gonna be fun, but also challenging!

Oh and don’t get me started on the waterfall!  Right next to which is a windmill that gives you a free item every day!  Oh, and did I mention there’s a PvP arena out back for some saucy duels?!  This house is definitely my favorite part of this bundle!

So In Conclusion

Well, I think it’s safe to say this bundle is one of the best we’ve ever seen in terms of all-around design.  The beautiful house, the plucky happy-go-lucky Blue Ox and the adorably cool Squirreligig all show amazing design and creativity!  The new gear design is also awesome and definitely stitchable!

Inspired by one of my favorite area’s in-game, this is a bundle I’d highly recommend to any of you looking to pick up a new bundle.  It’s creative and altogether fun and worthwhile!

The Manders Orchestra

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For Musician and Non-Musician Alike

Sultry, dry, and desolate, we find a great civilization that has emerged from the Oasis. Built by the Manders, composed by Nelson Everhart, and enslaved by the Kroks, a great society emerged from these sands only to wither away and be found by our Marleybonian friends.

There is continuity within music. Last time we discussed how themes develop across a story, but now we will talk about another important element of music. Atmosphere is a tool of world-building. Percussion and orchestration drive the sensation of what we hear in Krokotopia, filling the sound with specific instrumental timbres to feel the essence of where we are. We will now explore the music of Krokotopia to envision what wonders lie in store.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8FCrZtZo5k

“Main Theme 1”

First of all the music we hear of Krokotopia, the ambience is subtle but familiar. The bass in the harp instrument keeps the time after the tam-tam hit as reeds and other harps and lyres ornament the overall sound. Around 00:20 seconds in, we listen to a very familiar instrument: horns. Horns in general blend in with the instruments around them and their addition at this point is seamlessly done, simply adding onto the previously established texture by playing a simple melody of long sustained tones.

At 00:58 seconds, we have an oboe play a light melody before having the strings take over at 1:10, with the horn from before adding counterpoint to where the strings have sustained notes. What is counterpoint? In music, counterpoint is the idea that several voices should have interesting melodies at the same time. Both pitch and rhythm will differ from each other in two to four ongoing melodies. This is what people found interesting when listening to pieces such as fugues in Europe around the 1500’s to 1700’s.

I bring this up to mention the fact that music from all around the world is vastly different, and when our western ears create and develop it, the composer knows we are subject to what we are accustomed to. By combining the music we are commonly used to in video games and movies alike, as well as knowing the way to create Egyptian music, we have this magical creation.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r4QR7-GAiAI

“Theme 2”

We now begin the exact same way as before, striking the tam-tam before going into the same texture. The ambience is there all the same, but now we have a very different emotion. More suspenseful, more drama – the world is becoming more elusive as we delve into the Sphinx’s clever riddle. The various instruments of the ensemble carry around ornaments until a theme is stated twice by a lyre and gets carried to the vibraphone. This theme gets repeated until we hear the melody from the previous track 00:32 seconds in, sounding doubled by the flute and horn before being carried to solo violin.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjwjBVkSbFA

“Theme 3”

Another tam-tam strike marks the start of our piece to begin the texture. This time, there is a stately upbeat pulse. The march-like pulse is a mark to go forth and continue our journey. We have a lower flute give a dreamy, dancing melody similar to some of the ostinatos from the other tracks. Ostinatos are repetitive figures that continue throughout a section or the entirety of a piece. This theme gets carried to the oboe and then the horn. The idea of the call-and-response voices is common throughout these tracks. It creates continuity to these themes and instrumental texture.

The texture of a piece builds the atmosphere and the world building of this land. The music we hear is what Krokotopia would sound like in an instrumental landscape. The march comes to a halt (no pun intended, my marching band friends) before the main theme from the previous two tracks is stated again, and always calm and airy as the first. Violins on their high E string add the slightest texture, but the impact of the texture is all the greater. It feels as though we have been met with challenge. The strings take over, brightly and crisply their strings are bowed into a beautiful glorious restatement of the main melody, with the horns strengthening the texture and chords in the meantime.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zC6oakVwoYY

“Theme 4”

My personal favourite, the fourth one begins with a harp arpeggio before the loudest tam-tam crash besides the powerful horns. The mood evokes grandeur and royalty. The horns play on as flutes and harps hover their arpeggios above, like magical orbs within the royal chamber. An oboe plays the dancing melody from the previous track.

After the royal intrada, or musical introduction, the theme 3 melody hums from the flute, strings, and oboe. This serene interlude brings us to a climax with another tam-tam strike. This is one of the more exciting themes from the bunch. The strings wail the melody as percussive textures occur in the background.

We hear drums stricken with hands, clanking from what sounds like a triangle on the second beat of each measure, and a scrapping metallic sound on every offbeat. The metallic sounds from the scrapes and the triangle envision wealth. And who is the wealthiest in all of Egypt? Cleopatra of course, who would dissolve pearls in drinks only prove how rich she was. In this part of the story, we end Krokotopia by fighting Krokoptra, the Wizard101 counterpart.

At timestamp 1:09, the strings develop on the melody. Cordial and delightful, chords play behind the once solemn melody. We are coming to the end of our story in the stormy tombs of Krokotopia. Horns add flares to the music, alongside a small short-short-long motif after each phrase.

Krokotopia has not lost all of its mystery quite yet. The bright mood changes at timestamp 2:00, The entire ensemble breaks into a minor key upon the deep and dark roll of the drums. Suspended in wonder, Harps flare arpeggios into this new texture. Bells add-in, representing magic and mystery. Famous examples include Tchaikovsky’s “Dance of The Sugar Plum Fairy” from The Nutcracker Suite and John William’s “Hedwig’s Theme” from Harry Potter.

Thank you, Starlights, for venturing through my tour of The Mander’s Orchestra. Have a wonderful night.

Disclaimer:

Please note: I transcribed the music from the original/classic mode music scrolls. Not all of my transcriptions are 100% accurate, but they are close and the rhythm is properly notated. There is less sheet music in this article than the previous because there was more thematic material in the Wizard City themes.

Polarian Shipwreck

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Are you ready to take on the next challenge? Is all the equipment there?
We need your valuable help, time, patience and screenshots!
 

I will continue with the Polarian Shipwreck

This is what’s been confirmed or not yet by Wiki and the Housing Item Identifier or other sources.
 

Battle Narwhal

 
Wiki: Verified
Housing Item Identifier: Verified
 

 

Proper Penguin

Wiki: Verified
Housing Item Identifier: Verified

 

Polarian Explorer’s Pickaxe

Wiki: Not Verified yet
Housing Item Identifier:
Currently, it hasn’t been found.
 

 

Polarian Explorer’s

Polarian Explorer’s Snowhood / Polarian Explorer’s Snowsuit/ Polarian Explorer’s Snowboots
Wiki : Not Verified
Housing Item Identifier: Gear not Verified, shows only the recipe for the mannequin.
Others sources: Not verified as of now.
 

Advice

The Castle contains 4 ponds that are linked together.
The spells will apply to both ponds, so there’s no need to repeat them.
The fishes of this Castle are mostly from the ice school, so use Winnow Ice Fish or an ice lure!
Winnow ice fish can help too if you use the Buoy Chests 1 spell.
The Napoleguin Doodlefish, Ice school, rank 2 is the doodle of this Castle.
 

Secret Pond

At a lower point on the ice wall of the Polarian Shipwreck, there is a different color to the ice. If you walk through, you will find a hidden pond.
 
 
If you get some of the crowns gifts that have not been confirmed in the Wiki, please take a photo with the chest drop and send it to us at [email protected]
 
Thanks for visiting Ravenwood Academy
I can’t wait to see your photos and comments!
 
Thank you and Good luck!

Energy Saving Tips

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Hey everyone!

Just sharing something I found out recently that might increase your energy efficiency while training pets. Let me know what you think!

First things first.....

Before I start, consider getting some energy gear if you don’t already have some! I made a guide you can check out here for some ways to get energy gear without emptying your crowns wallet.
 
Also, you should never use snacks that give less than 8-10 XP unless you are completely broke. It’s just so inefficient. Sell them if you have them, and buy the rank 7 snacks from the bazaar. (If the snack is the same school as your pet, that’s a plus too.) You may already have some rank 7+ snacks from bosses you have fought while questing or farming, so you shouldn’t always have to buy when you run out of mega snacks.

Back to the point.....

This mainly applies to people that have a limited number of mega snacks. If you have like 400+ in that tiny little backpack of yours, keep doing what you’re doing.
 
You wanna make the most out of your precious, limited supply of mega snacks?
DON’T USE THEM.
(Well, not yet at least.)
 
This may not make sense at first, but trust me here. Consider this: regardless of what level your pet is, the same snack will always give the same amount of xp.
 On the other hand, the level of your pet DOES decide how much energy you spend per game during training.
 
But why does that matter?
 
Theoretically, you’d want to spend more time at the lower levels to take advantage of the cheaper energy cost. The better snacks will level you up faster (which is the goal), but that gives you less time at the lower levels. And there’s no way using worse snacks can be more effective……right?
 
Not necessarily.
 
Still kinda confusing right? Well check out this example!
 
Imagine you begin training a pet, and have these two snacks in your backpack:
 
Fancy Yogurt (x5)
Shanta Pudding (x13)
Pet: Baby (0/125 xp)
Naturally, you want to rush straight to Teen using those Fancy Yogurts right? Well, 3 snacks will level you up. Here are the results:
 
Pet: Teen (25/250)
Games Played: 3
Energy Cost per Game: 2
***Energy Used: 6***
Remaining Snacks:
Fancy Yogurt (x2)
Shanta Pudding (x13)
Now, assuming you play 15 more pet games and used the remaining Fancy Yogurts and all the Shanta Puddings, you would just barely make it to Adult. Here are the results:
 
Pet: Adult (5/500)
Games Played: 15
Energy Cost per Game: 4
***Energy Used: 60***
Remaining Snacks: None
 
Overall to get from Baby to Adult, it took 66 energy and all 18 snacks. We used the mega snacks first, which is typically how people train their pets.
 
Now, lets see if what happens when we take the same situation, but start by feeding the Shanta Pudding instead of the Fancy Yogurt.
 
Since it only gives 10 xp, you will need all 13 snacks just to get to Teen. Results:
 
Pet: Teen (5/250)
Games Played: 13
Energy Cost per Game: 2
***Energy Used: 26***
Remaining Snacks:
Fancy Yogurt (x5)
Shanta Pudding (x0)
 
Then, you continue to Adult by using the mega snacks. Results:
 
Pet: Adult (5/500)
Games Played: 5
Energy Cost per Game: 4
***Energy Used: 20***
Remaining Snacks: None
Notice the difference yet? In both cases, you played 18 games, used 18 snacks, and ended up right at Adult.
 
The difference? Energy. In the first scenario, 66 energy total was used. But in the second scenario, only 46 energy was used.
 
You literally saved 20 energy from baby to adult just by feeding snacks in a different order.
 
The concept is pretty simple: by spending more time at lower levels, you decrease your energy usage overall. This was just an example, so I used specific snacks and only did 2 levels of training, but the same idea applies for any other situation.
 
The longer you wait to use your mega snacks, the more energy you will save in the long run.
 
Yes, it will seem like it’s taking longer at first. Even in the example, it took 10 games longer just to get to Teen. But if you’re in it for the long haul, you will appreciate the extra energy and less time spent at the higher levels.
 
Personally, I like to wait until my pet is Ancient (mainly because I have an absurd amount of the +15 xp snacks) before I start using my rank 8 and 9 snacks. If your pet fails early, you can rest easy knowing that no mega snacks were wasted. This also allows you to speed through those expensive 8-10 energy games as quickly as possible, which saves a ton of energy.
This concept does also apply during double xp, but the biggest priority in that case would be to use all of your mega snacks before the event is over. The sheer volume of double xp is worth more than saving some energy, but it is entirely possible to do both.
 
Like I mentioned at the beginning, if you just have limitless mega snacks (and I know at least a few of you gardening monsters do), then ignore this completely, as it won’t help you. The goal is to speed through the higher levels to avoid high energy costs per game; but if you can speed through the entire thing with only mega snacks, then you do you.
 
For those of you that made it this far, I appreciate you taking the time to read this post! Do you think this is effective? Leave a comment below!
 

By Community Guest Author: NinjaDudeb12

A Game Changing Deck Strategy

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Have you been spending your training points on a secondary school thinking it’s the best option to help on your questing journey?

Well, I have a little game changer for you! Personally, this helped me so much in my journey through the spiral. I am a life wizard and everyone knows us life wizards don’t hit hard in the beginning. It’s a struggle until we get Forest Lord. So, I thought learning the spells of the strongest school in the game would help me out a lot. I was wrong. I struggled through all the worlds until I got to Celestia, which is main world no.6! I spent all my training points on the wrong cards.

It wasn’t until I found a useful set up that saved me more times than I can remember that life in the Spiral got a bit easier.

Let’s elaborate shall we?

ICE - Tower Shield

Tower shield is a necessary spell in case you are facing an enemy you don’t have a shield for or didn’t pack a treasure card for. It reduces 50% damage from any school. I don’t take this spell out of my deck unless I have a shield to match the school of the enemy I’m facing in battle. You have to be level 16 to learn it. All spells require 1 training point but you will have to learn Frost Beetle, Snow Serpent, Volcanic Shield, and Evil Snowman before getting access to train the spell. You will need a total of 5 training points.

Tower Shield is also available as a Treasure Card which gives an additional 5% shield. It can be bought from the Bazaar in Wizard City Olde Town.

DEATH - Feint

Feint is one of my favorite spells from the death school. It’s a trap that adds 70% damage with a small catch of also casting a 30% trap on you. It is not linked to another school, so can be used on any enemy to add more damage. You will have to be level 26 to be able to get this spell. You will have to learn Dark Sprite, Ghoul, Dream Shield, Banshee, Vampire, and Skeletal Pirate before getting it. You will need a total of 7 training points.

Feint is also available as a Treasure Card too! Instead of a 30% trap on your self it reduces to 20%. Also can be bought from the Bazaar.

BALANCE - Reshuffle

Reshuffle, a spell I had no idea was actually trainable in Wizard City itself! This spell is another favorite of mine and never leaves my deck. It is a massive help when you’re fighting a boss, or even a mob battle and haven’t packed enough attack spells or heals. Reshuffle does exactly what it’s called, reshuffles all your cards back into your deck. This spell is located in Colossus Boulevard in Wizard City. Mildred Farseer has the spell for you to train along with a few others. You will have to be level 20 to be able to train it and will only be 1 training point. You do not need to learn all the spells that she offers in order to train one. 

Reshuffle can be bought from the Bazaar. If you haven’t trained the spell and see it in the Bazaar, buy it quick as it is fast to go. You can also buy Reshuffle from the Library in the commons of Wizard City.

Below is a picture of Mildred Farseer and a map of where she is located in Colossus Boulevard. 

BALANCE - Spirit and Elemental Blades/Traps

These 4 spells are great for setting up a boss or mob to increase your damage. The blades adding 35% and traps adding 25% damage. They are not only great for yourself but if you are working with a team of other wizards, you can also help out by trapping the enemy they are aiming to hit or casting the blades on them. So these are a multi-useful spell. I would only get the cards that match your school.

Niles, the Balance tree has these spells. He is at the entrance of the Krokosphinx in Krokotopia, which is the second main world in the Spiral.  You will have to be level 15-25 to get these spells and you also must complete all the Wizard City main quests to gain the Krokotopia Spiral Key. Each of these spells needs 1 training point. 

Below is a picture of Niles and where he is located.

Training Points

To learn all the spells above, you will need a total of 15 training points. Don’t panic! Every four levels, you gain 1 training point and your school spells don’t cost anything! Also, doing Prospector Zeke’s quests in every world, which involve you exploring the world you are in to find whatever item he has requested, will help you gain another training point in each world.

A picture of Prospector Zeke along with 2 of his quests are below.

saffron22

I hope this guide helps you the way it did for me! 

Whirlyburly! The Basics

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Introduction

So, how about Whirlyburly? Whirlyburly is that oddly-placed mini-game within our Velo City storyline. It’s kind of like chess, but three player… and hexagonal… with only three pieces…  Okay, so it’s nothing like chess, but it is a tactical board game with a lot of inner complexities that make it surprisingly fun.

The game can be complicated and confusing for a new player, and only through experience does one learn the ropes, but that’s what this is here for! So, let’s see what we can teach you!

The Cards

The random selection of 5 cards you get at the start of each round are what allow you to make specific plays. Ideally, you want big movement pattern cards, but often small, strategic plays can win you a match!

It’s important that you can discard any card you don’t want. A simple right click will allow you to find a better one for the next turn!

You can also gain a lot of tiles at once by matching the letter of your card to your piece. So, S for Scrapper, and when he finishes he takes with him a large area that surrounds him!

You can also change what piece has which card before the selection phase ends by simply clicking them and a new card!

The Pieces

Contrary to the name, the Charger isn’t specifically designed to charge at the opponent and take chests. Each piece functions in the exact same way, but with different prey and counters.

The best you can do is watch where the enemy sends their pieces. If both of their hunters are near a single place, send your Charger in while keeping your Scrapper away. Those 3 point kills make a massive difference. This smart positioning often allows you to take chests without much hassle or competition!

But be wary of overextending! If you send your Hunter in to take a chest, make sure their Scrappers aren’t on your borders ready to pounce!

Remember that you can also knock pieces off the map! If a piece is near the outline, use a Hunter or Charger to knock them off of the edge, sending them back to spawn!

The Points

The points system is pretty easy to understand but can be a lot more complex when you are left with decisions that could drastically affect your score at the end of the game.

The 10 point chest is almost always a good idea, but on your way, you may be killed and leave uncontested tiles for your enemies to take! Tiles build up points faster than you think, so leaving a ton of them on the other side of the board free to be retaken is not a good idea.

Capturing is also a solid method of gaining points. If you can repeatedly take out their pieces and contest tiles you’ll quickly score into first place!

The last round! This is super important and can make or break your entire game. Taking tiles should be your absolute priority. Don’t leave yourself at risk in the round before, otherwise, you’ll just take the tiles you already have. Save some of those Area Capturing tiles for last and boost your score as much as possible!

Conclusion

Whirlyburly is actually quite fun, endearing and a unique game once you start to understand it. It can quickly take up a lot of your time and you’ll end up spending too much time in Velo City, or you’re like me and have created an entire gear set just to wear into games!

Hopefully, this allows you guys to better experience our new mini-game and earn some cool shirts!

The WizardCity Orchestra

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Intended for Musician and Non-Musician Alike

Wizard City, founded by Merle Ambrose, composed by Nelson Everhart, has an unexplainable joy located in the centre of the world that is uniquely magical. As we cross the line from magic to music, we will analyze through this guide the music that aids the story of the first world we step in. This is unique kind of guide- guided listening!

Music typically aids a story. A leitmotif is a form of musical aid when music is played to represent a specific character or theme. Famously used in Richard Wagner’s 15 hour Opera, The Ring Cycle (home of “The Ride of The Valkyries”). Leitmotifs often relate to each other in a musical way to present continuity in the aesthetic of what it represents.

“Main Theme”

One of the most iconic themes presented in Wizard City is located within The Commons. Throughout this article, a theme is defined as the main melody within a piece of music. I stress this, because we typically think of a theme as the piece as a whole.

This melody, notated above, is a descending major scale with some notes fluttering down faster than others in what is called sixteenth notes. We also have notes going back and forth between each other- a common characteristic in most of the Wizard City melodies. What is a major scale? It is commonly referred to as a collection of notes played in a specific order (Do Re Mi Fa So La Ti Do, if you are familiar with Solfege and/or The Sound of Music) that comes off as “happy” in tone.

We begin the melody on the English Horn, a relative to the oboe before being taken from the light and airy flute. Pizzicato strings snap along, giving a bouncy vibe. Please note, I only transcribed the underlying bassline and not the complete strings section. For simplicity’s sake, the example is written in concert pitch.

As we drive away from the complex aspects of music theory and orchestration, how does this make us feel? It makes us feel happy and relaxed. “The Commons” is for gathering with the community, and with the few instruments playing at any given time, it feels intimate and easy-going. The light atmosphere is perfect for a passing place to collect quests, or to simply walk on by.

“Theme 1”

Next, we have the original Ravenwood theme. The horn begins by ascending a dissonant Lydian arpeggio coming to a resolution within the next measure. After that, we repeat that same idea, but go down a whole tone scale, similar to how we went down a scale in The Commons theme. The music of Ravenwood is meant to be glorious and bestilling; to be standing before an ancient being as grand as Bartleby and to feel his serene vibe.

The strings respond to the horn, going back and forth between two notes in nearly the same rhythm the horn did, stating the theme as it develops. The Commons theme too, went back and forth between two notes in its melody, connecting these two melodies in a very subtle way.

“Theme 2”

We continue to explore Wizard City with Olde Town. The selection I picked from here begins at 00:27 seconds into the third track. This is the point we truly see the themes come together. The horn begins with a melodic shape that will develop into Theme 3’s main melody, then using that with a descending scale, similar to the whole tone scale used in Theme 1. There is then a key change that develops the first statement into A major, continuing onto a fragment similar to the main Commons theme.

After that climax, the strings (or clarinet in the rendition above) relax with a rhythmically slowed-down version of the Commons theme, developing its character. This is where our Wizard accepts the three streets questline and ventures forth, representing how they are becoming more at home with the world they magically were summoned to.

“Theme 3″

The orchestra ventures to Unicorn Way, the starting point of all trauma our wizards suffer. The clarinet soothingly hums out a happy, twinkling theme. 

It goes to and fro between thirds with passing tones in between, similar to the starting melody of Theme 2. But this specific melody develops until it begins to ascend. This is the first time we have purposely shaped the melody to ascend. This is the largest the melody has ascended, even from the beginning ascension of the Ravenwood Theme.

We go through a key change as the horn reaches the climax of the piece. The horn reaches a high Eb, the highest note used in the melody so far. Both of these show a deeper meaning that our Wizards will reach great lengths in their future. The future of our Wizard’s life is hinted that we will be expected to do great things during our time in Ravenwood, and the music encompasses that idea. 

After an instrumental interlude, we return to the classic Commons melody, but the ending has developed. Before it was five notes, now it is seven.

Thank you, Starlights, for venturing through my tour of The Wizard City Orchestra. Have a wonderful night.

Disclaimer:

Please note: I transcribed the music from the original/classic mode music scrolls. Not all of my transcriptions are 100% accurate, but they are close and the rhythm is properly notated. The Golem Tower, Wizard City Combat, and Wizard City Dreamworld Themes did not fit in with the above, so I have not included them in this presentation.

Storm Titan’s Trident Strategy!

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Basics

The final dungeon of Part two, Storm Titan Maelstrom, is one of the hardest fights in the game.  And sadly it is also the only fight in-game that drops the new Paradox gear, the majority best offensive gear in-game!  But what if you could kill it in a few rounds without ever losing more than a few hundred hit points?  Would be nice to save yourself an hour or more wouldn’t it?

The premise of this strategy is to kill the titan by using overtime and before he kills you.  But never fear, he won’t even be able to kill you with the Bad Jujus you placed on him!  Just make sure you understand everything fully, it isn’t a super strict strategy either with a decent margin of error.

Character Roles

Hitter: Your hitter is going to need a very strong DOT spell.  You’re looking at Heckhound, Stormhound etc.  Perhaps even Spinysaur!

Balance: Sadly, it is very hard to pull this off without a balance.  Although it may be possible without, a Balance simply provides an unrivaled advantage.  They can set up the hitter more effectively than any other school can.

Jade Death: Again something you can’t do without.  Only a Death can cast the required Indemnity Bad Jujus required to pull it off, as Storm Titan will cleanse himself. Death is also useful for Dark Pact.

Jade (any):  This can be any school that can tank and go first.  They’ll be elemental/spiritual setting up your hitter as well as a couple other bits and bobs of support that make your life a lot easier.

The Strategy

I won’t go into the round by round specifics as you actually have a lot of flexibility with this strategy.  However, there are a couple of important points that cannot be missed.

Bubble Change:  It’s important to note that this is no longer possible.  You can’t balance dispel, meaning the bubble stays up, capping your damage before a million.

Cleanses:  Packing a minimum of 2 cleanses is a good idea.  The boss likes to use virulent plague as well as mass infection.

Juju Spam:  This is vital.  Your Death has to Indemnity Juju spam.  If you get unlucky with shadows, he will pull up his trident on 5 shadow pips.  If this is the case and he does not have 2 Jujus on him you will lose everyone but your jades, so you got to get those Jujus on!  They also stop the tempests, cheats and other hits from hurting a lot!

The DOT:  The damage over time has to do over 40K damage on every tick.  Alternatively, impact + DOT hits like Rain Of Fire can work well too.  Each hit will trigger a new phase.

Minions:  There will be one batch of minions summoned after the initial hit or first tick of the DOT.  It’s vital that they’re killed immediately, by bugs; bull etc, as they could prevent the tick from doing enough by their shield spam.

General Blading:  This isn’t too hard to understand.  You gotta blade blade blade!  All balance and hitter do is blade.  The Death should Dark Pact whenever they are able too, but prioritize the Jujus.  Your Jade is in charge of the Elemental Blades.

The Hitting Round:  The round you hit there are a couple things you HAVE to do.  It’s important that firstly your hitter actually hits.  Your balance should shatter, as it’s possible he will have either a storm or myth shield (Note:  With a fire, this isn’t necessary).  We recommend being in shrike if you’re a hitting storm, but a few well-timed prisms work well too.  Your Death is free to do whatever, but ideally uses their last or remaining Dark Pact.

Conclusions

This sounds too good to believe.  A strategy that works easily, is super fast and has a little room for error.  But we’ve got the proof.  I’ve done it over a dozen times and my friend Julie has pulled it off over 20 times already!  Big thanks to Dark Merit and James Storyshield on Discord for brainstorming and testing this strat!

So best of luck guys!  Get farming for your new Paradox Gear!

Editors Note:  The wizards over at Team ELITE also came up with this strategy. Check out their video guide to it here  https://goo.gl/kFnGU4

Empyrea P2: Test Realm

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Introduction:

Welcome to Chapter Two of my Empyrea Part 2 Series!  This chapter focuses on the current state of the test realm as of 3/11/18.  As this is most likely near the end of Test Realm as a whole, and most of the big changes have been made already!

Once again this article will review information taken from the questionnaire we’ve shared out across a multitude of discord servers, so if you want to help out for the next one (Chapter 3, Live Realm) stay tuned for them!


So, we’ll cover the changes made in Test, what was good, what was bad.  And then overall conclude how we feel about the world in general, let’s get into it!

Questing

In our Expectations chapter, we covered that the overwhelming majority of the discord player base wanted a long storyline.  Nothing that only too a few hours. What we got seems to have split everyone, almost down the middle!

It’s clear to see the majority wanted a longer storyline, but nearly half are happy with the length we got.  It seems Kingsisle have succeeded here, reaching a nice middle ground.  I think the only way we could have got a better result is with a slightly longer story, maybe an hour or two more.  And even then, the story was compelling!  We weren’t bored, tirelessly spamming spacebar to clear through it ASAP (At least the second time).  It’s actually a storyline we can get invested in and enjoy, and I cannot wait to see what the final ending to the Third Arc contains for us!

When asked about the difficulty of the world, it was pretty cut and dry as to what we wanted to what we got.  Overall the questing side of Part Two seems too big a success, with little to no flaws, and without spoiling the story, has some fun bosses, challenges and more!

Not a single person wanted the world to be easier.  With a good portion wanting it to be a little bit harder, a potentially perfect compromise would be to keep the offensive ability of the world the same, but increasing the health overall a fair amount, say 10%-15%.

Unique Content

This was never going to be an easy task for Kingsisle.  They had a lot of work ahead of them if they wanted to match their own creativity and design of Part One.  Not only would there need to be a good amount of this new, unique content but it would also have to live up to expectations!

It’s clear when asked if they were happy with the number of new areas, most people were.  Again, no one wanted less, with a respectable portion wanting more areas than what we saw.  However overall this is another check in the list for Kingsisle!  

I think the only way this could’ve been improved was if the story itself was longer.  It never really felt like we did nothing in an area, or that it was a waste of time. Every area felt fairly fulfilled, and that’s without side quests too!

Here’s the true success story though.  It is almost impossible to deny the beauty, creativity and sheer scale of the new areas.  They’re all incredibly unique, well put together and are very fun to play through.

There’s not much more to say here.  Fantastic job to Kingsisle, and while we acknowledge the smaller portion who disliked the design of the area, it’s almost negligible compared to those who liked it!

But how do the mobs and NPCs fair in these new environments?!  I mean what is there really to say.  An overwhelming majority loved the new mobs, bosses, and NPCs.  

It’s safe to say that no real NPC was boring, felt unneeded or didn’t contribute much to our play through.  Not a single mob really felt useless or unrequired either, and Kingsisle even added multiple roaming mobs you don’t actually take on in the story simply to expand on the world!

As for bosses, well dang.  The regular bosses were all challenging in their own right, with heavy hits and some unique and fun cheats.  And certain bosses were overall super creative and fun to fight through.

But what about puzzles?

Well, this wasn’t too hard either, with a majority enjoying the puzzles and mini-games that were incorporated into the story!  They added a nice change of pace and character to the world, once again making it feel more and more immersive!

But now to tackle something that could potentially taint some players opinions on the world.

It’s safe to say Whirlyburly was being fairly hyped up by the Kingsisle team.  They spoke at length about it in a video on their Official Youtube channel, and we had a lot to expect going into it.

However, it somewhat failed to deliver based on how you responded when we asked what you thought of it.  Most of the player base just didn’t really care about it.  It was kind of just there for them, nothing to take note of, which is a major shame.  Overall not even 20% found it above just meh.  

Further a scary percentage actually just disliked it entirely, which for something that they apparently sunk a fair bit of effort into is upsetting.

Kingsisle have made a fair amount of changes to Whirlyburly in between Test realms, but I still don’t think it has lived up to our expectations, which is a major bummer.

It’s safe to say this is not the potential PvP substitute that many players were expecting, but hey?  At least there are some cool badges to earn.

Gear

Now we get to the juicy stuff.  This is almost what makes or breaks a new world in today’s game.  The grind for the perfect gear has never been easy and everyone wants to be the guy with almost unbelievable stats.  So how did it fair?

Well, we asked what you thought of the rarity, and we got some mixed results!  With a majority finding it to be just about right, just over two-fifths of the players wanted it different!

A near perfect split of that mount going either way, with nearly half wanting it to be a little more of a grind and harder.  Whilst the other half are under the belief that it’s too hard and should be made easier.

What’s unique here is that the craftable gear, like Part One, is an exact copy of the dropped gear, so you won’t have to cry yourself to sleep at night wondering if you’d have got it after just one more run!

However, there is an issue…

It was safe to say, based on just game knowledge and the results from Expectations that we desperately needed improved offensive robes, not useless ones with critical block, as well as Amulets and Athames.  Wands and Rings were also needed, though not as badly, and Hat and Boots were in a good position with Cabalist Gear.  So when asked what gear you believed wasn’t improved enough, we got pretty much what was expected.

An overwhelming majority wanted an improved robe, as for many schools Malistaire or Rattlebones at level 100 is still the best!  And while some have Tenni’syn gear, it’s not enough.

We also clearly see the desire for Wands and Athames, closely followed by amulets.  And whilst the new crafted mastery amulets are great and all, we need some good ‘ol stats on some Amulets!

It’s safe to say we aren’t too happy with most of the new gear, which is a tragic end to an otherwise near perfect world!

Conclusion

All in all, I’d be more than happy to call the world a success as of Test Realm.  It seems polished, minus some bugs, and vibrant.

Almost no issue whatsoever with the Questing side to the world, with the only possible critique being making it a little longer and challenging.  But all in all very nice.

The unique content in terms of design is near perfection!  I am more than happy to say I love this world visually, and how diverse and colorful it is.  The mobs, areas, cutscenes and more were all splendid! Sadly what was potentially the most unique and hopefully long lasting piece of content, Whilyburly, seemed to drop the ball.  Let’s hope Kingsisle change that for Live Release!

Now, gear.  Always a controversial and dividing factor, and yet somehow Kingsisle managed to leave everyone a little disappointed.  I think it is very, very clear that no one wants a robe with basically just block and incoming. It seems they’re a little behind on the “gear meta”.  Let’s hope we see some big changes.

Overall though I am looking forward to bringing all my characters through this world!  Let’s just hope Live Release only bolsters this world’s already impressive achievements and accolades!