Spring Update Highlights

Posted on June 1, 2021August 7, 2021 by Morgan_Shade

Greetings, Wizards of the Spiral. As we prepare for the Summer here at Ravenwood Academy, we’d like to highlight some of our favorite changes from the Spring 2021 Test Realm. Without further delay, let’s begin!

New Skeleton Key Bosses

Two new Skeleton key bosses have arrived in Grizzleheim and Karamelle. The first boss, King Borr, resides in Savarstaad Pass. Meanwhile, the Stay-Puffed Marshfellow dwells in the Nibbleheim Mines.

The Stay-Puffed Marshfellow requires a Gold Skeleton key. At the same time, King Borr has variants for all three keys. The Nibbleheim Key Boss drops new unique Marshmallow Wands. Meanwhile, King Borr drops Spellements for the Grizzleheim Lore Spells. Life Wizards rejoice as there’s now another method to get Ratatoskr’s Spin!

New Social Feature

Recently added in the Spring Update was the new Social feature. Clicking the icon beneath your Friend’s List will bring up a list of all nearby Wizards. This list will show you all the Wizards currently in your same zone and their current quest.

Friendly Wizards are okay with other people joining them in combat. You can also chat and teleport to any nearby Wizard who has marked themselves as Friendly.

Finding a questing buddy is now easier than ever! Even better, we no longer must sacrifice those on our Friends List to make room. Finally, we can see if a player is fine with another person joining their PVE duel. No more awkward conversations when you enter a fight that was almost over.

Team up VolUnteering

The Join a Team Kiosk has received an update in the form of Volunteering! Volunteering allows you to help other players without having to stay put. You can select the world and types of instances you want to volunteer for at the Kiosk outside the Bazaar. Here you can choose from any world you’ve unlocked to volunteer. From there, you can choose to volunteer to assist with farming or longer dungeons.

The teams who’ve been waiting the longest time for help will receive volunteers first. After you’ve helped your team complete the instance, your Health and Mana are replenished. From there, you’ll return to your previous location. This system allows players to help other players without selecting a new team to help each time. Excellent for any Wizard seeking to get the illustrious Team Champion Badge.

New Spell Animations

Many AOE animations were updated to hit all enemies, making them faster. Below is the list of AOE’s whose animations were updated. You can also check out the video below to see the changes made to them.

Fire: Meteor Strike, Fire Dragon, Rain of Fire

Ice: Blizzard, Frost Giant

Storm: Tempest, Storm Lord, Sirens

Myth: Humungofrog, Orthrus, Mystic Colossus

Life: Forest Lord, Rebirth

Death: Deer Knight, Scarecrow

Balance: Sandstorm, Ra

New Spells

It’s time to visit your professors because sixteen new spells have arrived in the game! There are two new spells for every school. But Life and Death received an extra, each in the form of damage boosting Globals. All these spells are available from the respective trainers in Ravenwood. You must be level forty-two to learn these spells. You’ll also need the prerequisites in your Spellbook.

Many of these spells were once popular treasure cards used in PVP. Their popularity has brought them to be permanent additions to our Professors’ curriculum. Don’t worry non PVP players; the Developers kept PVE in mind too for these spells. You might find them helpful outside the arena.

New Quest

“Old is New Again” is a new quest available in the Arcanum for Wizards who have completed “Everything and Nothing.” For those who don’t want any spoilers look away now. For those who don’t mind spoilers, the video below covers the entire quest.

Spoilers Ahead!

To summarize the quest. We receive a message from the Old One, who is seeking to recover a memory of a world called Lemuria. Scholar Zander helps us discover Lemuria is little more than a fairytale.
The Old One insists the world exists, and so we venture to Mirage to find proof. After some snakey-shenanigans, we realize we are the only ones who can see the Old One. From there, we recover a piece of a mosaic depicting the Lemurians kneeling beneath him.

The Old One reveals himself as an aspect of the Nothing. Exhausted, the he tells us we must find Lemuria before vanishing. Finally, we return to Bartleby for more information. The Grandfather Tree gazes back through history only to inform us that Lemuria disappeared centuries ago.

We’re too late.

Food for Thought

The quest takes us to Mirage, which houses the Sands of Time. According to Librarian Fitzhume on the Message Boards, we know time within the Spiral is governed by the flow of magic. Meaning time within the Spiral is flexible and subject to manipulation. We’ve seen it in Dragonspyre, the Five BOXES event, and Mirage. Does our return to Mirage hint at us going back in time to stop Lemuria’s disappearance?

We also know worlds can become disconnected from the Spiral and reconnected to it. We’re told about this in the level twenty quest “Grizzleheim.” Merle Ambrose tells us, “The Grizzleheim world-tree was once linked to the rest of the Spiral, but the contact was lost…. we thought it was destroyed. Bartelby now informs me that the portal to Grizzlehiem is now active, and travel there is possible.” This begs the question of how does a world lose its connection to the Spiral? How does it regain contact? Going a step further, how many worlds are floating undiscovered within the Void?

Regarding the Void

Which brings us to another question what exactly is the Void? In the Storytime posts from 2013 and 2014, King Artorius spoke about the “Outer Void.” The most we can glean from his responses is that the Outer Void fills the space between the Spiral’s worlds. It’s a dangerous, inhospitable place, and little is known about it. In Pirate101, when we sail from one world to another, one could claim we are traversing the Void, albeit not as empty as the name implies. Artorius does use the words “Outer Void” when he mentions it; this means, to me at least, that the Void has depth.

Could it be what we see in Pirate101 and the Arcanum is partly a product of being so close to the Spiral? Are other fragments of the First World being pulled closer to the Spiral by the same magic used to create it? Who is to say the Void doesn’t grow darker and quieter the farther out you go? But to our knowledge, no one has ever traveled so far and returned to talk about it.

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Again, according to Librarian Fitzhume in the 2016 Storytime on the Wizard101 Message Boards, it doesn’t appear that the Void is the end. According to Fitzhume’s responses, there is still something beyond the Spiral. Whatever it might be is beyond our understanding. It is worth noting there is no mention of the Outer Void here.

Meaning the theoretical ‘something’ excludes the Void. Based upon this information, I’d like to think of the Void as a kind of padding. It surrounds and guards the Spiral, somehow part of the Spiral, and apart from it, like armor or a shell. It is keeping things that don’t belong in it out while also containing everything within. A fascinating subject, to be sure. I am interested in seeing how it develops going forward.

Thanks for Reading!

With that, I will draw this to a close. Thank you all so much for reading this article; I hope you enjoyed it. Feel free to browse the other guides and pieces here. Leave a comment below on what you think will happen as the Fourth Arc continues.

If you want to stay up to date on our most recent releases, you can follow us on social media. Ravenwood Academy has started creating YouTube videos for the Community. Check it out!

Until we meet again, I hope to see you in the Spiral!

-Morgan Shade

Critical Changes Explained

Posted on December 15, 2020December 25, 2020 by Morgan_Shade

The New Critcal System Explained

Hello Wizards, Nathan Shadowbringer, and Scot Moonshade here! We’re going to explain the recent changes to Critical and Block. Today’s article will revisit the previous age’s Critical and delve into the new system. We will examine the formulas to calculate your Critical Chance and damage multiplier. Critical has undergone a lot of change in recent years, and this update brings a new era of Critical! Critical and Block were once a percentage-point based system. Now it’s changed to a dynamic framework involving both Critical and Block.

Disclaimer!

Before we begin, we need to make a quick disclaimer. According to Ratbeard’s Karamelle PvP Update #2, Critical in PvP is not calculated the same as in PvE. The formulas we used do not work for calculating Critical or Block in PVP. All the information below applies to PVE only. With that said, let’s get started!

Old Versus New

Before the 2020 Fall Update, Critical was well… more critical. There was a chance to critical and a chance to block—the Critical stat based itself on how high your rating was in the respective category. Landing a Critical would ensure that your attack would do twice the damage (or 1.33 times damage in PvP). The problem with the old system was that achieving a high Critical Rating was easier than Block. It was making Block obsolete compared to Critical. With the new changes, it’s more balanced.

The following variables represent the corresponding data sets:

c = Critical rating

b = Block rating

l = Level / 100, where l ≤ 1.

The changes to Critical involve two new formulas. Both equations depend on the attacker’s Critical and the defender’s Block. The first formula determines your Critical chance. Note that Critical chance and Block chance must always add to 100%. For example, if you have a Critical chance of 90%, your opponent would still have a 10% chance to Block.

If your attack doesn’t Critical, or if the enemy blocks, the calculation ends there. In this scenario, the second formula isn’t necessary. But, if you do land a Critical hit, then the second equation runs. This determines the Critical Multiplier. This formula relies on the attacker’s Critical and the defender’s Block. Further examples are available in KI Developer Ratbeard’s Dev Diary.

Critical heals also use the Critical Chance formula. But they’re based on your Critical Rating and the Block of the person you are healing. The only difference is, they cannot Block a heal but instead can “resist.” The higher your Block, the less you’ll get from a critical heal. Fortunately, the schools that have more Block also tend to lean towards a tank-type playstyle. Tank builds have more Health and Resistance, so they can afford to lose some of that incoming healing from the Critical. Regardless, the amount of extra healing uses the same critical multiplier formula. Remember, it’s still impossible to block a critical heal!

Spell Alterations

Another important note to these changes is the way Vengeance and Conviction work. Vengeance is an Astral spell that increases your Critical chance by 20% for four rounds. This bonus only affects your chance to Critical. It doesn’t affect the enemy’s Block or your damage multiplier. Conviction increases your stun resistance by 90% and Block chance by 20% for four rounds. This 20% increase only affects the possibility to block a Critical. It doesn’t affect the enemy’s chance to critical, nor does it lower the multiplier.

Charts and Calculations

There are a few basic formulas that can roughly estimate Critical and Block ratings. These formulas are interchangeable, and most involve moving numbers and variables around. The following equation presented removes the need for complex fractions. Here are two general procedures for determining Critical chance:

Much like the Critical percentage formula, the damage ratio also follows a function. In this case, the damage multiplier is equal to 2 – 3 * Block / (Critical + 3 * Block). See the formula below.

Here is an estimate of your Critical Chance against mobs with ninety block (blue) and two hundred-forty block (red). The green line at the top represents the Critical Chance soft cap at ninety-five percent.

Using these formulas, you can now find optimal Critical numbers for mobs and bosses. Karamelle mobs have around 90 Block while Karamelle bosses have at most 240 Block. Except for the final boss, it would seem.

What Does this Mean?

It’s important to remember that everything we’ve shown you is subject to change. Critical and Block in PvP are calculated differently than PvE.

Using these numbers, you can find your optimal amount of Critical; 570 Critical will get you up to 95% Critical against most mobs. Using the formula for Critical Multiplier, we suggest 630 Critical as a good general goal. This way, against monsters with 90 Block, you’ll Critical 95% of the time and get a 1.7 multiplier against them.

As we enter the “Third-Age” of Critical, there’s potential for more diverse character builds. An example of this could be full-damage pets as opposed to pets that have Critical and damage. These changes also give new life to the may-cast Vengeance talent. This update creates better balance and a more dynamic flow between Critical and Block, allowing players to customize stats to their unique play-style. Thanks for reading; we hope this helps you understand the changes and how they affect your Wizard. If you have questions, you can always find us around the community. That’s all for now, until next time, we’ll see you in the Spiral.

-Nathan Shadowbringer & Scot Moonshade

Pet Lending

Posted on December 3, 2020December 3, 2020 by Morgan_Shade

“Pet Lending gives Wizards a powerful in-person hatching option to lend their pet for hatching to another Wizard. And as a bonus you can do this without being charged Gold or having your Wizard’s Hatching Slot timer started. It’s a wonderful opportunity to exchange adventure stories as you also exchange pet types!

New pet features wouldn’t be complete without rewards for having fun going through the process. You will get advance warning before the hatch process begins on what type and quality of reward you are expected to receive. The value of the reward will depend on the pet lending level and pedigree. Also, you will receive a badge for many of these lending actions!

Note that there is a limit to how many times you can lend a pet (based on your Wizard’s level).”

-KingsIsle Entertainment

Pet Lending

The arrival of the 2020 Fall Update brings some exciting changes to the Hatchery. The most noteworthy feature is Pet Lending. A new mechanic that gives players more options in the Hatchery.

What is Pet Lending exactly? Pet Lending allows another player to hatch with your pet without costing you any gold. Lending also bypasses your Hatch Timer! Gone is the guilt of having to turn someone away because you’re still on a cooldown. Plus, you don’t have extra unwanted pets cluttering your inventory. You’ll even get a small reward each time you lend someone your pet. These benefits simplify Hatching and encourage powerful players to help their peers. This new mechanic makes hatching a snap! Whether you’re helping a friend or a new player, it’s never been easier to help someone create their dream pet.

Lending101

To get started, bring an adult pet and a reasonable sum of gold to the Hatchery. Hatchery prices tend to be half the price of using the Hatchmaking Kiosk. The cost of the Hatch is going to depend on the age of the pets involved. Hatching two Adult pets usually start around ten thousand gold. Meanwhile, hatching an Adult pet with a pet that’s Mega or older is around forty-five thousand gold. If you’re getting started, using younger pets will be to your benefit.

Next, find someone with a pet you want to hatch with. If you want more information on creating pets, read our Pet Training Guide and Petmaking101.

Once you are on the Hatching screen, you and your partner will see two options. One says “Hatch,” and the other says “Lend”. If you both choose Hatch, you will both pay a sum of gold to create a new pet egg for each of you. To use the Lend mechanic, one of you must choose Hatch and the other Lend.

Note how you can only lend a pet a specific number of times daily. You gain one lend every fifty levels. For example, if you’re under level fifty, you can lend once per day. But should you be between levels fifty to ninety-nine, you can lend twice. Finally, if you’re level one-hundred or higher, you get three lends.

Hatcher

If you’re being lent the pet, select the hatch option. From there, everything will proceed as usual. The cost to create the new pet will remain the same based upon the pet’s age. Keep in mind older pets will cost more to Hatch than younger ones. You can tell if someone is lending you their pet by looking beneath their pet’s stat block; it should say “Lending”.

Lender

Meanwhile, if you’re the one Lending the pet, you will select the “Lend” option. Don’t worry when you choose this route; your pet doesn’t actually leave your inventory. If you’re out of lends, the choice will appear greyed out, and a timer will show up to tell you when you can lend again.

When you lend a pet, you will not pay any gold, but you won’t receive an egg either. Instead, you will receive an amount of Gold and Hatch Peppers depending on your pet’s pedigree. The little stars in the bottom corner beneath your pet’s stats represent your reward. The better pet you offer, the better the bonus. Remember that your partner must be able to afford the Hatch. Most rewards are under one thousand gold, but you do have the chance to earn two Hatch Peppers.

Uses for Hatch Peppers

You can now use Hatch Peppers in a variety of pet-related crafting recipes. These recipes are all available from Doctor Purreau in the Hatchery. All these recipes are excellent additions to your Recipes Tab.

Craftable Housing Items

The Hatchmaker Kiosk recipe allows you to create your own personal kiosk for your castle. This will enable you to reach a Kiosk by teleporting back to your Wizard’s house. Mist Wood and Cat Tails are all over the Spiral, while Black Coal is purchasable from any reagent vendor. Acorns are a rare drop from piles of Mist Wood. Likewise, Mist Wood can be transmuted into Acorns. All these reagents are also found in the Bazaar except for Hatch Peppers.

To get all the ingredients, you’ll need two hundred fifty Hatch Peppers, which will take a while. So, your best strategy is to place five pets in the Hatchmaking Kiosk at once and wait. This could give any “failed” pets a use! As the saying goes, “One wizard’s trash is another Wizard’s treasure.” A certain Talent set might not be perfect for you, but that doesn’t mean that it’s not ideal for someone else.

Craftable Elixirs

Purreau also provides recipes for a small assortment of elixirs. These elixirs are the “Clear Hatching Slot,” “Hatch All Eggs in Inventory,” and “Next Hatch Free”. The first will reset your Hatch Timer back to zero like Purreau’s Potion Number Nine from the Crown shop. The second potion’s function is in its name. It will hatch all the unhatched eggs in your character’s backpack. Meanwhile, the last elixir will reduce the cost for your next Hatch to zero. Having these recipes is a massive help to players on a tight budget.

The reagents for these potions are easy to get. Each recipe only requires Hatch Peppers and Glass Vials and Black Coal, and various Rank one gems. The latter is sold by reagent vendors throughout the Spiral, but they also turn up in the Bazaar. The Hatch Peppers are going to take some time to get depending on which elixir you’re making. The costliest recipe is the “Next Hatch Free,” which requires two hundred Hatch Peppers. Meanwhile, the “Clear Hatching Slot” elixir is less steep, costing only one hundred. The cheapest elixir is the “Hatch All Eggs in Inventory,” which needs twenty-five to make.

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Craftable Mega Snacks

The best recipes on this list, are the rank eight Mega Snacks. Each snack requires only a few reagents; a rank one treasure card, a Glass Vial, and ten Hatch Peppers. These items are far from costly, acquirable from the Bazaar or various NPC vendors. Any treasure cards required are purchasable from Harold Argleston in the Library. Hatch Peppers are now easier to get with Pet Lending, granted it’ll still take some time to get enough of them. But if you lend out your pets , getting ten peppers should only take a few days. Combine this with checking in on your Couch Potato farm, and you can increase your yield of Mega Snacks. In truth, the trickiest reagent to get for some wizards is Glass Vials.

Glass Vials are only available in bulk from reagent vendors in Marleybone and beyond. But don’t despair! This reagent is obtainable from Burning Snap Dragons if you have the proper spells to help them grow. The seeds are sold by Marley in Mooshu and drop from many monsters across the Spiral. Because of this fact, Burning Snap Dragon seeds are often sold in the Bazaar. They are also found in a variety of Hoard and Lore packs from the Crown shop. So, they’re not impossible for Free-to-Play wizards to get but it will take some effort.

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Final Thoughts

I must applaud the Wizard101 Team for the feature they’ve added to the Hatchery. For years players have been in the game forums asking for more Hatch Slots. With this update, KingsIlse not only solved this problem, but they took things an extra step. They not only gave us a system that makes Hatching easier and more affordable. They included a system the reinforces and rewards players for helping one another.

No longer do we have to make the difficult choice between helping someone else with their pet or working on our own. Gone is the stress and struggle of finding someone willing to Hatch. Players no longer have to feel guilty for turning someone away or wait an entire day to Hatch.

Hatch Peppers are now much more comfortable to get and are more useful. Grinding and Gardening aren’t the only way to get Mega Snacks anymore. Which makes snacks of that caliber more available to players who struggle to get them. The same goes for the select few Elixirs we can now craft.

I am amazed by the impact of this little feature. Pet Lending has made the eternal quest to achieve the perfect pet that much easier. With that said, I look forward to what future updates will bring.

Thanks for Reading!

That’s all for now! Thank you for reading; I hope it helps you on your journey towards the perfect pet. I would also like to extend a special thanks to everyone who assisted in this article’s writing.

Feel free to explore the wealth of guides and information on Ravenwood Academy. If you want to stay up to date on the latest news, follow Ravenwood Academy on social media.

Thank you all again. See you in the Spiral!

-Morgan Shade