How Dark is Darkmoor Manor?

Darkmoor Manor is the newest house on the block in Wizard101. Its super spooky and really eerie. The bundle itself (The Witch Hunter's Bundle) is very interesting and worth taking a look at. Swordroll's Blog takes an in-depth look at the bundle.

The house itself is very creepy. There's many places for monsters to lurk, and plenty of shadows and bats. The house gives an overall cemetery atmosphere. As you take a look at the house, you may stumble upon something very, very dark, and borderline inappropriate for a family MMO. The Darkmoor Manor features one lone noose, eerily swinging in the wind.

Naturally, this caused major backlash through out the community, and for good reason. KingsIsle claims to be a family-oriented  MMO, yet they included a very disturbing method of death. This isn't very appropriate for a family-friendly game, and KingsIsle shouldn't have added it.

At the same token, Wizard101's rating is E-10+ and claims that it includes mild cartoon violence. A parent would be able to infer that something like this may be in the game. After all, parents that are worried about their kids would be the ones in the most disapproval of it, and assuming they made this inference, probably aren't letting their child play the game.

However, this edgy addition doesn't have any other items nearby that could make it worse. The noose's location is very subtle and high up, making for it to be hard to notice. There is no bucket or stand, no corpse, bag, criminal or witch in close proximity to suggest that you are at a hanging. Also, the house, by context, is for a witch hunter. This is reference to the Salem Witch Trials, which killed almost all of the accused by hanging.

Although it isn't appropriate for young children, it is not entirely bad. Many of you have probably played Hangman, learned about the Salem Witch Trials, lynch mobs, and other scenarios of the involvement of the noose.

In my opinion, the noose is very edgy. There could be far worse things added, and it's not really appropriate. I feel it's a questionable addition that would have been better off not added.

What is your opinion? Should KingsIsle have left it out?

Special thanks to Aaron Lionhunter for the post idea and Iridian Willowglen for getting me into the house!

Raise a Wand, Wizards

I am writing this post in response to Spiral Radio's post on Leala.

It is truly saddening to see so many important people leave KingsIsle due to lay-offs. We've had close relationships with many of them, so much so that their new absence will be felt immediately. They have done so much for us in the past few years that it's impossible to list.

Though I never had a close relationship with any particular KingsIsle employee, I miss them already. Leala was such an incredible community member. She always was there to answer our questions- both the easy and the tough. She was an excellent mediator between angered fans and frantic designers. I was always impressed by her calm approach to everything and her great sense of humor.

Among other employees, #JuliaFromKI will also be missed greatly. She was an energetic and sweet person to have on  KI Live, which will never be the same with out them.

All of the employees leaving should know that the whole community is behind you. You have touched the lives of millions of people, and even changed some. You given us new perspectives, knowledge, and inspired us to conquer our goals. We hope that this ending will bring you better beginnings!

If you haven't already, tweet #StayStrongKI along with any messages you want to say to the employees.

Thank You to all the employees leaving today. You have changed us all for the better.

Stay Strong, KI. 

How to Level Up Fast

Maybe you're a max wizard starting a new wizard, or you're trying to take advantage of the new Daily Assignment rewards. Regardless, you probably want your *new wizard to level up as fast as possible. Here are a few ways to level up with out a membership!

Quick Tips
First, if you are willing, grab a Major XP Boost Elixir. For 1 Hour, you get 10% more XP for 500 crowns. If you are going to add this to your strategy, try to use it when you know you will be getting quests with high xp. Though this will help quicken leveling, I wouldn't recommend spending the crowns.

Second, keep in mind how xp is rewarded by battle. Each pip spell cast or attempted equals xp. To find out how much xp is awarded by spell, simply multiply by three the pip count. For example, casting Fire Elf (2 pips) equals 6 xp. Zero pip spells equal 3 xp, and "x" pip spells can be calculated by how much pips it costed to cast the spell. For example, and 5 pip Judgement will give you 15 xp.

Side Quests
There are a lot of side quests to do in Wizard City that are in free zones. You should try to complete as many as possible, including book quests, crafting, and planting, as well as the PvP tutorials. This method is rather tedious and will take longer than other methods, but with the help of questing buddies it's much faster.

If you have some crowns, it wouldn't hurt to buy all or some of the premium zones. This gives you access to more side quests and a refreshing change of scenery. Plus, if you have a higher level wizard they can get unlimited access to Aquila.
**Don't forget to do as much main quests as possible. Just because there's other quests to do does not mean you should stop doing storyline quests.

Housing Instances
The great thing about housing instances is most of them are accessible through housing tours. A lot of the popular houses have Winterbane or Pagoda. Taking your wizard through these will not level them up in one run, but will substantially add xp to your bar. Keep in mind that the xp rewarded and the tier of difficulty is determined by the lowest level wizard that enters the dungeon. As a bonus, they usually drop useful items and come with a cool badge for completing them.

Don't be afraid to ask friends if they have crowns dungeons. Many would love to have someone do it with them, but not necessarily an extremely low level wizard. Don't be discouraged by this. Try to bring something unique to the table that is useful to a team.

Daily Assignments
The beginning quests of Daily Assignments are another source of xp. It is easy to do, and some quests stay in Wizard City. You can earn really nice rewards, including arena tickets, gold, and crowns.

Event Quests
Every now and then, Wizard101 releases an event or two to do in a short amount of time. Examples include The Lost Pages, The 5 B.O.X.E.S, and Hallowe'en. They are all very fun and rewarding, both in xp and and rewards.

Repeat Dungeons & Bosses
Though repeating a dungeon will lower the xp reward of completion each time, it's still a reliable way to earn xp. Bosses enable you to draw out the battle, adding more xp per spell attempted to cast. Longer battles with a lot of attempted spells reward high xp plus gold.


What do you do to earn xp fast? Let me know in the comments!

*This post was intended for Free to Play members starting a brand new wizard.

Pictures of the Spiral: Marleybone

The next installment will be Moo Shu!

Track Meet Recap & Winners

Real Track Meets are always crazy, and so was this one! So many people showed up. It was a great "conference meet!" Everyone did amazing. Congratulations to everyone that won the races.

Just minutes before the event started

Race Winners

1/2 Lap (200 m) - Aaron

1 Lap (400 m) - Nathan

2 Laps (800 m) - Brandon Dreamcloud

Credit to Swordroll for this funny gif! 

Now for the big E-Mail Contest Winners. These winners were randomly selected from all eligible entries. They were awarded the prize in order of random draw. Congratulations to the following people.

E-Mail Contest Winners

Jewel Crafter's Bundle: Artur Rainbowheart

Polarian Explorer's Bundle: Logan Mistspear

5,000 Crowns: Logan Owlwielder

5,000 Crowns: Emma Nightbloom

Thank you to everyone who came! i'm glad everyone enjoyed it. Not bad for my first event ever held, right? Please enjoy these awesome screenshots that were sent in. :) See you around in the Spiral!

In the Middle of Things: Wizard City History

Wizard City is the starting place for our wizards. It's the first thing we see when we enter the game. Its where we began to learn our spells. It's the gateway to the rest of the Spiral. So, shouldn't Wizard City be based off of a certain culture or country?

The Commons during Yuletide

When I started researching for Wizard City, I started with looking at the names of the NPCs. These usually give me a good idea as to what the world was inspired by. The majority of the NPCs had names that originated from England (including Old English) and Greece, with a few Hungarian, Latin, Norse, and French names. Nothing stood out to me (country-wise). The only name that was helpful was good ole Eloise. Her name was a 12 Century English name. This tidbit of information is important a little but later, so don't forget it.

Merle Ambrose is clearly a play on the name Merlin Ambrosius, who is a character in the stories of King Arthur (Artorius). Merlin was a wizard, just like our Headmaster. Merle Ambrose is from Avalon, which is a world that is straight up King Arthur. This itself confirms that Merle Ambrose is Merlin, and could possibly point towards Wizard City existing in the same time period as Avalon.

Penny Dreadful gets her name from the "penny dreadfuls," which were cheap fiction for the working class in England. She and her parents are from Marleybone (London!) The quests that involve her are all titled:

• A Dreadful Situation
• Our Daily Dread
• Dreadful Deliveries
• A Penny Saved

...which point to her being named after the penny dreadfuls. Penny is proof towards English influence on Wizard City.

The Wizard City guards appear to have a rather modern looking set of armor as opposed to a medieval look. The clothing of other NPCs is sort of medieval. However, a very medieval part of Wizard City is the Fair Grounds.

I then began researching the meanings and origins of the names of areas and creatures. Again, they were mainly English and Greek words. This isn't very helpful in helping identify the inspiration of this world. However, many creatures and areas are very fairy tale-like.

The fish Sharkspeare is a reference to Shakespeare. Shakespeare lived in the late 1500s and early 1600s, which isn't to far off from the 12th Century. There is a lot of references to this time period, so it completely fits.

Looking at the architecture, it appears to be Romanesque. Romanesque architecture originated around the 10th Century. You can see this architecture in the fact that the houses are stone but the roofs are made of wood. Seeing as to the relation with Eloise, 12th Century name, Wizard City is based off the Late Medieval era. One may argue that the architecture appears to be Germanic. This is true, but there just isn't anything else to suggest that it's a German-themed world.

The stained glass in Wizard City is way to simple to assign a style to. Perhaps it's a blend of Gothic, Romanesque, Medieval and Renaissance. It just can't be determined by how simple it is. Avalonian stained glass is much easier to interpret given the fact that it isn't simple.

A subtle detail is the fact that Baldur Goldpaws, a viking (Norsemen) just happens to be in Wizard City. The Normans were invading Europe in the 12 Century. This also points towards Wizard City being based off the 12th Century.

However, Wizard City does not look like Avalon. Avalon is completely medieval. Therefore, Wizard City is not fully medieval, especially considering the fact that there appears to be electricity due to the lights all over the place. This does not discredit the fact that there are so many hidden references in Wizard City. There's so many that this post would be longer than anyone's liking. In fact, this also doesn't discredit the theory that Wizard City might be influenced by everything, making it the United States of America.

Wizard City is a mystery. There appears to be a lot of references to late medieval things, especially English. Yet there are many things in this world to suggest otherwise. The world is very broad in terms of inspiration. But this makes sense, especially the fact that no country or culture stands out. Wizard City was the first world made. I don't think Kings Isle was thinking about making a world inspired by any particular country. My guess is after Wizard City was created, Kings Isle thought it would be cool to base the other worlds off of countries.

I think it's safe to conclude that Wizard City was inspired by 12th Century European cultures and countries.

Do you have a different opinion on the inspiration of Wizard City? I want to know! Leave a comment below! :)

Sources

• Google
• Wizard101 
• Nameberry.com
• Infoplease.com
• Dictionary,com
• BL.uk.com
• StainedGlass.org

Nordic Champion's Spiral Conference Track Meet DETAILS

The Fansite Festival is upon us! The Fansite Festival is a huge event that includes Wizard101 and Pirate101 bloggers, members, and fansite owners! Hosts hold events and contests throughout the day for your enjoyment. PLEASE read this entire post. 

I am holding the first ever Spiral Conference Track Meet! Show up and show out! I was also given 3 codes that you could also win! Please check the details for these codes below the race information.

When: Saturday, April 16th, 2016

Time: 4:00 EST/3:00 CDT

Where: The Commons - Wizard City

Realm: Kelvin

***Please look at the rules and race procedure at the bottom of this post!***

The events are in order

Solo Runner Events (Prizes)

• 200 Meter
• 1/2 of a lap around The Commons
• Start: The Library
• End: The Tree
• Prize: 1st Place gets a hoard pack of choice (399 or less)
• 400 Meter
• 1 lap around The Commons
• Starts and Ends at the Library
• Prize: 1st Place gets a hoard pack of choice (399 or less)
• 800 Meter
• 2 laps around The Commons
• Starts and Ends at the Library
• Prize: 1st Place gets a hoard pack of choice (399 or less)

Fun Run Event (No Prizes)

• 400 Meter
• 1 lap around The Commons
• Starts and Ends at the Library

E-Mail Contest

I was fortunate enough to be given 3 codes from Fansite Fest & KingsIsle. To ensure that everyone got a chance to enter, I've decided to give away the codes via e-mail. Here's How you can win:

1) Take a picture of your wizard at my Track Event with the phrase "Lets Go" visible. Be sure to include your wizard's name.

2) Send it to me at nordicchampion1@gmail.com before April 25th, 2016 at 11:59 pm EST.

3) All valid entries will be entered and randomly selected to win one of four prizes.

Prizes:

Jewel Crafter's Bundle

Polarian Explorer's Bundle

5k Crowns (2 winners)

Winners will be announced no later than April 30th, and codes will be emailed to the winners.

Rules for the Race:

1. You may only win ONE (1) Event so that others have a chance. You are, however, welcome to participate in all the events. If you win a second event, the 2nd Place Wizard will be awarded the prize
2. You MUST complete the entire race, There will be wizards watching the event to make sure there isn't any cheaters.
3. No stat-boosting gear and mounts 
4. Please be respectful. whether you are watching or participating. Feel free to cheer wizards on!
5. Have Fun!

Race Procedure:

1. I will announce the event the the best of my ability through filtered chat before the race begins.
2. I (Cheyenne Caster) or another helping wizard will stand in front of the line. I or they will check to make sure that no one is in front of the line, which will be specified in-game.
3. When I see that everyone is ready, I will say "Ready" and then "Go."
4. When I say GO, you may began racing. You must stay on The Commons path. There will be supervising wizards at select points.
5. I will stand at the Finish Line. Whoever crosses the line first wins the event. I am the sole decider of who wins the event. 
6. I will temporarily friend the winner and gift them the pack of choice