July 2011 ~ Secrets of the Spiral

Friday, July 29, 2011

Getting Availing Hands

I finally decided to do the quest to get Availing Hands. This battle was actually easier than I remember it being on test realm. Basically, to get this spell, I had to fight Skabrok, a storm boss with 8,470 health, and his fire minion with 980 health.

Skabrok (right) and his minion

I found the key with fighting this guy was to shield .....A LOT. I don't usually shield too much, but with this guy I used towers, elemental shields and volcanic shields. And I took out the minion straight away, so I didn't have to worry too much about him. I also put tons of heals in my deck, but I ended up only having to heal once, probably because it was a critical heal. Skabrok used a couple Tempests, a couple Krakens and one Triton. Following is an overview of how the battle went.

I spent the first couple rounds boosting with balanceblade and throwing a shield on myself. Then I added gargantuan to a Nova card and hit them. This took out the minion before he could hit me..

The next few rounds I used for shielding and boosting myself. Skabrok started with four power pips and kept fizzling the first few rounds. When he finally hit me with a Tempest, it was with full pips. It only did about 244 damage because of all the shields though.

Of course I had to let Ra make an appearance! I had balanceblade, bladestorm, hex. feint, and amplify. And Ra did about 2900 damage. Go Ra! So at this point, between Nova and Ra, Skabrok was down to about 4500 health.

Meanwhile, Skabrok hit me with a Kraken and another Tempest, which was critical. So I decided it was time to heal myself. Apparently Scout (my spritely turtle) decided to take a nap during this battle. Luckily it was a critical heal! (Helping Hands)

I decided to save up for a Judgement hit. So I spent the next few rounds shielding and boosting again. Skabrok hit me with another Kraken, but my critical heal was healing over 500 per round.

Then he pulled out Triton! Since Kraken had used all my shields, this one hurt.......A lot. If I remember correctly, it did over 1300 damage. OUCH! It was time for Skabrok to die!

I only had 5 power pips, but I had done a whole lot of boosting. So I decided to bring out Judgement. I figured with my boosting, damage rating and gargantuan, 4500 would be no problem. And I was right! She did 6144 damage! Not the most I have ever hit, but it got the job done. Bye bye Skabrok!

So after that, all that was left was to turn in the quest and get my reward. And here it is.....Availing Hands!

So that was my adventure getting my level 55 spell. As always, thanks for reading, and watch out for an important announcement at the beginning of next week. See you next time!

The Winner of This Week's Giveaway is........

12:03 PM Contest Winners, Wizard101 1 comment

SIERRA MISTDRAKE!!

Congratulations! I will be contacting you shortly about your prize.

This week there were nine people who entered. I counted the first two comments as one, so it would be fair. The random number generator chose number 3. Thanks to everyone who entered. Look for the new giveaway post on Monday.

My New Wizard101 Toys

11:46 AM Wizard101 No comments

When the Dragon's Hoard Booster Pack came out, I really wanted either (or both) of the new mounts. So I bought a few booster packs. And I didn't really get anything too great. Sure, I got a robe, a hat, a pet and a pretty cool statue. But I wanted one of those mounts. I figured I would never get one and I didn't want to waste all my crowns trying. So I decided to save my crowns instead of gambling them.

Assailing Dragon Pet

But then, this week, the packs went on sale. They are a whopping 50% off! And the temptation was WAY too much for me. So I bought one pack.......and got........an assailing dragon pet. I also got some reagents, housing items and a mega snack. Not too shabby.

I figured since they were half off I would buy another pack and this time I got.........DRAGON WINGS! YAY! I was so excited I didn't notice what else I got this time. Probably reagents and housing items. Maybe some treasure cards too.

My new dragon wings!

Dragonrider's Balance
Blade

So instead of being happy with the one mount, I decided to try just one more time for the Bone Dragon mount. On my third try I got........The super awesome Dragonrider's Balance Blade. I also got a Skeletal Dragon treasure card, which I thought was pretty cool.

Okay, I was pretty happy with these items, but after a few hours I decided to try just once more. (Have I mentioned I can be stubborn when I want something?) So I bought one more, not expecting anything great. And I was right. It wasn't anything great. It was EPIC! I got the Bone Dragon mount!

Isn't he cute, flying around my house?

Autumn Dreamwalker, Dragonrider

So now I am pretty happy. I don't think I will be buying anymore of the Dragon's Hoard packs. I got pretty lucky. I only bought like 10 packs total. I never have luck that good.. Oh and for those who might be curious, below are screen shots of the stats for the gear I received.

From left to right: Sword, robe, and hat stats

Good luck to everyone who tries to get cool items from the Dragon's Hoard! It's a pretty cool idea, and not too expensive if you don't keep buying them. Although, it does get addicting. :D

Thanks for reading everyone and happy questing!

Farming for Reagents: Sunstone

10:55 AM Guides, Wizard101 3 comments

The Celestial Observatory requires a total of 52 sunstone to craft it, and I have a grand total of 5. I never really paid attention to where I got them, so I had to do some online research. This is what I came up with. There are a total of 4 ways to get sunstone.

The Bazaar.
Transmute it
Gardening
Farming certain Celestian bosses

This made me come to the conclusion that SUNSTONE IS MORE ELUSIVE THAN GOLDEN PEARLS! Just kidding......Well not really, but at least it's not impossible to get it. Here is how in greater detail.

The Bazaar - Sunstone sells in the Bazaar, but it is kind of hard to find. And they sell for 3500 gold each! Plus, buying sunstone isn't an option for me, since I promised myself I wouldn't buy any of the reagents. Did I mention I can be stubborn?

Transmute - You can purchase the sunstone transmute card from both Avery Templeton in Celestia Base Camp and Kimba Kalla in the Floating Land. The transmute takes 15 sandstone to make one sunstone. BUT.....Sandstone is pretty hard to find as well. You can get a sandstone transmute from the above vendors that turns 10 stone blocks into one sandstone. That's A LOT of stone blocks! Both transmutes cost 600 gold.

Gardening - There are apparently 4 plants that drop sunstone: Maelstrom Snap Dragons (rank 7), King Parsley (rank 3), Fickle Pickle (rank 5) and Evil Magma Peas (rank 7).

Drops from bosses - Here is a list of bosses that are said to drop sunstone:

Achealos - Crustacean Empire
Amphibaton - Science Center
Astraeus - Trial of the Spheres
Big Salgio - The Chancel
Eeglis - The Grotto
Luska Charmbeak - The Waterworks
Maglump - Science Center
Marcio - Stormriven
Mithraya - Trial of the Spheres
Nuncio - Crustacean Empire
Optio Marinos - The Chancel
Optio Neelus - The Chancel
Optio Vitale - The Chancel
Paetor Mako - Crustacean Empire
Thunderfin - Stormriven

I already planted some Maelstrom Snap Dragons, King Parsley and Fickle Pickle. We will see if I get any sunstone drops from them. I will also farm, probably in The Chancel and Stormriven. And I figure that when my patience with farming runs out I will transmute the rest. I think getting all this sunstone will be the hardest part of crafting this thing!

I hope this post didn't totally bore you, and I hope it might be helpful to others who need to farm for sunstone. Thanks for reading! And remember to enter my giveaway if you haven't already done so!

Farming for Reagents: The Portico

9:54 AM Guides, Wizard101 1 comment

For my Celestial Observatory I needed to farm for some pearls. The best place I have found for this is The Portico. It also has the added bonus of being a decent place to farm for kelp as well, which I also need for the aether. One trip through the following route in The Portico will always yield a minimum of the following:

2 Pearls
2 Kelp
1 Shell
Gold (from wooden chest)

You also have the possibility of receiving these other items:

Golden pearl (from the pearls)
Black pearl (from the pearls)
Aether (from the kelp)
Aquamarine (from the shell)
Various treasure cards or reagents (from the chest)

Here is a map showing the respawn locations of each reagent found in The Porrtico.

Click to enlarge image

The following is a video of me going through my route in The Portico. I have found this to be the quickest way through, but others may find a quicker way. Do whatever works for you. I have added commentary detailing which reagents can be found in each area.

That was the first video I ever made. And guess what! I now have all the pearls, golden pearls, and black pearls I need to craft the Observatory. I think I have almost all the aether. I may need a couple more kelp to transmute the rest. But that's a few things crossed off the list at least.

Anyway, thanks for reading. I hope this information was helpful. Have fun in your adventures around the Spiral. See you!

The Stone Roses in Dragonspyre

1:18 PM Guides, Wizard101 6 comments

When you start questing in Dragonspyre, you can get the quest to find the stone roses from Prospector Zeke. There are 10 roses to be found, and they are hidden extremely well. This is the Zeke quest I had the most trouble with.

The Basilica - Located behind the Spiral door.

The Atheneum - Go around to the back of the library and the rose is on the side of the building.

The Necropolis - Go down the ramp to the left of the Drake Hatchery Entrance and go around to the right. The rose is behind the rocks.

Dragonspyre Academy - When you enter Dragonspyre Academy go straight, all the way to where the dragon is. Then go behind the building on the left.

The Tower Archives - When you enter this area, stay to the left and keep going left, until you go down some stairs and can't go further. The rose is behind the building on the left.

The Labyrinth - This rose is in the last part of the Labyrinth. Go to the right of the tower and the rose is on a rock.

The Crystal Grove - Go to the second Crystal area and the rose is in the top left quarter.

The Grand Chasm - Use the time crystal to go back in time. When you enter the past, turn right and go to the end of the hallway. The rose is on the right side of the last vault on the left.

Dragon's Roost - When you enter this area, go behind the stone walls on the left and turn left. The rose is behind the first building.

The Crown of Fire - When you enter the room where Malistair is, go around the four undead protectors. There is a ramp on the left and the stone rose is in this area attached to a rock.

So those are the locations of the roses. I hope this guide helps you if you havent been able to find them. Thanks for reading and have fun questing!

This Week's Giveaway

8:09 AM Contests, Wizard101 10 comments

This week's giveaway was inspired by the post I did last week about Blaze's fairgrounds. This week one lucky winner will receive........

One mini game of their choice from the crowns shop!

If you wish to be entered, just follow my blog and then comment on this post telling me which mini game is your favorite. The winner will be randomly chosen on Friday at 12pm EST.

Thanks for reading and following. Good luck to everyone who decides to enter!

Wizard City Homes and Gardens: A Little Piece of Heaven

10:49 PM Wizard101 3 comments

Alex Unicorndreamer has the Dragon's Fjord house, which is a pretty awesome house. But the best part about Alex's house is actually what he created above it.

Looking up at Alex's creation from the ground.

Follow me as I take a tour and talk with Alex about what it took to create his "Little Piece of Heaven."

The entrance

Where did you get the idea for this?

My head. Rofl. I used to glitch a lot, so I started building a garden for my sister, as a gift for her.

What did she say when she saw it?

Purple posie stairs going up.

She said it was amazing and she loved it and she almost cried out of happiness, because I had never done a project so big like that and it was for her. :D

Where did you learn glitching?
Actually, I learned by myself. I evolved the process due to countless projects and as a result, I became a master at glitching.

This is what you see when you reach the top.
Many trees, 3 fountains, 2 suns and lots of cool paths and bridges.

Did you use the same glitch for this whole project, or all different glitches?

Go past the fountains and see this
awesome statue.

All different glitches, depending on the item used. And glitching is affected by other glitches. Any glitch under another glitch will affect the one above, but only if it is directly above.

So how long did this whole thing take to make?
For me, 1 1/2 days

And about how many purple posies did you use?

And past the state is a stone path
leading to this cool place.

Hmm, let me count. (About 2 minutes go by) 145 exactly.

How much gold did this cost? It cost 40k for the bridges, 10k for the suns, and about 50k for other stuff. So about 100k total.

Wow! That's a lot of gold, but totally worth it! I actually would have thought the purple posies would have cost more. There is a TON of them! They make up the whole floor of the place.

Looking back the way I went.

The place turned out awesome. It's one of those things that pictures don't do it justice. You have to see it for yourself to realize just how great it is. Below is a video that one of Alex's friends made. Watch to see it Alex's house in greater detail.

*Disclaimer* I do not own this video.

Thanks for letting me into your house Alex. It really is unbelievably cool. Great job!

And thanks to everyone who reads! See you next time!

The Winner of This Week's Giveaway is........

12:03 PM Contest Winners, Wizard101 3 comments

MALORN GHOSTRIDER!!

I used a random number generator again to make it fair and it chose number 4.

So Congratulations Malorn! I will be contacting you shortly about your prize. And thanks to everyone who entered. Next week's giveaway is going to be great. It was inspired by a post I did earlier in the week. So look for that on Monday morning.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend everyone!

Farming Curuin Charmtooth for Celestian Shields

8:38 AM Wizard101 4 comments

Celestian Shield

I needed 2 Celestian Shields to craft my Celestial Observatory. A Celestian Shield is a housing item dropped by Curuin Charmtooth, a boss in District of the Stars. Since I am farming for everything I can, I had to spend some time farming this guy. I was prepared to fight him over and over for as long as it took, but I got lucky. I got one shield on my second try and the other on my fourth try. Apparently I have better luck getting housing item drops than I do getting pet drops. :P

Curuin Charmtooth is a rank 9 life boss with 4730 health. He is accompanied by a Piscean Trooper, rank 9 balance minion with 1560 health. His lair is in District of the stars, next to the Stellarium.

I found the best and quickest way for me to kill them was to boost with blades, traps and feints, and then to Ra. Charmtooth used mostly Nature's Wrath and Seraph, although he did hit me with a Life Banshee once. His minion used lots of Sandstorms and Judgements and one Hydra. Luckily Charmtooth doesn't seem to use Absorb shields or healing spells. That made it much easier to kill him.

Here are some screenshots I took from the four battles.