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Thursday, December 22, 2011

The Holiday Contest Winning Entries

As I promised, I am posting the winning entries for the Holiday contest I held last week.  For those who may have missed it, the contest was to create a "Holiday Pack" with at least 7 original holiday/wintery items. I recieved many great entries, but these were the top three.

The 3rd place winner was Justin Shadowblade.  Here is his pack:

Mounts:
Super Ultra Rare - Santa's Sleigh (2 Passenger| Able to equip any horse)
Ultra Rare - Polar Bear
Rare - Red Candy Cane
Rare - Green Candy Cane
Rare - Mixed Candy Cane
Rare - Blue Candy Cane
Rare - Pink Candy Cane
Rare - Yellow Candy Cane
Rare - 7 Day Snow Ram
Rare -  7 Day Tawny Ram
Rare - 7 Day Bruin Ram


Elf Attire:
Super Rare - Pointy Ears
Rare - Hat
Rare - Robe
Rare - Boots
Normal - Mint Staff
Normal - Sweet Staff
Normal - Star Staff
Normal - Nutcracker Wand

Pets:
Rare - Yuletide Spirit
Rare - Arctic Cat
Rare - Blizzard Cat
Rare - Glacier Cat
Rare - Evil Snowman
Rare - Christmas Elf

Housing Items:
Super Ultra Mega Rare - Santa's Work Shop (House)
Super Ultra Rare - Ice House
Rare - Red and Green Teleporters
Rare - Santa Statue
Rare - Elf Statue
Normal - North Pole

Reagents, Plants and Pet Snacks:
Normal - Diamond
Normal - Frost Flower
Normal - Sapphire
Normal - Perfect Sapphire
Normal - Evil Snow Pea
Normal - Frozen Fly Trap
Normal - Ice Cream
Normal - Yogurt
Rare - Huge Ice Cream
Rare - Fancy Yogurt

The 2nd place winner was Vanessa Emeraldglade.  Here is Vanessa's Pack:

Holiday Forest (Rare)
The Holiday Forest is like the bamboo grove- but with fir trees with bright lights hanging on them, giving a sort of Christmas tree store

Customized Holiday Frame (Uncommon)This is another housing item, like the newer ones Kingsisle came out, customizable frames and signs. This will have mistletoe around the area with the writing (The frame) and can only write out holiday phrases
Ex.
"Happy Holidays"
"Merry Christmas"
"Happy Hanukkah"

Holiday Firecat (Ultra-rare)Holiday Firecat- You may see some pictures of cats and dogs in santa hats, well now you can get a fire cat pet with a nice little santa outfit. This pet has a 55 pedigree and gives one ice cat card

Polar Bear (Ultra-rare)The Holiday polar bear, once more another SANTA HAT! This polar bear will increase your speed by 40% and runs the same way that the lion, lioness and bengal tiger run. The Holiday Polar Bear wears one Santa top hat along with a jingle bell saddle.

Elf Hat (Ultra-rare)The Elf hat is, well, an elf hat. This hat is only available from the Holiday Pack and has no stats. The elf hat is shaped like the girls jesters hat, but the top is red and the trim at the bottom is green with jingle bells. (Cannot be dyed)

Elf Outfit (Ultra-rare)The Elf outfit is the robe piece that goes to elf hat and shoes. This robe is similar to the pirate garb from marlybone with an even amount of green and red. For the straps seen on the pirate garb will have jingle bells on them and mistletoe hanging in a top pocket

Elf Shoes (Ultra-rare)The Elf Shoes are the final piece of the Elf Outfit. the tip of the shoes have curls and gray leggings like the ones with the "Ruby Slippers" you get in unicorn way. Once again it will be green and red and non dyable.

And the 1st place winner was James Legendblosson.  Here is the pack he created:

Pets: a present box jumping around with sparkles it gives a tower shield spell and when it casts a spell like "spritely" it starts to dance and a jester comes out (like jack in the box).

Mounts: A red sleigh flying as high as the hawk mount and allowing two people to be on board like the rhino mount.

Housing Items: An oven with gingerbread people inside, A type of Christmas wallpaper aloud to cover up your castle walls, (example, You see a mfp massive fantasy palace and then you click on a red green castlepaper and the castle becomes red and green :P)

Pet Snacks: Jolly Juice a juice box with snowflake on it and it gives +10, Christmas Cookies, chocolate cookies with sprinkles and it gives +15.

Plants: Jolly Fireplace, it grows into a fireplace with socks attached an fire and its rewards are a few mega snacks and treasures such as immolate, disarm, tower shield, satyr, smoke screen,and pixie.

Gear: The Giving Tree Set: (level 50 gear as example) Hat: Cap of the winterbreeze, gives 5% accuracy, 10% resist 20% critical 15% damage and a satyr spell. Robe: Santa's Helper Robe of Cheer, gives 5% pips, 10% critical block, 10% damage, 5% resist with a Gargantuan spell. Shoes: Shoes of the Frost: 5% accuracy, 4% resist and 10% critical with a tower shield spell. The gear looks a lot like the santas outfit in shopping district but it has MOSTLY green, white and gold colors and they can dye.

Wands: The lollipop wand but mixed with the colors of pink and red and it gives (level 50 stats) 5 wand hits called Wishingdrops that hit 110 ice damage, 10% block 5% critical

Thanks again to everyone who entered and congratulations to the winners!  Look for more contests and give aways in the future!  Since I am going to be incredibly busy over the next week or so, I will see everyone next year :)  Have a great and safe holiday!  See you soon!

Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Holiday contest winners announced!

Hey everyone!  I have decided to announce the contest results a little early, so that the winners have more time to be contacted. 

There were a lot of really great entries.  It was really hard to decide on the three winners, but they are as follows.

Third place (Happy Holidaisy seed) goes to Justin Shadowblade!
Second place (Yuletide Spirit pet) goes to Vanessa Emeraldglade!
First place (Chrismoose Mount) goes to James Legendblossom!

To the winners: Congratulations and look for an email from me shortly with instructions on how to claim your prizes.

I will be making a separate post tomorrow with the winner's entries.

Thanks to everyone who entered!  You all made choosing a winner a really tough choice.  Look for more contests in the future.  And to everyone, thanks for reading!  See you tomorrow with the post showing the winning entries! :)

Monday, December 19, 2011

The Holiday Contest is Over

Hey Wizards!

The holiday contest is now over.  I will not be accepting any more entries.  I have recieved a lot of great emails and all I can say is that the other judges and myself will have a hard time trying to decide on the winners.  Look for the winners to be announced on Wednesday at 5:00pm EST.

Thanks to everyone who entered and thanks for reading!  See you soon!

Saturday, December 17, 2011

Holiday Contest Reminder

Hey Everyone!  Just a quick post to remind you that the holiday contest ends Monday at 5pm EST.  That means there is only 2 more days to get your entries in!  Please email them to secretsofthespiral@hotmail.com.  For further information and contest rules, please see the post right below this or click here.  Thanks for reading everyone!

Monday, December 12, 2011

Holiday Contest Announcement

Hello wizards!  I hope everyone's weekend went well. I don't know about anyone else, but it's always hard for me to wake up Monday morning and get back into my weekday routine.  Maybe this blog post will hope make your Monday a little better. :)

Today is going to be the first day of a week long contest here at Secrets of the Spiral.  If you would like to enter, here is what you have to do. You know the "packs" Wizard101 offers in the crowns shop (Wyvern's Hoard, Nightmare, etc.)?  Well to enter this contest, I would like you to make your own "Holiday Pack".  Create your own holiday-themed pets, mounts, housing items, pet snacks, plants, gear, etc. Be as detailed and creative as you can.

There will be 3 winners, as follows:
  • First place will win a new Charity Chrismoose Mount.
  • Second place will win a Yuletide Spirit Pet.
  • Third place will win a Happy Holidaisy seed.

If you would like to enter this contest, here are the entry requirements:
  1. Email your entry to this email address: secretsofthespiral@hotmail.com by 5:00pm EST on Monday, December 19, 2011.
  2. The email subject line should say "Holiday Pack Contest"
  3. Please include your wizard's name, but no other personal information in your email.
  4. Your entry must include at least 7 items, but if you would like to include more, you may.
  5. Include as much detail as possible.  If you would like to include picture files, that is okay, but it is not required.
  6. Only one entry per person please
  7. All entries must be family friendly, with no inappropriate ideas or language.
The winners will be announced on Wednesday, December 21, 2011 at 5:00pm EST.  I have chosen 3 other fellow wizards to help with the judging.  They will be:
I will also be helping out with the judging.  Good luck to everyone who decides to enter!  I can't wait to see the great ideas you all come up with!  That's all for today.  Happy questing! :)

Thursday, December 8, 2011

Meet Autumn Lifesong

I mentioned when I started blogging again that I had made a life wizard named Autumn Lifesong.  Well, this is her.  So far I have gotten her to grandmaster gardener and grandmaster artisan.  Life Autumn is currently level 61 and still questing in the Grotto.

Some people have asked me how she is such a high level to be questing at the beginning of Celestia.  Well, the answer is pretty simple.  I did all the side quests and also completed the side worlds (Wysteria, Grizzleheim, and Wintertusk) as they became available.  I leveled from level 42 up to level 52 just in Wintertusk. 

I know a lot of people don't like to complete the side quests, and I can understand that.  It does make questing take a lot longer.  But I also find that it makes questing in the higher worlds easier, especially Celestia.  Having my level 58 spell has made things in Celestia go quicker, so far.

Anyway, here are Autumn's stats.  They aren't too great yet, as she still has her level 58 gear.

And here is the pet I usually have equipped, my Forest Lord.

If anyone has any suggestions of which gear to use for better stats for life, they would be very much appreciated!  I am definitely going to craft the Cosmic Kris and Stellar Signet as soon as I have enough sunstone.  But other than that, not too sure which gear I should upgrade to.

Anyway, thats's all for today.  See you around the Spiral!  And as always, thanks for reading!

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Music Player

When Kingsisle added Zafaria, they also added some other cool new features to the game.  One of these is a new housing item.....The Music Player.  This item allows you to change the music in your house to one of the music themes from around the spiral. It can be purchased in the Wizard City Housing Shop (in the decorations section) for 1000 gold. I think that this item is pretty cool.  Here is how it works.

The music player works with music scrolls that you can purchase or find as drops from bosses around the spiral. You place the music player in your house and when you click on it, you get three options, like with the mannequins.

You can pick it up, move it, or click the music icon and get this screen.

This shows a list of the music scrolls you have in your backpack.  Select one and click the icon at the bottom of the screen to add the scroll to your music player. Then click the music icon at the top to see a list of music in your music player, like this.

There are two options at the bottom of this screen, one to equip the scroll you want to listen to, and one to remove a scroll from the player. One thing I did notice is that each music player/music scroll combination counts as two housing items.  For example, I have nine scrolls equipped to my player and it is counting as 18 items in my house.  I kind of hope KI changes that and makes each individual item count only once.

Anyway, here is a list of the scrolls available and where to find them.
  • Wizard City Main Theme - Wizard City Housing Shop (500gold)
  • Krokotopia Main Theme - Wizard City Housing Shop (500gold)
  • Krokotopia Theme 4 - Krokopatra (Temple of Storms)
  • Marleybone Main Theme - Meowiarty (Big Ben)
  • Mooshu Main Theme - Jade Oni (Jade Palace)
  • Dragonspyre Main Theme - Malistaire (The Great Spyre)
  • Celestia Main Theme - Mithraya (Trial of the Spheres)
  • Zafaria Main Theme - Tim-Tim Snake Eye (Black Palace)
  • Wysteria Main Theme - Lord Bramble (Tanglewood Way)
  • Grizzleheim Main Theme - The Ravens (Ravenscar)
  • Wintertusk Main Theme - Not sure on this one.  I dont have it yet, and don't know anyone who does.  Maybe the last bosses in Nastrond?  If anyone knows, comment and tell me and I will give you credit.
***EDIT***
  • HFjord Theme - Drops from the last bosses in Nastrond (Credit goes to Mindy WindWeaver. Thanks!)  This makes me wonder if there will be other scrolls for the other areas of Wintertusk as well.  That would be awesome!
  • Nastrond Main Theme - Drops from Frostbranch in Austrilund (Credit goes to Wolf Windrider. Thanks!)
***END EDIT***
    Farming for the scrolls kept me busy for awhile.  I have all of them except Wintertusk and Zafaria.  I didn't find most of them to be too hard to get.  They seem to drop more frequently than some other items I have tried to farm for.  I think it would be awesome if Kingsisle added scrolls for different music too.  Maybe a scroll for holiday music or one for spooky noises for Halloween.  Maybe I will suggest that to them. :)

    That's all for today.  I will try to update again later in the week.  Happy questing!  See you next time :)

    Friday, December 2, 2011

    Hey Everyone!

    Hello fellow wizards!

    It sure has been awhile since I have posted.  I didn't think I would be able to post anymore, but things change and I have decided to continue with blogging.  I won't be posting everyday like I was before, but I will try to post once or twice a week.  Also, I am not going to be having weekly contests, at least not right now.  I may decide to continue with them in the future though.

    I do want to say thank you to everyone who continued following my blog, and a special thanks to the people who started following during my absence!  You guys are great!  :)

    I haven't been up to too much.  I did create a new life wizard named Autumn Lifesong.  She is currently level 61 and just starting Celestia.  I will be posting about her adventures questing, as well as my adventures through Zafaria, which I have yet to begin.  I did quest through Zafaria on the test realm and I have to say, it is AWESOME!  And I absolutely love the new level 68 spells.

    Other than that, I will be continuing to post guides for quests and dungeons/towers.  I may also be changing the layout on here, and adding some features to make the site more user friendly.  Hmm....What else?  I think that may be all for now.  So watch for more posts and the changes I just mentioned.  It is good to be back.  I really missed blogging.

    See you soon!