Thursday, August 26, 2010

Ravenwood Radio: Episode 23 and After Party

Ravenwood Radio: Episode 23 LIVE was a smash yesterday. Who knew the Balance Study Hall would be so interesting? I was sure they wouldn't be able to top the Life Study Hall(:P). But joking aside, the Balance Study Hall was a very interesting broadcast. I learned a lot of useful information. If you missed it last night, then make sure you check it out at Ravenwood Radio, as soon as it's up. I took some pictures you can check out below. Leesha was hard to get a picture of, since she wouldn't stand still, but I finally got her in a pic. Some of us stopped by my place for an After After Party, I forgot to take pictures though :(.
Picture 2010-08-25 23-01-37Picture 2010-08-25 23-00-08Picture 2010-08-25 23-00-13Picture 2010-08-25 23-01-08Picture 2010-08-25 23-11-41Picture 2010-08-25 23-09-13
Woot! Flikr is Awesome! Thanks for reading!
-The Spirit Keeper-

Tuesday, August 24, 2010

Pet of the Week: Sir Blarney

This week's Pet of the Week is the greedy, little penny pincher Sir Blarney! Name: Sir Blarney (Mr. Lincoln forgot the L, so ingame he's Sir Barney)
Species: Leprechaun
Card/Abilities: Gives 1 Leprechaun Card(180-220 damage) as of Baby
Bio: I found Sir Blarney entirely by accident. I was helping a friend defeat the Death Oni in the Tree of Life which was rather easy for a Grandmaster Theurg. After I defeated the Oni, amongst the loot, there he was! Sir Blarney was trying to make away with some of the gold that the Death Oni had left behind. Had he not been stuffing his pockets, he would've noticed me creeping up behind him. WHAM! I caught the little thief. After spending some time with my other pets, Sir Blarney has turned over a new leaf(in search for more gold perhaps). He now occupies his time running an underground Casino in Marleybone in an undisclosed location. Sir Blarney loves to make money and eating Skittles at the end of a Double Rainbow. He hates losing money(duh), thieves, beggars, and regular Rainbows. Just be careful with your money bags, lest your gold ends up in Blarney's Pot of Gold.
Location/Boss: Tree of Life/Death Oni
-The Spirit Keeper-

Monday, August 23, 2010

The Wayfinder Scheme: What's all the buzz?

A few posts back, I posted the Making Money: Merchanting Wayfinder Helmet guide. Since then lots of wizards have verified, followed, and even praised the guide. There are, however, a few things I should clarify.

Despite the name, 'The Wayfinder Scheme' is perfectly legit. Merchanting can be found in tons of MMORPG's, and there's nothing wrong with doing it with a few items in Wizard101.

Twitter has also erupted with tweets about the 'The Wayfinder Scheme' with such hashtags as '#wayfinder' and '#wayfinderschemersanonymous'. All the attention and buzz 'The Wayfinder Scheme' has stirred up has arisen because it truly and actually works.

Now my 'partner in crime' the Two-Headed Wizard posted a "Less Time Consuming Guide" on his blog. I'm not saying that he's wrong, cause he's not. He covered a lot of the basics. But there's some things he missed.
  1. The Enter Key is your friend. When confirming your sale or purchase, instead of clicking YES with your mouse, just click ENTER on your keyboard. It'll save you time, and make it harder for others to snipe your stuff.
  2. The SELL tab is always open. I know the 2-Headed Wiz adviced going to the AMULET tab before you sell your Wayfinder stock, but there's really no need. Right away you open the Bazaar window, you can go ahead and click the SELL tab before anything loads. No loading time or need to choose the useable option. This will save you a couple seconds, making your trips shorter, and you rich faster.
  3. Watch your gold. In order to make a profit, there must be no Wayfinder Helmets/Robes in the bazaar. Otherwise, you will not receive 17,011 per hat/robe and make a profit. If there are other Wayfinder Helmets/Robes in stock you can either wait for someone else to buy them or buy them yourself. If you're gonna buy them yourself, make sure you have at least 5,366 gold per item that you buy. If you buy too many hats/robes you might not have enough to dye them all afterwards.

  4. Diversify your Wayfinder stock. Wayfinder Robes and Wayfinder Helmets are interchangeable. They both buy and sell for the exact same amount of gold. The only difference is that people buy Wayfinder Helmets a lot more than Robes. This means that you'll have to buy a lot more Wayfinder Robes to sell them at 17,011 gold, but either way you'll be making money regardless of which you use. So go ahead and merchant both!
  5. More Robes, Less Time, More Money! When merchanting Wayfinder Robes you need to keep a few things in mind. After you sell the robe, and click the BUY tab, quickly click the ROBE tab. Otherwise, you will have to load the HAT tab and then the ROBE tab. Then click the LVL tab twice just as before, but don't click the CHANGE COLOR tab(Unless you're a girl). For boys, the default color is already Brown Brown, so you can just go ahead and buy the robe. But for girls, the default color is Gold Gold, so you'll just have to change the base color to White before you buy the robe back. The more gold you make, the more robes you can buy thus the less time it will take to make even more money (@ 1565+ per robe).

That's all I can think of for now. Make sure you read the Two-Headed Wizard's guide(here), if you haven't already. He provides lots of excellent tips on using teleports to and from the Bazaar. If you have any questions or need me to clarify any of the above, feel free to send me an email or just leave a comment below. Thanks for Reading! And stay tuned for this week's Pet of the Week!

Saturday, August 21, 2010

Update on the Keeper: Part III (Farewell, Cassandra!)

I only meant to have 2 parts to the Update of the Keeper series. But since so much has happened in 2 days, I'll make it a Trilogy.
The Spirit Guardian, Lord Bentley, has finally reached the ranks of Epic, my first ever Epic pet! He has become quite a formidable opponent on the Pet Derby course. And when it comes to PvP, his Life Minotaur card comes in very handy. All in all, Lord Bentley is just estatic about his achievement, so much so that he scored a 54 on the Cyclops Lane 18-hole Golf Course, the lowest score ever recorded (according to him anyways)! In other news, King Cosmo is now on his way to join Lord Bentley as an Epic pet, already 1/4 of the way there.
Cassandra Lifecaster aka The Comic Theurgist from Comedy Theurgists will be going away to boarding school. So we won't be seeing her for a long while :(. The other day, we had a going away party for her. We'll miss you, Cassandra! She's still around, I think, so make sure you wish her 'adieu'! Here's some pictures from the party:
I'll address the Wayfinder buzz in my next post. If you see yourself in any pictures, or just want to wish Cassandra goodbye, feel free to comment. Thanks for reading!

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

Update on the Keeper: Part II (w/ Pet Training Tips)

Hmm, what else happened this week? I'm drawing a blank...

Oh yeah, I did a couple Warehouse runs (Piece of Cake), did one run of Briskbreeze Tower (It was a breeze), and fought Malistaire twice (Pwnage). I finally got the Malistaire Athame and Ring, not the grand ones(already had those), the ones with incoming and outgoing healing percentage (Malistaire Drake's DeathEdge and Malistaire Drake's Ruby Signet). These two items are invaluable for a Theurgist, especially when fighting in groups while questing or in PvP.

I've made a ton of gold using my "Money Making: Merchanting Wayfinder Helmet" guide.
Although, finding stuff to spend all that gold on isn't easy. Apart from buying house items and reagents in the bazaar, I've been mating my Ancient Satyr, King Cosmo everyday. Unfortunately, the only new pets I've received have been a Traveler, which looks like a Myth Treant, and several more Satyrs.

As I've been training Lord Bentley, I learned a few things.
This is what I did(Click images for full resolution):
  • Fed Lord Bentley a Life Rank 5 Gummy Humongofrog which yielded +7 experience, then fed him a Myth Rank 6 Ambros Cereal which yielded the same +7 experience.
  • However, when I fed him a Life Rank 5 Golden Grapes, it only yielded +6 experience. And I think I know why.

THIS IS ONLY A THEORY! RESULTS MAY VARY...

Normally, the amount of experience your pet receives from a snack is equal to the rank of that snack, with 3 exceptions.

  1. Your pet likes to eat snacks from its own school. When you feed them snacks from the same school, they receive +1 extra experience. So Lord Bentley, a Life Minotaur, gets +6 exp from the Life Rank 5 Golden Grapes, instead of +5 exp. But why didn't the Gummy Humongofrog also yield +6 exp. That brings us to the second exception.
  2. Your pet is power hungry. When you feed them snacks that have at least +2 Power(that's 2 or more), they will gain +1 extra exp. So that's why when Lord Bentley received +7 exp from the Myth Rank 6 Ambros Cereal, instead of +6 exp. This exception stacks with the 1st exception. That's why Lord Bentley received +7 exp from the Life Rank 5 Gummy Humongofrog, instead of +5 exp.
  3. Your pet loves MegaSnacks! All MegaSnacks are Rank 8 (I think), but they give a ton of experience (highest I've seen so far is +30). So they're clearly an exception to the first 2 rules.

So when buying/crafting snacks for your pets make sure to look for snacks that are from the same school and have at least +2 Power so that you can take advantage of the extra +2 experience. Currently, Lord Bentley's favorite snacks include all MegaSnacks and Rice Wispie Cereal, a Life Rank 6 Snack that gives +8 experience per 8 pana(that's pet mana). Keep looking for those deals, and Thanks for reading! What's your pet's favorite snacks? Comment below...

-The Spirit Keeper-

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Making Money: Merchanting Wayfinder Helmet

Recently I read a post by The Two-Headed Wizard explaining how to make some extra gold when selling your Wayfinder Helmet. And it worked! So I kept going, and going, and going...and after about an hour I was at MAX gold. So I bought a Bengal Tiger mount (cost 90k gold), and then did it all over again. The first day I tried this, I hit MAX gold 3 times! Since then, I've bought a Myth House and decorated it as best I could. I've aso crafted lots of furniture, using the gold I make to buy reagents. So far my Myth House looks awesome, or so I've been told by everyone who's visited. But by now you'e probably wondering exactly how I made so much gold. So below, I've provided step by step instructions.
DISCLAIMER: FOLLOW AT YOUR OWN RISK
To start you're going to need a Wayfinder Helmet(dropped by the Main boss in the Warehouse) and 5,366 gold.
The first thing you do is take your Wayfinder Helmet to the Dye Shop and dye the base Black with Black trim. You'll notice that I have a lot of Wayfinder Helmets; I'll explain why later. I'm also including some pictures for both boys and girls since its a little different for each (Using a girl alt I just happen to have).
Next you take your dyed Wayfinder Helmet and run to the Bazaar. Now, you want to be careful when you sell your Wayfinder Helmet. In order to make any money, you have to sell your Wayfinder Helmet for 17,011 gold. If the selling price is less than that, it means that the bazaar already has some Wayfinder Helmets in stock. To get the selling price up to 17,011 gold you either have to wait for other people to buy the Wayfinder Helmets already in the bazaar or you can buy them yourself (which I recommend). The selling price is the same for both boys and girls.
READ THE ENTIRE POST BEFORE SELLING.

Now quickly click the BUY tab, wait for it to load, click the LEVEL tab twice (since the Wayfinder Helmet will always appear first), click CHANGE COLOR, dye the base Brown with Brown trim for boys, and White with Gold Trim for girls. The buying price should be 10,080 gold or less for boys and 10,962 gold or less for girls. If it more than that, then you didn't choose the right color combinations. After you change the color, click buy and confirm. You should have more gold than when you started. Do this a couple times and you should be at MAX gold in no time. Now, you're probably wondering why I had more than 1 Wayfinder Helmet. Those extra Wayfinder Helmets are ones that I bought fom the bazaar so that I could sell my Wayfinder Helmets at 17,011 gold. Having extra Wayfinder Helmets is always beneficial. First, someone else might buy the Wayfinder Helmet you sold before you have time to buy it back; so having extras is handy. Also, for each Wayfinder Helmet you have you make the following:

For Boys:
17,011(Selling Price)-5,366(Dyeing Price)-10,080(Buying Price)= +1,565 gold Profit! per hat

For Girls:
17,011(Selling Price)-5,366(Dyeing Price)-10,962(Buying Price)= +683 gold Profit! per hat

So the more Wayfinder Helmet's you have the more gold you make per trip. Now 1,565 and 683 might not seem like a lot of gold, but if you use mana to mark your location in the Bazaar and have a friend to port to in the Dye Shop(friend saves you like 30 secs), then you can do each trip in a minute(amount of time it takes for your mana mark port to reset). This gets you MAX gold in 1 hour and 30 minutes(for boys) and 3 hours and 30 minutes(for girls) if you use one hat. The more hats you use, the less time it takes.

If you have any questions/issues email me at spiritkeep@gmail.com and if this guide works for you, please comment verifying that it does below.

Updates on The Keeper: Part I

So you're probably all wondering why I haven't posted in like a week, right? Unfortunately, I don't have any good excuses except lazyness, I guess. I've been haivng so much fun playing Wizard101 that posting about it seemed boring in comparison. But let me fill you in:

The month subscription I won from the Best Dorm Contest ran out a few days ago(like Thursday), which wasn't too bad since I've been F2P(Free to Play) before. I still have access to the commons in all worlds except Grizzleheim, including Marleybone(So if anyone's up for a Warehouse run, I'd be happy to help), to Dragon's Roost aka Malistaire's Lair, and to Colossus Blvd(for Briskbreeze Tower) since I bought these areas with crowns a couple months back.


"That's no Moon! That's a Space Station!" I attended Ravenwood Radio last week. If you're wondering where Steven got the quote from, it's from Star Wars Episode IV, when Obi Wan first saw the Death Star (Yeah, I'm a Star Wars fan too, who isn't?). Episode 22 was great and the unofficial after party was decent. Piggles FTW! Check it out if you haven't already. Here's a picture I took (Comment if you see yourself in the picture):
Click image for full resolution
If you haven't already noticed, I've been sporting my stitched Grand gear which I posted about here. Recently, I've been getting a lot of "Where'd you get that hat!" or "Omg! Ben! Hat! Where!" Ok maybe not the second one, but apparently wearing a Thanksgiving Headdress in the summer isn't exactly common.Lord Bentley has been training vigorously. He can now cast his Life Minotaur card, which does 50 and then 410 damage. Unfortunately when cast, the Minotaur looks like a regular Myth one. However, Lord Bentley's training didn't end there. He's now more than half way to Epic, and looking forward to his retirement.
Click image for full resolution
Wow, there's so much more to post about! I'll split this post into 2 parts, so as not to overwhelm you. Thanks for reading (And I know there's more than 17 of you, so if you'r not already, become a follower of the Spirit Keep in the sidebar >, and comment, even if its just to say hi)!
-The Spirit Keeper-

Monday, August 16, 2010

Pet of the Week: King Cosmo

The Pet of the Week is the artsy, sprinter King Cosmo.

Name: King Cosmo Species: Satyr
Card/Abilities: Gives 1 Satyr Card(heals 990) as of Ancient/+4% Life Accuracy and +5% Pip Percentage as of Ancient
Bio: I met King Cosmo soon after completing my lvl 48 quest from Moolinda Wu. King Cosmo is very energetic, endlessly dancing the night away. He loves to playing on his pipes, going to dance parties, drinking root beer, and chasing nymphs (At least that's what he said. Personally, I've never seen a nymph). King Cosmo is a pacifist, and would rather challenge you to a Dance Off than a Duel. He's also an amazing runner, reaching the Semi-Finals(with 3 other pets) in the first ever 1v1 Adult Pet Derby Tournament on Wizard101 Central. King Cosmo dislikes bullies and Fizzling.
Location/Boss: Lvl 48 Life School Quest
-The Spirit Keeper-

Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Pet of the Week: Romeo

The Pet of this Week is the illustrious, womanizer Romeo.
Name: Romeo
Species: Danger Hound
Card/Abilities: Gives 1 Infection card as of Teen/+1% Fire Accuracy as of Teen
Bio: I won Romeo as part of a promotional event by Wizard101 Central to get 50,000 Facebook fans by a certain date last year. That event was the first time I had heard of Wizard101 Central. Romeo is rather shy and likes to keep to himself. However, he is a proficient flirter, and has a way with the ladies. Romeo enjoys writing poetry in Nightside, serenading pixies/fairies in Unicorn Way, and flirting with new arrivals in the Commons. He dislikes rainy days, pets that try to show him up, and girls who refuse to move on.
Location: Wizard101 Central Facebook Recruitment Promotional Event 2009
-The Spirit Keeper-

Pet of Last Week: King Leo

I've decided to change Pet of the Day to Pet of the Week. That way I don't run out of pets too quickly. On that note, the pet for last week is King Leo.

Name: King Leo
Species: Helpful Wildclaw
Cards: Gives 1 Fairy Card as of Teen/+1% Power Pip as of Teen
Bio: I found King Leo during one of my many travels last year in the land of Walgreens. King Leo is very energetic, although he loses his temper easily. He enjoys quiet, twilight runs in the Haunted Cave, howling at the full moon, and sunbathing at the Oasis. King Leo dislikes showers, Oni's, and Doctor Purreau(don't ask).
Location/Boss: $20 Walgreens Gift Card 2009 (I think)
-The Spirit Keeper-

News, News, and More News...

It's been 9 days since my last post; sorry about that. My computer was internet-less for a little more than a week. But worry not, for The Spirit Keeper is back...again! So what's new in the Spiral? Well, let's see:

Wizard101 Central's 2nd Birthday is in 2 days. If you haven't already, make sure you check out their Birthday Contest, "A Day in the Life of a Wizard!" Submissions are due by August 31th, 9pm CST.
Speaking of birthdays, today is Fallon Shadowblade's 33rd Birthday. Make sure you wish her a happy one either on Diary of a Wizard, Skype, Twitter, Facebook, or in person.
On a lesser note, KingsIsle is testing updates to the log in server. "So login, log out, log back in to the Test Realm and really stress out our new login servers to the fullest. With your help, we'll be able to make logging in faster for everyone!" So what're waiting for, go have a party in the Test Realm already!

A new abracadoodle is out. You can check that out here.

Wizard101 Producer Leah Ruben aka Dalia Falmea has written a letter to the Wizard101 community. Along with her thoughts and tips, Professor Falmea provides a pic of an awesome new mount, pet, or monster for Celestia?! You can view the entire letter here. On this note, check out my latest poll: "Piggles or Ninja Pigs?" in the sidebar to the right.

Pet of the Day in The Spirit Keep has been changed to Pet of the Week, so stay tuned...

In other news, I made 2 new videos with some footage I just had lying around. The first video is a Runescape Recruitment Video for The Lords, a faction of the Triumverate(Massive clan split into 3 parts). The footage is like a year old since its from when I played Runescape, another MMORPG. But it's in HD, so if you're into Runescape, and are thinking of joining the Triumverate, check it out. The other video is a Wizard101 PvP Tribute, also in HD. I had a lot of PvP footage, unused songs, no internet, and time on my hands. Neverthelesss, the video came out nicely. You can view both videos below.

Post your comments, questions, issues about anything below in the comments section. I look forward to hearing from you!

-The Spirit Keeper-

Monday, August 2, 2010

Pet of the Day: Lord Bentley

This is my first ever Pet of the Day post. I would amaze you all with a brand new never before seen pet...but unfortunately I do not own such a pet. Instead, I'll reintroduce Lord Bentley.
Name: Lord Bentley(aka The Spirit Guardian)
Species: Life Minotaur
Cards: Life Minotaur card at Ancient
Bio: Lord Bentley was rescued from Helgrind's Warren. It wasn't easy, but together with the Spirit Apprentice(aka Allison Dragonshard) I was able to free him from the grasp of the Broomwood Tormentor. Lord Bentley likes to go golfing in Cyclops Lane and playing the Cannon Game in the Pet Pavilion. He really dislikes beggars, especially in Wizard City, who ask for Treasure Card donations. His favorite food is Ambros Cereal(crafted snack).
Location/Boss: Helgrind's Warren/Broomwood Tormentor

I'm Back...and More!

As you may or may not have noticed I've been AFK for a little less than a week. I've been busy with visiting relatives, but now their gone and I'm back. So what's new in the Spiral since I last posted, let's see:

Wizard101 Central's 2nd Birthday is on August 13th. Happy Birthday Wizard101 Central!
To commemorate their birthday, they are holding the Contest of All Contests which opened yesterday. You can find all you need to know about the contest here.
While farming in the Spiral I found 2 new pets! But instead of telling you who they are, I'm starting a new chain post called Pet of the Day! Everyday I'll feature one of my pets with its name, picture, short biography, any special abilities it might have, and where I found it. So stay tuned.
I've stitched my Grandmaster Gear. These are my before and after pictures:

Can't think of anything else. Oh yeah, I've added a list of all the blogs I follow to the side bar so feel free to check those out. There's been quite a few good posts in the past week. That abot wraps it up, stay tuned for my next post: The First Ever Pet of the Day.
-The Spirit Keeper-

Lower Level in Training (part 2)

My dear Balance wizard is finally advancing towards Krockopatra. She just soloed many of the bosses in the Grand Arena and is ready to take on much more.

She's much pleased the Master of the Colosseum and has been promoted to highest ranks. Let's hope for the best when she faces those Nirini's!
-Spirit Apprentice-
PS: I will be out of town for 2 weeks so I'll hope to see a few more posts from The Spirit Keeper when I return :)