Updates...and Minecraft!

John here again. Sorry about the delays in posting. This is just going to be a general amalgamation of a good number of things.  First off, I updated my "About Me" section. The old one was a bit outdated. I probably forgot to mention a couple of things...oh...yeah...like Dr. Who fanboy and Potterite. Oh well.

Secondly, the new header is on hold until I can locate a cool staff for Noah, seeing as he's going to be pictured. I like my magnet, but he needs something nice.  The plan was to have a Staff of the Querent by now, but KIFreeGames really don't like me. Guess what I'm doing tomorrow. Weeeeeeeeeee.  Oh well. Thanks to Alric I finally got my Shardtail Dragon and can start working on higher tiers. That sucker just would not drop for me! Thanks again, man, no wonder you're one of Alhazred's favorites...just so kind and giving to the community!

Thirdly (hey, it is a word, Noah, because Google Chrome didn't underline it. Shush and wait your turn!), I changed my profile picture on just about everything to this:

So that's the new look of John Lifeglen for a while. 

Now on to the Minecraft portion. If you genuinely don't care about Minecraft, I recommend you skip this part all the way down to the closing remarks. 

I recently stumbled upon this amazing website that lets you compile a texture pack from all of their available textures and then packages it in a nice, neat, ready to install texture pack (for those who don't know, a texture pack modifies the way the game looks. Rather than seeing the default view, you can turn trees pink or give pigs wings. Chickens can look more like ducks. Torches can be turned into candles. The list goes on and on and on. Long story short, it makes your creations look how you want them to!). It's amazing. It's called Painterly and can be found at that link.  You can also get some really nice looking mods from there. I don't use mods (other than "Too Many Items" for a Creative-Style save) because I like playing what has been given to me. Posted on a new page titled "Minecraft"  is the "password" to the texture pack that my friends and I use while playing on our server. This is a temporary page that will likely only remain up for a week or so (unless I forget) so get it fast. If, once it is gone, you want a copy, just let me know and I'll find a way to get it to you!  This way we all build and see the same thing, to insure that everything looks OK. Just copy the password (if you're interested) and then paste it into the page on Painterly that the "Share" button directs you to!  If you modify the pack or have a really neat one you want me to see, e-mail or comment me the password from your new pack so I can see it! My e-mail is linked in the Countdown/Contact Information box directly beneath the header. 

That wraps up my stuff!

EDIT: Painterly's "Share" is having issues with the internal server. You're welcome to try using it whenever, but it might not regain functionality for a little while. I'm sure it will be back up soon, though.

Your Friend Always,

John Lifeglen

Muahaha-Torture. Oh, and News

Noah here again. I'm torturing John, yay!!!

Yeahno. I'm not really tormenting anyone. Mother Nature has left poor John out in the hot desert sun (serves him right for being balance in my honest opinion) while I curl up in my Ice House and cool off. He's even begging me to cast a blizzard on the surrounding area. I keep telling him to go visit Alhazred and maybe sneak off into the Hall of Champions and help out some lowbies (the kind way to say noob) and maybe run the Vault of Ice. Sad part is that he's actually considering it. Silly Legendaries! That's what they get for not having any quests of their own left. Haha.

The main reason I am sitting down to a laptop and taking the risk of melting part of my house from the residual heat was to let everyone know a few things about the Dragon's Hoard pack. Yeah, I'm late to the party (guess that must be a family thing, I don't remember John ever being on time) but it's something that needs to be addressed.  I was trying for the Dragonrider's Death Sword because it gives me Critical and Block chance on a sword I can use at level 50. It's really sweet, totally worth it. But getting that puppy was a hassle!  Most people tried forever for the Bone Dragon mount. It's nice. I have a few of them now thanks to trying for that sword. How is it that I can get an epic item multiple times before achieving a rare one?  That just seems a little bit ridiculous to me.

John was also saying something about KIFreeGames. He told some of us (me and 2 of the other cousins) to help ourselves to the Galvanic Hammers in the shared bank. We were questioning why they were there to begin with, and why he was farming such a low tier. Apparently John has been having trouble getting a Shardtail Dragon (same tier). 4 Galvanic Hammers before one pet. It seems that the luck is just not with us right now!  We love the hammers, but it seems like chance is against us. Does anyone have a "target score" in Doodle Dug that you've received a Shardtail from?  Maybe each tier has subdivisions?  Who knows. Let me know what you think and I'll pass it along (or more likely John will see it first, since he's the only one with clearance to approve comments -.-)

Keep it Frosty,
Noah Mythglen

PS. John was proofreading my post before publishing it and told me to mention that there's a whole slew of new furniture in the Crown Shop. Most of it (if not all!) available for gold, too! Check it out!!

"Port Capsules"

So I was dusting off my Nintendo DS from the real world (the original one. Giant, silver monstrosity that has been compared to a make-up case multiple times) and I turned it on and realized Pokemon Diamond was in it. Now, playing in the Sinnoh Region was fun for quite a few reasons as many of you probably know. One of my favorites was the ability to customize Ball Capsules.  For those of you who don't know, a Ball Capsule is a way to edit the entrance of a specific Pokemon to the field. You could purchase lightning bolts, clouds, confetti, and various letters and symbols in order to customize your Poke-team even more.  

This got me thinking. Wizards have magic. We already vanish in a swirl of magical confetti symbols in our class colors and pattern. What if there was a way to create custom teleport actions, even for a small crown premium. If not truly custom, what about a way to celebrate the holiday's in a magical fashion. Pumpkins or bats swirling you when you teleport for Halloween, trees or snowmen for Christmas, shamrocks for St. Patrick's day. Maybe even little flags for the 4th of July. Turkeys for Thanksgiving. Hearts for Valentines. The list could go on and on. 

Maybe there could even be a couple of generic ones all year round, or to enhance your current teleport (adding stars to to your current teleport if you trained the star school and want to show off). 

Who knows, if this takes off maybe we could get brighter or larger teleports based on level. Start everyone off at level one with just a small swirl of magic, and as the power increases (every 10 levels) a few additional swirls come into play.

I realize this is just a cosmetic idea, but how people love the bunny suit or the turkey hat?  Some holiday items are just plain cool and can really let you express yourself. Let me know what you think of these ideas!

Your Friend Always,

John Lifeglen

Confusion? Let's Fix That!

No character picture because I'm slipping out of character for this post. It seems that a few people are getting a teensy bit confused. Noah is not really another person writing on my blog. I am (and unless I have a guest-post sometime, always will be) the only poster at Through the Eyes of a Sorcerer.  Each of my characters save for John Lifeglen is named after one of my little cousins, and a majority of them don't even share a first name because of the limits of the name picker and my family's affinity for choosing strange names or weird spellings.

Noah, in reality, likes to wrestle around and is generally a little rough. I picked Ice for him because of that strength and durability. The others all have a characteristic that has shown through (such as my sister's ability to go from happy to grouchy in a split second, much like the weather [<---that is a clue as to which school my representation of her is!!!]) and that I placed them into school for. One of my cousins really loves the Percy Jackson books and mythology in general, ergo, that cousin is Myth.  In due course all of them will get around to posting here.  Basing characters off of them allows me to provide cheap entertainment if I ever have to babysit them. Noah, again, likes horses, so I can sit his character down on a pony mount of choice and let him ride around, oohing and aahing at whatever he sees. He's about to the age where I can start teaching him to play, too.

Why in Our Spiral would you post as alter-egos, though? That seems confusing!
I'm glad you asked, random internet entity that is popping up all of a sudden. I find that writing from another character, Through the Eyes of Another if you will, to be refreshing, rejuvenating, and a fantastic way to pick on the faults and weaknesses I see in one of my characters without making them try and tear themselves apart.  By pulling the "family" card, that makes it even easier, because relatives are best at telling you what you are good or bad at, what you are doing right or wrong, and always have your back in tough times. Utilizing a real relationship makes it easier to write about.

I hope this little foray into the innermost regions of my brain (yes, it IS a scary place for those of you who know me best) has been insightful, and allowed some misconceptions to be cleared up!

I wish you all the best, and I hope to see you In Our Spiral soon!
--Management

Pick on Somebody Your Own Size (Or Better Yet, Not at All)!

Hey! I'm back posting this one, and it's not going to be pleasant. Oh, right, the picture thing I'm having Noah do.

Noah just gave me a ring through our telepathy link, horribly annoyed with all of the wizards picking on him. Were they picking on him because he's not a Legendary? Nope. How about because he used a treasure card in a fight? Nope. Too high-level to be in his zone (he's working on Grizzleheim at the moment)? Nope again. 

It's because he wears blue fairy wings. I asked him how he handled the situation, making sure he didn't accidentally swear at one of them (he doesn't enjoy being told he is wrong. Must run in the family...). He told me that he kept a tight lip on anything unsavory, instead opting to explain that a) they were a gift, and b) that he is secure enough in who he is not to listen to the gender stereotyping so common in our fair Spiral.  Guess what. I've been flitting around on wings, too. The orange ones fit my current style very well, actually, and they're really nice.  Noah made some very valid points. 

Most likely the culprit is either a) jealous of your fancy new wings, or b) insecure about themselves. Maybe I'm not seeing it so much because I'm wearing the orange wings, which happen to be the "least girly colors".  But this seemed really low. If we want to get really gender stereotypical we would continue to say that only girls can ride a White Mare or the Astral Ponies on the grounds that they're "cutesy" (save for the Moonlight Pony), and that boys should all have Bone Dragons and Black Stallions because they look "intimidating". That's just silly!

What if Noah was actually a girl playing a male character? Would she deserve to be called something unsavory because she likes the wings and happens to be on a guy?  What about a guy playing a girl character? Would using fairy wings be allowed then?  It's not even questioned when we see that, but many male players make female characters and vice versa. 

In less serious news, my header will soon be updated to include Noah. He'll be posting quite a bit (regardless of him threatening to mess up the shared bank and knocking the balance school). I just have to figure out how to illustrate it.

Let me know what you all think of this situation, or if he's just being overly dramatic.

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

Hello Again

Yesterday was SO much fun. I talked John into letting me do a semi-regular post type thing with how I'm progressing through the game. So after beating Malistaire last night I really wanted to jump straight into Celestia. Oh, I didn't tell you? Yeah, Kymma Shadowthistle and I whooped up on the big lug last night with Maria Moonblossom's help (For those of you who don't know, Kymma is Kestrel's little sister. She's a sorceress much like my older cousin. No idea what people see in the balance school.).

So I wanted to jump straight into the depths, but John wouldn't let me. No, he doesn't control me. But he does have some sound advice sometimes.  He told me I should run the hollodeck program to see what it was like retrieving the Celestia Key before I went prancing off so that I could appreciate all of the hard work my predecessors took to get there. Ok, fine. History lesson time!  He wouldn't let me do THAT until I had proven myself in the first cheating tower, though. So we went on a whirlwind adventure through Briskbreeze, the Warehouse, and then Kensington Park to call it a triathlon. Looky at my badges!

I also did Crab Alley this afternoon (because it was uncovered after I left Wizard City for my studies abroad) and achieved Adept Crafter. John said I would want that before Celestia but he wouldn't tell me why. Any input would be great!

In other news, John has decided to save the time of an introduction every time I post, I should just provide you with a current headshot complete with level. So here's my current one. These will be attached to all of my posts in the future until he decides he wants to try something else (and I think John is going to start doing it, too. When all six of us are finally posting it will be much easier).

Well, that's all guys!

Keep it Frosty,

Noah Mythglen

Hi Gang! I'm Kinda New Here...

So...I'm not very good at this. My older cousin John is usually the one to do posts here (hence the Sorcerer) in the title but he promised me I could play and say hi if I studied hard and got to Grandmaster. Guess what. If you are reading this is means I DID make it to Grandmaster. Yep yep. I'm a Grandmaster Thaumaturge. Oh...you don't know my name yet? You mean John doesn't talk about me all the time? Hmph...I'll have to rummage through the shared bank and hide something from him.

Well, my name is Noah Mythglen and I want to be Legendary when I grow up! Right now I'm trying to get a little drake all armored up to fly up and kick some Malistaire can.  John already did that, too?  GOSH. He never lets me have any fun, I swear. Maybe they have a hollodeck program in the Great Spyre then. Who knows. I WILL beat him to Morganthe!

There's meeeee!

I found those kickin' blue wings in the shared bank waiting for me, along with this nifty new outfit. I guess John didn't want me looking like I had just skinned a dragon and turned the skull into a helmet any more...He does take pretty good care of us. You mean you didn't know there were more?  Hmm...John probably has his reasons for that, then. Maybe he wants to let us all introduce ourselves when the time comes. If that's the case, there should be a pyromancer up next...though I can't tell you more than that. 

I just wanted to tell you that I'll be posting some now that I'm a Grandmaster and have proved my worth!  I hope my mischievous and pixie-esque look doesn't scare anyone away...because John most definitely picked this out for me >_<. Oh well. 

Keep it frosty,

Noah Mythglen

Clarification

OK, so there's not another ASM&G. It looks like there's something else going on, though! Silly, confused me was just thinking about what time of year it is and how there was one about the same time last year.  Hmm... Guess we'll just need to wait and see what's coming!

(Explanation) Let's back up the train just a little bit.  Here's why:  It has come to my attention that some people are concerned with the prospect of another ASM&G. I used that acronym in hopes that the general populous would not remember what I was talking about and would just skip over it and allow for more information to come later.  Our cunning community is much like an elephant, though, and elephants never forget.  That's not the case. Some community members are already groaning about the prospect of being placed on yet another pedestal. There won't be a pedestal this time. Not one created by KingsIsle in an existing housing model nor one created by anyone else. I learned that lesson with the various fiascoes associated with the first one.


There will not be another All-Star Meet and Greet.

I am not hosting the up and coming party, and to allow the host/ess creative freedom I am playing stupid with my posting until a time comes that s/he would like to unveil the full details. Rest assured that the same problems will not be present (unless the house derps like my first party and the port bus can't get in...and there's really no way around that one!).

If you have any questions/moans/groans/complaints/grumbles/comments/etc., my e-mail is linked at the top of the blog and the comments section is always open. Please direct issues my way rather than ranting and raving in closed channels. Lack of communication is what puts our Spiral into turmoil in the first place.  If you have something to comment that you would rather not have published, tell me in the comment and I'll gladly oblige (since comments are so much faster than e-mail, I get it).  (/Explanation)

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

ASM&G Rehashed?

Whaa--?  Did I hear news floating around about another ASM&G??? Hmm...I wonder what's going on, because I'm certainly not planning it! I'll update you all with more information as it comes in!

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

Just Another Idea Post

Hello to all wizards out there! If you're reading this, you're awesome. As the title says, I've got an idea for KingsIsle.

A ton of Wizard101 blogs host contests. Usually the end of a contest involves tricky timing and meeting up with the winners in-game to gift them their items rather than sending out a code through e-mail (when the contest is not KingsIsle endorsed).  What if we had a way to "shop online" in the crown shop to purchase items in gift certificate form?  It would work something like this:

1) Log in on Wizard101's website.
2) Select a "Shop Now" option.
3) Browse the Crown Shop. Select an item, and press "Buy Item*".
4) "Proceed to checkout"
5) Crowns are taken from your existing crown balance and a gift certificate is generated with a single-use code that you can e-mail out as a form of prize.

*Items could include the ability to select "Gift Certificate" or "Apply to my Account". The latter option would place the items in the gift box. This would be good for shopping remotely if you're away from your computer with Wizard101 downloaded and there is a limited time only item that becomes available.

I for one would gladly start hosting a couple of small contests if there was a way to run one without having to clear off a portion of my friend's list to distribute the prizes. The Spiral Hunger Games might even be jump-started by sweetening the deal with a prize.....

Just a thought to toss out there!  Let me know what you think. Pros/cons/other uses you can see. I'm interested to know what you all come up with!

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

Ravenwood Recap

I'm late to the picture posting party, I know. And I don't have as many as I anticipated due to some issues with lag. Lag was REALLY annoying, but a sign that the party was a huge success. Congratulations, Fallon, on two amazing years!  I'm posting this so late because I figured dragging out the memories for another week ex post facto would be fun. Here are a couple of favorites.

Maria and I in our costumes. We went with a theme called "Life In Balance".
The original costume involved both of us with Astral Judgement as a pet, too.
Don't we look spiffy?

The "Line Dance" as started at the pre-party by Kevin Battleblood. I was
already lagging or I would have joined in...and I needed to be in front of it to
get a good angle on the shot.

Super cute family of snowpeople!

Edit of two images putting them together. I LOL'd HARD at that.
Literally had pain in my side from laughter.

And there are your Ravenwood Ball 2011 screenshots! I had to leave early for church so I didn't get any shots from Cassandra Hexthorn's awesome mini-party. I barely had time to run through and look at it all!

That's all for today!

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen