Noah's Side on Teleporters

Yes, I did say that John is a complete nutjob for wanting to craft that many teleporters. But after looking at what they can do for myself, I'm beginning to see the potential. He mentioned the dorm hub thingy, which is cool and all, but marking them would be hard. Guess what. KingsIsle JUST gave us the answer with the new Krokotopian Obelisks and Pressure Plates in the Crown Shop! I had this awesome idea to use the plates on the dorm end to mark a teleporter, and s pair of obelisks on the other end around the "spitout" location. Thank you, KI, for giving us something non-interactive and yet helpful and functional!!!

Yeah, that's all I've got today. I haven't been released onto the Test Realm yet because John was having too much trouble with lag. Oh well, I'll have some bacon when TR goes Live :D

Keep It Frosty,
Noah Mythglen

Testing the Teleporters

Hey everyone!  John here with some AMAZING discoveries. News broke over Twitter earlier that there was a new crafted item from Gearwise in Celestia. That item is a Teleporter. Yes, it actually works!  This No Trade, No Auction beauty is a miracle in science, straight out of a sci-fi novel. I'll cover some basics of how it all works, and then I'll go into specific ideas that I've had already.

To craft the Teleporter, you need the following things:

Once you have gathered all of the required ingredients, take them to your HOUSING crafting station. Click the Create button and BOOM you've got a shiny new blue portal. Let's see what they can do, shall we?

Once you've got it. Place it in the location you want the portal to direct to. If you want a way to teleport directly to your crafting room, for instance, drop it in there. Then select the item again. You'll see this:

Just click the green triangle button labeled "Set Destination Location" and then pick up your portal.  Now go outside to your Spiral Gate, place the portal, and close the housing interface. Then run into the portal! BOOM. You'll teleport back into the location you "set as destination".

I thought maybe it only worked on the same level of the house that you bound, and was curious about up and down levels. Because I was in my Royal Estate, I plopped the teleporter upstairs, set the location ("anchor" from here on out) and then moved the portal back downstairs. When I stepped in I teleported up. From outside to inside works, too, and vice versa. The real kicker is teleportation between houses! Yes, you can set up two portals to teleport between houses. If you maintain gardens in two, you don't need to wait on the timer countdown anymore!!!

MFP End of the Teleporters

Royal Estate End

Many players thought it could take two teleporters to make a set that functions, which is untrue. To make a two-way system, two are required, yes. To make a single-directional teleport, though, only one teleporter is needed. Now how can we possibly use these...hmm...

The amazing Cass Dragonheart helped me to make my set of two that I played with by providing Orthrus cards necessary for their construction. Thank you to Cass! She also had a BRILLIANT idea with these new beauties. Managing multiple PvP parties between houses owned by one wizard is now easier than ever. If you have a Massive Fantasy Palace and a Sultan's Palace (or a Celestial Observatory) you can rig teleporters between them to double your fun! Full credit to Cass for that marvelous idea.

Then on to my ideas. If you've ever had that super pesky kid at a party that you didn't want to boot because you'd feel bad, but you needed a way to add a "time out" option? Anchor a teleporter (inside the house or away from the party if you wish), add a jail cell over it, and then place the teleporter out of the way of the party, but within easy view. Upon having someone make trouble, ask them to please enter the teleporter (them having no idea what is on the other side) and then they're whisked away to "time out" for a little while.

Other options involve the examples above. Gardening from multiple houses, setting your crafting tables within easy access, and easier party management. Some players could create a maze using them. Can you imaging a maze spanning three complete houses?!

My personal favorite idea for them, though, is this. Empty out your dorm room. Then, craft multiple teleporters (number up to you/how many houses you have or use/how much you're willing to craft). Anchor a teleporter at the Spiral gate of each house or a particular drawing point of the house. Then put all of the teleporters in the dorm room. Find a way to denote which portal is which (memorize, or use a small object from the theme world. Whatever works for you). Then unequip all housing. Now when you teleport home, you have immediate access to whichever house you need! (Crafting, pet storage, PvP arena, Gardening). You also have the option to make it a two-way network! Doesn't that sound like fun? (And work. Noah wanted me to inform you all that he thinks I'm completely insane for even considering it.).

That's about it! If you've got a cool idea for how to play with there, drop me a line! I'd love to see what you all come up with.

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

On Friends, Cliques, and Politics

John here again. Unfortunately it's time for another "serious" post. I can't let Noah do this one (as much as I don't want to) because he hasn't been exposed for quite as long as I have and he has a wonderful ability to fly off on lengthy tangents.  I say I don't want to do this, and I really don't, because some of this is hard to say. Nothing stated in this post is meant to target one group or player, because I can think of at least 2 instances of each item mentioned.  Nothing's happened in the community, this is just a compilation of things that I've been noticing more and more in my time in the Spiral OUTSIDE of the Spiral. I've been blogging (off and on, admittedly) for a little over a year now. I've been playing the game for over 2. I'm far from an authority on the subject of friends, I've made my fair share of mistakes, but I'd like to take some time and point out what I've observed.

Friends in the Spiral often become more than just a mass of pixels that you talk to. Over time, you grow attached to the person behind the wizard and eventually you've bonded in a way much deeper than you ever intended. That's great! Sometimes those relationships bloom even further, sometimes you deem one another best friends and can't seem to be without them. Just because you met online doesn't mean you aren't "real friends". And sometimes these friends can hurt you just as badly as a friend you have met face to face. And you work it out just the same. The rules of friendship don't change just because the medium of expression has.

When people become fantastic friends, cliques form. Cliques, while being of common interests, often cause those not in the clique to feel left out. This adds even further to the feeling that some players are "famous" rather than the "just-average" person that they are because the "famous" players are often all of the same clique. I had a really stupid idea when I hosted the All-Star Meet & Greet when I thought that roping off a select few would do any good.  The party was meant to show that those "famous" few are really just average players like the rest of us, but it didn't go over as intended.  I learned that lesson the hard way.  It's really no wonder that people want "fame" to feel included. Does that make it right? Not at all. The Spiral needs diversity, not the same group of players operating everything.

Other times an entire clique (or someone that had hidden their true colors very well) will reject a single person because of an opposing viewpoint, leading to hate messages through Skype, Twitter, or blog posts publicly bashing others. Cyber-bullying is real, and it's cropping up more and more often in the Spiral. Many who practice it don't even realize (or make claims that they don't realize or intend) that what they're saying (or the way in which it is delivered) cut people deeply. That kind of behavior makes the Spiral a very nasty place to hang out sometimes.  Is exclusion what we want in the Spiral? Wizard101 may be "just a game", but the people are real. If it's a game, isn't it meant to be an escape from the problems of reality?

Finally, politics in the Spiral have a tendency to drive off players. When things get hot, they get out of the kitchen entirely, and we lose valuable insight into the game.  Sometimes a dispute will make players feel like they have no place if they can't share their thoughts, no matter what the opinion on the matter is. Sometimes not saying something just the right way or passing over small details leads to some very problematic situations. All of the fighting and arguing that goes on publicly these days would drive me off if I was new and just trying to get a foothold somewhere.  The level of dominance and command that some players (fansites) exert on others is ridiculous, and the amount of groupthink going on in certain portions of the community inhibit growth of the whole.

These are just some general observations based on appearances. I realize this post will probably go over like a lead balloon, but I'm saying my piece for all to see.There's usually more than meets the eye, and if anyone would like to share thoughts/views the comment box is always welcoming of new ideas. On this post especially, though, moderation will be enforced much more critically than usual. Keep it clean, and keep it unspecific.

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

Staffs, Headers, and News. Oh My!

Hey hey Wizard fans!  Exciting news from yours truly! John *finally* managed to snag that Staff of the Querent for me so I can have a fancy schmancy sparkly blue and purple staff to match my duds! Wasn't that nice of him? I know I rag on him all the time but once in a while he'll do something unexpected LOL!

So since I have a staff, now I get to be in the header! Look up everyone (no, I'm not going the ridiculous arrow things that John thinks look so good. Bah. You all are perfectly capable without street signs). Yeahhhhh. Special thanks to Kestrel for putting together the background, and then John added the text and stuff. It looks spectacular if you ask me!

Today also marks August 1, which means that the KIFreeGames rewards have changed. Check out the Ravenwood Bulletin for specifics on that. No more temporary mounts or transformations, though. Woooo!

And that's about it for me! You might want to note, though, that the Bulletin mentions new content for level 25+ wizards and a new tower challenge tougher than the likes of the WaterWorks (can't be THAT hard, John even managed full gear. If he can do it, I can too. With my brain tied behind my back!).

Keep it frosty,
Noah Mythglen

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