Excellent News!

I just got in from work to find an e-mail from Gabrielle Iceweaver, who many of you might know from Heather's memorial service.  I've been working with Gabrielle to reopen Heather's blog which can be found *HERE* (clicky!). Please be aware that commenting has been disabled on Heather's blog. As it stands it is a lasting record, not something that will continue to be updated by Gabrielle.

This news brief brought to you by John Lifeglen.

PS. If you encounter any problems accessing it, please comment on this post and I'll contact Gabrielle immediately!

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

The Leaning Tower of Honey Sickles (Goes POOF!)

John Lifeglen here again (wow that makes for 2 days in a row...sounds like someone is finally caught up on homework to the point that he can write something!).  As the title implies, this post is about gardening towers.  Yep, they're going away!  KingsIsle has acted very swiftly in removing this exploit from the game.  The super-gardens will soon be leaving the Spiral and all those that so painstakingly created them have created them for nothing.

It was coming.

Exploits that give some players with knowledge of them advantage over those that do not have the knowledge of how they work is downright wrong, and bravo KingsIsle to fixing it (JUST this exploit, keep that in mind).  I'm hoping this doesn't come back to bite everyone, though.  Since this exploit was so far-reaching and it involved the rug bug, I'm seriously hoping KingsIsle doesn't remove a powerful tool in housing decoration.  Yeah, I know it's a bug in the system, but they've let it exist for such a length of time now without ending it that it would crush certain people to lose it.  Before people understood the mechanics of what it did and how it was triggered would have been a better time to chop it.  Only time will tell, I suppose.  This is just one wonderful thing KingsIsle has done in crushing exploits. 

I'm not exactly pleased with a couple other "fixes" they've applied in the recent past.  Primarily, this would be the Wayfinder Scheme.  It would have been great to be able to buy Wayfinder gear for my alts when they "come of age" so to speak, but now I get to grind the WareHouse for Bartleby only knows how long.  Thanks to the exploitation of different colors being worth different amounts of gold when sold on the bazaar.  I can proudly say that I didn't take part in getting gear turned from Auction to No Auction.  At least we can still trade it between our wizards, because John has finally perfected a deck for use on the boss floors in there.

I was watching Ravenwood Radio from the sidelines last week and one Fallon Firefountain pointed out something interesting.  I hadn't thought about it until she presented the argument, and it made some sense.  Her argument is that PvP kills the normal use of spells.  Her first mention was the stun block introduction into the game.  Stun Block wouldn't even exist were it not for PvP, thanks to your friendly neighborhood chain-stunners.  Before Stun Block when I was running my little ice character through Wizard City, he found Freeze to be an invaluable asset.  Now what?  What are the schools that have any type of stun doing with them now? 

The application of four Stun Blocks in the arena post-stun is fine, it's a fix for chain stunning (given that Earthquake is still behaving properly...which is another can of worms entirely), but what about PvE?  I know that I relyed heavily on my ability to stun mobs for a couple of turns in a row in order to give a friend the time to get a good attack off without being killed!  Is there no way to change mechanics between PvP and PvE?  Your friendly neighborhood moderators Kevin Battleblood and Cassandra Dragonheart quickly explained the reasoning, and I noticed she dropped the conversation.  I was rather hoping to see where she went next with her argument as it spiked some interest.  Maybe she'll start a blog and let us all know how she feels, I for one would love to follow it.

As per always, comment away.  I'm hoping Kevin and/or Cassandra will see this post and restate what they told Fallon, as I only remembered her initial argument well and wouldn't want to restate their thoughts improperly.

Your Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

KingsIsle, KingsIsle, KingsIsle...Tsk Tsk

As the title of that implies, I'm not thrilled. I'm not even mildy happy. Nor does this mean I'm upset/angry.  Frankly, the primary feeling of this post is disappointment.  KingsIsle, a company many of us have looked to with respect for quite some time now, is slowly irritating a large segment of the player population.  I write this now a few days after the announcement as it has given me time to cool down to some degree, because I have a tendency to fly off the handle and was a bit furious when I first heard about it.

A few weeks ago, Open Chat was revoked for crowns players that had subbed at one point and got to keep the privilege.  Yes, a privilege.  Wizard101Central absolutely exploded when the post came across the newswire from Professor Greyrose and some of it is in the nature that I do not desire to link to.  There were personal attacks eight ways to Sunday.  A few Centralites, including myself, posted calmly in an attempt to a) assuage the crowds and b) search for solutions.  KingsIsle reversed what had been done with a letter from Professor Ambrose indicating that they DO care every bit as much about their pay-as-you-go population as their subscribers. 

Now, the new members benefits are coming through.  This isn't really something that bothers me, I understand that members need something to keep them as members as an incentive to keep paying rather than jumping ship to crowns to save in the long run.  Energy will replenish faster, crafting slots will cool down faster, friends list will expand by 20, and backpack space will increase.  That underlined portion is something that we've been asking for for quite some time.  Now, it's a members only benefit.  Add to that list unlimited Ranked PvP and Derby to that list to see the full set of benefits. 

It almost seems like we [crowns population] are trying to be phased out.  Also, it is my understanding that only credit card subscriptions will get the new perks.  It was previously noted that gift card based subscriptions could get you the same benefits as a credit card subscription.  When issues arose with Open Chat the gift-card-members-as-equals issue sprung up, too.  I know that gift cards are not a valid way to validate age, so Open Chat should not have been available via gift card.  But now alienation from members only perks because they opt to get a pet with their purchase?  What happens to the person that subscribes for a few months on credit, gets a gift card for Christmas, and uses it absentmindedly for a subscription in the middle of his recurring one?  Does s/he lose 20 friend list spaces and backpack slots until the subscription from the card lapses and it's all back on credit?  Somehow that doesn't seem quite right.

I realize they need subscriptions rather than crowns players, generally, because they are a more steady supply of income. Consider this case, though:

Person A is a subscriber on a recurring monthly membership, he does not purchase a year long special.
Person B is a crowns player who buys $80 in crowns (while not on special) to play the game. 
Person A plays for 2 months and then reality gets in the way, he cancels the subscription to not waste money.  Person B plays for the same amount of time, reality gets in the way, and she leaves as well.  Which person did KI benefit from the most?

Just some food for thought, friends.

Your [disappointed] Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

Goodbyes Are Not Forever

Well gang, I've got some incredibly sad news.  A very dear friend has passed away, and she is one that I hope you all remember.  Heather Emeraldflame has passed.  While she hasn't been seen publicly for quite some time, she has been lurking in the Spiral and working on a couple of her alts, as Heather E. and her life on another account Alric D. had already finished Celestia.  Heather hasn't been well for quite some time, and her passing means that she at least will not be in pain any longer.  I am taking comfort that she's able to soar around on her dragon somewhere in the skies above Wizard City and beyond. 

As a tribute to Heather, I will not be removing her from my friend's list, and I ask that you do the same.  Also, please remember her as the inspiring Diviner who, along with Fallon, introduced us all to the wonders of the storm school on Ravenwood Radio.

If you have anything you would like to say to Heather's family, please comment on this post and I'll make sure they get it.  Thank you for always being here.

Goodbye, Heather.  I'm sure we'll meet again someday beyond the veil, just as Harry and Sirius will.

Your [Saddened] Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

Wizards Speak Out! (But Not Obnoxiously, Please)

Hello Wizards of the universe (spiral to be more specific).  As many of you know, I have my hand in quite a few community related locations throughout the spiral (and beyond).  Well, I did up until college...and over Thanksgiving Break I kinda started to get a bit more involved again.  Piggle Rallying, completing CL for the first time, etc.  Yes, yes, I'm all legendary and stuff now. [INSERT EVIL GRIN HERE]  Really though, I'm seeing some issues in the community I was once so active in.

The issue I'm talking about is one of language.  Yes, language.  No, I do not mean the language barrier between English speaking players and Foreign language speaking players.  The language in-game (in the spiral [ITS]) and also outside of the game (in the greater Wizard City area where the vast majority of wizards' islands spend their time floating around so that we all have places to stay when we're not off combating evil and where we can continue to keep in touch with friends from the game [AKA Twitter, Wizard101 ConnectX, Facebook *though I don't have one for wizards...*, blogs, Wizard101 Central, etc.] has been rapidly declining.  ITS at least, KingsIsle has language filters in place (that some naughty wizards circumvent for their own purposes...) but Twitter has nothing of this nature to protect its younger users from the foul mouths of some older players.  This needs to stop; and it will stop if wizards will just start using their heads.  It is well understood that the Wizard101 Twitter Feeds are meant to be safe for players of all ages to view.

Would you ever run into battle without a deck equipped?  What about a wand?  These are vital pieces of a wizard's battle kit and completely necessary for survival.  All of that is nothing without thinking about which cards to play.  Yes, I said THINKING.  I am aware that many of you enter the spiral to decompress after a long day (I know I do quite often) but the thinking is still there.  It might be semi-automatic now, but you still carefully consider which cards to play when and in what order.  Trap stacking specifically requires much thought.  Why isn't this much thought being put into things that small children read? 

Basically, we need to think before we tweet (yes mom, I know it's supposed to be think before you speak but I'm modifying here...)  Older twizards (wizards that use twitter) should not have to be consciously monitoring what is being said to ding people on saying inappropriate things.  Even phonetic spellings of words not meant for young ears should ever be sent out. 

So, I'm being a bit rambly today but it's something that just really irks me.  We should be protecting the the minds of the future generations so that they don't end up as twisted as they might if we keep up the language.  Please everyone, let's put on our filters before we speak, or there will be people there to call you on it. 

Your [Overly Protective] Friend Always,
John Lifeglen