Whatever Happened to April?

Hola, everybody! Happy Cinco de Mayo! I honestly don't know much about Cinco de Mayo, other than that it is a Mexican Independence Day that isn't really an Independence Day, or something like that. If any of my readers are familiar with Mexican culture, please share your knowledge of the holiday, because I'm kind of curious :)

Anyway, I've spent the better part of my afternoon at the library, working on fiction (steampunk fiction, not Wizard101). About an hour and a half ago, though, I suddenly started feeling very poetic (not sure why), and so I figured I'd take some time to try my hand at poetry.

I've never really written poetry before, other than for school assignments, but the purpose of those was to imitate a certain style of poetry, and so I don't much care for those poems. They got me a good grade, but that's about as much literary merit as they have.

This, on the other hand, truly came from the heart- 8 four-lined stanzas, using a classic ABCB rhyming pattern (although a couple times I had to settle for assonance), and crafted from my own experiences, though it is very metaphorical. And it is, admittedly, partially inspired by the style and diction of my favorite poet, Emily Dickinson.

Please take the time to read it; I'm very enthusiastic to know what you all think!

Until then, Ponder On!    

Whatever Happened to April?

Whatever happened to April

And her light-headed joy?

She passed on by without a care

Making men from boys.

Her excitement, and sweet sentiment

Contagious though they were

Feel now as but a fantasy

Gone forever more.

She was not without her tribulations.

She was often sad.

But there was nothing more satisfying

Than turning sad into glad.

It was a wholesome satisfaction

And beautiful in that way.

Emotion rich and wonder wide

Each and every day.

But as quickly as she came to me

April up and went.

Snatched away one fateful day

And my bliss was spent.

But memories of her still linger.

They fill me with resolve

And hope that if I do things right

I’ll find her after all.

She will be slightly different

Even, perhaps, in name.

But from time to time, a spark will rise

And she’ll be April once again.

Whatever happened to April?

She was here, and now she’s gone.

I May or May not have a chance.

But I’ll muddle on.

Ah We Mo Wa! Ah We Mo Wa! Ah We Mo Wa! Ah We Mo Wa!

In the jungle.

The mighty jungle.

The Lion sleeps tonight.

Be glad you can't hear me singing this.

Jambo, everyone! It's been a while. I went for longer without posting than I'd realized. I know I'm starting to sound a little like a broken record, but I have never been so busy in my life. The first grading period in my school district ended on Friday, however, and these first nine weeks have a history of being my busiest, so hopefully between adjusting to what I've discovered will be a year starkly, but thankfully, different from last year, and- of course- the increased amount of free time provided to me due to the upcoming holiday season, I can get into the habit of posting at least once every two weeks.

But enough on that. There is so much going on in the Spiral right now! I'm so excited, and I have a lot to report on!

I'd like to start by saying how impressed I am with Kingsisle's timeliness in relation to major updates; they have come a long way since the mess that was a six-month wait for Celestia last year. Look at Wintertusk, which took just two months- a third of the time- to release from the time it was announced. Then you have Wysteria, which was a total surprise, sprung on us completely out of the blue by KI, probably as they were putting the finishing touches on Zafaria. Way to multitask, KI! Now, with Zafaria out on the Test Realm just two weeks after the release of the first mystery picture, I think I can safely say that W101 fans are extremely pleased, if exhausted, by the barrage of surprises we have received in what has been quite an eventful third year.

Now, all the timeliness in the world isn't worth anything if the final product is lacking in quality, but of course that is not even an issue for the wonderful folks at Kingsisle :) Zafaria is fantastic! The African theme is incredibly well-executed, and I do enjoy seeing another ancient but current society. That is, the African culture represented in Zafaria is one of ancient history, much like the Egyptian, Japanese, and Norse cultures of Krokotopia, Mooshu, and Grizzleheim- the other "current ancients"- but this culture is, within the contex of W101 and the Spiral, a living, breathing, continuing culture that can be witnessed by Wizards, Marleybonians, and Wysterians- who represent more modern or recent cultures within the Spiral- in real time. Celestia and Dragonspyre, of course, fall into a third, post-apocalyptic category, which, despite the release of WT and Wysteria, has seem more proliferated over the past year due to the greater size and importance of CL and DS as worlds. As Wizard101 gets underway in its fourth year, however, that is changing. That said, I think Celestia and Marleybone remain tied for my favorite worlds, thanks mainly to the strong steampunk themes in both, and, in regards to Celestia, the simple fact that everything is cooler underwater.

Now about Zafaria itself. I have already said that the African theme is very-well exectued, causing me to get off on a tangent which I just don't have heart to delete. In addition, the story is strong so far (I am a little ways into Zamunda), and I appreciate the stark differences between each individual area, from the dry grasslands of Savannah to the lush green jungles of Zamunda. Which, incidentally, I feel might be the source of some of the contention between the zebras and the lions; the zebras seem much more privileged :) I love the animated rock art to detail Zafaria's backstory. It's a clever take on the traditional history book quest. The sock monkeys to represent the Monkees are hilarious. And I am (Slight Spoiler!) intrigued by the Goliath beetles popping up in huts and barracks all over the place, not to mention the duplicious nature of the zebra shamans.

It's occuring to me as I write this that I am so taken by Kingsisle's work on Zafaria that I haven't thought much about the individual pluses that make it so wonderful. Nevertheless, I can safely say that I am enjoying myself very much as I test out the new world. When I logged off last, I had just reached Level 64, and so I am itching to get on and collect the first Astral spell quest.

One thing about Zafaria that has stood out to me. I seem to be leveling up very fast. I mean, yeah I've been playing quite a bit the past two days, but I'm barely into the third zone, and yet I'm already at level 64. Now, this may be due to the fact that I ended up doing Trial of the Spheres twice in the Test Realm before I even began ZF, but it's not just what level I'm at. There seems to be a shorter amount of time between each Level Up that there should be, and there are barely even any side quests- unlike Celestia and Wysteria, which were chocked full.

EDIT: In one of life's great ironies, I found myself juggling three or four side quests at a time within an hour of posting this and logging on. So there is a satisfactory number of side quests in Zafaria; they just don't really start up until after you get underway in Zamunda.

Enough of the semi-negatives, however. I still love Zafaria :)

A couple interesting moments for me over the course of my adventures so far:

Nemean Rock

      

The name "Nemean Rock" is a reference to Greco-Roman mythology- specifically the myth of Hercules. For those of you who don't know, in the myth, the goddess Hera/Juno, who hated Hercules, put him in a violent trance and forced him to kill his wife and children. Hercules was so shocked and saddened by what had happened that, having gone to his cousin Eurystheus, he agreed to perform 12 near-impossible labors given to him by his cousin in order to gain redemption. The first of these labors was to slay the Nemean Lion, whose skin he wore like so:

The lion skin is Hercules' trademark; most ancient art depicting him features it.

I also thought this was chuckle-worthy:

Nice job giving away your location, Ravager. Lucky for me these guys don't seem to be the smartest of all the henchmen I've defeated over the past couple years.

Although I'm not much of a Doctor Who fan, I'm excited to see what comes of this new NPC in Regent's Square, The Professor, which is an all-too-obvious spoof of everyone's favorite alien time traveller :)

He doesn't seem to be quite ready to send wizards through time yet.

Now to log on and resume my adventures in Zafaria!

"Everything the light touches." Oh, yeah, I am definitely having a Lion King moment right now :)

Until next time, Ponder on!     

That Darn Celestia Wallpaper (And Back to Normal)

Hi, everybody! It's good to see you again!

So, as you all know, it's been a good two weeks now since I've posted, and a week and a half since I've tweeted, or even played Wizard101. Sorry about that. The past two weeks have been incredibly hectic for me, between finishing summer assignments which I procrastinated on a bit too much, starting my Junior year of high school the day after Labor Day, and adjusting to all my new classes (three of which are AP). Today is the first time in a little while where I feel truly relaxed; I have finally made sense of my world once more and am ready to reintroduce more leisurely and/or recreational activities such as blogging. Things are slowly getting back to normal :)

Anyway, a few weeks ago, as you may or may not recall, I mentioned something about a "wallpaper review." I didn't care to be particularly clear in that post about what I really meant by that, but in fact my meaning was this: a one-off criticism of one particular world wallpaper about which there was quite a bit of hubbub last year, but which ultimately, in my opinion, was somewhat of a disappointment at the point of its final reveal. You guessed it (or you read the post title). It's the Celestia wallpaper.

Was awesome when we didn't really know anything about CL. Not so good now.

It occurs to me that the people at KI, wonderful and clever people though they are (Happy 3rd Birthday, Wizard101!), didn't quite think the whole wallpaper reveal gimic through. The gradual reveal of each character present in the wallpaper from silhouettes lasted over several months- six, to be exact- from April to October, when Celestia was released. This means that Kingsisle was likely still working on much of the world as they conducted the reveal, with detrimental effects. Okay, maybe not detrimental, but I am a little worn out from the past two weeks and don't want to bother to think of a better word.

/shrug

Anyway, allow me to go over some of my grievances with this wallpaper, which in many ways does not at all accurately reflect Celestia. We'll start with the most obvious one: Thurston Plunkett is not even present. Well, not exactly. As many of you may remember, Plunkett started out in the Test Realm looking like the droopy-faced prospector beagle in front of the mechanical man Praxis and the robot fish. Not a very flattering look; I was quite relieved when they changed him to a Balestrom-style frog. Granted, this was after Celestia went live, so a part of me can pardon KI for never making the change, although seeing the frog version of Plunkett standing proudly in front where the lantern-holder is would have been nice. Even better would be Edith Benchly, who is standing a little too un-prominently behind the lantern holder on the right. After all, it is Edith who first greets you when you enter Celestia Base Camp for the first time, and sends to you on your adventures in all the various areas of Celestia. I'd even go for Thornton Lewis (who can be found in the District of the Stars) in front; he was one of my favorite characters, and he did seem to have a slightly larger role than most of the Marleybonian NPC's. But what is with the lantern holder? The only NPC is Celestia of that design is Captain Fogg- who, as his title suggests- is captain of the airship SGS Explorer which the Marleybonians reached Celestia by. He is found at the back of the wrecked airship in the Floating Land; his role does not extend beyond Pierce Stanson needing to know he is safe and sound, and giving you permission to take submarine parts. He does give a single side quest, but it is nothing more than defeating a few mobs. Early on during Celestia's time in the Test Realm, Pierce Stanson, the main character for the Floating Land was also a lantern holder, but his design was changed within the first week or so to a more generic design which actually comes from Marleybone as opposed to being unique to Celestia. I don't know if one of these two guys had role that was rather significant to the CL storyline as a whole back in April 2010 (the lantern holder silhouette was obvious from the beginning), but they obviously don't now. I have a feeling there were a few members of KI who were secretly cringing as Fogg was filled in in the weeks after Celestia's release.

The background with the wooden platform isn't very accurate, either, but that's insignificant enough that it doesn't bother me. I did, however, expect to see a little more done with the submarine to Stormriven, given its prominence in the background. Whatever happened to the "Boat Ride to the Krokosphinx" instance concept? The submarine was a perfect opportunity to create something like that; I was a little disappointed when I went through to Stormriven the first time and realized there was nothing. That should be a patch the next time the Test Realm comes out; if they can create Grandmother Raven and Malistaire cutscenes, and Krokotopian Boat and Marleybonian Balloon Car ride instances, they can do one for the Submarine to Stormriven.

But I'm getting off topic. That has little to do with the wallpaper.

There are a few other things that bother me; all having to do with character placement and prominence. First off, what is with all the little critters surrounding the characters? I know they are all Celestia pets (aside from the Red Gobbler), but what is the point of including them in the wallpaper? All they do is take up space, but they were included because they were a good way for KI to keep the reveal going after they realized Celestia would not be out in August like they had thought and had to add in some characters. Then there is the fact that you have three different types of crabs, which do represent that aspect of the Celestia story well, but where are actual Celestians, or even the Morgantine soldiers and Shadow Weavers? I don't see Alaric Moonsunder, Karolack Nightspinner, or Vassek Shadowspike anywhere. Instead, the wallpaper is inundated with underwater mob creatures who have little significance to the storyline- a Water-Lurker, a Crustacean Clawcutter, a Water-Maton, Blue Bart. I like the Piscean, although he could stand to be a little closer to the front, and I like Praxis, because he is a good representation of Celestia's steampunk theme, and I admittedly became twice as excited about the world when he was revealed. The prospector Marleybonian works too, because the divers in the Grotto have that design, and Queen Calypso works. As I said earlier, I would have really liked to have seen Thornton Lewis, though, even if he was not at the front. And one of the two orange crabs could go; they are both obviously crabs of noble standing- the only difference between them is their outfits. Pierce Stanson would be nice to see, as would a water-mole such as Tupa Taua. A steam-trowler wouldn't be bad, either, but only if there was room. More necessary would be a Stellar Protector like Thule Landshaper. One of the great things about Celestia is the seamless combination of four more or less unrelated themes: Underwater, Steampunk, Astrological, and Tropical. But when two of these themes (the latter two) are completely absent from the wallpaper, there is no way it can be considered a good representation of the world. Okay, I suppose you could pass on the Tropical and still be good; I did like the surprise associated with discovering that there actually was an above-water area in Celestia. But the total absence of anything relating to Celestia's legacy, to the grand and intelligent world that it was before the Storm Titan flooded just doesn't work.

I know I must seem awfully picky to have written so much in the course of criticizing a wallpaper of all things, but you must understand: a wallpaper like this, which is designed to promote somthing, in this case, Celestia, is more like a movie poster than a picture for your computer desktop. It embraces that which is Celestia and tries to generate interest and excitement about it. It does this, but it is not accurate, and, as a result, one if left feeling confused when that dog in the captain's uniform, standing grandly and prominently at the front of the group, lantern in hand, seemed so cool and epic, but ultimately has barely anything to do with the story. Also, a quirk of mine is that I have this imagined scenario which I like to entertain, in which, following my putting the wallpaper up on my computer, the other members of my family (none of whom play Wizard101; I am the only one), walking by, look up and notice the wallpaper, and briefly wonder what it is all about. Not that this would generate enough interest that they would start playing or something, but it would at least get them to stop and use their imaginations for a moment :)

Is there anybody else out there who feels like I do about the Celestia wallpaper? I've always been curious to know!

Thanks for reading! It's good to be back!

Until next time, Ponder on!

P.S. I may have a little surprise coming up for you sometime this week. I'm still deciding if it is ready to be released, or if it needs a little more work first. Regardless of when it comes out, I think you'll all greatly enjoy it!            

Music of the Day: Land of Beauty

Hi everyone!

I know, the posting has been sparse these past couple weeks. As you know, I was out of town from last Wednesday through Monday. Upon returning on Monday, I attempted to log into Wizard101 and, for some reason having to do with the patcher, couldn't connect. On Tuesday, I began having problems with the Internet itself; then everything worked itself out and I got in some play-time Wednesday night, only to have my problems resume yesterday. I think I have everything solved for good at this point; the fact that I'm able to watch a video on Youtube is a good sign.

Anyway, I asked you all before leaving to vote on what you wanted the next Music of the Day to be, and the answer was overwhelmingly that of the Jade Palace- a piece I have named Land of Beauty:


(Credit for the video goes to Youtube's kellybro.)

I think my favorite aspect of the Mooshu music in general is the almost constant combined undercurrents of sentimentality and melancholiness. With this piece, the main goal is to sound as beautiful as possible via plucking strings and playing flutes, thereby illustrating the beauty of Mooshu itself. The fact that the entire piece only requires three or four instruments (no big band like the Marleybone musics) is an indication not only of the simplicity of the world- the people of Mooshu, in their appreciation of its beauty, have only devoloped as much as is absolutely necessarry, and no more- but of the fragility that is beauty's constant companion. The afore mentioned sentimental undercurrent, which becomes obvious every time the strings take over, tells you that you are in a world that is heavily steeped in history and tradition, and isn't changing any time soon. And while that history has had its ups and its downs, the people of Mooshu perservere, successfully overcoming whatever challenges have confronted them in the past. But now a new challenge has arisen- a plague of problems which has encompassed all the land, hanging over it like a dark shadow. Different peoples in different areas of the world are sick, war-weary, and depressed. Mooshu is in greater danger than it has ever been before, and many wonder if things will ever get better again. It is this sad, melancholy, and even somewhat violent world which you have entered for the first time. And yet don't realize that right away. There is a short, bell-like beat at the beginning of the piece, which "strikes" you auditorily in the same way that the sheer beauty of Mooshu, even inside their Spiral Temple, strikes you visually. As you first set foot into the Jade Palace, the lovely flowing melody of the flute helps to sweep you away in the bright blue sky, the slight and comfortable breeze, and the lush green grass. Although staccato-like, the string solo that follows reinforces this. This feeling of beauty, of happiness, of sentimentality continues until you are about halfway through the piece, ending with a subtle, quiet string solo. This is immediately followed, however by a lower-pitched, somewhat violent melody, in which a loud low drum is obvious. Then the flute resumes, and the strings, and you feel happy again, but as the third of the string solos plays, sounding off what will later be established as the Mooshu them, you can't help but what wonder if the situation here is in fact as troubling as it has been in other worlds. The piece finishes with off with no real melody, but it doesn't matter. By this point, you've gotten already gotten the message: Mooshu may easily be the most beautiful world in the Spiral, but even here, things are not what they seem.

Until next time, Ponder on!

Music of the Day: That Which Is Marleybone

Hey all!
So this is the first in a series of reviews/celebrations of the many amazing music tracks that Nelson Everhart has composed for us to enjoy as we play Wizard101. I've mentioned before my grand appreciation of fine instrumental music, including the music of Wizard101. Music of the Day is my way of giving readers some insight into the way I view the "universal language."

The honor of being the first Music of the Day goes to a particular favorite of mine from Marleybone. And if you're wondering, I came up with the title :)
(Thanks to Youtube's Deathshard for the video)



Ah, yes. Few tracks, even within Wizard101, seamlessly combine such a range of vibes or feelings, easily flowing from one to the next to the next. The piece starts off with a quick transition from high to low, as if something heavy is falling. It lands, hard, and right away you wonder, "What have I gotten myself into?" In the next instant, everything is very slow and quiet, but not in a nice way. No, this slowness and quietness is rather unnerving. You feel lost and uneasy. Something isn't right. And yet, something about the piece seems very easy and happy. As the music picks up tempo, and undulates in a rather wispy fashion between high and low pitches, you wonder if it is you, and not the environment, that isn't right. After all, you've been in dangerous situations before, and it's been a long time since you've felt this on-edge. It's as if someone is telling you, "I know something you don't know." And they are laughing at you, because of it.
The music suddenly becomes very low, loud, and ominous, like a thunderbolt. And with that bolt, suddenly everything seems to make sense. The piece slows down again momentarily, then picks up and flows, nice and easy, for a few moments. But that someone is still laughing, and although you understand now what is going on, half of you still feels tense. The other half, however, is excited and intrigued at the realization of your peril. It is laughing as well.  Then it occurs to you, this easiness can only last so long. And you are right. The chords break, the fluency ends, and for a moment, everything is mysterious again. Then the Marleybone anthem kicks in, and you smile, for you know that you are no longer in the dark about things. You know that this is Marleybone. And in Marleybone, there is a certain veneer of nobility and easiness which often hides the mystery, peril, intrigue, and high adventure that exists within the world. The thunderbolt strikes again. This time, there is no momentary slow-down. Almost immediately, the fluency from earlier plays again; however, it is not so nice and easy this time. In fact, it quite dark and ominous, proof of the peril beneath Marleybone's veneer. But you don't care. You can handle it. For you have had this adventure before, and you are quite looking forward to having it again.

Each of the themes described above- mystery, peril, intrigue, adventure, uneasiness, easiness, nobility- is almost constantly present in the general atmosphere of Marleybone. Hence, my title. For although this does not necessarily emulate Marleybone as a whole, like the anthem, it does succeed in recreating each of the individual aspects that make Marleybone magical. It is that which is Marleybone.

The piece is also a great example of how instrumental pieces (good ones, anyway) can tell a story. And although I have given you my interpretation of that story, the best part about the piece is that you can interpret it in whichever way you wish. You may or may not use my view of it as a springboard, but whatever you do, you are nevertheless correct in your interpretation.

Thanks for reading :)

Until next time, Ponder on!

Wonderful Wysteria!

Before I go praising Kingsisle immensely for their wonderful work on the new paralell world Wysteria, which is currently up on the Test Realm, I'd like to note that my Extracurricular Activities Reviews, which I started a couple weeks ago, will be put up at my convienence, instead of adhering to a schedule of any kind, therefore allowing me to devote my time to (currently) two other, more meaningful projects, one which is W101 related and one which is not. I'd also like to apologize for the lack of posting over this past week. Still getting the hang of posting regularly.

At any rate, Wysteria is an absolutley fantastic world! Unlike Grizzleheim, which can feel a little skimpy or lacking at times, mainly in the way of story, KI has put together an amazing and intriguing storyline for Wysteria- from the wizard tournament, to the history and concept of Pigswick Academy, from the mystery of the Spiral Cup, to the problems on Pegasus Place and Tanglewood Way, from the snobbishness of many Wysterians, to defending Ravenwood's honor. Not to mention that we learn of the existence of two other worlds with magic schools- Weirwood and Mirage- which I imagine we may visit someday! I don't want to give too much away, but I must say I am thouroughly impressed!
Along with the story, the landscape of the world itself is fun and well put-together. It has a certain cozy feeling, particularly Pigswick Academy, which I appreciate. It seems to me as though the world is loosely based on Renaissance Italy- considering the design of the buildings, with balconies and terraces, and the fact that it is inhabited by the Pegasi- a piece of Greco-Roman folklore which would have likely been revived in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. In fact, when I looked up at one the buildings yesterday, I saw a balcony which reminded me of the famous line from Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet: "But, hark! What soft light through yonder window breaks?!"

Definitely Renaissance Italy, although there is also a bit of a Spanish flare

I also looked at the map of Wysteria, and found that it does not, at this point, show the entire world. Could this mean KI is planning to add on to Wysteria in the future? It would certainly make sense. Imagine, when a character reaches level 25, that they go and do the current Wysteria storyline, along with Marleybone and Grizzleheim. Then, when they reach level 35, they go back, and do a second, unrelated storyline- essentialy a sequel. This continues throughout the character's advancement, with new adventures to be had in Wysteria every time a player reaches a level ending in 5, with the difficulty of each corresponding to the minimum level. The same is the case with Grizzleheim- each area opens up at a different level, regardless of where you are in the quest line. Hence, if you were to reach level 35, and then play exclusively in GH until you finished Mirkholm Keep, then you would be unable to continue to Nidavellir until you reached level 40- you would have to resume the main story. The same would be the case with Wysteria- the main differences being that each visit would not contribute to some larger story arc (or maybe KI could make that work) and that each area is created and released by KI one at a time, over time. This gives them more time to work on the story and the design of the new areas, creating not only better main quests, but more side quests. Therefore, some of the mistakes that were made with Grizzleheim are prevented- the story is ultimately more whole. It's funny, because when I first came to understand the concept of the paralell world, I thought KI would do well to create a second paralell world, before adding new chapters after Dragonspyre/Celestia.
Again, I am very impressed with Wysteria, and would like to heartily congratulate KI for a job well done! Here are a few shots I took of little pieces which I particularly liked.

That's Malistaire's scepter sitting in the middle window. What is it doing in Wysteria?

The Brunching Club (top left) is a spoof of a classic 80's comedy called The Breakfast Club.
I found that particularly entertaining.

The professor of Frost- Quentin Burble. I love that he is a gobbler!
Although, knowing the history of Pigswick, I'm not surprised.

And finally, my new favorite NPC is  Professor Velma Pepper! I was absolutely blow away when I realized how KI had decided to design her; she is the classic, quintessential steampunk chick- from the leather jacket and gloves, to the cool-looking electric device in her hand! She even has a pair of goggles hanging around her neck! Bravo, Kingsisle! We needed a cool steampunk NPC!

Notice the Resonating Omni-Audio Graph to her left

I am, I would gage, about halfway through the main story at this point- perhaps a little less- although I have seven different side quests at the moment which I want to attend to before continuing the main. I may get on the test realm tonight; however, at 9 EST, Kestrel Shadowthistle's Summer Blowout begins! I'm off to cut the grass now, but once I finish I'll be logging on to complete my Barbarian outfit, as it is a costume party. In other words, we have to dress as something we are not. I usually dress and act the part of gentleman, so I figured the opposite of that would either be a Barbarian or a slob, and with a wide range of Grizzleheim clothing to choose from, I knew Barbarian would be easier :)

Until then, Ponder on!

Extracurricular Activities: Badges

Perhaps the most difficult aspect of playing an MMO is knowing what to do when you have finished the story. With Wizard101, this is less of a problem than some games. We have a nice, long main storyline in the Malistaire adventure, as well as the first chapter in a second storyline -Celestia- and a parallel story, recently added onto, in Grizzleheim and Wintertusk. We also have a large multitude of side quests in all seven worlds, as well as extra-special challenges such as Briskbreeze and the Waterworks. Throughout all this, we have spell-quests which earn us new spells, and work to level up and earn the necessary experience and training points for other spells. This is enough to keep us going for several months, but it is eventually exhausted. That is where the “extracurricular” activities come in. As Wizard101 continues to grow and develop, Kingsisle is able to put in place more and different activities to keep us entertained while waiting for a continuation of our story, or, in some cases, a new one altogether. The original extracurricular activity was PVP. Although certainly the most immersive and engaging of all the activities, I, for some reason, find I have little interest in it myself, and am not in the position to write on it. One may also spend time farming for gear or furniture, but this is not something unique in any way to Wizard101, nor something put officially in place by KI. This leaves four other “official” activities for one to engage in upon “completing” a character: Crafting, Pets, Gardening, and Badges. It is these which I will discuss over the next few days. (Know that when I say "extracurricular activities," I mean only the four "official" ones mentioned above, no others.)

First up, Badges. I mean Creature badges- which you earn for defeating a certain number of a certain type of Creature. The simplest of the extracurricular options put in place for us by KI, accumulating badges is a particularly favorite pastime of mine. I have fond memories of running around the Excavation Site in Krokotopia's Chamber of Fire, defeating Charmed Slaves to get my Krok Thrasher, Hunter, and Slayer badges. It is the only one of the four extracurricular activities which employs the main focus of the game- defeating enemies using a card-dueling system. At the same time, you are visiting worlds and areas in the game that you may not have visited in a long time, or, if they early zones, such as Cyclops Lane (great for Giant badges) or the Royal Hall, may have a certain degree of sentimental value. Or maybe you just really like that particular area, and are always eager to visit it. (For me it's the Marleybone neighborhoods.) In other words, accumulating badges allows you to explore and re-discover the Spiral, not only by way of seeing the sights, as Crafting sometimes allows, but also by defeating Mobs which you may have not encountered in ages. You are fully immersed in the area, and, as a result, fully immersed in the game itself. And Badges are the only extracurricular activity which allow for this full immersion. Pets are restricted to the Pet Pavilion and Derby Tracks, Gardening to your Castles and/or Dorms and the Commons areas of some worlds. There is, however, one major drawback to Badges- monotomy. Defeating the same types of Mobs over and over again can become tedious relatively quickly, and because the rewards are not particularly great like with farming, you will tire of it faster. Sure you can switch Mobs, or switch areas, or defeat the occasional Boss, but in the end, you won't be able to go for much longer than twenty minutes, half an hour at the most. Of course, if done for twenty minutes each day, working on Badges can be a fun, if simple, extracurricular activity.

Until next time, Ponder on!