First Thoughts on Things I have Seen in the Test Realm

Ok, so contrary to what some might believe who have followed me on Twitter; I am excited about some of the stuff I have seen in the Test Realm. I have seen a few negatives, though, as well....and I am going to be bluntly honest, as usual, about it.

I will start with what I saw that is good:

- The new pets I have seen so far are all pretty awesome, though I think the Gobbler pet is UGLY...lol.

-I love what has happened to level 48 pet stats. I mean to give a Storm person increased health and accuracy through their pet - TOO SWEET! And what I have seen happen to other level 48 pets is great too(for the most, there is one slight downside I saw, but will get to that.)

-The Pet Pavilion is awesome! There is so much one can do in there!

-Even though I have a severe dislike for PvP I think I might even have some fun in the Derby. And, yes, I do consider that a type of PvP...just with our pets.

-I LOVE the maze game, and the Cannon game is not too, too far behind on my enjoyment of it.

-I love having my pets out at my house. And doing this lets you leave them at home and not clog up your backpack; so now you can go out on those long hours of quests and farming and have a little more room in your backpack because your 20 or so Unicorns could stay home and play instead of being stuffed into your backpack....suffocating...

-I absolutely LOVE the new black Swiftshadow Wing Mount!!!...Ok, how many times have I ever said I wanted black wings?!?!....this is soooo great!...Now I have double-wings that match!

-I Love the new Crown staff, Celestian Trident, with the Ice attack. That thing is so awesome looking!

-I like seeing my pets stats increase as I play games, train them.


What I don't like that I see:

#1: My most major gripe: That we will NO LONGER BE ABLE TO TRADE CHARMED CARDS WE HAVE MADE! This is the most awful thing they could have done in the updates. This seriously hurts Storm, Balance, and Life people(who actually do more than heal or support.)
For the longest time I have made Steal Wards and Pierce cards for my Life and Storm people. Life, Balance, and Storm are the only schools that have no way to get rid of shields other than to completely destroy their entire set-up. We have no DoTs, and we have no shield breaking spells, or steal ward spells. I can not include Storm Hound as a reliable DoT, and it is not a learned spell, nor is Lightning Elf...which the pet that gives this card seems to only be for ranked pvp players to equip. This really hurts anyone who is trying to make a high hit. It makes you absolutely have to depend on having others do your work for you in a battle and I am VERY against that. Storm Hound only gives one card anyhow...and what if I am in the Labyrinth fighting all those Myth dudes? How am I going to be able to take care of that now? I would have to have someone else in there to break all those shields so I don't have to bust my own blades doing it.
For Life people this is especially awful. They don't even have the power behind their spells to work much past a 50% shield that a Balance mob might throw up. At least with Storm I can power past that and still kill!, though not past the 80% shields that even low rank mobs use.

I think the reason this no trade thing is coming is because of all the selfish people who made Warlord in PvP by making tons of Bolts and other spells to basically cheat their way to being Warlord. So now, by them doing that it is hurting the rest of us who don't even care to participate in that.
Just because you buy your way to a rank in PvP does not make you a good PvP player; that much I do know. How about you guys try using what you have actually learned(for spells) and your brains, and not your coins, etc.?

KI, if any of you happen to read this:
This whole problem could have been solved with banning most treasures from the arena, maybe except for a few exceptions...like let them have some healing cards but limit the number of treasures they have of this type of thing.

If anyone out there agrees and can see the problem this causes for many of us, please write in and urge KI not to let this happen. Or at least request they come up with a different way to even out the PvP playing field without it effecting the rest of us.

Ok...on with other problems...

-The commercial made it look like the pets could be called to you at your house, but pretty much all they do is run in circles and stay in the same general area. It would be nice if they followed you, came to you when called :)

-I know this is a bug but the pet games are crashing quite often, as is the Hatchery. It's so bad that you actually get stuck in them and have to shut down the game and log back in to fix it.
Also many games are acting like you already played before you even started. Like I hit "play" and the next thing I get is an "end" screen, as if I had just finished the game.

- Level 48 pets have lost at least one power pip! There goes 80% + for all who worked for that!

-The energy drain from training pets is too much.

1. It also costs way too much, with real money for kids to be able to enjoy this. A kid is gonna want to play these games as much as possible, maybe it might even be the one thing they want to do on here. So they play a game a few times and their pet's energy goes down to zero, or low enough not to be able to do any more games. So the only options one has is either wait....an extremely long time....like, "hey, kids maybe go to sleep and come back tomorrow and try again," OR you shell out 250 Crowns to refill your pets energy so you can continue to train and play with them...which costs real money, and WILL eventually lead to even more spam in the commons areas with kids begging for coin gifts from passer-bys.
   
2. The coin cost of the pet foods is a bit high when you want to buy a bunch of it to train your pet up even more. And is there even a inventory in your spellbook to see what foods you have on hand without having to play a game?...Having an inventory list of snacks would help when shopping.
   
3. The coin costs for the Hatchery are completely outrageous. Most kids or any normal players are lucky if they even have 50k, let alone 80k or more! It takes hours of farming to get that kind of money, usually...and that farming can only be done in higher level areas.
   

-You can no longer buy or sell pets at the Bazaar. Meh...really I don't care much about this one, save for if it wasn't for the kindness of Mr. Edward Icespear and the fact that he was able to sell an extra pet to the bazaar for me; I may never have got one single Sprite pet.

There also needs to be more explanation as to what all the numbers mean under a pet's characteristics/stats.

I will add to this in later posts as I see fit.

For now, here are a couple pics of Emeraldflame with those awesome wings and staff:


And as a random comment...I saw my evil twin today. I was on another wizard of mine so she probably wondered why I and my mom's wizard were starring at her...take a look:
She was a Ice wizard, but tell me she doesn't look, here, like Emeraldflame's twin, save for the pet name...though one of my others do have a ninja pig with that pet name, which I could have dug up if I really wanted(lol)...see Emeraldflame below:

Viridian Sceptor

I'm not sure how many people have actually seen this thing. I had to send for the Pokemon Issue to get mine.

This Viridian Scepter is tiny though. I mean microscopic...I need a microscope just to see the detail on it. I think this wand should be for our future pets to carry around...what do you guys think?
Heh...Sir Spike's Golem Staff is actually bigger than that xD

I much prefer the Staff of the Querant. I would actually use this, it looks so good with me here, if only I could stitch it to some stats and damage-type that I want. Like 100+ Myth damage plus a power pip would be great ;)

Death Wiz Quick Farming for Life Wiz

I know it doesn't make a whole lot of sense, and maybe it's just my luck too, but I always say how using an opposite wizard to farm up an item for another wizard can help you get it faster.

First off; I am no big fan of the level 50 hats and boots. I prefer the crown items. I do use the level 50 robes though. But the Crown boots and hat usually have the higher health. Also for those classes that don't get it(meaning all except Ice) they give global resistance. They also give a little bit of power pips, which hats and boots don't usually. This is how I have a pretty decent all-around global resistance on all my wizards, and their particular schools are always still resistant enough to look good too. Another trick I LOVE is replacing school pets with the gift card pets that have added global resistance. I don't think I will ever do that on Death or Myth though. Death really doesn't need it so much, in my opinion. I mean they get hit, they attack and they heal...so you are never down on health too long on Death. And as for Myth; the health on that wizard is horrible for as long as it takes to set up anything with it, so I prefer a little extra health and accuracy on Myth's pet....as they seem to fizz a lot too. Besides, my Myth will probably never do anything without a Balance wizard....IF my Myth has to battle again(which I know she will have to when Celestia comes out.) For the moment my Myth girl, Taryn, is retired and just has the card making job to keep her busy now and then...lol.

So, anyway, I went yesterday to farm up my old Life Grand's(Heather Jadeblade) level 50 hat with my Death Grand(Heather Nightshade.) I want it for projects later on. It's not a hat she will wear all the time. I mean, really; how often am I going to fight Life only and want ONLY Life resistance? This is my theory for all classes. How often is a Death wizard only going to fight Death, how often is Myth only going to fight Myth, etc.? My point is you never know what you might be fighting or what they might hit you with and it's a wonderful thing to have a good glabal resistance percentage.

So I took my Death wizard(the poor thing gets so little use) and went to Kraysys to farm up my Life Grand's hat. It was the only thing she was missing. Well, on the very first try it dropped.I have had this happen so many times when I used opposites. Sure; it's not foolproof, but it's my luck usually.

Since that went so quick and since I had made my way out to the Forum to get this, I have left her out there to try and farm up the Dragon Statue when I can. Wish me luck on that!

By the way, it was kinda fun to do a little with the Death wiz again! She really is a cool wizard.

Tour of Balance Grand's House & Getting Master Artisan for Her

Among all the other projects I have going on Wizard101, one of them was to finish up my Balance Grand's(Heather Sandwalker) Crafting Quests and get her Master Artisan Badge so she could buy the Balance Blade Recipe and start making the crew some Balance Blades for whenever the itch is felt to have a little more bang for our pips :)

I figured as a bit of a side project I could do a quick video tour of her Balance School House for anyone who would like to see. I happen to really like my Balance House. Maybe it doesn't have so many special items in it, but I still like it A LOT. Take a look!



After she got her badge she went and bought the recipe she wanted so much and has crafted her first Balance Blade:
This brings me to one thing I would like to put out there; If anyone ever has any crafting questions for the game please feel free to write and ask me. I will try to get my email posted for anyone who might have a question. I have completed Master Artisan on most all of my wizards, and as of today I have completed it on all, except Alric, whom I intend to complete it on. At least one wizard from every school, in my bunch, has the badge now. I am only having Alric do them because he is the first and only on his account...so he is going to be the main, and only crafter there.

One last thought is that I will be posting videos now and then of all my wizard's houses, for those that have them...which is most of them. So make sure and stop back to see those :)

Ice Blade-Aquired!

As anyone who has ever played an Ice wizard knows; getting the Ice Blade is your first real step to getting some real power in those Ice spells(not including stuff you might use that is out of class.) Us poor Ice wizards have to wait all the way to level 38 to get our precious blade spells, which other schools totally take for granted. Life has to wait too, but they get their blade more than an entire world before us. This is what I was talking about the other day when I mentioned the comment Friendly Necromancer made that came straight from Greyrose herself. This is part of what makes Ice a true challenge...which is what makes it so fun and interesting. Ice is not for the feint of heart.

This past day both Savannah Icewraith(my newest Ice) and Gabrielle Iceweaver(mom's) traveled to the Crimson Fields to both complete the quest to defeat the Death Oni AND to defeat Udo Jin-e(a 1300 health Storm boss with Balance minions) to collect the Mushroom of Confusion, a very dangerous reagent...according to our Professor.



After we completed that we got on with the rest of Crimson Fields, including fighting the secret boss, Yakedo, with the help of Kaitlyn Dunerider. The little pig minion at the end was being stubborn, but he finally went down...lol. Then we went to Katsumori's and defeated him and his demon-self, The Death Oni. For kicks I transformed into a Evil Snowman disguise for our battles there.







Since we had to exit out of the dungeon one at a time to go complete the Ice Blade quest we also took a break so mom could go eat(lol) we went AFK before the Yakedo fight and spun for a while. So I went and worked on Kaitlyn and Alric for a little bit.

Kaitlyn and Alric are now up to having the Tree of Life as their next quest. But, of course, we had a little fun with Oyotomi the Defiler while finishing up on quests in the Village of Sorrow. Alric got a pretty decent hit, for a Life wizard, using Centaur(no treasures used or it could have been higher, but I really don't wanna waste them on this guy.) Then, just for kicks, I went back and had him use Earthwalker.





I still think that Earthwalker is a cool spell, even though it's damage doesn't compare to Centaur. It's just not a spell you see every day and everywhere.


Well, it was a fun day, yesterday, and I am glad we finally got our blades. I feel much better now...lol.
I am hoping to get the Tree of Life later today, but not sure I will be able to or not. I still want to get to pounding more on my Balance Grand's final crafting quest too. She has all the Pearl she needs, now just need Blood Moss...20 of them :)

Fun Morning!

Friendly Necromancer made a stopover at the Carnival this morning, and I met some new friends. Ronan and I disguised ourselves as Gearheads for a bit.





Then I was off to Chelsea; cause you absolutely HAVE TO go to Chelsea Court, as a Gearhead...I mean it's their home, right?!?!...lol. I ran around up there next to my brother and sister Gearheads and did a few fights with some of the folks up there. It was kinda funny cause I actually got caught, which I figured would probably happen since I was goofing around...so I was prepared with prisms. Three others joined me immediately, cause who doesn't wanna fight alongside a Gearheard during a Gearhead vs. Gearhead battle? Good old Storm Lord finished off the remaining evil Gearheads and the day was won!

Then it was off to work on Alric and Kaitlyn for a little bit. Balance and Life make a very interesting combination. I think I might have a little fun with Youkai when we go to do Tree of Life....should be interesting.

Then I saw that there was a blogger party so I got on as Emeraldflame to go check it out. Nice little bunch of people there. There was even a small dance-line with the Three Musketeers...haha! Amber Unicornflower seemed to have been the target of a mad scientist who made her clones...take a look...





All at the party wish everyone out there a Happy Easter!

We are the Three Horse Riders of the Apocalypse...lol

Wow, what a day! It was really cool to finally be at one of the events with Friendly Necromancer, Stephen and Leesha From Ravenwood Radio! Really nice to see you guys! I really enjoyed watching the Livestream, though I will say that I had to watch it again to fully take it in as there was just too much going on between you guys fighting, the chat room, and the people outside the tower.

I always find it interesting to see how others duel so I really enjoy the videos that people post of their battles, whether or not they are "famous."

Which leads me to something a few thoughts:
As much as I am sure that at times some of the attention that these guys get might be fun for them, I am also sure it could drive one bonkers...lol. I don't really get the "famous" thing either. I mean no offense by that, but I don't get it. We are all players, just some people have taken the game out of the game and made it known and really been helpful to others too. I'd rather say they were just special people for doing that kindness to the community. I know I am happy to get on my lesser knowns, sometimes, where everything is quiet. I look at some of the noobs and think "I want a noob again"...lol. Seriously, there is something about a nice, new wizard to start on. And by now it's such a breeze to go along in WC, KT, MB...I actually enjoy doing that cause as much as I love the game cause it makes you think, sometimes I just don't wanna think too much. I mean I could easily go through WC in my sleep, but it's so fun and simple, and I even sometimes like to listen again to the dialogue of the NPCs there.

I see all the real newbies out there and they think it's so awful and I remember being in their shoes once as a young Storm wizard. Boy, if you want a challenge; that is the one, especially if you know nothing about the game coming in, and especially if you have no crowns/crown gear and are soloing. It was a rough start, but I met some good people back then, too bad many of them are not around anymore. And, for an adult, it is really hard to find other adult friends to hang with, battle with and talk to. I mean I go around assuming everyone is a kid. I do have younger friends on here too, but am always happy to meet other adult players when I do...we are few and far between!

What Friendly said that Greyrose said about Death and Ice, though, I think that is so true. Death is pretty easy most of the time. For the most you accomplish in one move what takes another solo wizard to do in at least two moves, and with a lot fewer pips(cause you have to account for pips for healing and pips for attacking with any other wizard) when you are death...you kill and heal in one shot.

And Ice; SO TRUE. It is a good challenge. Just getting to the point where you FINALLY get your blade quest(I will mention more on in this post) is a bit of a struggle. But it's a good challenge, and I honestly think it makes you a better player because you HAVE TO learn to work around not having all the best stuff in the beginning, and for half the game too! If you play smart you will really learn what will make your Ice wizard a lot stronger than what most people think it can do.

But, in my opinion, the hardest school is Myth. I mean it's fine up until you start getting those double attack spells, cause at about that time, assuming you finished all your quests and are the appropriate level for the area, things get to be bad. They get to be really AWFUL once you hit DS too. My only rationality to why Myth is the way it is is that they truly intended Myth as a PvP school. But the problem in that is that we ALL have to get through the game to get those higher level spells, pets, etc. This makes it especially tough to solo Myth. And that level 48 Myth quest; I think it might well be the toughest one for getting your level 48 spell and pet. And while I am proud of my Orthrus I really don't use him. I keep one of the ninja pigs that gives some extra health and accuracy. Myth REALLY needs all of that stuff they can get.

When I did Myth I soloed all the way up to about 3/4 of the way through MS(about when I got the Minotaur spell.) Then I was like "this is just taking too long and it's no longer any fun." So I brought in my Balance Grand and that pair went all the way through the rest of the game together. I was worried about the combination in Maistaire's, but they did just fine, and it wasn't so bad at all. Besides the fact that I have Malistaire's down to a science at this point....which really helps! I also used the Frog the whole way through DS...if you ask me it's the best way to go...provided you have a Balance wizard around to help boost it.

I had a Myth wizard previously, before Taryn, and I hated it so much that I deleted her at level 47. But that last time I was determined to make it. And now I have my Myth Grand, whose job it is to make cards for my other wizards. She makes so many Pierce cards...you wouldn't believe it. People think Steal Ward is great...in my opinion...for a wizard using it "out of class" Pierce is much better; only costs 1 pip, not 2. Yes, you don't get the shield or absorb, you break it instead, but most of the time your only aim is to get it out of your way anyhow.

Taryn was also the reason why I was able to make my Carousel, as she was the only one that could make Earthquakes. So I am really proud of getting her to GM.

I will have more newbies at some point, but not right now I am jealous of Friendly's Flint Stone dude. I hope he has fun with his noob...sounds like he already is!

Well, after all the excitement I needed something to chill out and do. Not sure if I accomplished that...lol. Mom came on and we did a little more than half of Savarstaad Pass.
You guys know she is kinda going through a real rough time right now, so it's all kinda rough going in game too, and I don't want to push her.

We did get our Ice wizards to their Ice Blade quests. Our next move will be to do Crimson Fields. See, this is why I should have Emeraldflame Tours, cause I KNEW from experience that we had to go in Crimson Fields to fight some dude to complete our quest. See; I DO like to COMBINE QUESTS. We already had the regular quest to go in there...so, hey; we run this one time, get it done, and it's gonna be outta the way. BRAINS....lol....and none for those skeleton-zombies either ;)
...None for Craig Ferguson's Robot-Skeletons either...lol...

After we leveled up and I said to mom something like "see, now we have two quests for that place," she said "I knew there was a method to you madness...there always is"...lol. Yeah, that comes from having 12 wizards of your own...and I love them all in a different way.

So, we took some pics. We needed to while we are all still in our MooShu garb. I will probably be getting Alric and Kaitlyn out of MS together, figured they could finish up Village of Sorrow and Tree of Life together, then I will split them up again and have them work with other wizards who compliment their styles a little better. Having two one-hitters would get real old, real fast in DS. They both need someone with some fire-power, and I have an arsenal of attackers that will be happy to help out and get some extra loot.

Here's the pics, anyhow...Oh, the first one we did some dude ran by and said something like "Wow...it's the three horse riders of the Apocalypse"...lol. *Ah...if only Alric had a horse he could have joined us and it would have been even more appropriate....



...we looked like we were guarding the way to the Jade Palace commons area there...lol...


I noticed this weird sorta glitchiness too...the flowers on the ground around the above area, near the Shoshun Village temple entrance, kinda float. Iknow it's not a big deal, but it's just weird. Take a look in this pic...

...See how the flowers are almost at the horses knees? I always thought these things were just supposed to lay on the ground. It would make sense more if there were stems, but there are none...lol.

One last thing.
It's always funny how one of the most popular questions is "what is your favorite world?" During that big event it seemed that 99% of people(or close to that) said MooShu. I think KI should think about that a little.
I can't speak about what Celestia will be like cause I obviously have never actually seen it yet. But they should think of "why" people like MS so much. In my opinion it's because it's a beautiful, bright and happy place, and the battles we fight there are challenging, but they are not frustrating. The entire Briskbreeze Tower thing, to me that is one big ball of stress. I didn't enjoy when I did it, though we made it through. But I play this game to escape stress, and that place is just full of it. It's like the same thing with PvP, it's just stress. I am thinking people that actually enjoy that stuff obviously haven't had enough stress in their lives...yet...and they are lucky! I've had more than my share with my health and just the way things have been for me for as long as I can remember.

But KI should think about that when designing these worlds. I noticed that no one said they liked DS. In my opinion DS is about as dreary as a palce could be. I never wanted to travel through heck, personally...lol. Also noticed that no one said MB. But that is where I differ a little. I do like MB....now. I absolutely hated the palce when I was on my first Storm wizard....those freakin' gearheads! But now I laugh at them...haha! But, really, it's anot a bright, happy place either, and the fact that cats are the bad guys is so beyond "not cool."

My favorite places are MD and KT. I can't see how anyone hates KT....but I guess there are some that do. I guess those people aren't much into Egyptian Culture either...otherwise maybe they would enjoy it for that.
Though, hey...notice there are no cats or cat statues in Krok? Egyptians worshipped cats. *More reasons why I think someone doesn't like cats....though I am trying my best to give some benefit of the doubt on that.*
Even though there was a entire building dedicated to Storm in Krok, I still loved that place. The music, for one...heck, I would go there just to hunt reagents and listen to the background music. And the battle music in there is epic! I so wish they would sell Wizard 101 music CDs or downloads on iTunes. I would buy them so fast....you have no idea! I would listen to that stuff in the car and everything...it's so well done!
Anyway, I can sorta understand someone hating Krok if you are a Elemental school wizard...but if you are of the Spiritual Schools or Balance...why would you hate it?...Seems that place would be easy for you?!?!?!?

That's all for now. I hope you all have a wonderful Easter Sunday...for those who celebrate it!

Did you miss it?

If you missed Merlin then I feel sorry for you!

What a premiere that was tonight on SyFy! And then having Mackenzie Crook, of POTC fame, as the guest star....WOW! Look like this season is gonna be intense and awesome! I also have a new favorite word now, one that Merlin used...lol.

Stopped over at youtube for a minute. Do you know that there are people that are actually proud of finishing an area really early on W101? That is nothing to really be proud of, really. All it means is you skipped loads of side quests. What's the big deal there? Personally I would rather gather all the XP I could and do everything one time instead of having to come back later and find all the side quests I skipped before, therefore actually ending up doing twice as much work(or more) as you would have done had you quested right the first time.

Personally I like to combine quests. Like certain areas I know I am going to get so many quests to go kill/collect from creature "enter name here." And when you get up to level 48, BTW...most people have got to go to the Labyrinth for their level 48 spells. Now, I do enjoy the Labyrinth, but I like to do it when I want to, not because I "have to." So, if I skipped a bunch of quests and go get access to that really early...well, it only means I am gonna end up having to go back in there and do it again when I DO hit level 48.

...Sorry, that is like one of my biggest pet peeves; people that do that and think they are cool for it. Well: you aren't cool, and you aren't impressing me. Anyone could do that, you are only cheating yourself if you do it.
Of course I have seen the opposite too; like people not making it out of WC until they are level 20 or something...I can't imagine how that can happen. If it takes you that long I think you might need me as a tour guide xD

*hmm...Emeraldflame Tours...that has a nice ring to it*

Alric got his new pet tonight. I finished him up in the Ancient Burial Grounds and he killed off old Tomugawa using his new pet. I swear; I think this is THE coolest colossus spell there is! I love how Earthwalker has all those spikes sticking out of him. He is like Mossback with gladiator gear on...lol.



I am going to try to farm some for that sword later on. Alric really NEEDS a sword. But, if he doesn't get one I do have the Cerulean Edge for him once he reaches level 45. Figured, a while back, I better get it for him while it's still on sale.

Ravenwood Bulletin Updated!

Go and read the bulletin guys! This fills us in a little more about what is coming and what is happening with the pets:

Ravenwood Bulletin April


Aww....does seem we will have to feed them. Hmm...*wonders how much this will cost.* I am just hoping that they won't get in the way in battles. While I am excited to see what will be happening, I am also afraid it will make me completely have to change my playing-style, especially if the pets break traps. I guess we will see though.

W101 Community: Add me on Twitter, guys! Also Alric update, Crown Sale...

Any W101 fans, please add me on Twitter:

h2oEmeraldflame on Twitter

And so you guys know, I am not being rude or anything, but I really don't have access to it from a phone, but I will check in there from time to time. I know, I need a new cell phone with all that fancy stuff on it, but can't get one at this time. So I will correspond via web to any other Wizard fans.

BTW, currently speeding Alric through MS, been working on him all morning. Finished up Cave of Solitude and nearly done with Kishibe Village. But I am taking a break with him right now, since he has a ton of Crowns at this time, and going to go buy all GH and get the training point for the yardbirds, with the touring guidance of Heather Winterbane. I think Alric will really be needing that Feint spell soon, so now is a good time to do this!

Oh, and just saw this:


Nice deal! Especially nice for Crowns players who were worried about additional costs of Celestia coming. Might be good to buy these now, while it's cheap. Then you should also have some Crowns leftover to have some additional fun with! I think I might buy these for Alric soon as I get paid...maybe even get him that Earthwalker pet, just for the heck of it, if it's still on sale too!

Kaitlyn finally got her Krokotillian!

Well, she didn't get it herself, but her "sister" got it for her. I took Heather Jadeblade and Danielle Thunderblade in Big Ben, second time today. Didn't get the pet on the initial drop, but hit the second-chance chest 3 times and FINALLY got it! It's about time!...lol. Now Kaitlyn feels complete...for now, anyway xD

Here's a video of the ending of the fight and then a pic of the pet "catch" as well as a pic of Kaitlyn Dunerider in her, much-too-crowded, dorm room with her new pet:


Kaitlyn will get a house sometime...all mine get them, but I am not sure I want ANOTHER Balance house, though I like the one Sandwalker has... A LOT. But I would like to see something different. Currently I have every school themed house, except Fire...I donno, I just never bought it...and it never went on sale either! And as for the old-style houses...I have or have had all them at one time except the small DS house and the big MB house. Hmmm...maybe Kaitlyn will get the big MB house....that's an idea!(she does have LOADS of MB stuff)...But not today...lol. She has plenty of gold for it but I still want to wait a while.

Meowiarty-Dropping the Hop-Hopping Wand!

This time I decided to take in Keira with Emeraldflame, figured Kaitlyn was gaining too much XP and wasn't having luck getting the Krok pet anyway...so maybe one of those "Green People" might bring some luck to me.

Well, Keira did bring us some luck, though not with the pet. Emeraldflame ended up bagging the Easter wand called Hop-Hopping Wand. This is actually a nice drop for level 25, I mean the wand does give a pip, so that was cool. The wand usually retails for 1500 Crowns, so; nice drop!

Not so quick getting the screen shot, but if you enlarge the pic you can see the drop named in Emeraldflame's chat window, and her holding it. Too bad all the wizards on that account are way past 25, but it's still nice to add to the collection :)

Much, More Better! And My Secret Carnival...

I finished up my banner today and got the page looking nice too, so I hope anyone that might read this likes the way it is looking :)

I also wanted to post these pics and videos of My Secret Carnival as well as Emeraldflame's main house. Most of the items at the Carnival(outside, and at least one item that is inside) were crafted by me and most are extremely hard to craft, in other words: time-consuming. There is no way I would sell any of it, and of course the carousel can't be sold anyway >:)

Make sure and press the "play"(arrow right) button at the bottom of the videos so you can view them, otherwise you might be steered away from here.







The Carnival is secret because no one, save for Mom, has actually seen it yet. Well, I had shown one other friend the Carousel when I finished it, but since the rest was added no one has seen it. I wanted to wait until I was completely happy with all of it before showing it to anyone again. There is still a little I am working on inside the big tent, but the outside is pretty much finished. I really like to come hang out here after a lot of battling, it's a great escape with all the happy colors and the peacefulness of the Oasis.

Yay!...Frost Cat!

Yep, my shopping trip to Target was successful! Finally my local store got the cards in, I got two cards, would have got three...wished I would have now, but who knows! These first ones will have to go to my Ice Wizards, though the money will be donated to Alric, for the most...he needs it with pay by area...lol.

Anyway, the gift cards they got set for April at Wizard101 look pretty AMAZING! I mean there are gonna be two different cards with extra resistance! We all LOVE extra resistance!!! They are bringing back Defender Pig and having Burnzilla, which will have 5% Resistance(not as much as Defender Pig, with 6%, but still nice!...)plus it comes with the very highly desired Flamezilla(Stormzilla mutation) Card! My new Fire wizard is gonna be having a great time...when I make him ;)
Man, I can't wait for next month! Good news it's in just a few days :D

Mom had got me some cards from Florida that gave Guardian Dragon, which was awesome too. Especially since we have no 7-11's here. For some reason our Toys R Us don't sell gift cards either...no idea why, as they sell really well in this area. If you ask me TrU is missing out on a money-maker there, and therefore making lots of W101 fans sad when we can't buy cards from them when they have a good pet.

A Break...Dragon Fable

Ok, I wanted a little time away from W101, not that I am bored with it...not at all! But it's going to be a little bit before the new stuff is released, and the way I play I would have 2-4 more Grands before then and no adventure left. So I thought maybe I could try another game out, and maybe I will also re-visit Free Realms a little. I played FR when it was new. All my jobs on FR that matter to me are maxed, except the newer Fishing one, and one can only stand fishing for so much time each day. I never have touched the Soccer Star job on there...not a fan of that, but all the fighting, crafting, and the racing job are maxed. I really wonder if FR isn't aimed more towards boys/guys? I mean the pets they just came out with include some really nasty stuff, which, I for one, don't care to see huge versions of. The beetle, to me, is especially horrible. Spiders don't usually bother me at all, but they made that new pet one especially UGLY.

Well, I haven't went back to FR yet, but I did try out BattleOn.com's Dragon Fable. It's about as simple of a game as can be, it's nowhere near as cool looking as either FR or W101, and it's mostly not an MMO, though they do have some PvP for people who like to kill each other...lol. Hopefully it's not like W101's PvP where not only do you kill each other but you also be generally hateful towards others.

Dragon Fable is mostly a one-player RPG. It's very 2D(flat) in appearance, no 3D action there. Most of it is very story-based, which I like a lot! It doesn't look like much, but as I found out last night it can really pull you in! It's also nice, sometimes, not to deal with other people. Especially when your "friends" seem to stop talking to you for who knows what reason?!?!?! (I get the feeling someone is blaming me for having their wings taken when that whole thing was way bigger than me...they say don't shoot the messenger, well someone sure did!) Well, I played DF for about 4-5 hours last night and got my little Mage character to level 7. Some parts of the game are not quite as easy to figure out as W101 and FR had been. Looks like I am going to have to do some digging on info for certain things, but I am figuring most of it out pretty well.

I do think I will return to W101 later in the day, maybe work on Alric. I really want to get at least one Grand on my third account, as I have some plans for that. Alric still has a ways to go, but I know how quickly MooShu goes too. He will soon be to Crimson Fields, after that it always seems to go way too fast. Like Kaitlyn, she is now level 42 and working on Village of Sorrow, then it will be Tree of Life, Jade Oni, Cyrus Drake battle, and BOOM: Dragonspyre. It's all really easy and goes too fast. Then DS just drags along, well, not really. I just HATE the place, it's so dull, dark, and ugly. So I make it go as fast as I can, especially Crystal Grove....that could drag on for(what seems like) forever if you let it. But lately I do the Grove in a day...get away from it as soon as possible. I mean how many spiders do we REALLY need to kill???

I am going to check out my local Target, see if they ever got those Ice Cat cards in. I called them a week and a half ago and they still didn't have them. I am starting to think you have to be "special" to get one. I might pick up a card for DF too, it's a nice little game to play to take a break from W101 now and then. And they do have some cool premium stuff on DF too. But one other thing I like about DF is that there is no monthly fee. There is a one-time cost to those who want to upgrade and go to special areas and have the ability to buy special equipment, etc. I mean W101 gets awfully expensive, so this is a nice little game to get away from throwing so much money around.

I have been working on pics for this site, very slowly, by the way. I spent most of the day yesterday watching the Merlin marathon on SyFy channel. I am really happy they picked up that show and a new series will be starting Friday, the 2nd! I've always been a huge Merlin/King Arthur fan :)

Better Late than Never...Myth Fashion

I am back home now and just able to post this, if anyone cares...

Here is my Myth Grand's outfit. I believe the hat is Yakedo's Hypothetical Helm, the robe is The Sneak's Puzzling Robes, and the boots are Krokopatra's Footwraps. I have stitched them all into higher level gear, so I no longer have the stats on them. I do know the stats can all be found at:
http://wizard101.wikia.com/wiki/Wizard101_Wiki


It's hard to tell from the pic, but there are some Myth designs on the hat. Click on pic for larger image.

Piggasus? Celestia News!

So, I wasn't gonna post again yet....but...

Awesome news on Celestia at W101 today! I just got on the computer at mom's so, I first checked there to see if anything was new...and YES!..there was!

Just check it out there. I'm not gonna copy all that into here when others already have in their blogs and sites. But it all sounds very awesome and exciting!

What I did want to touch on is that I just received my new FOG(FUN! Online Games) magazine today. There is a really good little interview in there with some of the same guys who did the MOG interview. In fact some question and answers are the same, but if you read it; some are not!

When asked about favorite mounts Todd Coleman answers "My favorite mount is the Piggasus! But that's not a fair question, because you guys haven't seen one yet!"

So is this really going to be a new mount sometime? ...I do wonder. I'm not a huge fan of pigs, save with the Ninja Pigs(who doesn't love them?..lol) But I am sure some kids might enjoy a pig mount of some type, especially if it flies!

I, personally, would like to see a few more variations on wing mounts. Like raven wings would be very cool! I mean black, feathery wings!...That would be so cool! I would have to get them for Emeraldflame so she could have double-wings, and for Nightshade as that would be perfect for Death.

Anyway, get your hands on that FOG magazine and have a read for yourself. No freebies in that issue for W101, but the article in good.

What a day!

(Ok, so I am making the font bigger now, this is so much easier to read than tiny little words...lol.)

Well, I came home for the afternoon and night so I can sleep comfortably tonight, maybe even get 8 hours?!?! And I needed to check in on my own pets. I have been watching mom's cat, a very old Maine Coon...wonderful cat, a real sweetheart, but she is really old and not in too good of shape. She sort of has the opposite health issue from me, which isn't good either, along with her having some other health problems as well. I have always loved that cat and I hate seeing her looking the way she does now....it's kinda sad, really.

Anyhow, since I got to come home and be on my own computer I got some things accomplished, but I feel like part of it was work :-/
Playing Wizard shouldn't feel like work, right? Well, I had all my wizards I am really working on sort of at a point where I knew that they might need some help and I was not about to try that on Mom's little laptop. I know it can run two windows of the game, but even running one on there is really jerky, so to really run two(or more) would be a real headache...not at all fun.
I wanted to at least get those wizards over these humps and to a point where I know I can at least have some fun playing it when I go back to mom's later.

Kaitlyn Dunerider did Crimson Fields with Heather Emeraldflame's help. Sure, I know I could have run Kaitlyn through there on her own, but I've soloed it enough times and really didn't want to spend that much time there. It's not one of my favorite dungeons to solo. You really DO do more work there when you solo, as you really do have to beat 10 of the battlefield, where if you have more wizards it counts as double, triple, etc. Well Kaitlyn and Heather battled the secret boss, then just had to do one more fight after that for the battlefield and they were done with that part. It's so nice to have that extra help whenever you want or need it. I really like that you can make this game a more independent playing experience at times, though it doesn't mean I don't enjoy real friends on there too :)
So, Kaitlyn is set to move on to the next ares in MS. I always like getting past Hametsu.

Alric had a very long day. First he soloed Katzenstein's. This is really only the second time I soloed a wizard through there at that level. The last one I did that with was Kaitlyn. I did it just to see how it would go.. Yes, Life and Balance do very well going through there by themselves at that level. I hated that place when I first went in there as Emeraldflame, then when I did it as Nightshade I just had bad memories of doing it with Emeraldflame. I am over that now, I would not be afraid to try it with any now. But I am much more experienced now, and I also know the layout of it very well and I have memorized all that needs to be done in there.
Alric even soloed killing the secret boss in Katz, Smogger. So he has the Smogger Smasher badge now. He doesn't have Feint yet, so he did it with basically what he has, no treasure cards were used save for Centaurs with Tough added. It took three Centaurs to kill Smogger, himself, but it was really easy. All Alric has are his blade, trap, and Spirit Trap and Blade. He doesn't have access to any other traps or blades from pets or anything. He is really new. I just made him at the end of last month, and he is the first on his account, and I really hadn't worked on him that much. His account is doing the pay-by-area thing(*was not going to even think about paying for 3 subs!*,) so I have really tried to take it slow. But this week it just happened that he was the easiest to work on this week, so he got a lot done.


I love the way Katzenstein's looks in the actual lab part of it...it's sooo....Electric?...Stormy(lol) ? Very Steampunk looking and fits the whole Storm theme. Reminds me of Danielle's Storm House...love that place!

After Katz., Alric continued on to the Counterweights. I gave him some help there cause I didn't want it to take forever. Heather Emeraldflame to the rescue again...lol. Ahh...she needs the loot though, all those crafting projects she did in the last couple months, along with decorating her Secret Carnival place, really ran the coin down. I hate seeing coin go below 80k, I donno why. So when it started to get down in the 60's I started farming a lot, and the others on her account helped to contribute too. Emeraldflame managed to get the Marleybonian Pilot Painting this time...LOL! I seem to like to get repeat drops, once I get a certain item it seems to happen more and more. But, like I told Friendly when I emailed him about it' I do love that painting! It's probably because of my love of planes and flight and the memories I have of spending time with Dad and him talking to me about all the stuff he use to do in the USAF. Wow, those days are so gone :-(




So they ran through the Counterweights. Then Alric went to Big Ben with Heather. They both did all of Big Ben, but I brought in Kaitlyn at the top, not cause help was needed, but I keep hoping Kaitlyn will get the Krokotillian pet. I have been trying with her since she HAD TO do it. But this week I hadn't been able to do that at all with her. Well, with three wizards it was completely cake in there. Kaitlyn went in first, Alric went in last, and they made a Storm Sandwich out of Heather. Stinkin' Meowiarty managed to sneak in a Storm shield somewhere in there. I thought I had them all cleared with Pierce, but he snuck one in at some point. It gets really hard to watch things when running three wizards.

BUT, Heather still killed him in one shot, very easily with over 5500k damage by The Lord...which is not so great sounding, but with that 80% shield in there it was very good. The Agony Wraith was hit at over 18k. I know these are not huge hits like some people do, but I am really into using what you have and not adding in and spending all kinds of coin on Treasures. I actually have quite a few Treasures I could use, traps and whatever too(which I got all of them free,) but I haven't felt the care to try it. Part of the reason is because there is always some weirdo that seems to have to run into a fight(uninvited) when I am trying to do something and they never respect what I am trying to do, even with normal stuff. I would hate to lose Treasures because some noob came in and used their wand and messed up my entire set-up. I think I would have a conniption if that happened D:

So Alric got his new gear and is off to MooShu. Finally, I can have a wizard with the Samurai outfit with two flags, instead of the single, lop-sided one that girl wizards get.



Oh, and Kaitlyn still didn't get that pet :-(
I wish I could give her the one I have on my Balance Grand...it would have been fun for her to have, to use the spell for a little hit every once in a while. I will keep trying with her, but I know I won't get another chance until the weekend. She did get, yet another, Watchdog Statue...lol. She is going to give that one to Keira, as Keira seems to be collecting Statues.

While I was between dungeons I had Heather out in Regent's Square and some guy came up and made some nice comments on her stats and gear. Wow, that was rare! Usually they say nothing and just want to friend you. Well, he had some pretty spiffy gear too, for his level, so I told him that. He was a Necromancer and had the old Astral gear hat and robe stuff with the stars on it. Well, he had changed the stats on the hat, but it was still that look, which is what I REALLY like. I am so jealous of anyone who has that stuff...lol. I was not around when they sold that stuff. I really wish that they would at least release the pattern again. I don't care about the stats the stuff has, but I would love to have that look on at least one wizard! Well, the guy didn't ask, but I could tell he probably wanted to friend me, so I added him. I generally keep the requests off as I would have huge lists of people constantly wanting help if I didn't and I just added anyone. The guy said he was gonna go work on his wizard so he could someday have a wizard like mine....that was kinda cool. And I like seeing someone who really is willing to work on things themselves and not just begging for help all the time.

I am thinking I "might" some day make another Pyromancer, and MAYBE a Necromancer, but I donno about that latter one yet. I can see a need for a second Pyro, in my arsenal of wizards, but not sure about the Necro. Necromancers tend not be as good in a team, in my opinion. I mean there isn't a lot they can contribute, save for with other Necromancers. I don't mean anything bad by that, but they really aren't very good support, and they aren't the best attackers either...well, not like Fire, Ice, and Storm are. Death is kinda in that grey area with Myth, but Death is so much more fun and hard-hitting than Myth. I'm not a huge Myth fan. I deleted my first one at level 47...lol. At the time I thought "if all I get at 48 is a spell that hits one thing and is just as much trouble as Minotaur to set up, then why would I want to keep this wizard?"

Well, I made a second account some time later and figured I'd give it another whirl, and then being able to easily give a Myth wiz help, Taryn came to be. I ran her with my Balance Grand, Sandwalker. And I actually used Humongofrog from the time I got it to the time I took her through Malistaire's. It actually worked real well like that. balance sure helped to make Myth a lot easier to use. I am not a fan of one-hitter spells, and Myth has too many of those that it relies on. Not only that but they got those two spells that you have to set up double traps for....such a nuisance. When they made that class they had to have 1v1 PvP in mind, cause it's near useless as a solo wizard on quests, after a certain point. I took Taryn all the way up and through most of MooShu by herself, but it really got to be a drag, so I brought in Sandwalker for the extra help and it worked out so nicely :)

Taryn even has a job now: she is the Myth card maker...lol. Seriously that is all I use her for now. She became essential on one particular crafting recipe that Emeraldflame worked on. I honestly don't think I could have made one item, in particular, without her. I also use her for making Pierce cards...one of my favorite little tricks to the game!

I do like Death, though, so don't get me wrong on that. But I am trying to have wizards sorted out in a particular way so as to benefit each other in certain situations and I don't see a place for another Necro. But it's something I will think about, I did have fun when I ran that first one, Nightshade. I just remember wishing I had a AoE attack a LOT earlier though. If I don't keep one I might make one sometime just for fun, then delete them.....who knows. But right now I have a lot of projects I am working on, within the game, and already have plans for another Pyro, but right now I want to finish off at least 2 of the 3 I am working on. The one I have going with Mom might take a while. She doesn't get a lot of time. I am really surprised we have made it this far already...lol. Our next thing is to do Crimson Fields, but I want to level us up to 38 to get our blade quest before we do that.

Well, this is more than enough blogging for the time being. I probably won't write too much more until, maybe this weekend. I will be playing on that laptop again, starting this afternoon. Yes, I am up way too late and it's time to go to sleep now.

Have fun out there!

Finally, a little introduction here...

Hello to anyone who gets lucky enough to wander upon this page! I am Heather Emeraldflame, Grandmaster of Storm.....

Ok, so I'm NOT REALLY HER, but my name IS Heather, for real. I run quite a few wizards at Wizard101, but my favorite is Storm. So if you hate Storm and only want to sit there and tell me how much it stinks...then you are in the wrong place and you can just move along and go back to your little hate-corner. I think all schools are great in their own ways, and this will NOT be a Storm-only blog, but just know Storm is my favorite and I have had a lot of experience, both good and bad...though in the end and after all this time it's all good, with it.

I plan to post some pics and make this blog look a little cooler but it's going to take some time. Currently I am unable to work on this too much as I am cat-sitting and do not have access to my own computer much at the moment.

My current wizards are:
- Heather Emeraldflame - GM Storm
- Danielle Thunderblade - GM Storm
- Heather Jadeblade - GM Life
- Keira Willowsong - GM Life
- Alric Dreamhaven - Magus Life
- Heather Sandwalker -GM Balance
- Kaitlyn Dunerider - Magus Balance(and happy contributor to Friendly Necromancer's Housing Item of the day at this link: Dog Pilot Painting )
- Heather Nightshade - GM Death
- Heather Fireslinger - GM Fire
- Savannah Icewraith - Magus Ice
- Heather Winterbane - GM Ice
-Taryn Griffinhaven - GM Myth.

I run three accounts, sometimes run two or three wizards together, usually two max, but once in a while three. I rarely find a need to run three together. If I run three then I am probably completely by myself and doing something very, very hard for the level of the wizards in the battle. It's way too hard to work with any other real people if I'm running three wizards, but I can do that with two and will often help my friends using two of mine.
I am helping my mom, who is even older than me(lol) play the game. Her wizard will also appear here, and is one of the "Friends" included in the blog title. She is sunning a Ice wizard, who is always around the same level as Savannah, since I usually have the two work together. I never intended for Alric to start to catch up to the lower level girls, but because of circumstances this past week I have had more time to work on him while the others have been waiting to do some dungeons while I haven't had my own computer to play on. Laptops are just no fun to play on, at least in my opinion...makes it feel more like work. I never feel comfortable sitting with one, I tend to fidget too much with them and move around more than I get to accomplish anything.

I have some health issues, I won't bore you with details, which is why I get so much time to play this game. I haven't been around the game quite as long as some people, but I have learned a whole lot in the time I've had...mostly because I can play for hours and hours. Playing this game has been so much fun for me and lets me take my mind off real life troubles :)

In my non-playing time I do a lot of reading about the game. I also enjoy movies, any music with a good rhythm, animals(I have two cats(Saturn and Baby Girl(whom I did not name,) and a Betta fish named Daytona)and sci-fi/fantasy books, though for medical reasons I can't read books as often as I would like. I really enjoy meeting others who can work as a team and also know a lot of the tricks I do. It's really fun when you have a friend that you can play this game with that is on the same level as you....as far as what they know about the game.

I am not a PvP player. I absolutely HATE the thought of it because of the way I have seen people treat each other in there. To me there is enough hate and anger in the world without making it part of my "fun-time." If you like to PvP, that's cool and I have nothing against you, but it's not my thing. I like adventures and questing a lot more. I also love to farm for and get unique and rare items. I am willing to come watch friends in PvP, but I will probably turn off all my chat while in there. I do find watching others battles to be interesting, especially if they are really smart players.

I also love crafting. Yeah, I know a lot of people want to put that down and say how boring it is. Well, it does take a whole lot of patience and time, and you really got to want to make those items because YOU want to make them. One great thing about crafting is that KI has made it oh, so much easier than it use to be! I mean those mutate recipes and them asking for less items to be made in the quests...it has made a HUGE difference in the fun-factor of crafting. I just wish KI would come up with more recipes/items that you can make...I have almost made everything that I would want to. I HAVE made all the really big, awesome items that you can, you will see that when I get pics up.
I have one main crafter on all my accounts, the other wizards do very little crafting and if they do it's usually cards for the crafters, or cards for battling. Though on my first account I have had two of the others do some crafting too, as they have been around long enough to obtain lots of reagents.

My little advice for the day:
People sometimes wonder what to do with all those extra treasure cards they end up with; don't sell them! A lot of those cards can be used in recipes! The only treasure cards you probably want to sell are mutates, unless it's something like Lightning Elf, or Ice Elf, and you are Ice or Storm, cause they might actually be useful then(if you can make the mutations into the full versions, or have someone make them for you.) Also, sell those useless Ghost Touch cards...those are a complete waste at this point. I like to collect, keep, and use the special treasure cards like Krokotillian, Ninja Pigs, Krokomummy, etc. The Pigs, especially, are great for Myth Wizards. It gives Myth an alternative to having to rely on spells like Minotaur and Orthrus, which make you have to double-trap everything. (Ugh...*hates double-trap spells* D: *serious PAIN*)

Another thing I love about this game are the little Silver Chest games. Those are such a nice break from constant battling, and often times you get a card and nice little bit of coin for playing. Sometimes while looking for reagents I will look for these chests as well, it's a nice break to the monotony of hunting reagents.

I really enjoy most all dungeons in the game, I am not a fan of the DS towers, though. To me the towers are just long and have no real point. I mean they prove nothing but that you can battle the same stuff over and over...who cares? At least dungeons usually have some kind of story to them. I am also weird as I tend to love the dungeons that it seems everyone else hates...like, say; Kensington, Labyrinth, Katzenstein's, etc. And I actually don't mind doing Sunken City, though that one is a waste as far as drops...best you can really get is the Wraith Statue. I like to use two of my wizards in these dungeons(usually, but sometimes one) at a time, and with no one else, usually. I am happy to help others in these places but don't ever expect me to do ALL your work for you and to help you all the time. I don't say that to be mean, but I do get on Wizard because I enjoy it, not because I want to be everyone's helper all day.

I guess that is it for now. More to come soon!

Have fun out there!

Help for Soloing Life wizards

Friendly Necromancer had a question from a level 20+ Life wizard and asked his friends/followers if we had any other advice, so here is mine:

I like to run life wizards, on my third one right now...my one dude I've made to keep(after so many girls I wanted a wizard that could wear different clothes :) )

I usually take death as a third as my aim is for them to be both strong and useful for support in the end. I just take death for feint. I take ice for a second, only up to tower shield. Having Ice as a second covers most shields you would want through Krok. Eventually, toward the end(DS levels) I get Ice shield(mostly to use for supporting others as tower is usually good enough against ice) and reshuffle. I mostly use Life for support in the end, but I still take my Life wizards for solo farming, they are really good for that as healing is cheap for life and won't eat up all your pips if you need to heal while you are setting up. Plus; Life has really good health, my two Life Grands have 3049 health, each. Feint is kinda the key, though. It's really going to help you be able to solo at later levels.

As Life you will never get a big AoE attack(at least as the game stands currently.) If you took Fire earlier for that meteor strike it WILL help up to a point, except against any fire mobs...well, it will still damage, but probably won't kill them...lol...and if they are still alive then prepare to be retaliated on, heavily, after that. After those low levels using meteor it gets to be about as much of a pain to set up at higher levels as Humongofrog is in DS to kill something...and really benefits more if you have a balance person with you. For Life it just doesn't make a lot of sense as you will be wasting power pips in later levels to be able to cast a fire spell. Also Fire in DS isn't so beneficial...too much there already and since it's not your main school you don't(usually) have a prism(s.) I would try to stick to my main school spells, but that is me.

Life does take longer in a solo fight, it's just a fact. Same with Balance, same with Death, up to a point, and same with Ice, also to a point...Ice is more about survival and defense...it can outlast others when run right.But most of these schools just don't have or get a big attack AoE until much later(Ice gets blizzard, but until you get your blade at 38 it's not a lot of fun to set up)...Death and Balance don't get their AoE attacks until level 48. And, really Balance's is rarely useful as a real attack. I use Nova more as a taunt and way to clear tower shields..lets my fighters do their thing(very useful to make those DS myth guys mad enough to attack you instead of saving up pips to use Earthquake on you.)

Most schools are not as quick as Storm or Fire because they don't get the big AoEs or have very heavy attacks, so take that into account.

My life guy, right now, is without the benefit of a dragonblade or any other extra traps or blades. I made his account after they stopped with that gift card, unfortunately. But he is level 32 right now and I have had him completely solo everything so far...so it CAN be done, it's just slower than running a wizard who's main school is attack-based..at least it's slow as far as time of battles.

One thing to remember is to keep as little as you need in your deck, don't have a bunch of extra junk in there that will have you discarding a lot. Like I know I can kill off the average street monster in MB with a seraph, life trap, and Life blade. So I just have those, a couple heals, and 4 shields in my deck. And I change shields sometimes depending on who I fight. If I go to boss fight I add in spirit traps and spirit blades, but not too many as I don't want them clogging up my deck. In my sideboard I have some treasure cards my other life wizards made, but I know this probably is not so easy for everyone to do. I keep a couple Centaurs, a couple Seraphs that have had tough added and one Satyr, for emergency(lol.) If you have any higher level Life friends ask them if they can make some cards for you if you buy them some keen eyes or strongs to make them for you. Then you can have that stuff as back-up if you run across an especially strong boss...like that stuff would be great against Krokopatra ;)

I have been using the crown weapons with my guy. But one huge problem is that these weapons are not death wands, which is what you want if you have to fight a Life creature. I end up having to change to a old low-level death wand whenever I fight a Life creature, in case they put up one of those darn death shields before I can get a life prism on them. I also have some Poison cards my death wiz made for him, just in case. But normally you really want a death wand, and as it is right now you can't get a death wand until level 35 that gives a pip bonus. So every time I fight Life I am starting with one less pip or power pip than normal. It sort of evens out though, as having to get that prism on is one more step than I usually have to take, and since it's a zero rank spell, it doesn't really mess with me too much. Often times I can skip traps at this level with having the prism there...unless it's a boss. I just really wish that there was a good Death wand/staff available with a pip or power pip before level 35. Every other school is covered, so I wonder why they skipped death?