Friday, February 25, 2011

Player vs Player (PvP) Section 2

Wars

In 1v1 mostly, PvP is basically who can have the best advantage in the situation. There are several aspects that can come into play in a 1v1 match that can offset the balance of who has the advantage. One of the most noticeable one is the turn advantage, or who goes first. Although, you can still win from going second but more pressure is applied to you while going second. There are spells that can change the advantage, but many players know to get rid of it and/or put up their own advantage. These are called "Wars," where players try to remove the others advantage and set up their own.

Pip War
The pip war is basically the pip advantage you have over the opponent. If you have 5 power pips and your opponent has 2, you have the advantage because you have a better chance of successfully pulling off a combo that could ultimately end the game. Many things could delay such combos, such as shields, weakness etc. The pip war is the MAIN advantage which people try to disable by playing various tools that could help your opponent waste pips. Always try to have the pip advantage over your opponent, unless you can set off the combo to win the game. You could offset the pip difference by forcing your opponent to heal.

Health War
I don't think I have to explain this one much because it's very obvious. Technically, Ice is almost always winning the health war. Health war is also how much you can heal off the damage your opponent deals. The crafted ring and athame from Celestia give you the advantage of this. Infection is a great tool to get you the advantage in the health war, so is Life dispel. A more in depth talk on infection could be found here.

Bubble War
This war is one of the most important to win. Some schools can not win the bubble war most of the time because it is not pip efficient, for example Death, Life and Balance. The rest of the schools have 2 pip damage boosting bubbles. If you are Ice, Storm, Fire, or Myth, and you are facing a Death, Life or Balance you can go ahead and put up your bubble because more likely than not your opponent can not win the bubble war. If you are facing a school that has a 2 pip damage bubble do not put up your bubble unless you want them to waste a turn and put up their bubble again in this case you can go ahead after they waste a turn putting up a bubble you can shield or dispel them if you are going second. You never want to put your bubble up if you are facing the same school you are playing that is just your death sentence. A bubble is like a blade but it stays up forever, usually most people don't carry much blades just a bubble. From what I've seen Fire, Ice and Myth are great with their bubble up because of their DoT spells and Double hitters. Bubble wars are found most commonly in 1v1 matches but can be applied to group matches if played well. You definitely don't want to beef your opponent up.

Minion War
This tends to be over looked in early rank matches. Some players think that a minion is no big deal, and should just attack their opponent. Let me tell you, a minion out could be, but not always, the winning factor in a match. Since KI updated the minions, they have become a reliable ally in most matches. A minion can make you lose the pip war as both the opponent and his minion gain pips faster than you can. An opponent with a minion can deal more damage the just one wizard alone. For schools with 4 pip AoE spells, minions tend to be less of a problem with a Gargantuan Blizzard or Meteor, you have done damage to the opponent and got rid of their minion. The best minion in MY opinion is the Fire Elemental, it can cast smoke mantle and get rid of shields and puts up fire traps and shield you with a Glacial shield and it also heals you. Cast your minion when you know your opponent can't kill it the next turn either by low pips or something of the sort. 

*Pet War*
Very few battles end up being on who has the better pet. The only time this could happen is if when both sides are completely equal and cannot take each other down. This is when the pets come into play. Let's say a player with a Star fish has the talents Spritely, Spellproof, may cast Ice blade, and Health gift, now lets say the other player has a Fire serpent with Spritely, Spellproof, Defy and Paingiver. The Fire Serpent has a fire card which the caster can use, and is reliable unlike the star fish with Spritely and Ice blade. These may cast talents are all based on luck, which eventually determines the outcome of the match. The generic talents which increase the casters stats are  reliable however and can determine the match as well. This is why the fire with the Fire serpent has a higher chance of winning the match if both casters are at a stand off and can not take each other down, this is why strategy is important so you do not have to rely on your pet to win the match for you.

Thursday, February 24, 2011

Fun in the Trial; FrostFlame? IcyHot?

Hi guys!

Just wanted to update on what I've been doing. I've been having a truck full of fun with my buddies from Twitter :) LOVE YOU ALL! A picture is worth a thousand words; I like pictures better.


I went to do a ToS run with Diana, Cassandra, and Kelsey. Pretty fun, lol poor Cass getting hit by an Ice Kraken.



Random robot in the ring; I blizzard the Moon boss to death(not really).



Diana and Kelsey broke into my lab and started harassing my Egor(Minion).

Team FrostFlame/IcyHot!

We still haven't decided on a name yet, but we are leaning towards IcyHot (Sorry Alric). Diana and Kelsey hit Warlord yesterday, only to be taken away by the area closed bug, were the match comes as a 3v4. We we're winning at first, the last player almost died then she did a rebirth and they criticaled us to death. I also hit Overlord yesterday(WOOT). For those who don't know what that is, it's basically a term we use for someone who has a rank higher than 1000 points. Good news is Diana came back up and hit Warlord again today. Our team FrostFlame/IcyHot is made up of 5 people, Diana Wildheart, Natalie EmeraldFlame, Allan Rubymancer, Kelsey Fireheart, and me Angel Winterbreeze. Sometimes we switch up the schools or trade players in and out because sometimes we all need a break or one of us has to do something else. We've been training our pets, I'm hoping to get a pet with Spellproof or Defy, no luck whatsoever. Good luck everyone and remember to carry troll spray at all times!

Tuesday, February 22, 2011

Dance lessons

Yesterday night I'm sure we were all bored, and running around in our creepy transformation forms and chasing each other aaround... Ah the inner child. After that we went to surrounding some people at the Bazaar and eventually we had a party. After that, I was introduced to a Flash mob. I had no idea what that was, so Kev and showed me a few moves I think we did good! We kinda creeped out all the peoples in the commons and made them scratch their heads and some even joined us!




There was some kind of delay because of some mysterious sticky stuff, investigators are working on trying to find the cause.

Player vs. Player (PvP) Basics - Section 1

Player vs. Player Basics
Introduction:
PvP in Wizard101; we start off in the Arena. The Arena is a place that has been downgraded to a place where rude, selfish, and foul mannered people reside. However, there is the occasional player who has good sportsmanship and accepts his defeat. Accepting defeat in a fair match is key to becoming a good duelist. Once you accept your defeat you can become stronger, make new strategies, switch cards from your deck, change some gear. The Arena is always changing, you can only change and adapt or you will get left behind with all these updates that KI is throwing in our faces. Not that it's bad, but to some players it's over whelming. Once you step into the Arena, it is like a whole new world. Think of it like a boss match or a group boss match, depending if you're going into 1v1 or group play. However, once you get to higher ranks (Knight and above), your spells need to be essential to your survival. Your strategies need to be effective in all aspects of game play in the duel. You'll need to gain a skill of anticipation, trying to guess your opponents movements. The Arena tests players patience, intelligence, and instinct.

Section one: Essentials of PvP
In the vast world of Wizard101, KI has given us spell cards that are perfect for a good duelist. In this section I will try to cover all Spell cards that are almost mandatory. I will say that some players have gotten to commander without some of these cards. These cards work only to make dueling much more smoother and easier to pull through to Commander rank.

Tower Shield

The first one on my list is Tower Shield. Arguably the best shield in the game. You can learn this spell from Lydia Greyrose, the Ice professor. This spell takes what ever damage spell your opponent casts at you and cuts the damage taken in half. This spell is your only defense against those pesky Balance spells other than weakness. If you peek inside any high ranking duelist's Deck or side deck you will almost always see this puppy there. The reason why almost every duelist has this card? Literally, PvP is mostly about how much defense and combos you have. So for 0 pips and 50% resist technically this is a good deal to just shell out a few training points for this card. While shelling those training points out you also get Volcanic shield, which defends against the two strongest schools in the game(base damage).

Infection

Second on my list, Infection. This is a definitely must have spell! This spell cuts all healing spells in half, which is a pretty good pip saver and a game changer in most PvP duels. I usually use this spell after a big attack or I anticipate that my opponent is going to heal. When do you know they are going to heal? Easily, If they are down by less than half and have four pips, guess what they are thinking of doing? Satyr. You can learn Infection from Mortis the Death tree in Nightside. Always carry 3-5 infections. If you can heal and your opponent can't then you are already winning. Always anticipate that your opponent will put an infection on you to stop you from getting back your health from his attacks. For me, I carry sprites in my side deck, sometimes I don't need them because my pet has spritely and Piggly usually takes them off for me, but when he's lazy I'll take it off my self with Cleanse or Sprite.

Reshuffle
Ah, reshuffle. One of the most saved cards in your hand. You can learn reshuffle from Mildred Farseer(correct me if I'm wrong). This card is like the Holy Grail, at least to me it is. As an Ice wizard I am used to long battles, where I sometimes run out of cards. Reshuffle does what its name implies. It reshuffles all the cards that you have used or discarded, even treasure cards! Don't be afraid to get this card, it's pip cost is worth every penny. You can also buy this card from the Library, but it costs 1,100g each. I always use this card when I know I ran out of a specific card that I need. I always count how many cards I have used or discarded. It is very important to know how much of one card you have because if your opponent is storm and you are down to your last storm shield then you're in trouble. I also use this card when I'm between to range of 17-29 cards left, no more no less. You never want to use this card when you have no other card left. That makes you an easy target for your opponent since you have no defense or offense to change his/her combo or movement. Never discard your Reshuffle!

Conviction

One of the most recent cards added to the game, Conviction. You can learn this spell Diego the Duel Master if you have a training point and at least a rank of Sergeant. This by far is the most complicated spell I've seen and the most troublesome. This spell by far is the best defense against Criticals and Stuns. This spell is also a must have for the modern duelist. At anytime your opponent could either stun you or cast a spell that might go critical. The best time to use this spell is after the 2nd round. Why? Well, after the second round that is when most of the attacks and stuns happen. This is a game changer! The only problem I see with this spell is that if a player has 140+ crit rate and he puts a Vengeance up(+20%-+25% crit rate) Then Conviction is almost useless. I think that KI should make it so it's +50% block, +90 is just about 18% block. Add that to your gear block and it's 21% block. While players with high crit rate and vengeance run around with 50% crit rate.

Optional Spells that you can train
Note: These spells can make the trip to Commander/Warlord easier but are not necessary.
Life Dispel
Sprite
Satyr
Cloak
Gargantuan
Vengeance
Fortify
Storm dispel
Stun block

Monday, February 21, 2011

Ok, now let's start officially.

Hi everyone!

You all know me as SirWinterbreeze from Twitter or Wizard101Central, or as Angel Winterbreeze in-game :). Might as well tell you a little about myself. First off, boredom is not my thing. I love to lighten up the mood on things when they get too serious or quiet. I'm very random, but I can also hold a conversation if I have some krazy glue or some duck tape. I like to PvP, craft, feed my Piggly and my other failed hatches locked away in my lab, sshhhh. If I randomly port to you do not panic, I am just there to make sure you are having a good time playing :) or I am under the influence of boredom and I'm trying to get rid of it. So, that basically sums me up, other than I love my Piggly and I'm the in the Protect the Piggles and Ninjas Organization (PPNO). So, catch you later guys!

Warning!