~ Getting Excited for Play2Crush ~

It was on January 25th, just last year when Todd J. Coleman announced he'd be leaving KingsIsle to pursue his own course. He had envisioned a new game, a game that will set high standards for future MMORPGs. And throughout the course of the year he's kept us updated with his progress. To the right of this paragraph you can see Coleman's "Mystery Artist" at work. 

Just the other day Coleman released the teaser site of his new game. And featured right on it is the moto of ArtCraft which you can view right here:

Where did we go wrong?

There was a time when our industry took CHANCES.
Our games didn’t have to appeal to everyone, and we didn’t judge ourselves solely on mass market success.
With amusement park games, it’s impossible to lose. With sandbox games, it’s impossible to win.
If you can’t win and you can’t lose, then. . .

What's the point of playing?

I don’t want to kill more rats, fill another experience point bar or collect another meaningless badge.
I want to play a GAME, against PLAYERS where my actions, my decisions and my SKILL will determine if I win or lose.
Allies. Enemies. Alliances. Betrayal. Risk. Conquest. To compete with THOUSANDS of other players for a chance to claim the THRONE.
Even if I lose, the experience won’t feel hollow. I don’t want another worthless trophy.

I WANT TO PLAY TO CRUSH!

With the little link right above you can sign up for the Beta stage which will be here in only 63 days. So sign up, and Play2Crush! I hope to see you there! 
 

For more information on this check out Swordroll's Blog Post and MMORPG's News Update. 

Play2Crush Beta Sign Up

            TOTAL DAYS LEFT UNTIL PLAY2CRUSH BETA: 63

In a world where game developers have been using the same format for a decade, two game developers set off to make a new game not like any other game.

Ok, enough with the cheesy prologue I made at 12:01 AM because I am so excited so let me get to the point and write the 4858 page summary on it now. Play2Crush is a new game, like it says in the title, that doesn't use the same format other games have been using for a decade. Play2Crush is made by 2 well known game developers, J Todd Coleman (Shadowbane, Wizard101, Pirate101) and Gordon Walton (Ultima Online, Star Wars: Galaxies, Star Wars: the Old Republic) who have combined. Well, I won't spoil the rest. I would read everything you can on the link down below under the group numbers for everyone on the blog has gotten accepted so far:                                        

     Jace - Group #1
     Cass - Group #2

http://www.play2crush.com/

 

Hidden Lands and Glowbug Shine

By now the majority of us, if not all know the ending words Old Cob had told us in Khrysalis. Two of those names we do not know much about, only the fact that there are giant speculations that The Broken Shores is that world floating around in the Spiral we see when going through some stormgates to other worlds in Pirate101. What about the Hidden Lands though? The only place we do not know of.

Hidden Lands

For a long time we have waited for a swamp world. We have wanted to know where Mr. Lincoln comes from, where frogs come from, what this "Out East" place the storks in Cool Ranch talk of. Well, we possibly know now, this isn't definite but this is my theory on the Hidden Lands.

Swamps are usually places were alligators and other animals lurk. Sometimes swamps are hidden by think fog so why not call a swamp themed world Hidden Lands? It just means the place is hard to get to. How it fits in with the story? Well, my guess is we come here to stop Old Cob from doing something shadow related. Maybe it is where we end him or somewhere in the middle or close to the end. It has something to do with shadow magic and we will possibly get shadow magic here.

Another idea is using the new shadow infused storm spell, Glowbug Squall, to help put this together. Just by looking at the image above we can tell this spell originates from a swamp environment and from the name of the spell. We can also see that this world is at night giving it a more mysterious and shadow look to it. What I don't understand is what the green smoke is in the picture but probably just the smoke of the world.

Conclusion

What do you all think about the new spell and the environment it casts off? Comment below "Shine bright like a diamond!" if you have read the whole post and thank you to Edward RubyRunner for letting me use this picture he took of the Glowbug Squall spell in action.

¡Hola!

     You may remember me from all the way back to the first post. Well, I'm back to cause trouble! >:D Joking about that, the real reason I am back is to just blog and what better than to blog about my favorite app right now, Celtic Heroes. I will still be doing Wizard101 and Pirate101 posts every now and then but I want to help broaden your horizons to more games but let's stop talking about that poop.

     As you all know by now if you are on Twitter my name is Cass Lifeblossom. I have 6 pirates and wizards using only 3 of my pirates, Cass Underwood, a max level swashbuckler; Ryan Underwood, a witchdoctor in Cool Ranch, and my musketeer that just started his way into Valencia. On Wizard101 I use my main, Cass Lifeblossom, an Exalted Theurgist and Kyle, a Grandmaster Pyromancer in Celestia.

    Whelp, byez I guess. I got nothing else to talk about. Be prepared for the first blog post of many for Celtic Heroes next weekend. If you finished reading comment: I have a pet monkey named Robert.

~ My Boring Weekend (Reflection) ~

 So as this weekend comes to a close I'm looking back at it with annoyance. I wasn't really productive at all and I completely forgot about this catering event that I wanted to do. So yea. I wanted to write something today so I decided to write out this short blog post. 

 Basically right now I'm listening to some music with a million things on my mind of things that I WOULD like to do but can't. While also waiting for this cool MOBA game Smite to finish updating. Once it does I think I'm going to try to get Nox or Nyx depending on how you've heard the name. She's a brand new character in the game and she seems really cool. 

Anyways, aside from barely being productive I did write out a new blog post and brought two new members to the blog. So far Chase has written out his post and Cass should have his done soon (hopefully). I also updated the blog's header for November and there should be a new background up soon. (Again), Anyways. What did you guys/gals do this weekend and what are you looking forward to the most on the Test Realm?

(Ps): We're only 20 days away from the release of Pokemon OR/AS! :D

 ~ With the Test Realm for Wizard101's Fall Update on the horizon KingsIsle has been delivering teasers to their community. Based on what we've seen makes it sort of hard to speculate as to what is to come. So far we've seen concept art for what looks like a Shaolin "Temple", a Mooshu (Or Grizzlehiem) "Boar Boss", a "Royal Hall" of Marleybone, and a collection of pieces of what we all assume to be Darkmoor. And this post will be dedicated to deducing these teasers and hopefully gathering speculations from others. ~

 ~ We're on our last week of October and KingsIsle is spoiling us like crazy. Not only have they gifted us with these lovely Halloween Fest quests and activities but they've been quite busy with providing quite a few spoilers. Check out this latest post to learn what's Hip n' Happening in the Spiral of Wizard101. ~

A New Idea

 hroughout the years KingsIsle has created a wonderful set of games known as Wizard101 and Pirate101. Both games take place in the scenic Spiral with a unique plot, a collection of Worlds, and characters with a variety of personalities. In fact, these games have become so popular amongst many that people are begging for yet another game only two years after the release of Pirate101. I've seen threads on the Forums and other places by different authors all discussing ideas for a new game. Some which include Ninja101, Fairy101, Knights101, etc. Each idea had something different and cool about them that made even myself want KingsIsle to produce the game. And so, I've dedicated today's post towards the topic of producing a new game for the 101 series. The idea(s) you're about to see are all mine, somewhat. So. Without further ado I present to all of you. . . ~

 ~ With the release of the Five B.O.X.E.S. Event there was a lot of interesting history about where the professors of Ravenwood came from and other little details. However, I wasn't as interested in all of that once I stepped foot inside Dimwood Vale. 

Now here's the interesting thing. Dimwood Vale is very much like the Darkmoor concept art that we've seen in the past. And not only that, but inside the Cornu House there are pictures of Darkmoor hung about. And the houses in them match the same design of Cornu House's exterior.
So. After gathering a plethora of information I've decided to dedicate this next blog post to something rather important to us all. The Third Arc. and its Worlds in the making. Specifically Darkmoor.

Yes, yes. I know, Olde Cob never mentioned Darkmoor as a World he'd send his forces too upon departure from Khrysalis. But since when has there never been a surprise up KingsIsle's sleeve? ~

Did You Know?

Titled: DM_S4_TowerEntry, Drawn: by Scott Jones

 ~ Despite the little knowledge that we know of Darkmoor there is a decent amount of concept art upon which we can use to speculate. For instance, to the right of this paragraph there's a piece of Concept art that appears to showcase a Tower of some sort from Darkmoor. To see more pieces of art click here. ~

A Darker Perspective

~ Darkmoor; This World has been full of mystery and has constantly been imagined as to what it is like since we first came across it. In fact, even the Artist who drew Darkmoor had a few wild ideas on what Darkmoor should look like. If you're interested, see Swordroll's post here on the matter. Anyways. . .

As far as we're concerned it's a World  haunted by the night, and its home to dark magic which seems like the perfect setting for a being such as Olde Cob, no?

In fact, the Thunderbird from Cool Ranch even mentioned Darkmoor as being the "World of Shadows" and home to an "evil spirit from the Before Time." Which leaves me reasoning quite clear as to why we might visit Darkmoor. In fact Swordroll did a post on it. If you're interested, check it out here.

 

"He fled to the world of shadows: the skies of Darkmoor. Bill found and evil spirit from the Before Time, when there was no Spiral."

This "evil spirit from the Before Time" what could it be? It sounds a lot like Olde Cob. Perhaps in a different form because we know he was asleep. And we also know that it's possible for Greater Beings to take on different and multiple forms. The Storm Titan who sunk Celestia took on the form of a Triton. Tempus Stormfist if you remember. 

There's also a chance that it could have been Olde Cob's offspring. But regardless we know that there's some connection between Darkmoor and the Before Time. ~

What can we expect to see in Darkmoor?

 ~ Well, unless the Dworgyn's Ant Aunts found at Cornu House had moved there from Khrysalis I can say we might find lots of Ants, perhaps Moles, Scarecrows, Crows, and even Bats and/or Vampires. Plus I think we can expect Humans, and maybe Cats, specifically Black Cats. . . ~

 How Darkmoor Might Fit Into The Scheme Of Things

 

 ~ Personally I believe that Darkmoor will be the middle World, a place where we or the Antagonist (In this case Olde Cob) go to retrieve their most essential item. In this case, either we or Olde Cob will travel to Darkmoor to learn more about Shadow Magic. Or perhaps a lost weapon of Light to defeat Olde Cob. Who knows, the possibilities are endless. ~

 

Until next time. . .

 

 

That's right; Halloween is back in the Spiral! And from now until the end of October you can experience the spooky fun throughout the whole of Wizard City. And weather you're a veteran player or a new player you'll be able to participate in this Season of Death Funfest. Plus, this year there's an all new activity for you to do. FISHING! So if you're interested in hearing about some of the things in store this October click the "Read More" button. . .