Wizard101
Ravenwood News

Impromptu Class Picture
Thank you to those of us who joined us for a quick class picture. You can see the picture we took by going to the Wizard101 homepage and watching the slideshow all the way through. Look for more spontaneous events like this in the future!

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Wizard101 Downtime

Wizard101 the game will be offline starting at 3am Central US time, January 30th. Downtime will be approximately 45 minutes. You will not be able to log in to Wizard101 while the game is offline.

During this time, the Wizard101 website may also be offline. Thank you for your patience and understanding, and we apologize for interrupting your studies.

You and Your Pet
A question for all our young Wizards who love their pets:
What cool new things would you like to do with your pets in Wizard101?
Please reply to this post and let us know!

Attention Ravenwood Students!
A letter from Cyrus Drake

We are excited about our recently launched PvP Arena system and I hope that you are enjoying testing your spell wielding prowess against other Wizard Students. I am happy to announce a few enhancements and tweaks we put in last night.

Ranked Matching Ranked matching occurs thru a formula that takes a number of factors into account. However, we noticed that there were matches that were more unbalanced than we anticipated. As such we have increased the value of a player’s level in the matching process of Ranked Player vs Player Duels. We will continue to refine the Match Making system to speed up how quickly duels start, and to make sure people are placed into appropriate level matches.

Fleeing in a PvP Duel Until last night layers who fled a ranked PvP were awarded Arena Tickets as if they lost a duel. As of now, any player that flees a Ranked PvP Duel will not earn Arena Tickets for that duel. Remember, it is possible that one of your teammates could heal you so it is in the best interest of your team for you to stay until the end of the due. In the future, fleeing a PvP match may mean you have to sit out of Ranked PvP matches for a brief period of time.

Spell Power Boost in PvP As many of you have noted, I boosted the damage of spells in PvP significantly. This was done, primarily, because our testing found that high-level duels could last a very long time, and would often result in a draw when characters ran out of cards. Based on the data we’ve collected since PvP started and the feedback that many of you felt the spells were too overpowered, we have dialed the damage back. Please let us know if you think that spells are still overpowered, underpowered or just right in PvP.

We have a few other enhancements planed for the near future, like the ability to easily switch between decks, and more powerful PvP rewards. And we’ll continue to tweak the interface and balance of PvP until we get it right!

Please keep the feedback coming. We have a great community and it is in large part from your feedback that we are able to keep improving the worlds of the Spiral.

P.S. Stay OUT of my tower, I keep finding it a mess!

James L. Nance
Professor Drake
Lead Designer, Wizard 101

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Downtime
Wizard101 the game will be unavailable starting at 3am Central US time on January 27th. The game is expected to be down for approximately 30-45 minutes.
During this downtime, catch up on your Abracadoodle!

Test Realm Temporary Shutdown
We really appreciate that all our Members enjoyed playing on our Wizard101 Test Realm!

Now that we have launched Dragonspyre and Player vs Player, we will be taking down the Test Realm, but only temporarily.

Don't worry, we'll be calling on you again to test out new features that are coming to Wizard101 soon, so watch the notifications on our website and our Sneak Peek page.

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PLAYER vs. PLAYER
Practice
Anyone can participate in a practice match. They are practice only and there is no reward for winning and no penalty for losing. Practice matches help you with your deck strategy, are lots of fun, and you can do them as much as you like!

Ranked
Right now, only Members may participate in Ranked matches. Soon, Ranked matches will be available to Free Players with a small Crowns purchase. Ranked matches count towards your ranking in the current Tournament Season.
To start a Ranked Match, simply click the “Quick Join” button from the PvP menu.


Tournament Seasons
A Tournament Season lasts between 3 and 4 months. During Ranked matches, players will be teamed up based on their level and their rank for the current season.
At the beginning of a season, the difference between players you duel against and your team may seem like a lot - their level may be much higher or lower. If there aren’t very many players that want to duel when you’re looking, you might also see some large level gaps in duels. As the season continues, you will see that less as the ranking become more sorted out as the teams and opponents adjust to the based on their rank, level and win/loss ratio.
When you’re competing in teams, the Tournament system will take into account the level, rank and win/loss ratio of ALL the participants to try to create the most even duel it can, with the players that are available at that time.
At the end of the Tournament Season, all the Rankings will be erased, the Arena Ticket items will be changed for new items and the adventure starts all over again!

Wizard101 Downtime
Wizard101 the game will be down for maintenance starting at 3am Central US time, on Saturday January 24th and lasting approximately 30-45 minutes. We need to continue these brief interruptions to ensure a problem free experience for all our players.

3rd Annual MOG Reader's Choice Awards
Massive Online Gamer's 2008 MMO Reader's Choice Awards Who will take home the gold? 2008 has come and gone. To give a fond farewell to an impressive year for everyone involved with MMOs, They're holding their 3rd annual Reader's Choice Awards ceremony! To vote for Wizard101 simply take their survey and when asked, select 'Other' and type in Wizard101.

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Marleybone Zeke
Zeke is no longer confused and is back to selling his wares for Crowns.

Thank you to those who let us know about Zeke.

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3am Downtime
I am so sorry to do this to you again, but we need to hold recess at 3am again on Friday January 23rd.

Wizard101 the game will be offline Friday January 23rd starting at 3am Central US Time and lasting approximately one hour.

During this time you will not be able to log in, and players who are already logged in will be warned that the game is going offline, and they will need to log out.

Thank you for your patience.
~Professor Greyrose

Important Message about Rings in Dragonspyre
Seems Malistaire is intent on confusing our young Wizards. He has cast a spell on the ring vendor, who has mixed up all the rings. Now none of them list that they have school specific requirements!

Merle Ambrose is working on a concoction to break this spell, and give the rings their school requirements back.

If you purchase a ring in Dragonspyre now, you won't be able to use any rings that aren't specific for your class after Ambrose casts his spell.

So, if you are planning on purchasing a ring, here are their proper school requirements:
Ivy-Wrapped Ring = Life
Signet of Superstition = Myth
Signet of the Sylph = Storm
Ring of Ice Diamonds = Ice
Burning Wheel = Fire
Seal of Obsidian = Death
Ring of Equivalence = Balance
Coiled ring of the Serpent = Any School
Ancestral Ring = Any School
Bedazzled Band = Any School

Be careful!

Back up
And we're back up.
Only a little tardy, thanks again for waiting.

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Quick Downtime
Sorry for the mid-day interruption to our players but as noted below, some players were having trouble logging in and staying logged in, so to fix that we need to do a quick reboot. Wizard101 the game will be offline starting at 6:45pm Central Time and lasting for approximately 30-45 minutes. Thank you for your understanding and patience while we make sure that all our Wizards can get in and play.

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Trouble Logging In?
If you're having trouble logging in to Wizard101 the game, please just close the login screen, and relaunch Wizard101. We're aware of some intermittent problems players are having logging in, so if you see a strange error message just quit the login application and restart it. Thank you!

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Dragonspyre and PvP Update
Everyone, I'm very proud to announce that we have opened up the new world of Dragonspyre on the LIVE Wizard101 game. At the same time we added our new Player vs Player dynamic and lots of other goodies.

  Now about Dragonspyre, those of you who have received the Spiral Key for Dragonspyre from Merle Ambrose, will need to speak to him again for further instructions. From there, you will have a fun little adventure and in no time you will find yourselves looking at page 2 of the spiral chamber door menu.

  A word about the Player vs Player. After testing the wagering system for Wizard101's Player vs Player tournament feature, we have decided that wagering will not transfer from the Test Realm to the live game. Therefore, there is no need to implement parental controls for this system. Members will be able to gain Arena Tickets and buy lots of great gear. Free to Play and Access Pass Players can use our Practice Arenas to build their tactics.

For more information see our Player vs Player Guide.

In other news there are lots of little changes to our worlds.

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  New Starter Wand!
Say farewell to Felix Navidad, but as a final present, he has granted new spells to everyone’s starter wands, and has placed that wand in the Wizard City wand shop for those who no longer have their starter wand.

This is a ONE PIP wand, that includes spells from all schools except your main school of focus. This way you can see what other schools are like and what their strengths and weaknesses are by using the spells on this wand.

Here is an example of the Ice School starter wand. Once new players have completed Unicorn way, they will receive a zero pip wand for their school of focus.

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New Character Page
  The character page now shows your Crowns balance and Arena Tickets, plus your stats, badges, and PvP rankings in a new layout.

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  New Mini-Game - Dueling Diego! Check it out for yourselves in any Mini-Game area, or for a sneak peek, check out our Player's Guide.

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Some small details:

1. The "Mander Savior Badge" can now be obtained by completing Tomb of the Beguiler. Players will not need to redo this quest to receive the badge.
2. Heckhound spell has a new attack, and also has its fiery breath back, thanks to a lozenge concocted by Falmea.
3. Balance Schools’ Power Play now accurately affects your pips.
4. The % symbol now appears beside the resist stats in your character page.
5. Wizards will now hear the pitter patter of their little feet as they adventure through the Spiral.
6. Spells have been added to existing Jack Frost and Santa's Little Helper pets.
7. Treasure cards slots have been added to the Deck of Self Examination.
8. Character selection screen locations should accurately reflect the last area your character was located when you logged off.
9. Players who have been defeated in a team duel will no longer gain pips while they are in a defeated state.
10. Those of you who were previously unable to enter the North Clock Tower in Newgate Prison to complete the 'Stop that Cat' quest, will now find they can enter the tower.
11. You can now trade Treasure Cards while you are in combat, but you won't be able to use them until the duel is over.
12. A chat submenu has been added to the Menu Chat system to allow players to communicate about Player vs. Player.
13. Prospector Zeke can be found in Dragonspyre, look for him for his quest, but he doesn't have any Crowns items to sell you yet.
14. The Earn Crowns button can now be found in your Friends Panel. Remember if your friend is already playing Wizard101, you don't need to invite them.

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See you in Dragonspyre, my precious little snowflakes!
~Professor Greyrose

Gaming Families
Are you a family that loves playing Wizard101 together?

Take the Family Challenge and tell your story at Get Game Smart.

Message from Mr. Lincoln
Hello Students!

I'd like to take a moment and offer a friendly reminder that ALL chat is monitored and every report of misconduct is thoroughly investigated.

The faculty at Ravenwood has made allowances in the chat filter to offer a measure of open communication between wizards, and we believe that Ravenwood students are quite capable of using the chat system appropriately.

Please note, however, that any attempt to circumvent the filter or engage in improper dialogue can result in the loss of filtered chat privileges or full suspension from school (this includes exchanging of personal information, harassment of other wizards or other inappropriate dialogue*).

Also, those students that choose to harass other players by issuing false reports will be dealt with directly as well.

Wizard101 is a game for all to enjoy and you doing your part to keep Wizard City and all the other worlds a wizard-friendly place is sincerely appreciated by the faculty and fellow wizards!

Thank you for your time students! Back to your studies!

* Refer to our Terms of Use for further details.

Test Realm Re-start
And again at 2pm Central time, same day. Down time is expected to be approximately 45 minutes or less.
Thank you for your patience.

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Test Realm Re-start
We will be restarting the Wizard101 Test Realm at 12:00 noon Central time, today, January 14th 2009. The downtime will last approximately 45 minutes but I will post here if it's expected to last longer than that. Apologies for the interruption in your playtime.

Maintenance has Finished
We experienced some technical difficulties that extended the maintenance timeframe to approximately 4:45am Central Time. I apologize for any inconvenience to our players.

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3am Recess - Tuesday January 13th
It's time to clean up some dust bunnies from Ravenwood School of Magical Arts. (gosh it gets dusty!)

BOTH Wizard101 the game and Wizard101.com the website will be going offline for maintenance at 3am Central Time, Tuesday January 13th.

The website will only be down for 15-20 minutes, however the game will be down for approximately an hour. During this time you will not be able to log in to the game, or visit the website.

No additions or changes are being made to the game during this maintenance.

Thank you for your patience, and see you in Wizard City!

Wagering Gold in Wizard101
After testing the wagering system for Wizard101's Player vs Player Tournament feature, we have decided that the ability to wager gold in PvP duels will not transfer from the Test Realm to the Live game. There is no need to implement parental controls for this system, since we have eliminated the gold wagering in PvP duels.

Thank you for your feedback, and see you in the Arena soon!

Dragonspyre Launches on the Wizard101 Test Realm!
For our Members who have completed MooShu and received the Dragonspyre Key, you are invited to preview the newly released world of Dragonspyre on our Test Realm!

You've been waiting for this, now the challenge awaits you...through the Spiral Chamber door. Merle has your quest.

Please remember this is a Test Realm. Not everything is in place yet, and anything you do here will not affect your live characters.

For more information about who can play on the Test Realm, and how to access it, please visit our Sneak Peek Page.

See you in Dragonspyre!

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Do you want to Play Wizard101 on a Mac?
Click here to Vote to Make Wizard101 Mac Friendly!!

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Update
Website maintenance is over, everything is back up and running!

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Website Maintenance
Just a quick note that the Wizard101.com website, and the Wizard101 game login ability will be offline January 9th starting at noon central US time, and lasting approximately 20 minutes.

If you visit the website during that time you will see an error message, but don't despair, we'll be back up and running quickly.

If you try to log in to Wizard101 during this time, you may not be able to access the game.

This should not affect players who are already playing in Wizard101.

Thank you for understanding!

Looking for Moms that play Wizard101
Moms out there that play Wizard101, we want to hear from you!

If you are a Mom who is new to gaming, and plays lots of Wizard101 with your family, we'd like to hear from you.

Please contact us at community@wizard101.com as soon as possible.

Poll
After talking to both younger and more wizened Wizards, I wondered whether they prefer to play with players their own age, so I thought I'd ask! There's a new poll up on the Headmaster's Tower, so click here and vote!

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Brief Late Night Recess
Once again, we're polishing up the brass and making sure everything is in tip top shape for our young Wizards. The Wizard101 game will be offline starting at 3am Central US time on Wednesday January 07 2009. Our downtime should last approximately 30 minutes.

This is only a maintenance and nothing new is being added to Wizard101 at this time.

Thank you for your understanding!
If you're not sure what time that is in your timezone, this site will help you.

$60 a Year Membership Promotion Ends Soon!
I just want everyone to be aware, that our $60 for one year Membership special will end 12 noon CST on January 9th 2009.

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More voting!
You can also vote for Wizard101 as Recommended Game over at mmosite!
If you love Wizard101, vote for us! MMOSite

Could Wizard101 be Game of the Year?
You decide!
MMOHub is asking fans what the best MMORPG was for 2008.
If you want to cast your vote, visit MMOHub.
Please Note: Content on the MMOHub site may not be kid friendly!

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3:21am Update: Maintenance is over and Wizard101 is back up and running. Thank you for your patience.

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Quick 3am Maintenance
We're doing a quick 3am recess on January 02, 2009.
Our servers will be down starting at 3am Central US time, and lasting approximately 30 minutes.

This is only to clean up some cobwebs, nothing new is being added to Wizard101 during this downtime.

If you're not sure what time that is in your timezone, this site will help you.

Happy New Year!
We have a new edition of the Ravenwood Bulletin up for everyone to read, with news about Dragonspyre and how to change Realms!