Decisions?

As you can obviously tell, I've been posting less. This is due simply to the fact that my Real Life is taking over. And although it's making me very sad to think about it, there's going to be a lot of decisions I'm going to making pretty soon (as in the coming school year).

It's summer, and my whole Real Life is just taking off. I've been busy with a lot of band stuff. My band is really prominent in the area where I live, as is punk rock music (which we play). We played just last night at a huge venue that I'd LOVE to mention because if you know music, you'd know the venue. And then you'd think I'm cool. But I can't, because it would give away my top secret location. Anyway, it's really taking off for us (with a second CD in the process of being recorded and mixed), and we're pretty much getting shows left and right, and the demand for writing more and more songs is getting higher. On top of that, I've been semi-forced to set up a blog for the band/myself that has nothing to do with Wizard101, as well as a Twitter account. It's all for the goal of getting better connections in my area, which is very important.

So my band is taking up a huge amount of my time, and I'm happy! However, it's going to be more and more time consuming as the year progresses. But I'm worried that more things (like, oh, I dunno... SCHOOLWORK) is going to take up even more time. As you might know because I've blogged it before, I'm going to a private school next year. It's not that geeky of a school, actually, but the workload is going to be much more than I am used to. I'm going to need to really be on top of it... which brings me to decisions.

As I'm sure you all know, guys, I really don't want to quit this blog. And I don't want to quit WandCast either. But I think I'm going to have to pick one or do one more than the other.

Here is what I'm thinking right now: I think that I should semi-leave the blog, give it mostly to David, but have him let me post whenever I can without feeling completely obliged. I love WandCast just as much as Wizard 101 Info, and I think that I'm a vital part in making it the show that it is. I think it makes sense also to lean more heavily on WandCast because I'm a huge technical part of it. Anyway, whatever I decide to do, I can promise you that I'm still going to be an active community member whether it's blogging or podcasting, or a little bit of both.

Well? Let me know what you think of my idea to cut down on the blog a bit/ a lot and roll with the WandCast.

Thank you very much, guys.

Keep on Casting,
D. MoonCatcher

This idea definitely came from a Storm Wizard.

To start this off, I'd like to sincerely apologize to Stephen and Leesha of Ravenwood Radio. I was a little shocked last night when Ravenwood Radio yet again received triple digit amounts of listeners. I felt bitter that Ravenwood Radio received 125 listeners, and WandCast only gets 25. Apart from that, there's been  few controversies between me and the Ravenwood Radio cast and crew and me. I'd like to again wholeheartedly say, "I'm sorry."

All right, on a lighter note, I had a "Eureka Moment" last night as I was going to bed. It was semi-inspired by Friendly's epic "Theorycrafting" segment on Ravenwood Radio. Allow me to explain it to you guys.

Is everyone clear on what an Aura is? They are more commonly known as "bubbles", "circles", and other things like that. Here is an example of an Aura card, Darkwind.

Auras are very useful in that they affect everyone on your team as long as they are up. They're not so useful in that they affect everyone on your opponents team. Many Wizards have mixed feelings about Auras for this precise reason; if you put up a Darkwind, it's going to give a +25% Storm Damage to all the Storm Damage spells that are cast by ANYONE in your duel circle. For example, if you cast a Storm Shark (a Storm Damage spell) with this Aura up, it's going to add 25% of that Storm Shark's damage to the damage that the Storm Shark actually does. If your enemy does the same, however, the boost from the Aura will still occur! 

Self Auras! You hear me right, folks! Little bubbles on only your character that affect ONLY you when it comes to damage being outputted. In affect, a mini-Darkwind. Auras are useful in that you don't need to use blades, you can just go on and attack like normal! But when you do, you remember, "Hey, there's an Aura up!" And you do more damage. It allows you to wear the wand of your school, and yet still be able to functionally remove de-buffs like Weakness and Black Mantle. 

Let me know if you like my idea. 

Keep on Casting, 

D. MoonCatcher

KingsIsle Hits Home-Run with the Addictive Mega Snack Pack

I haven't even used one of these new packs on my pet yet, and I already know I'm going to have to buy one. JUST one pack...

That's what I'll be saying when I've got Lord Zeus to Epic off of Mega Snack Packs. *sigh*

Let me tell you, KingsIsle was really smart as a business with this one. They make the system to level your pet incredibly slow, and then just when the community is screaming for a solution, they release a (for lack of a better word) cheat that lets you level your pet with incredible ease. Really smart on their part. Especially since these things cost 5 bucks a pop.

Anyway, that's just my take on the Mega Snack Pack. I'll be getting some Crowns pretty soon and Lord Zeus is going to get to Ancient... Hey, maybe if I spend 10 more bucks I'll get Lord Zeus to Epic... Then again, that's exactly what KingsIsle wants me to think...

Before I sign off, let me apologize for not being around to post for about 3 days. My weekend has been incredibly busy. This is my last full week of school, and then I have 3 days until summer. My school's out on the 16th, so I'll be coming to that Ravenwood Radio episode :) Stephen knows how excited I am, don't you, Steve? Maybe little Dustin can do a segment on all the awesome stuff we might get during this summer because I'm SO EXCITED!?!? Just kidding...

Keep on Casting,
D. MoonCatcher

An Eventful Evening

A few days ago came with a totally insane evening in the Spiral!

First, I attended the (16th page, I think) comic shoot for the MistBlood Comic, which was created by Kevin BattleBlood. Great stuff! I can't wait to see myself in print getting mobbed by a bunch of jumping skeletons. That's just a sneak peak into the next page of MistBlood! Here's a picture of the cast and crew posing in a really ingenious space for a great screenshot (click to enlarge)-

Does anybody recognize the person who is 1 in after Heather EmeraldFlame who is the person all the way to the left? Anybody who WASN'T at the shoot, dare I ask? I didn't think so... It's none other than my very own little sister, Haley MoonCatcher, who is now a Wizard 101 Blogger herself!

Yes, folks, it's true! A few days ago I helped Haley create her own blog off of this Blogger account (not to mention more importantly I added/updated the widgets on the right hand side of this blog ;-)) Haley's new blog is called The Legend of Haley MoonCatcher. Who wants to check it out? Click here! I actually think that she is going to post occasionally, so it might not hurt to add her blog to your blogroll's as well. Here's another shot of Haley that she took herself (click to enlarge)-

I hope to see her get more powerful as she has just entered the realm of Krokotopia due to the help of a Mr. DavidTitanRider who was rather reluctant to participate in the comic shooting for MistBlood (I put it small because he might kill me!). 

Anyway, thanks David for helping the lil' sis! 

Also, time had come to re-think my outfit for the Ravenwood Ball (which is on Saturday 5/29; be there or be square). I know, I know, the pink was flashy and "neat-o!" worthy, but staring at it just REALLY got to me. Really bad. Here's my new outfit for the Ball (click to enlarge)-

Speaking of the Ball, I'm so excited for it! Not only is it going to be awesome to hang out with all of the coolest Wizards in the Spiral, but Stephen and Leesha of Ravenwood Radio are going to be broadcasting some "red carpet commentary" during the event! w00t! 

See you at the Ball!

Keep on Casting,

D. MoonCatcher

Ravenwood Radio 14 & What I've Been Up To

How's it going, everyone? I'm listening currently to Ravenwood Radio 14 as I post this, so I think I'm gonna have fun and critique it a bit. But first, I know, you guys really wanna hear what I've got to say about Ravenwood Radio, I wanna just let everyone know what I've been up to lately...

Okay, oops! I've got ONE more thing to go before my little update and my critiquing Ravenwood Radio. David's poster pictures! I know, this one has taken a WHILE for us to get cracking on... Here's the pics; I took them myself, and I think they're pretty nice...

I think that they might go off the page here on this post, but I hope that the large size will work okay when you put them into a photo editor or whatever that it'll look okay. If the pictures don't have very good resolution, or you'd just like a "fresh" copy, email me at wizard101stuff@gmail.com and I'll send one right away for you.

Onto what I've been doing lately! Interesting, isn't it?
Today, I went Ruffian killing on Michael RainHeart. I must say, ever since playing a Life Wizard, I've realized it's very good that I've played Storm before Life. The kill-ability of Storm makes playing a Life Wizard even MORE of a breeze in these solo mob fights. People who are saying that Life has got low damage- what the heckhound? It isn't hard to get high damage on a Theurgist. You've got so much health that you can blade away while the mobs hack at your health. Then, when you feel like it, you kill.
Fun, right? Here's some "screenies" (quote Autumn DuskHunter):

I thought that this shot was pretty funny. Michael is soooo pompous, you know (like the new hat?). As soon as he captures his last Rat (Lord Penny :)), he decides to humiliate the rates of Marleybone further by standing around them and waving his new badge in their face. 

Woot! Mooooore rat-killing! Now onto Dustin... I've been questing in Grizzleheim a bit... Well, I was until disappointment just got to big. Here's my quest-

*sigh* However, those pesky little "Collect" quests make me crazy, and when I failed on my 1st try to collect and, I kind of just wandered away, wallowing in self-pity. 

Just look at that ridiculous Quest Helper down there, tormenting me with the fact that I haven't collected any of the Feathers yet... Speaking of annoying, let's look at the main quest-giver in Grizzleheim-

It's crazy, as I soon as I finish one quest in there, Hrafn goes ahead and gives me another one. And what does he do for the hours when I'm not online? EH? It's not like he hasn't got times on his hands... Annnnyway, I found a pretty cool place for Ice Wizards to take pictures for their Student Elections Poster, or just a profile picture or something. Here, check it out-

It's in an ice tunnel in Ravenscar. Here is the location on the Map-

Does everyone see the little green arrow on the Map? Cool.

Now time for Critic MoonCatcher to give a little chat.

Overall, great Ravenwood Radio episode, Stephen & Leesha. Really great. 

I love the new segment called Study Hall, what a funny name... Giving a specialized segment for every School on every episode is an excellent idea, which SpiralCast has also been doing. Great podcast! However, regarding that segment, I think that it is a little bit... unfair... that people who aren't adults-

*ahem*

-can't be on the segment. Many of the great bloggers in the Wizard 101 Community are not adults. I'm not an adult, and I would love to be in Study Hall. I think that me all deserve an explanatory reason for why kids can't be on the show if they podcast themselves. Are you guys worried about parental controls or things like that? Also, why did Steve not even mention WandCast at all? He was there at the live show, you know? And we mention Ravenwood Radio all the time on WandCast... Whatever. Sorry to wine to all of you ;-) 

Anyway, Happy Earth Day!

Keep on Casting,

Dustin