TPC and PvP since WinterTusk

Once we all got our gear we were excited to jump back into PvP and play with our new spells and just see how PvP has changed since we started as a team before Celestia.  Well ... things are HORRIBLE ... take a look at these pictures

As you can see in our last 9 matches the VAST majority are against VERY low ranked players.  I have NO idea what is going on with the matchup system but its broken for sure.  There is no possible reason that 4 Warlords should be battling Privates through Knights!  Something needs to be done to address this situation.  I don't know if many are still trying for their Legendary gear, or is many just wont step into the Arena since WinterTusk came out?

It's a very sad situation for Perfect Catch for sure.

Please tell me what YOU think of these matchups!

Fun in WinterTusk

Have been having a LOT of fun in WinterTusk.  Got my Life, Fire and Balance through mostly solo.  I did have my wizzy family by my side for some of the instances that are harder to solo.  Nataniel EarthWeaver and I did manage to do the final dungeon, Nastrond with 2 Life wizards.  We didn't know it was supposed to be "hard" and managed quite nicely.  And the Brothers were kind enough to drop me a LifeForce sword on that run.  My Death is just about done -- made the poor Ice Dragon chewing the roots of the world drop a tooth -- it made me feel bad :(  Because I love Dragons of all flavors and sizes! He's just SO cute dontcha think?

Currently running my myth through, she's having a harder time as she is only level 51 as I started, and doesn't have any Grand gear but her boots.  Finishing up Austrilund now and is already halfway to level 53! Yay Mythie!

That's my death wiz up above wearing her WaterWorks (WW) gear, gotta LOVE the stats. I like the look of the robe but absolutely HATE the hat.  Looks like Cat-eye glasses from the 50's.  They HAD to go!  All of my Legendary wiz have been through WW now multiple times.  Poor Balance wiz cant get nothing :(  She's sad. Having loads of fun with the new content.  KI has been doing an awesome job with bringing us new things to do.

Until next time, have fun in the Spiral, I know I am!

Wiz .... and Friendships

Wizard101 has brought MANY amazing people into my life.  I am thankful every day that I found this game and the wonderful people that populate it.

Lady Blade, Sorceress Miklai and I all met at the Tri~Harvest Festival that Mercs for Hire sponsored in April of 2010.  I look back on that day now and am always SO thankful that I attended.  The 3 of us form the Unholy Trio and are closer than real family at this point. I actually talk more to my wiz sisters than I do my far-flung family!  We are on Skype most nights, instant messaging if we aren't voice chatting.  I also met Mi Tio, Alric RavenSinger there.  He loves to get into our Skype convos too -- but us females outnumber him!  Lady Blade is a sister of my heart for sure.  All too generous for her own good and has a heart bigger than God should allow!  She has been a shoulder to lean on in times of trouble, and is a master at making me laugh!  Sorceress Miklai, the other sister of my heart.  In many ways were are twins, born of different parents.  SO many many things in common, is not fair to others but we finish each others thoughts and think the same way.  I love my "Wizard" family as much as I love my IRL family.

Alric introduced me to Kevin BattleBlood one night -- someone was farming the Ravens (I don't remember who at this point) -- so Alric Kevin, Sorceress Mikali and I farmed them for hours that time.  That was the start of ANOTHER wonderful friendship.  It took longer for Kevin and I to hit it off, in many ways we are radically different, but have enough in common to bridge the gaps.  PvP is of course one of those things ;)

One of my bestest friends of course is Nathaniel EarthWeaver.  We started hanging out after I became a Merc, but he has been a staunch friend thru thick and thin.  He is actually the one who showed me how much fun PvP could be, and for that I thank him (even though he no longer likes PvP).  He isn't on as much as he used to be, but its all good.

Fallon DeathSlinger -- the warrior with a heart of gold.  Always ready to lend an ear -- or lay some tempests down to cool me off when things may not go well.  Glad I met you lady!

Ronan Dawn -- clown at heart, but has one of canniest minds I have met.  Has a wonderful insight in game mechanics AND life mechanics.

Scarzstripes aka "Missy" -- daughter of my heart, wonderful person and all around do-gooder.  Keep your chin up chica! Know we miss you!


Angel WinterBreeze (aka Sir WinterBreeze) has also turned into a very good friend.  I may not "hang" around as much with him, but it's always a good time when we are together.  I refer to him as my big brother, so Alric would quit teasing him quite so much.  He is an ice wizard, with a heart of fire ;)

Cassandra HexThorn -- what can I say but she is a "sister" in "name" for sure!  Hexy is one of kind and I am glad I met her and my circle of friends expanded once again.

John LifeGlen -- a gentlemen who shares the same home state with me.  At one point we were at odds, but no longer.  He is a gentlemen for sure, he inquires how I am doing and does his best to cheer me up when things aren't going so well.  He was kind enough to gift a Tawny Ram when I was at a low point emotionally shortly after WinterTusk came out.  Another person I am glad to have met.

Icy Wiz -- her Royal Iciness has helped me quite a bit from the day I met her.  Willing to lend an ear, and help in any way she can.  Truly Royalty in every sense of the word.

StephenSpiritCaller -- the necro with a sense of humor, and a heart large enough to hold all the fans of Ravenwood Radio.  He is a wonderful person and all around good guy.  He proves that men in black can still be heroes.

I am fortunate to name these people among my friends.  Take the time to think of YOUR friends, and what they mean to you.  Let them know, so they can see the joy you have in your relationships with them.

Update on Me -- and all my wiz

This is a difficult post to write, need to figure out how to say what I need to say without causing a ripple effect.

I have always been a very private person and sometimes it can lead to issues among my friends and colleagues. If what you are feeling is NOT shared how can they know that something is bothering you? How can they know that something in your past is influencing you at this moment? How can they know what you are going through that might be affecting other aspects of your life? One way they can know is to ask ... and therein lies the heart of my post.

I have retired from Mercenaries for Hire, not gone inactive -- resigned, retired, quit how ever you might want to put it.  When members decide to deride others and "take them to task" for not living up to THAT person's expectations in a very public way I have an issue with that.  Most especially when the person is NOT "leader" of the group.  There are many ways to communicate with others, from private messages,  to in game whispers and meet-ups.  Due to this very public backlash I retired from M4H.

No one -- except my very closest friends -- know what I am dealing with in my life at this moment.  But I will say it is a MAJOR issue and has affected my attitude and mood.  I have not wanted to deal with other peoples minor problems while I work on my own major issues.  That is the long and short of it.

I enjoyed my time in M4H, but it was no longer where I needed to be.  I need to help myself right now, and not so many others.  I will still be around to help, just not in an official capacity.

Myth finished BBT

My Wizzy family and I just finished BriskBreeze Tower!  We had a blast doing it too!

If you look closely at this picture you can see a piggie belly behind me -- Olivia's pig decided to hide behind me -- picture shy I guess.

PvP Mentor??

It's been a few weeks since I have written anything on my blog -- what can I say but I have been busy? and please forgive me??

Busy with PvP of course, among MANY other things.  Perfect Catch is doing well in the Arena :D  We win many more than we lose.  Part of the "secret" to a "Perfect" team is trust.  If you don't trust your teammates your team WILL fail, whether it be in the short-term or the long-term. There is NO blaming, no finger pointing for our losses and no hogging of credit for our wins. Each of us brings something different to the team.  Ronan has a life wizard, but that doesnt mean he plays Life like I do -- or that I would play my balance like he does.  We are NOT cookie cutter players but rather a TEAM of individuals that thinks as one pretty much of the time.  Our wizard schools are NOT interchangeable as the PERSON behind the wizard defines how they play.

Kevin BattleBlood has been recording all of our matches and posting them to his YouTube page, and I do mean both wins AND losses.  We aren't afraid to show our losses.  Each of those losses is a learning opportunity. We have faced many "stacked" teams.  By this we mean either there are multiple wizards of the same school OR multiple BLADES stacked upon one wizard.  We have faced up to 5 blades on one Ice wizard PLUS a balefrost bubble.  Something doesn't seem quite right when you can be hit for 4900 damage WITHOUT CRITICAL on one hit :/  It's not like we are bosses and need to be killed in a single hit, we are NOT Angrus or Orrick of BriskBreeze Tower! I don't spawn minions that hit with 10k meteors.  Due to these teams we have been playing with our deck design -- little change there for Fallon, little change here for me, a tweak for Ronan and a little extra something for Kevin too ;)  Our decks are not static and have not been for quite some time. Kevin LOVES when Ronan can "Bronate" (donate) pips to him.  We are winning from second -- we outlast the competition, its what we do and who we are.  The best Offense is a good Defense as Kevin says. 

With Perfect Catch I have managed to become an "Overlord" (over 1000 rank) and keep that ranking now.  I have over 1000 Arena tickets and nothing I want to spend them on, I will just keep them until -- hopefully -- Warlord gear comes out, something with some critical block please!  We all do carry the Life Force sword and conviction, but they only provide so much block ;)  I had crafted the Everlasting Thunder cap for use in the Arena, but was NOT getting any more criticals with it than I was when wearing Arena gear.  So I have switched back to full Arena Gear as the resist allows me to live longer.

Fallon hit Warlord and then OverLord within the few weeks!  Woot Woot!  We have had a LOT of fun getting us all to Warlord status.  Our current ranking ranges from high 1300's to the 1000 -- not too shabby if I do say so myself!

But I think I should get onto the title of the post -- PvP Mentor?? ME??

As you know I was doing some PvP with my Wizzy Family -- Sorceress Miklai (Sabrina FrostShard), Lady Blade (Autumn FireBlade) and mi Tio Alric RavenSinger.  Sorceress Miklai and I did some one on one "training" for her at my Massive Fantasy Palace.  She had only stepped into the Arena a few times and did NOT like how others treated her.  She had some Trolls -- both on her opponents team AND on her own!  BUT she did tell me she was doing Quick Join ranked 4v4 which makes a BIG difference.  I would sooner cut off my wand hand than do a Quick Join teamed match!

Lady Blade went another training route -- the Wizzy Family did some practice and ranked 4v4 as ehr training.  I think 1v1 is  MUCH better way to get a feel for your deck though!  Need to get Ms. Blade into my MFP and tweak things a bit!

One of my fellow Mercs, Joshua WyrmWraith also asked for some "training" - which I was happy to help with a couple of months ago.  He has been in and out of the Arena since then  he got as high as Commander (and bought his Bronze Helephant pet) and then stepped away for a bit.

Since these trainees I have had a couple of more people approach me for help in getting ready for PvP.  I have to wonder, Why ME??  Autumn DuskHunter (of Homework in a Graveyard) and RavenWood Radio's own Christina IceDreamer have both approached me for help getting ready to step into the Arena.  Her Royal Iciness and I went a few rounds in my MFP and I gave her a few tips on her deck set up.  Cant wait to see how she does in the Arena!

As for Autumn, we are having a difficult time getting together.  She is working some odd hours and with me on a M-F work schedule its making it hard to get in some training time.  Never fear - We WILL get work together somehow, some way!