Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Two Years Later

Wow, it's been a while since I posted. And it'll be a while until my next post. Actually, it'll be a very long while. I decided to post today to say a proper goodbye, and to solve a few issues that may come up. Oh, and I guess I'll tell my wizard story too. Let's start with that. A little over two years ago (around November I believe), my sister (the Myrna of myramalorn.blogspot.com), introduced me to this game. At first I didn't plan on playing it a lot. The first time I did a few quests and didn't get back on for a while. But when I did return, I stayed. I zipped through Unicorn Way and Triton Avenue, then searched Wizard City top to bottom for unfinished quests. Eventually, we got crowns, and blasted our way through the temple of the sun. It was around this time that I got my first house. At this point, I didn't decorate too well, and I wasn't interested in decorating well either. To me, a good house consisted of lots of expensive items. As the days wore on, we eventually got a membership, and moved through all the worlds. By the time I had gotten to Mooshu (with Myrna close behind), we discovered the blogosphere. Starting with TFN of course. I don't remember exactly where we first heard the name, but I probably heard it while walking through the commons. I decided to check it out. For a month or so I only read TFN's posts, not bothering myself with any others. Eventually, out of boredom, I explored some of the others. Surprisingly, they too were awesome! So a bit later Myrna decided to create this blog. Like with my introduction to this game, she did most of the posting at first. Then, slowly, I began to post. Soon, I was posting more than she was, and eventually she just faded out of the blog altogether. She did make a few entrances throughout the next year, but didn't stay longer than a few days.  By the time the blog was made, I had already been playing for a year. I would have been bored, but for two things. 1. Celestia had just come out. 2. I started house decorating.

It all started when I was looking around on Central. While exploring, I came across Paige Moonshade's Grizzleheim house. Up to this point, I just threw expensive items around, but after seeing that house, I was inspired. And so my first house became the Jungle. It was a success, and immediately after finishing it, I made the Island, and then the Battlefield, and so on, and so on. And if not for housing, I would have made this post a year ago. Housing kept me with the game for a long time. I loved housing so much I made a blog about it. EDIT: My point in all of this is that anyone can decorate. I started out with pretty bad houses, you just need the right inspiration to make great houses. I've heard "Oh, I'm a bad decorator" way too many times. No, you're not a bad decorator, you just need inspiration.

But now, even housing can't keep me. I've played this game for quite a long time, and while I still love it, I feel that it's come to the point that I love the community more than the actual game. I've actually only gotten on once since my last post, to buy holiday housing items. However, I've been checking blogs almost every day. I look at the posts of all these great bloggers, and get online, only to find that I have nothing to do. Apart from the slight boredom, there's also my computer.

Many of you who are friends with me in-game know that I have (sorry, had) a dumb computer. I'd often comment on the fact by saying "Stupid Computer!" after a particularly horrible freeze up. In late November, it got so bad that the computer wouldn't even turn on half the time. I tried turning it on one morning, and by that evening it still wasn't finished loading. So, that computer has been killed, and I now have a much newer computer. However, I still probably won't get on often (if at all). So, I guess this goodbye. However, I do have a few issues to sort out.

Housing101. I think it's a great site for anyone who loves housing. Whether you're a housing pro, or a beginner, it's really helpful. I was the creator and admin of the site, but if I'm gone, I can't be anymore. Therefore, I'd like to hand over adminship to Swordroll, if he will accept it. He seems to be one of the few remaining authors of the blog that still posts, and his posts are probably some of the best written in the blogosphere.

So, thank you community, for a great two years. And remember....

Happy House Decorating!


-Malorn Ghostrider

Sunday, November 13, 2011

Oh look!

Hey! Look at that! We now have 20,000 views!

Yeah. That's about it....

The reason I haven't been posting much, is that I just haven't been online much. Whenever test realm's online, I kind of drift away for a while. Generally, it's pretty boring on live realm, because everyone's on test. So, until Zafaria hits live realm, I probably won't be posting very much.

So....

I guess this post has been a waste of your time. Hmm. How can we solve that? Oh! I've got it!

Never mind.

-Malorn

P.S. If you haven't noticed already, I've added an "Ask Malorn" tab. If you've got any housing questions, I'd be glad to answer them. I've been answering a few different wizard's questions on how to do housing tricks and whatnot for a while. I've found that some housing tricks can be pretty confusing, and I don't think any other wizards answer housing questions. So if you've got any questions, just ask!  . Happy House Decorating!

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Music Box

So, there's a ton of stuff going on in the spiral. Lets see, new card packs, new bundles, a new world. Lots of stuff. I'm not going to go into Zafaria much, because I know you've all read    (insert large number here)   posts on it already. I think it sounds pretty cool, although some of the new spells are a bit annoying. Surprisingly, I'm actually fairly satisfied with death's spell, but I think Myth's spell isn't that great, and Storm's is a little too great. But, as I hardly ever pvp anyways, this isn't that much of a problem for me. What I do like though, is the new house music! You can place the music box in a house, and change the music. But what I like most, is that you can put multiple boxes in one house. So, if you're on one side of the house, you hear one music, and on the other side you hear another. This'll really make houses a lot cooler I think. It's not just the visual stuff that matters in a house (although unfortunately, that's all pictures will show), it's also the sounds. Water, fire, plants, (and now) music can really help with the effect.


As for my houses, I currently have two finished, and one I've just started. I'll take pictures of these houses and post those soon, it's just hard finding time to log on these days.

Anyways, that's all for now, Happy House Decorating!

-Malorn

Saturday, November 5, 2011

Adventures of Malorn: Runestones and Robots

When we last left Malorn, he was sitting in a cave, being terrified by a horrible monster. He ran out of the cave, and into the hills, where he saw some mysterious runestones. As it turns out, the horrible monster wasn't so horrible, and now follows Malorn around everywhere. For most wizards, it would be impossible to get through this cave, but as it turns out, Malorn is a house decorator, and this just happens to be his house.

So....

After using his magic to break through the cave, Malorn finds himself in a lake, surrounded by runestones. They seem to be letting off a glow, what could they be used for?

Malorn decides to explore a bit.

"Hey look! A tower" Malorn shouts excitedly. Rusty stares at bug.

The fortress seems heavily stocked with weapons, as if it's preparing for an attack. Malorn assumes that this fort has been long deserted. (But if it's deserted, who lit the fire?)

Obviously Malorn didn't think that through, and continues exploring.

"From here, you can see all of the trading post's land!" Malorn tells Rusty. 
Rusty glances at the weapons, and back to the valley again. 


"Let's see what's up here, Rusty!"

"Gizmo?" 

"Wait a minute, I remember you.... 

Sure enough, the robot wasn't pleased to see Malorn either, and immediately attacked.

The robot struck quickly, before Malorn was even able to raise his wand. "76 damage?" Malorn laughed.



As it turns out, pet robots don't have a lot of health.





Wuuut indeed. But, at least Malorn was able to save the trading post from the robot and his runestones. Until next time,

Happy House Decorating!

-Malorn

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Adventures of Malorn: Trading Post


Hello Wizards! Welcome to the trading post!

We've selected the perfect spot for our new store, located in a field right between two rivers.

Here's the store itself.

We sell all sorts of things here. From swords and spears, to clothes and scuba gear. If you need anything, our shopkeeper will be happy to help!

What's over here?

It appears a new shipment of reagents has just come in. Our other mannequin should be able to sort this out. Let's keep exploring!

But let's not go this way.... It's full of dark and dangerous creatures. Like spiders, treants, frost cats, and trolls.

Plus I haven't finished it yet.

However, I have finished this part. The farming village! Let's go check it out.

But wait! Another shipment of items! What? Oh, right, I'm in the middle of a tour! Fine then, the farming village. Right.
No goat, I don't want any free samples of bamboo, but thank you anyways.

I could take a free sample of that though....

What a pleasant town.

But, there is one dark part of this town. 

A dark cave, where dwells the most horrifying creature of all time.

Rusty! AH! RUN! *runs up the mountain*

What's that?

Hmm. Well, this post is getting pretty long, and I haven't finished that part, so....
Find out next time, on the adventures of Malorn!

Monday, October 24, 2011

Teleporter Linked Houses


Teleporters. Ever since they came out, people have been using them with amazing results. One of the best parts of the teleporters are their ability to connect houses together. For most people, the houses they link together have no theme. They may link a Life House and a Krokotopian House together. While this certainly won't hurt your house's decoration, it's cooler to make the connected houses have a theme. For instance, Island Getaway and Sunken Palace. Put the teleporter at the waters edge, maybe next to some scuba gear. This gives the impression that you're actually diving into the depths, instead of just jumping on a teleporter. You could also try to match the teleporter color with the water (blue), and use a carpet trick to place it in the water. Here's a list of a bunch of other teleporter linked ideas.

Island Getaway/ Sun Palace/ Fire House
Make the entrance of the house your Island Getaway. Decorate it like a jungle house. In the secret tunnel area of the house, you could put a teleporter at the point where the boulder breaks through the floor (there's a sort of waterfall thing there). You could make this teleporter go to the secret cave where the monkey lives in the Sun Palace. This gives the impression that you jumped down the hole, and dropped into this cave. You could then have another teleporter in the cave (maybe guarded by a few tiki statues) that leads to your fire house. This could be like the entrance to a volcano.

Sun Palace/Sultan's Palace/Krok or Balance Houses
The Balance school has a lot to do with the sun. So, what you could do is put three teleporters in the three rooms marked by the suns upstairs. Since the middle sun goes outside, you could put the teleporters to the left and right of the sun.
(Picture borrowed from here)

These teleporters could link to the Sultan's Palace, Balance House, or the other desert themed houses. You could make this house a search for the hidden suns (maybe hide some treasure in each of the four houses? You could make this treasure sun themed, like a sun icon).

Other possible houses could be....

Mixing the large and small houses of a world (Wooded Cottage/Royal Playhouse)

Mixing a school theme house and a world house (Fire/Dragonspyre House, or Balance and Krokotopian House)

Making Secret Areas (Explore a lake in a house by making a teleporter to the Sunken Palace, or a volcano, or a mountain top (Teleporter from Dragon's Fjord to Ice House)).

The possibilities are endless!

Happy House Decorating!

-Malorn

Thursday, October 20, 2011

Hey look! A post!

GUESS WHAT? I'M MAKING A DECENT LENGTH POST!

Actually, of the many things happening in the spiral, me making a post isn't all that exciting. What is exciting is all the new stuff. Like....

The Nightmare Pack! Includes new housing, pets, mounts, and gear! A list of all the drops can be found here!

The Safari Pack! Includes the Hornocerous Mount (2 player mount), Cheiftain gear, a giraffe pet, and an awesome house! A tour of the house is here!

The Hawk Pack! Includes Hawkrider gear, and Hawk Mount, and Falcon Pet

And, all of these houses come with new teleporter tapestries, that take you to useful places in Wizard City (Bazaar, Arena, etc).

I also made a new central account, and entered my latest house in Better Homes and Gardens. Unfortunately, my computer is acting up, and I haven't been able to get on Wizard101 Central for a few days (an error screen pops up every time I try to go to it). While my computer does have some new issues, it's gotten rid of some older ones. For instance, my housing items aren't bright red anymore! While my computer is a bit faster now, I'll miss being able to predict the future using the loading signs that were always present. So just keep an eye out for the subjects of my many prophecies (including Dill Piggle, Blacksmith Tongs, Robe Stand, and Golden Unicorn).

I've also become the housing teacher at Shadowrider Academy! Be sure to come to opening dayon Sunday October 23rd, at 7pm Eastern Time in Ravenwood, realm Scarecrow 1.

And, the last bit of news, WE'VE REACHED 50 FOLLOWERS! WOO! No, I probably won't be holding a contest (sorry). This is mostly because in my last contest, I had issues getting the prizes to the winners (one refused to contact me in any way, so....). I will probably be holding a party of some sort. More details on that later. I'll also try to be making more posts. But, remember that a lot of my housing posts will be at Housing101.

That's all for now, so Happy House Decorating!

-Malorn