Glad to see you're back! Hope your holidays were good.
I've thought up some more questions for you if you're willing to answer some. I thought up a lot so I don't blame you if you want to skip.
1.) Why was Morganthe so frequently considered to be a threat to the entire Spiral when we were able to defeat her? It's been made apparent that the Big Three are GREATLY above our level of power, so wouldn't she still have been defeated by them if she managed to defeat us?
2.) How was Malistaire able to steal the Eye of History from Bartleby despite the Old Tree's gigantic power? Is it safe to say Bartleby willingly allowed it to happen or is there something we're missing?
3.) We all know that DragonSpyre had their own school trees for themselves. We also know that the Fire tree was spared due to their relation towards the Dragon Titan, but there's another tree that seems to have been ignored as well, and it doesn't have a name. It bears a strikingly similar appearance to Mortis. What can you tell us about that, if anything?
4.) What was it that sent Malistaire "spinning off into the void" back at Xibalba? He seems to think it's us, but there wasn't anything to imply that was the case back when it happened.
5.) Why didn't Grandfather Spider help us combat Morganthe in the same way he helped us combat her minions? On a similar note, did Morganthe know he was helping us, and who he was, to begin with?
6.)Lastly, should the Aethyr Titan be considered weaker or stronger than the Storm Titan proper?
1) Just because the Wizard could conceivably defeat her didn't mean that Morganthe wasn't a threat to the whole Spiral. Remember, it was only the escape of Old Cob that really escalated things up to a cosmic level, and that was the wizard's doing, if you recall. And, Cob even calls you "Ccild of Light, Child of Shadow" before you take Morganthe on in the final battle - he could sense your potential as the Paradox.
2) Your theory has merit, though as you point out there could indeed be something else going on. I have it on good authority that Bartleby sometimes takes very long naps...
3) Funny you should bring up the Dragonspyre Trees. There's a lot to be revealed about them, isn't there?
4) Sadly, I think he was just standing in the wrong place at the wrong time. The ground couldn't stand all the power that was thrumming through him.
5) Spider (then known only as Cob) was still recovering from his confinement - he wasn't up to his full strength. Morganthe was a very powerful foe, and he opted for discretion - he said himself he was afraid of what Morganthe could steal his power if she tried. Besides, he had a Wizard to do the work for him.
As to what Morganthe did or didn't know about Spider, she certainly knew he existed, and I expect she knew he was bound up deep under her fortress - it's why the shadow mojo was so strong there, and why the Spider Magi set up shop in that spot. She never knew you'd freed Cob, or she would have taken a shot at him.
6) I'd say stronger - the Aethyr really boosted his power.
Well since this thread is still open I’ll ask another.
What is your perception of Merle Ambrose? Clearly according to his lore he is based off of Merlin - King Arthur’s mentor, The Headmaster part is Dumbledore based, so combining those two mythological characters, we got a pretty old, powerful, and wise wizard here.
Would you say he is secretly more powerful than he lets on? It would seem he has been studying magical arts for quite a long time. Does he have the capability to use other magic we have never heard of? Could he polymorph into a thunderbird? If he was still spry could he of killed that Storm Titian? I know we got to see a little in the Reverie, but that was just Mellori’s perception of a dream she was having. It is nice to keep guessing what he is truly capable of, but eventually it would be really cool to see him crack a mountain in half or something. I know he does not have the answer to everything, but it looks like among the folks in the arcanum, he would be the chief scholar.
Also was picking his school your idea, or was that who designed the duel? I would of made his school symbol this .
If you haven’t been able to tell ol Merly is my favorite character by far!
I love Merle - one of my favorite parts of the story so far was in Khrysalis when the Council of Light appears and you see that there's more to him than the happy old grandpa headmaster. Getting to pull him out of his usual role in Empyrea 2 was a must have, and I really like how it all turned out.
I'd say there's definitely more to him than there seems to be, but i'll leave it at that for now. I think we'd be remiss if we didn't see other sides of Merle emerge in the future. He's a great way to bring gravitas and "wow!" to a moment, but he'll lose that if we go there too often.
As to everything to do with his combat, that was all the designers' doing. We worked together to come up with the basic ideas and flow (assignments, pop quizzes, etc - the school aspects), but all the specifics were their call - I don't have a head for that stuff!
You Probably won't be able to answer these... But: 1) How were the titans created? 2) If some of the cosmic rules don't apply to us, and assuming cosmic meaning well god-like, does that mean we have ascended to a power that is very dangerous to the spiral? 3) By becoming the scion of Bartleby and the divine paradox, is it possible that we actually infused Bartelby with a bit of paradox essence? 4) How was storm magic affected when we defeated the Storm Titan? Because defeating basically carnation of storm magic, made out of the titans, would have somehow affected the magic. And as many know, a small ripple in a major thing, could mean a lot very soon.
1) Raven and Spider created them 2) That's a very interesting question... 3) Neat idea, but I don't think so - he infused the Wizard more than vice versa. 4) Again, a cool idea, and one that might merit some exploration. I'd love to say that all Storm spells got affected in weird ways, but Design and Programming would do me in! Still, a story-based, indirect effect would be a cool plot thread going forward...
And with that, I need to withdraw back into the Reverie and start spinning new dreams and fancies. I won't vanish altogether, but I'll be less chatty in the immediate future. We will talk again, and I look forward to what 2019 will bring to the Spiral!
I love Merle - one of my favorite parts of the story so far was in Khrysalis when the Council of Light appears and you see that there's more to him than the happy old grandpa headmaster. Getting to pull him out of his usual role in Empyrea 2 was a must have, and I really like how it all turned out.
I'd say there's definitely more to him than there seems to be, but i'll leave it at that for now. I think we'd be remiss if we didn't see other sides of Merle emerge in the future. He's a great way to bring gravitas and "wow!" to a moment, but he'll lose that if we go there too often.
As to everything to do with his combat, that was all the designers' doing. We worked together to come up with the basic ideas and flow (assignments, pop quizzes, etc - the school aspects), but all the specifics were their call - I don't have a head for that stuff!
Thanks for giving me another response, and let me just say it is good to hear all that!
I do hope however that we keep a certain Mr. Nigel Lambert around for a good long time, I was actually a fan of his back when he played the voice for the bird on a British cartoon of Princess and The Pea. I hope for any possible circumstances like that you may have some pre-recording/writing done. Honestly Curator, the game wouldn’t be the same if we had to change Merle’s voice.
Anyway, thank you so much for doing what you do - to you Zander, Fitzy and the rest of your team. Honestly amazing!
Hey guys, So I heard and saw the leaks of the eldritch tower and was thinking that since we defeated Morganthe in Khrysalis and she looks kind of like a witch that she might be the eldritch queen. Will Morganthe return in the new dungeon?
Also, forgot to add that is it ever a possibility that Merle dies? the reason I say this is because he has been old and his vision has been failing him, so will he possibly die and there will be a new headmaster?
Also was thinking that Malorn Ashthorn may become the new death teacher since Dworgyn is getting older
Alhazred is also getting very old and was thinking he may even replaced by Arthur Wethersfield
Lydia Greyrose is getting kinda old and I was thinking that she might be replaced by Mindy Pixiecrown.
(I almost said that Duncan Grimwater could be the death teacher, but then remembered that he turned evil.)
I'm thinking that the perfect fit for the new Headmaster if Merle Ambrose dies would be split evenly between Bat and Mellori
Secondly, When Sybil says there is nothing, it kind of struck me because it kind of sounded like Wizard101 was coming to a close soon. is Wizard going to end soon or is Sybil just saying that the 3rd Arc is finished?
Third thing is that I was thinking that since some newer people need a little more help to the game, so I was thinking that in Castle Headquarters, there could be a third person who directs you to like Wizards or Kingsisle Staff's houses to talk about certain things like,
Crafting
Gardening
Questing
PvP
etc.
And things like that, so that newer wizards who are newer to the game can talk to veteran wizards instead of trying to go on here and look for it. the veteran wizards could also give them tips on how to quest faster and that, I think that would bring wizards closer together.
Last thing, I was thinking with a friend who's will remain unnamed that they would allow Wizard101 to be more like an RPG with sitting in chairs, ability to eat food and drink, and more emotes that would allow them to do things in real life like sit down, crouch, Walk, Run, etc.
I had a few questions about if there was a hint in the gingerbread pack about a new possible world?The boots in the Gingerbread Pack, "Karamelle" is also the same place that it says that Lydia Greyrose came from. Is that hinting to the 4th arc? Also, I saw the videos on youtube you made 3 years ago where you say that Professor Greyrose was the first teacher Merle Ambrose recruited and is a council of light.
Second, it says that Moolinda Wu lived in a garden called Hametsu Garden and will that ever be a place that if you are a certain level in gardening, you will go there.
Third, Halston Balestrom lived in Greenchapel in Marleybone and Marleybone isn't all fully connected (If I recall) so it would be cool if in the future, we get to see all the places where the teachers lived since no one has ever heard of this place, and would also like to see the "Gang" Prof. Balestrom was with, known as the "Thunder clouds"
Fourth, If Alhazred dies and a new person is chosen to be the professor, does that mean that the balance school might move to Ravenwood since it was only Alhazred who wanted to stay?
Fifth, It said that Memphis, the old fire teacher before Dalia Falmea was going to return to Krokotopia, but I have never seen him there.
Finally, Will any of the professor's be replaced?
Thanks to Zander and all of the staff at Kingsisle for making this game friendly to everyone.
Hello, nice to meet you. Thank you for making this thread for us to ask questions. I actually have some questions too and I am curious to learn more about the spiral.
1) So I saw that you had talked a little bit about Earth in some previous answers you gave. So were you saying that Earth is within the same space-time continuum as the spiral? Or would Earth be like another dimension (like the reverie or the spirit realm we go to in Mooshu)? Or is Earth just an abstract concept to the Spiral that was made by society as a metaphor of sorts?
2) How would our Wizard get from Earth to the Spiral? Are all of the other Ravenwood students (other players we see) also from Earth?
3) If neither the Fire Titan, the Ice Titan, nor Storm Titan are currently conscious, then where do Fire, Ice, and Storm magic come from?
4) Here is a question I have had since I first started playing this game. We fight a variety of enemies, some are swordsmen, some are undead, some are wild animals, and some are even robots. So when we fight them, are all of them supposed to be using magic? Or is that just for game design purposes? If they are using magic, where does it come from? Can any living being fight with a deck of spell cards?
Lead writer for Wizard101 here. Some of you know me by a different moniker: Blind Mew of Pirate101 fame. I took over as lead writer for Wizard in March of last year. So why am I only posting now? I wanted to wait until Empyrea was finished and had had some time to soak in to make my presence known here on the Wizard forums. As to my persona, it didn't seem right to use my Pirate name here, so I adopted The Custodian as my new nom de post. Being the guide through a realm of dreams and imagination was definitely appropriate for my position, and I figure I can be as mysterious as I want without breaking character. Pirate101 fans will tell you how much I love to be mysterious...
I must admit, it was with more than a little trepidation that I joined the Wizard team: as much fun as I had writing and worldbuilding for Pirate101, writing for Wizard is on a whole different level. Instead of starting with a blank canvas, I found myself painting a panel of a huge mural, a mural with 10 years worth of backstory, continuity, and themes already in place. I was also coming in to create the end of an arc, and not just any arc: the stakes were higher than ever before, and the dramatic demands of the climax were off the scale compared to the last two arcs. How do you handle Gods in a narrative, who in theory should be able to destroy the Wizard or even the entire Spiral, with but a thought? How can you solve their problems and keep the Wizard a central part of the story, and not just an observer?
Luckily, I'd been in the planning meetings and brainstorms for Wizard for a long time - I was there when when the shape of the 3rd arc was first sketched out, and my predecessors left me an excellent road map. I'm also blessed with a superlative team of writers: Zander, who you already know, and a second writer who shall remain nameless. Zander helped me get up to speed with the storyline, and keeps us on course with the continuity and lore I only sort of remember from my playthroughs so long ago . He's my rock. And my other writer? He's great too.
Creating Empyrea was a great experience, and I'm very proud of the results. The feedback we've gotten so far for the story and the reaction we've seen in streams has been very gratifying. But, being creative types, me and the writers hunger for more feedback! So let's talk Empyrea: what did you like? What didn't you like? Did you come away with any questions? Feel free to comment away.
Oh, but before we dive in too deep, I'm placing some bounds on our conversation. To save me the trouble of repeating polite denials over and over again, note the following:
I have nothing to do with systems design, in any capacity. Therefore, I cannot have a conversation about how useful spells are, relative difficulty, PvP, boss fights, or any such things. Trust me, with the head I have for math it's better that way.
I will not not NOT talk about what world we're going to next. That would be telling...
Hello, I was looking at your post and noticed you forgot the red pen, you made a slight mistake in the 3rd paragraph you said, "Luckily, I'd been in the planning meetings and brainstorms for Wizard for a long time - I was there (when when") not sure if you were in a rush, or if this was pointed out but I figured I would bring it to your attention.
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. He's my rock. And my other writer? He's great too.