Community Spotlight #2

There are a lot of cool things happening around the Spiral, and not all of them get the attention they deserve. Earlier this year, I started out with an idea for spotlighting some of the content created around the Spiral that people ought to see that they might not have.

#1 Spider Mage Badge Trick

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If you're a badge collector, you know that some are easier than others. With the recent release of Mirage, a lot of wizards are getting a taste of what badge collecting can entail. Lots and lots of mob fights. But what about some badges like Spider Mages where the enemies are in instances and act a lot like bosses? You might only get two mobs per instance battle. That can be time consuming.

Yuna on Wizard101 Central has a really clever and unique solution. Instead of defeating all of those Spider Mages yourself... let them do it for you. Archmagus Lorcan in the Hive likes to summon Spider Mages then sacrifice them. And they count toward your badge. In order to get credit, you do have to defeat Archmagus Lorcan at the end, and Yuna warns that the minions occasionally use Efreet, so come prepared. With a little determination, though, you can be getting credit for more than one per minute, which is pretty quick.

#2 Careful With That Fire Posts

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As a content creator, I'm always on the lookout for other content that's unique and appealing. Alexander Hexforge has recently started blogging again on his site, Careful With That Fire! He's got some really strong posts up, including some additional fishing tips to add to his original set.

I really want to focus on one post in particular which is his most recent - Investing Critical Hit Chance. If you recall, Duelist101 investigated this some time ago and not only came up with calculations and warnings about critical, block, and the number of items you're using, but also created a calculator for figuring out how to maximize your chances. However, this does not account for several recent updates, including jewel socketing and critical and block decay over time, so Alexander has been taking a detailed look at those numbers and observing some big differences based on level.

What's most impressive about his investigations is that he's doing them single-handedly as opposed to working with a team of people. He's definitely got a blog to keep an eye on!

#3 Mirage Faction Vendors Guide

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Edward Rubyrunner, with some badge input and suggestions from Paige Moonshade, has put together a really strong guide on Wizard101 Central for all of the Mirage faction vendors. First, it'll explain the vendors, then it'll tell you how to get all of the required badges and which vendors those badges unlock. Finally, Edward goes through what each vendor sells along with prices.

Not only is this type of guide really useful, but you can tell that Edward has invested himself in his work here. The formatting is great, the graphics are good, the setup is nice. It's a great guide for anyone who's just getting into Mirage or who might have finished completely and just needs a little bit more information. Or maybe you just want to browse and see what items you should be after.