Wizard101's 9th Birthday Contest Winners

Hello Wizards!

I want to thank all of you for entering my recent art contest - Wizard101's 9th Birthday Contest - it amazes me to see how talented all of you are. I couldn't give everyone something, but I was fair in judging. Thank you so much for entering the contest and following the rules! Here are the winners:

Grand Prize: Keira Breeze

50,000 Crowns + Random Pack + Random Mount + Random Beckett Wand

2nd Prize: Saffron Taleweaver

25,000 Crowns + Random Pack + Random Beckett Wand

3rd - 5th Prizes: 

 Random Beckett Wand + Random Pack

Zachary Unicornbreeze

Cody Sandward

Bad Terri Jones

The winners listed above are the Winners of this Contest! I thank you all for your hard work on this contest. We had more entries for this art contest, which was shocking, but also amazing. I'm going to make an additional post soon showing off the other amazing entries (and a Raffle of those, including the last three on this post to win a $10 W101 Gift Card). Thank you all for your hard work. I have sent the code email to the winners. :)

Halloween Run: One More Month (Saturday, October 28th)

Hello Wizards!

I hope you're having a wonderful week. I've been busy with a lot of real-life priorities, but I've also been working hard on preparing for the Halloween Run. Things are running smoothly and we're currently ahead of schedule. Today I wanted to make a post update to let you know what you should do before attending this year's Halloween Run.

Read The Official Halloween Run Schedule

This is an important part to know exactly what exactly will take place during this day. All other small activities will be announced on the stream, but I want all of you to know what exactly to do when we start an activity. Please read the Halloween Run Post, linked below, and let your friends that are planning on attending to do the same thing. I want everything to run smoothly and not be confusing. 

 Click Me To Read Halloween Run Schedule 

Watch The Halloween Run Guide

The Halloween Run Guide Video will show exactly where we'll be running for the Nightmare Before Christmas Run in the morning AND the Halloween Run later in the evening. Please watch this video and follow every rule in the video so you know where to run. A lot of people have been confused where to run, but this year we promoted the video a lot more than usual. Please watch the video below before the Halloween Run.

Subscribe to My YouTube Channel

As many of you already know, I am planning on streaming the Halloween Run this year. I have been promoting my YouTube Channel over the past few months so you know where exactly I'll be streaming. This stream will somewhat be a guide, but I hope you all pay attention to the game as well. I love chatting with you all on there over YouTube chat. Please stay family-friendly!

 Click Me To View My YouTube Channel 

Keep It Family Friendly

In the past, we've had people bully, use bad language, and send death threats. This is a thing of the past. Our future events will include Hall Monitors and I expect everyone to report those who are doing things such as this, no question. Ignore and Report. Don't give any attention to them because they've had enough. If you participate in this, you'll be sent from the after party houses, reported, and potentially muted OR banned. Please stay family-friendly. This is a family game and we'll be having family events. You may get away with that type of behavior elsewhere, but you will not get away with it with me.

I hope to see you at the event.We're working hard for you!

Wizard101: Halloween Run Help Meetup - TODAY

Hello Wizards!

I'm making this blog post to let you know that the Halloween Run Help Meetup will take place TODAY. We're having this meetup to prepare for this large event. Keep reading for more information such as meetup location/time and what exactly we need help with. I've also provided an image at the bottom of the post that you click on to access the Halloween Run post.

TODAY at 6:00 pm CST

Nightside, Vampire Realm

Port Wizards: We need help getting port wizards to teleport everyone to the afterparty right after the Halloween Run. We'll need you to check back and make sure you got everyone in each area so nobody is left behind. We'll have different groups of port wizards, which we'll discuss tonight at the meetup.

YouTube Moderators: If you know commands/prior moderator experience, I'll need help moderating the Halloween Run Youtube Chat when I stream this event. I'm planning on streaming every weekend during October so if you'd like to test that out with me before the event itself, we can do that.  I'll provide more information about what we need help on tonight at the meetup. If you're not able to attend tonight and are able to help without cancelation at last moment, email me:

edwardfrostgem@gmail.com

Reputable Sites VS Unreputable Sites

Hi there,

I thought I'd make a post about a topic that I don't mind explaining to the community. I receive codes from our community manager, Tom Purdue, which is the host of KI Live and an employee at Kingsisle. So far the Official Wizard101 Fansites, and a few other sites - like my website or Vanessa's website, or other trusted Kingsisle fans are given codes to giveaway to this community.

There are always websites that you should be careful of before entering contests. For example, if you see a website asking for your personal information - it's too good to be true. Another safety tip you should keep in mind is that you should not purchase any item outside of the official Wizard101 and Pirate101 websites/and or games. I've made two pages on my website that include all Kingsisle links. If you click on the Spiral above, you'll access a page about Wizard101 where you can find Official Wizard101 Links. If you click on the Pirate101 Skull Island image below, you'll find a Pirate101 Page with Official Pirate101 Links.

Remember to always keep your personal information safe. You can do this by using trusted websites and not websites who only want your personal information.  I hope you all use this post to remember that you should keep all personal information personal. If you want to keep your accounts - don't give it away for things that are too good to be true and if you use an unreputable website, that is one way of giving away your account. Staying safe online starts by keeping your personal information private.

Online Safety Page Link - http://www.edwardlifegem.com/p/online-safety.html

Give Credit Where Credit Is Due

Hello,

I wanted to make a short blog post to talk about something important that I think is important to talk about. As you can tell by the title of this blog post, "Give Credit Where Credit Is Due", I want to credit somebody that has worked hard for our community, especially over the past year.

Our Community Manager

We all know that Tom Purdue, our community manager, has worked hard on keeping the community updated on every event, the attacks, and more. We have to remember that what he is doing is a job. Not everything is fun and games - so let's show a lot of appreciation for the hard work that he's done to make sure things continue to run smoothly. We also got an extended Birthday celebration and codes on top of contests that we've had. These codes that fansites are giving away also came from Tom. Thank you, Tom, for your hard work! 

Kingsisle Entertainment As A Whole

During the DDOS attacks, employees continued to work on the games to get us all back on the game. I don't think it's Kingsisle's fault at all that teenagers wanted to bring down a family game. The blame of this is on those teenagers, not Kingsisle. I appreciate Kingsisle's hard work bringing the game back up. We appreciate your hard work during Labor Day weekend bringing the games back up. People can say what they want - you're an awesome game team and I'm a proud supporter for nearly nine years! Thank you. The community loves you and the trolls will never outdo the support the support from your most loyal players. I wish you the very best for each game and game that you build. 

Talk Like A Pirate Day 2017

Ahoy Pirates!

It's Talk Like A Pirate Day! I wanted to make a quick post to let you all know that you can redeem the code "ahoymatey" today for a free item in Pirate101. I actually just got through redeeming mine and received a free Nautical XP Boost. There are many other awesome items in the game, so good luck on your redemption.

Setting Records!

Hello Wizards!

I hope you're having a wonderful Tuesday! Today I checked the recent views on my posts and noticed that the Official Halloween Run Post / Raffle hit a record. This post made it to the most viewed post in FIVE years and is on the path of making it to the second most viewed post ever. Thousands have read this post so far! I want to thank you for the records set this year, even with posts that were not contest related. This is a great year for edwardlifegem.com, even during a YouTube generation. Thank you so much for your support over the past seven years. Now, I should get going because I have class soon! If you all would like to read this post that I'm talking about, click anywhere on the image below:

Decorating For The Halloween Run

Hello Wizards!

I hope you're having an amazing Friday and looking forward to the weekend. I've actually taken time during the weekends to decorate for the Halloween Run. As many of you know, we are planning on having an after party after the Run itself and I wanted to be prepared for that.

Last year I didn't finish decorating my Darkmoor Manor for the Halloween Run. Lately, I've been spending a few times on the game to prepare my house as best as I can for you all to look at. Now, my houses will never even come close to the awesome houses made by Paige Moonshade, Fallon Fireblade, Frostcaller or many others, but I'm still trying to make it look as Halloweenish as possible. I'm planning on having a Group Photo Contest for this event (just after the Halloween Run) and I'm still trying to decorate an area for that group photo. I'll announce more details about this group photo contest the closer the time gets here. 

 We still have well over a month until the Halloween Run and we're still preparing all of the details. It's going to be an amazing event and I hope you all are ready for it. I do think this event will be one of the best events we'll ever throw. Everybody is invited, but keep in mind that this event will be a family-friendly event and we will have Hall Monitors in attendance. No Bad Language, Bullying, or anything like that. You all can behave and have fun, I know it! Let's put all of that behind us and have fun! I should get back to decorating. Until next time, I'll see you around the Spiral -- Click anywhere on the poster below for more information about the Halloween Run.

Christopher Bluetail's Party Recap

Hello Wizards!

I hope you're having an amazing day! I've been busy with classes, but today has still been a great day. I wanted to make a short blog post about an event that I attended yesterday in Wizard101. Christopher Bluetail had a meetup/party for Twitter Wizards aka Twizards!

Everyone was supposed to meetup in the Commons and I was almost late, but I made it for a few minutes with my storm wizard, Edward Stormgem! I can't tell you how much I love attending events - even our own - all events from everyone are a great way to bring the community together. Anyway, Christopher teleported all of us from the Commons to his Massively Fantasy Palace to participate in Housing Games and PvP!  

I had no idea that he planned giveaways during this event until I won the Scavenger Hunt. I gave my prize (a game card pack) to the second winner. I was doing all of this for fun, plus it was fun to play with Castle Magic and take screenshots. I took about twenty of them only to use three on this blog post! Sadly, I had to leave around the time PvP started, but I enjoyed logging on for a bit to interact and have fun. I am glad the community still has events like these just to bring people together. Thank you, Christopher!

Thank You, Kingsisle!

Hi there!

Today, Kingsisle announced that in return for our support during the games' downtime this month, they'll be giving us quite a few awesome prizes. If you would like more information, you can read our community manager's official statement in the image below or click the link above it to redeem this amazing code for 1,250 Crowns, 3 Energy Elixirs, Farley's Gardening Pack, and Snack Pack in Pirate101.

https://www.wizard101.com/promo/BirthdayBash2017

New Friendly Necromancer Parody

Hello Wizards!

I wanted to share this hilarious parody from our community manager. Now a lot of us have come to know him as "The Friendly Necromancer" so I'll call him that on this post, because why not?! He's always coming up with awesome parodies and I've been looking forward to a new for two years now. Thank you for spoiling us with your awesome parodies, Tom!

Pirate101: Test Realm Online!

Ahoy Pirates!

Great news! Kingsisle has finally released the Pirate101 Test Realm with a variety of updates to test out. Practice Ship PvP, Team Up Ledger, Emojis, Auto-Companions, and new Captain Avery quests have been added to test out. Please report any bugs that you see so that when these updates are added to the live realm, we have a smooth experience. Remember that you need to have made a Crowns Purchase or have a Membership to access the Pirate101 Test Realm. Click on the image below to read the update notes for this Test Realm:

Pirate101: Skull Island - The Republic

Ahoy Pirates!

Kingsisle released another teaser today! In this teaser, Captain Avery announces that Skull Island is going to be a Republic! Now, what will this mean for us pirates? Will we have to do tasks to show everyone that we're capable of being a Republic? I guess we'll just have to see. The Pirate101 Test Realm will be released soon, so spread the word. Let's show Kingsisle how much we still love Pirate101! #Pirate101Lives

Never Forget

Hello,

Today is the 16th Anniversary of the September 11th, 2001 World Trade Center attacks. I wanted to make this post to thank all of the first responders. These people are heroes! I'll always remain thankful to every first responder of the attack, natural disaster, etc. Thank you for everything that you do.  Please keep the families of the victims in your prayers as well.

KI Games: Recent DDOS Update

Hi there,

Yesterday, Kingsisle faced another DDOS attack. Luckily this one didn't last as long as the previous attacks. Please be patient while Kingsisle works hard to prevent these attacks from occurring. Don't blame Kingsisle when you don't even know what's going on - they are working on fixing the issue. Don't spread rumors that they're not doing anything because that's the furthest thing from the truth. Here's our community manager's statement from last night on the DDOS attacks last night:

Pirate101: Crowns Sale!

Ahoy Pirates!

I hope you're having a wonderful weekend. I wanted to make a short blog post about a Crowns Sale that I noticed was going on until tomorrow, Sunday, at 11:59 pm CST. You can purchase 60,000 Crowns for $60. This is perfect, especially since the Test Realm will be released soon. It looks like Kingsisle will start working more on the games, so let's show our support for the game that we love. Only if you can afford it, of course! If you would like more information, click on the image below:

What Was Wizard101 Like Back In The Olden Days? (Old Test Realms - Mounts)

Hello Wizards!

I've been thinking about making an olden days post for awhile now, and today I finally decided that it was time to make another post! As many of you know, I've been here for awhile, and I've seen most of the new updates added to Wizard101. One of the updates that I remember the most was when mounts were added to the Test Realm for the first time. Let's go back to a time when mounts didn't exist in Wizard101.

It's 2009 and you're questing your wizard in the recently-released world, Dragonspyre. You have to run around everywhere and the only other option to run just a little bit faster is to buy the Boots of the Slipstream (+4% fast rate) or  Boots of the Comet (+8% fast rate) from Zeke in The Commons. Other than that, you have to run around everywhere as you had to run around everywhere in the previous worlds as you quested to defeat Malistaire. Now this made you feel as if you were going slow, which is technically true, but you still had fun even without mounts - and many more things that I'll talk about in a future blog post. In October of 2009, you hear special news about new updates coming to Wizard101, one of them being Mounts! 

I personally remember logging so quick into the Wizard101 Test Realm to test out these new mounts. At the time there were only four or five mounts, but it was still a lot of fun to test them out. During these old days, we were given well over 100,000 Crowns in the also newly-released Crowns Shop to test out any new feature. I remember buying all of the mounts and participating in what would be one of the very first mount races in Olde Town. I couldn't believe our wizards were finally given the opportunity to go through worlds this fast. This Test Realm was probably the most memorable/best Test Realm to ever be released! 

Kingsisle's release of mounts changed the game so much. Back in the day, we were very excited about the mounts but didn't complain as much as you'd think we would before having them. This game added such a variety of mounts to choose from among many other updates that if you shared this with wizards from 2009, we'd be overwhelmed. Kingsisle has done such an amazing job on updates over the past few years whether it's the release of bundle mounts, crown shop mounts, and/or mounts from bosses. Thank you, Kingsisle, for improving the same so much since we older players joined. I'm enjoying all of the amazing updates and I know you'll only improve it further from here. Maybe in the future, I'll blog about the year 2017! This has been a great time talking about the old wizard times, but I should stop before I talk anymore. The old days were great, but this is one of those moments where I love Wizard101 today because of everything Kingsisle has added for us. Thank you again for working hard for us, Kingsisle. Until next time, I'll see you around the spiral.

Ask Yourself: What's your favorite mount that Kingsisle added to Wizard101?

New Pirate101 Teaser!

Ahoy Pirates!

Today, Kingsisle released another video teasing at a new update that will soon be released on the Pirate101 Test Realm. How exciting is it to finally talking about Pirate101 updates?! I think it's going to be Ship PvP in different world/areas - at least that's what it looks like to me below. What do you think they're going to add? Whatever it is, I'm glad we'll finally have something fun to look forward to!

Halloween Run Help Meetup: Monday, September 25th

Hello Wizards!

I hope you're ready for the Halloween Run! We've been preparing quite a bit in the past few months and will have a lot more information about it soon. Today, I wanted to post a post announcing the next Halloween Run Preparation Meetup.

When?

Monday, September 25th

6:00 pm CST

Where?

Nightside, Vampire Realm

Please show up no later than the time above. We need help with Port Wizards and Moderators for YouTube. This is not a party, this is only a meetup for those who want to help. If you truly think you'll be able to help for this event, go ahead and attend on this day or a future meetup next month. We will only have so many to update everyone so I ask that you only attend if you truly think you can help. Thank you all so much for your support. Let's make this event the best Halloween Party EVER!

Availability Update - Extension of Benefits

Hello Wizards,

Today, our community manager, announced that Kingsisle is still working on preventing the constant DDOS attacks and will be extending the Wizard101 Birthday/Benefits past today. I want to thank Kingsisle for all of their hard work during the Holiday weekend. We should continue to have patience while they work hard on the games that we all love. Thank you so much, Kingsisle!

Kingsisle Live: Wizard101 Birthday Stream

Hello Wizards!

I wanted to make this quick post to let you know that Kingsisle will have a special Kingsisle Live Birthday Stream for Wizard101's 9th Birthday on Thursday, September 21st! I hope you all decide to tune in like many other wizards will. It makes you wonder what they might share.. I guess we'll have to see, won't we? Mark your calendars!

When?

Thursday, September 21st

4:00 pm CST

Where?

https://www.twitch.tv/kingsisleentertainment

Wizard101: My Official Halloween Costume

Hello Wizards!

I hope you're having a great weekend. Lately, I've had time to log into Wizard to prepare for next month's Halloween Run. I can't believe how much I've prepared for this event. On this post, I will talk more about my costume this year!

Aladdin - Halloween Run 2016

If you attended the Halloween Run last year, you may have noticed that I dressed up as Aladdin. It was pretty easy getting everything together for this costume. This year, however, was a little tougher to decide since I couldn't find some equipment that I wanted to use. This Halloween, I wanted to be Jafar! I mean he's pretty awesome and he wants to show everyone that he's changed, but this time he's competing with Aladdin to show you how awesome of a party he can throw this year.

Jafar - Halloween Run 2017

Now, he may have found a new powerful weapon in the Crystal Groves of Dragonspyre, but this doesn't mean he's going to take over Wizard City by casting a spell which turned all of the wizards into - Ghouls, Vampires, Witches, Warlocks, Skeletons and more.. He doesn't want to take over Wizard City... Okay, that's exactly what wants to do! With help from his spooky friends, he's going to take over Wizard City and show Merle Ambrose and these wizards who's boss. Jafar does promise to change everyone back after Halloween! Hope to see you at the Halloween Run on Saturday, October 28th. Let's help Jafar take over Wizard City with the largest takeover to ever occur.

Happy 9th Birthday, Wizard101

Hello Wizards!

Today is officially Wizard101's 9th Birthday! I wish them a very Happy Birthday and many more years! Kingsisle is a great team and I've had many wonderful memories over the past 8 years I've played the game. Happy Birthday to the very best game, ever!

I've had many great moments playing this wonderful game! One major thing that I've enjoyed are Fansite Events, like the Diary of a Wizard events that occurred from 2010-2012. These events are really what introduced me to making friends in the community. The image above is from 2011 where I made a few extra wizard friends (you may recognize some twizard names). It was such a great time in Wizard History and I'll always remember it. If it wasn't for Wizard101 existing, I would have never met so many great people since 2009. I look forward to meeting, even more, people through the years. 

Since then, I've decided to host events with many great community leaders throughout the community. These events have been a great moment to remember. We're always able to get people together and this is amazing to me. The Wizard101 community is a different type of community. No matter who tries to bring us down, we'll always rise up! Nobody will end this community. I thank you, Kingsisle so much for creating this wonderful game which helped so many through a lot. I wish the very best success for you with whatever you do. I wish the game, Wizard101, the best success as well. Let's show the world how amazing Wizard101 and the Wizard101 Community is! Don't let anyone discourage you, this game is meant for all ages. Let's continue to support the company that created Wizard101 by showing them how much we love them. I would also like to give a shoutout Birthday wish to IcyWiz who has been an amazing fansite leader from Spiral101Radio for many years. Thank you for being you, Icy!

Tweet a Message on Twitter wishing them a Happy Birthday!

 @Wizard101

 @IcyWiz