Interview Week (Mason Swiftblade)

Welcome the the second day of Interview Week! Today we'll be interviewing Mason Swiftblade! I hope you enjoy the second interview of the week. Its also going to be a great interview! Lets get started.

Me: Hello Mason! Before we start the interview could you tell everyone a little about yourself?

Mason: Hello my name is Tyler. I play Wizard101 UK. I have been playing Wizard101 since 2008 and played in the Beta! I have been a fansiter since October 2011. I decided to create a fansite to express my views about the game and my feelings!

Me: I hear you're an Official Wizard101 UK fansite, could you tell us how that happened and how excited you were when you found out you made it?

Mason: Well at the time, Wizard101 UK was only 9 months released, meaning it had a very small community. I decided to take advantage of that and create my own Wizard101 UK fansite! It was quite a long process, took over 3 months for my fansite to be approved but here I am!

Me: You had a blog called The Life of a Wizard and deleted it and made another blog called Mason's Journal, Why did you do that?

Mason: Well, I just didn't have the same feel I had when I blogged on The Life of a Wizard, since I was going to blog about Pirate101 too, I decided it would be better to create a blog more rounded to my gaming. The Life of a Wizard just lost its touch and with Pirate101, I decide.

Me: What are your plans for Mason's Journal?

Mason: Well I have released the blog! (Mason's Journal) I plan to add lots more content about both Wizard101 and Pirate101. I also plan to broaden my horizons as an individual and start to pave my way to a career in gaming hopefully!

Me: Are you planning on submitting your site to Pirate101 and Wizard101 for official status?

Mason: I do have plans to submit my fansite to Pirate101 to be official, however I have no plans for Wizard101 US. To be honest, I just don't think I'll be playing Wizard101 US, I rarely do, so I guess I'll just stick to Wizard101 UK, where my gaming personality has grown up and with Pirate101!

Me: What's your favorite spell on Wizard101, and your favorite attack on Pirate101?

Mason: Ooh, that's a tough one! For Wizard101, I've always had a few favorites. It had to be Sirens spell, it reminds me of something I've seen on t.v. once, so I guess I've just connected with it! For Pirate101, I honestly can't say as I didn't play much during Beta (for most of it, I was on Holiday) so, I really can't comment on that one.

Me: Is Mason Swiftblade (your ice Wizard) your first Wizard or is there another and when did you make your first Wizard?

Mason: On Wizard101 UK, no actually its NOT. I'll start off with Wizard101 US. When I was 9, I overcame and ADvert for Toontown, a game I used to play, and it said "Want to be a Wizard?" This interested me so I did click on it and I got intrigued with the world of Wizard101! My first wizard was a life wizard and his name was Stephen Battlecaller, I think. He only became level 10. Then, I made a wizard later on in the future called Tyler, he was death and I got him to level 60. In 2010, Once I heard the news of Wizard101 UK, I made a wizard there named Tyler, and he was balance. Level 10. I still have him today, he is level 25 now (I got bored with him xD) Mason Swiftblade was probably the wizard I focused on most all my gaming life, I designed specifically to myself :)

Me: Let's talk more about Pirate101, what did you think when you first had a chance to finally start playing Pirate101?

Mason: Gosh! It was amazing! I first had to orient myself as it was a bit confusing, but I got the hang of it! What really intrigued me was the storyline and the puppet shows! They were so cool, I love how Kingsisle implemented these sort of things into the storyline, it makes the games LOADS more better and much more fun! Plus, my love for Pirates made me feel so involved with the game! I love it!

Me: To conclude this interview, do you have any secrets you would like to share with us about the future of your Fansite, Mason's Journal?

Mason: I do plan on hosting more contests, more events and really starting to share my opinion, my personal experiences AND my tips for Wizard101 and Pirate101! This will all come with time though. I do have a super big 2nd Wizard101 UK Birthday Party AND Community Choice Awards planned with some other UK fansiters.. That's all I'll say for now!

Me: What a wonderful interview! Thank you Mason, you're a great Wizard/ Pirate and I'm glad to share this post so everyone else knows more about you. I can't wait to see more about the Community Choice Awards and Wizard101 UK's 2nd Birthday! Woooooooooot! :) 

Interview Week (Ian Stormstaff)

 

Welcome to Interview week with Well Known Wizards/ Pirates in the Spiral! This week we'll have 5 people that will be interviewed on Atswel and you can learn more about them. On the 5th day we'll have one last interview, I can't tell you who you'll have to guess :) Only I know and the person answering the questions of course! Okay lets start the Interview with well known Ian Stormstaff!

Me: Hello Ian! Could you tell everyone about yourself before we start the interview?

Ian: Sure! I am a 3 year Wizard101 Player, Active Pirate101 Beta Participant, and Wizard101 Blogger for a little over a year. You've probably seen me on Twitter, as I have over 11 thousand tweets under my belt :P

Me: Lets first talk about the funny segment called Wizard101 Ramblers with Jordan Sunflame, when did you come up with this idea and how is it so great?!

Ian: Ramblers started by a random DM from Jordan on Twitter. He'd been in the community I'd guess about a month and I'd never really talked to him much. But he asked if I wanted to start a podcast. My first thought was "My voice.... on the Internet.... PASS." But somehow he conned me into it and we began planning. Our first show was in late February this year I believe. It was crazy hectic and I hope we've gotten better since then. We're approaching our 9th episode Wednesday so we're almost double digits! I would hazard what makes it so fun is the unique perspective, us being teenagers, as well as the constant rain of off topic subjects, keeping our listeners on our toes. You never know what's going to come out of our mouths... (Always P.G. 13 stuff of course :D)

Me: Wizard101 Ramblers isn't the only great thing you have, there's also Wizards Unite, Could you tell everyone about this great Fansite? :)

Ian: WU is my entry project in the Community and my most successful endeavor. I started out out in the Community on DOAW Connect X and talked my blog up on there. Then I joined Twitter on July 14th (I remember because it was the night of the HP 7 pt. 2 premiere) and very soon after I started I started building followers. I tweeted about my site and started getting readers. WU was mostly small until about three months ago. I gave the site a makeover after feeling it wasn't very inviting. WU went from a blog to a full fledged site with guides and more. Steadily it's built up and gained views and members. Everyday I am blown away by WU's success, as well as the community's acceptance and enjoyment of it. It's been around the block and had no staff, full staff, back to no staff, and now its over a year old! I look forward to seeing what else comes from it. 

Me: The other day on Twitter, you said you weren't famous, why would you say that, I think you are!

Ian: The term Fame is a double edged sword for me as I know from past experiences power can corrupt me; but I say I am not famous for the simple fact I do not feel famous. Yes, Wizards scream Hello when I walk in a room, Yes I have a heavy amount of followers a lot of people daydream of having (I promise you I'm just as amazed by the number) and people like me; but to me it feels like a HUGE family! I walk in and feel like I'm with a huge group of friends enjoying a wonderful game. If I really am famous (I'm not) then its news to me! :P

Me: (Ian that's a great response! :) Lets say you're well known!) Okay enough with silly questions.. Do you have any secrets you would like to share with us about the future of Wizard101 Ramblers and Wizards Unite?

Ian: There are no silly questions :) Secrets.... Secrets.... Well. I can make no promises about Ramblers as it is just a joint effort; but WU is always cooking something up. After this last string of Hogwarts contests I'm going to start working on a highly interactive site for the next Hogwarts set (February 2013- March 2013). This site will be the main event for a huge contest. Other than that I can promise more features on the site as my interwebs expands. I'm looking forward to seeing what crazy stuff I can come up with. And If WU ever becomes official, lets just say the contests will blow your mind...

Me: Are you planning on submitting your sites to Pirate101 & Wizard101 for Official Status?

Ian: I submitted WU for P101 official the day it opened and got an email back from friendly saying WU was 99% Wizard 1% Pirate and he was 100% right. I had thrown together a new header with P101 Characters and opened some new forum categories but my heart wasn't in it. I have formally submitted WU once to W101 and was immediately rejected because I used my personal email and not my custom domain address. My own mistake. I am waiting and hoping they clear my form so I can have another go. I have no anger with KI for either rejection because I don't want to do this for fame or prizes, I am here because I love Wizard101  and its AMAZING community. I don't think WU will resubmit for P101 as I have a stronger attachment to Wizard101, and its WU's focus. There will still be P101 content on there, as its a very blogable topic :P

Me: Now lets talk about Pirate101, What did you think of Pirate101 when you first had a chance to play/test it?

Ian: When I received my Beta Key my brain shut down. I couldn't believe that I actually had one. Once I'd gotten in and installed the launcher I sat down and braced myself. It loaded the game and the intro shot melted my senses. From there it was immediate action, I was dumped into an Armanda Ship to make my character, and battled my way out. This game has NO slow points. You are always battling and moving. This game also has a lot more Strategy than Wizard101 does and you have to pay much more attention to battling. No more blind car picking! All in All I am blown away by every bit of P101: The art, the story, character build, SHIPS; its beautiful and I can't wait to share the game with you once it goes live! (Hopefully very soon!) (Yes very soon!! October 15th!)

Me: To Conclude this interview, Do you have any advice to anyone that is planning on making a site?

Ian: Don't give up. Ever. And be yourself. I have been attacked online, and told my site will never be official, banned from a site or two, and more. But nothing has killed my aspiration to blog and contribute. EVERY site is original and AMAZING, don't ever count yourself out of anything. Ever. If you need help I will be there and so will everyone else in this community.


Thank you SO much for this Interview Ed!


Me: Wow, thank you! The last question I asked you was answered great. I'm so sorry you've been told that, I'm sorry to say this but... They ARE wrong. I'm telling you that one day one of your sites will be official! You are a great member of this community and this is why I chose you for this interview. I really am glad you accepted :) And you're welcome! :) 

Pirate101 Official Release

Ahoy Pirates!

News hit the Spiral early last night that Pirate101 will begin their one week head start October 8th and release the game to the public on October 15th!  Are you wondering where all of this great information came from?  It was released from Venture Beat. They gave us some more great information too that I think all of you would like to know!

GameStop is planned to sale Pirate101s new cards that will be available for $10, $20 and $39. I'm going to do a huge guess and say these are for Pirate101 only and there will be an online membership where you can buy for Wizard101 and Pirate101. Wizard101 has game cards also, and they have great items included with a membership or crowns. We can say with a safe guess that the Pirate101 cards will also be having great new items for your Pirates too.

I can't wait to see Pirate101 be released in the Community! I'm sure everyone will love it. If you're in Pirate101 Beta can you do me a favor and comment below and tell everyone what you love about Pirate101? I'm sure everyone will enjoy that and be prepared for the great new game that's yet to be released!



See you around the Spiral!


~ Edward Lifegem

I had to add this, thought it was funny! :)