Ten Things You Wish You Knew Before Starting Wizard101

Hindsight is 20/20. Even in a relatively safe game such as Wizard101, you can still make mistakes. Whether you're new or just wanting to look back at how things could have been, here's ten things you wish you knew before starting Wizard101.

1. Conserve your training points.

This is the probably the best piece of advice I can give you. The tendency is to go immediately upon earning them and get the coolest-looking spell or work toward the coolest-looking spell. Trust me, you'll want those later on for different things, and you may decide on a different secondary school. Instead, save your training points for later on in the game.

Not saving them has more implications than you might think. You can reset them, but it'll cost, and the more points you spend, the more crowns it takes to reset them, even as a member.

2. You won't use attacks from other schools and polymorphs are useless.

When I first started as a Death wizard, I wanted the most powerful attack. So I started training the Storm school, and then saw a higher number in the Life school on Satyr (before I knew what the symbols meant), and started training that. Needless to say, I needed a reset. Here's a secret: you won't use attacks from other schools. There are exceptions to every rule, of course, but in general, you won't be using off-school attacks, and if you do, it will be for their effects and not their power or damage.

One other thing to note is Polymorphs. These moon spells are definitely not recommended, and are, perhaps, the only spells that can't be effectively utilized by anyone. There are a few Azteca versions that are alright, but in general, don't train them.

3. Don't put every card in your deck, and you can discard, too!

At the early stages of the game, your deck may be so small that you want to load it up, but as your progress, it's a habit you'll have to drop. Getting the card or card combination you want or need to complete a battle isn't necessarily about putting a larger and larger number of that card in the deck, but rather, taking enough cards out that you can draw what you need in a reasonable amount of rounds, preferably before you die.

You'd also be surprised to know how many wizards don't realize they can discard cards. Just right click on a card to get rid of it. What's the advantage? Instead of drawing one new card per round, you'll fill up your hand based on how many you discarded and used combined.

4. Many crown shop items can be purchased with gold.

This is an all-too-common error among new wizards. Who needs fancy mounts when there are others that serve the same function for gold? Not just that, but all of those cool houses, some of the mounts, and even some of the gear sets can be purchased with gold! There's a small tab to the right of "Crowns" under the preview window that will typically be greyed out. If it's not, however, you can click on it to switch over to gold and pay with that instead. You'll save crowns and therefore money.

5. There are hidden trainers with additional spells.

There are a lot of spells beyond just Ravenwood, so don't make secondary class decisions based on that alone. There are plenty of "hidden" trainers with additional spells and some secondary schools in worlds like Celestia. There's actually a guide to Celestia's hidden trainers if you click on "Guides and Information" then "Wizard101 Guides."

In fact, you won't be spending many of your points on other Ravenwood spells at all. Some of the best ones come from outside sources that you don't encounter until much later in the game.

6. EMPs are a better investment than Mega Snack Packs.

Another common thing you'll see with new players is buying Mega Snack Packs to train pets very quickly. I advise against it. It only takes a day or two to get a gardening level at which you can plan Evil Magma Peas, also known as EMPs, and they are infinitely more useful than packs. These plants give you a new seed to replant them when you harvest them for the last time, as well as a rank 9 Mega Snack. So, if you buy a basic garden of 32, you can save yourself some serious money in the long run.

If you're seriously considering training many pets, and I think most people do/are, then I suggest investing in these EMPs. But don't buy them just yet. Multiple times per year, there are sales. For Wizard101's fifth birthday, the seeds were 55% off. That's when I bought mine. No need to buy more than one full garden of 32, because if you're a diligent gardener, it won't be long before you're getting Megas much faster than you can spend them. It'll be pet energy that's your trouble.

7. You can use treasure cards (and make your own ahead of time).

This is a really great feature that some wizards never make use of, and that other wizards aren't very familiar with. Treasure cards essentially allow you to use any spell (well, almost), including those far beyond your level range of spells to train. The catch? You can only use them once. Then they're consumed and gone. To use treasure cards, open up your deck, and go to the Treasure Card tab at the very right. Your "sideboard" is a part of every deck where you place these cards. Despite some popular claims in PvP and elsewhere, using these cards isn't "cheap." In fact, not using them would be like purposely not equipping a pet or a robe.

The other thing a lot of people aren't aware of is that you can make your own. These are called enchanted treasure cards, and they can't be traded. Simply stop by the Bazaar or Wizard City library and pick up a few of the "fist" spells (Tough, Strong, Giant, etc.) or accuracy spells (Keen Eyes, etc.) and then put them in your sideboard. When you get in a battle, right click on a card to discard it. Then, click the "Draw" button to draw a random treasure card. If it's not the one you want, you can discard the treasure card next round, or discard another regular card and draw another treasure card (often referred to as a TC). When you apply these buffs to any of your regular cards, they become treasure cards for you to use! You'll gain access to more TC buffs for spells as you level.

8. Pick your pricing model carefully!

Wizard101 offers two pricing models: Crowns (pay by area) and Membership. With Membership, you pay a standard fee of $10 per month (or, depending on sales and promotions, as low as $6.95 a month or $60 for one year), and you get access to everything your character has progressed to, all the time. This includes the Test Realm and a series of member benefits such as additional backpack space, faster energy regeneration, cheaper PvP tournaments, unlimited and free access to ranked PvP matches, faster crafting and hatching timers, and other benefits. You also get the occasional special member benefit. The one that's going on right now is a free Training Point buyback. They also have double gardening rewards, double pet and snack experience, and free PvP tournaments.

As a Crowns player, you pay by area that you unlock. You purchase crowns at a rate of 500 per $1 (or, depending on sales and promotions, as low as 60,000 for $60 or 90,000 crowns for $80). The complete cost of Wizard101 right now is somewhere around three payments of the $60 for 60,000 crowns, so if you intend to play Wizard for more than three years, it's typically a better deal to become a Crowns player. Crowns players, however, do not get access to Test Realms unless they have purchased crowns in the last 30 days (they can purchase once the Test Realm, as called the TR, opens, and then get in).

The two are not mutually exclusive. You can be a Crowns player and love a temporary member benefit, and become a member for a month. Or you can be a member and want to purchase something from the Crown Shop, and buy some crowns. Pick carefully when it comes to the game areas, though, because if you ever switch, your previous investment was essentially lost. Consider both carefully before playing.

9. You can make more gold selling items to the Bazaar than shopkeepers.

Again, there are exceptions to every rule, but you will often find that you'll make more gold if you empty your backpack by selling items you don't want to the Bazaar in Olde Town instead of the standard shopkeeper. This is also a great place to look for items to purchase as your wizard levels up. Some items are marked "No Auction" and cannot be sold to or bought from the Bazaar.

10. Blogs and fansites are your friends, and not just the official ones!

That's right. If you've got a question about something or are just looking for some extra excitement during slow game times, sites are the place to be. Start yourself off with the list of official fansites and then branch out and see what else is available to you. There's plenty of it, and there are some truly insightful and enlightening guides and theories around.

What's one thing you wish that you knew before starting Wizard101?

Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!