Wizard101: The 30 Levels in 30 Days Challenge

If you're here because of the picture of my cat on Twitter, let me know in the comments section.

I never really thought I'd be coming back to this game. I mean, I had an inkling of a feeling that I'd miss it when my play slowed and eventually stopped a few years ago, and that inkling of a feeling has never been more true. I missed the game whenever I thought about it, and though the frequency of such an event fluctuated, I've begun missing it more and more.

So, I told myself, Why not give it another try? You only have, what, thirty-something levels to clear? Buy a month's membership. 

I can count on my fingers and toes the number of people who read my blog posts about Wizard101 in the first year of my blogging. I ran a site (and if you scroll far back enough, you can still find those posts!) called Travels of the Thaumaturge where I dragged myself and my readers through the early stages of learning effective blogging and community outreach. It was a rough, but exciting year for me.

And then I stopped playing.

I'm not exactly sure of what prompted my leaving, though the beta of W101's sister game was a major component. Nonetheless, I attended the last official Ravenwood Ball - a huge community event - and never opened the launcher again. It's a kids' game, I proceeded to tell myself over the years following, You don't need to return to it. I bet you've grown out of it, anyways. But...I was wrong. No matter the rating, it's still a game that holds a place in my heart, and as things began to look more and more interesting - new dungeons, more story, actual updating (Hi there, Pirate101) - I found myself gravitated back towards it.

But you don't have time! was my final excuse. You don't have the months to pour your heart into the game and catch up all the way, learn to fish, build castles, etc. I shrugged it off. If all I had was July to catch up in the storyline, then I'd at the very least give it an honest try. That's why I'm posting this here today, actually, because I really am going to give it a try. On July 1, I'm going to buy myself a one-month Wizard101 membership and start grinding away.

Of course, I won't be alone. I have friends, old and new, who are going to help me get from level 68 to (hopefully) level 100. And I'm also (haha, throwback to Travels) dragging the rest of you along on my challenge as I blog about how it goes, revisiting a game from my past and rediscovering my roots of blogging.

I'm hoping to still write about other games over the month, too, as I save up for ARK: Survival Evolved and stream Don't Starve. D&D, of course, is still definitely a thing. But July is going to be special when it comes to my Wizard101 coverage. To be honest, I don't know exactly what I'm going to come into contact with. Hopefully, I'll wind up with a few good stories to share by the end of it...or simply explain how burnout feels by the twentieth or whenever it winds up hitting me.

I don't exactly expect this challenge to be an all-around success. I'm participating in Camp NaNoWriMo over July, too, and have lots to be doing during the day. If I work hard at it, though, I'll be able to catch a decent amount up and then buy another month later this year to catch up fully. So this July, SoulTamer's boots will once again be filled, for another hoorah of wit and wizardry.