Wizard101's Test Realm is now open with brand new features. But I'm here to explain about the biggest feature that you will be soon receiving in the Live Realm!
The biggest feature in Test Realm is Monstrology. What is Monstrology you ask? Let me explain. You get to fight monsters with new spells called Extracts. It's pretty much Extract Animus spells.
The Extract Animus Spells
There are four categories you can draw animus from - Undead, Wyrms, Parrots and Polar Bears.
Starting in Wizard City, Monstrologist Burke in Ravenwood will give you the Extract card for Undead monsters for free as long as you are level 12 and up.
You can find him in Ravenwood, by the Myth Tower. There's also a tutorial tome next to him if you need to review the Monstrology tutorials again.
To get started, you will be sent to Unicorn Way to defeat Undead monsters with a new quest, "Know Thine Enemy," from Monstrologist Burke. What about the Parrots, Wyrms and Polar Bears? That's for later worlds. Why? I will explain later. Let's focus on Undead monsters.
First, make sure you add new Extract Undead cards to your deck. You will have to enchant your spells with the Extract Undead spell. You will find all Extract spells under Myth.
If you hit the monsters, and you do collect animus, but lose the battle, you will lose the animus you have collected. You must WIN it in order to actually keep it.
You will know that you have collected Animus if you see an icon under the monster's name as well as under the cards. The image below shows you where.
Once you collect an animus from a monster in ANY world, it will instantly show up in your Monstrology Tome. Just press T.
The cool thing about Monstrology is you can do three things with the monsters you've collected animus from. You can make Summon treasure cards out of the monsters to fight in your own Monstrodome, you can create house guests for them to roam around your house or best of all, to remove the monster from combat. Although that's only for non-bosses. Personally I'm most excited for house guests.
But you ask what is a Monstrodome? Well, it's your own private gauntlet that you can place in your house where you can summon any monsters you have collected as long as you got the Summon treasure cards. You can make Malistaire show up or any monster show up, so you can fight them in your own pvp ring in your Monstrodome. Super cool, I know.
When you are just starting out, you will be instantly given the Rookie Monstrologist badge. What does this mean?
It's your Monstrology level. You see, you not only collect Animus, you also collect Monstrology XP. The XP will help you level up in Monstrology.
As you can see, I collected 2 Monstrology XP when I defefeated Skeletal Pirates.
Yay, I gained a new badge and rank!
As I climbed up the ranks of Monstrology, you will keep gaining levels and badges. If you press C and click on the Activities tab, there's a new space for Monstrology XP on Page 2. This will keep you on track of which level you are at. Last I heard, the highest level someone was able to reach was 17! I am assuming that there are at least 20 Monstrology Levels? We shall see.
Hover over the Monstrology XP Bar to see how much you need to reach the next level.
Why is this so important to know? You see, for example, if an undead monster is level 9, and you are level Monstrology 7, it would mean that you would have less chance of collecting animus. Your best chance of collecting animus is if you are the same level as the undead monster's rank or higher. Now you know.
You can see this Lost Soul has a number 1, that's its rank. If you are Rank 1 Monsterlogist, you sure can collect animus from this Lost Soul without any problems haha. Once you fight other monsters in other worlds, new world tabs will show up. Don't worry about that.
One of the things that if you ever wonder how many monsters total in each world that you can max out on. If you hover over the Wizard City tab, it will show you a number 1/76. It means the available of Animus Monsters will be in that world is 76. Be advised that some worlds will have two kinds of Animus Monsters, for example, Azteca could have Undead AND Parrots. And yes, both will show up under Azteca. Please be aware of that.
This doesn't just count monsters in worlds, but monsters in gauntlets like Baddle of the Bands and Tanglewood Terror. For example, Tanglewood Terror has monsters that are considered Wizard City monsters. So, don't also forget to try the Rattlebones, Krokopatra, Meowiarty and Zeus Duel gauntlets. Monsters during events such as B.O.X.E.S., Lost Pages, Nosferabbit's Cave or the Halloween Towers. They all also count as well.
One of the things I loved about Monstrology is the HILARIOUS description of the monsters you collect. Some people collect just to read the descriptions haha.
By the way...
There are other badges as well. One about collecting animus and another about collecting undead. I'm sure that there are also badges for Polar Bears, Parrots and Wyrms.
If you want to learn more about the Monstrology badges, go to our
Monstrology Badge Guide to learn more. You can see all 17 badges listed there that we have found so far.
Now for your next lesson...
This is why Wyrms, Polar Bears and Parrots are for later worlds. You would have to defeat a lot of Undead to be able to reach the high ranks of Wyrms, Polar Bears and Parrots. Once you are high enough for them, you can go to Avalon and buy the Extract Wyrms spell for Wyrms. Parrots in Azteca. Polar Bears obviously in Polaris.
For instance, this monster is Rank 12. Remember, you should be Rank 12 Monstrologist to be able to collect animus. I was lucky to collect some from him, even though I was Rank 9. But it took two battles.
Once you're ready for high level Animus Monsters, you can buy new Extract spells from Monstrologist Burke. You can't collect Animus from Parrots if you used an spell enchanted with the Extract Undead spell on them. Extract Wyrms only for Wyrms. Extract Polar Bears only for Polar Bears. Do not forget to fix your deck if you are changing your monster target.
This one was in Caliburn, Avalon. There's no level requirement, but it will cost you deeply. 100,000 Gold! All of the extract spells other than the Wizard City's Undead spell costs a cool hundred grand gold coins.
Yay, time to go and defeat dragons.. I mean Wyrms!
Remember, if you want the Extract Parrots spell, you will find Monstrologist Burke in Azteca and for the Extract Polar Bears in Polaris.
To get you started on
Undeads, here's a
Guide to most
Undead monsters that we have found. We are still working to complete it as well as create guides for Wyrms, Polar Bears and Parrots.
Any questions, please feel free to ask me, so I can update this guide and answer your questions! Good Luck!
