Sometimes, less is more. Case in point: the 140-character limit of Twitter forced Wizard101 player and “#twizard” MEGALUS to sum up the latest test realm content as follows: “so there isn’t really much to do just much to buy.”
He’s not far from the mark – and that’s not to say that the things to do aren’t fun and/or challenging, or that the things to buy aren’t very, “Ooooh I has want!” The updates introduced in the Test Realm that opened today are largely about fixing glitches and/or glossing up player’s time in Celestia and Gardening.
At the same time, updates have been made to the Crowns shop that make it easier for players to find what they want to purchase with their Crowns (which must be purchased with IRL money) and to be better informed when make those weighty decisions.
For members/subscribers, it’s likely that the most exciting part of the updates is the upgrades being granted to members. As detailed in the patch notes, members will be able to have 120 wizards their “Friends List” and 120 backpack slots, a tasty upgrade from the 100-limit friend list and 80-slot backpack for F2P accounts. “Energy” used for Pet Training and Gardening will refresh twice as fast and crafting slots will “cool down” (become available for crafting again) twice as fast for members versus F2P.
[singlepic id=3213 w=320 h=240 float=left]In the Crowns Shop, the most handy change is that the default setting for “hiring” henchmen is to list the henchmen available by level, not by school. Henchmen can only be hired while in battle, and in the heat of battle it makes much more sense to search for a helper by their level, i.e., the power they can bring to the party. Other changes in the Crowns Shop include a relabeling of the “Sale” tab, which was a misnomer from the start, to “Featured Items.” This is a good deal more accurate, as the majority of the items featured under the “Sale” tab were rarely discounted from their full price. Three mounts and one piece of equipment previously available through the Crowns Shop are being removed, and presently it doesn’t seem that any new mounts or equipment items are being introduced.
The Test Realm also floats Celestia houses (Celestia Housing Items were introduced in the December 2010 update). “The Island Getaway” is inspired by The Floating Lands of Celestia and is available for Crowns or gold. The only way to obtain a deed to “The Celestia Observatory” is by crafting it. If this crafting recipe is anything like the Grizzleheim house recipe, be prepared for hours and hours of farming for reagents. Well-known Wizard101 player Fallon MoonGem had to buy a Wizard City Cottage to store all of the items she collected in order to craft the Grizzleheim house itself – there wasn’t enough room in her bank! However, the rewards of crafting the Celestia Observatory include a magnificent in-game home WITH a practice PvP arena. A practice PvP arena has previously been available only by purchasing the Epic Bundle giftcard from GameStop, which includes the Massive Fantasy Palace (MFP). I applaud KI for making an arena available via in-game currency and crafting. Speaking of practice PvP at MFP, the updates also make it possible for the owner of an MFP to boot a player engaged in a practice PvP match. One can only assume this will be carried over to the Celestia Observatory.
There are many other tidbits and tweaks listed in the Update notes; if you’re a player or just considering going for a whirl around The Spiral I strongly suggest you visit to peruse and ponder the changes for yourself.
The Observatory’s a mixed bag compared to the first crafted house. The new one only requires a Master level Artisan (the first was Grandmaster level) BUT one of the components for the new one is a rare furniture item that only drops from a high-level Boss in the game’s final instance – and it takes two of them.
I am a wizard 101 fan