Celebrating Its 8th Birthday!

Year Five (September 2012 - September 2013)

• Azteca - The November 2012 update continued the second arc storyline with the prehistoric world of Azteca. Because it had a huge difficulty increase from Avalon, many players struggled with Azteca upon its release. The world has since been adjusted. 
• New Astral Spells - Azteca brought some essential new astral spells with it including school specific damage auras and buff enchants (Sharp and Potent).
• Lost Pages - April 2013 introduced limited time events. The first being the Lost Pages event.
• 2nd Age and Spectator Mode - The matchmaking changes to PvP and derby in April 2013 resulted in the end of the 1st Age of PvP.  This update also included Spectator Mode which gave players the ability to watch PvP matches in a more immersive way.

• Hairstyles - Hats not your thing? The April 2013 update allowed players to stitch stats to "hairstyles" which meant that players could ditch their hats (and bad hair days!)
• PvP Tournaments - In-game PvP tournaments became a thing in June 2013. They were only available for Crowns at the time.
• Aquila - Wizard101's first dungeon zone opened in August 2013. Aquila supplied players with 3 new dungeons: Mount Olympus (level 30+), Atlantea (level 70+), and Tartarus (level 90).
• Lock Items - Relieved that you can avoid trashing a useful item by locking it? That feature came with the August 2013 update.

Year Six (September 2013 - September 2014)

• Khrysalis Part 1 - Khrysalis was actually released in two parts! The first part made its debut in November 2013.
• Shadow Magic - Khrysalis Part 1 brought shadow magic into the mix. Shadow spells could be trained as soon as players defeated Sofia DarkSide in the Eclipse Tower.
• Allan GhostDust - Make-A-Wish visitor, Allan GhostDust, had the amazing opportunity to create something special for Wizard101. His NPC stands in the Khrysalis hub with a quest that rewards an extra potion bottle.
• Castle Tours - Players gained the ability to list and visit their houses on Castle Tours in November 2013.
• Quest Finder - One of the most useful features to date is the Quest Finder! Not sure if you completed all the quests in the game? The November 2013 feature will find them for you.
• Team Up - Finding dungeon teammates was a lot harder before the Team Up function was added in March 2014.
• Khrysalis Part 2 - The second arc concluded with the addition of Khrysalis Part 2 in April 2014.
• Fishing - Wizards traded in their wands for fishing rods in July 2014. But what's the best part about magical fishing? The many many puns!

Year Seven (September 2014 - September 2015)

• Four Dungeons - Kembaalung, Barkingham Palace, Zigazag, and Darkmoor were all included in the November 2014 update. Darkmoor instantly became a new farming hotspot since its dropped gear was a long awaited improvement to the existing Waterworks gear.
• Shadow Enhanced Spells - Thanks to Darkmoor, shadow pips were no longer shadow spell exclusive. Shadow enhanced spells are school specific spells that require a shadow pip to cast. These new spells provided a very powerful boost for many schools.
• Member Benefits - Isn't it crazy that member benefits weren't around until November 2014? I take my double pet XP and double gardening rewards for granted.
• Jewels - Socketing extra boosts to your existing gear became possible in the April 2015 update.
• One-Shot Gauntlets - Baddle of the Bands and Tanglewood Terror made their way into the Crown Shop in April 2015. These dungeons marked the first time that dungeons could not be repeated (until you bought another).
• Skeleton Key Bosses - Skeleton Key bosses could be found within the Four Dungeons, but it wasn't until April 2015 that some could be accessed through standalone sigils.
• Ultra Everything - Ultra pets, Ultra dungeons, and ultra seeds. The July 2015 update certainly knew a thing or two about ultra awesomeness!
• 3rd Age Starts- Since the matchmaking system was adjusted yet again in July 2015, KingsIsle brought the 2nd Age of PvP to a close.

Year Eight (September 2015 - September 2016)

• Polaris - In November 2015, the third arc started with an icy trip to Polaris.
• Simon the Sayer - Daniel, another Make-A-Wish visitor, created his very own boss - Simon the Sayer! The creative and unique battle can be accessed through Sunken City.
• Fishing Additions - Catch of the Day and Fishing Tournaments were included in the November 2015 update.
• Item Deselect - Another great feature! Item deselect allows players to pick and choose what item and/or pet spells they want to appear in battle. It came in November 2015, and it was definitely worth the wait.
• Daily Assignments - The April 2016 update with daily assignments ensured that wizards would always have something to do each and every day they visited the spiral.
• Level 50 Elixir - It was widely requested and KingsIsle delivered in August 2016. For 30,000 crowns, players who already have a pre-existing level 50 character can instantly boost an additional character up to level 50.
• Interface Changes - In August 2016, Wizard101 completely changed the friend list interface to include tons of new sorting options. Also, a buff list was added so teams can see what buffs are currently on each team member.
• Brandon - KingsIsle's third Wizard101 Make-A-Wish visitor was Brandon. He created an interesting boss fight located in Dragonspyre.

Phew! That's a lot of stuff, isn't it? I'm curious what Wizard101's ninth year will bring ... I guess we'll just have to see. What are you doing for Wizard101's 8th birthday and what do you think of all of the changes that have occurred over the years?