May is coming to an end, and that means summer is fast approaching. While warm weather, vacations, and no school warrant excitement on their own, Wizard101 players are particularly looking forward to a teased summer update. Players got their first glimpse of a couple of new features during May's KI Live.
Following a somewhat consistent pattern from years past, it sounds like Wizard101's 2017 summer update will largely focus on game improvements and changes to already existing features and systems. Those looking for a new world should keep an eye out in the fall (that's when those massive updates usually hit!). Based on the information given during KingsIsle's livestream, at least two things we can expect in the coming update are new menu chat options and a new tournament type.
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Turn-Based PvP
If I had a dime for every time I saw "KingsIsle fix PvP," or some other variant, well ... I'd have a lot of dimes. It's no secret that the PvP community has become increasingly upset at the state of their in-game hobby, and part of that frustration is caused by the battle system itself. Wizard101 technically has always had turn-based combat, but both players choose their spell at the same time. This leads to a huge imbalance often referred to as the "first turn advantage." Experienced PvPers are almost always guaranteed a win from first because they're able to control and manipulate the match in significant ways. By the time their opponent(s) find their footing, it's usually too late. That being said, it's not impossible to win from second. However, I think majority of the community would agree that it's significantly harder.
To address this issue, KingsIsle revealed a brand new PvP tournament mode during KI Live called "Turn-Based." This particular tournament type stands out for one crucial reason: only one player picks their spell at a time. After a spell is chosen, it's immediately cast and then the other person goes. Thus (in theory), the first turn advantage is eliminated.
KingsIsle will only be implementing this kind of combat during the specific tournament mode, but who knows what could happen after that. If all goes well and players are happy with it, perhaps KingsIsle could expand it to all of PvP, including ranked? That would be a huge change, but maybe a good one. After all, this new tournament mode seemingly tackles one of the biggest issues players currently have with PvP. It will be interesting to see how everything plays out in the test realm.
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Menu Chat Options
As someone who assists others in the game, I value communication. In fact, effective communication can be instrumental when trying to take down a challenging boss. I've always thought that Wizard101's menu chat options were extremely limited, so I'm happy to see that they will be increased. As shown in KI Live, some new menu chat categories include different strategies such as "Ward/Trap Strategy," "Charm Strategy," and "General Strategy." Those should be incredibly helpful within cheating instances. I also saw a new "Community" category which directs players to certain KingsIsle social media accounts.
Although KingsIsle has teased us with some pretty cool upcoming features, we'll have to wait just a bit longer to see them. The new PvP tournament mode was still on the development server (with some kinks) and hasn't been through internal testing yet. Make sure to follow Wizard101 on Twitter for any test realm sneak peeks or announcements.
