After a few weeks on the Test Realm, Wizard101's newest update officially launched. Although it doesn't contain a ton of new stuff to do, it did try to tackle all things pets.
The Hatchmaking Kiosk
The center of this new update is no doubt the hatchmaking kiosk. With it, players can hatch pets at their leisure and not have to worry about the complications of physical in-game meetups. The kiosk is great if:
- You want to find potential matches quickly and easily. The hatchmaking kiosk gives you an insane amount of options. All you have to do is sort through what you want.
- You don't care about a pet pool's unknown variables. Some pet enthusiasts like to keep "clean pools." Meaning, they know exactly what talents their egg could manifest and can attempt to refine that pool as necessary. Hatching with unknown pools doesn't allow you to do this (but I'm going to assume the majority of the Wizard101 playerbase won't be bothered by this).
- You're fine with potentially switching hatchmates. Sometimes players prefer consistency and hatch with the same person and/or pet for months on end. Although it's very time consuming for both of the players involved, the idea is that eventually the two pools will match and manifest what you want. Considering that the kiosk will automatically remove pets after one week, you should ideally be okay with switching around your hatchmates.
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Honestly, I think the hatchmaking kiosk is great. I definitely see the "hardcore" pet community sticking with organized meetup groups to ensure clean pools and communication, but for everybody else, this new resource will be invaluable. No more intimidation or begging in the hatchery. No more bribing for hatches. No more talking to pet owners at all (if you don't want to). It's meant to be easy and accessible, and it is. In fact, the only aspect of it that I've seen complaints about is the crown pet policy. Most crown pets are completely ineligible from hatchmaking. Given that many people have already spent tons of time developing good talents on crown pets, I can understand the frustration. However, even KingsIsle has stated that more might make an appearance in the future. It's a new feature. I'm willing to wait and see what happens down the road.
Unicorns and Rainbows
If you know KingsIsle, you know that they LOVE to sneak some secret stuff in when they update the game. This patch was no different. Along with the kiosk, new loading screens, and skeleton key bosses came ... unicorns. Yes, the Unicorn Hoard Pack was introduced into the spiral and it's exactly what it sounds like. A pack full of colorful, mystical, and mysterious items.
There are 3 unicorn mounts that you could receive:
- Fantastic
- Majestic Unicorn
- Mystic Unicorn
As well as 3 unicorn "plushie" pets:
- Fantastic Plushie
- Majestic Plushie
- Mystic Plushie
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This pack also contains unicorn themed gearsets and a "rain-bow" weapon. As always, be aware that you only have a CHANCE to get these items. Treasure cards, reagents, and pet snacks included in the pack certainly like to get in your way. But hey, maybe you'll get lucky! Although I didn't receive any permanent mounts from the 50 packs I purchased, I did get 2 of the pets. Partial success I suppose.
What do you think of Wizard101's new update and pack? Share your thoughts below!
