Hey guys, before I start on this I have to tell you in advance that this will be a LONG post. Keep in mind, the order of opinions will happen of when which update is applied first.
April
Into the 1/4th of this year we got a little update known as Daily Assignments, a daily tasks of sorts designed to keep the wizard active even when there's no end game content for them. We also got 3 new skeleton key bosses that drop some unique loot such as mounts, gear, and housing items. The Update also gave life their attack aura from azteca which switches heal outgoing for 25% life damage along with the ability to train level 48 spells at level 100. Lastly, this was the update where the Call of Cthulhu was shortened to satisfy those death wizards.
This update wasn't so massive to me and really had no importance aside from farming the skeleton key bosses for some good loot. It also didn't appeal much cause the system for Daily Assignments is really cheap for Crowns & Arena Tickets, especially crowns. I do love the Day 12 Daily Quest but I think they should add in a exclusive Daily Quest Spell for all schools just to make things much interesting. Overall the Daily Assignments really isn't for me or anyone who can't always be active on wizards.
As I stated before, the importance of farming the skeleton key bosses is whether or not you like cosmetic wear or acquiring free crowns only mounts and at least for me I think they are indeed required to at least farm for the mounts since it'll save you cash and it's more enjoyable getting the mount instead of just buying to get stuff RIGHT?
Just a side note before I move on to the next month, If May cast "Life of Cycle" is added to the first generation Dryad, then where's the May cast "Devotion" talent? When are you guys gonna add that May Cast talent?
June
This was the month when Pirate101 fansite owners, bloggers, and players rejoiced when Valencia part II was finally released for the game. Not only this update brought new level caps, but new companions, new powers, and new loot for Pirates to discover. It also was the update where Notable story important companions such as Dead Mike got a promotion along with their crowns counterpart.
Sadly, that's all the update brought them aside from general maintenance but I will admit that is an important update for pirate players. I mean since when did pirate101 get their massive update, Aquila & Marleybone? Besides, what this update brought was more then enough to satisfy the game's hungers for now like how it is for wizard101 players and their satisfaction. I'm no big Pirate player, but I have played since beta and let me tell you that this update in my eyes really encourages me to play pirate101 again (despite my failed attempts to do so cause of lacking duo membership).
August
For the first time, Wizard101 was giving out a instant boost to level 50 elixir for $30. It came included a new gear set for Level 50+ including wand, athame, ring, and deck along with the level 48 Pet of the respective school.
Then came the changes for future tourney, making them gold for members, new cosmetic gear sets, and a "Second Chest" of Tourneys. It also reduced the critical rate from 2 to 1.25 for all attack spells in PvP, however that didn't change for healing spells.
Then, we finally got to see the Astral teacher for the Arcanum and he offered up more enhanced versions of previous spells minus the Moon Spells plus two new types of sun enchantments.
Lastly, they decided to give the Friends list a major overhaul in terms of both GUI (How it looks) and the functionality.
The level 50 potion is something I either hate or love, I really am divided on 2 sides here thinking about it now. I can spend 30$ just so I can get to ALMOST to the Halfway point or I could just speed run it with multiple friends or accounts for assistance. I get that KI wanted to copy that WoW's pay to instant level formula and it no doubt is a fine placement, but I think it could use a little work.
As for the astral teacher, he really teaches some unique spells such as Aegis and Indemnity which are types of enchantments we never used before and that in turn really interests me more in the school of Sun. Besides the upgraded versions of level 50 spells plus the Upgraded level 110 spell of Epic, this is rather a nice thing but with a cost. You see, some people do actually enjoy the moon school spells (Crazy I know to most wiz fans) not in terms of the polymorph but in terms of the shifts and the arcanum school teacher doesn't provide any moon spells. So my only gripe with this guy is the lack of Moon Spells for diverse reasons, but overall he is a nice addition to this update.
To be honest, I wasn't quite adapted into this newer GUI friend system but I did somehow learn to enjoy this more then the old friend list GUI. Considering how this one allows you to custom mote the friend wizard as a Pig or a Gem of Fire which are some of the many motes you can use.Its also much easier to know whether or not your friend is online despite that sometimes they can just spam the Hidden to Friends option multiple times and make things uncomfortable.
September
Pirate101 got a side dungeon available to all players which drops unique gear for both ship battles and the dungeon itself. This dungeon is located near the Skull Island Docks and will sometimes spawn in certain realms so look out with your one-eyed patch. It also was the introduction to upgraded epics via pets such as rank 4 and 5 versions of the talents. This also came with a new pack that co-sides with the dungeon, only difference here is that the pack gives companions.
To me, this is really a filler experience considering how I don't play pirate101 as much anymore and plus according to most people, level 50s can also do this dungeon too. It also was nice of them to place back throwback items from wizard101 to pirates such as the Wyrm Bed, the Krok Tablet, and the dragonskull obelisk.
However the one thing I really kinda don't like about this update is the surplus of wizard101 items, it just makes sure that wizard101 is promoted more and as a result more people will switch from pirate to wizard. But overall, for those non-membership pirates, you have something amazing waiting for you near the Skull Island Docks.
November
KI gave us the journey into a new world called Mirage, the world where both the Scorpion and the Spider were both hiding. Then there was the concept called Faction Vendors where mounts and other items (Mainly cosmetic items) can be sold for gold.
Of course, with a new level cap they released new rank 4 spells which displays a new way of dealing with enemies, deciding which enemies get the damage whether is dealing the entire damage to one enemy or splitting it off (Up to 4) and deal damage that way. The Spell Quest is available at Level 118 during the later parts of mirage.
The newest housing update which includes the power of doing anything which is only limited by your imagination. Whether its shrinking stuff or making them invisible to even moving the objects, the housing update includes tutorials on how this works via both a quest (For basics) and a help book that he gives you.
Lastly, they upgraded crafting levels to the arcanum which allows you to craft even more stuff. It also is the main basis for for level 115+ weapons crafted from the arcanum.
Now where to begin? I must say, KI really loves open space because Mirage is Full of them and I appreciate that. Unlike the worlds before, Mirage feels as though your playing an open ended world but then again it is the thing with the world cause its full of sand.
As for the characters we get to meet in the world, they were quite developed and I even laughed at some of them such as the "Mr.Clean" Genie along with "Snake Plizkin", a parody of Metal Gear Solid 2's character Iroquois pliskin.
The New Spells I really think are unique in terms of visual style and in my opinion the Fire Spell wins for best animation followed by myth and storm. Although I'm questioned by the use of this in PvP since its a 4 pip spell that deals tons of damage when its applied only to one person and most of the time people 1v1.
Housing Magic like the Level 50 elixir is something KI didn't get as an original idea, this was used in the game Disney Infinity where you can create and play a whole world as your favorite disney characters. But I will give something positive about this, this really makes housing more interesting and I can imagine the amount of people doing housing work over PvP. Now if only KI can add in a PvP arena as a housing item, that'll be the day. That's all I have to say about for the latest update in wizard101.
So what does Pirate101 & Wizard101 have to improve on?
I'll start with pirate since there could be a potential for better and bigger content in that game. Pirate101 can bring in early content such as the entirety of skull island for free. Now why did I say that? Well, we tried doing this earlier with Wizard101 with wizard city and they completely ignore it which I can see why, the amount of content you can do as a non-member is quite staggering when in comparison to pirate101.
Pirate101 has less non-member content and I feel as a result people will tend to go away from the game since there isn't a lot of things to do in the game. Sure the game has PvP or it has pet training and fights, but not everyone likes pirate's method of doing PvP fights considering how the arena isn't like wizard where its more organized but rather its the 4v4 sigils where people can intentionally "Slip" into combat. Besides, they do organize for the ranked PvP battles but that's for members only and we are talking about Non-Member stuff. So if Pirate101 can pull more Non-Member content to attract back the audience that they got back in 2012 & provide more improvements, it'll be a great year for Pirate101.
As for Wizard101, I really feel that most of the content is alright. But I feel as though they can improve more if the game listened more to other wiz communities such as #Twizards and WizTubers. It wasn't until August where KI supported out the PvP community by making critical less dangerous in PvP and gave out new spells that foreshadow of what's to come. I don't really have a lot to say about how wiz can improve other then the things mentioned beforehand.
Thank you guys for reading my long post about the year in general for both Wizard & Pirate and here's to another year for KI and their improvements.
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