Wizard101
Ravenwood News

Test Realm is Online
We've got new Celestia housing, Gardening updates, World Updates, Membership Updates, Crown Shop Updates and lots of Miscellaneous changes. Learn more here

  Mysteries of the Spiral
Falmea wants to talk about unexplored areas in familiar lands. In the current worlds of the Spiral, tell us one place that you would be interested to see what's behind a door/space/area that seems like it should be open. Tell her what you think!

  New Abracadoodle!
See the latest in the story of a young Wizard and his ongoing efforts to succeed at Ravenwood. To see the comic and browse the archives in case you missed any, visit our Abracadoodle Page.

Update A message from Merle Ambrose:

To the Wizard101 Community,

Recently we made a change to our chat system that left a number of people in our community frustrated -- or some cases, even angry. The feedback has been signficant, and I wanted to write you a quick note to let you know that, as always, we are listening.

First off, a quick apology. We did a very poor job of notifying you, our customer community, that this change was coming. To make matters worse, we completely failed to explain the reasons behind this decision. Please accept our apology for that, and allow me the opportunity to provide that explanation now.

A large portion of our effort here at KingsIsle is spent polishing our game, and all the related subsystems. It may not be apparent on the outside, but maintaining a virtual world with 15 million players can be pretty challenging. Operational systems, customer support, registration and billing, the website -- there are hundreds of individual pieces that have to fit together perfectly to keep Wizard101 running all day, every day. Our team is constantly changing these systems, improving them, polishing them, trying to make them better for you.

Sometimes when we make changes, we also make mistakes. A few weeks ago, we found that we had made an error: the explanation for how our 18+ Chat feature worked, as described on the website, didn't match the rules set that turned this Chat Filter off. The result was that a number of players -- all of them over 18 years of age, mind you -- were able to keep Open Chat working, even when their subscription expired.

Oops. Our original intention was to restrict this type of chat to active members only. We thought requiring a current, active credit card would be the safest, easiest way to ensure that 18+ chat remained exactly that -- a restricted feature meant only for our more mature players.

When we found that error, we put it on the schedule, and a short time later it was "fixed." The issue, of course, is that a number of our customers -- like those who have migrated from a subscription account to buying areas with crowns -- found themselves suddenly unable to use a feature they had grown accustomed to. This wasn't a problem before; in fact, when we added 18+ Chat, game cards were a pretty small part of our business. Now we sell them in almost fifty thousand retail locations.

Our intention was to fix an issue with our chat system -- not to alienate a portion of our community! We value our pay-as-you-go customers just as much as our monthly subscribers -- but by making this change, it certainly didn't look that way.

So the question now is: how do we resolve this going forward?

After much discussion, we have decided to move the system back to the way it was before -- and fix the messaging to accurately reflect this. As before, we will still require the use of a credit card to verify that an account holder is 18 or older -- this is not just the right thing to do, it is actually a legal requirement. This is not open to debate. But we can drop the restriction that you must have an active subscription. Once an account is verified as being over 18 years old, that account will remain verified, whether they continue to pay us or not.

We're going to make this change immediately, and I sincerely hope that this will address the situation to everyone's satisfaction. That said, player safety is (and must be) our first priority, and we will continue to review and revise our policies and rules to keep Wizard101 both safe and appropriate for all ages . We reserve the right to change things as we deem necessary, even if those changes are unpopular.

Please understand that we consider our player community to be our most important asset... We are listening, and we do care about your opinions. Thank you again for playing, and I hope to see you in Ravenwood.

Regards,

J Todd Coleman
"Headmaster Ambrose"
Director, Wizard101

ps. one final note about feedback. We promise to continue listening... but only to opinions that are stated in a curteous, respectful manner. Profanity, insults or threats towards our customer support team absolutely will not be tolerated. Those who have acted in a discourteous or disrepectful manner -- in game, on our forums, or via email -- can expect their accounts to be immediately sanctioned or banned.

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  Update to Open Chat
Accounts that are NOT currently subscribed with a credit card will no longer have 18+ open chat. Those accounts will revert to Text Chat. Open Chat is a feature for account currently subscribed with a valid Credit Card.

We try to offer a full range of player account options (ie. Credit Cards, PayPal, Gift Certificates, Gift Cards, subscriptions, access passes, free trial, etc). Each of these comes with its own set of benefits and limitations.

For instance, as a crowns player, you have lifetime access to areas purchased. As a credit card subscriber, you’re given the option to enable 18+ chat (if you’re 18+ in age of course).

The fact that some accounts were able to retain their 18+ chat ability even when they were no longer subscribed, was a bug. In an effort to keep the player options equitable for all, we fixed the bug.

We thank you for your understanding. Please note, your ability to chat is not gone, your account will retain the filtered chat option.

A Fond Farewell
Before the end of the week, the following items will be removed from the Crown Shop:

1. Red Gobbler Pet
2. Pale Maiden Pet
3. Barbarian Outfit
4. Ninja Pig Costume

These items may reappear in the Crown Shop at a later date, but for now you'd better get them before they are gone!

Regarding the Extended Maintenance
Young Wizards, We don't like to see Wizard101 offline any more than you do, but it is necessary for us to continue to update the game, the website and the architecture behind what makes it all work.

In this case, we estimated we would need 6 hours for the update, however it took longer than we had hoped, and we encountered some technical errors that prevented us from opening everything up on time.

We apologize for the extended downtime, but rest assured we will do our best to prevent this issue from happening again.

Happy Wizarding!

  Enter the Wizard101 Magical Home Contest
Have you got the coolest digs in the Spiral? Do you want to show off your rockin’ castle, house, or dorm room to the world? And do you want to win great prizes for doing so? Then Massive Online Gamer wants to see it!

Enter the contest here

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   January Producer's Letter!
It’s been a whirlwind around here for the past few weeks.

Find out what our fearless leader has to say in the January Producer Letter

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  New Celestia Ringtones!
That's right, you heard it here first! New Ringtones from the world of Celestia have been released for use on your mobile phone! Listen and download on our Ringtones Page!

  The Giving Tree is Done!
The Giving Tree has left the Spiral, and no new ones can be purchased. Thank you everyone who participated in our Giving Tree Charity Drive and we'll announce updates on our Giving Magic page.

  Last Chance at the Giving Tree!
The Giving Tree will only be available for a limited time, so hurry and get one before they're gone!

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  Ravenwood Bulletin
A new year is upon us, young Wizards! Let's get started with a new Ravenwood Bulletin newsletter!

In this month's newsletter, we have Harold Argleston's Book of the Month Club that starts off the new year with a book about a wolf!

Our latest addition to the game, Gardening, has a few players scratching their heads, and we've got some help for you.

We also have some information about Frequently Asked Questions, Internet Safety, Wizard merchandise and a year of Awards.

Read all about it, at the Ravenwood Bulletin Newsletter.