After a preview on test realm, the inaugural Deckathalon kicked off this past month on our live servers! Much fun was had by Wizards all across the Spiral as they competed on the leaderboard and contributed to the community progress on the global progress bar.
The Deckathalon was also a lot of fun for us developers. We received a ton of feedback on everything from combat balance to the leaderboards and overall event progress. While these events are rather competitive by nature, we are continually looking at ways to make sure everyone can participate and feels progress is being made both for themselves and for the community. We’re using what we learned from the last event and planning the next Deckathalon as we type this newsletter!
More about the Deckathalon below. For the latest news on future events, keep watch @Wizard101 and Facebook, as well as the announcements section in the forums.
What else happened in May? Here’s a quick lookback on all the May Magic (does not include certain offers and similar announcements):
May 30: KI Live! Missed the show? Watch it below on YouTube.
As always, keep updated daily on the latest news for next month on Twitter and Facebook!
May Producer's Letter
Professor Falmea is back with another Producer’s Letter chock-full of goodies! Have a read:
My Dear Wizards,
The snow gives way to sun, the cold gives way to Spring; and as an enthusiast of all things warm, hot, and blazing, I couldn’t be more excited. I also couldn’t be more thrilled about the new and shiny changes to come in Spring and Summer, so let’s chat about them, as well as some adjustments to the construction process of these updates. Let’s recap what has happened thus far, what will happen soon, what’s to come in the near future, and what you, the community, can expect from us along the way.
First of all, I’d like to welcome Ratbeard (aka Ben Durbin) back to the Spiral as our new Lead Designer. You’ve met him on the forums (where he’s been known to prowl from time to time), you’ll get a chance to hear us discuss the Deckathalon in an upcoming Dev Diary, and we’re working together with the rest of the team to make 2019 the best year for Wizard101 yet.
Get the inside scoop of how and why we came up with the new Deckathalon events in this latest dev diary!
KI Live with Sparck & Professor Falmea
This past month’s KI Live had a mix of Wizard101 and Pirate101 gameplay action. We also talked a lot about May’s inaugural Ice Deckathalon event and hinted at the next event to come later this month!
Question for our newsletter readers... who wears the hats better, Professor Falmea or Sparck? @Wizard101 your vote!
A Wizard101 tip from this month’s KI Live comes from community member Angus Goldvault:
“To prepare for the next Ice Deckathalon, garden Boiled Peanuts (needs: water, sun, Rank 1 pests). Best source of seeds is the interactive Sarcophagus in Darkmoor Manor. They yield Fire Shark TCs (2 pips, 375-435 fire damage) and Raging Kraken TCs (3 pips, 520-580 fire damage), which are very useful.” - Angus Goldvault
‘Ello there, Wizards! Lucky Hookline here with an amazin’ opportunity an’ a fun event happening right here in Wizard101! We’re havin’ ourselves another fishin’ tournament and everyone’s invited!
Here’s what ya need ta’ do to win the catch of the year. On June 14-16 for “Fishing Fun Weekend 1” and again on June 21-23 for “Fishing Fun Weekend 2”, we’re offering big prizes for the best fishers of certain types of fish as noted below. Get your box and tackle ready and claim your fame as the best fisher in the Spiral!
Make-A-Wish Charity Results
We raised over $800 in our bake sale last month for Make-A-Wish of Central & Southern Texas@MakeAWishCSTX! Make-A-Wish is a non-profit organization that creates life-changing wishes for children with a critical illness. We’re preparing to further this year’s charity efforts by participating in Over The Edge. Look for us repelling off buildings soon!
Grandmother Raven Visited The Studio!
We had the pleasure to bring back Grandmother Raven to record new lines for the game. Here she is chatting about the project with our Audio Lead, TJ O’Leary (Gamma):
Looking for a dev diary interview with Grandmother Raven sometime later this year!
Fantastic Fairytale Bundle Wallpaper
Our amazing concept artist, Adam Roush, created this desktop wallpaper of the new Fantastic Fairytale Bundle! Click on the image below to download the full 1080p version:
Zone of the Month: Sunken City in Wizard City
The traditional and ever popular Zone of the Month continues with a discounted offer! This month we’re featuring the newly polished Sunken City in Wizard City. Access to this area usually requires 750 Crowns, but because this is our zone of the month, we’ve discounted this area to 525 Crowns through June 16th!
Sam Johnson, KingsIsle’s Lead Creative Designer, has been quite pleased with the community’s reactions to his last few Zone of the Months and would like to know what you think of this latest one. Post a comment on social media, in the official forums, or contact us directly and let him know where you would like the story to be taken next!
Name: Sunken City
Location: Sunken City is a secluded street located in – rather, under – Wizard City.
Description:
When the Death School suffered its unfortunate little tumble into Nightside, it landed just outside the tightly locked gate to Sunken City. Due to its over-abundance of unfriendly Undead denizens, Sunken City probably won’t be on anyone’s list of relaxing vacation spots. By far the most intriguing reason to venture into the mean street of Sunken City would be to track down its most mysterious inhabitant, the infamous Grubb. Help fellow Ravenwood student, Marla Stinger, prove to Professor Drake that Grubb is more than just a silly myth.
Secrets:
If you’ve got a Stone Skeleton Key, be sure to use it in Sunken City to help the valiant Wizard, Daniel, take down the vile Ghost-Troll, Simon the Sayer, and his army of mechanical golem friends.
Who’s That Boss?
There’s really only one reason to go Boss hunting in Sunken City, and that’s to fight Grubb.
A Peek Behind the Dev Process:
Sunken City was released shortly after the launch of Wizard101 as some of the first post-launch content. At the time, it was a novel concept for the Wizard Design team, as it was a high-level gauntlet that featured a full street’s worth of combat, as opposed to a more typical “Tower” or “Dungeon” gauntlet consisting of a few interiors full of enemies strung together with a boss at the end. The idea for Sunken City came from two of the Senior Designers (who are both still with KingsIsle all these years later!) who’s shared affinity for a certain popular movie provided inspiration for the Sunken City story. Unfortunately, there’s a strict rule about not talking about that movie, so we can’t tell you which one!
Which area in Wizard101 should we spotlight for next month? Let us know by tweeting your suggestion @Wizard101 or by emailing community@Wizard101.com!
Fan Screenshot of the Month
This screenshot is from Destiny Dragonheart. She captured this image in Ravenwood in front of Bernie the Fire Tree. Here mount is the Frontier Dragon, one of her favorite rides. The Frontier Dragon was a gift given to members for Wizard101’s 5th Birthday in 2009.
Fan Art Spotlight
For this month’s fan art spotlight, we are showcasing several items from Arcanum’s Lore, which producing something unique and interesting on an almost daily basis:
Also, here is an art submission we just got this morning from Avery (Dark Rapier). Does the setting look familiar? :). Well done on this replica, Avery!
We would love to see more screenshots and art from the community for next month’s newsletter. Do you have something amazing to share? Send it to us in an email to community@Wizard101.com! We’re always interested in showing off more fan art, gameplay guides, and other content.
The unaffiliated-with-KingsIsle “Community Newsletter” had a great selection of Wizard101 links this month. NOTE: Be sure to visit and follow their Twitter page for more information. To subscribe to their newsletter, send a message to them over Twitter inquiring to be added or email them at community.newsletter.101@gmail.com. You can unsubscribe at any time by sending them an email with the phrase “UNSUB”.
