How long has wizard101 been out

In movie terms, we look to Pixar as our guiding light. There are many other things that give Wizard its unique character. I think that approachability makes it easy for both kids and parents that have never played an MMO to jump in and not be overwhelmed.

Finally, it combines some concepts that are enjoyed by many: a school for Wizards with collectible card-based dueling in a fun and whimsical universe. A couple of things led me in this direction. First of all, I have young daughters and wanted them to have a fun and safe game to play.

Also, I generally like ideas that are focused on areas that are being ignored or under-served by others in the marketplace. What steps have you taken to ensure children are safe from harassment while playing? One of our first principles in developing Wizard was: safety first. We went to extraordinary lengths to protect our younger players. Players who are over 13 can opt to use our Safe Dictionary chat system.

We created a dictionary of safe words and players can then construct any sentence they want using only these words… well, almost any sentence — we also had to add a filter that removes inappropriate innuendos created out of safe words. To facilitate that, we have a reporting mechanism for players to flag inappropriate conduct that they witness in game.

So, when other players try and get around the filters, and some do, that behavior will be reported and will eventually flow back to someone in our office. Then we assess the situation, look at the context, and address it appropriately. This could result in a warning, or muting the player for some period of time, or sometimes even banning them from the game. Can you take us through the design process for Wizard ?

The design process is somewhat hard to describe at the start — because ideas can really come from anywhere. After the initial brainstorming, the process becomes a lot more predictable.

Game features, characters, environments — it all starts with a written vision document, which is then sent to the various groups for concepting or prototyping. Talk about the difference between what's available when playing without a subscription to what is available with a subscription? They've even ponied up for a monthly membership out of their own allowances, which is about the highest endorsement any game can get from them.

So, they're pretty thrilled to hear that Wizard has a huge expansion coming soon: the brand-new world of Avalon. The game has grown by leaps and bounds since its introduction in According to company reps Fred Howard and Ben Conrad, it's currently localized in eight countries, and it plans to offer a Chinese-language version to help them break into the Asian market soon. You can pick up game cards in over 65, retail outlets, and these are reportedly some of the top sellers at Game Stop.

Stealing HOTs? Stealing Health? We got that too. The Ice Fairy is ready to join the fray and working down the damage in style. She is ready to Pacify even the most turbulent Storm Beastform that crosses her path.

Fire Cyclops Not feeling the Death Draconian? How about a Fire Cyclops? I think we can all agree this is one toasty companion on any Beastmoon battlefield. The Fire Cyclops uses the power of fire duh! He can Taunt the enemy, the opposite ability that Ice Fairy has with Pacify. For the Beastmoon Hunt there are new gold idols, pets, and of course added Spellements. Pets and craftable gold idols will be released in the coming Beastmoon Monster Mayhem events.

All release dates are tentative but check out below when some of the new rewards are expected to become available. You no longer must wait an entire round of combat before you have your turn. Some time is added to the planning phase timer so you can select your card. Players can no longer join a combat sigil during the final round of combat.

The player that summoned a Henchman or Minion can now dismiss them by clicking on their red X button. You are not refunded the mana or Crowns you may have used to summon the Henchman and Minion. Taunt and Pacify spells have newly updated mechanics first seen on Shatterhorn and Grrnadier. We have changed the matchmaking sort order to prioritize Level Band over Rank.

This is a change to address current matchmaking, and it may or may not extend into 5th Age. We intend to closely monitor the ability for more skilled players to farm rank from higher level but less skilled players. As long as this sort order does not manifest such problems, we can extend it into 5th Age.

Players have reported greatly improved queue times and almost no mismatches. TC Gating This change affects mostly low level PvP, though because spells become available at all levels of play, it has the potential to affect any level of PvP below max. This change affects PvP only and prevents players from drawing treasure cards from the sideboard if a player is below the minimum level for the TC.

To determine the level of a TC, we started with the level of the learned spell if any , then set other TCs of similar rank to the same level, and then we made a pass to deliberately set some essential TCs blades, traps, etc. Last but not least, we set each TC to the minimum level for its Level Band, in order to allow players to use TCs that might be slightly out of reach. For example, a TC that matches a spell learned at level 18 would be pushed down to level 10 for the purposes of TC Gating.

We will be listening closely to player feedback on the Gating system and can adjust the required level as needed. This will not change your chance to crit or block in any way, but it will add value to successful crits. So, although the exact terms of Free-to-Play for 5th Age are still under discussion, we have decided to immediately but temporarily open free PvP to all players of L20 and above.

Click on the heart icon to add items to your wish list! Wish lists can be made private, friends only or public. If a wish list is set to friends or public, anyone inspecting you can see your wish list and buy something for you from it.

Items on the wish list can be marked to be saved even after purchase, or to be removed if purchased.

Improvements Search now searchs everything, not just the tab you are on. For your Wizard section at the top of each category has been removed. Items can now be shown or hidden based on account age, character level, character class, previous Crowns purchases, and more.