Bundles and Their Potential

Honestly, bundles are one of my favorite types of updates - they offer all new gear, houses, and any number of items to players, and oftentimes are available for some time before officially being announced. But some of the things KingsIsle has been doing on bundles makes their future look promising.

Wizard101 Sets the Stage

I'll never forget the announcement of the Epic Bundle - that first card, no longer available now, that would begin a long string of epic gear sets, cool new mounts, awesome pets, and some of the best available houses in the game.

Things really got interesting when they started putting gauntlets in bundles - this was a huge new thing for wizard. Now groups could get together in houses and farm bosses or instances. As wizard has made this feature available, surely shall Pirate as well.

Wizard101 really surprised us, however, with the Hive Bundle. This one had an epic dragonfly ride that allowed us to change the angle of the camera during the ride. This is huge for Wizard in general, because it means that they can do it for cutscenes, actual quest goals, and for transportation between areas in the future. 

Khrysalis really excites me. If you look at Part 1, we had the introduction of assistants, Shadow Magic, more advanced cutscenes, and additional post-completion location changes (music, landscape textures, etc.). We saw the dragonfly in the Hive Bundle. And now I'm guessing there're even more awesome features coming in Part 2, and houses can only improve from here. 

Pirate Shakes Things Up

Pirate101 bundle began before the game was even released with the Boochbeard Bundle. However, in terms of normal, store-bought bundles, things didn't start until the Cutthroat Bundle. What interesting about Pirate bundles is that Pirate has all of the things Wizard does - weapons, gear, pets, mounts, and houses - but also introduces companions and ships. That means that they can pick and choose which elements come on cards. In the Boochbeard Bundle, it was a pet, mount, outfit, weapon, house, and companion. However, with later cards, they chose to do housing add-ons or houses and exclude such things as the mount, pet, and even sometimes the weapon.

Switching Things Up: Future Bundles

I think we have a lot of possibilities for future bundles in both games. In Wizard101 specifically, there are a few things I'd like to see happen to bundles. I love the houses and add-ons, but I would also like to see more of the unique features like the dragonfly ride, and I think it's reasonable to expect that we will see them. I think this is the area with the most potential for Wizard.

The gear in particular is an issue for me. We all know it's mediocre at best and doesn't always have the most appealing look. I would love to see improvements in that area. I also wouldn't mind seeing them do something like Pirate - swap out one item for something entirely new. Maybe it's a tapestry or housing game.

I feel like with Pirate, the sky is the limit. I'd love to see them add in some mounts and pets from some of these cards, perhaps in addition to the existing items. I want to continue to see companions, of course, and the gear absolutely can't go - not only does it look good, but its stats are worth having as well.

I think the biggest thing I want from Pirate101 bundles is new companions - keep those coming. I love that Nausica and Hoodoo Cornelius have been specifically interesting companions, with new powers and such.

Additional Ideas

I've heard some really interesting ideas floating around for future bundles - for example, someone suggested a new type of totem that was a scope that was placed on guns. And so I'm curious - what do you think of existing bundles, and what are you expecting and hoping for from future ones?