Wizard101 March/April Test Realm Thoughts, Feedback, and Bugs

The Test Realm is up and running, and it's packed with new content! There are some really great new features and updates that I've been trying out. I've spotted a few bugs and shared a few recommendations here!

Test Realm Content

Check out the Test Realm content here!

• New Skeleton Key Boss Guide
• Dragonspyre Fish School, Location, XP, Rank, and Tank Size Guide
• Dragonspyre Fishing Spell Guide
• Sentinel Fish Guide
• New Flat Stats: How They Work
• New Secret Boss Drop Spells
• Socketing and Jewels: A Guide

Jewel Socketing

• This is a great new mechanic of which I am, overall, very fond.
• The randomness in crafting is a great thing.
• From what I have seen so far, I'm hoping there's some more variety in the jewels available, but I think we've only scratched the surface at this point.
• I am hoping jewel drops have been added to regular bosses across the Spiral.
• I have noticed that some items have fewer sockets as they increase in level requirement. I think this is an excellent strategy for forcing players to really think about their gear and what they're using and hope you'll continue with this pattern.
• One player asked a good question on Wizard101 Central - If some of the lower-level worlds don't drop jewels and metals, or if you must be level 15 to do socketing, why do the low-level world crafting vendors have recipes?

One-Shot Gauntlets

• I was worried these would be too long, but their length seems to be about right.
• I really like that jewels are dropped from every battle. If there were not something from the first three, it'd be quite a bit less interesting.
• The storyline and puns and references in these were great.
• There ought to be some message or notification telling you which tier of dungeon you're about to enter, just in case it's not an appropriate level for you or you forgot to change it.
• Are these housing-tour-restricted? What's to stop a friend teleporting while you're away and using up your gauntlet?
• If these are going to be like hoard packs, there ought to be some guaranteed or close-to-guaranteed worthwhile loot at the end.
• One concern that has been brought up is the fact that even if four people are all ready and intend to go in, if one lags or joins at the last minute while others leave, or have some sort of issue, then the gauntlet is used up.
• Initially, I thought 500 crowns was a good price given the adventure and the items and the ability to take four people. However, after some consideration of the fact that four may not always be available, that repeating the adventure after so many times may become old, and that you're not guaranteed any great loot from the dungeon, I can't help but feel that these are slightly overpriced.
• I do not think these should be sold in permanent versions as some have suggested. 
• Changing the gauntlets so that once they're used, they become an interesting house item was a great idea!

Dragonspyre Fishing

• The new fish and spells are fantastic additions.
• For me, the difficulty of sentinels is just about right. Some players may find catching them without an elixir frustrating.
• I'd like to see the winnow spells reduced to a cost of 8 energy. Changed to 7 energy. Great!
• I would love to have some fish added to The Howling Cave.
• Favorite fish spells was a great addition.
• I'd love to see some distinguishing mark for sentinels in the Angler's Tome.
• New fish are inventive, fun to catch, and spread out well across Dragonspyre. None are overly difficult to snag, but several are an appropriate challenge for wizards.
• Sentinels seems to often appear right after you clear one by catching it. A new one spawns almost immediately. This might just be me getting unlucky, but if this is part of how it works, there ought to be some delay.
• Fishing in some of these areas is a little unreasonable. It's nearly impossible to get even close to all of the fish because a given area is so large and so much of it cannot be accessed. Charm Fish is not a viable solution to this problem, as it attracts the fish long enough for you to catch one, then they move away, and a combination of the attract and freeze is not reasonable for every fishing hole given the number of them in Dragonspyre.
• I would love to have the new fishing view in all locations.
• Adding new fish to the lava in Grizzleheim was a great idea!

Join A Team

• Seems to be a good, clean feature, though confusing as first. Perhaps a tutorial tip when approaching it would be appropriate, which explains that this teams you up with people across the Spiral for different dungeons using the same Team Up channel as if you were at a sigil, you just see them Spiral-wide.

Skeleton Key Bosses

• The new sigils look great.
• Adding spells as drops to these bosses, particularly "combo" spells, was a great idea. I only hope we'll see spells for other schools in the future of this same type.
• The "Sacred Charge" spell is not quite up to par with the others, though I'm not sure I'd go so far as an AoE as some have suggested. Ultimately, it may be appropriately powered, its mechanics just make it far less useful and worth having than the other two.
• The Lambent Fire boss seems to be using his "Feinting? What a Cheap Move!" cheat on Curse.
• Aphrodite Two is only showing one tendril upon entering. Sometimes two. Someone they are on top of each other. The only it isn't showing is the proper four in their places. Looks like this was fixed with the last update! Great!
• On the Mooshu sigil, players join right next to each other, but if two players hop on the Avalon sigil, they occupy the first and third spots.
• The Lambent Fire's cheats are just a tad over-the-top for his level range and location in Avalon. He might be more appropriately powered if:
• His minions did not return when defeated OR
• His health was closer to 10,000 OR
• The minions' sacrifice immolate did not do as much damage OR
• The minions no longer had Backdraft OR
• Enemies, specifically the minions, did not start with so many pips
• The critical and critical block on these bosses is all just a little high.
• The "I am untouched!" message is lagging behind the action.
• The Death tendril's attack plus Death dispel does not register the damage until the round has concluded. Update: All three natural attacks have this problem!
• The gold chest is highly irregular for a boss, and one of my characters was able to collect it plus a gold amount, but the chest disappeared entirely when used from my other character, so he was never able to use it.
• Compared to initial drops from all four of the enemies when the Test Realm was first released, these are extraordinarily sub-par. I think you need to get rid of the chest and return the four-boss drops. They're in-line with the difficulty level of this fight and the nature of farming it - it's a key boss inside a tough dungeon in a side world that requires a high level and completion of two other very difficult dungeons. Part of the challenge lies in arriving in the first place, and the battle is arguably one of the toughest in the Spiral. I think it's fair to bring back the old drops on this one. The current system, even if you choose to keep it, is glitched, flawed, and disliked.
• The minions with the Avalon boss still call out their cheats (which they cannot and do not perform) after the boss dies.
• If one of the Avalon boss minions casts his self destruct ability and kills another player when doing so, the back end of that in which he dies from the damage does not occur.

Other Updates

• Perhaps one of my favorite updates is the badge organization; for some reason, this just makes me infinitely more interested in badges and activates the completionist side of me to try and get them all.
• I enjoy the altered flight paths and appreciate that the old one is also available in the Amber Estate.
• I am really looking forward to using the new keyboard shortcuts to open up my fish basket in live. It may be time to re-visit the spellbook tabs, though.

Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!