Feedback Friday: Wizard101 Hints

Feedback Friday has been happening for several years now. Professor Falmea, as she's known on the official forums, will ask a question, sometimes attach a poll, and look for feedback from Wizard101 fans over the course of the week. Sometimes it's a question about your favorite boss or update, but other times it goes a little more in-depth. With past discussions having effects on what's in-game, what do current discussions signal about the future?

Feedback & Changes

Feedback Friday is used for a number of different purposes, but the most interesting - and the one I'll be focusing on - is for new features. Oftentimes, Professor Falmea will ask a very specific question. Sometimes it for relatively mundane changes, like what you'd do to the interface options, or what spell audio you would adjust. Other asks are a bit more exciting, such as what you might want to celebrate fall, what types of new badges and plants you'd add, what new castle you'd want, or even what new stat you'd be interested in seeing.

KingsIsle uses this feedback to get a general sense of how people are feeling about new content and potentially for new ideas in upcoming content. That's where we're focusing. While ideas are never guaranteed to be used, and some Feedback Friday ideas fall off the radar (for example, they asked what we'd want in gold chests several years back, but we have yet to see those show up in-game), others end up having a more direct impact.

Past Examples

Player feedback has played a major role in shaping updates for Wizard101, oftentimes more than community members realize. Here are just a few examples from the past couple years.

In January of 2015, Falmea asked which bosses we'd like to challenge again at higher levels. In July that year, Ultra Dungeons were released.

In May of 2015, Falmea asked what else we'd like to do in our houses. Some responses included adding NPCs (added to the game via packs and now faction vendors), robots following specific paths (breadcrumbs for pets and mounts added later), and fishing in houses (also added with unique fish).

In July of 2015, Falmea asked which spells we'd like to see shortened, and shortly after, Khrulhu and several others were sped up.

In February of 2016, Falmea asked what information we'd like to see in battles that isn't there. The first response mentions which blades and traps are applied. Later in the year, this change was introduced to the game.

In April of 2016, Falmea asked what changes we would make to our friends list. In August, many updates were made to the list format.

Future Hinting

Here's where things get interesting. We know a lot of ideas that have been discussed on Feedback Friday have been used, and some have fallen off the radar, and some Feedback Fridays are simply questions about favorite items. Take a look at what we might want to look forward to. 

Note that much of this is speculative. As with the Feedback Friday disclaimer, some ideas may not be used and some may just be for fun. I encourage you to follow the links to see other responses. You may need to log in to the Wizard101 website.

March 2016 | See thread

Falmea asked, "Have you ever been questing in the Spiral and we had the narrator tell you that you won a game of chess or skill, and you wished it would have played out more like a minigame? What types of questing minigames or puzzles do you think would be fun in Wizard101?" This is probably a good indicator that future worlds will include more minigames and puzzles integrated into quest chains.

April 2016 | See thread

Falmea asked, "What other sort of VEHICLE mounts would you like to see available in the Spiral?" Given how often a Marleybone car mount has been requested, this might be a good sign for proponents of that. It might also indicate a world with a more advanced technological capabilities.

April 2016 | See thread

Falmea asked, "If you could be sent on different types of daily assignments, what would they be?" The types of Daily Assignments we've had so far have been fairly limited. This may indicate new assignment types.

May 2016 | See thread

Falmea asked, "If you could create a new type of benefit like double pet xp weekends or even more permanent bank space, what would you choose?" Member benefits have been a big deal in Wizard101, and often result in crowns players purchasing a membership just for those temporary benefits. More permanent benefits and other event-style benefits may be in the works.

May 2016 | See thread

Falmea asked, "If you could take any treasure card (powerful class defining spells aside) and add it to your spell book through an Arcanum professor, what would it be?" The fact that she mentions the most powerful class-defining spells as being ineligible adds an edge of realism to this question that suggests it's less of a "for fun" consideration and more of an ask for opinions on a future update.

July 2016 | See thread

Falmea asked, "What sort of Event would you like to see next?" This is a particularly relevant question, because the most recent KI Live announced that a new event was in the works, though still in the early stages of development. This thread is definitely worth checking out, because it might contain some key details as to the forthcoming event.

September 2016 | See thread

Falmea asked, "What else would you like to be able to craft that we might have overlooked?" That is to say, what other types of items or things would we like to craft? Some people have said bosses. Others have said potions. It will be interesting to see if there are additional things to craft in the future. 

October 2016 | See thread

Falmea asked, "What EXISTING world would you like to further explore?" She specifies some doors and locations after, suggesting that we may not be getting a full world addition like with Wintertusk to Grizzleheim, but there may be some locations in past worlds. Some recent hinting from KingsIsle has stated that we'll be visiting past Spiral worlds "with renewed purpose."

October 2016 | See thread

Falmea asked, "What other sort of things would you like to transform into as an equippable mount?" After the Bat Swarm, this became a huge topic of discussion throughout the community, and it's a particularly great mount style for KingsIsle because they don't have to worry about character animations or jumps or anything, just a few animations exclusively for the mount. We may see more of these in the future. 

January 2017 | See thread

Falmea asked, "If you were going to change that transition screen, what would it look like?" Pirate101 has some seasonal transition screens, and "Dworgyn" has mentioned that it would be nice in Wizard101 on KI Live in the past. This may be something we see in the near future.

February 2017 | See thread

Falmea asked, "If you could summon one monster to your own castle to battle them, who would it be?" This is really exciting, because in-home enemy battles has been one of the most requested features ever. It may be finally be in the works!

Which of these updates would you be most excited for?

Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!