Game Patch for Jan. 19, 2022.

[AluraMist]

From the Wizard101 social media site:

This morning's game patch resolves several adventuring issues for both PvE and PvP, including quest blockers in Wizard City, Krokotopia, and Marleybone!

Check out all the details in the patch notes: https://www.wizard101.com/game/commu...er2021#patches

@Sparck @Eric Stormbringer -- fyi.

January 19, 2022

A new game patch has arrived! We fixed several adventuring and questing issues for both PvE and PvP, check it out:

Adventuring

*Fixed several quest blockers in early game (Wizard City, Krokotopia, Marleybone)
*Fixed several interior Lemuria quests so that completed quests lights display correctly
*Players should now receive the Bookworm badge for completing The Lore You Know and Trip to the Library quests
*Players should now be able to complete the Gotta See Gretta quest to achieve the related badges
*Ursai Village now has Health wisps and should apply passive healing

Combat & Animations

*Fixed an issue with Old One’s Endgame displaying mismatched hanging effects
*Fixed an “infinite loop” bug with Sugarr
*Fixed a bug in the combat cheats for Mandrake the Maligician

Monstrology

*Many Lemuria mobs are now ready for essence extraction

PvP

*Fixed a bug with the match timer related to disconnects during a match; the timer should now pause during the disconnect and resume when you reconnect.
*Oni’s Projection now correctly respects Dispel and other charm hanging effects.
*Some Jinn and Oni card art has been updated to disambiguate them from pre-existing spells
*Macabre Jinn and Doom Oni updated to apply “steal health” effects (cinematics updated to match).
*Duststorm Jinn updated to apply a “triple hit” of Storm, Fire, and Ice (cinematics updated to match)

In our continued efforts to encourage a fun, fair, and friendly competitive environment, accounts that have an active mute status will not be able to queue in PvP.

Graphics & UI

*Fixed display issues with “translucent” card art on the new PvP Jinn and Oni spells
*Fixed display issues on Mandoria and Badlands doodle maps related to mob icons
*Fixed various display issues with the Shadoe CCG gear
*Fixed various display and item placement issues with housing

[JaredSpellFrost]

In our continued efforts to encourage a fun, fair, and friendly competitive environment, accounts that have an active mute status will not be able to queue in PvP.

I have to say, this is a pretty terrible and counterintuitive game patch. Players who have been muted have already received punishment for their actions, it feels unjust to make their punishment (Which is oftentimes unfairly given) even worse. Not to mention how muted Players are unable to spread toxicity in PvP seeing how they're muted!!

KingsIsle should instead focus on solutions, like a quest teaching Players about internet etiquette/safety. Seeing how Wizard101 will be many young children's first experience with online, multiplayer environments there's quite the lack of such introductory content!

[Tanner Hex]

I agree with Jared. I've never been muted, and admittedly I don't PvP outside of Beastmoon, but banning muted players from queuing from PvP seems unnecessarily harsh. A mute is restrictive enough and prevents further offenses. The only thing I could thing of is that the extremely harsh penalty serves as a deterrent... but if the threat of getting muted didn't deter someone already I'm not sure if this will either.

I'm wondering if this applies to the Beastmoon events as well? I've been queued with a couple players who were muted but otherwise were able to communicate and play effectively. Considering how long it takes to tier up beastforms it would be a shame if these people were barred from the event for however long their mute lasts.

Edit: A bit of a late update but it does look like muted players are still able to queue for Beastmoon so that's nice at least. Ratbeard stated the ban shouldn't affect queuing for Beastmoon, and I have been in matches with a few muted players since the hotfix.

[The Dragoness]

I think that is pretty screwed up. The punishment is already a ten year mute (which is low key permanent), which, though excessive in my view, at least solves the problem. The only explanation I can think of is for players who will bring an alt to do their talking and may be problematic, but honestly, I don't see this as a big deal.

I think this is really lousy. People spend major money on PvP gear and whatnot, and while you don't have a right to all features if you abuse them (chat if you're violating the TOS I guess) losing an entire aspect of gameplay is just disproportionate. I mean, why not just ban them from the game at that point? They might be rude to people in the commons, so why risk it?

Ugh.

[Flash33]

Regarding the PVP ban for muted players: just because one is muted doesn't mean they can't be disruptive in other ways, so the idea is to try to prevent correctly muted players from being disruptive in other ways. I know in turn-based games like Wizard101 it's trickier to do so than in real-time games like League of Legends but still players will always find a way to do so, as you don't need chat to troll or be a jerk. For example: in Toontown a common method of trolling is what's called greening, where you try to make your allies go sad (lose all HP) & get sent back to the playground with 0 gags (when you go sad you automatically get sent back to the nearest playground with all your gags lost & you have to buy them again (or earn them in the case of lv.7 gags in Toontown Rewritten). Yes TT is PvE & the method described is for team play but my point still stands. That said, considering some people have been falsely muted this is more of a band-aid solution at most.

[The Dragoness]

Regarding the PVP ban for muted players: just because one is muted doesn't mean they can't be disruptive in other ways, so the idea is to try to prevent correctly muted players from being disruptive in other ways. I know in turn-based games like Wizard101 it's trickier to do so than in real-time games like League of Legends but still players will always find a way to do so, as you don't need chat to troll or be a jerk. For example: in Toontown a common method of trolling is what's called greening, where you try to make your allies go sad (lose all HP) & get sent back to the playground with 0 gags (when you go sad you automatically get sent back to the nearest playground with all your gags lost & you have to buy them again (or earn them in the case of lv.7 gags in Toontown Rewritten). Yes TT is PvE & the method described is for team play but my point still stands. That said, considering some people have been falsely muted this is more of a band-aid solution at most.

I guess I have two reactions to this.

One is that, from the people I personally know who have been muted, they really weren't disruptive beyond, well, the behavior that got them muted. I've been muted (I guess I'm ratting myself out here?) but I never had any interest in trolling or anything. People could be disruptive and never get a mute (ah, the days of DDoSing...). Those players who were muted for whatever reason, if so inclined to PvP, still played just as hard in any of the tournaments I was in.

However outside of the arena, in my years of playing, I can't think of any time I've dealt with trolls in PvE*. Farming bosses, questing, hanging out, etc. The worst type of trolling has been chat based (which we have the ignore/report options for and a mute deals with). But generally people don't bother with any type of trolling that I've seen. Maybe you've had different experiences in Wizard101? I'll admit I haven't played so much in recent years and stick to quiet realms.

But again--if we're taking "muting" as a sign a player is disruptive and ruins the experience for others, why not just boot them from the game if they can do harm beyond chat harm? But I don't think they cause any disruptions. And if they *are* going to be disruptive in chat and making alts to harass others, the players will eventually be banned.

All in all I don't see this as doing anything other than a scare tactic/additional layer of punishment for people who run afoul of the chat. I'm not defending them--some do deserve it based on the rules of Wizard101, and those who don't like it can and do leave the game. But unless I'm crazy, this isn't anything anyone asked for?


*Wu commons/nightside are excluded from this statement as they are an outlier.

[Flash33]

I guess I have two reactions to this.

One is that, from the people I personally know who have been muted, they really weren't disruptive beyond, well, the behavior that got them muted. I've been muted (I guess I'm ratting myself out here?) but I never had any interest in trolling or anything. People could be disruptive and never get a mute (ah, the days of DDoSing...). Those players who were muted for whatever reason, if so inclined to PvP, still played just as hard in any of the tournaments I was in.

However outside of the arena, in my years of playing, I can't think of any time I've dealt with trolls in PvE*. Farming bosses, questing, hanging out, etc. The worst type of trolling has been chat based (which we have the ignore/report options for and a mute deals with). But generally people don't bother with any type of trolling that I've seen. Maybe you've had different experiences in Wizard101? I'll admit I haven't played so much in recent years and stick to quiet realms.

But again--if we're taking "muting" as a sign a player is disruptive and ruins the experience for others, why not just boot them from the game if they can do harm beyond chat harm? But I don't think they cause any disruptions. And if they *are* going to be disruptive in chat and making alts to harass others, the players will eventually be banned.

All in all I don't see this as doing anything other than a scare tactic/additional layer of punishment for people who run afoul of the chat. I'm not defending them--some do deserve it based on the rules of Wizard101, and those who don't like it can and do leave the game. But unless I'm crazy, this isn't anything anyone asked for?


*Wu commons/nightside are excluded from this statement as they are an outlier.

I don't disagree that players who are truly disruptive beyond a shadow of a doubt should be booted from the game rather than just simply muted. I'm just saying that more often than not people who truly want to act up but can't via chat will do so via gameplay instead, often in subtle ways to try to avoid being caught. Some examples would be like healing/shielding yourself instead of your teammate(s), leaving early on/partway, targeting healthy foes instead of weakened ones, etc.

[AstralFrost]

Personally, I think the PVP restriction should be limited to 7 days after the initial mute/sanction was given out.

It seems unfair that someone with a 10 year mute (why is that even a thing?) should never be allowed to participate in PVP.

[Kingurz]

I think there is data or intent that we the players are missing in this situation. There is probably more to the story of why further banning muted players from PvP was implemented this way.

[Sparck]

This is just one step to reduce the toxicity and gameplay abuse we are seeing in PvP gameplay. We're of course monitoring feedback on each change we make, just like we do for everything else that goes into a game update.

If you have any concerns about your account, you can of course contact customer support and they will be happy to review your account status. Do not contact support on behalf of someone else or for generalized complaints.

Please also review the Community Code of Conduct and the Terms of Use regarding what may result in your account being moderated.

Thanks all for understanding our efforts here!