The latest update to Wizard101 hits the servers Friday, and it has all the things we saw on the test server, and more! (Well, and less – the Wishing Well will not be coming to Wizard City after all).

Announcing Mounts for you to Ride!

The next major new content being developed for Wizard101 is a series of Wizard Mounts that provide a fun, fast, and stylish way of getting around. Many different types of Wizard Mounts will be available with more to come in the future. Initially, four will be introduced: Brooms, Horses, Cats, and Dragons!

Mounts are pure win. You’ll want the fastest. My advice for cash-strapped wizards: Just go for the day rentals. You’ll only pay for the days you play, and you can pay in gold. And avoid Wizard City Commons from now on! The begging for mounts will be AWFUL. They’ll want you to give mounts (or outfits) either for nothing or for treasure cards.

Gift Giving

We are bringing the ability of gift giving to the Spiral. Players can choose to purchase an item from a shopkeeper and Gift that item to another player on their Friends list. Not all items are giftable, and only items purchased with Crowns (not gold) can be gifted.

… because Gift Giving is a beggar enabler.

More on Elixirs

Elixirs grant players what is called a Temporary Boost. These Boosts can increase the amount of gold you win during duels, the amount of experience, they can increase your power pip chance, your accuracy and many other attributes.

If you’re soloing a hard instance, these may come in handy. But, ’twould be better to enlist some friends to help. Friends always make things go faster. They also have illusion elixirs, pure fluff but lots of people enjoy them.

More on Henchmen

Henchmen are hired Wizards that help you in a duel and they can only be purchased while you are in combat. They will come to your aid and behave similar to your Minion, only stronger and smarter. They will act in the same round that they are summoned by the player, and will disappear once the duel has ended.

After mounts, this is likely the most game-changing addition to Wizard101. Summoning a powerful minion for no pips (and not all that many crowns) could be very tempting in a lot of situations.

Teleport Technology comes to Marleybone & MooShu

The dogs of Marleybone have studied the teleport technology first seen in Grizzleheim and adapted it for use on their world. They’ve then shared it with their friends in MooShu! Just like the teleport stones in Grizzleheim, these teleport machines will transfer players from point to point on the map, but you must first discover both points before you can teleport between them.

Cool, I didn’t know they were bringing this to MooShu. Very appreciated!

New Seamstress

Have you ever found a clothing item you love the look of, but wish it had the stats of something different? Well now you can take the stats of one piece of clothing and apply them to another piece of clothing of the same type. Love the stats on your Dragonspyre hat but it doesn’t match your Grizzleheim outfit? Find a Grizzleheim hat you like, and move the stats from your Dragonspyre hat, to the new Grizzleheim hat to complete your stylish look.

Very nice. I expect to find a lot of people hauling their old holiday outfits out of mothballs for this!

Are you Strong Enough for this Challenge?

There’s a new tower in Colossus Blvd. The creatures within are far more powerful than anything Wizard City has ever faced.

I’m not sure if anyone got past the first boss. The first boss was NOT hard, so I assume they have more surprises further up the tower (the boss kept respawning, preventing progress).

Transmutation Crafting

We heard the cries of many Crafters, and have introduced Transmutation recipes. Transmutation recipes, which are sold by the crafting quest giver character in each world, convert common reagents into rare reagents.

THANK YOU! Maybe I can finish my crafter badges now! The Dragonspyre quests crushed my crafter spirit :( And those quests require fewer combines now, too, so big win.

Maximum Reagents

We’ve also increased the number of reagents that young Wizards can carry. Each item has a maximum of 999 reagents, and your overall total has been removed completely, meaning you can carry 999 of every single type of reagent available.

This will NOT slow down your transition between areas but it will however greatly increase the time it will take you to sell Reagents at the Bazaar. We are aware of this issue, and working out ways to address it.

Unless they changed the Bazaar’s variable pricing, it will get hideously expensive to buy new reagents if you have a lot in your inventory.

Introducing Second Chances

Have you ever battled your way through a tough dungeon, only to be disappointed that you didn’t receive the reward for your School? Well now players can pay a small fee to get a second chance at what’s in the creatures pockets! Many final boss encounters will contain a chest in the room that offers players a second chance to get the item they wanted off the creature they just defeated. Simply use the chest after your initial duel, pay a few Crowns and you are given a second chance at the exact same rewards the boss drops normally. These chests can only be used a certain number of times per day per character.

I didn’t use these in test, but reports are the second+ chances get kinda expensive. Might be worth it when battling Malistaire for your robe.

Check out the full patch notes at the Wizard 101 website, and see you in Wizard City!