March 27, 2022
The Dawn of 5th Age PvP
At long last, the wait is finally over and we have nearly arrived at the dawn of 5th AGE PVP! Wizard101 will be unleashing the 5th Age of PvP in the upcoming Spring Update. This has long been desired by many players, and has really put some of our patience to the test. If we take a look back to 2019 in the month of May some of you may recall the first indications of what was likely to be one of the longest reworks in the game’s history. On May 8, 2019, Professor Falmea released a Producer’s Letter detailing some recent features from 2019’s Spring update. That letter also included some hints at what was coming in future updates. One of those notable pieces of information was official confirmation that the developers were beginning the steps of “reworking PvP from the ground up”.
That statement will be 3 years old this upcoming May. Since Professor Falmea was the one to break the news to us about the rework of PvP, it only makes sense for her to break the news now. She made a surprise appearance at the PvP Roundtable hosted by AwesomeTheSauce to officially announce that the 5th age PvP will release with the Spring update.
This new age of PvP comes after the 5 year anniversary of 4th age PvP, the longest age to date. Many of the changes implemented and tested in 4th Age have shaped the upcoming 5th age of PvP. Since Test Realm has not released yet, we will likely see 5th age release fairly close to the 3 year anniversary of the PvP rework announcement, and boy has it been a long journey since then. I’m sure the devs agree. But let’s check out everything we’re expecting with the launch!
New Features
Before 5th Age was confirmed for release, Ratbeard detailed some upcoming changes in his most recent Dev Diary. These Dev Diaries have been the blueprints for 5th age. We haven’t seen everything referenced in the diaries released into the game. However, many of these pieces will likely be assembled in the next update.
Here’s a quick list of features or changes we haven’t seen yet but hope to be in a Test Realm near you:
- Updated Timer
- Infraction System
- Leagues
- Limited Gear Audit
- Elo System
- Rank Reset
- New PvP Event
- New PvP Currency and Rewards
You can find more information in Ratbeard’s Dev Diaries as all of these have been previously mentioned there. As there are still many unknowns, I will not be covering all of these features here but do be on the lookout for those respective articles when the time comes!
PvP Rewards
The best part of any new age is all the new goodies! 5th age will have a new PvP currency along with new rewards to chase as players battle their way up the ranks to Warlord.
Currency
Very early on in the process, the devs made us aware that 5th age would be completely different from what we’ve seen in previous Ages. This includes the roll out of 5th Age PvP rewards. In previous Ages, arena tickets were rewarded for PvP experience. This has not changed since PvP was introduced to the game. However, given that players have been amassing tickets for over a decade, and have not recently had any big shiny items to redeem them, a new currency is being introduced. It’s unknown at this time what this new currency will be, possibly just a flashier arena ticket, but acquiring them shouldn’t be any different. Simply go to the arena and participate in PvP activities. Along with this change, 4th age gear is expected to be retired and this, combined with the new arena currency, aims to start everyone on an even playing field.
Rewards
It isn’t certain what rewards will be available right away, but a new feature was teased at the Roundtable in the form of new Cast Animations. You can check out the official teaser from Wizard101 on Twitter. This new feature will be available with 5th Age PvP. The devs also hinted that the effects will change with player’s respective rank. Definitely something to keep your eyes out for when 5th age hits Live servers.
PvP gear and other items are likely to make a return. It’s unclear whether we will see entirely new gear cosmetics and stats, or a mix of the two. I’m hopeful we’ll see gear sets specifically aimed toward pvp that might offer something we haven’t seen in a while. Overall, there will likely be plenty of items to spend our new currency on. There might even be some items that make the most hardcore PvErs pop over to the arena for a spell.
Testing 5th Age
Many tend to avoid PvP test realms, but for the benefit of the player base, we suggest testing out these new PvP features. During the roundtable, Ratbeard mentioned that many of these features may need adjusting. As such, these new changes may not accurately reflect the average player’s desires in their first iteration. Participating in test realm will help minimize 5th age issues on Live and start us off on the right foot. Keep your eyes out for announcements from official Kingsisle channels for the release of Test Realm!
