Developer Insights: Building a Path to Progress with SOS Training
HPWUmac
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We’re starting off year two of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite with a major update through SOS Training. After listening to player feedback, we looked to develop a new feature that would
give players new and exciting ways to grow while fulfilling their magical potential as a witch or wizard.
Why SOS Training?
Since launch, we’ve really seen players gravitate to the parts of the game related to Professions, and we can definitely understand why. Professions grant access to unique skills that can be leveraged in dynamic magical combat, but it’s also the primary area in the game where you really get to have freedom of choice as well as the ability to see your progress as you get stronger. We wanted to introduce a similar system with SOS Training that would also offer customization, new skills and compelling rewards as you continue to level up. To track your progress, your SOS Task Force Appraisal will serve as the new way to show how you’re getting stronger throughout your entire wizarding journey.
To represent the idea of continuing progression, we really took to the idea of specialized training offered by the SOS Task Force. It was a great opportunity to show what kind of learning and growth would be possible as an adult in the wizarding world. Just because you’re no longer at Hogwarts or another magical school doesn’t mean you’re not gaining new experiences and continuing to learn and develop your skills as a wizard. We wanted to reinforce the idea that learning is a lifelong experience.
Designing for Success
Players have dedicated a lot of time and energy into developing their magical skills as a member of the SOS Task Force so we wanted SOS Training to complement existing game systems. The lessons have been created in a way that helps show how multiple, seemingly disparate aspects of the game are actually deeply interconnected. As you continue to level up and unlock additional skills, the connections between different parts of the game will become more and more apparent.
SOS Training was also an opportunity for us to give players more clarity and agency in game overall. Some game mechanics have thus far been somewhat opaque to the player, so when designing lessons we focused on making the game more transparent and intuitive. We know how frustrating it can be when a Confoundable resists your spellcast or when a rare Foundable escapes. These mechanics have always had their own balance within the greater game, including ways to impact them such as raising your player level or using certain Potions, but we wanted to overhaul these kinds of mechanics to make them easier to understand while also creating more opportunities for players to directly impact the outcomes themselves.
Another goal we had for this feature was to make sure it would be fair for players of all levels. We wanted to reward longtime players by unlocking lessons up to whatever level a player may happen to be, but also introduce new resources so that all players can start from a similar baseline in this new aspect of the game together. With SOS Training, if you’re new to the game, you’ll also have a clearer path in the beginning to help guide you through the early stages, and if you’ve been playing for a while, you’ll now have a lot more ability and freedom to immediately impact core parts of the game that are important to you and your playstyle.
Meaningful Interactions with the World and Others
Harry Potter: Wizards Unite is unique in its ability to let you explore the magic of the wizarding world right in your own neighborhood. To help reinforce this idea, we introduced Field Charms as an additional way for players to interact with the magic in the world around them. With the ability to cast Field Charms on Traces and points of interest, players will now have new reasons to walk and discover things nearby. We also wanted to use these new spells as an opportunity to introduce more ways for friends to play together. Whereas previously the only way to interact with other players at the Map level was by placing Dark Detectors in Inns, now, casting Inn and Greenhouse Charms will conjure rewards on the Map for all nearby players. We’re excited to see how players will continue to strategize together to make the most of these new spells and their effects.
We hope that SOS Training provides an engaging new way for players to grow as they level up, while also making for a better overall gameplay experience. We’re continually listening to player feedback and we’re always looking for ways to improve the game. Good luck delving into your new upcoming SOS Training lessons and keep an eye out for more fun features and events in year two of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite!
-The Harry Potter: Wizards Unite team
Comments
This is a great read! I'm so excited for this 😀
Thank you for the info!
Very nice, I really like the developer insights 😍
yeah nice, new lesson plans or all of this is nothing but just another part of game's overhaul and quite meaningless considered how low the fragment numbers are now and how boosted the 'rares' are now. before the fragments # update in may I had only 3 pages in gold, now I have fully finished Hogwarts, Legends of Hogwarts, Dark Arts and soon ministry families, and I expect I'll have all families finished (starred in gold) before the end of summer....so who really cares abt lower resist/depart rates or increased potion uses or whatever? GIVE US NEW LESSON PLANS!!!!!!!
"We wanted to reward longtime players by unlocking lessons up to whatever level a player may happen to be, but also introduce new resources so that all players can start from a similar baseline in this new aspect of the game together." -- Does this mean that the new lessons will be gated by the player's Wizarding level?
That would be a nice reward indeed for long-time players.
Thanks for this post with more info on the upcoming SOS Training features! I can't wait to explore this new aspect of the game and strategize with friends!
I can already tell Departure Denial is going to be my favorite!
Thank you for the clarification and communication on this. It helps to know that there is a connection throughout the game even if we can't quite see it all yet. I look forward to seeing all the hard work you all have put into this next update! 😊🎉
This is great to make the grind easier, but for the long time players who are done most of their pages, and who are not playing as much because there is no reason to grind, this doesn't do much. We need a reason to get back to the grind: we need new content in the form of new registry pages, and new fortress chambers with tougher foes that we can't beat until we level up in our profession (i.e. more lesson plans).
I understand that you want to clarify the reasons for the SOS training lessons, but without having actual access to it in-game at the moment, this article is quite difficult to understand. Maybe once it is live (had hoped for a date) and re-reading this I will understand it better.
"Another goal we had for this feature was to make sure it would be fair for players of all levels. We wanted to reward longtime players by unlocking lessons up to whatever level a player may happen to be, but also introduce new resources so that all players can start from a similar baseline in this new aspect of the game together. "
This makes no sense. How would it be unfair for players to not start these new lessons from a similar baseline (by using existing scrolls and spell books for them rather than introducing new types of books)? Outside of fortresses, players have no ability to negatively impact each others games at all. If I, a veteran player, could immediately complete a bunch of these new lessons using the 7000+ scrolls in my vault, it would only be of benefit to other wizards I might play with in the field or in a fortress. And it would appropriately reward the extra effort I put in to earn extra scrolls and spell books. There's nothing unfair about longtime players having a head start on completing the new lessons due to the effort they've expended on the game this far. Is it unfair for me now to do a fortress battle with a newbie wizard with an incomplete skill tree? Well, maybe it is unfair to me since they won't be able to execute strategic spells as expected, but it's not unfair to them. These new lessons are no different.
What is blatantly unfair is to have those 7000+ scrolls and 400+ spell books in my vault become worthless due to the introduction of a different book structure in a misguided attempt to reset the skill baseline. Between this and the registry fragment count debacle, seemingly everything I've done to earn extra scrolls and red spell books since completing the professor skill tree has been a waste of time. You said more professional skill trees would be coming soon, and in good faith I continued to play and stockpile scrolls and books to apply to those future lessons. But now that they are here, the scrolls and spell books are worthless.
I mean really, why should I continue to play this game if I can't trust that the effort I put in will have value and maintain that value?
The definition of 'fair' is "legitimately sought, pursued, done, given, etc.; proper under the rules". Fair play in HPWU would be rewarding the veteran players who legitimately pursued extra scrolls and spell books by allowing them to redeem those scrolls and books on the new lessons. It has no negative affect on the newer players. Changing the rules after the fact to invalidate the rewards of legitimate play
These are not new Profession lessons. It's entirely possible/likely that red spell books and scrolls will continue to be useful when those do come.
Dates. We need dates. Not "Coming soon"
And please, please test the changes on a select group of players to catch the glitches before you unleash something new to the brew for everyone.
Hints at changes to the underlying game engine too, can only be a good thing
However, the changes are somewhat different to what we expected, and how to these relate to lesson plans? Presumably not...?
Lets hope the changes provide a better platform for expansion, if nothing else this update gives everyone something...
And community day for certain page is needed to "push on" page privillage. 😬
I still have basic pages. 😱
This would be cool if Doxys ever reappeared in our neighborhood. Otherwise I will continue to be stuck on a task and unable to try the new SOS tasks. 😕 I have tried playing at all times of day and night to no avail.
I’m excited to see this new update and the new skills; it sounds interesting. I do also hope that they release new profession lesson plans soon as well. Hopefully that soon does not mean another year.
@savijgrrl Doxies only ever appear around dawn local time. I think it’s about an hour before and after dawn. A lot of the oddities have conditions related to when they appear.
@Spellweaver They're not calling the new lessons "Profession Lessons", but there's no reason the skills in the new lessons could not be part of profession lessons if the developers did not want to require different currency (books) for them. It's within the boundaries of the story that a Professor, Auror or Magizoologist would want to improve their potion-making ability or foundable-capturing ability or the like as part of their professional skills. Just like any job in the real world typically requires a mix of technical skills specific to the job and intrapersonal skills that are common across professions.
It was a deliberate choice to not package these new general wizarding skills in new lesson plans for all three professions with the same scrolls and spell books required to complete them as before. A choice the developers tried to justify in their statement above by claiming it is more fair to players of all levels. But, as I questioned in my previous comments, what would be unfair about offering these new skills in the old lesson plan format? Veteran players would have a head start on completing the skills, but that would have no negative impact on the more novice players.
And if these are not intended to be the additional profession lessons that are promised to be "Coming Soon" and required to meet the thresholds for Achievements, then why do they even exist now? Would it not be more respectful of the player community for the developers to deliver the long-promised additional content of more professional lesson plans, mystery items, SOS tasks, and seven more spells to cast before they add other features like SOS skill trees? Those items have been "coming soon" for over a year.
I don't think it has anything to do with fairness. I think it's actually about slowing down how quickly veteran players can complete the new lessons by forcing them to start from scratch on earning new books and limiting the availability of RSBs and DADA books. Which is why I think all the extra scrolls and red spell books I've earned will never be redeemable on their own for more skills. Which would be very unfair. I'm certainly not the only wizard asking this question. If HPWU does intend to also deploy new professional lesson plans soon, they ought to announce that.@Spellblazer
Like many, I would be more excited by new lesson plans, but I am really intrigued to see how these features impact gameplay.
I feel like I am constantly saying this, but those players who have all (or mostly) gold frames are really in the minority. As much as developers do want these players to stick around, I am going to assume that it makes more business sense to aim at the higher-than average - they are still plugging away and spending money to do it, but due to work or location, they haven't made it yet. These folks and the avetage probably make up the majority of the regular player base, and you have to add new content at a rate that these people don't get discouraged.
@Azweepay
The last thing we need in this game is a reason to grind.
If you want to grind, please go play PGo. There's more than enough grind for you there.
It's that kind of drone mindless gaming that takes all but one neuron cell in our brains, that got me away from PGo and into WU.
What we need is new ways of interaction with other players, and new game mechanics that challenge and defy our reasoning. That's still the only challenging point that PGo has over WU: it's called PvP.
As a side note, I believe WU could really really benefit from some healthy competition. Something that requires player skills, intelligence and planing. Something like a big reward for the teams that finish a template lobby the fastest
**** can ****. And stay there.
@HPWUmac @hpwulola and team Thanks so much for taking the time to switch things up a bit! Like others, I have lots of scrolls and red books (saving for more magi lessons) but the fact that you are putting work into this game and giving us something new to play with, is a great initiative, I was getting bored! I will absolutely reserve judgement until I see it! I can’t wait, so thanks again!!!
@savijgrrl
Doxys seem to still be around. I've hardly seen them lately, as they spawn around dawn +/- an hour.
Living quite much north, dawn used to be around 2 or 3 a.m. and I wasn't playing at this time. Now dawn is a little later, I could finally see one again.
I am one who is trying to patiently wait for round two of lessons so I can complete the achievement and use up all these red spell books I have grinded for even before the bus.
As a solo fortress magi wizard, needing the most red books to complete my tree and doing so BEFORE the bus and being able to not only fortress from home but with others, I have enjoyed fortressing with others and building up those red books.
But doesnt look like getting them with the rest of the info to be released for this update :(
What I really want more is for them to show us veteran players that they want us to keep playing and placing images and award more of those new books by what level (Bronze, silver, gold) the page is on when placing that image. Those of us with many gold pages need to work harder and do more traces to place an image than someone just starting out.
It is probably the one thing I have always hated about the red books, you never got more than 2 yet you had to keep adding more points needed and after capping out challenge page, you still only get 2 books. I think it should have awarded one more book every so many levels.
Also hope they give more of the DADA books instead of the red books for rewards with events being with the bus, I think it is alot easier to get those red books for all being you dont have to play alone anymore :) more points, quicker to get those books :)
@savijgrrl in its own post I put up a link to the hpwu dawn / dusk calculator. Should help you find time based oddities depending upon your location.
@Magpie31
Developers too focused on $$$
@xxxlindy, @hpwulola
Yes, xxxLindy, WHEN oh WHEN will the change occur?
Developers, PLEASE give us the courtesy of a start date—
even a ballpark date.
@hpwulola
where are all the ‘new’ SOS training books going once the current BB part 2 bonus section completed?
@WitchHiker you will see them in your vault, with your other Restricted Section Books, Spell Books, and Scrolls.
The new development will likely be fun but I feel like I have wasted about 6 months collecting scrolls and books that are just piling up for nothing. Lots of hard work went into earning them. I was hoping for new profession training and the ability to use what we have spent time earning or why bother? After that much earning and saving I thought we would be able to open a lot of the new professional skill tree up because we already put tons of work in for those of us long history players. Can the developers let us convert scrolls, red books or green books into one of the new currency options? Maybe 100 or 1000 scrolls for another new book type? I get the excitement for the new stuff but our prior hardwork should not be going to waste. Maybe eventually we will get to use the scrolls and red/green books on a future profession lesson 2 but how many should we really want to stockpile. And will the new books eventually have the same issue? And why is this not being addressed in the newsletter? I can be the only player frustrated with the stockpile from hardwork and no opportunity to use. Even the current baby beasts event is giving us more old books for what?
I am looking forward to this update, but I wish they gave us a timeline for the next level of professional skill trees.
I am also glad they are giving us generic skills. This is really helpful for people who are working on multiple professions.