harry potter: witches unite!

Midnight to midnight, local time. If you want to complete this event (and again: you don't need to for your registries, this is just about getting a few DADA and red Spell books and keeping those clamouring for more events happy), you'll have to grind at least eight higher level fortresses. Snag: that won't necessarily be possible for lower level players. (That's okay-ish, you don't need those books as badly as the higher level players do.) After the Adversary Event (and back to back events as a whole) chewed through my potions reserves, high level fortresses don't seem too appealing, so for me the Portkeys for the House Hourglass fragments will probably be the best thing about this CD. Note, however, that you can select a from a variety of rare fragments you might need for your registries and by using a specific Fortress Chamber, you'll be able to get it. If your circumstances are different, that might prove nicer for you. ( Read more... )

If you do nothing else, brew Health Potions and pickup your freebies.

ETA: ATTENTION! THERE'S AN ERROR! YOU COLLECT THE WILD BOAR FRAGMENTS FROM >> FOREST CHAMBER V <<. It's correct in the game task list, but ironically not in their own infographic. Just a heads up in case you're relying on this while fortressing.

There are two mini events this week, sort of out of left field, presumably because they really are serious about it being a test of a new game mechanic. Fingers crossed.

The ever lovely Orangewizard has once again made an infographic: ( Read more... )

You may have already seen the in game announcement. They've fixed the issues with the Knight Bus and Fortresses, and players should be good to use them now. If you are still locked out of the game, even after restarts, you'll need to contact Niantic support via their website.

To make up for the problems this caused, they've extended the event by twelve hours. It will now end on 27 July at 11 pm PT (What time is that where you are?). It's possible you may not be able to see that extension reflected in the event timer as yet.

As to other problems...

People seem to be having difficulty getting the required number of foundables together to complete the task, no matter how many TFTD they use. (I've used at least four TFTD and still only have 4 Lupins to show for it, and I definitely don't have fifteen of them to throw at this event.) That's okay. The rewards aren't too great, your registries won't have any gaps if you don't finish, and the point wasn't to make you deplete your potions, but to have you figure some things out about your SOS Training trees.

I'll try to put together a separate post to talk about them a little. It may not be able to help you finish, but it should help you progress through those Registries.

... for bonus Brilliant Event task completion. Reports are, that if you find yourself hard pressed for resources, pick your highest chamber if you can find it when it's empty (don't leave other players hanging), and just get in there and let the timer run out. It seems it will only cost you a Runestone and that's it. We need to 'complete' it, not win.

I've seen some confusion occur about this one, so I thought it might be worth mentioning. At present, there's a bug that means if you turn off the Battery Saving Mode, it automatically enables the AR Mode in Encounters and Fortress battles. (And why, you ask, might one want to do that? There have been reports that turning off the Battery Saver improved the Portkey distance tracking, so some folks have given it a go. My battery runs down too quickly to be able to confirm that, but I have tested and can confirm that the bug does turn on AR mode.)

Not having AR Mode enabled saves a little time. Given the nature of the Community Day, Fortressing with teams of strangers, it might be worth thinking about turning on your Battery Saver to not keep your fellow players waiting on you.

The first reports of the Fortress Community Day are trickling in from Oceania, and the expected frustrations are a thing, so I thought I'd try to put together a post to help you be a better "you" and less of a potential burden on your teammates.

First things first, update your software so the glitches from 2.13 won't inconvenience your teammates, and make sure you have all assets downloaded.

Max your profession as far as you can. (Once again: here's a link to an excellent table that suggests the best order to progress through your Skill Tree.) At this point in the game, people are expecting you to have certain skills. You may not, and that's perfectly fair, but try to bring as many skills to the battle as you possibly can.

Don't keep people waiting. If you enter a chamber and the other slots are filled and the others have all joined, you should also click "join" or leave immediately.

On higher levels, if you enter a chamber and the mix isn't good (definitely if you're the fourth Auror or the third Magizoologist, and arguably the third Professor), you should leave and wait for a different group.

Fight the foes appropriate for your Profession. Aurors fight humans (Dark Wizards and Death Eaters), Magizoolists fight beasts (Erklings and Acromantulas), Professors fight Oddities (Pixies and Werewolves). Stay in your lane, unless there are no suitable foes.

If you are playing with a mixed team (and ideally you should), and no appropriate foes are available, fight whomever is best suited, and leave the battle before finishing to see if someone with the right profession is available to finish them off. Those really aren't bad manners. It will take them less energy and time by far than it will take you, but you will have helped your team in the meantime. On the other hand, don't sit around idle for long. Sometimes the mix of foes is unfortunate, don't leave a few people to do all the heavy lifting. If this were your regular team, it would balance out in the end, but these are most likely random strangers, so it won't. Make an effort not to take advantage of them so the game remains fun for everyone.

You are probably better off using a Level 1 Runestone. Two reasons, 1) there's increased risk of losing it during the CD Fortress event, and 2) higher levels will increase the strength of the foes you have to fight. If you find yourself having to pull more than your share of the weight, it would be good for the lineup not to be any worse than it has to be.

And lastly, it's really bad form to bail on your teammates if you think the odds look bad. When you do, you are also effectively making the decision to quit for them as well, which isn't cool, so please don't. If you were to contribute nothing else, your continued presence alone means the team has more Focus and you can apply your Hexes and Charms accordingly. To be clear, they won't be happy about the minimal effort, but it should help to illustrate that every little bit helps.

Because of course there is... 😢

Multiple reports have filtered in of a bug in the Knight Bus Fortresses. When a player is knocked out/ killed/ fainted/ whatever you like to call it and has the recovery timer going, if another player finishes their fight during the countdown, that player will be ejected from the chamber.

Until this is fixed, if you are a Magizoologist, you may need to consider prioritising healing rather than waiting for teammates to die. If you prefer to wait for them to die first (because it saves focus and does more good) make sure to check the lobby VERY regularly to see if anyone needs reviving, up to and including interrupting your fights to do so. (Yes, that's a pain, but if everyone keeps getting booted, you probably won't be able to finish the level on your own anyway.)

If this happens to you:
1) As usual, force close the app and then start it manually. Do *not* hit the Restart button the game offers. (That will knock you out of the fortress and you won’t be able to get back in at all.)
2) BUT! Unlike the usual network errors, this bug won't let you get back in until the timer has expired. So it can take up to a minute. Most people don’t know that, which is causing them to give up, and leaves the remaining teammates hanging, sometimes with odds they can no longer beat on their own, and everyone loses. You have to keep restarting until the revive clock is up. The only workarounds are for the Magizoologists to heal or wait in the lobby if they see someone near death, or for players to use healing potions to avoid the bug.

For levels 35 and above. Restart your apps! The rest are following soon, rolling out bit by bit.

ETA: Now for Level 30 and above!

From the Wizards Unite website:

"Have you been itching to get back into Wizarding Challenges but find yourself without a means of magical conveyance to faraway Fortresses? Then look no further, as a timely new way to bring the magic closer to you is here. Introducing the Knight Bus!

( Read more... )

Whoa! Higher level Fortresses just got interesting. So CookieDevAuror on reddit has reported a massive increase in the base Challenge XP on chambers above Tower III. These values are for non-sponsored Fortresses. (I'll add those when people post them.)

Chamber - Old Base CXP / New Base CXP
Tower IV - 45 / 50
Tower V - 52 / 60
Forest I - 59 / 70
Forest II - 65 / 90
Forest III - 75 / 110
Forest IV - 84 / 130
Forest V - 93 / 160
Dark I - 104 / 190
Dark II - 116 / 240
Dark III - 128 / 290
Dark IV - 143 / 350
Dark V - 156 / 450​