With the release of the Harry Potter: Wizards Unite beta over in New Zealand we are getting a lot of information about the game, its mechanics, and what is like to play socially, but what about what it might have in store for the future?
With Harry Potter: Wizards Unite being such a massive game, Niantic has made the beta available on both iOS and Android, allowing some clever individuals to take the APK — the installation packet for Android apps — and break it apart. This gives us a chance to look at assets that will be in the game as a whole, not just in the Android version.
The team over at wizardunite.com did a great job pulling the APK apart so we should be able to glean quite a lot of important information from it, so let's dig in.
Warning: The information here is not set in stone. When you spend time in the mess of an application you may find things that aren't going to be used anymore, old assets that Niantic decided not to use. Most of the information is likely to be correct, but everything here is supposition on our part.
Professions
According to the teardown, the three Professions are the only ones baked into the game right now. We were hoping that more would become available as you progressed but that doesn't seem to be the case. The Auror, Magizoologist, and Professor are your current choice and each one as specific skills targeting different enemies in the game.
The APK teardown shows us two extra profiles in the Professions folder, unfortunately, they are generic skills for all three, as opposed to new professions.
The two extra "professions" are Map Ability and Enemy and they seemed to be tied directly into fighting inside the Fortresses. These Fortresses are like Gyms in Pokémon GO, but with multiple enemies to fight. The skills you can get from these other two "professions" all seem designed to help you move through them faster — There are spells that increase your stamina, meaning you can cast more spells — or help buff your party.
Spells
Throughout Harry Potter: Wizards Unite you learn new spells, both combat and utility, each of which is designed to complete a specific task. You don't seem to get to choose which spells you use, though you do need to learn the shapes. The APK has a list of all the spells you can use but there are some bugs. Several of the descriptions don't match or are missing from the spells, which is a good indication that the spell list is evolving even through the beta.
The current spell list is:
Combat
- Effervo
- Ducklifors
- Expecto Patronum
- Incarcerous
- Mustelifors
- Petrificus Totalus
- Reversis
- Stupefy
Utility
- Accio
- Aguamenti
- Alohomora
- Arresto Momentum
- Bombarda
- Diffindo
- Ebublio
- Expecto Patronum
- Finite
- Flipendo
- Incendio
- Meteolojinx Recanto
- Rennervate
- Reparo
- Revelio
- Ridikulus
- Stupefy
- Ventus
It seems that a lot of the utility spells are used when fighting the Confoundables you see when walking around the map, and for using in Inns and Greenhouses, whereas the combat spells are designed with the fortresses in mind. The combat skills are specifically about causing damage as opposed to the utility spells that help you do something.
Interestingly, Expecto Patronum — The spell to stop Dementors — is in both sets of spells, which we assume means Dementors will be an enemy to fight in the Fortresses. We will have to see.
Hidden Secrets
One of the more interesting pieces buried in the APK is assets for a Floo Network. The Floo Network seems to be designed as a special event where you get to pick teams and try to control zones. If Niantic decides to use this in the future, it seems you can be #TeamRon, #TeamHermoine, or #TeamHarry, each with their own color. You use "Floo Powder" — it helps you travel in the books — to control Fortresses for your team. If they make these global events it is likely we will see some sort of world totals for the largest area covered by the different colored networks.
If you have ever played Niantic's first game, Ingress, or the new Ingress Prime, you will know that they often do events for each team to tray and blanket the largest area in their specific color. This is a great idea to bring people together in large groups to play the game, working together to prove their team is the best.
For all you Pokémon Go players out there you might have noticed the colors for each of the teams? I would have made Ron Team Instinct, wouldn't you?
So much more
This is just to give you an idea of some of the hidden potential of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite. We will be going into more details on Potions and their ingredients, Fortress Battles and all the other important parts of the game as we lead up to the worldwide launch.
Get your phone ready for Harry Potter: Wizards Unite
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