As the first Wizards Unite Fan Festival in Indianapolis draws closer, we're getting more details on what the lucky attendees could be seeing, including which special activities they can participate in. With Dragons, prizes, and a threat clock that could signal an emergency, the guests are sure to have a busy time.
Let's have a look at what we know right now.
What about some dragons?
If you're a Pokémon GO player, you'll know that regional Pokémon are a sought after commodity. Niantic has obviously learned from this and decided to introduce regional spawns in the form of dragons to Wizards Unite. It makes sense, since dragons are known to be regional in the Potterverse. There are currently four regional dragons:
- Common Welsh Green (Europe)
- Peruvian Vipertooth (Americas)
- Chinese Firebolt (Asia)
- Antipodean Opaleye (Oceania)
These dragons will all be available to catch at the fan festival, but once it's over they'll go back to being regional. As there is currently no trading system it may take a long time for you to get hold of them if you don't attend the festival.
The dragons aren't going to be a normal Foundable either, but an Oddity instead. That means you'll need to battle them the same way you fight werewolves in the Fortresses, which sounds way more fun than endlessly casting spells until they depart.
Global Challenge
If you are going to the event you can help those of us who can't make it by unlocking a global challenge for us all. Centered around the dragons you can help us unlock a special event. Portmanteaus that match the Dragon colors will also be available accross the world. The Portkey inside will take you to the forbidden forest to collect Dragon Eggs!
Attendees will also have the opportunity to unlock a special reward for the rest of the world as they encounter Dragon Oddities in Indianapolis. Returning a total of 150,000 Dragons will unlock a special 3-hour Day of the Dragons event on September 7 in your region...
So if you attend and help catch 150,000 Dragons you will unlock a three-hour event that will unleash the dragons on the world. The cool thing about that is it ties into the amount of Dragon eggs your region has collected.
If attendees are successful, a special Day of the Dragons event will take place on September 7. During this 3-hour period, each region will be visited by a Dragon not typically found in the area. The exact type of Dragon will depend on which type of Dragon Egg was collected the most in that specific region during the Global Challenge. For example, if players in Asia collect more Antipodean Opaleye Dragon eggs than any other type during the Global Challenge, they will encounter Antipodean Opaleye Oddities for the 3-hour event and receive bonus XP for all Dragons returned during the Day of the Dragons!
This means that if you lot are successful the rest of the world will have the opportunity to catch Dragons from outside their regions! This is a really good idea because the lack of trading means you are unlikely to be able to get a region-locked Dragon outside of this event.
The grounds look beautiful
The fan festival is going to have a lot of interactive things for you to do. Niantic laid out all the details in an email:
A Fully Interactive Experience - Magic will be all-around at Harry Potter: Wizards Unite Fan Festival, complete with a real-life Threat Clock, themed lounges and even creatures throughout the White River State Park. Players will be able to kick their feet up and plant themselves at the Greenhouse, a lounge area where participants can recharge their phones and test their knowledge of ingredients, potions and more for a chance to win prizes.
The Greenhouse that you can see in the picture is a mock-up of what the actual building will look like. It's a great idea to have a place for people to relax and recharge, both physically and electronically, although you probably already have a Harry Potter battery pack at the ready.
Players may also come across Dragon and Acromantula Eggs scattered around the park. In addition, Landmark Flags will be brought to life around the park to help players navigate their way to find nearby Foundables, artefacts, [sic] creatures, and plenty more activations to interact with and take photos of.
I love the idea that the landmark flags will be in the physical world and that they will match the digital world. One of the best things about these fan festivals is the crossover between the real world and the game. I am really looking forward to seeing the pictures from the actual event.
The Threat Clock
The threat clock is also getting a physical manifestation and with it, players will receive Special Assignments to complete in-game. According to Niantic, when the threat clock reaches emergency, cool things will happen. I just wish they would tell us what those things are!
A series of Special Assignments will be available at the Fan Festival. Attendees will need to keep an eye on the Threat Clock throughout the day because when the hands reach a state of emergency, who knows what will happen next.
Promotion from sponsors
We've already seen that AT&T and Niantic are partnering to bring fortresses to all AT&T stores in the U.S. but now the two companies will be working together for the fan festival, too.
Players at the event will have access to exclusive offers and discounts from our U.S. launch partners AT&T and Simon. Visit the AT&T Experience for a special in-game item, the perfect picture with a giant inflatable Niffler, exclusive offers and other themed activities while playing Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
Not only is AT&T working with the Wizards Unite team, but so is Simon Properties — they run shopping malls in case you didn't know — and it looks like you can win some awesome prizes from them while you're there.
For even more excitement, players can stop by Simon's booth to pick up an exclusive voucher for a $10 Simon Gift Card, redeemable at any Simon location in the Indianapolis area, as well as the chance to enter for a $10,000 shopping spree sweepstakes.
Final thoughts
As you can see, there's a lot happening at the Wizards Unite Fan Festival and there's more to come. I think I'm looking forward to the dragons the most though. I can't wait to get my hands on one! What are you most looking forward to? Sound off in the comments below.
Updated 8/27/19: Added information about the global challenge and Portkeys.
