Slightly Addicted To Wizards Unite

I'm not a gamer. Not a smartphone, console, or PC videogamer. For many years, the first thing I did with a new computer that came with preloaded programs was to delete the games.

But, after four days of playing Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (WU), I'm slightly addicted.

Fortunately I don't have unlimited data on my phone, so that is a built-in limiter.

Can't do too much with a game designed to have you play by walking around outside to many different locations if you're dependent of wifi internet connections. However, my son has unlimited cellular data on one of his phones. He's amused by me playing a smartphone videogame, so he's humoring me by tethering my phone to his for a wifi connection. And he's going to different WU Inns, Greenhouses, and Fortresses to help me learn the game and to fight some of the more difficult creatures, especially in the Challenges.

We went to four different locations today to play the game whilst tethering my phone to his. Managed to complete lots of tasks and go from Level 8 to Level 11.

But I can stop playing at any time... :)

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Challenging A 400+ Fortress Nasty By Mistake

During today's Wizards Unite walkabout with Luke, a bunch of Fortress Challenges were undertaken. One of them nearly had dire consequences...

I don't remember exact numbers, but it seems like the bad guy threatening us in the Fortress was about 480 difficulty, or whatever the term for how hard a challenge is.

Luke remained confident, nonetheless, and with a combination of skill and potions, managed to vanquish the dastardly dude, evoking a big sigh of relief from moi, Professor Shannon (not Auror Shannon, quite obviously :)

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Day 2 For "Wizards Unite" and for "WU -- Connecting The World"

Day 2 in the life of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (WU) seemed pretty calm based on the Google News searching I did on the topic.

Likewise, Day 2 of this website, "Wizards Unite -- Connecting The World," will be low key, mainly featuring my WU game activities. I'll also provide a few background links for people who have not yet played the game but are at least someone intrigued by it.

This morning I went on an hour and a half WU walk around the neighborhood. A small local park and a nearby church had some WU inns, greenhouses, and fortresses. Along the way I picked up ingredients and watering cans, while casting spells at every Confoudable that popped up on my screen.

I found out the following points about WU:

1. The game uses more cellular data than I'm willing to pay for, at least in terms of the way I played the game this morning. All my WU play to this point had been on wifi; hadn't used any cellular data to play. This morning, during my one and a half hour walk, I used a little over two US dollars of cellular data to play the game. Way too expensive for my budget. I'll discuss the cellular data cost of the game tomorrow after I do more research on the issue.
2. By the time I got to the neighborhood park, I had used up all my spell power and could no longer battle the Confoundables I found. That was disappointing. It was also instructive as to the need to learn more about getting additional spell power, as well as using it wisely. Several articles I read about WU after my walkabout said spell power is one of the game's limiting factors that people need to learn how to optimize. Will research more and share what I learn.
3. I picked up all the ingredients and all the water my Vault can store. Which caused frustration when more ingredients and watering cans appeared on my screen, and I couldn't pick them up. So, another research topic for tonight -- how to effective use ingredients and watering cans so I always have room for more when I see them.
4. I read one post that seems relevant to connecting people with WU, which is my primary goal for playing the game and for learning more about it. I'll cover "connecting people with WU" in a post within the next week.
5. One of the primary drawbacks (at least in my mind) of WU, and probably most other AR video games, is the amount of time one can VERY easily spend playing the game if one is not disciplined about setting limits and sticking with those limits. In addition to the discipline required to have and respect those limits, it's even hard to say at this point whether even a minimal number of hours per week playing WU is worthwhile. Pretty much all video games are designed to be engaging and entertaining, and to a certain point, even mildly or strongly addictive. Lots more to say on this topic, but that will be one of the topics for an upcoming blog post.

Here are a couple additional links for WU background reading:

1. An overview of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite.
2. An opinion article (from a WU fan) about differences between WU and Pokemon GO, a similar augmented reality game produced by the same company.
3. An opinion article (from someone not a WU fan) about WU vs Pokemon GO.

I plan to walk to my local Starbucks tomorrow and spend a few hours there. At a couple wifi spots along the way to Starbucks, and while there, I'll be playing the game. Certainly going to keep my cellular data turned off, though. Hope to develop a strategy for playing WU around the neighborhood on wifi only. Check back tomorrow to hear how that goes!

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Wizards Unite Launch In US! 21 Jun 2019

Today, 20 Jun 2019, is the official US and UK launch of Harry Potter: Wizards Unite (WU)!

This blog is mainly for people who are casual players of videogames on their phone. A second type of person for whom this website might be worth reading is someone who doesn't play phone videogames but might consider starting because Wizards Unite sounds interesting, worthwhile, and different from other phone videogames.

The underlying goal of this blog is to use Wizards Unite to connect people locally, regionally, and around our world.

Earlier today I installed the app on my Android and created my account as ShannonW. I didn't really start playing the game yet -- planning to have my son give me a few pointers tonight or tomorrow to help me get started more quickly than I would strictly on my own.

Tip for casual WU players (most of the time on this blog I'll use WU to refer to the game, rather than spelling out Wizards Unite):

Start playing the game with one or a couple other people, instead of on your own, so you can help each other learn how to play the game.

If you're interested in WU, below is a link to the official trailer video from Niantic Labs and its partners for this game, as well as links to the Android and iOS apps for the game. In tomorrow's post, I'll provide a bunch of website and video links to basic and background info about WU.

Official Niantic trailer

Wizards Unite Android app in Google Play Store

Wizards Unite iOS app in Apple App Store

This blog's future depends on WU's applicability to meaningful connections in the Muggle world (as well as my available time to maintain the blog and make it feel worthwhile). If the game seems to be highly valuable for starting, strengthening, or maintaining significant mutually beneficial relationships, this website could continue growing and improving for years. If my availability to work on the site magically disappears in the near future, the blog may wither and die in days.

If you're interested in discussing the concept of casual playing of Wizards Unite (and other AR games) helping build meaningful real-world relationships, please contact me at shannonwizards@gmail.com.

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