Q: What is your favorite world? Whats sets it apart from the others?

This is a quite common question in the community, and I have a strong answer:

When people first hear this, they look at me like I’m crazy. To be honest, I don’t blame them – maybe they don’t know what makes this world so great! To explain, I’ve broken it down into categories:

1. Variation of Locations and Appearance (Does it look good? Does everything look the same?)
2. Storyline (Is the storyline captivating?)
3. Creativity (What is ‘new’ and ‘different’ about the world? How did this change the game?)
4. Side Quests (How much thought was given to the side quests in comparison to the storyline quests?)
5. Music (Is the music good? Does it get old?)
6. Emotional Appeal (What emotional connections does this world have to players?)

♡ Introduction ♡

Khrysalis is the last world of Arc (chapter) II in the storyline, which began in Celestia. For crowns players, this world costs 11,970 crowns (about $25). Khrysalis is widely known by Wizard101 players to be one of the toughest and longest worlds in the game. However, that does not stop it from being my favorite world.

♡ I. Variation of Locations and Appearance ♡

In my opinion, Khrysalis is one of the most visually appealing worlds in Wizard101. 

-What sets apart Khrysalis from other worlds in terms of visual appeal?

To me, one thing that Khrysalis does a great job with is not being repetitive. For example, take Krokotopia: each location, including the Pyramid, the Sphinx, and the Well of Spirits (and even the dungeons) – they all tend to look the same. This makes the world repetitive and slightly boring in some aspects. While Krokotopia has winding hallways and… more winding hallways, Khrysalis demonstrates creativity in its locations.

Even by looking at the map, you can see that there is no repetitive-ness here. From beehives in the Moon Cliffs, to forests in the Last Wood, beaches, deserts, caves, Khrysalis surely has an amazing variation. 

Look how beautiful (and different) these two locations are!

These visual variations are definitely one of the reasons why Khrysalis is my favorite world!

♡ II. Storyline ♡

As I mentioned before, Khrysalis is the last world of Arc II, where players defeat Morganthe. It is the longest world, and therefore has a lot of time to develop a story and make it captivating, compared to a shorter world like Polaris. I found that I quite enjoyed hunting down major bosses such as Ghost Dog, Kravenly the Hunter, Broodmother, etc. in order to contribute to the storyline, rather than chase down one boss for the entire world, e.g. Marleybone and Dragonspyre. It felt rather satisfying to get closer and closer to Morganthe. In a similar way to the visual appeal of the world, the creativity in this world’s storyline is what sets it apart from others. It is also one of the most intense (and difficult) worlds, most likely because it was the end of a very significant Arc in the storyline. Additionally, especially for such varying locations, the transitions between place to place are seamless and smooth. These are just some of the things that make the Storyline special.

♡ III. Creativity ♡

There is no doubt that Khrysalis is one of the most creative worlds in game. One way this is shown:

Shadow magic!

This was a completely creative, unique, and new aspect of the game that surely impacted the future of the story (and of the game itself). To me, Wizard101 started branching out and coming up with new ideas in Khrysalis that separated it from other MMO games during the time. Khrysalis is also the first world where we are accompanied by NPCs who even boosted our stats, even one who gave us 50 damage! Another example of this same creativity can be seen through Sardonyx crafting.

This introduced useful gear, some of which is still used today (the shadow-forged wands make a great stitch, too! Not to mention the rings that give 17 resist and changed how people could ‘set’ for certain bosses!) This cannot be said for many other worlds in my opinion. This is just proof that Kingsisle really branched out and thought outside of the box in Khrysalis, which is yet another reason I view it as my favorite world.

♡ IV. Side Quests ♡

Khrysalis offers lots of interesting side quests, which is saying a lot! The reason for this is that the majority of resources and time goes into the storyline. However, Khrysalis offers a lot of unique side quests, one of which is the rank 15 Gardening Quest, awarding the vendor for useful gardening spells such as Ant Lion (kills any pests) and all of the ‘prevent needs’ spells. Additionally, players are introduced to Tartarus at level 90 and Darkmoor at level 100, which just help to add to the uniqueness of the world, along with bringing some unique and powerful gear.

I think most players can agree that side quests are somewhat purposeless in the game, unless going for a complete understanding of lore. However, this quest is clearly very useful. 🙂

Another one of my favorite side quests in Khrysalis is ‘Message in a Bottle’, which is the result of Make-a-Wish (you can visit this link to find out more about the backstory of this quest). It is very sweet and heartwarming to know that this can still exist today, forever in memory of a community member. <3

These side quests are some of the things which make Khrysalis special!

♡ V. Music ♡

Writing music can be an egregious task, and boy, did Khrysalis do a great job. Firstly, variation: There is so much different music in this world that I hardly tire from hearing it, unlike other worlds where themes are repeated consistently. Each area uses unique timbres and orchestra arrangements, so that the music constantly sounds fresh. Some even have you on the edge of your seat (like the Boris Theme – I’m not even entirely sure what part of Khrysalis this is from, and the Wiki isn’t either!), providing a nice contrast to the more peaceful themes in Last Wood and Radiance Reborn. Secondly, the tracks do a great job of conveying feelings or emotions that KI wants the readers to feel: the Boris Theme really does scream ‘danger’, and the Last Wood theme sounds perfectly elusive and dream-like. I must applaud their work on the production of the music, as I as a player feel much more connected with a game when the music sets the tone of the story.

♡ VI. Emotional Appeal ♡

Khrysalis came out in a peak time of the game: players were bustling with excitement to complete Arc II, and I was definitely one of them. Looking back on Khrysalis fills me with a lot of nostalgia, which is probably a contribution to why it is my favorite world. I think many players can agree that this game was a major part of their childhood, and for me, Khrysalis is the heart of this nostalgia. <3

♡ Conclusion ♡

You are probably now able to look past Khrysalis’s length and difficulty to see a truly well-thought and beautiful world, lined with creativity in all aspects. I know I’m not alone in saying that Khrysalis holds a special place in all players’ hearts. 🙂

Additional comments: GTP, thanks for making this a possibility – writing has been a long-time passion for me, and I have always wanted to transfer this passion into helping the community – so thank you guys for providing this opportunity! It is an honor for me to be able to contribute to this site. Also, thank you to the community for being a welcoming and supportive environemnt!

✰ By Nate Era, nate♡#2278 on Discord ✰