Reporter Kayla Smith sat down with Wizard101's Fred Howard to discuss the new Wintertusk zone and what to expect in the new update.

At PAX East I had a chance to sit down with Fred Howard, the vice president of marketing for Wizard101, who was excited to talk about the new Wintertusk zone that's coming to the game. Players will get to explore a whole new zone, new quests, new spells and much more. Read on to see what Howard has to say about the future of Wizard101.

Wizard101 is preparing to launch its eighth world, Wintertusk. Players will be seeing a whole new zone as well as some advancements in the lore. “In addition to some really great high end content, we've also focused on the lore,” Howard said. “One of the drivers of the success of Wizard101 has been our focus on storytelling and really drawing players into the story. In Wintertusk, you really complete the story of Grandmother Raven. She's been touched on throughout the game, and you know she's a pretty big figure in Wizard101, but you'll finally get the chance to really complete her storyline. So we're really excited to get that out there.”

Wintertusk also brings new level 58 pets for each main school of focus. “So high level players can complete some quests and get some really cool new pets,” Howard said.

But the patch isn't just focusing on high level players. “We're also launching a new lower level zone,” Howard said. The team is bringing back the underwater area of the Crab King in sunken Triton Avenue. Teen star Selena Gomez made an appearance in Wizard101 last year, the return of this zone follows the Crab King's story after her departure. “He's been exposed to the whole rock and roll world, went on tour, and he's come back now as the Rock Lobster. I think that's gonna be a lot of fun for all players to play through,” Howard said.

Still worried that Wizard101 is just for kids? Howard explained how the game provides family entertainment and is not just family friendly:

“The way that we design the KingsIsle brand is that safety is first. For anything that we do we really focus on safety, and then it's fun. We focus very hard on creating products that are fun, and I think that shows through. Then the other core tenant for us is family entertainment. It's different from family friendly, which is content that mom and dad aren't offended by, but they're not chomping at the bit to get their hands on. Family entertainment is really focused hard on being playable on multiple levels. We write our story arcs with that same duality. So kids are laughing at once piece of humor and the adults are laughing at a totally different thing, like a band from the '70s or some other pop-culture reference that the kids wouldn't get.”

There's no release date yet for the Wintertusk world, but Howard assures fans, “(It's) not too far in the distant future.” It may seem soon after the release of Celestia and the gardening system, but Howard and the whole KingsIsle team is committed to releasing great content at reasonable pace.

“We're continuing to have incredible growth. We have a phenomenal community. So our goal is to really commit to driving Wizard101 and releasing new content and new systems,” said Howard.

Wizard101 was also hosting a Biggest Fan contest at PAX. Fans were encouraged to get creative and show the team why they are the biggest fan. While the team received many entries both online and in person, Chase Glaser's Wizard101 diorama was definitely a stand out. Will he win? Keep checking in for Wizard101 updates.