July 14, 2015

Too Many Changes

Hi there,

I decided to make a post that has to do with jewel socketing, advanced pets and dungeons (for gear). I'm somebody that usually doesn't farm for gear in a dungeon unless I find it fun to farm through. I'm also somebody that needs to find advanced pets fun to level up and not just for special talents.. I'm going to give my opinion on a few things that have been added to the game in the past five years that I think have changed the game in good or bad ways. I really want to thank Olivia Stormcloud for her last video for the inspiration of this post.

Jewel & Pet Socketing- Can Be Helpful

I believe Jewel Socketing is very helpful so far! You can find jewels all over the Spiral by fighting enemies and I have found some special jewels that are very helpful for my wizard. I haven't tried the Pet version of Jewel Socketing, but I'm sure that's just as helpful. This is one update that I really do like because it doesn't require you to use crowns unless you want to. I'm somebody that doesn't have all of the money in the world to buy everything that my wizard needs, which brings me to the next subject.

Advanced Pets- Fun at First, Now Boring and Frustrating

I remember when Advanced Pets/ The Pet Pavilion was added to the game! I thought this would be a lot of fun to level pets because we didn't use our pets much (you couldn't even let them roam your house) and this update changed everything about pets. Pets were fun to have back then because you could collect a pet, lets say a Pixie you farmed for because you wanted to and not have to level them up as much. When Advanced Pets were added I thought it was fun to have even one talent, that's when everything changed... Everyone wanted the best of talents so their wizard could be powerful in PvP or even just leveling through the game. The talents are now more important which makes it boring and frustrating when somebody can't get the right talent at MEGA (or Ultra) which takes a long time to level up if you only have normal snacks. You now have to buy many Mega Snack Pack with Crowns to level your pet up or Gardening which is helpful. 

Dungeons for Gear - Fun, Difficult, then next to Impossible.... 

I'm somebody that has enjoyed farming for gear in the past for the Malistaire dungeon or the Waterworks Dungeon. I remember a time where I had to use gear from the Bazaar and it was still helpful enough to get me through an area that I was questing through. Now things have changed so much that if you buy bazaar gear or use most of the dropped gear from worlds you will not make it through a quest and espcially not Darkmoor. Darkmoor is an amazing dungeon and I have watched the Walkthroughs and the story is amazing.. I don't think think Darkmoor looks fun though.. There are people that can go through this dungeon hundreds of times and not have a scratch on them. I am not one of these people because I've never been all the way through.. I'm thinking by level 130 or 140 maybe I can go through this dungeon but now I think this dungeon is too difficult. I still have my level 60 gear (or gear I had to buy from the Crowns Shop) and that still makes it difficult to level through. I know one day I'll have to replace my gear because the game is getting difficult and I won't be able to make it through. I don't think this game is a kids game for one reason, the difficulty at the higher levels. I don't think many kids will enjoy questing through a dungeon that takes them many hours to quest through and not get anything in return for questing that long. I'm sure I'll get a lot of hate saying this, but I think Darkmoor was a mistake at least now. I think Darmoor should be a challenge, but the dungeon it is now is crazy. I think Kingsisle did a beautiful job on the storyline and art of this dungeon, but the difficulty makes me not want to quest through it. I've been here awhile and know that there are people that will spend countless hours in a dungeon and not get anything in return. I'm not somebody that will do that unless the dungeon is fun. This dungeon does not look like a fun one to me. I just hope one day something changes where people can actually go through a dungeon and have fun. I think Briskbreeze is a perfect example because it was fun and didn't have gear but it was for fun and the difficulty at the time wouldn't have been compared for Darkmoor at the 50th level. If there's a dungeon that we can quest through for fun, that'll change things. If there's a dungeon we can quest through without gear and is too difficult, that's not fun at all. If there's a dungeon that has gear we can farm for and is impossible (at least to me), I will not farm through it. I think gear is just as important as the pets now to get through the game and that's not fun at all. I'm sure not everyone will agree with me, but that's my thoughts. I have a new post that I'm going to make about finally making it through the Morganthe dungeon and to me that was pretty difficult and I didn't even collect the quest even after defeating Morganthe. That makes me feel that I shouldn't even quest through Darkmoor because I could go through the dungeon and not even collect something and get my new spell.

Wizard101 Is Still An Amazing Game

I still think Wizard101 is an amazing game because the storyline is amazing, I've met many friends and I love making posts about it. I don't think the game is terrible and people should still try it out. I only made this post because I wanted to share my thoughts about a few important things on the games that was recently added or added years ago that seems to change the game now. I think that Kingsisle is amazing for creating the worlds, storylines, new pets and all of the updates but a few of these updates need to be lowered a bit. It does make it hard as a blogger to have the best gear and make walkthroughs of the game and have dungeons that you can't even quest through or make a post about because you're not the best. I don't think it's important to be the best and really love playing the game for the storyline and updates such as Jewel Socketing and Gardening that help the game. I know Wizard101 is getting older and a lot has changed as it should be. I just think for somebody that has been through nearly all of the changes on the game, it makes it difficult to keep up with everything too. I love Wizard101, but there will always be something that is difficult for me and I'm sure many other people. I created a Wizard on the game because I love the animation of the spells, graphics, meeting new friends, blogging and many other things now. This post doesn't change anything about what I think about the game, but I think that the difficulty now needs to be lowered for a few things. I hope level 101 starts off fresh without it looking like other games that have thousands of different things you have to remember and have to make it through the game. That's what makes Wizard101 & Pirate101 two of the best games! Please keep it that way. 

From another wizard that has been playing over 6 years

3 comments:

Chrissy The Blesser said...

I, for one, agree with you. On the negative and positive points. I too an mot a hard core, punishing player. I don't have my Darkmoor spells or gear. I have been through part of it and it is breathtakingly beautiful but not even close to fun. I play to get my mind off of my pain and the parts you mention are indeed a pain. Well said and written. I stand with you.

Nicholas LionRider said...

As far as updates and overall what I think the community should have been, the game has taken a downfall since 2012. I'm not "mad" at KI for a lack of updates, but I do blame them for setting a precedent with Celestia, Zafaria, Wysteria, Wintertusk and Avalon, then Aquila and Marleybone in Pirate101. If they at all saw a time like now where worlds would be spread years apart, they shouldn't have made those worlds so quickly. As for updates, I don't like the way things have been going for a while. On one hand I understand people want "new" and fresh ideas since that is the one major selling point Wizard101 had for a while. Wizard101 was a new styled MMO that broke traditional ideas. But like anything, that gets boring after a while and I think the new updates show. They were just pushing out content for the sake of pushing it out. Fishing, Crafting, Pet training and gardening aren't really "fun" systems. They are all just based off of simple actions like clicking, then waiting. In Pirate101 take pet PvP. All the owner does is occasionally press a button to hope something happens. Advanced pets where good, but eventually turned pets from a fun cosmetic trophy, to a necessary chore. Same with gear with Darkmoor. I shouldn't need to pay thousands of crowns just to get a mandatory item, I already bought the subscription. Without darkmoor gear, pet snacks and at this point 'X' school. You can't have fun in the game. And if I need to work as a chore to "achieve" fun, is that even worth it? I mean everyone knows Wizard101 is obviously pay to win, but some choices KI have made are just outright mean to players. Make incredibly hard dungeons, force them to cough up money to get pets and gear to attempt said dungeons, have them farm these dungeons hundreds of times, then in the end once a player gets gear, add a new harder dungeon. Think about it, Waterworks is the best, FARM IT, TotH is the best, FARM IT, Tartarus is the best, FARM IT, Darkmoor is the best, FARM IT. Now we have leaks for Polaris. By the time I'm done, I've ran these dungeons for gear about a hundred times, and only had fun once since you really only care about the story the first time. Past that, it just becomes a chore, and is no longer an interesting game. Now with socketing, people say it's good, but I can see already it will be another pay to win situation. "People will constantly farm ___ for the best gems" then it too becomes a chore, and the only way to unlock more gems is usually by crowns. KI set up a vicious cycle for players and honestly, as an adult at this point, I can see it and accept it, but for kids, this is draining their parents dry and the payoff is little. Not to mention child gambling with hoards, but that is another issue.

Autumn DreamWalker said...

I agree with this post. Some updates are helpful, fun and stick with the simplicity theme of the game. Other updates....well....not so much. I just wish there was a differentnway to get great gear without spending hours in a dungeon for just one run through, with no guarantee of even getting anything. But Wizard101 is still awesome. I just hope Pirate 101 doesnt add a ton for complex hard things as well.....