Hey, here's a fun little story for you! Apparently, every single store in my town that sells Wizard101 Pre-Paid game cards ( Circle K, Safeway, Bashes, etc. ) suddenly decided to pull the plug on those cards right before Christmas. So now, no store in my town, or the next few towns over ( from what I've heard ) sell them, leaving me with no way to buy anymore crowns or renew my membership ( which I had to cancel because the credit card on file with my account is no longer valid, so it ends on the 20th ).
Those cards were how I bought membership, bought crowns, and in general supported Wizard101 ( collecting the used cards was kind of fun, too; Don't ask me why ). And now they're gone.
Right before Christmas, no less. Do you have any idea how many kids are going to be upset when they find out about this? Many of them ( from what I've seen ) have been busy doing whatever they could to gather enough money to buy those Wizard101 cards to play their favorite game with. I imagine their parents aren't going to be happy either. Those cards provided a nice alternative to pulling out their credit cards and wasting their time buying crowns and membership for their kids.
I swear, if this gets to the point where I can never get crowns or membership for the game again, I'm going to be extremely frustrated. And yes, that's likely going to result in someone losing their temper and filing a lawsuit ( though over what specifically, I'm not going to go into detail about for legal reasons, and there's no guarantee it will come to that, anyway ). And with Christmas right around the corner, that just means more headaches for people like me, who want to be able to support our favorite game during the Christmas season. But luckily, there are ways to fix this issue.
Which leads me to one thing I've wanted to ask KingsIsle for a very long time: How do you plan to go about making crowns and membership more accessible to people?
One idea is to release a special KI Entertainment app for services like the Google Play Store, on which pre-paid Google Play cards can be redeemed and used to purchase crowns and membership not only for Wizard101 and Pirate101, but for all of your games as well ( a system ROBLOX has implemented very successfully, if you'd like some reference material to look up in relation to such a system ). This will allow those who have an Android or iPhone to use a Google Play card in place of a Wizard101 pre-paid card, which will be very beneficial in those who cannot buy Wizard101 or Pirate101 cards in their area.
A feature such as this may seem unnecessary at first, but if stores in peoples towns are going to stop carrying Wizard101 and Pirate101 cards, for reasons nobody can explain still, you will need to start finding other ways people can buy crowns and membership without using a credit card ( which is not accessible to, or usable by everyone ). And this is as good a place as any to start.
Hey, here's a fun little story for you! Apparently, every single store in my town that sells Wizard101 Pre-Paid game cards ( Circle K, Safeway, Bashes, etc. ) suddenly decided to pull the plug on those cards right before Christmas. So now, no store in my town, or the next few towns over ( from what I've heard ) sell them, leaving me with no way to buy anymore crowns or renew my membership ( which I had to cancel because the credit card on file with my account is no longer valid, so it ends on the 20th ).
Those cards were how I bought membership, bought crowns, and in general supported Wizard101 ( collecting the used cards was kind of fun, too; Don't ask me why ). And now they're gone.
Right before Christmas, no less. Do you have any idea how many kids are going to be upset when they find out about this? Many of them ( from what I've seen ) have been busy doing whatever they could to gather enough money to buy those Wizard101 cards to play their favorite game with. I imagine their parents aren't going to be happy either. Those cards provided a nice alternative to pulling out their credit cards and wasting their time buying crowns and membership for their kids.
I swear, if this gets to the point where I can never get crowns or membership for the game again, I'm going to be extremely frustrated. And yes, that's likely going to result in someone losing their temper and filing a lawsuit ( though over what specifically, I'm not going to go into detail about for legal reasons, and there's no guarantee it will come to that, anyway ). And with Christmas right around the corner, that just means more headaches for people like me, who want to be able to support our favorite game during the Christmas season. But luckily, there are ways to fix this issue.
Which leads me to one thing I've wanted to ask KingsIsle for a very long time: How do you plan to go about making crowns and membership more accessible to people?
One idea is to release a special KI Entertainment app for services like the Google Play Store, on which pre-paid Google Play cards can be redeemed and used to purchase crowns and membership not only for Wizard101 and Pirate101, but for all of your games as well ( a system ROBLOX has implemented very successfully, if you'd like some reference material to look up in relation to such a system ). This will allow those who have an Android or iPhone to use a Google Play card in place of a Wizard101 pre-paid card, which will be very beneficial in those who cannot buy Wizard101 or Pirate101 cards in their area.
A feature such as this may seem unnecessary at first, but if stores in peoples towns are going to stop carrying Wizard101 and Pirate101 cards, for reasons nobody can explain still, you will need to start finding other ways people can buy crowns and membership without using a credit card ( which is not accessible to, or usable by everyone ). And this is as good a place as any to start.
And yes, that's likely going to result in someone losing their temper and filing a lawsuit ( though over what specifically, I'm not going to go into detail about for legal reasons, and there's no guarantee it will come to that, anyway ).
I think anyone who attempts to file a lawsuit over not being able to buy game cards at any store might just be in for a big surprise. You can't sue someone just because they have either sold out of cards or have decided to no longer carry them and you can't sue KingsIsle over that either.
Which leads me to one thing I've wanted to ask KingsIsle for a very long time: How do you plan to go about making crowns and membership more accessible to people?
The $10 dollars a person spends on the cheapest game card will pay for a month of membership. If you are paying more than that, then maybe it is time to start putting $10 toward a monthly membership and the rest for buying crowns. KI has set things up for anyone to play that wants to play whether it is membership or buying the zones. As for Crowns, watch for the sales before buying.
Has it occurred to you that those stores may be just sold out? There are stores in my area that used to carry them but no longer does. But then, I don't buy the cards.
Strange you said so - well not strange but a coincidence.
I looked all over all 3 floors of Target and could not find ONE Wizard 101 prepaid game card. They had google games, facebook games, and other games on prepaid cards, on every gift card display rack. They had all types of gift cards, for restaurants, coffee place, music and other websites.
Not one single Wizard 101 prepaid card.
I asked a sales clerk - they just glowered and acted like they never heard of it. Shook their head and said no.
I will check with our card distributor, but I have no information concerning cards being pulled from certain locations like this. If I get more information about availability in your location of Arizona, I'll see what I can do to get the information to you.
in addition to the ideas that others have given you, please remember cards are also available at Walmart.com:
That's weird! Though that happened in the state I live in only with Walmarts. For an entire 2 months all Walmarts in my area had no W101 cards! But luckly they are back on the shelf this month!! :D
As for what Dworgyn said you can buy them off Walmart, but when my friend tried to buy a prepaid card from the website they cancelled his order saying they can't send him the code in an email bc they can't confirm a credit card was actually his. Guess some kind of new security thing where they can't do e-mail codes anymore due to not being able to verify i:
Anyways, I hope the stores where u live get them back on the shelf soon! Good luck!
Yeah, I have no idea what is going on with those silly pre-paid cards, but this is serious. People rely on those things to support their favorite game, and if they're going to be taken away so suddenly, KingsIsle will either have to take steps to ensure those cards get to the people who really want or need them, or find other ways for people to buy crowns and membership.
That's weird! Though that happened in the state I live in only with Walmarts. For an entire 2 months all Walmarts in my area had no W101 cards! But luckly they are back on the shelf this month!! :D
As for what Dworgyn said you can buy them off Walmart, but when my friend tried to buy a prepaid card from the website they cancelled his order saying they can't send him the code in an email bc they can't confirm a credit card was actually his. Guess some kind of new security thing where they can't do e-mail codes anymore due to not being able to verify i:
Anyways, I hope the stores where u live get them back on the shelf soon! Good luck!
I happened to be in Walmart that is about 15 miles from me a few days ago. I purposely looked to see if they had any W101 prepaid cards and they didn't have them or a rack for them.
I wonder if that is because a new GameStop was built less than a hundred yards from Walmart. As a general rule, I don't buy the prepaid cards but did check just out of curiosity.
That's weird! Though that happened in the state I live in only with Walmarts. For an entire 2 months all Walmarts in my area had no W101 cards! But luckly they are back on the shelf this month!! :D
As for what Dworgyn said you can buy them off Walmart, but when my friend tried to buy a prepaid card from the website they cancelled his order saying they can't send him the code in an email bc they can't confirm a credit card was actually his. Guess some kind of new security thing where they can't do e-mail codes anymore due to not being able to verify i:
Anyways, I hope the stores where u live get them back on the shelf soon! Good luck!
One thing to add here. I've been told that Walmart.com will flag cards that don't have a valid name or a name that doesn't match the card's information. Vanilla Visa gift cards can run into issues like this.
I'm sorry to hear that you've run into this issue. :( The only store that doesn't seem to carry KingsIsle cards in my area is Walmart (and they have them available online). It's been a steady decrease there and I'm not sure why, but many others have told me the same thing about their Walmarts.
As others have mentioned, some stores offer their gift cards online - some email their codes, others will ship you the physical card(s). Here is a list that I've compiled:
Best Buy $20 (Will ship you the card)
GameStop $20 (Digital Download. The $10 one seems to be out of stock).
I wasn't trying to use any cards (so, no name conflicts or whatever), just trying to buy some. Specifically for a stocking stuffer or to put in a Christmas card. I wound up sending one I had earlier bought for myself. But I hope they don't feel regifted (it was never used of course.)
I hope this gets resolved as to what happened in stores because K.I. is losing out on a lot of revenue both from gifters and regular players.
