I have to agree with the majority of the people here. What the heck?!\
Amulets are a nice addition, and give a wizard a very good tactical advantage. But, 20 bucks? I realize they will be available as drops, but when is that?
I read on a previous reply that subscription cost only 5/month? I am being charged 9.95. Yea, ok, 9.95, big whoop, and yea, I do realize KingsIsle cares for nothing except money, but, KingsIsle releases something as powerful as amulets and charges 20 bucks for them. No wonder most of us see a problem with that. And I certainly do.
Definitely not cool, Wizard101. My opinion of you guys is now along the lines of "Greedy, money grubbing people." I will still continue to subscribe, just my opinion of you guys has gotten that much lower.
Does anyone read the full posts anymore? Prof. Greyrose said these amulets will be available as drops when Wintertusk comes out. If you can't wait that long, yes you should have to buy them for a price just like all the other items in the crown shop that wizards are not willing to farm for.
You don't have to use these amulets in your strategy. Astral spells are still just as good as they were two days ago. These amulets are not a game changer. They are simply bringing back an ability (secondary schools) at an improved rate that many wizards have abandoned. Wizards are not gaining any new abilities, they simply can now cast spells sooner and with more power than they could before. The spells and how you defend against them are still the same. You are not fighting two wizards at once or anything like that. Your opponent still only gets one spell per turn. You still can only draw five cards at time. You still have to wait x amount of pips before cast. Offering a discount is a pretty good deal, considering the decision to respec a secondary school is no different from before (life to death or astral to myth).
The amulet glow that surrounds the wizard even tells you what school that wizard can cast!! So there is no secret to spell selection. If anything, these amulets may reduce the use of prisms!!!
Reduce the use of prisms? That is it? Insead of spending 4 power pips/pips for a Satyr, I just now use 2 power pips on a Satyr and can still follow up with a Triton/Tempest/Storm Lord.
Yea, everything is the same, in a sense, but these amulets change everything.
-Other "free to play" games that offer a subscription service offer some sort of benefit to those players. In Wizard101, that benefit is actually being able to play the game- since as a F2P player you can only get so far into Wizard City. I am not commenting on the validity of this method, only to say that up until recently there has not been a ton of value added content to make people *want* to continue paying. I propose (although this is really a completely different subject altogether) adding a "stipend" of crowns for subscription players. This would benefit the players of course, but also KI- being able to try the items in the Crown store will only "fuel the flame" of players wanting to buy more and more.
Well, that's just, like, my opinion, as a famous philosopher/bowler once said.
I agree with this. There really is no point in subbing anymore. There's no added benefit. I know we get some things that Crowns and F2P players don't get, but none of it is really worth subbing for. I might as well cancel and make occasional Crowns purchases. I subbed monthly hoping that I could help the game succeed. I know that my monthly payment could mean more money for W101 to grow and develop. I buy Crowns on top of my subs, too. Apparently it did help the game, but a lot of good it has done me.
I think the amulets are a great idea. I'm just tired of constantly being asked to make more Crowns purchases. I know that I can get the amulets as drops. I know they are not required. I just find the constant updates to the Crown shop to be insulting. I'm becoming more and more disillusioned with this game. You refuse to protect players and do something about the deteriorating atmosphere of the game. At the same time, you keep asking me if I will help fund it. I know it's my choice to do so or not, but it's still an insult. Do loyal customers even mean anything to this company? I've never seen a company so devalue it's loyal customers. Never. And I've shoppped at Wal-Mart!
KI i des[ise saying this but you are getting greedier and greedier every year. Training points were never over 6,000 crowns to begin with. and now your charging 9950 crowns, for an amulet? like many others have been saying you have to burn $20 just for an amulet. Then ya gotta buy more to get the points back. So personally i believe you are being quite greedy this time. The only possible way i would ever spend this much money is if it was for the Japan crisis. But obviously it isnt so theerefore i am not even going to bother going shopping today.
Does anyone read the full posts anymore? Prof. Greyrose said these amulets will be available as drops when Wintertusk comes out. If you can't wait that long, yes you should have to buy them for a price just like all the other items in the crown shop that wizards are not willing to farm for.
You don't have to use these amulets in your strategy. Astral spells are still just as good as they were two days ago. These amulets are not a game changer. They are simply bringing back an ability (secondary schools) at an improved rate that many wizards have abandoned. Wizards are not gaining any new abilities, they simply can now cast spells sooner and with more power than they could before. The spells and how you defend against them are still the same. You are not fighting two wizards at once or anything like that. Your opponent still only gets one spell per turn. You still can only draw five cards at time. You still have to wait x amount of pips before cast. Offering a discount is a pretty good deal, considering the decision to respec a secondary school is no different from before (life to death or astral to myth).
The amulet glow that surrounds the wizard even tells you what school that wizard can cast!! So there is no secret to spell selection. If anything, these amulets may reduce the use of prisms!!!
Reduce the use of prisms? That is it? Insead of spending 4 power pips/pips for a Satyr, I just now use 2 power pips on a Satyr and can still follow up with a Triton/Tempest/Storm Lord.
Yea, everything is the same, in a sense, but these amulets change everything.
Yes, you could always follow a Satyr with a Triton. Now it happens faster. This shouldn't be a problem in PvE. In PvP, the wizard across from you has the same opportunity. Right now, it is a more expensive opportunity.
If you face a wizard with an amulet and you do not have one, yes they have a bigger advantage than you, but isn't that the same with critical, resists, etc. Until the matching system in PvP is reworked, the only distinguishing factors between wizards is first gear (essentially level), then skill and finally the random who goes first.
I don't disagree that the amulets provide an advantage if the opposite wizard doesn't have one and doesn't have astral spells, but if you both have an amulet, there is absolutely no difference in strategy than before the introduction of the amulets (you both are receiving reduce pip casts from your secondary school). You still have to decide whether to spend pips/turns on life cards or storm cards. This is no different than facing a wizard with a Malistaire robe and you didn't have one (back in the old days). Better gear in PvP usually equals better success in the arena.
I believe a better argument is: Is it fair for wizards to buy success instead of earn it? Eventually everyone will have a fair shot at getting an amulet, but until then, the advantage goes to those who invest their money in Wizard 101. Again, I believe the amulets themselves are not the game changer and are actually a great addition for PvE and a challenge for PvP.
You should make the amulets purchaseble with gold you guys must get alot of money in already so it would not hurt :/
Remember while other, yet similar games are laying off folks, Wizard 101 is actually hiring more. The more revenue, the more content that can be added at a faster rate. These are all optional purchases. Some MMOs actually raise the price of subscription to continue playing.
Storm and life are now gonna be popular secondary schools. like using 2 or 3 pip kraken and stormzillas and 2 pip satyrs. look at all this mess in pvp its going to bring back the enchanted card stuff like for instance the wild bolt menace.
Please dont remove this but put a No PvP limit on them for me this idea is great for PvE but bad for PvP.
Also always keep in the mind of the enchanted card trading stuff and keep the mind set on wintertusk i was hoping for less new things and be more focused on wintertusk the new world that is gonna be popular among the players
What would you prefer
Wintertusk sooner or more stuff making wintertusk come longer
They could focus on the stuff later and finish up Wintertusk so if i where you the top priority should be wintertusk Wintertusk > new pendants/crown items
You should make the amulets purchaseble with gold you guys must get alot of money in already so it would not hurt :/
Remember while other, yet similar games are laying off folks, Wizard 101 is actually hiring more. The more revenue, the more content that can be added at a faster rate. These are all optional purchases. Some MMOs actually raise the price of subscription to continue playing.
You proved his point... Anyway, we have no idea where KI gets its money (revenue, investments, a combination?). It's also a moot point. Offering something, no matter how cool it may be, doesn't mean customers can or will buy it. Honestly, with most companies I voice my displeasure with my money. I simply stop using their product or service. I'm at least giving KI the benefit of some customer feedback.
My life was at level 29. I won't delete it, in case KI sees the light, but with the amulets unlimited, no restrictions on their use, Life is the most useless school out there. I feel bad. I have a few legend friends that are life, and they are now obsolete and redundant.
Will start training ice wizard, since it is the only school worth anything now.
Adaptus was spot on correct with the idea of limiting the use of the amulet. Guess KI thinks that enough pvp'ers will bite, but this is one person that is done buying crowns. Frankly, if it were not for friends I have made, I would be walking away right now over this. Honestly, think I may still just eventually leave this place, and that with about six months of membership left.
This is starting to feel less like a "kid's" game and more like some money machine where the integrity of the game is second and money is first. I am sure there are many who disagree and will jump at the chance to buy the amulets and training points, but after spending a ton on this game, this is one player KI won't see dime one ever spent on crowns again.
I disagree wholeheartedly with this statement and happen to think the amulets are a waste. Not because of the cost (which I agree is too much), but there's still no REAL advantage to Level 50+ wizards. You still won't get school blades or traps to go with it, so who cares? IT also doesn't give us access to school only spells. For example, the best healing spell a non-life wizard can cast is Satyr. Life wizards still have the benefit of Dryad, Regenerate and Rebirth, all which are LIGHT YEARS ahead of Satyr.
However, considering the biggest spell anyone will be able to use in the game would be the Level 6 spells, the amulets are kinda useless. They could change this however by doing one of two things.
1.) Open the restriction on crafting spells for each school. I.E. Let my storm wizard buy the recipe for Rebirth and let him be able to craft the treasure cards he could use in conjuction with the amulet.
2.) Make us able to create our own treasure cards and trade them with members of other schools. I.E. Adding Keen Eyes to a Leviathan and trading it to a Fire player for a couple of Efreets and Dragons.
Unless either of these are done, there is no need whatsoever for me to invest money in an amulet.
You should make the amulets purchaseble with gold you guys must get alot of money in already so it would not hurt :/
Remember while other, yet similar games are laying off folks, Wizard 101 is actually hiring more. The more revenue, the more content that can be added at a faster rate. These are all optional purchases. Some MMOs actually raise the price of subscription to continue playing.
It seems the content they're adding is items for the Crown Shop, and the prices are going up along with it.
To that, I have to say I'm dismayed at the fact that most all other games have actual events for holidays, but here it's nothing more than an opportunity to sell more Crown items. An NPC selling trinkets does not mark the event.
Also, as the number of items and their prices grow ever larger, most parents are going to say, "Ok, now that's enough of this, and lets find you another game to play. " I can only imagine the amount of whining, crying and tantrums that arise with each new item added.
I understand the need for a cash shop in the game, but I also understand that these are virtual items that cost nothing for the company to produce past the development stage. A few bucks is one thing, but now the costs of these items are starting to add up to real money.
In all honesty, the more time the company spends developing cash items, the less interested I am in playing this game. How soon before you must buy these expensive items to keep up with gameplay?
All I can say is "Wow." So now, hypothetically if someone wanted to buyback their points at level 60 and buy one of those amulets, you're looking at about a $35 deal.
~10,000 crowns = $20. Buy back points at level 60 = $15 (7000 Crowns)
Now they're having a sale on buy back... hmm, wonder why?
Buy back points sale at level 60 = Still $15. You can't buy exactly 5240 crowns.
More and more games are going the way of, "Give us money, you'll be the best in the game" type of mindset.
Ummm. under the recent sale on crowns, that being 60,000 crowns for $60, and with the playing public aware these were going to cost crowns only, thought ahead and bought....
10,000 crowns is $10.
Now, if you didn't plan ahead, even at the $80 for 60,000 crowns, that works out at a little over $13.
Now, I realize a few only want to buy exactly the correct amount of crowns at a more expensive rate, but don't over-inflate the prices, always use the best deal values.
By the way, the $17 for both a respec and the amulet is only 2 hrs at minimum wage. We always need to put things in perspective with real values.
Minimum wage where I live is nowhere near your estimate, nor is the federal minimum wage. Federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, before taxes. So, that would be $14.50 for two hours, again gross not net. My issue is with the language KI uses to advertise this game. "Free to play". It simply is not free to play. I play a text game, and have for over 4 years, that is, in fact, free to play. You CAN give money and receive items, but you don't have to in order to travel to different worlds or advance in the game. Wizard101 is not free to play, and never will be.
These amulets are just one more way for KI to make money, pure and simple. I agree with a post on here that stated how sad it is when the only updates we receive are for crown items.
As to your last sentence about putting things in perspective, how can you compare spending money on a game to spending money on say groceries or bills? There is no perspective-real life wins every time. And in THIS economy, it is unthinkable for KI to continually introduce more and more expensive items, while not giving players anything exceptional to purchase with in game gold. KI counts on the innate lack of patience in kids and young adults. The "NOW" generation. Yes, players can wait until Wintertusk becomes available, but most young people aren't good at waiting. So, in order to line their pockets, KI takes full advantage of this, and prices new and fantastic (in some opinions) at incredibly inflated prices, knowing full well that most kids won't want to wait. It is no coincidence that there is no release date for Wintertusk.
So, while KI continues to make money hand over fist, quite a few parents such as myself are letting their subscriptions expire. It's a shame, but it is not our shame. It belongs to KI. As a business woman, I have to admit KI has brilliant marketing strategies, and walks a very, VERY fine line when it comes to their advertising. I checked with a good friend of mine who is an attorney, and he said that while Wizard101 ends up not being "free to play", because it begins that way, KI can get away with their shady advertising. He said morally, it's repugnant, but it's not illegal. Nice family game...
On May 3rd, we will bid adieu to Wizard101. We continue to play, rather haphazardly, until that date, and we will not miss it one bit. If KI had even one ounce of honesty, they would remove "free to play" from their advertising, and sell Wizard101 as what it actually is-WOW for little kids, complete with charges and incredibly overpriced items.
OK HERE goes my answer. YES KingsIsle is earning money so what? Do they have to donate everything they made new in the game? KingsIsle doesn't work for donation or something just to make fun for people. They are doing business; It is a private company. If you are disappointed of this don't play then; there are so many people who are willing to pay and continue playing without making so many complaints. Everything they (KI) do costs a lot of money. There are so many people working in KingsIsle getting paid by this company. Since KI owns the game you have to follow their rules. Don't you know almost all "crowns only" items drop in the game? They are trying to make opportunities for those who can not or don't want to spend money and play the game. Yes they listen to their players and try not to lose them but it doesn't mean that if players ask to change something in the game they should change; It is not like that. There are over 15 million players within the US not considering other international players. So many players who play only with trial have been asking to open all areas in Wizard City for them. But what if KingsIsle opened those areas??? Then players would start asking to open areas in Krokotopia, Grizzleheim, etc. KingsIsle holds all information about their players and if they realize that they are losing players they will definitely make free items in the game trying to attract other players. If you quit the game another new players come to play; keep in mind that you are not the only one playing Wizard101. So think deeply before you post here. One more time! KingsIsle inc. is a private company and works to earn money.
Okay i agree with many of the posts on here that te New School Mastery Amulets are over priced, I am a sub player, so i don't get crowns that often, I also just lost my job so i really can't afford crowns at all only my subs to keep me playing. I look at it this way, Since i can't buy an amulet it's no big deal, I haven't played my secondary school of choice on any of my characters in a while so it is no lost to me. If i happen to get an amulet in a drop in wintertusk will then congrats to me. Until then I will continue to keep my secondary school out of my deck. It's as simple as that. I have a kid that plays this every now and then and she is even fine with only having to play unicorn way and triton ave, She doesn't even want to play the high worlds so i guess i am lucky there that i don't have to buy a sub for her too. So what KI over priced another item in the crown shop. This is Just a game so people get over it. It is your guys choice whether you buy this item or not. I am One who chooses not to buy it. No biggie. KI has bills to pay and other things. Yeah they make a lot of money but look at all there workers that have to be paid. THere is a lot of players on here so if a few don't wanna buy the new amulet oh well, It's not a lost to them or even your self if you choose not to buy it. And if you choose to let your sub expire well guess what it's not their lost either cause more people will sign up in the future.. There is your replacement if you choose to let your sub expire.
Ok REALLY!!!!!!! Why do you have to make an awesome item that tons will want and make the game more popular and then go and ruin the whole thing by making it crowns and not just a small amount no you guys have to make it 9950! That's $20 worth and then only 50 left over! Who wants to pay that much! Fellow wizards don't buy these! And also you should make the training point buy-back free b/c of this! So many people will want to change schools and won't be able to b/c of it! Frankly I'm very surprised at how bad of a deal this is! You let me down Kingsisle. Matt Mythblood Master Conjurer Lvl. 52
Yeah, I agree with what appears to be the majority - these cost way too much for their supposed benefit(s). I am Death/Ice. I rarely, if ever, have any Ice spells in my deck? Why would I? With Death, I get healing plus damage - with either Scarecrow or Wraith depending on the situation - and with Accuracy, 100% casting success. Plop on a Bone Drake with Gargantuan and a Vengeance up and hoo boy - what Ice spell would I want to cast?
Yeah, really a bad "addition" to the game.
I haven't really played in a while - I finished the main quest line and decided to, whenever I could, log on to farm Pearls for that stupid Grand Artisan quest (Seal of the Seven Seas or whatever it was). Finally finished it - hadn't realized I had farmed enough Pearls because I spent most of my time watching a hockey game.
This game has gotten deadly dull and unless there is new, and intriguing content that isn't simply more of the same, I can't see my continuing.
We're very excited to introduced these Amulets that will let you use Power Pips for a school outside of your main school of focus!
These Amulets can be purchased in the Crown Shop only. Purchase the Amulet that corresponds to your secondary or tertiary school (not your primary school) so that Power Pips can be used for those spells.
We realize many of you will want to respec your Training Points for this purpose, and we have reduced the cost of Training Point respect at Mr Lincoln in Golem Court.
These items are current not available as drops from creatures, but will be available as drops from creatures when we release Wintertusk.
Sorry, Professor Greyrose, but I really dislike the new amulets. Lower the price and you'll have me on them (or make gold available) but until then, I'll have to fight through Wintertusk (when it comes out) to get those bad little chokers!
Every 4-6 weeks, an special is available: an annual subscription for $60. That's $5 per month. Also, a family plan pays $7 per month per account.
Every 4-6 weeks, a Crowns special is offered: $60 for 60,000 crowns. That's 1,000 crowns per dollar.
I disagree that Life is rendered worthless. Life can now train Storm up to Triton and get a spell that hits for mega damage and uses Power Pips. Or Life can train Fire and get the hit-all spell Meteor Strike and the powerful spell Helephant.
The amulets ARE a bit pricey, and I made a suggestion at The Dorms to include a free training point reset with the purchase of one.
Every 4-6 weeks, an special is available: an annual subscription for $60. That's $5 per month. Also, a family plan pays $7 per month per account.
Every 4-6 weeks, a Crowns special is offered: $60 for 60,000 crowns. That's 1,000 crowns per dollar.
I disagree that Life is rendered worthless. Life can now train Storm up to Triton and get a spell that hits for mega damage and uses Power Pips. Or Life can train Fire and get the hit-all spell Meteor Strike and the powerful spell Helephant.
The amulets ARE a bit pricey, and I made a suggestion at The Dorms to include a free training point reset with the purchase of one.
You're wrong. Triton is a school only spell. The top storm spell is Stormzilla.
This seems like a good idea, but say a ice wizard gets a storm amulet. That would be a disaster in PvP. I can see this going wrong in the future.
How so? The strongest Storm spell would be Stormzilla. And you wouldn't have any access to the School traps, so you'd have to get VERY creative with your training points to get it any power. In fact, almost anything you could use to boost it's power you'd have to use your pips on anyway (Feint, Windstorm, Elemental Blade, Elemental Trap, Bubble, etc.) The only free boost you'd get would be the star school spells. The main problem I see is that the secondary schools don't get the added bonus of the school only spells. (I.E. my Storm/Death Wizard can't use Scarecrow.) What I think Wizard should do is once again allow for trading crafted school-only cards or open up the Treasure Card crafting to everyone. For example, my Ice Wizard could trade the treasure cards he's made of Frost Giant, Steal Ward, and Ice Angel to a Life Wizard for Rebirth, Forest Lord, and Dryad. Or, My Life wizard could go buy the Storm Lord spell in Celestia and craft as many as I wanted. This is about the only thing that will make the amulets worthwhile in my book.
I don't understand all the people saying amulets are making their school "useless" when they are now having the option of hitting with other big name spells with the use of power pips, making their spell set, depending on the amulet they buy much more efficient. How can anyone truly think that using power pips for two school instead of one can make someone "useless"
If anything this adds more useFULness to all of those out of school spells that sit in your arsenal without being placed into your deck.
Every 4-6 weeks, an special is available: an annual subscription for $60. That's $5 per month. Also, a family plan pays $7 per month per account.
Every 4-6 weeks, a Crowns special is offered: $60 for 60,000 crowns. That's 1,000 crowns per dollar.
I disagree that Life is rendered worthless. Life can now train Storm up to Triton and get a spell that hits for mega damage and uses Power Pips. Or Life can train Fire and get the hit-all spell Meteor Strike and the powerful spell Helephant.
The amulets ARE a bit pricey, and I made a suggestion at The Dorms to include a free training point reset with the purchase of one.
You're wrong. Triton is a school only spell. The top storm spell is Stormzilla.
Not that I agree that the amulets overpower anyone, but I have seen and bought triton treasure cards!
Can Ice have the power of storm? Ice has resistance and health, but can never have the power of storm! Just because they can cast storm spells, does not mean they get storms power! So, the damage increases on base damage, but Ice does not have the damage modifiers that storm does, nor the simple storm blade!
You can go back and forth all day with things you can do to increase power, but then you have to think, what has to be given up?
There is nothing wrong with the amulets and it has not unbalanced PvP at all, it has just unbalanced the minds of the players!
As for the price, wait for wintertusk, farm, farm some more, eventually, you might be the proud owner of one, just by playing the game!
