Let's just start off with Who i am, I'm an old wiz101 player been playing since i was 9 and i know about this game and the direction it's been taking.
To me this game has been falling off, i don't know i might be the only one who feels this way, and Pvp is being abused,and there's a really simple fix to that but forget about that for now. I think pushing wiz101 into a real competitive atmosphere would really benefit the hard core Pvp players, and if it is pushed into a competitive atmosphere with live stream and tournaments where you can win real money, not tickets, it would make the game worth grinding worth putting in hundreds or even thousands of hours into this game, it would expand and bring a new audience to this game, so what i'm saying is just stop pandering to the kids, and start rewarding hardcore players who put countless hours into this game, lets make this game bigger together.
Let's just start off with Who i am, I'm an old wiz101 player been playing since i was 9 and i know about this game and the direction it's been taking.
To me this game has been falling off, i don't know i might be the only one who feels this way, and Pvp is being abused,and there's a really simple fix to that but forget about that for now. I think pushing wiz101 into a real competitive atmosphere would really benefit the hard core Pvp players, and if it is pushed into a competitive atmosphere with live stream and tournaments where you can win real money, not tickets, it would make the game worth grinding worth putting in hundreds or even thousands of hours into this game, it would expand and bring a new audience to this game, so what i'm saying is just stop pandering to the kids, and start rewarding hardcore players who put countless hours into this game, lets make this game bigger together.
Until the pvp system is updated and made into a more balanced mode, true competition will never be a thing.
I've ran a couple of tournaments in Wizard101, so I feel I'm somewhat qualified to speak about this.
If Kingsisle even wanted to seriously pursue Wizard101 as an esport, they'd have to do lots of things:
Sponsor and fund tournaments. Not with crowns, but with actual cash prizes. They need to attract teams and orgs, and they have zero interest in crowns and funny looking mounts.
Allow more specific control over housing PvP. Want to introduce a stat cap without forcing players to shatter their jewels? Let the house owner set the conditions for the match.
Spells and gear pieces would have to be balanced specifically for PvP. This doesn't mean that the PvE community would have to be subject to the same changes. PvP and PvE can be balanced seperately, and this has worked in many other MMOs.
Bad behavior in the arena should be punished by locking players out of tournaments and all PvP queues. In my opinion, one of PvP's biggest problems is toxicity. As a family-friendly game, KI should be doing more to combat this.
Less roadblocks to being able to compete, at every single level. As of right now, you have to farm up all your gear (or get it out of packs) and breed a pet that suits your build and playstyle. It takes an enourmous amount of time to have viable stats for PvP.
This is a lot of work that KI would have to do, and I don't think they're willing to commit resources to get it done. Just my two cents.
Yes, make an eSports game with a completely broken top level meta, 100% reliance on RNG for match outcomes (critical, critical block, card pulls, power pips, fizzles, shadow pips, pip conversion, wild/insane bolt, treasure card pulls, critical heals, wand may casts, pet may casts), huge lack of spell variety (Loremaster, Burning Rampage, etc.), massive lack of gear variety (Darkmoor gear vs Darkmoor gear), complete lack of strategy versatility (attack spam vs Bad Juju spam, take your pick), and let's not forget the wonderful amount of setting that's going to happen in eSports matches (140% resist + max dispels sounds like a great match to watch), huge school tier gaps (every eSports player would be an Ice wizard, good luck getting to the preliminary rounds as a Myth/Storm/Death), and KI's past of ignoring the simplest of PvP issues that ruined the entire future of it.
Also, eSports matches are meant to last longer than 3-5 minutes per match. You'd be paying money to fly to a stadium to brawl it out for 5 minutes and you're on the plane flight back home within the next hour.
As cool as the idea sounds, this game is in the completely wrong direction to become a game of eSports calibre.
Let's just start off with Who i am, I'm an old wiz101 player been playing since i was 9 and i know about this game and the direction it's been taking.
To me this game has been falling off, i don't know i might be the only one who feels this way, and Pvp is being abused,and there's a really simple fix to that but forget about that for now. I think pushing wiz101 into a real competitive atmosphere would really benefit the hard core Pvp players, and if it is pushed into a competitive atmosphere with live stream and tournaments where you can win real money, not tickets, it would make the game worth grinding worth putting in hundreds or even thousands of hours into this game, it would expand and bring a new audience to this game, so what i'm saying is just stop pandering to the kids, and start rewarding hardcore players who put countless hours into this game, lets make this game bigger together.
This would be a great idea, but as ManofBass stated it's very unlikely to happen, for several reasons.
First, if you have noticed they are trying to add a game to Steam, and just learning the ropes. This is complex, especially when you have lost a lot of Talent that started the game.
Second, they have clearly decided to stay with a Kid friendly game mindset. This is the direction they seem to be headed for some time now.
Third, they have expanded to U.K., China, and are all across the Americas. The game is still doing well, even though it's has slowly decreased in players as most do over time.
The key fact to remember, is that when Todd J. Coleman (with Wolfpack Studios) and Tom Hall of (id software) sold out, they took a huge amount of knowledge with them. KI has been struggling ever since then with PVP. We have all seen the issues, they are slowly attempting to fix, but as I stated, it gets very complex and sometimes impossible to fix at this level.
It appears to me, that KI made the decision some time ago, that they are offering a kids game, and you can play it or not play it, it's up to you. I do not believe they will not change the path they are on, now or even in the distance future.
Yes, make an eSports game with a completely broken top level meta, 100% reliance on RNG for match outcomes (critical, critical block, card pulls, power pips, fizzles, shadow pips, pip conversion, wild/insane bolt, treasure card pulls, critical heals, wand may casts, pet may casts), huge lack of spell variety (Loremaster, Burning Rampage, etc.), massive lack of gear variety (Darkmoor gear vs Darkmoor gear), complete lack of strategy versatility (attack spam vs Bad Juju spam, take your pick), and let's not forget the wonderful amount of setting that's going to happen in eSports matches (140% resist + max dispels sounds like a great match to watch), huge school tier gaps (every eSports player would be an Ice wizard, good luck getting to the preliminary rounds as a Myth/Storm/Death), and KI's past of ignoring the simplest of PvP issues that ruined the entire future of it.
Also, eSports matches are meant to last longer than 3-5 minutes per match. You'd be paying money to fly to a stadium to brawl it out for 5 minutes and you're on the plane flight back home within the next hour.
As cool as the idea sounds, this game is in the completely wrong direction to become a game of eSports calibre.
You make a lot of good points!
There's two types of randomness in games: input randomness and output randomness. Output randomness is what we have right now: do a thing, and an outcome happens. You have no control over the outcome. A good example of this is Insane Bolt.
On the other hand, input randomness is the opposite. An outcome is decided on and the player can choose how to act on it. I'm no game designer, so I don't think it's my place to decide how this should be implemented.
In regards to the time issue, KI could make matches a best-of-three or a best-of-five.
PvP Commander
Hot in more ways than one (lol)
Couch Potato Hoarder
PvP Warlord
