Hook: For the past 12ish years, players have made it their goal to max out every type of wizard/school available. However, their commitment only goes so far. Instead of reaching max level, they would stop halfway or they would get bored and create a new wizard/school to play as. The solution to this problem has been under our noses this entire time! Wizard101 devs SHOULD implement unique incoming damage animations (IDA) for players!
What does that mean?
Easy!
It means whenever a player gets hit (no matter which school they decided to play as) with a spell, their animation is always the same! An average wizard would levitate In the air for a second and yell/oof. Think about it! The only difference between schools are the spells they get to use (not so much with mastery amulets) and pets they get to earn. No wonder people have a hard time committing to their character... it's like they're playing the game over and over again. The feeling should always feel different and NOT tedious.
DYNAMICS: QUESRION: How would this work? Answer: similar to how the teleportation effects have gone into play. Players who choose to diversify their character, can do so through the settings menu in their wizard book.
QUESTION: Wouldnt this be a waste of time and resources? Answer: No! In fact, if the DEVS choose to make this an item part of the crown shop, the resources allocated for this small project would come back tenfold. As for time, the animation time itself doesn't need to change (2-3 seconds per animation).
I would like to start a thread PERTAINING to this topic and I invite other passionate players, who feel the same way, post their ideas below. This is a great idea, but I dont know the proper channels to go through so that my voice is heard. That is why I have turned to the community/dorms.
I agree with this wholeheartedly. I currently have six wizards, and none except for my main are really high because I don't feel like going through the exact same thing with five of them at once. New animations, and possibly other stuff that are exclusive to each school would be exciting, because then there would be a reason to make a wizard of each type, to see what different things each school had in store. Would probably convince more people to buy the additional wizard elixir, too.
I think the idea is interesting, but I don't think it would really be all that innovative. I think the biggest issue (for me at least) was the sheer length of the game. I've played through this game countless times, yet the one bothersome part was how long it took for my new wizards to get towards my level of knowledge and experience.
I think an interesting idea is adding realms that are a form of hard mode for the game. We have all these realms yet they seem kinda tacked on and only seem to serve as meet up locations. I'm not sure how you could implement a "hard mode" for an mmo, but you could make the enemies a lot tougher and have more clever AI or could improve drop rates/ experience gained. For example, hard mode darkmoor would put malistaire at 1,000,000 health while also have its AI adapt to its opponents while adding some more cheats, but the rewards could be a way higher drop rate. There could also be 2 versions of your wiz so you have to start fresh but can switch back to your normal wiz on normal realms/ server. At its core, w101 to me is a turned based card game and as someone who grew up playing card games this is what enticed me towards w101. I love the novelties of crafting decks and playing through the campaign, but the early game really is a drag to veterans at times.
Another thought is making the campaign more mainstream; King isle just recently said their revamping the beginning of the game to be more interesting so this doesn't seem to far fetched.
Besides these, I'd enjoy more weapon options and unique animations involved. For instance, my stitched wand is a blade so instead of throwing a sword or doing a kick, actually run up and slash the enemy. There could also be more unique weapons as well from gauntlets that aren't obnoxiously huge and could even add claws for a sort of wolverine look; there are plenty of other weapons King isle could implement and designs that could further expand stitching options.
In addition, to stitching, I think its time to finally allow the stitching of mounts and pets. I've discussed this before, but there are a plethora of mounts which look awesome yet are neglected due to stat advantages of a few. Practically everyone rides a gulture, but what if you added those stats to wings or unique mounts? In addition, there are plenty of awesome looking hybrid pet designs, but hardly anyone uses them due to poor pet cards. The argument tends to lead to it being controversial stitching living things yet I think that argument is rather weak. We're playing a magical game where the sky is the limit for ideas yet combining is wrong? Just call it something magical like syncing your pets instead of stitching or just have Gloria tell you you aren't hurting the two pets. Also its funny how there is some moral ground yet no one bats an idea about forcibly breeding your pet and tossing your bred pets into the garbage or literally feeding your pet trash.
The reason why I believe this could be easily implemented is because of the teleportation effects we already have in game. Think about it, teleportation effects were once things people thought of as bizarre.... now it's in the crown shop.
My point is that with a little bit of creativity and resources, anything is possible (Especially incoming damage animations).
I agree with this wholeheartedly. I currently have six wizards, and none except for my main are really high because I don't feel like going through the exact same thing with five of them at once. New animations, and possibly other stuff that are exclusive to each school would be exciting, because then there would be a reason to make a wizard of each type, to see what different things each school had in store. Would probably convince more people to buy the additional wizard elixir, too.
I am a huge wiz head myself, and what you said is exactly how I feel. For the past 10 years, I've been playing on and off because of how tedious it felt to progress through the game with different characters, no matter the school of choice. I have 7 different wizards, all who are in level 80 and above. I'd say this is a huge milestone many players dont get to achieve. I feel that the implementation of incoming damage animations will help diversify gameplay and make it easier for players to commit to questing and playing on their wizards.
From my understanding of the game, life, people and a bunch of other junk-info collected in my not-so-young-brain, I'm not sure why the focus should be bringing people back who have enjoyed the game but moved on instead of making the game better for people just discovering it.
Of course, old players coming back is joyful and we want them to enjoy it, but from my understanding of W101 it's designed for children, families, youthful enjoyment (be it because you are a kid or you're nurturing your child-within) and almost as an introduction to the world of MMO's.
There are so many people who love this game for their own reasons who stay, but for those who enjoy it for a while and leave it isn't necessarily because of the game...it can be because of their own interests/needs/commitments in life changing.
I guess I have 2 simple thoughts:
1. What are you doing at 20 that you were also doing at 10? 2. This is an E10 game that's existed for 10 years....some of the kids just old enough to start enjoying this game we're babies when it was created!
I think for a game that appeals to the young-at-heart it's natural to see people play for a while and love it, but move on to other things. I genuinely think a huge proportion of those who have done that got what they wanted/needed and there is nothing we can do to 'bring them back'. However, we have a new generation of kids and parents who will fall in love with the Spiral and everything in it...maybe they should be our focus? The new graphics and beautifully tightened up new FTUE caters for them, while keeping everyone who is a longer-time player happy as well
Most people who leave seldom look back - the playerbase and revenue for the future of this game is within those who are are still here and those who are still discovering it. That's my thoughts anyway
From my understanding of the game, life, people and a bunch of other junk-info collected in my not-so-young-brain, I'm not sure why the focus should be bringing people back who have enjoyed the game but moved on instead of making the game better for people just discovering it.
Of course, old players coming back is joyful and we want them to enjoy it, but from my understanding of W101 it's designed for children, families, youthful enjoyment (be it because you are a kid or you're nurturing your child-within) and almost as an introduction to the world of MMO's.
There are so many people who love this game for their own reasons who stay, but for those who enjoy it for a while and leave it isn't necessarily because of the game...it can be because of their own interests/needs/commitments in life changing.
I guess I have 2 simple thoughts:
1. What are you doing at 20 that you were also doing at 10? 2. This is an E10 game that's existed for 10 years....some of the kids just old enough to start enjoying this game we're babies when it was created!
I think for a game that appeals to the young-at-heart it's natural to see people play for a while and love it, but move on to other things. I genuinely think a huge proportion of those who have done that got what they wanted/needed and there is nothing we can do to 'bring them back'. However, we have a new generation of kids and parents who will fall in love with the Spiral and everything in it...maybe they should be our focus? The new graphics and beautifully tightened up new FTUE caters for them, while keeping everyone who is a longer-time player happy as well
Most people who leave seldom look back - the playerbase and revenue for the future of this game is within those who are are still here and those who are still discovering it. That's my thoughts anyway
I agree entirely I am one who is not that young either, your words are precise well done.
I think the membership fee should be scrapped. Players already pay enough on crowns and packs. I believe free to play should mean free for all areas and all realms. It`s taken kingsisle how many years just to start introducing free weekend for areas within wizard city. This would be one sure way to bring in new players. I`ve read so many posts on the internet from people who feel the same way, many have stopped playing altogether because they simply cannot afford to pay for everything the game asks of people. Kingsisle you need to start listening to the community. I also agree with the post below another new school should be introduced.
I agree w/you on lot of those things Tigster but I don't know if most will happen.
I wouldn't want free to play players in every realm. That's like an invitation to griefers.
I would like to see more free to play Wiz City weekends, I think that is a great promotion and people who don't like crowding can avoid WC a while (as much as possible) during it.
I wouldn't mind seeing Membership fee lessen I doubt it will ever be entirely free. How would they profit? Not everyone spends crowns.
They'd need to step up in game moderation quite a bit, if everything were suddenly free. What I would LOVE Is if they added a way to KNOW which areas I already bought with crowns. I am a member on top of that but I do not remember which areas I bought. Also the option was only open to me when my membership had temporarily lapsed.
When I have a bit to spend, I would like to know when I am IN a region "this is available for purchase." I don't want to look it up while I am busy playing. I don't want to have to wait until a membership lapses. Even that would mean going to each region to test if I can buy it. And that would also mean buying them ll at once. A lot of people are on budgets and would prefer to spread out their purchases more.
How about if there's a way to check in the backpack while in the game, if we 'own' that region or not.
So those are ideas I have for this topic. I hope they will help improve playability and bring in or keep more customers and profits at the same time.
I think the membership fee should be scrapped. Players already pay enough on crowns and packs. I believe free to play should mean free for all areas and all realms. It`s taken kingsisle how many years just to start introducing free weekend for areas within wizard city. This would be one sure way to bring in new players. I`ve read so many posts on the internet from people who feel the same way, many have stopped playing altogether because they simply cannot afford to pay for everything the game asks of people. Kingsisle you need to start listening to the community. I also agree with the post below another new school should be introduced.
So no more Wizard101? Where do you think Kingsisle is going to get a enough money from to earn a good profit to keep the games going when packs and crowns don't cut it?
I agree with Victoria Fireheart. Many people don't leave the game because they feel it's broken. It's not. Many leave because their interest shifts towards other things for a while and may come back later . Example: Remember the used computer and Atari games in second hand store. Why is that? People buy a game and play it through once, twice or a few times then they sell it or put it on hold to explore other things. Wizard 101 is the same way. But because Wizard101 is based on family and made simple enough for kids to enjoy, minds get older and turn to other games. however some have different reasons I will be mention in my next post.
Continue from last post: people are known to leave the game do to frustrations; game is to hard and can't find the right hand on hand help to take them farther. When the game and battles get nerf for casual players, the hardcore players get upset enough to leave the game. My solution is put a game indicator mode on the home page or in fixed realms: Hardcore play, casual play and maybe one in between. I know it's going to limit on joining friends but what other solulions are there to keep players leaving the game do to frustrations.
Firstly, I don't believe that the "Custom Damage taken" would bring back any players. If that is ever added, it will without a doubt be thrown in the crowns shop like literally everything new is.
What they need to do is expanding the main game. Expand on the "free aspect" of Wizard101.
Also, they could update the game more frequently. This is a given. Coming from someone who plays this too much and has gotten ~10 characters to 110+, the game gets boring REALY fast. The only times I come back is whenever there's something new added and I believe this goes for a lot of other people too. Sure, Fishing, Monstrology and the whole other plethora of side stuff are there to do but some people only play for dungeons/bosses/gear collection etc. And currently, the only useful dungeons are the only ones you'll ever need to run which means they get boring fast pair that with the combat of the game.
90% of wizard is questing. There is no way to skip quests other than the Lvl 50 Elixir for 50$! And after your first few wizards, questing is just a chore. What I believe could be a good or somewhat OK solution is to grant 1 Free Skip to players with at least 2 Exalted/Prodigious Wizards on their account. This could bring back players that wanted to try new schools but got bored after their 2nd/3rd max wizard.
They could work on adding more dynamic quests and quest cutscenes to the earlier worlds. They are currently doing this with the whole world revamp and FTUE thingies.
To be totally honest, in the end, different things will bring back different players.
If they were to rework PvP from the ground up or "Fix it" that would bring back a percentage of players.
If they were to add more side stuff to do (Cooking, Trivia, Collection Book, etc) that would bring back a percent age of players.
If they were to add more dungeons that would bring back a percentage of players.
Basically, different stuff will bring back different players but at the same time, we need to also realize that there are a percentage of players that will never be coming back. This could be due to many different reasons.
Ultimately, what would bring back and bring in the most players, is to just make the ENTIRE game free.
Victoria FireHeart also made some good points in their posts.
I was rereading my post and I feel like I wasn't entirely cohesive.
Custom hit animations wont do anything. They'll just be added to crown shop.
Questing is the most boring part of the game. That's the reason people don't really come back to level new characters.
Because of the above point, they could add a skip elixir for free for those with 2+ Wizards Level 100+ on the account.
There's not much to do upon hitting Max. Adding new dungeons/gears could bring back people to.
Adding new "Hobbies."
I dont PvP at all, but from what I've seen around online, "Fixing" PvP could bring back people.
More World remasters and cinematic quests of/in the earlier worlds.
And the most extreme: Making the entire game free.
We need to unnerve the death spell bad juju, death spells do not get all the damage from enchants and as a critical wizard sacrifice does nothing, 25% defeats all application for one v one, this spell needs to be changed to 15% allowing at least six uses before you died.
