While we’re working to improve the initial experience, we do realize that doing anything multiple times, perhaps even SEVEN (or more) times now that another character slot is available, you’re looking for the most efficient way to get through it. We get it. We want to find other ways to make this happen for you.
Give life and death schools earlier SCHOOL TRAINED AoEs is one way to make it MUCH easier for those 2 schools to advance. Right now, it is VITAL for Life to hatch a kookaburra pet to have a viable shortcut to dong the game at lower levels.
Something else I've touted and is something you need to think hard about, is once and for all, splitting PvE and PvP spells and effects. We KNOW that some spells cater to one end or the other. This on its own will solve many problems. Does taunt even work in PvP? I would imagine not, however, it is an after effect on Snow Angel. I don't know if that spell is used often, but if it had a different impact in PvP than PvE, it would be more useful (as a guess, since I don't PvP).
Another thing you will often is shortening the spell animations themselves, or convert every AoE to hit all. BOTH of these will help speed up the game without changing the experience or unbalancing any school.
Balancing the drops for "defeat X and get Y amount of items" will speed it up. I can't say how many times either I or my questing partner get 1 drop while the other gets them all that are needed from one fight.
Getting rid of quest locked garden spell would help speed things up. If we hit the level requirement, we should be able to get the spell.
Getting rid of Quest locked spell crafting would help (though this would impact PvP)
I could go on and on, but I'll stop here. You've done a great job of hearing us out, now the follow through has to be on par. I was very happy to hear you are recognizing issues we bring to you in this letter.
I must commend the efforts taken by KI to allow such transparency, consistency and excellent avenues explored when communicated to us, the Wizard101 Community.
As I indicated earlier amongst other threads, I hope this trend continues as we continue to forge new paths and memories together.
I must also highlight the fact that you (KI) have also been listening to our concerns/thoughts and have tried your best to incorporate said in some updates.
As I've said, the community is beaming with ideas, and since we play the game the most, it is only natural that we're filled with thoughts that we think may improve player experiences.
Please continue to listen to us and speak with us.
thnx for your all the time playing your game my biggest concern with wizard101 right now is craftable spells. i think its way too easy for people to just go to the bazaar and get the things to craft craftiable spells and then they just put it in they're shared bank for they're other wizards to make the spells and lots of other players complain that they can't get lore spells cuz they not high enough crafting lvl or what ever the reason may be and also the fact that every one has the spells they crafted they are useing in pvpand it kinda give them an advantage cuz of the fact that they crafted the spells just for pvp and also some other spells need a nerf for pvp only the ones im talking about are gaurdian spirit, efrit, shadow enhanced hits, an shadow spells like shadow shrike, gaurdian spirit needs to be nerfed for pvp cuz it heals way too much health after getting defeated and like the only think that really works to counter it is doom and gloom and thats beside the fact if a life wizard player criticals it its way too over powered. efrit cuz the pip cost for damage and damage control and to fix that is make efrit ten pips to cast or nine but i would go for ten or you could reduce the -90% to -55% in damage control cuz the -90% is way too strong and is very hard to deal with espsillay when you are second. shadow enhanced hits are too op cuz well there are no repercations when using them people can just be like oh shadow pip shrike and use the shadow enhanced hit and and shadow forms like shadow shrike and what not are just way too op cuz of the same fact of no repercations having to be made berfore using shadow shrike or shadow sentinal or shadow serieph i think you get the point of shadow spells but to fix it add stuff that happens when you dont heed repecations before using shadow enhanced or shadow spells cuz headmaster ambrose would prob agree that shadow magic or shadow enhanced spells are dangerous to use
now to fix craftible spells i would make it harder to get the reagents to craft the spells and remove reagents that are used to make craftible spells i would add venders for those spicific reagents but i would put them in a secret spot or hidden some where in differant worlds cuz the fact it would be to easy to craft them if they were in the same world as each other and i would make the bazaar not accept reagents for crafting spells any more to make it more fair for everyone to say oh i crafted deer knight but i had to work for it and not just go to the bazaar and buy the reagents for the spells i'm trying to craft or give a higher chance for lore master to drop lore spells but not so much that you get a spell from lore master in like three rounds cuz where is the fun in that if i had a say in it i would make it to were after a certen amount of times of defeating lore master she will ask you what lore spell you wanna learn and make it have a cool down to it too but keep the spells as a drop too for fun and what not
but thats really all my concerns with wizard101 i hope you fix some or all of them
I'd really like to point out something important I think may have been overlooked:
'Why was there a need for so many treasure cards? Are we giving out too many, are they not important enough to use or both? Instead of simply solving the problem, we wanted to ask why the problem existed in the first place...'
A huge part of the treasure card storage issue is nothing to do with treasure cards at all! The main issue is related to gold!
- Gold Cap - Gold Storage - Gold Transfer between our own wizards - Gold Transfer from our wizards to friends
- Inventory management (we can't sell if we're on max gold, we're expected to trash stuff?)
Currently the ONLY way to circumvent these issues is through TC storage/trade.
3 examples:
1) rank up in gardening, quest up to unlock Roger The Shrubber...wow, cool spells...that cost 1,125,000 gold and the gold cap is 300k. Time to dip into the stored TC!
2) see an enthusiastic kid who just unlocked the hatchery, painstakingly leveled their 1st gen stray piggle to adult and now wants to try out this fun new thing known as 'hatching'...only for me to see the sad little notice 'the other player can't afford this'. Of course I'm going to give them TC to sell so they can hatch an egg!
3) we start a new wizard and want a house or to start making a nice pet. We can't even pass gold through the shared bank...so we take the buy-sell loss and pass the gold via TC...woohoo my noob can get a barn farm or work on her pet...or even hatch a great pet I already made so someone else can get it too!
None of us want to continue questing/gardening/fishing etc if it means losing gold rewards we know we will need later that day or tomorrow. We enjoy being able to say 'yes' when someone wants to hatch. We like being able to buy spells as we unlock them. The gold cap, inability to move gold between our wizards and inability to gift gold to friends makes TC the only flexible solution. We can store gold as gear/snacks/reagents etc which can be passed within our own account, but that causes inventory issues and limits movement of that gold to our account only.
Possible solutions:
Gold cap - massive increase (eg 5m) or get rid of the cap completely.
Allow gold transfer within an account eg via the shared bank (remember how excited everyone was when the piles of gold were introduced...only for the buy-sell ratio to make them worthless for storing/moving gold?).
Allow gifting of gold to friends.
If the issues of gold are solved the seemingly weird behaviour around TC would disappear. As it is, TC is the only thing with a trade system and is the only way to store or move gold effectively. I hope this is helpful and will be considered when looking at patterns of TC storage/use etc
Again, if it was not intended for use to have an abundance of TC's
1. Why do you add new ones to every single card pack you release 2. Why do you keep adding more to the TC vendors during every update 3. And why in the world did you even develop a TC Vault?
Sorry, what you are saying regarding treasure cards is still making absolutely no sense.
We used to have to farm or garden for TCs such as blades, traps and bubbles, then YOU added them to TC vendors, this is just one example, yet it continues, this last update saw TC blades ADDED to the WC vendor.
I'd really like to point out something important I think may have been overlooked:
'Why was there a need for so many treasure cards? Are we giving out too many, are they not important enough to use or both? Instead of simply solving the problem, we wanted to ask why the problem existed in the first place...'
A huge part of the treasure card storage issue is nothing to do with treasure cards at all! The main issue is related to gold!
- Gold Cap - Gold Storage - Gold Transfer between our own wizards - Gold Transfer from our wizards to friends
- Inventory management (we can't sell if we're on max gold, we're expected to trash stuff?)
Currently the ONLY way to circumvent these issues is through TC storage/trade.
3 examples:
1) rank up in gardening, quest up to unlock Roger The Shrubber...wow, cool spells...that cost 1,125,000 gold and the gold cap is 300k. Time to dip into the stored TC!
2) see an enthusiastic kid who just unlocked the hatchery, painstakingly leveled their 1st gen stray piggle to adult and now wants to try out this fun new thing known as 'hatching'...only for me to see the sad little notice 'the other player can't afford this'. Of course I'm going to give them TC to sell so they can hatch an egg!
3) we start a new wizard and want a house or to start making a nice pet. We can't even pass gold through the shared bank...so we take the buy-sell loss and pass the gold via TC...woohoo my noob can get a barn farm or work on her pet...or even hatch a great pet I already made so someone else can get it too!
None of us want to continue questing/gardening/fishing etc if it means losing gold rewards we know we will need later that day or tomorrow. We enjoy being able to say 'yes' when someone wants to hatch. We like being able to buy spells as we unlock them. The gold cap, inability to move gold between our wizards and inability to gift gold to friends makes TC the only flexible solution. We can store gold as gear/snacks/reagents etc which can be passed within our own account, but that causes inventory issues and limits movement of that gold to our account only.
Possible solutions:
Gold cap - massive increase (eg 5m) or get rid of the cap completely.
Allow gold transfer within an account eg via the shared bank (remember how excited everyone was when the piles of gold were introduced...only for the buy-sell ratio to make them worthless for storing/moving gold?).
Allow gifting of gold to friends.
If the issues of gold are solved the seemingly weird behaviour around TC would disappear. As it is, TC is the only thing with a trade system and is the only way to store or move gold effectively. I hope this is helpful and will be considered when looking at patterns of TC storage/use etc
Good thoughts, thank you-- we're aware of the use of TCs as a "currency of last resort."
The game is 10 years old (thank you, all!) and it's showing. The economy (now a sprawling and complex beast with many side system entanglements) needs tuning up to keep running for another 10 years and beyond. We'll do our best to do it as comfortably as possible.
I'd really like to point out something important I think may have been overlooked:
'Why was there a need for so many treasure cards? Are we giving out too many, are they not important enough to use or both? Instead of simply solving the problem, we wanted to ask why the problem existed in the first place...'
A huge part of the treasure card storage issue is nothing to do with treasure cards at all! The main issue is related to gold!
- Gold Cap - Gold Storage - Gold Transfer between our own wizards - Gold Transfer from our wizards to friends
- Inventory management (we can't sell if we're on max gold, we're expected to trash stuff?)
Currently the ONLY way to circumvent these issues is through TC storage/trade.
3 examples:
1) rank up in gardening, quest up to unlock Roger The Shrubber...wow, cool spells...that cost 1,125,000 gold and the gold cap is 300k. Time to dip into the stored TC!
2) see an enthusiastic kid who just unlocked the hatchery, painstakingly leveled their 1st gen stray piggle to adult and now wants to try out this fun new thing known as 'hatching'...only for me to see the sad little notice 'the other player can't afford this'. Of course I'm going to give them TC to sell so they can hatch an egg!
3) we start a new wizard and want a house or to start making a nice pet. We can't even pass gold through the shared bank...so we take the buy-sell loss and pass the gold via TC...woohoo my noob can get a barn farm or work on her pet...or even hatch a great pet I already made so someone else can get it too!
None of us want to continue questing/gardening/fishing etc if it means losing gold rewards we know we will need later that day or tomorrow. We enjoy being able to say 'yes' when someone wants to hatch. We like being able to buy spells as we unlock them. The gold cap, inability to move gold between our wizards and inability to gift gold to friends makes TC the only flexible solution. We can store gold as gear/snacks/reagents etc which can be passed within our own account, but that causes inventory issues and limits movement of that gold to our account only.
Possible solutions:
Gold cap - massive increase (eg 5m) or get rid of the cap completely.
Allow gold transfer within an account eg via the shared bank (remember how excited everyone was when the piles of gold were introduced...only for the buy-sell ratio to make them worthless for storing/moving gold?).
Allow gifting of gold to friends.
If the issues of gold are solved the seemingly weird behaviour around TC would disappear. As it is, TC is the only thing with a trade system and is the only way to store or move gold effectively. I hope this is helpful and will be considered when looking at patterns of TC storage/use etc
Every time Zeke tells me that my gold stash is overflowing, I run to the Bazaar and but as many TC and reagents as I can.
Do I use these TCs? Seldom. Reagents? sometimes. But it does allow me to "store" gold.
Again, if it was not intended for use to have an abundance of TC's
1. Why do you add new ones to every single card pack you release 2. Why do you keep adding more to the TC vendors during every update 3. And why in the world did you even develop a TC Vault?
Sorry, what you are saying regarding treasure cards is still making absolutely no sense.
We used to have to farm or garden for TCs such as blades, traps and bubbles, then YOU added them to TC vendors, this is just one example, yet it continues, this last update saw TC blades ADDED to the WC vendor.
Enchant TCs mean that every spell can become a Treasure Card, and because the Enchant TCs are on vendors, and because gold is so plentiful, it means you have access to as many TCs of any spell as you want.
That's not good for the game.
Players are filling their TC inventory with either a small selection of TCs that they value highly-- often because of other problems we should address directly-- or they're filled with TC clutter that they don't value at all.
The game is best served by varying supplies of different kinds of TCs-- some TCs can be in abundant supply, and some TCs should be in shorter supply, some TCs can require a high investment (gold or time), some TCs can require a lower investment; and of course, some TCs should be in high demand, and some TCs can be lower demand (but still useful).
Enchant TCs mean that every spell can become a Treasure Card, and because the Enchant TCs are on vendors, and because gold is so plentiful, it means you have access to as many TCs of any spell as you want.
That's not good for the game.
Players are filling their TC inventory with either a small selection of TCs that they value highly-- often because of other problems we should address directly-- or they're filled with TC clutter that they don't value at all.
The game is best served by varying supplies of different kinds of TCs-- some TCs can be in abundant supply, and some TCs should be in shorter supply, some TCs can require a high investment (gold or time), some TCs can require a lower investment; and of course, some TCs should be in high demand, and some TCs can be lower demand (but still useful).
I'm happy to answer follow up questions.
I'm going to break down my thoughts/questions a bit
'it means you have access to as many TCs of any spell as you want. That's not good for the game.'
I see what you mean about enchanting spells, especially when they're pre-enchanted. I also think it was totally right to make enchants no-decathalon...it's not fair for me to go in with enchanted temps when I'm also in competition with people from other schools and at different levels. I love that fairness between schools and all levels has been such a high priority in this event and I'm really looking forward to it!
The bit I'm not sure about is it not being good for the game (in a more general way). I see the possible imbalance of lower levels using them to speed through lower level content - perhaps a level restriction would work?
I'm not understanding what the imbalance is of owning more (on a level-appropriate wizard). We can't put unlimited spells into our decks so we're not able to access more in battle. I'm imagining how I'd adapt to them being restricted in availability and I think I'd just store them up gradually before a big questing session instead of popping to Una to buy them. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding or if I'm just not correctly imagining the ideas/changes you're thinking about. Please can you help me understand the imbalances you're looking at that I'm missing?
I'm looking forward to hearing what the 'other problems we should address directly' are and the solutions
Lastly, when I read 'TC clutter that they don't value at all' I immediately started singing (in my mind) 'Every TC's sacred, every TC's great...' to the tune of a well known Monty Python song and this has been singing over and over in my mind the whole time I've been typing this
I am very interested to see where we go from here. I think that was the best Producer letter yet! I want to share my response to it.
Revamping/Story Editing:
I hope that we come back to Krokotopia and further worlds in the first arc for revamping. Back in 2007, I know the Designers were limited on time and resources. Now is the time to come back to all the first arc projects. I understand that nothing new can be produced if you spend all the time on the revamping process, but I hope over time at least we see more.
Falmea talked about adjusting the dialogue and story! I am most interested to see that! Some things in Krokotopia could be different, especially when it comes to the foundation of the balance school and Alhazred being the one who discovered it. (According to Ravenwood Class Role.) Some "ancient" creatures in the Spiral use Balance magic, so Alhazred must be almost as old as Bartleby!! Also, voice acting, I love Alhazred's deep voice, but maybe some of the other Krokotopians could have a more Egyptian speech.
I hope Grizzleheim gets a good revamp as well. The bears are supposed to be Viking like, so I wish they had a more Scottish approach to accent. Much like the voice for the bear in the pet Colosseum in Pirate101!! I realize that revamping takes a lot of work but please, don't leave this on the back burner for too long. AND it's okay even if you gradually move into it.
Voice acting has been mentioned before to get its own revamp. I'd say definitely for worlds with the different cultural accents. (MooShu - Chinese/Japanese, Marleybone - British.) I know some already do have accents, but it is not very consistent. (Dragonspyre is pretty strong with Russian though. "You there, what are you doing?" )
PVP & TCs:
Oh yes, this is long overdue! PVP has had, for lack of a better term, a nightmare journey... Sadly I have not participated in PVP since I believe the beginning of the second age. I am very interested to see what it will look like to "rebuild" PVP! Honestly, I thought that's what the Deckathalon was going to be when it was released. PVP only with your TCs. That would cut down on a lot of the "randomness" FOR SURE! But I realize that not everyone would like that, but it is a good start. - Another one of those gradual things.
Seeing what your game mechanics are capable of with the Deckathalon, (Disable health potions, gear, pets, shadow pips.) You could use these resources to edit and fix the unbalancing system in the PVP arena! PVP is to test those players against each other! So basically, PVE dueling is the Deckathalon! PVP dueling should be treated similarly but allowing to use actual spells along with TCs and disable particular gear, pets, and of course shadow magic. That really could fix everything!! (This is my opinion though.)
I think it's still hard to part with the Sun spell TCs, but I hope when the time comes, we'll get a suitable replacement! If Sun spells are indeed "offered earlier", then make someone significant (like Merle Ambrose) the trainer!! (Or perhaps Gamma since he stares at the model of the Spiral all day long. Or even Shalek the Wise??)
There is a lot here and to see. I hope to be there when this "new ground" starts to break!! Please keep us posted I can't wait to see!! These are my opinions of course.
Your thoughts have led to a few questions of mine:
Since we've established that Treasures and Gold are so highly related, why not try to implement issues mentioned above to try to cleanse the max gold situation? Such as:
Having Gold Bars = 1 Bar = 250,000 gold pieces or so. Allow TC to be traded via shared bank. Rework the Gold Limit Etc.
Also, in the newsletter, you guys mentioned that you also intend on removing TC's from vendors, similarly to what you did in the Test that caused concerns.
Do you have any ways in which you plan on slowly integrating this change into Wiz?
Or is this where the community chimes in to assist?
Enchant TCs mean that every spell can become a Treasure Card, and because the Enchant TCs are on vendors, and because gold is so plentiful, it means you have access to as many TCs of any spell as you want.
That's not good for the game.
Players are filling their TC inventory with either a small selection of TCs that they value highly-- often because of other problems we should address directly-- or they're filled with TC clutter that they don't value at all.
The game is best served by varying supplies of different kinds of TCs-- some TCs can be in abundant supply, and some TCs should be in shorter supply, some TCs can require a high investment (gold or time), some TCs can require a lower investment; and of course, some TCs should be in high demand, and some TCs can be lower demand (but still useful).
I'm happy to answer follow up questions.
So when you say we should value our TCs you are only speaking of a select few? And how does this fit in with balancing anything, since some would then have an unfair advantage over others, i.e. those with extensive gardens and/or crafting resources.
Personally I think, if they are bad for the game, they are bad for the game, they should be removed, not limited so a select few get an unfair advantage over others.
I know you will be looking at pvp, but the barrier to entry is already so high, removing sun spells from TC vendors would only make this worse, and we sorely need more people in the arena.
Here's something you might want to look into before considering removing enchants from vendors.
As we all know jading is a big issue with certain players when they have massive resist. While simply wasting our time trying to bring them down when they just heal back up and we have to start again. Shrike was invented for that reason, but for lower levels from 90+. We have no way of answering to jades with massive resist and they just heal spam, pass repeatedly and heal. While they literally try and make us flee when that just ruins Player vs Player in general. If you remove enchants from vendors, jading will only become so much stronger.
People say it's there own strategy. Some people say to remove every single piece of gear from Player vs Player except for decks, which would cause the Player vs Player Community to shrink. There is just a huge debate over this subject as a whole.
Some ideas to fix this could include:
Jades ONLY getting other Jades. Jades resist being brought down by 50% while in Player vs Player. Jade gear not usable in the Arena. Having a spell for levels below 90 that would answer to jading. And I'm sure you're also aware about boosting, as that will also need to be looked into when "playing around with the functions of Player vs Player." Ever since you caught Thorn for that, people have been still doing it.
Some ideas to fix this could include:
Boosters more commonly get other Boosters. (By that I mean other people getting other people boosting.) Make match making in Ranked Player vs Player much faster. And much more.
Enchant TCs mean that every spell can become a Treasure Card, and because the Enchant TCs are on vendors, and because gold is so plentiful, it means you have access to as many TCs of any spell as you want.
That's not good for the game.
Players are filling their TC inventory with either a small selection of TCs that they value highly-- often because of other problems we should address directly-- or they're filled with TC clutter that they don't value at all.
The game is best served by varying supplies of different kinds of TCs-- some TCs can be in abundant supply, and some TCs should be in shorter supply, some TCs can require a high investment (gold or time), some TCs can require a lower investment; and of course, some TCs should be in high demand, and some TCs can be lower demand (but still useful).
I'm happy to answer follow up questions.
RE: Gold is too plentiful
Here are a few suggestions:
Make more elixirs and potions available for gold, however gold purchasable elixirs and potions have a very limited time, ie under an hour.
Single use henchmen that are at lest 10 -20 levels weaker than my wizard can be purchased for gold. Save level or higher are still crown purchases.
Allow ONE "failed" pet talent to be repealed for gold
If things other than reagents and TCs are available for gold then Wizards would happily spend their gold in those other places as well.
Steven "Tired of hearing Zeke complain about my gold" Ghoststalker 130
I also think it was totally right to make enchants no-decathalon...
It's an acceptable temporary solution.
I'd much rather that players had a limited supply of enchants, and they could decide whether they wanted to use them for the Deckathalon, or in PvP, or to beat bosses, or to power through the early game. Then you would begin to assign value to your enchant cards.
I'm imagining how I'd adapt to them being restricted in availability and I think I'd just store them up gradually before a big questing session instead of popping to Una to buy them.
See? You understand.
Now picture your favorite attack spell-- the one you want to sideboard before that big questing session.
Would you like to have TCs of that attack spell? If you got that favorite TC as a drop, or from crafting, or gardening, wouldn't you feel like that was a cool reward?
And wouldn't it be cool if every single time you got an actual honest-to-goodness enchant spell, you recognized how valuable it was, because it represents almost any TC you can imagine, and you knew it was a limited resource?
That's value.
I'm looking forward to hearing what the 'other problems we should address directly' are and the solutions.
In the general sense, if the players say, "You can't change thing X because I need it to address problem Y!" then my response is not going to be, "Whoa! We can't change thing X!"
It's going to be, "Whoa! We should fix problem Y!"
RE: Gold is too plentiful - Here are a few suggestions:
If your roof was leaking, would you solve the problem by buying more pots and pans to collect the water?
So when you say we should value our TCs you are only speaking of a select few? And how does this fit in with balancing anything, since some would then have an unfair advantage over others, i.e. those with extensive gardens and/or crafting resources.
People who engage in the game more often and/or more deeply than others should have an advantage. There's nothing unfair about that.
Personally I think, if they are bad for the game, they are bad for the game, they should be removed, not limited so a select few get an unfair advantage over others.
TCs are good for the game. The unlimited supply of enchants, which translates to an unlimited supply of almost all TCs, is bad for the game.
Where, when, and how TCs can be an advantage for one player or another depends entirely on the game context. I wouldn't be inclined to describe it as unfair in any context, but it may or may not be undesirable in some contexts.
I'm going to break down my thoughts/questions a bit
'it means you have access to as many TCs of any spell as you want. That's not good for the game.'
I see what you mean about enchanting spells, especially when they're pre-enchanted. I also think it was totally right to make enchants no-decathalon...it's not fair for me to go in with enchanted temps when I'm also in competition with people from other schools and at different levels. I love that fairness between schools and all levels has been such a high priority in this event and I'm really looking forward to it!
The bit I'm not sure about is it not being good for the game (in a more general way). I see the possible imbalance of lower levels using them to speed through lower level content - perhaps a level restriction would work?
I'm not understanding what the imbalance is of owning more (on a level-appropriate wizard). We can't put unlimited spells into our decks so we're not able to access more in battle. I'm imagining how I'd adapt to them being restricted in availability and I think I'd just store them up gradually before a big questing session instead of popping to Una to buy them. I'm not sure if I'm misunderstanding or if I'm just not correctly imagining the ideas/changes you're thinking about. Please can you help me understand the imbalances you're looking at that I'm missing?
I'm looking forward to hearing what the 'other problems we should address directly' are and the solutions
Lastly, when I read 'TC clutter that they don't value at all' I immediately started singing (in my mind) 'Every TC's sacred, every TC's great...' to the tune of a well known Monty Python song and this has been singing over and over in my mind the whole time I've been typing this
Victoria FireHeart on May 10, 2019 wrote:
The bit I'm not sure about is it not being good for the game (in a more general way). I see the possible imbalance of lower levels using them to speed through lower level content - perhaps a level restriction would work?
After having leveled several wizards, I am happy to use treasure cards to help me level a wizards faster at lower levels especially. I see no problem with that. Especially certain schools have no aoe spells, or ice does not get blades till way late. I enjoyed leveling my Balance and Storm Wizards Slowly without Treasure cards. Not so much my Ice and Life.Please No restrictions.
I think that, for many of us, questing (at least in the early worlds) has grown tedious. One of the reasons people rely on enchants is because it makes so much of the game go much quicker, because people don't enjoy doing the same storyline for the 4th or 5th time. This problem is worsened by the fact that certain schools, Death and Life, can't quest efficiently due to their lack of an AoE spell for the first arc of the game.
I agree with you, Ratbeard, that enchants shouldn't be endlessly available. They lose value, and I completely agree that it makes the game less exciting when we only use a select few types of TCs. At the same time, it is already a struggle with TC enchants to get through the game.
I think that the early game needs to be streamlined. I notice that you guys have put some effort into this already; increased mob drop rates and new Arc 1 teleporter stones, for example. But, as you said, the game is 10 years old. When I first started playing, Dragonspyre was the highest world. We've went from 5 worlds to 13 and growing, with each world getting longer and harder. If nothing is done, can you imagine what questing will be like in 6 years from now? Six years ago, the level cap was 50 levels lower. In another six years, the level cap might be 180, but every single world will take just as long then as they do now.
Here are two of my biggest suggestions on fixing this growing problem:
-Reduce spell animation times: even the quickest spells, like Tempest, take a long time when you've been powerleveling an alt with your main account for the past 3 hours. Reducing the time it takes for spell animations to finish would save us a lot of time without sacrificing gameplay. Perhaps a hit-all-at-once style for AoEs like Call of Khrulhu?
-Allow people who have completed the game multiple times to start new wizards at the start of Arc 2: This may be the most effective solution. Many of us don't use the Level 50 Elixirs because, well, they cost crowns. It seems unfair to have to play through 5 worlds of old, repetitive content if we are unwilling or unable to pay crowns to skip it.
Both of these solutions would also make up for TC enchants becoming harder to get. Also, I noticed in the letter that there is a possibility of making Sun spells available earlier; I fully endorse this idea and think it would be an excellent improvement to our gameplay experience.
I know this post was kind of negative, but I do have high hopes for this year. I think the several updates have been fantastic, and I have a feeling that this year will not disappoint. I appreciate you guys.
I also think it was totally right to make enchants no-decathalon...
It's an acceptable temporary solution.
I'd much rather that players had a limited supply of enchants, and they could decide whether they wanted to use them for the Deckathalon, or in PvP, or to beat bosses, or to power through the early game. Then you would begin to assign value to your enchant cards.
I'm imagining how I'd adapt to them being restricted in availability and I think I'd just store them up gradually before a big questing session instead of popping to Una to buy them.
See? You understand.
Now picture your favorite attack spell-- the one you want to sideboard before that big questing session.
Would you like to have TCs of that attack spell? If you got that favorite TC as a drop, or from crafting, or gardening, wouldn't you feel like that was a cool reward?
And wouldn't it be cool if every single time you got an actual honest-to-goodness enchant spell, you recognized how valuable it was, because it represents almost any TC you can imagine, and you knew it was a limited resource?
That's value.
I'm looking forward to hearing what the 'other problems we should address directly' are and the solutions.
In the general sense, if the players say, "You can't change thing X because I need it to address problem Y!" then my response is not going to be, "Whoa! We can't change thing X!"
It's going to be, "Whoa! We should fix problem Y!"
RE: Gold is too plentiful - Here are a few suggestions:
If your roof was leaking, would you solve the problem by buying more pots and pans to collect the water?
So when you say we should value our TCs you are only speaking of a select few? And how does this fit in with balancing anything, since some would then have an unfair advantage over others, i.e. those with extensive gardens and/or crafting resources.
People who engage in the game more often and/or more deeply than others should have an advantage. There's nothing unfair about that.
Personally I think, if they are bad for the game, they are bad for the game, they should be removed, not limited so a select few get an unfair advantage over others.
TCs are good for the game. The unlimited supply of enchants, which translates to an unlimited supply of almost all TCs, is bad for the game.
Where, when, and how TCs can be an advantage for one player or another depends entirely on the game context. I wouldn't be inclined to describe it as unfair in any context, but it may or may not be undesirable in some contexts.
Thank you for your response!
The main thing I'd like to ask is: What do you perceive as 'problem y'?
At the moment we're kind of guessing what 'y' is then trying to suggest solutions without being sure what we're solving! Does that make sense?
PS. I hope you know that I'm not being argumentative and I hope I'm not irritating you. I'm trying to understand because I love this game and some players seem to be panicking. Personally I already have a few possible adaptations to my own gameplay in mind, so I'm not worried about how any change will affect me. I know the community would like to understand the 'y' so they can discuss and contribute ideas, while preparing themselves for some changes to their strategy/gameplay too
The bit I'm not sure about is it not being good for the game (in a more general way). I see the possible imbalance of lower levels using them to speed through lower level content - perhaps a level restriction would work?
After having leveled several wizards, I am happy to use treasure cards to help me level a wizards faster at lower levels especially. I see no problem with that. Especially certain schools have no aoe spells, or ice does not get blades till way late. I enjoyed leveling my Balance and Storm Wizards Slowly without Treasure cards. Not so much my Ice and Life.Please No restrictions.
Scarlet ShadowStone 125
I understand! I was trying to work out what the imbalances were that need to be addressed but it's a bit of guess work at the moment. I was seeking information on what the problems are and that solution was more of an example than a firm suggestion.
I only use enchants for:
1. monstrous (in bulk) when questing more wizards through the first arc. I like to use level appropriate wizards instead of speeding them with one of my max wizards because it's more fun, but having done those battles A LOT of times before I also want them to be a bit quicker too. I can't use the level 50 elixir because I enjoy the story too much to skip it! Monstrous allows me to use the questing wizard but go a bit faster.
I'd like to still be able to do this and would like to know if this is one of the imbalances being looked at...does this have a negative impact on the game or other players? I am unsure how it would...but if it does maybe there is a way to find balance without it potentially putting off people with multiple wizards from starting another new one.
2. colossal and extraordinary - these are far too precious to use and take time and resources to accumulate. They are also no trade and no auction...which limits use. I collect these (predominantly through gardening) for crafting only (eg the house games).
3. accurate (no longer needed) - I used to use this to pre-enchant my emergency pigsie for 100% accuracy if a hit round looked like team mates could die...it is no longer needed as defeated wizards get 1 health and all drops at the end of battle (an excellent update that ensures wizards get loot they helped achieve).
I'm sorry I wasn't clear enough in my post! I feel like we're all trying to guess what the imbalances are and there are probably multiple solutions being considered (removal of enchants from vendors only being part of the 'solution') and the imbalances are across various parts of the game - pve, pvp, deckathalon, gold...maybe other things?
It feels like there is a sense of panic and impending doom because we're all picking up on how any changes couldaffect us without knowing what the specific imbalances are or the full extent of what solutions are being considered and how they would be implemented. It would be helpful to get some simple answers - without knowing what the perceived imbalances are, we are looking for solutions to a problem we haven't yet identified. No wonder some wizards are worrying!
I also think it was totally right to make enchants no-decathalon...
It's an acceptable temporary solution.
I'd much rather that players had a limited supply of enchants, and they could decide whether they wanted to use them for the Deckathalon, or in PvP, or to beat bosses, or to power through the early game. Then you would begin to assign value to your enchant cards.
I'm imagining how I'd adapt to them being restricted in availability and I think I'd just store them up gradually before a big questing session instead of popping to Una to buy them.
See? You understand.
Now picture your favorite attack spell-- the one you want to sideboard before that big questing session.
Would you like to have TCs of that attack spell? If you got that favorite TC as a drop, or from crafting, or gardening, wouldn't you feel like that was a cool reward?
And wouldn't it be cool if every single time you got an actual honest-to-goodness enchant spell, you recognized how valuable it was, because it represents almost any TC you can imagine, and you knew it was a limited resource?
That's value.
I'm looking forward to hearing what the 'other problems we should address directly' are and the solutions.
In the general sense, if the players say, "You can't change thing X because I need it to address problem Y!" then my response is not going to be, "Whoa! We can't change thing X!"
It's going to be, "Whoa! We should fix problem Y!"
RE: Gold is too plentiful - Here are a few suggestions:
If your roof was leaking, would you solve the problem by buying more pots and pans to collect the water?
So when you say we should value our TCs you are only speaking of a select few? And how does this fit in with balancing anything, since some would then have an unfair advantage over others, i.e. those with extensive gardens and/or crafting resources.
People who engage in the game more often and/or more deeply than others should have an advantage. There's nothing unfair about that.
Personally I think, if they are bad for the game, they are bad for the game, they should be removed, not limited so a select few get an unfair advantage over others.
TCs are good for the game. The unlimited supply of enchants, which translates to an unlimited supply of almost all TCs, is bad for the game.
Where, when, and how TCs can be an advantage for one player or another depends entirely on the game context. I wouldn't be inclined to describe it as unfair in any context, but it may or may not be undesirable in some contexts.
RE: Gold is too plentiful - Here are a few suggestions:
- If your roof was leaking, would you solve the problem by buying more pots and pans to collect the water?
Only if the rain never stopped and I could not fix the roof.
I don't think the analogy is apropos.
If we are equating too much gold with rain coming in from a leaky roof, then those in charge of the rain should work on stopping the rain.
As it stands, we get gold from questing, gold from gardening, and gold from wooden chests.
There are limited ways to spend this gold. As it stands right now for me personally...
I have one Maxxed Life Wizard. I am constantly hatching, buying reagents, buying TCs, I have even bought houses for my lower level wizards. This wizard has nearly completed all available quests. Yet from gardening and gravulum alone I am getting the Zeke warning at least once a month.
Since I cannot stop the rain. Nor can I fix the "leaky roof", then yes I am advocating more pots for putting the water in.
My point with this is that with "Too many TCs" being the problem, my observation seems to have pointed out a far different reason for the "TC overpopulation". It isn't their availability, it's the seeming limitless currency that wizards have access to. Steven Ghoststalker 130
RE: Gold is too plentiful - Here are a few suggestions:
- If your roof was leaking, would you solve the problem by buying more pots and pans to collect the water?
Only if the rain never stopped and I could not fix the roof.
I don't think the analogy is apropos.
If we are equating too much gold with rain coming in from a leaky roof, then those in charge of the rain should work on stopping the rain.
As it stands, we get gold from questing, gold from gardening, and gold from wooden chests.
There are limited ways to spend this gold. As it stands right now for me personally...
I have one Maxxed Life Wizard. I am constantly hatching, buying reagents, buying TCs, I have even bought houses for my lower level wizards. This wizard has nearly completed all available quests. Yet from gardening and gravulum alone I am getting the Zeke warning at least once a month.
Since I cannot stop the rain. Nor can I fix the "leaky roof", then yes I am advocating more pots for putting the water in.
My point with this is that with "Too many TCs" being the problem, my observation seems to have pointed out a far different reason for the "TC overpopulation". It isn't their availability, it's the seeming limitless currency that wizards have access to. Steven Ghoststalker 130
I agree with every part of this rebuttal!
(Except that the analogy clearly worked like a charm-- you nailed it.)
I think that the early game needs to be streamlined. I notice that you guys have put some effort into this already; increased mob drop rates and new Arc 1 teleporter stones, for example. But, as you said, the game is 10 years old. When I first started playing, Dragonspyre was the highest world.
There are reasons, especially for a new game, to slow down player progression. Players eat content at an alarming rate!
But we have the advantage of having 10 years of content behind us now, so we are definitely looking to streamline the early game. In lots of ways. We believe that our storyline is among the best in the business, and we want as many players to experience it as possible.
Reduce spell animation times. Reduce the time it takes for spell animations to finish would save us a lot of time without sacrificing gameplay. Perhaps a hit-all-at-once style for AoEs like Call of Khrulhu?
1. monstrous (in bulk) when questing more wizards through the first arc.
Problem Y #1 identified: Being able to get through early content easier.
You don't need enchant TCs for this if, for example, your main wizard brings back the knowledge from Celestia to "teach" the Sun spell to your newbie. Your newbie learns "Strong" and can put it in your main deck. (Just an idea; don't run too far with it.)
2. colossal and extraordinary - these are far too precious to use and take time and resources to accumulate. They are also no trade and no auction...which limits use. I collect these (predominantly through gardening) for crafting only (eg the house games).
We like being able to reward you in exchange for time and resources, and the more time and resources you spend, the more value you place on the reward.
It feels like there is a sense of panic and impending doom because we're all picking up on how any changes could affect us without knowing what the specific imbalances are or the full extent of what solutions are being considered and how they would be implemented. It would be helpful to get some simple answers - without knowing what the perceived imbalances are, we are looking for solutions to a problem we haven't yet identified.
I'm not exactly shocked to find human beings nervous about change, but as one of our other Lead designers here is fond of saying, "We are designing for human beings." You'd be surprised how helpful that simple reminder can be.
I can't tell you everything that's going to happen because we may not even know yet ourselves. That's one of the reasons Test Realm and this forum are so useful-- we can get specific feedback to specific ideas. I do my best to be engaged and transparent. I'm good with specific questions but, "Please tell us in advance everything you plan to do so I can stop worrying!" isn't really something I can help with.
RE: Gold is too plentiful - Here are a few suggestions:
- If your roof was leaking, would you solve the problem by buying more pots and pans to collect the water?
Only if the rain never stopped and I could not fix the roof.
I don't think the analogy is apropos.
If we are equating too much gold with rain coming in from a leaky roof, then those in charge of the rain should work on stopping the rain.
As it stands, we get gold from questing, gold from gardening, and gold from wooden chests.
There are limited ways to spend this gold. As it stands right now for me personally...
I have one Maxxed Life Wizard. I am constantly hatching, buying reagents, buying TCs, I have even bought houses for my lower level wizards. This wizard has nearly completed all available quests. Yet from gardening and gravulum alone I am getting the Zeke warning at least once a month.
Since I cannot stop the rain. Nor can I fix the "leaky roof", then yes I am advocating more pots for putting the water in.
My point with this is that with "Too many TCs" being the problem, my observation seems to have pointed out a far different reason for the "TC overpopulation". It isn't their availability, it's the seeming limitless currency that wizards have access to. Steven Ghoststalker 130
If we alternate between monsoon season and drought it would make sense to collect more of the water...it would also be smart to fix the roof so collecting it during the monsoon season wasn't a daily task that takes up time we could be doing other things.
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