I've been getting a number of World of Warcraft comments on my blog, so, hey, let's talk World of Warcraft.
Traditionally I've avoided even speaking the name of the vile one here on my blog, preferring to call it "the game which shall not be named." Hey! That's just me being funny.
I surrendered a couple years of my life to World of Warcraft circa 2005-2006. I played a Female Human Paladin mostly. Why? Well, I asked my friend Brandon what the least played class/race combo was and he said Female Human Paladin, so Reverencia Sacerdote was born. My spicy Spanish nun. Awesome luck for me was that Arnold Schwarzenegger played a Female Human Paladin too (not really . . . that was also just me being funny).
Let's be honest why I started playing WoW. It was my friends. I was an EQ player before that, and let's be honest why I started playing EQ. It was my friends.
World of Warcraft pretty much destroyed Everquest when it came out. You know, it's funny because one of the comments that has recently been left on my blog was, does Wizard101 steal anything from WoW? (Specifically talking about the Nightmare, which I remember to be a mount option for level 40 Warlocks.) The answer to that question is, Yeah, of course Wizard101 steals stuff from WoW. The whole industry does that. In fact, WoW stole a bunch of its stuff from Everquest. Everquest stole a bunch of its stuff from Dungeons and Dragons. Dungeons and Dragons stole a bunch of its stuff from H. P. Lovecraft and J. R. R. Tolkien. When you're dealing with the fantasy genre, it's hard not to have a troll in your game, right? It's just the nature of the beast. Of course these games are going to cross paths once in a while.
I digress.
I wasn't done with Everquest when I started playing WoW, but I left anyway because the friends that were playing WoW were awesome and it meant more to me to play with them than sticking with Everquest, so I played WoW. Funny enough, it turned out to be a pretty great game, and the most fun was in chatting on the guild and raiding alliance message boards and of course, raiding, that awesome time waster where you get four groups or so together and destroy the big bad guys. When my friends and I were playing WoW, I had a great time.
So why did I leave WoW? Well, my friend one day up and sold his raid geared dwarven warrior for a few hundred dollars, and it was done. That little spifire of a dwarf was promptly turned into a bot for harvesting herbs by a third party. Sad.
The game lost its lure for me. My friend was gone. I didn't sell my character . . . I went back to EQ for a while and had more fun there until I was done with the game. What killed Everquest for me was finding out my son had Autism. I was done. The most important thing at that time was dealing with that. I couldn't hack the raiding lifestyle and be a good parent.
So the question at hand here is . . . is there any WoW left in me. Cataclysm changed everything and wouldn't it be a great game to go back and play?
No thanks.
It has nothing to do with WoW. There's plenty to do in WoW to keep you completely obsessed for years, but it'll never have my friend Brandon back. He doesn't play MMOs anymore. He's more into pen and paper these days with a few of his friends where he lives locally. WoW *is* Brandon for me. I can't go back and play it without feeling like something is missing.
But, the title of this post isn't Warcraft Equals Missing Friends, Friendly . . . Why'd you call it World of Warcraft Doesn't Need Me? Because they don't. That's reason number two why I don't care about playing WoW. They're vast and already have communities overflowing with Bloggers. They already have Blessing of Kings. They don't need me.
Things have changed since I started playing MMOs because my friends were there. Now I play MMOs because I love the genre and I like to write. When I contacted Blizzard's PR, did I get a nice personal note back like I did with SoE, Turbine, and KingsIsle? Nope. They stuck me on their distribution list and didn't say a word back to me. Not that I should expect that; it's freaking BLIZZARD we're talking about here. They're huge. They're busy. Friendly Necromancers are a dime a dozen (Here, take 20 TFN's, they're going cheap!)
They've got massive amounts of things going on, and there are already three people or so covering the beat for World of Warcraft in Beckett's. Even if it was an accidental (or to-be-expected) blow off, it's just plain to see . . . they don't need me.
Wizard101 doesn't really need me anymore either (never have actually), but I still believe in their product being the best Family MMO out there. :) I need them! I've mentioned the reasons before.
Hope you made it through your bag of popcorn! Sorry for the rant. It was just kind of how I was wound today. /shrug Hope that answers your questions about my relationship with the game which shall not be named.
Happy dueling!
Showing posts with label The art of the rant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label The art of the rant. Show all posts
Friday, March 25, 2011
Thursday, February 10, 2011
CALM . . . DOWN . . . sheesh
Ok, yes, I get it . . . you can't get into your housing for a day. *gnaws on hand*
AND, YES, I know I know . . . it was an exploit that caused this. *GASPSERS THE FRIENDLY NECROMANCER'S GHOST*
The majority of you probably don't know anything about this exploit and how it worked. No worries for you guys whatsoever. Life will return to normal soon, and I'm sure KI will make everything good for the innocent.
Just . . . chill.
*breathe*
Do you hear that wonderful ocean wave in the background? Here you go, listen to this for a second or two:
Ahhh, the real world is awesome. There . . . don't you feel a little better now? Most of you will, but there are most likely a few of you who won't.
It's all about perspective with stuff like this. Here's mine:
Remember that nasty wing exploit? I tried to tell you that you shouldn't do this again, and if you discover an exploit, you need to report it, but did you? nope! (remember this exploit lecture you ignored back in episode 10 of Ravenwood Radio) Guess what . . . for some of you it's strike two! You're out!
What kills me is that it's Wizard101 we're talking about here. Like, do you guys realize that if you're going to exploit a game, this is SO not the game to exploit? We have a gold cap here and you can't trade items outside of bazaar sniping and treasure cards. If you're going to exploit, go to a game where you can at least make real money from the exploit.
I remember going over to a friend's house circa 2003, and we got talking about Everquest. He said, Oh yeah, well I have Everquest running on three computers right now actually. I was totally boggled, "you multi-box Everquest? I did't even know you played!"
No no no. He was running a macro on his computer to duplicate gold, then he and his cousin would turn around and sell the gold to a guy named Yantis, and Yantis would turn around and sell gold at a marked up price to the Everquest addicts. What this did to the common player was create mudflation. My friend wasn't playing my game, he was basically ruining my game. LOL. It was ok though, I still liked him and Everquest. He was small potatoes compared to what some exploiters were doing. Don't make me bring up the Methical Everquest2 Dog Pet duping story . . . .
So, guess what? That Yantis guy is still around only now there's about 20 times more Yantis-ish people in the world because of WoW, and he doesn't even sell Everquest gold anymore. Selling gold is almost mainstream now. I don't know if you're even aware of the gold sweat shops. I'll never forget being jumped on nodes by a Chinese gold farmer using exploits in WoW. I was furious.
The difference here for us? Kingsisle took care of every minute detail in their game to discourage this type of behavior from outsiders, which makes it so we live in a Gold Farmer free world. You have gold caps, you have fixed prices at the bazaar, and you have limited item trading. Gold farmers don't want to touch Wizard101 with a 10-foot pole. INSTEAD, KingsIsle controls all the money through their crowns shop, which means, unfortunately, the rule breakers are all players.
Don't worry. It's not the end of the world.
Best of luck to you all who were banned because of that whole auto-harvest bug or what have you. Luckily it's not hard to re-level a character in Wizard101. Think of it as a new challenge set before you! And if you go to a different game, you know, have fun and try to remember the awesome times you had in Wizard101. When you start to get spam in your inbox from gold farmers and malicious people hacking your account in extremely inventive ways, maybe a part of you will understand that Wizard101 is actually a pretty safe and awesome MMO that way.
Happy Dueling!
AND, YES, I know I know . . . it was an exploit that caused this. *GASPSERS THE FRIENDLY NECROMANCER'S GHOST*
The majority of you probably don't know anything about this exploit and how it worked. No worries for you guys whatsoever. Life will return to normal soon, and I'm sure KI will make everything good for the innocent.
Just . . . chill.
*breathe*
Do you hear that wonderful ocean wave in the background? Here you go, listen to this for a second or two:
Ahhh, the real world is awesome. There . . . don't you feel a little better now? Most of you will, but there are most likely a few of you who won't.
It's all about perspective with stuff like this. Here's mine:
Remember that nasty wing exploit? I tried to tell you that you shouldn't do this again, and if you discover an exploit, you need to report it, but did you? nope! (remember this exploit lecture you ignored back in episode 10 of Ravenwood Radio) Guess what . . . for some of you it's strike two! You're out!
What kills me is that it's Wizard101 we're talking about here. Like, do you guys realize that if you're going to exploit a game, this is SO not the game to exploit? We have a gold cap here and you can't trade items outside of bazaar sniping and treasure cards. If you're going to exploit, go to a game where you can at least make real money from the exploit.
I remember going over to a friend's house circa 2003, and we got talking about Everquest. He said, Oh yeah, well I have Everquest running on three computers right now actually. I was totally boggled, "you multi-box Everquest? I did't even know you played!"
No no no. He was running a macro on his computer to duplicate gold, then he and his cousin would turn around and sell the gold to a guy named Yantis, and Yantis would turn around and sell gold at a marked up price to the Everquest addicts. What this did to the common player was create mudflation. My friend wasn't playing my game, he was basically ruining my game. LOL. It was ok though, I still liked him and Everquest. He was small potatoes compared to what some exploiters were doing. Don't make me bring up the Methical Everquest2 Dog Pet duping story . . . .
So, guess what? That Yantis guy is still around only now there's about 20 times more Yantis-ish people in the world because of WoW, and he doesn't even sell Everquest gold anymore. Selling gold is almost mainstream now. I don't know if you're even aware of the gold sweat shops. I'll never forget being jumped on nodes by a Chinese gold farmer using exploits in WoW. I was furious.
The difference here for us? Kingsisle took care of every minute detail in their game to discourage this type of behavior from outsiders, which makes it so we live in a Gold Farmer free world. You have gold caps, you have fixed prices at the bazaar, and you have limited item trading. Gold farmers don't want to touch Wizard101 with a 10-foot pole. INSTEAD, KingsIsle controls all the money through their crowns shop, which means, unfortunately, the rule breakers are all players.
Don't worry. It's not the end of the world.
Best of luck to you all who were banned because of that whole auto-harvest bug or what have you. Luckily it's not hard to re-level a character in Wizard101. Think of it as a new challenge set before you! And if you go to a different game, you know, have fun and try to remember the awesome times you had in Wizard101. When you start to get spam in your inbox from gold farmers and malicious people hacking your account in extremely inventive ways, maybe a part of you will understand that Wizard101 is actually a pretty safe and awesome MMO that way.
Happy Dueling!
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Celestia Housing Test Realm Redux
YO,
So there has been a lot of information sharing going on across the Wizard101 information super-highway, and I just want to point out a few of those and maybe discuss them a smidge.
First up is Kevin Battleblood's well written blog post. Kevin talks about the changes in the test realm that he finds pertinent: Floating pots and plants, petnomes, stun block, and gardening towers.
In particular I feel for Kevin (and all of us) in regards to the bugged petnome numbers. It's confusing enough to try and analyze pet abilities through a community site like Petnome, but a broken (or bugged) counting system really messes up trying to track these things . . . especially when already dealing with different generations of pets. I really hope that gets fixed.
Although I really liked the idea of gardening towers and getting more bang for your energy globe out of building your garden up instead of out, I personally never had a garden tower, so I won't miss this. *comfort* to those who will. :/
I liked Pyromancer Jonathon's review of the new Celestia crafted house. Although Jonathan mentions this is now the second house to have a dueling circle, he doesn't mention that this is the first house to have a dueling circle that doesn't require the purchase of crowns! Uber wife tells me that one of our characters already has everything she needs to craft one! Awesome.
If you're looking for a good list of ingredients that you'll need for this, I again refer you over to Battleblood's place. (Uber wife was all psyched that she could help Kevin out with a small error on the list. *giggle*)
For me, I just can't get over how much I really REALLY wanted an underwater house for Celestia ala Calypso's sunken ship. It's what I was hoping for. Dangit.
Of additional note: Stellarium got dumbed down. My video here, is no longer applicable, and I may take it down soon. Don't worry, all the other cheating bosses in the game are still there and cheating.
There have been a number of interesting posts over on Wizard101 Central about the new changes.
For me, it's all about the Hand of Doom pack this time around. I love the new boss minions. It's just SUCH a cool new addition to be able to summon up one of these to help you out. I'm not all together thrilled that I get five or six junk cards with each pack I buy, but I do like where these minion cards are headed.
You know what I liked about casting the Lord Nightshade minion? He started with three power pips and crit on his vampire spell. A minion with a chance to crit is awesome.
Thumbs up KI for this addition! Just . . . PLEASE, I don't want any more junk cards. If you lowered the cost and gave me one minion card and no junk cards, I'd be happy. If you upped the cost and give me seven minion cards and no junk cards, I'd be happy. I just think this current method of giving me one or two good cards and junk that I have to sell off feels . . . old school . . . and if you're going old school, then I need a stick of gum with each purchase. ;-)
AND FINALLY, one last note before I let you go . . . the Indiana-Jones-esque Boulder rolling trick with the new small Celestia house? Epic! Just make the boulder roll more often or upon cue! (Like when I trip a switch or something) :-)
Happy Dueling!
So there has been a lot of information sharing going on across the Wizard101 information super-highway, and I just want to point out a few of those and maybe discuss them a smidge.
First up is Kevin Battleblood's well written blog post. Kevin talks about the changes in the test realm that he finds pertinent: Floating pots and plants, petnomes, stun block, and gardening towers.
In particular I feel for Kevin (and all of us) in regards to the bugged petnome numbers. It's confusing enough to try and analyze pet abilities through a community site like Petnome, but a broken (or bugged) counting system really messes up trying to track these things . . . especially when already dealing with different generations of pets. I really hope that gets fixed.
Although I really liked the idea of gardening towers and getting more bang for your energy globe out of building your garden up instead of out, I personally never had a garden tower, so I won't miss this. *comfort* to those who will. :/
I liked Pyromancer Jonathon's review of the new Celestia crafted house. Although Jonathan mentions this is now the second house to have a dueling circle, he doesn't mention that this is the first house to have a dueling circle that doesn't require the purchase of crowns! Uber wife tells me that one of our characters already has everything she needs to craft one! Awesome.
If you're looking for a good list of ingredients that you'll need for this, I again refer you over to Battleblood's place. (Uber wife was all psyched that she could help Kevin out with a small error on the list. *giggle*)
For me, I just can't get over how much I really REALLY wanted an underwater house for Celestia ala Calypso's sunken ship. It's what I was hoping for. Dangit.
Of additional note: Stellarium got dumbed down. My video here, is no longer applicable, and I may take it down soon. Don't worry, all the other cheating bosses in the game are still there and cheating.
There have been a number of interesting posts over on Wizard101 Central about the new changes.
- Fierce Hounds have different appearances. (click!)
- Polar Cat gift card only gives one dragonblade now. (click!)
- Efreet is now a charm-class debuff instead of a damage-class debuff. (click!)
- Guide to the bosses in the Hand of Doom pack. (click!)
- Orthrus animation has changed. (click!)
- Can't use Gargantuan on Efreet. (click!)
- The let down on the new side quest in Grizzleheim. (click!)
For me, it's all about the Hand of Doom pack this time around. I love the new boss minions. It's just SUCH a cool new addition to be able to summon up one of these to help you out. I'm not all together thrilled that I get five or six junk cards with each pack I buy, but I do like where these minion cards are headed.
You know what I liked about casting the Lord Nightshade minion? He started with three power pips and crit on his vampire spell. A minion with a chance to crit is awesome.
Thumbs up KI for this addition! Just . . . PLEASE, I don't want any more junk cards. If you lowered the cost and gave me one minion card and no junk cards, I'd be happy. If you upped the cost and give me seven minion cards and no junk cards, I'd be happy. I just think this current method of giving me one or two good cards and junk that I have to sell off feels . . . old school . . . and if you're going old school, then I need a stick of gum with each purchase. ;-)
AND FINALLY, one last note before I let you go . . . the Indiana-Jones-esque Boulder rolling trick with the new small Celestia house? Epic! Just make the boulder roll more often or upon cue! (Like when I trip a switch or something) :-)
Happy Dueling!
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Feedback Friday--I choose . . . DOOR NUMBER THREE!
If you've logged in this week, you've been welcomed with a link to the most recent Feedback Friday with Professor Falmea. Check it out. Basically, she wants to know which secret door in the spiral would you like to be opened and specifically mentions Barkingham Palace. You know, that place we've talked about here on TFN.
Anyway, that Feedback Friday thread is a super dense thread at this point . . . as it should be since it was linked to from the game patcher. (That one time my blog was linked to in the game patcher was an absolute thing of beauty for my blog -- hits SOARED to 11k a day -- I can't tell you how awesome it was for the hit counter and traffic around here.)
At the time of posting this message, they are up to over 500 responses on that thread. I don't have time to go through them all, but it's actually a good study in all the hidden doors around the spiral:
And there's a lot of cool suggestions being thrown around as well.
It's a good time.
Me? What does the Friendly Necromancer want? Personally I don't care where they open up as long as they finally put in a two-group raid encounter (at that point it just becomes a discussion of where could you fit an eight person sigil?). I remember talking with a couple of people at GDC Austin (oh, a guy named J Todd Coleman himself if I remember correctly), and it was mentioned that the battle circle was programmed to be able to expand. Yes, all the coding is already in the game to make that circle bigger and add more people to a battle.
Now, there are a ton of other considerations that would go along with implementing something like this . . . grouping / communication / extra art for a larger circle / boss battles tuned for eight people / loot tables / etc. / etc. / etc. (not an all-together easy implementation, but the coding is good, so that's a good jump in the right direction! Right?)
So, let me try to help: yes, I'm thinking Barkingham Palace is the place you want to use. Why? 1) It's already marked on the map. 2) There's plenty of room to accomodate an eight person sigil!
What about a room big enough to accommodate an eight person battle? Easy, use the double wide room from Briskbreeze tower. Boss Battle? Eight wizards vs. One Giant Humongofrog. Why? Because I've heard J. Todd Coleman mention that he'd love to see a battle against a Humongofrog AND it was all the buzz lately with that funny press release.
So, who's with me? Anybody else want to fight a Humongofrog with eight wizards?
Happy Dueling!
Anyway, that Feedback Friday thread is a super dense thread at this point . . . as it should be since it was linked to from the game patcher. (That one time my blog was linked to in the game patcher was an absolute thing of beauty for my blog -- hits SOARED to 11k a day -- I can't tell you how awesome it was for the hit counter and traffic around here.)
At the time of posting this message, they are up to over 500 responses on that thread. I don't have time to go through them all, but it's actually a good study in all the hidden doors around the spiral:
-Barkingham Palace
-Death Door in Haunted Cave
-Fifth island in Krokotopia
-Doors in Nidavellir
-Unruined school doors in DS Acadamy
-lower door in path of scales in Malistaire's Lair
-Elik's Edge
-Crypt in Northgaurd
-Restricted sections of Wizard City Library
-Door behind Lazlo in Plaza of Conquests
-Various unaccessible dojos in Mooshu
-house doors in every land outside of Celestia
-door to the left of Trial of Spheres
-blocked doorway in the Pyramid of the Sun--Alter of kings-
-Crab Alley
-ocean beyond Floating Land
-caved in doorway in Well of Spirits
-etc.
-etc.
-etc.
And there's a lot of cool suggestions being thrown around as well.
It's a good time.
Me? What does the Friendly Necromancer want? Personally I don't care where they open up as long as they finally put in a two-group raid encounter (at that point it just becomes a discussion of where could you fit an eight person sigil?). I remember talking with a couple of people at GDC Austin (oh, a guy named J Todd Coleman himself if I remember correctly), and it was mentioned that the battle circle was programmed to be able to expand. Yes, all the coding is already in the game to make that circle bigger and add more people to a battle.
Now, there are a ton of other considerations that would go along with implementing something like this . . . grouping / communication / extra art for a larger circle / boss battles tuned for eight people / loot tables / etc. / etc. / etc. (not an all-together easy implementation, but the coding is good, so that's a good jump in the right direction! Right?)
So, let me try to help: yes, I'm thinking Barkingham Palace is the place you want to use. Why? 1) It's already marked on the map. 2) There's plenty of room to accomodate an eight person sigil!
What about a room big enough to accommodate an eight person battle? Easy, use the double wide room from Briskbreeze tower. Boss Battle? Eight wizards vs. One Giant Humongofrog. Why? Because I've heard J. Todd Coleman mention that he'd love to see a battle against a Humongofrog AND it was all the buzz lately with that funny press release.
So, who's with me? Anybody else want to fight a Humongofrog with eight wizards?
Happy Dueling!
Saturday, June 19, 2010
Less Talkee, More Playee
The first time I heard someone say, "Less Talkee, More Playee" to me was back when I was playing Everquest. I was in a cool mega-guild called Vanguards of Excellence. I was a pretty heavy contributor to the message boards and did a lot of writing there because, hey, that's kind of what I do. I'm a chatty Kathy, y'all. word.
Anyway, a new expansion hit the game and raised the level cap by ten levels or so, and I was the slow one of the bunch because, well, I did more chatting/posting on the message boards than I did playing because, hey, that's kind of what I do. Again, chatty Kathy. Listen for once would ya? I'm trying to tell you something here. sheesh.
Anyway, one guy in the guild called me out and said, "HEY STING!"
And I'm all, "what?"
And he's all, "Less Talkee, More Playee."
and I'm all, "What?"
And he's all, "Dude, you'd be level 70 right now if you weren't posting on the messageboards all the time. I learned that a long time ago. LOL!"
And I'm all, "LOL!" But really I was thinking, "Dude, 1) that's like asking me to not breathe or something, and 2) who are you? I haven't ever seen you post on the message boards before . . . dot dot dot . . . ."
He had a good point though, and I took a while to stop writing on the messageboards so much and just concentrated on leveling my toon. Level 70 happened, and it was all good again. The raid group embraced me once again and stopped giving me that blank look. Then again, we are talking Everquest here, and we all pretty much had that blank expression regardless.
So, sometimes you've got to just adopt the "Less Talkee, More Playee" attitude and, for the lack of a better phrase, Shut up. OH wait! There is a better phrase than Shut up. It's "less talkee, more playee!"
Anyway, this is one of those times. I'm leveling Myrna and playing the game more than talking about it. (If that's possible.)
Hopefully our accounts will now have the following seven Grandmasters ready to play through the Celestia content when it hits the shelves: Thomas, Bailey, Kyle, Amber, Molly, Myrna, and Iridian. That should be enough.
*zips*
Happy Dueling!
Anyway, a new expansion hit the game and raised the level cap by ten levels or so, and I was the slow one of the bunch because, well, I did more chatting/posting on the message boards than I did playing because, hey, that's kind of what I do. Again, chatty Kathy. Listen for once would ya? I'm trying to tell you something here. sheesh.
Anyway, one guy in the guild called me out and said, "HEY STING!"
And I'm all, "what?"
And he's all, "Less Talkee, More Playee."
and I'm all, "What?"
And he's all, "Dude, you'd be level 70 right now if you weren't posting on the messageboards all the time. I learned that a long time ago. LOL!"
And I'm all, "LOL!" But really I was thinking, "Dude, 1) that's like asking me to not breathe or something, and 2) who are you? I haven't ever seen you post on the message boards before . . . dot dot dot . . . ."
He had a good point though, and I took a while to stop writing on the messageboards so much and just concentrated on leveling my toon. Level 70 happened, and it was all good again. The raid group embraced me once again and stopped giving me that blank look. Then again, we are talking Everquest here, and we all pretty much had that blank expression regardless.
So, sometimes you've got to just adopt the "Less Talkee, More Playee" attitude and, for the lack of a better phrase, Shut up. OH wait! There is a better phrase than Shut up. It's "less talkee, more playee!"
Anyway, this is one of those times. I'm leveling Myrna and playing the game more than talking about it. (If that's possible.)
Hopefully our accounts will now have the following seven Grandmasters ready to play through the Celestia content when it hits the shelves: Thomas, Bailey, Kyle, Amber, Molly, Myrna, and Iridian. That should be enough.
*zips*
Happy Dueling!
Saturday, May 22, 2010
Revisiting the Test Realm Rants
Ok, my last post I talked about some of the new things that KI has done since the most recent update to the Test Realm, and I have to say I'm impressed with how KI has made changes based on what the fans want with this Advanced Pets expansion. Things have changed, and I wanted to go back to what I wrote and see if I could make sense of the changes.
1- Pet Hatchery Complaint 1: Previously I was complaining about an egg I hatched with Bailey that resulted in an unusable fire-school only Helephant that cost 80,000 gold, which basically turned him into a housing item that almost costs as much as the house itself. ouch. Also, I was bummed that the pet hatchery didn't produce any hybrids.
KI's FIX: Kingsisle has now made it so that either your own class-specific pet is returned to you or you will now possibly get a hybrid.
Comment about KI's Fix: I combined Amber's Satyr with Thomas's Wraith last night hoping to get one of the new Life Spectre hybrids. I spent 98,000 gold in this combine. Unfortunately I was returned a Wraith, which I could use, but it's value went down from a 52 of the parents to a 50 for the child for BOTH the satyr and the wraith. shouldn't this number go up if I'm paying 98,000 gold? OR shouldn't I be given the option of receiving a higher value wraith or a life spectre? Where's the improvement there? This is still a very expensive housing item in the end. At that price, there's still too much risk vs. reward. If that would have been around 40,000 or 50,000 gold, I think I could accept that risk more, but almost 100,000 gold, and I get a pet with LESS potential and only a *chance* at a cool hybrid pet? I'm so confused. In the game now, 100,000 gold gets me a land of my own and that's a sure thing. Risk vs. Reward.
2- Pet Energy Complaint: It was taking 12 hours to refill your pet energy (1 every 15 minutes).
KI's FIX: pet energy is now 1 every 10 minutes as requested.
Comment about KI's FIX: None. Good Job. Thanks! Some are still going to bark that the games cost too much from ancient to epic . . . I'm perfectly fine with it.
3- Mini-game complaint 1: I was complaining about the lack of awesomeness ala Dance Dance Revolution. I didn't like the random-based Simon says approach. I didn't like the volume level of the music. I didn't like the orchestra hit sound for the arrows. I wanted WASD support for the controls.
KI's FIX: The volume of the music seems to have come up a bit in the mix. We now have WASD controls.
Comment about KI's Fix: thanks for those fixes! Apparently there will be no DDR Wizard City any time soon. /shrug I can live with that now that I know that the dance game is the fastest game to level my pet. It's nothing more than a grind machine for leveling my pet and the Mooshu dance level will most likely give my pets the most even progression of stats and I'll try to make it up with strength/will food and the gobbler drop game.
3b- Mini-game complaint 2: I wanted a practice shot for the cannon game. I wanted WASD support for the controls.
KI's FIX: first shot now called a practice shot. WASD controls implemented.
Comment about KI's Fix: Apparently I was confused. You always had a practice shot and they didn't call it that. The game used to simply drop off your worst shot out of the four, generally, this was your first shot. Now they're just being more blatant about the practice shot. That's cool, although, I think in this attempt to help, this might have made it worse for the people that were able to score a bulls eye on the first shot. whoops. Also, guys, this is still buggy sometimes. Sometimes I'll hit the target and it'll tell me that I missed badly. It's a rare occurance, but it's happened more than once.
3C- Mini-game complaint 3: I wanted enough time to finish the maze. I wanted more opportunities to gobble ghosts. I wanted the ghosts to change color. I wanted a magic fruit snack to appear in the middle like pac-man.
KI's FIX: More time was added to the clock. There were three clocks added around the maze that add +10 seconds to the clock each.
Comment about KI's FIX: Well, it certainly is easier to get a perfect game now! /shrug I think I liked Google's pac-man better, you could even make google's pac-man two player!
3D- Mini-game complaint 4: I wanted to be able to jump to grab food when I'm under it. I didn't like how the shadows looked. I wanted them to match what was falling.
KI's FIX: Your pet can now jump to get food.
Comment about KI's FIX: cool! I want to jump higher! You know, so I get up there by the gobblers! :-) BOING!
3E- Mini-game complaint 5: I didn't like how the pet derby had lag to the point where I lost control of my ability to jump. I didn't like that the courses were so static, i.e., I wanted the ground cover and jumps to change for each match to make it more unpredictable.
KI's FIX: Lag bug seems to be fixed! Jump pads added to the game to help you see when you need to press jump.
Comment about KI's FIX: Great work! I haven't played this enough to see if there's more randomness interjected into the course, but I think you'll get more people wanting to play the derby now that you've added the new derby reward pets! More rewards = good!
4- Pet Experience Complaint--I didn't like how each pet didn't have its own energy level.
KI's FIX: none. Deal with it Friendly.
Comment about KI's FIX: Come on! Keep the fun going and let me show some love for all my five pages of pets! ;-) I know . . . pipe dream.
4a- pet decorations complaint-- I wanted more blatant controls than emotes that could be pet decoration specific.
KI's FIX: none. Deal with it Friendly. (btw, here's a cool new sound when you put a pet down on the ground in your house!)
Comment about KI's FIX: ok. But MORE controls than just the three I have would be awesome. *dance*, *scold*, *clap* . . . meh. How about salute makes them all stand still? How about bow makes them all jump? MORE! MORE!
5- Pet Assistance in Battle--I didn't like how pets wouldn't become more trained as they fought along side me. I wanted a battle system that would allow for me to choose their attack and reward them with a treat for their actions.
KI's FIX: . . . I have no idea . . . readers? Was any of this addressed? I've never got a cool pet attack trick I don't think, so I've never been able to try it out. I have no idea. /boggle
Comment about KI's FIX: I can't complain if I've never seen it. /shrug
6- Pet Hatchery Business Complaint-- I didn't like that I saw a real-world business opportunity based around the game supplying rare breeds through money transactions.
KI's FIX: Sheep + Sheep = Piggles, yeah, the free kind you get for entering the pet pavilion at level 7. Olivia and I got our piggles together last night and tried it out at the mere cost of 20,000 gold or so. Randomness, extreme risk vs. reward, and lack of ability to transfer unique pet skins now make this a non-issue.
Comment about KI's FIX: Problem solved. /wipes hands clean. I still think you guys need to look at the risk vs. reward aspect of things, but the fact that you can't transfer unique pet looks takes care of the problem. p.s. Sheep + Sheep should = baby friendly necromancer pet . . . jus' sayin'
WHEW! What are you guys thinking of the changes?
Happy Dueling!
1- Pet Hatchery Complaint 1: Previously I was complaining about an egg I hatched with Bailey that resulted in an unusable fire-school only Helephant that cost 80,000 gold, which basically turned him into a housing item that almost costs as much as the house itself. ouch. Also, I was bummed that the pet hatchery didn't produce any hybrids.
KI's FIX: Kingsisle has now made it so that either your own class-specific pet is returned to you or you will now possibly get a hybrid.
Comment about KI's Fix: I combined Amber's Satyr with Thomas's Wraith last night hoping to get one of the new Life Spectre hybrids. I spent 98,000 gold in this combine. Unfortunately I was returned a Wraith, which I could use, but it's value went down from a 52 of the parents to a 50 for the child for BOTH the satyr and the wraith. shouldn't this number go up if I'm paying 98,000 gold? OR shouldn't I be given the option of receiving a higher value wraith or a life spectre? Where's the improvement there? This is still a very expensive housing item in the end. At that price, there's still too much risk vs. reward. If that would have been around 40,000 or 50,000 gold, I think I could accept that risk more, but almost 100,000 gold, and I get a pet with LESS potential and only a *chance* at a cool hybrid pet? I'm so confused. In the game now, 100,000 gold gets me a land of my own and that's a sure thing. Risk vs. Reward.
2- Pet Energy Complaint: It was taking 12 hours to refill your pet energy (1 every 15 minutes).
KI's FIX: pet energy is now 1 every 10 minutes as requested.
Comment about KI's FIX: None. Good Job. Thanks! Some are still going to bark that the games cost too much from ancient to epic . . . I'm perfectly fine with it.
3- Mini-game complaint 1: I was complaining about the lack of awesomeness ala Dance Dance Revolution. I didn't like the random-based Simon says approach. I didn't like the volume level of the music. I didn't like the orchestra hit sound for the arrows. I wanted WASD support for the controls.
KI's FIX: The volume of the music seems to have come up a bit in the mix. We now have WASD controls.
Comment about KI's Fix: thanks for those fixes! Apparently there will be no DDR Wizard City any time soon. /shrug I can live with that now that I know that the dance game is the fastest game to level my pet. It's nothing more than a grind machine for leveling my pet and the Mooshu dance level will most likely give my pets the most even progression of stats and I'll try to make it up with strength/will food and the gobbler drop game.
3b- Mini-game complaint 2: I wanted a practice shot for the cannon game. I wanted WASD support for the controls.
KI's FIX: first shot now called a practice shot. WASD controls implemented.
Comment about KI's Fix: Apparently I was confused. You always had a practice shot and they didn't call it that. The game used to simply drop off your worst shot out of the four, generally, this was your first shot. Now they're just being more blatant about the practice shot. That's cool, although, I think in this attempt to help, this might have made it worse for the people that were able to score a bulls eye on the first shot. whoops. Also, guys, this is still buggy sometimes. Sometimes I'll hit the target and it'll tell me that I missed badly. It's a rare occurance, but it's happened more than once.
3C- Mini-game complaint 3: I wanted enough time to finish the maze. I wanted more opportunities to gobble ghosts. I wanted the ghosts to change color. I wanted a magic fruit snack to appear in the middle like pac-man.
KI's FIX: More time was added to the clock. There were three clocks added around the maze that add +10 seconds to the clock each.
Comment about KI's FIX: Well, it certainly is easier to get a perfect game now! /shrug I think I liked Google's pac-man better, you could even make google's pac-man two player!
3D- Mini-game complaint 4: I wanted to be able to jump to grab food when I'm under it. I didn't like how the shadows looked. I wanted them to match what was falling.
KI's FIX: Your pet can now jump to get food.
Comment about KI's FIX: cool! I want to jump higher! You know, so I get up there by the gobblers! :-) BOING!
3E- Mini-game complaint 5: I didn't like how the pet derby had lag to the point where I lost control of my ability to jump. I didn't like that the courses were so static, i.e., I wanted the ground cover and jumps to change for each match to make it more unpredictable.
KI's FIX: Lag bug seems to be fixed! Jump pads added to the game to help you see when you need to press jump.
Comment about KI's FIX: Great work! I haven't played this enough to see if there's more randomness interjected into the course, but I think you'll get more people wanting to play the derby now that you've added the new derby reward pets! More rewards = good!
4- Pet Experience Complaint--I didn't like how each pet didn't have its own energy level.
KI's FIX: none. Deal with it Friendly.
Comment about KI's FIX: Come on! Keep the fun going and let me show some love for all my five pages of pets! ;-) I know . . . pipe dream.
4a- pet decorations complaint-- I wanted more blatant controls than emotes that could be pet decoration specific.
KI's FIX: none. Deal with it Friendly. (btw, here's a cool new sound when you put a pet down on the ground in your house!)
Comment about KI's FIX: ok. But MORE controls than just the three I have would be awesome. *dance*, *scold*, *clap* . . . meh. How about salute makes them all stand still? How about bow makes them all jump? MORE! MORE!
5- Pet Assistance in Battle--I didn't like how pets wouldn't become more trained as they fought along side me. I wanted a battle system that would allow for me to choose their attack and reward them with a treat for their actions.
KI's FIX: . . . I have no idea . . . readers? Was any of this addressed? I've never got a cool pet attack trick I don't think, so I've never been able to try it out. I have no idea. /boggle
Comment about KI's FIX: I can't complain if I've never seen it. /shrug
6- Pet Hatchery Business Complaint-- I didn't like that I saw a real-world business opportunity based around the game supplying rare breeds through money transactions.
KI's FIX: Sheep + Sheep = Piggles, yeah, the free kind you get for entering the pet pavilion at level 7. Olivia and I got our piggles together last night and tried it out at the mere cost of 20,000 gold or so. Randomness, extreme risk vs. reward, and lack of ability to transfer unique pet skins now make this a non-issue.
Comment about KI's FIX: Problem solved. /wipes hands clean. I still think you guys need to look at the risk vs. reward aspect of things, but the fact that you can't transfer unique pet looks takes care of the problem. p.s. Sheep + Sheep should = baby friendly necromancer pet . . . jus' sayin'
WHEW! What are you guys thinking of the changes?
Happy Dueling!
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Playing Good Necro/Bad Necro with Autumn
Ahem.
It appears our Autumn Duskhunter would like to play good cop, bad cop with the Friendly Necromancer, as evidenced by this post.
. . .
I can play that!
For the good necro will contact Kingsisle directly and ask them why there was a rollback on our characters. SO, Here’s your answer from Professor Greyrose:
“We needed to see the advanced pets system run through the test again with a clean slate of players and pets. Some of the pets that people leveled up were not manifesting properly and we’ve investigated and tweaked a few things, and we need to see how those same players and pets manifest after our changes. We will continue to make adjustments on the Test Realm based on our observations and player feedback.”
So it had to do with the manifestation of pet powers upon leveling. To me it sounds like they are working with a specific set of testers and are requesting that their testers level their pets again to see if it’s different this time around, which it should be. You could never ask people to do that again in a live realm, thus, it makes perfect sense to roll back the test realm.
As for Autumn's other concerns about people buying houses, begging for crowns, and questing on the test realm, perhaps we do need to look at those from another angle.
The Test Realm is a great way to practice and gather knowledge in advance to the patch being released to the real realm. When the housing patch came out, people practiced on the test realm how they were going to make their houses in the real realm. In truth, many of these kids will never have the crowns to buy one of the elite houses, so for them, it's play time, and if they ever do get the crowns, they'll be prepared for what they want to do. I'm a fan of the "try before you buy" mentality.
If someone is begging for crowns, then really they just don't understand how the test realm works and probably need some education. If anything I'd be begging for my friends to gift me gold with their crowns so I could try out more combinations with breeding pets, and i'd only do that after burning through 250,000 crowns while exchanging that for gold. In the end, that would be a lot of testing for Kingsisle, and hopefully this person is sharing what they learn along the way. If you're not going to do it yourself, maybe someone else will be. Any testers need gold gifting on the test realm? Why don't we hear that more often?
Questing in the test realm is a little weird, but at the same time it's still helpful to the community. Without people messing around with bosses and questing, would we know all of these fine pets that have been hidden around the spiral? The fact that those new pets have been placed into loot tables around the spiral is one of the coolest updates yet for this expansion. This information really gives us a good head start. This also leads to things like discovering that some of the level 48 spells now have a faster or different casting animation. So quest away my friends! You'll be helping the community by telling us what you discover from your adventures!
/eyes Autumn.
How’d I do? LOL!
Happy Dueling!
It appears our Autumn Duskhunter would like to play good cop, bad cop with the Friendly Necromancer, as evidenced by this post.
. . .
I can play that!
For the good necro will contact Kingsisle directly and ask them why there was a rollback on our characters. SO, Here’s your answer from Professor Greyrose:
“We needed to see the advanced pets system run through the test again with a clean slate of players and pets. Some of the pets that people leveled up were not manifesting properly and we’ve investigated and tweaked a few things, and we need to see how those same players and pets manifest after our changes. We will continue to make adjustments on the Test Realm based on our observations and player feedback.”
So it had to do with the manifestation of pet powers upon leveling. To me it sounds like they are working with a specific set of testers and are requesting that their testers level their pets again to see if it’s different this time around, which it should be. You could never ask people to do that again in a live realm, thus, it makes perfect sense to roll back the test realm.
As for Autumn's other concerns about people buying houses, begging for crowns, and questing on the test realm, perhaps we do need to look at those from another angle.
The Test Realm is a great way to practice and gather knowledge in advance to the patch being released to the real realm. When the housing patch came out, people practiced on the test realm how they were going to make their houses in the real realm. In truth, many of these kids will never have the crowns to buy one of the elite houses, so for them, it's play time, and if they ever do get the crowns, they'll be prepared for what they want to do. I'm a fan of the "try before you buy" mentality.
If someone is begging for crowns, then really they just don't understand how the test realm works and probably need some education. If anything I'd be begging for my friends to gift me gold with their crowns so I could try out more combinations with breeding pets, and i'd only do that after burning through 250,000 crowns while exchanging that for gold. In the end, that would be a lot of testing for Kingsisle, and hopefully this person is sharing what they learn along the way. If you're not going to do it yourself, maybe someone else will be. Any testers need gold gifting on the test realm? Why don't we hear that more often?
Questing in the test realm is a little weird, but at the same time it's still helpful to the community. Without people messing around with bosses and questing, would we know all of these fine pets that have been hidden around the spiral? The fact that those new pets have been placed into loot tables around the spiral is one of the coolest updates yet for this expansion. This information really gives us a good head start. This also leads to things like discovering that some of the level 48 spells now have a faster or different casting animation. So quest away my friends! You'll be helping the community by telling us what you discover from your adventures!
/eyes Autumn.
How’d I do? LOL!
Happy Dueling!
Monday, May 3, 2010
The Scariest Part of The New Expansion
Sigh. I have one more issue. Yup, just one more thing about the new pet expansion, and this one is a doozy unfortunately, and it may explain why the costs for the pet hatchery are so high and the risk of not getting the right pet is 50/50. The pet hatchery is the first instance where I've seen the opportunity for a business (outside of powerleveling) to be formed around Wizard101.
Imagine coming to a webstore front and there you see a message saying $20.00 buys you an egg with your choice of abilities. That's right, a virtual breeding service for Wizard101. For instance, I've been predicting that if the sheep pet isn't in the game now, it should be. Otherwise, the moment Kyle logs in and shows off his sheep, then I will get a barrage of tells asking me to breed baby baxter with their pet.
*dollar signs flash before eyes*
Disclaimer: This is a metaphor, not an actual proposal:
YOU WANT A RARE PET? $100 buys you a SHEEP! I'll even farm up the money for you (since I have to farm it up for myself and all too). Just give me your account username and password and in a couple of days you'll have your sheep.
Two things wrong with that statement: 1) it's against the rules. 2) I would never do that. . . . but someone might just try something like that on somewhere like ebay. You know, recoup their costs for a subscription . . . make a little extra on the side for kicks?
This is the first time where an actual gosh darn business could be made from the game. To me this also explains why they're taking away the ability to trade crafted treasure cards from tough and keen eyes . . . because you thought "cards for codes" or "cards for wings" was bad, "cards for hatching" would be even worse.
But while defeating one monster, perhaps another has been created. Picking and choosing your pet's powers through a breeding service could really mess with our game. When the kids with the cool pets have had their fun and they're ready to retire from the game, they'll sell their inventions so that everyone can have a super pet . . . and when every pet is a super pet, there are no super pets.
It could be bad. very bad. It could be very bad for fansites as well because fansites would probably be where they spam their webstore addresses and advertise their businesses. It may seem a bit slippery slope, but I thought I'd throw that out there since it's been bugging me. Actually, I'd like to be wrong on this one. In fact, please let me know if and why I might just be nothing more than a doomsayer on this one.
Happy Dueling!
Imagine coming to a webstore front and there you see a message saying $20.00 buys you an egg with your choice of abilities. That's right, a virtual breeding service for Wizard101. For instance, I've been predicting that if the sheep pet isn't in the game now, it should be. Otherwise, the moment Kyle logs in and shows off his sheep, then I will get a barrage of tells asking me to breed baby baxter with their pet.
*dollar signs flash before eyes*
Disclaimer: This is a metaphor, not an actual proposal:
YOU WANT A RARE PET? $100 buys you a SHEEP! I'll even farm up the money for you (since I have to farm it up for myself and all too). Just give me your account username and password and in a couple of days you'll have your sheep.
Two things wrong with that statement: 1) it's against the rules. 2) I would never do that. . . . but someone might just try something like that on somewhere like ebay. You know, recoup their costs for a subscription . . . make a little extra on the side for kicks?
This is the first time where an actual gosh darn business could be made from the game. To me this also explains why they're taking away the ability to trade crafted treasure cards from tough and keen eyes . . . because you thought "cards for codes" or "cards for wings" was bad, "cards for hatching" would be even worse.
But while defeating one monster, perhaps another has been created. Picking and choosing your pet's powers through a breeding service could really mess with our game. When the kids with the cool pets have had their fun and they're ready to retire from the game, they'll sell their inventions so that everyone can have a super pet . . . and when every pet is a super pet, there are no super pets.
It could be bad. very bad. It could be very bad for fansites as well because fansites would probably be where they spam their webstore addresses and advertise their businesses. It may seem a bit slippery slope, but I thought I'd throw that out there since it's been bugging me. Actually, I'd like to be wrong on this one. In fact, please let me know if and why I might just be nothing more than a doomsayer on this one.
Happy Dueling!
Sunday, May 2, 2010
Et tu, Brute?
I come to bury KI, not to praise them! ok, perhaps that's a bit too dramatic, but this post's purpose is not to look at the silver lining like I usually do here. This post's purpose is to look at what could be improved and at the same time help me understand why I'm coming away from this advanced pet expansion feeling . . . unsatisfied?
I, like most of you, have now played through a few days of the new advanced pets expansion to Wizard101. I, again like most of you, found a lot of fun in the new features like I was a kid at Christmas time opening a brand new present. what I found there was shiny and new! But after the glow of Christmas is gone, we start to kind of see the flaws in a toy, and unfortunately, it if isn't our favorite, we tend to ignore it and it eventually ends up in the basement.
For us, however, it may not be too late since we're still on the test realm, and if there are enough voices raised, then there will be more chance for change. So, if you see some issues with the test realm, now is probably the time to talk about it. Here's my jeremiad:
1- Pet Hatchery--my egg hatched! It's a fire-school only Helephant pet that I spent 80,000 on. I can't equip him, so I can't build him up or anything. In my hands he's an eternal baby. I don't have a fire school alt on this account, so . . .
80,000 gold to me roughly equates to around 8 hours of farming ravens. That's a lot of work. Something isn't right with this system. You might think if I had been able to equip my helephant pet, that you wouldn't be reading this right now, but you're wrong. If the pet had turned out to be an unusable death-school Wraith for Bailey, then you'd be hearing the exact same rant, because she'd be out 80,000 gold. Something isn't right with this system. That's too much risk.
Also, I thought perhaps that some pets would combine to create hybrids. I haven't really seen that yet. Combining pets now just means that you'll both get one of the pets back with more potential built into them. (How is that fair for both people if they're using class specific pets?) I kind of thought maybe just maybe out of 50 pets combining with 50 pets there would be a few instances where you would get a hybrid. I hope that happens occasionally, but I've yet to hear about that happening.
2- Pet Energy--As it is now, At Grandmaster you get to play 6 games twice a day (it takes 12 hours to refill your pet energy and you get less energy if you're a lower level) without spending 50 cents real money to play more (the real cost of pet energy being refilled). I feel that we should ALL get to play 6 games three times a day (in other words, lower the regeneration of pet energy to 1 every 10 minutes instead of 15 minutes and account for the time people are asleep). People will want to play the game before school/work, after school/work, and before bed time . . . AND, if not that, then please consider having each pet maintain their own pet energy rather than have it be "my own" energy.
3- Mini-games and the derby. I kind of feel like there's a couple things that could be improved with these games.
3A- The dance game: man this feels less than stellar. With all the wild popularity of Dance Dance Revolution, why wouldn't you take the scrolling arrow approach with this game? And if not the scrolling arrow, why wouldn't you take the ever-growing pattern-based Simon says approach rather than the random-based Simon says approach? Both of those are much more fun applications of the dance game. A dance game should be fun, and a HUGE part of the fun with dancing is the music, which sounds GREAT. It's just that it's buried so far in the background I can hardly hear it and the sounds of the arrows clash with the sounds of the music. There's so much potential for coolness here, why is it not implemented better? Also, please let us use WASD for controls as well as arrows.
3B- The cannon game: We need a practice shot to get our bearings please. After a practice shot, it becomes much much more clear where you need to point the cannon. Also, please let us use WASD as well as arrows to aim.
3C- The maze game: If you're going to give me a time limit, then I need a reasonable amount of time to finish the maze. If you're going to make it like pac-man, then please make it like pac-man: more opportunities to gobble ghosts, they should change color when I grab a blue star, they should be worth more than dots (or cake slices as the case may be), there should be a magic pet snack fruit appear near the tree in the center that gives a bonus stat increase. I want to see video of someone actually finishing this maze in the time that's allotted. I want to know it can be done.
3D- The dropping food game: I should be able to jump to grab food I'm under. It would really help the fun of this game. Much like the dance game, i don't end up watching much of the colorful graphics, I'm concentrating on the shadows on the ground, which don't really match up well with what I'm catching btw. (shouldn't a chicken leg shadow look like a chicken leg shadow?)
3E- Pet Derby--I like the pet derby. I'm a Sergent, but what I've found is that this mini-game really feels more like "battle of the ping rates." Besides being completely dropped from races, there's times when I seem to just run the course and lose control of what I'm doing because of extreme lag. I basically lose control of the ability to jump for the entire course because of lag. It usually ends up with me completely destroying the other racer because they have horrible lag, or I am completely destroyed because they're Sigbritt Lothberg or something. Also, I'm not too impressed that the courses are so static. They should be random; otherwise, I just need to memorize 9 tracks. It's like they got the dancing game and the pet derby backwards. The dancing game should be on a static track and the pet derby should be more random (e.g., change ground cover textures between each match randomly and make star placement more random too).
4- Pet Experience--To raise a pet from baby to Epic, you're going to spend about a month of dedicated pet grinding I would guess. I have no problem with this really . . . it's just that I have 5 pages of pets. That means most of them are pretty much just house decorations (especially since each pet doesn't have their own energy level).
4a- pet decorations (since I'm talking about them)--I know that if I *dance*, then my pets will start dancing around me randomly, but would it be too much to ask for some additional controls to command pets to dance, or stop dancing, or come to me, or go away from me, stay in place, guard here, etc. I'm sure there's a number of controls that could be given that would help increase the fun with pets in housing. (LOVE that my pets can be in my house, just, once again, could be implemented better.)
5- Pet Assistance in Battle--I've actually yet to see my wraith step into battle and do something cool. My son's ice cat attacked on Unicorn Way, but that's the only time I've seen it happen. Wouldn't it make more sense that as you leveled your pet, they would become more trained? I think when a pet is a baby or a teen, they should be more apt to randomly attack, but when they are an adult they start asking you if they can attack? For instance if I'm in the battle circle, then wouldn't it be more awesome if my pet would suddenly get a button over his head asking if he could assist? By the time my pet is epic, this should evolve from a button to a subset of 2 or 3 cards where I can pick and choose what my extremely well-trained pet does in battle for the cost of its favorite snack? In real-life well trained pets respond to my commands and are instantly rewarded. Like this fella:
HOURS of training and rewards have made this dog do things on command . . . to the point you are creating art through your animal. In Wizard101, dueling is an art.
I hope this helps. I hope I haven't just "ranted." I hope I've given some constructive criticism that helps. I don't just want to kill Ceaser. That's not my purpose here. My purpose is to try and rid myself of that feeling I mentioned earlier: feeling unsatisfied.
Happy Dueling!
Monday, April 19, 2010
Playing a "kids game" is awesome!
I've had a few comments lately that Wizard101 is a "kids game." I even got an e-mail that said this
"Friendly, I have this friend who says he is quitting wizard101. He says people tease him because its a 'kids game.'"
Go ahead, look all the way back at my first post I ever made about this game.
"Hi! My name is Thomas Lionblood! I call myself the friendly necromancer and this is my blog about a brand new family-oriented MMORPG called Wizard101."
Wizard101 is a "family-oriented" game, not a kids game, but even at that, I wouldn't care if it was a kids game or not.
Here's the truth of the matter, Kingsisle started creating this game and then the people that worked there started realizing that this game was a game they would like to play themselves. They realized that with this game long-distance relatives could play with their grandkids. They realized that families who were separated by great distances, could still play together. TADA! The family that slays together, stays together. A tremendous amount of good has been done in the world of MMOs because of this game. We class the joint up!
Listen. Why have I written about this game so much and put so much time into talking about this game? It's because I know that out of the trash heap of MMOs out there, this one actually cares about my family. I've played countless games in my life. Countless. But I've NEVER written more about ANY game than this one. Why?
Sigh.
I used to be a big time hardcore raider in other games. They expect you to put in a certain number of hours a week to even stay with the guild. The game mechanics are like manning a console in a big submarine where the stakes are not really that high unless I leave my console. I've had moments where I've had to make a judgement call between saving a raid and addressing a question with my child. Do I want to do that? With Wizard101 I get 30 seconds to a minute or so between each judgement call. It's perfect. I can click and turn to my child. I can talk to them. I can help them. I can even get out of my chair, walk over, grab some milk, click another card, walk down the hallway, hand the milk to a child, come back, click a card, clean up a spill, click a card, continue cleaning up a spill, win the fight, run to a sidewalk, finish what I'm doing and I've been dad while being "Thomas Lionblood."
At the same time, when I'm all alone, I can load up three accounts and do a briskbreeze run by myself and play it as hardcore as I want.
Will people make fun of you for playing this game. yes. This is me not caring: -_- . . . A few of my coworkers in the "world of warcraft" crew love to poke fun at me. That's why when I talked to J Todd Coleman on the phone for an hour, I loved shoving it down their throats. "Guess what, I just talked on the phone with the dude who made Shadowbane, yeah that little game you guys used to play in . . ." Let me tell you how fast they did a 180 about me playing Wizard101. BAM!
I wish I could say that Wizard101 will keep your attention forever and be the last game you'll ever play, but I'd be lying to you, and you'd be lying to yourself. Everyone will quit at some point. Even the Friendly Necromancer. I can't blog about this game forever, but for now . . . TADA! HERE I AM!
If someone makes fun of you for playing this game, it's because they like playing something that feels and looks more "extreme" and keeps their hands and minds constantly busy. You know, the Halo crowd will never get it. This game is an entirely different experience, and there's a good chance they may feel like a complete woosie and be instantly bored. For us, we click a card and we socialize with our friends as we head toward a common goal. We help others do the same. We have fun exploring our world without feeling like we're being hunted with a gun. We are awesome avatars with hundreds of clothing choices with a deadly deck of cards in our hands. This world is both dangerous and light and airy at the same time. There's a lot of layers to the experience.
From the outside looking in, the graphics (outside of Dragonspyre and Grizzleheim) make this look like a kids game, and it started out being that way, but it ended up being much much more. From the inside looking out, this is a new world that most people will never understand unless they try it and allow themselves to "suspend their disbelief." Their game will always be cooler and more extreme and more awesome whatever it is . . . and you should try it, because you may like it. But I'm telling you, you should never forget how awesome Wizard101 made you feel inside when you played it. When you leave it, you should be happy about the time you spent here.
Right?
OK, final thought of this long rant: There's more to this life than what game you play. People may make fun of the game you play, but they can't touch what makes you awesome inside.
Happy Dueling!
"Friendly, I have this friend who says he is quitting wizard101. He says people tease him because its a 'kids game.'"
Go ahead, look all the way back at my first post I ever made about this game.
"Hi! My name is Thomas Lionblood! I call myself the friendly necromancer and this is my blog about a brand new family-oriented MMORPG called Wizard101."
Wizard101 is a "family-oriented" game, not a kids game, but even at that, I wouldn't care if it was a kids game or not.
Here's the truth of the matter, Kingsisle started creating this game and then the people that worked there started realizing that this game was a game they would like to play themselves. They realized that with this game long-distance relatives could play with their grandkids. They realized that families who were separated by great distances, could still play together. TADA! The family that slays together, stays together. A tremendous amount of good has been done in the world of MMOs because of this game. We class the joint up!
Listen. Why have I written about this game so much and put so much time into talking about this game? It's because I know that out of the trash heap of MMOs out there, this one actually cares about my family. I've played countless games in my life. Countless. But I've NEVER written more about ANY game than this one. Why?
Sigh.
I used to be a big time hardcore raider in other games. They expect you to put in a certain number of hours a week to even stay with the guild. The game mechanics are like manning a console in a big submarine where the stakes are not really that high unless I leave my console. I've had moments where I've had to make a judgement call between saving a raid and addressing a question with my child. Do I want to do that? With Wizard101 I get 30 seconds to a minute or so between each judgement call. It's perfect. I can click and turn to my child. I can talk to them. I can help them. I can even get out of my chair, walk over, grab some milk, click another card, walk down the hallway, hand the milk to a child, come back, click a card, clean up a spill, click a card, continue cleaning up a spill, win the fight, run to a sidewalk, finish what I'm doing and I've been dad while being "Thomas Lionblood."
At the same time, when I'm all alone, I can load up three accounts and do a briskbreeze run by myself and play it as hardcore as I want.
Will people make fun of you for playing this game. yes. This is me not caring: -_- . . . A few of my coworkers in the "world of warcraft" crew love to poke fun at me. That's why when I talked to J Todd Coleman on the phone for an hour, I loved shoving it down their throats. "Guess what, I just talked on the phone with the dude who made Shadowbane, yeah that little game you guys used to play in . . ." Let me tell you how fast they did a 180 about me playing Wizard101. BAM!
I wish I could say that Wizard101 will keep your attention forever and be the last game you'll ever play, but I'd be lying to you, and you'd be lying to yourself. Everyone will quit at some point. Even the Friendly Necromancer. I can't blog about this game forever, but for now . . . TADA! HERE I AM!
If someone makes fun of you for playing this game, it's because they like playing something that feels and looks more "extreme" and keeps their hands and minds constantly busy. You know, the Halo crowd will never get it. This game is an entirely different experience, and there's a good chance they may feel like a complete woosie and be instantly bored. For us, we click a card and we socialize with our friends as we head toward a common goal. We help others do the same. We have fun exploring our world without feeling like we're being hunted with a gun. We are awesome avatars with hundreds of clothing choices with a deadly deck of cards in our hands. This world is both dangerous and light and airy at the same time. There's a lot of layers to the experience.
From the outside looking in, the graphics (outside of Dragonspyre and Grizzleheim) make this look like a kids game, and it started out being that way, but it ended up being much much more. From the inside looking out, this is a new world that most people will never understand unless they try it and allow themselves to "suspend their disbelief." Their game will always be cooler and more extreme and more awesome whatever it is . . . and you should try it, because you may like it. But I'm telling you, you should never forget how awesome Wizard101 made you feel inside when you played it. When you leave it, you should be happy about the time you spent here.
Right?
OK, final thought of this long rant: There's more to this life than what game you play. People may make fun of the game you play, but they can't touch what makes you awesome inside.
Happy Dueling!
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Complexity -- Getting Nearer to the Root of the Problem
So, I really don't think it takes any rocket science to understand that the pathways in Wizard101 are very straightforward . . . and this is probably a good thing in the end, but I must admit that there are moments when it feels too straight. There are moments when I wish the complexity was just a tad bit more.
There was a time when the game didn't have that little yellow arrow on the bottom that guided you through. The moment that little yellow helper friend hit the game, was the moment the game became a ton easier and a ton less about exploration . . . and that's completely ok with a lot of the playerbase. And truth be known, if I'm given a choice between arrow or no arrow, I'm going to choose arrow. Haha! If given the choice of being hand-fed grapes while reclining on a chair or plucking them off the vine myself, I'd probably choose being hand-fed grapes.
BUT, truth be known, I don't think this game was originally built with the quest arrow in mind. It wasn't there at the release of the game and it wasn't even there at the release of Dragonspyre. Our original world wasn't meant to be completed with a quest arrow. I feel that in a game like this, there should be moments where you think to yourself, I'm LOST! And then overcoming that challenge is where the reward is.
How do you overcome the challenge of being lost? Some people run to fansites like this searching for the answers. Some people turn to their friends list. Some people try to understand it themselves and get back on track. Any way you overcome it is perfectly great by me, but to really be immersed in something, I would argue that there need to be challenges that simulate real life. Real life is not a straight path. In real life we don't have a yellow arrow leading us to success.
So with that, I now present a couple graphics I created a few months ago and never published.
1- The root of the problem as illustrated by Dragonspyre:
2- How Dragonspyre should have looked:
Why would I say that? DRAGONSPYRE IS THE FINAL CHALLENGE OF THE ORIGINAL GAME! I'm saying "original game" in this case because as we know, Wizard101 is going to probably continue inheriting new layers to it over the next few years. Many new stories and sub-plots will continue to be added to the game, and we know that Malistaire will probably make a return to the game somehow, but Dragonspyre will always be that original final world. End game.
"End game" should be the ultimate challenge in any game. Dragonspyre should have had more complexity to it. There should have been times when I was journeying on multiple paths trying to unlock one or two final zones. Getting to Dragonspyre academy should have been more complex. In essence it should have been a "keyed" zone where I needed to find world keys that lay before me in many (or at least a few) different directions. Being stuck and lost would have
1- Led to more of a sense of accomplishment when you became unstuck and found your way.
2- Increased the need to rely on your friends to help you.
3- Increased dependence on fansites.
4- Increased brainpower! Brainpower is GOOD! THINKING IS AWESOME!
UNFORTUNATELY, you know that we would have also heard a lot of whining. Just like in real life when your kids say, "feed me grapes, daddy," and I say, ". . . go get them yourself," there's a lot of whining. No one likes whining . . . unless it's a rewarding occupation.
Now there is a point when the complexity is just ridiculous . . . example, in Everquest (sorry I always go to Everquest for examples) there was an "end game" zone that required you to collect fragments from nine different worlds (taking up nine different slots in your bank and backpack), take a raid group in to fight mini-bosses throughout the world to get 1 important piece of the puzzle, then do a two-group instance to get another key component, and finally complete a full 72 person raid to get the final key to open up the end zone in the game. Anyone that ever completed the "Vex Thal key" in Everquest within the first few years of its release would tell you that it was one of the most grueling experience in an MMO they've ever undertaken. That amount of complexity is WAAAAAYY too much for Wizard101. I would never in a million years suggest that kind of insanity for Wizard101. NEVER EVER NEVER.
But, is it too much to ask for a little more complexity in world layout and construction?
do they all have to look like this?
It's too formulaic at this point. Even Grizzleheim is too formulaic and that was a good scratch at attempting some additional complexity. The boss fights in "end game" Grizzleheim are much more complex than Dragonspyre.
End of the day though, you can't go back and change the way things went down and the way things are in the game. They would never ever never redesign Dragonspyre. It's done. It's completed product. It's out the door.
But there are hopes for the future, right? What do you think? Do you think Celestia and the worlds beyond should keep to the three zones beyond three zones, step by step by step quest progression leading you through to the end, or do you think these worlds should bring more complexity and more challenges? Do you think there should be more quests in Celestia where the quest arrow is completely disabled?
From my point of view, hands down, if they don't add some new degree of complexity to the world, the heavily grandmaster playerbase is going to finish this thing in a few days and be bored again.
Happy Dueling!
There was a time when the game didn't have that little yellow arrow on the bottom that guided you through. The moment that little yellow helper friend hit the game, was the moment the game became a ton easier and a ton less about exploration . . . and that's completely ok with a lot of the playerbase. And truth be known, if I'm given a choice between arrow or no arrow, I'm going to choose arrow. Haha! If given the choice of being hand-fed grapes while reclining on a chair or plucking them off the vine myself, I'd probably choose being hand-fed grapes.
BUT, truth be known, I don't think this game was originally built with the quest arrow in mind. It wasn't there at the release of the game and it wasn't even there at the release of Dragonspyre. Our original world wasn't meant to be completed with a quest arrow. I feel that in a game like this, there should be moments where you think to yourself, I'm LOST! And then overcoming that challenge is where the reward is.
How do you overcome the challenge of being lost? Some people run to fansites like this searching for the answers. Some people turn to their friends list. Some people try to understand it themselves and get back on track. Any way you overcome it is perfectly great by me, but to really be immersed in something, I would argue that there need to be challenges that simulate real life. Real life is not a straight path. In real life we don't have a yellow arrow leading us to success.
So with that, I now present a couple graphics I created a few months ago and never published.
1- The root of the problem as illustrated by Dragonspyre:
2- How Dragonspyre should have looked:
Why would I say that? DRAGONSPYRE IS THE FINAL CHALLENGE OF THE ORIGINAL GAME! I'm saying "original game" in this case because as we know, Wizard101 is going to probably continue inheriting new layers to it over the next few years. Many new stories and sub-plots will continue to be added to the game, and we know that Malistaire will probably make a return to the game somehow, but Dragonspyre will always be that original final world. End game.
"End game" should be the ultimate challenge in any game. Dragonspyre should have had more complexity to it. There should have been times when I was journeying on multiple paths trying to unlock one or two final zones. Getting to Dragonspyre academy should have been more complex. In essence it should have been a "keyed" zone where I needed to find world keys that lay before me in many (or at least a few) different directions. Being stuck and lost would have
1- Led to more of a sense of accomplishment when you became unstuck and found your way.
2- Increased the need to rely on your friends to help you.
3- Increased dependence on fansites.
4- Increased brainpower! Brainpower is GOOD! THINKING IS AWESOME!
UNFORTUNATELY, you know that we would have also heard a lot of whining. Just like in real life when your kids say, "feed me grapes, daddy," and I say, ". . . go get them yourself," there's a lot of whining. No one likes whining . . . unless it's a rewarding occupation.
Now there is a point when the complexity is just ridiculous . . . example, in Everquest (sorry I always go to Everquest for examples) there was an "end game" zone that required you to collect fragments from nine different worlds (taking up nine different slots in your bank and backpack), take a raid group in to fight mini-bosses throughout the world to get 1 important piece of the puzzle, then do a two-group instance to get another key component, and finally complete a full 72 person raid to get the final key to open up the end zone in the game. Anyone that ever completed the "Vex Thal key" in Everquest within the first few years of its release would tell you that it was one of the most grueling experience in an MMO they've ever undertaken. That amount of complexity is WAAAAAYY too much for Wizard101. I would never in a million years suggest that kind of insanity for Wizard101. NEVER EVER NEVER.
But, is it too much to ask for a little more complexity in world layout and construction?
do they all have to look like this?
It's too formulaic at this point. Even Grizzleheim is too formulaic and that was a good scratch at attempting some additional complexity. The boss fights in "end game" Grizzleheim are much more complex than Dragonspyre.
End of the day though, you can't go back and change the way things went down and the way things are in the game. They would never ever never redesign Dragonspyre. It's done. It's completed product. It's out the door.
But there are hopes for the future, right? What do you think? Do you think Celestia and the worlds beyond should keep to the three zones beyond three zones, step by step by step quest progression leading you through to the end, or do you think these worlds should bring more complexity and more challenges? Do you think there should be more quests in Celestia where the quest arrow is completely disabled?
From my point of view, hands down, if they don't add some new degree of complexity to the world, the heavily grandmaster playerbase is going to finish this thing in a few days and be bored again.
Happy Dueling!
Friday, April 2, 2010
The Art of the Dance and The Art of the Rant
The "Wizard Wiggle" as Leesha from Ravenwood Radio calls it, is our basic dance in Wizard101. That's all there is for the /dance emote. We also have a /clap emote where you do a little dance as well while clapping your hands.
Last year I made a little dance video down in Katzenstein's Lab featuring our dance moves. Check it out:
These are ok, and I had fun making that, yet in game I'm always left wanting more. I guess it's because of the other MMO games I've played where the dances are so awesome. In other MMO's each class or race usually has it's own specific dance.
Look at the amazing work that went into all these guild wars dances. It's actually awe inspiring how many cool dances there are here.
Next up is World of Warcraft, this one comes complete with source material thrown in:
And then there's Lord of the Rings . . . now these aren't really astounding or anything, but the thing to see here is that a character can learn different dances, no matter how slightly different they are:
And here we have the new game I've been dabbling in here, Fiesta. So uh, fast forward through 1:00 to about 1:10 unless you want to /blush.
The deal with Fiesta is that you can purchase new dance moves for your character through their store. You get a default dance move, and then for some money you can buy a few others; there are varieties available to you.
It wouldn't be a discussion of MMO dancing if we didn't throw the Grand daddy of them all in there . . . EQ . . .
UH, yeah . . I'm thinking this video is trying to showcase EVERYTHING ELSE in the game besides dancing . . . you'll notice the dancing sucks. Yeah . . . not fun, but EQ never was about the dancing, and that is so MOSTLY because I don't think they understood the behemoth of community. If they would have grasped that (and how could they? Ultima and EQ were pretty much the first on the block) I think they would have thrown in more /dance.
I'm sure there are plenty more examples out there, and the purpose of this list isn't to be an exhaustive examination. All I really want to say is . . . please, KI, this game does actually have a pretty deep community component to it. It's not always about playing the card game. All the modern MMOs try to inject this kind of fun into their game: we are not EQ or Ultima.
Don't you think it's about time that you gave us all some free content that DIDN'T cost crowns or gold or anything? Don't you feel like you could give the community a few more fun things that we didn't have to pay for?
And on a separate yet equally important community note: I've thought this game needed some party enhancers since the beginning . . . even Toon Town has parties with special activities you can do (be sure to check the dance party game at 3:00 minutes or so in while you're at it)
TOON TOWN! COME ON!
I think a death wizard should dance differently than an ice wizard. I think the boys should dance differently than the girls. I think we need FUN ENHANCERS for the community! Even if you decide to go the crown route like Fiesta where we buy new dances . . . at least we'd have more options and at least we'd have more community type of fun available to us.
So, who would love to see some more fun and (relatively free) community enhancers? Weigh in readers! I think you've heard me rant about stuff like this one time or another.
Now, KI, if you're reading, forget everything I just said and please finish Celestia . . . LOL . . . I'll forward this post to you all after the summer is over. :-)
Happy Dueling.
Last year I made a little dance video down in Katzenstein's Lab featuring our dance moves. Check it out:
These are ok, and I had fun making that, yet in game I'm always left wanting more. I guess it's because of the other MMO games I've played where the dances are so awesome. In other MMO's each class or race usually has it's own specific dance.
Look at the amazing work that went into all these guild wars dances. It's actually awe inspiring how many cool dances there are here.
Next up is World of Warcraft, this one comes complete with source material thrown in:
And then there's Lord of the Rings . . . now these aren't really astounding or anything, but the thing to see here is that a character can learn different dances, no matter how slightly different they are:
And here we have the new game I've been dabbling in here, Fiesta. So uh, fast forward through 1:00 to about 1:10 unless you want to /blush.
The deal with Fiesta is that you can purchase new dance moves for your character through their store. You get a default dance move, and then for some money you can buy a few others; there are varieties available to you.
It wouldn't be a discussion of MMO dancing if we didn't throw the Grand daddy of them all in there . . . EQ . . .
UH, yeah . . I'm thinking this video is trying to showcase EVERYTHING ELSE in the game besides dancing . . . you'll notice the dancing sucks. Yeah . . . not fun, but EQ never was about the dancing, and that is so MOSTLY because I don't think they understood the behemoth of community. If they would have grasped that (and how could they? Ultima and EQ were pretty much the first on the block) I think they would have thrown in more /dance.
I'm sure there are plenty more examples out there, and the purpose of this list isn't to be an exhaustive examination. All I really want to say is . . . please, KI, this game does actually have a pretty deep community component to it. It's not always about playing the card game. All the modern MMOs try to inject this kind of fun into their game: we are not EQ or Ultima.
Don't you think it's about time that you gave us all some free content that DIDN'T cost crowns or gold or anything? Don't you feel like you could give the community a few more fun things that we didn't have to pay for?
And on a separate yet equally important community note: I've thought this game needed some party enhancers since the beginning . . . even Toon Town has parties with special activities you can do (be sure to check the dance party game at 3:00 minutes or so in while you're at it)
TOON TOWN! COME ON!
I think a death wizard should dance differently than an ice wizard. I think the boys should dance differently than the girls. I think we need FUN ENHANCERS for the community! Even if you decide to go the crown route like Fiesta where we buy new dances . . . at least we'd have more options and at least we'd have more community type of fun available to us.
So, who would love to see some more fun and (relatively free) community enhancers? Weigh in readers! I think you've heard me rant about stuff like this one time or another.
Now, KI, if you're reading, forget everything I just said and please finish Celestia . . . LOL . . . I'll forward this post to you all after the summer is over. :-)
Happy Dueling.
Wednesday, January 6, 2010
On Sharing Passwords and Evil Sisters
**UPDATE** the names of the innocent have been changed to protect their identities **UPDATE**
The other day a good friend of mine in game (we'll call her Betty) was talking about a friend of hers (we'll call him Barney) who was pretending to be an imaginary evil sister of his (who we'll call Wilma). In this portrayal Barney said with much evilness that he (while pretending to be Wilma) was going to delete Barney's main character forever MUHAHAHAHA! Then Barney removed himself from Betty's friends list . . . pretending that Wilma had just deleted Barney's character FOREVER. GASP! Alas, he was just teasing my poor friend, Betty, with a cruel joke.
During this "evil sister is deleting my character" debacle, I was given a play by play as it unfolded . . . what came to my mind first was not shock, gasping, or even sympathy (simply because I didn't know who it was). No, what came to my mind was "why'd Barney give his password to Wilma if she's that evil?"
. . .
In the end, password sharing between family members seems perfectly fine in my mind . . . unless they're evil of course, but what isn't ok is password sharing between others.
Back when this game was new and I had posted up a few videos, I had a couple of people who sent me e-mails and just outright GAVE me their passwords upfront without me ever even asking. Their request? They wanted me to level their characters for them. /boggle
Never do this my friends. Never.
Let me give you a very important sentence from an e-mail I got from my acquaintance in the KI customer support department:
". . . it NEVER ends well and we really do PERMA-BAN when caught (both parties!)."
She went on to explain that apparently password sharing is rampant in this game even though in really big red letters on the login it says, Do NOT give out your password to anyone. Violations will result in a permanent account ban."
People will try to fool you my friends. They definitely are not always who they say they are. Never gift anyone a mount in exchange for a password. This kind of stuff is not going to end well and could end in you being banned from the game.
I also speak from experience here: I shared a password back in my Everquest days over a guild message board private message. The board got hacked and my password was stolen. I fully trusted the person I was sending my password to, but it didn't matter . . . a third party stole it simply because of my password sharing mistake. You never know what's going to happen out there on the Internet, so just don't do it. Be safe with your passwords.
Don't share them over e-mail, don't share them over youtube, don't share them over Central, don't share them with the friendly necromancer, and definitely don't share them with Wilma. If you have, you'd best go change your password and please don't do it again.
Happy Dueling!
The other day a good friend of mine in game (we'll call her Betty) was talking about a friend of hers (we'll call him Barney) who was pretending to be an imaginary evil sister of his (who we'll call Wilma). In this portrayal Barney said with much evilness that he (while pretending to be Wilma) was going to delete Barney's main character forever MUHAHAHAHA! Then Barney removed himself from Betty's friends list . . . pretending that Wilma had just deleted Barney's character FOREVER. GASP! Alas, he was just teasing my poor friend, Betty, with a cruel joke.
During this "evil sister is deleting my character" debacle, I was given a play by play as it unfolded . . . what came to my mind first was not shock, gasping, or even sympathy (simply because I didn't know who it was). No, what came to my mind was "why'd Barney give his password to Wilma if she's that evil?"
. . .
In the end, password sharing between family members seems perfectly fine in my mind . . . unless they're evil of course, but what isn't ok is password sharing between others.
Back when this game was new and I had posted up a few videos, I had a couple of people who sent me e-mails and just outright GAVE me their passwords upfront without me ever even asking. Their request? They wanted me to level their characters for them. /boggle
Never do this my friends. Never.
Let me give you a very important sentence from an e-mail I got from my acquaintance in the KI customer support department:
". . . it NEVER ends well and we really do PERMA-BAN when caught (both parties!)."
She went on to explain that apparently password sharing is rampant in this game even though in really big red letters on the login it says, Do NOT give out your password to anyone. Violations will result in a permanent account ban."
People will try to fool you my friends. They definitely are not always who they say they are. Never gift anyone a mount in exchange for a password. This kind of stuff is not going to end well and could end in you being banned from the game.
I also speak from experience here: I shared a password back in my Everquest days over a guild message board private message. The board got hacked and my password was stolen. I fully trusted the person I was sending my password to, but it didn't matter . . . a third party stole it simply because of my password sharing mistake. You never know what's going to happen out there on the Internet, so just don't do it. Be safe with your passwords.
Don't share them over e-mail, don't share them over youtube, don't share them over Central, don't share them with the friendly necromancer, and definitely don't share them with Wilma. If you have, you'd best go change your password and please don't do it again.
Happy Dueling!
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
The Case of Wizard101's Missing Presence
So I was in a game store the other day, and as I was looking around at all the amazing shelves and racks of game after game (this was truly an amazing game store), I couldn’t help but thinking about this game that has captured my heart and imagination. So, I started looking around for a wizard101 logo while looking at all the other stuff in this store.
They had the standard fare of Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering Strategy Guide, etc. You know: the kind of gaming books you can find at any commercial bookstore (Barnes and Noble even). They had a huge pile of boxed party games: everything from Life to Would you Rather. They had a stack of fantasy based warfare games; I saw a number of "the game that shall not be named" boxes there that looked like complete packs of miniatures. That game is truly a beast. They also had comics, trading cards, sports memorabilia, Xbox party rooms, gamer tables complete with sweaty 20-year-olds barking out dice rolls, and an area dedicated to large tables for immense miniature campaigns. Amazing!
After talking to the owner and the owner's son and the owner's daughter . . . (who opened the door to the store for us . . . man I love family run businesses) I found out they had been there for seven years now and this was, in fact, my first trip in there. *scratches head* so much for me being some uber "gamer" dude.
Anyway, I walked past the TCG aisle and cringed a bit as I saw packs of Free Realms cards for sale. They do that to me, you know. I know Wizard101 is gaining a lot of mainstream exposure (what with their heavy advertising on Cartoon Network), but I started to wonder about the missing presence of my game here, in this cool gamer shop run by this family. Here was Free Realms, and it was in this place that gamer-y gamers like to go to and apparently like to grow up going to. (I remember going to a local gamer shop when I was a kid . . . it was one of the places we'd ride our bikes to every saturday.)
As my family wandered around, a young 13 year old son of the owner came over to us in the comic book section and talked to us about the ratings on comic books and pointed us to some comic books that would be more my kids’ speed: Sonic the Hedgehog and Tiny Titans. We purchased these mags and went our way. Come to find out, on the back of Amber's Sonic the Hedgehog comic book, there was a Free Realms ad:
A few things on this ad that were interesting . . . this ad was not so much pitching freerealms.com, but it was pitching the Trading Card Game and a comic book that's soon to be released. I can tell because that spot on the ad is the very spot they say that people's eyes travel to first when they look at ads (I took a class on Communication Graphics in college and stuff). They also threw a free code in for kicks, so . . . kids . . . use "skeletal" next time you log on that other game. *cough*
You know, this is the power of Sony right there. Sony is a huge company with an office dedicated just to producing TCGs. I know that for a fact. I read the blog of a guy that works there (it's a little adult, so I'm not going to link it) They probably also have another office dedicated to producing comics. I don't know that for a fact. But, seriously, Sony is huge! They have the power here.
On the other hand, Kingsisle is only 4 years old, and Wizard101 is their first game. If they did somehow manage to establish some sort of presence in some random gamer store, I would be highly impressed! Has anyone seen Wizard101 advertise in comic books? Here's where I've seen wizard101 so far: Cartoon Network, Beckett's Magazine, Pokemon Magazine, all the stores where they sell their game cards, and a few school type promotional handouts.
Where have you seen them?
What do you think about their missing presence there in that gamer store? of no consequence?
Happy Dueling!
They had the standard fare of Dungeons and Dragons, Magic the Gathering Strategy Guide, etc. You know: the kind of gaming books you can find at any commercial bookstore (Barnes and Noble even). They had a huge pile of boxed party games: everything from Life to Would you Rather. They had a stack of fantasy based warfare games; I saw a number of "the game that shall not be named" boxes there that looked like complete packs of miniatures. That game is truly a beast. They also had comics, trading cards, sports memorabilia, Xbox party rooms, gamer tables complete with sweaty 20-year-olds barking out dice rolls, and an area dedicated to large tables for immense miniature campaigns. Amazing!
After talking to the owner and the owner's son and the owner's daughter . . . (who opened the door to the store for us . . . man I love family run businesses) I found out they had been there for seven years now and this was, in fact, my first trip in there. *scratches head* so much for me being some uber "gamer" dude.
Anyway, I walked past the TCG aisle and cringed a bit as I saw packs of Free Realms cards for sale. They do that to me, you know. I know Wizard101 is gaining a lot of mainstream exposure (what with their heavy advertising on Cartoon Network), but I started to wonder about the missing presence of my game here, in this cool gamer shop run by this family. Here was Free Realms, and it was in this place that gamer-y gamers like to go to and apparently like to grow up going to. (I remember going to a local gamer shop when I was a kid . . . it was one of the places we'd ride our bikes to every saturday.)
As my family wandered around, a young 13 year old son of the owner came over to us in the comic book section and talked to us about the ratings on comic books and pointed us to some comic books that would be more my kids’ speed: Sonic the Hedgehog and Tiny Titans. We purchased these mags and went our way. Come to find out, on the back of Amber's Sonic the Hedgehog comic book, there was a Free Realms ad:
A few things on this ad that were interesting . . . this ad was not so much pitching freerealms.com, but it was pitching the Trading Card Game and a comic book that's soon to be released. I can tell because that spot on the ad is the very spot they say that people's eyes travel to first when they look at ads (I took a class on Communication Graphics in college and stuff). They also threw a free code in for kicks, so . . . kids . . . use "skeletal" next time you log on that other game. *cough*
You know, this is the power of Sony right there. Sony is a huge company with an office dedicated just to producing TCGs. I know that for a fact. I read the blog of a guy that works there (it's a little adult, so I'm not going to link it) They probably also have another office dedicated to producing comics. I don't know that for a fact. But, seriously, Sony is huge! They have the power here.
On the other hand, Kingsisle is only 4 years old, and Wizard101 is their first game. If they did somehow manage to establish some sort of presence in some random gamer store, I would be highly impressed! Has anyone seen Wizard101 advertise in comic books? Here's where I've seen wizard101 so far: Cartoon Network, Beckett's Magazine, Pokemon Magazine, all the stores where they sell their game cards, and a few school type promotional handouts.
Where have you seen them?
What do you think about their missing presence there in that gamer store? of no consequence?
Happy Dueling!
Monday, July 20, 2009
B r o a d c o n t e n t vs. Narrowcontent
I don't know what's gotten into me lately here . . . I'm feeling all ranty. whoa.
~~~~~~~~
As Professor Drake's message today indicated, the developers at KingsIsle decided to change their minds about how Grizzleheim would be released. They had plans to add additional levels and spells to have characters move beyond the Grandmaster (what's beyond a Grandmaster anyway? Supreme leader?), but they decided instead to make Grizzleheim--a world that ran alongside the current world.
Was it smart?
There are arguments that perhaps KingsIsle will lose customers because the level 50 Grandmasters will get "bored" now and quit for MMOs where they can feel that sense of advancement again. (The monster-in-law excels at telling my children that people who are "bored" are really just "boring people" btw.) And then there are those who don't necessarily argue against the way Grizzleheim was released and instead maintain a general feeling that, hey, this was a good thing . . . more content! awesome!
Yes, but was it smart?
I don't know. Before Grizzleheim, the Wizard101 world was more narrow and you could only snake your way through the maze one way, so to speak. And, still, you really do have to finish the main world quests in that same particular order to get to the cheese at the end of the maze, right? (It is cheese you're after, right?)
hmmm.
Now let's look at THEE MMO. You know which one I'm talking about, it's the MMO that shall not be named. We don't speak this MMO's name in the presence of our young. They are too gentle to understand its atrocities. But to give you a quick clue, this is the statue that part of my monthly subscription for a couple years helped build outside of their offices:
Now this MMO that shall not be named has a lot of races in it. Car races you ask? No no, that's freerealms (the other spawn of the other devil); I'm talking races races . . . like elves, dwarfs, humans, gnomes, cows, trolls, lions, tigers, bears, circus clowns, and aliens . . . in Wizard101 we have one race: the tween human. In the other MMO you have many many different starting areas, one to match each race (almost). In Wizard101 you have one starting area. One.
Broad vs. Narrow.
In this other MMO, you can jump around to a few different lands while leveling your character up to "grandmaster," but in Wizard101 (until the magic of Grizzleheim), you run one direction. (Of course, most people in that other MMO only run one direction anyway since they like to use Chinese power leveling guides $$6!!)
In this other MMO, when you get to the top, you discover that there isn't really one big evil thing like Malistaire, you instead discover there are a number of wicked things going on in the war-torn world that will net equally wicked rewards for your hero. Um . . . and there were wicked things that used to be wicked four years ago that no one cares about since they don't yield as wicked rewards anymore (dude, why would you raid ZG with some noobs when you can just go to HF and get better gear in like two seconds from some lame quest). In Wizard101, there's Malistaire and his robes. (dude, why farm the Jade Oni for that sword when you can just go kill the hoarder and get her better sword in like two seconds.)
Broad vs. Narrow.
You know what would be cool in Wizard101? Six more schools of magic with 5 more worlds that level you from 1-50. Imagine if you could choose between leveling in Marleybone (which some have a large disdain for) or some other world you've never quested before and fight against magics that are brand new to you with all new battle animations. It would be like building the game again from the ground up and wrapping it into the big gordito of Wizard101. OH THE CHOICES! THAT'D BROADEN THINGS UP A TON! (Todd Coleman rolls his eyes and says, "Excuse me Mr. Necromancer, does anyone have an extra three years to make that suggestion a reality?") Or maybe . . . just maybe . . .
Yes, yes, I know I know. They are two entirely different games and KingsIsle didn't even LOOK at that game when making their MMO. Yes, yes, I'm comparing apples and oranges.
Or maybe . . . just maybe . . . you're absolutely correct. I AM comparing apples and oranges.
Broad vs. Narrow
Apples vs. Oranges
Maybe Wizard101 should just stay an orange . . . you know? You can't escape it anyway since it's just the way the game works, and I think I kind of like the taste of oranges anyway . . . no matter how it's packaged. Give me a good storyline any day of the week.
Then again, some say the lasting power of the apple is in the fact that it is so broad and feels like you're playing a new game (at least at the lower levels /shiver at the Barrens) every time you make a new character of a different race.
Which do you want? Both? THAT'S JUST SILLY! WHAT A FRUIT BASKET! Well, over time, I think that's exactly what we'll get. A little more broad, and then a little more narrow, a little more broad, and then a little more narrow. Hey, we'll be a WoW clone yet! (GASP! THE NAME HAS BEEN SPOKEN! FLEE!)
Happy Dueling!
~~~~~~~~
As Professor Drake's message today indicated, the developers at KingsIsle decided to change their minds about how Grizzleheim would be released. They had plans to add additional levels and spells to have characters move beyond the Grandmaster (what's beyond a Grandmaster anyway? Supreme leader?), but they decided instead to make Grizzleheim--a world that ran alongside the current world.
Was it smart?
There are arguments that perhaps KingsIsle will lose customers because the level 50 Grandmasters will get "bored" now and quit for MMOs where they can feel that sense of advancement again. (The monster-in-law excels at telling my children that people who are "bored" are really just "boring people" btw.) And then there are those who don't necessarily argue against the way Grizzleheim was released and instead maintain a general feeling that, hey, this was a good thing . . . more content! awesome!
Yes, but was it smart?
I don't know. Before Grizzleheim, the Wizard101 world was more narrow and you could only snake your way through the maze one way, so to speak. And, still, you really do have to finish the main world quests in that same particular order to get to the cheese at the end of the maze, right? (It is cheese you're after, right?)
hmmm.
Now let's look at THEE MMO. You know which one I'm talking about, it's the MMO that shall not be named. We don't speak this MMO's name in the presence of our young. They are too gentle to understand its atrocities. But to give you a quick clue, this is the statue that part of my monthly subscription for a couple years helped build outside of their offices:
Now this MMO that shall not be named has a lot of races in it. Car races you ask? No no, that's freerealms (the other spawn of the other devil); I'm talking races races . . . like elves, dwarfs, humans, gnomes, cows, trolls, lions, tigers, bears, circus clowns, and aliens . . . in Wizard101 we have one race: the tween human. In the other MMO you have many many different starting areas, one to match each race (almost). In Wizard101 you have one starting area. One.
Broad vs. Narrow.
In this other MMO, you can jump around to a few different lands while leveling your character up to "grandmaster," but in Wizard101 (until the magic of Grizzleheim), you run one direction. (Of course, most people in that other MMO only run one direction anyway since they like to use Chinese power leveling guides $$6!!)
In this other MMO, when you get to the top, you discover that there isn't really one big evil thing like Malistaire, you instead discover there are a number of wicked things going on in the war-torn world that will net equally wicked rewards for your hero. Um . . . and there were wicked things that used to be wicked four years ago that no one cares about since they don't yield as wicked rewards anymore (dude, why would you raid ZG with some noobs when you can just go to HF and get better gear in like two seconds from some lame quest). In Wizard101, there's Malistaire and his robes. (dude, why farm the Jade Oni for that sword when you can just go kill the hoarder and get her better sword in like two seconds.)
Broad vs. Narrow.
You know what would be cool in Wizard101? Six more schools of magic with 5 more worlds that level you from 1-50. Imagine if you could choose between leveling in Marleybone (which some have a large disdain for) or some other world you've never quested before and fight against magics that are brand new to you with all new battle animations. It would be like building the game again from the ground up and wrapping it into the big gordito of Wizard101. OH THE CHOICES! THAT'D BROADEN THINGS UP A TON! (Todd Coleman rolls his eyes and says, "Excuse me Mr. Necromancer, does anyone have an extra three years to make that suggestion a reality?") Or maybe . . . just maybe . . .
Yes, yes, I know I know. They are two entirely different games and KingsIsle didn't even LOOK at that game when making their MMO. Yes, yes, I'm comparing apples and oranges.
Or maybe . . . just maybe . . . you're absolutely correct. I AM comparing apples and oranges.
Broad vs. Narrow
Apples vs. Oranges
Maybe Wizard101 should just stay an orange . . . you know? You can't escape it anyway since it's just the way the game works, and I think I kind of like the taste of oranges anyway . . . no matter how it's packaged. Give me a good storyline any day of the week.
Then again, some say the lasting power of the apple is in the fact that it is so broad and feels like you're playing a new game (at least at the lower levels /shiver at the Barrens) every time you make a new character of a different race.
Which do you want? Both? THAT'S JUST SILLY! WHAT A FRUIT BASKET! Well, over time, I think that's exactly what we'll get. A little more broad, and then a little more narrow, a little more broad, and then a little more narrow. Hey, we'll be a WoW clone yet! (GASP! THE NAME HAS BEEN SPOKEN! FLEE!)
Happy Dueling!
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