Pirates are still breathing in a fresh breath of MooShu air today, and Azteca is being threatened still in both Wizard101 US and UK. New worlds are the major portion of content updates, and the part that most users look forward to. Sure, there's gardening, pets, nautical training... that's all great, but worlds progress your character in level and status. However, KingsIsle has to be careful with worlds. When a game becomes work, people stop playing.
For KingsIsle, and players like me, "the more content the better" style of thinking sounds great. It wasn't until I read a few Wizard101 Central threads that I realized that some people genuinely felt that Azteca was too long, and too arduous to be fun.
I also logged in Pirate101 and spent some time "monkeying around" and made my way into Monquista. I had to take down some Marleybone ships. In Beta, I remembered how much I loved just about every ship battle their ever was... I fought them in my extra time in the skyways, firing left and right. Then, something happened. An update, a ship downgrade... something. All of the sudden, I really disliked ship battles. They were tough - now the worst part of questing.
Number One - Limit the "mob" fights, and keep mobs reasonable! For those of you who don't know, "mobs" can refer to all of the creatures in-game, but I and others use it to talk about the monsters that roam the streets of a world - non-boss creatures. I'll be honest, Azteca was a little bit ridiculous. Fights with mobs left and right - and we didn't change it up, either, it was the same mobs over and over.
Furthermore, some of those mobs monsters are tough to fight - you immediately have to go on the defense with their starting pips and stuns, pip-stealing spells, accuracy-reducing spells, and the like. Those 6,050 health monsters removing three pips with Lord of Winter and casting shields to the two more powerful damage schools are absurd.
Pirate101 mob fights - even worse. Instead of two enemies when you fight, you get a full-blown battles between three or four enemies and all of your companions. Repeating mobs can get tiring.
The solution? KingsIsle should do just like they did in Avalon - one fight per type of mob. No more. And keep the mobs reasonable. Keep in mind that health increases are necessary, but the new spells add to the challenge more than you [KingsIsle] might be aware.
Number Two - We need side quest reform! Let's be honest - how many of us have completed the Wizard101 or Pirate101 storyline and plan to do every side quest available? Sure, there are some who will accept everything and then work tirelessly to clean out their quest books. However, I love many of the storylines in both games, and I definitely won't do half of the side quests.
Wizard101 has had some ups and downs with this. The Crab Alley storyline, for example, was nice. It gave us two completely unique locations at an early level, plus a piece of gear not available anywhere else. That being said, most side quests here are the same old experience and gold rewards. The experience for some makes it worthwhile, but for the most part, they could use some creative twists.
Sorry Pirate101, but in beta, you had the worst side quest set up yet. Pirate101 has a variety of these beautifully designed, story-filled quests, and so many are going to miss out on the writers' creativity because whoever put in the rewards wasn't thinking. My recommendation here is to change up the side quest rewards (you're halfway there, I've seen some good updates since beta). Start throwing more companion points, training points, etc. in there.
You had some great quest lines in Cool Ranch that worked perfectly - chasing the two bandits, and collecting the treasure (20,000 gold) at the end was one. Rooster Cogburn was a perfectly designed companion and his storyline was a lot of fun, too. I understand that you want to have us level only at certain points in the story, but don't turn down the experience so much that you shy us away from quests.
great post! these will be helpful to KI :)
ReplyDeleteIf you've been monkeying, then I've been horsing around in Cool Ranch, looking for the most interesting side quests. I'm in the middle of the Rooster Cogburn line, but I agree that not only are the side quests underpaying us for our time or are too consistent with it (e.g. X gold every time). I'd also like a little more appreciation by the townsfolk for anything involving Cool Ranch sky creatures, specifically the buffaloons.
ReplyDeleteD
I have an level 31 Diviner on Wizard101, and I am already tired. Fights and fights and fights, nothing new. Not even the main storyline intrigues me anymore. When I was in Wizard City I was reading the dialogue with passion, I loved to learn about Malistaire, what happens in Wizard City, the raise of the Undead, the Gobbler problem, the jokes they said. When I went in Krokotopia my hope was ruined. Always the same kind of enemy: Kroks, nothing new. I loved the diverstiy of Wizard City, they had Gobblers, they had streets, each with their unique kind of enemy. Also I loved the fight with Nightshade it was so epic, fresh and new, specially since I love Wraiths. In Krokotpia I fought Kroks and other recycled enemies from Wizard City, some were new but I didn't like them. I fought so many Kroks I couldn't take them anymore and guess what? The final boss was an Krok. Also the worlds felt more difficult now. It wasn't a game, it felt like a work. Even after I got that rare wand which gives me an pip at the start of the battle, it still felt boring and difficult. I even tried making a new character but still, I was bored...
ReplyDeleteAfter all the stress in Krokotopia I decided to do other activities like doing side quests or gardening. The side quests were dissapointing specially since some made me to go through old dungeons to get some items, and the dialogue wasn't interesting. The gardening made me feel better. I was so bored about dungeons I decided to make money from gardening, to get rare items from Bazaar. I gotta say I love gardening specially since I am member so energy regenerates faster. The Stinkweeds are so funny, the Honey Sickle looks cool and some plants are really beautiful.
I hope Wizard101 will do some stuff to make the game more interesting cause there are players which are not game nerds, like me who can get bored easily.