Wizard101 is changing some of the most-used gear sets in the game in the
latest Test Realm update. In an effort to encourage more off-school spell use,
these gear changes offer impressive stats for multiple schools. But is this
the best way to implement those options? Let's talk about this change and look
at the stat differences in the Live Realm vs. the Test Realm.
Here's a look at the stat changes by school for the Merciless Gear in the test
realm. Take a look at all of the changes, then scroll down to see my take on
these new stats. Check out the Merciless gear stats and all the
Level 150+ Lemuria Dropped Gear.
Balance Merciless Gear Changes
Here are the changes to the Lemuria Merciless gear drops for Balance.
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Death Merciless Gear Changes
Here are the changes to the Lemuria Merciless gear drops for Death.
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Fire Merciless Gear Changes
Here are the changes to the Lemuria Merciless gear drops for Fire.
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Ice Merciless Gear Changes
Here are the changes to the Lemuria Merciless gear drops for Ice.
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Life Merciless Gear Changes
Here are the changes to the Lemuria Merciless gear drops for Life.
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Myth Merciless Gear Changes
Here are the changes to the Lemuria Merciless gear drops for Myth.
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Storm Merciless Gear Changes
Here are the changes to the Lemuria Merciless gear drops for Storm.
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The Trouble with the Change
These changes are intended to promote dual-school playstyles in PvP.
Unfortunately, the route they chose to get there is kind of wild. Instead of
the logical step of adding new gear that offers dual-school stats, they have
instead decided to rework existing gear at three critical intervals through
the gameplay experience. First is Malistaire gear, the second is Morganthe
gear, and the third is Merciless gear.
Malistaire gear changes are not particularly impactful because most players
are no longer farming 3 different bosses at level 50 for their gear set when
level 60 introduces Waterworks with gear that is far superior. Furthermore,
Celestia already offers dual-school gear available via crafting which is
very viable at that level. Morganthe gear is also relatively non-disruptive,
save for the accessories which are still solid options nearly 50 levels
later in the game.
The Morganthe amulets, in particular, have gotten objectively worse and
they do not even offer dual-school stats - they're downgrading for no
reason at all.
The most impactful and most disruptive change is with Merciless gear.
Merciless gear is the top tier of level 150 gear dropped from Lemuria,
available only from the
Hall of Heroes. This gear no longer functions as a top tier of anything, as it now has
completely different stats, breaking the mold of several previous worlds and
changing some of the main gear players in the Live Realm are using now.
This change, to me, just makes no sense at all. I believe that items which
players have acquired should not be changed unless absolutely necessary.
Certain mistakes in stats, like with some particular pack weapons, have been
left unchanged for players who already had them. Why honor what players had
worked for before and then make a completely opposite decision for this
gear? Why make such a big change to PvE's biggest gear sets for a PvP
playstyle push? Why not simply make new items? Doesn't making new items
solve every problem?
New items rather than reworked Merciless items would:
- Preserve the three-tier drop style in all fourth arc worlds
- Keep players who farmed for Merciless gear with stats as-is happy
- Avoid requiring players who prefer the stat structure of the old gear to "re-farm" for tier 2 gear drops in Lemuria
- Allow players interested in dual-school gear to farm/craft/obtain it separately
- Increase gameplay time and thus revenue by having new gear to obtain for PvP players or those wishing to use dual-school playstyles
- Present more options to choose from for players who are deciding which gear to use, and thus more unique setups and playstyles
Forced Playstyles
Wizard101's gear structure overall feels pretty unfortunate. I think
creating Waterworks gear was a mistake. Having a gear set which is
distinctly "the best" discourages unique playstyles and setups. Wizard101
has tried to force players into different gear structures by taking damage
off of robes in favor of health and defenses, only for players to defy this
change and use robes from 50 levels prior which still stand up to most being
made today, then broke their own rules and make a strictly better damage
robe to farm from Tenni'syn which became "the new thing" that every wizard
wanted.
The game has tried to break the 100% power pip chance numbers with tempting
stats that take away pip chance that old gear offered. It also attempts to
do this on the new Merciless gear. Now, rather than create more options,
it's disrupting an existing gear set to try and push dual-school setups, not
dissimilar to a lot of the gear structures in Celestia.
Not only does this gear dictate exactly which school that each school
must use as its secondary, it also continues a long-time trend of making
one set of "the best" for a particular playstyle or level. That's not even considering the aforementioned issues with its disruption
to existing items.
These decisions baffle me because clearly there is an internal understanding
that some of the older gear structures were causing a lack of diversity (and
this was stated directly by KingsIsle) and efforts were made to change those
structures, only to be periodically undone or ignored in the rollout of new
gear. Furthermore, I look at Pirate101, where hardly any end-game setups are
identical, and I wonder how KingsIsle can have been so successful at
creating true gear diversity in one and not another. The answer here is not to change everything that's in the game - it's
simply to take the new stats you've created and put them on new gear! Hopefully, this gear is reverted to its original stats, and these new gear
stats are placed on new items. I don't think anyone would argue with that.
What do you think of the Merciless gear changes?
Thanks for reading and see you in the Spiral!
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