Constructive criticism and/or suggestions for KingsIsle

[Dylan Windwalker]

It really depends on the Developer. Speaking personally- I have different accounts. My "main" player account has no powers enabled by choice while my Dev account has some but not all Dev perks available.

P.S- Most Devs when they are on their Dev accounts will have the "Kingsisle Dev" badge displayed

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In terms of acquiring gold at a low level- I suggest watching Ferric's budget walkthroughs or BlakePvP's new solo PvE walkthrough. By utilizing fishing and the quick level up/free energy refill while leveling- its entirely possible for even levels 1-10 to acquire mass amounts of gold- more than enough to afford a mount and kiosk hatches.

But do we want players to be spending a significant time doing the same repetitive activity for one single pet hatch (given that some of the fish they're getting don't sell as much as 90k gold in total due to the limited amount of areas they can go to as a low level), especially given that some players only play 2-3 times per week given their schedules. I would think not, I think players should be able to do a variety of activities throughout the spiral (questing, farming, gardening, hanging out with friends... etc) rather than doing a consecutive amount of one activity (fishing) in order to afford pet hatching through the kiosk (given that it takes time for an individual to receive a lend from the hatchery as it usually does, which in itself is something that will happen regardless of what Ki does).

Training a pet itself is not as much of a problem than getting a hatch in the first place. However it does take multiple levels (given the player does not yet have any means of getting mega snacks efficiently) to get a pet to ultra and if the player does the convention of hatching 4-5 times in order to clean their pool, that's several levels until the player can even reach a pet where they feel comfortable to hatch beyond adult without wasting valuable snacks/energy. While this is not as much of a problem that Ki can fix, it's something to think about... some players just don't have the time to commit to doing this if they're also spending hours fishing each time they log on in order to afford the very pet to train with, to the point they don't have time to level up and replenish their energy because they have other responsibilities.

Also no player is guaranteed to watch that video on the YouTube and it shouldn't be expected of players to understand that what is said in that video having never been told to watch it. I for one would have never watched that video because I never do anything related to this game outside of Central and the game itself. Some people like I've said before simply don't have the time to research what is the best means of doing anything well in the game aside from experience (and what is shown in the game itself).

[JaredSpellFrost]

Also no player is guaranteed to watch that video on the YouTube and it shouldn't be expected of players to understand that what is said in that video having never been told to watch it. I for one would have never watched that video because I never do anything related to this game outside of Central and the game itself. Some people like I've said before simply don't have the time to research what is the best means of doing anything well in the game aside from experience (and what is shown in the game itself).

You bring up a topic we need to discuss- the lack of comprehensive ingame guides to how Wizard101 functions. I mean, for a deck building strategy based game, there sure is a lack of available information on how one should build said deck..

KingsIsle just throws new Players into the deep end and expects them to figure it out on a decade old guide that suggests using a Secondary-School.. It's no wonder why you constantly see Players with decks full of 40+ cards or people buying Membership just for Free Training Point Buyback!



THIS is why I find all of the "FTUE" updates laughably ironic. For all their talk of "improving" initial gameplay, KingsIsle is just smearing lipstick on a pig. Some potential solutions are to link the Wiki ingame (I can't begin to tell you how many Players I've seen asking for help that could just be solved by a 10 second Wiki search ), updating their ingame guides, and above all lowering entry level barriers.

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But even with modern knowledge in hand, the amount of farming required to advance in this game is still simply egregious, and KingsIsle shouldn't expect children to have that kind of time, @Eric Stormbringer. Players should be challenged to advance through the game, not subjected to a 27 hour grind.

[KieranCaster]

Thank you. That sounded familiar, so I did some searching and found this sale from January 12, 2018, and the Announcement page called it a Super Crowns Sale:

https://www.wizard101.com/game/news/january2018

https://www.wizard101.com/game/super-crowns-sale

Not sure if there were any after that one. ??

Yes, that was it. I would purchase the 90,000 crowns for $80.00.

Thank you.

[FarTooManyFrogs]

Got a lot to say, so buckle in.

Thank you for this. I think it is a great idea.

So I'll start and I think everyone knows my suggestion; please have more crown sales. I think we've had 1 since Christmas. We use to get them every other week. Now we never get them. Can we please find a happy place somewhere in the middle? Thank you

This is what's stopping me from advancing at the moment. I've got enough memberships I'm currently paying for between four different services (not Games as Service), that it's easier to pay for parts of an area in chunks. I'd rather buy off a classic or mega crowns sale when I have the money.

The incentives in crown events offer barely a darn thing worthwhile and are almost always overpriced, playing into the meme/stereotype of "that kid used mom's credit card" more than anything else. The one time I got anything worthwhile was when I got a TON of gardening, hatching, and combat elixirs when I had to go buy the whole game.

We're almost two years in without having another crowns sale, which it was made clear that's their bread and butter. More folks buying areas with crowns than they buy membership. They need to lean into it more, and I'll give 'em credit- they did offer a bigger block. But the lack of sales is what's making me apprehensive.

You bring up a topic we need to discuss- the lack of comprehensive ingame guides to how Wizard101 functions. I mean, for a deck building strategy based game, there sure is a lack of available information on how one should build said deck..
KingsIsle just throws new Players into the deep end and expects them to figure it out on a decade old guide that suggests using a Secondary-School.. It's no wonder why you constantly see Players with decks full of 40+ cards or people buying Membership just for Free Training Point Buyback!

THIS is why I find all of the "FTUE" updates laughably ironic. For all their talk of "improving" initial gameplay, KingsIsle is just smearing lipstick on a pig. Some potential solutions are to link the Wiki ingame (I can't begin to tell you how many Players I've seen asking for help that could just be solved by a 10 second Wiki search ), updating their ingame guides, and above all lowering entry level barriers.

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But even with modern knowledge in hand, the amount of farming required to advance in this game is still simply egregious, and KingsIsle shouldn't expect children to have that kind of time, @Eric Stormbringer. Players should be challenged to advance through the game, not subjected to a 27 hour grind.

cough cough, everyone's trying to be Destiny 2 when even Destiny 2 doesn't know how to be Destiny 2, cough

anywho, this is something that's worth noting; I replayed a lot of the FTUE stuff in Wizard City, and I like how it's more cinematic, but you're just giving the first world a new coat of paint. That's it. What you need are better tutorials. Here's some ideas.

• Your menu system is currently too crowded - Especially for folks with ADHD and perception issues, looking at where an item is dropped from is far too close together, with no clear underlining or good formatting. Words can easily get jumbled, which makes figuring out where these items are from in-game difficult.
  
  My suggestion for this would be...
• Make a codex - Public codex in an easily accessible area (say, the Wizard City Library) on specific drops around the Spiral, and what they'd look like on your wizard or a mannequin. Indicate which drops are from what creature, what dungeon, what elite, and what boss. Split it up by world so it isn't so crowded, and separate the list into what may drop for your school, and what drops are universal. Say if you were a Storm wizard, and you wanted to look for the Skyscream Cape.
  
  Wizard City > Crab Alley > Waterworks > Sylster Glowstorm
  
  The Skyscream Cape and Boots would be on a menu indicating that these will drop for your Wizard because they're a Storm wizard, and on a separate list below it would be universal drops.
• Diego's tutorials are lacking - El unicornio y el clases es bueno (I think I butchered that), but that doesn't mean they're useful. They happen, and then that's it. Nothing else, no way to repeat them, and no way to check them on the fly in combat. So what's the solution?
• Minor tutorial tip overhaul for Wizard City and Krokotopia - This won't solve the issue, but this may ease some learning curves. Have Diego give hints in the corner to talk about what the player could do during their time in Wizard City and partway through Krokotopia. Not to the end of Wizard City, but because the combat significantly changes enough between worlds, especially if you skip Colossus Boulevard, that it's worth having him in the corner, helping you out.
  
  He doesn't have to talk, but having him say things like...
  
  

  "You have enough pips to attack with (spell)!"
  "You don't have enough power to attack, but you do have a charm! Use it!"
  "There's nothing you can do right now, you should pass or draw a treasure card!"
  (If you're out of cards or mana) "There is no shame in defeat. You need to flee!"

  ...and when you enter a boss room...
  
  

  "Make sure you have enough cards so the least amount of possible damage can defeat both the boss and their minion!"

  ... all that would definitely help some players figure out combat early on.
  
  A tutorial tip when the player reaches the Balance school, saying "There's no more I can guide you on, I believe you've learned more than sufficiently." will indicate that Diego will no longer help you out, but that should be more than enough guidance for a new player who may need the help. He should also be easily dismissed for players who think they have it, or have a grip on combat already.

This would be great, but it's not sufficient for a better FTUE that includes necessary items. An implementation of the science behind hatching would be great, and I'm sure folks behind the Pet Talent/Derby Ability Order Project would be willing to help.

Also, I gotta dig into something I noticed in this thread real fast.

In terms of acquiring gold at a low level- I suggest watching Ferric's budget walkthroughs or BlakePvP's new solo PvE walkthrough. By utilizing fishing and the quick level up/free energy refill while leveling- its entirely possible for even levels 1-10 to acquire mass amounts of gold- more than enough to afford a mount and kiosk hatches.

If core mechanics are locked behind paywalls with such a high barrier of expense to entry, and you need to do immersion-breaking tasks to get them, that's bad game design. You'll drive off new players who want to focus on the story, and force them to go away from that story long enough that they'll get bored and wander off, unlikely to log in again. This is because of the time-consuming effort they'd need not to get good at the game, but simply to function in the game without constant failure.

The entry level needs to be accessible, it needs to be easy to immerse any potential new player in, and it can't force any immersion-breaking tasks that'd drive players off like that.

That said, I got a suggestion for this.

• Loan Shark - It's a shark... That gives loans!...
  
  This is an entirely serious suggestion. An NPC with a title Loan Shark, that'd give you enough gold to afford a mount or a hatch, but will garnish whatever gold you get from drops until your loan is paid off. You can also pay directly to Loan Shark to pay off your debt from selling auctionable drops at the Bazaar.

[Shadow Slayer]

I gotta agree with what everyone's saying but especially they need to do more crown sales..where are they?

[Oxnhorse]

[QUOTE=JaredSpellFrost;5630035]Thank you for making this thread AluraMist! I hope that KI will refer to it as a "To-Do" list.
From the top of my head, here are some suggestions for KingsIsle:


-End The Weeky Microtransactions.

Each week for over a year, KingsIsle has released one or more promotions, that typically come in a "tri-bundle" format- a Perm 40% Speed Mount, Mega Snack Pack, and Pet. These items are almost always overpriced and useless. I urge KingsIsle and Marketing in particular to cease these sales, as they take time away from developing actual content.

Try selling stitch gear, Pack gear for flat prices, hosting Classic Crown sales/Palooza events, and Perm Mounts for under $5 instead! We saw Classic Crown Sales monthly, which proves just how unnecessary all of these microtransactions are nowadays.

Oxnhorse to @Sparck: Please consider the use of packs being paid for with gold. Last I was able to check before the Spring Update all of my players were being told by Zeke that I WAS ABOUT TO LOSE SOME GOLD.

Might I suggest spending 25K gold for a pack? Some of us are kinda addicted to opening packs if we are looking for specific items, and the price seems reasonable to me.

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In addition, can the amount of crowns being earned be increased? Most of them have close to 15 or 20 questions. Isn't about time this was modified?

Oxnhorse

[JaredSpellFrost]

We're almost a year in without having another crowns sale, which it was made clear that's their bread and butter.

Actually, it'll be 2 years since the last Classic Crown Sale this August. Either way, it's way too long- especially with the game becoming more expensive as a function of time.

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Your menu system is currently too crowded - Especially for folks with ADHD and perception issues, looking at where an item is dropped from is far too close together, with no clear underlining or good formatting. Words can easily get jumbled, which makes figuring out where these items are from in-game difficult.

Good point! I'd also like to note that Pirate101's UI is waaayy too small, and in need of some enlarging options.

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Minor tutorial tip overhaul for Wizard City and Krokotopia - This won't solve the issue, but this may ease some learning curves. Have Diego give hints in the corner to talk about what the player could do during their time in Wizard City and partway through Krokotopia. Not to the end of Wizard City, but because the combat significantly changes enough between worlds, especially if you skip Colossus Boulevard, that it's worth having him in the corner, helping you out.

I agree, updated tutorial tips would be great. It'd also be nice if Diego could offer young Wizards "Deck Suggestions"- if accepted, he would automatically sort your deck for optimal play. You could request a regular PvE, boss, support, and cheating/endgame boss deck setups and Diego would create a deck for you with the spells you have trained!

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This would be great, but it's not sufficient for a better FTUE that includes necessary items. An implementation of the science behind hatching would be great, and I'm sure folks behind the Pet Talent/Derby Ability Order Project would be willing to help.

One thing I love about games like Minecraft and Skyrim is that when it comes to manipulating the world, it's an exact science- we know the code behind the blocks and dragons, which makes understanding the game much easier. However, it's a guessing game in Wizard101- it'd be nice if the Devs released the science behind pet hatching and droprates behind Malistaire to the public! Suffering through RNG Pet fail again and again is no fun, especially when you don't know how it works.

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If core mechanics are locked behind paywalls with such a high barrier of expense to entry, and you need to do immersion-breaking tasks to get them, that's bad game design. You'll drive off new players who want to focus on the story, and force them to go away from that story long enough that they'll get bored and wander off, unlikely to log in again. This is because of the time-consuming effort they'd need not to get good at the game, but simply to function in the game without constant failure.

Preach it! All too often I receive the vibe that some Players and the Devs have forgotten their roots. I would love nothing more than to strap Ratbeard to a chair and force him to actually sit down and play the game, starting from scratch- maybe then they'd realize just how difficult starting out with nothing can be.
And honestly, when Players have to rely on outside sources just to have a slim chance at success, you know that your game is lacking. We surely cannot expect children to have unfettered access to the internet either, so...

[WarWeaver]

Changes that I think would be better for 2 of the beastmoon hunt dailies.

1. Capture a battle ring.

At 30 a day I think this takes a bit too long. I think it would be best to shorten this so we can complete this on as many characters as possible in a timely manner. You could slash it right in half to 15 a day at 4 points each.

2. Level up a form.

This one is pretty inaccessible to new players just jumping into this event for the first time so it's just 50 points a day they are missing out on. I think it would be better to change this to something even they can do such as crafting beastmoon seeds or using beastmoon menu chat.

[AluraMist]

@Sparck and KingsIsle -- Thank you for listening!

Crowns Sale - 25% off, $60 for 60,000 Crowns

AluraMist

[MzDreamfire]

@Sparck and KingsIsle -- Thank you for listening!
Crowns Sale - 25% off, $60 for 60,000 Crowns AluraMist

I second that! Thanks so much!