Wizard101

What with open grouping and a broad kid appeal, Wizard 101 is a pretty friendly game. Jumping in to an instance to help a friend is just a click away. This is a GOOD thing. But the devs saw ’exploit’ with players repeating instances over and over (something explicitly encouraged in the very first instance on Unicorn Way, Rattlebones’ Tower), and so have sliced the experience you get by repeating certain tougher instances – the ones you would most appreciate the help of friends. ...

Warhammer has public quests, and open groups!!!! Pfft, big deal. So does Wizard 101. (Joining a friend in an instanced dungeon automatically gives you the quest for that dungeon – et voila, public quests :) /me calls up ISP to have them brace for a flood of traffic because I have mentioned Warhammer! Warhammer! Order or Destruction! CHOOSE YOUR SIDE AND PREPARE FOR BATTLE! Woot! Woot! DEATH TO ALL THE VILE PEOPLE OF THE OTHER FACTION!

Well, first of all, I’m not playing WAR because I’m at work. But even when not working, I have a bunch of games I’m already playing. And its exciting stuff for all of them! EverQuest – Nostalgia FTW. You know, I don’t think we’ve ever had an official group xp night in the same zone twice. The only time we revisited a place was Sol B and Permafrost when we were farming the dragons. And we have still only seen a small fraction of the zones in the game. Friday, we grouped in Plane of Storms, Warslik Woods and Dagnor’s Cauldron for various things – all new zones for us on a group night. Small fraction of total zones. It’s wild how big EQ is. ...

It is SO difficult to hook up with your friends in Wizard 101. Even once I figured out where to enter the “True Friend” code, it didn’t work. Meeting up with Gnewton and his wife in game took a frenzied batch of emails which ended with their “We are standing with Ambrose right now … 11:40” and my “omw”. Once we were each others’ friends, we could talk, and so we spent half an hour just talking … and fighting the filter. It was a lot of fun, meeting them, though naturally Ellie, Gnewt’s wife, was wearing the same outfit I was wearing. I guess at our level everyone is still wearing the clothing you get from the Olde Towne quests. ...

Wizard 101 went live days ago, but I’ve been insanely busy with real life lately (son going off to college and all), so I didn’t get a chance to sit down and PLAY it, other than making my character and reserving the name, until this morning. The School of Life In beta, I was a Myth/Fire wizard. That wasn’t the best combination, because it was all dps and no healing. What’s worse, is that they were both high fizzle schools. Wizard 101 balances dps by adjusting the fizzle rate of your spells. DPS schools such as Storm and Ice do massive damage, but pay for it by fizzling up to 25% of the time. Support schools such as Life, Balance and Death fizzle much less, but don’t hit quite so hard. ...

Wizard 101 goes live! > KingsIsle Entertainment is very happy to announce the launch of our first title, Wizard101. To celebrate, we are offering a 1-year subscription for only $60! That’s a 50% savings off the monthly subscription rate! This offer will only be available until Monday, Sept. 8th. Subscribing will also give you access to text chat, posting on the forums, getting more powerful equipment/clothing/pets, and teleporting anywhere to friends and family. ...

Judgement Robes and Ninja Pigs in the world of Moo Shu Well, I was intrigued enough by the chance to test out Wizard101’s item shop that I snuck back into game today to have a look at what Prospector Zeke was selling. There’s a Prospector Zeke in every world; he usually gives out the collection quest they have in each world, where you have to find very small things in every zone of a world. Dwarven Smiths in Wizard City, Scarab Beetles in Krokotopia and so on. For this last bit of beta, he also sells items of great power. The Zeke in the Olde Town district of Wizard City even sells a pet dragon. ...

Wizard 101’s beta is ending, and all characters will be deleted prior to the game going live. So this is a goodbye to Tara Mythcrafter, Adept Conjurer and part time Pyromancer. A lot of people look to Free Realms as an alternative to run-of-the-mill MMOs. I look to games like Wizard 101, with very innovative design and mechanics, to show us what the future might look like. I did go back to the Emperor’s Throne Room in Krokotopia, by the way, and it seemed about the same as before, though not as buggy. ...

Kid’s MMO Wizard “Harry WHO?” 101 came out with a huge update yesterday. Even though I stopped playing the game much to avoid burning out before it goes live, it seemed a big enough deal to warrant stopping by. The big news is the revenue model. It is likely that there will be a two-tier model for the game, with a certain amount of content available for those who play for free, and additional areas reserved for subscribers. It looks like the fee for subscribers will be about $10/month. Nothing has been announced officially, though, so it is all subject to change. ...

I’ve had my level 75 cleric on Luclin for about… four months now. The level cap on EverQuest is 80. There have been three expansions since I last played her, The Serpent’s Spine, The Buried Sea and Secrets of Faydwer (I played TSS just long enough to get to level 75). A new expansion, Seeds of Destruction is about to come out. And I don’t care. I haven’t even joined one group her level. Because I know what my job will be – sitting on my ass watching other people have fun while I press the heal button occasionally. Doesn’t matter what level or what expansion, my job was the same. Same as when I was a rogue. Druid was a little different; when the druid was my main, I could solo well, or be bad at stuff in a group. They’ve since made druids better in groups and given clerics the ability to solo somewhat, but really, my complete frustration at the mindless repetition of playing EverQuest, combined with the difficulty of finding a group, drove me to quit. I only came back for the Nostalgia group, but once again, I find I have zero interest in leveling, except insofar as I get to see areas of the game one last time. SoD may well raise the level cap to 100 and promise pie, but there is absolutely nothing that will get me to willingly join the grind again. ...