Wizard101 - It's ToonTown by way of Harry Potter and Magic: The Gathering

[UnSub]

In short: it's fun.

You create a wizard, pick a school of magic and run around doing fairly standard quests and fighting opponents using a deck of spell cards. As you level up, you can buy more spell cards (all spell cards form your default school are free though) and the strategies become a bit more complex - do I cast something that will use 0 power and maybe give me an advantage in a few rounds, or send a constant stream of 1 power pets to nickel and dime my opponent to death? My only gripe with combat is watching the attack animations of certain cards (particularly your own) gets dull since you see them so many times. Teaming up is easy and, although combat takes place in a turn-based way, other players can enter the combat if they want. You can see a video of the combat on the official site.

The initial setting screams "Harry Potter", but I'm sure that was intentional and it is super-cutesy in appearance. You can't enter your own name - you create it from three different lists - and you can't type text in on the trial accounts (but you can select from a list of pre-defined statements). It's a kid's game that I'm sure has a fair share of adults playing it.

Cost is $10 a month and I had enough fun to strongly consider signing up. I'm not going to right now - got too much else on - but will be coming back to it. The free trial is pretty good and long enough to really get into the game.

[LC]

From the same developers that brought you shadowbane.

[Signe]

  SO CUTE!!! 

It's worth noting that if you like it or your kids like it (there are built in parental controls), you can sub for 50% off - $60 annual.  You can also choose for yourself or your child to play alone, I think, which is good if you're afraid of children. 

[Slyfeind]

Very fun, very clever. Good level of polish, too. It's pretty obvious they wanted to do Harry Potter Online but that wasn't happening so they did their own thing, which is fine. I think they make the player deal with too much information too soon; okay welcome do the game, do this little quest, isn't that fun? Now learn the WHOLE DAMN UI!!! They could have easily broken that down further.

Still, it's cute and the gameplay is fun.

[Signe]

I can't believe how much fun I'm having playing this silly little ditty!  I died, too.   They need to quicken up the healing process.  Kids won't stand around for that sort of nonsense.  They find trouble to get into during the downtime.  Me too.  I made crank phone calls to a local church while I waited!

[Hutch]

The little floating clouds of fairy dust will either heal up your health or mana. I've had more trouble recovering mana than health so far.

Totally fun game! Very reminiscent of Toontown, in the way the maps are laid out, and how encounters take place on the streets. And the safe sidewalks.

I've only played one mini-game so far, a Bejeweled type game. I was just expecting to recover mana, but I did well enough to get prize money and a piece of vendor-trash loot. Pretty cool.

I guess you can play all of Wizard City without subscribing. That's going to be a lot of gameplay.

[Signe]

I think you can only play about half of Wizard City without a sub and there are extra areas and loot that you can't get.  Still, it looks like it doesn't run out of stuff for a long while.  There is also thingies called "crowns" which equate to a cash item mall which is something I dislike but I can ignore it in a game like this.  It's really just something to fiddle around with.  I ignore everyone, too, because I'm scared they are all under 9 or something.  I am afraid of children, even ones online ones who don't really exist.   

[UnSub]

Things are pretty quiet in Wizard101, which is kinda nice at times. I would occasionally use the in-game chat options during combat, but more as a "Nice shot" kind of thing.

I got up to just under lvl 10 with all the quests available on the free trial. If I'd subbed I would have lvled quicker because there are a few quests that require you to go into areas that are locked off on the trial.

The mini-games are fun and there is enough variety that you can just play the ones you are good at. I did pretty well at the Dig Doug clone. I sucked at the Joust clone.

[Demonix]

I've been a lurker here for a long time, and this is the post that made me make an account.

yes, its that fun;  Toontown crossed with Magic the Gathering with some luck mechanics in a cute environment that caters to both kids and adults.  Don't tell me that some 10 year old is going to know the name 'alhazarad; ;)

I was in the open beta for a whileand decided to sub when they went live;  they let us keep our characters from the beta (there had been a wipe about a week prior to going live), so it was a nice gesture, as well as the free 600 crowns and the pioneer dragon pet.

There is a cash item mall, and these items are GOOD.  The price isn't too bad tho...ten dollars worth of crowns will get you 2 items that you wont replace for quite some time (there are three locations to buy for).  The crown items give you a signifigant all around boost, but there are items that drop off of bosses that are equivalent or better for one school of magic.

There are secret locations and bosses to hunt around for, instances you need a group for that aren't necessary to the main plot, and the playstyle is very casual.  The only problem I can forsee is a lack of content...the quests and stories are the same and on rails, so burnout can come easily.  Still, they say they are adding new worlds to the spiral, so we will see if they start adding worlds that parallel level ranges.
Also, communication can be a problem;  chat is heavily filtered and numbers are right out...so forget trying to compare stats.  it can also make combat tactics a bit of a pain if you have someone who does not even have chat enabled yet!

Still, its worth the 10 a month to hold me over until king's bounty or harvest moon or fallout come out, and the client is free.  All in all, I think this game shows that you don't have to be a massive gaming juggernaut to release a clean, fun, working game right out of the gate.

[Signe]

Evidently there are areas that can't be done solo.  Maybe at some point we could exchange friend codes or something.  I don't know how that works.  I'm still afraid to talk to anyone in case they are children.     I can't even play CoH because of my bloody hands at the moment.  This game, or single player turn-based games, will have to do me for a while.  Which is find, since this one is so freaking fun to play.  (so far)

[Hutch]

I've now finished all the quests that I can get at in the free trial.
(All the obvious ones; I haven't gone back and scoured every single area and npc to see if anything got unlocked).

I'm somewhat tempted to sign up. It's a nice price, and it might help fill the time until WotLK drops.

I actually logged in last night just to play the Sorcerer Stones mini-game.

[Mrbloodworth]

How big is the client?

[Signe]

The client is so tiny it's almost not there.

What level did you end up after you finished the free areas? 

As far as I know, you have to buy WotLK.  It doesn't drop.   

[Demonix]

I think you can only play about half of Wizard City without a sub and there are extra areas and loot that you can't get.  Still, it looks like it doesn't run out of stuff for a long while.  There is also thingies called "crowns" which equate to a cash item mall which is something I dislike but I can ignore it in a game like this.  It's really just something to fiddle around with.  I ignore everyone, too, because I'm scared they are all under 9 or something.  I am afraid of children, even ones online ones who don't really exist.   

Yeah, I don't know how we can add each other without actually being present...my char name is Paidrig WyrmBrand, full on death wizard with death and stomr shields and some items that give me healing abilities (guiding touch + regeneration = awesomeness).  I will be willing to help in any instance like sunken city or that mander instance in krokotopia.

Also, dont be afraid to talk to people or add them to your friend list.  I think the population is a little older than you might think.

[Nonentity]

I got the name Frank (no last name) in beta.

I also got a bunch of the single-word names - I'm pretty happy about that.

Don't know if I'd sub, but it's fun.

[Signe]

Most of my characters have the last name Strong Breath or Death Breath or something Breath.  I don't know, they struck me funny.  One is Sparkle Pants.  I thought that was funny, too.  We had a parakeet named Frank once.  In fact, my nephew went through a phase of naming all our pets or stuffed animals Frank.  We even had a parakeet named Mrs. Frank.  They're all dead now.

[Hutch]

What level did you end up after you finished the free areas? 

My toon is level 9, with three or four quests that I can't work on because they're in pay zones, and one badge (kill 50 golems) that I could go work on if I was really driven.

[Nonentity]

Most of my characters have the last name Strong Breath or Death Breath or something Breath.  I don't know, they struck me funny.  One is Sparkle Pants.  I thought that was funny, too.  We had a parakeet named Frank once.  In fact, my nephew went through a phase of naming all our pets or stuffed animals Frank.  We even had a parakeet named Mrs. Frank.  They're all dead now.

 

That's not a spoiler!

I think my character in beta was Rolando Trollforge or something like that.

[UnSub]

I was almost lvl 10 when I could go no further. Valdus Wyrmstalker was the name, I think, who was an Ice / Death mage.

Where are you having trouble Signe? Sergeant Skullspitter gave me some troubles, but after I levelled up from 8 to 9 I had no problems with him.

[Signe]

I haven't had any trouble yet, really.  I was just reading about the game and where people who solo have hit brick walls.  None of them are even in Wizard City and I'm not entirely sure if I'll ever even get to those places.  There just seems to be a point where you have to find groups to complete certain quests.  I haven't grouped yet, though, and my one character is almost level 12.  My characters are Lindsey Thunderhead, Olivia Deathbreath and Mariah Skullbreath.  I might have mixed up the last two surnames.  I mostly play mornings, though, and there is never anyone about.

[Mrbloodworth]

I have been firing up this game from time to time. Its decent, i love the art, and it has good flavor. Most of the world, and story is derivative, buts thats ok!

The combat can get really repetitive, but, the combat its self is really a ingenious feature to its self, kudos to who ever designed it, and the combat circle. The "in the background" patching is also, a nice touch, the UI is as simple as it needs to be and as clear as day. The client, once done, is 5 gigs, you don't notice because of the streaming the game does while you are playing. If you put textures on "High" it downloads another set, i didn't really see much difference.

Its good for something diffrent, and it lighthearted enough for anyone really.

Online entertainment company KingsIsle Entertainment, Inc. has waved a magic wand over the family-friendly virtual world Wizard101 (www.wizard101.com) and conjured new limited time content, including three Haunted Towers and eleven frightfully fantastic adventures.

For those brave enough to seek out a wily scarecrow named Jack Hollow in Wizard101's Wizard City Commons, several spooky challenges await, including:

* Test your courage against the ghostly inhabitants of three brand new towers
* Rescue Wizard City from a ghastly spell by defeating the Baron Mordecai
* Search out Jack O'lanterns throughout Wizard City
* Catch colorful ghosts haunting the wizard school campus
* Dunk for apples to collect prizes
* Visit Spooky Bob in the Wizard City Shopping District for limited edition items such as costumes, wands, hats and accessories, including a special pet!

Several of the seasonal Hallowe'en quests can be found in the Free-to-Play areas of Wizard101 and a few additional ones require a monthly subscription to the game. Spooky Bob and the Haunted Towers will mysteriously vanish shortly after October 31st.

[Hutch]

I have been firing up this game from time to time. Its decent, i love the art, and it has good flavor. Most of the world, and story is derivative, buts thats ok!

* Visit Spooky Bob in the Wizard City Shopping District for limited edition items such as costumes, wands, hats and accessories, including a special pet!

I'm subscribed. Kane Duskmender is my toon's name, level 11, currently working through the three Olde Town streets.

Spooky Bob is like that Prospector in Olde Town, in that he's a crown vendor, i.e. you can only buy his limited edition goodies with Crowns, which are the Wizard 101 microtrans currency.

Which I didn't pick up on at first, so I saved up 1500 gold to buy the black cat pet, went to visit Spooky Bob, and realized my mistake.
Which turned out alright, since I was able to find other ways to spend my gold.

[Mrbloodworth]

I do have to ask, as i'm only like level 5 in this, and have been only playing for like, 1-5 combats at a time. Does the combat get...i don't know, less repetitive? I mean, the system is great, i really enjoy the design of the visuals and the turn based ETC.. But it does get repetitive. I wonder if this is true all the way through. It may just be that i am low level and only have a few cards...does it get better as you get more cards?

[Hutch]

I don't have a much higher perspective, being only level 11, but the combat does become a little more subtle as you get more powerful cards in your deck.

Simplified Example:
Life Magic. Rank 1 attack is the Imp, who costs 1 mana/pip to cast.
Rank 2 is the Leprechaun, cost 2.
Assume you have a wand equipped. That injects several low-damage, zero-cost cards into your deck.
There are various other zero-cost effects, like shields and traps and stuns.
Also, there's a low-level quest that grants you a Pixie card for healing. I think this is regardless of your actual school.

So. First round. You get seven cards, including 2 Imps, 2 Leprechauns, 2 wand attacks, and one shield. Your opponent is big enough that he won't die to a single Imp. He'll probably die to a single Leprechaun though. You can't cast the Leprechaun until at least round 2, at which time you'll have enough pips to cast that card.

Pips. You get one pip per round. So on round one, you can only cast spells that cost 1 or zero pips. Casting spells that cost pips burn the pips.

Do you cast an Imp now, and hope to do enough damage that you can finish him off next round with a 2nd imp, or a wand attack? Or do you throw the wand (zero cost) this round, and finish him off with the Leprechaun next turn?

Other things to factor in are mana costs, since each successful cast of the Imp or Leprechaun will drain points out of your mana pool, while spells like a wand blast or a trap/shield are zero-mana. You can only recharge mana by visiting safe areas (the Commons, Ravenwood, etc) or drink your potion. Either way costs you some time (refilling the potion requires you to pay gold or play a mini-game). I look at mana efficiency as an extra challenge.

Also, most attack spells have a fizzle chance. Generally, higher-damage schools (fire, storm) have higher fizzle chances than lower-damage (life, ice). Fizzling spells don't burn pips or mana. This doesn't have anything to do with repetitiveness, of course, but I find it to be one of the things that makes combat interesting.

Once you reach level 10, you start to have a chance to get a Power Pip instead of a normal pip on each turn. The basic chance is 10%. This can be modified with gear. My chance went up to 11% when I got to level 11. Power pips count as double for spells in your main school. So if you get a power pip on the first round, you can cast any zero or 1 pip card, or a 2 pip card from your main school.

If you don't like what's available in your hand, you can discard and then draw from your sideboard. So keeping your sideboard tuned to the task at hand is another factor. Sideboard cards that I've seen so far include heals, drains, basic attacks, and a damage buff.

I've leveled up high enough to have a tier 3 attack in my deck. Which leads to actual deck shuffling, since I'm not facing enemies on the street that warrant such big attacks yet, but they do come in handy during boss fights. Also, during a street fight, you're much less likely to need a heal than during a boss fight.

Having said all that, I don't imagine that there's much more depth that can be worked into this card system, than what I've already seen at level 11. Just more spells and bigger attacks to choose from.

[Mrbloodworth]

Oh, cool, thanks for the examples. How about graphical diversity in the spells/cards? How epic summons do they get?

And how do i get one of those pet things? 

[Demonix]

Oh, cool, thanks for the examples. How about graphical diversity in the spells/cards? How epic summons do they get?

And how do i get one of those pet things? 

grapahic animation diversity is ok...some cards have 2 attacks they can do, some have 1.  As you get wands that do more damage, thier attack begins to look more impressive.  Still, the first time you see some of these cards, you get blown away, and the vampire animation always amuses me (thats saying something, since I use it at least twice in every combat...)

Combat can get very repetitive...for example, my usual plan goes (four rounds) deathblade, death trap, curse, vampire (does damage and returns half as life to you).  However, its the deckbuilding that gives you the options for cool things.  for example:

In the death school, there is a spell called sacrifice:  take 250 damage to heal 700 to anyone.   turns out you can cast it on yourself, so its a nice emergency heal, but expensive.  However, since the damage is death, if you have a death shield up, you can reduce it...if you have deathblade up, you increase the damage you take.  oops :)  I have an item that gives me a card that buffs my healing by 40 percent.  In an ideal situation, I can take about 60 damage and heal 1100 :)  The best part is is that you can knock your self out with the sacrifice part, but then still get the healing effect and be back in the fight.

Ok, so I've gone on for too long, but there you go.  Some schools have minions that you can summon to help in a fight, and there are hidden vendors that sell different spell cards that you cant normally get (there is a hidden vendor in every city so far)

Anyway, long story short, the strategy is good, the tactics are repetitive.

[UnSub]

You know what is really sad? Every time I boot up WAR, I think to myself how much I'd enjoy playing Wizard 101 again.

[Mrbloodworth]

You know what is really sad? Every time I boot up WAR, I think to myself how much I'd enjoy playing Wizard 101 again.

I play this on patch day, or when the servers are down 

[PalmTrees]

I played it till level 10 or whenever it was that I used up the free content. It was a decent game but didn't really have enought to it to justify a subscription. If it'd been a f2p with shop I'd probably be playing it occasionally with odd impulse buy if there was a cool wizard hat or whatever for sale.

[Mrbloodworth]

I played it till level 10 or whenever it was that I used up the free content. It was a decent game but didn't really have enought to it to justify a subscription. If it'd been a f2p with shop I'd probably be playing it occasionally with odd impulse buy if there was a cool wizard hat or whatever for sale.

*poof*

Zeke’s Crowns Items can be Purchased with Gold
Zeke here! I’ve gone Spiral Wide!
I’m letting the local shopkeepers in each world sell my goods!

If you have crowns, you can buy items from me, and if you have gold, you can buy the same items at the regular shopkeepers .

Sometimes I get special holiday items in, and those items are not available from the shopkeepers, but you just might find the rare one on a boss creature!

Area Access Passes

Hey there Young Wizard! Not a subscriber? Still want to explore other areas of Wizard City and the worlds beyond? Well now you can!

While subscribers can access all areas and content of Wizard101, non-subscribers can now purchase Area Access Passes with Crowns. These Area Access Passes will allow players to enter areas that they’ve earned through advancement and questing, but were previously blocked from because they were not subscribers. Firecat Alley and Nightside are examples in Wizard City of these areas.

Each World on the Spiral will have new areas for you to explore. Simply walk up to any street you previously could not access without a subscription and follow the instructions to Buy an Access Pass with Crowns. Once you purchase an area, you won’t ever need to purchase it again on that account.

Don’t have any crowns? You can buy them easily at Wizard101.com.

Link to patch notes ETC.. more than posted here.

[PalmTrees]

Heh, yeah I saw that on one of the mmo news sites. Chexked out the site, $5 for 2500 crowns was the cheapest option, but I couldn't find the actual store to see how much it would cost to unlock the three zones that continue the quests past the free area.

[UnSub]

I thought you could unlock zones for about a $1 a zone.