When given a crafting quest it is expected to be challenging. However, when the items required cannot be found or require another recipe, that can be very frustrating not to mention costly.
The purpose of the game should be to have fun, make friends and give the family a way to play together. If a quest is difficult, costly and extremely frustrating to an adult, it is more so to a child. When that happens the child will often give up and not complete the quest as a result.
This can be very discouraging to a child to where he/she no longer wants to play the game because they feel they can't do it. If the parents don't have a lot of money to spend, this can also affect whether a child wants to play the game or not as well.
For example the recipe to build the Celestia House: Cost: 70,000 gold coin for recipe Ingredients: over half require you to purchase more recipes those that don't require a recipe are usually several hundred gold coin or crowns. The overall cost for this recipe is triple the cost of any other house offered by Wizard 101, Crown Shop or outside vendor.
Families are struggling right now just to keep their homes and jobs. How can they afford to play a game that cost so much for what the kids are all wanting to obtain? The things advertised and talked about sound great. Then comes the cost of putting it all together.
I love this game and so do the kids. The game itself is very well put together and the interaction is awesome. One of the major problems with it though is the cost. Yes, teach the kids that if you want something you have to work for it, but make it a realistic goal. Make the things more obtainable to your average joe.
Sincerely; Jennifer Fulfer characters include: Sierra SummerFlame, Keira SwiftRiver, Taylor DeathCaster, Devin MoonEyes.
As I am sure a lot of other players will tell you the crafting quests are optional and there are plenty of people who enjoy the challenge that they present. I myself don't see a problem with crafting requirements and have decided that the Grizzleheim crafting house is not a task that I want to undertake - I am quite happy with the house(s) I can buy for gold.
My sons play and they for the most part think the crafting quests are too much trouble so they don't do them. They don't get discouraged about it or worry about what they miss out on because they can't craft items. My youngest son previewed the Grizzleheim house and initailly thought it was awesome, but before long he went on playing and has been happy with the three houses he bought with gold. I actually bought each of them a house with Crowns soon after we started playing and that was my choice based upon how much we play. IMO it was a reasonable cost. I also realize that we could have waited and saved up 100k gold and bought the house after becoming Grandmasters.
The truth is that there are efficient ways to gather reagents and crafting becomes easier once you learn all the ins and outs of it. It also becomes much easier once you have played awhile and have a few Legendary Wizards. My wizards almost have more gold than I can spend. I would suggest that you will be much more satisfied with the Grizzleheim house after spending all the time and effort required to obtain it. There are many other players that have crafted that house and from time to time post messages on the forums here and at Wizard101central. You should try asking for help and advice from other players who may know of a better way to craft the house. They may offer shortcuts or a better way to find the ingredients required.
