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Pips that pack a punch

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Jan 01, 2009
21
OK,
Everyone has one, or more, things that irk us a bit about some section or another in the various worlds. So, I'm going to throw out my pet peeve - The Power Pip.

This is great for spells from your primary school, and helps out a bit later on, but everytime I have to flush 4, or more, power pips on a secondary school spell, it irks me as a waste.

I mean I see the purpose as a bonus for your school, but you would think that sometime between level 1 and level 50 a wizard would learn how to conduct that extra energy into some of his/her other abilities.

Perhaps if they have learned all the spells from the secondary school then it can apply for that school. But it just seems a waste to learn all those extra spells and then make it so bloody difficult to use them effectively.

Explorer
Sep 02, 2008
73
I have to agree. It was a long time ago that I asked myself what is the point of a secondary school anyway? Unless you are Balance they cost the same pips to cast as any of the other spells you gain along the way outside of your primary school.

I play a grandmaster pyro wizard and most of what I use is FIRE spells. Otherwise, I would be wasting my power pips if I tried to do anything else. (The other spells that I usually use are heal OR the various shields that cost no pips.)

Maybe eliminate the secondary school altogether and just let the players spend the training point where ever they want to OR perhaps allow the power pips to also apply to the secondary schools?

Squire
Dec 02, 2008
543
DarkWaters wrote:
This is great for spells from your primary school, and helps out a bit later on, but everytime I have to flush 4, or more, power pips on a secondary school spell, it irks me as a waste.


Then don't do that. You should virtually never have to use four or more power pips on a single spell outside your primary school. I could maybe understand it if once in a great while you have to reshuffle after getting a long string of nothing but power pips, but that's about it.

A+ Student
Jan 05, 2009
1706
I agree with Warlock Wiz....after you mature into your school you really don't need non-school spells besides heals, shields and traps. Perhaps you could include the three negate the next spell of 'elemental' school (ie Quench), reshuffle, and maybe a minion spells.

Early on, especially before you get your prism, it is nice to have a 1- or 2-pip spell other than your own though.

Squire
Dec 02, 2008
543
To make power pips count double for all spells, not just your primary school, would completely destroy game balance. Why bother to be a storm wizard if you can get the high damage effects of it without having the low health drawbacks?

Survivor
Mar 02, 2009
16
I actually have an idea about this. the title of this post got me thinking. Instead of just pips and power pips, why cant there be a third type of pip, a "Super pip". The percentage for getting one would be lower than a power pip, and might not even ever occur until your power pip percentage was over 30%? These super pips would be equivalent to two normal pips for both your main school and any secondary school's spells as well. This would make casting secondary school spells a little easier at higher levels.

I dont really like to use power pips for anything besides my main class, but when you are a higher level power pips are just about a given, which makes a secondary class seem a little pointless at times.

Survivor
Jan 01, 2009
21
Perhaps I should be clearer,

I use my primary school (Death) mostly, and it usually suffices, but I have also learned all the spells available from the Ice school, and consider it my secondary. Now when I'm in a solo face down with three fire types, those ice spells come in pretty handy, especially Blizzard, which hits them all at once.

Now since my power pip percentage is 55%, I rack up a lot of them. Blizzard is a 4 pip spell, so I have burned 4 power pips to use it. The only Death multi-foe attack spell is Scarecrow and it costs 7 pips, so 4 power pips would be burned anyway.

I have also learned all but the final Life spell, and when facing a Death type, those are very useful as well. But to even use the fairy everyone gets has cost me two power pips which I could have used for a vampire, although it wouldn't heal me as much. This is a spell I've had for 45 levels, and I still can't push a power pip into it - what do they teach at this school anyway - just kidding.

Squire
Dec 02, 2008
543
DarkWaters wrote:
Perhaps I should be clearer,


The problem isn't that you're being unclear. You're being plenty clear. The problem is that you're being ridiculous. The question you haven't addressed is, why should you be able to use power pips for non-primary school spells?

It's not hard to come up with reasons why you shouldn't be able to use power pips for spells outside your school. For starters, the game was designed around the assumption that power pips only apply to your primary school. Changing that now would do severe harm to precarious play balance. It would break an awful lot of things, and probably take KingsIsle months to fix the game balance. Along the way, they'd have to make a lot of other changes to compensate for power pips now being useable outside your primary school, and this would make anger a lot of players. Heavily nerfing the things that make classes unique might well be the only way to really fix play balance, and that would make a mess of the game.

The fundamental issue here is this. A good player figures out how they game actually works, and adapts his strategy to what is actually effective in the game as it exists. You're refusing to do that. Instead, you're trying to pick your strategy without regard to whether it is sensible. Then you observe that it is a disaster, so you come here to demand that KingsIsle change the game to make your preferred strategy more effective. That is preposterous.

Explorer
Feb 07, 2009
85
Quizzical wrote:
DarkWaters wrote:
Perhaps I should be clearer,


The problem isn't that you're being unclear. You're being plenty clear. The problem is that you're being ridiculous. The question you haven't addressed is, why should you be able to use power pips for non-primary school spells?

It's not hard to come up with reasons why you shouldn't be able to use power pips for spells outside your school. For starters, the game was designed around the assumption that power pips only apply to your primary school. Changing that now would do severe harm to precarious play balance. It would break an awful lot of things, and probably take KingsIsle months to fix the game balance. Along the way, they'd have to make a lot of other changes to compensate for power pips now being useable outside your primary school, and this would make anger a lot of players. Heavily nerfing the things that make classes unique might well be the only way to really fix play balance, and that would make a mess of the game.

The fundamental issue here is this. A good player figures out how they game actually works, and adapts his strategy to what is actually effective in the game as it exists. You're refusing to do that. Instead, you're trying to pick your strategy without regard to whether it is sensible. Then you observe that it is a disaster, so you come here to demand that KingsIsle change the game to make your preferred strategy more effective. That is preposterous.

i am going to agree with qizzacal i no that there are some things that "irks" me too but we cant ruin the balance of the game like we cant have a thing were you can not bump into bosses by mistake thats what makes the game so fun The Challenge thats why i agree with quizzacal


Alex wildbeaker

lvl 42 fire wizard