Welcome to the Wizard101 Message Boards


Player Guide
Fansites
News
Game Updates
Help

Follow important game updates on Twitter @Wizard101 and @KI_Alerts, and Facebook!

For all account questions and concerns, contact Customer Support.

By posting on the Wizard101 Message Boards you agree to the Code of Conduct.

Polaris: Disappointed..

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Feb 21, 2015
23
My friends and I were so super excited when Polaris came out that a friend and I quested immediately through the world up to the final boss. Unfortunately, I was extremely underwhelmed with many things in this world with only a few good things to say.

The story line is quirky and cute, even comical. The music is fantastic and the graphics are absolutely stunning. Leveling up to 110 was a piece of cake and the new spells are neat to watch. Though it was a bit short lived once we were almost done with the world, and here's why:

The gear drops received when questing are total junk, sorry to say. I was expecting the gear to at least scale to our level when we progress, not depreciate. Most of the gear I have seen or gotten have been 30's to 40's levelish gear at best, if that. Friends who have already done the final boss say that for the time and effort it takes to beat him that the gear is sub par as well with a good deck thrown in here and there. The only 'good' gear we received was from buying a bunch of jewel school packs, but why is spending crowns the only way to get good gear? This was the biggest disappointment yet.

The critical and critical block formula change changes the whole ballgame. I am NOT a fan of this at all and believe it was messed up to have that changed since I worked so hard and used so many crowns to get good critical gear. Now it seems it is all for naught after other players and I putting so much time and effort into all of our characters that it's now thrown to the wayside. I feel cheated.

This world is extremely short to play through, almost anti-climactic. My friends and I kept asking ourselves, "Is this it?". This is my favorite world visually so far, but man am I disappointed :(

Does anyone else feel the same way?

Explorer
Dec 10, 2008
56
Haven't played the world myself, but I will agree on the critical and blocking point you made. I and other wizards have been posting all over the place in hopes that Kingsisle will see that they've made players very unhappy with the critical and blocking update.

It's really only the block that's upsetting people.

I've seen Polaris play-throughs and really like the new world and the new spells. The block just needs to be updated. Nobody's blocking and bosses are critting just as much as before.

Squire
Jun 13, 2011
505
IgneelsInferno on Nov 19, 2015 wrote:
My friends and I were so super excited when Polaris came out that a friend and I quested immediately through the world up to the final boss. Unfortunately, I was extremely underwhelmed with many things in this world with only a few good things to say.

The story line is quirky and cute, even comical. The music is fantastic and the graphics are absolutely stunning. Leveling up to 110 was a piece of cake and the new spells are neat to watch. Though it was a bit short lived once we were almost done with the world, and here's why:

The gear drops received when questing are total junk, sorry to say. I was expecting the gear to at least scale to our level when we progress, not depreciate. Most of the gear I have seen or gotten have been 30's to 40's levelish gear at best, if that. Friends who have already done the final boss say that for the time and effort it takes to beat him that the gear is sub par as well with a good deck thrown in here and there. The only 'good' gear we received was from buying a bunch of jewel school packs, but why is spending crowns the only way to get good gear? This was the biggest disappointment yet.

The critical and critical block formula change changes the whole ballgame. I am NOT a fan of this at all and believe it was messed up to have that changed since I worked so hard and used so many crowns to get good critical gear. Now it seems it is all for naught after other players and I putting so much time and effort into all of our characters that it's now thrown to the wayside. I feel cheated.

This world is extremely short to play through, almost anti-climactic. My friends and I kept asking ourselves, "Is this it?". This is my favorite world visually so far, but man am I disappointed :(

Does anyone else feel the same way?
I do get that Polaris is short, but just remember, starting in Polaris & onward, the devs that made W101's main storyline adventures are taking on a different approach on their quest designing that heavily resembles P101's approach in it's well-favored way of quest designing, only the progression & storyline structure's based on chapters & Books there, not by worlds.

Librarian Fitzhume, one of KI's devs, provided a thorough reason why it is shorter, & here is his reason, as quoted by him....

"Some of you have commented that Polaris seems shorter than previous worlds, and though part of that is a matter of combat balancing (which is still in progress), part of it is also because we’ve adopted a slightly different approach to narrative and quest design, and so I wanted to talk a little bit about that today and invite you to weigh in.

For better or worse, we’ve tried to streamline the main quests to focus more tightly on the narrative. For those of you interested in the storyline, we wanted you to be able to play through the world without being sidetracked as often with the problems of minor characters. You’ll notice fewer times when you enter a new zone and are given a main quest to “kill 5 x and collect y”. Our intention is that there still will be side quests to “fill out” the experience in these areas and offer you the chance to engage in offbeat stories with offbeat characters (I highly recommend checking them out, in fact, because they’re really funny). Of course, we still want every quest to feel unique, meaningful, and worth your time. We hope this makes the story more immersive, and that the characters feel well-developed and like they're part of the world and not just there to give you a random task."


So, you understand why? I understand it very well & accept that. I really like their new approach very well, & to KI, keep it going from here on out.

One thing on that approach, though, more new zones in new worlds while retaining the focus on story.

Explorer
Nov 17, 2013
99
I appreciate there is no new better gear. We can relax a bit and focus on other things .

Survivor
Dec 14, 2011
6
IgneelsInferno on Nov 19, 2015 wrote:
My friends and I were so super excited when Polaris came out that a friend and I quested immediately through the world up to the final boss. Unfortunately, I was extremely underwhelmed with many things in this world with only a few good things to say.

The story line is quirky and cute, even comical. The music is fantastic and the graphics are absolutely stunning. Leveling up to 110 was a piece of cake and the new spells are neat to watch. Though it was a bit short lived once we were almost done with the world, and here's why:

The gear drops received when questing are total junk, sorry to say. I was expecting the gear to at least scale to our level when we progress, not depreciate. Most of the gear I have seen or gotten have been 30's to 40's levelish gear at best, if that. Friends who have already done the final boss say that for the time and effort it takes to beat him that the gear is sub par as well with a good deck thrown in here and there. The only 'good' gear we received was from buying a bunch of jewel school packs, but why is spending crowns the only way to get good gear? This was the biggest disappointment yet.

The critical and critical block formula change changes the whole ballgame. I am NOT a fan of this at all and believe it was messed up to have that changed since I worked so hard and used so many crowns to get good critical gear. Now it seems it is all for naught after other players and I putting so much time and effort into all of our characters that it's now thrown to the wayside. I feel cheated.

This world is extremely short to play through, almost anti-climactic. My friends and I kept asking ourselves, "Is this it?". This is my favorite world visually so far, but man am I disappointed :(

Does anyone else feel the same way?
I know exactly how you feel, because I feel the same way. Very disappointed and I can't help but think that most of this world was mostly focused on the visuals and story, than equipment and game play.

Kimberly Fairydust, level 100

Historian
Nov 28, 2010
614
IgneelsInferno on Nov 19, 2015 wrote:
My friends and I were so super excited when Polaris came out that a friend and I quested immediately through the world up to the final boss. Unfortunately, I was extremely underwhelmed with many things in this world with only a few good things to say.

The story line is quirky and cute, even comical. The music is fantastic and the graphics are absolutely stunning. Leveling up to 110 was a piece of cake and the new spells are neat to watch. Though it was a bit short lived once we were almost done with the world, and here's why:

The gear drops received when questing are total junk, sorry to say. I was expecting the gear to at least scale to our level when we progress, not depreciate. Most of the gear I have seen or gotten have been 30's to 40's levelish gear at best, if that. Friends who have already done the final boss say that for the time and effort it takes to beat him that the gear is sub par as well with a good deck thrown in here and there. The only 'good' gear we received was from buying a bunch of jewel school packs, but why is spending crowns the only way to get good gear? This was the biggest disappointment yet.

The critical and critical block formula change changes the whole ballgame. I am NOT a fan of this at all and believe it was messed up to have that changed since I worked so hard and used so many crowns to get good critical gear. Now it seems it is all for naught after other players and I putting so much time and effort into all of our characters that it's now thrown to the wayside. I feel cheated.

This world is extremely short to play through, almost anti-climactic. My friends and I kept asking ourselves, "Is this it?". This is my favorite world visually so far, but man am I disappointed :(

Does anyone else feel the same way?
I hate the new crit block too. I was in the Deep Spawn boss fight from Khrysalis 2 last night and 2 of the 3 landed unblocked critical 13 pip Tempests in the very first round. My Storm wizard was left with just over 600HP to start the second round!

As for gear, other than maybe Morganthe in Khrysalis, what world since Dragonspyre has actually had decent dropped gear? Maybe I'm too picky with my desired stats, but other than a few crafted items between Avalon and Khrysalis, there is not a single piece of world gear that I would have willingly replaced my Waterworks gear with.

Maybe other worlds didn't experience the same kind of statistical decline that you mention plagues Polaris (I wasn't paying close attention or doing a comparison of the actual numbers, just a quick glance to confirm it was useless), but more or less dropped gear in many worlds for a few years now has all been junk designed to push people into Waterworks or Darkmoor, or to buy Crowns gear. I've come to expect that world dropped gear is either for stitching, selling, or feeding... or perhaps an outfit for a mannequin in your house. So the fact that it is useless is neither surprising nor disappointing to me, just simply what I've come to expect. The level of its uselessness is a moot point.

I'm fine with the world being short. I just wish once KI would add 20 levels to the level cap, and then go back to 10 after that. I find myself not completing final worlds anymore because I don't want to lose all of the XP, so I usually only get about halfway through a final world before I stall out and have to wait until the next update. I'd love to be able to play through to the end and collect all of the XP along the way while doing so.

Survivor
Apr 27, 2012
8
The Polaris Walruskberg area is lagging too much! Takes me 10 minutes to pass it even after the "update"! Kingsisle please fix this!

Defender
Mar 10, 2014
183
i have to disagree. polaris is the best world yet. the little details, the story line, and the new gear. they are all really cool. nice job with this world KI.

Survivor
Jun 08, 2014
1
This is the worst world i have ever played in the game i was doing baba yaga and when we finished it i still had to find her and thus i have to redo the entire boss kingsisle this world is impossible even for perfect wizards lower the cheats and difficulty and maybe i'll play

Champion
Sep 01, 2009
491
I have to respectfully disagree. The only problem I've run into is in the Basstille, and I solved it by soloing the dungeon. I appreciate a world where I can solo if necessary, and if I can't, the Team Up function works perfectly. As for gear, I haven't found anything better than what I'm wearing, but I'm having a lot of fun stitching so my wizard can look like Nanuk of the North. ;)

Thank you, KI, for a new world as lovely and fun as Polaris!

Survivor
Oct 15, 2011
17
I'm enjoying Polaris EXCEPT for the lousy gear. I was expecting some better attributes not lower and less.

Also, more access to reagents like draconium need to be made available. Like potent trap, I cannot find draconium in the bazaar nor am getting it in battle drops.


Survivor
Feb 24, 2012
28
IgneelsInferno on Nov 19, 2015 wrote:
My friends and I were so super excited when Polaris came out that a friend and I quested immediately through the world up to the final boss. Unfortunately, I was extremely underwhelmed with many things in this world with only a few good things to say.

The story line is quirky and cute, even comical. The music is fantastic and the graphics are absolutely stunning. Leveling up to 110 was a piece of cake and the new spells are neat to watch. Though it was a bit short lived once we were almost done with the world, and here's why:

The gear drops received when questing are total junk, sorry to say. I was expecting the gear to at least scale to our level when we progress, not depreciate. Most of the gear I have seen or gotten have been 30's to 40's levelish gear at best, if that. Friends who have already done the final boss say that for the time and effort it takes to beat him that the gear is sub par as well with a good deck thrown in here and there. The only 'good' gear we received was from buying a bunch of jewel school packs, but why is spending crowns the only way to get good gear? This was the biggest disappointment yet.

The critical and critical block formula change changes the whole ballgame. I am NOT a fan of this at all and believe it was messed up to have that changed since I worked so hard and used so many crowns to get good critical gear. Now it seems it is all for naught after other players and I putting so much time and effort into all of our characters that it's now thrown to the wayside. I feel cheated.

This world is extremely short to play through, almost anti-climactic. My friends and I kept asking ourselves, "Is this it?". This is my favorite world visually so far, but man am I disappointed :(

Does anyone else feel the same way?
Don't h8 appri8 people spent a lot of time on this and who cares if the gear is bad so is poseidon and we still used waterworks gear like it will be like with darkmoor gear, chill x. x

Survivor
Jul 17, 2011
1
The gear is sub par. All of it is pet food. Throughout doing Polaris many times, the only items worth keeping was a pair of boots and a deck.

You would think that if there is any future worlds, that gear should improve, to get prepared.

A new world that takes two days to complete, isn't worth the membership cost.

Most of us who spent lots of money and time (farming and crafting) for the best gear, to just have it taken from us.

When you go back to Darkmoor to farm, the drop rate has been reduced to almost nil.

The new Life spell should have been able to revive any team member and the damage on enemy before their turn.

Survivor
Dec 10, 2012
22
Butterfly Princess on Nov 20, 2015 wrote:
I know exactly how you feel, because I feel the same way. Very disappointed and I can't help but think that most of this world was mostly focused on the visuals and story, than equipment and game play.

Kimberly Fairydust, level 100
Strongly agree. Played other games that got lost in higher resolution and visual effects and forgot about the game play. Face it, very few people have the type of eyesight to actually notice the upgrade in effects. But your pc does, and even fewer people like the idea of games that increase system requirements every time an expansion comes out. Warcraft was like that. Had to spend a few hundred every other expansion to keep up or just buy a new pc. Far as I could tell my character always looked the same.

Survivor
Dec 10, 2012
22
Jacob Firestone on Nov 22, 2015 wrote:
The Polaris Walruskberg area is lagging too much! Takes me 10 minutes to pass it even after the "update"! Kingsisle please fix this!
No kidding, the lag is way too long there.

Survivor
Sep 13, 2012
39
Oh please speak for yourself and not others.
I am disappointed that all the spell aren't the same with same damage and everything.

That would be balance to the game.

Any gear would be better if there wasn't the change in stats

bye peeps

Survivor
May 25, 2012
1
The problem with Polaris is at least two fold. One is the are very few drops of any significance. For those of us that don't want to do Darkmoor hundreds of times this is a real let down. What about crafting gear? The next is somewhat maddening. When we all picked our schools we picked them for a reason.Whether that was healing, damage, health,ect... . Being a fire wizard I can't tell you how disappointing it is to see the new raging bull spell. Fire is supposed to be second only to storm in damage. We have lower accuracy rates,longer pip challenges,lesser blade percentages,very little healing opportunity,less health, and at this point we seem like a joke when it comes to "team up". Now you give other schools higher damages. This seems really unfair. When I saw the test realm which had higher numbers for damage,for the fire 108 spell, I was disappointed... now I am disgusted. We are the joke of the spiral. You should be able to change your wizard's school, keep the same level, get the spells that are given, and start with the number of training points you had with your other wizard and re-pick your spells. I have no problem with the Polaris world, theme, or Bosses other than what I mentioned. But I wish KI would address these issues. Thanks

Survivor
Oct 11, 2008
3
I felt the world was interesting, although it was beyond a breeze to make it through. Bosses were a lot easier and the world seemed pretty short. I expected more of a challenge. But.. Good job. Bring on the next world!

Survivor
Feb 21, 2015
23
DreamHunter6378 on Nov 25, 2015 wrote:
The gear is sub par. All of it is pet food. Throughout doing Polaris many times, the only items worth keeping was a pair of boots and a deck.

You would think that if there is any future worlds, that gear should improve, to get prepared.

A new world that takes two days to complete, isn't worth the membership cost.

Most of us who spent lots of money and time (farming and crafting) for the best gear, to just have it taken from us.

When you go back to Darkmoor to farm, the drop rate has been reduced to almost nil.

The new Life spell should have been able to revive any team member and the damage on enemy before their turn.
I agree wholeheartedly with every single point you made. The disappointment has since calmed down after finishing Polaris on a couple of wizards but am still pretty peeved in the lack of response from KI in regards to addressing our frustrations with the world and new system. I used to sing their praises and tell my friends to come play the game, which I do not anymore, unfortunately, after the update.

Example: My friend and I have sent a few emails to them regarding the game freezing every time after defeating the final Rat boss and they gave my friend a short 'We will look into it' response and did not even respond to ANY of my emails. So yes, I am quite frustrated. My friend is also getting NONE of his drops after defeating the boss even though he is taking screenshots and sending them the gear that he supposedly got.
It's things like this that make it even less fun to play the game, especially when one of your teammates is helping everyone and you can't help but feel sorry for them getting nothing from all those fights after hours of 'work'.

I've received and looked at a lot of the gear from my different wizards and the best Tier 1 gear available from the Rat is definitely not on par with 110 level because of the significant depreciation in critical rate as your level goes up, which is ridiculous.

Honestly, if they had just secluded the new critical system to JUST Polaris, it would not be that big of a deal because we could progress in the new Arc and watch our damage/critical/block, etc. go up like it did in the first Arc. Almost like starting over again, which would be fun.. but unfortunately, it's more damaging than fun. I worked hard for the gear that I have and put many hours of farming and TONS of crowns into it to have it changed so drastically that it's really not right on so many levels. This new system is so flawed and there are SO many glitches in Polaris still.

KI really blew it on this one. Not a good business move.

Survivor
Jan 19, 2010
17
Put me down as disappointed as well. I am surprised by some of the threads praising this as the best world yet. Seriously? Streamlined is one thing, but Polaris goes by so fast because it is surprisingly devoid of content, challenges, or rewards. It is just ridiculously easy. So easy, in fact, that it ends up being anticlimactic and boring, and I think that is why it feels so short. Even the last fight is more "tricky" than difficult.

Perhaps the easy fights are why the gear is so embarrassingly bad. I was stunned at a lot of the drops. It was basically level 50 gear and, as another poster put it, pet food-- lots and lots of pet food gear.

But it doesn't stop there. What else didn't we get? Well, no new crafting (except for a few jewel recipes & some furniture), no new gardening spells/levels (just some re-skinned plants that aren't worth planting), and no new fishing quests/spells (what an opportunity missed- ice fishing?).

I mean, the whole thing ends up feeling rather trivial. Honestly, I dread playing my other wizards through this world. I mean, what, really, is the point beyond getting ready for the next expansion (already)? Think about that a moment: Polaris was released mid-November, and by mid-December we are already waiting on a new world. Of course, many finished Polaris within the first couple of days, but I am more of an average player, so I assume most will finish it roughly as quickly as I did. So, now we wait another year for another expansion that we will finish in one month? I don't think I can continue to justify a yearly subscription if that is how the game is going to play out.

I did like the voice acting, beautiful world graphics, a solid and entertaining story line, enjoyable NPCs, and the Arcanum, but most of that is true for every world. I think my best in-game friend summed it up perfectly last night after we beat the Rat:

Her: "Is that it?"
Me: "Yes"
Her: "Lame"

Explorer
Jan 30, 2009
59
the world itself isn't bad. the fights on my fire were not overly difficult, did most of the world solo without heals. I think most people issue is that they build glass cannon and then try to solo stuff. the only issue to really come out was the critical/block change that destroyed most peoples block from 20-30% down to under 10%