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Has critical and block become meaningless?

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Oct 01, 2014
41
Having recently bought some packs chasing a good block wand. I really regret that now. Why so now I can block at 33% instead of 25% ? With rng you aren't even sure what you will actually see a improvement. It's just luck now.

Delver
Aug 31, 2012
205
Before the update, I used to block EVERY attack from mobs with only 220 block rating, maybe with the exception of a couple Malistaire the Undying hits. I've always had confidence in my life wizard to take very little damage (I have 52% resist) so I never worried about her health in a battle. Now I'm scared to see what happens when I don't block an attack.

The critical system worked fine before the update. I'd rather critical more and have an enemy block more than having far less critical and the enemy barely blocking. People dedicated themselves towards the best critical gear, pets, jewels. This update just made all of that meaningless.

According to the update notes, "the system for calculating critical and block has been altered to provide more balance in gameplay". Well it sure hurt exalted wizards the most. Wizards that have just started getting critical/block stats (Level 50-80) have an advantage to this update. They don't have to worry about enemies doing devastating damage by criticaling on them and they can get lucky with critical hits. Please don't tell me this update has to do with "balancing Pvp".

I would say that the lowering of critical rating for enemies only benefit storms and wizards with low block rating. It hit life wizards the hardest with the loss of reliable critical heals. A small bonus to critical heals (if it ever happens) does not make up for the crash of crit stats.

The only solution is to get rid of the new system (which we all want), or at least raise the percentages so we don't see a big stat crash.

Another possible solution would be to introduce new, overpowered gear with high crit and block stats along with other increased stats to make up for the update if it's not going to be changed. I do hope something will be done about it.

I, Fiona SummerBlossom , sign this petition.

Explorer
Feb 19, 2012
66
ok so I got to agree with everyone here my question is though. WHO DECIDED THAT THIS WAS OK AND A REMEDY TO THE AS KI STATED MORE FAIRNESS AND BALANCE TO THE GAME? what about the fairness to the players who worked so hard on their respective wizards to get the states they wanted the endless farming time, I mean really what did other people complain? oh my there to strong I mean really? I know I spent a lot of time farming for things and to have your crit chance change or block for that matter? this really REALLY isn't a fair change and I feel it needs to be changed back before you lose a lot of customers because I know I myself have put a lot of money into this game to get where I wanted to be and have my wizards at the stats that they have... if people have complained to get this change to take place they need to put in the time that us other wizards have I mean it took me over a year on my first wiz no not everyone has kids time to beat the game in a week or month but hey everyones different and plays at different speeds but the bottom line here is..... the people that put the time in should not be punished for the people who do not have the time

yours truly
a very dissatisfied liam stormbrand
representing exalted transcendant and noob

TEAM BRING IT

Survivor
Oct 01, 2014
41
Sad part about this is since it doesn't really change the basic problem with game growth. It looks like it will have to be revised again when new worlds and levels come out.

Survivor
Oct 31, 2010
31
The problem isn't that our chance of getting a Critical is lower, they are still very common. (Which could actually be considered a problem when put together with other parts of this system). One of the huge problems with this new system, that I would even say has ruined the game, is that the factor of ratio between Critical and Block changing the outcome of blocking or not has been removed. If I have gone to the effort of getting very high Block I deserve to hardly ever get landed on, not this random mess we have now. In something as huge as Critical I would say having a ratio between Critical and Block is extremely important and the fact that is has just been removed is absolutely inconceivable! Now it is just a complete mess, a very low amount of Critical can now land on the highest amount of block, which is just absurd. With something as devastating as Critical, randomness cannot be a factor. If I have higher Block than my opponent has Critical I should always Block.

Another huge problem that needs to be fixed is that our chance of Block, even if we do have a decent amount of it, our chance of actually blocking has now been lowered largely to compensate for the lower chance of getting a Critical. Basically, if your opponent in PvE or PvP manages to get a Critical, you are most likely not going to get a Block. Well, they clearly don't see that problem with this is that Critical's are still extremely common in all levels with access to it. So all we get from this system is no chance to Block, This has completely broken PvP because people are still getting Critical's more often than not. And also at level 60 high amounts of Critical are easy to get, and their percentage has not been lowered, so level 60's will be commonly getting Critical's, and landing on everybody. So all we are left with is pretty much no chance of blocking, this is game breaking and the reason many are quitting.

So all that needs to be done, is our chance of Blocking needs to increase, and the ratio factor of Critical and Block needs to be brought back. If not, all this update has done for us is make it impossible to Block, unless you get 100% Block. Which is only possible for max levels, how is this fair to people who partake in lower level PvP? If our chance of Blocking is not increased and the ratio factor is not brought back, PvE will be completely unfair and uninviting for the newer players starting Celestia, why would they want to play if they hardly ever get a Block?. And PvP will just be well and truly broken, unplayable and not fun. Unless fun to you is never blocking.

Explorer
Jun 27, 2014
82
I do feel they under estimated the huge negative impact this "improved" system has brought. It probably sounded great in the boardroom but in real life play by real members its far from enjoyable. Before in the current system I could confidnetly rely that my wizards would block or critical and I didnt pursue very high stars, just relatively average with some pack wands.with this new system during all of test and now in live I managed to block somewhere around 20 hits in TOTAL and critical hits were about the same thats out of 3 weeks of test plus 2 days of live.Its gone from "wow i didnt block?" to "omg yay I actually blocked" and from "sigh no critical this time" to "wow I actually did a critical, sigh they still block me geez". The rairty in actually achieving a critical hit in the first place never mind landing it or a block is ridiculous, the old system may not of been perfect, but this is way worse. This is supposed to be a family game not some hardcore game like World of Warcraft for crying out loud. Its bad enough that in the old system if you were not able to farm the best gear you struggled, now kids with no time to farm with less than perfect gear have NO chance to perform well enough to quest through the spiral.For a game aimed at families this is becoming far from it. It is supposed to be fun for everyone not just a select few.

Survivor
Jun 03, 2012
3
I defiantly think they need to increase the block at least. Today I was just running through some random bosses in Winter Tusk and they where throwing ciriticals from every where and I did not block a single one. I used to be able to block every critical in the current world I am in (Azteca), but now I cannot land a single block.

Mastermind
Sep 11, 2010
369
It's nice to see I'm not the only one who dislikes the brutal reduction of our critical and blocking percentages - and from the looks of things, it seems that you have to keep getting a higher and higher crit rating as you go up in levels to KEEP the crit percentage!

Yikes - we're supposed to get STRONGER when we level, not weaker.

I cannot help but wonder if all of this couldn't simply be solved by making the rating logarithmic instead of scaling it on level - the higher your critical/block rating is, the more you'd need to add for that extra percentage, instead of demanding higher and higher numbers to go beyond ONE percent's chance of blocking or critting...

That, or our gear needs adjustment. One thing is that I have 10%'s chance of doing a critical strike, another problem entirely is when I then only have 10% chance of actually blocking that crit-spamming boss' critical hit!

I also agree with dizzydiana73. Wizard101 is first and foremost a game for children and adults who cannot keep up with the pace demanded elsewhere. If I wanted a game where the 'wrong' gear results in my defeat, then I have, quite literally, thousands of online MMORPGs to choose from... The game should be fun, not frustrating.

Survivor
Jan 23, 2010
1
I really don't think KI will listen to any of us. I don't really mind about the critical system, but why would you drastically change the blocking system? Similar to what other people said, I like to play by myself. But ever since the new update, I can't even solo a boss without a friend that can heal me...

Explorer
Nov 17, 2013
99
I ABSOLUTELY hate it!!

Why should a level 90 boss in Tartarus land on my level 110 Ice Wizard with over 350 block? Nope. We WANT the old system back. You're going to lose players.

Survivor
Feb 24, 2012
28
PottingTea on Nov 18, 2015 wrote:
With Polaris out, and the new update that changes the critical chances (for hitting and blocking), I noticed something: You need double the critical stat to have any effect compared to before, and block seems to have taken an even harder hit in terms of the calculation.

However, when I go up against my normal bosses, I also notice that they seem to hit criticals at roughly the same intervals as they used to...

Except now I cannot defend against the criticals, because my block rate has dropped through the floor with the update. And, with the changes done to Convention, you cannot even rely on that to take off some of the heat (it was dropped from a 90% block to 20%).

I want to hear others' experiences with this - because it seems that criticals and blocks have changed from being something semi-reliable and useful to becoming a difficulty spike that forces a turtling strategy with tower shields and emphasising resists...

(on the bright side, in the rare event I manage to get a critical through the lowered chances, the bosses are also less prone to blocking them).
Are you ice then you'l have dificulties or balance

Explorer
Jun 27, 2014
82
It seems from what little response Ki has made to what is a serious issue for most players they dont care at all.They made their own gear almost worthless in this new system, undid all their hard work designing previous worlds. Pack wands and gear add little if any value to farmed gear so they basically cut out the revenue that they gain from those. How on earth does a company stay in business if the product they sell us at a premium does virtually nothing? I really dont see how it makes sense for them never mind the player. Why anyone would want any crowns gear or hoard packs now with the ridiculous low drop rate for gear that adds little extra value its plainly not worth the money. They just shot themselves in the foot and shown many of us that they dont care about players once they decide to do something damn the consequences and forge ahead regardless how bad it actually is. Do they really want wizards to continue for years to come giving them large profits or do they want to all be out of a job wihtin a couple if years because nobody wants to play anymore and have since left to play something else. If I didnt have some 10 months left to run on 2 accounts I would of quit straight away, the lack of customer care from such a company is appalling to say the least. Even if they took time to actually acknowledge that people are unhappy and assure us they will actually do something to fix it there would be nowhere this amount of backlash. I love wizards dearly and spent hundreds if not thousands of dollars on this game and do not wish to see it go. But unless they get their act together it will be just another game that USED to exist and nothing more than a memory.

Explorer
Aug 15, 2012
77
Pumpkin Wizard on Nov 18, 2015 wrote:
I agree Kingsisle messed this one up big time, the old wizard101 was, every school has there advantages and disadvantages now it is down right life is the worst school. Why you might ask me because critical on heals is dead! This has made life the worst school by a long shot and after farming for so long to find good gear only to see that I wont be able to solo anymore because of what Kingsisle did. I am telling you I think many a life wizard can agree with me. One thing i know for sure is that I considered quitting the game, and I am sure some life wizards will.
I don't think this is a bad Idea entirely, they are making the game go back to the basics, we graduated Ravenwood remember, we are going back to a new Wizard City, Polaris is the first start, so its going to be a little easier, but if we critical everything, along with blocking every hit, the game wouldn't be as fun. Now saying that life wizards are the worst class now, I don't think so. I mean everyone needs a healer, they are vital in some cases. I usually play as a defensive character, however on my life, I can be offensive and defensive also, with a good amount of healing. you still have your damage stats don't forget that. Mine is at 74% and critical is about 380, block is about 270 Uni, and outgoing heal is 92%, Uni resist is 50%. I mean to me that isn't bad, especially when I unicorn and critical, that is almost 1,500 to everyone that I team up with. I am still soloing, now Darkmoor is a different story, you need to team up with someone, their is no Soloing that dungeon....

Delver
Jun 17, 2012
204
I just wanted to say that if your wizard used to "critical every time" then what is the fun in that? Some of us wizards didn't have close to 100% critical or block BEFORE the recalculation change. And what fun was always casting a critical spell only to have it ALWAYS BLOCKED? No fun. I just think once again, players are angry at KI prematurely. Try it out for a while then post a comment. Yelling at KI will not get your favorite game changed. Try some honey instead.

Survivor
Dec 21, 2008
18
Well with the new update I practically never critical or block (average ratings)... As for my death (currently near the end of Azteca) I have yet to critical since the update, nor have I blocked any criticals from bosses (and they critical quite frequently)

So yes, I'd say critical and block are now useless for bosses. For minions, they're just random chances that just remind me of what used to be...

If KI wanted to make criticals and blocks more rare, they should have made them more rare for enemies too. Players dropped by around 90% (went from around 40% to around 3%) while bosses seem to have dropped by less than 50% ... I suppose this was for the players who complained the game was too easy...

It's not all bad though: a more dangerous environment promotes community

Explorer
Jun 27, 2014
82
Nordic Champion on Nov 23, 2015 wrote:
I just wanted to say that if your wizard used to "critical every time" then what is the fun in that? Some of us wizards didn't have close to 100% critical or block BEFORE the recalculation change. And what fun was always casting a critical spell only to have it ALWAYS BLOCKED? No fun. I just think once again, players are angry at KI prematurely. Try it out for a while then post a comment. Yelling at KI will not get your favorite game changed. Try some honey instead.
Firstly my wizards didnt critical all the time but they sure near blocked most of the time why was that wrong? When if they did infact critical more often than not result was mob - not blocked, boss- blocked I was fine with that. Now not only is it a pure miracle if I actually achieve a critical they still block me in actual fact MORE than they did I effectively have had my critical hits divided by 3 in this improved system unless I am in Polaris. I tested this system throughout the spiral for all of test and since it went live so I didnt rush to judgement as some others may of. My block is worthless I almost never block even with a block wand of 160 rating and full Maistaires gear and conviction up and running where is the reasoning there? I didnt always block to begin with but a fair majority of the time.If it is somehow better to never block and critical is pointless why even have it all? This is wizards not World of Warcraft or did I miss the small print? This is a family game aimed at casual players not hardcore players or why not rate it 18+ instead and be done with it.

Delver
Jun 17, 2012
204
To Dizzy Diana 73 - I apologize. I misunderstood you and am sorry that your block is GONE. I read through this whole thread and there are so many comments. I cannot believe that KI will not address this. If the entire balance of the game is off they WILL fix it. I have faith in that.
Critical and block can't be useless, it is such a huge part of the game. For levels 51 and up, that has to be a large majority of players. I know I have six wizards. 4 of the 6 are above level 60.....
I have only been in Polaris one week today in live and I did not get to play too far into the world in the test realm.
So far I have noticed I very rarely critical if I have at all. Bosses and mobs seem to critical about 50% of the time on average. I also never block a critical. I do not know if mobs or bosses will block my criticals because I have yet to land one, (that I remember), in this new frozen world. I am praying this is just temporary or a test of my patience.
It is hard for me to remember what has happened in test vs this last week in live.

Fingers crossed that KI SEES THIS THREAD AND ADDRESSES IT right away!!!

Lover of this game and all that is the spiral...

Geographer
Sep 07, 2011
823
Nordic Champion on Nov 23, 2015 wrote:
I just wanted to say that if your wizard used to "critical every time" then what is the fun in that? Some of us wizards didn't have close to 100% critical or block BEFORE the recalculation change. And what fun was always casting a critical spell only to have it ALWAYS BLOCKED? No fun. I just think once again, players are angry at KI prematurely. Try it out for a while then post a comment. Yelling at KI will not get your favorite game changed. Try some honey instead.
It seems like the people who didn't have good critical or block before are the ones saying "it's no big deal".

For those who COULD crit every time before, the fun was being able to farm faster, and trusting that crit was probably going to work. If it isn't reliable, there is no point at all for most of us, since we'll waste our buffs, attract agro, and have to build up another attack. If it isn't going to happen most or all of the time, it might as well not be there.

The point of critical isn't to add "fun" in the form of uncertainty. That ISN'T fun. Critical is to win faster.

We want less randomness, not more. The change is in the wrong direction.

Survivor
Sep 08, 2009
2
Its upsetting i am considering not playing anymore cause of this

Survivor
Oct 01, 2014
41
Since this has turned to almost all luck. Why not save time. Instead of waiting till you get hit by 3-4-5 criticals in a row or just have luck on your side and not let one through. Just have the rng decide first round whether you are going to make it. Only people I can see this benefiting is someone in pvp with a high critical being able to get more shots through.

The only reason I can see for this is a attempt to keep the system going. But it doesn't. you can still get 100% critical.

Survivor
May 05, 2011
6
The critical and block system is bad at the moment.
Honestly i can't solo with any of my characters under level 100 on worlds like celestia, zafaria, azteca, and khrysalis.
A simple way to fix the current critical/block system is to revert the system only for level 1-100
(because Darkmoor is harder without critical and block @100)
Since that's what we had before it should stay the same since all of the gear is geared towards that system.

So the critical/block system should only change for levels 101+. (Think of this as an upgrade)
Altogether making polaris an interesting experience as it has been for me while leveling with the system.

Thank you for taking the time to read this.

TL;DR - revert crit/block to original system from lvl 1-100 and leave new crit/block system from 101+

Explorer
Feb 19, 2012
66
Nordic Champion on Nov 23, 2015 wrote:
I just wanted to say that if your wizard used to "critical every time" then what is the fun in that? Some of us wizards didn't have close to 100% critical or block BEFORE the recalculation change. And what fun was always casting a critical spell only to have it ALWAYS BLOCKED? No fun. I just think once again, players are angry at KI prematurely. Try it out for a while then post a comment. Yelling at KI will not get your favorite game changed. Try some honey instead.
really? seriously really you wrote this? ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ us wizards who for the most part critical all the time put in the TIME PATIENCE AND REAL HARD EARNED MONEY TO GET OUR WIZARDS WEAR THEY ARE AT so you come along and say try it out? and then you say some of you wizards didn't crit as much? ok well that's your wizard lol mine crit a lot and I spent the TIME HAD THE PATIENCE TO FARM AND SPENT THE MONEY. to get what I had yes I like the game yes I like the time ki spent on the game ive met some cool people. but to down grade our crit and block the currently is on the gear we spent time trying to get isn't cool
so clearly we all have tried the new system and casted our opinion on it and clearly the majority of us do not like it I mean lol seriously? really?

change it back ki please
hmmmm "please" what a simple word...... a question " so simple to ask"

KI : players do you want us to change the crit and block system?

PLAYERS: no thank you please don't

I didn't see that any where in a thread

yours truly liam stormbrand

REPRESENTING A STAGNET TEAM BRING IT

Defender
Jul 16, 2014
185
So cursed battle. You think that just because I'm over level 100 all my hard work to get my crit over 100% and what block I had should all be for nothing. That's brilliant. All that time I wasted and all those crowns spent should just be for nothing after you hit 100. So tell me why should one then go past 100? Just to be disappointed? I think not. Also criting everytime for me was fun. It was nice to know I could crit on every hit unless I had some neg put on me, but just because I could crit everytime did not always mean the boss would not block it. The bosses and mobs could still have a chance to block my crit. All they really had to do to make the game a little harder was to adjust the enemy's crit and block. They should not have had to touch ours and for pvp I'm sure they could have done something to implement changes just when entering the pvp ring. If they don't do something soon I along with my son will be leaving and my monthly family subscription will go to someone else's game as my "fun" factor just tanked with this change. Oh and thanks KI for ruining Thanksgiving cuz we all know no changes will be made if any till after the holidays so there goes the family holiday gaming time.

Survivor
Feb 15, 2009
6
Professor Greyrose on Nov 18, 2015 wrote:
Hello,

A description of the critical system changes can be found here:

https://www.wizard101.com/game/community/update-notes/november2015#misc
Can you change it back. You can clearly tell that no one is happy about the change. Especially me! I keep dying to bosses because I was never dodge their critical hits! Not everyone has the best gear you know!

Survivor
Nov 13, 2009
47
Pyle1197 on Nov 25, 2015 wrote:
So cursed battle. You think that just because I'm over level 100 all my hard work to get my crit over 100% and what block I had should all be for nothing. That's brilliant. All that time I wasted and all those crowns spent should just be for nothing after you hit 100. So tell me why should one then go past 100? Just to be disappointed? I think not. Also criting everytime for me was fun. It was nice to know I could crit on every hit unless I had some neg put on me, but just because I could crit everytime did not always mean the boss would not block it. The bosses and mobs could still have a chance to block my crit. All they really had to do to make the game a little harder was to adjust the enemy's crit and block. They should not have had to touch ours and for pvp I'm sure they could have done something to implement changes just when entering the pvp ring. If they don't do something soon I along with my son will be leaving and my monthly family subscription will go to someone else's game as my "fun" factor just tanked with this change. Oh and thanks KI for ruining Thanksgiving cuz we all know no changes will be made if any till after the holidays so there goes the family holiday gaming time.
So you come all this way to level 100+, spend " all those crowns ", and THIS is the reason you'll quit? And this is also the reason why Thanksgiving is ruined for you? Take it ez, there's more in the game than criticals.