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Changes to Critical Hit and Critical Block system

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Oct 31, 2010
31
We do not need the old system back, we did need change. But not in this way, this isn't change it is destruction. We need a serious raise in the percentage block counts for and in the chance of actually blocking, because gear gives far much critical than it does block. I know you can get far higher block at level 110 now, but people who take part in mid level PvP can't. So we are going to be stuck with not blocking anything if there is no change in our block, it isn't fair and it has ruined the thing we love.

Survivor
Mar 22, 2010
46
I believe also levels below 110 need to receive not just a larger chance of blocking, but a raise in the amount the block percentage counts for. If not 50-78 PvP will be completed destroyed and it is one of the largest parts of this game. We need this because there has been no reduction in what level 50 and 60's critical counts for, and because unlike level 110 we cannot get gear with extremely high block and gear is far more generous to critical than it is to block, as of now we can only get to around 30% even with a pet with two block talents. And along side the new feature of our chance of blocking being lowered no matter our percentage, we will never block anything and mid level PvP will be destroyed.

Survivor
Mar 04, 2012
13
All the money spent on pack gear and pet training to obtain the promise of 100% critical has now been reduced to a 60 percent chance which then gets even further reduced by a percentage the enemy will block on there toll. In effect you have turned my hard earned 100% critical hitting character in to the same character we all had before you sold us all the fancy critical gear.

I feel like I just bought a sports car capable of 100 miles per hour. After closing the deal and taking my money, only then did you disclose the smog restrictions reducing my engines true potential to that of a toyota prius!

Survivor
Jun 26, 2012
4
the new system is broken, my 138 block rating is calculated as 1% i'd like an explanation

Survivor
Jun 26, 2012
4
amandadaisypetal33... on Nov 21, 2015 wrote:
I feel like I've wasted my time farming Darkmoor for my gear, just to get to level 110 to have less than 30% critical hit or block. I can't even farm Mirror Lake anymore without dying. That doesn't make the game fun. It makes me not want to waste my money on membership or crowns because I feel like its doing no good since I just die. I think some changes needed to be made, because no game can stay the same forever and still be interesting, but I also think this was entirely too drastic.
totally agree, kingisle went complete overboard with this update your lucky you have 30% or a little less block i have 138 block and i somehow have one percent

Survivor
Apr 06, 2011
6
Been trying it since Polaris came out. Crit and block is ruined.
My life very rarely crits now. She used to crit heal all the time.
In Khrysalis the bosses crit frequently and my fire never blocks now, and rarely crits. It's impossible to win against them.
There's no point in having crit and block gear anymore, it's useless.

Survivor
Apr 05, 2009
5
I will say right off, I have never liked the crit system; it is vastly skewered in favor of the game, not the players (always has been). Most of the time, you didn't need a crit to defeat most of the enemies. the only time I thought it would be useful would be against the bosses, but since I can count the number of times I have seen a crit go unblocked against a boss on one hand, it is not very useful there either. It seems like it is just one more weapon in the bad guys arsenal, and since most of the time in the higher worlds you have to fight 3- or 4-on 1 battles, where they get to start 90% of the time, they get way more pips, and even most of the minions have more hit points than you (depending on your class), they don't need another method of wiping you out. The vrit system certainly isn't there to help the players. I think the crit system is a terrible thing, and that it should be scrapped. You certainly couldn't make it worse.

I was wrong.

You have taken a bad idea and evolved it to where it has pretty much sucked out what fun was left in the game (after all I have found many of the 'improvements' you have made to the game over the last few years to be just the opposite). Now, not only do most of the things in the above paragraph still occur, but your chances (feeble as they were) of criting have been greatly reduced, and your chance of blocking one are non-existant. The enemies, natually, have no trouble scoring a cit on you (I get critted at LEAST once per fight...not per boss fight, per fight; often more than once), and yet on the very rare occasion you manage one, it is still, more often than not, blocked. So, whereas before the awful concept of this crit system was mostly useless to the players before the change (I will not call it an improvement because it certainly isn't), it is now completely useless to the players, and is merely there to wipe you out quicker. Do everyone a favor and trash the crit system; it's worthless.

Survivor
Oct 01, 2014
41
At least put it back till you get this straightened out. Think about alternatives. Take your time and please put it in test realm by it's self with no other distractions. There does need to be changes made. But as is no. Lower level worlds are harder the polaris, How does that make any sense?

Survivor
Aug 31, 2011
9
I'd like to make a few points:

Whatever box KI got itself into with the old critical system, surely there has to be a better way to resolve it. Alienating your loyal customer base is not the way to do it.

Be truthful about why these changes have been made. It would be easier to accept these changes if we knew the real reasons why they were deemed necessary. These changes weren’t made to make the game more fun! They’ve made the game decidedly less fun -- so much so that many of us old-timers may be quitting our beloved game.

Changing the way critical and block are decided in battle is fine, but to continually see our critical and block stats going lower and lower as we level up is beyond discouraging! It’s heartbreaking.

For most schools, there is now no incentive to level up.

Personally, I can't continue playing with things as they are. It's too disheartening to see stats I worked so hard for degrade like this. And I am disgusted with KI for changing the rules after so much time and money was spent building wizards based on those rules. There has to be a better way to achieve your (KI) goals.

Please, please, please, all you smart guys and gals at KI, I know your hearts are in the right place. Please come up with a better solution!

Survivor
May 16, 2010
4
I started this game with an Ice wizard, when Celestia came out with the critical/block system I was like wow you just reduced my resistance by half. But after making my way through I thought ok this isn't bad. Then you gave us Waterworks with its general resist and block gear and I was disappointed mainly cause general resist was a feature of Ice gear. As we progressed through the new worlds(Zafaria - Krysalys) I noticed the mob and boss critical rating increasing, at this point i had to drop Waterworks gear and go to crafted till you gave us Aquila. Then you bring us Darkmoor with its rules of punishing us for our pets maycast talents which I thought was wrong. I've spent a lot of time and money like I'm sure others have for the gear I have which is rendered as bad with this new update, because when you lowered our critical/block percentages you didn't do the same to the bosses and mobs, which makes the game twice as hard. I understand you needed to balance the system but you didn't, you broke it. When a Ice wiz gets a critical on him 10 times in a row without blocking there's a serious problem. As a Ice wiz I don't critical that often and when I do chances are it will be blocked, so I've learned to not depend on a critical like other classes have, when I got my One In A Million badge I did it the hard way with multiple blades and traps. So if you if you're not going to change the system so its less punishing to players, then reduce mob boss percentage by the same factor as the players, so we have a fair chance of progressing.

Astrologist
Dec 26, 2013
1124
My most highly advanced wizard is a Life so this response is based on my experiences with Life. Critical has never been a huge part of my game. I keep my critical rating as high as possible for the occasional critical heal. With the new system, I go critical far less than before. Not good from a healing standpoint. When attacking I never relied on critical because normally, especially if I was soloing, fights were ones of attrition. Whomever lasted longer won the fight and I usually came out ahead. Now I rarely critical when attacking but it seems that when I do there's a lot better chance that it WON'T be blocked. Maybe I've been lucky but that's just the way it works for me. The more I play around with it the more it sort of grows on me. I think it levels the playing field when it comes to some of the more powerful bosses. Battles might take a bit longer so it means more strategy and planning must be applied. I find I'm shuffling a LOT more than I ever did. I actually think it adds another layer of depth to the combat system. I won't go so far as to say it's an improvement but maybe, hopefully, an expirimental sidestep.(?)

Explorer
Sep 17, 2008
56
The growing consensus here is that the critical system needs to go.

Even if, like I think you are thinking, you raise the critical block chance... so what? If I have a 50% chance to block a critical and the enemies score a critical hit 80-90% of the time, it will still be too difficult - especially when we go into battle when it is 1 against 4 opponents.

If the critical system is removed, school balance and specialty is restored: storm still does high damage, fire has several dots, ice can stack universal resist, etc.

I want to be able to enjoy the game and have fun, progress through the story, tend to my garden, do some fishing, etc. Right now I cannot progress through the story nor have fun.

Maybe we can divide the realms, make some of them into "Easy" difficulty realms and leave the others as they are currently. Easy difficulty will have no critical or block, nix the cheating bosses, and try to even the odds in a fight.

Please, do something to make it so that I can solo this game again. That is why I chose myth to begin with. I work odd hours, 7 days a week, 7 hours a day. It isn't just that I can't find someone to play with... it's that I don't want to. I want to be left alone, relax in the spiral, go on my own adventure and get out of my own head for a few hours. I certainly don't want to stress over bosses, dungeons, and now regular mobs.

Changes are fine, just try to make it so that the changes don't cause me to pull my own hair out... wait, that isn't the plan here, is it? You want us ALL to be bald?! Cyrus!

Explorer
Sep 15, 2012
53
I've experienced not more than five minutes ago a flaw in this system. I was fighting the Black Baroness the scorpion boss in Kandaha Desert. I was hit with 7 consecutive criticals! Not exaggerating either and on the 7th critical I finally blocked one of them. I have 217 balance critical block rating which equates not almost nothing with the new system. If you want feed back on how to balance this system more I'd start adjusting these bosses ability to critical. I also have over 380 Death critical rating and didn't critical once that entire fight. Again this is feeling much like my power has been taken away. I have Krokopatra fez hat the good one, Malistaire Robes, and the good Meowiarty Boots, exalted Fortune Teller wand, alpha omega ring, and the craftable athane from Sardonyx market which I would think would be more than enough to protect in these fights but as I found out I was dying pretty quickly. Lucky death has life drain spells. Adjustments are needed pretty quickly. Also I've never had so many people message me for help. I think people are really struggling.

Survivor
May 27, 2013
13
Hello, I am exalted and nearly level 110. The block system is horrible even with exalted level gear I can not block in level 70 dungeons. I am not happy that critical percentage was cut nearly in half. Darkmoor has become such a nightmare that my friend can't even get her exalted spell. I fail to block even with conviction half the time as well as when I am using gear that gives me over 400 block. I worked hard to be strong enough to help my friends and I feel like half my work was cast into the wind. Please give us back our critical and block. I always worked more towards damage but after having critical for so long I have grown accustomed to it and the game just isn't the same . I don't feel it was right for to you do that to us.

Historian
Nov 28, 2010
614
I was doing the Deep Spawn battle in the Starfall Sea the other night. On the first round, 2 of the 3 Deep Spawns hit me with unblocked crit 13 pip Tempests. If the third one hadn't have fizzled, even if he didn't crit or I blocked, my Storm wizard would have been dead in the first round.

That is not my idea of fun.

If that is KI's idea of fun, then obviously Wizard101 is not the game for me anymore.

Survivor
Feb 22, 2013
31
To be honest... I like the new updates.
I imagine they have something in mind for when they created this new critical and block system, from how Cyrus quotes it... They make it sound that Wizard101 will continue to make new worlds along with new spell and ability capabilities... Sometimes you have to think... "Why would they do such a thing?""Will we get a trade off for it?""Is there something we don't know about this new change?"... It makes you think...
I intend to continue playing the game and support their decisions. I dont even mind if Critical and Block were removed, this game has meant at least something to me... Thats what counts. At least Wizard101 can make some Wizards happy.
Sure... My critical-universal block is dropped to lvl 50 approx. now... (39% Life Crit-18% Universal, Respectively)... But with my gear being Jade-Yet Not (Rockstar Boots, Exalt Dungeon Gear)... I think I can handle the world just fine.

I look forward to what additional things Wizard101 has in store for us.

Kane Lifebringer, Level 103+ Life Wizard

Suggestion: If ultimately I was asked to throw in an idea on how to change the Critical system...
Id suggest separating the System into 2... One System would be utilized in PvP, the other outside of PvP (Questing, Dungeons, etc.)
The PvP system would utilize the Current Critical System as of the Polaris Changes
The Game World, Area, Dungeon Critical System would utilize the System from Before Polaris.

Survivor
Jan 18, 2010
3
This was a terrible change to make. A lot of players have put a lot of effort (and actual money!) into getting high critical and block ratings. Pre change i had critical 4 out of 5 times. after change it was only half, and is dropping as I gain a few levels in polaris. Shows %45 now. And the block that used to work for me about half the time now shows as 1 ONE percent. Really needs a major tweak.

One really not happy life wizard

Survivor
Jan 23, 2015
10
As of this week I am taking a small break from W101 due to the present problems with crit/block and Polaris being more buggy than a fly trap. I thought about quitting but after putting a lot of my hard earned cash into this game I do not want to quit. Hopefully after my break from W101, King Isle will have sorted out the crit/block and buggy Polaris issues. I am wishing you all and King Isle a great Holiday Season. I won't be back until around January of next year. Happy Holidays!

Survivor
May 27, 2013
13
I am furious. I am level 109 and have 422 critical. And get this I just fought with a level 70 who has 316 critical and has over twice my critical percentage. to have 70% I would require about 650-670 critical. This means I would have to sacrifice damage block and resist just to have a decent critical How is it that a level 70 wizard is easily more powerful than me after all the hard work I have done. Please give me back my critical and block. sheesh I can't block anything I even get critical on even using conviction and I AM WEARING EXALTED LEVEL GEAR that wasn't easy to get i might add. I had to farm one shot duels and darkmoor repeatedly.please do something you must know that this is not right. I want my critical and block back. You didn't even give us extra shadow only gave us more resist and block which the block isn't good I get critical even with 400 plus block. I am seriously unhappy. Why did you even do this to begin with? Tell me how it is fair that lower levels than me have more critical than I do! I worked to hard and you spat on all my hard work I have been playing this over 2 years and it was a long hard road You can't even imagine how this feels!

Survivor
May 27, 2013
13
Blaze Skullthorn on Nov 21, 2015 wrote:
Tweaking? How about overhauling. A boss yesterday in Azteca crit on me 5 times in a row. 5 TIMES. The new system isn't working. What is that boss's crit rating? 7000?

I've been going on Wizard101 every day now for the past few weeks and playing for hours. When this update hit, I've been playing much less. I didn't even log on today. This update makes me NOT have fun. The game isn't fun when a boss crits on you 5 times in a row and you don't block even one, when before I could have blocked at least 3/5. I'm a solo player. Can't solo anymore! I have to put on my full jade armor to ward off the boss's never ending barrage of criticals. Blocks need to be increased and monsters' crits need to be decreased. This is my favorite game! I've been playing since 2008. But when an update like this hits, it makes me re-think playing it.
I totally agree with you the game is so depressing now I have little fun. I can't even talk to my friends I fear I will just will make them sad too. I can't block level seventh ty dungeons even in exalted gear its so sad I just wanna cry. All the hard work I put into this character trashed in an instant. I was fighting with a level 70 today and they have over twice my critical percent even though they have 100 less critical.

Community Leader
I daresay I'm one of the few people who is actually fond of the new critical and block update... at least on paper. The issue is that critical and block only goes so far before every hit is a critical and every critical hit is blocked. The whole system is essentially nullified. In many ways, it's like the "Crit Monsters" and "Jadezillas" problem in the sense that the two went back and forth until there were two extremes that couldn't be pushed any further.

That in mind, the change to the system was not only necessary, but also a good change. The idea behind critical was randomness. Seeing the initial damage but not the DoT effect blocked, or having one enemy block but not all of them, or actually landing a critical on a boss for once are all great effects of the update.

It has been tough for some to adjust because it means they are not hitting all critical hits and their opponents are now actually blocking some of them. There are just a few areas that I believe could use addressing (and you may already be in the process of doing it).

First and foremost, the threshold is increasingly quite rapidly. I went from blocking just about every single hit to having a 12% chance to block a critical hit. On one hand, such a change is great because it means old gear can't be used thirty levels later and still be viable (*cough* Waterworks); you have to get something new. On the other, ten levels should not be such a dramatic drop that it is near impossible to block critical hits. Recommendation #1: Revisit and possibly reevaluate the threshold for critical and block at high levels.

Critical itself is not a huge problem because not landing a critical just means a longer battle, but block IS a problem. Bosses getting huge hits can be detrimental. The good news? You've planned for this and balanced Polaris accordingly, and it shows. Your new system has set you on a path for success for every world moving forward. However, going back and fighting Aphrodite has been a bit more of a challenge with such low block amounts. The solution may be tied into the above suggestion. Recommendation #2: Ensure old bosses have balanced critical and block rates.

Even with the higher threshold, we might be okay if Polaris gear compensated for it. I assume you create any piece of gear as a viable choice for combat use, otherwise, why make it? That in mind, the gear needs more critical and block to work with the evolving threshold. Right now, we're needing more to keep up as we level but getting less on the new gear. There is now an obligation in each world to provide gear that can account for this. Recommendation #3: Add additional critical and block to Polaris items.

All in all, the system update went very well and it's only going to get better from here. If these areas are addressed, I feel that wizards may be more accepting of the change. Thanks for your consideration!

Swordroll's Blog
https://www.swordroll.com/
Illuminator
Oct 22, 2011
1304
I had decided to take my Storm through Polaris first. I have the best crafted gear & pet I can manage, plus a pack wand. I haven't gone through Darkmoor, because I don't have hours of time farming for impossible drops. So, I put together my own gear. The stats I have are nothing to sneeze at, and my resist is better than many wizards I come across.

I am questing with a friend who is a Life wizard, and have picked up another friend who is a Balance. You would think I could stay alive with a Life wizard healing, and a Balance wizard providing traps/blades/heals. Alas, not so. A Storm's health isn't the best in the first place. But, when the enemy CRITS and hits you for more than your FULL health and you don't block, well, game over, dude, even when you have 57-67% resist to Storm (depending on which pet I use).

I very rarely crit, and I almost never block (250+ block rating). I can't build up my block any more than I have, unless I want to completely mess up my gear stats. I can't do that if I'm the hitter!

My Myth and Death, even though they are L100, are still in Khrysalis, and with all the horror stories I'm hearing about crits vs block in that area (and in lower worlds), I think my wizards are going to sit there for a while until KI decides to make some adjustments.

Why did this go live when KI knew that the L50+ worlds were not adjusted? Besides the fact Polaris is so glitchy and still needed fine-tuning, why-oh-why weren't the other worlds adjusted?

UGH! I'm flabbergasted!

- L105
- L100
- L90
- L56

Survivor
May 27, 2013
13
Yea I'm done! I can't believe level 70 players can achieve better critical than I can this is sad and seeing it just infuriates me. Shame that after all the hard work over the 2-3 years I played this you tossed the wind. Its just not even fun anymore

Survivor
May 27, 2013
13
Mirandaassassin II on Nov 21, 2015 wrote:
It is perfectly understandable that the old system will not be returned, as it was nearly as broken as the new one is in it's current state.

Assuming I'm reading the situation correctly, under the new system, even if the target had 100% crit chance, now block would have a chance to activate depending on my gear *for me pre-nerf was 56%*, so even with that certain crit chance, i would still block the criticals just over half the time.

I think the system is fine as it is, but i feel the percentage nerf was completely unnecessary. Personally I think a good bet would be to at the very least raise crit/block percentages to where they were pre-nerf. Just a bit of constructive criticism.

LONG LIVE THE SPIRAL!
If you think the system is fine as it is then you have definitely not been in darkmoor. I am level 109 with exalted level gear I can't even block in level 70 dungeons. I can't even block with 400+ block gear on most of the time. I only block maybe half the time even with conviction if I'm lucky. And you tell me if this is fine: I worked on my death Gabriel for over 2 years and worked very hard to get where I am and now level 70s easily attain higher critical than me without having to sacrifice all their other stats. Tell me again you think its fine when you try to get your exalted level spell and you all give up after hours of dying in darkmoor!

Survivor
Nov 27, 2009
4
I agree with the general feedback. I've been shocked in the last couple of days at how badly the system has been altered. I've scored I believe two blocks against dozens of crits thrown at me, while not scoring a critical more than once that I can recall. It's horrendous.

Not only that, but to add to the problem, of course, is that crits also effect healing! Now that our chances of scoring a crit have been decimated, we can say goodbye to crit heals, which makes everything that much more difficult. I was used to scoring crit heals about half the time - now, I haven't scored a single one since the update, with the same gear.

Really, really bad update...