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Make Wizard City Free to Play

AuthorMessage
Explorer
Oct 04, 2012
51
Hello fellow wizards my name is Jason and I’ve played wizard101 for almost 6 years now. I enjoy spending time in the game because I find it relaxing at times and entertaining. One thing I remember when I first started playing is Fire Cat Alley and Cyclops Lane plus many others in wizard city wasn’t free. Now I Bought the areas in the game now but I feel like it should be free. When I stumbled upon the problem I almost reconsidered not playing anymore but after a while I really wanted to become stronger so I got crowns and bought some areas. Wizard City should be free to attract players into wanting to continue the game. New players will be fascinated into the first world and would want to continue on. Limiting to only a few areas in wizard city is pretty boring and may not interest other players like I was at first. Let me know what you all think down below.
JasonFrostCatcher 123
Jason ThunderStaff 100

Astrologist
Aug 23, 2016
1059
I do not recall how much of W101 had been released in back in 2009. But I do know that my daughter had made it into Mooshu before she left for Basic Training that Summer. So I'm going to go with all five of the first arc worlds had been released by then. Wizard City was 1/5 of the total play availability and 1/5 of Wizard City was free to play.

There are now 16 worlds in the W101 spiral (Including Aquila, Grizzlheim, and Wysteria). So making the entirety of WC a FREE to play area would now be less of an overall percentage of free to premium areas than what was originally offered.

I honestly think that turning WC into all Free Zone now, in time for the 10th anniversary would be a great marketing campaign. Come back to Wizard City, everything OLD is NEW again and now with more free to play areas.

Steven Ghoststalker
101

Survivor
Dec 20, 2008
27
Jason thunderstaff on Jun 30, 2018 wrote:
Hello fellow wizards my name is Jason and I’ve played wizard101 for almost 6 years now. I enjoy spending time in the game because I find it relaxing at times and entertaining. One thing I remember when I first started playing is Fire Cat Alley and Cyclops Lane plus many others in wizard city wasn’t free. Now I Bought the areas in the game now but I feel like it should be free. When I stumbled upon the problem I almost reconsidered not playing anymore but after a while I really wanted to become stronger so I got crowns and bought some areas. Wizard City should be free to attract players into wanting to continue the game. New players will be fascinated into the first world and would want to continue on. Limiting to only a few areas in wizard city is pretty boring and may not interest other players like I was at first. Let me know what you all think down below.
JasonFrostCatcher 123
Jason ThunderStaff 100
I say go farther beyond that. I say make Wizard City AND Krokotopia free. I feel like it'd be a great way to see more of what the game has to offer beyond Wizard City. I've played since December 2008, and while making Wizard City free back then would have effectively made the game 20% or 25% non-member (pre-DS and when DS was released), today that really doesn't seem like a huge issue considering how many worlds there are and are coming. If not Krokotopia, then at least just Wizard City.

Hunter Myth 125

Armiger
Aug 03, 2014
2101
The purpose of having any of it free is to give enough of a taste of the game that people who otherwise wouldn't have bought into it choose to.

The real question isn't really what percentage of the game it represents but is it enough of a taster to persuade people to pay?

The trouble with this question is that the only people looking at it are players who have bought into it. The unanimous verdict is that it was enough...or we'd have left to play something else.

A good way to determine the balance of giving enough free to encourage the highest number of new players into paying would be to take a large group of people who know nothing about the game and have groups playing different amounts of content for free, then finding the percentage of those who would consider paying. If adding another zone gave a significant higher percentage saying they'd pay then it would be worth expanding the free areas. If it remains about the same there is no benefit and is just giving away potential revenue to people who will never pay anyway.

Astrologist
Feb 28, 2014
1113
I think Making all of Wizard City free to play is a strong enough tasted for players to decide if they like the game well enough to continue with a membership. If still undecided, you can always buy a 1 month Membership to quest further and expand later.

Armiger
Jan 11, 2012
2497
This type of request comes up frequently. Expanding the free area would be fine, in my opinion, but it should ONLY be WC. Anything more than that is people just being greedy. I stated in other posts about this that I feel IF this was done, that it should be main story quests, and WC spell quests only. If there is a spell that requires travel to any other worlds, you can't get it unless you purchase the game. This way, when they pay for the game, they get expanded play in WC. Thinking more on it, since I last posted, I don't think there should be ANY non-combat (gardening, monstrology, pet training, or crafting) options allowed. You're getting the WC STORY and SPELL quests for free; nothing else. I would have no problem getting the quest talking about your Dorm room, because that has nothing to do with questing. You gain no advantage for questing if you have a dorm room.

Armiger
Aug 03, 2014
2101
dayerider on Jul 2, 2018 wrote:
This type of request comes up frequently. Expanding the free area would be fine, in my opinion, but it should ONLY be WC. Anything more than that is people just being greedy. I stated in other posts about this that I feel IF this was done, that it should be main story quests, and WC spell quests only. If there is a spell that requires travel to any other worlds, you can't get it unless you purchase the game. This way, when they pay for the game, they get expanded play in WC. Thinking more on it, since I last posted, I don't think there should be ANY non-combat (gardening, monstrology, pet training, or crafting) options allowed. You're getting the WC STORY and SPELL quests for free; nothing else. I would have no problem getting the quest talking about your Dorm room, because that has nothing to do with questing. You gain no advantage for questing if you have a dorm room.
I respect your opinion and see where you're coming from even though I disagree

I think that letting potential new customers try out the different activities but not giving enough for them to really achieve or progress with them without buying into the game is a good way for people to see if they enjoy it and feel more compelled to make a payment.

The hardest step is persuading someone to make the first purchase, it's harder to turn back once you've invested even a small amount and easier to make further purchases because you're already financially invested.

With F2P there is no sense of completion and a constant awareness there is sooooo much more. Allowing completion would, imo, be a mistake and some of those who would have invested may decide they have enough to feel a sense of satisfaction.

I wanted to quest more, I wanted to see other places, I wanted to get more gardening spells and be able to plant more things, I wanted to catch more fish and get better spells...every single thing I only got a taster of was another reason to buy that first paid zone...

Unless people invest they can only start introductions to things but never complete anything properly. The more side activities they can try out but not fully enjoy, the more reasons they have to 'just spend a few dollars'...then before they know it they have multiple accounts on repeat memberships, regular crown purchases and a dozen bundles

PS. This is how KI lured me in....and I'm glad I took the bait!

Armiger
Jan 11, 2012
2497
Victoria FireHeart on Jul 3, 2018 wrote:
I respect your opinion and see where you're coming from even though I disagree

I think that letting potential new customers try out the different activities but not giving enough for them to really achieve or progress with them without buying into the game is a good way for people to see if they enjoy it and feel more compelled to make a payment.

The hardest step is persuading someone to make the first purchase, it's harder to turn back once you've invested even a small amount and easier to make further purchases because you're already financially invested.

With F2P there is no sense of completion and a constant awareness there is sooooo much more. Allowing completion would, imo, be a mistake and some of those who would have invested may decide they have enough to feel a sense of satisfaction.

I wanted to quest more, I wanted to see other places, I wanted to get more gardening spells and be able to plant more things, I wanted to catch more fish and get better spells...every single thing I only got a taster of was another reason to buy that first paid zone...

Unless people invest they can only start introductions to things but never complete anything properly. The more side activities they can try out but not fully enjoy, the more reasons they have to 'just spend a few dollars'...then before they know it they have multiple accounts on repeat memberships, regular crown purchases and a dozen bundles

PS. This is how KI lured me in....and I'm glad I took the bait!
nothing wrong with having a differing opinion, especially when you voice it respectfully :) As for being lured in, the extra stuff didnt lure me in. For me, it was the "ok, I did all that and I have all these quests still. What do i do with them? Ok, well, I want to get my next spell before I start paying for it."

Survivor
Dec 20, 2008
27
Victoria FireHeart on Jul 2, 2018 wrote:
The purpose of having any of it free is to give enough of a taste of the game that people who otherwise wouldn't have bought into it choose to.

The real question isn't really what percentage of the game it represents but is it enough of a taster to persuade people to pay?

The trouble with this question is that the only people looking at it are players who have bought into it. The unanimous verdict is that it was enough...or we'd have left to play something else.

A good way to determine the balance of giving enough free to encourage the highest number of new players into paying would be to take a large group of people who know nothing about the game and have groups playing different amounts of content for free, then finding the percentage of those who would consider paying. If adding another zone gave a significant higher percentage saying they'd pay then it would be worth expanding the free areas. If it remains about the same there is no benefit and is just giving away potential revenue to people who will never pay anyway.
Interesting. This does give some more thought to the request.

Thank you for your insight!

Armiger
Aug 03, 2014
2101
dayerider on Jul 3, 2018 wrote:
nothing wrong with having a differing opinion, especially when you voice it respectfully :) As for being lured in, the extra stuff didnt lure me in. For me, it was the "ok, I did all that and I have all these quests still. What do i do with them? Ok, well, I want to get my next spell before I start paying for it."
But you DID start paying for it, right? So it was enough of a taster!

It would be very interesting to know what the optimum point in free trial is for maximum conversion to becoming paying customers.

I was predominantly lured in by questing and my overwhelming neeeeeed to see Firecat Alley hahaha, but fishing and gardening etc did contribute to it because I knew there was a lot of things I'd enjoy and they were not all dependant on my daughter being online at the same time. I was 'not allowed' to quest without her but I was able to go fishing or do side activities etc when I was sneaking on while she was at school or out with her friends irl