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*new* Henchmen

AuthorMessage
Historian
Aug 10, 2009
640
It would be awesome if someone from KI would explain their thinking. Talk to us KI! Make us understand why you did what you did with henchmen.. Please!

ellie

Mastermind
Aug 10, 2011
329
I really think the henchman arent doing anything. Infact they aren't. I won't be buying these henchman. I'll stick to my friends, treasure cards, and the advances of my school magic. ( aka death ) :x

Survivor
Aug 25, 2010
6
annettetru84 wrote:
I have played pretty regulary for about 2 years now. I have utilized the henchmen on several occassions. I have thus far been very entertained by the game. However, after logging in this morning and entered a battle, I was shocked with the high costs of the henchmen. I gave them a try and noticed that none of the henchmen that I OVERPAID for did anything spectacular.


I have have similar experience as annettetru84 and others. I use to use henchman now and again to get me through a battle if no friends were online. I bought one of the new LIFE henchman for a battle and I will say, I will NEVER buy another. What a waste of money. I had to buy a second one. A lvl 40 LIFE wizard henchman just to get me through the battle. I do not mind spending the crowns now and again, but the henchman healing itself over and over and over when it already had full health is just wrong. Not to mention that the first spell it play was a headlining spell.... On itself as it entered the battle. Not even a after burn one, Just a wasted spell.

KI please put the henchman back!

Explorer
Jan 29, 2009
74
I concur with everything that has been said so far. Since I failed to read the message boards, I to was shocked when I was expecting a 70 Crown versus a 400 Crown Lvl 70 henchman.

I do suggest that perhaps someone from KI enter this thread and explain why the price suddenly increased for all henchmen or that there is a plan in place to bring the prices back down to normal levels again.

Survivor
Sep 04, 2010
8
I agree with everything being said in this post, give us the old Henchmen back for 60 Crowns or lower the cost of the new ones. We don't like them, we don't want them, we want our old Henchmen back even if they only come at level 60 an cost 60 crowns be better then the new Henchmen.

Geographer
Nov 22, 2010
836
Cheryl09 wrote:
It would be awesome if someone from KI would explain their thinking. Talk to us KI!


In case you hadn't noticed, KI staff almost never responds to customer complaints in the forum threads. If you really want to hear from them, email support.

I'm betting that the life henchman healing itself instead of the player is a bug. The old life henchmen and the minions had that problem for a while and KI got it fixed. Pretty sure they'll get this fixed too.

As for the prices, I agree. they are outrageous for what you get.

If I'm going to pay 400 crowns for a henchman, I want it to function as a boss of its rank will - with the appropriate spells and resistances AND cheats if it's high enough level, AND I want it to hang around and join me in ever battle for an hour after I bought it.


Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
Shiola wrote:
I agree with everything being said in this post, give us the old Henchmen back for 60 Crowns or lower the cost of the new ones. We don't like them, we don't want them, we want our old Henchmen back even if they only come at level 60 an cost 60 crowns be better then the new Henchmen.


I whole heartedly agree. Give us the old henchmen back at the original prices. Turn the level 70 henchmen into human henchmen at 70 crowns. They were a lot better than the new ones and more reliable. At least if you hired a life henchman, you did get some healing if you needed it or enough help to allow you to do some self heal.

Administrator
We are re-assessing the value of the henchmen to ensure they’re appropriately balanced in terms of power and cost. We understand you may be frustrated with this first iteration, but request your patience. As always, the community feedback is heard and given full consideration with this on-going process.


community@wizard101.com
Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
Professor Greyrose wrote:
We are re-assessing the value of the henchmen to ensure they’re appropriately balanced in terms of power and cost. We understand you may be frustrated with this first iteration, but request your patience. As always, the community feedback is heard and given full consideration with this on-going process.


Thank you Professor Greyrose. At least we know now that KI is listening. We just want our old henchmen back at the original prices.

Explorer
Sep 01, 2010
64
Professor Greyrose wrote:
New level 50, 60 and 70 Henchmen are now available in the Crown Shop. You will notice that the previous Henchmen for level 50 and 60 have been removed and replaced with these upgraded Henchmen. They cost more but they are MUCH stronger!

https://www.wizard101.com/game/update-notes/november2011#henchmen


I think you might start losing money because the henchman are too much.
I only buy lvl 40 henchman now because they are too much cost.

Delver
Sep 22, 2010
213
Professor Greyrose wrote:
We are re-assessing the value of the henchmen to ensure they’re appropriately balanced in terms of power and cost. We understand you may be frustrated with this first iteration, but request your patience. As always, the community feedback is heard and given full consideration with this on-going process.


Thank you for your response Professor Greyrose and yes we Know you will do the right thing.... Plus The Henchmen need to be fixed not redone...fix them to the point that they help the player paying for them not the Henchmen them selfs....

Hope your ThanksGiving Is a Great one....

Historian
Aug 10, 2009
640
Professor Greyrose wrote:
We are re-assessing the value of the henchmen to ensure they’re appropriately balanced in terms of power and cost. We understand you may be frustrated with this first iteration, but request your patience. As always, the community feedback is heard and given full consideration with this on-going process.


TY Prof. Greyrose for your responce and the fact that you guys are looking into the henchmen. It would be awesome to have the prices lowered so we could afford to use them :)

ellie

Geographer
Nov 22, 2010
836
Professor Greyrose wrote:
We are re-assessing the value of the henchmen to ensure they’re appropriately balanced in terms of power and cost. We understand you may be frustrated with this first iteration, but request your patience. As always, the community feedback is heard and given full consideration with this on-going process.


Most companies employee focus groups, polls, and other means of collecting feedback before doing something like this. Perhaps KI should pay attention to what the big corps had to learn the hard way?

Remember when Coke changed it's formula without bothering to ask its customers? There was a massive outcry and Coke found itself in such trouble over night that it had the old Coke recipe back in production within a week.

Remember when McDonalds decided that they were tired of marketing to kids and sunk a bunch of money into ads featuring Ronald McDonald and the adult baby boomer crowd? Remember the huge flop that was and how badly McDonalds bottom line was hurt?

It would be very good if KI would step back and pay attention to what other businesses have had to learn the hard way. And from now on instead of just full steam ahead on every idea, (releasing stuff to the live game well before it is actually bug free ((not sure what the point of the test realm is, actually since most of the testing seems to be done on the live game )) and doing stuff like the henchman fiasco) it would be a good idea if KI involved the customer base well before any major changes went into the product.

Customers do vote with their feet. No company can afford to have paying customers upset and leaving while they scramble to fix things that wouldn't have been broken if they had talked to their customers and then followed their customers feedback before taking major steps.

Defender
May 31, 2011
133
Professor Greyrose wrote:
We are re-assessing the value of the henchmen to ensure they’re appropriately balanced in terms of power and cost. We understand you may be frustrated with this first iteration, but request your patience. As always, the community feedback is heard and given full consideration with this on-going process.


Thank you for letting us know we have been heard. The way henchmen are being used by your customers you have price it WAY beyond what it is worth. Even with stronger spells and better healing I will not be buying them at the current prices. Frankly I cannot afford it.

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
crystalwizard12345... wrote:
Professor Greyrose wrote:
We are re-assessing the value of the henchmen to ensure they’re appropriately balanced in terms of power and cost. We understand you may be frustrated with this first iteration, but request your patience. As always, the community feedback is heard and given full consideration with this on-going process.


Most companies employee focus groups, polls, and other means of collecting feedback before doing something like this. Perhaps KI should pay attention to what the big corps had to learn the hard way?

Remember when Coke changed it's formula without bothering to ask its customers? There was a massive outcry and Coke found itself in such trouble over night that it had the old Coke recipe back in production within a week.

Remember when McDonalds decided that they were tired of marketing to kids and sunk a bunch of money into ads featuring Ronald McDonald and the adult baby boomer crowd? Remember the huge flop that was and how badly McDonalds bottom line was hurt?

It would be very good if KI would step back and pay attention to what other businesses have had to learn the hard way. And from now on instead of just full steam ahead on every idea, (releasing stuff to the live game well before it is actually bug free ((not sure what the point of the test realm is, actually since most of the testing seems to be done on the live game )) and doing stuff like the henchman fiasco) it would be a good idea if KI involved the customer base well before any major changes went into the product.

Customers do vote with their feet. No company can afford to have paying customers upset and leaving while they scramble to fix things that wouldn't have been broken if they had talked to their customers and then followed their customers feedback before taking major steps.


KI does a good job on listening to our feedback just the way the are set up. Just because "big" businesses may have "focus groups" does not mean they really pay that much attention until their revenue takes a major dive.

The unfortunate issue with the bugs is that some of them don't show up until the game does go live. You have to remember that ONLY members are allowed in test and those that have purchased so many crowns with in a certain time frame. So, when you are not running all wizards, some things may not be noticed until it is live.

Not everyone that has legendaries has the test game on their computer and this also reduces the number of players testing. When it went live, the realms were crammed full. The more players there are trying to get into a new area, the slower it is to load and the harder it is to run. This is when a lot of glitches are going to show up.

I did run in test and some of the problems that are now evident, I did not see in test except the issue with the henchmen.

Other than a few details that KI is already aware of, the biggest problem has been the new henchmen. And, yes, this was brought up in the test realm forum.

But for the fact that it is extremely hard to run in a new area for a few weeks after release, I chose not to run my Legends in Zafaria until after the holidays and the problems fixed. Just give KI time to get these issues fixed and THEY WILL.

As to the henchmen, I won't be using them unless they are returned to the original with original prices. This also means that my wizards will probably not be getting that next spell. I don't use them anyway unless I have no other options, but at 100, 200, and 400 crowns, NOT GOING TO HAPPEN.

Survivor
Apr 03, 2010
1
Thank you for looking into the henchmen, KI. I play solo and know quite a few others that solo through Wizards. We are older players that prefer henchmen at our sides. You will lose alot of money with this price jump. You have some very loyal, older customers who spend crowns. They WILL NOT be spending cash for crowns with this price jump.

Survivor
Jul 28, 2009
2
would like old henchmen back - bought a couple of life henchmen and before they would have helped to HEAL ME - they just healed themselves. I DIED and they kept playing and never healed me. Before if I died they would at least try and heal me.

I tried a couple of different levels to see if it was just the level of the henchmen, but it was true to levels 40 and above. The fought okay - but the life henchmen, i would get them to help heal me, while i attacked. not so much anymore

Survivor
Jul 28, 2009
2
I decided to try the henchman again this morning - spent two hundred crowns. First three turns he healed himself. Not just one turn, but the first THREE turns he healed himself. He hadn't even been hit and he still healed himself three times in a row.

Please bring back the OLD life henchmen,. they could be counted on to heal their players and not just hang around and do nothing be heal themselves.

It was pathetic :( :( :( :( :(

Survivor
Jul 29, 2009
1
i am disable and a lot of times i play this game solo so i used henchmen to help me with some quest but at the price now i can't afford it sorry KI, i will not be useing henchmen at that price.

Survivor
Jan 08, 2011
1
I personally am boycotting the crazy prices...i too had too had the same problems with life and storm henchmen. For now ill stick to the 40C level 40 henchmen. Sorry Wizard101 but the prices are just too much for me.

Survivor
Jun 05, 2011
10
I have hired, on two different occasions, one of the new level 70 life henchmen. I don't know what the heck KI was thinking when they decided to up the price from 60 crowns to the ridiculously high amount of 400 crowns but
I can tell you what I think about the change. I think someone needs a vacation or a raise or whatever it was that inspired the change. Who, in their right mind, would knowingly pay 400 crowns for an over sized monkey that does absolutely nothing during a fight but heal itself over and over, while allowing my health to drop to 9 for several turns and then let me die next to him while he ends the fight with a Saraph instead of healing me back to life. Do you think we hire henchmen to join the fight and heal itself instead of the group who hired him. I paid the 400 crowns expecting something short of miraculous to help me through a boss fight I had to solo. If I had hired that monkey in the real world, he would, by now, have been brought up on charges of malpractice. I personally feel like I should call the better business bureau about the lack of care I received from your so called life professional. I'm quite sure I would have fared better using a Balance henchman, (though I will not be wasting any more money to find out).

Do not waste your crowns on these new Henchmen, at least not the life. The only other thing I have to say about my experience with the level 70 henchmen is that I seriously, (and I'm not kidding) want my crowns back. I feel cheated and scammed and refunding my crowns for the death and disappointment I received from my experience using one, I feel, is the very least KI should do.

Survivor
Jul 28, 2009
15
I usually solo as alot of the time I play when my friends are not online.
I've used the Life wiz many times when fighting a big boss and was always pleased with the way it performed. The new ones are a huge disappointment!
I have tried them a few times this week and while I wasn't happy with the price I thought I'd give it a shot. I died every time. He just kept healing himself. After about 5 or 6 rounds he did hit me with a sprite . Big deal, it was the only helpful spell I got. Thank goodness for link and power link!
I have both my son and a grandson on my account and my daughter has her own master account and we all ask please change the price and the way they perform back to the way it was. To pay that much for such a poor result just isn't worth it. We love the game and appreciate the hard work and changes you've made but this one def is a bust. Sorry. =c(


Delver
Sep 22, 2010
213
Im just wondering Were we are with the whole Henchmen being fixed thing....


I know things don't happen over night but Hopefully your not seeing how it goes and how many you sell.... (a so called Pole) .... And i hate to say this with all the hipe on high prices but what started the whole Henchmen thing was the way they performed .... I mean i think if they acted right and was actually stronger and helped the buyer (Life 70 Henchmen)... most people would of mummbled about the price instead of feeling ripped off...

Thanks for Reaading....

Armiger
Feb 25, 2009
2425
dragonpower333 wrote:
Im just wondering Were we are with the whole Henchmen being fixed thing....


I know things don't happen over night but Hopefully your not seeing how it goes and how many you sell.... (a so called Pole) .... And i hate to say this with all the hipe on high prices but what started the whole Henchmen thing was the way they performed .... I mean i think if they acted right and was actually stronger and helped the buyer (Life 70 Henchmen)... most people would of mummbled about the price instead of feeling ripped off...

Thanks for Reaading....


Sorry to disagree with you about the prices, but there are MANY players that can't afford to dump that many crowns into hiring henchmen at those prices even if they did work right.

There are a lot of us OLDER players on FIXED incomes that can only buy a few crowns at any given time and very rare. We will end up having our wizards just sitting if we can't get a decent henchman or 2 for those occasional spell quests or when we are trying to battle a boss with no friends online at the time. There are also a LOT OF PARENTS that are not going to buy crowns for their kids to use up that fast.

The fixes will probably take place when KI does a regular maintenance after they get the henchmen reworked. It might be something that KI needs to take back to the "TEST" realms before going live again.

Delver
Sep 22, 2010
213
goldendragon18 wrote:
dragonpower333 wrote:
Im just wondering Were we are with the whole Henchmen being fixed thing....


I know things don't happen over night but Hopefully your not seeing how it goes and how many you sell.... (a so called Pole) .... And i hate to say this with all the hipe on high prices but what started the whole Henchmen thing was the way they performed .... I mean i think if they acted right and was actually stronger and helped the buyer (Life 70 Henchmen)... most people would of mummbled about the price instead of feeling ripped off...

Thanks for Reaading....


Sorry to disagree with you about the prices, but there are MANY players that can't afford to dump that many crowns into hiring henchmen at those prices even if they did work right.

There are a lot of us OLDER players on FIXED incomes that can only buy a few crowns at any given time and very rare. We will end up having our wizards just sitting if we can't get a decent henchman or 2 for those occasional spell quests or when we are trying to battle a boss with no friends online at the time. There are also a LOT OF PARENTS that are not going to buy crowns for their kids to use up that fast.

The fixes will probably take place when KI does a regular maintenance after they get the henchmen reworked. It might be something that KI needs to take back to the "TEST" realms before going live again.


What i was trying to say is at first we bought it tried it didn't like it then a down hill affect .... Yes the prices are to high even if they did work right.... But i would think that the gripe wouldn't be so bad if it were just the prices and not both....



Thanks for Reading