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Changes to Critical Hit and Critical Block system

AuthorMessage
Survivor
Jan 25, 2013
27
E Kim on Jan 11, 2016 wrote:
Ok, I know Kingsisle said they fixed the critical and block chance but I don't see a change at all. When fighting Khrysalis bosses, I notice sometimes I block and other times I don't. I have 264 block rating and I only block occasionally, even if it's a low leveled boss. For example, if I fight a boss in Celestia that's rank 5, I don't block their critical. Why does this happen?! Not only with blocking but also when I critical! With my Hades Death wand, my critical rating is between 260-280. I only use this wand when I farm GH (Grizzleheim) bosses, specifically Vestrilund, and I only critical occasionally. These bosses also critical as well and I also occasionally block! I don't get it all Kingsisle.

Does this still happen to anyone else or is it just me?

Kingsisle, please fix this issue

~~~Nicole ShadowDreamer
It happens to me too, I'm pretty upset with the new system too

It would be great and all Kingsisle, if you could fix this issue

Delver
Jan 17, 2013
251
E Kim on Jan 11, 2016 wrote:
Ok, I know Kingsisle said they fixed the critical and block chance but I don't see a change at all. When fighting Khrysalis bosses, I notice sometimes I block and other times I don't. I have 264 block rating and I only block occasionally, even if it's a low leveled boss. For example, if I fight a boss in Celestia that's rank 5, I don't block their critical. Why does this happen?! Not only with blocking but also when I critical! With my Hades Death wand, my critical rating is between 260-280. I only use this wand when I farm GH (Grizzleheim) bosses, specifically Vestrilund, and I only critical occasionally. These bosses also critical as well and I also occasionally block! I don't get it all Kingsisle.

Does this still happen to anyone else or is it just me?

Kingsisle, please fix this issue

~~~Nicole ShadowDreamer
There was a very minor change.

Before the update December 3rd update occurred, I recorded both critical and block for all my Exalted and Prodigious characters. After the update occurred, I recorded the numbers again. For all my characters, both critical and block went up 6%.

Players should also know that it would be pointless for everyone to have their old block percentage back. If everyone now suddenly got 90% block, what would the game be like at level 200? There must be a way for us to improve, otherwise leveling up would be pointless. Apparently, KI's view of us "improving" is by lowering everyone's rating, and offering higher rating gear in the upcoming worlds.

Survivor
Apr 09, 2014
3
i am a and a lvl 33 i have 32 critical hit and 15 block would it be possible to have it go a little bit more critical it frustrates me when i never go critical

Survivor
May 31, 2011
2
I only have a 34% chance of critics now

Survivor
May 31, 2011
2
Yeah, it's a lot more difficult to critical now

Survivor
Apr 09, 2014
3
makes me mad when it never goes critical

Survivor
Jan 25, 2013
27
I hate it when I never get a critical hit, please if you could seriously fix this, critical hits are like the best hits with the most damage, but now I never, like barely ever get them.

-Alexis SoulSong

Survivor
Sep 10, 2011
14
Professor Drake on Nov 20, 2015 wrote:
Greetings, students. I would like to take some time to comment on the recent adjustments made to the Critical and Block system. As many of you are aware, we made significant changes to the system and how it works. These changes were not made lightly. I want to assure you that we would not have made these changes if we did not feel they were absolutely necessary. With this in mind, the system will not be reverted to the way it was in the past.

If it wasn’t made clear before, this is how the new system works: The attacker will roll to see if they score a Critical Hit. If the attack is a Critical, then the defender will roll to see if they successfully Block the Critical hit. Because this is working differently than how it was calculated before, some of you will notice a change in your chance to score a Critical Hit or Block.

Please give it a try and see the how the changes impact your gameplay in practice. We take your feedback very seriously (both positive and negative). We read the forums here and on other sites. Based on feedback we have already received, we are looking at tweaking some numbers to improve scores at certain points in the level curve. Overall, we want a healthy game where players are having fun. We will continue to monitor player feedback and your progression through the game.
Sadly the update for the new critical system makes the game alot longer for battles

in the past you could easily critical a tempest and be done making soloing much easier

even with the best gear its still a pain

in my opinion i don't like the new critical system

Survivor
Jun 02, 2014
49
At least make a critical system.

Defender
Nov 19, 2009
160
Blaze Icehead on Jan 26, 2016 wrote:
At least make a critical system.
Yes Make a life critical percent. Honestly this is killing the healing I am capable of doing. I can get up to a 62% chance to critical an Honestly I dont critical With 62%. I have perhaps critical 5 times in the last 2 hours. And I have been constantly doing team Up and I noticed a drastic change in the last Day. Idk if they made more adjustments.

Survivor
Jan 13, 2015
46
Maycast on Jan 27, 2016 wrote:
Yes Make a life critical percent. Honestly this is killing the healing I am capable of doing. I can get up to a 62% chance to critical an Honestly I dont critical With 62%. I have perhaps critical 5 times in the last 2 hours. And I have been constantly doing team Up and I noticed a drastic change in the last Day. Idk if they made more adjustments.
I agree.

For the most part,I really like the change to the critical system. I like the fact that bosses don't critical block all the time and no one critical hits all the time. It's much closer to the way critical should be.

but

It really hurts the healing system.

So, either up the chance for critical heals, or give all the schools more powerful heals, especially storm. Storm's only school heal is current, and it's laughable how little it heals most of the time.

Survivor
Jun 05, 2014
1
Hi I have a question about the new critical and critical block and how does it work and why it's so poor
I played some wizard101 today and had a level 10 land a critical on me with only 10 critical and I have about 500 block of so. I suggest you change it back to the old way kings isle for pvp

Survivor
Sep 10, 2009
20
enrique12060 on Feb 5, 2016 wrote:
Hi I have a question about the new critical and critical block and how does it work and why it's so poor
I played some wizard101 today and had a level 10 land a critical on me with only 10 critical and I have about 500 block of so. I suggest you change it back to the old way kings isle for pvp
Just because a level 10 criticaled on you isn't a good enough excuse. Yes he landed but to be honest he has a next to zero chance of blocking your criticals and his/hers frequency of criticals isn't even on par with yours. I am so glad this update changed the way critical works now. More randomness and more fairness in my opinion. To those who love to complain, most likely you had a high enough critical pre-Polaris that you can critical a good amount of times on people and a high enough block that you can block the majority of hits. Too much of an advantage to the average player. But I am still firm in my belief that critical and critical block should be available to wizards ABOVE level 50 and if a wizard below level 50 has a pet that contain such statistics then it shouldn't be giving them that advantage.

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
enrique12060 on Feb 5, 2016 wrote:
Hi I have a question about the new critical and critical block and how does it work and why it's so poor
I played some wizard101 today and had a level 10 land a critical on me with only 10 critical and I have about 500 block of so. I suggest you change it back to the old way kings isle for pvp
the only group that's benefited at all from this "updated" system is pvp.

though no one will come out and say it, it's obvious to anyone with even a shred of understanding that the system was implemented to fix pvp (so that those without darkmoor gear could stand a chance against those with it, and that the level 10 warlords who get paired up with level 50+ privates might have a fair match), as is evidenced by your comment above.

the new system is a failure; people complained about it in test, and are still unhappy with it now. it's a mistake and never should have been implemented to begin with.

(if it was "never supposed to work that way", as ki mods have posted all over the boards since this fiasco started, then it should have been fixed right out of the gate, rather than just expecting us to adapt 50 levels later)

Explorer
Nov 24, 2010
83
BrynnerOfReign on Nov 20, 2015 wrote:
Frankly, we should completely drop the block and critical from the game itself. For that matter, let's also drop pierce and other buffs. Let's just play without a bunch of enhancements so that people have to actually learn how to play their own schools. This would make a more even playing field between us and the NPC's, if we're stripped of all the convoluted extra stuff.
How about buffing the NPCs instead, like Darkmoor? That was pretty challenging.
60% pierce wrecks us!

Explorer
Nov 24, 2010
83
Angel of Solitude on Nov 21, 2015 wrote:
I am sorry to say this, but I will most likely stop playing this game if nothing is done about Life critical heals. I have already posted throughout the forum stating how Life was severely impacted with this update. I strongly suggest clicking on my name and reading how the new critical system impacted Life significantly. Please do.

I still can't figure out how this update balances the game. How does taking Life's ability to heal effectively balance the game? I want a serious answer to my question--and no, the minor bonus to critical heals does NOT solve this dilemma. At least make the critical healing calculations different than the damage critical calculations so we may actually heal ourselves and others effectively. After all, Life was always meant to be able to heal others effectively. Please consider this change, and I once again ask you to read my posts about the new critical system and its effects on the Life school. Please make this game enjoyable to play again. Life really needs healing critical back to keep up with all the other schools. Please, take this idea into consideration and take your time to realize that Life is no longer a healing school.
Try an outgoing build as an alternative. The Rat drops the Majoris Armor Of Impulse, which grants +41% outgoing healing, and a solid block rating. Combine this with an outgoing ring such as the Ring Of The Dying Star, or try balancing out both outgoing and critical.

The Majoris Armor covers your loss of block when you equip the Majoris Trekkers Of Impulse, giving you a balance between block, critical, and outgoing.

With both pieces of gear equipped, you'd have:

1. +41% outgoing healing (+76% outgoing healing when the Ring of the Dying Star is equipped)

2. +136 block rating

3. +95 critical rating

Try it out!

Explorer
Nov 24, 2010
83
Mindy GoldenHeart on Nov 21, 2015 wrote:
Congratulations, everyone has already experienced everything with this system, and the results are destructive. You just lost more costumers who are my friends in the game. I don't even think that I will continue with this game anymore. Even P101 is better, at least they didn't make any changes that ruin the game.
Pirate101 is actually now more similar to Wizard101 than it may seem. With the critical changes, critical and block percentages have been reduced to an average of 30%.

To relate this to Pirate101, there is a maximum of a 25% critical chance and/or block (more or less).
With both games now, there's a SMALL chance to critical, and a SMALL chance to block, which should be the way the system works instead of a 100% chance to critical and a 100% chance to block, which was just unbelievably broken.

In conclusion, this tweak to the system in Wizard101's critical system was completely necessary. Kingsisle has done a fantastic job of balancing it out to make their games enjoyable and challenging for all ages.

Survivor
Mar 25, 2014
20
Dr Von on Feb 13, 2016 wrote:
the only group that's benefited at all from this "updated" system is pvp.

though no one will come out and say it, it's obvious to anyone with even a shred of understanding that the system was implemented to fix pvp (so that those without darkmoor gear could stand a chance against those with it, and that the level 10 warlords who get paired up with level 50+ privates might have a fair match), as is evidenced by your comment above.

the new system is a failure; people complained about it in test, and are still unhappy with it now. it's a mistake and never should have been implemented to begin with.

(if it was "never supposed to work that way", as ki mods have posted all over the boards since this fiasco started, then it should have been fixed right out of the gate, rather than just expecting us to adapt 50 levels later)
Thiiiiiis *claps*

Geographer
Nov 22, 2010
836
Dr Von on Feb 13, 2016 wrote:
the only group that's benefited at all from this "updated" system is pvp.

though no one will come out and say it, it's obvious to anyone with even a shred of understanding that the system was implemented to fix pvp (so that those without darkmoor gear could stand a chance against those with it, and that the level 10 warlords who get paired up with level 50+ privates might have a fair match), as is evidenced by your comment above.

the new system is a failure; people complained about it in test, and are still unhappy with it now. it's a mistake and never should have been implemented to begin with.

(if it was "never supposed to work that way", as ki mods have posted all over the boards since this fiasco started, then it should have been fixed right out of the gate, rather than just expecting us to adapt 50 levels later)
>it's obvious to anyone with even a shred of understanding that the system was implemented to fix pvp

wrong. We are playing on a game that was originally designed with a max level of 50. The code has been broken above level 50 and the changes are an ongoing process of redesign. The game has to function with an ever increasing max level and ever increasing stats.

Before the changes, once you got to the higher levels everyone on both sides criticaled every spell and everyone blocked every critical. Maybe not in PVP, but out in PVE, that's how it was. Might as well not have had any critical at all.

The changes are working quite well. You go take a look at any pencil and dice RPG you like and see how the critical hit system works. Go look at the other online RPGs and see how it works. Critical hit is rare, and blocking it is also rare. That is how it should be. Roll two 10 sided dice and get a 0 on both, you critical. What's the percentage chance of doing that? THAT is how it should work. it's getting closer to that now.

It's not the changes that's a problem. The problem is the players that refuse to adjust their strategy.

Historian
Nov 28, 2010
614
crystalwizard12345... on Feb 19, 2016 wrote:
>it's obvious to anyone with even a shred of understanding that the system was implemented to fix pvp

wrong. We are playing on a game that was originally designed with a max level of 50. The code has been broken above level 50 and the changes are an ongoing process of redesign. The game has to function with an ever increasing max level and ever increasing stats.

Before the changes, once you got to the higher levels everyone on both sides criticaled every spell and everyone blocked every critical. Maybe not in PVP, but out in PVE, that's how it was. Might as well not have had any critical at all.

The changes are working quite well. You go take a look at any pencil and dice RPG you like and see how the critical hit system works. Go look at the other online RPGs and see how it works. Critical hit is rare, and blocking it is also rare. That is how it should be. Roll two 10 sided dice and get a 0 on both, you critical. What's the percentage chance of doing that? THAT is how it should work. it's getting closer to that now.

It's not the changes that's a problem. The problem is the players that refuse to adjust their strategy.
I haven't gone back to the Starfall Sea, but there was a serious problem with critical when it first rolled out.

I was up against the Deep Spawn. They all start out with 13 pips. The only thing that saved me (barely) was that one of them fizzled. But the rest of them in the very first round all landed unblocked critical tempests.

I'm one who has never relied on critical to win, so I probably wasn't as affected by the change as some others were when it came to landing criticals. Where it hit me was that not only was my block reduced, but enemies' chance to critical didn't seem to have been affected at all. Polaris seemed to be balanced well enough, but previous worlds were a disaster!

I think some changes have been made to fix both.

I think the whole critical thing is still a mess though. If the percentages decay as you advance in level, then the numbers are more or less artificial. They just create these huge numbers to make people think they're awesome, when really... they're not.

That's something I've never liked about critical is how muddy it is. Part of the reason I never really focused on getting a high critical rating; I never knew what I was actually getting. It's an ugly system... always has been, and probably always will be. I would have been fine if it had never been implemented, and I wouldn't miss it if it was gone.

Survivor
Sep 10, 2009
20
Dr Von on Feb 13, 2016 wrote:
the only group that's benefited at all from this "updated" system is pvp.

though no one will come out and say it, it's obvious to anyone with even a shred of understanding that the system was implemented to fix pvp (so that those without darkmoor gear could stand a chance against those with it, and that the level 10 warlords who get paired up with level 50+ privates might have a fair match), as is evidenced by your comment above.

the new system is a failure; people complained about it in test, and are still unhappy with it now. it's a mistake and never should have been implemented to begin with.

(if it was "never supposed to work that way", as ki mods have posted all over the boards since this fiasco started, then it should have been fixed right out of the gate, rather than just expecting us to adapt 50 levels later)
It appears to me that you seem to complain about a lot of things. This correction of the critical system was not just for PvP but for PvE too. Before Polaris, every time you critical, most of the time you get blocked. The reason why I hated the previous system is that why should your hard work getting as much block and critical as you can to then only be reduced because a player has a "superior" critical and critical block rating than you. Doesn't seem fair to me. To me, the reason why people complain about this update is because they cannot handle change very well. I have been reading your posts on threads for many years Dr Von and the ones I have read seem to travel along the same theme as this one.

I do agree with you that this should have been implemented from the start (i.e. Celestia). The purpose of Polaris is to change the old ways of "I can have everything" mentality as mentioned by Eric StormBringer and to make people THINK about their gear choices instead of thinking "I don't need to attain X, Y or Z, I can get Darkmoor gear and it will solve all my problems". dumbug23 mentioned an alternative to Life wizards which could be applied in both PvP and PvE since the gear focuses on healing, which if I remember correctly is unique to Life. This update has given me hope that one day, each of the 7 schools of magic will be distinctive instead of being vaguely similar. There are ways of attaining a higher critical block. Critical should be a privilege not a necessity. The fact that, the chance to critical has been reduced, means that it remains as a powerful tool in a wizards arsenal. Rather than criticalling 95% of your attacks only for 98% of your criticals to be blocked.

Defender
Mar 28, 2011
154
"Go look at the other online RPGs and see how it works. Critical hit is rare, and blocking it is also rare. That is how it should be."

I don't care at all what happens in other games. How things should be in THIS game is consistent. Arbitrary changes are frustrating, and this change broke more things than it fixed. We had a critical system in place for years, which players were finally beginning to grok, and gear was finally supporting it well enough to be useful.

You are entitled to your opinion of how you want things to work, but I don't like the new system at all. Rare critical that may or may not work is useless with most decent battle strategies. If it isn't a sure thing, or close, I'm not going hit, so who cares? Double dead enemies don't give me extra reward, and half-dead ones get me killed. Damage hasn't gone up much for 50 levels. Crit and block were the stats to chase from 70 to 100, and many of us did. Mind-numbing hours of farming, for naught. I'm tired of working for things, then having them pulled away

It's now possible to block every critical. That's a failed system.

Hero
Feb 26, 2012
709
Frost Wind on Feb 19, 2016 wrote:
"Go look at the other online RPGs and see how it works. Critical hit is rare, and blocking it is also rare. That is how it should be."

I don't care at all what happens in other games. How things should be in THIS game is consistent. Arbitrary changes are frustrating, and this change broke more things than it fixed. We had a critical system in place for years, which players were finally beginning to grok, and gear was finally supporting it well enough to be useful.

You are entitled to your opinion of how you want things to work, but I don't like the new system at all. Rare critical that may or may not work is useless with most decent battle strategies. If it isn't a sure thing, or close, I'm not going hit, so who cares? Double dead enemies don't give me extra reward, and half-dead ones get me killed. Damage hasn't gone up much for 50 levels. Crit and block were the stats to chase from 70 to 100, and many of us did. Mind-numbing hours of farming, for naught. I'm tired of working for things, then having them pulled away

It's now possible to block every critical. That's a failed system.
Yes! Yes! Yes!

Hero
Feb 26, 2012
709
Dr Von on Feb 13, 2016 wrote:
the only group that's benefited at all from this "updated" system is pvp.

though no one will come out and say it, it's obvious to anyone with even a shred of understanding that the system was implemented to fix pvp (so that those without darkmoor gear could stand a chance against those with it, and that the level 10 warlords who get paired up with level 50+ privates might have a fair match), as is evidenced by your comment above.

the new system is a failure; people complained about it in test, and are still unhappy with it now. it's a mistake and never should have been implemented to begin with.

(if it was "never supposed to work that way", as ki mods have posted all over the boards since this fiasco started, then it should have been fixed right out of the gate, rather than just expecting us to adapt 50 levels later)
Right On

Survivor
Oct 23, 2009
3
I've been playing this game for 6 or 7 years now, nearly every day,
However, have now cancelled both of my subscriptions.
Polaris was a weak effort compared to previous worlds, and the whole critical thing was very badly handled.
This is the only time my wizard has come out of a world weaker than going into it.
I held out for a while to see if they would tweak it back to something better, but doesn't look like it.
I think when J Todd left the best part of the creative effort went with him.

Best wishes to all of you who are still left.

Wolf Winterleaf (among others)