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Too Much Luck

1
AuthorMessage
A+ Student
Mar 02, 2010
1643
Recently I've been turning away from Wizard101 and Pirate101 and I've lately been hardly playing either game. A lot of my friends agreed with me and many that have returned for the summer decided that the game was more frustrating than fun. Why is this? Because there are too many uncontrollable luck factors in the game, and you have no second option. Here I will list what's happened lately:

The constant grind: Not too long ago we got a dungeon; Darkmoor, with 3 separate fields. The first two are basically useless and provide no value, but you have to do them to get to the 3rd dungeon, which has unquestionably the best gear in the game. So what's wrong with this? The gear is simply too difficult to farm for on 6 wizards. Repeatedly, you have to do the dungeons 6 times to get the gear you want. The issue is that the gear is never a guaranteed drop and it could take either a short amount of time or forever to get the gear you want. If Wizard101 had a system in the crowns shop that sold gear that was on par with the best farmable gear, Wizard101 would simply become a more enjoyable game.

Aside from gear, we've received jewels, items that are undeniably too rare to farm for on 6 different wizards, for 4 different types of items, for each individual piece of gear you use. I've had many troubles farming for any jewel that drops a spell card or any health opals, and doing this for all 6 of my wizards to stay competitive in PvP is extremely frustrating, and farming is extremely boring when drop rates are ground level. Another thing is that you NEED to farm Loremaster to be competitive spell-wise, which is again, irreplaceable, as no other spells are on par with Loremaster's spells, and the spells drop once in a blue moon.

Constant pet training: Another uncontrollable factor in Wizard101; your pet's talents, what pet you get from a hatch, and, of course, constant new "must-have" talents. The worst of it all is that not only do you have to spend loads of time gardening, farming, and getting the right pet, but you'll have to rehatch with somebody multiple times to get the right pet you want, just to have another must have talent in the game, and then you have to go through the entire process of pet training all over again. Now let's be real, I don't know a single person who finds pet training fun, yet KI likes to hold us players to it for some odd reason.

Crafting is ridiculous: So now not only do we players have to farm a chance at the right (extremely rare) reagents, new recipes give us a chance to get usable equipment (jewels your level), only to have a chance at getting the right jewel, but having a chance to get the good one. So what is crafting now, a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to craft the thing you need?

Luck plays such a big toll in Wizard101 that the enjoyment I used to have in this game has just turned to great frustration and disappointment, and there's nothing we can do about it except hope for a response from KI.

Defender
Mar 31, 2014
125
IMO you got to play the game when you're enthusiastic, then everything will seem fun. Play something else when it becomes too much - with any game I've played after a certain point I just have to play something else. Take a break if you've been playing it too much :)

Astrologist
Dec 26, 2013
1124
PvP King on Jul 26, 2015 wrote:
Recently I've been turning away from Wizard101 and Pirate101 and I've lately been hardly playing either game. A lot of my friends agreed with me and many that have returned for the summer decided that the game was more frustrating than fun. Why is this? Because there are too many uncontrollable luck factors in the game, and you have no second option. Here I will list what's happened lately:

The constant grind: Not too long ago we got a dungeon; Darkmoor, with 3 separate fields. The first two are basically useless and provide no value, but you have to do them to get to the 3rd dungeon, which has unquestionably the best gear in the game. So what's wrong with this? The gear is simply too difficult to farm for on 6 wizards. Repeatedly, you have to do the dungeons 6 times to get the gear you want. The issue is that the gear is never a guaranteed drop and it could take either a short amount of time or forever to get the gear you want. If Wizard101 had a system in the crowns shop that sold gear that was on par with the best farmable gear, Wizard101 would simply become a more enjoyable game.

Aside from gear, we've received jewels, items that are undeniably too rare to farm for on 6 different wizards, for 4 different types of items, for each individual piece of gear you use. I've had many troubles farming for any jewel that drops a spell card or any health opals, and doing this for all 6 of my wizards to stay competitive in PvP is extremely frustrating, and farming is extremely boring when drop rates are ground level. Another thing is that you NEED to farm Loremaster to be competitive spell-wise, which is again, irreplaceable, as no other spells are on par with Loremaster's spells, and the spells drop once in a blue moon.

Constant pet training: Another uncontrollable factor in Wizard101; your pet's talents, what pet you get from a hatch, and, of course, constant new "must-have" talents. The worst of it all is that not only do you have to spend loads of time gardening, farming, and getting the right pet, but you'll have to rehatch with somebody multiple times to get the right pet you want, just to have another must have talent in the game, and then you have to go through the entire process of pet training all over again. Now let's be real, I don't know a single person who finds pet training fun, yet KI likes to hold us players to it for some odd reason.

Crafting is ridiculous: So now not only do we players have to farm a chance at the right (extremely rare) reagents, new recipes give us a chance to get usable equipment (jewels your level), only to have a chance at getting the right jewel, but having a chance to get the good one. So what is crafting now, a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to craft the thing you need?

Luck plays such a big toll in Wizard101 that the enjoyment I used to have in this game has just turned to great frustration and disappointment, and there's nothing we can do about it except hope for a response from KI.
I agree that the repetitive farming of different areas can indeed get tedious and frustrating...

-however-

It is a "game" which in essence is short for "game of chance". If there were no luck involved it would become simply a routine. And routine is typically what's involved in performing a job. As soon as Wizard101 becomes like a job then EVERYBODY will stop playing it. The chance factor is what makes the game a challenge. KI has done a masterful job of scaling the difficulty levels and part of that is making sure that the most desirable gear is not too readily available. If anything was a guaranteed drop, whether it's guaranteed in 1 play-through or 25 plays-through or 100 plays-through, it takes all of the anticipation and excitement out of the game. You'd end up with the attitude that, oh well, didn't get it this time but that was my 23rd try so I'll get it in the next 2 tries. I obviously can't speak for anyone else but something like this would take the enjoyment out of the game for me. I enjoy the challenge and the sense of excitement that occurs just as the last enemy drops and you're waiting for the rewards to pop up. It's what keeps me, and many, many wizards like me, farming the Loremaster for 6 months for a spell.

On the other hand, I'm totally with you on the jewel crafting issue. Honestly, I've tried it several times and that's it for me. I've had far better luck with dropped jewels than I've had with crafting them so I doubt I'll be bothering much with crafting them in the future. The "random chance" factor in crafting is ridiculous. The way I look at it, if you've gained a certain crafting level it means you've mastered it so you should have a more definite influence on what you craft. I understand why KI might have done it this way... literally thousands of new recipes would have to be introduced in the game in order to cover all of the possible jewel shape and effect configurations. That would be clumsy at the very least.

Archon
Feb 07, 2011
3175
TucsonWizard on Jul 27, 2015 wrote:
I agree that the repetitive farming of different areas can indeed get tedious and frustrating...

-however-

It is a "game" which in essence is short for "game of chance". If there were no luck involved it would become simply a routine. And routine is typically what's involved in performing a job. As soon as Wizard101 becomes like a job then EVERYBODY will stop playing it. The chance factor is what makes the game a challenge. KI has done a masterful job of scaling the difficulty levels and part of that is making sure that the most desirable gear is not too readily available. If anything was a guaranteed drop, whether it's guaranteed in 1 play-through or 25 plays-through or 100 plays-through, it takes all of the anticipation and excitement out of the game. You'd end up with the attitude that, oh well, didn't get it this time but that was my 23rd try so I'll get it in the next 2 tries. I obviously can't speak for anyone else but something like this would take the enjoyment out of the game for me. I enjoy the challenge and the sense of excitement that occurs just as the last enemy drops and you're waiting for the rewards to pop up. It's what keeps me, and many, many wizards like me, farming the Loremaster for 6 months for a spell.

On the other hand, I'm totally with you on the jewel crafting issue. Honestly, I've tried it several times and that's it for me. I've had far better luck with dropped jewels than I've had with crafting them so I doubt I'll be bothering much with crafting them in the future. The "random chance" factor in crafting is ridiculous. The way I look at it, if you've gained a certain crafting level it means you've mastered it so you should have a more definite influence on what you craft. I understand why KI might have done it this way... literally thousands of new recipes would have to be introduced in the game in order to cover all of the possible jewel shape and effect configurations. That would be clumsy at the very least.
tucsonwizard, we have known each other for many years and i always respect what you have to say; however, i am with the op on this one.

honestly, i might not mind darkmoor so much if 1) one to 2 of the 4 hours i'm usually in there for weren't spent finding a half-decent team who won't quit, and 2) the drops i do get, whether gear or not, were actually worth the time and effort. if you're happy with a few low-rank snacks/reagents, then i won't take that from you, but my time is worth more.

i prefer tangible rewards; after months of farming loremaster with no results, i gave up and crafted the spells i wanted (my death has deer knight, and balance has loremaster and savage paw). random chance is ridiculous; people shouldn't have to farm for months, or years, in order to get this stuff... after 8 months and more than 500 runs under my belt ( on 3 wizards, neither of whom has a full set), any sense of excitement has given way to extreme anxiety and a sense of dread. so i will just cross my fingers and hope for a viable crafted alternative in the next world.

i have 2 newly-legendary wizards farming waterworks at the moment; it was their first time through, and my last wizard to farm there got a mastery amulet and has had her full set for about 10 levels, so i can understand being excited about farming under these circumstances. but, at the same time, it will eventually get old, at which point i will move on.

as for pets: if the pet doesn't have what i want by adult, i stop there and start over. my small plot of magma peas keeps me supplied with mega snacks for days. and i don't bother with jewel crafting~ as with farming, randomness is not exciting; it's a waste, and i prefer tangible results.

-von

A+ Student
Mar 02, 2010
1643
enkia on Jul 27, 2015 wrote:
IMO you got to play the game when you're enthusiastic, then everything will seem fun. Play something else when it becomes too much - with any game I've played after a certain point I just have to play something else. Take a break if you've been playing it too much :)
Agreed. But the problem is while I still have many months in my membership, I at least hope for KingsIsle to let their game be more enjoyable than a stress factor when it comes to farming.

A+ Student
Mar 02, 2010
1643
TucsonWizard on Jul 27, 2015 wrote:
I agree that the repetitive farming of different areas can indeed get tedious and frustrating...

-however-

It is a "game" which in essence is short for "game of chance". If there were no luck involved it would become simply a routine. And routine is typically what's involved in performing a job. As soon as Wizard101 becomes like a job then EVERYBODY will stop playing it. The chance factor is what makes the game a challenge. KI has done a masterful job of scaling the difficulty levels and part of that is making sure that the most desirable gear is not too readily available. If anything was a guaranteed drop, whether it's guaranteed in 1 play-through or 25 plays-through or 100 plays-through, it takes all of the anticipation and excitement out of the game. You'd end up with the attitude that, oh well, didn't get it this time but that was my 23rd try so I'll get it in the next 2 tries. I obviously can't speak for anyone else but something like this would take the enjoyment out of the game for me. I enjoy the challenge and the sense of excitement that occurs just as the last enemy drops and you're waiting for the rewards to pop up. It's what keeps me, and many, many wizards like me, farming the Loremaster for 6 months for a spell.

On the other hand, I'm totally with you on the jewel crafting issue. Honestly, I've tried it several times and that's it for me. I've had far better luck with dropped jewels than I've had with crafting them so I doubt I'll be bothering much with crafting them in the future. The "random chance" factor in crafting is ridiculous. The way I look at it, if you've gained a certain crafting level it means you've mastered it so you should have a more definite influence on what you craft. I understand why KI might have done it this way... literally thousands of new recipes would have to be introduced in the game in order to cover all of the possible jewel shape and effect configurations. That would be clumsy at the very least.
Yes, I agree, chance should always be involved in a video game. But not so little that players can't do anything about it, especially since Wizard101 doesn't offer any 2nd option gear in crafting or crowns, as Darkmoor gear is inexcusably the best gear in the game.

I think the reason that you enjoy a little farming is because you might be somebody who isn't as interested in PvP while the only reason I farm for something is for PvP. Many PvP focused players don't necessarily enjoy the constant farming and not having gear, as all many of us want to do is get ready and set then join the queue. This may differ for PvE or storyline focused players, however, as side quests and farming is a nice bonus for those players.

Some jewels in Wizard101 can only be crafted as far as I know, and many of those are the best ones, the ward talents. And again, many PvP players are going to go for the best out of everything to maximize their chances. It would be a little weird seeing many many different types of jewels, but at least separating them in categories such as "Offensive Jewel Citrine Recipe" or "Defensive Jewel Ruby Recipe" would be a lot more helpful and be reassuring as to what kind of jewel you will get, even though it may not be the one you're looking for or the best quality, rather than having a completely random jewel that could serve useless.

Astrologist
Dec 26, 2013
1124
PvP King on Jul 28, 2015 wrote:
Yes, I agree, chance should always be involved in a video game. But not so little that players can't do anything about it, especially since Wizard101 doesn't offer any 2nd option gear in crafting or crowns, as Darkmoor gear is inexcusably the best gear in the game.

I think the reason that you enjoy a little farming is because you might be somebody who isn't as interested in PvP while the only reason I farm for something is for PvP. Many PvP focused players don't necessarily enjoy the constant farming and not having gear, as all many of us want to do is get ready and set then join the queue. This may differ for PvE or storyline focused players, however, as side quests and farming is a nice bonus for those players.

Some jewels in Wizard101 can only be crafted as far as I know, and many of those are the best ones, the ward talents. And again, many PvP players are going to go for the best out of everything to maximize their chances. It would be a little weird seeing many many different types of jewels, but at least separating them in categories such as "Offensive Jewel Citrine Recipe" or "Defensive Jewel Ruby Recipe" would be a lot more helpful and be reassuring as to what kind of jewel you will get, even though it may not be the one you're looking for or the best quality, rather than having a completely random jewel that could serve useless.
I think you nailed it with the PvP angle. I tend to look at the game through a differently colored lens because I am not a PvPer. If PvP disappeared overnight I wouldn't notice it was gone. And because of that I'm not familiar with a lot of PvP strategy so I'll readily admit that I don't always understand the logic of some of the arguments made from a pro PvP standpoint. If there was gear available ONLY through PvP that would make PvE easier my perspective would be different. If I knew that the best boots I could get for my level were only available by becoming more highly ranked in PvP, I would certainly have to at least think about becoming more proficient at PvP. So maybe it falls on me to stop and look at things that way before I formulate an opinion.

On the jewel issue... this is an addition to the game that I'm going to leave alone for a while (read: rely on drops) until they work out the kinks. Frankly, the way things are now it really doesn't seem worth the effort for the minimal boosts. I'll just pack an extra blade or shield and ride it out. Your idea of jeweI recipe categories would be a step in the right direction and would at least narrow down our opportunities for failure. I find that the most fun I'm getting from jewels is from the ones that grant spell cards. I'm currently developing my Balance wizard into a "Merlin of all Trades"... he's one of the lucky ones that has gotten every spell drop from the Loremaster so with the addition of the spell-card jewels his range of spell choices is amazing. Not very powerful mind you, but certainly well-rounded.

Survivor
Oct 20, 2012
15
I agree that Wizard101ᵀᴹ has too much luck involved, but I still enjoy farming because of the moment when I finally get the item I want, it feels like I actually accomplished something which is what I love about the luck factors, of course this could all change when my reaches Darkmoor.

Survivor
Sep 15, 2013
21
I may not have done Darkmoor yet, but I like that the best gear in the game is really hard to get makes me want to farm for it even more. No matter how hard or long it takes.
I like that feeling of excitement you get once the piece of gear that you have been farming for over and over finally drops.
As far as pet training, I like how you have to work for the 'perfect pet'. Knowing you spent all that time and hatching just to get the perfect talents for your pet makes it worth it once you finally get the perfect pet.

Grace storm tamer level 96

Defender
Mar 13, 2014
107
I can understand your frustration . There have been several times when crafting and farming has gotten frustrating. What I have learned though is that I can help change stress to fun. If I want to have fun farming I look on the bright side of the challenge and pride I will receive at the end. I often invite friends so that we can talk and laugh while we work. If things get tiring and overwhelmed then I sometimes take a break from Wizard101 or try to put time aside doing something more laid-back. Also, part of the reason Darkmoor gear is so good and impressive is because of how hard it is to get. I agree with what many other people say about how that feeling of accomplishment makes the hard work worth it. I hope that this post helped you feel better
- Gabrielle Silversword

A+ Student
Mar 02, 2010
1643
TigerLily073 on Jul 28, 2015 wrote:
I may not have done Darkmoor yet, but I like that the best gear in the game is really hard to get makes me want to farm for it even more. No matter how hard or long it takes.
I like that feeling of excitement you get once the piece of gear that you have been farming for over and over finally drops.
As far as pet training, I like how you have to work for the 'perfect pet'. Knowing you spent all that time and hatching just to get the perfect talents for your pet makes it worth it once you finally get the perfect pet.

Grace storm tamer level 96
Yes, it is exciting when that piece of gear you've wanted for a very long time finally drops, but the excitement really fades away into a stress factor after having done several days' worth of farming for the same piece of equipment. For example, I've wanted my lower level wizard to get a few Loremaster spells so I can finally do PvP on it. The problem, however, is that I won't be successful at all compared to players who do have them. These spells might not be as important for PvE players since AoE's seem to matter a lot more, but to somebody who does PvP on a daily basis, it gets extremely frustrating after having weeks spent doing the same thing over and over. If crafting levels were shifted a little lower, or if they made a lower level recipe that took more rare reagents to craft, I would be fine.

A+ Student
Mar 02, 2010
1643
Lizziebell03 on Jul 29, 2015 wrote:
I can understand your frustration . There have been several times when crafting and farming has gotten frustrating. What I have learned though is that I can help change stress to fun. If I want to have fun farming I look on the bright side of the challenge and pride I will receive at the end. I often invite friends so that we can talk and laugh while we work. If things get tiring and overwhelmed then I sometimes take a break from Wizard101 or try to put time aside doing something more laid-back. Also, part of the reason Darkmoor gear is so good and impressive is because of how hard it is to get. I agree with what many other people say about how that feeling of accomplishment makes the hard work worth it. I hope that this post helped you feel better
- Gabrielle Silversword
That only works if you ever get the drop. It's possible to farm the same boss over and over in your lifetime and not get the piece of gear ever. Could you imagine that? You try to farm Loremaster for the Loremaster spell, and somebody could get it in their first try, while you could spend 2 years farming for it and still not have it. That turns the "excitement" or "fun" from farming into frustration, annoyance, and most of all a burden. There is currently no spell that is in line with Loremaster spells. If Loremaster spells did less damage and there were equal pip variations to it that left no aftereffects but did more damage than these spells, then Loremaster's spells wouldn't be 100% needed, but would add a variety to your attacks. The same could be said about gear as well, if there were some pieces of gear that were in line with some hoard pack gear that you could craft, then it wouldn't be as much of a problem either. Wizard101 was a lot better back in the Avalonian era where everybody could simply craft their best gear, and not have to spend several months of frustration just to get it.

Defender
Nov 12, 2013
110
Yeah in essence, this game in one big gambling table and we're the dice. Lucky for me my fire wizard got krampus on the first try doing lore master from the second chance chest and later crafted brimstone revenant.

I farmed the heck out of hades until I got my complete 'waterworks upgrade' set, as well as the blade of the titan and the alpha/omega, then darkmoor came out and I was like seriously, it's only been 10 levels! So I decided just to aim for the athame and the amulet but I can't even get those! But I have gotten every other drop that I DON'T want which is a total waste of time.

I wish KI had more options for gear from different dungeons that had strength in some areas but not in all like darkmoor.

Survivor
Jul 02, 2015
24
the point of the game is to try to get the things you want. the harder it is to get it pushes me harder and gets me ready to actually get to that point so just have fun.

Historian
Nov 28, 2010
614
TucsonWizard on Jul 27, 2015 wrote:
I agree that the repetitive farming of different areas can indeed get tedious and frustrating...

-however-

It is a "game" which in essence is short for "game of chance". If there were no luck involved it would become simply a routine. And routine is typically what's involved in performing a job. As soon as Wizard101 becomes like a job then EVERYBODY will stop playing it. The chance factor is what makes the game a challenge. KI has done a masterful job of scaling the difficulty levels and part of that is making sure that the most desirable gear is not too readily available. If anything was a guaranteed drop, whether it's guaranteed in 1 play-through or 25 plays-through or 100 plays-through, it takes all of the anticipation and excitement out of the game. You'd end up with the attitude that, oh well, didn't get it this time but that was my 23rd try so I'll get it in the next 2 tries. I obviously can't speak for anyone else but something like this would take the enjoyment out of the game for me. I enjoy the challenge and the sense of excitement that occurs just as the last enemy drops and you're waiting for the rewards to pop up. It's what keeps me, and many, many wizards like me, farming the Loremaster for 6 months for a spell.

On the other hand, I'm totally with you on the jewel crafting issue. Honestly, I've tried it several times and that's it for me. I've had far better luck with dropped jewels than I've had with crafting them so I doubt I'll be bothering much with crafting them in the future. The "random chance" factor in crafting is ridiculous. The way I look at it, if you've gained a certain crafting level it means you've mastered it so you should have a more definite influence on what you craft. I understand why KI might have done it this way... literally thousands of new recipes would have to be introduced in the game in order to cover all of the possible jewel shape and effect configurations. That would be clumsy at the very least.
And routine is typically what's involved in performing a job.

Well, at least with a job you get paid for getting the job done. I get no satisfaction from doing the exact same thing over and over again and getting nothing for it.

I enjoy the challenge and the sense of excitement that occurs just as the last enemy drops and you're waiting for the rewards to pop up.

I'm ok with a challenge. But farming only appeals to people who have enough time on their hands to keep farming. I have a couple of hours a day at best to play this game. There's questing, fishing, pet training, and gardening that already keep me busy enough. Farming... I don't need it to keep me occupied. Essentially that's all farming is designed to do, keep people busy and engaged.

To this day, I have 6 out of 12 wizards that are level 100. Not a single one has gone on a Darkmoor run yet. Reading the stories about this dungeon burns me out, I can't imagine what it's like to actually run through.

I think people want an alternative simply because farming isn't fun for everyone. It only appeals to people who have the time to engage in it. I don't. Neither to a lot of other people. Many of us love this game just as much as anybody who can farm incessantly. Most of us are going to succeed at the same challenges, but because we don't have the time to do them over and over and over and over and over and over again, we are not going to receive a satisfying reward. How fun is that? To me that is worse than a job, because as I said before, with a job at least you get paid when the work is done. I can't go into the next world and say to enemies, "Hey man, I defeated Mailstaire in Darkmoor. I didn't get the gear, but can we pretend I did and you'll honour the Darkmoor gear stats when we duel? You can? Thanks man!"

Mastermind
Mar 13, 2010
328
High Five Ghost on Jul 31, 2015 wrote:
And routine is typically what's involved in performing a job.

Well, at least with a job you get paid for getting the job done. I get no satisfaction from doing the exact same thing over and over again and getting nothing for it.

I enjoy the challenge and the sense of excitement that occurs just as the last enemy drops and you're waiting for the rewards to pop up.

I'm ok with a challenge. But farming only appeals to people who have enough time on their hands to keep farming. I have a couple of hours a day at best to play this game. There's questing, fishing, pet training, and gardening that already keep me busy enough. Farming... I don't need it to keep me occupied. Essentially that's all farming is designed to do, keep people busy and engaged.

To this day, I have 6 out of 12 wizards that are level 100. Not a single one has gone on a Darkmoor run yet. Reading the stories about this dungeon burns me out, I can't imagine what it's like to actually run through.

I think people want an alternative simply because farming isn't fun for everyone. It only appeals to people who have the time to engage in it. I don't. Neither to a lot of other people. Many of us love this game just as much as anybody who can farm incessantly. Most of us are going to succeed at the same challenges, but because we don't have the time to do them over and over and over and over and over and over again, we are not going to receive a satisfying reward. How fun is that? To me that is worse than a job, because as I said before, with a job at least you get paid when the work is done. I can't go into the next world and say to enemies, "Hey man, I defeated Mailstaire in Darkmoor. I didn't get the gear, but can we pretend I did and you'll honour the Darkmoor gear stats when we duel? You can? Thanks man!"
So should you get all the gear with one run? Two? Ten? When does it become farming?

There's a lot of hyperbole out there about the next (not yet released) world. None of the prior worlds have required top-tier gear from the get go; the prior world's crafted - which until Darkmoor was always the best I had; I never got more than one piece of Waterworks gear on any of my girls - has been more than sufficient.

I suspect that will be true now, too.

If everyone got full fear immediately, anyone Max Level who doesn't PvP would basically have nothing to do between world releases. I'm certain that some would quit and not return.

To me its logical that people who play more, have more gear, better gear. I felt that way when I was the Wizard without the top-tier gear (at that time Waterworks) and I feel that way now after over 100 runs of Darkmoor (three Max wizards with gear, probaly 150 runs, but I know Life has gone 100 times herself because a questing partner actually counted) and a Team Player badge almost exclusively from Morganthe.

Astrologist
Dec 26, 2013
1124
High Five Ghost on Jul 31, 2015 wrote:
And routine is typically what's involved in performing a job.

Well, at least with a job you get paid for getting the job done. I get no satisfaction from doing the exact same thing over and over again and getting nothing for it.

I enjoy the challenge and the sense of excitement that occurs just as the last enemy drops and you're waiting for the rewards to pop up.

I'm ok with a challenge. But farming only appeals to people who have enough time on their hands to keep farming. I have a couple of hours a day at best to play this game. There's questing, fishing, pet training, and gardening that already keep me busy enough. Farming... I don't need it to keep me occupied. Essentially that's all farming is designed to do, keep people busy and engaged.

To this day, I have 6 out of 12 wizards that are level 100. Not a single one has gone on a Darkmoor run yet. Reading the stories about this dungeon burns me out, I can't imagine what it's like to actually run through.

I think people want an alternative simply because farming isn't fun for everyone. It only appeals to people who have the time to engage in it. I don't. Neither to a lot of other people. Many of us love this game just as much as anybody who can farm incessantly. Most of us are going to succeed at the same challenges, but because we don't have the time to do them over and over and over and over and over and over again, we are not going to receive a satisfying reward. How fun is that? To me that is worse than a job, because as I said before, with a job at least you get paid when the work is done. I can't go into the next world and say to enemies, "Hey man, I defeated Mailstaire in Darkmoor. I didn't get the gear, but can we pretend I did and you'll honour the Darkmoor gear stats when we duel? You can? Thanks man!"
True, with a job you do get paid for it. And hopefully, with any kind of work ethic at all you get a sense of reward knowing that you did the job well. That feeling helps make a job seem less like a job and also that same feeling can be applied to gaming.
After all is said and done, if you look at the bare bones of this game it's all just farming. We farm for gold, we farm for XP, we farm for loot, and reagents, and seeds, and pets, and gear etc., etc. And whether you battle from world to world or you do the same instance over and over again none of it is ever "for nothing". There's always a reward, regardless how small it may be. And there's no reason it ever has to get monotonous unless you let it. I understand your point about having limited time to play and that's unfortunate for you and others like you but I don't see that as a reason to make things easier. Honestly, if there was a point where I was a limited time player but I knew that by dropping in to play the game for an hour a day I'd be guaranteed the best drops available, I doubt I'd be playing the game for much longer. Soon there would be nothing left to play for.
There are people who have played this game for a much longer time than I have but in the time I have been playing I've noticed something. The complaint used to be: "I've farmed (insert instance here) for three months and still haven't gotten what I want! This needs to be fixed!". Now, the complaint is more like: "I've been farming (insert instance here) for three hours and I still haven't gotten what I want! This needs to be fixed!". More and more often, immediate gratification seems to be the accepted, and expected, and sometimes demanded norm.
I just dread the day that a walk through the Commons will mean passing a hundred exalted wizards sitting around the pond on their super-sized mounts wearing Darkmoor gear...with nothing left to do.

A+ Student
Mar 02, 2010
1643
PaigeGoldenspear on Jul 31, 2015 wrote:
So should you get all the gear with one run? Two? Ten? When does it become farming?

There's a lot of hyperbole out there about the next (not yet released) world. None of the prior worlds have required top-tier gear from the get go; the prior world's crafted - which until Darkmoor was always the best I had; I never got more than one piece of Waterworks gear on any of my girls - has been more than sufficient.

I suspect that will be true now, too.

If everyone got full fear immediately, anyone Max Level who doesn't PvP would basically have nothing to do between world releases. I'm certain that some would quit and not return.

To me its logical that people who play more, have more gear, better gear. I felt that way when I was the Wizard without the top-tier gear (at that time Waterworks) and I feel that way now after over 100 runs of Darkmoor (three Max wizards with gear, probaly 150 runs, but I know Life has gone 100 times herself because a questing partner actually counted) and a Team Player badge almost exclusively from Morganthe.
It becomes farming when the rate of the item drop is low, which, in Wizard101, is everything past level 59. Awesome. 40 levels of doing repetitive dungeons and they just keep getting longer and longer to do, and the drop rates get lower and lower. How interesting.

In every single other video game, whether it's an MMO or a game on a console, if the instance takes a long time to do and is a necessity for future challenges, the drop rate is guaranteed. Furthermore, every other game has gear options. In the past 6 years, KI has been making the obvious best gear in the game, no second options to even farm for, no second options to even buy, and now since Darkmoor is out, no second options to even craft.

"To me its logical that people who play more, have more gear, better gear."
No, that is a false assumption. If a drop rate is extremely low, time doesn't matter. You have to get lucky. Somebody could do Loremaster once and get the Loremaster spell. Another person might be farming for 3-4 years and still might not have it. It's all chance. That's exactly what I'm complaining about. If eventually, the drop becomes guaranteed after an excessive amount of time or runs, then your assumption will be right. However, when your point of view supports people who play longer to have better gear but your words support things to be completely luck based as a drop, I'm sorry, but neither of those intersect with each other when it's all chance.

A+ Student
Mar 02, 2010
1643
TucsonWizard on Jul 31, 2015 wrote:
True, with a job you do get paid for it. And hopefully, with any kind of work ethic at all you get a sense of reward knowing that you did the job well. That feeling helps make a job seem less like a job and also that same feeling can be applied to gaming.
After all is said and done, if you look at the bare bones of this game it's all just farming. We farm for gold, we farm for XP, we farm for loot, and reagents, and seeds, and pets, and gear etc., etc. And whether you battle from world to world or you do the same instance over and over again none of it is ever "for nothing". There's always a reward, regardless how small it may be. And there's no reason it ever has to get monotonous unless you let it. I understand your point about having limited time to play and that's unfortunate for you and others like you but I don't see that as a reason to make things easier. Honestly, if there was a point where I was a limited time player but I knew that by dropping in to play the game for an hour a day I'd be guaranteed the best drops available, I doubt I'd be playing the game for much longer. Soon there would be nothing left to play for.
There are people who have played this game for a much longer time than I have but in the time I have been playing I've noticed something. The complaint used to be: "I've farmed (insert instance here) for three months and still haven't gotten what I want! This needs to be fixed!". Now, the complaint is more like: "I've been farming (insert instance here) for three hours and I still haven't gotten what I want! This needs to be fixed!". More and more often, immediate gratification seems to be the accepted, and expected, and sometimes demanded norm.
I just dread the day that a walk through the Commons will mean passing a hundred exalted wizards sitting around the pond on their super-sized mounts wearing Darkmoor gear...with nothing left to do.
"And whether you battle from world to world or you do the same instance over and over again none of it is ever "for nothing". There's always a reward, regardless how small it may be."
Of course, there always is a reward. Nobody denies that. There's either gold, gear, reagents, jewels, and so on. However, when I go to farm for jewels, and all I get is gold and gear that sells for gold, I could be farming Halfang for that for more efficiency. If I go to farm for gear, I won't be satisfied if all I get is gold. If I go farming for gold, I won't be satisfied if all I get is a pet. However, in Wizard101, instances that take a very long time to do drop all of these at once. Unlike the Alpha and Omega Ring, Blade of The Felled Titan, and the rest of Hades gear, all of Darkmoor gear is dropped by the same boss. Wand, hat, robe, boots, amulet. This diminishes the chances of even getting what you want by a lot, and your "reward" might be something you're never going to use. I don't see you being able to craft tier one Darkmoor gear by using tier two or tier three Darkmoor gear and a couple other reagents, the only thing I see from tier two and tier three Darkmoor gear is useless junk that you'll never use, as tier one gear is the only gear that you will ever want out of that place.
"...if there was a point... I'd be guaranteed the best drop available, I doubt I'd be playing the game for much longer. Soon there would be nothing left to play for."
No, if KI simply made more versions of the same gear that specialized in different stats, my entire complaint wouldn't even be an issue. There would still be things to do, such as maximizing gardening level, fishing, training varieties of pets, doing PvP, using other outfits, socializing, crafting, and collecting all badges in the game. The truth is, no matter how much gear you have in the game, there will still be many other things to do, as we have 259 badges to get now.

Mastermind
Mar 13, 2010
328
PvP King on Jul 31, 2015 wrote:
It becomes farming when the rate of the item drop is low, which, in Wizard101, is everything past level 59. Awesome. 40 levels of doing repetitive dungeons and they just keep getting longer and longer to do, and the drop rates get lower and lower. How interesting.

In every single other video game, whether it's an MMO or a game on a console, if the instance takes a long time to do and is a necessity for future challenges, the drop rate is guaranteed. Furthermore, every other game has gear options. In the past 6 years, KI has been making the obvious best gear in the game, no second options to even farm for, no second options to even buy, and now since Darkmoor is out, no second options to even craft.

"To me its logical that people who play more, have more gear, better gear."
No, that is a false assumption. If a drop rate is extremely low, time doesn't matter. You have to get lucky. Somebody could do Loremaster once and get the Loremaster spell. Another person might be farming for 3-4 years and still might not have it. It's all chance. That's exactly what I'm complaining about. If eventually, the drop becomes guaranteed after an excessive amount of time or runs, then your assumption will be right. However, when your point of view supports people who play longer to have better gear but your words support things to be completely luck based as a drop, I'm sorry, but neither of those intersect with each other when it's all chance.
No second options to even craft, because next Crafting Quest would be in the next, as of yet, unreleased world. Honestly two of my Exalteds have their Darkmoor hats but use their Khrysalis crafted because of damage/critical loss in the Malistaire hat. Only my Death wears hers and that's because I never crafted her hat in Khrysalis.

When Waterworks was the end, the then current crafted gear wasn't a viable alternative option, either. It was the next world's crafted that became the suitable other option, IIRC.

And you skipped the more important question I asked: are you suggesting that after one run Wizards should have all their gear? Or ten? Or twenty? You are claiming that the drop rates are so so low that a guarantee of gear is a necessity, but you won't answer how many runs is reasonable to gain that guarantee.

Maybe allowing the Crafting of Tier 1 gear from multiple lower tier gear could be an option? Maybe raising drop rates? Maybe separating bosses into separate instances? Or maybe the new farmable one-shot dungeons with comparable gear but significantly less time investment?

Regardless, I would no longer feel that this game is fun if every time I walked into a dungeon I knew I was going to get X. If I knew that that first decent pet I had was going to turn out to be so good that people envy it, random people beg to hatch. (This just happened to me, honestly. My pets have always been awful because the process seemed so daunting. A friend took pity on me and hatched a very good pet with my best bad pet and I got seriously lucky. At Mega it is pretty impressive.) But if it was all, do X get Y, no chance, then *I* would probably not play very much. There would be no sense of adventure, no anticipation, no surprise. Nothing to celebrate because I knew Y was going to happen. Maybe up the drop rates some, but the day the game guarantees X runs, Y gear, this game will have lost its fun - FOR ME.

Astrologist
Dec 26, 2013
1124
PvP King on Jul 31, 2015 wrote:
"And whether you battle from world to world or you do the same instance over and over again none of it is ever "for nothing". There's always a reward, regardless how small it may be."
Of course, there always is a reward. Nobody denies that. There's either gold, gear, reagents, jewels, and so on. However, when I go to farm for jewels, and all I get is gold and gear that sells for gold, I could be farming Halfang for that for more efficiency. If I go to farm for gear, I won't be satisfied if all I get is gold. If I go farming for gold, I won't be satisfied if all I get is a pet. However, in Wizard101, instances that take a very long time to do drop all of these at once. Unlike the Alpha and Omega Ring, Blade of The Felled Titan, and the rest of Hades gear, all of Darkmoor gear is dropped by the same boss. Wand, hat, robe, boots, amulet. This diminishes the chances of even getting what you want by a lot, and your "reward" might be something you're never going to use. I don't see you being able to craft tier one Darkmoor gear by using tier two or tier three Darkmoor gear and a couple other reagents, the only thing I see from tier two and tier three Darkmoor gear is useless junk that you'll never use, as tier one gear is the only gear that you will ever want out of that place.
"...if there was a point... I'd be guaranteed the best drop available, I doubt I'd be playing the game for much longer. Soon there would be nothing left to play for."
No, if KI simply made more versions of the same gear that specialized in different stats, my entire complaint wouldn't even be an issue. There would still be things to do, such as maximizing gardening level, fishing, training varieties of pets, doing PvP, using other outfits, socializing, crafting, and collecting all badges in the game. The truth is, no matter how much gear you have in the game, there will still be many other things to do, as we have 259 badges to get now.
There was a touch of sarcasm in the "nothing left to do" remark.
I agree, there will almost always be something to do... but not necessarily for everyone. I've met people that want nothing to do with activities like fishing, gardening etc. and in my opinion they're missing out on some of the best parts of the game. But the OP wasn't about other activities in the game, it was about the drop rate and in a roundabout way the inability to continue advancing in the game without obtaining that "special" gear. The perception that it's impossible to get anywhere without Waterworks gear or Darkmoor gear is a fallacy and I think a lot of people get caught up in this belief. Things can be easier if you have the gear but it's certainly not impossible to advance without it. The same is true of the Loremaster's spells. They're a nice addition to any wizard's repertoire but hardly necessary to continue successfully in the game.
You touched on an interesting point...not being satisfied with a drop. In more and more posts I see people complaining that they've farmed so and so forever and didn't get what they wanted. Usually somewhere in the post they'll go on to say they have "two of the hats and three sets of boots but I still don't have the robe and this needs to be fixed!" Sorry, but there's something wrong with this logic. Getting multiples of a rare drop is unfortunate only in that you can only wear one hat at a time. Unlike the Loremaster's spells that you can only get once. You might get "the drop" from the Loremaster multiple times but if the prize is a spell you already have you cannot win it again. I think this can make the Loremaster's drop rate appear lower than it really is. Every time you get a spell the odds decrease accordingly for the next attempt. With actual "physical" items, gear for instance, you can receive multiples so the odds never change.
The bottom line - if and when KI changes drop rates, the next day someone will complain that it's not good enough.

Historian
Nov 28, 2010
614
TucsonWizard on Jul 31, 2015 wrote:
True, with a job you do get paid for it. And hopefully, with any kind of work ethic at all you get a sense of reward knowing that you did the job well. That feeling helps make a job seem less like a job and also that same feeling can be applied to gaming.
After all is said and done, if you look at the bare bones of this game it's all just farming. We farm for gold, we farm for XP, we farm for loot, and reagents, and seeds, and pets, and gear etc., etc. And whether you battle from world to world or you do the same instance over and over again none of it is ever "for nothing". There's always a reward, regardless how small it may be. And there's no reason it ever has to get monotonous unless you let it. I understand your point about having limited time to play and that's unfortunate for you and others like you but I don't see that as a reason to make things easier. Honestly, if there was a point where I was a limited time player but I knew that by dropping in to play the game for an hour a day I'd be guaranteed the best drops available, I doubt I'd be playing the game for much longer. Soon there would be nothing left to play for.
There are people who have played this game for a much longer time than I have but in the time I have been playing I've noticed something. The complaint used to be: "I've farmed (insert instance here) for three months and still haven't gotten what I want! This needs to be fixed!". Now, the complaint is more like: "I've been farming (insert instance here) for three hours and I still haven't gotten what I want! This needs to be fixed!". More and more often, immediate gratification seems to be the accepted, and expected, and sometimes demanded norm.
I just dread the day that a walk through the Commons will mean passing a hundred exalted wizards sitting around the pond on their super-sized mounts wearing Darkmoor gear...with nothing left to do.
I understand your point about having limited time to play and that's unfortunate for you and others like you but I don't see that as a reason to make things easier.

Make it easier how? You mean making drops that are actually attainable by people without extra time to farm for days or months on end, or nerfing the dungeons to make them easier to complete? I hope you don't mean the latter, because that is not what this is about at all.

Honestly, if there was a point where I was a limited time player but I knew that by dropping in to play the game for an hour a day I'd be guaranteed the best drops available, I doubt I'd be playing the game for much longer.Soon there would be nothing left to play for.

To address your first concern, who says the best drops have to be the gear? Mirror Lake was a good example of a great compromise. I had friends who would farm that dungeon incessantly trying to get the Leopard pet, the Sidhe gear, and the 2 guaranteed Pixie Stix pet snacks at the end. Yet I had no feelings of exclusion for not joining them on their endeavours because I really didn't care about those things. You could easily make some other epic item(s) the low chance drop(s) that keep people coming back for more.

To address the last part about nothing left to play for... those same friends also rushed through Aquila, Khrysalis, and then Darkmoor, got all of the gear, and here we are. They have nothing left to play for, and as a result they don't play anymore. If they do, I don't know when because I never seen them online anymore. Last time I saw any of them was 3 weeks after Darkmoor was released, complaining about how bored they were because I wasn't caught up to them. This is just barely working even for the people it's created for.

A+ Student
Mar 02, 2010
1643
TucsonWizard on Jul 31, 2015 wrote:
There was a touch of sarcasm in the "nothing left to do" remark.
I agree, there will almost always be something to do... but not necessarily for everyone. I've met people that want nothing to do with activities like fishing, gardening etc. and in my opinion they're missing out on some of the best parts of the game. But the OP wasn't about other activities in the game, it was about the drop rate and in a roundabout way the inability to continue advancing in the game without obtaining that "special" gear. The perception that it's impossible to get anywhere without Waterworks gear or Darkmoor gear is a fallacy and I think a lot of people get caught up in this belief. Things can be easier if you have the gear but it's certainly not impossible to advance without it. The same is true of the Loremaster's spells. They're a nice addition to any wizard's repertoire but hardly necessary to continue successfully in the game.
You touched on an interesting point...not being satisfied with a drop. In more and more posts I see people complaining that they've farmed so and so forever and didn't get what they wanted. Usually somewhere in the post they'll go on to say they have "two of the hats and three sets of boots but I still don't have the robe and this needs to be fixed!" Sorry, but there's something wrong with this logic. Getting multiples of a rare drop is unfortunate only in that you can only wear one hat at a time. Unlike the Loremaster's spells that you can only get once. You might get "the drop" from the Loremaster multiple times but if the prize is a spell you already have you cannot win it again. I think this can make the Loremaster's drop rate appear lower than it really is. Every time you get a spell the odds decrease accordingly for the next attempt. With actual "physical" items, gear for instance, you can receive multiples so the odds never change.
The bottom line - if and when KI changes drop rates, the next day someone will complain that it's not good enough.
"The perception that it's impossible to get anywhere without Waterworks gear or Darkmoor gear is a fallacy and I think a lot of people get caught up in this belief."
For most people, Hades gear was an absolute necessity to even be able to do PvP or quest through the first parts of Khrysalis. The gear in general gave the best stats in the game, yet took a very long time to get. In contrast to a dungeon like Waterworks and when things like fishing didn't exist, players still had things to do even when the drop rates were pretty high, so people not having things to do is already false. Aside from that, I don't see why having a guaranteed drop or a guaranteed second option is so difficult. If you have a guaranteed second option but like farming, then you take the farming side and don't use crowns to purchase the equivalent in the crown shop.
After a while, people do get extremely bored of fighting the same boss over and over. I just don't see what's so intriguing about looking at the mountain of hours I've spent farming for something while still not having it, while I'm also looking at somebody who put minimal effort into it and got it. So even if I put more time into the game, and since there's absolutely no guaranteed second option, that player for the duration of the game will have an easier time questing than me, an easier time farming, an easier time ranking up in PvP, and an easier time in the game in general, while I'm supposed to be happy with horrible drop rates and getting nothing.

A+ Student
Mar 02, 2010
1643
PaigeGoldenspear on Jul 31, 2015 wrote:
No second options to even craft, because next Crafting Quest would be in the next, as of yet, unreleased world. Honestly two of my Exalteds have their Darkmoor hats but use their Khrysalis crafted because of damage/critical loss in the Malistaire hat. Only my Death wears hers and that's because I never crafted her hat in Khrysalis.

When Waterworks was the end, the then current crafted gear wasn't a viable alternative option, either. It was the next world's crafted that became the suitable other option, IIRC.

And you skipped the more important question I asked: are you suggesting that after one run Wizards should have all their gear? Or ten? Or twenty? You are claiming that the drop rates are so so low that a guarantee of gear is a necessity, but you won't answer how many runs is reasonable to gain that guarantee.

Maybe allowing the Crafting of Tier 1 gear from multiple lower tier gear could be an option? Maybe raising drop rates? Maybe separating bosses into separate instances? Or maybe the new farmable one-shot dungeons with comparable gear but significantly less time investment?

Regardless, I would no longer feel that this game is fun if every time I walked into a dungeon I knew I was going to get X. If I knew that that first decent pet I had was going to turn out to be so good that people envy it, random people beg to hatch. (This just happened to me, honestly. My pets have always been awful because the process seemed so daunting. A friend took pity on me and hatched a very good pet with my best bad pet and I got seriously lucky. At Mega it is pretty impressive.) But if it was all, do X get Y, no chance, then *I* would probably not play very much. There would be no sense of adventure, no anticipation, no surprise. Nothing to celebrate because I knew Y was going to happen. Maybe up the drop rates some, but the day the game guarantees X runs, Y gear, this game will have lost its fun - FOR ME.
Your first paragraph perfectly stated my point. If I like universal resist more, and less luck based stats such as damage, resist, accuracy, and pip chance, I'm supposed to be stuck with gear that fits a spamming play style in the Arena. Though I do have all my Darkmoor gear and basically every item needed to rank up easily on my Balance wizard, I don't want to do this on my Life wizard and have to go through the entire process all over again, and so far my luck has been horrible on him. Simply put, the crafted gear gives an entire set of completely different (and unwanted in PvP) stats compared to farmed gear, as farmed gear in PvP is better in every single direction but critical and damage, as you said.

Waterworks gear had a second option. This was the Wintertusk crafted gear that granted almost the same stats but gave viable spell cards.

"are you suggesting that after one run Wizards should have all their gear?"
No, I'm definitely not suggesting that. What I am suggesting, however, is after a certain amount of runs (maybe 5) or so, at least one piece of gear will be dropped guaranteed. So all in all, you could do 20 runs and then you're guaranteed at least 4 pieces of gear, whether it's what you've been looking for or not. Nobody wants to do the same thing over 20 times and getting no results from it. It's a video game, not a lottery roll.
Pets are a completely different topic, as a player will have to get lucky 5 times to get their perfect pet. Out of 10 talents, 5 will be chosen. The first talent has a 10% chance to give what you've been looking for, second has 11%, 3rd has 12, and the last has 16%. You will have to get extremely lucky to get all the talents you want. However, KI gave a wonderful jewel crafting option, but the chances are slim as a player has a puny chance to get the reagents, the reagents have a puny chance to give the right type of jewel, which has a puny chance to give the one you were looking for. This should be fixed.

Hero
Feb 26, 2012
709
PvP King on Jul 26, 2015 wrote:
Recently I've been turning away from Wizard101 and Pirate101 and I've lately been hardly playing either game. A lot of my friends agreed with me and many that have returned for the summer decided that the game was more frustrating than fun. Why is this? Because there are too many uncontrollable luck factors in the game, and you have no second option. Here I will list what's happened lately:

The constant grind: Not too long ago we got a dungeon; Darkmoor, with 3 separate fields. The first two are basically useless and provide no value, but you have to do them to get to the 3rd dungeon, which has unquestionably the best gear in the game. So what's wrong with this? The gear is simply too difficult to farm for on 6 wizards. Repeatedly, you have to do the dungeons 6 times to get the gear you want. The issue is that the gear is never a guaranteed drop and it could take either a short amount of time or forever to get the gear you want. If Wizard101 had a system in the crowns shop that sold gear that was on par with the best farmable gear, Wizard101 would simply become a more enjoyable game.

Aside from gear, we've received jewels, items that are undeniably too rare to farm for on 6 different wizards, for 4 different types of items, for each individual piece of gear you use. I've had many troubles farming for any jewel that drops a spell card or any health opals, and doing this for all 6 of my wizards to stay competitive in PvP is extremely frustrating, and farming is extremely boring when drop rates are ground level. Another thing is that you NEED to farm Loremaster to be competitive spell-wise, which is again, irreplaceable, as no other spells are on par with Loremaster's spells, and the spells drop once in a blue moon.

Constant pet training: Another uncontrollable factor in Wizard101; your pet's talents, what pet you get from a hatch, and, of course, constant new "must-have" talents. The worst of it all is that not only do you have to spend loads of time gardening, farming, and getting the right pet, but you'll have to rehatch with somebody multiple times to get the right pet you want, just to have another must have talent in the game, and then you have to go through the entire process of pet training all over again. Now let's be real, I don't know a single person who finds pet training fun, yet KI likes to hold us players to it for some odd reason.

Crafting is ridiculous: So now not only do we players have to farm a chance at the right (extremely rare) reagents, new recipes give us a chance to get usable equipment (jewels your level), only to have a chance at getting the right jewel, but having a chance to get the good one. So what is crafting now, a chance to get a chance to get a chance to get a chance to craft the thing you need?

Luck plays such a big toll in Wizard101 that the enjoyment I used to have in this game has just turned to great frustration and disappointment, and there's nothing we can do about it except hope for a response from KI.
Very well said. I pretty much agree with you on all of this. I too have not been playing much, for quite a while. The "chances" are simply too slim -- in dungeons, with loremaster, with pets, with reagents. Too frustrating, too much grind. I have been saying much of the same thing for a long time.

Used to be, both my daughter and I wanted to play almost every day. Now, it has been months since either of us have logged on.

Some luck is enjoyable -- but the extremely rare and frustrating "chances" KI has been putting into the game design as the years go by have greatly decreases the fun of the game. Especially with the game getting harder, so that you really need the perks of the rare rewards to play successfully. So you have to do the grind to get the gear to do more grind... It gets to where it grinds the game to a halt. Time to fix the gears to run more smoothly again.

1