Tag Archives: Leveling

Empyrea P2: Live Realm!

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Introduction

We’ve finally reached our last chapter in this amazing series! The third and final chapter, Live Realm. We will look and see how the community feels about this world!

Let’s tackle this insane world once and for all and see just what we all think about it!

Questing

The story line and questing difficulty are locked. What we have is what we’re getting. Kingsisle noticed that the majority wanted it to be challenging, we’re lucky we don’t have to relive the Mirage release.

What’s great about this is that the story is engaging. If you take away the visuals, fight mechanics and mini-games, it’s a well-written and enjoyable story!

Did you enjoy questing?

Over two-thirds of the players I asked enjoyed questing throughout Empyrea Part Two. That’s an amazing figure, as only 19% didn’t enjoy it! There are many people in the game who don’t play it for the story or questing, so this makes sense and is a lot better than it seems! 

Personally, I believe this is one of, if not the most important factor, to a world’s memory in hindsight. Looking back on Khrysalis, while it’s a beautiful and story-driven world, it’s only remembered for being insanely long!

It wasn’t just the story that stood out for Empyrea. The difficulty was almost perfectly tuned with the quest line and made us feel immersed within the world!

Did you enjoy the bosses and mobs?

The majority enjoyed the fights within the world! It wasn’t just us battling our way brainlessly, we had fun killing things! Again, this will contribute a lot to our long-term perception of this world. We’ll look back and say yeah, I enjoyed it. Things like these keep our hopes up for the game and its story!

Did you enjoy the challenge?

The difficulty was perfect and I’m happy Kingsisle didn’t nerf Part 2! We needed a challenge and we got one! There are also some debatable topics flying around the community. The biggest being the Titan’s Trident fight. 

Do you think the Trident fight needs to be nerfed?

The community was split on this topic. We want a challenge! It’s too hard! There’s cause for both arguments.

The cheats are unfair and gaining shadows while raised in the air and untouchable means the boss is super hard to beat. If you’re coordinated and playing with a knowledgeable team, it doesn’t take too long.

The problem lies within the team requirements. The demand for Balance and Death wizards for blades and Bad Juju is insane! You need both if you don’t want the fight to take over an hour. This debate will keep raging on and there’s nothing we can do to resolve it!

Overall World

I asked for a lot of information from you guys to get the best overall feel for this world and how you felt about it. It’s safe to say, the chart reveals all!

Did you enjoy the World overall?

All the positive results combined take up more than half the data. Another fifth considers it cool, another considers it okay, and a small majority didn’t enjoy it.

This is a good thing. It shows us that Kingsisle isn’t messing around with world releases. We’ve got a lot to look forward to!

Did you enjoy the ‘Nothing’ teaser?

The community is split three ways on this. I think partially due to concern. It’s been a long time since we started a new story arc, let’s hope that Kingsisle will nail it like they did this one.

This had led to some wild speculation about what we will face, let’s hope it meets our expectations!

Was what we got enough?

An overwhelming majority think we got enough new content to keep us going for a while. However, there is a cause for concern we won’t get new content soon enough, and the game will die down.

Recently, I’ve noticed a lot more people in the game, with a few realms appearing full which used to be empty at peak play time. I think the number one priority for Kingsisle should be to keep this hype train going!

To those who said it wasn’t enough, I’d encourage you to keep going. It may just be the initial grind that burns you out. Give WhirlyBurly, the side quests, and farming a chance. Maybe your opinion will change!

Opinions

I did something different with this questionnaire and asked for individual opinions. I also asked about one of my favorite new games, Whirlyburly!

Have your opinions on WhirlyBurly changed?

Sadly, I seem to be in the minority. I think the main reason for the overall view and perception of Whirlyburly is that there isn’t enough to work for, cause, and there aren’t any shorter game modes. 

That’s a different topic and we can be reasonably sure this isn’t all we’ve seen from Whirlyburly.

I then asked for just your thoughts on anything Part Two related. I got a lot of calls for nerfs but not to over-nerf. There were other great ideas and opinions such as:

  • A request for PvP gear and PvE gear to be entirely separate.
  • It’s the best world ever.
  • A Life school AOE spell needs to be created.

Conclusion

We’ve tackled Empyrea Part Two while breaking down each part to see how we all feel and overall, I think this world has been great. A 8.5/10 at least. There’s little room to complain, a lot to enjoy and shows promise for what’s coming! I am happy and eager to see the game’s future.

A final shout out to the entire community for taking part and helping with these articles! You guys have been amazing and I think it’s participation and approaches like this that will keep this game going for years to come! Thank you all!

Whirlyburly! The Basics

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Introduction

So, how about Whirlyburly? Whirlyburly is that oddly-placed mini-game within our Velo City storyline. It’s kind of like chess, but three player… and hexagonal… with only three pieces…  Okay, so it’s nothing like chess, but it is a tactical board game with a lot of inner complexities that make it surprisingly fun.

The game can be complicated and confusing for a new player, and only through experience does one learn the ropes, but that’s what this is here for! So, let’s see what we can teach you!

The Cards

The random selection of 5 cards you get at the start of each round are what allow you to make specific plays. Ideally, you want big movement pattern cards, but often small, strategic plays can win you a match!

It’s important that you can discard any card you don’t want. A simple right click will allow you to find a better one for the next turn!

You can also gain a lot of tiles at once by matching the letter of your card to your piece. So, S for Scrapper, and when he finishes he takes with him a large area that surrounds him!

You can also change what piece has which card before the selection phase ends by simply clicking them and a new card!

The Pieces

Contrary to the name, the Charger isn’t specifically designed to charge at the opponent and take chests. Each piece functions in the exact same way, but with different prey and counters.

The best you can do is watch where the enemy sends their pieces. If both of their hunters are near a single place, send your Charger in while keeping your Scrapper away. Those 3 point kills make a massive difference. This smart positioning often allows you to take chests without much hassle or competition!

But be wary of overextending! If you send your Hunter in to take a chest, make sure their Scrappers aren’t on your borders ready to pounce!

Remember that you can also knock pieces off the map! If a piece is near the outline, use a Hunter or Charger to knock them off of the edge, sending them back to spawn!

The Points

The points system is pretty easy to understand but can be a lot more complex when you are left with decisions that could drastically affect your score at the end of the game.

The 10 point chest is almost always a good idea, but on your way, you may be killed and leave uncontested tiles for your enemies to take! Tiles build up points faster than you think, so leaving a ton of them on the other side of the board free to be retaken is not a good idea.

Capturing is also a solid method of gaining points. If you can repeatedly take out their pieces and contest tiles you’ll quickly score into first place!

The last round! This is super important and can make or break your entire game. Taking tiles should be your absolute priority. Don’t leave yourself at risk in the round before, otherwise, you’ll just take the tiles you already have. Save some of those Area Capturing tiles for last and boost your score as much as possible!

Conclusion

Whirlyburly is actually quite fun, endearing and a unique game once you start to understand it. It can quickly take up a lot of your time and you’ll end up spending too much time in Velo City, or you’re like me and have created an entire gear set just to wear into games!

Hopefully, this allows you guys to better experience our new mini-game and earn some cool shirts!

Storm Titan’s Trident Strategy!

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Basics

The final dungeon of Part two, Storm Titan Maelstrom, is one of the hardest fights in the game.  And sadly it is also the only fight in-game that drops the new Paradox gear, the majority best offensive gear in-game!  But what if you could kill it in a few rounds without ever losing more than a few hundred hit points?  Would be nice to save yourself an hour or more wouldn’t it?

The premise of this strategy is to kill the titan by using overtime and before he kills you.  But never fear, he won’t even be able to kill you with the Bad Jujus you placed on him!  Just make sure you understand everything fully, it isn’t a super strict strategy either with a decent margin of error.

Character Roles

Hitter: Your hitter is going to need a very strong DOT spell.  You’re looking at Heckhound, Stormhound etc.  Perhaps even Spinysaur!

Balance: Sadly, it is very hard to pull this off without a balance.  Although it may be possible without, a Balance simply provides an unrivaled advantage.  They can set up the hitter more effectively than any other school can.

Jade Death: Again something you can’t do without.  Only a Death can cast the required Indemnity Bad Jujus required to pull it off, as Storm Titan will cleanse himself. Death is also useful for Dark Pact.

Jade (any):  This can be any school that can tank and go first.  They’ll be elemental/spiritual setting up your hitter as well as a couple other bits and bobs of support that make your life a lot easier.

The Strategy

I won’t go into the round by round specifics as you actually have a lot of flexibility with this strategy.  However, there are a couple of important points that cannot be missed.

Bubble Change:  It’s important to note that this is no longer possible.  You can’t balance dispel, meaning the bubble stays up, capping your damage before a million.

Cleanses:  Packing a minimum of 2 cleanses is a good idea.  The boss likes to use virulent plague as well as mass infection.

Juju Spam:  This is vital.  Your Death has to Indemnity Juju spam.  If you get unlucky with shadows, he will pull up his trident on 5 shadow pips.  If this is the case and he does not have 2 Jujus on him you will lose everyone but your jades, so you got to get those Jujus on!  They also stop the tempests, cheats and other hits from hurting a lot!

The DOT:  The damage over time has to do over 40K damage on every tick.  Alternatively, impact + DOT hits like Rain Of Fire can work well too.  Each hit will trigger a new phase.

Minions:  There will be one batch of minions summoned after the initial hit or first tick of the DOT.  It’s vital that they’re killed immediately, by bugs; bull etc, as they could prevent the tick from doing enough by their shield spam.

General Blading:  This isn’t too hard to understand.  You gotta blade blade blade!  All balance and hitter do is blade.  The Death should Dark Pact whenever they are able too, but prioritize the Jujus.  Your Jade is in charge of the Elemental Blades.

The Hitting Round:  The round you hit there are a couple things you HAVE to do.  It’s important that firstly your hitter actually hits.  Your balance should shatter, as it’s possible he will have either a storm or myth shield (Note:  With a fire, this isn’t necessary).  We recommend being in shrike if you’re a hitting storm, but a few well-timed prisms work well too.  Your Death is free to do whatever, but ideally uses their last or remaining Dark Pact.

Conclusions

This sounds too good to believe.  A strategy that works easily, is super fast and has a little room for error.  But we’ve got the proof.  I’ve done it over a dozen times and my friend Julie has pulled it off over 20 times already!  Big thanks to Dark Merit and James Storyshield on Discord for brainstorming and testing this strat!

So best of luck guys!  Get farming for your new Paradox Gear!

Editors Note:  The wizards over at Team ELITE also came up with this strategy. Check out their video guide to it here  https://goo.gl/kFnGU4

Empyrea P2: Test Realm

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Introduction:

Welcome to Chapter Two of my Empyrea Part 2 Series!  This chapter focuses on the current state of the test realm as of 3/11/18.  As this is most likely near the end of Test Realm as a whole, and most of the big changes have been made already!

Once again this article will review information taken from the questionnaire we’ve shared out across a multitude of discord servers, so if you want to help out for the next one (Chapter 3, Live Realm) stay tuned for them!


So, we’ll cover the changes made in Test, what was good, what was bad.  And then overall conclude how we feel about the world in general, let’s get into it!

Questing

In our Expectations chapter, we covered that the overwhelming majority of the discord player base wanted a long storyline.  Nothing that only too a few hours. What we got seems to have split everyone, almost down the middle!

It’s clear to see the majority wanted a longer storyline, but nearly half are happy with the length we got.  It seems Kingsisle have succeeded here, reaching a nice middle ground.  I think the only way we could have got a better result is with a slightly longer story, maybe an hour or two more.  And even then, the story was compelling!  We weren’t bored, tirelessly spamming spacebar to clear through it ASAP (At least the second time).  It’s actually a storyline we can get invested in and enjoy, and I cannot wait to see what the final ending to the Third Arc contains for us!

When asked about the difficulty of the world, it was pretty cut and dry as to what we wanted to what we got.  Overall the questing side of Part Two seems too big a success, with little to no flaws, and without spoiling the story, has some fun bosses, challenges and more!

Not a single person wanted the world to be easier.  With a good portion wanting it to be a little bit harder, a potentially perfect compromise would be to keep the offensive ability of the world the same, but increasing the health overall a fair amount, say 10%-15%.

Unique Content

This was never going to be an easy task for Kingsisle.  They had a lot of work ahead of them if they wanted to match their own creativity and design of Part One.  Not only would there need to be a good amount of this new, unique content but it would also have to live up to expectations!

It’s clear when asked if they were happy with the number of new areas, most people were.  Again, no one wanted less, with a respectable portion wanting more areas than what we saw.  However overall this is another check in the list for Kingsisle!  

I think the only way this could’ve been improved was if the story itself was longer.  It never really felt like we did nothing in an area, or that it was a waste of time. Every area felt fairly fulfilled, and that’s without side quests too!

Here’s the true success story though.  It is almost impossible to deny the beauty, creativity and sheer scale of the new areas.  They’re all incredibly unique, well put together and are very fun to play through.

There’s not much more to say here.  Fantastic job to Kingsisle, and while we acknowledge the smaller portion who disliked the design of the area, it’s almost negligible compared to those who liked it!

But how do the mobs and NPCs fair in these new environments?!  I mean what is there really to say.  An overwhelming majority loved the new mobs, bosses, and NPCs.  

It’s safe to say that no real NPC was boring, felt unneeded or didn’t contribute much to our play through.  Not a single mob really felt useless or unrequired either, and Kingsisle even added multiple roaming mobs you don’t actually take on in the story simply to expand on the world!

As for bosses, well dang.  The regular bosses were all challenging in their own right, with heavy hits and some unique and fun cheats.  And certain bosses were overall super creative and fun to fight through.

But what about puzzles?

Well, this wasn’t too hard either, with a majority enjoying the puzzles and mini-games that were incorporated into the story!  They added a nice change of pace and character to the world, once again making it feel more and more immersive!

But now to tackle something that could potentially taint some players opinions on the world.

It’s safe to say Whirlyburly was being fairly hyped up by the Kingsisle team.  They spoke at length about it in a video on their Official Youtube channel, and we had a lot to expect going into it.

However, it somewhat failed to deliver based on how you responded when we asked what you thought of it.  Most of the player base just didn’t really care about it.  It was kind of just there for them, nothing to take note of, which is a major shame.  Overall not even 20% found it above just meh.  

Further a scary percentage actually just disliked it entirely, which for something that they apparently sunk a fair bit of effort into is upsetting.

Kingsisle have made a fair amount of changes to Whirlyburly in between Test realms, but I still don’t think it has lived up to our expectations, which is a major bummer.

It’s safe to say this is not the potential PvP substitute that many players were expecting, but hey?  At least there are some cool badges to earn.

Gear

Now we get to the juicy stuff.  This is almost what makes or breaks a new world in today’s game.  The grind for the perfect gear has never been easy and everyone wants to be the guy with almost unbelievable stats.  So how did it fair?

Well, we asked what you thought of the rarity, and we got some mixed results!  With a majority finding it to be just about right, just over two-fifths of the players wanted it different!

A near perfect split of that mount going either way, with nearly half wanting it to be a little more of a grind and harder.  Whilst the other half are under the belief that it’s too hard and should be made easier.

What’s unique here is that the craftable gear, like Part One, is an exact copy of the dropped gear, so you won’t have to cry yourself to sleep at night wondering if you’d have got it after just one more run!

However, there is an issue…

It was safe to say, based on just game knowledge and the results from Expectations that we desperately needed improved offensive robes, not useless ones with critical block, as well as Amulets and Athames.  Wands and Rings were also needed, though not as badly, and Hat and Boots were in a good position with Cabalist Gear.  So when asked what gear you believed wasn’t improved enough, we got pretty much what was expected.

An overwhelming majority wanted an improved robe, as for many schools Malistaire or Rattlebones at level 100 is still the best!  And while some have Tenni’syn gear, it’s not enough.

We also clearly see the desire for Wands and Athames, closely followed by amulets.  And whilst the new crafted mastery amulets are great and all, we need some good ‘ol stats on some Amulets!

It’s safe to say we aren’t too happy with most of the new gear, which is a tragic end to an otherwise near perfect world!

Conclusion

All in all, I’d be more than happy to call the world a success as of Test Realm.  It seems polished, minus some bugs, and vibrant.

Almost no issue whatsoever with the Questing side to the world, with the only possible critique being making it a little longer and challenging.  But all in all very nice.

The unique content in terms of design is near perfection!  I am more than happy to say I love this world visually, and how diverse and colorful it is.  The mobs, areas, cutscenes and more were all splendid! Sadly what was potentially the most unique and hopefully long lasting piece of content, Whilyburly, seemed to drop the ball.  Let’s hope Kingsisle change that for Live Release!

Now, gear.  Always a controversial and dividing factor, and yet somehow Kingsisle managed to leave everyone a little disappointed.  I think it is very, very clear that no one wants a robe with basically just block and incoming. It seems they’re a little behind on the “gear meta”.  Let’s hope we see some big changes.

Overall though I am looking forward to bringing all my characters through this world!  Let’s just hope Live Release only bolsters this world’s already impressive achievements and accolades!

Empyrea P2: Expectations

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Introduction

So this series of articles is an experiment I came up with at 2 am while debating with a friend of mine as to whether Empyrea Part Two would be a walk in the park or not.

So I figured instead of just ramming our heads into one another, I’d actually try to get some results.  So I went to Google Forms and whipped up a quick questionnaire that I circled among a variety of large Wizard101 Discord Servers.

The results were kind of interesting and has lead me to make this article.  I also intend on following it up with three more related articles about the Test realm release, Live release and lastly what could’ve been done differently

With all that said I hope you find all of this somewhat interesting, and a special thanks to all the discord partners who shared this and everyone who answered it.

Questing

So this is going to affect different players in different ways.  Some may not care about the actual quests themselves whilst others may.  I gathered some interesting data to take a look into what people seem to want.

First off it’s important to establish what people do not want.  I think the two world traits the community can universally agree are bad for the game are repetitiveness and easiness.

  • Pre-Nerf Zafaria is infamous among older players as some of the grindiest and most boring questing the game has ever seen, with endless infinite length defeat and collects taking hours of your day.
  • Cast your mind back to Polaris’ release.  Coming off Darkmoor and Khrysalis Part Two we were expecting a serious challenge.  What we got was a measly few hours of killing in a few turns without breaking a sweat.

The communities data reflects these idea’s quite vividly, with 43.6% of players wanting Empyrea Part Two to be the hardest in game PvE content we have ever seen!  And the remaining majority wanting it to at least be harder than Part One!

Part One’s Medulla nerf, while maybe needed, was a little too drastic.  And while not on the same level as the Mirage nerf, it still was too much of a nerf.  Players need PvE incentive, and 100 Kill badges for bosses won’t cut it. We want a challenge!!!

We can see this idea of a challenging second part echoed within other data too.  A big part of the memory of a world is how long it takes. Everyone remembers Khrysalis, most quite vividly, due to its sheer length.  

But that doesn’t mean it’s remembered badly.  Most people see finishing Khrysalis as an accomplishment purely based on its length.  But what it appears Kingsisle doesn’t understand is that that itself is not an inherently bad thing!  

A very clear majority want Empyrea Part two to have equal to or more quests than part one, with 79 quests.  And just under half wanting over 100 quests. Finishing 100 or more quests leaves you feeling like a hardened veteran walking away from battle!

We actually feel accomplished, and that feeling is something that a lot of game developers strive to make their players feel as it keeps them interested and coming back for more.  Sadly, the last time I personally felt accomplished in the game when related to PvE content, was finishing Mirage in test realm, about 2 years ago!  So let us hope that Part Two meets our standards!

Unique Content

Thankfully, this is something that KI succeeded in with the release of Part One!  What I mean by unique content can be broken down quite easily. Variations of mobs, New mob types, areas we visit, unique story mechanics and others.

Empyrea Part One released 5 Unique new creature types.  We got the Dwarves of Athanor as well as the Beastmen of Aeriel.  They were all awesome and conceptually incredible. And those 5 doesn’t even include those tagged by ‘unknown’.  Ranging from The Bat to The Quizzler.

When asked how many new creature types they’d like to see,
the resounding majority wanted more than Part One!  

And fortunately, it doesn’t look like KI are going to let us down here with the new mushroom-fungus like humanoid already teased! 

Could this awesome looking mushroom man tie into his own unique area?  Well, let’s see how the community feels! 

When it comes down to remembering a world, a very big factor that contributes to your memories are the area’s you quested in.  Think Floating Island of Celestia, and how unique it is compared to the rest of the world.

It’s very important for a world to create amazing areas both in design and mechanics.  Part one didn’t let us down too much here, with a sophisticated Alphoi city and a subterranean Lava settlement.  And it’s safe to say the community wants it all again and more!

A clear majority want at least 2 more areas compared to what we saw in Part One, with more than 85% wanting more than equal to what we were given.

A giant Mushroom forest with towering mushrooms as tall as trees to accompany our leaked mob could contribute a lot to making Part Two something truly memorable!

Take a look at some awesome airships that we’ve seen leaked, let’s hope these play a fairly large role, like piloting one into battle and boarding enemy ships.  Just some wild speculation but it’d be awesome.  

Empyrea Part One also brought in fun minigames that broke up the monotonous slaying and collecting we normally partake when slicing our way through a world.  The dance game and shock-a-lock variations made the world a lot more fun and certainly had a lasting impact on the community!

When asked whether they’d like to see more puzzles in Part Two, the very clear vast majority answered yes!

Clearly, this shows KI has considerable interest in keeping the game alive and going and is not out for the quick buck.  Why create these fun new mechanics if they don’t care about the games longevity.

And with talk of a fun new “board game” within the game, with tons of badges and fun stuff to accompany it, it’d be safe to say they intend on continuing this trend!

Now we tackle probably the most divisive and complicated issue.. Gear!

Gear

Where to begin.  Part One brought us the Cabalist Hood and Boots, which are without out a doubt unparalleled in the offensive gear section.  Certain schools find a lot of value out the Corporal Tenni’syn Robes and the Cabalist Decks from Beast Man’s Fight Club are also incredible if you can look past the number of copies.

However, there are a lot of out-dated gear pieces that we REALLY need to see upgraded.  A lot of schools still use Malistaire robes, Morganthe’s amulet or Level 99-100 athame’s.  For 25 levels these gear pieces have not been improved on.

And the communities opinions reflect that too.  

Thanks to the Cabal hat and boots, most don’t feel they need improvement, however, the numbers speak for themselves.  Almost everyone universally agrees that we need new robes, amulets, and wands.

Now the upgrading of the crafted wands could potentially take care of this issue, but that eliminates only one problem.  Could we see the same mechanic for other gear pieces? I believe it’d be unlikely to see it on all, or even just a few, but the possibility and potential is there.

But with all this talk of new gear, a very big thing to remember is the attainability of these pieces.  For crafting, we’re limited by the scarcity of reagents, but for regular dropped gear it’s all about the rarity.  

It’s safe to say that the player base got burnt out farming secret tunnel so much.  The fact that Medulla, a final boss, had its top-tier gear also dropped by some elite minions in the first area is honestly alarming.

And this is a flaw with my questionnaire.  I should’ve asked whether people enjoyed farming a random variety of mobs and bosses for gear as opposed to a single boss.  However, a general consensus I discovered amongst talking with the community was that it was detrimental to the game to have top tier gear dropped so early by such a simple and easy mob.

And while this is a trend we see KI repeating, thanks to the video’s on their official channel, we can hope it’s not as boring and repetitively easy as Secret Tunnel.

Conclusion

I think overall we have a lot to look forward too in Empyrea Part Two.  We’re hoping for this to be one of the biggest and most meaningful PvE expansions we’ve seen to date.  And based on the interviews we’ve heard, it may just be that.

However, there is always going to be cause for concern.  We really need KI to keep up without the creatures, areas and artistic success of Part One while not letting us down in the other factors like difficulty and length.

With regards to the other articles, you can expect to see another form after a week or two of test seeing how it compares to your expectations and more, with a subsequent article on it.  Empyrea Part Two: Chapter 2, Test Realm. Get hyped!

I’d again like to thank everyone who took part for helping me reach these conclusions.  Much appreciation to all.