Tag Archives: Test

Critical Changes Explained

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The New Critcal System Explained

Hello Wizards, Nathan Shadowbringer, and Scot Moonshade here! We’re going to explain the recent changes to Critical and Block. Today’s article will revisit the previous age’s Critical and delve into the new system. We will examine the formulas to calculate your Critical Chance and damage multiplier. Critical has undergone a lot of change in recent years, and this update brings a new era of Critical! Critical and Block were once a percentage-point based system. Now it’s changed to a dynamic framework involving both Critical and Block.

Disclaimer!

Before we begin, we need to make a quick disclaimer. According to Ratbeard’s Karamelle PvP Update #2, Critical in PvP is not calculated the same as in PvE. The formulas we used do not work for calculating Critical or Block in PVP. All the information below applies to PVE only. With that said, let’s get started!

Old Versus New

Before the 2020 Fall Update, Critical was well… more critical. There was a chance to critical and a chance to block—the Critical stat based itself on how high your rating was in the respective category. Landing a Critical would ensure that your attack would do twice the damage (or 1.33 times damage in PvP). The problem with the old system was that achieving a high Critical Rating was easier than Block. It was making Block obsolete compared to Critical. With the new changes, it’s more balanced.

The following variables represent the corresponding data sets:

c = Critical rating

b = Block rating

l = Level / 100, where l ≤ 1.

The changes to Critical involve two new formulas. Both equations depend on the attacker’s Critical and the defender’s Block. The first formula determines your Critical chance. Note that Critical chance and Block chance must always add to 100%. For example, if you have a Critical chance of 90%, your opponent would still have a 10% chance to Block. 

If your attack doesn’t Critical, or if the enemy blocks, the calculation ends there. In this scenario, the second formula isn’t necessary. But, if you do land a Critical hit, then the second equation runs. This determines the Critical Multiplier. This formula relies on the attacker’s Critical and the defender’s Block. Further examples are available in KI Developer Ratbeard’s Dev Diary.

Critical heals also use the Critical Chance formula. But they’re based on your Critical Rating and the Block of the person you are healing. The only difference is, they cannot Block a heal but instead can “resist.” The higher your Block, the less you’ll get from a critical heal. Fortunately, the schools that have more Block also tend to lean towards a tank-type playstyle. Tank builds have more Health and Resistance, so they can afford to lose some of that incoming healing from the Critical. Regardless, the amount of extra healing uses the same critical multiplier formula. Remember, it’s still impossible to block a critical heal!

Spell Alterations

Another important note to these changes is the way Vengeance and Conviction work. Vengeance is an Astral spell that increases your Critical chance by 20% for four rounds. This bonus only affects your chance to Critical. It doesn’t affect the enemy’s Block or your damage multiplier. Conviction increases your stun resistance by 90% and Block chance by 20% for four rounds. This 20% increase only affects the possibility to block a Critical. It doesn’t affect the enemy’s chance to critical, nor does it lower the multiplier.

Charts and Calculations

There are a few basic formulas that can roughly estimate Critical and Block ratings. These formulas are interchangeable, and most involve moving numbers and variables around. The following equation presented removes the need for complex fractions. Here are two general procedures for determining Critical chance:

Much like the Critical percentage formula, the damage ratio also follows a function. In this case, the damage multiplier is equal to 2 – 3 * Block / (Critical + 3 * Block). See the formula below.

Here is an estimate of your Critical Chance against mobs with ninety block (blue) and two hundred-forty block (red). The green line at the top represents the Critical Chance soft cap at ninety-five percent.

Using these formulas, you can now find optimal Critical numbers for mobs and bosses. Karamelle mobs have around 90 Block while Karamelle bosses have at most 240 Block. Except for the final boss, it would seem.

This is the approximate damage multiplier against a mob with 90 Block.
Here is the approximate damage multiplier against a mob with 240 block.

What Does this Mean?

It’s important to remember that everything we’ve shown you is subject to change. Critical and Block in PvP are calculated differently than PvE.

Using these numbers, you can find your optimal amount of Critical; 570 Critical will get you up to 95% Critical against most mobs. Using the formula for Critical Multiplier, we suggest 630 Critical as a good general goal. This way, against monsters with 90 Block, you’ll Critical 95% of the time and get a 1.7 multiplier against them.

As we enter the “Third-Age” of Critical, there’s potential for more diverse character builds. An example of this could be full-damage pets as opposed to pets that have Critical and damage. These changes also give new life to the may-cast Vengeance talent. This update creates better balance and a more dynamic flow between Critical and Block, allowing players to customize stats to their unique play-style. Thanks for reading; we hope this helps you understand the changes and how they affect your Wizard. If you have questions, you can always find us around the community. That’s all for now, until next time, we’ll see you in the Spiral.

-Nathan Shadowbringer & Scot Moonshade

Pip Wizardry 2020

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Pip Wizardry 2020!

Hello Wizards, this is Nathan Shadowbringer here to help you calculate the actual damage of spells per pip!
 
This article will be updated if spell changes happen down the line. Eventually, I plan for this list to include even Loremaster and crafted spells.
 
We will start with the highest Pip spells, and works our way down to the lowest ones. You will notice some of the spells are not a whole number. Why is that, you ask? Currently, Shadow-enhanced spells that use Shadow and standard Pips – have been changing. In the summer 2020 Test Realm, KI has confirmed that one Shadow Pip now equals 3.6 pips. This number is subject to change. 
 
Before the 2020 Summer Update, Shadow enhanced spells had severe damage compared to non-shadow-enhanced spells. These spells went through changes to balance them. Shadow Pips previously never had an absolute value, but now they do thanks to the new spell changes! They are still powerful, but now within reason to normal spells of a similar rank.
 

Calculating Damage Per Pip

First, if the spell has a damage range, we must find the average damage. For example, let’s take the spell Storm Owl. Storm Owl is a ten Pip spell, that can do anywhere between 1330 – 1470 damage. Which, on average, is about 1400. I would divide 1400 by 10 to get the spell’s loss per Pip or DPP. Storm Owl would come out to be 140 DPP.
 

This can be represented by the formula: (damage)/(x-y). 

Here you would take the spell’s average damage (based upon the values on the card), and divide it by the difference of its Pip cost (represented by the letter x) and its utility Pip cost (represented by the letter y) which we’ll get to in a moment.

So the math for Storm Owl would look like this:

(damage)/(x-y)

(1400)/(10-0) 

1400/10

= 140 

It seems simple, right? Not always. To get a spell’s true DPP, we have to factor in Pip reductions, and damage multipliers.

What Are Pip Reductions?

A Pip reduction is something factored into a spell’s DPP calculation. These reductions happen when a spell has an added effect or utility attached to it. When calculating DPP, some Pips may get subtracted. 

For example, one type of Pip reduction is the scion condition. Scion spells cost 11 pips, and do x2 damage if a particular condition is met depending on the spell. Because Scion spells can do x2 damage, reducing their initial damage. Their base damage is around the damage of a ten Pip spell. See where I’m going with this? 

The Scion Condition results in -1 Pip when calculating damage per pip. Yet, the Scion condition is not the only Pip reduction. There are, in fact, many more. 

Types of Pip Reduction

The following list contains the types of Pip reductions along with how many Pips they reduce.

  • Special: 10% Pierce blade: -0 Pips
  • Rusulka’s Wrath blade/weakness: -0.5 Pips
  • 800 Absorb: -1 Pip
  • Disarm: -1 Pip
  • Guiding Light: -1 Pip
  • Infection: -1 Pip
  • Pierce: -1 Pip
  • Remove 2 pips: -1 Pip
  • Scion Condition: -1 Pip
  • Steal 1 pip: -1 Pip
  • Stun: -1 Pip
  • Summon minion: -1 Pip
  • Trap: -1 Pip
  • Tower shield: -1 Pip
  • Bubble change: -2 Pips
  • Double Disarm: -2 Pips
  • Double stun: -2 Pips
  • Gain 1 pip: -2 Pips
  • Plague: -2 Pips
  • Pierce before hit: -2 Pips
  • Smokescreen (40% accuracy debuff to all enemies): -2 Pips
  • Spirit Shield + Elemental Shield: -2 Pips
  • Stun all: -2 Pips
  • 45% Weakness: -2 Pips
  • AOE 45% Weakness -3 Pips

What This Means

These Pip reductions may NOT all be accurate, because determining the number of Pips a utility takes away is tricky. KI developer Mattnetic has said some utilities may cost less and others more. The issue is finding out which ones. Most pip reductions appear to be -1 one Pip, with AOE utilities such as Plague counting as -2. One for the utility, and one for the AOE effect. However, that still leave some loose ends, so allow me to to tie those up right now.

Because all King Artorius spells to get a 10% Pierce charm, the Pierce charm is not counted as a utility. Thus, every King Artorius spell gets it for free.

Rusalka’s Wrath gives either a 30% storm blade or a 30% Storm Weakness to the caster. Considering it has a chance to positively and negatively affect the caster, it was given 0.5 pips instead of 1.

Because the typical bubble would cost two pips, the Pip reduction is counted as two Pips.

Calculating the Pip reduction for an 800 Absorb was difficult. The actual Absorb spell is three pips for a 400 Absorb; therefore, wouldn’t it be counted as six Pips for an 800 Absorb? If so, then the DPP of Hungry Caterpillar would be extremely high. But that wouldn’t be, right? Would it? These things can be quite challenging. 

What Are Damage Multipliers?

You factor in a damage multiplier after you calculate a Pip reduction. For example, a standard damage multiplier is an AOE, or area of effect. An AOE spell is when a spell hits all enemies. Let’s take the spell, Glowbug Squall. This spell is an AOE, and it does 940 damage to all enemies. It costs five regular Pips and one shadow Pip. A Shadow Pip currently equals 3.6 Pips; therefore, Glowbug Squall would be 8.6 Pips in total.

AOE spells have their damage multiplied by 0.75, or 3/4. To account for this spell being an AOE, we get the inverse of 3/4 and multiply by 4/3. Instead of dividing 940 by 8.6, we would multiply 940 by 4/3 first to get 1253.3. Now, we divide by 8.6. Finally, this makes the DPP of the spell Glowbug Squall 145.7.

 

Calculating Drain DPP

Calculating the damage multiplier for drains was difficult. Thanks to the new spell, Ship of Fools, we can now figure it. Ship of Fools has two routes you can go and upgrade using spellements. One is damage, and the other is a drain.
 
We can now accurately compare drain damage to typical damage. For example, the final tier of Ship of Fools. We found drains to suffer a 0.88% damage dropoff compared to pure damage. The final drain tier for Ship of Fools deals 330 damage. The final pure damage tier for ship of fools deals 375 damage. 330/375 is 22/25, 0.88, or 88%. 
 
This rate stays consistent for each upgrade of Ship of Fools. Therefore, before we calculate a drain spell’s DPP, we have to multiply its damage by the inverse of 22/25, which would be 25/22, to find the true DPP.
 

Calculating DOT DPP

One more type of damage multiplier is “damage over time” or DOT. These spells have initial damage, and then the damage dealt over three rounds. Because this damage takes longer to deal, the damage is 25% higher than the average spell—DOT’s damage multiplies by 1.25. So, to find DPP of spells with DOT’s divide by 1.25 to get the final DPP value. 

X rank spells like Tempest and Snowball Barrage are not affected by the AOE multiplier. Because they already have their damage per Pip value listed on the card.

What do the Devs say?

The first chart here is from Ratbeard’s Dev Dairy, it shows the individual base DPP for each school of magic. In addition to the new and old DPP for each school’s Shadow-enhanced spells. 

With the damage per pip chart below, you will start to notice things with some spells above rank 7. The damage per pip curve caps off at eight Pips. It does not increase further. To account for this, rank eight spells and above get utility for cheaper then what a rank seven or lower would. They get these utilities at a 50% discount, compared to a rank seven or below spell. 

There is one utility that does not get this discount, the Scion Condition, which remains at -1 Pip, not -0.5. The discounted utilities are bolded on the chart.

Another thing to note is rank seven spells DO NOT get penalized for being an AOE. They are purposefully over the damage curve. None of the things mentioned above apply to Shadow enhanced spells.

Formulas: (x = number of Pips and y = utility Pip cost)

AOE: [(damage)(4/3)] / (x – y)

DOT: [(damage)(0.8)] / (x – y)

Drain: [(damage)(25/22)] / (x – y)

If you’re interested in learning more about DPP you can check out Ratbeard’s Dev Dairy on the subject with this link! https://www.wizard101.com/game/dev-diary/spell-balance-audit

Final Notes

Moving forward the it’s important to keep this information in mind:

  • One Shadow Pip equals 3.6 pips
  • Storm base DPP is 125
  • Fire base DPP is 100
  • Myth base DPP is 90
  • Death and Balance base DPP is 85
  • Life and Ice base DPP is 83
  • DOTs have a damage multiplier of 1.25
  • Rank 7 spells are intentionally above the curve in DPP (no x4/3 AOE multiplier when calculating DPP)
  • DPP scales slowly as spells start to cost more Pips
  • Shadow enhanced spells have a higher DPP compared to regular spells.

We hope this article helps you to understand the logic behind the recent changes to the game and how they will help balance things going forward. Personally, I am excited to see what new spells will be possible now.

Thanks For Reading!

Special thanks to Shawn Fire and Dustin from the Ravenwood Community Discord for assisting me in the many calculations throughout this article. I would also like to thank KI developer Ratbeard for responding to my questions about DPP so quickly, he was extremely helpful! And, thank all of you for reading. I hope you enjoyed this article as much as I did writing it. If you did, please check out the other guides and information Ravenwood Academy has to offer. Let us know what you think and what your calculations find in the comments below, or at the Ravenwood Community!! 
 

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!

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.