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oneriderratbug101 · 16 days

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Alright so, in part because I see my tempest post gaining some traction, I want to talk for a second about Wizard101's aoe meta.

Nono come back, I see you walking away already, this isn't just going to be a rah aoe bad aoe meta bad post. There are way too many pieces of content about this issue that don't actually make any points and just say the issue is there. We know the issue is there, we all feel it, that's why a shitpost where I spent 5 minutes manually typing out the word tempest (that's right, not a single word was copy pasted) is doing so well right now.

Part 1 - Why hasn't anything been done?

I'm going to say it right off the bat, I don't think a lot of us really tend to think about how much of a nightmare aoe must be to balance. In the current state of the game, aoe is basically necessary for quality of life. This raises what seems like one of the biggest dilemmas in balancing history though- there is no middle ground for these spells. The only point in which these spells would be nerfed enough for the community to not spam is if these spells were made practically unusable. Because of the unique amount of time battles take in a turn based mmo vs literally any other mmo, using single target spells can feel like it takes forever, and is wildly inefficient. Other games with more traditional gameplay loops can make up for aoe's effeciency by having it in a middle ground, but because we have long turn based instances rather than open world quick fights as our main battles, if the aoe is in a "middle ground" we will still spam it as if it's op. There isn't a pure balancing fix to the aoe problem. In order to fix the aoe spells from a game design perspective, a system is going have to be added, changed, or the entire gameplay loop get reworked. Needless to say, that's probably not happening, and I can't really blame KI on that one.

Part 2 - What's the problem?

Alright, so we've established that, for the forseeable future, an aoe dominated metagame is here to stay. However, aoe makes up an incredibly small portion of the vast array of spells we can obtain. Not even just wiping off single target spells from the table, for efficiency's sake, the main aoe spells used are ones we obtain relatively early on in the game. This branches into two very heavily interwoven problems I've seen a lot of people reblogging the original tempest spam bring up.

2a:

This aoe domination greatly thwarts gameplay diversity. That's the main appeal of the post that started this all, really. It becomes a chore to play the game after a while when all it boils down to is the same exact gameplay loop you have been using for years, with no change despite the addition of more and more spells into your repetoire. It becomes tiring, and it makes the obtainment of new spells lose a lot of excitement, getting not only in the way of fun gameplay but also in the way of core progession mechanics. Other games can avoid this issue becoming too large, as the traditional MMO combat style puts you in more control of your character and adds another layer of enjoyment to be had through that. In Wizard101 I have to take drawn out turns to do combat, where in traditional MMOs you have a chance at getting a bit of a rush from the more involved, faster paced button spams. Now, from here, you can bring up the fact that card games have been around for ages and have been able to avoid gameplay loop issues like this for a good chunk of that time, and I will meet you with a

????? Card games have had balancing issues for ages and many people struggle to get into and stay in the hobby, they've got their own thing going on

But yes, I will agree that despite having their own problems, card games can generally avoid the issue of gameplay loop growing too large through being PVP. That's right, all of you Wizard101 PVP mains out there, congratulations, you've managed to avoid this problem! I'm sure Wizard101 PVP has its own problems though. Regardless, let's get into what PVP brings to the gameplay loop table. As opposed to PVE where you face a semi-predictable AI, in PVP you will be put against another real person, formulating new strategies, using a deck you might not know about, and using spells in a more random/unpredictable pattern. PVP has the benefit of novelty, forcing you to strategize differently across your battles, and to think hard about your opponent's next move every time.

I'm not claiming PVE doesn't have anything like this! Just that in the core gameplay of an MMO, which typically consists of a lot of general mob battles, this battle novelty typically isn't all too present.

2b:

We're missing out on a lot of cool spells! Animations, art, sound design, game design, etc, all of that work poured into these spells and we're just tossing them on the ground like that scene from Toy Story! This sentiment was lost in reblogs as I put it in the tags of the tempest post, but I LOVE storm! The ocean themes, general water themes, and of course actual storm themes hit their mark incredibly well for me! And I feel the same about every other school, as well! Tempest was merely an easy vessel for this message, as it's the most stereotypically spammed aoe. As I said before though, when all you're using is the same spell, a certain excitement surrounding the game leaves. I feel we have gone from seeing new spells and going "That's so cool, I can't wait to use it!" to seeing them and going "That's so cool, I wish I had a chance to use it!".

Part 3 - Why is this a problem? (E.g. why not just use whatever spell you want?)

You, balance wizard reading this: when's the last time you've heard something to the tune of "just blade me"? How did that make you feel? Did that extend to other parts of your gameplay? To expand on this, anyone who isn't fire or storm, has Wolf Stormblade ever told you that you can't hit? That you deal no damage? Told to just support or pass? Even fire wizards are sometimes subject to this!

The chances are, a lot of people don't realize how much of an effect the community has on their gameplay. I've even encountered this as early as Unicorn Way, but people care about the meta. You're going to play with people, and a lot of this playerbase can tend to treat their own word as law, and so you will have the meta drilled into you. Hell, sometimes their "meta" is less efficient or just straight up worse than your plan. Putting that aside though, opinions turn into "facts", they then circulate, and then you have been pressured to play a specific way. Before I continue, I'd like us to remind ourselves that this is NOT League of Legends, and that at its core this is an all-ages game in a humorous fantasy setting, and that some of us might be taking PVE gameplay a little too seriously. That being said, I get it though! Circling back to an earlier point, this gameplay loop can be absolutely numbing! Of course after 80 battles against Malistaire just trying to get that one drop you want everyone around you to play with maximum efficiency! It's impossible to always keep in mind that some people might be trying to experience these parts of the game you might have already experienced as much as you can! And in a way, it makes sense, why would we roughly double our already extended battle times through not playing aoe? Metas get popular because they work. They work extremely well. Under Wizard101's current combat system, which is a large part of why I love Wizard101, single target spells are rarely a better option, and instead cost me multiple more minutes in my day.

The next suggestion would usually be to solo, however:

A: Not all content can be soloed, you WILL have to encounter another player at some point, and it will usually be in a setting where these types of players congregate most.

B: Even if more challenging content CAN be soloed, you have to play extremely to the meta, defeating the point of soloing here.

C: This is an MMO. A core part of it is inherently community and other players. Why am I only allowed to have fun while lonely?

Unless you come upon a rare chance and find the perfect group of people, you can't consistently play Wizard101 the way you want. And the problem is much larger than the aoe spells.

So, we have acknowledged we all understand the problem and have feelings one way or another about it. We have described why nothing has been done about it, and what the problem really is. We've gone into the community pressures, incentive to self, and damage to gameplay options regarding aoe and a greater meta. I've also done my best to show that this problem runs deeper and is harder to avoid than you may think. So, what's my big suggested change for Wizard101 and KI to fix this problem?

Nothing. That's right, all this for me to suggest nothing. Unless a lot of random reworks somehow magically make things better, this isn't changing. I don't even necessarily want the reworks, either. This problem is just here. I guess the only actually meaningful call to action would be please, regardless of whether it's Wizard101, some other game, or even just life in general, be mindful of the experiences of others. You may be beating that boss for the 80th time today, but this might be a teammate's first encounter with it. You may be jaded and want to do things as fast as possible, but try your best to remind yourself not to take the sparkle out of the eyes of someone enjoying themselves. Remember- you always matter, and whether or not that's going to be positive or negative is in your hands.

Maybe our game gets better, maybe we get better, or maybe some secret third option happens. It doesn't even matter too much to me, despite this lengthy post. I just wanted to get my thoughts on this issue out there.

#wizard101 #it took me 3 days to write this #motivation faded in and out #really though I saw the reaction to the tempest post and immediately wanted to get this out there #i think no matter what happens opening this dialogue is important #Wizard101 #morganthe #malistaire #cyrus drake #halston balestrom #heehee that's a frog :)#i love his dapper suit #he's so swag !!!#w101 #kingsisle #KI

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elizabethrobertajones · 10 months

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8 and 12 for the Frogicule! :3

Do they have any favorite activities to do together?

I don't think Zero's even met G'raha, let alone the busiest man in Ishgard :( The Frogzero dynamic has very much been "weird girls going into the woods and doing Rituals And Making Potions And Spells" except magic actually exists and Frog recruited Zero on a personal side mission to track down and talk face to face with Francie, her reaper avatar. It's all happened so suddenly that this adventure lead to smoochin that Frog's still reeling and hasn't managed to arrange any fun Frogicule activities. (How could she know that as soon as I set eyes on Zero I said "oh Frog has to kiss her"? it's all so sudden!)

Anyway this is exactly the sort of thing Y'shtola would enjoy too, I'm saying for no particular reason :) :)

Obviously Frog has taken G'raha to Ishgard to hang out and do High Culture stuff with Aymeric. Aymeric likes taking them to fancy dinners with important people to show off the Warrior of Light and talk up G'raha's achievements to make him blush. G'raha and Frog act all couple-y and Aymeric gets a kick out of secretly holding Frog's hand under the table as well. And of course he has to dance with her at the ball, it's just polite. And if he has a private seat at the theatre, they can all sit together up there -

Basically they're really improving the quality of his enforced public appearances and Lucia has tasked Frog with making sure these new political Head of State social duties don't get so onerous that Aymeric doesn't snap and leap out of a window and disappear into the wilds never to be seen again...

Frog KNOWS G'raha has a ridiculous crush on Aymeric because she only asked the Lord Commander out officially after G'raha wouldn't stop going on about how attractive he was and Frog would be so lucky if she could date him as well and she was like, bet? ... She also can see Aymeric is quite taken with G'raha but has decided to neutrally sit back and see how many dates the three of them can go on before Aymeric and G'raha figure it out for themselves, because that's far more entertaining to her than anything else going on.

G'raha is just happy to be there :D

*sound of all this whooshing over his head*

Who gets up the earliest? Who has the worst sleep schedule? Who is the sleepiest?

Well all three of those apply to Aymeric. If you stay over with him, he's up at first light, doing some stretches while reading paperwork. And then any time after lunch he falls right asleep as soon as you sit him down somewhere comfy?

I think Zero probably has the actual worst sleep schedule in terms of waking up at 3am and looking over at a shadow in the corner and jumping and screaming because she's sitting like a gargoyle in the corner just staring into the distance while gnawing on a whole orange skin and all. Circadian rhythms happen to people who can see the sky and enjoy the blessing of the sun. Introducing her to the sun just made her weirder, I'm afraid.

(G'raha is weird about sleep too but he just politely lies still and disassociates while pretending to be asleep and then micro-naps during the day like a champ so I am not sure Frog has noticed that he's got Slept For Three Years trauma...)

#ffxiv #heehee frogicule #Bounding Frog #Wolraha #Wolmeric #Wolzero #.....#Wolshtola #endwalker spoilers

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