Wizard101: KingsIsle Changing the Paywall?!

Wizard101: Free-to-Play Paywall Changes
LIKE if you enjoyed, thanks!
Subscribe for more videos! www.youtube.co...
Tara's Twitch Channel: / taradawnbreaker
My Twitter: / blazelh
BIG Shoutout to the Mega Supporters of the Channel:
BroadwayPixels
Stephen Webber
Jennifer Nicastro
Maureen
Jack Showdown
#wizard101 #w101 #mmo #wizards101 #gaming #youtubegaming
Wizard101 2021
Wizard101 Paywall
Wizard101 Free-to-Play
Wizard101 Crowns

[@barkobunga2276]

I really don't see how this could possiblly hurt them. Even just a free wizard city would absolutely make a difference. There's so much content at this point, it's absurd to not at least make Wiz City free.

[@khris417]

They would get alot more players to join the game too

[@ivailoivanov01]

@@khris417 exactly, I hope they listen to the community

[@joeywiseman6337]

EXACTLY

[@FenixWindail]

@@khris417 As already mentioned in my comment, it makes no sense to make only Wizardcity free, the game of a casino of contents, and while unlocking a world is not total but you have to buy every single area and indeed a theft in my opinion in 2021, in a game that should first of all be designed for children, I believe that encouraging children to spend their parents' credit card money is not a very good teaching...The game is cute, colorful, and interesting with a good balance of fun and serious moments, but all of that is blocked by this stupid Paywall that nowadays... who really wants to spend money every month just for play all worlds? or buy every single area? nobody, maybe those few KI fans who still hope for a miracle or can't see the light at the end of the tunnel, I know months ago KI said he wouldn't change the FtP model when he switched to Gamigo but what's happening now this " reconsideration "I hope it is making them understand that... maybe and now they should change their mentality a bit, but this... it's not just with KI and Wizard101 I am noticing that many other games with this type of model are changing mindsets and are "drastically" by changing the FtP model to try to attract more players to the game, making the game zones free and giving advantages (albeit few) to FtP and Premium players, in order to entice people to play their own game, personally I don't mind if they made FtP the whole game but let's see what will happen in the next months or years (if KI doesn't change your mind).

[@khris417]

If they made the game free to play they could still make money by making it pay to win. By giving people with membership better clothes, more xp and more spells. I think what is really holding them back is the fact that the people that paid for the game before it is free would make them feel someway. But they can just make it more grindable for free the pay people.

[@kikishang2257]

Please make Wizard City free to play. It gives more of a sense of closure before your dreams get crushed

[@kingofmeh9241]

Even though I love Wiz dearly... This sums up a part of my childhood ; - ;

[@BaconGale]

I would personally like to see at least a part of Krok to be f2p as well cuz thats when the combat starts to get more interesting imo

[@DrMonkey98]

What do you mean?

[@Funloverjef]

@@DrMonkey98 The paywall hits at Cyclops Lane so you either need to pay the per-area access fee for each character or use a credit card for a monthly membership for unlimited access.

[@velvetstorm4563]

@@Funloverjef I thought paywall started at that goblin place in the shopping district?

[@BrightNeonBrilliancy]

One of the reasons I can't rec this game to friends is because legit there's an hour of gameplay before they have to shell out money. If the first world- or arc- was free, I'd probably have friends that would get into this.

[@Angelicas5318]

Same!! I've def have had friends in the past that were interested and asked me about it. But obvi i had to tell them yeah theres a paywall for the first world ://

[@marcoslorhan8351]

Imagine me a brazilian guy trying to play this game knowing that the dolar in brazil its 5x more. The only possible way i can play its when they do First Member Promo 4.95USD for me its 29BRL. Impossible to have friends playing this game without spending a lot of money in this game

[@MarcosMartins97]

@@marcoslorhan8351 hello, fellow Brazilian Wizard.

[@classicleslie6914]

@@marcoslorhan8351 love to Brazil from America

[@penguin5848]

Ye my cousin liked it until paywall, now I’m by myself in safari and stuck cuz paywall

[@Andy-lc8lp]

I remember playing this game when I was like 12 and listening to music. The paywall hit me right in my heart but I was still trying to find stuff to do. Good old times

[@jacobfrye873]

I remember ages ago wiz city krok and a part of Marleybone we’re free

[@rafe100]

Yeah I remember being stuck at lvl 10 grinding dungeons to lvl 15 everyday it was actually painful lol

[@synergy525]

@@rafe100 same bro

[@riftalexa9330]

I remember i hit the paywall at level 10 too with my death wiz about 10yrs ago, i grinded the haunted cave until level 22 lmao i had like over 10k undeads killed

[@notfunnydidntlaugh1890]

@@riftalexa9330 I did that and grinded Gauntlets (which give an insane amount of xp for the first 3 runs every 10 levels) and hit 35.

[@masonlawn8515]

it's incredibly weird how they're taking into serious consideration some data from just 2 days alone (a weekend). They don't even advertise the game, how are new people supposed to come back in a weekend? It's insane.

[@moverdome]

this doesn't count for a huge amount of the fandom, but if you use keywords on twitter you can see some accounts talking about coming back to W101 only to find out it still wasn't F2P all these years later. if it happened we could definitely get some fair numbers in there.

[@shawnc292]

Are we not going to adress the fact the data is a whole month of data? They gave everyone membership for a month and the data still didnt help with retention

[@F34R_Slayer]

@@shawnc292 what drugs are you on

[@shawnc292]

@@F34R_Slayer what are you talking about if you follow the devs streams they openly talk about it. Also last december they gave everyone membership for a month.

[@F34R_Slayer]

@@shawnc292 2 WEEKS YOU PEANUT HEAD

[@saintbrick4629]

I remember being a little kid when the game was still roughly new and I remember thinking that beating the kraken in triton ave was a huge milestone and that level 15 was a flex. having come back in 2016 from a close friend of mine doing it for a meme. I've put in a lot of effort and have experienced a lot that this game has to offer. With the game being out for 13 years now there is literally no reason wizard city isn't free besides king isle not wanting to take risks. if the game now goes up to 140 it would make sense to move FTP to something like level 20/through kroktopia. Let people get to experience what your game has to offer. Update: apparently KI is making through Kroktopia FTP for a limited time.

[@oogabooga400]

the amount of relate i have is insane

[@oogabooga400]

im starting to think they should make a wizard 101 2

[@saintbrick4629]

@@oogabooga400 The gimmick will be that the graphics are from the 90’s. I just want the graphics to gradually get worse.

[@matthewlevine7384]

True comment

[@JordyanBWolf]

That takes me back! I used to watch others take on the Kraken-- thinking it was for the best most experienced players in the game, and how I'd never be able to do it myself lol

[@peachjelly4564]

As someone who played as a kid and hit the paywall on numerous play throughs, I still didn’t have the drive to ask my parents for a membership simply based on the fact that 2-3 hours wasn’t enough to bother my parents over. I loved the portion that I played and obviously wanted to continue the story but I didn’t even know what was on the other side or how much membership would give me because they don’t show new players enough to full hook them into a monthly subscription.

[@TheUltimateRare]

They only want to give out free areas for a short time because they feel their business model is way better than extra free areas.

[@Ovalishperogative]

same

[@magica3526]

yeah, but first arc for free is a terrible idea. From a business perspective making you hit a paywall at a stopping point (end of world) is a bad idea

[@natantitelbaum6061]

@@magica3526 Why is it a bad idea to give the entire arc for free?. (give me the explenation)

[@camashaftsjourney4072]

considering now a days we go all the way to 140, it actually kinda blows my mind that wizard city, let alone the whole first arc, isn’t free

[@amadeushorror129]

Well, Wizard City makes sense being free. But if the first arc is free, players would have a sense of closure with it, and stop playing the game after.

[@camashaftsjourney4072]

@@amadeushorror129 i guess that’s why we all stopped playing and paying after the first arc. oh wait we didn’t.

[@devoncummings2853]

with the 4th arc starting and after 10+ years the first arc should be free

[@elijahmitchell9944]

You cannot make the first arc free without a significant drop in membership sales. So much players give up around mooshu. Also, since you defeat malistaire it would seem as though the game ends so what is the motivation to continue. I agree that on paper it sounds like a good idea but it just isn't in practicality. I agree with making wizard city free and the first area of krok, but making the first arc free is kinda ridiculous. Sales will drop tremendously, while I think in the long term sales will increase with the making of wc free while sales will decrease with the making of the first arc free. Saying that there is so much content in the game and therefore the first arc should be free doesn't make much sense, because assuming a player is going to complete the game start to finish then we can assume that the player enjoys the game and has played it before, either as a kid or as another character. If a new player was going to play the game I can gurantee you the majority of them aren't thinking about finishing questing and are just looking for a nice game to play, thus they will play the game and leave without KI making a penny. Which, lets be honest, the only reason we are having this discussion is because we want the playerbase to grow and KI wants to make more money as a business. The first worlds after wizard city are also incredibly old given today's standards, so when players get there they might be demotivated, while having to buy a membership upon the completion of wizard city creates motivation to play. As people would want to get their money's worth of the membership. Hope this all makes sense.

[@alstaa3434]

@@elijahmitchell9944 I'm sorry to hear you lack common sense.

[@atlasllm]

"Dragonspyre is pretty boring, especially the scenery" FINALLY SOMEONE AGREES WITH ME

[@indigotribee8666]

My least favorite world 🙄

[@TheUltimateRare]

depends who you ask. some people love the Lava-y backgrounds.

[@velocityraptor2890]

It's... Okay I guess, but personally marleybone is my absolute least favorite

[@ryeleeoverly8164]

@@velocityraptor2890 agreed

[@katienayak9549]

agreed

[@geekedaf]

With the current paywall, doing every quest and side quest that you have access to, for free, gets u to ten levels

[@Wishy.]

Before all the new housing gauntlet I’d be level 12-13 on all my wizards

[@mcballe]

@@Wishy. i got up to lvl 18 way way back before any gauntlet, before mounts were added i farmed a fuckton of scarecrows in haunted cave.

[@brandonbnm2237]

@@mcballe wtf 😂 I remember I was in that struggle

[@mcpaintcraft8709]

False, it can actually get you to about level 15-16.

[@geekedaf]

@@mcpaintcraft8709 really? Last time i did it when i was free to play i got to lvl 10, the rest i had to grind kraken to reach lvl 12

[@HobbesHobbiton]

Within *20 minutes* of questing, you hit the paywall. No wonder why this game is dying!

[@eddysato8430]

@@CP4521 But majority of people would go for Cyclops or Firecat first, hit the Paywall, and uninstall the game lol. After all, many people don't get 3 quests and decide to go to the middle one first when they're standing right next to Cyclops Lane

[@HobbesHobbiton]

@@CP4521 I feel like it's closer to ~30 minutes with Triton for new Players, though there are definitely an hour or two if you do all of the side quests.

[@toughmunths]

The game has for the most part always been like this its just that its time Wizard101 starts dying

[@TheUltimateRare]

They give out free areas in the first 2 worlds now. It's a start but I don't think they plan to Perma release early zones for everyone just yet.

[@ziwuri]

Several hours for my first time🤷‍♂️

[@SefinFPS]

The fact that Wizard City is paywalled at all is ridiculous to me. IMO, the first arc should be free and then the paywall should start after that. If players are enjoying the game through DS they're very likely to buy a membership and continue.

[@TheUltimateRare]

yeah but KI hates the idea of "losing profits" On more free zones. so the best we could ask for is maybe... 2 free worlds?

[@timid1702]

@@TheUltimateRare anything past olde town is good enough at this point

[@fulanodetal2963]

I totally approve this, but I want the crowns I spent buying these zones back xD

[@BasedasFUCKK]

agreed.

[@brianmtq]

Yea youre not getting those back lmao

[@frostywizlord1682]

I think it's because this mindset some players have that they aren't willing to make most zones free 🤣

[@ansar4454]

3750 crowns lol. It's a digital currency they are not losing anything by giving those crowns back to people.

[@TitledAsh]

They already spent your money dawg. 💰sorry bro. Its gone

[@Kiki-zo6qm]

Maybe if they put the wizard city free during quarantine when most people had a lot more time to play then maybe it would preform well 🤔

[@khamyahicks2348]

They did in like december for like 15 Days. Everything was unlocked. Basocally like free member ship

[@HobbesHobbiton]

KingsIsle: We care about "FTUE!" Also KingsIsle: Make Wizard City free? Eh, I don't know.. 🤷‍♂️

[@Inshabael.]

I was so crushed when the paywall popped up on my face, I was so oblivious to the spire that I thought Triton Avenue was another world 😭

[@jacobfrye873]

When I was young in my childhood thought krokotopia marleybone and moshu were streets

[@knightmare3856]

I would make this game popular in one big update, more spells for every school, and free zones till lvl 35 or 50.

[@breadly3252]

I wouldn't go by level. I think it would be more by arcs or worlds

[@beb753]

Or just do what FFXIV does, restrict your level to 50 until you buy the expansions (in the case of Wiz you would just need to buy the membership) EZ money

[@TheUltimateRare]

They won't do 50. if they did 35, they would probably overhaul prices and make the early crown prices steeper to make up the lost income.

[@nxt_tim]

@@TheUltimateRare the European version of Wizard101 was free to level 50 way back in the day when there were even less worlds... they changed it, sadly, yet it shows that it's definitely possible

[@josephhakim2344]

I’m telling you there shouldn’t be a pay wall unless it’s for new releases, how did destiny 2 bring players back? Free to play, but paid cosmetics. There isn’t a reason for me to come back and invest time in a monthly pay wall, on an older game like this. Like give me the game then charge me for future dlc it’s not hard

[@shyco321utube]

I also think the whole first arc is so old and outdated, they might as well give it for free. They should pay you to play some of those worlds it's so drab.

[@1_Solitude_1]

*cough cough* DRAGONSPYRE

[@rhys3350]

I've played Wiz for 10 years, I find it pathetic that Kingsisle still paywalls this game to oblivion, Final fantasy 14 allows you to play the whole game and the first expansion for free permanently, that's 60 levels and weeks of content for free, the fact Kingsisle won't even make Wizard city free as a minimum is just embarrassing, imo all base game worlds should be free, up to Dragonspyre.

[@HobbesHobbiton]

Agreed, it's pretty shameful how ClownsIsle is acting. They're just trying to be a lesser EA, and the scary thing is that they're succeeding at that!

[@timpryde3609]

Exactly! just like it was in the beginning

[@PayPayGoneCrayCray]

@Jayme Reichart yep they don't know anything, if you research the current ceo he has zero experience and the way he says things in interviews is very let's just say kind of toxic behavior

[@aceouane1478]

Agreed. A lot of games are free now and theyre making more bank than wiz

[@oinkytheink1228]

@@HobbesHobbiton Ea copies and pastes so meh

[@Resistance2401]

I recall the first arc being free in the European server back in the day and the game was full of life, then after implementing the paywall the server slowly died to the point that I had to choose the American one recently in order to actually see people.

[@monunivers1394]

Honestly I didn't even know they had a European server

[@gamingskull987]

@@monunivers1394 i played uk servers up untill krys pt 1 and i litterally could not progress further cos there is no one there on the servers, there are a few veterans who kinda just afk in the commons but i could count them on one hand, everyone that ik that plays wiz moves over to the us servers sooner or later, also the bazaar is litterally barren, there is pretty much nothing and that tells you a lot about the uk player base lol

[@banj1628]

@@gamingskull987 I'm from the UK and its probably a cause of 0 advertising over here, I only found out about the game when I went on holiday to the US 😂

[@gamingskull987]

@@banj1628 yh idk how i found it in the first place cos when u type wiz the us one is the one that comes up first xD

[@optccaptain]

Man, I was ONE of those players. It was so MUCH FUN!

[@gelloamitz6618]

For me, the biggest market strat for this is just give the entire wizard city for free. So people can see more about wiz101 and not just get blocked by paywall

[@HobbesHobbiton]

Yeah, I remember how insanely well received the free Wizard City weekend and X-Mas Membership events were. People are more than willing to pay for later worlds, but why should they when we can barely nibble on the first one?

[@snowwfps]

honestly entire first arc should be free.

[@Omaui]

when 150 comes out they should def make up to lvl 50 free. That's like a perfect lvl cap as well because you can't do waterworks yet but could still have beaten dragonspyre.

[@nuvomusique4171]

facts!

[@huhjenniferrr]

yeah

[@stinkysdiner]

Games like Genshin impact give soooooooooooooo much free content to the players and that game is fairly new compared to wizard101. I love wizard101 but the paywall move is way past due.

[@kathlol]

i thought deeply about the free to play till the end of arc 1 idea and i think it's really smart! it'll give players a feel of what it's like to defeat a major villain and the buildup to it. that'd be really beneficial tbh.

[@percivallavoie4415]

Not to mention the fact that it gives the player some closure on what's been "promised" in the tutorial, the first couple of minutes that a new player gets

[@TheUltimateRare]

I know you guys love this idea, but it's unrealistic to them. You see, They built a model on getting people membership as early as possible. Shocking their model all at once with more free worlds is a huge downside to them. they don't see things our way. They think it'll hurt their profits so they don't do it.

[@partyinpiplup7883]

@@TheUltimateRare ehhh. SWTOR has so much of the game free and they've been pretty good. I would pay $60 for all the free content in SWTOR. They just make money through cosmetics in the cartel market and end-game content which requires a membership.

[@kathlol]

@@TheUltimateRare no i completely get what you're saying. the paywall is just way too early especially considering today's level cap. the current paywall and their initial plan (what you're saying) would've made more sense at the early stages of the game. but at the minimum, wizard city and all of krok should be free, like the event they're running right now.

[@lebau6825]

They need to advertise the game!!!

[@picassojulien899]

I think the first arc should be free atp, from level to 1-140 IS ALOT. Making the first arc free will make people become more interested after they finish dragonspyre. You’ll get new players in the long run.

[@mathwizard296]

Well they should make the 2nd arc free then for the people who already spent money I spent $60 to pay for all the areas from wizard city to dragonspyre including grizzleheim and if they make that free its like I wasted my money

[@goddamnrice]

I 100 percent agree. I love bringing new friends to the game to play casually, but none want to pay, so all I can do is less than 1 hour of gameplay. It would be cool for casual players to get a full experience, and for all the actual wiz players to pay to continue to the later areas. I know for me, I have all the areas below DS *bought* , so when I don’t have a membership, I have a blast making new characters and questing in the first arc with different schools.

[@goddamnrice]

Or maybe have all areas of the first arc free ONLY when you have a quest to do there

[@picassojulien899]

@@mathwizard296 I mean I don’t find it a waste of money. I had about 6 wiz memberships in life and got two characters to 140. Only 60 dollars didn’t do anything but I understand wym

[@adamesdad2908]

@@mathwizard296 i hope if they do this they give crowns back.

[@VinnyIurillo]

You’re right, it should be like a percentage thing. As the game gets longer the pay wall should be pushed back more

[@eddysato8430]

Yeah during release, it would have probably been more like 5%. Right now, it's like 0.5% lol

[@101wizardER]

Basically what SWTOR did and still does

[@TheUltimateRare]

@@eddysato8430 You are doing half a world so that's roughly the progress we'd use. there's like what, 17ish worlds? That means the pay wall starts roughly 1/34th into the game which comes out to roughly 3% of the game is open to everyone.

[@eddysato8430]

@@TheUltimateRare That isn't much of a progress method. Wizard City takes 2-3 hours to complete. Every world after takes longer, which Celestia and further worlds taking 6-20 hours to complete. With that in mind, half of Wizard City doesn't even come close to 3%.

[@kujjy4179]

bro if they get rid of monthly membership, they’ll get tons more players

[@robertjones6475]

True

[@avebuh3523]

true but then there would be less income to update and improve the game BUT i can see how even more players would continue to play bc that’s like giving a kid an ice cream cone and them getting one lick then saying “$9.99 to eat the rest”

[@username2540]

They don’t have to get rid of it, but they can probably rework it in a way

[@K3NN3DY_101]

I'd love to see my siblings come back to it! They don't really play this anymore because of the paywalls, I miss those days with them

[@coltontheisen01]

@@avebuh3523 that's not entirely true. Free to play games are DOMINATING the game market right now because of in game stores. Which KI already has a very well established IG store.

[@pengutheone5579]

Yo yo yo??? If they kill the pay wall and make it even a $60 game I’d buy it in a heartbeat

[@c.jhamblin5759]

Right?

[@HobbesHobbiton]

Totally. If KI made the entire game available for a set amount and only sold cosmetic items in the Crown Shop, they'd make so much more money- especially if they brought back Double Gardening, Paloozas, and Classic Crown Sales.

[@dattheboss1268]

I look up Glassdoor in kingisle and there been review on the companies that employee and some former game dev has suggest getting rid of the paywall before many time. Common theme I'm getting at is it's been denied many time and outright with aggression on upper management. Might want to look into that.

[@wyvrn7328]

I've haven't played this game for a while but I still hold it dear to my heart for giving me so much joy as a younger person. But I can tell you that the paywall was always the part of the game that I hated the most.

[@duskjumper]

A thing you missed is that December last year for their 12 days of the spiral, free membership was given to all accounts in good standing. It was honestly quite fun and there were definitely a lot more players (myself included) who hopped on because of it.

[@ivailoivanov01]

I really really hope that Kingsisle listens to you and the community and make good changes for the health of the game!

[@Thefrostedslime]

Since we've gotten so many new worlds, I've always been a proponent of making the paywall after DragonSpyre. That way the player can really sink their teeth into the game for extended time and see if they like it, like the story, etc.

[@Fireball8800]

2:48 This is so important. I think the best way to bring in new players is to make Wizard City free, obviously. And to make at least up to krokosphinx or temple of storms free in Krokotopia. This shows players enough of the game to decide if they want to continue and you still get to enjoy almost all of the first two worlds. But I've been saying make arc 1 free for so long now.

[@Mariuschanges]

Back in the day when I still played on the German server the Paywall was after Dragonspire that was by far the best way to do it I would say, but they even changed that after some time and made it just like how it is on Us servers.

[@Esydex]

I remember playing this game when it was 100% free to play. High lvl friends could teleport you to late game maps etc. Back then it was a great game

[@Dracnoss]

Having the whole first arc be free would be a great idea, because that's only about 20-25% of the game at this point. Once Lemuria releases with level 150, it should be best to let the first arc be free.

[@TheUltimateRare]

I could see them making more free zones at some point but I feel first arc might be a Little Hopeful wishful thinking. Sadly I don't think they feel they have enough players to afford trying it.

[@charliestubbs6151]

@@TheUltimateRare they would have more players if they did...

[@pinedallapple]

Through dragonspyre going free to play isn’t too crazy of an idea, especially if they don’t plan to update the graphics of those worlds.

[@avebuh3523]

I grew up playing wizard 101 and it’s always been a great game but it was always sad when i’d get good content from it and it would ask to “give us money to play even more”. I still LOVE the game and i know many people who love it as well!

[@kingofmeh9241]

Same! 😭

[@Liam-td5mw]

I agree bc eventually there’ll be so much content but in comparison, so little of it would be without paywall like even now a lot of things are so far of reach

[@TheFearsomeRubberducky]

Heck, make Skull Island free as well. I'm generally in favor of making people pay more, but people need to be invested in the game first.

[@HobbesHobbiton]

Why is KingsIsle so *hesitant* about giving the community what it wants? It just makes no sense to consistently deny us sales, new worlds, and making Wizard City FTP just so that KI can push unwanted content.

[@jbooth1322]

Pure greed. Plain and simple.

[@MojoSenju]

When I was younger all did was play the free to play stuff and then just make a new wiz now buying the membership like 12years later

[@tamashinosoru]

I would spend so many hours as a young player just farming the Kraken since I did every other quest I could without knowledge of getting the 100 crowns from the quizzes till 7 years later, and only buying membership 9 years later. I got to level 15 without any other things unlocked, getting 11 xp per fight.

[@plutogam3r]

That’s how I was. Now I have a balance level 127

[@cabbageofdoom525]

I was really invested, I had three accounts with six wizards each and I've had my first account since before the paywall was in olde town. I stopped playing because of the paywall all those years ago. A couple months ago I started playing again randomly, and I had forgotten about my first account and that I had stopped playing because of the paywall and it happened again. I've crashed into the paywall over and over again and it always brings me to a halt. I don't think I'll ever play again unless the paywall is changed 😔

[@thenamestika]

I think it would be a pretty good move to make at least Wiz city free. You could easily get to level 16-17 if you complete it. Wiz has made this a problem for years.

[@p3.88]

Everything should be free lol

[@havingteawiththedevil]

When i first started playing in high school I’ll be honest, i felt lied too when i was told it was free to play then found out i couldn’t advance past the commons. And even then i was hoping entire first world was free. I started to delete the game entirely but decided to keep going so i BEGGED my grandma for a membership (i think it was like $10-20)

[@HeyGeesh]

I agree 100%. If they make the at least the first world free or even Krok, it could entice the other players whom would've hit the paywall and stop playing to further have an interest into the game. This could make the players like the game enough to have bought a membership or crowns.

[@vlad9010]

imagine farming kraken switches to farming malistayre :clown:

[@georgewahington]

13 years later we get wizard city free. This means by the time I have kids and we are level 300+ we should have kroktopia free. Awesome I can save some money in the future when my children want to play!

[@Elhboy]

I feel like what Blaze said about the one time Friday to Sunday membership thing was a good idea. I think that it shouldn't be a one time thing but it'd always be free Friday to Sunday. Membership would do the same thing that it did before and I think that's a good idea because people who are hardcore fans would still buy membership and, let's be honest, only hardcore fans would actually pay that much money just to play wiz.

[@bobleponge8750]

Making Wizard City and Krokotopia free, and changing membership from 9.99 to 4.99 will definitely allow people to become interested in playing W101

[@skbnzo]

this one here!!!

[@bdbruh]

When I first started playing in the Greek server in 2012 the max lvl was 60 and everything was free up until dragonspyre and if you wanted to finish the game then you had to buy celestia or buy membership,of course nowdays its not like that but exactly because it was free back then and I fell in love with the game I still pump money in the game today almost 10 years later.I believe if they make the first arc free a lot more players like me will fall in love with the game and continue to play it.If it wasn't free back then I would have never played it, because epecially back in 2012 giving money to a game was just absurd in Greece.

[@ChillyBupper]

Man this popped onto my recommended. I haven't played wizard101 or thought of your channel in atleast 6 years I think? The nostalgia is hitting me so hard right now. Atleast though I have every street unlocked until I hit Mooshu if I recall correctly.

[@UpstopThrills]

Haven’t played this game since azteca, would totally pay 60-70$ for this game in its entirety

[@andrewmorales3580]

The issue with Kingsisle is that they hardly listen to players and literally just go with whatever they want. The level is literally going up to level 150 and yet wizard city is still paywalled 😂😂

[@squid2796]

Its 2021 and there are 140 levels… almost 150, with so many worlds now. They might as well make all of arc 1 free!

[@frazak2183]

I remember when the game was free until Dragonspyre (also free). That strong paywall was so bad, so many people (included me and all the people i knew at that time) stopped playing after that

[@casualdakota]

I would love if they made Wizard City free for everyone, it makes perfect sense! And I would play so much on a free membership weekend! I think giving out the entirety of Arc 1 for free would be a fantastic idea, and give people more of a taste of the game and see how it's played at higher levels and what kind of stuff you get to do later on.

[@matthewlevine7384]

I know I'm not the only one who remembers trial periods for like fire cat, cyclops etc. they should have kept those to begin with. Moving forward, they should make wizard city free and do the trial periods for other realms so players can get attached to them and THEN instead of having get yeeted 2 hours into wizard city, have that pay wall for those zones after players get attached to them via trial. This seems the best strategy marketing wise. Players who like the game will complete wizard city and can trial the next zone, this will determine a more constant player count on average because the players who pay for the pay wall after the trial zones will be the ones who actually enjoy the game and story line.

[@DarkZ0l]

I thought of a concept that each world they release from Arc 4 onwards, they make a world free. So since Karamelle is already out, wiz city free, when Lemuria comes out, Krok free etc

[@St.Miina.]

im so glad this got recommended to me. I started playing when cap was 50. I remember that it made sense at the time for that pay wall to be there. But now with all these worlds being added they should really remodel this old requirements and "laws" so to speak. hope they actually do this.

[@TheLambo123254]

I agree, first arc should be free 100%

[@benblocker8526]

Nightside is a technicality. It's technically free, but you can not access it until after the 3 streets. You can teleport in and that's it

[@Polaroyce]

They should move the paywall to the end of Marleybone. I think that's a good place to start if they don't just do the whole first arc.

[@thehatter9400]

or maybe at the start of dragonspyre? given the urgancy the quest it would give an emotional insentive to want to finish the story, maybe....idk gonig through mooshu was pretty boring

[@twiggydrawsstuff7907]

I've been stuck in Wizard city for probably 8 or so years, maybe more. I've only ever had ONE month of membership in those years, and I really think that it would be nice to have more things to explore without a pay wall getting in the way.

[@thezodiacsystem2033]

Finally!! Been waiting for this since I started playing. I've been playing for 11 or so years now. About the same amount of time it's been out.

[@JustFang]

right when I saw the title I clicked on the video lol! I’m really hoping they extend the paywall even further to Krokatopia because it gets people used to the games mechanics before Marleybone.

[@briannguyen6248]

I don’t remember them ever moving the paywall. I played this game years ago and still check back once in a while. Loved it and I own everything up through Dragonspire lol I hope they let ftps get through Wizard City. Idk why they haven’t adjusted that since they’ve released so many new worlds afterwards. Oh yea. Giving us the entire arc would be an even better idea. I remember they giving out free membership sometime ago. It was around Christmas. I trust my memory here but I don’t remember when, either 2020 or 2019 but leaning more towards 2020

[@CallMeZex]

If they had like every last weekend of the month free memberships i would absolutely come back to the game.

[@abhia8045]

If you were to be a first-time player starting the game, you get absolutely no gaming experience with the paywalls they have now. You barely get to fight bosses and mobs and there is basically no storyline at this point. I remember when wiz came out and a lot of people started the game began losing interest the second the paywall came ut that early in the game. Having wizard city free would get people more interested as they get to play more before getting hooked at it. And the fact that they are so freaking stingy with everything being crown based now people are going to spend money on crowns anyways, so just opening the first arc isn't gonna hurt them that much tbh

[@ottersaurus]

I literally didn't know there was a free weekend and I just found this video 13 days later. For most of us, we don't have the algorithm giving us wizard101 on our feeds. Kingpin needs to get new or returning players, reach further.

[@RoyalLives]

looking at every perspective i think giving more content for free will definitly help the game and help make new players want to play more. but making the first arc free may cause them to loose money. but looking at it i think the crownshop gets them by well enough. id like if they at the very least made the first 3 worlds free meaning wizard city, krok and marleybone all for free, that gives probably 24 hours of content i think, i could be off. this would make someone feel more invested and more willing to want to pay to continue. however do i think they will make the first arc free or even the first 3 worlds free? no, i believe they will only make wizard city free along with entering the oasis free but you have to pay to go into the pyramid.

[@ivagnarok]

i remember the good old days when all the way to lvl 60 were free xD

[@mamstarstorm]

They have one chance to not screw up or else they fail on this opportunity.

[@monunivers1394]

I forgot about the free stuff they gave out every now and then. I remember the black and yellow hound pet, a snack pack, 7 pr 1 day shark mount, and the hall Minotaur. Those were good times

[@mcpaintcraft8709]

Imagine them only unlocking Cyclops Lane lol.

[@badassproductions4734]

Oh god no that's the most boring area in the game unicorn way was more fun 😕😭😂

[@mcpaintcraft8709]

@@badassproductions4734 Lmao.

[@gillian3785]

When they did the free membership for the holiday season last year it was so busy and lively! Really felt like how it used to :)

[@meurikischatman]

(I'm posting my comment publicly, for this was originally a reply.) Furthermore, were Arc I to be made free-to-play entirely and a Crowns Sale to be ongoing, would not the game's need for less crowns to progress further be made easier available due to its lowered price tag; and therefore, become the most frequently purchased package for those who don't to deposit cheddar into a membership?

[@jbooth1322]

I've always said that! Why charge ridiculous amounts that only a handful of people are going to afford it be willing to pay, when you would make a much potentially higher revenue by selling less expensive packs that 5 times more people can afford.. example, if you're packages are 50 dollars, only people with nothing better to do will pay it and parents certainly won't. But if you sell 5 and 10 dollar packages, everyone will but them, you'll literally sell 5 times more packs and make WAY more loot in the long run. I mean isn't that what it's all about?

[@meurikischatman]

@@jbooth1322 First of all - thanks for responding to my comment, dude; and as it concerns KingsIsle: yeah! If I'm correct in the following sequential order of events: more income from crowns sales/decreased cost of crowns ➡️ higher salary for the workers and frequent/more updates.

[@AngusmcFangus]

Ki's free weekend was not promoted at all so them saying it didnt perform is their own marketing teams fault

[@Polaroyce]

I can't believe people are actually asking for their money back lmaoooo. That's not how that works xD.

[@kujjy4179]

chill bud, not that serious

[@Polaroyce]

@@kujjy4179 I'm not the guy you should be saying that to buddy, move along.

[@kujjy4179]

@@Polaroyce 😂alr pal

[@UltaStorm]

During the december of 2019 free weekend, there was a rare deal on the store that was unlike any other. The deal was: 12 months of membership, and 5k crowns per each month. That means if you did not cancel it, you would keep having membership every year, and keep getting 5k crowns for each, and every single month you had membership for. I still have that deal.

[@swagrid6748]

KI needs to make Wizard City, The Oasis and Northguard FREE. Having the whole first world free as well as the first quest and areas of the next two worlds will give people a better taste of the game to incentivize them to keep playing and spend money. BRING BACK GRIZZLEHEIM STARTER QUEST! (And make a Krokotopia one).

[@kanden12]

From a game dev perspective, I don't think the entire first arc makes sense. Even many paying players don't make it through all of the first arc, and if you do a pay wall, you want to have the players desire to cross it. Wizard city makes sense, though, since people will definitely want to keep going into Krok.

[@Alex-vt8ld]

I need it ported to console

[@BulkBlitzz]

Hey man, as a child I'd watch your videos on wizard 101 and enjoy them so much, I just want to say thank you, now that I've grown :)

[@lucifers_havoc7748]

I feel like all of the world's should be free for everyone because when the game came out it said download wizard 101 and play for free but times changes I guess

[@g_howl6589]

Free to play doesn't mean you can complete whole game for free.

[@kingofmeh9241]

@@g_howl6589 Well when you hear "free to play" you don't always think of there being a paywall.

[@HobbesHobbiton]

@@g_howl6589 I mean, "FTP" implies that the game is.. Well, free-to-play. Otherwise it's deceptive and misleading to insert paywalls while advertising the game as "FTP."

[@g_howl6589]

@@HobbesHobbiton Thing is, Wiz101 did f2p by definition not by word by word. Aka by definition it stays that "allows a portion of a game". I'm f2p myself and ofc it's kinda hurtful when you have no clue if to buy the membership or not because you experience way too less than you should.

[@coleholan2153]

I’ve honestly been wondering if this was still a game I played a lot when I was younger

[@HobbesHobbiton]

Wizard101 costs over $200 to unlock permanently. For a game that doesn't hold a candle to top tier games like Minecraft and Skyrim which cost a _fraction_ of that, you start to understand just how overpriced/monetized this game is!

[@Choculula]

I’d say it also lasts much, much longer than those two so it makes sense and these 3 games are also not comparable whatsoever.

[@wefhenx6732]

bruh out of all games you could've said you typed skyrim and minecraft

[@Doctor_C_Jack]

If the whole first arc is made free, I would come back very quickly to quest on my death and that would probably lead me to get a membership again (or buy crowns for the whole areas) because I would want to quest on my first wizard for Lemuria.

[@bananajotaro9283]

I ain't ever clicked so fast

[@sabercat5490]

Kingisle claims that they did make WC free for a while but their player "interaction" went down. If this was the case. It wasn't properly advertised. Nothing was said on social media etc.

[@_Codd]

If they make the first ark free I want my money back that took me like 5 years to get to the second ark

[@mavalagma29]

What does the first arc being made free have to do with you getting back your money?

[@_Codd]

@@mavalagma29 I used crowns to get threw the ark and if they make it free that’s a good like 100 bucks to basically get nothing

[@BuckBlaziken]

Night side is a free area, but getting into it is impossible without getting past the paywall because the quest line that unlocks the nightside doorway can only be accepted after beating cyclops lane and fire cat alley, making nightside free redundant. I remember begging my friends to go to nightside so I can teleport to them to get new death spells since I only played necromancer back then.

[@pinkiebeee2045]

I think it needs to be free up until first arc, looks at one of the most popular mmorpg's for example-- (FFXIV) they made content up to heavensward for free with the new expansion.

[@Jestasia]

Didnt know they had a free weekend in 2019, would have loved to play it honestly.

[@PepperIsSalty]

I remember back then when I'd wait by the areas I couldn't get into for someone to go in. Like, if someone was walking in the direction, I'd click on them and if they got in I'd send them a friend request. If they accepted it I'd teleport to them and be in the area, trying to do as much as I could.

[@MikeCore]

it makes sense to extend it from a financial standpoint now for their new player base. pay to play is becoming a thing of the past, so by making a free game with loot boxes (cards) for the first arc you have a whole game to play and still things to buy. then after you can continue to play and buy a membership such as buying dlc expansions. the pay wall stops many people from playing because what is free isn't much of a game at all. Also one of the draws of the game is traveling worlds, and you never get to experience that unless you pay, and that is one of the biggest hooks of the game "THE SPIRAL"

[@TheMani191]

Most mmo games way back then were pay-as-you-go or needed membership, like freerealms, starwars online, Lego universe, but not fusion fall or PoC online. I'm surprised that wizard101 didn't stop the pay-as-you-go thing.

[@MRBOOOYA]

If they remove the paywall completely ill come back... but they've killed the game so much that there's only 350 people on according to steam charts