Wizard101: The Game I Hate To Love

I wanted to make a rant/review of this game from the perspective of a veteran player

[@dylanm1]

Played it when I was 11, fell im love with it, stopped playing after a month, forgot it existed completely. 6 years later, randomly remembered it, downloaded it, fell in love with it again, now im hooked and can’t stop playing lmao

[@XxJokerxX_]

Seems about rite i forgot all about it for a year or 2. Now that i have money and im 22 omg especially cuz u can jus drink/get high while playing come onn not my fault :(

[@Matt-zy1jq]

ong 😭

[@mattjenkins8010]

me rn

[@miken1879]

@@XxJokerxX_ wanna queue up some time?

[@TheOvrLrd]

This is happening to me now. In the past week started a character and grinded to level 33. Was only able to have my parents pay for one month of membership. As an adult with credit cards, I can pay for it myself. Have 3 hours before work today. Want to hop on but I don't believe in myself to get off in time

[@ow_oso]

It feels so weird coming back to the game at a point in my life where I have money and I can actually do what I want when I want and don’t have to beg my mom for the credit card💀

[@kitsper]

I remember the day I turned 10, I woke up for school and was tired and dead asleep as usual, and as I was sitting there eating breakfast on the floor in the back room on the carpet, warming up by the fire to start the day... my dad walks in, and places down the old mac laptop in front of me. Made my account right then and there and I was so happy, then my entire family started playing. You know who the highest level is in my family today? MY GRANDMOTHER. SHE MADE IT FURTHER THAN ANY OF US AND STAYED UP LATE PLAYING WITH COLLEGE STUDENTS.

[@nicoblanco4348]

Your Grandmas a G

[@Higjwaymousey1]

That’s amazing 😂 what level did your grandma make it to?

[@kitsper]

@@Higjwaymousey1 I think around 115? It's been a while though haha

[@jakobdeleon1214]

i love seeing stories about Wiz bringing people together

[@kashafaslam9074]

Your grandma is the GOAT

[@Rose-wd6sp]

Dude your experience is literally the exact same as mine, this game has a choke hold on me and it hasn't let go for my whole life. I was always kinda ashamed to still be playing as a 22 y/o but watevs lol.

[@redtruckguy5685]

Don't be ashamed I'm 22 as well lol and I still have 3 accounts with fully maxed characters lol

[@thenastblast]

Glad to confirm there's more of us out there

[@redtruckguy5685]

@@classicleslie6914 lol you asking to be friends

[@redtruckguy5685]

@@classicleslie6914 meant as a joke xD

[@bobblimpsr.3955]

You could just stop playing lmfao

[@uvixivu]

This game was and is still one of my favourite games and I've been playing on/off for 12 years, and recently got burnt out of it again so gonna have to wait another year till I can enjoy it and I have still never hit max💀

[@redtruckguy5685]

I could help you change that xD (hitting max I mean)

[@uvixivu]

@@redtruckguy5685 once I buy memb again maybe maybe

[@basedaudio1]

How have you not hit max and you've been playing 12 years.

[@uvixivu]

@@basedaudio1 its mainly been on and off, and for the majority of the time I didnt have memb but still talked to people in game ALOT and you were able to do house gauntlets without someone having them at the time not sure if I did it through a glitch or not, and when I did buy memb it was on a EU account so when I hit lvl 55 there was like 5 people active, switched to US and got lvl 78 and got burnt out

[@basedaudio1]

@@uvixivu oh okay gotcha.

[@What-fv1yl]

Its the speed of the animations for me. I dont have much time. I study at the university, go to work, have to drive for 6 hours to my beloved one for weekends just so we Can meet and then come back. And many more. I dont want to spend hours looking at the same animation for the 8363936th time and waste do much time bcs of that. Makes me often log off after a couple of fights cause im done with it already lol

[@hannahwishon9958]

One thing Pirate101 does better is Fast Animations

[@dynesaurus8264]

My single greatest fear in life is if someone showed me the total money I've spent on this game or smite

[@SeeYouInTea.]

Yeah same, I think I’m close to 5 k now or over

[@kroxax8966]

Money or hours, both would probably scare you lol

[@dgouin99]

The single worst decision I have ever made was to start buying all of the zones. I own up to most of celestia now and I do not ever *ever* want to look at my crowns history

[@Projectarchan]

Yep, that was deffo a bad decision on my part too. It's far cheaper to just buy a membership.

[@Avahmara]

Timing of this video is crazy, just redownloaded the game yesterday after not playing since early teens. Only ever got about halfway through Marleybone due to money constraints but I already throw a bunch of money at worthless things now that I'm older so I guess I can accept my fate here. Wish me luck lol.

[@Vampeth]

Leave while you can

[@FirstLast-mn4re]

Game doesn't really pick up imo, till after dragonspyre (the 5th main area and last world of arc 1) then you can get introduced to the astral spells and critical hits, as well as boss cheats.

[@tuffbear7603]

Good luck!

[@badollies]

Makes me sad, I love the look of the later worlds and wished I could play karamelle so bad but I gave up at azteca it’s just too much grind, wiz literally felt like a job just so I could get to the worlds that actually look fun, 2nd arc really wore me down, that and the pack monetization in a “kids” magic game is really gross

[@fuckedupbody4194]

There is a community of players that are interested and don't mind finding and helping new or casual players get to know some of the hidden intricacies of the game. There is a player called Thomas that has setup a series of player ports to help facilitate player movement. KI added this social feature where you can port to friendly players and the lowest lvl ones are on the 1st page. His alts are in the most trafficked areas and has greatly helped players move about. Players also don't know about the open chat setting so it also helps to let newer or more casual players know about it

[@DivineBeastVahMedoh]

Khrysalis is extremely fun and so is Azteca. I real don’t get why Arc 2 gets so much hate. It’s pretty fun to me

[@vamp3340]

I started playing in the beta. i was 9 years old. I played for a solid 6 years consistently (with a subscription). I had a wealthy grandfather, and every year for Christmas, I'd ask him for an annual subscription. I used to play practically every night and browse 101centeral at school. I wrote to TheFriendlyNecromancer blog more times than I can count. Hell, it inspired me to make my own blog for awhile. It was a great creative outlet for me as a teenager. God this game is a nostalgia fest. Those commercials got me too ahah. Around the time of the pet expansion was like, the best time to be playing W101 imo. So much new content. Such a great community. I got my whole family playing. I loved Mooshu and Kroktopia the most, but DragonSpire felt like a fucking series finale or my childhood Avengers Endgame. I fell off around the time Zafaria came out. Celestias combat rework blew my socks off, and that was such a cool time to be a fan. Its a real shame now, to see whats become of it. You made a good point though, microtransactions are destroying a lot of games, not just W101. I really hope this game can go back to its glory days some time. I'd play the hell out of it now a days.

[@katedolphin5565]

The packs is my biggest gripe with this game, I have loved it since I was a young kid too and come back to it every so often. The game just has so many cool world and such an interesting vibe yet the items always disappoint :( I wish they would do stuff like club penguin and actually have interesting events, with a few free items atc

[@ashbradshaw6835]

I've been playing since 12 I think and finally have my own money. And for the first time I'm about to beat Arc 1. But your words are *exactly* my thoughts on this game.

[@nic558]

I’m glad to hear I’m not the only one coming back every few months or even years. I once left for 4 whole years. I absolutely hate that I still love it. The bad is so bad but the nostalgia & memories I made… Woah, you’re also 22? That’s awesome. Seems like there’s quite a few 22 year olds in this comment section 😅

[@nahtatroll]

I first started playing the game back in Kindergarten, and ended up telling my friends from class about it, however since I went to a private "traditional catholic" school, one of the priests found out about me talking about the game and forced my family to ban me from playing it because he thought it was satanic. I ended up coming back to the game 6 years later and still play it on and off to this day. I guess KingsIsle's grip is so strong not even god can stop it

[@BrightNeonBrilliancy]

the 'free to play' advertising always bugs the hell out of me when I see it. At the VERY LEAST, Wizard City should be free. Imo, the first arc (1-5) should be free since it gives the player enough time to figure out whether this game is for them or not, but that's probably asking too much at this point. So many times I've wanted to get a friend into Wiz, but they're just not willing to pay the membership on a 14 year old mmo just to find out after 5 or 6 hours that it's not for them.

[@kotipangus862]

I love how we’re all coming back to this

[@chrisbonsell1860]

This game definitely has a solid seat in my childhood memories. I still revisit this game too. My only gripe with it is the paywall that's discussed in the video and the gameplay and pacing. First, it is 100% more economical to get the pass. I tried buying every area ( I was a kid who could only get access to areas by buying gift cards for myself) with crowns but then noticed areas almost got exponentially more expensive. I could only get as far as Mooshoo because everything became so darn repetitive and slow (I was in the life school so I probably had the longest fights). The game basically just felt like a money drain with no game-changing factors in sight.

[@binhomeless1790]

Don't forget about me when this video blows up

[@MrTuNNe]

Man, I was maybe 11 when I first saw the game. I loved it, but could not afford the membership at that time. Now I'm 23 and I'm considering buying a membership for me and my gf to play, but I'm afraid I will fall into a love & hate with this game because of the reasons from this video 😂

[@uyeah1234]

The main reason I hate Wiz is its total disregard for improvements. I get it, this game is old, the engine is a dinosaur, but that doesn't change that fact it runs horribly. Tank controls, no hotkeys, no customization, animations take forever, you walk slow, navigating the menus is slow, every single menu is a nest of other menus and tabs, everything is analogue, it is a chore to play this game. The U.I has stayed the exact same since launch. It looks horrible and just shows dated this game is. It also shows their current mindset as a company. No, we can't go back and make Atzteca playable, which would make every wiz players experience 10X better we have to constantly make new content. New worlds, new gear ,new pets, new packs, new currencies to grind for. You can't fix the hours and hours of wasted time in the old content, but you can spend months creating a new world which everyone just spams aoes to speed run because they cannot make any combat more interesting than an Aoe spam fest nowadays. The only reason veterans play this game is that they've already grinded past those wasteful hundreds of hours and just reluctantly accept the dated game design. You gain players through adverts, you keep those players by making a good game and for first 30 hours or do it sucks. Arc 1 is a classic in terms of story and style but the gameplay is bland, boring and reptitive. Arc 2 takes forever, most of the worlds suck and the story is awful compared to arc 1. Half the game is a slog. Some people still like it which is fine. I don't and I have to spend hundreds of hours getting through it for EVERY single wizard.

[@thermovale3245]

exactly, it's good that they improved wizard city's graphics and questlines, but the worlds that come after are in just as much need of a revamp. i like the idea that they're still adding new content, but if i have to grind for days if not weeks to even see it, what's the point? it should at least be spread out in side worlds and special dungeons instead of sticking to such a linear path.

[@wesbrown738]

I hope anyone that is genuinely looking to quit can do that but if you still enjoy the game all power to you as well. We’ve all gone down the cycle of breaks and returning so this vid is really relatable

[@kabo716]

2:28 I need someone to look at me the same way you look at Humongofrog...

[@thermovale3245]

i've enjoyed getting back into wizzy again due to their experiment with having all the arc 1 worlds free to play. i hope they decide to make that a permanent thing and keep improving the older parts of the game like they did with wizard city. it's not as immediately profitable as "hey look a new world/pack/etc!!" but to me it's clear that having a more accessible early game would make it more appealing to potential new players.

[@konstantinlevin8651]

Definitely, first arc or at least wc, krok and marleybone should be free. How can a newcomer enjoy the game if you want them pay right after they finish unicorn way.

[@mrburnzie4878]

Wizard101 brings back those good nostalgia feels you can’t get with many games in my eyes, games revolutionary 😂

[@Dawg2002]

Honestly I quit because the new spells are boring and cringe, unlike the chad old quest spells

[@Ikaros0153]

Honestly I'm just waiting for this to get the toontown treatment, then we can truly have f2p wizard 101

[@calilion1360]

I’ve been saying for the longest they should make membership free just like fortnite and make money thru crowns such as packs and if they launched it for console and mobile it would bring so many new players but i doubt they would do it

[@iMaci206]

long time ago ive seen this really cool ad on television for this game and it made me want to play it more but sadly I was too busy with club penguin. i was able to see what the game was like though because my older sister played it

[@xqzyu]

bro this review was so fun to listen to, great vid btw

[@zaysay1640]

Personally always loved Halloween time on there, there are only a few quests but some bosses drop seasonal gear/pets which is always cool to farm around that time and the decorations always give off a good Halloween vibe. I'm right there with you though SUCH a big pocket grabber, and I hate that aspect of it but I will always have a love for the game that makes me wanna return to it for the nostalgia. Would be dope to one day see a revival of the game but for now there is always the ones of us who will return here or there off and on for over a decade or longer and still get a kick out of it. The soundtracks will never get old though. Sitting around just in The Commons, Pet Pavillion, or even the wizard select screen will always bring back memories of imagining what kinda mystical quests were up next to come with that mythical, adventurous sounding tune in the back.

[@gavynhansen8504]

i feel like the community will never die or give up on it but they need to fix it for us because it could be so much more! GIMME ME WALLET BALLS BACK

[@mars7357]

This video is funny af, I would like more video of you shitting on this game more. Talk about each world specifically or characters lol

[@strawhatbunny6149]

This is so important to get out there, you speak the truth

[@andrewriser5494]

I played it when I was younger, probably 2010, and then go into it recently now, 2021. I think the player base is amazing, and they help you with anything. But I do think there is some small problems that plague it. Playing by yourself after arc one, is almost impossible. Depending on what school you choose makes it even harder. I love the game, and will continue to play it, but the company is getting really money hungry and I think it is driving some new players away.

[@appasbiggestfan7023]

the main page segment is craaaazy. 24 advertisements and also the fortune events have most rewards also locked behind a paywall so id say 25. insane. paywall in wiz is insane im ashamed im so obsessed with this game. lol

[@rejectdude]

I started playing this game a little after Dragonspyre's release. It's a really unique blend of MMO + magic + card game that has had a soft spot in my heart since I was a teen. Over the years I've played on and off for several-month blocks and gotten burnt out by how scummy it's become with each reinstall, but I'm afraid my recent uninstall was my last one. The game has become a shameless, zero effort cash grab and is currently being milked for the last few drops in the bucket before it's permanently put to rest. The predatory progression system + straight up pay2win model is obnoxious and the devs are completely out of touch with how to nurture a game.

[@selfishbeats]

wow you have to pay 33 cents a day to play? they should make just let everybody on their servers for free, because money doesn't pay the bills. it's attention... so greedy... 10 dollars is so much.

[@badollies]

I tried it and while the worlds do feel magical the gameplay loop doesn’t feel fun for me, I quite literally fall asleep when I play wiz

[@selfishbeats]

@@badollies wiz is a game you take as much as you can take then get off when you've overdosed.

[@doomlord0773]

Wizard101, a game that only lives because of nostalgia. Considering how KI has basically no good will from the fandom its obvious how they use nostalgia as a hold to the players, I mean, the game IS fundamentally boring I've been able to stop playing the game and move on, my new mmo of choice is toontown corporate clash. I absolutely LOVED pirate101, but KI is hoding it hostage so nobody can make the game better themselves. I always found it pretty obvious that the only reason they haven't shut it down is because it will get revived and become better overall, making KI butthurt about it even though it's obvious they can't do anything competent. The fact KI acts chill after losing at the end of the "best virtual world mmo" tournament is suspicious to me, I know that a good few, especially Benjamin Durbin, are seething that their bad game design lost to an actually better game. KI isn't nintendo, but they are deluded to that fact

[@GearMasters988]

I’ve been a player since 2011, started when I was 8-9 years old, and quit last year. The problem with the game is simple. The devs try too hard to make pvp better, but don’t even understand pvp themselves, essentially wasting their time and resources during these updates. As a result, pve gets forgotten, and all they do is add new worlds without making fresh changes to combat. Combat is literally as simple as blade aoe or blade feint hit. It’s exhausting doing that for I kid you not, hundreds of hours. The game is too easy, too simple, too time consuming, and too costly. They want new players but won’t make wizard city or krokotopia free permanently, when they should already know Azteca will run out their memberships faster than a black mamba. Anyways, that’s just my perspective, I got out of the franchise despite how much money I put into it and my unrelenting nostalgia. I revisit it very rarely just to see what’s changed, but refuse to put even a cent into the game. Get out while you still can and stop supporting the game, the money doesn’t go to the devs it goes to the corporations who bought into kingsisle, that’s probably why the devs hate their jobs so much, or the new employees are incompetent+lazy. Anyways if you read this far you get a cookie, but stay away from this game man, they’re not going to learn any other way unless there’s a massive outrage.

[@Ken.Wiz.]

These are my exact gripes with the game and why I don’t play the game that much anymore, I don’t respect the devs.

[@Cynwale]

This game, I've grinded so much solo with no paying anything, and lost my shit at level 25 with a bunch of good things I've gotten by secretly infiltrating people private dungeon in their houses. After that, I couldn't go anywhere else and farming the Kraken was starting to bore me so I left.

[@cydragon2.099]

i'd play more of it if it weren't for that DARNED Paywall

[@getit8349]

Huge thanks to KI’s ignorant customer support and email support. This game is still a “kids game” so do not expect to be able to communicate to anyone in an adult way they will mute you for 10 years after 1 warning. Man I love this game but this game’s support makes me feel depressed.

[@demonpokemon13]

That moment when the game's popularity is slowly coming back, not a whole ton, but it's obvious that this new company knows what it's doing compared to the previous company which was only leeching off of W101 to fund shitty mobile games lmao

[@toha9460]

i have an account with probably $500-1000 on it from when i was a kid 10 years ago and i can never get access to it

[@abdoul5176]

Same except in my case me and my brothers shared account was deleted by Kingsisle on a mere suspicion 🤷🏿‍♂️

[@savasayaz8224]

This game was free from beginning to the end of the first five worlds in Turkey for some reason. I don't know how Gameforge did it but it was free. Only the "extra" worlds were behind a paywall but being a kid i didn't really care about the other worlds. I was in love with this game until they shut their servers in Turkey. It turns out people around the world have discovered this free version of the game so despite the language everybody started to play in the turkish version. Because of that Kingsisle just pulled the plug and my childhood was gone... Turkish community got transferred to UK server but most of the people (a whole lot of kids) stopped playing because of the paywalls. I still want to play to this day but the lira/dollar currency rate is trash so yeah.

[@siwas]

absolutely nothing but respesct for Quinn Strongpants. what a powerful name

[@JohnSmith-cg3cv]

lmao

[@SamaelDaking]

Dude I've been waiting to be unbanned for 8 years now. I check like every 6 months to see if my login still works and if the timer is going down. March 25th 2024 I'll be back baby .

[@guildmasterwiggIytuff]

Honestly I think most players (including myself) have a love-hate relationship with this game

[@avoiceacrosstheworld1943]

My best friend showed me this game but then he moved away so I play this game because it’s fun and it reminds me of him.

[@tylerosborn5480]

Bruh I remember having my mom buy the game cards. With crowns so I could access more game played 10$ per month

[@dylanm1]

U said 2% of game is f2p lmao more like .01%

[@cootercrunch6537]

I like how all of Wizard city is free right now. First time ive seen it and right after he disses the 2 min of free gameplay 🤣

[@johnnyfromtheblock9990]

Lmao yea! the fucking commercials changed my brain chemistry. beat malistaire for the first time back in 2019

[@senseii6352]

Bro i started when i was goddam 7 and still sometimes play. help me lmaoo no cap a great game but you have to pay way too much!

[@bunnybo7757]

Just listening to the damn wizard commons instrumental makes me want to play this again lol

[@Burn2themall]

This is pretty much my exact experience in words I hate the money grubbing practice but I love the game so much it's game play is so good and unique not trying to copy wow and having it's own identity to stand on with lore and all sorts of fun stuff

[@shadowears]

The new world is my boss' asshole!

[@AntonConstanti]

The game still has so much potential.

[@glitteremm]

I’ve been playing wizard 101 for ten years- there are periods where I play for months then drop it for half a year to a year- then fall back into it hard… I can’t seem to quit it either 😂❤

[@ow_oso]

Played a lot in elementary school and middle school, dropped it through high school, joined the army, now I’m 20 back and hooked on farming fucking dragoon gear oml💀💀💀

[@wagz781]

Genuinely loved this game as a kid, but I was always poor. So I'd download it basically every month in the vain hopes that I'd get to firecat alley and there wouldn't be a paywall anymore. My family couldn't afford memberships or regular fees like what they want us to pay to permanently unlock areas. Now that I have money, there are just better games to play and I can't justify the purchase to myself. And that's the thing about microtransactions. They never lessen or go away. Once a company monetizes one thing, it's always going to be monetized. Regardless of how much more money they could make by no longer monetizing it. Because of the off chance that they could still make more money with it monetized. I garuntee that if you want them to do better, the answer is to lay out what you want and then stop giving them money as a whole until they give it to you. Issue is, the parent company is far more likely to shut down the game than give in at this point.

[@Deucejr716]

The only reason I dislike this company (I love the game, hate the corporate practices) is the greed. I don’t mind paying a subscription if content was regularly updated for both pve and pvp ( a lot of folks don’t pvp like myself but they love the pvp whales ). But making membership required after the first 5 main “quests” is ridiculously greedy. Membership should offer a lot more like cheaper pet hatching, talent reroll, larger jewel pouch , and more consistent member benefits like double pet xp and gardening. Right now we pay for member just to play the whole game and maybe some random benefit weekends throughout the year. I do like the direction they went with the loyalty store. I also dislike the crown shop solely bc It’s so obvious the way they butcher rng in the game but give all these packs to work around it. Doubles hatching costs but then adds gold packs for crowns. Shits on merciless gear rng but sells world packs . The crown shop should be mostly cosmetics. Maybe a few boosters and shortcuts, but not at the expense of making the game so unbearably grindy and tedious just to entice us to buy them. All in all, I think Wiz is magical and it’s a reason people keep coming back to it. If they started to give a little more, advertise again, make arc 1 free so people really see what the game is like before being asked for money, this game would be a hit again and make way more money than their greedy gambling scheme is now

[@sk.o3]

Bro sounds like if Walter Jr played W101

[@RagePower2000]

Bruh ive watched a few of your videos, and we have the same interests, same age, both originally myth wizards, both love marleybone. 😂

[@thenastblast]

Fuck yeah dude 😂 Glad I'm not the only one out there

[@thynegationist5696]

Played from ages 5-14, I’m 16 now. I wanna play again sometime tho! If I ever get the chance to I might make some wiz documentaries, it’s a sick game for that type of yt format.

[@pumpkingamebox]

As we all have splendid memories of this game. I would welcome a complete remaster of the game. With better graphics, story for questing, etc. But considering everything happening in the high manager department, it would be easier to kill this game and resurrect it under a different company and a different name.

[@xqzyu]

thats me its so true, im 17 now and just bought my first gaming pc and thought, hey it should look really good now it must be worth playing

[@lonejohnwolf]

Thank you, I am in fact having a nasty night. 😂

[@Mvictoria222]

Just bought 1 month + crowns not too long ago 😂❤️ I refuse to let this game die

[@mimimoneymachine]

from the outside people might think its a stupid kids game that isnt complex and just screw around casting spells, but its truly not. Its a complex game with so many fun systems and leveling up and farming etc is just so fun and i cant stop playing. At first i begged my parents to buy me membership and crowns but now with a job and house im blowing through my wallet because im just so addicted. Whats worse is i acknowledge how greedy and how a lot of real purchase items are a rip off, but i dont care because i love it so much. This game is special in my heart, but i know well why anyone would dislike it.

[@xBellosi]

Yeah, I saw your comment, and this is crazy how much p2w this game is, thanks for making a video on it.

[@pt2780]

I can relate so much when u say that u are trying to fight your demons when it comes to this game. Like … rn I’m in a phase where I’m debating whether or not I should get another month membership when i know I should save money for my own good. But 😩 I just want it… I’m sometimes looking for coupons or sales to maybe get it cheaper but it mostly doesn’t work

[@notastalker13]

honestly at this point the entire first arc needs to be free. especially considering they need to draw in new, younger players

[@davidk4860]

I'm ashamed of myself for liking this game and even more ashamed that I've spent atleast 1k+ on it.

[@clapinpawgs3189]

i still playy this fuckin game

[@mr.landen5096]

Damn you got some good stitches for your wizards

[@thenastblast]

Thanks man 😂

[@bliphehe]

2% isn't far off, there's 28 free main quests in wizard city. That means if Wizard city and Khrysalis were the only 2 worlds in the whole game only 8% of main quests are free. Now taking all other worlds into consideration the real % of free main content (including side worlds since they show as main quests in the book) is 1.3%. "free to play".

[@Yeffiii]

bro please turn the game up to 1920 1080p btw i love the content keep it up

[@hecatrice2064]

I played in 2011 for the first time.Sold my acc this year.None of my friends play anymore and it's hard to build a community when most people can't even type numbers due to the chat restrictions.I only played occasionally for the nostalgia.I'm also 22 lol.

[@thermovale3245]

i still don't understand that, is it to keep people from saying how old they are or something?

[@selfishbeats]

if wintertusk was a different world you wouldn't get to it on a boat.... its the same world.

[@GearMasters988]

Exactly, it’s like saying Khrysalis part 2 is a different world from khrysalis part 1. Same world, just an expansion that adds more areas. Worlds are accessed through the spiral door

[@edaumaysol]

I wish they would streamline the game, like making some worlds optional, especially Arc 2. Most if not all of Arc 2 should be optional, in my opinion. MMOs really need to focus on horizontal progression more once they reach the point where someone has to go through 20 expansions to get to end game. Oh and all of Arc 1 should be completely free, lol. (Or hey, even up to the end of Mooshu and leave Dragonspyre for subscribers, if they really wanted to do that).

[@geoffrey40741]

i hate the fact this game was around when the membership bs just started and thats kinda what they capitalized in

[@austinfaust3374]

This is why I worry for kids now. This shit is only getting worse. Its literally in every facet of children's lives now. They grow up never even realizing it didnt used to be this way. Its so preditory.

[@davidrizk4694]

You’re hilarious I started in early 2009 and play on and off every other year and I can agree with everything this guys says I’m hooked there’s nothing I can do about it

[@Upsilon]

Started playing in 2011 and reached max at the time, stopped playing and come back 10 years later, started another wiz and got to 125 and just didn't want to keep paying for the membership. I'd love to be able to complete my wiz without having to spend every single month.

[@luisLopez-lg5wk]

ScamsISLE

[@swiftoatmeal1874]

I love the hell out of the game.... but i ABSOLUTELY HATE the pet leveling system that hasnt changeed other than the amount of xp to max... the grind of reagents for tedious recipies... the grind in general with quests that are practically the same thing over and over again which is fine , it is an rpg, BUT its so much of a grind... that it comes to a point where u basically have to pay to get past a certain point OR OR ABSOLUTELY WASTE YOUR MONTHS AWAY PRACTICALLY DOIN A 9-5 FOR A FRIGGIN VIDEOGAME JUST TO GET SOME ARMOR..... that shit pisses me off so much that i just quit literally grinded to level 60 ish and then was like ... wtf am I doin with my life.... BTW i beat malistair which was my main and really only goal for the game so at least i got that done... which was a huge letdown lmfao it wasnt even that cool of a fight idk what i was expecting some avengers style 100v4 all out battle shit but whatever lmfao

[@countlessmelanin8650]

and do not forget also later in the game they make you go against loads of enemies at once which can make you feel like you have to use henchmen ( which require crowns) to win. if not and you use to solo and try over and over again battles it takes a much longer time

[@SzandorQuinn]

As a fellow player from back in 2009, as soon as you mentioned Nelson Everhart was told to make a "Harry Potter-type" music, my mind immediately went to "Oh, so THAT's why I always thought Marleybone's main theme sounds like it could have been lifted straight out of the Wizarding World!" Lo and behold, he made the Marleybone main theme.

[@somedudeontheinterwebs45]

Honestly, the best way to play the game is do only the main quests. The story from arc 3 onwards is genuinely intriguing, and the buildup to it is alright despite showing its age. Buy a membership for a couple months, jam out the game until you've got the campaign down, and head off. You really don't need to do all of this crafting and gardening and pvp bullshit that never made any sense anyway, 90% of it is grind and pay until you can play PVP at a "competitive level"(MMO PVP will never be competitive, this game being a card game doesn't change that). Story good, rest of game terrible, especially gear grinding and pet training. No idea how you could make a worse game system than the current pet training system. P.S. PVP is absolutely awful. Balance changes made for PVP have completely and utterly transformed Wiz combat to the point where it's unrecognizable from the game it was just 4 years ago. It's incredible how you can shit on your PVE players so hard while catering to a game mode that is unbearable to understand now, let alone even get into.

[@thermovale3245]

yeah there's so many mechanics and features that seem to be expanded upon regularly (still no idea what the fuck spellements are) but i don't see the point in spending time on extra stuff anymore. maybe i don't have the best gear or pet or whatever but i want to actually enjoy the game.

[@dominickgarry7842]

As someone who's wanted to make a video like this for years. There should be a huge emphasis on KI's disgusting moneygrubbing practices and the fact that the game is still technically targeted towards an audience of kids. It's crazy how this game has avoided any negative mainstream attention for years, considering there focus on making money through gambling and FOMO. I know that spellements are better now, but how they were originally implemented into the game shows their stance on using power creep and ones emotional ties to character progression as a way to make money. If any other non-mobile company made a game like this with obvious appeals to children and elements of loot boxes and gambling, in today's day and age, it'd be torn asunder.

[@charlesaran399]

not to mention how they tried to implement a way to get free crowns and failed miserably. get 10 crowns by completing random quizzes daily and rake in like 50 crowns. shit was absolutely messed up for kid me when I started playing.

[@initialquack4600]

Played the game and lost my original account from 2009 cause i was a stupid kid at the time. I made a new account recently and got 2 characters up to level 100 and the rest are stuck at 30. This game took up the majority of my Childhood but now that im 22 and a bit wiser this video hit allot of major key points and the only thing keeping me hooked is pure nostalgia. And envy anyone who hasn't wasted time/money on this hot garbage game.

[@Anakuya1]

I feel like we need to start a Wizard101 anonymous... "Hi my name is El, i've been stuck playing Wizard101 on and off for years, and I want this urge to stop." "Hi El.."

[@TomfooleryVA]

That's why I stopped playing the game at one point was because it had become SO pay to win. You pay money for the best gear and then you become untouchable especially with PvP at the time. Now they've made it much better in that a lot of the better gear is actually free granted you put in the HOURS of work it can sometimes take to get it like crafting or grinding materials or trying to get gear drops.

[@Daywalker1973able]

2% of Wizard is what you consider to be free to play? I would say that its less than a full percent.

[@thenastblast]

I was going by the logic if there's 20 worlds then 1 world would be roughly 5% so you'd probably get around 2% ftp but realistically you're probably right since world lengths vary and what not but I probably should've explained how that was a rounded estimate in the video

[@Daywalker1973able]

I would love to see all of wizard city permanently be free to play. I really think you should be able to finish the Zeke quest and everything else. It seems to me like this would just be a good technique forWiizard to lockdown the new people. But I don't make those decisions. :)

[@BonkExclamationPoint]

if you download to play for the first time, that's not free to play, that's just the free trial demo bro, smh.

[@thecaffee1065]

Same here... I started even before you. It's gotten to the part where I have membership, I have crowns, but I avoid all purchasable things outside of stitching. I am tired of cash grab loot boxes. I am tired of most storefront mounts being around 15$ or more. Remember when the rare sleepy agent went to the crown shop for a ludicrous amount of crowns? It was 100k crowns. For those who aren't versed in the game, the largest crown pack in the shop is 100$ for only 80k crowns, the minimum is 5$ for 2.5k crowns, and you only get bonus crowns for shelling out 25$ or more. The crown bonus only starts to get decent when you spend 50$ which is too much.

[@VexingWeeb]

Though it is pretty annoying that they still have the membership, on top of many other things that are locked behind crowns, don't they say "try for free" in their marketing not that it's pay to free. At least when you go to the website I think it says that. I think it's pretty dumb the amount of stuff that's locked behind crowns while still having to pay a membership (unlike World of warcraft or star wars the old republic, those you have a membership and can get almost everything (as far as I know) by working and playing the game unlike wizard)