I’ve given Wizard 101 a shot before, right before launch in their last beta phase. I really really liked what I saw – but it didn’t fit in my gaming schedule at the time. I’m now at a stage where I’m not really playing WoW much, and I need a game that I can play by myself for short increments of time now and then. Enter Wizard 101: a free-to-play MMO for all ages that combines standard MMORPG elements with a tactical card game. Two things I love, so already going to be a win for me. I’ve been spending a bit of time with Wizard 101 so I thought I’d share some of my experiences.
I started Savannah Sparklemancer at the beginning of the week. She’s a cute little Conjurer training in "Life” spells. I have to say – for the game having cutesy graphics and dialog – it’s definitely a game for all ages. The collectable card game (CCG) aspect of it is actually quite complicated. There are also more stats than I can even keep track of, I mean, look at this character stat screen (click to enlarge):
Take a look at the spell deck configuration screen. Wizard101, being a card game, requires you to collect cards and make a deck out of them. Only the cards you have in your deck are available for use in battle. It is possible to use skill to make yourself quite powerful or to gimp yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing. I’m probably going to do the latter, since I’m still learning. 
Something new since the last time I played was the new player tutorial that let’s you face off with Malistaire in the tower. It’s a good way to show you the beginning mechanics of combat. I can’t imagine that kids easily figure this stuff out though, I’m sure they probably just click any card they can without worry about how much damage it does or anything.
Combat is kind of interesting. The game puts you into encounters when you stumble into hostile NPC’s. It puts you in a ring type formation with the NPC and anyone can wander in and join in on the encounter (including other players or other monsters). Sometimes, a simple 1-on-1 fight with you and a creature can turn into a big giganticly long battle because other players and monsters keep jumping in. I’m not too sure how I feel about that. While I’ve generally appreciated the help from players who have joined my battle, sometimes I’m accidentally jumping in other people’s fights and sometimes they’re getting upset at me. I don’t know if I’m stealing their XP or why they care – but occasionally I get yelled at. Is there a way to leave a battle? If so, I haven’t figured it out yet.
You’ll notice in the screenshot above that I’m in a battle with two other players, and we’re fighting two monsters. Here it’s showing me picking what card I want to attack with. Keep in mind, not all cards have to be offensive attacks – some could be a buff on myself or another player, or a debuff on the monster as well to slow their attacks or cause less damage. When you’re fighting alongside other players, you have to wait for them to pick their selections which can sometimes take awhile if they’ve gone AFK. That’s a downside, although it only gives them 30 seconds before autochoosing a card for them.
The game features a lot of standard MMO mechanics, like leveling, skills, equipment, questing, dialogue trees, friending, and chat. And, they’re all free –which is awesome. You can get a really good feel for the game without spending a dime. The download is also very quick, and the use of the background downloading tech to get you into the game fast is a welcome feature. The game performs well, is bright and interesting to look at, and feels good to play. I plan to do a lot more blogging about my experiences in Wizard 101, and also my latest visit to Lord of the Rings Online.
