Irony of Spell Energy.
Naynuh
Posts: 3 ✭✭
The lack of response to the Wizards Unite spell energy crisis is unfathomable. I understand that this game was created to produce a new revenue stream for Niantic and Warner Bro.'s to follow up a wildly popular mobile game Pokemon Go, but how much profit manipulation are you expecting to receive a gain from?
I've personally gotten two companions and myself into Wizards Unite because we believed in what the game could be, much like the evolution of Pokemon Go. Those companions quit after level 9ish due to this "energy efficient" cash grab. Some players would literally quit the game rather than paying to play it. Probably the most ironic point of this paragraph is that, my companions dish out $15.00 a month to Blizzard Entertainment for a World Of Warcraft subscription, and have been making these payments for over five years. That total added with the purchase of new expansion content left them with the promise of always being able to play the game, no matter their geo-location. Within less than a month they spent almost $60.00 on a game that will literally reward you for merely participating in energy and potion dispensing.
What I mean by this is many players report catching a confoundable even after performing a slower or more inaccurate spell trace. I'm sure everyone has failed a spell on a "Masterful" result, and one or two casts later actually caught the confoundable on a "Good" result. With this said, most players would deduce that the game has RNG capture mechanics, but just how much random aspect is in the capturing a confoundable? I'm not lying when I mention that I spent 22+ energy and 3-4 Potent potions on two Brilliant Unicorns today, and after I went to 5 inn's at my college, I wasted 200 more gold in the next twenty minutes as-well as more than 15 potions in total. At level 13 I must either be so in with bad luck that its a miracle I'm even alive right now, or possibly the game wants me to fail and spend more money no matter my skill.
The biggest take away from this page of dismay that I want to leave on this forum like a brand to a cattle, until the issue is fixed at the least, is that we the players deserve better. Events are great, but they are suppose to supply excitement and sometimes free loot, instead players are going to pay more than previously in fear of missing out on the events completion statistics. I noticed a minor outcry in the bug report section for the store being down, and guess what, they got a same day response.. as follows:
"latest comment 03 July, 2019, 09:47 pm.
We are aware of an issue affecting purchasing for some iOS users. Users experiencing this issue will not be able to load the Diagon Alley screen. Our team is working with Apple on a solution to resolve the problem as soon as possible."
Yet a MASSIVE outcry for a solution on the pay to win (without always winning) energy issue since the app launched, and nothing...
Anyways Niantic, don't take this as a hate speech, you've made a very entertaining and addictive game. Keep in mind that people prefer to actually play the game, and your energy system impedes them from experiencing that.
Comments
I would rather pay $10 for the game than deal with cash-grab/greedy micro-transactions. The energy issue is a serious problem in this game. As is the vault limits. Micro-transactions should be for cosmetics - it should not affect gameplay.
On another grueling hand typed note, here are my reasons to why the energy recovery system is only the tip of the iceberg.
~Okay lets take Poke Go for example, let me ask you how many times you failed a poke ball toss? Maybe a few per Pokemon? Certainly not as many RNG capture fails as Wizards Unite right? No one can be sure how the scaling and RNG in the games differ but I'm sure most Poke Go Vets feel it, and if you need to hear it from one just check out a few Twitch or Youtube streamers that live for Pokemon Go.
-Either way lets bring a whole new horizon out of the games mentioned, let me ask you "What ball did you use?" Just resonate on that question.
( ꒪⌓꒪) BOOM. That's right.
There are four types of Pokeballs, and you can purchase them from the shop in quantities of 20, 100, and 200 balls at a time. So people must be wasting money on the 200 ball package right? It's not like you can hold so many at once, we buy our energy by the 50 for a $1.00.
Wrong again buckaroo, players can hold a maximum number of items in a "BAG SPACE" on Pokemon Go, also meaning someone has the choice to only hold 350 Pokeballs instead of other in-game items, or even 1,000 Pokeballs if they have a spare $20.00 to spend at the game's store (to "ONE TIME MAX" your bag space with "ONE PURCHASE").
Now lets slow it down and ask a more basic question, "Does it feel like you gained as much Energy at POI's on the map in Wizards Unite, as you did with Pokeball's at POI's in Pokemon go? I have a feeling I know your answers, so lets move on.
Now lets say you gain a recurring single point of energy every 1-5 minutes, that's a great filler system for those who actually sleep at some point in the day. You can expect 75 Energy every 1.25 hrs - 6.25 hrs, but how does this help those in mid battle in need of energy now. It doesn't. (Don't get me wrong this system should be implemented, just not by itself as a Energy Crisis Solution...)
To sum up my beliefs on a working product as an example : TLDR version :
The energy recuperation solution cant stand alone, ( It needs the proper storage size implemented,)
The vault/energy capacity system is a joke compared to what we have seen in Pokemon Go,
The stores "vault expansion" purchase is a bigger joke at $5.00
And the singular vault "subsection" purchase ranging from $1.50-$2.00 is an even more gargantuan joke.
With the reliance on energy in this game, I would prefer if they went to the same model they used for XM in Ingress.
Possible implementation methods brainstorming;
• Every 2-10 levels (after level 8-12?) your character experiences/accesses a quest-line to increase (storage?) energy capacity, "You're a growing Wizard Harry" method.
º Seemingly similar Idea - Your familiar extends your carrying capacity on your vault by X amount every X levels. (ALSO WHERE IS MY FAMILIAR? I THOUGHT I WAS A WIZARD HAGRID?!? щ(ºДºщ) ) We'll call this the "Familiar" method.
• "Just mass drop a loada night sparkz" method- The energy capacity you have resets at the dawn of every day. I think this idea really plays on the whole notion of Wizards Unite having a diverse game-play according to the Day/Night cycle as-well-as it just makes sense. "What was my Wizard doing up all last night if I logon today and he/she still has no energy to capture confoundables?" (Do inactive Wizards and Witches have some kinda of ritualistic night club that causes them not to wake up with energy after a night cycle? ┐(‘～`；)┌ )
• "Useful Portkeys" method - Add a rare chance to obtain +1 energy in Portkeys when searching for the little light balls. (Also add x y movement to the light balls like the mini-game it should have been,, imagine having to chase them around in AR if enabled, or on a 2d plane if AR is disabled. Seems like a handful of people get motion sick from the Portkeys AR scenario.)
• The "Sellout" method - Get a couple companies to do the paying for the players. I'm sure the majority of people playing Wizards Unite would watch a few ads for items, energy, energy/vault minor expansions. ( What ever you do, DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT FORCE PLAYERS INTO UNWANTED ADS. Let us have the choice, it's a game for us to experience our way anyways.)
º The "Sellout 2" method - just list it as it is in Pokemon Go. $20.00 = x amount of energy capacity and x amount of storage added to each vault to max it all out. (When in doubt, reuse, recycle, repurpose. )
º The "Slightly Selling out" method - allow for all vault sections and energy capacity to be expanded on FB/Twitter/Social Media Shares and Likes/Subscribes. ( Maybe it'd even help WU catch up slightly to Pokemon Go.)
[Anyways I'll be back another time to share more ideas, I'm muggling out for the night.]
Niantic, Your truly, (Unless no changes are made regarding this mess.)
Professor Naynuh.
You just can't play mate. How difficult is to go to Inn and spin it to get energy instead of waiting 5min for one. You can upgrade energy limit for 150 gold I'm sitting o 280 energy. And if u saying poke mom's are better. Make new account and tell me how quick u Gina fill up your bag
I hope you do game design stuff someday. I’d buy your games. 😲
I hear what you're saying and I even agree with a point or two here and there, but overall I take a different view. Nobody likes to grind. I get it. Is life any different? Nothing of value comes easy or quickly; you want easy, pay for it. Such as life, no?
You can split hairs till the cows come home but isn't gaming today, such as life, about rising to the challenge the developers set forth for us? I see playing without paying as a challenge in itself. A challenge to my impulse to want things now. Don’t get me wrong, I spend money on these games because I support the industry wholeheartedly and have for over 40 years but at the end of the day, the option is always mine to spend or not to spend. I can play either way. This option didn’t exist until I was nearly 30 years old. Before that, I (we) HAD to pay to play. Period.
I’d like to think the money gaming companies are raking in with this model will in large part fund the R&D required to develop challenging, leading edge games of the future such as the forthcoming Cyberpunk (finally coming next April) after what, 8 years in production? I can’t imagine the cost. Hard not to support that kind of work going into showing me a good time.
Im level 24. Never had an energy problem. Yes there is RNG, and no a Masterful cast doesn't guarantee success...but it occurs a lot more frequently than Great, Good or Fair casts.
I honestly don't see a problem here.
@Naynuh Where is the irony contained in your post?
Both Naynuh and Zookitabooki make good points.
Still, when I go to a Fortress, the damage to an opponent is cumulative. Only in the Traces are you completely at the mercy of the RNG. I suggest that an appropriate fix would be to slightly increase spell success probability with each casting attempt in Traces, to simulate cumulative damage. "Slightly" could be biased on the accuracy of the previous casting attempt. It really is ridiculous to not reward the caster of a Masterful spell, even if the target manages to resist it.
I just totally agree with the autor of this post.
Energy is a true problem. Maybe some lucky guy don't have problem with it, but when they say that " there's no problem" they just need to open their eyes : almost everybody on all forums and feedback comment speak about this problem.
If Niantic do nothing, they will just loose half of the community, like in the beginning of PoGO. And I will leave also (It's sad, I already spend 50$ into the game ).
I also agree with the author. Spell energy in this game is a serious problem. I don't have any issues when I am at work during the week (as I am in a downtown area). However, on the weekends, I am very limited on how much I can play because I have too few inns near me. One is even inaccessible on Sunday's when the business is closed. .. leaving me with only one inn in the surrounding area, and a few green houses, but those don't always provide spell energy. Recharging spell energy automatically each morning would be ideal, I believe.
While I don't disagree with the idea that a couple of more mechanics for recouping spell energy would be nice, the point of ARG games is to get you out and about to do things, which includes harvesting resources, be they spell energy, portkeys, or potion ingredients, not to mention returning Foundables. Right now, I'm knocking on the door of Level 17, returned at least 40 Sparkling Unicorn fragments, and haven't spent a dime on the game so far. AND I've increased my vault capacity on spell energy, potions, and ingredients once each.
I certainly understand accessibility issues, and I know that I'm fortunate to live within a mile or two of a very nice walkable park and downtown area that have dozens of inns and fortresses and greenhouses. But going out and hitting those inns is part of the game, which is why there's achievements and daily tasks for it all and all that good stuff.
Also, as another data point in opposition to the OP's premise, I've certainly blown through all 17 pokeballs I've earned in a raid trying to nab a Legendary raid boss. And there's been times when I've gone through 10+ with landscape Pokemon.
and I know that I'm fortunate to live within a mile or two of a very nice walkable park and downtown area that have dozens of inns and fortresses and greenhouses.
Not everyone has that luxury, @HempenHomespun
That's the problem. Inns around here are quite scarce when compared with POIs in the previous 2 games. So to continue on to say "hitting those inns is part of the game" is irrelevant in this instance. We KNOW it's part of the game. We'd like to play too that game too. But we don't have the same density of inns/greenhouses as you.
Also, with Pokemon Go, you could sit in a gym and battle to your heart's content without using pokeballs. With Ingress, you picked up XM as you walked. But in this game, everything requires spell energy. The simple point is that the energy needed vs. the energy received (especially in sparse locations) is completely and utterly imbalanced.
Energy isn't really the problem. Its the distribution of traces vs inns. When I'm in LA, the area I'm in has dozens of traces, and no inns. When I'm in Vancouver, I literally see hundreds of inns in the distance....but very few traces. I'm Ok with **** traces. I'm OK with **** Inns. But they gotta give us an OPPORTUNITY to do both.