Ranked PVP Comes to Wizard 101

This sounds VERY interesting to me.  I've popped my head into the current Arena but I've never seen anyone my level to duel.  I think consensual PVP will be a nice addition to the game.  More options for spending you in-game play time is always good.  The fact that it's going to be a ranked system goes well with the achievements/title system already in place.

W101 is very much about building a good deck and using strategy.  However, I'm wondering if the addition of competitive PVP will start the usual barage of complaints about class balance.  More importantly, how will players who decide to compete in the Arena feel about the availability of RMT items?  Hmm, tacked on PVP hasn't gone down smoothly in any other game that I've played.

I haven't found the RMT gear to be especially powerful but it does provide a few additional options IF those show up in your randomly selected spell cards.  One offset to potential drama is that I think similar gear can actually be purchased for in game gold which means everyone has access to the items.  It will be entertaining to see how this all goes down.  I for one, intend on competing.

I hope that the new world some players are waiting for is also coming with the promised new content.  If they also implement the rumored player housing (interactive vs. the static rooms we have now) this would be a HUGE addition to an already very pleasing game.

Comments

[Hudson]

Sigh. I wish I could win the lottery and play games all day...

[Capn John]

I just did my bit by posting on the WizardCentral Forum here: http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3424

Understandably, the kiddies came out in support of this ridiculous idea.

How KingIsle could be so overly protective of the children, to make Chat illegible, and Trade impossible, yet they implement a Gambling mechanic? That's just mind boggling!

[Saylah]

It is mind boggling given the annoyance with chat. Even one way trade to children would be better than the nothing we have now. I've found plenty of nice things that I'd give away instead of selling to the vendors.

Which brings up another topic. I wish I had two-boxed another character so I'd have a different class to play. The journey in this game is rather involved and much like the first couple of years in WOW, I'm not going to feel like starting from the beginning and repeating mostly the same exact content again for quite some time.

I just commented in your post - this is REALLY stupid on their part given the way they've inconvenienced chat and trade over protecting children.

[Khan]

Wow ...

As mentioned above, I'm not sure how they can go to such extremes to protect kids (which is understandable in a game marketed towards that demographic) and then do something like that.

Maybe if they had grown-up servers and kids servers with the mechanic on only grown-up servers it would be ok.

*Looks in his crystal ball*

I predict snow ... and little houses ... and ... hey! Who changed my crystal ball for a snow globe again?! Grr!

[Mallika]

Whoa, did they delete the forum thread? I tried following the link and it doesn't work anymore. O_o

[Saylah]

Interesting the thread was moved or deleted. I'm going to search for it.

[Saylah]

The thread is here now: http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?p=30069&posted=1#post30069

[Mallika]

Huh. It seems they either moved it again, or deleted it for good this time. Ah well. I find that rather annoying of them, to be honest. What the hell.

[Capn John]

I reposted on the Suggestions Forum, which is the only one (allegedly) monitored by KingsIsle: http://www.wizard101central.com/forums/showthread.php?t=3429

Made it to 5 pages long before Prof. Greyrose closed it (not in a malicious way "This has gone on long enough!"). Quite interesting points of view, from both sides. Obviously some kids chiming in with "Great idea!" but still an interesting read, I thought.

[Saylah]

I'm not opposed to it but I think it needs parent control and the juxstapostion of allowing this versus things that aren't allowed is just odd. I for one will be doing the ranked PVP but I won't be betting.

[Capn John]

Despite what I've said, I'm also not against it (not 100%, even if it is contradictory to limited Chat & restricted Trade), I just think it should be something the parents can Turn On or Off via the Account Settings (no in-game) and I think it should be Off by default. So if you want to place Wager on your Duels, you need to manually turn that feature on, or have a parent turn it on for you.

[Saylah]

I think that's a good solution too.