Not Again!!!

Let me start by saying that this is not going to be a cheery, upbeat,happy-go-lucky post about what's new and awesome in Wizard101. Quite the contrary. The only feel-good portion of this post is that Wysteria is live...and it goes down hill rapidly from there. Where to even begin.

Heather Raven makes some awesome points in her latest post HERE. You should all stop by and read it. Pet Page ridiculousness and the fact that the new houses from Test are NOT Live. Yeah. Now we'll address my main focus. "Lotto" Packs.

With the Dragon's Hoard Pack, you were guaranteed 7 items of varying usefulness all related to dragons for 399 Crowns a pop. Awesome, right? There were chances at wands, cool gear, and the jewel of the collection: The Bone Dragon Mount. And a LOT of people (myself included) blew a large amount of crowns shooting for that very prize. And then I helped friends get it by mass-gifting. And it was ridiculous. If they had put it in the crown shop individually, people still would have paid for it. They still would have enjoyed it. And they would have had crowns left over for more crown shop goodies. If the gear sets had gone in individually, I firmly believe that people would have bought them.

Now, enter the Wyvern Hoard with not 1 but 5 individual new mounts along with permanent and 1 day copies of the Fairy Wings.  They're large, colorful, really cool looking, and equally challenging to get. And all of those people who like to collect things are going to be all over it. Well, almost all of them. I'm done. I spent 2000 crowns just to see what some of the stuff was and boy was I disappointed. Deep Mushrooms popping up religiously, along with some other stuff that is available to everyone very, very easily. If I wanted Orange Bell Peppers I would just buy the peppers from the crown shop, not blow 399 crowns and hope for the best. I don't want 3 copies of the same set of boots before even getting one hat/mask to go with it. Yeah, I came in hoping for energy gear that was better than the Baconator and it IS, but what are my chances of actually obtaining the last piece of it? Little to none.

Maybe the purpose of the "Lotto" is to allow children to learn that life isn't fair. That's a noble lesson to attempt to teach in a children's game, sure. What is this really teaching, though? Some would say that it's teaching that Gambling is OK (in moderation....questionable with this). I say it's teaching children that if they spend enough money, they'll eventually get exactly what they want. Is that something we want our youth to think? That's creating the next generation of entitled little brats. You can't buy your way out of jail, but this is showing that with enough $$$ and you can get anything.

Also with the "Lotto", we're seeing may objects that overlap between packs. I don't need Deep Mushrooms. If I want those I'll buy a Remarkable Reagents. If I want Zounds...Bees, I'll buy a Green Thumb Pack. And what's up with all of the normal pets? Unicorns and Imps come from the Wizard City pet shop for gold, so why would anyone want to spend crowns on them? They just released the Pack O' Porters, why add teleporters to the Hoard? It's filler. The "Lotto" works like over stuffing your deck. The more stuff that's in there, the smaller your shot at drawing what you need. And this pack is certainly stuffed. Just from the Mounts and Gear alone (not counting gear that is replaced depending on level) You have 3 sets of gear (9 items) and a staff to match each (3 items) plus the 5 Wyvern Mounts, 3 Fairy Wings, and 3 Temp Wings. That's already 23 items that you might want, which requires at LEAST (and this is VERY wishful thinking) 4 packs or 1596 crowns. Add in all of the junk furniture, treasure cards, and lame seeds and you're not likely to ever see these things.

It's pretty safe to say that I don't want a Wyvern or to complete the gear set that I started. It's ridiculous, a waste of money, and a waste of time. The collector in me has died with this update, I guess. I still want all of the teleporters, but you can bet I'll be crafting for them rather than putting it up to luck. Blah.

Your [Peeved] Friend Always,
John Lifeglen

P.S. I got moved in to school safely, as have internet working here (obviously...).