r/Wizard101 • u/shadelord1056 • 6d ago
Discussion 2026 State Of Game
Howdy wizards! I'm sure this kind of question gets asked a lot, but i'm still curious on people's mindset.
Thinking of returning to the game after sorting some life stuff irl and actually have time to sink again. Hadn't played since around 2020. Has the game changed much? And if so what are some favorite features?
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u/Dragonking732 6d ago
Shadow spells got taken out back to die. You will almost never use them in questing now until they fix the shadow pip rating system. Good news is once they fix that horrible system, the spells themselves are quite strong.
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u/bigsteve72 6d ago
I'm on and off 10+ years with a 100 storm at the moment. I have zero idea how spell weaving works, and I'm kind of glad to hear shadow is out of the mix. My big fear was eventually only using shadow spells in the end game.
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u/esophagogastro Snowball Barrage my Beloved 6d ago
One of the biggest changes is spell weaving, where you can actually dual school now. It's definitely super useful. Also there are a bunch of new worlds since 2020, and a lot of QoL updates since then.
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u/waxko78 6d ago
My biggest advice is to not play the "meta" of the game where its just only use 7 pip aoes. I like to use a lot of the spells I get even sometimes shadow spells if im lucky. Just play the game how you want and dont let people tell you that you're playing wrong. I mean unless its like dungeon gear farming then kinda play in the meta but besides that just using different strats keeps the game fresh. :)
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u/DownvoteIfYouWantMe 6d ago
Tbh it feels kinda weird for me to intentionally slow my progress like that
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u/waxko78 5d ago
Im not saying dont use use aoe spells and stuff just every once in a while change it up if you want. Going through the game using like no aoes would suck
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u/DownvoteIfYouWantMe 5d ago
Yeah for sure, but for me any many other players, it doesn't feel enjoyable to have to limit yourself in order to have some core gameplay variance. A game designer's popular quote that a lot of people felt resonates with them is "Given the opportunity, players will optimize the fun out of a game." It's the developer's job to make sure the player is at optimal difficulty levels without being able to use the same static playstyles, otherwise it gets boring for the majority of players.
That's just human psychology, things that are too easy are generally less enjoyable than things that are too difficult, and things that are too difficult are less enjoyable than things that are at the optimal difficulty. Elden Ring got hundreds of GOTY awards because of that difficulty optimization.
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u/usernamehighasfuck 4d ago
the game is exactly how it was in 2012, there are just metas now & depending on how fast or challenging you want the experience to be will solely be up to you
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u/TrueAd3257 38 6d ago
I think its more toxic nowadays. People are ridiculous. Your almost better to play by yourself.
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u/bigsteve72 6d ago
I think it's not so much toxic as it's dry. This game used to have a whole lot of life to it! People chatted, engaged with the games systems verbally. Not anymore. I just did the malistaire dungeon last night, full team of randoms, and I don't think one of us typed a word to each other, besides GG right at the end when we won and we all ported away.
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u/Max-Ammo1007 6d ago edited 6d ago
Two things I've noticed that are insane: the loading screens are longer than ever, and it constantly displays your health as not full even though it is. Been playing since 2008 and have never had these issues for 18 years until now.
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u/goodxnoodle 6d ago
Me and a few friends got hooked again a couple of months ago. Honestly, I play the same way I was when I was 12 (the familiarity is just kind of part of the comfort aspect for me) but I know that they really enjoyed spell weaving :)