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The State of PvP

The State of PvP. When you hear this, what are some thoughts that come to mind? Examples may be the meta, possibly the community, and the condition that PvP is in (balanced, unbalanced, etc.) The state PvP is in today does NOT favor any school; the dominant schools do, however, have a variety of utility (both offensive and defensive) in their spells and stats. The weaker schools aren’t bad; they are simply lacking in certain departments.

Every school can reach Warlord. However, at rank 900 and above, you are bound to encounter more of the dominant schools. Keeping this information in mind, many duelists adjust their strategies to counter the dominant schools. People want to win, and because they know what the schools of their opponents will be, they will set for the dominant schools. This can be with ward pets, off school dispels, and gear. This is an issue with the current state of PvP.

Another separate issue that is equally problematic is boosting. Boosting is a method by which players boost their rank by signing up for ranked 3v3 or 4v4 with dummy accounts, and purposely lose on those dummy accounts to boost their main accounts’ ranks to impossible levels.  

These are just a few of the issues encountered in PvP, but today I will bring to light ALL issues I have encountered in the current state of PvP. Hopefully, we as a community can address and solve these issues.

 

Ward Pets

Ward pets have become prevalent at almost every level of PvP, with the most common wards being Ice, Fire and Balance. These prevail because, at most level ranges, these schools are extremely deadly and versatile with the spells and gear they can receive. Ward pets are an issue, but they aren’t a hugely debated topic. A ward pet allows one to have an extra 15% resist to that certain school. Combined with Spell-Proof and Spell-Defying, players can gain an extra 30% resist to any one school.

While this isn’t a huge problem at max level (every school can easily hit 30%+ pierce) it just adds a small buffer. At lower levels, however, where pierce is almost non-existent, an extra 15% resist could mean the difference between a killing blow and tanking the hit. Additionally, in max level 2v2, ward pets create the possibility of becoming immune to an entire school, negating all damage done if the resist cannot be pierced.

Ward pets are also an issue in tournaments where it is rather easy to find out the school of your opponent. If you happen to have a ward pet for that school, all you need to do is equip it. This instantly gives you to a significant advantage. This advantage becomes extremely unfair if your opponent either can’t set, or chooses not to. Although ward pets are readily available, they are still an issue in PvP. This problem is rather difficult to fix, but in my opinion (which is shared among others), it needs to be addressed and fixed. Personally, I think that a good solution would be to make ward pets not usable in PvP. You can equip your ward pet, but the extra 15% resist would not be added onto your stats the minute you enter the arena.

Dispels

Dispels are one of the biggest issues in today’s PvP meta at every level of PvP, in addition to being an even bigger issue in Tournaments. For 2 pips, you can negate an entire attack, and make your opponent lose anywhere from 4-10 pips. This is clearly a huge tempo shift and advantage. For an on-school dispel, one power pip is all it takes to shut down any attack. The real issue with dispels are in tournaments. You can easily figure out who you’re facing along with their school, and carry max dispels (whether they’re tc or trained). In a quick match 1v1, if the setter is first, this seals the fate of their opponent and essentially guarantees a setter victory.

Dispels are a problem, and they need to be fixed and addressed hopefully in the next update. I have a few solutions to fix the dispel problem without hurting PvE in any way. One way is to make dispels No PvP. In my opinion, this is the easiest solution. Another solution is to make dispels work so that when you are dispelled, you do not lose any pips. This means that a dispeller could prevent an attack for one round, but still be in danger of being hit the next round. This means that they would have to either brace themselves for the incoming damage, or dispel again. This is a rather simple solution also.

 

Juju Spammers

Juju spammers are Death wizards who wear high resist and high healing boost gear (jade gear). They use Bad Juju almost every round to lock down their opponent and control their damage output until they are ready to kill, which they usually achieve by feint stacking and then shattering before the killing blow. They also use ward pets and dispels to further lock down their opponent. Juju Spammers have been an issue for quite a while now, but have a rather easy solution.

The issue can be solved by making it so Bad Juju cannot be enchanted. This means that the only Jujus that a Juju spammer would be able to use are from the main decks, limiting the supply that they have. This would be an effective nerf of the Juju spamming strategy. Any current treasure card Bad Jujus would be made No PvP. This still allows a Death wizard to use Bad Juju and still be rewarded for a successful prediction.

 

Tournaments

Tournaments are now 22k gold. I thought that setting would disappear since crowns are not at stake. I was horribly wrong. Setting is still prevalent. I met people who actually encouraged setting. I don’t know why people set in tournaments given that it is so problematic for PvP as a whole. When I asked the people I met why they encouraged setting, the reasons they gave were incredibly ignorant. I was told that tickets are not important, but rather that the trophy and your win to point ratio. I see multiple issues with those two reasons. First, only your friends, no one else will ever see that trophy. Second, no one ever sees your “win to point” ratio unless you are on the leaderboards. So why set?

Tournaments are meant to be fun, easy, and fast in receiving large amounts of tickets. I see setting in tournaments as unsportsmanlike. Setting in tournaments can be solved easily by fixing the ward pet and dispel issue. Another way to solve the issue is by making it so the duelist has to submit a gear and deck setup as they sign up for the tournament. This would lock what they are allowed to use, meaning that they could change their gear outside of the arena, but once they enter the arena again, they would automatically switch back to the gear and deck set up that they signed up with. One final solution is to not make, who you are versing viewable before the match began.

 

Boosters

Boosters are another big issue today in the community’s eyes, but there is not much to be said about it. I see it as a problem, but in a different mindset. The leaderboard is full of boosters, which is an issue. Those who deserve the top spots through legitimate PvP are denied what they worked so hard to achieve. The leaderboards also provide an insight on the meta, and where things stand; boosters skew data on information one may try to collect from the leaderboard for what ever reason. The solution to boosters is something I personally do not know. The only thing that I can think of, but is rather controversial, is to remove 3v3 and 4v4 from the ranked PvP, since there are little to no legitimate ranked people who do 3v3 and 4v4. This most likely isn’t the correct solution.

 

The community

Many people see the Wizard101 community as “toxic” or “salty.” It never use to be this way. People want to win, to be the very best (like no one ever was). People see setting as taking advantage of the resources given to them. I personally see it as an unsportsmanlike act. People who set want to win no matter what, even though tickets don’t matter much and your rank is just a number. We as a community need to stop being so violent, and at each others throats. Calling someone salty is often taken as an insult. It’s not funny.

People get frustrated, but instead of being helpful and friendly, we pick at their wound and laugh in their face. We don’t want that done to us, so why do it to others? Most of us are older than 10, but act as if we are 7. We need to band together instead of banding against. I understand no one will get along with everyone, but instead of spreading hate, let’s spread affection. Say “gg, you played well” instead of “LOL, gG you scrub git good.”

 

These are the issues in the current state of Wizard101 PvP. Most of these issues can be solved by Kingsisle, and by us as a community voicing our opinions for change. Kingsisle has recently listened to our calls with the change to critical, so while they are listening and paying attention, let us call for the other issues to be changed. The last issue, the community, can only be fixed if we as a community work together fix it. I do not expect hate to vanish entirely, but I can only hope that it becomes less of a problem.

 

Hopefully this brought the issues to light, and hopefully this didn’t turn too much into a rant. If you have any ideas for change, let us know in the comments below!

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