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Worth a try?
i was watching t.v the other day and saw its commercial. it was that appealing to me but looked ok i was wondering if its good or not.
Playing: WoW and Guild wars faction.
waiting on: GW2 and next WoW expansion 
played: flyff, diablo2, maplestory, dungeon runners, eudemons online, conquer online, runescape, decide online, perfect world, and atlantica.
Comments
Its worth a look. I am 35 and have played pretty much every MMOG in the last 10 years. There are a lot of interesting and refreshing mechanics in Wizard 101. I especially like the turn based collectible card combat system.
I got to about level 12 in beta and didn't find the combat to be very deep although I still enjoyed it. Its not as complex as Magic, the Gathering or any other adult CCG, but its not bad and it looks great in action.
The game is VERY good for kids,or a parent that wants to play alongside their kids,basically it is a great family game.
The problem is that it holds no challenge ,deep content to garner any older players.They did a good job for the people they were targeting,so i can't hold it against them.I would say ti is impossible to design a game for and age group of 5-14 and have the older public like it,it just won't happen.
Personally i like the design, i just wish there was an adult version with a ton more content,then it would probably be very addictive.I mean think along the lines of MTGO[magic the gathering]if the game was more like that but with the graphical interface of WIZ 101,it would no doubt gather a following and be somewhat of a success.
I might point out that the design of WIZ 101 left it no room to advance ,i mean what are you going to add 7/8/9/10 spells?this is why you need a system more along the lines of MTGO.
Never forget 3 mile Island and never trust a government official or company spokesman.
It is a "kids game", but in the "family-friendly" sense, not the "stupid and cheesy" sense. The game avoids any hints of sexuality or graphic violence, though if you were looking for those, you presumably wouldn't have posted here. The downside of the "kid-friendly" bit is a heavily-restricted chat system that whitelists words with a too-small dictionary, making communication somewhat awkward.
The game looks and feels small-budget, so if you're looking for the fanciest graphics, this game doesn't have them. The exaggerated, cartoony feel is somewhat reminiscent of Yoshi's Island.
But the underlying game mechanics are those of a legitimiate, quality game. As with a lot of other MMORPGs, join an oversided group and you can make an awful lot of the content completely trivial. Insist on soloing everything and it can actually be more challenging than quite a few other games.
The game's major gameplay innovations:
-turn-based card combat system that emphasizes strategy, with more depth from various probabilistic components than the combat systems of a lot of other MMORPGs
-frequent safe zones so that if you need to stop quickly (e.g., to let the dog out), you can, at just about any time. Early on, it's basically, the sidewalks are safe, but playing in the street is dangerous.
-a non-permanent grouping system that has more mobs join a battle if more players are in the group. Early on, the maximum number of mobs that will join a battle is the number of players. From Colossus Boulevard onward, it's one greater than this. That is, if you are solo, no more than two mobs will enter battle against you. If another player joins your battle, then a third mob will usually join to attack the two of you.
-very short quests; there are quite a few of the "kill X of mob Y" quests, but "X" is typically about 4 or 6. Up to level 29 (the cap is 50), the grindiest quests I've come across are one that required me to kill 12 of a particular type of mob, and one that required me to get 8 of a random drop that drops more often than not. No others were even close to this. There are a /lot/ of quests for the game's length.
-very frequent unique boss battles. I realize that lots of MMORPGs have boss battles, but you can easily spend a third of your time in combat fighting bosses, even if you never farm bosses for their loot at all.
-refill health between battles by running around grabbing wisps (worth 1/4 of max health each) while avoiding mobs. Odd, but at least it's not "sit and wait for two minutes" like some other games.
-seven minigames to refill mana, or refill potions that give instantly refill your health and mana outside of combat. Some of the minigames borrow heavily from older games like Joust and Dig Dug, but KingsIsle did add some twists to them.
Do be warned that the game is short for an MMORPG. If you're going to buy it, pay the monthly fee ($10/month, or $7/month per account if you buy more than one), rather than purchasing individual zones. If you only play one character, the payment methods would come out to be about equivalent in price if you play on average perhaps a couple hours per week, which is far shy of what an average MMORPG player will play.
There is an "item mall" of sorts, but mostly, it's a way to pay for individual zones without a subscription. There are some hats, robes, and boots that you can buy with crowns (the item mall currency), but you can buy those with the gold that you get in-game, too. Besides, a full set of the three pieces of gear only comes to several dollars
No offense, but, based on your post, I have to wonder how long you actually played the game.
For one thing, the game was not designed for 5 year olds. Although the starting area may seem simplistic, later areas involve increasingly complex tactics and harder challenges. Just like "grown-up" MMOs, your spell arsenal might eventually include various buffs, debuffs, minions, and AoE spells. I believe the earliest target age would be tweens (10-12).
As for it being "impossible to design a game.. and have the older public like it": I, along with a dozen of my "older public" friends, find the game to be incredibly fun, refreshing, and surprisingly addictive. Your mileage obviously varies.
It holds "no challenge"? I guess you didn't experience any of the instanced dungeon-type areas, like Sunken City, Tomb of the Beguiler, or Kensington. Honestly, Kensington (which you can access in the low 30's), can challenge groups of wizards who are many levels higher than that.
Based upon the fact that they just added another dozen or so servers in the last week, I would say that the game is, indeed, developing a following. Granted, that is undoubtedly the result of the TV commercials and the free trial. But, at the moment, the game is looking like it might be "somewhat of a success".
I don't understand your last comment about lack of room to advance. There are currently 4 worlds in the game, with a 5th scheduled to be added in the next month or so. Along with the new world will come new spells -- at the very least the school-specific spells that are to be gained at level 48. I expect there will be others as well. They have also just added PvP dueling arenas and tournaments to all of the worlds, should that spark your interest.
To the OP: As you can tell, I think it is a very good game. (And, no, I don't work for KingsIsle.) Go ahead and give it a try for free. Just realize there is a lot more to the game than the free trial can show you.
Not enough content is the eternal bugaboo of MMORPGs. While the game is short, that's partially because it's not stuffed full of grinding like quite a few other games. If you had to kill twice as many mobs for each quest, it would take you twice as long to beat the game, but I wouldn't call that more content. I'd call that more of a nuisance, and a game less worth playing.
And really, what should the company have done? Delayed release by two years while they add more content? While short, the core game mechanics are in place and working properly. Better to release the game now and add more content as they go.