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Wakfu: Our Official Wakfu F2P Review

SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

Wakfu was recently unleashed upon the world by Square Enix and Ankama Games. We've been spending some quality time in Wakfu's free zones to prepare for our official F2P review. Read on and then weigh in with your thoughts in the comments.

Ed Note: In light of feedback from our users and the fact that Wakfu utilizes a "hybrid F2P-subscription model", we'll be adding a second review, or at the minimum, more information about the subscriber version of Wakfu. We'll post this in the next several weeks!

If you're expecting epic quests, great loot, a compelling storyline and larger than life battles, then maybe Wakfu isn't the game for you. But  if you're interested in exploring a drop-dead gorgeous world without getting aggro from every single mob you come across and being able to chat freely without restrictions to all the other players in the game, then you'll probably LOVE this game.

Read more of Adrian Liew's Wakfu: Our Official Wakfu Review.

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Comments

  • MalkosMalkos Member UncommonPosts: 19

    I'm sorry but I don't see how a beautiful game alone makes it 7.8 our of 10.

    The lack of almost any story, no quests, and how much being f2p actually limits you in a game that doesn't have much to begin with kind of hits the score a lot harder than -2.2.

    One of the biggest things is the fact that if you're f2p you can't use their unique ecosystem feature or even use money PERIOD.

     

    I played the game for a long while back in closed beta and while I absolutely love the art style and scenery, I just can't ever see myself picking up this game again as f2p and DEFINITLY not at p2p because of a distinct lack of anything to do other than grind.

  • SquishydewSquishydew Member UncommonPosts: 1,107

    I really enjoyed this review, but i simply cant take it seriously in the end.

    While it was well written, it should've been reviewed as a P2P game, seeing as the F2P portion wakfu offers is absolutely pathetic.

     

    Besides that i found a flaw in the review saying you'd need four different characters to visit the four different nations, which is not true - The game has a heavy PvP element to it, so not being able to go to another Nation would be quite odd.

    I'm not a 100% sure, but i believe traveling through other nations is possible through either boats, portals ( Zaaps ) or cannons.

     

    The review didn't really cover the Economics in Wakfu, that it has no NPC's to sell to, and even It's currency is crafted by players themselves, this is once again because it was reviewed as F2P ( I probably cant blame you, thats what they advertise the game as, but it is simply false information )

    If this game where truly to be reviewed, it should at least have information about Crafting and gathering professions, the way that you can become a Criminal by breaking laws, laws that are set by a player elected Governor, that you can attack anyone at any time, even your own faction, but you'll become a criminal because of it

     

    All that said, I'm absolutely not a Wakfu fanboy, Class balance is terrible, favored features from Dofus, its predecessor are missing, and without respeccing the game can be very unforgiving to the casual player.

    It is a fantastic game, but it could be so much better.

  • Greymantle4Greymantle4 Member UncommonPosts: 809

    The open pvp killed it for me.  It seems any game that comes close to a sandbox feel thinks they need to put in open pvp for some reason. Oh well to those that like that stuff enjoy.

  • braddollarbraddollar Member Posts: 3

    The game is obviously not meant to be a full experience for free to play. It's more of a trial than a free to play game. You won't experience much of the game by playing it free to play, and reviewing it based off of that is just sad in my opinion. I think my favorite parts are the things you're just flat out wrong about, like having "consenual pvp" under pros. There's nothing consenual about pvp in the game. I love it, but misleading people like that is just wrong. Yet another failed mmorpg.com review. I guess I shouldn't be surprised at this point.

  • OzmodanOzmodan Member EpicPosts: 9,726

    This game is NOT f2p in any shape or form.  It has a trial mode, but you are severely limited in what you can do.  If you can't get your facts straight, why makes us suffer with a poor review?  Just because some marketing type is mouthing f2p, it is quite obvious it is not.

    Did not like the pvp aspect of it.  Classes are very unbalanced and like someone said above, since you can't respec(at least it was not available when I played it), you can be stuck with a bad build if you are not careful.

    This game could be very good, but in it's present state anything over a 6 rating is laughable.  This game is a work in progress.

  • BillMurphyBillMurphy Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565

    Considering the subscription price is only $6, and the fact that it is free to download and play... what makes if different from any other F2P hybrid?

    I found Adrian's review pretty spot on, personally. 

    Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.

    My Review Manifesto
    Follow me on Twitter if you dare.

  • crazynannycrazynanny Member Posts: 173
    Like there are F2P games that are free and without limitations *sarcasm*

    But Wakfu I think it should be called P2P game as it's free part it more like in WoW or Rift, i.e. more like demo version of full game.
  • vinillavinilla Member UncommonPosts: 24

    Oh man, this was the most stupid review ever! I guess u don't play the game enough, right? And why u think the lack of the quests is a cons ??? This is sandbox mmorpg, u suppose to live there, no to make stupid quests (like kill 10 mobs and take the idiotic reward). This game raly on economics, politics, crafting etc. And the PROS - beatiful f2p game?! Lol that game is free so much as WoW! U can't do shit if u don't pay! Next time when u write a review - pay the sub fee ...

  • rikarus92rikarus92 Member Posts: 15

    I'd say his review was pretty accurate, well, other than the fact he didn't even subscribe and wrote a review. The subscriber content is 90% of the game and when it comes to that content, it seems the reviewer made some assumptions. While I did the 3 month pre-sub for 15-odd dollars, I'm not so sure whether I'd resubscribe. My Makabra sword poofed out of my inventory and there seems to be some balance issues towards mid and end-game (Cras OP!). Other than that I am really enjoying this game. 

     

    PS: There actually are quests in the game, you have to find the scrolls for them by defeating enemies. There are also hidden achivements with rewards, which basically serve as quests, they just don't call them that. One such quest is the Crocoburio achievement in the swamps in Bonta, which rewards you the level 50 Crocobur sword.



     

  • LambonLambon Member UncommonPosts: 47

    You call this a review?

     

    This game is a shell of an idea. There is nothing to do in the game.

    The battles consists of you using 1 spell over and over again. Strategy does not exist here. This game is eye candy, but that's it.



     

  • wiredknightswiredknights Member Posts: 56

    @BillMurphy

    Then you should try paying and playing it to see what Ozmodan means.. Ozmodan like myself and many others that were expecting Wakfu to be released can only be disapointed as to how things turned out..

    Wakfu was in Beta for about 6~7 years and when they released it it was still full of game-breaking bugs that were simply unacceptable.. these bugs had been reported long ago in the beta by the right channels and still nothing was done about them at release..

    Any tickets sent to the customer support are simply unanswered and get no solution.. and now we are talking about paying customers.. not beta testers.

    The only hotfix came 1 week later and still it maneged to not fix many of the bugs even if they stated it was supposed to.

    Now the WTF F2P method of Wakfu.. a F2P player can't group with a P2P player.. 90% of the player base from what I've seen till now are F2P players... paying customers end up at a loss for the trouble it is to form a group to a dungeon. F2P players can't even use kamas (the game currency), proly to avoid kama selling and such but this way F2P players simply can't do anything ingame.. in this way as stated F2P in Wakfu is more of a trial than a method of playing.

    Now what would be a "F2P" game without a cash shop.. the boutique that sells P2W (Pay2Win) items even after stating they would only be selling vanity items.

    In sum.. ANKAMA came greedy, shitted on their customers and still charged to it.. Now if anyone wants to add something go play Wakfu or GTFO.

  • fenistilfenistil Member Posts: 3,005

     

    Edited:


     


    just realized that this game have full cash shop with advantage items , so that preety much change everything.

  • BillMurphyBillMurphy Former Managing EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 4,565

    Originally posted by Torvaldr

    Originally posted by BillMurphy

    Considering the subscription price is only $6, and the fact that it is free to download and play... what makes if different from any other F2P hybrid?

    I found Adrian's review pretty spot on, personally. 

    It was a good review.  But as you said the sub is only $6 so you guys could have given us a full review.  A little more on the classes and a little more on pvp options would have been handy.  The comparison between F2P and sub from the sub perpsective would have been interesting too.

    I don't mean to be too critical, just provide feedback for the future.  I know things (read gamer opinions) tend to get melodramatic and overstated, so I'm stating this to make it clear I do think the review was decent and the reviewer did a good job.  I just wished a couple of other things were covered in a bit more detail.


     

    I think we might actually have Adrian play through the paid content, if he's willing, and tweak the review.  If it alters his scores, so be it.  If not, it won't.  But at least we can get more info for you then.

    Thanks, folks.

    Try to be excellent to everyone you meet. You never know what someone else has seen or endured.

    My Review Manifesto
    Follow me on Twitter if you dare.

  • ClocksimusClocksimus Member Posts: 354

    Originally posted by BillMurphy

    Considering the subscription price is only $6, and the fact that it is free to download and play... what makes if different from any other F2P hybrid?

    I found Adrian's review pretty spot on, personally. 




     

    This model is nothing like other F2P hybrids because if you pay a sub and then stop paying, while you can still log into the game you are not able to do anything with it.  The vast majority of the game is not open to F2P users even those that were subbed and then stopped at a later point.  You can no take part in any of the games unique features as F2P such as the ecosystem, nations and pvp (outside of dueling i believe).

    The F2P in this game is much loser to WoW's trial and Rift lite than it is of a real F2P game or even a hybrid model. 

    I'm not sure how many different areas in total the game has to level in but I'd guess its within maybe 30-50 different maps. F2P players have access to 2 of those maps where they can actually kill things. Those maps are the tutorial area and the no nation zone which are suitable for levels 1-15 out of 100 levels of the game.

  • MeltdownMeltdown Member UncommonPosts: 1,183

    Originally posted by Lambon

    The battles consists of you using 1 spell over and over again. Strategy does not exist here. This game is eye candy, but that's it.


     


     

    This was my biggest beef with Wakfu. The complexity and depth of combat seems to be lacking in a turn-based combat game. And if you have turn-based combat, you better have incredible amounts of depth to combat. The game is beautiful, and unique, but I would give longevity and gameplayer lower scores, probably dropping this more in the 6.5 average area.

    "They essentially want to say 'Correlation proves Causation' when it's just not true." - Sovrath

  • LeviathonlxLeviathonlx Member Posts: 135
    I think I'm going to call this game Side Boobfu.Since every piece of artwork I see for this game has the same exact thing.
  • DaedrickDaedrick Member Posts: 168

    I love it, the general consensus on this website is that their reviews are inacurates, overal crap with mistake all over them and scores never bellow 6.0 despites tons of huge flaws. This is such a joke.

     

    According to them, star wars is almost PERFECT. Yeah right...

    -------------------------------------

    Before: developers loved games and made money.

    Now: developers love money and make games.

  • BoonshniggleBoonshniggle Member Posts: 48

    MMORPG did a review of a P2P game on a free trial account, gg amatuers...didn't expect that from them.

  • SBFordSBFord Former Associate EditorMember LegendaryPosts: 33,129

    Originally posted by Boonshniggle

    MMORPG did a review of a P2P game on a free trial account, gg amatuers...didn't expect that from them.




     

    Ed Note: In light of feedback from our users and the fact that Wakfu utilizes a "hybrid F2P-subscription model", we'll be adding a second review, or at the minimum, more information about the subscriber version of Wakfu. We'll post this in the next several weeks!


    ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ 


  • BoonshniggleBoonshniggle Member Posts: 48

    Originally posted by Meltdown



    Originally posted by Lambon







    The battles consists of you using 1 spell over and over again. Strategy does not exist here. This game is eye candy, but that's it.






     






     

    This was my biggest beef with Wakfu. The complexity and depth of combat seems to be lacking in a turn-based combat game. And if you have turn-based combat, you better have incredible amounts of depth to combat. The game is beautiful, and unique, but I would give longevity and gameplayer lower scores, probably dropping this more in the 6.5 average area.




     

    One thing to consider is it doesn't take long to get to max lvl in this game. Many people in my guild are already almost lvl 100 and I'm nearly lvl 70 myself after the game has only been out for a couple weeks. Once you get to lvl 100 you still gain full skill xp, so you eventually actually end up with all skills at lvl 100 and can use all of them.

    Also, there are many active support skills that you use on top of your elemental spells. On top of that... positioning, how you build your character, and what gear you decide to use have much to do with strategy as well. I own the crap out of people in PvP all the time because they don't understand the true complexities of how strategic the game really is.

  • BoonshniggleBoonshniggle Member Posts: 48



    Originally posted by Suzie_Ford








    Originally posted by Boonshniggle







    MMORPG did a review of a P2P game on a free trial account, gg amatuers...didn't expect that from them.






















     





    Ed Note: In light of feedback from our users and the fact that Wakfu utilizes a "hybrid F2P-subscription model", we'll be adding a second review, or at the minimum, more information about the subscriber version of Wakfu. We'll post this in the next several weeks!










     

    So having a free trial in an MMO has turned into a "hybrid F2P-subscription model"? By using F2P terminology at all you are misleading people. It is a P2P game with a free trial option, that's it. If you read the dev posts on the forums they state themselves it is not intended to be considered F2P but P2P, it is simply a trial that doesn't have a time limit.


    In the Pros section you even call it a "Beautiful F2P game", how much do you guys even know about this game really? Do some more research.

  • MrTugglesMrTuggles Member UncommonPosts: 188

    I played this game in CB and was going to play at launch. Then they put out the actual details of the subscription and how absolutely horrific their "free to play" model is. You can barely do anything if you go the f2p route and the game, imo, doesn't warrent me shelling out any subscription on. Hell, the last time I checked f2p people weren't even able to group with other people.

     

    So a big no thank you unless it goes full f2p with a cash shop (which it very well may since a lot of people are angry with the state of the game even after 4 years in CB).

  • RollieJoeRollieJoe Member UncommonPosts: 451

    This was definately an amatuer review - more like a random (long) forum post than a professional review on a large gaming site.  This is not just baseless criticism either, as there were so many things factually wrong with the review.  Let's cover some of them:

     

    1) Wakfu is not a f2p game.  Wakfu is not a f2p-hybrid game.  It is a subscription game, and only a subscription game.  Just like WoW, and just like Rift, etc.  Reviewing this as a f2p game would be no different than reviewing the first 20 levels in WoW's trial and calling it a day.  A little research into the game, its mechanics, zones, content, etc. makes it clear that 90-95% of the game is locked unless you are a subscriber.

     

    2-X) There were any number of small but important errors in the review.  For example, chat is quite restricted for non-subscribers, in that you cannot use Trade chat which reaches the most people and allows you to communicate outside of your immediate vicinity.  Modifying the environment is different than this "review" explains it as well, since outside of the starter area many resources (including mobs) don't just quickly respawn but must be replaced by players.  You can display multiple skill bars, you simply right-click on the number of the skill bar you wish to detach.  You don't need to be a particular faction to explore their lands.  Etc.

     

    I did not play Dofus, and I only spent about 4-6 hours playing Wakfu as a non-subscriber and yet I noticed all of these inaccuracies.  I'm sure someone who actually played Wakfu and spent some time with it (unlike me, and unlike the reviewer) could add more.  I'm not trying to encourage anyone to play, or not play.  I didn't care for the game myself.  But whether you decide to skip Wakfu, try the free trial content, or subscribe, don't base your decision in any way on the mmorpg.com review.

  • TweFojuTweFoju Member UncommonPosts: 1,235

    the only thing about this game that interest me is the graphic

     

    the gameplay, honestly, is boring, the quests are boring, the community is ok,

    this game is not for long term

    So What Now?

  • MumboJumboMumboJumbo Member UncommonPosts: 3,219

    Well at least the review piqued my interest in this game again.. definitely seems to try to get away from the quest-npc paradigms of a lot of mmorpgs?

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