I played this classic MMO on Xbox and it rules

Nostalgia can be a powerful, and often negative, emotion that drives us to reject new stuff in favor of old. More often, I prefer to play new games, but sometimes an opportunity shows up that's just too good. That opportunity is Wizard101, a 2008 PC-only MMO for children. It features deck-building and turn-based combat, making it ahead of its time when it comes to gameplay trends. While the classic MMO hasn't gone anywhere in the past 17 years, it has become available on consoles, at least Xbox, for the first time ever. Once it fully comes to consoles, the situation will be different, but while it's in the Xbox Preview program, it's worth checking out. Here's why.

What is Wizard101 and why you should care

A classic MMORPG for anyone growing up in the late 2000s

Wizard101 is an MMORPG designed for children, where you play a new wizard student who needs to master the elements and help defeat monsters. The combat is a turn-based deck-building system, something that has become extremely popular in the indie roguelike space in modern times. You get to pick what element type wizard you are, collect new spells and gear, and complete quests. If you are a big fan of a certain story about a boy going to wizard school, Wizard101 feels tailor-made for fans of that. As an MMORPG from 2008, the game doesn't exactly feel modern or incredibly smooth, but there are some aspects of the classic design, like a lack of battle passes that make it feel like a complete experience you don't need to log into every single day. You can squad up with friends, as combat will allow multiple players in a single instance, letting you tackle foes and monsters with friends.

It's completely free on Xbox, for now

It's not clear how long the Game Preview will last, but you can play completely for free

The biggest reason why right now is an excellent time to hop in is that on Xbox, you can play for free, with one small catch. Normally, Wizard101 does have a monthly fee to access most of its content, similar to the way Runescape operates, where you can play for free, but you can't access the whole game. Since the Xbox version is currently being used to test the console version of Wizard101, you don't have to pay that fee, but your character will be deleted when the game does fully release.

For me, that's a great built-in timer for my enjoyment of Wizard101. I have no intention of dedicating my life to it, just enjoying something from my childhood for a bit, so not having to pay a subscription is worth the trade-off for me.

Simple, classic, game design

No need to complete daily missions or a battle pass

Wizard101 does not have as many of the modern features common to live-service games and the ones it does are a bit easier to deal with or flat out ignore. It does have daily missions, but the rewards consist of gold and other currencies that you get from normal quests. Those missions don't have premium currency or time-limited rewards you will feel left out from getting, and the fact that progress will get wiped in the future makes it easier to ignore them to just focus on doing the activities I want to be doing. Other modern live-service games, like Zenless Zone Zero, offer premium currency, which is necessary to pull the gacha for new characters, adding pressure to logging in every day.

When it comes to battle pass, Wizard101 is also doing live-service right. There is a battle pass, but it's exclusive to the PvP mode. Not only does that make it a more focused experience, but instead of just desperately doing as many random challenges as are presented to me, I know exactly what progresses the pass. This also let's anyone not interested in PvP to fully ignore the battle pass, because why would you get the battle pass for the mode you don't like?

It's going to get reset though

And it's not clear exactly when either

The biggest argument against playing Wizard101 on Xbox right now is the fact that your progress will be reset. The FAQ (via Reddit) states that the preview build will be live for at least a few months, so there is still plenty of time to check it out during that period. While all of the content is available to everyone, you can purchase premium cosmetics, and that currency will be given back to you after the reset, so if you don't plan on playing after the reset, don't spend any real money. Not everyone will care about their progress getting reset, but if you do care, it might be worth waiting until the full game releases on consoles, although you will have to pay a subscription to play.

That also sounds like a great window of time to enjoy a classic

If you are like me and are returning to Wizard101 to relive your childhood, this is still a perfect time to check it out. I don't mind having a hard reset, since that gives me a jumping off point if I'm still playing. I also didn't have a premium subscription as a child for Wizard101 because a monthly subscription seemed ridiculous to my parents at the time, so I'm also getting the joy of checking out the premium content. I never got to see it as a child and now it's free and easily available to me. I'm not going to sign up to see that stuff as an adult because I'm beyond that point, but being able to do it for free makes it real easy to check in. Nothing lasts forever, so why not enjoy a few months of Wizard101?