Well, yesterday. The funny part is, I didn't even notice right away. I looked at my energy to see if I had enough for some more pet games for training and saw that it was full. Sure enough, I had leveled (helping a friend against Atlach-Leng).
What's changed for me? My playstyle since getting back into the game has been less about shields and more about total resistance gear. It also means that my fights take longer because of that. Losing all the damage and critical bonus means it takes longer to get the big hits. I still haven't got a good feel for how much damage I'm doing. I'm being overly cautious and dropping a lot of blades and traps before firing, so I'm seeing a lot of overkill.
I'm debating whether I want to continue in Khrysalis to finish that world out, or move on to Darkmoor to hopefully get really good gear. The drops are no trade, which means random and lots of farming. The sooner I do that, the sooner I will be... ungodly? The gear is very very powerful.
I can currently solo Kravenly the Hunter, but it takes a good 20 minutes, plus the half hour to get to him... not very time effective. Soloing Kravenly gets you a chance for the flying squirrel pet, which can have Spell-Defy pet talent. The only other non-crown pet with Spell-Defy is the Dill Piggle, which you would get from the Spiral Cup Gauntlet. I own it, but have not yet ran the dungeon.
As a side note, is it just me? or is the Wizard101central site very slow to load? It has so much information, but with the slow loading, I sometimes just give up on searching for what I need.
Well, time to research Darkmoor and see how to run those battles.
Monday, June 22, 2015
Saturday, May 23, 2015
Getting Back in the Game in 2015
First thing I see, besides a ton of old tutorial reminders (put the game on a new computer), is a message to visit a jewel socketing instructor. I did that. Had no idea if I got anything good (I didn't).
So I did a quick google search and saw that Sword Roll had a nice tutorial walkthrough that also explained how to get better jewels, how to make them, and how to get the Socket Wrenches which are used to unlock sockets with the padlocks.
Here's the link to explore later (along with it looks like helpful links for other newer features).
http://www.swordroll.com/2015/03/wizard101-socketing-jewels-guide.html
So I did a quick google search and saw that Sword Roll had a nice tutorial walkthrough that also explained how to get better jewels, how to make them, and how to get the Socket Wrenches which are used to unlock sockets with the padlocks.
Here's the link to explore later (along with it looks like helpful links for other newer features).
http://www.swordroll.com/2015/03/wizard101-socketing-jewels-guide.html
Monday, September 8, 2014
Spell Showcase: Power Link
_Power_Link.png)
Power Link. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't.
And it's your job to figure out when. When it works, it is a matter of eating away your enemy while keeping your health up. It destroys shields and can be a constant dot (damage over time) spell with enough of them in a deck. In conjunction with things like Empowerment and Sir Lamorak, you will constantly be a turn or two away from casting more link and knight spells at any given moment. Small steady damage that will tear down even the biggest opponents (but make sure to have a couple of Reshuffle spells as well).
When it doesn't is when you can't outpace your enemy's damage. It breaks shields, true; but it also is a smaller spell not given for big hits. Blades are effective, but traps a lot less so. It will take a fair amount of time to kill off your enemies, and some enemies later in the game average out to 300 to 500 damage in a turn. Even if you put some Colossal and Sharpened Blade spells in your deck, these enemies can take the bigger hits that you cannot.
Take for example Ezhua Bad Taste in Tierra de Brea. I could plainly see he was Death school, and didn't bother looking him up on the web before starting the fight. He had a Thunder Horn Ghoul minion which was also death, so I equipped gear that was resistant versus death, swapped for my newly-tuned damage over time deck, and charged into the fight. My deck consisted of one or two Rains of Fire and Fire Dragons, and many Scalds, Empowerments, Sir Lamoraks, Pixies, and of course, Power Links. I did have a couple of Colossals, Fireblades, and Sharpened Blades as well.
I didn't know that he had mastery of Ice. And Ice nearly did me in. The first part of my plan worked quite well. I dispatched the minion easily and had most my life up at this point. Sir Lamorak was dishing most of the damage, and I was using the Power Link to keep the damage steady and constant as well as keeping my life afloat. The problem was eventually that I did enough damage to Ezhua that any newly cast knights couldn't get his focus back to them. This is the part where I realize that I should have equipped Tranquilize and Mega Tranquilize (perhaps I will do that tonight!). Now, I'm getting hit with Frost Demon and Ice Wyvern spells that are doing 500 to 700 points of damage each time, and this boss has a nasty habit of getting some critical hits past my defenses. I defeated him after a half hour while I held on with a mere 14 health. I got so very lucky that his final cast wasn't stronger. The card I hit him with at the end? Power Link.
This fight should have ended worse.
Wednesday, July 16, 2014
Fishing in Wizard101
I was quite surprised when I logged in early this morning to see fishing quests. What!? What the heck is this!?
So I gave it a whirl. It took a little bit of getting used to, but it isn't too hard. It does however burn through your Energy pretty quick. I also think they added a couple points of energy to everyone's meters for this new Fishing thing. Not sure yet.
I did the introductory fishing quests on several of my wizards, and realized a nifty trick I could do. The first quest is to go catch two different kinds of fish that are behind Zeke in that tiny waterway feeding into the larger lake in the commons. Every successful catch costs 3 energy, and every time a fish gets away, you only lose one energy. The chances are pretty good you will catch both in 3 or 4 casts of your fishing line magic. When you turn in the quest, Lucky Hookline the fishing trainer will refill your energy to full. Knowing this, the second time I did the quest with another wizard, I continued fishing until I depleted all my energy before turning in the quest. The following times I did this quest with other wizards, I did other things with the remainder of my energy, like go do pet training. That energy refill is great!
OK. Some other useful tips.
1. It's explicitly stated that fish of a certain school prefer lures from their own school. This is true, but so far not totally necessary, at least in the early levels. If you want to save your money, you can keep your ice lure for the time being and just fish with that. It will probably take longer to get fish to bite, and you will have more fish escaping (so you will use more energy to catch less fish). That's the trade-off.
2. When you attempt to cast, line up your wizard to where you want your "bobber" to land. You want it to be in front of where the fish is heading. This takes a little bit of practice to get your bobber to land where you want. It costs no energy to do this! The energy is only used up when a fish bites. Practice this a little bit without worry. The better you get at this, the faster fishing will go.
3. It's important to time when to reel in your fish. Spacebar reels in the fish. Do NOT hit the spacebar until you see the bobber go COMPLETELY in the water. Almost always, the bobber will sink partially in the water for a moment. You need to watch for the moment it goes all the way into the water. If you hit the spacebar before this happens, the fish will automatically get away, costing you a point of energy. But once it does, you have only about one full second to hit the spacebar. If you wait too long, the fish will still get away.
4. If you are looking for certain kinds of fish, note in the quest where you should be looking for them. It will also help to know what school those fish are from. The Swordroll site has this page (click here) that lists a lot of fish, what school they're from and where you can catch them. Then, use your Reveal School Fish spell (for 3 energy) to observe the school of the fish in nearby water. You can move while they are tagged, but it wears off pretty quickly. Each fish will project a ray of colored light out of them that will identify what school they belong to. If you know the fish you're trying to get is of a certain school and you are in the right area for it, look for that color and try and fish those out. I wish it stayed up longer, personally, so you can scout around, but you may wind up using the spell several times to narrow down your target.
5. When using Reveal Fish School, these are the colors coming out of the fish, by school.
Light blue ray - Ice
Orange - Fire
Red - Balance
Green - Life
Black - Death
Yellow - Myth
Purple - Storm
Since I just started fishing, I don't yet know why you would hold onto the fish you catch. They may wind up being reagents for something. You can vend them back at Lucky Hookline for a couple hundred gold. Along with with the occasional treasure chests you fish up, fishing appears to be worth it. Fish generally vend for a bit over 100 gold each, and you are bound to fish up at least one treasure chest before using up all your energy. Higher level wizards will find 600 to 1000 gold (or more) in chests. And depending on the world you fish in, you can see some fairly high gear drops in those chests too.
NOTE: Having trouble catching Sharkspeare. Olde Town is fished heavily, and it's a small area.
UPDATE: You may want to turn off friend requests while fishing. I have noticed that some people either intentionally or unknowingly send you random friend requests as your line is cast in the water. The friend request covers the screen area of where your bobber is, so you cannot tell if a fish is hooked. This can be extremely frustrating.
Follow-up link: http://alexanderhexforge.blogspot.com/2016/12/hi-all.html
So I gave it a whirl. It took a little bit of getting used to, but it isn't too hard. It does however burn through your Energy pretty quick. I also think they added a couple points of energy to everyone's meters for this new Fishing thing. Not sure yet.
I did the introductory fishing quests on several of my wizards, and realized a nifty trick I could do. The first quest is to go catch two different kinds of fish that are behind Zeke in that tiny waterway feeding into the larger lake in the commons. Every successful catch costs 3 energy, and every time a fish gets away, you only lose one energy. The chances are pretty good you will catch both in 3 or 4 casts of your fishing line magic. When you turn in the quest, Lucky Hookline the fishing trainer will refill your energy to full. Knowing this, the second time I did the quest with another wizard, I continued fishing until I depleted all my energy before turning in the quest. The following times I did this quest with other wizards, I did other things with the remainder of my energy, like go do pet training. That energy refill is great!
OK. Some other useful tips.
1. It's explicitly stated that fish of a certain school prefer lures from their own school. This is true, but so far not totally necessary, at least in the early levels. If you want to save your money, you can keep your ice lure for the time being and just fish with that. It will probably take longer to get fish to bite, and you will have more fish escaping (so you will use more energy to catch less fish). That's the trade-off.
2. When you attempt to cast, line up your wizard to where you want your "bobber" to land. You want it to be in front of where the fish is heading. This takes a little bit of practice to get your bobber to land where you want. It costs no energy to do this! The energy is only used up when a fish bites. Practice this a little bit without worry. The better you get at this, the faster fishing will go.
3. It's important to time when to reel in your fish. Spacebar reels in the fish. Do NOT hit the spacebar until you see the bobber go COMPLETELY in the water. Almost always, the bobber will sink partially in the water for a moment. You need to watch for the moment it goes all the way into the water. If you hit the spacebar before this happens, the fish will automatically get away, costing you a point of energy. But once it does, you have only about one full second to hit the spacebar. If you wait too long, the fish will still get away.
4. If you are looking for certain kinds of fish, note in the quest where you should be looking for them. It will also help to know what school those fish are from. The Swordroll site has this page (click here) that lists a lot of fish, what school they're from and where you can catch them. Then, use your Reveal School Fish spell (for 3 energy) to observe the school of the fish in nearby water. You can move while they are tagged, but it wears off pretty quickly. Each fish will project a ray of colored light out of them that will identify what school they belong to. If you know the fish you're trying to get is of a certain school and you are in the right area for it, look for that color and try and fish those out. I wish it stayed up longer, personally, so you can scout around, but you may wind up using the spell several times to narrow down your target.
5. When using Reveal Fish School, these are the colors coming out of the fish, by school.
Light blue ray - Ice
Orange - Fire
Red - Balance
Green - Life
Black - Death
Yellow - Myth
Purple - Storm
Since I just started fishing, I don't yet know why you would hold onto the fish you catch. They may wind up being reagents for something. You can vend them back at Lucky Hookline for a couple hundred gold. Along with with the occasional treasure chests you fish up, fishing appears to be worth it. Fish generally vend for a bit over 100 gold each, and you are bound to fish up at least one treasure chest before using up all your energy. Higher level wizards will find 600 to 1000 gold (or more) in chests. And depending on the world you fish in, you can see some fairly high gear drops in those chests too.
NOTE: Having trouble catching Sharkspeare. Olde Town is fished heavily, and it's a small area.
UPDATE: You may want to turn off friend requests while fishing. I have noticed that some people either intentionally or unknowingly send you random friend requests as your line is cast in the water. The friend request covers the screen area of where your bobber is, so you cannot tell if a fish is hooked. This can be extremely frustrating.
Follow-up link: http://alexanderhexforge.blogspot.com/2016/12/hi-all.html
Saturday, July 12, 2014
Finding the Gauntlet Game Cards
I need to be careful, because this can easily turn into a rant. It took me quite awhile to finally find the game cards I was looking for, and it shouldn't be this hard to willingly spend money on something you want. By the way, if you want the "final answer" instead of reading my struggle to get these cards, scroll to the bottom!
This all started with the Wizard101 Pagoda Gauntlet game card. A year ago, I had decided I didn't just want to run the Pagoda Gauntlet dungeon, I wanted to own it and host other people... as many people as wanted to run the dungeon. I thought, I'll just go to the Wizard101 site and buy it straight from them.
That was my first problem. At the time, Wizard101 didn't offer it. You needed to buy it from the game card that was only available at Walmart. I wrote their customer support asking if it would be possible to buy it directly from them, but they declined. I needed to get it from Walmart. Perhaps it has to do with licensing agreements (you can't sell stuff to a vendor and then turn around and undercut them on your own online store). This I could understand, but no such information was relayed to me.
Now, personally, I'm not much of a fan of Walmart. They offer a lot of stuff at a low price, but they do so utilizing business practices I find discouraging (such as refusing to pay reasonable wages to their employees, and offering few full time hours so they won't be required by law to offer them health insurance benefits, etc.). So though I like Kingsisle and support their business practices (flexible and opt-in payment structures and a firm stance on making a safe play environment for children), I would be forced to deal with Walmart before I could get my Kingsisle in-game item. And it wasn't easy. Walmart's game card aisles are constantly in disarray and their employees are utterly unhelpful. I'm sure it's because they're beleaguered with long hours, forced to answer endless questions, and don't get reasonable pay or benefits from it. But from my end, I get almost no help from Walmart employees (if I can even find one on the floor).
Eventually, I got it. I've ran the dungeon, used the gear on my lower level guys for faster leveling, and I'm happy with the purchase.
Now, one year later, I decided to try and find the Winterbane Gauntlet. I looked at the Wizard101 site for information on it and... available through game card only available at Walmart and this time also Target. Wizard101 also helpfully provides a link to both Walmart's and Target's online stores. However, if you search either, you won't find the card. Well, what does that mean? Is it not available, even though Wizard101 says it is? I physically went into several Target and Walmart stores, looking through their game card selections. Target's game card racks, by the way, are well organized. Walmart's? Not so much. But not only could I not find the Winterbane Gauntlet game card, I couldn't even find a slot for it, no product label or anything. I got frustrated after several searches and went home. I went back online, searching both Target.com and Walmart.com, but the product isn't even listed there. Is it no longer available at the stores? Would Wizard101 start offering it online at that point? I had to find out.
Once again, I emailed Wizard101 customer service. They got back to me and informed me that it won't be available on their website at this time, but maybe in the future. They don't deal with the game cards themselves. That's taken care of by a third party distributor who deals with various stores (like Walmart and Target). They suggested I just keep looking for it at various stores until it gets back in stock. I asked why I couldn't even find the product at all (not that it was out of stock, but simply didn't exist) on either website. They didn't know.
Next, I called Target (actually Target.com, which is an important distinction I was yet to discover). That was hellish. It took forever and a lot of back and forth, but finally I got this answer from Target.com... "We searched for the name and it doesn't exist in our system. That means we no longer offer it. It's been discontinued."
I called the third party distributor, which they found to be HIGHLY unusual for a consumer to do, but they gave me honest (and quick answers). They have the game card products. They haven't been told the product has been discontinued, but they won't ship it out to the stores until more are ordered from them. I knew better than to ask if I could buy it from them (you can't, unless you want to purchase a high volume of cards... like in the thousands). Until the stores say so, a product isn't discontinued. All "discontinued" means is that a store no longer intends to purchase a product and resell it to consumers. "Out of stock" means that the consumers have bought all the product at a particular store, and until the store decides to order more, you won't be able find the product there.
I knew what my next move would have to be. I would have to go into a store, ask for a manager, ask them to look up the game card and tell me if it was in stock, in stock at a different location, discontinued, or if they too would have no record of the game card. Well, I got lucky. I went to a different Target, and it was there, along with the new Spiral Cup Gauntlet. I bought them both today. But as happy as I was about this, I was still frustrated that it took me so long to be able to find them, and no one could give me a straight answer yet as to why. So I asked the department manager. I told him that I couldn't find the product online, like it didn't even exist, and it didn't exist at other stores, and here's the kicker... the Winterbane Gauntlet game card didn't even have a product slot label for the product at the store I found it. His answer? "Well, the game card is probably discontinued at this point, and some stores are selling through their remaining stock." But why couldn't I find it online? TARGET.COM AND TARGET THE STORE USE SEPARATE PRODUCT INVENTORY AND TRACKING SYSTEMS. You can consider Target.com and Target stores to be two separate sister stores. They aren't actually the same store, even though the parent Target company owns both. This is incredibly frustrating, as I like to find a product online and find at what locations it is available. But you cannot do that at Target (and I guess Walmart as well).
In closing (last paragraph), you will need to do as I suggest up above. Go into a store, look through their game cards, and if you don't find it, ask the video game department manager (or store manager) to look it up in their system. Currently, Pagoda Gauntlet card... buy it from Wizard101 online, or Walmart online (for the time being). Winterbane Gauntlet game card or Spiral Cup Gauntlet game card... go into an actual Target or Walmart store, look through their game cards, and if you don't find it, ask a manager to locate it in their system. If they cannot, escalate it to their boss, until you can find it (but be nice about it, ask politely). They should be able to track what stores still have it available. Inventory is tracked electronically, and there are absolute records of this stuff. I would suggest looking at Target first for the Spiral Cup Gauntlet, as that's where I eventually found it, plus they are more organized and a "nicer" business than Walmart. Don't resort to buying it from private online resellers that are basically "scalping"... they are charging at a minimum 20 dollars more for the card, and in some cases are offering "used" cards (which means they've been scratched off). That's just asking for trouble, with no way to get reimbursed.
This all started with the Wizard101 Pagoda Gauntlet game card. A year ago, I had decided I didn't just want to run the Pagoda Gauntlet dungeon, I wanted to own it and host other people... as many people as wanted to run the dungeon. I thought, I'll just go to the Wizard101 site and buy it straight from them.
That was my first problem. At the time, Wizard101 didn't offer it. You needed to buy it from the game card that was only available at Walmart. I wrote their customer support asking if it would be possible to buy it directly from them, but they declined. I needed to get it from Walmart. Perhaps it has to do with licensing agreements (you can't sell stuff to a vendor and then turn around and undercut them on your own online store). This I could understand, but no such information was relayed to me.
Now, personally, I'm not much of a fan of Walmart. They offer a lot of stuff at a low price, but they do so utilizing business practices I find discouraging (such as refusing to pay reasonable wages to their employees, and offering few full time hours so they won't be required by law to offer them health insurance benefits, etc.). So though I like Kingsisle and support their business practices (flexible and opt-in payment structures and a firm stance on making a safe play environment for children), I would be forced to deal with Walmart before I could get my Kingsisle in-game item. And it wasn't easy. Walmart's game card aisles are constantly in disarray and their employees are utterly unhelpful. I'm sure it's because they're beleaguered with long hours, forced to answer endless questions, and don't get reasonable pay or benefits from it. But from my end, I get almost no help from Walmart employees (if I can even find one on the floor).
Eventually, I got it. I've ran the dungeon, used the gear on my lower level guys for faster leveling, and I'm happy with the purchase.
Now, one year later, I decided to try and find the Winterbane Gauntlet. I looked at the Wizard101 site for information on it and... available through game card only available at Walmart and this time also Target. Wizard101 also helpfully provides a link to both Walmart's and Target's online stores. However, if you search either, you won't find the card. Well, what does that mean? Is it not available, even though Wizard101 says it is? I physically went into several Target and Walmart stores, looking through their game card selections. Target's game card racks, by the way, are well organized. Walmart's? Not so much. But not only could I not find the Winterbane Gauntlet game card, I couldn't even find a slot for it, no product label or anything. I got frustrated after several searches and went home. I went back online, searching both Target.com and Walmart.com, but the product isn't even listed there. Is it no longer available at the stores? Would Wizard101 start offering it online at that point? I had to find out.
Once again, I emailed Wizard101 customer service. They got back to me and informed me that it won't be available on their website at this time, but maybe in the future. They don't deal with the game cards themselves. That's taken care of by a third party distributor who deals with various stores (like Walmart and Target). They suggested I just keep looking for it at various stores until it gets back in stock. I asked why I couldn't even find the product at all (not that it was out of stock, but simply didn't exist) on either website. They didn't know.
Next, I called Target (actually Target.com, which is an important distinction I was yet to discover). That was hellish. It took forever and a lot of back and forth, but finally I got this answer from Target.com... "We searched for the name and it doesn't exist in our system. That means we no longer offer it. It's been discontinued."
I called the third party distributor, which they found to be HIGHLY unusual for a consumer to do, but they gave me honest (and quick answers). They have the game card products. They haven't been told the product has been discontinued, but they won't ship it out to the stores until more are ordered from them. I knew better than to ask if I could buy it from them (you can't, unless you want to purchase a high volume of cards... like in the thousands). Until the stores say so, a product isn't discontinued. All "discontinued" means is that a store no longer intends to purchase a product and resell it to consumers. "Out of stock" means that the consumers have bought all the product at a particular store, and until the store decides to order more, you won't be able find the product there.
I knew what my next move would have to be. I would have to go into a store, ask for a manager, ask them to look up the game card and tell me if it was in stock, in stock at a different location, discontinued, or if they too would have no record of the game card. Well, I got lucky. I went to a different Target, and it was there, along with the new Spiral Cup Gauntlet. I bought them both today. But as happy as I was about this, I was still frustrated that it took me so long to be able to find them, and no one could give me a straight answer yet as to why. So I asked the department manager. I told him that I couldn't find the product online, like it didn't even exist, and it didn't exist at other stores, and here's the kicker... the Winterbane Gauntlet game card didn't even have a product slot label for the product at the store I found it. His answer? "Well, the game card is probably discontinued at this point, and some stores are selling through their remaining stock." But why couldn't I find it online? TARGET.COM AND TARGET THE STORE USE SEPARATE PRODUCT INVENTORY AND TRACKING SYSTEMS. You can consider Target.com and Target stores to be two separate sister stores. They aren't actually the same store, even though the parent Target company owns both. This is incredibly frustrating, as I like to find a product online and find at what locations it is available. But you cannot do that at Target (and I guess Walmart as well).
In closing (last paragraph), you will need to do as I suggest up above. Go into a store, look through their game cards, and if you don't find it, ask the video game department manager (or store manager) to look it up in their system. Currently, Pagoda Gauntlet card... buy it from Wizard101 online, or Walmart online (for the time being). Winterbane Gauntlet game card or Spiral Cup Gauntlet game card... go into an actual Target or Walmart store, look through their game cards, and if you don't find it, ask a manager to locate it in their system. If they cannot, escalate it to their boss, until you can find it (but be nice about it, ask politely). They should be able to track what stores still have it available. Inventory is tracked electronically, and there are absolute records of this stuff. I would suggest looking at Target first for the Spiral Cup Gauntlet, as that's where I eventually found it, plus they are more organized and a "nicer" business than Walmart. Don't resort to buying it from private online resellers that are basically "scalping"... they are charging at a minimum 20 dollars more for the card, and in some cases are offering "used" cards (which means they've been scratched off). That's just asking for trouble, with no way to get reimbursed.
Monday, July 7, 2014
Farming Amber, Farming Sea Dragon
OK. Maybe my life isn't so exciting, since I find myself spending Independence weekend playing Wiz101 instead of getting out. What do I have to show for that time?
1. Two pieces of Amber. Where did I get those? I beat the Sand Squid encounter twice. It took me between an 90 minutes to 2 hours per battle. Those are long battles, but I soloed them. If there were more people on the team, it might be a shorter battle. But each battle I got one Amber drop, along with some components to make more Amber after crafting conversion. Two hours for a fight might seem like a point of diminishing return, but also think how long it takes to farm other bosses for the components to craft one piece of Amber, or how long you have to garden for to get a chance at Amber. I don't know the drop rate for this... I might have gotten incredibly lucky, but this may be a very good way to farm it. If you get a dedicated farming team, this could wind up being an excellent farming mechanism.
2. I got no Sea Dragon (yet). What I did get was a better understanding of Trial of the Spheres, and a faster way to farm the bosses (solo). And in the end, that meant a good amount of gold after heading back to the Bazaar.
Contrary to what I previously wrote, doing damage every turn to Astreaus won't prevent him from resummoning his minions. It just seems to be random. What I did figure out is that what you intend to do after the fight shapes how your deck should be built. Are you going to only farm Astraeus over and over? Stack your deck with Colossal Meteor Strike and pepper it with Fire Blade, Sharpened Blade, and Sir Lamorak. Add in one or two Empowerments to get a bit faster pip generation, and just burn him down. If instead you prefer to do the whole dungeon over and over, since all of the bosses have a chance to drop the Sea Dragon, Power Link and Pixie should be in the rotation along with more Empowerment to maximize the pip. Power Link gets you a pip back with Empowerment, and Pixie is going to be off school casting for most of you. So I have three pre-made decks for Trial of the Spheres.
- quick burn Meteor Strike deck (kill Astraeus, port out and replenish health and mana and jump back in)
- slower mass damage over time and heal deck (get through Astraeus and Ptolemos without using a potion and being near full life)
- more typical boss kill deck tailored to the Mithraya fight (Sideboard of one blade and one trap, lots of blades and traps and only a couple of Efreet for the kill, and as many Glacial Shields as I could fit into the deck)
For the entirety of the Trial of the Spheres, I ran with Fire resistant gear. There are far too many Meteor Strikes to run with anything else. At one point, I ran out of space for treasure cards. I had farmed so hard, and already had close to 400 not in decks, I hit the limit and had to throw some out and vend the rest.
1. Two pieces of Amber. Where did I get those? I beat the Sand Squid encounter twice. It took me between an 90 minutes to 2 hours per battle. Those are long battles, but I soloed them. If there were more people on the team, it might be a shorter battle. But each battle I got one Amber drop, along with some components to make more Amber after crafting conversion. Two hours for a fight might seem like a point of diminishing return, but also think how long it takes to farm other bosses for the components to craft one piece of Amber, or how long you have to garden for to get a chance at Amber. I don't know the drop rate for this... I might have gotten incredibly lucky, but this may be a very good way to farm it. If you get a dedicated farming team, this could wind up being an excellent farming mechanism.
2. I got no Sea Dragon (yet). What I did get was a better understanding of Trial of the Spheres, and a faster way to farm the bosses (solo). And in the end, that meant a good amount of gold after heading back to the Bazaar.
Contrary to what I previously wrote, doing damage every turn to Astreaus won't prevent him from resummoning his minions. It just seems to be random. What I did figure out is that what you intend to do after the fight shapes how your deck should be built. Are you going to only farm Astraeus over and over? Stack your deck with Colossal Meteor Strike and pepper it with Fire Blade, Sharpened Blade, and Sir Lamorak. Add in one or two Empowerments to get a bit faster pip generation, and just burn him down. If instead you prefer to do the whole dungeon over and over, since all of the bosses have a chance to drop the Sea Dragon, Power Link and Pixie should be in the rotation along with more Empowerment to maximize the pip. Power Link gets you a pip back with Empowerment, and Pixie is going to be off school casting for most of you. So I have three pre-made decks for Trial of the Spheres.
- quick burn Meteor Strike deck (kill Astraeus, port out and replenish health and mana and jump back in)
- slower mass damage over time and heal deck (get through Astraeus and Ptolemos without using a potion and being near full life)
- more typical boss kill deck tailored to the Mithraya fight (Sideboard of one blade and one trap, lots of blades and traps and only a couple of Efreet for the kill, and as many Glacial Shields as I could fit into the deck)
For the entirety of the Trial of the Spheres, I ran with Fire resistant gear. There are far too many Meteor Strikes to run with anything else. At one point, I ran out of space for treasure cards. I had farmed so hard, and already had close to 400 not in decks, I hit the limit and had to throw some out and vend the rest.
Sunday, July 6, 2014
Trial of the Spheres, A Couple of Notes
I've been doing very well soloing Trial of the Spheres with a DOT (damage over time) deck. I've equipped some of my damage over time spells in it: Power Link, Scald, and Fire Dragon. Besides my wand attacks and Sir Lamorak casts, that's it. All dot spells. I also threw in a couple of Pixies and I'm dominating the dungeon. It doesn't hurt that I'm carrying my fire resist armor either. Lots of stellar protectors, and Astraeus likes to cast Meteor Strikes and Spectral Blasts (sometimes Fire). I haven't used a potion yet, and I'm at Mithraya.
I think I've fine-tuned my understanding of the cheats for the first two bosses Astraeus and Ptolemos.
Astraeus
- While any of his minions are up, he will shield after every damaging attack or dot on him. The dots will not clear his shields as long as there is still a minion alive on his part of the turn.
- With his minions dead, as long as you do damage to him in a turn (including any dots on him), he will not start casting his cheat shield.
- Starting the turn after all his minions are dead, your side has three turns to hit him without his special shield coming up. On the fourth turn, he recasts the shield on his turn.
- When he recasts the shield, he will also summon his minions but they will not enter until the next round. You can remove his shield with damage or the ward steal spell on the turn he brings it into play. There is some variance with this, depending if he goes first or not. Maybe.
- The most effective strategy I've come up with is to have Colossal Fire Dragons and a couple blades. Throw in a Wyldfire, your favorite aura spells, and at least one Reshuffle. Blade up until he casts the shield. Pop the shield with a wand shot. When his summons are active, hit with the Fire Dragons. You effectively clear the minions and do a good hit to him at the same time, clearing off his subsequent shields. If you have a summon, like Sir Lamorak, he can help you to get rid of extra shields after the hits. You can also substitute in Meteor Strikes for quicker hits and worry less about clearing the shields. The downside is that he will sometimes hit Astraeus at the wrong time (like with a heck hound dot) and prompt the special shield while the minions are up.
Ptolemos
- Certain global spells (maybe all?) trigger his shield anti-cheat (he removes all wards on him when players cast a charm). That means Wyldfire counts for shield removal.
- He will not trigger the shield cheat unless you attack him while you have no charm on you. The global spell will NOT count as having a charm on you. It only removes his shield once it's on there.
Mithraya
- She may still cast a smokescreen on you on the turn you break her cheat sequence (getting a trap on her and blading yourself), but she won't after that as long as one blade remains on a player and a trap on her.
- I probably already said it, but the balance spells spirit blade, spirit trap, elemental blade, and elemental trap are very useful here, since some of them will never be used up if you're soloing.
- A trap on her minion does not count towards the cheat breaking! Only on her.
I think I've fine-tuned my understanding of the cheats for the first two bosses Astraeus and Ptolemos.
Astraeus
- While any of his minions are up, he will shield after every damaging attack or dot on him. The dots will not clear his shields as long as there is still a minion alive on his part of the turn.
- With his minions dead, as long as you do damage to him in a turn (including any dots on him), he will not start casting his cheat shield.
- Starting the turn after all his minions are dead, your side has three turns to hit him without his special shield coming up. On the fourth turn, he recasts the shield on his turn.
- When he recasts the shield, he will also summon his minions but they will not enter until the next round. You can remove his shield with damage or the ward steal spell on the turn he brings it into play. There is some variance with this, depending if he goes first or not. Maybe.
- The most effective strategy I've come up with is to have Colossal Fire Dragons and a couple blades. Throw in a Wyldfire, your favorite aura spells, and at least one Reshuffle. Blade up until he casts the shield. Pop the shield with a wand shot. When his summons are active, hit with the Fire Dragons. You effectively clear the minions and do a good hit to him at the same time, clearing off his subsequent shields. If you have a summon, like Sir Lamorak, he can help you to get rid of extra shields after the hits. You can also substitute in Meteor Strikes for quicker hits and worry less about clearing the shields. The downside is that he will sometimes hit Astraeus at the wrong time (like with a heck hound dot) and prompt the special shield while the minions are up.
Ptolemos
- Certain global spells (maybe all?) trigger his shield anti-cheat (he removes all wards on him when players cast a charm). That means Wyldfire counts for shield removal.
- He will not trigger the shield cheat unless you attack him while you have no charm on you. The global spell will NOT count as having a charm on you. It only removes his shield once it's on there.
Mithraya
- She may still cast a smokescreen on you on the turn you break her cheat sequence (getting a trap on her and blading yourself), but she won't after that as long as one blade remains on a player and a trap on her.
- I probably already said it, but the balance spells spirit blade, spirit trap, elemental blade, and elemental trap are very useful here, since some of them will never be used up if you're soloing.
- A trap on her minion does not count towards the cheat breaking! Only on her.
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)