Thoughts On Reaching Level 70

[Hyfrydle]

I have just reached level 70 in the game and thought I would jot down some of my thoughts and maybe offer some tips for any newer players trying to get their heads around the game.

Firstly I have to say that I have played the game everyday since the start of the beta and this is my second world not sure why I restarted but I now feel very much at home in this world. Since the beta began updates have been almost every weekday and the game is in a constant state of change and each addition makes it feel more and more complete and adds more interest and complexity.

When I first started playing I had two main aims to maximise the number of health and mana potions and level up the civilisation. At the start of the beta potions where quite hard to collect as the number of drops was one per room so this was really time consuming but once the stashes were in place things got easier and I thought at the time maybe potions were now too plentiful but after more play I think the balance is about right.

Leveling up was the next aim and I found myself sticking with two attack spells. Ball lightening and energy pulse which worked fine in all situations and early on nearly all my leveling was done in caverns by taking on the shadow bat bosses at 2 to 3 levels above me.

As I creeped towards level 10 my world grew and I didn't spend much time exploring via npc's which meant I spotted Lieutenants and Overlords a little late so missed out on the max exp gains. So one tip is to try and explore as you level this keeps it from becoming a bit of a chore when you have a massive areas of unexplored map. It is definately key to know what is in your immediate vicinity and this helps guide the goals for each play session.

I have to say I really like the spell tier system as it creates interesting decisions and will become much deeper as more spells are added to the game. Let me give an example my number one spell of choice is ball lightening which requires Citrine gems and Walnuts. Now Walnuts are easy to find but the Citrine gems are found in the underground caves in desert regions. I reached a point where I was struggling to find a desert region in my world that was at a higher enough level to allow me to craft the next tier gem. So my choice was go to higher region areas or deeper caves in lower region areas both of which increased the risks involved. As the game has continued more and more choices like this have become apparent ans this as I stated above will only get more and more interesting.

Not sure what level I was when the Fairies were added but they caused me to rethink my strategy for gaining levels, it was no longer nice jaunt to take out a couple of Shadow bats but a potentially life threatening bounce around while avoiding Fairies with heat seeking missiles. My first Fairy experience took out a character I was quite fond of and I just went  right back to take my revenge and they took me out again and before I knew it a Vengeful ghost army was on the map.

So due to this seemingly small change I had to look for other ways to level up and commodity towers became useful again I also had to look at other spells to use against the deadly fairies and with advice on the forums I started using the launch meteor spell which replaced the energy pulse.

On reaching level 50 I was finding the game to be great fun to play but also fairly easy and I thought maybe the difficulty balance was a little off. So I started aiming 3 to 4 levels above my level and the challenge returned. This ability to tailor each individuals difficulty is something I don't think I've come across in many games and taking risks really does increase the rewards. This became especially clear when the EXP containers went live.  Sometimes when I'm feeling brave or suicidal I head to a region 8 to 10 levels higher and enter the first building I spot and try and clear it of EXP containers and this really gives a push towards the next level.

So at level 70 the game is still challenging which I know was one of the aims and I still enjoy playing and my next milestone is level 100. I'm sure the game will have changed even more by then and I for one am really looking forward to where this game is heading and hope others give it a go and realise the potential.

Well thats all for now sorry for the long post but I just wanted to put across some of my thoughts and feelings. If you take the time to read it I hope it gives a good overview of one player experiences.

[x4000]

Wow, that's really cool to read!  I feel like I should have more to add, but it's quite cool hearing your experience at any rate.  The scarcity of citrine in your world, and how that affected your play, is one of those emergent things that I didn't precisely plan, and that's particularly interesting to me. 

As you gain in skill, you'll likely play more and more levels up, as you've been doing so far.  Then again, as the game evolves and more speedbumps like the fairies are added, I think you'll find yourself dropping back down to more like-level regions for a while, adjusting your strategies, and then creeping up in what relative levels you try to take on, etc.

Anyway, great brain dump.

[@B0FH]

My experiences mirror Hyfrydle's a fair bit, expecially on the lack of desert regions (from memory around 60-95 was barren, no pun intended). During that time I experimented with other spells to replace Ball lightning, but nothing was quite there for the sweet spot of attack power and speed of casting.

When I ran out of Disperia (?? really should load the game up to check spellings!!) due to a similar shortage of appropriate regions, I replaced Creeping Death (my 3rd primary power) with launch Meteor, as there was an abundance of swamp and forest tiles at all levels for that to be crafted. It is a fantastic spell for the Faerie, but when it comes to other boss types (especially) the dragons, Creeping Death's extra damage helps keep the fight from turning into a sea of sentient fire :p