Which is great, but the thing which bugs me is that for an actual F2P player it would be almost impossible to join such a high-level alliance early on. Which in turn results in severe shortage of 3* ascension mats and almost no free gifts like the ones you received. For my own project, I stay clear from alliances with P2P players for that sole reason. Which results in me having multiple 3/60 and a couple 3/70 heroes which got upgraded just recently (took me ages to get that fourth Warm cape and Trap Tools).
That’s strange…I was able to complete my second tower, which was Ninja Tower, up to and including Impossible level 5. Did that with just a team of 3* and 4*. Current tower also managed to complete Normal with mostly 3* and 4* teams, with a 2/60 Hippo here and there. Forge with a lot of bomb items was of course essential, probably you didn’t have that up and running for previous Tower.
Onatel will also be my pick, I am currently sitting on 85 out of 100. Just pulled ccCaedmon + Viselius from Costume Chamber, this will help a lot - especially ccCaedmon. Managed to assemble 57 free keys in between the two Costume chambers, it would be nice to compare how many were you able to assemble for free.
I pulled 2 x 4* crits out of 10 total pulls from Styx tower, so I feel ya. I only got a yellow mana troop early on but sadly don’t even have any good 4* yellow to consider maxing. Got Li Xiu from training recently but don’t consider her a top priority because she’s only good on defense and I have a limited amount of 3* mats.
Accidentally I’m at day 87 of creation, sitting solidly in Platinum but still unable to proceed to Diamond, 13 days left to the deadline which I set for myself, we’ll see if it works.
Edit: Just made 3 gem pulls from Costume Chamber which got me second HOTM, but alas the costumed heroes I got this time except from ccCaed are almost all useless. Not even cGunnar.
Crew-Jesters has several F2P players in it (at least 4 I think) and they all benefit from other generosity as well. When I was there we were always really clear that there was no pressure or requirements to buy back. They chain 14* so are pretty decent level.
I don’t understand if you think this somehow tarnishes the F2P position though? We always look at it as helping those that have chosen to walk the hardest path.
That’s the sort of things a F2P should be trying to do right?
If I was taking a free ride in a high level alliance I would agree with you. But:
In terms of cups I am usually top third
In terms of titans I usually hit C to B, 60K to 120K. Somewhere around middle of the field in the alliance
In terms of war score I usually do one O/S and the rest cleans get a score which is close to the bottom but rarely the lowest score
In terms of my war defense I the team usually gets multiple bounces (which constantly surprises me, they are clearly underestimated).
In other words, I am earning my keep. I certainly appreciate the gifts but any FTP who pulls their weight like I am would be able to join a similar semi competitive alliance.
That is your choice, although as stated above I do not really agree with the logic. On the flip side you have been getting the benefits of VIP and added gems from the beginning because you have utilised your other account - which very few FTPs would be able to do. I have personally steered clear of this because I think this is more of a stray from the “true” FTP path - but that is my choice. Neither path is wrong, just our own personal approaches to them.
I still have received very few mats from titan sources. If I had to take a guess it is like 2 4* mats and 4(?) 3 * mats. Maybe I am lucky with mats in generaly but I have gotten many more 3* mats from other sources. But given my focus on purple and yellow heroes I now have a severe shortage of all mats in both colours.
I’m at 17 after taking Onatel. I only managed 33 keys between chambers, I am impressed with how many you got. Were most from MV?
I feel styx bosses are more difficult than ninja bosses? I fell short for ninja tower because my roster is shallow (focused more on strengthening my flagship heroes rather than deepening my roster). But Onatel will be a game changer for all PVE content.
Will you be able to progress your main team in those 13 days?
So far so poop in my costume chamber pulls. Almost every pull is appreciated… but I got like 3-4 dupes and the others very bleh (Nasghar, Berden). The best pulls so far have been Boril and Sonya but I have no real interest in levelling those any time soon.
I agree on that, both paths are very unlikely to be followed by a beginner F2P who just now familiarizes himself with the game mechanic. It would be good for comparison in the longer run though.
Many yes, but I also got a big difference between my first main and F2P accounts on the amount of keys assembled - first main had been retired to a high-level alliance and is not mercing, and got only 38 keys. Amount of MV watched for both accounts is the same. I guess the big difference comes from the fact that my F2P account jumps from alliance to alliance, filling Titan chests much faster and as a result also getting more elemental chests compared to my main.
Styx bosses are definitely tougher. I guess the big difference in this case is Buster, who amplifies the damage from bomb items as well as the initial wave of special abilities unleashed when entering the boss wave. Other than that, at the time I finished Ninja Tower Normal I literally used only 6 heroes, never allowing for anyone to get completely cursed, and only two of them were maxed 4* - Garyas and Ingolf, there was a 3/60 ccKiril, Buster and cHawkmoon who got replaced at a certain level by Valen, I think.
I guess that with a lot of rerolling I could take a peek into Diamond even atm, however sticking in will require me completing a solid 3-2 or mono 4* offensive team. And for that I need some more 3* purple and blue ascension mats.
Join the club. Out of 14 pulls only ccCaedmon and 2x HOTM are worth mentioning. Rest were 3* costumes, most of them completely useless. Got another 4* costume, which is Hu Tao … I don’t recommend leveling that even for a F2P account.
Sonya’s costume is actually one of the best there is, plus Sonya is a very solid dispeller/cleanser, and she gets those Improved Minions with superior Druid talent in costume - I don’t understand why you are reluctant in maxing her, she’s great. Probably because you don’t have another blue to pair her with. But as a general rule, fast versatile 4* costumed heroes are probably one of the best things you can pull early on IMO, because you already saw how hard it is to get any sort of mana troop for a F2P account. Back in the days on several occasions I made 10x troop pulls with gems at a Tower event just to try and get one more mana troop of ANY colour.
This is the raid team I have landed on - Onatel (can’t stop singing her praises), Merlin, CC Viv, C Ameonna, Peppermint. On the face of it a team with very little firepower - and I actually swapped out Tiburtus for Merlin greatly lessening the firepower. But the combination of survivability (C Ameonna & CC Viv) and mana control (Merlin and Onatel) actually synergises very well, with Peppermint providing some decent overall damage on top of tile damage.
Here is an example where Merlin and Onatel gel well together (although often Onatel ends up doing much more than you can see here).
A far cry from the “kill in 7 tiles” school of thought but you work with what you have - and besides which it is very fun to win with this team.
This was how I raided for a very long time. And also got into top 1 spot globally.
But since then I moved to a more competitive alliance, so stop cup-dropping. Now all teams I meet are usually in top 10 000 at least, and many of those are pure killer teams.
I have now set up three teams that can deal with most teams.
One 3-2 that wins 95% against any Ludwig team
One 3-2 with fairly high winrate against M&M (also pre nerf)
and my regular go-to 2-1-1-1, but with higher risk team, and more of a high-damage early than a eaking it out. If I need to beef up for a really tough team I often go rainbow, with a W3K-heavy team (have been lucky in that portal)
No doubt you earn your keep. We are clear that all members are welcome and spending on things that assist other member is in no way required. You use your flags, hit the titan and are helpful with advice and helpful tip…a perfect team mate IMO, every semi competitive alliance needs someone like you, active and always there for war cleanups.
As a first time F2P who’s still relatively new (started a little over a year ago), here’s how my experience compares:
I managed about 50 keys between events - pulled cGormek as only new item of note. Also a few new 3* costumes but none worth mentioning. Didn’t get any 5* (again) and still not a single purple costume. I’m also missing quite a few S1 4* still. I did get a dup cMelendor which I have already started to level.
My luck with 5* has been pretty awful - in over a year, only 1 non-HOTM from portals. I have a few S1 5* from TC20 but haven’t levelled yet and not sure I’ll go past 3/70 without costumes. That aside, I’m doing pretty well on HOTM: Kara, Tahir, R&N, and Celidana - I’ll definitely use the first 3 anyway.
RNG has been most kind to me in 3*, and by that I mean that the few that I do land are mostly quality - Treevil, Shrubbear, Maeve, Dawn, and Dante are the only heroes I’ve landed from their respective families. I got Goopy and Buster from recent seasonal pulls, and Jarif, Aqueela, Rehetre, and 2x Faez from S4 (still want Waqas though). Also have received my fair share of Morris and Budatin. So I at least have a decent stable for 3* tourneys. Still a long way to go on 4* and 5*…
Grats, @Homaclese , indeed it’s all about playing with what you have as a F2P that makes you uncover some nice, otherwise neglectable but successful raid and PvE teams.
On a side note, I still haven’t found enough 3* mats to max even one of my 5* to last ascension, but that didn’t stop me from entering Diamond arena today (day 90 of creation):
What I still can’t achieve, @Homaclese , is your winrate in tournaments. For me almost in all cases it’s Wednesday - I’m out. Only one top 5% so far. Usually top 10-25%. But since that Diamond arena achievement was reached so early, I will now relax and focus on some tournament heroes rather than maxing my primary raid team.
@PlainDirector , I have observation that some of my F2P alts are extremely unlucky in getting ANY 5* , so your case isn’t unheard of. I would suggest focusing on useful 4* rather than on 5* - especially on one- or even double-costumed 4* , provided you were lucky to pull any. Use emblems and limit break to max those to form successful raid or PvE teams, they are very powerful and very versatile.
Well done! That is a big achievement. And with the team you have you have a lot of potential to still unlock.
I totally get that. With my team I am at a stage where I am comfortable tackling maybe 1 in 2 teams that are thrown my way in diamond, and on any given day will have a win rate of 50-80% of those.
This week I got top 5% with a record of 21-4 (had to buy back in though). The last few weeks weren’t great, a top 10 and top 25% I think. Before that I had a string of 5%s and 1 or 2 1%. One thing I do is I always buy back in as long as I have the gems lying around - to me the investment is worth it. Other than that it is about what heroes you can use in any given tournament format. My 3s are lacking so I find those difficult - I usually can’t even stack more than 2 in any colour which make staking on the more OP teams difficult. But I am still happy with my hero priorities, these 3 gaps will resolve themselves in time.
Those are some quality 3s. On my main account I was able to reach top 100 relatively easily using a team of all 4s and Tree. Post nerf he is still very, very good.
She gets very little love, but personally I would have used her in my main team (at least until I picked up CC Viv). I think she can greatly help you in PVE if there is any content there that you still struggle with
Got my fortress to 20 and my forge to 19, which gives me more options when tackling titans and towers using tornadoes. Now I have to have a good think about what to prioritise in regards to my buildings - I can work on my TCs (highest at the moment is TC14), my barracks (but feeders are scarce in my most used colours, so probably not), alchemy lab, hunters lodge (maybe just for the harpoons), hero academy, etc. etc. All are quite long term plans due to the limitation of one upgrade at a time which is why I need to have a think about what will actually be most beneficial to my gameplay.
Got through all of Mighty Pets - a difficult challenge (especially epic) but I don’t quite understand why some players with much deeper rosters are struggling to complete it. I am certainly not competitive yet with top 100/50/100K scores but fhat should improve with every iteration.
Looking forward to the covenant quest today. Last time I felt I hit my threshold where even with amazing starting boards I just couldn’t progress. This time my team is a lot stronger with solid mana control and healing which I think will let me beat even the most OP team if i get a good starting board.
I guess that is a big difference - I never rebuy in tournaments.
The barracks are a late-game building for a F2P purely because of lack of feeder troops.
I watched a Russian streamer getting through this event and the recent Tower event. He had a pretty good roster but made a lot of mistakes forming teams, moving tiles, bringing incorrect items and using items not on time or not at all. A lot of players simply play badly, which is the reason why many have trouble with a slightly more challenging event.
On a side note, my F2P secondary main made it through without replays/rebuys with this team: Treevil - 3/60 Kiril - Sapphire - Garyas - Ingolf. Worked for both Epic and Legendary, although on Legendary I switched Ingolf for 3/70 G Hippo.
Used my main raid team for first 7 levels and had no choice but to go mono for last 3 as the enemy was just charging too fast. Even with great boards i had to play perfectly and needed some extra luck because of the tp disparity and mn’s hijinks
Finished 8th in w3K. Wasn’t as mercenary as I could have been, didn’t pick any easy cleans. But still that is not far from the limit of what I can score with my current fairly shallow roster. Rewards were pretty attrocious.
As a matter of curiosity I dusted off my old account to see if a high level account with no heroes newer than a year old could “compete”. Got 10 O/S and one double tap. I didn’t read up on the attack/defense boost for later flags which resulted in m going mono vs a Freya tank and despite her getting a fresh minion the tile match that charged everyone ended up killing her… and then I died shortly after with everybody 5% shy of full charge. Thanks to the attack boost. Well, I guess I should have known about that change? Or maybe not. It’s not likely it was well advertised.
But anyway ended up equal 21st in that account - I guess the boost helped a few people get really high scores. The rewards were pretty bad here too, with best rewards coming for the warband placement (199th).
But to the question can you “compete” with 1 year old+ heroes only?
“Yes”.
I got first in my warband with my 98-day old F2P account. For the second time BTW - previous W3K also came in first.
Also my warband won, so loot is decent overall.
My points this time around were 213, highest in both warbands.
Sadly the tactic I applied was more than cowardly to achieve that. Previous W3K it worked by chance - seems I simply was the most active in my very low level warband. This time there were a lot of active players with much more powerful teams overall. I was a battlefield vulture, waiting patiently for any team to get weakened enough before jumping on it immediately after an opponent weakened it, most of the time with monoteams of completely unleveled 3* - 5* heroes. If leftovers were stronger, I included a maxed 3* or two on that team. Only one cleanup was unsuccessful.
Also made three shots with my strongest monoteams.
Final two hits had no easy targets but still yileded me 3 points via crashing into some very strong defences.
So yeah, I concur one can compete at any level, at least it seems SG fixed the rewards for top 1 in a warband so nowadays it’s worthy to aim for that. Got 100 coins, 50 emblems, an ETT and a WE flask only from top 1.
One of the benefits of a good alliance nabbing me my first true premium hero.
I usually dont play much with snipers but i dont think i can pass up the opprotunity, the damage should be super high with one hit kills a possibility on tile damaged foes
Previous tournament went top 1% with a 20-4 record (no buying back in) and an amazing defense something like 12-1.
This tournament has gone quite a bit more awry, sitting on 15-6 I think at the moment with an E defense. Lack of good non healing 4*s… but I have always struggled in bloody battle. I have joined the tournament with my original account and I am struggling just as badly in that account.
I have brought over the old account to De Raptors. Partly because I want to be involved in wars, partly because I want that account involved in Monster Island, partly because I want some mats to level up my 4 (!) Gilligans. My own personal rule - if I ever purchase any of the alliance deals I won’t collect the gifts from my FTP account as I don’t want that account to “help” me.
Bonecrusher is at 4/71 and I got an epic tome of experience from the war chest so he will be maxed pretty soon. Have something like 700 emblems so I can take him further but unfortunately not enough LB mats until the next red omega quest (next month?).
