Achievements and Tales of Woe

[Ierosbats]

tl;dr battle ranting ahead! Feel free to ignore me if that's not your thing.

Spoiler: open/close

I'm getting so frustrated with my battle set. I wouldn't mind sinking some money into it, but I'm starting to feel like the amount I'm willing to spend won't actually make a difference. Weapon prices in the higher tiers are so out of control. I thought if I put 50 mil into my set (which is already decent...ish) I'd be better off for sure, but now I'm not convinced. I know for damn sure I'm not willing to invest hundreds of millions.

People always point to the battle forum as a great resource, but a lot of the advice there is "you need a blessed trident" or "you need a prodigy staff" and that's... not super helpful. I need a thing that's so expensive it's not even for sale anywhere? Ooookay. There are some very good threads there too (I use the weapons and scrolls guides a lot) but I'm sick of everyone pointing to the same unobtainable weapons as the only options. That doesn't make for a very fun game, and now that the system is being revamped so dramatically I feel like it probably isn't even true? Surely there are lots of ways to do the same thing.

My current default set is:

Infinite
Mourning
Sentinel
Acorn Bomb/Item Hunters Bomb (haven't decided which I like better, the guaranteed damage or the chance to use it more than once)
Deluxe Death Shard
The One Ring
Amulet of Drakkonis
Phoenix Quill

I created the two combined legendaries out of convenience, basically. I just had the components sitting in my account for various reasons. I bought the sentinel during the black friday sale because I figured why not. I like using the first two as my main attackers (decent coverage, nice healing bonus with the sentinel) but my impression from the forums is that even with the combo bonus, these aren't great weapons. The DDS and healers are fairly standard, from what I gather. I'm willing to replace any of them (well, probably not the quill) but obviously I'd prefer not to overhaul the set with seven new things if I can avoid it.

I also have a Malice sitting around unused. I tried it out for a bit but felt like I was using it wrong? I dunno. I have some other junk too... Potion of the Robot, Recycle Blaster, Blunderbuss, Maleria's Clawed Glove. Again, stuff I've just sorta picked up over the years. Nothing I bought specifically for my armory.

My battle pet Dechroma is right at the tail end of tier 9. Hopefully he'll be to tier 10 in a month or two. Early 1500s in everything except health (he has almost 1700 there because of battle quests).

I have some reading drive points left. I could pick up a truth serum, reviver of the lion, black runeblade or soma tablets, but only one of those. I see the soma tablets recommended a lot on the forums but I was sort of leaning towards the truth serum? The reviver is great and outclasses two of my current healers, but I don't know if I need another one over, say, a stealer.

My scrolls are a bit of a mess. They're the one area I haven't really put any money into. I have one cobalt eternal, and once that's gone I use singed stuffing for the healing. Terra Focujin seems popular, but for some reason spending 30 mil on a scroll is more painful than spending 30 mil on a weapon.

Aesthetically, I like almost all of the new millionaire centre items. Are any of those worth buying? Quite a few of them fit into my budget. I was considering the necklace because I know I need a freezer other than the DDS. I like the rosary, too, and the obsidian glove.

So... yes. Sorry, that got so long. As you can see, I'm a bit of a battle mess. I feel like I should be getting close to being able to beat General Error or Saggi, but I'm still really, really not. From what I can tell, this is a weapons problem, not a stats problem (well, probably a bit of both, but mostly a weapons problem). So... haaalp? Cranberry? Tom? Griffin? Officer?

[Iggy]

If you can get the last 5 bobbleheads (Matlal, Kaz, Jules, Jacques and Skitters) for under 25M each, and have not completed your 2010 collection, I wouldn't cross out the Trident yet. It's still possible to get these rewards, but the bobbleheads inflated. Just wait for desperate people to go and try to sell them, they're not really easy to sell, since most people that could use a trident have their collection filled already.

[Ierosbats]

I appreciate the tip, but that's sort of my point. I'm reluctant to believe that the only way to truly improve my set is with a trident. It's one of the best weapons on the site, I get that. I just feel like there must be some other options. I'm not interested in becoming a top battler on the site. I don't have the money or the time and patience for that. I'm just hoping that if I put some money into my battle set, I'll be able to finish almost all my battle quests every day and do a little better during the site events.

I guess that's my biggest problem. To me, 50 mil is a fairly large amount to invest in anything on subeta, but it feels like that's not enough lately. I've put hundreds of millions of sp into my pets, but that's spread over 31 of them and spans over six years now. It feels crazy to me to look at spending upwards of 125 mil to get a single item (granted, in the case of the bobbleheads I would get some other stuff too that I might be able to sell back).

It's definitely possible that I'm just being stubborn about the whole thing. I'm just more interested in the creative solutions that could help me get by without a trident, rather than figuring out how to get one.

[Jessi]

My Soma Tablets are one of the best purchases I've made for my battle set. I definitely recommend going for them if you have the spare reading drive points. They're pretty much a permanent part of my battle set now (which sucks; I need another set for treasures, haha)

[Cranberry]

We'll be doing some t8 and t9 (and t10) monthly opponents this year that will drop weapons you can use, so you might want to buy those challengers and win yourself some weapon upgrades for $2.50 (or the SP equivalent) when they come out! We also just changed the Ice King Clawed Gloves to scale from t8-t10, so if you can grab a pair of those, you may like them (they're 50mil right now because we just changed them today, but they were selling for less a couple days ago -- I think a pair went for around 39mil. They will drop in price as more are won, too -- they're still fairly new). Or you could win them, eventually! Pretty Big Tooth (tier 10, 33 mil) is also a good weapon; I believe that's what Kamil was using until she won the t11 monthly drop a few days ago. If you can find an Enchanted Key Staff that's not crazy overpriced (a lot went out during the recent mini-plot), it would be an improvement as well. Purple Spider Squeaky Toy is also way underpriced for what it does (14-16 Dark, 14-16 Ice, defends 4,5, or 8 fire/earth, 3 mod slots, curses, and heals 7%).

General consensus seems to be that Soma Tablets are better than Truth Serum. Truth Serum is still good, though (I have one). I'd probably go with Soma out of the choices you've listed. Your current healers are fine; PQuill is good forever.

Terra Focujin is totally worth it. A good healing scroll will save your ass in many a fight. Can you make it at the shrine cheaper than buying it from someone?* I also love Holy Deluge, but it takes up a lot more AP.

*Just to answer my own question:

Oval Scrying Mirror x 1 = 40k
Coutal Feather x 3 = 8.4 mil
Viper Fang x 1 = 675k
River Mud x 8 = 720k
Boar Tusk x 6 = 222k
Tiger Bones x 5 = 100k
Sands of Time x 3 = 12.6 mil

= approx 22,757,000. Not QUITE as bad, haha.

[Iggy]

Hey, I think I invested upwards of a billion for a single TC, so yeah.

My stealer slot is being occupied by the Blackmoon Blaster and I had a Recycle Blaster for the longest time because I found out there were too much opponents that had stealing disabled and well, pretty sure you can still blast things, even when opponents have stealing disabled. Also, some annoying opponents (G. Error and the toughest Forj, I think, amongst the other ones?) can steal as well, and well, I'd rather have them stuck with a recycled wad and/or a cube in their set all fight, rather that steal their weapons and get them stolen back three turns later.

To me, 50 mil is a fairly large amount to invest in anything on subeta, but it feels like that's not enough lately.

Your feelings about this are right. 50M really isn't what 50M was a couple years ago, due to inflation. Sad, but true.

[Cranberry]

Yeah, and it's not just battle stuff that's gone up in price... it's everything. The prices on some rare wearables are ridiculous. We've been trying to give battlers some cheaper options -- these monthly challengers are a good example of that, as every one is going to cost $2.50 to unlock, regardless of difficulty, and each drops a weapon for its tier. There's been a bit of complaining from some of the big battlers already ("I already have a good weapon set and don't need this loot, and I can't sell it because everyone who could use it can win one himself!"), but I think that people who haven't invested hundreds of millions in their set are liking being able to win tier-appropriate stuff. The Ice King Gloves are another example, but from a "free" challenger. We'll have more stuff like that in the coming months as well.

[Griffin]

I'm T11 and can't beat General Error or Saggi either, so I may not be of much help, but I have a couple of weapons you can borrow. I've got a Purple Spider Squeaky Toy, Pirate Cutlass, Hydragellos Lost Tooth, Hunters Ring of Stars, Forj Tempered Shield, Welldwellers Cuirass, and a Reborn Icewand of Doom. I also have an unequipped Shriek of Despair scroll which is supposed to be great, but it takes up a lot of points.

Terra Focujin scroll is really worth going for. I use it almost every round. To craft one would be around 23mil (caveat: bad at math), and if you go that route I can send you some of the ingredients I have lying around. My other suggestion is to go at big opponents with a full set of pylonics and throwing vials--I didn't start using those until I fought the big shark, and they made the difference between falling short and being able to get the 5th win.

[Ierosbats]

Thanks, everyone! I really appreciate all the help. Griffin, I will definitely take you up on your very generous offer at some point and borrow a few weapons. I like to shop around in real life, and subeta is no different. I think being able to play with a few weapons to see how they fit into my set would really help me decide what to commit to and buy.

I don't know if I'm just in denial about subeta's inflation or what. I can see it happening around me, I just... sort of pretend it isn't because it's super frustrating? Great strategy, I know. I've never played a game before where the virtual money started dealing with billions. I sort of can't wrap my head around it. It seems like a huge problem to me, but I have absolutely no head for business or economics so I've got no idea what can be done to fix it. I'm sure it's a challenge for all you various siterunners, too. Everyone points to csc as the perpetrator, but at this point it's not as if that can just be removed from the economy. Tricky.

I bought a squeaky spider because dang! 7 mil? You're right, that's super cheap for what it does. I don't know if I like it enough to permanently replace one of my other weapons, but I like having options.

I'll definitely start collecting the pieces for a terra focujin. Singed stuffing is pretty decent for a free drop, but just isn't cutting it anymore. I think I have a sands of time and coutal feather stashed somewhere... I might have to rob a pet or two. 23 mil doesn't seem too bad... hopefully less if I can restock some of the cheaper stuff. Knowing my track record, that's a pretty big if, though.

I shuffled some weapons around and actually managed to get General Error down to 800 hp last night. Encouraging! Then he absolutely destroyed me by doing 2500 damage on the first turn for the next three battles. Sigh. I'm eagerly awaiting the new t8, 9 and 10 challengers just to have some variety. Right now I feel like I'm stuck. Wyrmgear? No problem. General Error? Hahahahaha nope.

[Iggy]

Everyone points to csc as the perpetrator, but at this point it's not as if that can just be removed from the economy. Tricky.

I think people wishes that they could make money as easly as right now, and that CSC stayed as horribly deflated as it was when it was 1.25M/100. We all want the best for our buck, and that's understandable.

The prices on some rare wearables are ridiculous.

The SBQ change was awesome for that. I was not sure if I liked it but in the end, I think that's it's working well for everyone.

The Ice King Gloves are another example, but from a "free" challenger. We'll have more stuff like that in the coming months as well.

Speaking about these, I heard they were a scaling weapon, correct? As much as you hate doing these, I can actually say I really like the concept of scaling weapons. I mean, if I bought a Trident of the Banished One, all of my pets could use it, not just my battle pet. Same with my Minotaur Knocker. These are fun and I like the concept!

[Cranberry]

My main issue with scaling weapons is the mod slots. We always have to put fewer slots on them than we'd like because otherwise it would make them too powerful at lower tiers. Aside from that, we don't really mind them. It does make them more useful and easier to sell.

We've been talking "backstage" about ways to fix the economy, and we have some good ones... so hopefully those will start rolling out once the new layout is live and tweaked (it's pulling most of the focus right now).

And as for battling, we have 10 more monthly guys to go, plus a few permanent challengers in the works right now, and I'm sure some plot ones at some point this year. Lots of opportunities to win weapons.

Freezing scrolls are a REALLY good investment as well. Freezing, especially more than once per battle, helps you get that leg up. Shriek of Despair is a good one; Psycho Smasher is another. They're pricy, but it's really worth not having to waste a weapon spot/turn on a freezer. (If you don't mind waiting until next Morostide, Shrieks drop in price then as Nightlady drops them.)

[Jessi]

All this talk about battling made me want to upgrade my very poor battle set, so I had to go bother my friend Amanda to give me the hookup! So she helped me upgrade a few of my weapons with mods, and I ended up grabbing the Squeaky Spider too, which was a fantastic investment - and I finally equipped a scroll, haha (I've just never bothered to figure out how these things work!). I hate losing HP, so Amanda helped me go for a defense-based approach, and with all my healing now - between the Spider and my new Terra Focujin Scroll (there was one in shop for 17 mil, which was cheaper than making it, so I had to snatch it up, sigh! Battling is so expensive) and all my modded weapons, I'm beating opponents I never knew I could and am -- *gasp* -- having fun battling for once! Thanks for livening up this thread with your battle talk, Topher!

[Cranberry]

I'm just really glad to see so many people getting into battling now, even casually. One of our big battlers recently pointed out that the BC forum's Motivational and Competitive Trainers board has more signups now, early February, than it got all of last year. We're hoping to draw even more people in with future monthly challengers and events (and we have a couple of unlockable challengers in the works, plus another neat sorta-permanent guy).

Also, a while back Ty posted some really good ideas for streamlining the look of the BC and making battling go faster, and I passed those along to Keith and Fletch and asked for them to be included in the site revamp -- they both liked the ideas, so we should see some of that soon. Maybe not immediately when the new layout comes out, because there's a lot of other layout stuff to do, but soon.

[Marah]

Those all sound like fun things. Looking forward to the new challengers (and the loot and achievements that come with them )
I'm currently trying to earn myself a better battle set (current goal is the gorgun), but it might take me awhile. Can you earn tokens from battlequests?

[Ierosbats]

Can you earn tokens from battlequests?

You can! Battle quests are really worth doing every day, I think. They're a bit tedious, but they're the only quest I do regularly other than Shinwa. Not only do you get the precious exp and potentially some tokens, you get a decent amount of sp (I mean, 8k isn't a huge profit or anything, but for killing aboxalypse in one shot? not bad). Plus, you get a lower tier weapon with every win. The dark x potions are useful so I keep those, but everything else is basically worthless. I don't have a gold account/autopricer so I take them all to the fragmentizer and get 4-10 power crystals out of them. My crystal bank is up to about 950 right now just using that method. Not bad for free junk! I'd be doing the quests every day for just the exp anyway, so all the other stuff is just gravy.

(Sidenote: Oh man, the potions section of the battle page. That could really use some streamlining. I don't need to see every potion I have equipped. Something more like Dark Earth Potion (30), Dark Magma Potion (18) etc would really save me some scrolling.)