How does the Spire work?

[satchmo33]

OK. I realize that this has been discussed ad nauseum, but I STILL want to check that I'm correct in my thinking about The Spire:

--First of all, this is ONLY about the "thermometer" and it's purple "mercury". NOT about the chest prizes as your work your way up through the levels of the spire.

--There is a misconception (I think) by many people that, just like the tourneys, even if you only complete one 'tick' (NOT even a waypoint) on the 'thermometer' that you get all of the prizes that everyone else gets

--I believe that, as an individual, you get whatever prizes you've amassed through WAYPOINT (waypoints being the spots that carry prizes) completions for Waypoints that fall within the purple 'mercury'.

--So - you complete one Waypoint. You get only the prizes connected with that Waypoint. You complete 5 Waypoints, you get the cumulative prizes offered by all 5 Waypoints.

--The higher the more people go, the higher the level of the purple.

--We have one glorious player who consistently goes all the way to the top of the Spire - all by herself. None of the rest of us even come close. Am I correct in my thinking that she gets "gypped" out of the Waypoint prizes she's completed that do NOT fall within the purple?

--And, as far as FS-wide "prizes" - all they are, are ranking points and getting little metal "trophies'. Is this correct?

--I've just spouted all of this out to my FS in chat and now am scared to death that I gave out 'way wrong info. So, PLEASE correct me if anything above is wrong

Thanksalot in advance. satch

 

[samidodamage]

I think that's all correct, but I'm unsure about FS ranking points. Not for sure if or how many the FS gets for the Spire and under what conditions, so someone else will have to answer that.
Otherwise, yes, your player going to the top every week gets many more rewards from the individual and mystery chests along the way obviously, but only gets the FS rewards that align with the FS waypoints reached by the purple mercury. I go to the top weekly, but only get the FS rewards through the Silver Trophy level that the purple mercury reaches. Still, all the Magic bldgs, diamonds (I got 125 diamonds out of the Final boss of the Spire in both cities this week, yay!), etc, etc that I get makes it worth it to me and I get 125 diamonds/week from each city as well from the Silver Trophy/end of High Halls FS waypoint.
I think it was an intentional design. Tourneys are different: a few heavy tourney players can get the FS the 10th chest and anyone who shows up gets all the rewards. There is no 'participation trophy' in the Spire: if you don't do the work, you don't share in the rewards. It'll probably take awhile, but I expect we'll start seeing 'Gold Trophy' FS's similar to '10 chest/wk' FS's, but they'll have everyone in the FS completing the Spire weekly instead of much lower 'minimum points' required because it's not necessary for everyone in the FS to do as much in the tourney to get that 10th chest.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

Your progress and the purple bar have to match for you to get the group prize from a waypoint. If you go higher than the purple bar, you do not get any of those extra prizes.

 

[hvariidh gwendrot]

inno has some sort of need to put % based random chance in to the mix for the prizes, so you can do the same amount of work and get some (let's call them) lesser items .. so there are degrees of greater or lesser amassing items at all levels in spire to win or not vs equal amount of play gets equal prizes rewarded .. then you get in to having what you get dependent on what others do conversation mixed in, which does penalize newer players as they need more but can only do less and most fellowships shun newer players ... i'm not sold on the set up yet due to lack of entertainment value and they add in this mess .. i still enjoy the game and keep expanding but spire needs some work

 

[Crow Last Elf]

I agree with everything you wrote except I believe there are no ranking points earned toward your f/s's overall ranking in your world. There is a Spire leaderboard which shows the Spire points earned in total by the f/s, but there are no points earned toward your overall ranking.

 

[samidodamage]

do the same amount of work and get some (let's call them) lesser items

Absolutely! I'm annoyed when I get a PP for that Final Boss, lol! Just figured I'd also acknowledge the good weeks. Over time (and I've played it every week since launch), I'm pleased with my results. I enjoy the challenge of the battles in the Spire, so that's a big reason for me playing as well. I do think it's worth it for most players to learn to do it to the end of High Halls weekly (maybe not a new city and even larger cities should be comfortable with getting to the end of Gateway before trying to move on to the next lvl). A combination of combat (the first 4 chests are insanely easy to fight) and diplomacy is what I recommend even though I do it all through combat.

 

[satchmo33]

Thanks to all of you. As usual, you rock. And I don't have to grovel before my FS for giving out wrong info. ;-D satch