Masquerade part II

[efdedd]

Hi Everybody. First time posting. Been reading for a year. Thanks to all your insight, tips, heads-ups, quips & quibbles, I am in Feryndral,working on the advanced scout to enter Orcs. Joined a FS 3 days ago after not having been in one, ( started a 1 man FS 1 month ago to try the tourny}, for 6 months. Chatting with member when bam event started. 34 hours later I slapped up the reward for members to look at before ditching the useless bldg. I'm not very big in town size by any means. There are players 2 chapters behind me who have more residences & such and have used up more space. I always sit on 22 W/S about the same in residences. The W/S are for events, as are 8 or so tier 1 boosted BLDG's. Within a couple of minutes I can dump about 60 squares worth of BLDG & not feel it. The event is doable, obviously. My town is built for events. As for the new FS adventures, no way. MIA AM, 4-5 in actives. No way. I joined this FS for the Adventure event. Feeling bummed about now. Thanks for listening. I do enjoy reading the forum.

 

[Ashrem]

the event is incredibly easy

It's incredibly easy for a lot of us. Being in advanced chapters helps, as does being used to tournaments, and having any premium expansions is a plus, along with having at least a couple of max-level workshops and some PoP spells. I too will be finished it in a few hours, but will never deploy the building because I'm in mid-orcs and it offers nothing that is an advantage over any other building or group of buildings that occupies 16 squares in my town.

 

[DeletedUser8847]

I just did the 26 relic part... got my 7 minute boost WOOHOO [NOT!] and then there's the LITANY of busy bodied horse excrement that remains.... Sorry, but I'm KNEE DEEP in ORC DUNG, literally... I do NOT derive mana from this space wasting 'grand prize'... It's pitifully pathetic and obviously lacking, pursuant to the not so gradual DEGRADATION of rewards that INNO 'provides'.... Only a ZOMBIE or a shill... or perhaps someone higher up in the game would find this nonsense 'Masquerade' appealing... Go fish... Not even considering dropping another dime on this nonsense..... FYI, I've spent PLENTY up to this point!

BROOSTER few things excactly...

Which ones are Inno's pet's?
I for one am NOT.
I hate games that become money greedy when they got even some fame.
Going that road before with Zynga and the FV2, as long as it went so unreasonable that I can't play it anymore! I gave a lot to that game. I felt like Zynga stole that from me. All things to die for..!! I should had stayed Hidden Object Games!
I have never been nor will I ever be for some organization's lapdog!

You should look where you throw your little rage axe's!
You might hurt innocents! You do know what innocents are here don't you?

As for worthless Mana I don't want another big junk in my town, there aren't so much room.
But other's who wish to try let them do that! What it is away from you?

And why are you so angry about? Everything is worthless in game world. You get pixels, not the real thing. It is impossible to have real prizes that you can actually really have in real world. All is relativily.
You see that you have had pink pony to your town as prize from some event and as long as you see it, it is real but when you shut down computer, you don't have it anymore, not in realaty!
So please let people be and don't hurt them!
Sometimes I don't understand why some takes some quest or event to do it thru.
If someone does - what it is away from you -
If someone don't - what it is for you - ????

Be sure before you condemn anyone to be something they aint.. aren't.
And yea I might as go "fishing" but again what is it to you?

Is the reaction that you want? EVERY ACTION HAS REACTION!!

 

[DeletedUser7367]

Yes the prize is not very good for chapters 1-8. Agreed. But were you on the forums posting 50 times when the Herds rewards gave no mana and were therefore totally useless to most players in chapters 9-11? (just like every single pure culture building was in every event before this one)
You win some you lose some.

As for the difficulty of the event, @TedGrau has some very good points. You know that events ask for relics. You knew an event was coming for the past 3 weeks. Did you do any prep? Did you scout some provinces and save some goods/troops for clearing them?

LMAO off Soggy.... It's not the tasks that bog me down.... it's the useless 'result'... Kindly stay on point, mate. Oh, those two grand prizes of Auction & Herds? Love 'em.... Have no clue why you twist my verbiage...... 50 times... Really? wow.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Part II felt "too hard" to some because, for pre-mana chapters, the rewards were bleh. Compared to the 2016 winter event rewards that some people still rely on.

Indeed it has been hard to accept that event buildings will no longer be overpowered like those. I'm in the process of removing all my winter stuff on Beta now that I am in chapter 9, and I won those back in chapter 4!

LMAO off Soggy.... It's not the tasks that bog me down.... it's the useless 'result'... Kindly stay on point, mate. Oh, those two grand prizes of Auction & Herds? Love 'em.... Have no clue why you twist my verbiage...... 50 times... Really? wow.

You cannot separate the prize from the quests. If the quests are easy, and the prize has low value, then what does it matter? Likewise if the prize is awesome but the quests are hard that is also ok. For the most part these quests want you to do things that you would normally do, just at a slightly faster pace, so the prize is just an added bonus.

There's also no need to "kindly stay on point" after your 13 posts that are basically the exact same post.(sorry not 50) I'm pretty sure we all get your point. In fact others had already pointed out that the rewards for chapters 1-8 are underwhelming and I'm glad you added your agreement..... but there is such a thing as beating a dead horse. Not a single player has posted that they think the reward is great for ch1-8, so after 100% consensus I think we can move on to discussing other aspects of the event.

 

[SoggyShorts]

I disagree with the "totally useless...chapters 9-11" part of the assessment of Herds prizes. A solid analysis of the mana and culture buildings shows that having {pure culture (no road needed)} and {highest mana per square with low culture} produces the greatest values for both over the same number of squares. You don't even have to calculate per square, or adjust for roads, because the differences are that great. Toss 2 willows for a great auction and 3 witch markets, just off the top of my head but I believe that is more culture and more mana per hour for the same space; or at least pretty close.

While this seems true at first, when you are in chapter 9, and have the recommended 12-15 WW you'll usually be at 170% without buffs (I was the whole chapter with just 11 and a handful of pop/culture) This makes placing the herd/auction rather pointless. As for witch markets, those should be compared with libraries, as they are unlocked after libraries.
Nothing gives more mana/sq than willows until you unlock libraries, then nothing gives more than libraries. some small stuff comes close, but once you add in roads and factor in that they may fill up while you are AFK, they become worse.

 

[DeletedUser8847]

although now i think about it
that "no matter your level" thing would probably get complaints
" Booo Hooo I am in chapter 8, why do i get the same lousy prize as someone in chapter 2? and where am I supposed to find the room for it?"[/QUOTE]

hmm.... I'd say boohoo to sll.
Some complain, some does it, some doesn't.
Has it matter?
I mean really, has it ANY matter?
Some pixels to gain, some pixels to use, some pixels to get more pixels to reward?
Then what if you don't have any pressure at all from the game, is that then good enough?

I am tired, this is way out of the line when it starts to come personal, and doesn't stick in original matter which was that Inno didn't consult anything first, not even told it's coming and posted what it wants. That was the issue.

 

[DeletedUser7370]

Nothing gives more mana/sq

Right, but mana per hour is the critical value. So yes willows can't be beat until you get arcane libraries, but once you get witch market stalls they beat the libraries easily. Here is how: 1 library makes 2400 mana per 12 hours = 200 per hour, 3 witch market stalls makes 1200 per 6 hours = 200 per hour. Now that you have equal rates you can look at the tile space and culture. Library 5x3 1740 culture, 3 witch market stalls 4x3 750 culture. Difference is 3 squares and 990 culture. So anything giving more culture per square than 330 gets ahead on culture while still having the same mana production. That list is just about every pure culture event building given winning it in chapter 10. With culture covered to your comfort level it is easy to then add more of the small mana buildings.

 

[DeletedUser]

1x1 building

"where am I supposed to find the room for it?"

Or "But I hate 1x1s, they're so tiny!"

 

[Thistleknot]

Based on what I have read here, this is what I see as the major complaints of this event:
1. The relic quests are too difficult to complete
2. The prize is not worth the effort put into it.
3. Short time to complete event.

The relic quests seem to be much more difficult for people in earlier chapters. I will not deny that people are having troubles with this one. It does seem like a lot, but I am a bit surprised by this one. This one is definitely easier if you are in a fellowship and can do the tournaments. The tournaments give you access to relics very quickly for a relatively low cost. Timing can be an issue, but it is feasible. You can do multiple tourneys for only one or two stars and get there or at least pretty close within two days. Again this is tougher on newer players that haven't explored much. On the flip side, newer players who haven't explored much should still have plenty of provinces to scout that fall in the "easy" range. My understanding is that the end of chapter 2 and the first part of chapter3 are a bit tough to fight, so that might be the exception here. Qaccy makes a point about not over-scouting. This has been a contentious point since the developers added orc requirements to the negotiation costs. Personally I have conquered 400 provinces and I am still scouting non-stop. I have about 20 provinces that are listed as "medium" with scout times around 56 hours. I fight about 5 or 6 sectors in each province. It is expensive, but I do win the fights.

The prize is not worth the effort put into the event. Brooster, this seems to be your biggest complaint. I believe this to be a bit subjective, but not completely off base. The 4x4 building that gives some population, some culture, and some supplies/mana does seem to be less generous than some previous prizes, but this is a minor event so the prize should not be as powerful as from longer events. Since the prize gives three bonuses, each bonus is diluted, which is not surprising since the developers would want to have a balanced prize. The fact that is gives mana only to people in mana chapters and supplies to all others is reasonable. The prizes scale based on the chapter that your win the prize in. It would be completely useless to people in earlier chapters if the prize only gave mana. I am not sure why you would complain about this if you are not in a chapter that requires mana. It does seem to that this prize does not stack up as well as previous prizes. The prize may or may not be useful to you, but that is something to decide for yourself.

And this does tie directly into point number 3 - time. This was probably one of the most difficult events due to time. The quests are time consuming and there was not a lot of time given. This makes this event a challenge. Due to real life, some will be able to complete the event and some simply will not. Is this fair? Maybe not, but this is just a game.

The questions about space, play style, and the usefulness of prizes are all very subjective. I haven't spent any money on this game. I have enjoyed the challenge of building a large and usually efficient city. I wish I had more space, but I'm an ancient wonders junkie and would love to put more of them out. Most of the event prizes I put out as soon as I can, but the Halfling chapter has been a challenge and I haven't been able to upgrade to the newer event buildings.

 

[DeletedUser7367]

After a morning at the dentist... had time to contemplate one very sad state of affairs.... I don't 'hate' any of ya scholars of Elvenar..... Truly said. My feedback has always been concerning the mindset of INNO's Event Planners.... noting facts.... FS Tournaments now provide a fraction of boost, relics and runes... ALL aspects of effort expended for reward have fallen, precipitously. If these FACTS make anyone HERE take issue with me personally? Analyze first why 'I've hit a nerve'... If i pissed off anyone PERSONALLY, pls. accept my sincere apologies and carry forward as we all see fit in the game. Have a lovely weekend, all..

 

[DeletedUser8847]

Based on what I have read here, this is what I see as the major complaints of this event:
1. The relic quests are too difficult to complete
2. The prize is not worth the effort put into it.
3. Short time to complete event.

The relic quests seem to be much more difficult for people in earlier chapters. I will not deny that people are having troubles with this one. It does seem like a lot, but I am a bit surprised by this one. This one is definitely easier if you are in a fellowship and can do the tournaments. The tournaments give you access to relics very quickly for a relatively low cost. Timing can be an issue, but it is feasible. You can do multiple tourneys for only one or two stars and get there or at least pretty close within two days. Again this is tougher on newer players that haven't explored much. On the flip side, newer players who haven't explored much should still have plenty of provinces to scout that fall in the "easy" range. My understanding is that the end of chapter 2 and the first part of chapter3 are a bit tough to fight, so that might be the exception here. Qaccy makes a point about not over-scouting. This has been a contentious point since the developers added orc requirements to the negotiation costs. Personally I have conquered 400 provinces and I am still scouting non-stop. I have about 20 provinces that are listed as "medium" with scout times around 56 hours. I fight about 5 or 6 sectors in each province. It is expensive, but I do win the fights.

The prize is not worth the effort put into the event. Brooster, this seems to be your biggest complaint. I believe this to be a bit subjective, but not completely off base. The 4x4 building that gives some population, some culture, and some supplies/mana does seem to be less generous than some previous prizes, but this is a minor event so the prize should not be as powerful as from longer events. Since the prize gives three bonuses, each bonus is diluted, which is not surprising since the developers would want to have a balanced prize. The fact that is gives mana only to people in mana chapters and supplies to all others is reasonable. The prizes scale based on the chapter that your win the prize in. It would be completely useless to people in earlier chapters if the prize only gave mana. I am not sure why you would complain about this if you are not in a chapter that requires mana. It does seem to that this prize does not stack up as well as previous prizes. The prize may or may not be useful to you, but that is something to decide for yourself.

And this does tie directly into point number 3 - time. This was probably one of the most difficult events due to time. The quests are time consuming and there was not a lot of time given. This makes this event a challenge. Due to real life, some will be able to complete the event and some simply will not. Is this fair? Maybe not, but this is just a game.

The questions about space, play style, and the usefulness of prizes are all very subjective. I haven't spent any money on this game. I have enjoyed the challenge of building a large and usually efficient city. I wish I had more space, but I'm an ancient wonders junkie and would love to put more of them out. Most of the event prizes I put out as soon as I can, but the Halfling chapter has been a challenge and I haven't been able to upgrade to the newer event buildings.

Good for you really.
You have been reading but not understanding. Anger rises frustration and frustration comes when someone knows that they can't complete the event. Some don't even understand what Mana is. So there is big building coming to those who fill the event, and they don't do nothing with it until that chapter comes where µou start to need Mana!

Don't you think that new players needs another kind of event? Prize should be measured by how much people has not needing Mana but something else.
Capter afterchapter game goes more difficult. Don't you think that those players (like me) need something else than that. Giving some 500 culture points is good but they are used quickly. Thus it has need for some other help than those little time instants.
I don't mean to insult inventing the instants but there should be another way to test and spread them.
How much really it means that you give under 10 minutes time reduce instants if there is need to hurry?
Nothing.

What is there to left from this event to low level players even that they can get that big building that eats place from those buildings that we actually need to have? And when you have Ancient Wonders buildings to put into place too to waste place from buildings that without them there would be space do play with relax way in some day.
Think about it

 

[DeletedUser10851]

I am getting very discouraged by this game - I feel like the only way to get anywhere is to spend money and I was hoping for something a little big more interesting than that. If only diamonds were something you could earn. If only there were quests that didn't demand your entire life be taken over by this thing. It's getting exhausting. Losing interest very quickly.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Right, but mana per hour is the critical value. So yes willows can't be beat until you get arcane libraries, but once you get witch market stalls they beat the libraries easily. Here is how: 1 library makes 2400 mana per 12 hours = 200 per hour, 3 witch market stalls makes 1200 per 6 hours = 200 per hour. Now that you have equal rates you can look at the tile space and culture. Library 5x3 1740 culture, 3 witch market stalls 4x3 750 culture. Difference is 3 squares and 990 culture. So anything giving more culture per square than 330 gets ahead on culture while still having the same mana production. That list is just about every pure culture event building given winning it in chapter 10. With culture covered to your comfort level it is easy to then add more of the small mana buildings.

It's the "6 hours" that is the problem for some.* If you sleep for 8h a day the witch stalls suddenly drop by 400, and if you don't have a job where you can log in, that's another 400.

*I have no idea what the demographics are for Elvenar, and anecdotally there do seem to be a lot of retirees, so maybe it's only an issue for a small % of players.

 

[DeletedUser8847]

I am getting very discouraged by this game - I feel like the only way to get anywhere is to spend money and I was hoping for something a little big more interesting than that. If only diamonds were something you could earn. If only there were quests that didn't demand your entire life be taken over by this thing. It's getting exhausting. Losing interest very quickly.

No, you can play without diamonds. There are some that don't buy diamonds at all and still by strategally keeps getting better and better to those that lean on diamonds.
Event is too hard and unnecessary for those that don't need Mana. It comes very far ahead.
But please don't look event's - play your game, update your buildings, be part in tournaments.
It is not so hard nor money hungry to you if you just learn to play without real money.
Winning in events isn't the point.
When I started to play here - not so long ago - I didn't took part any event.
Play free, relaxed and happy, don't get this event to chase you away, but be strong in your FS and your own game.
It gives you more like so.
Try it!
Don't let us discourage you in any direction.
Anger here comes from frustration and sadly I am one who complains, but it means that I am just uneasy with events that Inno gives. Don't be like me and most of whiners.
Be better.
It will be ok

 

[qaccy]

It's the "6 hours" that is the problem for some.* If you sleep for 8h a day the witch stalls suddenly drop by 400, and if you don't have a job where you can log in, that's another 400.

*I have no idea what the demographics are for Elvenar, and anecdotally there do seem to be a lot of retirees, so maybe it's only an issue for a small % of players.

Personally I'm a fan of the small but highly efficient mana producers as well, and I'm eagerly awaiting unlocking grapevines as they produce a whopping 25 mana per hour per square. But like you pointed out, I'm one of those people who's able to log in multiple times throughout the day so as not to waste production on the rather short 6-hour timer. I do think Ted may have a point, in that you can get your culture to a good level using the most efficient culture buildings and then use the most efficient mana buildings for mana production. After all, y'know what they say about a jack of all trades! Of course, we unlock buildings in a staggered fashion so we usually don't always have everything available, and when you make a jump to a new chapter the first buildings you unlock tend to be immediately better than everything from the chapter before it.

A question I still have though is how you know when it's worth it to use culture buildings that provide population. But...I think this whole discussion is kind of off-topic in this thread lol

 

[SoggyShorts]

A question I still have though is how you know when it's worth it to use culture buildings that provide population. But...I think this whole discussion is kind of off-topic in this thread lol

I think we've gotten pretty much all the feedback we can expect, so a little derailment won't hurt
I always got lazy with the pop/culture calculations, and just compared the pop-- if it gave more per square than the next chapter residences do then I went for it.

 

[qaccy]

I think we've gotten pretty much all the feedback we can expect, so a little derailment won't hurt
I always got lazy with the pop/culture calculations, and just compared the pop-- if it gave more per square than the next chapter residences do then I went for it.

A pretty easy way to look at it, but possibly undervalues the pop in that case - the only buildings that would be 'worth building' are the Snail Palace and Seal of Ansgard, both of which are premium buildings (so it makes sense that they'd be pretty good). I think it ends up being a no brainer that when a culture building provides more population (per square) than a house, you probably want to build it, but does that mean the others that don't quite hit that efficiency level aren't worth using at all? Since the developers created these buildings, I have to wonder what purpose they're meant to serve. For example, in which situation(s) would building a Barnyard of Happy Pets be preferable to building a Grape Farm and a normal house?

As I was typing this up, I might have come up with an answer to that last question - the huge resource savings. A Barnyard costs a lot less than a lbrand new house levelled up from 1 all the way to the mid-20s! Maybe that's what they were designed for...not efficiency, but convenience. ,

 

[DeletedUser7367]

To Qaccy and Soggy............. Just a reminder, reading both your posts........ gents, you're Light Years ahead of me in ORCS... Wish I could envision that distant future... Alas, enough about the mana-driven event.... If you're ever in Arendyll...,. Look me up... Second in BlueMoon FS, just crested 97K points. Not even reticent about 'touting' my horn... Culture always over 180%....All boosted goods maxed.... And, curiously, since before Dwarves, I carry only FOUR workshops that are also max lvl. Never had a problem making supplies.... Guess it's those 257 provinces in hand bolstered by my lvl 7 Lighthouse... Yeah, doing so poorly at planning? Bwahaaahaaaa!

 

[DeletedUser8847]

To Qaccy and Soggy............. Just a reminder, reading both your posts........ gents, you're Light Years ahead of me in ORCS... Wish I could envision that distant future... Alas, enough about the mana-driven event.... If you're ever in Arendyll...,. Look me up... Second in BlueMoon FS, just crested 97K points. Not even reticent about 'touting' my horn... Culture always over 180%....All boosted goods maxed.... And, curiously, since before Dwarves, I carry only FOUR workshops that are also max lvl. Never had a problem making supplies.... Guess it's those 257 provinces in hand bolstered by my lvl 7 Lighthouse... Yeah, doing so poorly at planning? Bwahaaahaaaa!

I am far beyond you, only at chapter IV
I have no idea what Orc Chapter will be when it comes to me. I have heard though that it is difficult, but other than that I have no glue whatsoever about it.

And.. how many Ancient Wonders comes before it. Needle of the tempest is just out from buildings and that is also a large building.. are many of Ancent Wonders as big as that and Tomb of the Secrets?