Just trying to gauge just how horrifically unlucky I may be with these things right now, and possibly prove a point depending on the results: just how many crates are you used to breaking until you see your next SoL? Or perhaps more to the point, how many Danger Missions are you used to running in a row where all of those crates at the end yield exactly diddly-squat?
How long since your last Spark of Life drop?
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 01:14
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 03:33
#2
My most recent SoL drop was a week and a half or two weeks ago, in FSC. After that I've done a buttload of runs in the Arcade, FSC, Daily and Danger missions and got none at all.
Kinda silly that SoLs, which cost 20 energy each if you buy a pack from the Supply Depot, drop more rarely than Eternal Orbs of Alchemy, which cost ~267 energy if you buy a pack from the Supply Depot.
But that's why me and a friend made #OOOLogic a thing during our runs.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 03:45
#3
I got a SoL on a cake hunting
I got a SoL on a cake hunting trip last week. Haven't seen one since but I haven't done any tier 3 lately.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 03:53
#4
Two days ago in a green box, because I did do only 2 depths of a cake-prestige mission yesterday.
As average number if I hunt for boxes I would say 1,5 days for 1 spark.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 04:15
#5
*saves up enough energy*
*buys from SD*
Three Rings wants us to buy from SD. Just wondering about the point you are going to make, is it going to be a "spark drop is too low" thread?
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 04:17
#6
About a month ago.
My spark dropping rate has been pretty low lately too. I'd suggest going into Tier 1 on elite mode and just running around that for a while. Spark drop rates don't seem to change depending on tier so it may be a good idea to look at the easy levels.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 04:31
#7
Not sounding dirty at all :D
Go all the way! From start to finish!
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 04:46
#8
@Mystrian
"Three Rings wants us to buy from SD."
That's fine and dandy, but why aren't the Eternal Orbs as rare then? :P
Maybe I'm just getting lucky orb drops and unlucky SoL drops. Not that I mind, I have more use for the Orbs atm :D
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 04:50
#9
not so common
i played alot lately and got 1 or 2 sparks in the past 2 days i think, but i got like 8 or something from shining forge prize box
sparks of life are overpowered and their rarity is just fair
orbs of alchemy being more common is also fair, if i look at the giant amount of useless materials in my arsenal, altho by the time items are heated i will be swimming in materials again
i dont run danger missions
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 05:15
#10
Saving them up is the best strategy.
I got two on my last full arcade run. (I can't do tier 3 yet...)
Honestly I think it's more of a matter of not squandering your extra revives. I use them very sparingly.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 07:27
#11
I have no mouth and I need to scream
Two days ago from ruby knight gate on t3. (Found 4)
We need more good gates like ruby knight.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 07:50
#12
SOL
Got my last yesterday. Haven't played today yet, though. I find like 4-5 every week just by doing prestige + a few t3/fsc runs.
I still don't understand (besides the ones who use them away in pvp) how ppl don't have x hundreds of them. Are they that bad? Or just don't care about dying? Hell, I have like 760 of them and still get sad/upset even if I just loose my ER.
The bottom line, since 31th july, basically to everything, is just to go and play. :D
Want money/good items? Go and play!
Want rarities? Go and play!
Want to get batter? Make a guess.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 08:46
#13
I got my last one a few hours
I got my last one a few hours ago just from doing runs through Ruby Knight gate.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 09:50
#14
I haven't got any SoLs in like two weeks now but i get eternal orbs every second FSC run :/
EDIT: I run clockworks much more than i run FSC. I just seem to find all my (useless) orbs in FSC.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 09:32
#15
a couple of days ago.. yeah I think it was in clockworks too.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 10:02
#16
Good Ol' Gate Grindin ;D
I actually got about 5-7 from cake hunting in Clockworks during the Anniversary event, and oddly enough I found most of them in T2.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 10:32
#17
...
http://forums.spiralknights.com/en/node/90750
It is around 1% chance from boxes.
Depths give somewhere around 10 average boxes.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 16:04
#18
Therefore, you should expect to find 10 life sparks every level.
ACCEPT NOTHING LESS.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 17:09
#19
`
10 sparks/100 depths
--or--
10 sparks/200 ce?
Seems pretty obvious; the answer is obviously 42.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 17:23
#20
Hmm...
That's about what I expected, then: it seems like people tend to go quite a few levels without finding one. In my case, I honestly can't even remember the last one I had drop, but it had to be over two weeks ago, and that's been with running the daily Prestige and Danger missions almost every day, plus a few Arcade runs. The only other boost I had in that time was a surprise Forge Box that gave me a couple. If the drop rate is really set at 1%, and if the treasure room of a Danger mission has over 50 boxes in it, you'd expect to be finding one every two runs or so. Going over ten runs without one? Yeah, something smells fishy here.
But yes, as is obvious, this is another "Spark rates are way too low" thread, only I wanted other people to chime in just to show that it wasn't just me being under some horrific cloud of bad luck. Altmetal asked how people don't have hundreds of them, and the answer's easy: most likely because we weren't playing a lot during the period where they were dropping like candy. Even so, I managed to get up to a high of 70 or 80 at some point...but then came events like Shroud of Apocrea, and especially Grinchlin Assault and the Tortodrones, missions that were apparently designed to make you burn multiple Sparks per run. My supply absolutely plummeted during those, and coupled with the nerfing of drop rates in between them, I've now reached an all-time low of 4.
The thing is, I don't think I die all that much, at least when I compare myself to the majority of other people I play with in pick-up runs. I'm generally pretty cautious, and I like to hang back instead of charging full-tilt into a bunch of enemies. But since my Sparks are so low, I've basically had to start playing as nothing short of cowardly: I wind up dashing away from enemies and keeping my shield raised if I've already used my emergency revive, because I know I flat-out can't afford to use a Spark. That's not fun for me, and it's certainly not fair for my teammates. But even if I was a bit more danger-prone, should I really be punished for that? Should we be telling the new players who are just starting out that they should keep running Tier 1 on Normal forever, just because they might die too much otherwise? How many newbies are going to stick around if that's the message being sent?
No-Thanks: "sparks of life are overpowered and their rarity is just fair"
Not to single you out or anything, but that quote is just flat-out wrong. Remember the system that Sparks replaced? Teammates used to be able to dish out revives for free, so long as someone in the party still had enough health. And even if everyone died, depending on what tier you were on, everyone could eke out at least one freebie revive from Mist Energy. Both of those mechanisms were as common as killing enemies, and if you happened to accidentally die a few times during a level, you weren't punished for it so long as your teammates were willing to donate some health. But now, you basically can't afford to die more than once, because the odds are good that you don't have enough Sparks to spare. As a few other people have said, it's kind of ridiculous that one can find Eternal Orbs of Alchemy, the means to craft the most powerful gear in the game, (Hell, I have more Eternal Orbs than I have stuff to craft right now, because Elite Orbs are so much rarer comparatively.)
Honestly, I was fine with the new Orbs and Forge systems, since they essentially traded gear being hard-to-craft but easy-to-heat for the other way around. And even though I think that Sparks discourage teamwork, by basically making it a disincentive to revive teammates, I understand that OOO wanted to discourage alt-dragging, so I was mostly okay with the concept. But it's a concept that only works if Spark drops are common enough that you can stay in the black, so long as you're playing within your own skill level. They may have been a bit too common originally, but they're WAY too rare now, to the point where I see people in almost every run I do staying dead or leaving because they're out of Sparks. (That often includes me, too.) It's like OOO chose to balance Spark drops based on that few percent of players who had managed to amass several hundred right at the start, instead of the vast majority who had far fewer. And right now, the system is flat-out broken.
jeu, 04/10/2014 - 17:50
#21
Today I used up 2 SoLs in JK
Today I used up 2 SoLs in JK primarily due to the fact that I was using a WRH I haven't used since a long time. Then I got 2 SoLs back in the boxes after JK Boss fight... I rarely find SoLs and find them in the most unexpected moments. I guess it's all luck.
@AltMetal I use SoLs rarely besides in events and I never got past 90 SoLs. ( Apocrean took out 20 ). I have been stuck with around 70 ever since the Apocrean Event. I admit I don't really spam FSC or Danger missions and prefer to do Tier 2-3 arcade runs for orbs and SoLs so maybe that's the reason why.
ven, 04/11/2014 - 05:22
#22
your wronging is "flat out wrong"
teammates could revive for free, but most of the people rarely did that and even the good people only revived those, who they considered useful in battle
besides..pretty much everybody, i bet well over 99.9% of people(who i had played with) would waste peoples time just exploiting the system to heat their gear
not only was that terribly boring to wait for these players, but they also almost always made sure to give you some kind of a rude response, if you didnt give them a reason for refusing to participate in this boring activity
also newbies used to spam old energy revive button, while people were still alive and made the energy costs go high
now every revive costs 1 spark and idk about u, but for me they are free, because they just drop and stay in the inventory doing nothing
any good teammates have a whole lot gathered, while newbies still beg for revives, which is much better than them mist spamming old energy revives and upping the price
and with the emergency revive per depth u shouldnt even ever need to revive
also, how does this make any sense:
"But now, you basically can't afford to die more than once, because the odds are good that you don't have enough Sparks to spare."
in any game u cannot die even once, dying is supposed to punish u and it even does in many games, while in sk ur babied to no end and thats why i call sparks overpowered, they are free and make u a god
i always have sparks to spare and am currently trying my best to put them to an actual use
i aint gona complain about that either, because im given something for free, which im thankful for, but u just point out ur dissatisfaction with the drop rate, which is fine, but..
if u (allegedly..) want "other people to chime in" u have to accept each persons opinion and this is mine:
sparks of life are overpowered and their rarity is just fair
apart from that, i do agree, that this whole thing including sparks wasnt very teamplay friendly, but thats another topic and i got over it, when the update was released..OOO must know themselves, what they are doing with their game, we merely give our input once per subject
1 more thing.."As a few other people have said, it's kind of ridiculous that one can find Eternal Orbs of Alchemy, the means to craft the most powerful gear in the game"
it is not ridiculous..its what they wanted to achieve with the update, giving everybody more diversity in their arsenal
for your elite orbs problem, u can just buy them in the supply depot and the biggest cost of 800 energy is still saved because of ur spare eternal orbs
and before u rant about drop rates again, this obvious method is preferred for us tier 3 players. only somebody, who regularly plays t2, would know if the orb drop rate and money income with his free elevators along with the free sparks of life is enough to get his progress towards 4* gear, with which he could then start farming his free 5* orbs
sry about the spelling. maybe some online spell checker can help, but i wouldnt try it..
ven, 04/11/2014 - 11:13
#23
>sparks of life are
>sparks of life are overpowered and their rarity is just fair
How overpowered? That glitchy 10 second extra half damage that you could get before by hitting 1000ce that can randomly dispel? That you instead can get with attack orbs? You could stun people with Energy Blast before, that's nothing new, nor damage on it was increased (maybe slightly, but not enough to be revenge nuke).
Punishing for dying? Well, permament cripple to 2-lives-run when you actually hit 0 is not fun nor fair in any way (which is another reason I stopped playing - I actually hit 0) Also, to "YOU SHOULD BE ABLE TO DO EVERYTHING IN 2 LIVES YOU SCRUB"-people - well, EXCUUUSE ME
Being rare so people (once again!) can quickly either stock up or lose them all is another questionable factor
And yes - once again - being able to utilize 12 shared capsules is more useful than die and have none of them available (I'm not going to believe that you could pop a capsule and turn the tables just in time every single damn time)
ven, 04/11/2014 - 18:39
#24
don't die
focus on dying less. when you are out of your emergency revive and you have low health, dodge more than attacking. and if you need more sparks, just buy them. i don't think it's worth hunting for them, like radiants. and i think 1% seems like a reasonable estimate for me; i get around one spark every 1-2 FSC runs.
mar, 04/15/2014 - 10:04
#25
@No-Thanks
"it is not ridiculous..its what they wanted to achieve with the update, giving everybody more diversity in their arsenal"
[sarcasm]Yes, because people don't end up just relying on Wolver lines or Chaos set (especially Chaos).[/sarcasm]
Sure, there's the occasional person with different gear, but you have to admit that most people just walk around with the most OP gear in the game because OOO can't find a proper balance for it.
Point is, people might use the extra Orbs they get to craft extra gear but they won't use said gear for long if they're good enough to use Chaos wherever they go. If anything, they'll just use that new gear as a costume.
Don't try to deny it, you probably know as well as I do that this is the truth for most knights :p
EDIT:
Also, Andyspace, that's the most stupid "advice" someone can give. People really expect new players to be able to know each enemy's patterns of attack and react properly to them out of the blue, especially with the random fits of lag the game has? I'm aware that you probably made that post with older players in mind, but you can't forget that the game isn't made of just the "old players". Nor the fact that OOO seriously needs to find a way to make the game less prone to lag that will most likely ruin an otherwise good run.
Speaking of lag. Netlag, to be more specific, has a decent part in a lot of deaths; SK is probably the meanest game I know when it comes to lag induced deaths. More than once I've suffered a death by lag (the game getting frozen or "slowing down" for a few seconds and then flinging me into a trap/enemy attack) and then lost my ERev because I was still lagging by the time it kicked in (because OOO, for some reason, wants ERevs to kick in right away instead of letting us wait for the best moment to use them i.e: when we feel that the lag has settled down and we can actually play properly again). I've seen that happen to other people too, so it's probably a really common occurrence. Whose fault was it that the ERev was lost and useless? Mine because I had no idea what was going on and as such could not avoid the attacks coming my way? Or because a less than wise design choice that got me revived before the lag cleared out?
I have a decent amount of Sparks and I don't mind using one every now and then if the cause of death was a misplay on my part. I'm not okay with wasting a Spark if the cause of death is something that I had no control over and no means to keep myself from getting screwed out of my Emergency Revive.
mar, 04/15/2014 - 09:41
#26
"Punishing for dying? Well, permament cripple to 2-lives-run when you actually hit 0 is not fun nor fair in any way (which is another reason I stopped playing - I actually hit 0)"
You stopped playing because you couldn't rev yourself? How about playing in a lower difficulty until you don't die as often?
I had the same problem as you, my SoLs went down to 0 and was stuck there for a long time, but that didn't stop me. I got better, but I still have a long way to go back to what it was.
(Hey, it's that last sentence correct? It sounds... weird.)
mar, 04/15/2014 - 10:02
#27
Me?
For sparks, about a week ago.
Eternals? Two months ago.
mar, 04/15/2014 - 14:34
#28
My last Spark of Life that dropped?
What's a Spark of Life?
mer, 04/16/2014 - 20:07
#29
Hehehehe
You know what? I am going to talk about Eternal Orbs dropping more than SoL.
Yesterday, I got 3 Eternal orbs in a treasure vault. 3! And where were my SoLs? Hmmmmm nowhere to be found.
If I'd have to make an estimate, I'd say I would find 1, maybe 2 SoL in a week. I don't run too often, but I think I run enough to where I should get an SoL.
But whatever. I just keep running dat arcade and prestige. Oh which makes me think: Why...in the heck...does the danger prestige not drop a single SoL? Especially if it was run on elite. This is OOO logic, yes? :)
jeu, 04/17/2014 - 04:13
#30
This just in!
jeu, 04/17/2014 - 05:56
#31
Three months ago.
Now, I just take advantage of the energy price and buy myself thirty rounds.
A couple minutes ago.
Regular arcade run.
I get them every few (3 or 4) runs of the arcade, can't remember the last time I got one from a danger mission or boss stratum (I only get orbs there).