IMO Good Game
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Welp. New guy here. Enjoying the game so far, but am a little tired of grinding (not for reasons you might think).
But, I can see myself spending more hundreds of hours into this. I've tried many free MMOs and f2p, and so far SK stroke the right chord for me.
Maybe its because its been going well for me, just started 4 weeks ago and told myself I'm not spending a dime. Yesterday bought the expansion just because the gameplay got me hooked in :D. The art, music, design, and gameplay. Its a nice blend of fun challenge and relaxing time.
I play for fun, and just play whatever comes my way. Joined an empty starter guild, people left because its "not good", I stayed and did something that matter, and 3 weeks in I'm a guild master, lol. Just finished speed grinding to get Auction Room going. Now I'm tired, but now I can seriously just go at my own pace, not chasing anything.
Currently finalizing which armor I'm going to take to 5*. Everyone using wolf set etc. I just felt I want something different.
I'm not chasing endgame. I've no issues with those who do, but some of them rub me the wrong way. Especially those who incessantly beg for orbs, money, etc. just so they can move faster up the ladder. Some don't even contribute to the guild, >.>
But those who do are a blessing, thank god for generous people. Makes me warm inside and worth doing guild stuff :3
Good guild members really makes a difference.
Mini rant aside, looking forward to Winterfest, and finally buying my new bed furniture.
Also, to hell with conventions! Caliburs and Catalyzers maybe weak but they are fun :)
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Spiral Knights does have a bit of a unique feel to it in how it works, despite using a very common formula in various places.
IMO the best way to play the game would probably be on the advanced difficulty and to run through the arcade every few missions. After you become comfortable with everything, pumping the difficulty up to elite will make the grind be reduced heavily, and playing the arcade and pacing yourself makes all walls that you run into mission-wise much less of an issue.
A bit too often people want to complete a game and be done with it, but most of the fun of the game comes from the path you take. As long as you enjoy the game on your way through, you'll enjoy it afterwards too. If all you bought Skyrim for was to do the main questline, you would be missing out on basically the entire game.
We make the adventure, but the game gives us the gameplay. It's a style of design that I really do love.
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Good job, you're nearing the endgame. You will soon find that if you want to make any different 5 star weapons, armor, etc. you will have to grind for days to make a piece.
This is where you have automatically made grinding harder for yourself by wanting to be unique. Everyone chooses skolver/snarbolax armor because the damage boost is very very useful. Same with the brandish swords; especially the Acheron - because they are powerful and let people grind faster and progress faster.
On top of this, the only reliable way to grind crowns is in vana - same old, same old (yes, or you could just go do arcade... but good luck with that) and you *will* want a DA or a brandish for vana. Doing it with a calibur would be a painful and sluggish experience. Basically, good luck trying to stray away from the 'meta' gear unless you're a masochist. Endgame SK is one huge grind where you get crowns to buy CE so you can get virtual swag for your character or crash the energy market.
You may not get bored fast, but you will very likely hit the breaking point where you start to desire new content. This is where the game falls over cuz' there ain't new content. However, if you are one of the few people that will never hit the breaking point, you will likely become a cash whale who feeds OOO what they want most. Nice, succulent money. So I guess that's good too.
Have an enjoyable time in SK.
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You do realize there are things other than Vana late-game, right? There are the post-Vanguard missions, especially Dreams and Nightmares. Danger Missions are a great challenge for those who have amassed a respectable arsenal. Shadow Lairs are amazing fun, and if you split the key cost, aren't that difficult to get into.
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But are they good for crowns? Hashtag nope. Do them once or twice; never do them again because the payout for the effort you put in is garbage compared to vana.
Oh and good luck finding a party for anything, except vana. After you burn through the content of the game and discover nothing interesting is actually getting released, you soon realize the game is just grinding vana for crowns so you can look cooler.
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Cozmar, you might be interested in the Lancer Knightz mission data sets, including the crowns-per-level table here. Yes, there is a lot of grinding in this game if you're free-to-play, but you have a few options at least.
* The King of Ashes earns you about 2,552 crowns per level, including boss token cash-ins.
* Danger missions earn you over 2,000 crowns per level --- not as good, but in the same ballpark, and not "garbage".
* Operation Crimson Hammer earns you about 2,600 crowns per level, if you have extra Orbs lying around to craft Perfect Mask of Seerus for vendoring.
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There are other ways to make money. If you want the most boring way to make money, you merch all over the place. I make money all the time by doing Tier 2 recipe + boss runs in the arcade. Danger Missions are different than anything else in the game, fun, and have good enough payout (plus the touch of radiants).
As is the nature of the game, there is one really efficient option that's really boring because everyone does it. However there are a LOT of other things you can do and still be effective. Not 100% optimal, but effective.
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For gear not many get, Gunslinger, Cloaks, Jelly, and Salamander. Others are on/off in worth. Plus these aren't common.
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Wow you've only been playing a few weeks!
I agree SK is a solid game, nothing wrong with, now that the mist mechanic is gone.
Right now I'm planning on wending up with some sort of heavy plate comb with something else. Partly because the troika line attack speed requires more skill than I have.
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The game is good, but the mismanagement of it negates that. They already lost most of their core community due to that, but I'll wait for the denialists to say that's incorrect because the servers are still running, or that they'll say I can't empirically derive that information naturally unless I'm an employee myself.
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@Dreemur Lol my first suit is angelic, and yeah, its mediocre. But STILL XD.
Now Im aiming for heavenly iron + feather cowl(or chaos cowl). I like the skill needed to use catalyzers, they seem to be useful in arenas, or open space danger rooms.
@Fangel Agreed, my primary enjoyment of SK is RP-ing my character and just enjoying the artstyle. To that end I have my own set goals. Alternating arcade and mission helps too.
Sometimes I just stop and stare in the greener levels, take screenshots and enjoy the beautiful skybox.
@Cozmar While I do like the thought of getting all weapons/armors and UV'ed, it looks such a drag even from here so I'll pass on that. Right now I'm content with the 6 types of weapons I got. 3 of which I've not yet mastered. I'm not above metagaming, as I do it a lot. But I put having fun by making the game hard on myself, above other things such as collecting Cr, aesthetics,
Its not what others think my cool armor looks of that counts, but my sentimentality to that armor. Plus surviving on high level with mediocre equip is my definition of badass. Coz that's undeniable proof of skill.
@The-Royal-Jelly I have respect to people who rocks jelly armor. Once I saw someone in full Salamander, and I wonder how he survives in that. lol.
@Toodd I'm planning to get troika line sometime later. The heavy weapon types looks hard to master, but also cool & fun if it can be done.
I tried swinging Sealed Sword like a Brandish and rage ensued XD
Later I get good at it, and it was kinda fun knocking enemies around and timing the strikes.
@Petater well that's sad to hear, but I guess other sad sobs like myself will stumble on this game and enjoy it. That's what I'm hoping for, and hopefully the fanclub grow enough for Sega to reconsider working on SK.
Scaring new people away because lack of 'new' content does nothing for the game.
That's also doesn't mean this game lacks content. Any new guy can get a good 18hr enjoyment at least, and for free.
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Review from Blazecat-Percival
"IMO good game I got 5* and I'm not bored yet."
5/5
"Everyone using wolf set etc. I just felt I want something different"
when i was working on my first set i went and made the valkyrie set because i thought it'd be useful
i was wrong but still i tried to be unique
"Catalyzers maybe weak but they are fun"
FINALLY SOMEONE AGREES WITH ME