So I've run into quite a few situations in the last two days where I've run JK Elite, my entire team wipes after burning their auto-revives, and then everyone is asking someone to spark them.
Seriously? It's barely halfway into T2. There's an easy 30 sparks up for grabs in missions alone up to that point, not counting any you find from prize boxes. I can see maybe a few being burned soloing missions, but 30+!? What are these people doing with them?
Or are they just too cheap to use their own?
I have 10 right now. mostly because going from gunning to everything else has been terrible. and I had a lot back then in july 30...
now I usually die once. in some situations. especially fiends.
well, anyway, I think it's just that some see spark value only when they have none. so they burn them whenever they can and then they have 5 and don't want to use em ever.
It seems that many players have become accustomed to playing on normal and thus feel that you must carry them in return for their presence in elite.
Either that, or they really have died that many times and have been playing normal or advanced, cutting their chances to get sparks back.
10 sparks are 16k. that is hard to get when you play on normal. but you wont clear the mission if you play on elite.
Its a conundrum, hiss. Unless you get smart, do jelly on normal, and vendor antiguas because you get 3 gems on any difficulty anyway..
I have 35 sparks saved up from missions, and I've burned only one, on someone else, because he was nice and there was an Elite orb in view of where he died. I'm probably going to burn a lot of them when I start running Crimson Hammer solo to get my Seerus Mask, but I'm still having a net gain at the moment and saving them for when they matter, and I always play Elite.
So I don't get it. I'm not that good at the game, but the game isn't that hard to begin with. I just don't see how it's possible to burn all the sparks you're given in the missions up to that point.
And the sad thing is that most players don't appreciate how easy they have it now. Before my account got hacked I played pre-energy patch, where there were no sparks and no auto-revive. You died, you had to pay energy to revive, and the price increased exponentially with each death in any given session. That's what I'm used to. Players have been spoiled with the auto-revive and spark system and yet they still can't hang.
I keep thinking that there is an expected level of competence at any game for the ages of 13+, that is similar to the one stated above. I cannot understand how the large majority of players I party with are -failing- to hit that level to the point that they need me to help them along.
At times like this, you swallow your pity and do the job for them. Let them watch. You may look like an elitist to some, but expecting someone to carry you through a level on their shoulders is just as elitist.
Hiss.
I too am used to the old rev system. I just cant seem to find a use for my sparks... I'm up around *checks* 578 sparks at the moment. The few times that I use them are when I lag/get cornered, or reving an ally (guildies join me for danger missions).
If players cant handle the T2 depths yet, they should be going back to T1 and learning how to dodge/block attacks.
Keep in mind - As of right now the difficulty only changes how quickly the enemies die NOT how much damage they inflict (yes, there is mention of them being "stronger" in a patch notes, but for all you skeptics out there do your own tests). Once you learn how to dodge, it is best to switch it up to elite.
Interestingly enough, Stratum 2 and Stratum 4 give almost the same crown rate per depth (S2 has 1 less depth than S4 so it seems like you're getting 2/3rds less).
I've amassed just as much as Skepticraven did when they just flooded the place crazily like 1-ups in New Super Mario Bros. 2 or something. Yeah, thanks for that Nintendo, that game couldn't have been anymore boring.
After the nerfs to the drop rates over the past months, It's actually more of a "Yay! Sparks to possibly live through these danger missions with my not so overpowered 3* gear!" like feeling than, "Dang sparks keep making the game easier and reducing my crown drops (if they even affect their drop rates by appearing)!" feeling to those who actually weren't present during the Spark storm, getting at least 6 per run of anything.
Now a lot of people here and there actually don't remember that playing back in the lower tiers with the appropriate gear for that said tier, was actually pretty challenging on elite cause the gear itself isn't too fantastic. You have to rely more on skill. Unfortunately some people don't realize that and go into RJP Elite with fresh out of T1 gear, or really didn't learn to dodge or cause the enemies are pretty pathetic and don't require you do much besides swing your sword and simply run out of the way to avoid that single bullet or rocket. No need for dash or shields except you're fighting a couple of fiends, which is pretty rare in back in T1.
That being said, people will come into T2 heavily unprepared and shocked that the enemies put up a fight and realize that by ending up on the floor fast and end up burning 3 sparks a run if they don't adapt quickly enough to monster behaviors, which was a big change for most like Kats, Mecha Knights, and Jelly Cubes. It's truly up to them if they want to learn and conserve their sparks for the true tough stuff, so actually keep in mind some people do run out of sparks legitimately. Though I agree that it's amazing how you lose them all before T3, I see why it happens. And latency is a thing too.
As for people asking for sparks, they are pricey to buy at a T2 stage if they happen to run out and in my opinion, a 3* doesn't have too much space for a bundle of 10 sparks for 200 CE on their shopping lists when they could get better gear instead. If they ask for one, consider how they're playing; are they a loaf by taking hits and not shielding or are they actually trying? Not only that, consider how much you have, you really need to look out for yourself as selfish as it sounds. They can take a trip back to normal or advanced mode if they die more than once anyway, it's better to strike a balance between risk and reward and not overextend oneself.
Interestingly enough, I was not present during the Spark storm. I do admit that I was here before the latest "adjustment" on them, but still continue gaining.
Also, I've noticed that all rarities are "bonus" drops only from treasure boxes, and to not alter the other drops.
I willingly rev good players (often before they use a spark themselves). If they chaotically run and die... If I'm the host of the party - they often get a boot from my party.
I once had someone join a RJP run of mine, where I was a purely carrying them through all the areas (doubt they did enough damage to kill one thing). They used about 10 sparks alone by running onto spike traps. They amazingly stayed through to get tokens, using their own sparks the entire way.
The most amount of Sparks I've ever used was during the Apocrea event. I started off with 165. I now have 71. Even now, the Sparks I use go to other people (or to revive myself if I disconnect because I still autorev, which is annoying).
I usually give my teammates 1 free revive then leave them lying there after that - not because I want to horde my Sparks, but because I want to make the point that you can't always sponge off other people. Not very good teamwork I know, but always reviving them can encourage them to keep begging for revives and get the idea that someone else will always foot the bill in the event they die. Not to say I don't make exceptions to more skilled players or in the event a full (alive) team is required, but generally that's the case.
Giving a player advice on how to stay alive; like shielding, dashing to avoid hits or getting better shields - can work wonders.
Yeah, it's about the same for me. Though I didn't use sparks too much for the Apocrea Event (hooray for maskeraith pet), I would only give my party members one rev (per run). There was this one guy, though, who would lecture me on how to play the game whenever he died. He even called me a chicken for using the maskeraith cloak and "causing" the slender-man to go kill him. There are just too many unsufferable people in the game sometimes.
I'd only ever die in Apocrean if my teammates let the scarabs build up. That was pretty rare, thankfully, so I only spent about 20 sparks through it.
I've run quite a few alts through the missions, before fire crystals came in, and I gotta say, even before the free rev I never had much trouble. But that's from knowing how to do T3, so not exactly the same experience :P
I'll revive people depending on how they play, did they do their research? (Correct gear/knowledge about monsters/good enough to not die much.) If they die at the last room before JK and thats their only death that requires a spark, I'll gladly revive them so they can get the loot boxes. I can spare 1 spark per run, but not 3+ per floor.
This happened earlier today: A defender elite rank knight joined me on the depth 19 Freeze/Cadaverous Clash Arena with no freeze/shadow resistance, a shadow weapon and died twice to some Kats on the first part. The person was just lying on the ground for the entire arena. I decided to ask why he didn't revive himself. Apparently he had absolutely no sparks, or money to buy sparks. This arena isn't the easiest one, so the group was struggling. When you can clearly see that the group is struggling, and you're just dead weight, you should just return to haven so the monsters have less health.
Note: This guy joined on depth 18 - emberlight, so he had more then enough time to prepare.
This is more directed at the newbies with no sparks:
I don't know if these are the right words, but i don't really have much respect for players that don't do their research. Like for FSC, you should at least have a 4* or better fire resistant/shadow defense shield, a strike needle and some form of elemental weapon or support weapon (Vortex/Shivermist).
-If you have no sparks, do no preparation and join elite runs without a second thought you should not expect to be revived. On the other hand, If you get invited to a run where you don't really have the gear/skill for with no sparks, then you should expect the others to revive and or carry you. Note: If you know you don't have the gear for a certain mission/depth, get what you think you need before you go so you won't be a burden.
-If you don't have the gear, focus more on objectives then killing stuff. Bring a pulsar to interrupt turrets, or a support weapon like a vortex bomb, shivermist/venom veiler/voltaic tempest to distract/weaken/immobilize enemies. Carry the keys, hit switches, break barriers, keep the fires lit in candlestick keep, break the Wheel things in FSC and just help in ways you can think of.
-Its not difficult to find the information you're looking for, ask older players for advice or look at the wiki...
-If you're farming Jelly King for money, but constantly die... practice in the arcade, depth 8-12 is much easier then depth 14-17. Arena = money.
-Grinding JK/RT for money/orbs isn't the only way, people pay a lot for battle sprite food and certain recipes. Kilowatt Pulsar and Twisted Targe sells for a lot on the auction house, If you're in Tier 3, Crest of Almire, Silversix/Argent Peacemaker and Barbarous Thorn Shield recipes sell for a lot.
-The surname of the depth usually tells you what monsters you'll be facing. Like "Iron Edge Arena - Robo Rampage" will be a non-status construct + gremlin arena, while "Flame Lash Arena - Cadaverous Clash" will be Fire themed Undead + Fiends. This is stuff you learn over time, but its helpful to take note of it early.
-Read the Shieldbearer's Guide + Swordie/gunslinger/bomber Guide + Status Condition pages on the wiki.
-Leaf
Ran into another one just now. Three guys in the same guild wiped, leaving me to deal with the final room on D14JK with my 2* shadow alchemer. They weren't shielding and they ran through spikes.
"spark us dude dont be cheap"
Me: Use your own damn sparks.
"we have none you noob head"
Me: Not reviving people who don't know how to play.
I was kicked about 10 seconds later.
Come on people...
A majority of my deaths were either because I got unlucky with Scarabs (because nobody killed them so they added up and became a constant threat) or got caught out by the Harvester when I had aggro. Rather than distracting it I went about my business.
But yeah you get some insufferable players like that from time to time. The kind who are obnoxious enough to always think you're out to get them because of what they view as a crappy playstyle
They're probably full of noobs. If you're able to solo JK on Elite like me, then you should have no problem. If there's one thing I learned from the Apocrea event, never waste your sparks on anyone you don't know/care about.
Gone down to 327, to 246 just like that. Both for myself, and on others.
Was Apocrea really that hard? Can't people get through it without needing revives?
@Murrdurr - The harvester, if you had aggro, could hold you still with a statusless effect identical to freeze and it dealt damage which ignored your shield, but with Pale Scarabs floating about they could wear that down so you take full (huge) damage. Grasping Plateue also had no drops so there was no way to heal besides dying + reviving and health caps you got from previous floors.
Though if one player holds the Harvester's aggro by running in circles, avoids the tentacle-arm attack and keeps the rest of the team alive in the process then it's a breeze.
Apocrea managed to make me use all 100+ of my bound sparks. It was that ridiculous, which is kind of a welcome change. The game is ridiculously easy otherwise, and sparks are STILL disgustingly common in my opinion.
Another thing that annoys me is when I randomly receive friend requests or guild invites from people I've never seen, met, or talked to before. Why? Why do you want to friend or guild someone you don't even know?
I am looking for a guild at the moment, but I'd rather join one that is well established and has a Teamspeak or Ventrilo.
Strange, I've never met one of these people who beg for sparks ._. And throughout all the apocrea missions I did I probably spent at least 5 sparks, idk how I'm terrible at a lot of PvE, but not the shroud mission.
Well you're free to join mine anyway. Though I have no clue what Teamspeak or Ventrilo is.
I have never met a person who has begged me for a revive. Either they use their own sparks when they felt it was right, or they just sat down knowing they were defeated, or in some cases too stubborn to use a single spark. Instead, it's usually me asking them if they want a revive. I charge people 1,000 crowns per revive. (Is this too low or too high? I have not done any calculations for the price of 1 spark yet.)
This can get me quite a bit of money when ever I encounter those that just lay dead because they refuse to use one of their 400 sparks.
1 Spark = 20 CE = 1/5 of 100 CE = 1/5 of energy price in 100 sets.
Current energy price averages around 8000, not counting that flash sale.
That makes each Spark approximately 1600 crowns. You're selling at a loss.
Apocrea wasn't that hard at all.
Leafchime, I was about to say the exact same thing until I saw your comment.
Please, prepare, lower-leveled players, before you "run into spikes"
You can revive your teammate with half of your pip before.
@Sandwich-Potato: Only if he's buying sparks, if he is just reving people with sparks that he has picked up, then there is no cost.
Looks like I'll be starting some danger missions again. Even on normal mode people die like crazy as their crowns pile around me. Sadly, some people just don't know that you don't stop until you DROP. Spiral Knights are just so backwards sometimes.
I have never met a person who has begged me for a revive.
Me either. The people who are dead just quit.
I burned 6 today, all against the T2 boss of Crimson Hammer. It's gonna be costly grinding solo for my Seerus mask, but I see it as a worthy expenditure.
I always wonder what a person would do, who just plays dead throughout the whole mission... notice how people would come back to the game right at the end of 10 minutes or so, just so they can avoid and prevent themselves from being disconnected from the server. I say shame on thee!
Well, I've got to say, I don't usually come across people who beg for sparks, but I do come across people who die on simple T2 missions. A lot.
Junior swordsmen running in and almost religiously attacking a lichen colony until it is dead with no regard to their own health or the health of the healers that are making their effort worthless. And if they do see a silkwing then they just attack with their nightblade and get killed in the process. This is on RJP, but I've seen people bringing nightblades to undead/fiend clockwork levels as well.
I managed to burn through all my sparks as well, by using a cutter on jellies and not shield cancelling. I died. A lot. because I didn't know how interruptions worked, and just hit the jelly as much as I could in the hopes of it not hitting me before I killed it.
Hahn really needs to up his game with telling the new recruits about damage types, and possibly give a bit of info on how avoiding damage is better than getting the kill?
" I've seen people bringing nightblades to undead/fiend clockwork levels as well."
That pales in comparison to the time I've had someone using nothing but the Polaris and Voltedge in Ghosts in the Machine one time.
I see people bring Sentenza and Gran Faust in FSC.
Since none of the monsters there are interrupted by shock, voltedge becomes a supereffective version of acheron (the zombies are carried the entire charge), and polaris always pushes back.
Status isn't everything, hiss.
Send me some in game mail, we have what you are looking for (i think), and we don't beg for sparks. We are the ones who knock.
You people with your "it's good for knockback" excuses make me sick.
Want Knockback? Nitronome, Leviathan Blade, Valiance, Shield Bumping/Bashing, Argent Peacemaker/Sentenza/Obsidian Carbine's charge attack, Supernova, other things I can't name/remember now.
Want Knockback?
Nitronome. Normal. Not elemental.
Leviathan Blade Normal. Not elemental.
Valiance Normal. Not elemental.
Shield Bumping/Bashing, Yes, but no damage.
Argent Peacemaker/Sentenza/Obsidian Carbine's charge attack, Yes, but uninterrupted charge and two of those are shadow.
Supernova - YES. But normal.
In GiTM, it would be more sensible to bring the shock items.
knockback isnt everything either, hiss.
Using Voltedge because it doesn't interrupt in GitM is plain silly because Combuster.
Still, I don't see what's so bad about Normal damage. It's not weak against anything. Granted, it's not going to dish out as much damage as a balanced loadout, but it's still a much cheaper alternative if you're just looking for something that can get the job done.
And Valiances knockback can prove invaluable for a dedicated gunner playing defensively.
I don't have a combuster...
and I prefer the manly, cutting edge baby blue hues of the voltedge over the combuster any day, hiss!
@murrdurr
And I have nothing against normal weapons! I have several myself! But in this day and age of SK where PUGs have people that can barely keep their wits, let alone perform as a team, there is large need to go in with a type advantage. I personally would save the normals for a stage that is less kill-you-to-death-y, hiss.
like FSC!
Then you'll regret bringing a Voltaic Tempest down there.
it's knowckback+damage, the ultimate instawin couple. why do you think combuster is used? because more damage.
and btw, you should use combuster in GotM.
seems I forgot to refresh the page.
I don't have a tempest yet. Still, there's a difference between bringing a high damage weapon with no chance for status and bringing a low damage weapon with no chance for status.
I'd bring a storm driver, but not a tempest. Common sense dictates that you not try to shock unshockable monsters with a shock device. Shocking isnt it, hiss?
These days the PUGs are the main reason why I tend to solo everything, even Crimson Hammer. I can do better when I'm alone usually because at least then I don't have to contend with the extra health monsters have for each player present.
Agreed. Plus, it's easier to take your time to react to everything instead of forcefully reacting to something from your teammate(s) (hard to understand at first but you'll understand once you think about it)
@Shien-Ryu
I GUESS that's a valid point. The only thing that could go wrong is that you hit a Quicksilver in an electric jelly arena or some place that relates.
It also reminds me of the time I was 3* (WAAAAAAAY before the new UI and Battle Sprites) and my only legit gun was a Firotech Alchemer MKII, I was in a fire beast level, went into an optional kill room, was mutilated by oilers and oiler turrets
Also, what's a(re) PUG(s)?
PUG = Pick-Up Group. AKA a Pub, or a Random.
Dude, man....can I have a spark dude.....? Woahhh......you gave me a spark......Oops, I died again.....A spark again, dude.....???
Like that?