Spiral Knights

[Thylacine]

There's a Sonic CD set of items being released today, and they'll be available until the end of the month. They're a Metal Sonic suit (helmet/suit combo) and a Tails accessory for the back of your armor. You either have to spend $10-$30 on stuff in the store or pay Boost 3,200 CE per piece to get them.

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On an unrelated note, has anyone found those scenario rooms from the update a few weeks back? Still haven't found one. There's going to be a mission update soon, which should make this game less grindy for the bulk of us who are to upper-tier equipment.

Oh, and I finally beat Vanaduke! And by "beat," I mean "died a lot while feeding other people my remaining CE." As a result, the money I was saving to try for a Volcanic Pepperbox recipe is not quite what it was. Does anyone have any tips on getting decent amounts of crowns with a basic Mist Energy run? What tier do you guys recommend, 2 or 3?

Edited January 19, 2012 by Thylacine
Added inquiry on how to gather crowns.

[cobaltstarfire]

I've run into the more common ones, a lot of them aren't really anything interesting.

The one I've seen the most is the guy in the clockworks with two large crystals and a trapped monster and he talks about how certain crystal combinations attracts specific monsters. (Also don't mind the blue jelly, he's being de-spiked).

I've found one in T3 with a single knight hiding amongst a camp shaking and talking about how "they" took "everyone" and he just ran and hid in a corner cause he was so scared.

There's one in wolver dens that are a squadron of knights camped, and they spout random bits about their equipment choices (I like to shoot, but carry a sword just in case, ect).

I feel like there's one other but I don't remember the specifics about it.

One of my friends found a more interesting in one of the devilish drudgery levels where you summon up a couple of mundane items by placing weighted statues on buttons.

That's all I've seen, I was hoping for a bit more from "scenario rooms" but the mission addition looks like it'll be adding what I was initially expecting from scenario rooms.

...

Also I might have to buy some energy just so I can get my hands on those Tails...tails. He's my fav Sonic character afterall.

Edited January 19, 2012 by cobaltstarfire
durpey durp

[Brycepops]

You either have to spend $10-$30 on stuff in the store or pay Boost 3,200 CE per piece to get them.

Or you could just buy Sonic CD for five bucks~

[Thylacine]

There's now a Love Aura for "sale" now in honor of... something. I forget.

I have to admit, out of every accessory available, the auras seem like the best. I don't see anyone walking around with them, though, so they might be limited to viewing with high-level graphics. I keep my settings low because even a basic game like this lags.

(I know this thread is pretty much dead for most people who still play this game, but I want to keep it alive at least until the missions update. It should give more to do in the game. I hope.)

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It's here!

The missions release changes how the game starts up - you go to a screen of your character working at a console and can choose to either visit Haven or view the mission screen.

The good:

*Missions add something to do. Some involve exploration or rescue similar to what you see on a normal gate run, but with rooms similar to the scenario rooms we've been introduced to. Others involve gathering ingredients to turn in for other items.

*There are new missions provided daily, for when you finish the regular "rank" missions. There are also "expansion" missions that will be available for purchase in the future.

*If you're not down for walking, you can access the gates from the mission screen, so you get to your runs a minute or so faster. Less talky, more gamey.

*Prizes!

The bad:

*The apprentice missions have some unfortunate side effects that will hopefully be weeded out. The first is that all of us will have to essentially go through beginner lectures again. There are also some missions which are clearly Tier-1 in difficulty.

*The second is that you will receive low-star or no-star equipment upon completion of these missions. Yes, it is all bound. Even the recipes you get are bound, which I didn't know they could do! I don't know how to unbind zero-star items or known recipes, either, so my arsenal is getting absurdly cluttered.

*Someone quitting mid-quest hurts much like it does when someone quits during a boss run.

There are obviously a few bugs to work out, but I have to admit that the quests were fun.

Edited February 23, 2012 by Thylacine
Added info on missions

[Thylacine]

Okay, I thought editing the previous post would bump this up to the top, but it didn't for me. Anyway, the information above is for the missions, which were released today.

On a more personal note, they changed the pepperbox series so that charge bullets push away enemies rather than draw them close. Since that's my main weapon, this one hurt a bit. They essentially nerfed the guns, since now I can't shoot bullets like a fiery vortex of death.

Comments on missions, or on the programmers ruining my life?

[Top Gun]

I haven't logged in for a few weeks, so I didn't even know this was coming. I'll make sure to check it out.

[Top Gun]

Yeesh...I see what you mean about clutter, Thylacine. Apparently you can still sell those goofy "bound" duplicate recipes back to a vendor to get rid of them, though I got all of a single crown for the 1-star one I had. I figure even that is better than having them take up space. The duplicate weapons are another matter, though; even the 1-star and above ones would require an exorbitant amount of CE just to ditch, and like you said, we can't get rid of 0-star stuff at all. I'm thinking about making a thread on their official forums asking about the possible ability to delete bound items. I understand having to pay CE if you want to sell something off, but you should be able to toss out extra copies like we're getting now without needing to shell out anything.

I am enjoying the missions concept as a whole, though, even if what we have so far is definitely slanted towards new players. There's not a whole lot of plot there, but it's a nice change from the usual "dive through Clockworks levels for no reason" repetition, and there's quite a bit of potential for future additions. I finally did craft my Leviathan Blade, but I think I might hold off for a little while on buying any more 5-star recipes for the default set, since they might wind up as rewards for future Tier 3 missions.

I'm just glad that this new stuff has rekindled my interest in the game. If you happen to see me on, drop me a line and we can team up on a run.

[Thylacine]

I've just been burning through missions at the moment, since they've been remarkably helpful at raising money for me. I'm not sure if people can join those mid-way (my guess is not) but I try to linger in the mission lobby so people who want to join me can. Once I'm done with the rank missions, I'll return to the normal Arcade diving (and runs with people who wish to do so).

Apparently, we CAN sell the spare Mining Hats to vendors. I had just been selling stuff to the Auction House up to this point, so I never thought to try selling the bound stuff until now. I'm keeping some of my duplicates for deviation recipes, but I've cleared out most of the clutter. Glad to get rid of the useless recipes (but happy I got some of the basic ones for free). Also, yesterday's mission demanded that stun pop gun they forced onto us with one of the missions, so they might declutter things that way, too.

All they have to do is reinstate the pepperbox series with its original function and I'm completely satisfied. I didn't know there were so many users of that gun, but now there's a bunch of them arguing for a reversion in the SK forums.

My next mission is the Jelly King, which should hopefully get me the Sealed Sword I want.

[cobaltstarfire]

The "original function" that you speak of was a bug, so don't expect it to ever be returned.

[Thylacine]

They COULD get rid of pushback, though. I'd be happy with that.

Got sealed sword!

[NegimaSonic]

well I was holding on playing until Missions Released, then I got exams so I'm sticking with something lighter (FPS game since disconnections don't "cost" me there).

Anyway, today's update adds to missions but as of this time, it's steam only and requires payment. No workarounds at this time. Steam gifting is an option but only if you have steam. I'll wait to see what happens next. Kind of tough that many have wished for a shadow bomb and one gets released like this. I won't be mad yet though.

[Top Gun]

Apparently, we CAN sell the spare Mining Hats to vendors. I had just been selling stuff to the Auction House up to this point, so I never thought to try selling the bound stuff until now. I'm keeping some of my duplicates for deviation recipes, but I've cleared out most of the clutter. Glad to get rid of the useless recipes (but happy I got some of the basic ones for free). Also, yesterday's mission demanded that stun pop gun they forced onto us with one of the missions, so they might declutter things that way, too.

Huh...I wonder if we could always sell off bound stuff to a vendor. Either way, it's good to have, since it does mean ditching all of that clutter. Speaking of, if anyone's interested in collecting all of the dinky weapons, all of those UV versions of the starter weapons that we couldn't get from the first round of missions are now in the Featured tab at the Auction House, for all of 250 crowns each.

I went ahead and bought the missions pack. I've never spent a dime on this game, so I figured hell, I can at least throw in $4 for some new content.

[Thylacine]

There was an update that added some more missions. These ones, aside from Kora chats, appear to be Tier 3-centric.

The smartest thing to do with these missions is to stay in Tier 1 and reap points from the daily prestige missions (ranking up appears to give more demanding missions). That would be incredibly boring, but I'm not quite sure what the point is of the prestige yet and it may pay off down the road.

[Thylacine]

I don't think I'll kick up this thread any more, since interest in the game has started to wane here. If they suddenly make an update concerning guild halls, then I might bring it to everyone's attention (I'd like to make an OCR-tan statue or put speakers in the corners). Otherwise, I shall let this thread slip into that quiet night.

It's the 1-year anniversary of Spiral Knights, and they've got a special event going on until April 10th. It's very similar to the Halloween event - Fight a bunch of monsters in a random room that appears on "gear" stages, get several tokens (Cake Slices, also purchaseable in Haven for a huge markup), use those tokens to get one of three costume helmets (two of which disappear after a set frame of time, one of which is permanent). Since missions have been introduced since then, they've also added a Prestige mission which gets you 4 tokens and 80 prestige.

You need 100 tokens to get the permanent mask. After a full mist tank of energy, I only ended up with 12. I'm hoping I just had some raw luck.

In addition to tokens, you can also buy capsules of confetti for a few hundred crowns. The good stuff. I had one, but then I realized it was just taking up space.

Oh, and the cake tokens are not a lie. Happy Anniversary!

[NegimaSonic]

I'll probably do this, not sure. I'm glad to see they've made a year and I was there for most of it.

Anyway, just like punkin, this guy spawns in clockwork tunnels, so just look for d9 stages with clockwork tunnels and farm those. It'll still waste your energy, but you won't have to run entire gates looking for them.

[Top Gun]

I just went through a whole T1 run with six Tunnels missions, and only managed to find the cake dudes once, which is a bummer. I'll take another crack at just running one mission repeatedly tonight, to see if that produces better results.

The slightly-frustrating thing for me at this point is that I can't continue to progress through the remaining missions, since I'm stuck at the full 5-star loadout requirement. I've had my Levi Blade for a while, and I managed to craft an Aegis recently, so now I just need to hoard up some CE and grind out the armor and helm requirements. I did pull my first FSC run with a few benevolent strangers the other day, though I didn't have the equipment to attempt Vanaduke.

[NegimaSonic]

I just went through a whole T1 run with six Tunnels missions, and only managed to find the cake dudes once, which is a bummer. I'll take another crack at just running one mission repeatedly tonight, to see if that produces better results.

The slightly-frustrating thing for me at this point is that I can't continue to progress through the remaining missions, since I'm stuck at the full 5-star loadout requirement. I've had my Levi Blade for a while, and I managed to craft an Aegis recently, so now I just need to hoard up some CE and grind out the armor and helm requirements. I did pull my first FSC run with a few benevolent strangers the other day, though I didn't have the equipment to attempt Vanaduke.

It won't get incredibly better I suppose, but it's better to spam 1-2 stages than a whole tier. It's an energy sink for the impatient, it was like that for me in Halloween. I had my friends and guildmates all over it.

Now about the star stuff, that's new to me since I kind of haven't done the missions but same basic principle for getting your gear up. It's going to take a little time but you'll get there. I hope the armor you have ready for 5* is elemental or has fire protection though if you're after FSC. (Shadow is ok, but some of those have fire weaknesses so that could be terrible there lol)

[Top Gun]

It's not, just the plain old Cobalt set, for better or worse. It was the only armor I had up to 4-star in the first place, plus the missions gave free recipes for the 5-star variants of the whole "standard" weapon/armor set, so that's definitely what I'm working on first. After that, I'll get going on something more specialized.

I really do love the missions system as a whole, though, even as someone who'd been playing the game for a long time before it was implemented. It's nice not having to commit to a full 8- or 9-level run when I want to play; a mission with two or three levels takes a half-hour at most, so it's a nice bite-sized portion of gameplay.

[NegimaSonic]

oh, I see, well it's not terrible, I mean if you're good at dodging, it doesn't honestly matter what you wear. I just know I'm not. So that's why I went with the standard bread and butter stuff. But even though you've put time in, you may still wish to stop and get started on your ideal set because that 1600 energy (helm + armor) could be put into a set you really want to use.

Piercing defense isn't bad though in some places, but you could be packing Ash Tail with a sword attack bonus for that same effort (50+50+200+200+400+400+recipes that cost no more than 10k). Then you could choose between heading into an elemental set with vog (+fire protection) or more sword damage and slightly less piercing defense with skolver (assuming sword user). If you're not running all of tier 3 with the final cobalt stuff, it'd be a waste to go past 4* since it has no other bonuses, you can just keep what you've got and run JK some more (or whatever other gate, but JK tends to your piercing defense)

[Thylacine]

Sorry I keep missing you, Top Gun. I see you log on around the same time I play, but I've been mid-run when you're starting and you're mid-run when I'm tapped out on energy.

Man, this is even more frustrating than the Punkin King stuff. I want this helmet, but I keep partying with people who aren't privy to how this works. I'll have to do the D9 grinding you mentioned. As much as I hate "exploiting" a system, it's my only option if I want to make the Tuesday deadline.

[NegimaSonic]

nah, you're not exploiting it by running the same initial depth. It's very minimal profit and more than likely costly if you go over your mist energy (and you'll have to if you want to make the deadline) because crown production at d9 (or any first depth of a tier) is terrible.

A real exploit would've been doing something like bringing an alt or knowing people who had alts at the entrances of arenas that could be joined continuously for the sake of farming crowns and mats...but ahem, that was a long time ago.

[Top Gun]

Sorry I keep missing you, Top Gun. I see you log on around the same time I play, but I've been mid-run when you're starting and you're mid-run when I'm tapped out on energy.

Yeah, I saw you on last night myself, but I was derping through the first one or two T1 or T2 levels looking for tokens, and considering how dull it was, I didn't feel it would be a good idea to subject anyone else to it.

Negima, I know there are probably better ways to go about things in terms of overall preparedness, but I think I'm going to stick with getting my current stuff to 5-star before working on anything else. The only other armor/helms I have are back at 2-star, and while I do have a few 3-star recipes, it'd still take a long time to get a new set to 4-star, even. Since I already have the Azure Guardian recipes, and I only need about 1200 more CE to craft them, it's definitely the fastest way to go, especially if I want to keep working through missions. I do plan on working on a few different sets in the long-term, so I'll get to leveling something else up eventually.

And while I agree that the Wolver line does have some pretty nice end products, the main reason I never did much with them before is because I thought most of the line looked pretty damn ugly. Besides, that, everyone and their mother seems to wear them, and I wanted to stick out a bit. (Obviously this isn't as big of a deal with costume slots, but still.)

[Thylacine]

Top Gun and I have been doing a few runs of this. I've been trying to invite people on my runs, so if you are on late and see me, let me know if you're interested. I like the company, especially when waiting for elevators (which they really shouldn't make us do). That said, I'm not really having a lot of luck finding these rooms.

Tonight's run was less than stellar - 12 cake tokens. I got some with Top Gun, some from the daily mission, and some from another room that I finally got into on my last floor of the night. (Seriously, I must have run at least 10 times after he logged out before I found one.) I'm roughly 30 tokens from the helmet, and I intend to buy some energy tomorrow night to finish this out.

[Top Gun]

I've enjoyed those past few runs with you, too. I've managed to eke my way up to 86 tokens thanks to them, so with any luck, I'll finally be done with the thing after tonight. It'll be nice to go back to profitable runs again.

[Thylacine]

Both Top Gun and I have our prismatic frosted helms now. After my unlucky streaks, I managed a rather lucky run after he left where I got two in a row (worth 4 and 5 tokens, giving me the last 9 I needed). I'll figure out a set that I can wear this helmet with, because it does look really neat.

I shall now take ANOTHER one of my "I'm burned out on this game and am taking a sabbatical before I hurt something" breaks. I'll try to pop on after I'm done playing other, non-SK games for a while.

Oh, and Top Gun - thanks for making what would have been a draining endeavor very much enjoyable.