E&P Mag 8: Wisdom in a Tooth, Three Superstar 3-Star Summoners, 2-Tier Raiding, & More! (Nov)
I’ve decided to revive my “E&P MAG” format to cover a number of Empires and Puzzles topics all in one tidy swoop. There haven’t been any new Heroes in the past week, but there’s still loads to talk about.
Let’s get to the Agenda!
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AGENDA (Empires and Puzzle Magazine)
1. Old Cynic seeking Wisdom
2. Three Superstar 3-Star Summoners
3. Empires and Puzzles’ 2 Tiers of Raiding?
4. War of the Three Kingdoms Etiquette
Wanna read the last Old Style Magazine?
This post may contain speculation, personal opinion, and adult comedy. It is not advice and is solely for entertainment and informational purposes.
Wisdom Tooth Extraction Story: Pain, Suffering, and a Swollen Face
It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything and that’s partly due to E&P taking a break and partly due to the build-up to my Wisdom Tooth removal surgery.
That was yesterday and now my cheek has blown up like I’ve taken the beating of my life. Feels like I let someone take free swings until they exhausted themselves… I’m sat here looking like Theodore (51sec).
“…and Theodore! -Tott, tott, tott-tott-tott” 😄
It’s all f#*ked up to be totally honest with you. My jaw feels like it’s been kerbed and I’m on more drugs than an unruly baboon at the zoo.
Funny thing is, this tooth’s never really caused me any direct pain; it’s just been hiding under my gum. But at this stage, there’s no point assigning blame.
When I got there the Waiting Room was eerily empty.
I could hear the sounds of a woman inside telling someone that they had done “sooo well” and that they should expect swelling. But I tried not to listen, coz why live through it twice, right?
Then the door opened and a man in his 40s walked out.
I tried to catch his eye; hoping to get a look of reassurance that the procedure wasn’t that bad. He must’ve felt my gaze but simply ignored it and marched on, no doubt stuck in the memory of what had just occurred.
I took no solace. ~Just wished I was him; leaving rather than arriving.
Then I went in and after a few questions and answers, it all started. There was cutting and drilling and pulling and cracking and soon one of my torturers was saying, “you did sooo well”.
I told them directly, “You’re hardcore. I could never do that”. Then I left.
Sitting in the waiting room was a lady, a little younger than me.
I could feel her stare as my darting glance caught the anxiety shadowing her face.
I offered no comfort and instead hurried to the exit as if fleeing a hostage situation.
Thank goddess, I thought, that I’m leaving rather than arriving.
Three Superstar 3-Star Summoners
I wanted to highlight three 3-Star Minion Summoners who’ve helped me remain competitive in both 3-Star and 4-Star Tournaments.
You’ll know them, but some newer players might not appreciate their true value (no offence meant (no offence taken (bish-bash-bosh (touché)))).
The first is Dawn:
Dawn’s been lighting up Empires and Puzzles with her Lady of the Lake styley Mini-Me Mana Minions.
And just like LotL, Dawn’s Minions are a little floppy at 10% HP, however, that’s not a problem if you can play her with one of the other two Summoners on this list (or another strong Summoner).
Unlike LotL, Dawn isn’t a Healer. Instead, she will Summon a Minion, Buff nearby allies with +54% Defense against Special Skills for 3 turns, and throw out a Cleanse for good measure.
A great Hero to prioritize if she’s sitting on your bench.
The Second & Third are Kvasir and Costumed Kvasir:
Kvasir, without his Costume, is one of the Best 3-Star Heroes in Empires and Puzzles, by far.
Often, for me, he’s the difference between a win and a loss.
If I can stop the opposition from Summoning Minions in a Bloody Tournament, I’m halfway home.
The biggest problem with Kvasir is that he’s just so powerful, and should he fire off before you while on Defense, he can have the same impact!
As for his Costumed Counterpart, if you haven’t levelled him yet, you may be missing out.
The more I use him, the more I appreciate him.
His Minions are heavier and will stop Status Effects (Buffs)… priceless.
I try to field all three of these Heroes when Raiding, with only one thing that will give me pause…
Seeing plain old Kvasir on the other side!
Thanks to Dharion, whose recent comment inspired this section.
ʕ•́ᴥ•̀ʔっDo you like Christmas? Then you’ll love Costumed Heimdall’s review.
Empires and Puzzles’ 2 Tiers of Raiding?
Does E&P now have 2 Tiers of Raiding?
What I mean is, in the past, I could comfortably get into the Top 100 but now I’m facing some seriously outlandish teams which are pretty insurmountable (without a good deal of luck).
I don’t have a problem with this new reality, but I do like to Fact Check. Are others seeing this too? Is it now a matter of fact?
Miriam & Midnight are clearly OP, well, unless you happen to have a solid way to dispose of Summoners and their pesky Minions.
There’s no doubt that she should be viewed as a T-3 Deity, and the only reason I haven’t changed it is because I like the way the review reads, as I allude to the fact that her Minions are the tipping point.
But even without M&M, I’ve noticed that C.G.Panther paired with Bastet (both Fast), will decimate my team quick-time, if I don’t get some decent tiles to change the outcome.
Of course, Alucard is a ridiculous menace, and then Kullervo, Hulda, and Oh, let’s not forget Anne…
I’m not a big spender at all, but I have definitely noticed a shift and would love to get your views and opinions as well.
I should add…
In my view, new OP Monsters aren’t necessarily a massive problem.
Some of the pain comes when they can dismiss your Status Ailments like M&M does.
If I can’t reduce Defense, or Malosi’s Status Control doesn’t stick, or etc etc, then half the battle’s already lost.
And if instead of blocking it, you send it back to me, along with your own concoction of Ailments, well. It’s lights out.
It’s a layer of protection never seen before.
So, it’s not exclusively a matter of statistics; with Skills like that, some of these new Heroes are simply existing on a completely different plane.
War of the Three Kingdoms Etiquette
Alright, last topic: War of the Three Kingdoms Etiquette.
Look, we’re all Players here. We know how it works… maybe some don’t. Let me explain:
In the massive Three Kingdoms War, you get WAYYYY more points for finishing a Team than you get for, say, defeating the Tank.
So, if Player A goes in and fails to defeat a Defence Team with one Flag, but then someone else jumps in before he/she does, then that Player stands to earn the bulk of the points.
Even though the hard work was done by Player A.
The way I see it is, if you fail to defeat the Team it should be left for you to re-engage before someone else jumps in.
In fairness, this is not an enormous problem, but I’ve had crumbs swept from under my chin before I’ve had a chance, -so I thought I’d offer it up here for consideration.
But what are your views? Is there a Three Kingdoms Etiquette? Or is the War more akin to life; Let the Winner take it all?
That’s it Folks! (Empires and Puzzles Mag)
I hope you enjoyed the Mag.
There’s about to be a lot of E&P activity with new Heroes and Events. And that will include new Christmas Heroes.
Before you go, please feel free to share your thoughts on any of the topics covered.
Do you own a 3-Star Hero that deserves a shout-out? Go ahead!
Thanks for reading.
[Please always check in-game Hero Cards to confirm details and never chase Heroes]
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…and Theodore! – Ref to Alvin And The Chipmunks (Bagdasarian Productions/Ruby-Spears Enterprises)
Etiquette for the 3 Kingdoms.
This is a rubbish event, boring and the format should be changed.
There is no team, just a bunch of individuals fighting for the best points they can get so they can improve their team. I actually pride myself on my ability to jump in clean up a weakened team. With a mediocre team I can end up in the top 20 scorers. The rewards are pretty pants too.
This event could be / should be so much better, they should mix the format up, have 5* Heroes one day, 4* the next and end up with 3*.
Stop players who don’t use any of their flags from entering again, increase the rewards for players who partake fully regularly.
Do ANYTHING but just make it more interesting.
Rant over.
I agree, I don’t care about w3k at all, I got 5 coins for my performance, 50 for my team winning, we were ranked 350ish, but that is top 35k players, Not sure if rewards are better near the top. still only at 78 coins after playing all but 1 w3k. The heroes are strong to so it is a pay to get the heroes event.
I experienced a similar wisdom tooth problem where both my bottom ones were growing sideways under the gum. They had to knock me out to remove them and then, to add insult to injury, they stitched my gums into the inside of my cheek. The gums felt marginally ok but the stitches in the cheek were agony and I had them removed asap. We were just discussing the W3K problems with allies sniping your remnants on FB. Any time you attack you should be attached to that team until you decide to disengage so you can reap the reward for your work. This event does not engender allies, half the time I cannot communicate with them due to language differences, so giving up points for the team in this dog eat dog battle is not viable, especially with loot tied to individual scores. Also what’s up with people joining and then not using any flags? The only thing I really use this event for is testing new heroes that are not leveled up enough to join my top tier teams. Sometimes you get some surprises at how good they are or find a nice synergy. Love 3 stars and these 2 are awesome. One thing about 3 stars is there are now 94 unique heroes, are pretty easy to summon even in the events and in the tournaments I see the usual suspects most of the time with little variation. I guess you go with what you know.
Unlucky with the teeth Dave, thank goodness it’s behind us. The recovery is worse than the procedure, -and I’ve had my fair share of root canals.
Re. W3K, I just saw another post about it on Reddit that I missed earlier. Still, where I’m surprised… and I know I shouldn’t be, but I’m surprised people don’t pause for 30 secs to see if the original attacker is coming back ’round.
Thanks for reading and sharing, Dave.
WO3K is garbage. My team lost by 500 points but left 150 more flags. Left flags wins and loses it and it’s a shame for those of us that go in and lay waste to the enemy. The only way to earn a good amount of free coins is to win and winning depends on whether or not your warband uses their flags.
The format has a lot of potential that it doesn’t quite fulfil. And even if you do win or get a good score, there’s no free spin waiting for you at the end.
In truth, I love Alliance Wars and W3K is close enough to keep me engaged. But it seems to be a points hunt rather than a team event. I like Dave’s thing about “Any time you attack you should be attached to that team until you decide to disengage so you can reap the reward for your work”.
At the end of the day, more flags will be wasted if everyone sits back looking for points rather than trying to take Tanks as you would in an Alliance War and that’s for the Devs to consider.
Thanks for sharing your view!
The amount of lurkers are amazing in the kingdom event.
I started tracking what legendaries heroes i have been getting as p2p with fated summons. I only was buying POV prior to fated summons existing. I started buying $1 per pull deals, 125 summons(some were from playing) 7 legendaries+1 fated, though two were dupes that are getting fed to Soul exchange. But the real advantage is getting more pulls from good portals, so more useful heroes than just getting older heroes that don’t fit on any team. Gonna have to use a ton of loot tickets and WE flasks on season 2 to run two or 3 TC2 just to get everyone done in a timely manner. They really have mastered the cycle of having more reasons to spend more to use what you pull.
I do think it was worth the money I spent though, matilda, double costume Elkanen, diochan, guan yu, morax, freya(from fated) But that luck is way more than the stated odds and I didn’t get any non costume classic legendaries. I won’t keep spending like this after the Christmas event, but it seems like Nov/Dec are a good time to spend now with all of the events in the current rotation.
War of 3 Kingdoms is broken… and it appears that the boards are somehow different than your regular Raid or Alliance War board; they are harder, much harder. Never have I taken a 3-2 team and gotten more than a smattering of those colors. Next. We all know the loot is god awful. How is it we can forget all about the awful loot from the last W3K, and eagerly jump in to play the very next time it roles around? How can W3K be fixed? The obvious thing to do would be to ban players who don’t use their flags from participating, period. You don’t use all 12 flags, you’re gone for a year, and so on… Oh, you left 3 flags? Sorry, you can’t participate in the next W3K. But the only way to make participation in W3K mean something is to start giving out better loot… and I mean dope loot: free Summonsx30, free 500 emblems, free multiple ascension items- like those hard to find Orbs of Magic. Give me 30 feeders, hell I’ll take anything as long as it’s not the crap that currently passing for loot. Long winded, I know, I’ll wrap it up with this. As for waiting around for someone to do their clean up, that’s a courtesy most don’t afford. After someone clears out the tank or whatever, there should be an automatic 1 minute waiting period so they can decide if they want to do the clean up. After that minute ticks down, on screen of course, it can be a free for all. If you come in and don’t see that timer, have at it.
Hey, guys! I will put in my two cents about the W3K if I may. I see a few comments here about this war being garbage, not caring about it at all, the loot being garbage… ok, the loot may be garbage for you but some players appreciate it whatever it is. The way I see W3K is a great opportunity for me to try out heroes I normally don’t get the chance to use, see how they work, test myself in the game. I like W3K because of all that. What I fail to understand is why people join the W3K if they think it’s not worth it. They don’t even try (because they think it’s garbage), their warband loses (hence, the loot is garbage), or they leave out flags (hence, their warband loses, loot is garbage and everything is just wrong). Why do people join the war then? In my opinion (and I may be wrong, so I apologize in advance), a lot of people have taken (IMO) a wrong direction – let’s just get stuff (loot, heroes…), and for what? I don’t have a lot of new heroes and still kick butt with S1 heroes or 4* (W3K – 8 full team wins, 2 cleanups and two losses btw).
What I really dislike is when people don’t use their flags or jump at cleanups. That should be handled, and I agree that they should be banned for repeatedly not using their flags, and I agree that we should get the chance of a few seconds to finish up the team we lost to.
(Sorry for the long post!)
1. Wisdom tooth removal is taken very seriously in my country’s armed forces, such that anyone who removes their wisdom teeth get 7 days of medical leave.
2. When I get to unlocking Season 3 stages in about 50 years, I hope to pull Kvasir and see his minions for myself. I’ve faced him in tourneys before and know what he does, but I don’t see the appeal.
3. I’m half-expecting M&M to be nerfed, but I hope SG doesn’t, because she’s waaaay too fun to use. I used to think filling out a team with hit-all heroes was the best way to make monster chest grinding less boring, but she goes beyond that since her hit-all is passive like Sergei’s (whom I also happen to own).
4. I’m on the fence with W3K. I used to be annoyed with the hundreds of unused flags, but I’ve since realised that this also means I’m more likely to get top score. Unlike Alliance Wars, where I function as a cleaner because I cannot one-flag most teams, the weaker teams I encounter in W3K are completely killable with 1 flag. Even if your warband loses, you get a decent amount of emblems and summon coins for placing at/near the top score, and as a C2P, I can always use those. The addition of the Fated Summon gives me even more reason to get those coins now.