Note that sometimes, you will face opponents (like me) who have sat out for a week or two…. playing every “free entry” possible, and taking the accompanying extra entry ticket… but no more.
They will also take a treasure chest every 15 minutes, EVERY 15 minutes, 15 hours a day.
Two weeks later, they’ll have 100 free entry tickets, and 50+ of the three lowest spells, plus a pig inflater or two.
Then they land in your arena the next week, ready to play. They’ll spend every ticket, playing round after round after round, and expending 3 spells per level on streaks above 2, in order to get a 7-streak and 500 feathers…. and 300+ stars per day in the process.
In my experience, an entry ticket is worth about 9 stars, when you factor in future entry tickets, and if you’re willing to expend 12 spells per “7 streak” (2 each from level 3 on, 3 each to catch 6 and 7). Thus, if I start the week with 100 tickets and 50 each in the lower 3 spells, I expect to spend about 50 of those tickets, to earn about 450 stars. In addition, I’ll earn 12 free entries per day (6 on time, 6 on watching videos after), or another 84 tickets…. worth another 756 stars.
I’ll earn over 1200 stars, and *still* have 50 more entry tickets in reserve if I need to spend a couple more to crush you and get the full 300 pearls and 200 gems for first place.
In such weeks when I’ve saved up, I’ll often race out to a several hundred point lead the first day or two, in the hopes of discouraging others from even trying, leaving me to a walk (and perhaps, spending fewer tickets). Sometimes this backfires, as sometimes I’ll encounter another “me”, and I’ll have to decide if accepting second place is better than spending 50 or more tickets. Sometimes, I’ll take on such a character just out of spite, especially if their “medal” record indicates that they don’t take second place lightly (i.e. they have 19 golds, one silver and no bronze — I *love* handing such a player their second bronze).
As to strategy, pieces nailed together, etc…. bring it on. I’ve long griped that the arena doesn’t have as much variance as it should. I often encounter the same sequence of rooms, several matches in a row. There are literally 700+ level available. Why must the arena focus on 20 or so each week? Make it about skill — make it about READING to room, looking for physics exploits, or for trouble spots where there are reinforcements (yes, they are there — if a piece stays connected, you missed the weld in the first place!).
I pride myself on being good at reading a room and a series, and exploiting it with the birds available. I’d far rather be up against a random level, than one *everyone* has had weeks to master with that “perfect shot”, knowing that they need to “save” Matilda or Chuck for that “long” shot that they expect 2 levels down, because they recognize the sequence they are in and know that in a level or two, they’ll need them.
Randomize the rooms in the arena (pick any of the levels from 200 and up), and you’ll find that it becomes far more a game of skill than a game of rote.
Jester
