User blog:Godofcyanide/TFL Domination - Part II - Allies, the Help System, and You

Welcome back, folks.

The Bee Team episode has just ended; I finished 164th with 13,139,060 points and $0 spent. I could have gotten higher but I really wanted to be 1313. ;) (If he's reading this, apologies to TheDireWolf2 for not hitting any of your last-minute bosses; now you know why.)

A lot has been made about the ally system and, as I mentioned previously, how it must be worked and massaged in order to provide maximum benefit. I'll start with an overview of the interaction between your allies and the help system.

'Help! I Need Somebody!'

Obviously, we can't one cube every boss. This game would be boring if it was just "see boss, kill boss, see next boss, etc." The game gives us the option to "call for help," which used to mean it selected a number of random users and sent the call to them for assistance in defeating a boss. Now, 25% of the population that receives your call comes from your ally list. Both your ally portion and random portion are chosen without any regard for online status or damage capability; it's entirely luck of the draw.

There is a line from a song I like to quote a lot, and that represents some of my outlook on life. It applies here, so I shall share with you, from the book of Slayer, chapter Seasons in the Abyss, verse Born of Fire:

"Making the best of the cards I've been dealt; adjusting the odds so I win."

So... How do we adjust the odds in our favor?

Second Tier Play: List Accumulation

As a second-tier player, you generally want a robust allies list. There were a few things I did early on to attract top players, some of which have been more effective than others. In order of increasing effectiveness:

1. Spamming the Leaderboard: Everyone wants to be your friend when you're on top. I know many people who do this (sending requests to players atop the leaderboard) at various stages in their game play, but it's completely ineffective if you have a "Gamer" or "Spark" tag, so, to those of you who have this, make an account and get a real handle. Thanks. :D This method becomes more effective as you and your team progress to regular second-tier status, and more so if your leader is a higher raid card. Players may recognize your name as being a more serious player. I would expect this to work infrequently, though, so keep reading!

2. Selective Shoutouts: Let's say you throw a cube at a random high-level (L8) boss and do 10+mil to it. Now, go to the Battle Log screen, click on their name and attempt to add them. Yes, you will get many "error sending ally request" messages, but KEEP TRYING and KEEP CUBING their seeds. Your damage - and your name - will be noticed. (If you think big hitters don't check those battle logs, you're dead wrong.)

3. Find a Team: Whether it's you and a few IRL buddies, or people you know via one of the many and varied fora on the Internet, the easiest way to acquire powerful allies is to do the legwork on your own and find them outside the game. Often, this is the most effective, as you can "pitch" your abilities and dedication to the game to them and then SHOW THEM that you mean business. Winning top tier doesn't start at the beginning of a given episode; it's a mindset you have to have for a time before you'll really be ready to make - and stay! - in the top tier.

Generally, you want to have a full list as a second-tier player, skewed to players of your level and above. Do NOT make the mistake of snap-dropping light-hitting allies; they do have some benefit to you at all tier levels.

Pre-episode: List Analysis

In Part I, I discussed a pre-episode check of your ally list. I'd like to go a little deeper into this. If you're planning on making the run for top tier, it's worth preparing for it ahead of time.

When you are scouring your list of inactive allies, make a paper copy of your ally list, with a few quick notes. What should you note?

- Is he a "teammate" or a random add? Teammates often have no problem being dropped and re-added, especially when you explain why you did it. Random adds can be hard to impossible to regain.

- Did he seed you L8's last event? You generally want to verify if those random big seeders from last event are continuing to do so during the episode you're targeting for conquest. Many big players take episodes off here and there, if only to give their credit cards a break.

- Did you "flag" him as a potential drop due to inactivity? As mentioned in Part I, if a player hasn't logged in since the middle of the last episode, he may be gone for good. You don't want your seeds going to inactive allies. If he's still not active, it is safe to assume he is not playing and should be dropped immediately!

You want this list somewhere where it can be consulted when needed. There are a few points at which you want to trim your ally list for maximum effectiveness.

The First Few Days: Battle Logs Are Your Friend!

Since episodes are of varying length, we'll start with the premise that "the first few days" covers the time period before the release of the top tier L8 boss. During this time, you want to look for the following things:

- What bosses are your allies seeding? If they are seeding comparable bosses to you (once your one-cubing run is over), they are likely in it to win it. If they are seeding fourth tier bosses, they're likely going to deal minimal damage to your L8s later on down the line. This isn't the time to snap cut them, but they may be gone after a pass or two of cuts.

- How much damage are they dealing? This becomes more obvious as your seeds increase in HP. If you're seeding top tier bosses and one of your allies deals 2 million points or less, they probably need to go. L8s tend to be comparable overall to whatever the top tier boss is in terms of expected damage dealt, so those top tier bosses will give you an indication of how helpful that person will be when the L8s drop.

- Are they tagging your bosses? A player who is active and playing seriously will tag the biggest bosses he can, even if it costs him a cube. (More on all this when I discuss positioning, which will likely be Part III of this series.) If one of your allies is consistently not hitting your bosses, he's certainly not trying hard, if he's even playing at all, and he will likely be a hindrance to your goals.

You should have flagged a number of people to cut. I cannot really tell you who should get the axe, but, if you've kept track of this information, there will be clear cuts to make. Remember, this isn't Facebook; don't feel bad about cutting these people. Part of the reason you're keeping a paper list is so you can re-ally post-episode, after all! But all players have to understand that you are attempting to accomplish a goal and you have to maximize your chances of succeeding within the given system.

The system benefits top tier players who have trim ally lists, with only players who are willing to hit bosses, most of whom hit for 10 million damage or more consistently. This is why, as a second tier player, hitting your allies' bosses consistently is crucial; top tier players have no time for an ally who isn't helping his own cause, let alone theirs! Remember, top tier is a mentality! Act like a top tier player and you will be treated like one even when you aren't.

Middle to Last Day: Trim, Trim, Trim!

There is no consistent number I can give you as to how large or small your allies list should be as the big bosses keep dropping, but you should be continuing to watch battle logs and keep making cuts. Some players play the first few days of an event and then disappear until the last day or so; you'll see they're no longer hitting your bosses. Drop them like a hot coal. Your allies list should consist predominantly of top tier players and guys who one cube for 5 million at bare minimum - 10 million is better and narrows you down considerably. You'll begin to have a feel for who is playing through the episode and your list should trim down a little at a time.

You don't want to drop every lower tier player, especially if you get their seeds often. They may not have many allies, and sniping their small fries can add up over time. I gave a 20% estimate in Part I; I would say that, the higher your one cube damage is, the more you can get away with a higher percentage of lower allies.

Why are we being so cold to those who could use our help? Money! I said in Part I that your allies can save you money or cost you money. If you have too many low-damage allies, you're going to have to drop your L8s and top tier bosses by throwing multiple cubes at them. Cube value is incredibly important to monitor, and the way to easily ensure you get maximum value out of each cube is to attain maximum value from others' cubes as well. By trimming your list of lower-damage players, you are effectively increasing your own cubes' effectiveness!!!

You don't have to do what I suggest, but I will promise you that you will find yourself spending a lot of money on cube packages and moaning constantly about how you have to six-cube every L8 you seed. Don't be that player; heed my advice and cut players as necessary.

The Final Day: Anything Goes?!

What you do with your ally list on the final day depends on a number of factors.

If you have a team that you are working with, now is the time to trim down to team members and other consistent and heavy hitters. You want your queue to be swimming in L8s, and this is how it happens.

If your minimum damage is low (<30 million to an L8), drop any lower hitters and stick to guys dealing 10 million or more if they're on your team and 15 million if they aren't. Your teammates can be a little lower because I am assuming that you can communicate your needs to them as applicable, and they will be more amenable to throwing an extra cube to get your boss into a better damage range for you to kill.

If your minimum damage is above that, you can help your teammates out more by cutting all but four or five hard hitting teammates and adding players who are striving to reach second tier or third tier goals. Since the ally system covers 25% of your call outs, and L8s have 29ish calls, 7 of your allies need to be on each L8 call. If you only have 10 or less allies, do the math: Your allies will see nearly every boss you seed. I must be one of ten or so allies on one player's list, as I received strings of L8 calls from him the last two days. (For my part, until I reached my numerical point goal, I tagged 95% of his L8s I saw.)

If you don't have a team, keep trimming until you're just heavy hitters and players you see consistently tagging your bosses. Players will consistently tag your bosses if they expect them to fall, and trimming your list aids in this as well, as your bosses are more likely to fall if you have a higher percentage of heavy hitters smacking them. You don't want this list to be TOO small, as you may burn people out of cubes. (I was feeling this way about the aforementioned ally, but as he was fighting for top tier for a while, I went along for the ride with him.)

Closing the Door

After the episode is over, feel free to reconstruct your allies list as you see fit, although you should consider whether you really want to pick up some of the players you dropped, especially if you are considering another top tier run. Starting off with a trimmer ally list makes a lot of this work go away, as you'll already know who the serious players are - you can find them every time you click "Allies" on the home page.

Oh, and Ally Points are absolutely worthless. Do not lose any sleep over them. ;) Although I am unaware if cheering your allies gives you any benefit, do it anyway, since we all know Mobage likes to change game mechanics without notifying their players. ;)

Until the next time, peace and happy hunting!

- the god of cyanide