Monday 10 November 2014

700 days in PAD - how my team changes the game and how the game changes my team


700 days.

It is the 3rd game that I spent nearly two continuous years in. The first one being WoW, which I started at beta and quited at version 5.0. The 2nd one is Tera Online which I am still actively playing. And PAD is the third game.

Looking back into the box sorted by chronicles dug some memories from the past.

(ps. In fact I played PAD on the first day since release, accidentally deleted the apps without backup at ~200 days and started a new account again.)

2 years ago there were no egypt gods, no awoken, not much dual element/typed monsters and no ultimate evolutions. That rerolling wasn't a consideration when you create an account. Getting Zeus is from descends in the single direct goal when you start the game. It worth a few stones for your first Zeus run because 3x at full HP was the most powerful leader skill in the game.

My first and second roll is a Chaos Dragon Knight and Piedra.

Starting with dark monsters was a no-brainer. There were no super gold and tri-colors super kings alerts. Dark monsters were the one that can easily leveled up, no weakness element, and most importantly Zeus and Valk are light.

CDK's 2x HP leader skill helps me a lot in early dungeons. I can easily reach 16000HP for weekday evo mat dungeons when pairing with other CDKs. The Piedra was the key heart maker in my team. Pairing with ADK so my dragon team get 2xHP & 2xATK.



My first few rolls were made in a god fest + dark fest. Loki strengthen my way as a dark team. The volcano dragon and CDD helps me a lot to my dragon team. The time was around Christmas, I quickly grabbed the Bahamut from CD collab and BAM! My dragon team is ready (except my team cost).

 

My first "real" god fest didn't went well. Rolling a Hades forgo my need to run Hera Descends with the CD crystal team (did it for stone anyway). Echidna is also nice. I aimed for Horus or Ra but no luck, also rest pull were pretty horrible (remember there were no awoken skills). Luckily I got a few light subs for my future Zeus team (which never existed, will talk about this later).


My team at that time without a doubt was

 

With help from first wave of ultimate evolution and other farmable dark subs like KotR, Hadars, Lilith etc, most Legend stuff won't cause any trouble to me.

My team slightly changed when Hera-Is descend comes around. I remembered I ran the Legend few times without luck. At the last minute I entered Mythical with a few stones and got Hera-Is. 2.5x ATK boost to dark team without HP requirement was arguably as strong as Zeus. Hera-Is also have a similar gravity and it was way easier to skill her up. Immediately Hera-Is was the leader in my team - partnered with Loki to form a 1/5/2 dark team with two gravity. HP was a problem, so KotR usually replaced CDK in my team. Nothing can't be beaten with 2 gravity, DJJD+Vamp and Loki's enhance.

For a month I was going with my strongest team for various descends until


TADA!! HORUS!! (let's pretend he is there)

16x without limitation. I gathered my previously rolled stuffs and immediately my Horus team was:


Every stages look weak from this point. All technicals, bi-weekly and descends. The team was composed towards defense and RCV. At the time Hera-Is looks like a pretty stable subs for multicolor team, not only she takes up two color, she also has very all-round stats and a gravity. I started skilling her up and pouring +eggs to Horus then Echidna.


For the next half a year I stuck with my Horus team. I have no hype with the Chinese gods because they didn't fit my multicolor team and I won't use them as lead (3.5x restricted vs 4x unrestricted). Time mage sometimes replaces my Valk in my Horus team. DL Hades sometimes get into my team for double gravity. My team composition didn't change much from doing regular descends to farming KotG.


The next couple of month wasn't exciting either. In fact I found no replacement for my Horus team. I kept rolling God Fest and hope for a new leader that is on par of my Horus team but I don't have a strong desire towards one specific monsters. Didn't succeed in finding a new lead. In fact I kept rolling more subs for my Horus team.

Yomi and Izanagi. Most sought multicolor team subs. Not very useful to me because I don't need the one second time extend. Putting Izanagi into my team took away either my shield or delay. That didn't make good sense to me.



Lakshmi was in my team for quite a while because she takes up two "bad" colors in multicolored team. High RCV with time extended and on demand heals fits my Horus team very well.

I thought the two greek gods can help me in forming a wood team and fire team but they didn't. Take a look on the previous pics again and you will realize that I didn't roll good wood/fire subs.

I hyped too much with Okuni and Meimei/Izanagi/Yomi combo build. With all skill out I merely do same damage output as my Horus team - minus a shield, a long delay and most RCV - that said, it didn't turn out well but eventually I put Okuni in my Horus team for an extra one turn delay and HP boost (and he has all my +eggs). I admit that feeding +297 to him is a mistake. I would have better team if I fed my plus to Susano.

** On the point of feeding +eggs - I tend to give +eggs to monsters that can be used on multiple teams. For example Echidna, Okuni and LMeta. This is also a reason that I don't want to invest into RSonia team.

About RSonia - I don't have good use of her as a lead except KotG farming even now. First I don't like glass cannon team build (No Lu Bu yet). Secondly none of the subs from my Horus team (especially hypermaxed one) are usable in RSonia team. I don't want to spend too much efforts bumping a new team to do less things of my original team.


Ultimately RSonia, Ares and Leilan are in my Anubis team. :/



I always have great luck in rolling REM. I was going to roll for the MH Collab but accidentally got a LMeta from the other machine. She immediately replaces Lakshmi for the water spot on my Horus team - unbindable, bind remove and even higher RCV. Hypermaxing her was the number one goal. I also started collecting healer subs because of her.


I seldom roll in Collab REM. Foreseeing the 2x attribute enhance are useful, lacking of GOdin, BOdin and they are cats, I rolled a few times in MH Collab REM. It turned out very well. I didn't get duplicated cards - they have 10 monsters in the REM and I got 9 of them in nine rolls. Stopped. Realized I won't get the remaining one which I really want. GOdin Neko and BOdin Neko often used as stat sticks and skill boost in my Horus team. Gargwa stabled on my healer team with skill boost and 2x Healer ATK boost. The quick six turn damage reduction from Great Baggi often interchange with Susano as a substitution of blue subs.

Yes. Nearly everything I roll are for multicolor team.


Introduction of Sandalphon pushes me to build a healer team. Lacking of orb changers and HP makes me feel nervous in descends. My healer team was mainly used for speed farming. At that time it was like:


Two 297 subs from my Horus team and the transition underwent very well. After a few runs I realized that I need more light orbs to do damage. Apollo was a good choice even he is not a healer type (also high HP).

My fire team were formed and thanks to Wangren, and my previously rolled RSonia, Ares, Uriel - I got an amazing tanky and high damage output fire team:


The OPness of this team depends on the skill level of Wangren. Try it yourself. Sadly until today he is still SLv 3 (annnd the water one is SLv 8, god damn it).

I still don't had a water team and wood team. My dark team also far less useful than my Horus team at this point.

The reason I started building different teams was that I found Horus team lacking of burst damage to the descends / dungeons they released. More jammer orbs and binds reduced the chance of doing an attack (espeically jammer sky-fall). The requirement of burst in descend is also a problem. I could do higher damage with similar team leading with Ra. Horus sits in the middle ground of damage and reliability and makes me feel he is falling behind. Luckily my plus eggs investment still brings him up back to the usable level.

Plus the release of the 3k god favor increased raw stats (HP/RCV) and damage and ability to build monocolor teams. This makes me feel more nervous about the future of my Horus team.






And then I rolled a DQXQ within 2 rolls during the introduction of Chinese God.




I wasn't expected I would abandon my Horus team this soon. DQXQ is a solid lead as my light-based multicolor team. She has straight up better stats, awokens and active compared to FL Horus. Don't directly compare 16x and 25x! DQXQ team can convert two orbs to light, making rows and still having 16x multiplier. Luckily Hera-Sowilo comes two weeks later and now she is a stabled sub in my DQXQ team. My initial team was:

Trade off delays and shield in exchange for a immense big burst compared to my Horus team (Actually four continuous bursts.), DQXQ is the new star in my box. With Hera-Sowilo descends I also max skilled Hera-Sowilo and Apollo. This team made me feel I started wrecking the game again.


With the new UEvo of Thor, he (or she) essential substituted Valk in my DQXQ team, totaling the number of row enhance to five, giving me a three turn enhance that suits my three orb changers. With that I successfully zero-stoned Fagan (yes, first time). I also started doing descends with DQXQ / LMeta team but not Horus.

And then I unexpectedly rolled a ROdin. Now my fail-safe Twinlit team is ready except I needed a max skill RSonia. I spent nearly a month worth of Thursday to skill max her.


I didn't plan to roll in Saiya Collab - I don't have interest in the anime, characters and the cards in PAD except one - Athena(saiya) for my healer team. Rolled once, gold egg but not the one I want. Tried with his 2 TPA and purely subpar than Athena(PAD).







UEvo Athena is the monster that changes my way to build team and select leads. The damage of 2 TPA is the catchy point for many players, but I mostly like the 1.25x HP multiplier and unconditioned 3x ATK. I put most of the members of my DQXQ into my Athena team and found out I got 30k HP, 4k heal, abilities to do burst damage and heal on demand. Immediately it solves most problem my previous teams have.



This was the point that I started thinking to feed my Horus to someone else but I didn't because I still need Horus to farm the twin dragons and sacred masks.

The descends and collabs started from here got more and more devastative at this point - they hit larger numbers, preempt with annoying mechanism (reduce match time, skill lock), actively binding monster and orb conversion etc, which drove me away from using mulitcolor team. I switch nearly 100% to Athena team because of the stability she gives me (via HP, mostly). With my previous 2/4/2 → 14x fire team, I started my team build towards high raw stats and defense. My idea was "you can't die = you win".



Hyped with the new Indian God because they looked great in theory. Also the increased skyfall mechanism used by boss fascinated me. I think this is the second pack of stones I bought, solely for Vishnu and Krishna. The PADZ Fest was up at the same time as the God Fest. Rolled ~13 times?



The PADZ dragons were so-so. There were always better replacement. I'm not a big fan of dual-purpose skills like "enhance orb and 1 turn delay" or "change X to dark and a shield".

My wood team suddenly "appeared" with gZGL, Parvati, Avalondrake and Vishnu. Tried Vishnu but the team didn't quite work in terms of damage and defense. Also not a fan of controlling HP. Put gZGL in my Athena team but feeling kinda meh. Tried Athena team with wood row enhance + light TPA with Meimei and Avalondrake, but the defense sunk to the bottom.

Also realized the two major problem of Athena team - bindable leader (lose of hp multiplier) and poison orbs.


Thanks for gZGL by the way, now I got a better 100% resist skill lock team for sacred masks without the need of Okuni. If I could get rid of Horus, I can free up two 297s. Those green subs also made me a better KotG farm team although I wasn't farming KoG that much. I switched EXP farming to the coin dungeons. Hopefully Michael wasn't fully awoken...
 

Since my healer team was ready and I need a replacement for Apollo, together with the new buff to healer girls, I decided to roll the pink REM for Fuu for my healer team and Mitsuki for my fire team. I rolled five times and I don't want to mention the result again.

Nothing special about the Bikkuriman Collab. Rolled once for memorial, gold egg, "wow"ed and moved on.




My DQXQ / Athena team was doing fine. And the next God Fest was Egypt / Greek 1 IIRC. Every gods looked nice to have (Ra/Bastet/Venus etc). Rolled once and got something really unexpected.


Finally I can transfer my plus on FL Horus to somebody else. Athena was the top choice, but also realized she has a few weakness that couldn't resolve by giving her plus eggs, I hesitated.

I tried my first God Rush with my Athena team and found no major problem. I further hesitated giving her pluses. Oh by the way that is the first Zeus I actually have. Tried God Rush again with the new HP buff of LMeta for the Tamadra. Totally fine and much better than Athena team because of high recovery and utilities. Further hesitated in giving Athena pluses. Still no Tamadra though.

Rolled twice during PC God Fest. Got a BSonia which still never get in any of my team. Also Dragon Shougun. Looks like Gungho is telling me to build dragon team.

Everybody rolls in DBZ collab and my luck still continues. I don't need another multicolor leads god damn it. Cell is nice with TPA and extend time. I though I will be saving him for wood demon team that might or might not exist. However judging at that time I don't really want to build new teams that has less than 25000HP and 4000heal, I doubt I would make good use with him.

My teams didn't change for a few months because I am settled to the sense that "I need higher HP and RCV". At the same time the descends start getting harder, often over 25k per hit, but at the same time less OHKO mechanism. The game wants me to build tankier team and I go with it.

Rolled twice during JP/JP2 God Fest because my friends do. With duplicated Izanagi's and the ヒカピィ from Challenge dungeon I decided to max skill my Izanagi for whatever reasons.

New end-game technicals featuring the 4th end-game dragon was a bliss. Did it with LMeta team without even looking at the monster table. Further stabled my sense to HP and RCV.

The pink REM comes around I still fucking want a Fuu. I rolled once and my brain goes blank for a few seconds. I realized my water healer team skill need offensive subs like BValk and Sun Quan to be as effective as my LMeta team. Water LMeta can't solve this problem. So she has become the leader for my LMeta team when no duplicated monsters are allowed (coin dungeons!!!).



With the introduction of Egypt 2 I think it's time to ignite my passion to multicolor/combo team. I am a fan of orb matching but that doesn't help me to use my DQXQ/Horus team because of the survivability problem. All Egypt 2 Gods are good asset to me because of the HP/RCV boost and they are multicolor/combo team. I rolled a few times without luck. Got GOdin, Bastet and a few Egypt 1 Gods. I started from zero good cards on wood to having nearly all wood Gods in the REM. I really start making a wood team (still none of my pluses are on wood monsters).

Final pull from my friends for me was a fucking Hathor and I immediately fed my Horus to her. No hesitation. I also has two back-up Horus so I lose nothing. My original plan was to fed my Horus to Set if I got one, and my Okuni to Osiris. Well, color lead to color lead and combo lead to combo lead. I don't need two combo team or two multicolor team.

And this is my 700(+1year) days adventure of PAD. A truly good game. I don't think I will fed up on PAD soon nor regret spending that much time on a mobile game. I still have many contents to clear and team building to do, at the same time they are pushing contents faster than I can digest.

Good god damn game.

These are the current teams in my 10 team slots.


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If you ever wonder when did I got that magician from, here it is. I totally missed this portion of my box. I finally completed the old MH Collab cats and also rolled the only cat that I want from the MH4G Collab with 2 rolls. Jealous much on my luck? :p