Hello all - finally trying to catch up after taking a very looong break once the Quest-A-Thon/Gelatin War finally ended. Congratulations to all the questers on making it to the goal. And hoping all the battlers are pleased with their Gelatin War results. Apologies to all for late responses to your pings - I was totally overwhelmed for a while and also very short on sleep!

- how are things going with you? Hopefully, your finger is once again getting better.

Building your own house and getting to decide the layout sounds really exciting. So nice to be able to have things exactly the way you want them.

They have changed quest rewards around (and I know they sometimes are "tweaked"). I have not found any quest that isn't profitable (just in sP - not counting the items) when you do 5 or 10 (or 15 if you have a GA) of them. In fact, I rarely find any single quest that isn't profitable, or at least close. Now it seems to be more a question for me of whether I have the time to spend on them all, or whether I just want to do some of them.

I am saving my mage amulets to turn in to the mage in order to get tomes for my battle pets, so I don't sell them. But I do consider them to be a big reason to do Quentin quests.

I understand not knowing what to spend your CSC on. I'm very cautious about spending any CSC that I get. I want to be very sure that whatever I purchase will be something worthwhile.

One day maybe I'll get a smartphone now that plans have more reasonable charges. I would enjoy the data access, but I guess I'm old fashioned. I still think phones are for voice calls and I like to have a phone that reaches both my ear and my mouth. At the least, any smartphone I get would have to be good for voice calls - both for me and for whoever I might be calling. Some phones now are awful at carrying voice and seem to be designed only for texting and data use. I can see how you would find cattle apps really useful doing what you're doing. I guess I would probably have both a smartphone and apps if I was using them for work of some sort.

I actually don't have a video game (unless you count some of the really REALLY old ones - like the Atari 2600 or the Atari 5200). And I've never been coordinated enough to really do well playing most video games anyway. I usually just use my computer for games if I really want them.

I used to watch Hawaii Five-O. I think I stopped because I heard some bad things about Jack Lord's behavior that made me stop enjoying it as much. I think now no one would even bother about something like that.

Noticed your comment - "if someone is hiring, they need to take the time to contact applicants". I would have thought so too once, but I wound up working part time for a recruiter for a while and really learned some things. For one thing, now that so many people apply for each job opening it is pretty much impossible to get back to all of them. And online applications just compounds that problem. Often times, the person getting all those applications is doing that in addition to their own regular job so even getting in touch with applicants they want to interview or hire is taking time away from what they need to do for their own work. It's not at all unusual for them not to even look at all of the applications they receive. If they find a few good candidates, they stop there.

On the other hand, I also learned not to feel bad about checking back as long as I did it reasonably. (Not daily and not dozens of times.) It turns out that since the other person is also busy - even more so because of their added hiring/interviewing responsibilities, many times they are genuinely glad when you reach out to them. Sometimes, it even gets them to read your application if they haven't already considered it.

- just want you to know that I did all of my legal quests (no Sarah Quests) every day during the whole Quest-A-Thon - even after I started battling for the Gelatin War. But it was totally exhausting! I am lucky that I had the time to do that, but I also wound up not sleeping much. I'm really glad that the goal was met because I know the Quest-A-Thon rewards were important to you and others.

- congratulations on getting your core!

Tos managed to earn one as well, but it took her 1200 battles to do it. I just couldn't pass up the chance to actually win a core on purpose this time. :-)

- Wow! 2800 losses to Hydragellos - you really, REALLY earned that core! Huge congratulations to you and Phinean (what a great pet name). is such a great supporter of other battlers. He was the first one to encourage me when I started working on boss battling during the last Gelatin War. I hope your hibernation has helped you recover from the war so that you can enjoy your great result.

- hi! Saw you mention battling. If you are interested in learning more there's lots of help and support on the Battle Chat thread - Current page of Battle Chat thread Training your battle pet and doing Battle Quests can help you to be able to beat harder challengers which can help when an event battle happens.

- saw you mention Dungeons and Dragons. I used to spend a lot of time playing that! Are you currently in a D&D group? Somewhere I have a Player's Manual that was signed by Gary Gygax.

- hope things are starting to settle down and improve for you.

- can't believe you have so much energy that you're looking for new events already. I have barely recovered from the Quest-A-Thon/Gelatin War and was looking forward to more time dong nothing but regular dailies. :-) And thank you again for the loan of your Gelatin Slayer. I think using it is what saved me enough time to finally finish battling all those mini's and earn mine. Hope you are happy with your Gelatin War results.

Thanks :) I didn't think I would ever get one!

Yup. I'm currently playing a 4th edition game. We've been playing the same campaign for 10 years now. We play once a month or depending on people's schedules, once every couple of months. :) We are teaching my 9 year old and 6 1/2 year old how to play now too. That's really cool. I would have loved to have something signed by him. I have my Dad's first edition Player's Handbook and DM guide.

- I know. There were a lot of battlers who felt that way. I think it was really nice that this year so many of them were finally able to earn one.

- that's really nice for you to have your Dad's D&D books and then to also be passing on the game to your kids. Although it can be hard sometimes finding a campaign that's interesting enough and easy enough for kids that young.

I know some people who have a group that started 20 years ago (or more) that still play every Sunday. Some of the original members moved away and they had become such good friends and enjoyed their game so much that they wound up playing via Skype. In fact, one of the Skyper's was the DM for a while. Maybe someday I'll ask them to let me join their group.

By the way, you might think about teaching your kids the names of the geometrical shapes of the D&D dice. Sometimes, it's fun for them to learn those big math names. :-)

It wasn't that I wanted the quest prizes so much as I found it annoying that they had 2 time consuming events at the same time so I had to choose between them. Maybe next year they will have the gelatin war by itself so I can battle then. Looking forward to the holidays coming up. I like Morostide, Luminaire (especially throwing snowballs at everyone) and Masquerade for the trinkets. The steam shop usually has cool stuff.

- I agree it was frustrating to have the two events simultaneously - especially since we all have other things we need to do. Hope you are able to enjoy all the upcoming holidays. They may come often, but at least they come one at a time. :-)

My husband used the "A Boy and his Modron" campaign setting to introduce them. They were SO into it. They each have 2 sets of dice too, although each kid has misplaced their first set. Now I know where their current ones are so they can't lose them, lol.

- that sounds like a fun campaign. Your husband must be a good DM. And, of course, it's always fun to be included in the grown-up activities.

Good thing dice are pretty inexpensive. :-) At least the regular ones. I have a few special ones that I've collected over the years.

It was still time consuming, but it deff felt easier to get one this time :D

- for me it wasn't easier this time, in fact it was harder in some ways. Gulp earned her core with a small fraction of the number of battles it took Tos. But I still enjoyed this format and the ability to stretch things out and choose your own timing. Also knowing for sure how much damage you needed to do in advance. I think it was a good idea and I hope it returns.

Also, of course, I wasn't worried about earning a core last time since I had no idea there even was such a thing, so that part of the stress didn't happen. I was just trying to see how well I could do in a boss battle. Sort of like being the underdog team in a sports match - less pressure since you're not expected to win. :-)

This was the first year that I thought I might be able to win something good :D In the past I really didn't try that hard because Talon's stats were not good enough.

- it's not his stats that are the problem And you probably wouldn't have battled for hours and hours to win a core or top weapon. But you could likely have won everything else since the rest is all damaged based. You just need to use full blockers and freezers and do lots of damage - which (at least the lots of damage part) is what you did this time.

Tos got to 5 million damage with stats of only about 1500 and T9 weapons (but it did take 1200 battles), and Tharg, who is only T8, with stats about 1300 managed to get to 1 million damage (with only 350 battles), even Gulp who is T5 and stats about 630) was able to do 250K damage with 250 battles. It's truly amazing how much better they all did than I would have done before learning so much from all the regular battlers. But that's not something everyone wants to do. And that's okay. Subeta has lots of activities so we can all choose what we enjoy best.

I was lucky that told me about the tier based awards and really encouraged me to try and see what I could do. And I had just decided that I was finally big enough (T8 then) to actually get some damage because before that I remember trying to hit a boss and getting 0 damage. So that really got me excited last year. (Of course, I had no full blockers then, so I died each turn, but at least I was able to scratch the boss!)

the higher the stats the less I have to fight lol. I did battle last year and get a few prizes. I just didn't have hours a day to devote to battling. Luckily this last time I just had to battle a few times a day :D Talon has way better stats this time around. Level: 7425 Health: 8566 / 8566 Strength: 8837 Defense: 8758 Speed: 7569 Intelligence: 8446 AP: 527 I am really hoping I can beat that Halloween guy this year (can't remember his name. Starts with an R). That is the main reason I have been training like crazy. I want to be able to beat all of the event opponents. I just get tired of losing every year and telling myself "next year will be the year!" I want it to be this year dangitt lol!

- I hear you. I wound up spending the entire week battling this year - with not nearly enough sleep! And I can't do that all the time and I know that lots of people can't do it at all. It certainly would have been nice if Tos could have gotten her 5 million damage with 50 fights like some of the top battlers (instead of the 1200 it took her). And yes, that's a great reason to train, although I thought that above 5000 you can't train any more and have to use boosters instead. You can still do BQs daily for EXP as long as you stay under the cap. Stat costs are really high at T13 (triple T12 costs), but you can still buy them. And I'm assuming you know about Shinwas Quests for boosters and Quentin Quests for amulets for the mage in hope of Tomes.

If you mean Rouland, they have been discussing him a lot in the Battle Chat thread. The consensus is that he is beatable at T12 and you are well past that. If you don't want to talk with the battlers there, you could consider just reading some of what they are saying. This might also help MrCool about Rouland.

Hope this is your year! I'll be watching and cheering for you.

I'm told that Tos challenge for this year is Nightlady. There are a few T9 pets that want to beat her and we are hoping for some Shrieks!

One trick my parents did that worked for me is that if I was too tired in the morning they would make me go to bed earlier. It also has a logical aspect... can't get up, sooner to bed. At one point she'll want to get up just to be able to stay up longer ;)

I'm still dealing with chaos in the apartment. I keep being disappointed with things (especially online shopping, although returning in person is even worse). I winded up getting back around $600 due to a very long list of issues. You would think I'd be ecstatic... well the fact of spending hours on several days on the phone, grumbling at the items, being so sore & using heavy duty pain meds, is not good... but the worst is that I have a max I'm allowed in the bank so now there's the headache of finding something I'll be happy with to spend it on. Nightmare situation of trying to get makeup (eyes acted up on 3 different tries separate days).

My social worker is worried enough to have put me under "urgent" request for transfer of services to my new area. I still don't have access to food banks and I don't feel comfortable in the community. :(

On the up side... Thurs this week there's supposed to be a meeting at a "local" (30 min bus ride far away) library introducing people to the resources of the sector. I also have classes during the day so it's going to be a very tiring but hopefully get some answers and help day.

I'm hoping to go shopping today... I had gone to places to shop but didn't get all I wanted & now fall collections are out so I might find more interesting things.

As for the Quest-A-Thon/Gelatin War, I managed to do quests. Luckily, none asked for super expensive 100k+ items. On rare occasions it has happened to me and then I quit the quest, but other than that if I do all it's usually profitable, although some more than others.

Poor Poukie had no real chance in the war. The times I was on many of the lower monsters were gone, Poukie was just too weak at t5 to even have a chance of getting nice prizes and I hit the monster often. It's like trying to fight with a pin lol. I had no full defense so I got pulverized 1st round. The rest of the gang is t3 and they tried their best but well, the gang is hiding under the bed and wants to not hear about jello, jelly, or gelatin for a long time.

- hang in there. It should be a big help once your social worker succeeds in getting your services transferred to where you are.

The library and classes both sound like fun. I love libraries!

Hope you have better luck shopping this time.

It has been a long time since I've seen a quest ask for anything super expensive. It can happen, although it's usually just bad luck when a quest that goes by rarity or something other than user shop cost asks for a new item that is still way escalated in its price. Glad you were able to get all those quests in. Hope you got some nice extra items too.

Pouke is a bit underpowered. Gulp is T5 but closer to the top end of the tier and did 250K damage with only 250 battles, but it did require having a full blocker. Tos was actually using three full blockers (Rainbow Vortex, Shinwas Temple Shard and Amulet of Neutrality) and all the freezing she could manage to get her 5 million damage done.

Still you need to remember that with boss battles, it's strictly damage done. Everyone dies - even the T13 capped pets. So it's just about how fast you can get damage and the cost to heal (which is lower for lower health pets). But it does take the time to put in many battles when your pets are smaller. Tos needed 1200 battles to get to 5 million (one top battle pet did it in 50), so lower tier pets really didn't have much chance to earn cores, but then that's how it was intended. On the other hand, I thought there were some very nice prizes for 250K damage (an and a and Pouke could probably have managed that in eight days if you had wanted to spend the time. Of course, just questing and buying those prizes if you want any of them might be more time efficient. I guess it all depends on your circumstances and what you enjoy doing.

I just did ten battles for about 1000 damage with 81, my T3, since you are right, it would have taken waaay too many battles to get a large damage number at that level. But then my T3 has only been around for a few months, so I wouldn't expect her to be in line for big rewards.

If you train regularly and consider doing Battle Quests with Pouke, you will be able to get much farther next time around. For now, the TBT challengers change again on Thursday and Pouke should be able to beat the Bloodred Golem fairly easily. (81 was able to get five wins too.)

You can also get boosters by doing Shinwas Quests and amulets from Quentin that might become tomes if you give them to the mage.

Battling is a matter of effort and persistence. I thought Tos would never be T9, but it happens faster than you think it will. Pouke will get there too. Just keep at it and one day you'll be surprised to see where you are.

My top pet is T12 but I've never defeated Rouland. Maybe this year.

Poukie managed to get under 10k damage... often times my damage was blocked so yeah, very discouraging. My other pets managed around 500 or less, they all tried several times. I managed to get the low-end prizes... I had hoped by doing Shinwas Quests often I'd have a chance at getting the shard but so far no luck. I'm a medium battler... I do put some effort but the health isn't there to put most of my focus on it. When I can, I do battle and quests, when I can't it's just the bath. 228 days & started day 1 I came here :)

have you seen Star War The Third Gathers - Backstroke of the West (Highlights)) the full movie is the 2:20:06 video on the right of YT

- My T3 only did about 100 damage per battle on average, so sounds like yours did well for their size.

When you say your damage was blocked - do you mean he blocked your icons so they didn't hurt him or are you talking about his healing? Because it turns out that his healing doesn't impact your damage dealt for earning event prizes. (Something I used to be confused about.)

How many times did Poukie battle? Gulp, my T5, who is closest to Poukie in ability (but Gulp has higher stats) did about 1000 damage per battle. So if Poukie battled 20 times or less, I'd say he did well. If you want big battle prizes you have to really work hard and put in a lot of time and a lot of preparation. That's how battle works. I do understand that, for lots of reasons, not everyone has that sort of time (or wants to spend it on battle), but that is what is required to get the results.

Battling at whatever level works for you is fine. But you will be happier with your battle results and feel better about the work you put in if your expectations match your pet's abilities based on what work you've been able to do to train them. Also, better weapons and/or strategies can help you get more results with lower tier pets. AP and scrolls can make a big difference if you read the books and buy, earn or make the right scrolls. You pick what works for you.

For me, it's not necessarily about the loot drops or event prizes (although they can be nice). I just enjoy learning and watching my pets grow and seeing how much progress they make from month to month or year to year. Last Gelatin war, Tos was only T8 and didn't do nearly as well as this year. And my current T8, Tharg, did better because I have better equipment and better battle strategies now. Some of my best battle moments have been beating a challenger with 81 who was just created a few months ago and is now T3. I get really excited when she is able to accomplish something in the Battle Coliseum, even though my other pets can easily do the same thing. And, for me, the best part of the war (or any battling) is the battle community and the way they all work together and help and support each other. They are just amazing. And they are why I spend so much time and work so hard.

Shinwas Temple Shard is a retired item that used to stock at Defend and Conquer and has nothing at all to do with Shniwas Quests. Her quests are good because several of the rewards she gives are stat boosters.

Great job with the Bathhouse. You have an excellent streak going - keep it up!