Might & Magic: Era of Chaos

[Panda Tar]

What the heck is this dragon? I fought the Fairy Dragon and beat him.

I got unicorns and cerberi for Charging units. But could not evolve them yet. Cerberi looks like for sustain, because they have chance to dodge attacks. if they dodge, they heal themselves a bit.

Hero Mastery other skills unlock as you become VIP (1 is unlocked as default). When you find a combination you want, you can lock them to each other, so when you refresh, only the unlocked stuff changes and you keep those you liked the most.

Just got the Hero Adelaide. Tomorrow, Gelu is available for 7 days of gaming.

[Pol]

Tried a bit "Duel of Champions" (castle in-game), and noticed, that for reward you can buy a hero (3 soul pieces from required 50) - Luna, Rashka, Zydar, Gelu. Win 6x times a day. Got bags with money and some exping thingies instead .

But effectivaly cannot continue without getting first either Treeant, Unicorn or Griffin. So a stopper here. Wasted all my energy so it was best timed...

It does looked like a Crystal Dragon. It appears, attacks, fall asleep as it summons several batch of small dragons, and when you beat them, it does awoke and you need to finish him. The worst part, as usuallly, are spells. Hmm, crystal shower.

[Panda Tar]

I am buying Mephala on one of the markets, I think the guild market. The champions market I am spending on those universal-hero thingies, so you can use on any of them.

Will fight the crystal dragon in a jiffy.

Good thing you can donate units jigsaws to other members of your guilds. If you have pieces of units you are not keeping as priorities, that is. You can give them away at that Fountain of Wishes. I just asked for some Centaur pieces. I am using Centaur a lot.

I will probably stop playing CQ. I was already very not motivated. Will probably pop up only to place defenses to help in Guild Wars for those who keep playing. Not enough time to play 2 games like that.

[Pol]

Hah, I'm doing the same with Pegasi.

I sensed that when you started. However don't get burned, this game is a very different. Seeing the principle, campaigns and all of the mods exist only for the purpose of rewards. Not for your soul to be content, to discover some lost truth or enjoy a pretty (deep) story. As nothing like that is here.

Formations are probably most creative aspect of the game. The rest is pre-determined and myself I'm not happy from these clickfest philosophies.

From Discord I'm getting impression, that they are re-doing it a lot for ww market, putting in serious effort. Hopefully it will stay that way, now this gaming is very pleasant. Including the anime graphic. In EU/USA some of these units graphics wouldn't get approval now. So, this is a plus, it's different!

[Panda Tar]

I was trying to persevere in CQ for the sake of the other members, but I was not having more fun with it.



This is when you activate Barracks. You can build stuff in your town(s). As predictable, you will gain unit tokens per time. You can upgrade for faster tokens. Looks neat. You can only build dwellings of units you already have.

I have noticed that I don't have as much evolved melee units as I have ranged and spell casters. Luckily, got these four Charging units since yesterday, Unicorn, Cerberus, Griffin and now Vampires! Going to focus on their upgrades and evolution until they are fit for battle. It is starting to get difficult at Campaigns not having good spare units when others fall down. The same for those Gate places.

[Pol]

Barracks should be a last ones, one more level to go for me.

You can upgrade skills and Talents (small icon left down), for both you need Crystals (from guild's map) and Bloodline Enhancements potions. I upgraded all (4) my core units to Purple, soon I will also upgrade all talents and skills. This makes huge difference and the same is true for its cost.

Monks are a critical supporter units, as they can heal and also helps to regenerate mana. That's paired with a good resistance and dmg output.

On guild's map I feel free, as you can roam it as you wish. The mode here reminds me Master of Magic, my favourite game. With exception, that resources and events here constantly replenish. Missing two moves to complete my quest on enemy territory. Done, got purple artifact.

There's one question, which is haunting me. What will happen when all these starting incentives stop? (Well, you will play much slower.)

Also I'm missing some guilds chat, where you could speak to the guild on which territory you are. Like say: "Hello, I have just a quest here. What's up?"

Edit1
Not the completely last one, last one will be Duel of Heroes within Colossus, which opens at this night.

Putting up a list of mods:
Castle -> Gate: Crypt | Dwarven Treasury | Dragon Utopia (daily for money, experience and ...)
* Dragons cycle, Rust Dragon, Faerie Dragon, Crystal Dragon - you should read a recommended units from the Boss Info (left)
Castle -> Training Grounds: Training | Elite Training Camp | Royal Training Ground (once time, learns you some strategic tips, you are getting silver keys)
Castle -> Rooster (enhance your units bonuses permanently)
Castle -> Barracks (?? build stuff)
Castle -> Colossus: Arena | Duel of Champions | Duel of Heroes (daily for different cash to spend in Marketplace)
Castle -> Altair: Silver|Gold (summon everything from the chaos for keys)
Castle -> Campaign (daily, reward to be spent in Marketplace)
Castle -> Marketplace (just to get everything here, it can be refreshed for a fee)
Castle -> Magic Guild (to enhance your spells)

Guild -> Wishing Fountain (Wish for unit and help others with their wishes)
Guild -> Reward Pack (Get rewarad, give reward)
Guild -> Daily Gift Pack (a small gift, daily)
Guild -> Technology (donate to make your guild better)
Guild -> Mercenary (??)
Guild -> Archery Master (??)

From Castle you can go to "main story" map(s), underground or "Guild's realm"

As for time spent, it could be around 2hrs daily, to explore all three maps and all the mods within the castle. And tons of clicking to get all the rewards. There's speed limit.


Edit3
I pretty much dislike Behemoth and Cyclop, most under Crag Hack. Very strong combo.

There are players from bet/alpha testing. So they have a bit higher levels, however VIPsters wil get edge in the end.

Edit4
When you disconnect in the midst of the battle, it can still continue but you are not capable of casting spells (Encountered in training)

[Panda Tar]

Just killed the Easy level of Rust Dragon. Had to go with all flying units I had and almost got killed.

Barracks dwellings is not clear to me. Thought it would mean 1 of each unit every 8 hours. I dunno if that's happening.

Archery Master is a mini game of hitting flying units carrying chests. You can donate arrows to other people. It's just another rewarding mechanism

At Lv 39, you also get Shipyard where you navigate to another part of your realm with some islands where you can place troops to fight and get some rewards after a while. You can go into the maelstrom and plunder 2 other realms. You can also help other people to speed up their shipyard missions.

[Pol]

Without speeding up it's a 6hr auto-battle.

[Pol]

Shipyard and Barracks needs each other. From Shipyard your are getting Shadowsteel, for which you can exchange created soul pieces from Barracks.

So far I have lot of Castle, Elves and Necros plus 2 units from Elementals. Yesterday Gold Keys summoning was a bless

I purpled some more units, curious for orange phase. Pikeman shouldn't be underestimated, they have affinity to torn down single monsters. That, slayer and some Zealots can do wonders. And some stun delivered in magic.

When you get new hero or units, than thanks for these x10 buttons. Still it's a clickfest. Bought somewhere pack of scrolls, so it sufficed.

Universal (hero) shards are also goldies.

Why there's Catherine in wedding dress?

Edit1
There's some reflection. When playing incastle campaing, each of the battles are harder and harder despite every day. So, they are on par with my level. The game knows all my stats and automatically adapt the difficulty levels.

And

When there's screen with a challenge, there's some hero from DoC but inside you are battling a different hero with a different army.

PS Panda, I beat Fairy Dragon - that one was easiest and comes as a last when I'm strongest. These gems were much appreciated.

[Panda Tar]

Catherine in wedding dress? Probably just eye-candy. Similar to Dota's items and skins.

Yep, Fairy Dragon is weakest, I think. I beat it on the second difficulty yesterday. At least you can "Sweep" once you have beaten them.



Just one missing to activate the bonus!

Dragon Utopia will become available soon in the Underground (for Guild purposes). I went underground and defended one taken city. But one of the top 3 guys in the server went there and defeated my auto-defending army.

***

All in all, I'm enjoying the game because it has a lot of different things to do, not at all depending on energy.

[Pol]

Crag Hack - Chapter 9: Where is the last wight? Somewhere left in the bogs from the Wight Princess. Just clickety here, because you cannot see it. Most likely it's mentioned in some monsters remark but didn't noticed.

And that hidden chest was left up in mountains, also unseen.

Crag Hack - Chapter 10:
* There are some illogical texts for the other party - gen Kendal but you are the other party.
* No choice given for elven sisters, although according the texts seems to be indicated. (You need to kill them.)


Note: The campaigns cannot be replayed again. Battles yes, eternally, for resources. But story not.

[Pol]

Any tips for getting down faster elemental bosses on the Guild's map?
I can deal 100-300HP dmg, so I need to visit them several times. Not comfortable..

[Panda Tar]

They were not meant to be taken down at a single strike, Pol. They were meant for all the guild to take it down. I don't know if anyone can do it in a single go so far. Probably when they got around 1M power?

The LORE feature opened. The way I figured it, it was all going to be a small story-like small campaign string of battles. However, each chapter needs to be unlocked. And there are not always clear clues on how to unlock them. The second one from Catherine's lore requires you to battle 4-15 again. I am stuck at the third one. The sprite only says "Open Sesame" and there's the jousting arena dwelling as representative. I have no clue of what that means. Edited: reaching lv 45 unlocked it. Then it is required to dig a treasure at the Campaign. The goddamn irony was that I had just dug up the treasure before getting lv 45.



Meanwhile, sitting around 312 K power and dealing with the last Crag Hack's chapter. I am also able to cast Titan's Bolt after assembling the artifact. Which is a good thing, another damage-dealing spell to boot available to all heroes at once. All artifacts are active right now, except the Dragon-assembled one, which doesn't even show in our Artifact screen.



Arena is getting harder and harder to win.

And 19 missing units to complete the collection now. Next ones are supposed to be ...



Aaaaaand now I will have to go to and fro the regular stuff until getting to level 48, when the next section of the story opens. Also noticing Dungeon units were not yet released. Nighon's story part, I think.

And this:



Whatever that means?

Ah, yes, and on Sundays, you can fight all 3 dragons twice at Dragon Utopia. Given that I had not reached the next required level to unlock the next difficulty to fight them, I can simply sweep battles and get instant rewards.


******


Today started these snowman popping up around the town map. Clicking on them will provide bonuses. They expire after a while. I really don't know how many seconds that is. Bonuses vary from magic scrolls, to diamonds, experience or gold. Also new event to get jigsaw pieces to have an Angel. Get tons of pieces of stuff to exchange for a skin of a hero. And some other Christmas related stuff.

[Pol]

My last attempt will be with Rashka. Gelu's archers are not being useful in my case, Catherine's prayer neither. Rashka have curse, which seems to work, when being worked on, can slay huge single beasts. (Probably Rashka + Bone Dragon as a base. As curse minify enemy's attack and Bone dragon halve defense )

And I forgot about 'Trial of Angels'. Yesterday snowman hidding game was cool, brought me three different resources, most of the gold.

Haven't time to peek to the Catherine's Lore, yet.

Currently EoC servers are undergoing maintenance, to fix Luna superabilities :p

[Panda Tar]

Rashka is a nice hero, I figure. Combining fair damage, burning effect, efreet upgrades, curse, it could make some real difference. Right now I am torn between evolving him or Adelaide.



Got one!

I got stuck in one of the Trials now, a siege battle. Basically because of the enemy hero, Adelaide. Her spell combos simply are too high damage plus crowd control. I tried around 15 times, different layouts or so. So I am wondering if I need to be stronger or have units ... which I don't have? And that's because I have 100k more overall power than her army. I got a cyclops and storm elemental now. I think cyclops can tip the balance in that battle. As long as it's not dully frozen. I was also thinking on using Mephala, but her Invincibility ulti has a huge CD, and all of Adelaide's spells are low CD. Not to mention that if they are cast in the right combination, they can kill about anything at back lines.

Ah, and was able to get Fairy Dragon Lv 3 down. It has some 'out of the blue' damage on my ranged troops.

[Pol]

Seems, that you are kinda hooked Panda

Beware, if you are Guild President, then three consecutive days offline, grant you automatically demoted. Another thing, good to bear in mind is, that from the Underground you cannot visit Guild Realms

Astrologers Declared Week of Conjuction!
Snowman and Sphinx are at horizont..

[Panda Tar]

No, I joined another guild, a Brazilian one called PauNoGato ("stick at the cat", a short phrase from a childhood song: "Aaaaatirei o pau no gato-to-to, mas o gato-to-to não morreu-rreu-rreu..."; kind of dramatic one, saying that I throw a stick at the cat, but the cat didn't die ...).

Got the Ice Elemental today. It can slow enemies, which means that Adelaide loves this one. It can also freeze surrouding units, and when fully unlocked, can freeze back line enemies. Talk about crowd control.

[Pol]

I forget to write how work heroes skills. As your heroes grow, you can re-roll your skills. And you must too, as you are offered Advanced or above here. At VIP6 you can lock two - which are already perfect and re-rolling only a rest.

As usually you have an option to do a single re-roll. Or ten re-rolls at once, from which you can choose the best combo. The second is of course more costy. I recommended to pay with Ancient Temple Scrolls instead of Diamonds and money. (Same for summoning, where's best to have keys.)

Each hero have only 4 spells (can't be changed) and have some speciality to top it (to use chinese-english in-game jargon).

The skills works completely differently:
Wisdom (Advanced) - Increase all spells levels by 2
Water Magic - Reduces cooldown for water magic spells by 5%
Water Magic (Advanced) - Reduces cooldown for water magic spells by 10%
..same goes for Fire, Earth and Air Magic
Scouting (Advanced) - Attack speed of all Offensive units is increased by 14%
Mysticism - Hero's spell recovery speed increases by 0.6
Intelligence - Increase power by 3
First Aid - healing effects is increased by 10%

PS I'm in Unicorn Duchy at EU-16.

Edit1
Names, player names, are another distinctively different thing. Each player get random name from the game, so it all sounds like Baron-XXXX, Ironfist-XXXX, Ranger-XXXX etc… The game doesn't prompt you for your own name to start.

[Panda Tar]

I have added the World Map on the first post. If you could save it elsewhere to host it? I am using those image host sites.

Some more skills on basic level
Sorcery: Damage done by all casters increases by 7%
Archery: Increases critical rate to all ranged units by 200
<Elemental> Magic: Reduces CD for <elemental> magic spells by 5%
Resistance: Magic resistance of all units increases by 4% -> (8% on advanced)
Pathfinding: Increases movement speed by 5 pts

Some more skills on advanced level
Tactics: All defensive units' defense increases by 10%

Global skills on basic level
Scholar: Knowledge of all heroes increases by 3
Armorer: Defense of all heroes increases by 3

I wonder if in veeeery later times, they will make town screens skins available. The game is by default set on Castle-looking town. It feels it is totally bound by Catherine's fate. But it would be nice having other options, if we could.

HOW BARRACKS WORKS

It pretty much resembles how it works in Heroes games, every some hours, one piece of a certain unit is made available. To 'hire' that piece, you will spend resources given through Shipyard Missions. Each piece hired will take those hours to replenish back. The maximum number of pieces available at time is 10. Exchanging all resources for all those 10 pieces will then make the player have to wait more pieces to be replenished.

Upgrading buildings diminishes that replenishing time. Phoenix might be the only Lv 7 unit which you can actually exchange for Dragonsteel (the yellow resource used to hire rarer units). The red resource named Dragon Blood Crystal is used to hire the ultimate units. Starsilver and Shadowsteel are the other two resources used.

********

Starting to use Adelaide for a while. That Freezing Spell is so good.

*******

Also evolving Walking Dead, which seems very good and combos with a couple of different units (those which cause Bleeding and those which make use of his Slow{/b]). At the same tame, putting Cyclops, Storm Elemental and Ice Elemental online. I think these two elementals are a good addition against the Undead Waves. I think that for those waves, having more units with more numbers (those 9-man) might be better.

[Pol]

Snipers and Dragon Slayers:
Gremlins are both at Purple.
Marksmen too but at Orange.
Pikeman, of course just DS

Made to Last:
Dwarves
Golems
Skeletons
Ogres

Units levels are:
Nothing
Blue
Purple
Orange
Red

Each of them have 3 levels of upgrade, marked by diamonds up (0-2).

As for Expert Pathfinding it provides 15pts.

Balance - at this mmt I would say, that game have issues. Some units don't work well in this autocombat and their performance is suboptimal. That can be worse,if only AI is casting spells for both sides, cuz the other party is absent.

Some funny issues I watched with Dwarves, just running between targets and not fighting. I lack some anti-magic Cavalery (Psychic Elementals), so my Cavalery rightly reach strong magic shooters, just to not focus on them as a first and dies. As for focusing the right enemy, it does look random, driven by proximity and not units value.