Twilight Forums

Idle chat for wannabe heroes
It is currently Sun May 19, 2013 2:50 pm

All times are UTC - 7 hours




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 23 posts ] 
Author Message
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 5:09 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
Transmogrifying. What is it?

Transmogrifying is a process by which one changes class in this game. This is done by going to your hideout, and accessing the Talismans section, switching to your starting Talisman (if necessary) and then selecting the option to change your Talisman into that of another class. This reduces your Strength, Intellect, and Reflexes back to their starting values, removes all your buffs and returns you to level 1 with 50 experience points. Your inventory and quest progress are unaffected.

Why, oh why, would I want to do such a thing?

There are numerous reasons one might wish to Transmogrify. Primary among these is boredom. If you're not sufficiently entertained by your current class, a change of pace might be just what you need to reignite your interest in the game. However, if entertainment just isn't your thing, transmogrifying can also get you on the leaderboards (we'll get more into these details later) or just give you more turns each day to play. There are even rumors that a healthy amount of transmogrification may lead to the acquisition of certain merit badges that are otherwise unobtainable.

But it's taken me so long to build up my character! I don't want to take so long to build up my powers!

You're in luck, with this guide, I will hopefully give you the tools you need to level up at a rate higher than you thought possible! If you follow these rules, you should have no trouble with both reaping the benefits of transmogrification while feeling powerful and capable, even at low levels.

1. Use Good Equipment
When you were first playing through, your equipment was mostly limited to what you could find as you were adventuring. Transmogrifying, you're not held to such restrictions. With that in mind, before you attempt your first transmogrification, you should try and acquire equipment that is good at low levels. My level 1 outfit usually looks like this:

Helmet: football helmet
Main Hand: hedge slammer
Shirt: leather jacket
Gloves: Roderick's Gloves
Pants: leather pants
Boots: Roderick's Boots
Off hand: Aegis Flux Incapacitor
Accessory: silver star
Accessory: silver star

That's a lot of donation items, I know. They're not necessary, but they help. Notice though, that I wear a football helmet instead of a biker's helm, leather pants instead of denim pants, and a hedge slammer instead of a badly bent knife. They may all be weak, compared to your high level equipment, but the difference of a few power points will really make survival easier. Also, higher level Talismans can be a huge help, and if you switch into them at level 1 will only cost 5 xp to equip. I like my Thunder in a Bottle for the Elemental and Psion classes, and the Paradox Naught for Naturalist and Gadgeteer classes.

2. Use Good Buffs

Getting your friends and fellow citizens of twilight to aid you with buffs can make a huge difference in how powerful you are. Now, they're not necessary unless you want to go as fast as possible, but they do help. Since I am interested in going as fast as possible, I usually don't take any turns until I have at least these buffs:

- Wind Warrior (Psion)
- Air Shield (Elemental)
- Fire Shield (Elemental)
- Ant's Strength (Naturalist)
- Spines of The Echidna (Naturalist)
- Summon Water Buffalo (Naturalist)
- Armadillo Armor (Naturalist)

Other buffs can be nice too, especially Snout of the Swine (Naturalist) and Metal Detector (Gadgeteer), but the first list are all the ones that will allow you to fulfill rule 3:

3. Fight Tough Dudes
This is the most important part, but the hardest to explain in exact terms, as you'll need to determine for yourself how tough of an opponent you can handle. However, this is what all your preparation with equipment and buffs was for. Compare Cannonball Tavern's experience gains with those of Bayside. Both can be patrolled at level one relatively easily, with proper preparation, but the Bayside will give 3 times the experience that the drunks at Cannonball Tavern. And unlike your first time through, you can get to all these places (except the Pit) immediately. You could adventure in the cube at level 1 if you were so inclined.


So how do I fight such tough dudes? I can't even hit them!
Remember that list of buffs I gave you? Well, Wind Warrior and Summon Water Buffalo can fight a lot better than you can at low levels, and Fire Shield and Spines of the Echidna (and sometimes the Paradox Naught) do damage to your opponents every time they hit you. That can be enough damage to kill any opponent so long as you can stay alive long enough for them to do the job. That's where the Armadillo Armor and Air Shield come in, to reduce the damage you take, and where Ant's Strength comes is, to increase your maximum HP. Particularly helpful for this strategy is the Aegis Flux Incapacitator, which reduces the damage you take, adds to the damage your opponent receives when he hits you and adds 20 to your base hp. With 2 silver stars, you get another 40 hp, which can have you sitting at 90+ HP at level 1. That's a lot for an opponent to take down when it hurts so bad to attack you. And it only gets easier as you gain levels, and get more HP and more damage resistance from better armor (and if you throw a crooked speedo on at level 2, more damage).
This isn't easy, it isn't cheap, you'll spend a lot on healing, but you'll gain many more levels a day than if you fought enemies who didn't hurt you. This makes classes with healing abilities at low levels, the Gadgeteer and Psion, much cheaper to run a day's play than the non-healing classes. Spellcasters (Psion and Elemental) get even cheaper, since they can start dealing out damage on their own relatively early on; for them, the pandimensional scepter (equipable at level 3) is indispensable, as it both reduces the cost of attacking spells and increases their damage.

So, wait. How does this help me get on leaderboards?
Adrenaline Rushes. Every time you gain a level you get +60 minutes added to your bedtime. If you drink Brays and Pepperjuice, just by levelling from level 1 to 7 (a relatively trivial task) you can actually play until 7am every day, and have 15 turns extra to bank and take with you to the next day. If you really really try to get every bit of experience you can manage you may be able to get as far as level 10 in one day. What this means, is come Frayday, you will have a backlog of adventures to start your day, in addition to what you earn from adrenaline rushes. This can be a an absolutely huge amount of turns. With the SUIT and ASX boards, turns equal SUIT points and ASX chips, so if you're maximizing your turns you're maximizing your leaderboard potential. That is how I went from not on the leaderboards to the top within a week. Even now, it would not take an an inordinate effort to get on these boards, as very few players use the transmogrification ray for extra turns.


I think that covers just about everything. I tried to keep it coherent, but there's a lot of stuff that I had to cover, so I may have left something out. Feel free to ask any questions and I'll do my best to answer them.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 7:06 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:22 am
Posts: 296
Location: Hotel California
Great Guide. *Votes for sticky :roll: *


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 8:24 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Sep 06, 2007 10:56 pm
Posts: 1466
Location: Berkeley when at school, San Diego when at home
Guides won't get stickies. I'm pretty sure. Stickies are for pressing issues Ryme wants the community to know.

Awesome guide, nonetheless. I would give it a sticky if it fit.

_________________
Image
Vote for TH on global rankings!


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Thu Feb 07, 2008 9:14 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
I personally hate it when a forum gets a ridiculous pile of stickies. The less the better.[/threadjack]

Oh wait. It's my thread, I'll jack it if I want.
That didn't sound right.[/footmouth]


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 5:37 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2007 7:22 am
Posts: 296
Location: Hotel California
Ryme should probably make a Tutorial forum then so users can post their tutorials.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:13 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:03 am
Posts: 93
Good job MH!

A couple of things I though I'd add that I've noticed if you don't mind:

-Summon Wolf is better than Summon buffalo at lower levels since the buffalos damage is tied to you level while the wolf does a set amount of damage. I'd also add Mantis Refexes to the list of buffs from the start while Ant's Strength isn't needed for Elementals if they're spell slinging.

- Transmogrifying for fun (Yes!) and Profit (No!!!!!) :lol: Transmogrifying is an enormous chip sink and you should probably build up a starting capital before setting out to do any heavy duty transing.

- Unlocking the new HP and PP restoring shops will really help keep the healing costs down since they're the most chip effective means of healing right now.

- Find buffing friends. What buffs you've got on will mean the difference if you live or die when you're patrolling somewhere you really have no business at your current level :wink:

- Some class specific advice:
* Psions - use Aura: Mystery when you get it, the added damage and reduced PP cost really helps.
* Gadgeteers - Stung gas only costs 3pp but can halve the damage done to you quite fast
* Naturalists - If you've got items that gives a certain % of damage dealt as PP or HP, remember that the damage done from your combat skills also count.
* Elementals - Spells, spells, spells. If you haven't got an Aegis Flux then the Isinglass orb is a good alternative for bonus damage.

_________________
Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 9:16 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
BongBob wrote:
-Summon Wolf is better than Summon buffalo at lower levels since the buffalos damage is tied to you level while the wolf does a set amount of damage.
Learn something new every day
Quote:
I'd also add Mantis Refexes to the list of buffs from the start while Ant's Strength isn't needed for Elementals if they're spell slinging.
The extra hp from ant's strength never hurts. Having throw sparks from the get-go will reduce the need to have hp mostly, but sometimes those enemies hit harder than you expect.

Quote:
- Transmogrifying for fun (Yes!) and Profit (No!!!!!) :lol: Transmogrifying is an enormous chip sink and you should probably build up a starting capital before setting out to do any heavy duty transing.
If I were drinking Mr. Teas I'd be coming out ahead every run. If I were pushing less hard I'd be coming out ahead every run. Ideally, I'd eat 26 blue pills at the beginning of every run, but at this point I can't afford it. It's no longer costing me as much as it used to, though.

Quote:
- Unlocking the new HP and PP restoring shops will really help keep the healing costs down since they're the most chip effective means of healing right now.
Also (and I'll probably regret this as they wont be as cheap anymore) sky waters and red pills can be super cheap and provide mp (hp too, for the pill).

Quote:
- Find buffing friends. What buffs you've got on will mean the difference if you live or die when you're patrolling somewhere you really have no business at your current level :wink:
Can't emphasize this enough.

Quote:
- Some class specific advice:
* Psions - use Aura: Mystery when you get it, the added damage and reduced PP cost really helps.
* Gadgeteers - Stung gas only costs 3pp but can halve the damage done to you quite fast
* Naturalists - If you've got items that gives a certain % of damage dealt as PP or HP, remember that the damage done from your combat skills also count.
* Elementals - Spells, spells, spells. If you haven't got an Aegis Flux then the Isinglass orb is a good alternative for bonus damage.
I haven't found the stun gas to pay off at the really low levels. I could use that mp for First Aid, and I could use that combat round to throw up an attack and hope for a critical. Aura: Mystery is super-great as a Psion, I can't imagine dropping Aura: Vim for it first thing, anymore. Good call on the Isinglass orb, as well. I'm too reliant on my Aegis for my own good.

Braiton wrote:
Ryme should probably make a Tutorial forum then so users can post their tutorials.
I feel the same way about too many forums as I do about too many stickies.


Last edited by mad hamish on Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:17 am, edited 1 time in total.

Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 10:36 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:03 am
Posts: 93
mad hamish wrote:
The extra hp from ant's strength never hurts. Having throw sparks from the get-go will reduce the need to hp mostly, but sometimes those enemies hit harder than you expect.

Well color me purple and call me Barney... I'd completely missed that Strength gives more HP, I though it was level based like PP. Learn something new every day indeed :D

Quote:
If I were drinking Mr. Teas I'd be coming out ahead every run. If I were pushing less hard I'd be coming out ahead every run. Ideally, I'd eat 26 blue pills at the beginning of every run, but at this point I can't afford it. It's no longer costing me as much as it used to, though.

Really? I usually end up on less than I started with and I definately need a buffer for those early levels.

Quote:
Also (and I'll probably regret this as they wont be as cheap anymore) sky waters and red pills can be super cheap and provide mp (hp too, for the pill).
I might just have bad AH karma but at the prices I usually find Sky water it's touch and go if the rad isn't more effective, at least if you'd use the 'buy now'-button. Haven't thought about red pills though.


Quote:
I haven't found the stun gas to pay off at the really low levels. I could use that mp for First Aid, and I could use that combat round to throw up an attack and hope for a critical.

True, but when even a critical only does something like 15 damage then I prefer a sure delevel. I guess it depends on your crit-chance.

Braiton wrote:
I feel the same way about too many forums as I do about too many stickies.

True, what could be done is post the guide in the Wiki's guide section :P

_________________
Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:02 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2007 10:45 am
Posts: 35
Quote:
True, what could be done is post the guide in the Wiki's guide section



It should be wiki'ed, that is the perfect place for this...


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 11:19 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
If anyone would like to put this on the wiki, plus any modifications and coherency increasers go right ahead. I'm not skilled enough with wikicode to make it look like anything but a page full of crap.

edit: also, regarding Stun Gas, if you haven't got First Aid yet, it is most definitely highly useful. It only loses out in comparison. Also: Don't forget that levelling up restores your hp and pp. When used with the rather cheap silver star, this can be a whole lot of free pp and therefore healing.

re-edit: Y'know, attacking and hoping for criticals instead of stun-gassing probably looks better because I have the Roderick's Gloves, which increase my critical chances.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 1:45 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sat Apr 07, 2007 6:48 pm
Posts: 477
Location: Also Through The Dimensional Gate
Buffbots can be useful, check out the PFE buffbots thread, wherever that may be lurking.

A quick note, the cube is doable at level one with optimal equipment and buffs. Not easy, but doable.

Another note, Elementals are most likely the best class to do this as. Their Lifeblood Manipulation skill and their various spells can be fueled by +PP equipment rather easily.

_________________
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:54 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
Unfortunately Elementals don't get lifeblood manipulation until level 10.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 2:59 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:03 am
Posts: 93
The max level achievable in one day is 10 but it's extremely rare, lvl9 is the common max level with optimal planning but no sudden rush of love from the RNG.

_________________
Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:45 pm 
Offline

Joined: Sun Nov 25, 2007 11:33 am
Posts: 2
Actually I made it to level 11 in one day, but I had many turns saved up and many PP restorers


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 08, 2008 6:53 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
We're referring to a standard day, not a Frayday, where it is possible to actually adventure far beyond level 11. Indeed, I started at level one today, hit level 11 once, transmogrified, and I'm back up to level 8 already with ~195 turns remaining. It is 8:55 pm on the second day :o
I did enter the day with ~267 turns banked, but you can accomplish incredible leaps on Frayday.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Mon Feb 25, 2008 12:41 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
So I've rethought something. If you've got access to Thunder in a Bottle, Aura:Vim may serve you better than Aura:Mystery as a Psion. The pp cost reducing effect doesn't further cheapen the spells, and the extra dodges from Vim seem to make my pp more sustainable by the Hero's cape.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 12:36 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 3:03 am
Posts: 93
Hm, interesting idea. But doesn't Aura:mystery also add bonus spell damage? I guess what it comes down to is which option saves you more hp, taking lesser damage or finishing the fight earlier.

_________________
Those who forget the pasta are doomed to reheat it.
Image


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 1:01 am 
Offline

Joined: Sun Jan 27, 2008 5:45 pm
Posts: 42
Mystery does increase spell damage by a little bit as well, but Vim is alot more useful than people give it credit for.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 9:56 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
Mystery does increase the damage, but not enough to make up for getting hit more often. I've been spoiled by my Thunder in a Bottle, though. It'd be nice if we had some way to do something for those who got crappy 2nd tier talismans...


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 5:04 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Sun Feb 10, 2008 11:04 pm
Posts: 34
Location: Raxacoricofallapatorious
Don't have anything fantastically interesting to add to the conversation, just wanted to say thanks for creating a very useful guide to Transmogrifying. Once I've reached level fifty, I'll be trying this. =D

_________________
Image
I know where you sleep.


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Fri Feb 29, 2008 8:09 pm 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
That's exactly what I like to hear. Every level 50 player who transmogrifies gets me closer to that trip to hawaii <_<


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 7:14 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Thu Nov 08, 2007 7:20 pm
Posts: 264
Location: England
Well then you'll be happy to know I trans'd the other day, after hitting 50. :P


Top
 Profile  
 
 Post subject:
PostPosted: Sun Mar 02, 2008 11:58 am 
Offline
User avatar

Joined: Fri Nov 16, 2007 7:51 pm
Posts: 449
:D :) :D :) :D


Top
 Profile  
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 23 posts ] 

All times are UTC - 7 hours


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 1 guest


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
Powered by phpBB® Forum Software © phpBB Group