New to game, price check + general advice please!

I've only been playing for about 3 days and I'm becoming overwhelmed with the amount of information and options. One of my major issues is that I have no idea what things are worth. Other questions I have include:

1. Is it worth leveling monsters of rank A or below?
2. Is it worth leveling the skills of monsters of rank A or below?
3. Should I be trying to build a formation around my best monsters that I have right now? Or are there "typical" formations for each guild (Sin, Rancor, etc)?

Here is a list of the A's and B's I have right now. Could someone please let me know if anything here is worth anything? Thanks in advance!

Impulse
Lord of Gluttony A+
Cruel Black Wings A+ Decrease Enemy Defense(2)
Pure Dark Embodiment A+ Decrease Enemy Defense(1)
Dark Elf Beserker A+ Prem. Strike(2)
Ring Dragon A
Ladon A Increase Party Defense(2)
Forsaken Birth Fiend A Decrease Enemy Defense(1)
Hellfire Talos A
Scorn Black Wings A Decrease Enemy Attack(3)

Jealous Black Wings B+ Crit. Rate Up(1) x3
Fire Giant B+ Prem. Strike(1)
Alluring Black Wings B+ Decrease Enemy Defense(1) x2
Cyclops B+ Increase Party Defense(1)
Caim B+ Agility Up(1)
Berith B+ Decrease Enemy Attack(1)
Horned Demon B Increase Party Attack(1)
Stone Tarasque B Increase Party Defense(1)

Pyscho
Slaughter Bee Queen A Prem. Strike(1)

Hail Tarasque B Increase Party Defense(1)

Covert
Refined Horned Fighter A Health Up(1)
Lord of Void A
Uncouth Child A Crit. Rate Up(1)
Naga A Slumbering Breath(1)
Hell Scythe Mantis A Decrease Enemy Defense(1)
Great Horned Warrior A Prem. Strike(1)


As you can probably tell me focus has been on Impulse Brutes. Is this an okay formation to develop? Any additional info/suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again.

Hi Xavarir,

I've been playing this game for 160+ days now and can give you my experience in this game and from there, you can formulate your own ideas and strategies.

1) I would recommend not to level Rank A and below monsters. There are exceptions and I will explain them shortly. It is not worth the time or money to do it because everyone wants to make their Rank A monster into an A+. As you already know, if you level an A monster and evolve it, all skill and level revert back to LEVEL 1.

1a) Exception: An exception to leveling a lower level monster would be for an event (i.e. an all C/C+ monster formation or the previous battle tournament that consists soley of B/B+ monsters). That would be one of the few exceptions to level up lower rank monsters.

2) This one is a little tricky and I do not want to overwhelm you yet. The short answer is: In general, do not raise skill of low rank monsters. Of course, there are exceptions.

2a) Exception: This exception is the same as 1a. You can level the skill of a B/B+ rank monster to compete in an event. For example, you could level a Kelpie (B rank monster with slumber skill) to level 5 to compete in a tournament.

2b) Exception: You can level up the skill of a low level to sacrifice to your main A+ or AA/AA+ monster. This is a big exception and I will explain it to you through an example. Take for example that you have an A+ monster with decrease attack skill. You sacrifice monsters with that ability to your A+ monster until the skill hits level 5. Now in order to increase your chances to skill up your main monster, you have to raise the skill of your sacrificial monster. So if you sacrifice a low rank monster with decrease attack skill level 2, it has a higher chance to level up than just sacrificing a skill level 1 monster. This is the exception. If you want me to go deeper into this topic, we can discuss it later.

3) I think you should build a formation that you will like. Since you are sin and leaning towards Brute type monsters, I would recommend saving EP and trading for those types of monsters. Here is the link to the beastiary: [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

You can find a list of monsters there. I think it is updated regularly so you should not have a problem. I've been playing this for a while now and I can tell you one thing, be patient and conserve your EP. Monster values like all things in life will go down in value in time. A big example is the Forsaken Birth Fiend you have. When it first came out, that monster was going for 50-60 EP for just a regular A version. Now, you can buy it for 1 to 2 EP. So if you see a monster you want, I would suggest holding off a bit. You'll be amazed at how fast prices drop on them after a month of its release.

The take-away here is to be wise with your EP because EP is the currency in this game and their value will never decrease...and stay away from scammers and always do trades through trade function and not through gifting hahaha. Play smart and use your brain and you'll be okay. Also, you don't have to spend money at all in this game to get the best stuff. I've spent $0.00 and have a pretty good A+ formation and an AA so it is possible.



Take care and good luck,



-Kenshin

Wow thanks so much for that extensive reply!

Is there any way to tell the value of monsters? I realize that veteran players know what the going rate of specific monsters are, and in time, I'm sure I will too. But as a beginner, it is difficult to understand which monsters are valuable and which are not. I'd like to begin trading for some monsters I'm looking for but am afraid to dive into the market head first. I know a lot of skills are valuable, whether on A's or B's for skillups.

Some monsters I find very hard to place as they have nice stats but no skills and high BP. For example, yesterday I got a Magic Bolt Clarissa and a Catoblepas. I believe both of these hold some value but I don't know why. They have nice stats but no skills with higher BP costs. Is this correct? Are they valuable? If so, why? Thanks again!

First off, Kenshin's reply was excellent, very good info in there.

Xavarir wrote:
Is there any way to tell the value of monsters?

Best option is to ask here or in the chat. Otherwise, here are a few rules (all of which have exceptions).

1) Higher BP = higher worth

2) Agility Up, Increase Party Attack, and to a slightly lesser extent Decrease Enemy Defense are all 3 good skills that increase the value of a monster (more than they would be without the skill. Like Child of Pit, which is worth ~1 EP with Agility Up, and would be worthless without it).

3) Recent event reward monsters have a very variable cost - usually drops quickly

3a) The exception is that some of these monsters can never be summoned again, except in rare flashback summon events. So there are a limited supply of them, and if they are good enough their price often actually increases in time (after an initial decrease). Take the Mad Flame Vanargandr for example. This was an event reward, and if I remember correctly only 102 were given out. That means there are, at maximum, 51 Mad Flame Vanargandr + in the game (and realistically less). Which makes it a rare and high-value monster.

4) Progression monsters (these are monsters that give a bonus to an event, like the current ones that increase ticket drops during missions). These often have very high prices at the start of the event (depending on what the event rewards are), and drop in price steadily until the end of the event. For example, during the past Clan event where AA monsters were rewarded to top clans (meaning up to 25 AA rewards per clan), the progression monsters were worth an absolute massive amount. Now they are a fraction of the cost.

5) Team monsters - these are monsters that play an important role in common combo teams (which almost all have an agility up monster). A monster with high BP but with no corresponding good team will not be worth near as much as a powerful monster that fits well into a common team. Knowing the teams out there takes time - as a rule, look at the bestiary for "agility up" monsters. Look at their guild and species (like Sin demon) - those are the monsters that will have an elevated price.

Xavarir wrote:
I know a lot of skills are valuable, whether on A's or B's for skillups.

Last I checked, Agility Up was the best skill. You can sell skill As and Bs for Agility Up at a rate between 2 monsters per EP on the low end to 1 monster per EP on the high end.

Next up are Decrease Defense and Increase Attack skills (both of these work really well with Agility Up). These sell between 3 monsters per EP and 5 monsters per 3 EP.

Next up are Decrease Attack and Increase Defense, which are slightly cheaper.

Preemptive Strike and Slumbering Breath sell for 5 monsters per EP or worse. I just sell or sacrifice them.

I'm not too sure where the other skills lie.

Xavarir wrote:
yesterday I got a Magic Bolt Clarissa and a Catoblepas. I believe both of these hold some value but I don't know why. They have nice stats but no skills with higher BP costs. Is this correct? Are they valuable? If so, why? Thanks again!

Magic Bolt Clarissa is nice. She fits into the Psycho Winged Brute team, which is a x5 combo team. And she has very nice attack (and low BP for her attack, which is nice). Her skill is pretty bad though (she does get one when she is evolved), but besides that she is a great addition. I don't know if she will be summonable normally after the event. If not, I suspect she will be worth a fair bit in the future. As it is now, I think a non-evolved version sells for around 5-6 EP? Don't quote me on that.

Catoblepas isn't worth much of anything. It is a beast, and the three Psycho agility teams are Brute, Demon, and Creation. Furthermore, it's final attack is barely over 4000 when evolved, which is too low for a 17 BP monster.

TheFury wrote:
1) Higher BP = higher worth

Fantastic info/advice guys. Thanks a bunch.

How about the B's and B+'s with 16-18 BP (ie. Elder Tree Leshy+, Noxious Pazuzu+, etc). These are B+ monsters with no abilities but really high BP. There stats are impressive if levelled but isn't that a waste?

Xavarir wrote:
How about the B's and B+'s with 16-18 BP (ie. Elder Tree Leshy+, Noxious Pazuzu+, etc). These are B+ monsters with no abilities but really high BP. There stats are impressive if levelled but isn't that a waste?

Don't bother leveling them. It might be worth holding onto the 5 that make the best team for a future B/B+ tournament (which may or may not ever happen). I have two sets of 5, actually, but I have the room to do so. But don't level them for now unless you have absolutely nothing better to do.

Besides selling or using them for the tournament if it rolls around again, these skill-less B/B+s with high stats are worthless. You might be able to sell them for gold, but that's about it.

I am happy to hear my experiences were able to help you out.

@ TheFury. I think your insight is spot on, sir. That is great advice and knowledge you have in this game.

@ Xavarir. You have the right idea. As long as you ask around the forums and in the chatbox, I think you can pick peoples brains to get a feel for the market. Another good place to look would be in weekly rankings. You can see plenty of EP trade values there and determine what the rate is on a few monsters. On a side note, I wouldn't trust too much in the auction house prices for A/A+ rank monsters. The reasons are that some people will over value their items and the lag effect of the auction house. By lag effect, I mean this: Let's say someone put up a Balrog in auction for 3 days. I decide to bid 50 EP for it and the person holds my bid. Two days pass and I notice the value of Balrog has dropped to 30 EP. Now, I have over bid and cannot take my EP back resulting in a loss for me. The lesson here is sometimes the auction house price reflects the value at the moment. The person selling wants it at that price, but 3 days is a long time in this game and things can change.

This is was an experience I had with the auction house where in the end, I ended up overbidding for something because the owner held my EP. If I waited, I could have bought it for cheaper EP. It was a lesson learned and I would also take my advice with a grain of salt. This was just one isolated incident. I did have other positive experiences where transactions were fast and I got what I paid for.



Other than that, feel free to share your concerns with people here. We are a pretty good community and are always willing to help.



Best of luck,

Kenshin

Man, this gotta be the post with the longest replies... Good to know that the veterans take time to teach the newbies.

Haha. Yea, these are long winded answers, but I think they help people out who want to take the time to read them.

KenshinX122 wrote:Haha. Yea, these are long winded answers, but I think they help people out who want to take the time to read them.

They have definitely helped me out a bunch! Thanks so much again guys.