Rising Phoenix
Not Just a Syndicate - A Rising Family
BigMoney's Departure
The Reaper - September 2013
Well, the time finally came... A legend, both in game and in forum, has decided to walk away from the game. The continued misguided efforts by GREE to "improve" the gaming experience (i.e., making more money for them) has spiraled into a comical series of terrible mistakes that have caused ugly stat inflation and many angry customers. You can read BigMoney's full post here.
On a personal note, I have a lot of admiration for BigMoney... As the LTQ's began, I used his forum posts and incredible selfless work and documentation to see all the prizes, jobs, and stats for the LTQ, both past and present. When I decided to spreadsheet all the jobs and rewards for all the LTQs to look for patterns in the jobs, BigMoney's posts were invaluable for building this database. This database morphed into an LTQ planner to see how much gold was needed to complete a certain level of the LTQ based on the user's data, including pre-hits. It worked well and I devised a way to make it easy to record the jobs of the LTQ spit out the jobs and rewards list. I was very pleased with all the very long work to get this spreadsheet together, but I had a lot of respect for BigMoney and wanted to share this with him in order to make it easier for him to post. After all, he went further than I ever did and seemed to be on top of the forum posts. I communicated via the forum and eventually email. He was always articulate, kind, and a pleasure to communicate with. The few times I would post with LTQ data, I always had the data from BigMoney. Any time he completed the LTQ, he would always send me his spreadsheets. BigMoney is and always will be a pleasure to work with... I have immeasurable respect for him and his contributions to the game and community. His presence in the forum and game will be missed. Much respect and admiration to you BigMoney and best wishes!!
Most Wanted LTQ
The Reaper - September 2013
This LTQ is an interesting one... 59 levels with only a "normal" mode. It appears to be a complete-every-boss-on-every-level sort of LTQ. However, there are 62 levels and the first level is skipped, so two other bosses are skipped and it is presumed the levels are completed in order. Interestingly, Assault and Flattery on the forum has put out a prize list which is always helpful. Buuuuut, as usual, it is left to the gaming community to document what the job list is, who all stepped up admirably I might add!
The forum post and complete Jobs and Rewards List is listed here.
Three Strikes LTQ
The Reaper - September 2013
Three Strikes LTQ is underway and it's a pre-hitter's dream. Overall, this seems like a worthwhile LTQ for the prizes, but it gets extremely expensive energy and XP wise towards the end of "Prestige" mode. Check out the LTQ Jobs and Rewards List for this LTQ. Additional data and prize/job information for this series of events will be added here soon.
Also, I hope people did not miss the incredible irony of the name of this LTQ... I would be impressed and horrifically saddened if GREE tops the last battle's series of epic screw-ups.
Syndicate Info
Recent News
Hama's Sideshow LTQ
The Reaper - September/October 2013
Well, perhaps continuing with the joking theme, this LTQ has a number of recycled prizes. There is a Normal mode with 20 levels and a Prestige mode with 30 levels. Let's get the data coming in for posting in the forum! Only 3 days to complete this LTQ, so time to get crackin'!
The forum post and complete Jobs and Rewards List is listed here.
Blood and Bone LTQ
The Reaper - October 2013
Gree seems to have an LTQ that started "on time", which was 3 hours after the battles ended. This was 6:00pm EDT A bit too soon in my opinion after the completion of a battle weekend, but at least the time to complete the LTQ is longer than some previous ones... There are 20 Normal levels followed by 30 Elite levels. The rewards seem to be a bit better this round as well.
The forum post and complete Blood and Bone LTQ Jobs and Rewards List is listed here.
Arch Enemies PVP Event
The Reaper - October 2013
Well, it really seemed that a PVP was coming since the rivals list was full of lower mafia people and some ridiculously low stat players. All things considered, we were over due for one from the previous cadence of PVP events, but perhaps this is all part of GREE's somewhat listening to players' complaints about the events. Overall, the prizes seem to have taken a slight step back in stats so it seems that GREE could be ramping down on the stat inflation. It's funny though, people still find something complain about... "Meh, these prizes aren't worth it". Maybe it's just the way the game is shifting... Camping is dead, so participate in events or get left behind stat-wise.
Either way, GREE is still attempting to take away any free weekend that players could actually go out and enjoy...
The forum post from A&F is listed here.
Devil's Night LTQ
The Reaper - October 2013
Hmmm... I suppose it isn't a huge suprise that GREE had an LTQ scheduled for 14 October and had it in "Progress" at 6:00pm Eastern Daylight Time, but with absolutely no splash screen or goals list. Hell, there was no PVP prize awards yet either.
Like a perfectly trained dog, I was checking the game frequently, restarting the game/phone, hoping for the event to start... Hours later, CJ54 came on the forum to state that the LTQ had been delayed... Sorry for any confusion.
Confusion?? Yeah... A little. An event that doesn't start as scheduled isn't confusion, it's a mistake. But, we shouldn't expect much else from GREE...
The forum post for complete Devil's Night LTQ Jobs and Rewards List will be posted in the forum as soon as possible after the event start.
Melodious Funk Epic Boss
The Reaper - October 2013
It started a bit late, but it started nonetheless! Nearly 3 hours behind the "Progress" tag, we are presented with an epic boss similar to the last one. Win 100 times and get an awesome individual prize. Along that journey, receive an increasingly good prize for every 5 wins and enjoy new loot items as you progress through.
Daily syndicate goals for beating the boss have returned!! Hopefully your team came up with a good strategy to complete these daily 300 wins, but will we see an increase in the following day's SLTQ? That remains to be seen, but if Modern Warfare is any indicator, it's bound to happen sometime!
Assault and Flattery has posted a list of all the Loot items and Rewards for being Funk here: Melodious Funk Epic Boss
Fright Fest Syndicate LTQ!
The Reaper - October 2013
An unannounced Syndicate LTQ started on Friday, 18 October right alongside the Melodious Funk individual and syndicate event, so way to go GREE for packing the events in like sardines!!
This event is LOADED with high value A/D items for the entire syndicate to enjoy, if and only if the syndicate can utilize strategy, organization, and teamwork to complete as many goals as they can. When combined with the daily syndicate boss goals, this was a weekend to organize and come together to reap enormous rewards!
Treat Bag Event - Collect 20
The Reaper - October 2013
Gree changed up the schedule... Again! The Treat Bag event is a Collect 20 for some reasonable prizes and a great modifier for the Top 1 prize. The Top 250 and Top 25 aren't shabby either, but coming on the heels of the Fright Fest SLTQ, the prizes for 5, 10, and 15 are pretty low. Only 2 days for this event, then it's gone!
Grave Shift LTQ
The Reaper - October 2013
So the zombie apocolyse has hit Crime City... But are the players the zombies after that battle weekend??
With a new LTQ just hours after a battle weekend with multiple LTQs and even a "secret" individual LTQ, which was public at first, but then taken away due to the GREE screwups... But, nonetheless, they kept track and awarded prizes anyway! Now that the players are all zombies, we get to battle them in this LTQ. Fresh faces grace the Crime City streets as players chase down multiple hits and kills for targets scattered around the maps. Zombies, police, infected tourists, etc. Normal mode has 15 levels and Elite probably just as many. What's with the Beginner's Mode?? Crap prizes, 5 levels, and a 500/500 explosive as the prize. Keep an eye on this one for any GREE tricks...
Raid Boss - Ixtab
The Reaper - November 2013
RAID BOSS!!
Ixtab the raid boss has arrived! And quite smoothly too. Work together with your syndicate to complete raid boss goals and earn huge rewards! And huge is right, the stat gain from the prizes themselves are high, but the modifiers along the way are an added bonus. Stat gains of more than 100k in less than 24 hours was pretty easy to obtain.
There are three modes for the goal series, Easy, Normal, and Elite. And for the final few goals in Elite, GREE might as well just put a "pay-this-much-to-get-this-prize". Also, given the enormity of these boss prizes, it's clear that GREE is not planning on ratcheting down stat inflation anytime soon.
Tricks or Treats LTQ
The Reaper - November 2013
The Tricks or Treats LTQ continued the trend of high stat return ratios and offered some great prizes along the way.
GREE continues the trend for offering LTQs with new characters rendering all prehits completely worthless. Hooray...
Bulletproof LTQ
The Reaper - November 2013
GREE continues the LTQ style with all new characters, although mercifully the targets do not have to be beaten a certain number of times before the goal is completed. However, it appears that the stat return on at least the Beginners and Normal levels are drastically reduced from the previous two LTQs. Perhaps this is a way to pull back from stat inflation, or maybe it is an effort to "soften the blow" of the new LTQ style that eliminates any and all prehitting...
LTQ Analysis and Summary
The Reaper - November 2013
Rising Phoenix is proud to offer some LTQ analysis for all previously recorded LTQs and a summary table. Although mainly for simple interest and historical purposes, it also offers some help for those few remaining campers out there who are deciding whether an LTQ is worth doing. It also shows a stark and radical change in the A/D ratio return on the LTQs recently.
Very interesting indeed...