Today marks the debut of the PAD Special Event Tournament 2 Ranking Dungeon in which players compete with a Fixed team for lucrative rewards.
For this event, the top 7% will receive a Crown while the top 20% will acquire a Rainbow Event Medal . For the most part, this Ranking Dungeon is relatively straight forward and the main key to success is pursuing the buffed Matching Bonuses.
The upcoming 10-Magic Stone Super Godfest is arguably the best Godfest to date. This is because it features an incredibly high rolling rates for rare cards along with the most collateral benefits thus far as all cards come out at 8-stars, level 88, fully awoken, and +297. As such, 5-star Pantheon cards will come out Reincarnated and have a large chunk of their 16 million EXP curve already finished.
All of this almost demands players to liberally spend their Magic Stones as it will be hard for a Super Godfest to top this; however, North American players have the advantage of being 2 months behind the JP server and know what is on the near horizon.
From my 7-year Anniversary Stream recap post, we now know that Monster Hunter and YYH Collabs will be returning with Monster Hunter being one of the best events of all time. This is because the 5-star cards hold incredibly powerful Weapon Assists that can provide 60% coverage against Blind , Poison , or Jammers . Furthermore, a return of any event promises various buffs that should improve the viability of the higher rarity cards. Despite not knowing what will be improved, Monster Hunter is worth rolling in just for the Weapon Assists.
With this in mind, players will have to make a tough decision as to where their Magic Stones should be spent as both the Super Godfest and Monster Hunter are 10-stone events.
The JP 7 Year Anniversary Stream took place early this morning and will set the tone for content being released in the upcoming months.
Due to the fact that the JP server tends to be about 2 months ahead of North America, we can use this information to make informed decisions for our PAD life and Monster Box.
This article/video will be highlighting the major upcoming buffs, evolutions, and Collabs that are on the near horizon. As such, one should use this information on where they plan to spend their Magic Stones as we will be seeing a return of Monster Hunter and Yu Yu Hashusho (YYH) Collab.
Video commentary
–video coming soon–
Returning Collabs
The JP Stream announced 4 returning/new Collabs with Monster Hunter and YYH having already occurred in North America. This means there should be no reason why we would not experience them once again.
At this point in time, no information has been released outside of their return but it is not a far stretch to expect buffs for existing cards (most notably Limit Break/Super Awakenings) along with new top rarity monsters. Continue reading JP 7 Year Anniversary Stream Recap→
The Street Fighter Collab is now in full swing and has an Event Dungeon to play/farm hiding in the Quests Tab. This tab will have 10 Fixed Team challenges that give you a chance to play with all the cards from the REM via Fixed Teams along with The Path to Greatness.
The Path to Greatness is the three bottom dungeons and will drop the Event Medals to trade in for an undetermined card. Historically speaking, the past few events had valuable prizes and it would not surprise me if Street Fighter also offered something meaningful.
In addition to the Event Medals, the Hard difficulty can also be S-Ranked for additional rewards and the easiest way to achieve this is using two leaders (that have strong multipliers and built in time extends) and no subs. This will drop your average rarity down low enough that you only need to complete the dungeon to secure an S-Rank.
S-Rank video
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Conclusion
The Street Fighter Collab Dungeon is hidden away under the Quests Tab and can be easily cleared for an S-Rank. While we do not know what the prize will be from the Event Medals, it does not hurt to get a head start on farming along with clearing all 10 Fixed Team challenges for additional loot.
The Street Fighter Collab will be one of the largest Collabs to be released in Puzzle and Dragons due to the sheer number of cards released. There are 8 unique 6-star cards that have 3 distinct evolutions forms along with 9 5-star monsters for a grand total of 17 different possible rolls.
Furthermore, many of these cards feature unique active skills that cannot be replicated elsewhere along with homage being paid to their abilities within the franchise.
As a whole, this an exciting event due to the numerous unique active skills and cards. Sadly, one drawback is the difficulty in acquiring any one specific card due to the sheer number of monsters available. On the bright side, all cards come with a Voice awakenings so players can enjoy hearing their iconic lines.
To potentially offset the sheer size of the Collab, all Diamond Eggs will be available for 2.5% each (total 20%) with the Orb Skin Ken at 3.5%. Furthermore, nearly all of the Diamonds have merit so there is value in rolling due to their high total rolling rates.
This article will review each monster’s strengths and weaknesses to give a better understanding of what one can expect within the Street Fighter Collab.
Just be aware that all rolls will cost 6 Magic Stones along with the Monster Exchange demanding a 5:1 trading ratio.
Finally, the JP 7 Year Anniversary Stream occurs on February 20th and may reveal something more powerful. Thankfully, this occurs during the early days of the Street Fighter Collab so it is possible to wait and see what is going to be released.
Video commentary
—video coming soon—
Overview
Street Fighter Collab REM – Feb 15, 2019
6 Star base
5 Star base
Street Fighter Collab REM Rankings – Feb 15, 2019
S
A
B
C
D
Order within each tier is random and not reflective of ranking
Icons only show base form of the 6-star cards which may not be their strongest form.
Regardless of card’s ranking, you should always keep it if it is your very first time acquiring them
The PAD Special Event Ranking Dungeon begins on Monday and features a generous 7% Crown along with 20% receiving a Rainbow Event Medal .
This event looks quite exciting overall as it features the return of heavily weighted matching bonuses which will force players to adjust their play style. While this is a non-fixed team event, the 7% threshold combined with the potential for several different approaches should make it an enjoyable tournament overall.
The JP cutoffs were as follows:
Crown: 138,208 Rainbow Event Medal: 116,006
Video commentary
—video coming soon—
145,408 run
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Score breakdown
In Ranking Dungeons, players are scored based on the following:
Each Combo is worth 5,000 points
Each second remaining is worth 500 points
Hitting 40 Million damage is 10,000 points
Each active used to kill a floor (no combo made) is -5,000 points
Matching Bonuses
Activate specific awakenings to trigger varying bonus points
Some tournaments will increase the point value for certain awakenings
This Valentine’s Day, North American players will be enjoying the Valentine’s REM on time! This may be great to help you get into the spirit of love, but the event as a whole is quite unlovable.
This is because this egg machine is average overall with no outstanding prize card. This can be further compounded by poor rolling rates for the top tier cards with the only saving grace being the Gemstone Princess equivalents boasting a 7.5% roll rate.
For the most part, these Gemstone Princesses function like their REM equivalent and only lose value if one owns them already.
For the most part, this is a skip-able event unless one enjoys the artwork or strongly desires a Gemstone Princess.
Video commentary
—video coming soon—
Overview
Valentine’s REM – Feb 8, 2019
8 Star base
7 Star base
6 Star base
5 Star base
Valentine’s REM Rankings – Feb 8, 2019
S
A
B
C
D
Order within each tier is random and not reflective of ranking
Regardless of card’s ranking, you should always keep it if it is your very first time acquiring them
Puzzle and Dragons is one of the most successful mobile games of all time while also being Free to Play (F2P also known as Freemium). Despite the attraction of not having to spend real life money (IAP), GungHo is still a business where the goal is to be profitable.
As with any Freemium game, there is the option to purchase in game premium currency to accelerate your progress. Generally speaking, being able to buy your way to victory is unhealthy, but thankfully PAD is a solo progression game where your own success does not have any negative effect on other players.
Up until a few months ago, Puzzle and Dragons has had essentially no special IAP bundles with the exception of a mediocre one where the extra prize was random and mostly lackluster. As such, with the introduction of guaranteed Collab 6-star and now Lucky Bag Special Bargains, spending some real life money is more attractive overall.
As a disclaimer, I live in Canada which inflates my IAP prices along with only spending money if given gifts due to being on disability from a serious back/neck injury in 2014. Furthermore, I receive no financial or in-game support from GungHo so my opinions are my own.
Video commentary
–video coming soon–
Freemium Gatcha games
The concept of a Freemium Gatcha game has become somewhat of an industry standard in terms of profitability and accessibility for users. We live in a world where the concept of having to pay for an app scares people so everything has to be free regardless of the quality. On the other hand companies need to make money on a continuous basis so they regularly release new characters that are primarily acquired through gambling/random chance. Continue reading Thoughts on Limited Purchase IAP Bundles→
Today marks the debut of a brand new Pal Egg Machine (PEM) line up for North America and is 100% worth rolling in.
This is because it will always pop out an evolved descend boss who can be converted into Evolution Gems via the Monster Exchange system along with possibly giving rare prizes like Borma or Machine Goemon.
Rolling
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I rolled every single Pal Point I had saved and should be well set for Evolution Gems for the foreseeable future.
The past several months have been exceptionally generous in terms of log in bonuses and limited time challenges. As a result, it is not unusual for some players to currently have several hundred Magic Stones.
In my 1,944 days of playing Puzzle and Dragons, I have never been able to amass this amount of Magic Stones (previous record was low 200’s after saving for 7-8 months a few years ago) and the temptation to spend them is always there.
Thankfully, I do have a certain degree of willpower and have decided to not roll until the next wave of Powercreep arrives.
Video commentary
–video coming soon–
Powercreep
Powercreep is the notion that new content will be stronger compared to our currently available options. For the most part, Powercreep has not been advancing at too fast of a pace but one can always see noticeably stronger cards if looking back 1 year at a time. Continue reading Why I have nearly 1,000 Stones Across my Two Accounts→
. For the most part, this Ranking Dungeon is relatively straight forward and the main key to success is pursuing the buffed Matching Bonuses.
that can provide 60% coverage against Blind 
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