Random Thoughts

Mantastic is now on Patreon!

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Introduction

After months of deliberation, I have finally decided to implement and launch mydownload Patreon page. Paetron is a medium akin to GoFundMe, but for content creators such as artists, musicians, and pretty much anything you can imagine. However, Patreon differs in that your support is pledged on a monthly basis and has a meaningful impact moving forward as I will continue to have sizable medical expenses for the foreseeable future.

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Why I created a Patreon page

I created my Patreon page to provide my readers with another medium to support me as content creation is a time consuming process. What may take you minutes to read usually takes hours to produce as there is great deal of effort involved with researching, formatting, commenting and writing each article

When I first started Mantastic PAD, my goal was to help other players as this is the game I am most passionate about. I am well aware that Puzzle and Dragons is a relatively small game in North America and Europe and it is somewhat unreasonable to make a living from content creation when compared to larger games like Hearthstone. However, PAD is my favourite game and it is still my goal to help as many people as possible.

My real life situation is less than Mantastic as I have been battling severe health issues since July 2014 along with a strong likelyhood of a cancerous lump in my eye that has involved a failed surgery. I better explain my situation in a previous website posting (Feb 2017 & Sept 2016) should you wish to read more about it. In essence, I spend the majority of my time and money with various doctors and specialists that leaves very little time or resources for normal activities. Unfortunately, I see doctors on average 4-5 times a week and many of the treatments take days-weeks to recover from and has left me unable to work.

My most recent Lidocaine procedure (Feb 21, 2017) has provided a noticeable reduction of base-level pain, but I am far from out of the woods as I will probably require “booster” infusions at a reduced cost ($500-550) at unspecified intervals (most likely monthly?). While this may not feel like a massive sum of money to some individuals, it is massive for me as I already have other doctors/healthcare practitioner expenses that already overstretches my disability benefit.

How you can make a difference

Even something as small as $5/month can make a world of a difference if even 1% of my readership base participates. $5/month translates into about 17 cents a day or can be viewed as about 35-50 cents per article as I usually produce something new every 2-3 days (you could also view $5 as a failed silver egg from the REM!). Regardless of Paetron participation, I will still continue to produce high quality content that will help you advance through your Puzzle and Dragons journey.

I am well aware that this is not something that everyone can do, but what everyone can do to help is simply disable/whitelist AdBlocker for my various platforms. This will have a dramatic impact overall as my website alone is visited around 10,000 times a day for the past several months.

The finer details for Patrons

Reward tiers

In order to further show my gratification to all my Patrons, I have created a fun-rewards tier that will grant you various benefits. These benefits will reset on a monthly basis (where applicable) and some will require coordination on both ends to fulfill.

For those Patrons at or above $5/month will gain special perks in my discord Discord server and you have to go into User Settings to sync your Patron account to your Discord account. This cannot be completed by anyone else, but feel free to ask for help if needed.

You cannot sync your two accounts until after the first of the month as that is when Patron officially recognizes you.

Coordination can be completed via Discord or my FB icon Facebook messaging system.

When will I be charged?

You will be charged on the first of the month and that will also trigger all the reward tiers. If you pledge support part way through a month, you will have to wait until the next month for your rewards.

Conclusion

I do appreciate you taking the time to read and visit my Paetron page and I hope to continue to be a valuable resource moving forward. Support is by no means mandatory and I simply wanted to provide a medium for individuals who want to go the extra mile.

Happy Puzzling!

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Question Time

Question Time – Answers, February 2017

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Introduction

As a follow up to my debut Question Time Post, here are the promised answers. I feel that this style of posting is beneficial and will try to do this on a monthly basis moving forward. Some questions may have been lumped together if there was a certain degree of overlap.

I enjoy the diverse questions and also helps provide me with inspiration for future posts as some topics are more popular/requiring more research to better answer.

Video commentary

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Questions and answers

Here is a simple question for farming. If you do not own a button team, what other cards could you use to speed farm a dungeon? (R.E.M. Cards included)

-Anubis32

For the most part, almost every player can utilize an Awoken Liu Bei A Liu Bei alternative (Green Odin Green Odin, Perseus Bankai Perseus, and Australis Australis) with numerous Zeus Dios Ult Zeus Dios as subs to button through most content in the game. However, barring those REM leads, you can still use Dios as a leader as he does offer 49x ATK when below full HP. One of my mods created this Dios Guide and I strongly encourage you to check it out. You can also go onto my discord Discord server and PM Rawrzcookie for more clarification.

This type of farming is the universally fastest and easiest to assemble for mid level content when played in coop. Continue reading Question Time – Answers, February 2017 →

Colosseum

Super Ultimate Colosseum 0-Stone Clear Strategies

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Introduction

Super Ultimate Colosseum is the hardest dungeon to date as it features an incredible array of dangerous spawns who have buffed up stats and abilities. There are many hurdles that plague this dungeon including massive HP pools, numerous resolves, combo shields, lethal mechanics, and repeated dangerous spawns. it is not for the feint of heart and only the most invested team and skilled players have a chance of conquering the Colosseum.

While Arena 3 has randomized spawns, the encounters in Colosseum are much harder by comparison and have dramatically larger health pools (there is some variance in appearances, but not as much). This presents a wonderful challenge and has injected a new sense of excitement into my Puzzle and Dragons life.

0-Stone Meridionalis clear

As this was my first time clear, I played quite cautious along with having several hundred people tuning into my Twitch Twitch stream. Playing under a large audience can be intimidating as your every move is critiqued and my conservative playstyle probably reflects that. As I play and clear Colosseum more, I will most likely improve my clear times and refine my set up. I will probably make an effort to stream everyday that Colosseum is available as it is the most exciting dungeon to play.

Video commentary

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Teams used

Continue reading Super Ultimate Colosseum 0-Stone Clear Strategies →

Random Thoughts

Post Lidocaine Procedure Update

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Thank you to everyone for your support during this challenging time. I am still combating a modest amount of the normal side effects so it may take some time for appropriate responses or new content to be released. Normal side effects include nausea, fatigue/drowsiness, and disorientation with it being most severe for the first 24 hours.

Overall the procedure went well and I was able to tolerate the entire procedure without any complications. I am currently experiencing a noticeable improvement in baseline pain levels, but I have been very cautious this past 48 hours and did  have one unusual flare up. I am still by no means cured and have a very long road ahead, but hopefully it will be shorter and less painful moving forward.

I will most likely need repeat infusions for Lidocaine (how frequently remains to be unseen), but these would at least be available for only $500-550 per treatment as I would be taking it home with me and having it slowly released into my bloodstream over the course of about 4 days.

capture

Once again, thank you to everyone for your continued support. You have made this whole week bearable through your encouragement, prayers, and well wishes. I also want to thank everyone who contributed financially for funding my procedure. Within a week’s time, you were able to pay for the procedure in full and this makes a world of a difference moving forward as I still have many hurdles to overcome and my eye cancer follow up next week as well.

It is often easier to update my social media platforms as they are better suited towards quicker posts so feel free to follow along:

Mantastic Icon Mantastic Social Media Mantastic Icon
FB icon Facebook twitter Twitter YT YouTube
Twitch Twitch discord Discord download Patreon

I am still sifting through my Question Time post and should ideally have it finished on the weekend along with finalizing my Patreon page.

Once again, I want to thank each and every one of you for your support and it means the world to me.

Happy Puzzling!

Monster Point Dragons, Monster Points

Monster Point Cards Tier List – A Revised Look and Overview

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Just because you have 300,000 MP, it does not mean you MUST buy a card now. Plan it out and wait if lacking any ideal option

Introduction

As part of the large event extravaganza in NA and EU, we will be receiving 390,000 Monster Points over the next few months. For many players, this will their first time passing the 300,000 mark which is required to purchase a card and many will be eager to take the plunge. Conversely, this additional 390,000 may put some players dangerously close to the cap of 999,999 (why is there a cap, I do not understand) and may preemptively force some player’s hands. However, just note that the MP is stored in your mailbox so you don’t actually need to open and cap.

As such, this article will review all the MP cards available (excluding seasonals) to help you better understand their value, if your box can support them, and how they rank against each other.

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Ranking the MP cards

It is important to understand how the MP cards stack up against each other as it is my belief that these cards should dramatically improve your monster box and help you progress into the next tier of content.

The following chart ranks the MP cards against each other and takes into consideration their highest evolution and new buffs announced with the JP 5 year stream. I am also working under the presumption you have access to the ideal or as close to the ideal team as possible. Just because the card has strong potential, you need the subs to back them up as they will flop otherwise. The MP cards should also help push you further into end game content and should differ from the type of team you currently have. I will go into more detail further down explaining their uses and value.

To reiterate, this list may be subjective and you should make sure you actually have the cards to support their purchase.

MP Cards Tier List – February 20/2017
download download download 3265 3193
download download 3266
download 3264 Ragnarok 3262
2558736037bba11c264e4086f62b8246_clipart-question-mark-question-mark-clipart-nature_2400-2400 3263 Xiu Min Xin Hua
x You Yu Xiang Mei

Explanation and justification for each card

While a tier list is helpful for a quick reference, it is best to understand why the cards are ranked as they are. Continue reading Monster Point Cards Tier List – A Revised Look and Overview →

JP Streams

Thoughts on 5 Year Anniversary JP Stream

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Introduction

A 5 year anniversary for any game is a significant milestone and GungHo intends to make it memorable through a massive array of buffs, new evolutions, and quality of life improvements. I do not plan to comment on every single detail of the stream, but instead wish to highlight what I feel are more meaningful and how they can impact the player base.

If you wish to read the full details, I encourage you to visit the puzzledragonsx posting HERE. Just bear in mind North America tends to receive any new changes about 2 months after JP does.

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Recorded broadcast of JP Stream

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Monster Box folder system

Sorting/filtering the monster box has come a long way since the inception of PAD, but it still has plenty of room for improvement. The new Monster Box folder system will allow you to more seamlessly sort your box to show cards of interest.

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We will have an all folder, categorized, 2 custom, evolution material, awoken materials, and enhance materials folders. As someone who spends quite a bit of their time looking at their monster box, this will be quite an amazing update as it will better allow us to customize it to our liking or simply leave as is within the all card folder.

3 person coop

The debut of two player coop was met with mixed reviews and I can foresee a 3-way to be just as controversial. However, unlike the coop we all know, there will be some distinct changes/restrictions: Continue reading Thoughts on 5 Year Anniversary JP Stream →

Godfest

Debut GFE Tier List & Extreme Event Rush I Godfest Review and Analysis

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Godfest basics

When making the decision to roll or save your magic stones, you need to determine if the featured pantheons can benefit or compliment your teams. Chasing for one specific monster is unwise as you will most likely be disappointed and should ideally have Godfests that overlap with many target cards. Remember all monsters that come out of the REM will qualify for Skill Inheritance so do not be too hasty when selling dupes. For a more detailed team building help, please refer to my full list Popular Leader’s and their Full Sub List Post. Lastly, to find more information about a specific pantheon or monster, refer to my Master List to better refine your search. If you are considering to purchase a Four Gentlemen card, please read my Review and Comparison HERE.

Introduction

This is a bad Godfest. If I ended my review here, it would technically be informative, but probably not very helpful as it does not explain why. As such, I wish to experiment with a new addition to Godfests by creating a tier/hierarchy list for the Godfest Exclusives. I have tended to stay away from ranking cards as it is subjective and simply duplicating/reposting JP leader tier lists is redundant. Thus, I will be creating a quick reference chart to help categorize the GFE from all points of view: leader, sub, inherit, and niche roles. Remember, this is a subjective list and your opinions may differ so I encourage you to voice your opinions in a constructive manner.

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The actual Godfest

This Godfest will feature all the Godfest Exclusive (GFE) cards at a mere 4x rates and no pantheon cards alongside. 4x may have been amazing a year ago, but it is my understanding that with the numerous additional cards in the REM, the actual rate of rolling a particular card has gone down. Thus, the 4x rates is simply to keep abreast with the older 3x rates.

The Midnight Gala will be occurring along with all GFE appearing in their evolved form at level 50 as well as +50 to a random stat. Coming out evolved may drive some players crazy as it will result in a void in their monster book.

My advice is to not roll and simply save stones and recover from the Heroine REM. Continue reading Debut GFE Tier List & Extreme Event Rush I Godfest Review and Analysis →

New Evolutions

New Split GFE Evolutions – Which Path to Take

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Introduction

In a surprise mini patch, GungHo ninja released several new split evolutions for various Godfest Exclusive monsters. This article will help weigh the pros and cons when deciding which path to take.

The idea with a split evolution path is to provide players with more options for customization as well as trying to push them more into a “leader” or”sub” role. You should also be aware that some of these evolutions lose their sub attribute.

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Implications for split evolutions

Having a split evolution tree appears to be the norm/trend for Godfest Exclusive cards. For the most part, it is beneficial as you are able to better customize the card to your box needs, but it can also put pressure on players to roll more of what are already the most rare cards in Puzzle and Dragons. However, these new evolutions have breathed new life into the aging Odins while providing Baldin and Balboa more viability so these are positive overall.

Do note that the active skill does not change regardless of which evolution path you choose. Continue reading New Split GFE Evolutions – Which Path to Take →

Random Thoughts

Another Less than Mantastic Health Update

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Introduction

I have shared my diverse health problems last year when I was about to undergo surgery to remove what is presumed to be a cancerous lump inside my right eyeball along with sharing my inability to function normally due to a serious back and neck injury that was sustained in July 2014. Needless to say, the surgery did not go well as they were unsuccessful in removing the lump and my back/neck issues are reaching a somewhat critical moment next week along with a follow up with the cancer specialist at the end of February.

If you wish to read about these in my previous posting, feel free to read my previous post HERE.

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Eye problems

During my last regular eye check up in late 2015, my optometrist found an unusual lump on the inside of my right eyeball. I was sent to a specialist who then referred me to a cancer specialist as it was out of his scope. After further probing and examination, we agreed to remove the lump via surgery as it is most likely cancerous and testing cannot be performed without a biopsy and that cannot be done as it is inside my eye and inaccessible.

I went through with the surgery under general anesthesia and was later informed it was unsuccessful as the surgeon had difficulty pin-pointing the exact location as she did not want to make an excessive cut through my eyeball or pierce the lump (it is very small and in an awkward location). As such, I am to be monitored every few months in case it does grow and surgery needs to be reattempted.

While this is not an ideal situation and my last checkup showed no signs of growth (thus lowering the chances of it being malignant), it is only one of many health problems I face.

Back and neck problems

I have been on Long Term Disability (LTD) since July 2014 and Continue reading Another Less than Mantastic Health Update →

Arena, Random Thoughts

A Very Meri Day

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Introduction

I was fortunate to roll Meridionalis 3276 on Mantastic at the beginning of the Heroine REM event and was able to take her for a spin in a solo Arena 3 attempt. Needless to say, she is  an amazingly fun leader to use and I am overjoyed by the fact that I have another viable end game leader to use.

Solo Arena 3 clear

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Fantastic rolls

Due to the success with Meri, I was highly motivated to try and acquire her on my Fantastic account in order to take advantage of coop and a playstyle I enjoy. Thankfully, I have some supportive viewers (0apie) and was able to IAP a pack and test my luck.

Continued success

My gamble paid off and I am excited to begin a new era or PAD gameplay with Meridionalis as the no skyfall clause is incredible for stalling/hoarding orbs and damage control. I did a couple of test coop runs of Arena 3 today and was thrilled to have been able to complete both within 45 minutes with one of the runs taking around 15-16 minutes due to the water skyfalls on floor 1.

Arena 3 Meridionalis
Inherit Ryune 2993 3162 Skuld ult evo Susano
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Card		 3276 Blue Sonia Blue Sonia Bankai Andro 3069
Blue Sonia 3103 Bankai Andro 3069 3276
Inherit – – Skuld ult evo Indra Awoken Oorochi

Acquiring Meridionalis on both accounts has re-injected a sense of excitement into my PAD life as I now have a new and powerful team to play with. It will also motivate me to try and min-max my team as best as possible to write a comprehensive team building guide for her after they announce her buff/evo in next week’s JP stream.

Conclusion

Now I need to decide if I should start saying MERaculous instead of MYRaculous.

Happy Puzzling!

Puzzling those Dragons