I dipped my toes into the new areas and went back to the Floating Islands. I am working on that last trap and I've got 99 jewels to go. 

Just thought I'd post a quick update here. My massive stockpile of Baitkeep Charms has taken quite a hit. But while they worked great to give me a big boost in getting started in the new area, they're now hindering me quite a bit as my catch rate is significantly lower when they're armed, so I'm now farming all of my ingredients for at least 31 Final Draft Derby when I go to write a book(s?). 

As far as upgrades are concerned, I have 5/7 Farm Upgrades, 5/6 Pond Upgrades, and 3/6 Table of Contents Upgrades. I could actually get the next farm upgrade now, but I don't have much trouble getting papyrus, whereas I do need a LOT of Gnawbel Prizes for Literature, so I'm currently farming supplies for Gold Foil Printing. I don't think it will take me too much longer to get it. 

I don't think I mentioned it on here before, but the mice in these new areas are quite amusing. The Pond and Farm mice are properly creepy, and yet I'm rather impressed by their artistic designs. (I told one of my daughters that the Beachcomber mouse is basically her... if we lived on a beach LOL) And of course the storytellers are a lot of fun. 

I think it's fairly obvious this is just an intro area based solely on Prologue, Table of Contents, and Foreward names, but as always, I haven't followed the news at all so I don't know what kind of expansions they're planning and when. I assume the reason this area took so long to come out was because they were planning the whole "book" in its entirety because these areas aren't exactly the most complicated. 

As a side note, once I'm done in this area, I'll be doing a lot of maps again to rebuild my aura stockpile as that's taken quite a hit too. 

Nice work! I've been working a bit slower because frankly I'm just not in a big hurry and this area really speeds up once you get going, so I know it won't take too long to complete (unlike the Floating Isles! Which took me, gosh, over a year? At least?). So I've been taking breaks to map and stuff.

I have 4/6 Farm (Skipped #3; will do that last), 4/6 Pond and 4/6 ToC. I have the supplies I need for Farm 5 and Pond 5 except for the Gnawbels but I should have that soon. My strategy is to get two hunts with Final Draft Derby and then hunt with Second Draft Derby until I get to Ency. V1, then retreat (although it's usually just enough hunts to get me there, so not really bailing early). It's been a good method to conserve FDD while getting maximum Gnawbels because full FDD runs are SO luck-dependent...my first run I got really far, my second run I had terrible luck and didn't get far at all. So I'm going for slow and steady, but once I have Farm 5 and Pond 5 I will hunt up enough resources to do a couple full FDD runs to see how my luck goes; it's so fun either way.

It sounds like there are a few tweaks coming (new farm plant/boss?) and also maps, but I don't know if those are coming together or exactly on the timing. Also didn't get any info on what the cost will be for the maps (as I'm sure it will be more than just Relics).

Halloween is coming back pretty much as it was last year, which I'm excited about because it was fun! 

@FK, I'll be down for replenishing auras via maps any time you want; my stash took a big hit too. I still have a few in reserve because I have major fear of not having any for a rainy day, but I definitely could use more lol!

I haven't even got a stash of auras. Sometimes I have a couple, then I use them, and then it takes a few months before I get another. (I collected a few for the Valour Rift, is all, but that run is finished now.) I guess I haven't been doing enough of the right maps 😉 

I still haven't got my first Encyclopedia (got my first Epic this afternoon). I find it slow work. I've spent some time on bronzing all the mice, which may have slowed down some of the Pond farming (e.g. Ink). Not all mice are bronzed, though - I haven't even caught yet the two Final Derby cheese mice. Some of the farming at the Pond is good for passive hunting - I can spend a couple of days farming Ink, or Clams or Pennies. I've only got 38 Baitkeep charms, so I need the real thing for crafting cheeses.

It's a nice area, with interesting mechanics, and I love the graphics. So although I fear that it will take me months to get all I need for upgrading and bookwriting, I still like it.

I'm up for aura stockpiling too. Especially before event season kicks off.

25/115... Why does jewel farming take so long? 😭

The slog is real...it went a lot quicker with more frequent ESP trips/maps, but yeah, I feel the pain!

Just got the last Pond upgrade, and I'm not too far away from the last Farm upgrade; then it's just wrapping up the Table of Contents. I have to say, the ToC4 upgrade has been MASSIVE in speeding up progression; it makes Gnawbel farming a lot more palatable. 

I'm still striking out on good Ency runs though; I've yet to match my first attempt which got me to Vol 12. Pretty bad Mythweaver DHU lately! But the Gnawbels come regardless...and it will be nice once I get those last two upgrades that will aid in writing. I'll dream of a 20+ volume run some day.  

I just got my Encylopedia VoL 1. I then only had 1 hunt left, and was hoping for my 1st Mythlore as well - but I only attracted another Grammarian, caught it, and was kicked out. Back to the Pond for more Ink. And now back to the Farm for more Papyrus. This is slow.

My next upgrade should be ToC 3, Edge Gilding. Then I'll be about halfway and only need the last three upgrades from each location. I hope things will become less slow then.

@varna Before I got ToC 3, I was doing primarily speed runs with 2 pieces of FD and then 2D cheese to just get to Ency1, then retreat. It got me a ton of curd and most importantly kept a steady stream of Gnawbels without using too much FD. It took me like...a week or two? But it was the best resource-friendly way of doing it; I can give you more info if you want.

Now that I have more upgrades, I'm doing full FD runs back to back and replenishing my FD cheese as I go (and slowly building the resources to get the final two ToC upgrades; the only two I have left). It's a lot quicker now that I'm getting more Ink/Papyrus, that's for sure. I was doing FD runs using SSDB/strong charm, but I've since switched to just using RULPC with my Prestige base since it's pretty high; I'm burning through a lot but I have plenty and tons of Riftifier potions, so it's ok.

Eventually my plan is once I have the last upgrades, I'll change tactics and switch to more 2D runs to slowly build curd/Gnawbels and save on resources. I'm not too fussed about getting the traps quickly and I also know maps are coming in a few weeks and that will speed up the process as well. I just hope the resource cost isn't too crazy for them. 

I'm in a race. Will I finish the new area(s) before the Halloween event? Probably not, but it'll be close. Working on collecting 8000 pond pennies right now.

I can't believe we're coming up on event season!!  

@fantasia Getting the Golden Quill is SUCH a slog! I *just* got mine yesterday...the pennies weren't too bad of a slog but the crop coins were PAINFUL...I now have over 17k Papyrus so I really don't need to touch the Farm for a very long time.  

I'm back in the ToC to play with my last Quill while I work on getting the trap upgrades. I had been tempted to slot the trap upgrades in before Golden Quill since you earn Gnawbels so much faster than Pennies/Coins, but decided against it since they aren't trap types that benefit the FF. It shouldn't take too long to earn the resources for it, although I may need to go farm a lil' gold or dig into my Swiss Bank for it; those suckers are expensive and buying CC on the Marketplace isn't cheap!

I think maps are supposed to be released in the next few weeks, so looking forward to those. Otherwise, once that's all done I may jump out and hit up some other areas while I wait for Halloween.

If you aren't using the cauldron trap and the base, switch. I've gotten a crazy amount of the potions from the trap alone. I even got some for the new area too. It's definitely worth it.

Yeah, it's pretty nice! Usually the Gift of the Day base is my go-to for events but I feel like the Daily Gifts haven't been anything non-essential, so it's been nice collecting potions instead...I've got mostly "junk" ones but I did get a couple T8 potions and Stormy as well!

I've been a pretty unmotivated Mousehunter lately. Just going through the motions without paying much attention as to what's going on as real life has become so busy. But I seem to still be making progress in spite of everything. 

Prior to the Halloween event starting, I had purchased the shadow and physical traps there, compleing the new Folklore Forest area, with the exception of the final upgrade on the Farm. I don't typically have any trouble getting Papyrus, so I'm not focused on it at all, I will just get it when it comes because I don't feel like actively farming coins. Once Halloween is done, I will probably dive into of my treasure map stockpile because I need to build my aura supply back up. 

In terms of the Halloween event, I'm just plugging along. I try to at least keep myself signed in so I can go on hunts with other people, but I've been traveling a fair bit in real life so even checking the game once an hour gets missed. As of this post I have 26/40 batches of evil brew done, it's the evil brew and cursed skulls I'm after.  

This event has me so confused