I think using UPC's to get Rift Circuitry is a little excessive? I did mine using Ancients I think and it didn't take me *that* long to get the first 50. But I was really busy at the time so it could have been longer than I thought and I just don't remember lol.

@ FK: My disappointment wasn't directed at the base persay; I have much more motivation to spend time in a new area if I'm going to get a weapon that I'll REALLY use. It was more disappointment because I was hoping the next big base would be the Platinum base, lol. I want to have an excuse to do a lot of tourney's again or have my nice stash of tokens pay off in a way other than just buying Champ charms.

I'm almost done with my Calmer Clearing run but I have company this weekend so I moved to the BRift to farm CRM while I'm busy. I'll move back to the Wrift some time tomorrow.

Ah ok Gymmie, I gotcha. I personally am not expecting the Platinum Base any time soon. Seeing the small increments they're increasing base stats by, it'd barely be worth it to release a Platinum base right now without it having pathetic stats or being ridiculously overpowered. But I do agree with you on one point, I don't spend a lot of tokens for fear of losing too many for when they do release it, and with all the new content, I'm not doing many tournies to replenish the ones I do spend. Maybe this year they'll finally release the full set of tourney types they were going to do back in the day (speedy and endurance). That'd be cool.

As far as the UPCs on the Monstrous Abomination, I was watching your journal and you were catching waaaay more than I was, even with UPCs. I think I was just unlucky, but that's why I was using them. I was getting like, 1/8, even with maxing out my stats. But my thing is use 'em if you've got 'em.

Personal status update, I got all three leaders and crafted my first supply of Lactrodectus Lancashire Cheese (holy cow that's a long name LOL). Working on leveling my three areas evenly for my first shot at the black widow. Not sure how high to take them as I don't want to spend too much money on charms off the Marketplace. Should be interesting to see how this goes.

A few spoilers regarding the levels going after the MBW, if it matters to you FK (it will for me)

ETA: Spoiler guide for MBW if you're into that. Explains the above a little more clearly:

I have found that I need to spend less time MouseHunting - there are other things I should spend more time on. So I'll go for more passive playing, which keeps me going, without taking so much time.

So what will this stop me from doing, and what can I keep doing?

I've been playing passively in WRift since it opened, only was a bit more active when I was close to the first boss, arming with more power in order to be sure to catch him. I'm still there, hoping that I'll anger a different area this time and thus catch some different strong mice. I'm not using Rift charms, I need more Calcified Rift Mist for those, and need to go back to BRift for that purpose.

Not sure it will be possible to catch the black widow with passive playing,

I did a silly thing in my passivity - I left the computer without remembering that I had armed the MSC (17 pieces) to hunt for the Gilded Leaf Mouse. When I got back 25 hours later, all my MSC was gone and I had run out of bait - and I didn't even catch the mouse ...

The Tidal base is doing a good job - I'm really glad I decided to buy it. I need the Focused Laser trap, so another reason why I should go back to BRift - and hunting in the red and yellow areas works fine with passive playing.

Then there's the Sunken City - I'm close to some good areas, and should leave those for some occasions when I can allow myself some activity. No need to buy the first trap until I have resources enough for both traps - and I still need another 45 million points for the School of Sharks anyway.

King's Gauntlet is fine for passive playing - Furoma is great for passive playing - some parts of Living Garden would work for passive playing as well, but other parts not so well.

Any area CAN be played passively, but the results may be unpredictable and counterproductive

Caught my first Monstrous Black Widow. I was 47/48/50 and I was too chicken to go for 50/50/50. I did NOT want to snag the Tri-dra and reset the whole thing. Here's my loot for those interested....

3:44 pm - Whisker Woods Rift
I sounded the Hunter's Horn and was successful in the hunt! I caught a 3 lb. 8 oz. Monstrous Black Widow Mouse worth 360,000 points and 60,000 gold.

The mouse also dropped the following loot:
3 Rift Ultimate Power Charms, 2 Widow's Webs, 1 Divine Orb, 6 Rift Cherries, 7 Rift-torn Roots and 6 Sap-filled Thorns

She dropped TWO webs, I'm so excited! LOL

Anyways, now that I've done one run on my own, I've read through your spoiler Gymmie.

^^ I've heard of people getting as many as 3 webs on a drop, lol.

Hoping to finish out the Deep Lagoon today, and then on to trying for the MBW tomorrow. We'll see how that goes...

FK, have you seen the forum stuff about the MCL outperforming the FCL trap by quite a bit in the Wrift, and the Crystal Tower actually being useful in balancing all three areas? Makes me want to go back to the Brift for my MCL, but that's going to cost a cool 6+mil and I've got Shark traps to pay for...

To be honest with you Gymmie, I'm not surprised at all because they went back to the old luck vs power with the release of those two traps. Luck used to be my favorite way to go. I got all the Rift Circuitry in case I needed the MCL because I figured it would be better. But like you said, is it so much better that I'll make back the 6.4mil before a new area is released and I move on? Kind of hard to believe. On the other hand, I dropped big bucks on charms so perhaps it would be worth it to at least get the Laser Crystal? I'll think about it. Clearly it won't take that much longer to get the base so that's the first priority.

I have the Focused Laser Crystal!

I'm set up with plenty of mist for the Egg Hunt and Terre Ricotta cheese. I used all my PP going after Circuitries, but that should be easy enough to replenish in the Egg Hunt. I'll probably ignore the other Rift upgrade for now unless it's going to improve my chances in the WRift enough to warrant the cost. I'll probably craft the Rift Base before long as well, assuming Ronza doesn't arrive with expensive goodies.

Now to run trains until Lunar New Year.

I'm going to try for my first MBW now...hopefully today, but it might be tomorrow or later depending on how good my luck is. I'm not sure how long it's going to take me to fill up all the meters. I'll be online all day tomorrow but possibly not tomorrow so we'll see.

I go on vacation this Friday so I'll camp out in the Sunken City to use up my FF until the CNY event starts.

Got a second MBW and she dropped another two webs, so I only need one more web to get the Fissure Base. But I think I want another set of cheese before I go after her again. And then I need to think about how I want to set up in this area for eggs. I'll probably need to be ready to nab her or the three bosses, and then have several Taunting Charms and a small pile of LL cheese ready to go.

^^ That was my plan as well. Max out my meter at the Triple 50, and make sure I have enough Funnel (and Taunting, if I get them by then) ready to go. I'm preparing for the possibility of eggs dropping from the charm-only mice as well as the mini-bosses. I doubt we'll get an egg from ALL the possibilities this year, but I'd like to be prepared regardless.

Had to halt my MBW run because I'll be away from the horn today and I don't want to accidentally do something stupid. Hopefully I can put some progress on it tonight and finish up tomorrow. After that, it's off to the Sunken City for me until the CNY event starts. I'm going on vacation and expect to be offline for the first few days at least.

Aaand the Engine Doubler is now MINE! I am one mouse away from finishing the train section completely. I need a few more magmatic charms first though. I have 6. I think I'd like 15 or so before going after the golem. So maybe one 24 hr train a week until Easter?

I'll head back to the BRift after this. Still working on farming mist. I have a goal of 200 - 300 before I get back to hunting in there. I'm also working on farming calcified mist as well. That one I have no particular goal for, but I figured to start now is a good thing.

I have no idea how y'all are making such awesome progress through this new area. I play just as much, and I'm not even close to finishing it up

I did catch the Monstrous Black Widow, and she dropped one web. I went ahead and purchased the first base (I thought, eh. . . what the heck) So I need four more webs before I can buy the second. Then I'll probably head out of here and back to the sunken city or the warpath.

One thing that I've noticed is that this area is much easier if you use magical string cheese than using any other. I probably get a 30% Fail-to-attract rate when using brie string cheese. The magical aspect of magical string cheese takes that variable out of the equation. However, the price has gone up rather a lot. You can get super brie for about 5000 per piece, but magical string cheese costs almost 8000 per piece. Along those lines, I think I might spend a day in the living garden farming low level essences in order to smash them all into Aleths so that I can just craft my own cheese, and hopefully save a few pennies.

I'm really looking forwards to Valentines/Lunar New Year. It's one of my favourite events of the year.

I'm also really wanting a Ronzian visit.

Digs, I haven't even set foot in the new area yet. I'm going to stick to trying to catch up on some of the sections I haven't finished yet.

Kat, congrats on your Engine Doubler! Yay Here's hoping your charm farming goes quickly.

DiGs, as far as I've kept track, you and I are the only two people out of our little group who have caught a Monstrous Black Widow. ETA: Oh, I see Gymmie snagged her MBW while I was sleeping last night. Congrats!

One thing that I've noticed is that this area is much easier if you use magical string cheese than using any other.

I don't know very many SB+/MSC areas where this isn't the case. But perhaps you mean that it's even more of a boost than normal? That could very well be. I haven't had too much trouble with FTAs, but when I do get them, I seem to get them in streaks. Yesterday I had about a three hour period where I caught two mice. It was very painful. I know if I had armed MSC it would have helped, but I've invested more gold in this area than I intended to, and I've cut myself off from the Marketplace for the time being.

I'm also really wanting a Ronzian visit.

I can't laugh cause I'm in egg hunting mode prep, but boy I think she's a long ways off. I'm not expecting her until June/July, and if she does come before then, I'm screwed cause I only have 8mil gold. I need to start saving up very, very soon.

I'm really looking forwards to Valentines/Lunar New Year. It's one of my favourite events of the year.

Me too. Are we thinking it's gonna start next week? I'm hoping to get one more Monstrous Black Widow before it starts, and I think I'm on track to do it.