Actually. . . . I'm liking the T-Rex trap better. I'm noticing a definitive increase in loot drops due to the higher luck setup.

^^ Yeah, that was the impression I got from the forum as well; that 8 luck trumps the marginal power increase anytime. I've been using it from the get-go with good success.

It would appear to me that people are going to be spending a crap ton of time on the first two tiers...the first one, converting Gouda into Gruyere, and then farming TONS of Minerals because you need half for Mineral Cheese and at least half for the other two cheeses. They weren't kidding when they said you were going to be farming forever. At least the catch rate isn't abysmal and the gold is decent.

^^ Yeah, that was the impression I got from the forum as well; that 8 luck trumps the marginal power increase anytime. I've been using it from the get-go with good success.

I've seen people on the forum say that you don't need the power from the birthday trap until you reach the final tier. Before that, the luck from the T-Rex is better. I have used it for a while and caught about two-thirds of the mice (even used SB+ just to tick off the SB+ only mouse on the first tier), but now I'm back in LG, salting for King Grub and planning for another Twisted Carmine hunt.

It would appear to me that people are going to be spending a crap ton of time on the first two tiers...the first one, converting Gouda into Gruyere, and then farming TONS of Minerals because you need half for Mineral Cheese and at least half for the other two cheeses. They weren't kidding when they said you were going to be farming forever. At least the catch rate isn't abysmal and the gold is decent.

Half for Mineral Cheese and at least half for the other two cheeses, and then almost as much for the new trap?

I'll probably only use the new area for passive hunting from now on until I've done all I want to do in the Rift. First the Rift Base in LG, then the second trap and gold farming in Burroughs Rift, and then more MBWs and the Fissure Base in WW Rift. By then nothing should be left of my 22 mil gold unless I replenish my stock in between. It will be a long time before I do anything serious about Sunken City and the SoS trap - I might even go for the new Forgotten trap first ...

Nothing of this is going to stop me from going places just for fun, though. I'm hoping to bronze the Barracuda, for one thing - not my most profitable endeavour

I must have had really bad luck when I first when into the Glittering Grotto because Tara wasn't catching ANYTHING. I switched to Cupcake and did much better. As I wasn't getting many gemstones to drop, I switched back to Tara and now I'm catching mice, so yay.

I am currently at 20 gemstones. I hadn't looked at the crafting recipes from here on out so I used all of my minerals to make Mineral Cheese. After I use the last of it up I'll be starting over again to get a whole lotta minerals.
Obviously this area wasn't meant to be finished any time soon, so I'll be farming minerals for a while.

But I'm quite intrigued by the fact they already have the key for a future location that can be obtained here.

And if you didn't see me post it on FB, Jacob is drawing a funky looking trap that corresponds to the Jungle of Dread and MAYBE Dracano. So I'm thinking either Ronza or the next treasure map trap.

I'm hunting Twisted Carmines. Started with 36 Lunaria as usual, have had 4 hunts with no TCs yet (but other mice with Ber Essences). King Grub and other mice during Lunaria farming have given me enough to craft a Gur Essence - so I only need 8 TCs (or possibly 7) for the Icuri for the third Shattering Charm.

I feel that the Rift Base is finally within reach (there is some heavy hunting with the Shattering Charms to do first, though).

I finished up my SC dive from Easter.

I returned to the Sunken City after traveling 74,350 meters!

During this dive, I visited 1 Rocky Outcrop, 1 Shallow Shoals, 1 Coral Reef, 4 Shipwrecks, 6 Mermouse Dens, 9 Sea Floors, 2 Pearl Patches, 4 Coral Gardens, 1 Oxygen Stream, 1 Carnivore Cove, 59 Murky Depths, 18 Sunken Treasures, 26 Haunted Shipwrecks, 42 Coral Castles, 42 Lost Ruins, 6 Deep Oxygen Streams, 15 Monster Trenches, 3 Lairs of the Ancients and 1 Magma Flow.

Now I am in the Fungal Cavern for another long haul. I think I will try for 100-200 Gruyere before attempting the next level. That way I'm not spending too long on farming the first section, but also not wasting my efforts with too little for each tier. I'll probably alternate between here, WRift and the SC until my goals for those areas are complete. I'll also need to start farming Magmatic Crystal Charms for next year's egg hunt.

I'll also need to start farming Magmatic Crystal Charms for next year's egg hunt.

I should join you for some trains to do the same. I haven't caught the Magmatic Golem Mouse yet either - and catching it with its egg sounds like a very good idea.

My last Lunaria run wasn't a large success - 2 or 3 TCs probably isn't bad, but I need more, so I need another run. I crafted 2 Shattering Charms and used them, though, so now I've caught two of the three LG bosses and only need King Scarab and his chest to get the Rift Base. Some more Dreamfluff Herbs from Lost City, and then a run in the twisted world again.

Congrats on 2/3 of your base parts Varna Boy that LG sure took forever back in the day before the Hothouse base, and it's still a slow area to complete. I don't know for sure, but I feel like the Cave is going to be faster, at least to catch the mice and get the trap. But if you're like me and you like to collect the journal themes, it's gonna take forever.

I also have two mice avoiding my trap. The Mouldy Mole and the Gemstone Worshiper. I've attracted one Mole, but had the wrong trap armed at the time (whoops) so I FTCed him. Have not attracted a single Gemstone Worshiper. And I know he's not THAT rare as I've seen a lot of my friends snag him. All in good time...

It's almost been 24 hours but I'm gonna double post anyways *bad admin*.

This morning, I did some MATH based on my drop rates thus far. These numbers are figured using the Tara trap primarily, at least Super Luck Charms and up, and a Golden Shield.

After crunching numbers, I found that to get 10 diamond cheese, you will need somewhere between 5,500 - 6,000 minerals using the above setup and only SB crafting. If you are not using SB conversions and not busting out your uber lucky charms, you will need a lot more (I didn't feel like doing the math for that too. )

We're gonna be here a while.

Does anyone know if the drop-rate of the Crystal Crucible is 100%? One would think, but I wouldn't put it past the Devs to be sneaky.

I have a friend who has got her trap already...she said she got lucky with drops and used the boost charms. I suspect she probably donated a bit too for the extra crafting supplies as well, but still, that's darn impressive.

Since this area is a long-haul area, I am going to feel free to bounce around the Kingdom taking care of other things as I need to. An Ultimate Charm would be nice for once I get some Diamond cheese. I still have quite a bit to go before I'd have one, but I am verrah close to one Shattering Charm so there's that. I've also been meaning to do some Treasure Scroll farming, but I'm wondering if I should hold off until the Map update just in case. I have enough friends where I don't think I'd be hurting for Map invites in the short term.

ETA: Last tier (spoilering just in case):

I caught my first Huntereater last night while hunting with Gemstone Cheese and my first Crystal Crucible dropped. That was a nice surprise.

I feel like I'm getting the hang of this area. Mostly learning that the gemstone charms are worth buying, though it means farming even more minerals before continuing up the tiers.

^^ I got a Diamondhide today with Gemstone and got 3 Crystal Crucibles. Was pretty happy to see that!

Overall, I think this area is turning out not to be as awful as a lot of us feared. Yeah, watch as I get hit with DHU for saying that, but at first glance I thought it was going to be a lot more of a grind, but it seems that luck can definitely be a nice boost here.

I have just crafted my third Shattering Charm and am currently salting my trap for King Scarab. I still haven't bought the blueprints for the Rift Base, and I can just see Ronza arriving as soon as I do so.

But on the other hand, she may wait for a while. And I want to go to BRift now to farm gold, and I guess the Rift Base is better for that than the Fracture Base. And I ought to get the Fissure Base as well, after I've farmed more gold and hunted some more Monstrous Black Widows.

I guess I'll work for a while on bettering my equipment before I go back to the Fungal Cavern.

I used my first/only piece of Diamond cheese and caught a Crystal Behemoth with 10 CC! *happy dance*

So now I'm back to farming Glowing Guyuere to farm the 800 Minerals (should take me a few days) and then I can use some of my Mineral cheese to get the last few Gemstones I need, and then I'll have my trap! That has come along FAR quicker than I imagined, for which I am extremely grateful.

I've used a lot of SB+ both hunting and crafting in the Fungal Cavern, but I think it will be worth it. I'm currently attempting to bronze the Nightshade Masquerade Mouse because I can.

I'm hoping that I will be able to get some real luck on my Crystal Crucible drops so that I can not worry too much about farming for a while. I'd like to focus on finishing the WRift and clearing the SC, but as long as we don't get another new area in the next month or so, I'll be okay. I like new areas, but I still have all these little goals I want to complete, and I can never help myself when a new area pops up.