I just hit L3 pump today, but I've been playing passively and using Gouda. It is handy having a bunch of snowball charms to use in the last area with my Goldfrost Crossbow. I just started using SB+ to farm bland queso to give me a little boost so I can farm some medium herbs and get my pump leveled up some more.

I'm really enjoying this area. Then again, I say that about nearly all new areas and then I grind them until I'm sick of playing them. Maybe being a bit more passive will let my enjoyment last longer?

I have my L6 pump and everything needed to go after Inferna except Bland Queso (you need 10k!!) so I’m farming that for the foreseeable future. I’m hoping to stretch one batch with baitkeeps to get me the base, then I can focus on filling out silhouettes and getting the trap.

I’ve found that the Adventure Book has been most helpful this go-around...made knowing what to go after next very easy.

Just upgraded my pump to Lvl 7. Looking at the queso pump amounts, I think I'm just going to upgrade all the way to Lvl 10 before I go for any of the three boss mice because I don't want to farm 10k queso with just 30 (now 40) drops per hunt. Plus once I get to Lvl 9 it will REALLY pick up speed.

To each their own, haha. Farming 10k is definitely grindy, but at least I'm going to have to do it once...and the base will significantly speed up progress once I've got it. I expect I should have it by Thursday at the latest.

Currently my intended progression rate looks like this (spoiler-ed just in case but I don't think there's any "new" info here):

FK, I will be interested to see how our methods differ and if the time spent will even out towards the end or if one way is faster than the other...granted, I'm planning to use Baitkeeps. But without Baitkeeps, I guess you'd just double whatever time one spends on farming a batch of Flamin'.

I'm at level 4 with my pump. I'm trying to get enough to go farm for the mild queso and then go back and go for level 5 for the pump.

Gymmie's method has turned out to be far superior to mine. Hahaha! Well, it does require a large supply of Baitkeep Charms, and I used almost all of mine up some time ago (I have five left).
My pump is currently at lvl 8, and I"m going to keep going with my strategy. The next jump to lvl 9 is going to be the most tedious, but after that, I think getting to lvl 10 will be faster. Then I can focus on the base followed by the trap.

FK, how about you and me knock out some Lightning maps after this to replenish our supply of Baitkeeps. I've got one left...

Spent four days grinding for the 10k Bland needed, and then I had awful DHU when going after the two boss mice with Flamin'...it took almost every single Baitkeep I had; about 6 more than I'd been planning on. Definitely got really nervous at the end because I was really close to being just one or two loot shy of the base after all that. I even cracked open two Auras I'd been saving because I was getting that desperate. It was PAINFUL, but I made it...I also auto-leveled to L7 while I was at it because Nachous dropped enough Nachore for both the base and the next upgrade (since I used Tonic).

Now I'm back to using Hot to get my pump levels up...at 7, about a quarter of the way to 8. The base is really helpful because basically my regular output is what I was making at L6 with Tonic...so a very nice upgrade. And it'll get better after L8 and beyond, so that ought to help.

Sounds good to me Gymmie! I'm in.
So is your pump up to lvl 10 yet? I'm sure you're getting close. I just got mine to lvl 9 tonight, Hurrah! I think now I'll go for the base and then pump lvl 10 after that.

I'm not *quite* that high up yet, haha. I'm just about to L8. Basically what the base does is run you at the Tonic rate of the level before you (more or less). So it gets incrementally better as you go along.

I expect I'll be at L9 before too long, and may start working on catching a Queen Quesada after that; I'm not sure. Depends on how the maps release goes.

I'm still at pump level 6 but I'm trying to store up lots of bland queso atm so I can try to farm and craft some flaming. Currently at 6k+ and my goal is 15k or so. I may dip into the other areas briefly to level up my pump as I'm very close to level 7. And the area maps are out now, so maybe that will help me balance out.

Somewhere in all of this I must have caught a leprechaun. I found a mysterious satchel of gold in my inventory.

Congratulations Kat!!!! That's awesome! I think you're the second NarniaWeb MHer that's caught all of the event mice.

I caught my first Inferna and Nachous tonight. I was sorely disappointed to see that Wild Tonic doesn't double their Ember Roots and Stone drops. I'm saving my paltry amount of Baitkeep Charms for Queen Quesada so the grind for the base will be slow and painful. At least Nachous doubles his Nachore so he's helping me on the last pump level.

Ugh, yes on the no doubling Roots and Stones. That REALLY makes it a grind. Ah well. Like you said, at least Nachous drops a lot of Nachore and doubles it.

FK, for what it's worth, regarding baitkeeps and QQ:

But, I don't really have a choice, since I've got exactly one Baitkeep left lol.

I'm up to pump level 6. I've got 2 flamin' spice leaves. I'm going to have to go on a major bland queso hunt after this.

Still at pump level 9, but just got the base. I'm in business now! Pumping 225 bland queso every hunt. Next step: Queen Quesada!

Gymmie, thanks for the tip. I took it and got extra Nachore off of Nachous with the few remaining Baitkeep charms I had.