Cross Server Arena - Elimination Stages

This section is a continuation from Cross Server Arena - Qualifying Period.

Top 32 players from the Qualifying Rounds proceed to the Elimination Stage, where they battle it out in a single-elimination knock out tournament. Winners from each match will proceed on to the next stage until the King of Ocean is crowned at the end of 5 days.



Match-ups

The match-ups for each elimination stage seem to be random, it may take a bit of guesswork to predict who would be your next opponent that you are fighting.

Every night from 9pm to 10pm server time (+8GMT), the system will do the following:

• tabulate results
• 'randomly' match up the winners into pairs for the upcoming Elimination Stage
• Capture and update all the information of the players' current deck for the upcoming match. This includes everything in the formation, heroes, line-up, stats, skills, and morale. 
• This means that any changes you make to your deck after 10pm will NOT be reflected in the current match
• It is your own responsibility to remember to arrange your own deck for the competition by 9pm everyday, bearing in mind that the formation that you are arranging is for your NEXT match in case you win and proceed to the next stage, and not for the current match which you are waiting for the results. So if you do manage to advance, you won't find yourself screwed at fighting with a wrong formation.
• Once you set your deck at 9pm, to be safe, leave it untouched till 10pm because you will not know when it is your turn for the system to capture the information and save your deck.

At 10pm the game will release the results and match-ups, and everyone can start placing their bets.


Cheering Team Bug
It is pretty much confirmed that currently there is a bug in the Cheering Team for all Cross Server Arena fighters. No matter how many times you have upgraded the Cheering slots, the game will read all of them at Lv 0. This affects the stats of the heroes in battle as well.


Betting

They managed to fix the betting bug in the middle of the 2nd Cross Server Arena. You are now able to choose how much you want to bet instead of the default 50k Belis. You can bet up to a maximum of 10m Belis. If your prediction of the winner of the match is correct, you will receive double your bet amount.

Before you choose who to bet on, you can click on the player's name to view the formation that they will be fighting with. You can also watch the previous match and pay attention to how much morale they had.

Once you place your bets, you cannot change it.

Betting for each stage ends 9pm server time (+8GMT).

To receive your betting rewards, scroll back to the previous Elimination Stage. There will be a 'Claim Reward' button for each match with a correct prediction.



Worship

After the Finals, the 'King of Ocean' will be crowned and everyone will be able to worship the top 4 players for Energy.

Click on Admire to do your worship.

For each worship you can choose either to pay 100k Belis for 10 Energy, or 20 Gold for 30 Energy.

The number of worship attempts depend on your VIP level.

I have no idea what difference it makes if you worship one player instead of another, but I guess you can go ahead and click Admire on whichever player you like more. xD

Random update: Lunar New Year Outfits!

I'm pretty sure most of you have seen them already, but still I think this is too cool not to deserve a mention. xD

Here is the wave of flashing red attires~

They even have one for Nami!!! Yay!  恭喜发财！红包拿来！xD

Advanced Lunar New Year greeting everyone! Have a prosperous Goat year ahead! :D

Valentine's Event: Luci, Cheering, Chocolates and Roses~!

Love is in the air~! xD

Ok maybe not hahaha. This Valentine's event is pretty awesome in my opinion! However, dear Plus OP... well advanced notice aside, at least an update/explanation on your Facebook page would be nice. Or maybe the admins are too busy on their V.Day dates. xD

The main highlights of this event are of course, Luci and the Cheering Card!

Chocolates and Roses can be farmed from Sailing.

Chocolates can be opened to get one of the following:

• 1 Rose
• 10 Gold
• 1 Dolphin Bracelets Package

(The 'Use' button on the Rose item is... useless.)

Although the event runs 4 days until 15 February 2015, Luci souls x30 and the Cheering Card can only be exchanged once.


Farming Chocolates and Roses

All Sailing stages drop these items, however apparently blue boss stages have the highest drop rates, followed by the green stages. You can consider clearing off all boss stages first, before attempting the green stages. Or spread your farming across the remaining days and only attempt the better stages to save on the energy required

If you are VIP 3 and above and are sick of Sailing the stages one by one, you can also consider using your Robber Cards for quicker farming. 

Yes this requires a heck load of Fish Balls and Steaks, but by now all of us should have learnt to hoard hoard hoard everythingggg in the game, so most of us would have already saved up a stash of Fish Balls and Steaks.

Luci should be obtainable with approximately 750 energy (with some Chocolate opening), depending on your luck.


Luci

If you already have Roger and Ace, Luci will boost their Defense! She is a pretty good card to have. Here are some screenshots, and if you were wondering, Luci sings her son. (Thanks Sebi!)

(Thanks Sebi for the screenshot! xD)

All the best to all players trying to bag her! Good luck~! <3

Cross Server Arena - Qualifying Period

The best of the best across servers can enter the fray to battle it out in the Cross Server Arena!

Cross Server Arena is very different from your normal Dressrosa Arena. A good deck does not guarantee you a spot in the Cross Arena rankings. This is because the system is largely point based, and to earn more points you simply need to spend Gold. It seems like this feature is made to benefit cash players, and FTP players hardly stand a chance at all, unless you have plenty of Gold stashed beforehand. However FTP players can still reap many freebies and rewards from the event.

The in-game guide on Cross Server Arena is... beyond terrible.  Like seriously... *shakes head* Yea I guess there is a lot to explain, so it may be hard to put them all in words, but the game copywriters could really do much better for the guide!

For easier reference, I am breaking the my guide for Cross Server Arena into 2 sections, Qualifying Period, and the Elimination Stages.



Overview of Cross Server Arena

Cross Server Arena opens to all players who are Lvl 12 and above.

Check the Server Entry list to see the list of participating servers for your group.



Qualifying Round

In the Qualifying Round, there are 5 stages. You start from Rookie, and move on to Set Sail, then Wave Slasher, Unique Prestige, and finally Golden Body.

In each stage, players battle each other for points. In order to proceed to the next stage, you need to collect enough points for that stage.

• Rookie - 1500 points
• Set Sail - 1680 points
• Wave Slasher - 1840 points
• Unique Prestige - 1980 points
• Golden Body 

When you hit the number of points required for each stage, you will be brought to the Promotion Round. There, you need to defeat 3 of the 5 enemies listed before you are 'promoted' and move on to the next stage to continue your point collection. 

After the server resets at midnight (+8GMT), if you are still unable to be promoted, the number of wins required will be reduced by 1. (Eg. You need 3 wins at first, but after midnight you now only need 2 wins.) However, it is required that you win at least 1 battle in the Promotion Round.

Each battle attempt costs 1 stamina.

Each day you have 20 free attempts to battle other players, as well as 1 free chance to refresh your opponent list. You can purchase more attempts or refreshes with Gold. 

You can also click on Last Stand instead of the normal Challenge to gain a temporary 20% stat boost for your team, however, this will cost you 4 attempts instead of 1, as well as 5 stamina.

For each battle you initiate, a win earns you 75 to about 150 points, 3 Orbs and 2 Gold. A loss gives you 1 Orb and 1 Gold. 

When another player attacks you, you keep your points if you defend successfully, or lose points if you are defeated. According to the in-game guide, "if the attacker uses windstorm, you won't lose points." I am assuming that they meant if your opponent had used Last Stand to battle you, you will not lost points even if you lose. 

Last Preliminary Round - Golden Stage

From here onwards, it's basically point farming all the way! Similar to the previous stages, you fight other players to accumulate points until the Qualifying Period ends.

As usual, you get 20 free attempts and 1 free refresh daily. You need to purchase extra attempts/refreshes with Gold.

Top 32 players with the best scores will proceed to the Elimination Stage.



Rewards

Rewards will be sent everyday, and what you receive depends on which stage you are in. The rewards will be available for collection till the end of the Cross Arena Battle, so don't forget to claim it before it poofs!

Random things to note:

• The cost to purchase extra attempts and refreshes resets every midnight (+8GMT). If you are a cash player aiming for the top 32 spots, do bear this in mind and plan your spendings.
• For each stage at the Qualifying Round, you cannot get negative points. Hence, for FTP players, in order to avoid getting attacked too often in the beginning stages, you can consider to camp in Promotion Rounds most of the time, while timing your attacks properly.
• If you are aiming for top 32, remember to note what time the Qualifying Period ends. 
• Right at the end of the Qualifying Round, the system will start to capture the decks of the top 32 players and save the details of their team formations for the first upcoming Elimination match. The server does this between 9 to 10PM (+8GMT). We cannot pin point the exact timing which the server will save your formation, but one of our alliance member has estimated that the game saved his deck at about 9.05pm while he was in the midst of swapping out some of his heroes for his Adventure deck. 
• Once a player's formation is saved into the system for the upcoming match, that formation will be kept and used for next the Elimination match in Cross Server Arena. Any further changes you make to your team later in the day will NOT be be reflected at all. Therefore it is important to set your deck by 9pm server time DAILY and leave it untouched till 10pm when the system is done sorting out the match-ups. Or else, you may have to risk using a wrong team for your upcoming match. 
• Just in case you are confused by what I just wrote, let me summarise the previous 2 pointers again. You need to:
• Set your formation by 9pm (+8GMT)
• Let the system capture and save your deck between 9 to 10pm
• 10pm onwards, the game reveals the match-ups for the Elimination Stage and your formation for Cross Server Arena is set. Any changes you make to your team now will not affect this match. Wait for the results the following day at 10pm.

Update: There seems to be a bug ever since the beginning of Cross Server Arena. For your cheering team stats, the formations in the leaderboards will only display Lv 0 for all your cheering slots no matter how much you have leveled them.

Not sure if this bug only affects the display of player's formation, or the effects are carried over into actual battle. We'll find out once the Elimination Stages start.


This guide is continued in Cross Server Arena - Elimination Stages.

Random Update: 5* Passive Skills from Mermaid

Yes it is possible to get 5* passive skills from kissing the Mermaid Princess!

Not exactly a fantastic skill here, and sorry for the low quality photo haha, but at least it's confirmed that the Mermaid can give something nice once in the blue moon.

Hopefully it will be a Firebody or Lightning God next time. >_>

Hunt for Heroes – Food for Thought

Recently Sebi (《A》Ace, Alpha S.4) opened a discussion on the Facebook page. Apparently there are players complaining about the game giving out certain heroes right after they painstakingly spent decades and a fortune to sing/buy a hero.

I guess I can understand what they are trying to say. Its like you spent so much effort in trying to obtain something, only to realise soon after that your need not have gone through all that trouble at all. So its kind of… a wasted effort?

But then again, all these aren’t considered complaints. They are just sore comments.

It’s really just too bad.

I am mostly a FTP player myself, and I know first hand that every mistake/wrong decision in the game can be dead costly. There are many times I want to punch myself with Adamant Haki for doing the stupidest things in the game! (Yep let me use your words this time Sebi =P)

The launch of the Mystery Shop and the increase of recent events by Plus OP actually altered the game play considerably.  (And when the SS heroes patch finally reaches us, it will definitely change the landscape once more.) The developers are slowly adding more avenues for players to farm S heroes. This also means that as players, we need to learn, adapt, and react accordingly. This includes changing the way we hunt for new heroes.

So the next time you wonder who you should sing for next, ask yourself the following:

• Will he be useful in your deck?
• Is he/she an end-game hero?
• Are there other means of farming him besides singing to speed up your hunt?
• Can you buy, or can you afford to buy the last 3 souls from the Mystery Shop/Nation War pubs?
• If no, you need to decide if you want to continue grinding after 27 souls, or stop and switch to sing someone else, while waiting for Plus OP to release an event or sell him in the shop.

The next time Plus OP gives away a hero you already have, don't fret. At least you know you have a steady influx of souls for your next breakout, or for your warship.

With that, I wish you all the best and good luck in bagging your next shiny purple hero~!

Hee hee, yep this post is dedicated to you Sebi, and also to your alliance Alpha on S.4. Thank you for taking the time to visit this blog and giving us your feedback, I really appreciate it. Its been great knowing you~! =P

How to get Equipment

1. Sailing

Certain orange stages drop C or B grade equipment, some boss stages even have a chance to drop A grade equipment fragments. To see the rewards for each stage, open their drop down menu.



2. Chests

Wooden, Bronze, Silver and Gold chests have a chance to drop C or B grade equipment. However, I haven't heard of anyone getting anything fantastic so far, so I think it's better to save these Chests for exchange events.



3. Kiss the Mermaid Princess

It is possible to bag C, B or even A grade Jewelry from the Mermaid Princess. (Thanks Merah & Earth!) Keep trying!



4. Fog - Fragments

Every 5 levels at Fog gives you the option to choose 1 of 2 particular equipment fragments. If you manage to defeat the boss stage, you can do a free roll for a chance to get the fragment, or you can buy it directly with Gold. 

However, unless you are a cash player, or even if you are a cash player, it can take 18467237845838 gazillion years to complete collecting the fragments.



5. Mystery Shop

If they are available on sale, you can choose to buy the last few equipment fragments off the Mystery Shop to complete your merge. Some weapons like Clima-Tact or Capture Star are only available in the Mystery Shop.



6. Daily Sign

It pays to invest some effort into visiting the Daily Sign, as sometimes the game gives out S grade equipment at the end of the month. So far, players could get Admiral Cloak, Cloak, and for the month of February they giving out a spiffy Spartan Helm, which currently has the highest base increment among all armors in this game!



7. Merge Drawings

The most common method to obtain A and S grade equipment in the game is to merge equipment drawings. However, what you get is random and largely based on luck. (Although I can't say that for sure because I never seem to be able to get a Handmade Vest, never everrrr!!! Well unless it means I have horrible luck... >_<)


Currently these are some of the known methods to obtain the following drawings:

3-Star Weapon Drawings

• Nation War Island Chests 
• Mystery Shop

5-Star Weapon Drawings

• Main Missions: Clear Sailing stages (Meet the Challenges)
• Main Missions: Hero Recruitment
• Fog - Clear about 50 stages and above for a chance to get it randomly
• Mystery Shop
• Nation War treasure hunt: Buy with Mystical Glass or Gold
• Nation War Island Chests
• Raiding S escorts may have a chance to drop 5-star weapon drawings (however there is no notification for the drop and you need to check for it manually in your bag.)
• Events

6-Star Weapon Drawings

• Fog - Clear about 85 stages and above for a chance to get it randomly
• Mystery Shop
• Rebates / Exchange Events

3-Star Armor Drawings

• Nation War Island Chests 
• Mystery Shop

5-Star Armor Drawings

• Main Missions: Clear Sailing stages (Meet the Challenges)
• Main Missions: Hero Recruitment
• Fog - Clear about 50 stages and above for a chance to get it randomly
• Mystery Shop
• Nation War treasure hunt: Buy with Mystical Glass or Gold
• Nation War Island Chests
• Events

6-Star Armor Drawings

• Fog - Clear about 85 stages and above for a chance to get it randomly (Thanks Shadowkent!)
• Mystery Shop
• Rebates / Exchange Events

3-Star Jewelry Drawings

• Fog - There should be no problem finding them often >_>

5-Star Jewelry Drawings

• Main Missions: Clear Sailing stages (Meet the Challenges)
• Rebate / Events

6-Star Jewelry Drawings

• Exchange Events

8. Alliance Shop

If you have enough Candies and Shop level, you can purchase A-class Thunder Stick fragments from the Alliance Shop. It takes 35 fragments to merge the complete weapon, although I would rather save the Candies to buy refine materials.
(Thanks RedHawk! xD)



9. Events / Giveaways / Rebates

Stay tuned to the Facebook page for updates on events, giveaways and sales. E.g Dream sword pack giveaways.

Also check back at the Pearl Seashell in the main page for rebates, but be prepared to be blown away by their jaw dropping prices. ~_~



10. New: Franky's Workshop

This new feature allows you strip down unused equipment into materials. These materials can then be used to craft certain equipment in the factory. However, right now the only available S grade equipment for crafting is Demon's Towel and Fisherman's Coat.

List of S Heroes - Combinations, Innate Skill & Stats

For the full album and the screenshots of all S heroes, click here. 

Yep I know there is already an album on the Dream Pirates 3D Group, but I want to make one for heroes that are released on Plus OP, and include the new heroes that were recently released.

I will be updating this album as Plus OP releases more S heroes.

If you need to use any of the screenshots in this album, feel free and go ahead, but it would be nice to give us some credit and/or link it back here~! xD

Special thanks to Reborn, Daz, Earth and Shadowkent for providing the screenshots! <3 xD

Types of Equipment

There are 3 types of equipment in the game: Weapons, Armors & Jewelry

Weapons increase attack.
Armors increase defense.
Jewelry increase HP.

The grades of equipments are divided into C, B, A and S. S class equipments are currently the best equipments you can find for this game.

You can enhance a piece of equipment to increase its stats. A and S class equipments can also be refined to increase the increment of the stats for each level.

The stats of the equipments contribute to the combined base stats of the hero. (Refer to what is combined base stats in the Stats Calculation guide here.)



5 Star vs 6 Star Equipments

Frankly speaking, I find the classifications of 5 and 6 Star equipments pretty crappy. >_> It is not right to assume that a 6 Star equipment will have better stats than a 5 Star equipment, because a 5 Star Fisherman's Coat can have the exact same base stats and base increment when compared to a 6 Star White Beard's Cloak! Yea, kinda confusing huh?

Hence I believe that the classification of 5 and 6 Star depends on the equipment's rarity, and not based on its stats.

How to tell if a piece of equipment is worth enhancing? Look at its base stats and base increment. A larger base increment means more stats will be added to the equipment per level of enhancing.


For a consolidated list of S Class Equipments and their base stats & base increment, click here.
(If you are able to provide any of the missing information in the table, do drop a buzz with a screenshot and I will be sure to credit accordingly! Thank you!)

Demon Valley

At 12.30pm and 8.30pm (+8 GMT) daily, a boss with a mighty chunk of HP will be unlocked for 2 hours (but it usually ends within 5-20 minutes), and players on the server can join the battle to defeat him.

When the event starts, each player can enter the event to deal damage on the boss. Instead of the usual battle system where alternate heroes take turns to land hits, in Demon Valley all your heroes will strike one after another, i.e. the 1st hero hits the boss, followed by the 2nd hero, and the 3rd and so on. After the last hero hits, the boss will strike back and your turn is over.

After each turn, you need to wait for a cool down timer to reset before you can attempt another round. If you do not wish to wait, you can pay 2 Gold to instantly reset the timer and enter to hit the boss immediately. You can also pay 10 Gold for a reset + additional 20% attack boost for all your heroes in that particular turn.

The whole point of this event is for players to deal as much damage as possible, and to do that, you can take note of the following.



Choosing your Heroes

There isn't really a need to train specific heroes for Demon Valley, however if you do have the luxury of choice, you should obviously select your best attackers for your team. Attackers work best in Demon Valley due to their damage bonus when dealing AOE attacks.

Moreover, attackers with innate multi skills make the best choice for Demon Valley. Examples of heroes with innate multi skills are Luffy (Gattling Gun), Zephyr (Holy Thunder) or Doflamingo (Five Colour Strings).

However, if you do not have heroes with innate multi skills, heroes with innate passive skills will also work nicely. For example, Ace with Fire Body, or Kizaru with Lightspeed. This is because you can simply equip them with a multi skill and they are ready to roll!



What Skills to give your Heroes?

Skill casting in Demon Valley works differently from regular battles. If there is only 1 active skill among the 3 skill slots of the hero, the casting rate of that active skill will be 100%, i.e the hero will definitely cast the skill! However, if the hero has more than 1 active skill, he will randomly cast one of the skills. This is the main reason why heroes with innate multi skills are preferred, as they will cast the multi skill for sure when no other active skills are equipped. Hence:

• If your hero has an innate multi skill, equip 2 more passive skills that boosts attack.
• If your hero has an innate passive skill, equip 1 multi skill + 1 passive attack skill.
• If you have no choice but to use a hero with an innate single attack skill, you can equip 2 multi skills to increase the chance of the hero casting a multi skill.

If you are out of passive attack skills, try to farm an extra Void or Wax Cover. If your hero has a haki-def build instead, you can choose to equip a passive haki skill to sharply boost your haki, and equip a good Lv 7 multi skill to make the best out of the situation.



Formation

The damage spread for AOE attacks decreases for opponents further away from the hero. (Refer to this guide here on how multi skills work.) Therefore it is important to arrange your heros properly for Demon Valley. Strongest attackers should be in the middle of the formation to maximize their damage, while the weaker heros should be at the beginning or at the end of the lineup.

If possible, you may wish to rearrange the heroes in your Cheering slots to maximize the attack/haki stats. You may also want to equip attack/critical shadows.

Prepping for Demon Valley can be very time consuming. The game developers seriously need to consider letting players save certain formations in slots to reduce all the hassle needed to change our decks! -_-"



Landing the Last Hit

Well, all that trouble gone through in changing you deck for Demon Valley may be well worth it, when you land the last hit on the boss and finish him off!

Getting the last hit is largely based on luck. You need to have a very good estimation to grasp the 'timing', or you can spam hit to speed up/skip fight + reset with 2 Gold and hope you land the killer blow. Players that deal a higher overall damage have a better chance of landing a last hit, so be sure to put in some effort to set your decks!



Rewards

The player that lands the last hit gets a whopping Beli reward + a morale boost for 24 hours!

The last hit Beli rewards may vary for each boss/player.

Each hit on the boss rewards you with some orbs and Beli, depending on your damage dealt per round. Current maximum reward is 175k for 300k damage per round. (sorry for the previous typo~!)

Top 5 players also get a morale boost for 24 hours. You can see them in your titles page after you re-login.

Top 10 rewards are as follows:

1. 60 Orbs, 3m 
2. 45 Orbs, 2m
3. 35 Orbs, 1.5m
4. 30 Orbs, 1.25m
5. 25 Orbs, 1m
6. 20 Orbs, 850k
7. 20 Orbs, 700k
8. 15 Orbs, 600k
9. 15 Orbs, 500k
10. 15 Orbs, 400k

Special thanks to Nic, Laoda, Reborn, Robotjaeger & DWaterLaw for helping to compile the rewards list! xD <3