ABT Caracter Upgrade Strategy

[Geli]

n00b here, reading to get insights on playing the game. I tried the search function to get info on character upgrade, specifically: is it better to upgrade 2-3 characters in each Mission Category (destroy, lead, spy) or is it better to upgrade across the board? Search results were disappointing, to say the least.

Highest level of any character acquired at time of this post is Level 10, lowest is Level 6. Material Silo apparantly maxed out for my version of the game.

Topic

[Pampeans]

Hi @geli

My strategy was to upgrade the Variants 1st because they reward the most coins and coins are needed to upgrade. Then I focused on the Energon Fueled because they don’t require time to restore their energy. Using both of these character sets increases your skill level. After that I focused on the weakest Tfs. I don’t pretend that this is the best strategy, but that’s what I did.

Having said that, initially I only had to update my characters to level 10 (no materials or Energonicons) and the strategy was to focus on upgrading before unlocking.

[otter]

Well… Now that I have all of my ABTF’s are atleast 13 a few 15 because of a game glitch durring an up grade…. Now I just go down the list and just upgrade the next in the cue….. I burn my material based on my next upgrade in the lab in order to get gems…. I’ve seen many posts about ABTF’s being “nerfed” as they get to level 15…. So I do not really see a need to prioritize at this time…. This is my strategy…

[Geli]

Thanks, @20qmindreader. The info on how to utilize characters on missions was enlightening.

Thinking of upgrading 3 characters of each ‘missionc capable’ variety to the max, then bring the rest up. Like the alternating auto bid and deceptihog idea a lot, @otter.

Thinking the variants would be the ones to push forward with.

[TriPolar]

@20qmindreader Thank You for that link. Not sure how much time I spent following links but it was a very interesting read. Remembering how the game started and how things changed while the was unplayable for me (until the update after Thanksgiving to replace all of the the appearant graphic changes for that season), up until now.

All the respect in the world for @optimuspig for his research and work on the b/c. It also confirmed something that I suspected all along about the nest. To think I was actually considering the option of buying a big set of gems to use on accessories… Also realized how much we don’t like changes, even when some of them are actually pretty good.

Tho, I can’t speak on specifics for almost obvious reasons. I feel conflicted in many ways about the treatment of the players of the game and the condition of the game. I still find the game addictive but makes me wonder what the contents are of the post awaiting mod & tr@p phrases or tr¡p w0rds that get a message caught up.

It was a great eye opening read on game development, payscale & polititics.

[Optimus_Pig]

@tripolar

“… for his research and work on the b/c”

For my work on the what? (Sorry, I’m a little slow on the uptake at times ….)

[Optimus_Pig]

Oh, maybe. I was confused what a “b/c” is?

[TriPolar]

;-)

[Francis Crawford]

If I had to do it over again, I’d do things differently than I have, but here are some parts of what I now think:

1. Most important is to upgrade the TFs you want to do competition/challenge runs with. For many people, those are Grimlocks.

2. Yes, it is good to have TFs upgraded who are useful for running various kinds of missions.

3. It is common that the TFs you run missions with then appear at a node. So I’d like to run missions with TFs I generally like to use.

4. The Variant TFs give more gold. Also, they’re a nice spread of the three mission-running kinds. So they and the Grimlocks would do well as the top priority.

5. My priorities include 4 “bomb” TFs — the 3 Grimlocks and the other Variant “bomb” one. Of course, during a competition only 1 is available for missions, but at other times all 4 are.

6. I don’t find many of the “magnifying glass” TFs to be very powerful. I leveled up Starscream or her sister to 15 and found her quite disappointing. I like Bumblebee even though he’s weak; besides, I have a nice item for him from the Christmas contest, so I wish I’d leveled him instead. Now I have Windblade with some accessories, so I’m thinking of leveling her too.

7. If I had to do it over, my non-variant “lightbulb” TF priorities would be Soundwave/Soundblaster. In part that’s because I got good accessories for them in a competition. Also, I’m a Celtics fan, and I think they look a bit like Paul Pierce. :)

Anyhow, they seem to destroy quite a bit of stuff.

8. I wonder whether Shockwave would actually be useful as an alternative to the Grimlocks in certain competitions. I really like instantaneous beams that make killing of missiles easy. So he might be my next bomb TF to level up.

9. I find TFs to be very annoying to use at low levels. Depending on the TF, I started not-hating some of them around level 3-4, while for others it took as high as level 8. So I’d encourage you to level everything up to a point where you don’t hate using it. (Or almost everything; you can always spend a gem to avoid using a particular TF.)

[Francis Crawford]

Also, exactly what you level when should depend on when you have a chance to play, what times of day you think you will next have a chance to play, and so on. The scarcest resource when leveling TFs is clock time, so you’d like to be playing when one of them finishes upgrading so you can start the next upgrade right away.

The same goes for missions and the accumulation of upgrade materials.

[Geli]

Now that the Windblade challenge is over, my priority is upgrade to L-11 for the Grimlocks, followed by all energon variants. This n00b still has a few TFs languishing at lower levels. They are upgraded when the required materials for higher level upgrades are missing.

Getting there, and I do appreciate everyone’s advice.