lasphaltanzasufallensword

Lately I have seen several guild members frustrated by idiotic buff requests, and now that I have reached 200 I receive a flood of them as well. Within 30 minutes of turning 200, I received messages from 3 people wanting buffs. Only one of them was polite, specific, and useful. Now, we all have joined together to form a guild so that we can help each other. However, this does not mean that you have the right to expect anything from anyone. Just being a member of the guild does not entitle you to unlimited buffs, guild items, gold, fsps, or anything else. I believe that you cannot punish somebody unless they know what is expected of them, so I am posting some guidelines to remember when asking guildmates for buffs. I am doing it here in the forum because I am tired of repeating myself several times a day, and so that future members will be able to benefit.

1) Be polite. You are asking someone else to spend their stamina for your benefit. The least you could do is say "please" and "thank you".
And none of this "bfs plz" crap. If you do not have the time to type 5 extra letters, you should not be wasting your time online playing a game.

2) Be specific. If I get another message that says "I need buffs," I will probably reply with "ask your new guild - you are no longer a member of Asphaltanza". It is not my job to know what buffs you need. Do your research and find out what you need before you bother somebody else. There are many websites that will give you all the information you need, the links are given here in our forum in another post. Also, try to get low level buffs from lower level players, so that the higher level players have enough stamina to provide high level buffs. It is unlikely that you will even notice a difference between AL 145 and AL 125, so give the mid-level players a chance to help you before going straight to the highest level player you can find.

3) Be useful. This goes along with doing your research. Nobody wants to waste their stamina just so you can feel important because you have 10 buffs active. Nobody wants to waste their stamina because you are too stupid or lazy to figure out what stats you need, and so you just ask for everything you can get. In case some people do not understand the actual practical function of the common buffs, I will give a brief explanation so you know what buffs will help your particular situation.

a)offensive-base : rage, fury, berserk : Adds a small bonus to your corresponding base stat (level up points). If you have not put any level up points into the matching stat, these buffs will not help you. Considering the size of our guild structure bonuses, you probably will not need any of these until at least level 75-100. Before that, if you are having trouble reaching the needed stats for your level, it is time to shop for new equipment.

b)offensive-items : enchant weapon, enchant armor : Adds a small bonus to all stats on the corresponding item. To clarify, armor means the item in your chest slot, not all of your equipment, not your overall armor stat. Depending on your equipment, these buffs can be very useful or totally useless. Again, considering the size of our guild structure bonuses, you probably will not need any of these until at least level 75-100. Before that, if you are having trouble reaching the needed stats for your level, it is time to shop for new equipment.

c)offensive-other : With the exception of dark curse, all remaining offensive buffs are intended for higher level (140+) or pvp, and possible elite hunting. DC is used to lower a monster's defense stat, which effectively raises your attack stat. This is usually much more effective than rage as you get to higher levels. There are a few players who choose to put all level up points into damage, and they will need this skill earlier than the average person. Otherwise, you probably will not need any of these for a long time.

d)defensive : I included EA above because it makes more sense up there. The defensive skills based on base stats are virtually useless since nobody puts level up points into those stats. The rest are occasionally useful for higher level players. Force shield is useful when using certain equipment setups, but I don't think these are commonly used until 140.

e)specials : Adept learner and Librarian : increase xp gained per kill. These should always be active when hunting for xp. These should also be some of the first buffs you get for yourself because you will be using them every day. AL is twice as effective as Lib over time, so if you have to choose between the two get AL.
Treasure hunter and Merchant : increase gold gained per kill. Very useful, but not as vital as the xp buffs. TH is twice as effective as Merch over time, so if you have to choose between the two get TH.
Find item and Four leaf : Should always be used when hunting elites, generally worthless for common monsters since most common loot will not sell anyway. FI is more important since 4leaf only works if you get a drop.
Deep pockets, defiance, last ditch : Similar use as Force shield, helpful in situations where you die regularly due to an aggressive equipment setup.
Animal magnetism : Makes monsters respawn on the same square you just killed them on. Slightly improves xp efficiency since you don't have to move around as much. Can also make some elites respawn instantly, so it's great for M-days.
Conserve : Does not use any stamina when you kill a monster. More effective at higher levels when it takes multiple hits to kill. Small improvement to xp efficiency.
Doubler : Perhaps the most misunderstood buff of all, and for some reason it seems to be the most popular. The true purpose of doubler is to allow people with large amounts of stamina (large, as in a few day's worth) to spend it all in one fully buffed leveling session. At higher levels, you can save well over 100 stamina (or a ton of gold buying potions) each day by waiting to use all of your stamina at one time. As a general rule, doubler should not be used by anyone with less than about 1500 stamina (one day's worth if you have no gain bonus) because it is simply not very effective. There are a few lesser bonus benefits as well. Similar to AM, it slightly improves xp efficiency because you don't have to move as much, however this is a negligible amount unless the map is extremely overcrowded, in which case you would be better off hunting at another time. Doubler can also be used to slightly lower death rate when using aggressive equipment, but is not as effective as FS, DP, Def, and LD as discussed above. Doubler should NOT be used simply to speed up the time it takes you to hunt every day. If you don't have time to play 30 minutes or an hour every day, you should probably find yourself another game to play because it will only get worse as you level up. Furthermore, it lowers the chance of getting a loot drop, and therefore the amount of gold you could potentially make per hunting session.
Brewing Master : A wonderful skill that allows you to provide most if not all of your high level buffs for yourself by using potions. The biggest downside to using potions is the short duration, but this is fixed by brewing master. You can often get potions for less than the cost it would take somebody to buff you, and they are almost always cheaper than what the buff sellers charge. If you can't afford something, it is probably because it is intended for higher levels and you don't need it anyway. If you believe you need high level buffs, or you just want to try them out, go buy some potions and get a brewing master buff. You get all the benefits but only have to impose on your guildmate for 1 buff, everybody wins.


It is unfortunate that a few rude and inconsiderate people can threaten the enjoyment of many players in our great guild. Please consider this as official notice of how you are expected to behave, and use the information contained above to make informed decisions on what is appropriate for you to ask for. Failure to follow these simple guidelines is grounds for dismissal from the guild, because we cannot allow one person to threaten the enjoyment of all. Please behave, and don't force anyone to make that decision. If you have any questions, please ask someone; don't just do something stupid that could get you into trouble.

(Somebody please translate this to Italian so we can make sure that everyone fully understands. It's way too big and complicated for my translator to handle.)

Agreed, 'buffs plz' or 'i need buffs', or 'need buffs' then 'hurry' when we dont get them fast enuf, there has been some ppl saying all that bullshit...... i always try to ask politely but yeah sometimes i wish i could just slap them little kids lol

great job kanije!!! that's why we love you so much... we always tell all the newbies the same thing but a topic... we never done it... it's very usefull!!!

GREAT JOB!!!!!

I fully agree, especially on the part where you suggest the lower lvls to ask mid-lvl players first.

How about a Post where we "offer" our buffs?

I have:

Fury lvl 105
TH lvl 122
FI lvl 70 (not very useful)
AL lvl 128
LIB lvl 80

All free for guild members, of course!

kanije, like always you are right. Good hunting to everyone.

veon11 wrote:I fully agree, especially on the part where you suggest the lower lvls to ask mid-lvl players first.

How about a Post where we "offer" our buffs?

I have:

Fury lvl 105
TH lvl 122
FI lvl 70 (not very useful)
AL lvl 128
LIB lvl 80

All free for guild members, of course!

Most of us write this in their bio, and so i do: it's quicker and more practical. Anyway a thread like this already exist

Great job kaije, wonderful explanation!

I would add some things: some of our low levels/newbies are asking "what skills do you suggest me to add?", and they thought that, because AL or librarian is very common, although very powerful, its not convenient to allocate points on that skills, because "it's enough to ask of them in chat, everyone have it!". i would add a suggestion: be self sufficient. You need AL and librarian every day? Well, do them by yourself! You can't pass all your time on FS asking for the same skills everyday if you can do it by yourself

Another suggestion is about high levels: they are the only one who have high level skills, and that means that they can make much more skills than the others. But AL and librarian can be built since lvl 25 and 75, so you don't need to ask them to a high level. My second suggestion is to ask skills of low levels to low levels layers, and only high levels skills to high level players. This would concern more people in buffing, relieving high levels from spending tons of stamina buffing everyone.

I like the "buff-guide" that have been made here, it is very good.. BUT there is an obvious MISTAKE..
As stated in the first message:

"Doubler should always be used if you are using conserve because it makes it 3 or 4 times more efficient"

THAT IS TOTALLY WRONG..!! Please get the facts straight..! Do the math..!

Conserve: cancel the stamina use for the attack (where it kicks in, 5% chance at lvl 100)

Doubler: Makes every successfull attack count as 3 or 4 attacks at every attack.

Example: I have 2000 stamina, and 2-hit kill every time. The buffs that are in play here are conserve lvl 150 and doubler lvl 150..

WITHOUT doubler: Need 1000 attacks, conserve results in me saving 7,5%*1000*2 = 150 stamina
WITH doubler: Need 250 attacks, conserve results in me saving 7,5%*250*4*2 = 150 stamina

This shows that the result of conserve WITH and WITHOUT doubler is EXACTLY THE SAME, making the statement above TOTALLY WRONG..

correct ^_^"

Original post corrected, thanks kozmoz. When I plan which skills I want to train for myself I use a system pretty much exactly the same as you did, so I'm not sure where that idea came from. I think in the way I was looking at it, each time conserve activates with doubler, you would get 4x more xp. But as you showed, without doubler you would just fight 4x more fights and get the same amount of xp in the end.

By the way, there's no need to be rude when pointing out an error. I spent the better part of a day going through all that info and trying to make it clear and easy to use for everybody, so I don't think "THAT IS TOTALLY WRONG..!! Please get the facts straight..! Do the math..!" is necessary. But at least you did read and understand the post, which is more than I can say for most of the people around here, and I do appreciate that.


For anybody interested, here is the math for some other skills that have a similar end effect of saving stamina, copied directly from the spreadsheet I have been using to decide which skills I want to train (hence the poor formatting). It assumes 2000 stamina and 2 hits per kill with no movement just as kozmoz did. If you have to 3-hit, conserve and deathwish will become more valuable as compared to wither because wither will still only save 1 stamina per fight while conserve and deathwish will save 3 and 2 respectively. As of level 277, I have not seen a reliable amount of stamina saved by using shatter armor. I'm guessing that the monster's armor is just not high enough in relation to it's hp for it to be really effective. I would expect the number below to become more accurate at higher levels, but I really cannot say for sure.

effect lvl chance to work stam saved/fight # fights/day stam saved /day
cons 0.0005 150 0.075 2 1000 150
with 0.002 150 0.3 1 1000 300
dw 0.0003 150 0.045 1 1000 45
sa 0.0005 150 0.075 1* 1000 75

* As of level 277, I have not seen a reliable amount of stamina saved by using shatter armor. I'm guessing that the monster's armor is just not high enough in relation to it's hp for it to be really effective. I would expect the number above to become more accurate at higher levels, but I really cannot say for sure.

Hi kanije
Yes you are 100% right.. I was a bit stressed that day, and had a very short fuse.. I did say that it was a good post you had made, but i would like to apologize to you for the words that i used there.. I know it is a big research you have been doing, and i/we appreciate it very much.. Keep up the good work..