Higher Level vs Lower Level Game Play, tips for new players

Since hitting level 99 and over, I've noticed that I'll have to adjust my gifting/game play practices. I thought it might benefit lower level, newer players to understand the game play for a higher level player, so those 99 and up feel free to reply with your advice and your own playing practices.

Early on in the game, I gifted every high level player in my friends list every single day because I knew I'd be having to beg from them the most. I hoped for reciprocity but rarely got it... now I understand why. Before I went to bed last night I leveled up to 105, and anticipated that based on my own personal game play early on, I'd have a BUNCH of gifts awaiting me when I turned it on this afternoon. Not the case. I did have several, just nothing extraordinary for me. What I did have that was out of the ordinary is a TON of requests on my wall... over 65. I previously received so few that I could seek each one out for a visit and multigift that which they felt so compelled to beg for. Now I'm just not going to have the time to do anything but grant each request once.

I am now going to rely on wish lists exclusively for proactive gifting, which I had pretty much started doing about level 50. My daily routine is to pick a visit starting point that is different from my last one (I usually just flip my friends list once or twice to scroll and randomly choose a name), leave a few tips, check the wish list and gift whatever I can, and then go on to the next person. The one change I'm going to make is that I'll start posting to their walls about what I've left for them. I used to see that on my wall and think, "My, you're proud of yourself, aren't you?" just before I'd visit them to reciprocate, but the fact is... they gave me an easy way (the visit button on the wall post) to do that, and I did. I've decided it would behoove me to do it, too. I hope to start seeing a lot more items off my wish list getting gifted to me once I start doing that. Otherwise, I won't bother.

Things I've learned or seen happen since I started playing, for lower level players: -if you haven't already figured it out, when you gift collection items, they get deducted from your personal inventory of that item, but charging items do not. You can gift those all day long and never lose one of your own. -Fill up your wish list and keep it up to date! When players are "making the rounds" visiting, it is by far the easiest way for them to know what to gift to you an do the actual gifting... otherwise they'd have to dig through your collections, figure out what you need, back out and go to the gift console, dig through their friends list to gift you something you actually need, and people just aren't going to do that. -Don't "randomly gift" collection items and expect people will reciprocate. When I first started playing I thought I was being "nice" by sending random people random extra items that I had, but you really need to look at people's wish lists, or else you're just wasting a gift. People don't reciprocate when they get a gift they didn't ask for and didn't need. If you can't be bothered to look at a wish list, then gift a lower level charging item; everyone will always need those. -Don't be afraid to update your game when an update comes out. Sure, they've been buggy in the past, but if you wait too long to update, those that have will begin to delete you from their friends because you're causing a visiting road-block and they will assume you're not playing anymore since you obviously can't visit the bulk of your friends who likely have updated. The longer you wait to update, the more at risk you are for losing friends. I actually spotted a very considerate way for people to announce when they're going to be away: a friend of mine changed her name to "myname offline for a while" or something like that, to let people know not to bother gifting her but not to delete her just yet. I thought that was very considerate.

My future game plan: up til now I have not kept track of who gifted me what. That is just too time consuming. But I have decided to whiddle my friends list back to those who are obviously daily players or have other attributes that I need (such as low level players with snatchins in their manors that I'll need to use to exchange any items I get that can only be used for banishing). I will start by closely examining my "helpers", and what the pros & cons are for keeping each one. Then from there, I'll be deleting anyone whose game is out of date regardless of level (it will have been a week since the update at that point, clearly they are no longer daily players or don't ever bother to visit/tip), and anyone that I have documented as always having a fully charged strength stat while their energy stat is depleted (no no, I won't delete on first offense, but if it is continual I'll know they never visit/tip and therefore their useful gifting is minimal). Since most people with a lot of friends don't have time to make sure they gift back everyone that gifts them, I'll probably look at deleting those with too many friends next rather than people that have never gifted me. I have a very low level friend who is always requesting gifts but has 100 more friends than I do and never gifts me back... perfect candidate for deletion.

That's my two cents, anyway.

Ermagersh... that was a novel, sorry guys.

That mime had my daughter and I laughing so hard we were literally crying, I am still calling my cat dolly derlly because of it. I can't believe anyone here would even know about it. But about high v low level players, are you talking about people hitting you up for charging stuff or collection items? I was and am still way too polite to straight up say give me your whatever...I will trade or ask to borrow for a quest, and if the answer is no then that's cool. Am I being obnoxious asking for mobi bows or Aspen branches all the time? K

I would think it's okay to ask, I don't mind that. I'm talking about people who propose "unfair" trades such as the girl who gave me a single charging item and then posted on my wall asking for a collection item I had two of in exchange for it, without asking if that would be agreeable first. She just gifted the charging item apparently expecting I'd be thankful and trade. In that scenario if it were me needing something, I'd look for something that person needed that I had more than one of and gift that instead, or look at what charging items they were low on and gift multiples of that instead. Charging items < Collection items. This is a game that is best played smarter rather than faster.

Are you talking about Hello Kitty? I've never heard of dolly derlly and it doesn't Google.

Sorry soozicle, my mind sometimes works in ways that only I understand!
My cats name is Dolly, I frequently call her "Derlly". Because of the Goosebumps books girl meme
You can google " goosebumps girl meme...I assumed that was what you were referring to when u said ermegersh.

And....for clarification is there a difference between the "ask a friend" wall requests that are free and only require a quick tap to complete and the type of request that you are referring to? I wouldn't type a message to request a möbius bow, I would do a wall request the ""ask a friend" way. Am I making sense? Sorry so wordy and confusing!

I would hate to be obnoxious in the quantity And quality of my requests to my friends!

Oh, ha ha! I know the meme well, but I didn't know what it was from. ERMAGERSH!!

EDIT: Sorry, forgot to answer your question. When someone sends a request through the "gifting console" (as I call it), I just by default grant all those requests without question. I don't find those excessive at all, unless you keep asking me over and over and never gift me in return. I would only ever post a note like that to someone that I've exchanged with a lot or know well, and then I'd make sure the trade I proposed was fair first.

I have been going through my friends list very carefully this week, logging things like who gifts what, etc, to narrow my list down to the people who are thoughtful about it and who do in fact gift me back. As I visit manors, I gift several things and then wait to see what they do. So far the results are less than stellar. I have plenty of thank you gifts to prove they got theirs, but hardly any return gifts.

I do Iike people to write on my wall when they gift. Otherwise I simply forget who they were. It is also nice to have then "bookmarked" to make visiting easy. The 20 people I mainly gift and trade with all have messages or requests left on my wall. Otherwise you need to make notes as you play!

I am nearing level 199 and I have 380 friends. (I need to pare that back a little more as there are a few people who still haven't updated.) I get about 300 wall requests each day. I fill them all. I also have about 25 people that I actively gift collection items to/from. Those people have their messages saved on my wall. I also have saved the names of people who have ninjas.

Anyway. Between fulfilling my wall requests, completing my daily visits, doing my fun gifting with my collection senders and accepting all of the gifts I receive from my requests on others walls, I simply do not have enough time to actually play the game sometimes. I have near 3K strength. I try to keep it as low as possible and drop off tips randomly.

I'd like to get my friends list down to 150, but I remember how hard it was for newbies to get higher level charging items and I hate to delete people for being low level and unhelpful to me. I do delete them if they are collection item beggers. At this point, no on even asks if I want to trade. They simply post "Can I have one of your collection items?" And I realize I have a lot, lot, lot, lot of stuff. I have people asking for items in exchange for tips. Ugh. Tips are nice and all, but not the equivalent of a collection item.

I am about to delete one person who keeps sending me a green flask, waking one helper and asking for a pith helmet in exchange. Seriously.

I don't mind being generous when I have time. It's just that gifting, cleaning my wall, making my daily visits, that can take almost two hours sometimes. I'd like to actually play MY game for a while.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox. I will gladly gift 400 diver masks each day once I hit 199.

CheezerWhizzer wrote:
Okay, I'm off my soapbox. I will gladly gift 400 diver masks each day once I hit 199.

400? You're an optimist, right ?

So I'm at level 37. What is the best thing that I can do for the higher level folks?
I can't gift you with collections because you have everything and a lot of the charging items you have a lot of.
I don't want to make a pest of myself. I have been leaving tips to my higher level friends. I also have I also have the diving suit to get into the oceanis room on my wish list. Is it better to ask friends directly or is this good way to do it?

After reading this post I started evaluating who I actually exchange tips , gifts, or collections with.
I'm thinking I want to keep a balance of around my level ,lower level, and higher level players.

Thanks for the information. I'm happy I found this fourm.

Jaynies wrote:So I'm at level 37. What is the best thing that I can do for the higher level folks?
I can't gift you with collections because you have everything and a lot of the charging items you have a lot of.
I don't want to make a pest of myself. I have been leaving tips to my higher level friends. I also have I also have the diving suit to get into the oceanis room on my wish list. Is it better to ask friends directly or is this good way to do it?

After reading this post I started evaluating who I actually exchange tips , gifts, or collections with.
I'm thinking I want to keep a balance of around my level ,lower level, and higher level players.

Thanks for the information. I'm happy I found this fourm.

If you just don't have anything on their wish list, take a peak at their collections. Maybe they're just missing one thing that would complete one of their lower level collections again, or maybe they need more charging items that you could gift to charge up one of the higher collections. If all else fails, pink bows and green vase-blobby things are always running out. I have a ton of horses to complete the fussy horse collection but never have enough of those.

Charging items. I can never get enough pink bows, green flasks, gold crates, microscopes, sailor's knots, anchors. All of those things.

For example, right now I COULD charge the Fussy Horses collection (another) 300 times. Yeah, 300. I don't have enough charging items to do it. Also, wake my workers.

Don't ask me to come fulfill your wish list in a message you send to everyone on your friends' list. Ask a question about the game. Like "How did you get 600 each of the horses?" Or "I am having a hard time finding pliers. Do you have any helpful ideas?" I am much more likely to gift you spontaneously that way. Sure, not every day. I do have my inner posse of gifters, but I like being nice to lower level players.

I think most of us do like being generous and feeling helpful, no matter your level. I would also suggest building trading/gifting relationships with players of your own level. You're going to level up together and soon you'll all be the higher level players

I always keep one of the low level chargers on my WL just to give my lower level friends a gifting option.

CheezerWhizzer wrote:I am nearing level 199 and I have 380 friends. (I need to pare that back a little more as there are a few people who still haven't updated.) I get about 300 wall requests each day. I fill them all. I also have about 25 people that I actively gift collection items to/from. Those people have their messages saved on my wall. I also have saved the names of people who have ninjas.

Anyway. Between fulfilling my wall requests, completing my daily visits, doing my fun gifting with my collection senders and accepting all of the gifts I receive from my requests on others walls, I simply do not have enough time to actually play the game sometimes. I have near 3K strength. I try to keep it as low as possible and drop off tips randomly.

I'd like to get my friends list down to 150, but I remember how hard it was for newbies to get higher level charging items and I hate to delete people for being low level and unhelpful to me. I do delete them if they are collection item beggers. At this point, no on even asks if I want to trade. They simply post "Can I have one of your collection items?" And I realize I have a lot, lot, lot, lot of stuff. I have people asking for items in exchange for tips. Ugh. Tips are nice and all, but not the equivalent of a collection item.

I am about to delete one person who keeps sending me a green flask, waking one helper and asking for a pith helmet in exchange. Seriously.

I don't mind being generous when I have time. It's just that gifting, cleaning my wall, making my daily visits, that can take almost two hours sometimes. I'd like to actually play MY game for a while.

Okay, I'm off my soapbox. I will gladly gift 400 diver masks each day once I hit 199.

300 wall requests.........a day.......... You just made my brain stutter!

What an interesting thread!

I'm at level 79, but I didn't start asking for friends until I hit about level 40 ( I realized I couldn't get much farther without them!)
Lots of good advice here....I will start writing on my generous friends wall more often, up until now I've just witten thank you.

I currently have 54 friends, which for me is enough to visit everyone daily and gift or tip them. I can't possibly imagine having friends that number in the 100's...how on earth do you keep track?

I have a rhythm... In the morning, I return gift requests from from my wall (usually about 10), visit, tip, and gift everyone, and then request charging items. In the evening, I collect my gifts, play a bit, and if my husband is watching TV, I may go through my friends list to see who needs what (collection times, or what chargers they may need), I make a list, and in the morning I gift what I can!

I've learned what to gift to who, and who to ask for what (for the most part). I value my friends who are over level 99, and I know what items I need at my level, and try to gift appropriately.

So, after going through my friends list tonight, I realized that I have 8 friends, 2 of which are helpers, that have not updated yet. How long do you think I should wait until I delete them?

Also, any advice on taking on more friends? I guess the more friends you have, the more gift you can ask for? Or is there a limit?

Carol123 wrote:
I currently have 54 friends, which for me is enough to visit everyone daily and gift or tip them. I can't possibly imagine having friends that number in the 100's...how on earth do you keep track?

So, after going through my friends list tonight, I realized that I have 8 friends, 2 of which are helpers, that have not updated yet. How long do you think I should wait until I delete them?

Also, any advice on taking on more friends? I guess the more friends you have, the more gift you can ask for? Or is there a limit?

to your first question - I don't. I did rather well with 50-60 friends, but had a lot of non-updaters after a while, so decided I would strt for the 150 friends achievement, and only then cut the list down. I'm having a hard time now, because suddenly most of my friends are palying, and most are really nice! I just don't like hte "who the heck is that"- reaction sometimes...

second, There are several threads about that, but Sooz started a thread about that one recently here

and third - you are right. having a lot of active friends is useful for getting i.e. a lot of a charger in one day, because you can request each friend for one.

Btskyler wrote:I will toss in my two cents.....

I learned early on that you can have too many friends. Especially if most of them gift you daily. Even if they don't require payback, it is common courtesy to do so. This means that u might spend many hours gifting. If you have the time to do so, more power to you. I kept my list under 100 and now down to 50 good quality friends, some high and some low as there are quests that prove to be easy to do with lower level friends. If your have friends that multi gift then they could make up for having several hundred that only send one gift.

Also, just because a friend is so high up, don't assume that they have enough of everything and don't need anything. If they have items on their wishlist, then they are still needing things. I have a few friends with empty wishlists, this tells me that they are done collecting and are not requiring any gifts at the time. So, the point I would make is that if you see items on their wishlist that you can send, then send them. If you can't send them, then send anything in the heart of Africa collection, including charging items, that is usually a safe bet. I don't know many high levels friends who would hate getting more of those items.

As for wall requests, well it comes with the privilidge or punishment of being high level. Honestly, I like it better because then I can send them what they want and usually that is good enough for the daily gifts for them. Because you can send many items from one wall request if you are fast enough.

Lastly, you can have friends in which no gifts need to be exchanged, sometimes these are the best friends to have. Ones to chat with and just be friendly with, without all the game politics. Nothing is expected other than good fun conversation, these friends I cherish the most. I would never delete them even if they never sent me a gift again.

Great post! Well said. I am very happy to be your friend!

I think it important to remember that we all have lives outside the game. My closest friends and I realize that. We chat and read each other's wall s ( another important thing to do!) and laugh with each other.

I have a small group of friends also. I read walls and WLs and scroll through their collections to see how I can help. Some days I'm fast, some days I'm not. I don't think my friends judge me on quantity. I know I don't with them. Some days, the slowness means I can't gift everyone. Some days, I have extra time to play and can and will use diamonds to reset, so I can keep going. I am ALWAYS thankful for whatever I receive. I also have a spreadsheet that helps me keep track of things. I have a lousy memory, so I need to write things down. I want to remember to gift those friends who are not regular gift givers, but do send several times a week.....OR those who ask, receive, but rarely return gifts.

If no chargers are shown on a WL: Green Kleins are not dropped by any roamer (as far as I can tell) and the mobius bow is only dropped by a few -- so those are always needed along with the African Collection chargers. Lately, the Monster collection chargers are popular, so those are welcome, as well. In general, chargers that are needed for collections that provide room entry room items are always appreciated. if you have balls of yarn, send a few of those if the person seems low on them. They don't drop from any roamers, but needles, buttons and thread drop a lot.

As for collection items: At this stage of the game I no longer need to charge collections that only provide phenomena banishing items. So no need to send those, even if there are holes in that collection.

Btskyler wrote:I will toss in my two cents.....

I learned early on that you can have too many friends. Especially if most of them gift you daily. Even if they don't require payback, it is common courtesy to do so. This means that u might spend many hours gifting. If you have the time to do so, more power to you. I kept my list under 100 and now down to 50 good quality friends, some high and some low as there are quests that prove to be easy to do with lower level friends. If your have friends that multi gift then they could make up for having several hundred that only send one gift.

Also, just because a friend is so high up, don't assume that they have enough of everything and don't need anything. If they have items on their wishlist, then they are still needing things. I have a few friends with empty wishlists, this tells me that they are done collecting and are not requiring any gifts at the time. So, the point I would make is that if you see items on their wishlist that you can send, then send them. If you can't send them, then send anything in the heart of Africa collection, including charging items, that is usually a safe bet. I don't know many high levels friends who would hate getting more of those items.

As for wall requests, well it comes with the privilidge or punishment of being high level. Honestly, I like it better because then I can send them what they want and usually that is good enough for the daily gifts for them. Because you can send many items from one wall request if you are fast enough.

Lastly, you can have friends in which no gifts need to be exchanged, sometimes these are the best friends to have. Ones to chat with and just be friendly with, without all the game politics. Nothing is expected other than good fun conversation, these friends I cherish the most. I would never delete them even if they never sent me a gift again.

I agree with Charlotte! Very well said! I also keep my friend's list at about 50. I just recently deleted a few people who had been on my list for a very long time but who hadn't sent gifts in months, if ever. Everyone has a different philosophy but the friends I do have, gift at least a few times a week. Some are not multi-gifters and only send one gift at a time but to me it's no different than sending many gifts. It's the thought that counts to me. Even only having 50 friends, I was still able to collect everything, including all the chargers I needed to complete the monster quests/event. If you have a good group of friends with several multi-gifters, 50-100 friends can work. I like the fact that I can visit and gift all of my friends every single day and it doesn't take hours at a time. I guess I'm lucky as well in that I have a great group of MM friends! Of course, Charlotte is one of my great MM friends!

I just wanted to add that even if you are a low level friend, you can still help. There are many chargers that are highly desirable that have no level attached to them. Also, something that I learned, treat your friends like you want to be treated. If you want your higher level friends to give you gifts and leave tips, do the same to them. I think sometimes when you are at a lower level than someone, you feel like they don't really need my tips or gifts but honestly, I like seeing that someone isn't just interested in what I can give them. I have found in this game there are many who are only interested in what someone can give them but they never reciprocate. Those are the people who don't last long on my friend's list.

I've now opened my UFO room and am about to open my brig... I've actually violated my own rule to keep a low level charging item on my WL for the brig opening... you need 7 of each of the 5 pirates (collection item) so that's all I have in my WL right now. From all the higher level player chatter I've heard, I'll soon run slap out of quests until the next event. At that point, I anticipate my game play to take another dramatic change.

I can foresee I will focus on gifting/helping friends primarily, but also on getting all my rooms up to 100% Expert level. In doing that, since I hate exploring in the dark, I will be trying to charge collections multiple times that will give me flares. So far I have focused in on the Faces of Africa collection and am trying to charge that as much as possible. I'm always running out of chargers for that.

I guess there's always the goal of leveling up past 199 so I can help people with whatever items they may need that require that level, but I'm not so anxious to get there quite yet. I'm at level 121 right now, so I won't care too much about that goal as much until it gets a little closer in sight... maybe 175 or so. At the rate I'm going that's going to be a long while off though.

Please don't judge all lower levels on our inability to multi. I unlocked aspen, garlic and silver bullets specifically to help my few higher lvl chums (ALL are valued if active) and still find it frustrating when I get x gifts and only manage one pokey item.

I log into MM at least 4x a day, even if i've no energy to play in order to check Wall and if anyone gifts me, I alway visit, tip and take at look at their WL/collections and try to send something useful, even if it is a JUST a charging item. And i usually leave a msg, cos I think the personal chat is nice

It's maddening that the game changes your gift items available, even ones you paid diamonds to unlock, so there are times that unless requested, I can't send anything remotely useful!

It certainly isn't for lack of trying! (on my part anyhow).
Sharbee
[Scientist]

[quote="Sharbee"]Please don't judge all lower levels on our inability to multi. I unlocked aspen, garlic and silver bullets specifically to help my few higher lvl chums (ALL are valued if active) and still find it frustrating when I get x gifts and only manage one pokey item.

I log into MM at least 4x a day, even if i've no energy to play in order to check Wall and if anyone gifts me, I alway visit, tip and take at look at their WL/collections and try to send something useful, even if it is a JUST a charging item. And i usually leave a msg, cos I think the personal chat is nice

It's maddening that the game changes your gift items available, even ones you paid diamonds to unlock, so there are times that unless requested, I can't send anything remotely useful!

It certainly isn't for lack of trying! (on my part anyhow).
Sharbee
[Scientist]
[/quote

Hi Sharbee

I really hope you don't feel like you are being judged by higher level players. We have all been there and learn little tricks and techniques as we play through the game. I think most higher level players enjoy helping out lower level ones. I know I do. Please don't be frustrated only sending back one item. Every gift received is appreciated. And I think most players understand that not everyone can send multiples due to Internet speed or not knowing the trick or some other reason. As you advance, you will be able to pay it forward with others.

Jen

Totally agree with JenMomma!

Receiving gifts is big part of this game. I get more frustrated with players that requests, request, request, but rarely give a gift...any quantity. Those are the friends who are usually deleted after a week or two. What some of us have tried to do on this page is let lower level players know what kind of chargers are most appreciated.

I also used diamonds to open many lvl 99 items before I reached that goal, so that I could gift my friends with hard to find items. I got frustrated when they disappeared from my gift wall, but also knew I could still gift them if they were on my friend's wall or they sent a request.

. I made sure I posted on my wall a message, letting friend's know what upper level items I had unlocked, so they knew they could request from me. I also left a message on my friend's walls when i opened something new. (cut and paste from your ipad notepad is easiest to do this). There is a section on this site for this purpose as well...:main page under Trade and high level gifts. You post in your subject line what you high lvl gifts you can give, then update as you add to it. Your friends will love you for letting them know.

It will be a few days before we find out what this new update means for our multi-gifting ability. Many of us may be back to the same kind of playing. I know my percentage of failures is greater than my successes. :-(

Hi JenMomma & Mbstr8k.

Good to hear. I wasn't meaning to sound critical, just venting some frustration at the game restrictions and my lack of knowledge.

It was through visiting friends I read a msg on someone elses wall about this site! It wasn't meant for me. Lol, how glad am I that I checked it out! These forums are really helpful. Most of my lower lvl collections were filled, not by me asking/finding them , but from 'thank you gifts' from people I had gifted earlier.

Happy gaming and pls add me if you like. I will do my best

Hi again Sharbee

I did not get the feeling at all that you were being critical. It's all good Yes it can be frustrating but this site is quite helpful Glad you found it. Even if it wasn't meant for you, lol. I would be happy to add you if the friend codes are working. Look for me in your pending friends. My player name is Mommy (please don't laugh)!

Hi everybody! I'm new to the game (level 20) and new to the forum. I have under 50 friends so I like to send something to everyone every day... it's free, so why waste the opportunity?! Just yesterday, though, my available gift list changed and now I don't think I have anything to send that my upper level friends would want I used to have Mobius bows, green vases, and yellow boxes that I figured anyone could use... now I have none of those! What do I do? Some of those friends thankfully have a charger in their WL, but many only have listed collection items I don't have or chargers that are too high for me to send.

What's a good alternative? Is an Easter Cake just a total useless joke to a high level player? That's what I was thinking of using as a replacement for the time being.