Dargocitfer said:
For a brief, shining moment yesterday, I managed to break into the leaderboard, and made it all the way to 36th, I think. (Not top 20, but my name was visible, dammit!)
I harvested every badge from the leaderboard and from this forum, and then rested, thinking "I'll click through the mansion tomorrow to try and gain some more points."
HA! One click, new room, no points. :-D
Oh well. Maybe I'll take a page from Phi0nix's playbook. I'll start with a different letter, tho...
(And a weird "freebee" I'll give to the community. On a whim, I clicked on the "Undead Monster" in my own profile. And I got a point! Maybe everyone else already does this, but it seemed unlikely that my own monster would count. But apparently, it does.)
Damn I'm helping the competition. Naw I'm just messing, I'm actually kind of glad I was able to give someone an idea that helped. So on the theme that this contest has brought us lurkers out of the shadows into the friendly community and that the competitors have for the most part been easy going, I want to post some helpful tips on getting up to the leader board. Seeing as I'm already top 20, though admittedly struggling to hold that position, I don't see any reason not to help others get the chance to reach the top 20. Without further blabbering from me I present Phi0nix's playbook & tips for making it to the top 20.
* THE MANSION *
Always remember to check the mansion page every new day - This might seem obvious, but there are some who might forget or just underestimate the value of the mansion points. It's a chance to easily get a lot of points quickly without the risk of losing points.
* THE BADGES *
Take the risk and click dem suckers, you most likely won't make it to the leader board otherwise. Finding these buggers can seem impossible at times so have a strategy and follow it!
1) The leader board is a great starting place - You have 40 players who are guaranteed to have a badge just staring you in the face. Click them all, get 40 chances at points, and hell add them as friends while your at it; we are all friendly and most will friend you back so even more escapist badges YAY!
2) Scour this forum right here - It consists mostly of people playing the game, and almost every poster will have a badge. Also post a comment while you're here and get involved; trust me it's worth it.
3) Check the community page - It's the 6th tab on the top banner, and it will take you to a giant source of users on the site. Start searching through the options and take a look around; you'll find both badges and opportunities to get involved. Helpful sub-tabs to check under:
- "Newest Members" list: All of these people just joined, and a fair percent did so to join this contest, and thus have the badge you need which might be their only badge (trust me you will appreciate profiles with badges visible on the profile overview).
- "Who's Online" sub-tab: All of these people are online right now, duh. This is important though because it means they have been active since the contest started. So, this means you will be looking on a profile that has the possibility of having a badge, rather than wasting your time looking on a profile that hasn't been active since March which obviously won't have a badge.
- "Find Users" sub-tab: This is for people who are determined and have the time to spend. It is a giant archive of a users that you can limit down to specifics which help limit the results you get back to being more relevant to what we want, Getting Badges.
4) Check your friend's/player's friend's profiles - If you have a friend in this contest then there is a chance that their friends also know about the contest. If you have no friends, not as depressing as it sounds, then check the friends of someone who you found had a badge. If they are playing there is a good chance their friends know about the contest too.
* PRO TIPS (Waste Less Time While You're Wasting Time) *
1) Don't waste your time viewing profiles that aren't from US - The contest only makes US residents able to win, and thus almost no non-US users have joined with a few exceptions. Still, it's better to spend your time checking the more likely US profiles
2) Don't waste your time looking through badges of a profile that hasn't been active since before September 2011 - The contest only start 4 or 5 days ago so people who've been inactive obviously don't have a badge. So check the convenient "Last Active" note on the profile's overview.
3) Check the badge peep-view on the profiles overview - There are two of these: the one that appears with forum posts and the larger one on the profile overview. If these clearly aren't full and you don't see the Undead Badge, then don't waste time clicking the "badges" sub-tab.
BUT!!!
If you don't see the Badge, but the peep-view is full then--->
4) Check the total badge list with your browser's "text search" function - One thing I've noticed is that active users normally have a BAMILLION badges, which makes it a pain in the ass to find if they have an Undead Badge or not. So, hit "Ctrl" + "f", or whatever your browsers text search hot key is, and search for "undead". If they have the badge then the search will tell you and show you where it is saving you a huge headache (Admittedly I have found 2 other badges with "undead" in their description that aren't the one you're looking for which leads to outstanding frustration when you've searched like a hundred profiles, get a hit only to realize it's not the right badge...FML).
5) When searching under "Find Users" limit the search to only US profiles, and pick a letter to put in the "profile name" option - This will bring up results of users only in US who's names start with whatever letter you chose. This gives you a large but as relevant as possible list for you to farm systematically.
6) Have fun, don't get depressed - This is a game and a challenge so treat it as both. Don't get pissed over a few -1's in a row or that you haven't found a badge in awhile. Just take a break, chat on the forums, get some food or go be social and come back to persist on later.
7) Don't forget about your life - I for one am a college freshman, and can't spend all day doing this despite how easily it sucks you in if you're determined to try and win. Set a limit for yourself, and make sure you take care of your responsibilities. Trust me the top 20 isn't made up of people who're doing this 24/7 even if it seems that way; you can afford to take a break.
Well that's all I got, and it's what has carried me to the top 20 with 13th being my highest rank (all in only two days). Hope this helps some people have fun and have a better shot at the top 20, and I hope this doesn't piss off the other top 20'ers. So ya have fun, good luck, and feel free to message/friend me if you want.
