[quote:e9010c1341="Julius Darrant"]The thing to spend blood on is indeed minions and more minions, this is to get enough blood flow to support the maxed out upgrades on the abilities. I dunno if you have upgraded all to max yet, but:

Superior Horrific Transformation - 300,000 blood upkeep each
Superior Impervious - 48,000 blood upkeep each
Greater Flight - 720,000 blood upkeep each
(still working on superior flight, I dread to think what the upkeep will be).

These abilities are the best generally available, rare drops and favour point abilities notwithstanding, so these are the ones to aim for.
[/quote:e9010c1341]

I've been working on getting 501 of each ability but I've just noticed something. Click on your own Stats page, then on the ability type (Offensive, Defensive, Movement) - there is a red border around some of the abilities. If you point your cursor at an ability framed in red, it says "(name of ability) will be used in combat". So does this mean that I should aim to have one of each ability not used in combat, and 501 of the ones that are? If that's the case, then getting to 501 is going to be a lot easier (and cheaper) than I thought!

Yes. Get 501 of each top ability only, not 501 of everything :)

So you should concentrate only on

Superior Horrific Transformation
Superior Impervious
Superior Flight

You may find you have a few of the fat legendary skills from Akem or whatever, which beat out those, so adjust numbers accordingly.

Alright! I've sold back all but 1 of everything that's not used in combat and is not currently needed to complete missions. This gave me back around 8M in blood per hour that I was able to reallocate as you've suggested.

I now have-
57 x Superior Horrific Transformation
501 x Superior Impervious
5 x Superior Flight

I also have-
501 x Superior Mind Control
501 x Move Silently
5 x Superior Mist Form

because they're used in combat too.

I'm also trying to amass Pyrokinesis (x 32, as you well know by the volume of bone spikes you've been spammed with) and Cross Running Water (x 24, received while clicky-clicking the Judge button while munching on toast before I dash to work in the mornings) since they both seem to be used in combat too.

I don't know if it is due to my stockpiling of abilities or the recent changes to the combat feature but I seem to be staying alive for a whole lot longer. How are you doing with it??

Your clan will use the best 501 abilities you have in each category (Offensive, Defensive, Movement), so if you have 5 superior flight, they will use (at most) 496 Move Silently.

If you go into your coffin -> stats and at the bottom click onto the three skill sections you can mouse over each skill and it will show how many are actually to be used in combat, enabling you to sell any excess and streamline your upkeep.

Cross running water is a good skill, but still not as good as Superior Flight. You need a few CRW for missions, but otherwise, it's not worth grinding for.

Same with Pyrokinesis. It's good, but not as good as Superior Horrific, so once you've had enough to get the Trophy, don't waste time on it.

I'm doing ok, though getting a bit frustrated with the site running slow at times. I'm not worrying too much about combat just now, trying to get Deathbringer finished is really hard work, especially as I'm wanting blood to finish New York.

I've got the three taxi skills now, costing near to 300 blood of elders to complete. I expect it will only cost more once the next set of missions open up on the 15th.

*nods* But move silently is a whole lot cheaper! Thanks for pointing it out though, I don't know how anyone could figure this out on their own. The only reason I thought it was worth amassing CRW was because it pops up as one of the top 3 my vamp is using in combat. And it's free.

I lost a lot of blood yesterday when the accept gift thingy broke down. I really wish there was an option to accept all - it would save so much time!

Did you ever try out that 'quick energy refill' link that I posted here a while back? It's been giving me around 2-3 free refills per day. I have about 80% of L3 of the 'Assault Acanthus' Lair' mission left on Deathbringer then it's done! Worst missions ever. I've done about half the Vindicator missions and a tiny bit of Scion too but am struggling with Akem to get the right abilities to finish the rest. This is good, I guess, because it's giving me the energy/time to waste in New York. I started NY with around 1300 BOE, and after a lot of BOE-spamming, I've got 1400 ready for the next wave.

Do you play Mafia Wars? It's essentially the same thing but you're a mobster. I like it because the combat system seems to be a lot fairer. I've just graduated from NY to Cuba. If I play my cards right, I might be el presidente by the end of the month ;)

1400 BOE? My word. I've got 300 lined up for the next phase and that's all.

I did work on that refill thingy a bit when I have the time/inclination and it does work. I'm working on Deathbringer atm getting the teeth to get the shards to get the mission, but I want BOE sending at least until the end of the special event, I can do deathbringer anytime.

Just recently hit L100 :)

Don't fancy mafia wars, don't honestly have time, what with the couple of stupid games I play on FB, work and LotRO.

I received most of that blood by doing missions. I suspect it was earned mostly while trying to get more teeth and claws. I'll send you some more xx

Is it just me, or is VW getting slower and less responsive by the day. It takes me a good 5-10 mins to click on people and send daily gifts.

Assault Acanthus' Lair all three tiers finally complete. That was hard work.

Did you ever get any Eagle Eyes? I'm trying to beat up on BY to get some, but she's not being very forthcoming.

I've got 2 x eagle eyes - one of them was yours anyway lol. I think we need 3 for one of the vindicator missions. Do you want me to bounce them over?

[quote:fe715c69f3="Julius Darrant"]Is it just me, or is VW getting slower and less responsive by the day. It takes me a good 5-10 mins to click on people and send daily gifts.[/quote:fe715c69f3]

Yes it's definitely slower. And so damn buggy. I haven't bothered going into the combat section for days because it's not worth the lag.

[quote:5635f89568="Julius Darrant"]Assault Acanthus' Lair all three tiers finally complete. That was hard work.[/quote:5635f89568]

Good job! I'll be happy never ever to do anything like that mission set again. Damned tedious!! I did notice though that there's another mission in Scion (I think) that gives 1% completion with each click. Assholes.

It wasn't so much the 4% a time completion that annoyed me... it was the harvesting teeth to get shards to do the mission and burning through 200 power to end up with 1 frikkin shard and most of that tier needing multiple shards per go.

Hang onto those eyes for now, I guess. I'll keep trying for more - but I can only kill BY twice before I run out of health. If I get one, I'll send it your way and you can send all three back when you've cleared that mission.

[quote:ac6d56cada="Julius Darrant"]I can only kill BY twice before I run out of health[/quote:ac6d56cada]

Or once.. when she gets a critical hit every hit...