[X] My Assistant

New Season Notes (2021 S2 -> 2022 S1)

The following things have carried over from the previous Isekai season to the current Isekai season:

- Credit balance + value of item + equipment inventory, capped to 1 million

- Leftover trophy value for Snowflake's Shrine


The following things have been added to Persistent:

- Peerless equipment and all soulfused equipment

- Any unspent peerless vouchers

- Credit balance + value of item + equipment inventory exceeding 1 million

- Primary stat bonuses and a global damage bonus depending on the number of tower floors cleared

- A peerless voucher for everyone who reached Floor 100, or Top 20 Floor Clears:

CODE

Floor 205: youshi1 (3146277)
Floor 205: Ming28561 (3775954)
Floor 205: Bolide (2309354)
Floor 204: Xeda (4388600)
Floor 201: sssss2 (1843795)
Floor 200: gehelife (1070629)
Floor 180: raraha (4071895)
Floor 177: Treesion (707354)
Floor 161: sabregimp (188779)
Floor 155: Nero-Arc (700155)
Floor 145: HT862 (1751283)
Floor 139: newzhenterzzf (5585303)
Floor 139: conatime (5595606)
Floor 130: BlackPantsu (586593)
Floor 130: accelkatana (4012458)
Floor 122: NeoAlden (5940217)
Floor 121: P-Killer (2968580)
Floor 120: Scarlet Tear (5159860)
Floor 120: ashlikt (2309737)
Floor 115: ace_amuro (896192)
Floor 112: unikwind (2480915)
Floor 108: eomivan (808303)
Floor 106: Altair.AC (3905888)
Floor 105: Chizuru Ichinose (638489)
Floor 104: Ass Spanker (1068757)
Floor 103: chanman2021 (5678409)
Floor 101: ex-homehome (1284678)
Floor 101: XMike (8053)

Isekai Changes

- Minor correction to the difficulty calculation for Tower difficulty. It should now actually reach PDUFOR at Floor 40 rather than a few floors earlier.

- The season rewards (Peerless Voucher) for The Tower now cap out at reaching (not necessarily clearing) Floor 100, or Top 20 if less than 20 people reach Floor 100. A toplist will still be posted at the end of each season, and you can still proceed past Floor 100, but it is only for bragging rights.

- You can now attempt/clear The Tower 5 times per day until you reach Floor 20.

- The stat bonus thresholds are now for reaching the floor rather than clearing it, since the readout makes it a bit confusing.


Riddlemaster

The pony riddles are now multiple-choice and can have several correct answers. The generated image will always show three ponies; these can all be the same pony, or be two or three different ponies. To solve the riddle, check all the ponies you see in the image and hit Submit Answer within the time limit.

The riddlemaster no longer tells you if the answer is correct or not. It will always give the buff if you answer within the time limit, as well as the heal if the answer is given within the bonus time limit, both of which were adjusted. A spirit heal was also added.

Instead of valuating answers as binary "right" or "wrong" it will internally calculate an accuracy score based on how many unique ponies were displayed and how many right and wrong answers you made. Instead of docking stamina directly, the recent average of these accuracy scores is used interally to adjust the per-battle stamina cost. If your accuracy is low enough to sustain a stamina penalty, the "Stamina" readout at the top of the screen will show in red.

If you fail to answer within the time limit, you will be docked 10 stamina directly regardless of your riddle history. (It will not affect the per-round stamina cost.)

If you do not submit the answers to the riddle within the time limit, it will automatically submit it and use the checked answers unless the answer is more than a couple seconds overdue; if it is, it will be considered a blank answer for accuracy purposes. You do not get the buff in the latter case.

The obfuscation factors (blobbiness and graininess) are now dynamic and adjusted interally based on various factors, primarily your level and how much you played lately. Most other aspects of the generation have also been reworked.

Because the images are all randomly generated, you may occasionally (rarely?) encounter jumbled riddles that are difficult or near-impossible to fully discern. Due to this, you will still keep the normal stamina consumption up to some margin of error.

In other words, while it is more difficult to answer perfectly, it is also more forgiving of occasional mistakes.

Detailed internal numbers (accuracy calculations/requirements, stamina cost factors, obfuscation factor thresholds etc) are not disclosed and no readout will be provided for them.

Note that soliciting people to submit riddle images with answers as well as providing such are now bannable offenses - riddle images can be traced to the account they were generated for. (This doesn't disallow "look at this stupidly impossible riddle lol" kind of posts at a small scale.)


Salvaging

When salvaging Legendary and Peerless equipment, you will now gain "Equipment Cores" - these will be used for a future mechanics where you can improve the base stats of legendary and peerless equipment. See "Future Changes to Equipment Mechanics" below.

There are six types of Equipment Cores; Legendary/Peerless, corresponding to the equipment quality, and Weapon/Staff/Armor, corresponding to the equipment type. Shields count as Armor for this mechanics.

"Rare" equipment types (Phase/Shade/Power Armor as well as Force Shields) give 5 cores, while other equipment types all give 1 core.

Equipment Cores obtained in Isekai will be transferred to Persistent at the end of each season.

Peerless Cores are not tradeable, primary due to the lottery, which when this update hits persistent will have an alternative 1st prize with cores based on the equipment 1st prize. Legendary Cores may however be traded freely.


Misc

- IW stamina cost now rounds to the nearest .1 decimal rather than rounding up to the closest whole digit.

- The base durations for most debuff spells was significantly increased.

- When shrining trophies for armor, you can now select the armor slot of the generated equipment. (The new UI also saves 1 whole click over the old way.)

- Catalysts are no longer tradeable. They will likely be retired in the future, with the forge charging credits directly instead.

- The limit for primary attribute reassignments was removed. You can now freely reassign EXP at any time.

- Replaced the old "system message" popup. You can now click anywhere to dismiss it, and it no longer lets you click through to the background outside the box.

- Various UI tweaks and improvements.


Future Changes to Equipment Mechanics

Future updates will rework the internals of how equipment is generated and stored to, among other things, allow base stats improvements. Base stat improvements will be limited to Legendary and Peerless equipment only; the ultimate goal being to increase the odds of being able to obtain the ultimate equipment set to a level slightly above "mathematically insignificant" while still preserving the value of existing equipment and not making any existing ways to obtain equipment pointless.

The long and short of it is that with a lot of credits (in the hundreds of millions range) and legendary cores, or a lot of peerless cores, you will be able to turn a Legendary equipment into a Peerless equipment. Peerless equipment will (probably) also be possible to upgrade further.

The "base stat improvement" and "upgrade" mechanics are separate, though there will be various changes to the "upgrade" mechanics as well; you will no longer be "upgrading" stats individually, and tweaks will be made so that "upgrading" below-Legenday equipment is still viable. Existing upgrades will be converted, but I'll get back to the details on that later.

All existing equipment will be converted to the new system, and there should not be any differences between old and new equipment. After the conversion to the new system, any future changes to equipment can also be made retroactively, meaning that the concept of "prepatch" and "postpatch" equipment will no longer be a thing. Various disabled equipment types will also be re-enabled as rare drops.

These changes will also involve replacing the existing "potency" mechanics with a different (less random) system. Existing unlocked potencies will not carry over in any way. The Item World will basically work like The Tower, and will be used to increase an equipment's upgrade cap.

Due to the scale of the changes, it is unlikely that it all makes it into one update. Until the changes have been fully implemented, the updates will be deployed to Isekai only. In other words, this won't be be relevant for Persistent for at least one year.

When the changes eventually reach Persistent, it will no longer be possible to get a refund on upgrades by salvaging, due to a combination of conversion complexity and the fact that equipment stats will be permanently altered. You will of course have the option to do until the updates make it to Persistent.

Further details will be made available as the updates are deployed to Isekai.

- Primary stat bonuses and a global damage bonus depending on the number of tower floors cleared

Floor 201: sssss2 (1843795)

I cleared the floor 200 and reached the floor 201, so I get a global damage bonus 20.0%, not 20.1%.

Right?

I stopped challenging the tower to get this number 20.0.

is it possible to reduce chance of ponies overlapping each other? it's almost certain to lose one when they overlap combined with obscure stuff, i have encounter three overlap altogether...

I cleared the floor 200 and reached the floor 201, so I get a global damage bonus 20.0%, not 20.1%.

Right?

Sorry, your OCD will have to remain triggered for the rest of the season.

is it possible to reduce chance of ponies overlapping each other? it's almost certain to lose one when they overlap combined with obscure stuff, i have encounter three overlap altogether...

There already is a bias for one to be somewhat to the left and one to be somewhat to the right, but if it turns out to be a big issue I might increase it.

Can we have a system like the Tagging data to show the Riddlemaster accuracy with 1-2 days delay
If it has the 1-2 days delay, we will not know the answer is correct or not right now

Can we have a system like the Tagging data to show the Riddlemaster accuracy with 1-2 days delay
If it has the 1-2 days delay, we will not know the answer is correct or not right now

I'll probably just add an indicator when your accuracy is low enough that you have a penalty.

There already is a bias for one to be somewhat to the left and one to be somewhat to the right, but if it turns out to be a big issue I might increase it.

I see, the problem is the third one will likely to accompany either, when the pair have same direction the feature will hard to identify

If the penalty indicator is out I'll surely be less anxious

Like I said before, I know that not all riddles can be solved accurately so the system doesn't expect you to. That said, it's usually Fluttershy, and I just replaced the two vectors that seem to be causing people the most problems.
I'll try to get around to it today or tomorrow.

How confident should we be in our answer in order to check off a pony? Thus far, I've only checked off ponies that I'm almost completely certain are correct, so I think I've definitely missed some of them. For the formless blobs in OnceForAll's post, I can sometimes rule out a few ponies, but avoid answering in order to avoid incurring penalties (since the previous system penalized choosing the wrong pony). Should we instead be checking off ponies if we think that there is a passing chance that they may be in the image? Also, if we can't decide between two ponies, are we better off checking off both of them just in case?

I'll probably just add an indicator when your accuracy is low enough that you have a penalty.

Thank you, this would definitely reduce the amount of dread I feel when a riddlemaster screen pops up.

Can somebody please tell me where is the third pony? I only see 2 Rarity here.

Applejack?

This is going to be the next script: Players barking at the screen, "Rotate! Enhance!"

Leon: Pony, what's that?
Holden: Know what a horse is?
Leon: Of course.
Holden: Same thing.
Leon: I've never seen a pony.

Track 45 left. Enhance 15 to 23. Give me a hard copy right there.

This post has been edited by Necromusume: Dec 23 2021, 19:54

hi is it possible to display bonus damage granted from isekai ?

Can you next time deliver equipment from isekai to persistent via mooglemail?
Cause it is hard to see what we receiving, and just in case when someone have no empty slots in inventory(what would happens in this case?), also it doesn't feel like a reward when stuff silently appears in inventory.

I saw credits added in credit log - thats fine.

Sorry, your OCD will have to remain triggered for the rest of the season.

Presuming you were being serious, does that mean everybody (even those who fail to clear isekai Floor 1) gets at least a 0.1% damage bonus to persistent?

CODE

Reached Floor 205: youshi1 (3146277)
Floor 205: Ming28561 (3775954)
Floor 205: Bolide (2309354)
Floor 204: Xeda (4388600)
Floor 201: sssss2 (1843795)
Floor 200: gehelife (1070629)
Floor 180: raraha (4071895)
Floor 177: Treesion (707354)
Floor 161: sabregimp (188779)
Floor 155: Nero-Arc (700155)
Floor 145: HT862 (1751283)
Floor 139: newzhenterzzf (5585303)
Floor 139: conatime (5595606)
Floor 130: BlackPantsu (586593)
Floor 130: accelkatana (4012458)
Floor 122: NeoAlden (5940217)
Floor 121: P-Killer (2968580)
Floor 120: Scarlet Tear (5159860)
Floor 120: ashlikt (2309737)
Floor 115: ace_amuro (896192)
Floor 112: unikwind (2480915)
Floor 108: eomivan (808303)
Floor 106: Altair.AC (3905888)
Floor 105: Chizuru Ichinose (638489)
Floor 104: Ass Spanker (1068757)
Floor 103: chanman2021 (5678409)
Floor 101: ex-homehome (1284678)
Floor 101: XMike (8053)

Cleared Floor 178: youshi1 (3146277)
Cleared Floor 122: Grandmasters (4697311)
Cleared Floor 104: Bolide (2309354)
Cleared Floor 103: conatime (5595606)
Cleared Floor 101: Nezu (867559)
Cleared Floor 100: Altair.AC (3905888)
Cleared Floor 100: sabregimp (188779)
Cleared Floor 100: ace_amuro (896192)
Cleared Floor 99: Treesion (707354)
Cleared Floor 98: Nonfar (3861631)
Cleared Floor 97: Xeda (4388600)
Cleared Floor 95: P-Killer (2968580)

From these result comparisons, I'm just guessing that season 2 was less grindy than season 1 (maybe not by a huge amount) while the added difficulty wasn't enough to make any difference (players of adequate level can just use Silence and Sleep as necessary).

My personal experiences were skewed from the typical because I play just the minimum to reach Floor 50, so my level is too low. Even though Floors 41~50 were probably inherently somewhat less grindy than season 1, that was eliminated for me because of the added difficulty. I had to Weaken the same monsters up to 2~4 times due to expiring buffs (noted to be tweaked for season 3). Also the season 3 notes suggest Floors 41~50 will be much easier in season 3 (no change overall though, for those who want to advance further) so I'm looking forward to it.

Wait, I just realized that if debuff durations have been generally increased (?) then 1H Paradise style may become more viable (if it wasn't already).

If the goal is to cause isekai players to hit a difficulty wall (as opposed to just being limited by how much they are willing to grind) restricting items is probably not the ideal answer. I think monster damages should increase more, while monster health need not increase. Even that may not be enough because of Silence and Sleep (and Blind), so those might have to be tweaked.

In a way that would be a shame because Sleep and Blind are finally getting to shine because of the tower. In persistent, no one would ever use them (low level players may still occasionally Weaken or Silence). Maybe that would be addressed with the upcoming versions of item world. We could use Silence and Sleep there, but perhaps they could be disabled in isekai (like fusrodah).

How confident should we be in our answer in order to check off a pony? Thus far, I've only checked off ponies that I'm almost completely certain are correct, so I think I've definitely missed some of them. For the formless blobs in OnceForAll's post, I can sometimes rule out a few ponies, but avoid answering in order to avoid incurring penalties (since the previous system penalized choosing the wrong pony). Should we instead be checking off ponies if we think that there is a passing chance that they may be in the image? Also, if we can't decide between two ponies, are we better off checking off both of them just in case?

The "wrongness" for a riddle answer is calculated as (unique_ponies - num_correct + num_wrong) / unique_ponies, so if there are 3 ponies shown and you answer three correctly you'd have (3 - 3 + 0) / 3 = 0. If you answer 2 correctly and miss/leave 1 it would be (3 - 2 + 0) / 3 = 0.33. And if you answer 2 correctly and 1 incorrectly, it would be (3 - 2 + 1) / 3 = 0.67. So generally you wouldn't want to check a box unless you are more than 50% sure.

Presuming you were being serious, does that mean everybody (even those who fail to clear isekai Floor 1) gets at least a 0.1% damage bonus to persistent?

You'd need to clear at least one floor to get anything, but you'd get 0.2% for reaching floor 2, yes.

The "wrongness" for a riddle answer is calculated as (unique_answers - num_correct + num_wrong) / unique_answers, so if there are 3 ponies shown and you answer three correctly you'd have (3 - 3 + 0) / 3 = 0. If you answer 2 correctly and miss/leave 1 it would be (3 - 2 + 0) / 3 = 0.33. And if you answer 2 correctly and 1 incorrectly, it would be (3 - 2 + 1) / 3 = 0.67. So generally you wouldn't want to check a box unless you are more than 50% sure.

Thanks for the info. It sounds like it would definitely be better to err on the side of caution in most cases.

Also, by that math, if you can't decide between two ponies, it sounds like you would be better off picking neither of them, since it can only harm you (in the circumstance where one of those ponies shows up elsewhere in the image, or if it was actually a different pony from the two you thought it was)

This post has been edited by GREGRE: Dec 23 2021, 22:52

Also, by that math, if you can't decide between two ponies, it sounds like you would be better off picking neither of them, since it can only harm you (in the circumstance where one of those ponies shows up elsewhere in the image, or if it was actually a different pony from the two you thought it was)

Yeah, if you can't decide between two ponies, checking both of them will at best be as good as picking nether. It doesn't encourage wild guessing.

If the goal is to cause isekai players to hit a difficulty wall (as opposed to just being limited by how much they are willing to grind) restricting items is probably not the ideal answer. I think monster damages should increase more, while monster health need not increase.

There is a point at which increasing a monster's damage stops having any effect. There is a hard limit on how much SP spirit shield can use but it will still protect you from damage.

Thanks for mentioning that.

I think what could happen though is that the monster damage from skills will effectively cap as you mention for a wide range of difficulties (floors and rounds). Then at some point, if the monster damage increases enough, even ordinary attacks could start draining down your spirit shield. Then you'll have to worry about spirit running out, and that's when you'll maybe need to also start using Sleep or Blind.

If the current Tower doesn't get to that point in practice, then the difficulty scaling can be adjusted until it does.

Can we get a number display of how many rounds we can do before we run out of stamina on the character screen? I didn't read the instructions and thought I only had to pick one pony for the captchas and now I'm down to 5 stamina and have no idea what my stamina per round cost is >_>;;

I got one of those hard 3rd pony things, and I selected two ponies, then I went O_O for a really long time...

and the timer ran out and I got all 3 wrong

Can you check my pony log?
Today I feel my stamina consumption abnormal.
I remember I just missing an option today.（Missed an AJ）
Now 20round AR cost 3 stamina.
Worse than that, it seems that a tower take me more than 30 stamina.

I think by picking 1 pony type for all the captchas I've somehow gotten my stamina burn rate so high that it consumed 9 stamina for clearing a 40 round tower.

I thought having more than one correct answer meant you can pick any ONE of the ponies on the captcha, not you have to go and pick each one >_>;;