Day 29/30 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Next version information and Bordered Attack Helicopter

- Version 1.1.0 Information translated:
"What's New in Version 1.1.0
- Added new field of Hunt "Tumbleweed Casino"
- Added 38 new Deadman
- Increased level cap to 75
- Added a daily quest
- Fix a problem prevents game from starting on iOS5
- Other bug fixes"

Source: Deadman Cross' Japan Version iTunes Store App page/Google Play App page

Start saving your hunt tickets and daily hunts if possible! I've deleted the Japan version so I won't be able to provide early screenshots. I think this update came at a right time as the game was getting a little boring for me; I've completed all Quests except for the Deadheads Wanted hunting one. I'm guessing the daily quest will be something like Million Arthur's Daily Event or Puzzle & Dragon's Daily dungeon; quests you have to completed within the day to get the reward.

Update #1: Found more information from gamer.ne.jp: The new hunting ground will have slot machine mechanic. Shoot a coin in the ground to start the slots and get one of this effects that I tried translating:

- 777: Jackpot. Remaining time of the hunt is +60 seconds.
- All Break: All Deadman will be in vulnerable state.
- All Stun: All Deadman get a 10 second Stun.
- Quick reload (3 bullets): Reload in an instant after last bullet
- +10 Seconds (3 hourglasses): remaining time of the hunt is +10 seconds.

The male and female shadows will be in tuxedo and bunny girl respectively. I think the slots mechanics will freshen up the hunting gameplay a lot but at the same time, it is kind of ironic to have a casino hunting ground when we are basically "gambling" with the Elite hunting tickets...

Update #2: It turns out that in the Casino, there are no vulnerable zombies or yellow time extensions one; you have to get them from slots. I can't confirm but I think I notice slot rewards cancelling each other so you might want to space out shooting down zombies with coins. I like the card art of the 3*, 4* and 4+*.

- Bordered Attack Helicopter gets Attack+25% buff instead of 20... I was hopping for Leecher+4 just to check out the animation but I guess we'll get probably wait for the new Casino hunting ground. Source: Japan Wiki

- No information about next week's Boneyard from Japan Wiki currently as I'm guessing the Japan version of the game is undergoing maintenance. Update #1: Next week's Boneyard is has cake in its name so Bordered Marie should be the reward. I think she will be very sought after and ties in well with the new hunting ground to get people to spend money to improve their decks as the new 5* are usually stronger. Update #2: Bordered Marie is the reward and the rules are the same.

Star Wars: Assault Team Impressions and Tips and Play Notes (Game has been removed from App Store)

Update: Game has been removed from App Stores. Check out this post for more information.

Note: As of now, players in forums are reporting that there seems to be discrepancies in each accounts' energy recharge timings, energy cost for Arena as well as differences in crates' gem costs.

First and foremost, this is not a card game but more of an RPG game using cards as the characters. I played for a while and initially thought that it was IAP-heavy because I got stuck at around the third stage. However, I choose to stick with it and played some more and I soon figured out that you actually need to grind a bit at the training missions to level up your cards. The game was just designed to have a steep difficulty curve right at the start. Update: I seem to lose even the replayed stages which I have completed before so the difficulty is kind of erratic!

It turns out that the game is surprisingly good. It has nice graphics and card art along with the Star Wars music and sound effects. (It even uses parallax effects; I tilt my iPhone 5 and the stage looked 3D. Unnecessary but cool nevertheless.) The UI is nicely designed but I felt the tutorial left out information that you can feed cards to level up your other cards. The gameplay consist mainly of taps but I encountered lags during battles as I tap to attack but had to wait. The game has an Arena mode (Boneyard/Coliseum) for PVP and I think the opponents are AI controlled. In all, the game is very polished and enjoyable without spending cash. Quite a lot of cards can eventually be levelled all the way to the highest tiers and there are many chances to earn cards in the game.

Update: I notice quite a bit of humour in the game (normally pop-ups) which is a nice touch. For example, I tapped too many times while attacking causes a Darth Vader pop-up warning. I also find the game more enjoyable on a tablet screen than on the iPhone. There is also no rush to complete any "events" in the game so the only limit is the energy timer which is great if you do not want to spend a lot of time on a game. Edit: There are daily special missions which seems to be the only way to get high tier promotion items.

I think the main "cash grab features" of the game is the spending of gems to continue a failed quest and to increase item/hero slots, both "borrowed" from Puzzle and Dragons. I just play ignoring continues and managing my slots well to avoid them while progressing the story.

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I was coming up with tips as I played but I found a site, writepart.com, which covers most of what I want to say:

Day 26/27/28 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Deck Guide Strategy link and some notes on Bordered Cards

- Excellent Deck guide strategy by Heli and I agree with the tips posted. Here's the link to my take on Deck placement, along with posts on Zombie Skills and 5* and 4+*.

- I think the bordered card limit is going to be raised soon to 2 with the recent Clan job helping to put out more bordered cards to the players. Regarding which bordered cards to put into the deck, the no-brainer choice will be the strongest ones. In GC, I think the strongest was always the latest ones but it is different in DC now. Here are my notes on which to use in deck:

• I think the best choice currently is actually both Pestilent and Virulent Yang Guifei. A lot of people at the forums are saying so too. Choking Fumes debuff has such high utility in the deck and together with that insane speed and high Intelligent, I will definitely use both Yang Guifei if I had both in my deck. Virulent version has the same speed stat as Pestilent for some reason and in this game, speed kills... literally. Currently, only Slasher, Charmer and Spitter blocks Spitter attacks. There are not a lot of good 5* for those types which might explain why some uses Joan of Arc at the start.
• Another way to fit them into your deck is to see which area are you lacking in; missing a strain type of attack in your deck, needing a tank or a high speed zombie. See Deck placement in this post's very first point.
• Second best, IMO, will be Pestilent Pluto. Notice most of the better ones are those whose normal version are already powerful.  Pluto had very high overall stats (especially defence) in the game and also has Survival Instinct, which means it can tank a lot of hits and waste opponent's MP. Virulent Pluto is also a good choice, even if it is just for another Survival Instinct user in your deck. If for some reason, you have both Pluto-s, you can create an interesting deck with a lot of Survival Instinct procs.
• I'm not very sure about Pestilent and Virulent Napoleon because of his inability to double cast +4 as well as requiring high Intelligent boosting for his alternate +3 build. If you kept his +4, he is mostly guarantees a 1 kill while a +3 build will be used instead to finish off low health opponent, so arrange him in your deck accordingly. The dream for +3 build is to be able to kill 3 but I think in reality, it will more likely kill 1 and a half. +3 build can be used for a cleanup position behind survival instinct, revive, debuffers, etc. It is interesting of note that only Perfect Normal Napoleon can double cast +4, making that the best version of all. (Also one of the best cards of the game right now IMO)
• Pestilent Asura has very high HP and when fully boosted, may tank critical hits from Spitter and Shocker. However, Spitter and Shocker attackers are common making Asura rely a lot on HP boosting to stand a chance IMO. It is also due to the reliance on this HP stat that makes the Virulent Asura not as viable.
• Insert: I realised I missed out on Pestilent Lincoln. I think he is similar to Asura that he relies on stats and is also a defensive tank but Asura has the advantage of transfusion skill which can make battles more unpredictable. 
• Pestilent and Virulent Yuki Onna have the same problem as Asura with the common Spitter and Shocker attackers. She has choking fumes, which is always useful, and high intelligent due to the buff but I still think the "true" 5* bordered cards are better.

I hope the limit to bordered cards get raised soon because it will make deck strategy a little more interesting; multiple Survival Instinct or Blurred Speed mayhem. The trend of bordered cards is to add a +4 to a current +3 skill or alter the buff skill so I think the future bordered cards worth looking out for are Marie, Moby Dick and Minotaur. It will also be interesting to see if bordered Peregrine Falcon can double-cast or be like bordered Napolean.

- Lastly. my tip on Boneyard Passes: It's more important to preserve your winning streak than to use that 5th Boneyard pass to prevent "wasting" new ones.

Day 24/25 in the Zombie Apocalypse: First Clan Event Impressions and Boneyard bug (Update with Clan Event Suggestion)

Update #3: Bordered Yuki Onna skillset is out: Japan Wiki. Chiller+4 as I expected.

Update #2: The last day's first Clan job is 135 Bird and Beast silhouettes each. I now catch 3 Magicians altogether from 2 hunts and people report the same from the forum about getting Magicians now too. There are also now very few Birds and Beasts shadows (birds especially). If odds are going to be against the players even with a difficult quest conditions, I'm definitely staying clear of future Clan Events...

Update #1: The 17th Clan job was really just plain frustrating and ridiculous; 90 Magicians but there are so many types of male shadow drops. I used around 9 hunting tickets or more, countless male shadows hunted but only caught 1 magician. It seems like the Elite Hunting drop rate for 5*... Even if you have completed all the previous jobs, failing this means no more Gold Bordered Yuki Onna. I think she is going to be a very rare card... This job should have been an all player event like the GC Slime hunt.

- The first Clan Event was better than the previous 0th one; better rewards, more manageable quests and storyline. However, some people over at the forum were still grouped into Clans with many inactive participants, thus it ended up depending on your luck to a certain extent. While I was lucky to be in an active clan, I still personally find the whole event to be too time consuming to be fun (People are not that active participating because it takes too much time? Maybe we have another loop going on here...):

• Most people have work or school and you also need to account for the sleeping and miscellaneous time spend doing other things everyday. You need to complete 3 jobs with your clan-mates and even if everybody chipped in, you will probably still spend a lot of time trying to complete as fast as possible due to the 24 hour time limit as well as being unable to know if your other clan-mates will rush the event with you. Personally, I find it too time taxing.
• Although the gold boost rewards are good, the bordered card reward, being a 4+* and the Boneyard limiting them to 1, is really not that attractive. I think only a bordered Minotaur will be most viable, given the limited choice allowed in Boneyard. With that said, I'm guessing the limit might be raised to 2 soon with this Clan Event providing more bordered cards to players.
• I'm most likely going to skip the future Clan Events entirely (except perhaps for Minotaur) as I prefer to play more casually. If you find yourself not having a lot of time to spend on the game, I urge you to give Clan Events a skip and let the more active players have a better chance.
• Update #1: Here are my suggestions to improve Clan Event. I think the Clan system has the opportunity to become another main Game loop other than the current Boneyard loop:
• Use the Clash of Clan style for clans: Allow people to form their own permanent clans and be able to kick out players as well as provide a Clan chat. Maybe increase Clan size to 50. This should solve the luck problem of forming clans. Update #2: Allowing clan formation will help to allow people in the same time region to form up. Allowing clan chat will help to spur spending to complete quest with "peer pressure"; you are more likely to spend money if you know your clan people are also spending to complete quests.
• Turn Clan Events into a bi-weekly event with limitless quests for clans to take on. Tabulate final score based on the number of quests completed after 2 weeks. This might balance out the time consumption of Clan Quests.
• I prefer the GC events where every player in the game contributed to catch a certain number of Slimes.

- It's been so many Boneyard Cups and I'm still hit but by a bug where I'm unable to enter Boneyard. Game is stuck in loading the Boneyard. It solved itself for a while but I got it again now. One of the solution is to enter the Boneyard from another device.

Analysing GC/DC and Million Arthur Core Loop, Monetisation and their Comparison

Some time back I was reading this Game Analytics blog. It basically writes about how freemium games monetise. There is a core loop going on in these games that keeps the players coming back as well as time-based restriction that can keep player interested due to the constant short burst of playing time. GC/DC and Million Arthur was not discussed yet (closest card game analysed was Rage of Bahamut/Marvel: War of Heroes) so I will attempt to write about the core loop of those games as well as the way they monetise. For those interested, that blog has done Puzzle & Dragons. (I'll be focusing more on DC than GC actually)

Day 22/23 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Next week's Boneyard, Bordered Lincoln and Misc

- Same rules for next week's Boneyard (It's getting a bit boring) with bordered Attack Helicopter as the reward. Source: Japan Wiki. I'm hoping it's the first Leecher+4 skill user and let see if it will be faster than bordered Yang Guifei.

- Bordered Lincoln gets Def+20% instead of Attack-20%. Source: Japan Wiki Update: Now that I think of it, Bordered Lincoln might look to become a good tank zombie with high defence in both strain and physical attacks!

- If you are still wondering, Virulent cards have the same skill sets as Pestilent ones.

- 100% completion of jobs in my clan so far, I think SquareEnix has ton down the difficulty and my clan is quite active. It now seems the clan quests are starting to become harder.

- Managed to complete Honda's Challenge 6 with 22 kills and 2-3 yellow extra time shadows.

Million Arthur Resources and Tips

Million Arthur Resources
- Million Arthur South East Asia Facebook page

- Million Arthur South East Asia Cherry Credits Forum

- Hardwarezone forum thread about the Japanese version

- Tips posted by Avizoa from above forum thread (Scroll down for tips)

- Guardian Cross forum thread about the Japanese version (I contributed quite a few posts there and first post has a lot of useful links like the game's Wiki!)

- Tips posted by MetalStitch from above forum thread

Game download links:
iOS Appstore link

Google play Store link

Alternative Android apk link

My General Tips (I try to update here as I remember from past playing)
Enter my invite code at startup for a rare card: 1fb2

- Character Select at start: There is not much of a difference between the 3 that I know of but they each seem to have a different storyline. Unfortunately, we can only experience one unless you play 3 devices. I suggest hearing out the voice actors of each of them before deciding and choose the one that you think will be least annoying and best looking art.

- Action Points (AP) and Battle Cost (BC) Allocation: AP are your stamina points while BC is your cost for using your cards and are used when you attack boss or PVP. I remember reading that the top decks in Japan cost around 200+~ Battle Points. I intend to go for 100 AP before putting the rest of the points into BP, while adding necessary BP to improve deck if required.

- There is no need to spend all your BC for your deck. You can conserve BC if the boss is low on life; just adjust your deck to put out the necessary damage per BP. Or you can "poke" the boss with a single card with the lowest BC to conserve BC.

- Exploring might replenish Action Points or Battle Cost points so always try to spend your Action Points exploring when possible.

- Prioritise Event Exploration first. You might want to repeat the Event exploration for the event points or if there are cards you want in there. Update: There are also daily event exploration and some gives out more experience than the longer-duration evens on average, those normally appear between the long event and non-event everyday.  (It was probably due to the weekday events' double EXP day)You'll have to plan your AP spending between them to maximise level up restore of points.

- Battles in Story does not seem to consume your BC. It gives you back a full bar of BC but you have to clear the fights in 10 minutes. Update: Any leftover BC from the story battle is retained so you can try to use as little as possible to retain usage against Faerie encounters, etc.

- I was checking out the IAP options (in-game currency sale is in USD valuation although the game is in Singapore/Malaysia, so buyers take note). It is interesting that there don't seem to be any single gacha ticket purchase, only a bulk purchase of 11 tickets with 2 AP and BC potions each which will set you back by over $15~. I think it is rather steep so I held back on showing support for the game for now. It might be better to buy BC and AP pots for awaken faerie battles (although it depends on your deck in the first place) and event quest point gatherings. Disregard this as the single gacha ticket in-app purchase was obscure when I had free ones available.

- In Japan version, there were gacha events which gives out points for using gacha tickets in exchange for rare/super rare cards. Although It might take some time to (or never?) arrive, I am saving gacha tickets for those events.

- 1 AP is recovered every 3 minutes, BC every 1 minute.

- Beginning Deck Tip: I currently use only 3 of my highest attack cards for 1 row of attack at this early stage of the game with the intention of increasing another row only when I built up 3 more cards with roughly the same attack. This way, I'm able to attack a few times but I may be forgoing some card combination bonus.

- In PvP, an avatar of a low rarity character usually mean their deck might be weak, although it may be a trick. Sometimes, people do leave behind a low BC card as the single card of the deck. To prevent such cases, create a deck with main cards but include the low BC card. When you are low on BC and you attack, the computer will automatically use that low BC card.

- For reference, I spent over 29 saved free gacha tickets and got no Super Rare card. However, due to the big library of cards and beautiful artwork, I don't feel too bad about it~ I do remember having better luck at the Japan version last time. Edit: The Super Rare Drop rate is still atrocious though...

- Another Deck Tip (Something to try when you have more BC and powerful cards): I recall the Side Stories character combination form combos when place together in deck. (Source: Chinese Wiki, translated version, some words may be "lost" in translation though...) You can see the "Check Combo" section to see the increase in stats. I intend to use the Side Stories combination for the strongest cards before filling up the remaining slots of each row with the highest attack cards. I think it is better not to use a row if you can't fill it up and I do prefer each row to be equally high in attack as possible. Experiment around between this tip and the beginning deck tip and compare for yourself.

- You can tap and hold on the yellow stat increase icons in deck view's "Check Combo" section to see which cards/combination is giving the boost.

- I think it's best to use BC and AP pots for awaken faerie battles (although it depends on your deck in the first place) and event quest point gatherings.

- Each card has a 2 versions; there is another shinier version with slightly better stats.

- Those BC 99 Fairies are the "Silver Chicks/Slimes" of the game. I think the strategy of levelling up your best card one at a time also holds for this game. Update: Best used on Mondays where there is leveling exp x2!

- Getting Super Rare (SR) cards from daily rewards and events to limit break might be potentially more powerful that SR you can get from gacha as those are rare and hard to get multiple copies of.

- Lots of useful tips from the forum here, highly recommended read! I completely miss out on the Weekday Events info!

- List of card combo from the forum here.

- Found this nice page of recommended and popular cards at the Chinese Wiki (translated version, some words may be "lost" in translation though...). Tor, the current event points exchange card is inside! Quite a few of the choices were due to the skills and also the cost effectiveness. Update: The wiki's front page has more, displayed in the middle column.

- Cherry Credits forum thread on Reverse Limit Breaking Guide by Extrone. I know for one that if you feed a higher level card to the lower level version of the card, the experience is not lost like in DC/GC by any percent. This guide explains it and how to make use of it to do power levelling on Mondays. Remember to keep all extra copies of SR cards to do reverse limit breaking. Youtube video demo

- Another highly recommended starter guide from the forum.

- Nice review of the Japan version of the game in this blog post over at Animutiny. It talks about some of the new features that I missed out since I stopped playing, like the job system then so the review also serves as a preview of things to come.

Million Arthur Singapore and Malaysia Version launched and my game Impressions

Update 26/03/2013: New version has arrived. Current iOS version does not prompt you to update but just restarts the app. I've also noticed that some of the dialogues going into the character name box area, pushing the names into the dialogue box with the next speech. Some of the pop-up prompts have their wording cut off from the side borders too.

Update 25/03/2013: Some of the side story dialogue, which I was assuming to be funny, but it did not turn out that way. I wonder if it got lost in translation.

Update 24/03/2013: Game is running smoothly for the past day. 3 of Gacha Tickets, AP Potions and BC Potions each given out for maintenance.

Update 22/03/2013: Game went through a third Server maintenance and there was very slight improvements and the frequent long connection time and errors were still there.

Update 22/03/2013: Game went into a second Server maintenance for the day since I started playing, probably to support the increasing number of players.

Update 22/03/2013: Game seems to be riddled with lag at the moment. A lot of long connection waits or network connection errors between each action you take in the game, making the game close to unplayable for the time being.

I was playing the Japan version of Million Arthur for a while during my time in GC "era". It was quite fun and casual game with beautiful anime-style art and nice music; it even has an anime-style intro movie.

The game was entirely in Japanese and I couldn't understand the story but the game was attractive enough for me to continue. I was having fun even without spending any money on the Gacha card dispenser machine. There is also coliseum but I wasn't compelled to join unlike GC and DC (perhaps due to me not able to read Japanese!), I really enjoy the casual card collecting style of this game and there was no rush. I eventually stopped playing to focus on GC. Fast forward to today and the English version has just been released in Singapore and Malaysia iOS and Google stores!

iOS App Store link

Google play Store link

Alternative Android apk link

Enter my invite code at startup for a rare card: 1fb2

Note: It appears this English version of the game is a collaboration between Cherry Credits and SquareEnix. I'm guessing Cherry Credits did the English translation.

The game's UI design may be a little cluttered compared to GC/DC; there seem to be tons of options and menu. Tip: Entering of Promo codes or looking for your invite code is actually found in the New button or startup banner list. At least everything is in English now and I'll also be able to finally understand the storyline. (I spotted a bit of typo or mistake in sentence structure though) The only nitpick I have so far is that the game is not supporting the full 4" screen of iPhone 5/5s/5c. I remembered the Japan version did not have borders at the sides but perhaps it was a more advanced version that updated the graphics to be iPhone 5 compatible.

Day 20/21 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Clan Operation Antifreeze and Casino Hunting Ground "Preview"

- I was very lucky to be grouped into a very active clan for the event; only 3-4 non-participating people. All 3 jobs were completed for the first day unlike the previous event. It could be possible that SquareEnix lower the difficulty of the third job this time round.

- Clan Jobs introduction now provide more of a storyline and explanation behind the jobs which I think is a nice touch and makes the jobs a little more engaging. Note: There were some typo in the explanation but the actual job details reflected the correct information.

- There are talks about a Casino Hunting ground and I actually recall seeing it in this trailer:

Day 19 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Next Clan Job's rewards

- I fired up Japan version DC to check out the banner about the latest upcoming Clan Job, Rewards for top 2 tier includes Bordered version of Yuki Onna and boosts just like the weekly Boneyard rewards. I'm guessing she get Chiller+4 for this version and there is also no sign of +3/+4 skill thumb-drives anytime soon.

Rewards from Japan DC
20-21 Quests Completed (!)
- Pestilent Yuki Onna
- Gold Sneakers x2
- Gold Dictionary x2

16-19 Quests Completed (!)
- Virulent Yuki Onna
- Gold Sneakers x1
- Gold Dictionary x1

8-15 Quests Completed
- Gold Chick
- Luxury Sneakers x2
- Luxury Dictionary x2

0-7 Quests Completed
- Silver Chick
- Energy potion x1

This clan event should hopefully get more participation with these card rewards as the previous clan event was kind of lacklustre. However, I foresee a difficulty in getting anywhere near 16 quests, given the difficulty of the previous clan jobs as well as participation. Anyway, time to start saving up on your spare hunting tickets!

Day 17/18 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Int+25% MP cost and Honda Challenge 6 strategy

- I did another free Elite hunt from saved reward coins at Gould Square, managed to catch an average 4* General.

- I also managed to figure out the MP cost of Int+25%; 600MP! I had 2200MP and Napolean cast Blurred Speed (400MP), Int+25% as well as 2 cast of Screamer+3 (600MP each).

- I'm now at Honda's Challenge 6 where you have to catch 15 at Gould Square without missing. I've yet to determine if shooting an oil drum that kills count as not missing but my general strategy for this is to shoot the shadows once and proceed to another if it did not attack. My highest haul was 12 so far.

Day 14/15/16 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Pestilent Pluto, next week's Boneyard, forum posts and my suggestions

- Pestilent Pluto gets Physical+4 instead of 3 and has pretty high attack stats. It's great that it saves you on your MP stones. Currently, I think bordered versions of Yang Gui Fei is the best because of her speed, high offensive ability and double cast of +4. Source: Japan Wiki

- Same rules for next week's Boneyard with bordered Lincoln as the reward. Source: Japan Wiki. I don't think we are getting +4 thumb-drives anytime soon as the bordered versions are getting the preferred skill-sets. (For e.g., I strongly believe bordered Marie will get Spitter+4) I'm guessing Lincoln will get some kind of buff skill.

- I got an Elite ticket from lottery recently and caught all 3* at Gould Square. There are many complaints over at the forum's General section over the money spent for Elite hunting and the outcome. Buyers beware!

- Lots of people are posting hunting tips at the forum's Tips & Tricks section. A common one I read is to wait for the zombie that appears at the start to turn vulnerable before shooting. However, I am never quick enough to pull that off and if you wait too long, the shadow might wander off the screen. One useful tip also pointed out that if there are no shadows at the start, it is usually a bird shadow in the air instead and I verified that to be true so far in at least 2 hunts.

My Suggestion on Boosting and Leveling Order
- Suggested Boosting order: 5* > Gold Bordered Zombies (usually the newer ones) > Silver Bordered > Gould Square Zombies > Clayton Cemetery Zombies
Reasoning: Bordered cards should be limited to 3 in the future (if it's like GC) so normal 5* will have better "longevity" while bordered cards might get replaced by better versions each week. I'm predicting a hunting zone limited Boneyard in the near future like in GC and it will probably start with Gould Square. However, if you are halfway through boosting a zombie, it will be better to finish that up before moving on.
*New* I prefer to give priority to boost a stat of a zombie that has buff boost skill; e.g. Titan's Def stat because its of Def+20% skill. Each stat boost is then worth about 1.2 due to the skill so you gain a little more.

- Suggested Leveling order: 5* > Gold Bordered Zombies (usually the newer ones) > Silver Bordered > Gould Square Zombies > Clayton Cemetery Zombies
Reasoning: Similar to Boosting.

Day 13 in the Zombie Apocalypse: New Gould Square Cards

- There are already information for 3 of the 4 new cards from the forum and Japan Wiki; Joan of Arc, Moby Dick and Chimera

- I think quite a lot of people find the new 5* skill sets to be disappointing. However, I find them having very high offensive stats with very little MP constraints so they can probably take down quite a few cards before going down, especially Moby Dick with that revive skill. Interestingly, Moby Dick only has Screamer+3 and there is some similarity between it and Pestilence Napolean; both can go up to 3K Intelligent and higher and both will most likely use Screamer+3.

- I spent the 2 free elite tickets that I've been saving but didn't get any new cards or 5*.

Hearthstone launched, Day 10//11/12 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Typos in Hunt Jobs & Version 1.0.3

I interrupt my daily posts from New Livingston to bring you news that Hearthstone has launched! If you were not already playing the open beta, I think this is worth checking out; it's free to play anyway. Here are my impressions of the game.

- The folks over at the forum has pointed out that there are typo errors in the hunt jobs; Honda's Challenge 6 should be in Gould Square instead of Clayton. TheBard mentioned that Forbidden Experiment's capture 40 deadman should be just 30. I verified with Japan Wiki and can only confirm about Honda Challenge 6's mistake.

- Version 1.0.3 is coming. Since new quests, clan jobs and 3 tiers of Boneyard should already be in the system and I don't think will require a new version for them to be activated (activate through server patching), I'm guessing it is either a new hunting ground, more bug fixes and features that couldn't be patched like more player levels perhaps...

Update: I started up JP version of Deadman's Cross just to find out about 1.0.3. It turns out I was close, 4 new zombies in Gould Square; 2 5*, a 4*+ and a 4*. Here are the in-game screenshots:

Day 9 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Pestilent Napolean, Next week's Boneyard and Job rewards

- I did a battle at the last 5 minutes of Boneyard where it prompted no rewards for the battle. I completed the battle and still get reward from the fight so I'm not sure what the prompt means...

- Japan wiki has Pestilent Napolean info: int+25% replacement for the buff skill. I guess it might be 400MP too. Each Boneyard reward card is stronger than the one before, I guess it's a rush each week to try to level up last week's reward card. Speaking of which, next week's reward is Pluto. Going by the "trend", I'm guessing he might get a buff skill for the bordered version.
Update: Pestilent Napolean cannot double cast with Blurred Speed, Int+25%, Screamer+4. Int+25% cost at least more than 422MP, even after Psyche is fully boosted (actual cost currently unknown). Source: Japan Wiki The good news is that you can save on MP boosting on this one. I think screamer+4 is preferred over +3 for a more secure kill. Update: According to the forum, Int+25% and Screamer+3 might do as much damage as Screamer+4

- Same rules for next week's Boneyard. Source: Japan Wiki

- Job list with the rewards are listed at the Japan Wiki. I think the end game will probably be repeating the job to gain 2 Hunting tickets to fuel the hunt job to get 1 Boneyard ticket.

Day 7/8 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Charmed

- It first started when I encounter people putting Nun/Nurse as the last card of their deck in Boneyard. The battle came down to the last card and I was annoyed that my deck lost to a 3*, it was using Charm nevertheless.

- I then notice at higher "tier" of the boneyard, people were putting Cleopatra/Rose Gardener as the last card. I realise Charm casters make good last card placement in your deck. More on last card placement:
+ As the last card, I think the ideal case is a zombie with the highest chance of killing any card; a zombie with attack and strain elemental attack like Newton (Phy+4 and Burner+4) or Asura (chiller and transfusion which is physical), although it could get blocked by Titan, or a zombie with double strain elemental attack+4, none at the moment due to the lack of skill thumb-drives.
+ An alternative will be a high attack physical caster as it does not have strain weakness, the only problem is high defence like Titan, Pluto, etc.
+ Charm casters actually makes a good choice for last placement. Even though there is a possibility of failing, I've seen it 1-hit KO even Burner types, type that it should supposedly get blocked. In that sense, you do not worry about getting a bad strain matchup and it does not leave any HP behind due to high intelligence blocking other than that zombie reviving or surviving through skill.

- Another interesting thing about a lot of the Charm casters are that, other than the nurse, they can go double buff/debuff with only the Charm skill as the attack, which guarantees the Charm cast. I think this might be the ideal choice for it to be your last placement card; you don't want Cleopatra to use Phy+2 and miss a chance to 1-hit kill. For Cleopatra placed in the middle of the deck, the Phy+2 will be good to finish off weakened zombies from previous battle.

Update: There is a new Charm 5*, Rubeus and there is some debate whether to keep charmer+3 or the physical+2. He (she?) is similar to Cleopatra, as they both have an option to keep physical+2. I've been using Cleopatra for a while and while physical+2 can finish off weaker opponents leftover from the previous attack, there are times where she choose to use it instead of Charm against a full health opponent. I guess it is all down to placement in deck.

If you expect to use the Charmer before a elemental+3 caster for example, the physical+2 will be more useful.

If you position the Charmer to face a full health opponent or you want to use it at the last position of the deck, then you have to make sure the Charmer cast nothing but Charm spells. As mentioned earlier, you want your last position card to be able to kill anything and Charm skills fit it perfectly; it kills everything, even those strain that are more resistant to it.

There are times when I do wish I skilled Cleopatra with the 2 debuffs and lone offensive Charm+3.

Day 3/4/5/6 of March in the Zombie Apocalypse: Clan, hidden jobs, monetization and hunting tips

Clan Event Impressions
-  The first(0th?) clan event were over and I think it was a bit of a disappointment:
+ some of the jobs were difficult to accomplish and the rewards and job hardware rewards were not really enticing
+ there were interesting jobs from the looks of the things we had to collect but there were no accompanying "storyline" like how the normal jobs had where quite a few were hilarious. Clan jobs are just dealt out by the same person with the same lines over and over again till it got old. ("...I'm sure glad that you can't sue...")

- My clan managed to complete 9 jobs; 1 short of the next tier with better rewards. It seemed like the last day's jobs were all do-able so there was an improvement. My clan had quite a good participation rate compared to what the forum people are experiencing.

Hidden Jobs
- Deadman's Cross forum has hidden jobs consolidated here. If you're done with the main ones, you need to redo some to get the hidden ones and the rewards are mostly good. I'll go for the Keys to the City for creatine shake (extra stamina stat) first.

- There seem to be new quests coming in an upcoming server patch too.

DC and Monetisation
- 2 other interesting forum threads: For Science and Failure to monetize

- first one kind of shows the drop rates in the game and I am experiencing the same; elite huntings are mostly 3*.

- second one discusses about monetisation in the game and TychoBrahe and Alpha309 pointed out something I noticed myself, just like in GC.:
+ In GC, I seem to catch more 5* in the beginning which led me to continue buying Special Hunting tickets when new grounds were released. However, the rates seem worse from what I perceived later on in the game and it was similar to DC current rate that I'm experiencing.
+ In DC, the strategy seem to be giving out more items and Elite Hunting opportunities first.

- I like the concept and storyline better in DC as well as the card art, but so far I only bought 1 Elite Hunting ticket and don't intend to spend anymore. For anyone spending or intending to spend money in this game, those 2 links are good reads.

Hunting Tips
- When you are down to 1-2 bullets, a suggestion is to use up the bullets to shoot zombies further in the background like Rooftops because they can't retaliate. Hitting one in the foreground or one of the birds will result in a high chance of them hitting you while you are reloading, wasting some time in your hunt.

- Fun tip: I notice if the hunt takes a while to load, there seems to be slightly more yellow extra time zombies in that particular hunt; useful for Honda's challenge of 18 zombies in a hunt.

Day 1/2 of March in the Zombie Apocalypse: Error 8204

- DC Server overload for the last day of Boneyard where players get Error 8204 were not able to log into the game for very long periods of time. I think the clan jobs might have contributed to the issue as the 3rd jobs were the hardest and many people must have rushed to complete them. The percentage of players below level 9 were higher than the rest of the players so there were more and more new players joining the game; 60%:40%. The long periods of downtime, especially on the last day of Boneyard, makes for a disappointing experience for many players I believe.

- March daily rewards are kind of disappointing to me; only 600 coins for 2 Elite hunting and they are spaced out 3 early in the month while the other 3 later in the month. With no Elite hunting tickets given from Boneyard rewards, GC is much more generous in this aspect.

- Next week's Boneyard rules can be viewed at the Japan Wiki Site; still 2 tiers but 1 bordered-card allowed for middle tier.

- I saw Chiller skill critical hitting Charmer strain and it was not listed in the Strain table in the game's help section.

Day 15 in the Zombie Apocalypse: Zombie Strain figured out!

- If you find the blog post's day label changing, it's because I am kinda lost track of time. I tried to use the daily bonus to count as much as possible. Next post will be day 1 of a new month.

- I managed to catch a 4* in a normal ticket in Gould Square during the Clan job. We could not finish the third Clan job and I find it a little unfair as we did not have the full day to complete all 3 jobs; Clan launched in the later half of a day.

- I figured out the Strain table from the game's help section. I noticed that Burner critical hits Charmer instead of Spitter so I started to work backwards. Each strain should have 3 blocking strain and 2 critical hitting strain. The other trait is that if a strain critical hit another strain, it should also block it. Using those information, I came up with an amended table: