Tower of Time Basement Parties

Introduction

Every weekend, the basement dungeon in the Tower of Time in Alchemia Story resets, allowing it to be re-run for fortune and glory. Every time it resets, hundreds of players take part in a great, time-tested ritual, putting together eight-person parties and clearing all three floors. It's not an act of artisinal killing; there are no points for style. Everyone just wants to get through it without any particular difficulty or drama, so they don't have to worry about it... until the next reset, a week later.

I've been taking part in this ritual, what Onesight terms The Three Trials, every weekend for quite a few months now. I've learned a lot about the dungeon, the game, and the people who play it. And I have found, along the way, a couple of ways to make the whole process faster, more efficient, and less stressful--not just for me, but for everyone in my party, and in some cases others as well.

Some of those things seem strange. People often comment, occasionally laugh, at the things I do there. But they work, and get results. And because I'm generally nice and helpful, I'm going to share and explain those things, here, so that you might understand, if not benefit, from them.

Planning and Vision

I roll out of bed, stumble over to my desk, fire up Alchemia Story and, still half-asleep, wander down to the basement about 45 minutes before reset happens, knowing two more things than most of the people who are going to show up over the next hour. I know what class I'm going to be playing, and I know what composition my party is (probably) going to have, in terms of jobs. Jobs and in some cases people; usually 4-6 of the eight people in the party come from my bond, and have RSVP'd the night before.

The class I play is pretty simple; I'm a healer. Partially this is because it's one of two jobs I'm halfway decent at--i.e. I'm playing to my strengths--and partially it's because finding a good healer for the basement is... surprisingly hard. If you're going to be a healer... heal!. I know, I know, DPS is "cool". Let people with DPS jobs do the damage. The same goes for mages, in particular. In the basement, mages are debuffers and buffers... not DPS. So... show up as a job you're good at, and actually willing to do correctly, and things will go much, much easier for everyone.

Party composition is tricky. I see an awful lot of people make parties of their friends, without regard for what jobs are represented. That's how you wind up with half-assed healers, squishy tanks, and DPS mages who don't know what they're doing, and how you wind up taking two hours to clear b2.

There are several different party lineups that are viable in the basement, and I don't want to argue about which, if any, is best. What I use is one tank, one healer, two mages, and four DPS. Why? Because it works, and is easy. If you want to go the bard route, or some other arrangement that you've tried and tested, don't let me stop you. Also note that mages aren't really necessary for b1, and having two is overkill for b2. Why bring them along? Because they make b3 much, much easier... or even possible at all. (And note, when I say mage, here, I mean... mage. Not planetary mage.)

Gotta Catch 'em All

So you've showed up to b1, know what people you want in your party... how do you find them?

Now, a lot of people volunteer, asking--sometimes begging--for a party to join. So if you don't mind dealing with a lot of extroverts and stuff, you can just see who's available, and recruit that way. What I do, in part because I like helping out introverts, and which a lot of others do as well, is just... ask. But I do it in a somewhat unusual way, which a lot of people laugh at. I say what job I need, and then ask people who are available to do something, usually say a specific word or sound. "DPS needed, b1-b3; say 'quack' if available", is a common example. And everyone looks at me weird, like I'm insane or a troll. But I'm not; there's a method to my madness.

The animal sounds, et cetera, solve two of the biggest headaches I encounter in the basement. The first is just figuring out who is actually willing and available to join my party. If you just say "Party is -1 DPS, who wants to join?", a half-dozen people are going to respond in a half-dozen different ways, which might range from walking over to stand somewhere randomly near you to saying ambiguous things like "hi", or (worse yet) emoting at you from halfway across the lobby. So getting volunteers to do or say something specific and unambiguous eliminates a huge amount of headaches and stress.

The other problem it solves is it only gets me respondents who are at least somewhat fluent in English, and who can follow orders. Both of those things become important, very quickly. I've nothing against people who speak other languages. My bond has folks who speak at least a half-dozen languages as their mother tongues, and we even have one fellow who doesn't speak any English at all. But for The Three Challenges, you really want people who can understand, and follow, orders.

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?

You've got your party together. Great! Hopefully you've done the math right and wound up with eight people, no more, no less. (You can do reset with super-parties, but it gets kind of complicated. I've herded parties of as many as fourteen(!) people through the basement, but I really don't recommend it.) Now what?

Now, actually party up, so you can all talk in party chat if you get separated. (This is where super-parties start to get complicated.) Next, create a private channel, and go there. Especially in b1, this saves enormous frustration with random kids trying to join in and screwing up your carefully-created party. Then, basically just go kill stuff, right?

Haha, nope. First you want to make sure nobody's got AOE attack skills equipped, which are a really good way to get the entire party killed in b1, which is kind of embarrassing. This is where everyone understanding the same language is important.

Next, you have to get everyone into the circle... at the same time. Some weekends, this is the hardest part of The Three Challenges. I long ago came up with a lazy way to make this much less stressful. I tell everyone to go stand on the side of the circle furthest from the door when they're ready. That's it. It's simple, but it keeps me from constantly having to ask if everyone's ready. A quick glance is all it takes to know if people are (or at least were... they might be afk, but there's not much you can do about that...) ready or not.

And that's basically it. Kill stuff, advance to b2, set up for fire defense, decide who's going to attack the crystal, repeat the stand-here-when-ready routine, and proceed. At b3 you need soil defense, not fire, and you need to coordinate the mages, if you've got two, but that's basically it.

It seems weird and silly, but it allows me to get a party through all three floors fairly quickly, with a minimum of effort, headache, or drama.

How You Can Help

If you're coming to reset to join, rather than create, a party, there are a few simple things you can do to make everyone's lives easier. First, show up as your strongest job. Secondly, actually use that job correctly. Don't try to be a DPS priest or a debuffer assassin. (You want to add one buff to your skills, go for it. Nobody's going to complain about an extra wall or veil skill in the basement.) Third, follow orders. If the head of the party gives an order for attacking the mobs in b1... follow it. If they tell you to concentrate on the right-hand mobs in b3... please do so. If they say to double-check gear, skills, and orbs... humor them. Fourth, don't ask completely unrelated questions. At reset, everyone's just trying to get The Three Challenges over with. Asking about Akashic weapon quests or when the lottery results will be announced is just going to slow things down. Fifth, and I'm looking at you, assassins, actually be present and pay attention. Priests can't auto and AFK in the middle of battle. Neither can mages. People are going to notice when you do that, and are going to hate you for it--doubly when you're attacking the wrong monsters in b1 or b3. Sixth, and I hate to have to say this because it makes me sound like a dictator wannabe, but... have some chill. I know you're in a hurry and have ADHD, but jumping in the circle ten seconds after someone announces they're afk to use the toilet and then spamming "Let's Go!" accomplishes exactly nothing except piss people off. Seventh, speaking of toilets, go tinkle before reset. I try to have a formal five-minute potty break between b2 and b3, but not everyone is so accomodating, lol. Eighth, and most importantly: have fun. Remember, it's just a game. If you're stressed out and yelling, you're probably doing it wrong.

I hope that's been helpful, or at least interesting. I don't know if there'll be other posts like this here or not, but, um, check back occasionally and find out, maybe? Thanks.

If you made it this far, you probably want to go back to the main page, I suspect.