User blog:BluesDriver/My views on Event Entry Keys

/* I just found we can create blog entries that are independant fromt he Wiki Pages Articles... It is a nice place to put things we need needs being discussed withtout  burying them into the entrails of another Page comment section... I think thing like Game Strategies, Windows tools and other geeky stuff will provide nice accompamying notes to the extensive Game information of the HC Wiki Articles,  so I try my first Blog Entry ... Beware it is a WIP :) */

Event Entry Keys (EK) are access tokens needed to get in the current Event Location. The requirement starts at 5 for Rank I goes by 5 per rank up to 40 for Rank VIII.

If you plan to get "stars" for Event Achievement, you will need to gather A LOT of Entry Keys: Getting to Master ( Rank VI ) for the Event will require you to gather over 4,000 Entry Keys during the Event. So you might consider doing a little planning and weighing out the different strategies proposed below.

There is a table of the Energy requirement vs Entry Keys Given by Location fro Rank V to VIII at the bottom of the page. (weirdly Blog Tables are somewhat very different then Wiki Tables, go figure ! )

ENERGY vs TIME
When playing to gather Entry Keys there 2 main strategies depending on which you have the most on hand Energy or Time to play ... Some are very lucky and have both, but most players, especially at lower levels are faced with an either-or dilemma...

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ENERGY Constraint
EIther to play to get the most keys for the Energy points you have which means playing the best Energy/Entry Key ration which will be given by the "Basic-4" Locations: CIty Hall, Room of Fate, Station and Collector's House. So it means playing Locations with low Energy cost but doing a lot of Searches per Location to pile up the Entry Keys, it will be time consuming. Getting 30 Entry Keys requires and average of 10 City Hall Searches for maybe 20 to 30 minutes.

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TIME Constraint
Some players have plenty of Energy either by playing less often or by piling up Engergy Boosts or Collections ready to ssemble on a "as needed" basis. Then time savings becomes the main issue. For those players, they will go for Location with a higher cost in Energy but a much better reward in Entry Keys. A common strategy is to use the last / prior to last Event Location since they often give 10 or 11 Entry Keys and can be searched quickly because regular players are very familiar with them. For instance the same 10 Searches done on Ballet Academy will generate 100+ Entry Keys. And 3 searches taking probably just over 5 minutes will generate the 30 Entry Keys it takes 20-20 minutes to get from City Hall.

Another route "less travelled" to gather Entry Keys quickly are the Dungeons' "Silhouette-based" Locations and specifically the Werewolves Lair and The Tomb Knight. Due to their slightly different Interface they have a more limited number of Items with a very limited number of positions. Their Search Clock is also only 90 seconds but both can easily be done in 30 seconds or less. i.e. they can be played 4 or 5 times in the same time it takes to search a more "premium" Location. For instance, 10 minutes is close to 20 Searches yielding about 60 Keys ... This option becomes more attractive if you are on a tight time constraint like during the 30-minutes-Infinite Energy of the weekends "Monstrology" or are using a short timed Boost.

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Energy requirement vs Entry Keys Given
Table below gives the maximum of Event Entry Keys you will receive for playing a location. Some locations require Skeleton Keys (SK) as indicated. You can sort the table by ckicking on the Up/Down arrow at the right of each column header) . (1) SK = Skeleton Keys, some Locations/Games needs access keys to be Searched/Played Numbers varies according to Rank.

(2) One thing to consider is the Energy each Location gives back as Reward and do the calculation of the Net Energy Cost. i.e. City Hall is 28 - 8 at Rank VIII for a Net 20. It has a major impact when playing series of Searches at a location to pile up Event Entry Keys. Energy Reward can go as high as 39 per play.

(3) Event Entry Keys Given list the Maximum value. Lower count may vary from 2 to 4 while higher counts will be like 8 or 9, 10 or 11.

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