So, now that I’ve got all 3 5-card dwellings, an epic wedding with the unique reward that follows, and a PoSI specialization, the next thing on my To-Do list is to take advantage of my specialization to push the relevant stat up to 215. Of course, that requires some dedicated MW-grinding! Any advice would be welcome. So far, I’ve never tried to push past 8 or 9.
Quick facts: I’m banned from the Imperial Court, which I know leaves one of the most popular grinds unavailable.
I’ve got a Salon, which provides some pretty tidy bursts - but I’ll need a good way to grind Society- and/or Bohemian connections to keep that up, along with finding a steady source of Favors in High Places if I take Society’s side. (Stolen Kisses are, of course, relatively simple to obtain through refinement.)
I’m already using most of my available Free Evenings on Private Dinners.
Finally, I’m aware of item-conversion being a valid route, but I find it somewhat… limiting, in several way. I’m hoping to find some decent alternatives.
Go back to the Shuttered Palace (you can go there, just not the inner court) and Publish Poetry in Praise of the Duchess for Bohemian (and Duchess) or attend one of the Duchess’ salons and Be Erudite for Society.
For Favours, the A Polite Invitation party can give them as a reward for hitting Talk of the Town 12 and are good for Making Waves in their own right. You can also grind the Affair of the Box for 7 Stolen Kisses as payout. 25 Stolen Kisses can be converted to 5 Favours. You can also construct them in the Side-Streets, but this is generally the most efficient way.
For making the waves themselves with your Salon, the options for Lettice or the Presbyteriat Diplomat give bonus Making Waves if you have them as Companions.
If you have the Captivating Princess’ favour, you can invite her for a very large MW gain at the cost of 20 Scheme and 1 Fate. (No really, it’s enough to make the jump to 15 N with even poor BDR.)
I find myself regularly pushing out enough MW to make it worth my while to get up to rather high notability (highest was 13). I usually take advantage of opportunity cards like A Decadent Evening (my scandal is usually 5, and I boost it to 7 with gear for max MW), card from the Ratwork Velocipede (fate-locked).
@BlakeTheDrake Do you have BDR gear in most slots? If not, I would go for BDR gear before doing a serious grind for notability. edited by navchaa on 1/8/2016
Ah, right, forgot to mention… I’ve pretty much maxed out my BDR already. :P Not QUITE, perhaps, but at this point the only improvement I can get is from fate-locked items obtained during the Feast of the Exceptional Rose. I joined FL just at the tail-end of last year’s Feast, which meant that I largely failed to benefit from it - by the time I’d finished acclimating and getting my feet under me, it was over. Hence, I don’t have Lettice or the Presbyteriat Diplomat either - nor did I make the Captivating Princess’ acquaintance. (Though I DID manage to get a tattoo - just barely!)
Hmm. This is making me wonder if it might be worth it to just wait 'till after the Feast’s rolled around again to make my big push for 15 Notability. It’s not that long, after all, is it?
Another thing to note is that you can do heists with the sole goal of MW. it canbe rather profitable, but as it costs cards and not mere actions, its viability is debatable.However, if you stay until you reach burgulars progress 20+ it’s probably one of the best actions.
You can also do expeditions for Making Waves by turning in your treasure. It’s cheapest obviously with the thieves cache but you’ll need a steady source of criminal Favours.
If I already have a destiny that I don’t wish changed (the fate-locked one), does that mean that I won’t be able to make the Captivating Princess’s acquaintance?
That’s usually how i deal with horsehead amulets, now that i have more of them to my name than i have deaths. The others are all quite expensive, and often cost even more than the lodging options, which are pretty bad themselves, pricing 1 MW at 1 Echo
Meeting the captivating princess is completely separate from nabbing a destiny.
When using your salon, you get a better return on your investment by using society rather than bohemians, so I’d recommend using the tips above to keep your connections and supplies up.
The two main ‘grindable’ options for MW are tier 3 side conversions and mass converting tales of terror. Overall, side conversions give the best rate of MW per action. However, they’re slow, so you can’t generate a lot in a short timeframe. If you steal massive numbers of ToT from the flit and stockpile them, you can turn them into implications en masse. The overall MW per action is poor, but it’s a reliable way to generate a lot in a short amount of time, so you may prefer it (plus there’s the bonus implications).
[quote=Grenem]
That’s usually how i deal with horsehead amulets, now that i have more of them to my name than i have deaths. The others are all quite expensive, and often cost even more than the lodging options, which are pretty bad themselves, pricing 1 MW at 1 Echo[/quote]
Thing is, the expeditions are pretty quick for creating Making Waves.
Start off with the sizable assumption that you’ve built up a stash of supplies, for whatever reason (preferably through Docks/Tankard for best EPA)
The Criminal Favours are a pain, admittedly.
At the end game stats, I’ll assume you’re able to get the 3 progress fairly easily - I’m at 180 base Watchful (with 40 equipment, none of which is top of the line). That gives me 82%, but I assume someone further down the line has a better % than that. I don’t mind the failures at the moment as I’d like to raise my stat up a bit faster.
So, in total, you’re looking at 1 action to start the expedition, 3 for the progress, 1 to end, and 1 to turn the treasure into MW. That’s 6 actions total.
Now, you can get monumentally unlucky. In which case, take your Storm Threnody and go hunt down an Urchin during Lacre-tide. But if you aren’t, then you can get as much as 44 MW for your 6 actions
There’s a lot of ifs there, I admit. But it’s certainly more entertaining than some things and is more available than Heists (which I also like, by the way).
[quote=Parelle][quote=Grenem]
That’s usually how i deal with horsehead amulets, now that i have more of them to my name than i have deaths. The others are all quite expensive, and often cost even more than the lodging options, which are pretty bad themselves, pricing 1 MW at 1 Echo[/quote]
Thing is, the expeditions are pretty quick for creating Making Waves.
Start off with the sizable assumption that you’ve built up a stash of supplies, for whatever reason (preferably through Docks/Tankard for best EPA)
The Criminal Favours are a pain, admittedly.
At the end game stats, I’ll assume you’re able to get the 3 progress fairly easily - I’m at 180 base Watchful (with 40 equipment, none of which is top of the line). That gives me 82%, but I assume someone further down the line has a better % than that. I don’t mind the failures at the moment as I’d like to raise my stat up a bit faster.
So, in total, you’re looking at 1 action to start the expedition, 3 for the progress, 1 to end, and 1 to turn the treasure into MW. That’s 6 actions total.
Now, you can get monumentally unlucky. In which case, take your Storm Threnody and go hunt down an Urchin during Lacre-tide. But if you aren’t, then you can get as much as 44 MW for your 6 actions
There’s a lot of ifs there, I admit. But it’s certainly more entertaining than some things and is more available than Heists (which I also like, by the way). [/quote]
The 44 MW is turning down a 62.5 echo item to get it, and expeditions are generally slow. Plus, you’re deliberately ignoring theactions spent on getting supplies. (the fastest route is then 10 actions, but it also costs 27 echoes as well. You’re shelling out 27 echoes for an extra 14 MW, if i’m being generous. The slow route is roughly 19 actions, which means it’s between 5 MW better, on average, than just spending actions on a 1 MW per action grind. like, say, drinking coffee at caliguas. which means it loses to any 1.2 MW per action or superior grind. like item side conversions.) edited by Grenem on 1/8/2016 edited by Grenem on 1/8/2016
But the question asked wasn’t about echoes, but making waves. I don’t deny that the higher level treasures are worth more in echoes, a whole lot more (and definitely Horsehead gets traded in every time) But gaining MW fast is pretty important if you’re trying to race down Time the Healer, and expeditions are not card dependent like Heists in terms of timing.
You can also buy supplies long ahead of when you’re going to cash them out, if need be (and, since I honestly don’t redo the calculations on the fly, are your 10 actions or 20-30 based on buying up to 99 or just the 10 needed? Because surely it can’t be that. )
Oh, on a completely different note an obvious source of Favours in High Places is become a Midnighter. That’s 4 of them every week, and a Dreaded point in Home Comfort if you don’t otherwise have a Fate locked one.
[quote=Parelle]But the question asked wasn’t about echoes, but making waves. I don’t deny that the higher level treasures are worth more in echoes, a whole lot more (and definitely Horsehead gets traded in every time) But gaining MW fast is pretty important if you’re trying to race down Time the Healer, and expeditions are not card dependent like Heists in terms of timing.
You can also buy supplies long ahead of when you’re going to cash them out, if need be (and, since I honestly don’t redo the calculations on the fly, are your 10 actions or 20-30 based on buying up to 99 or just the 10 needed? Because surely it can’t be that. )
Oh, on a completely different note an obvious source of Favours in High Places is become a Midnighter. That’s 4 of them every week, and a Dreaded point in Home Comfort if you don’t otherwise have a Fate locked one.[/quote]
mine include the expedition, but do assume it’s 10, not 9, supplies and that, you get 0 signs.
I would say it’s an option, but unless you need an absurd quantity in a short period of time, it’s not viable. Better to stock up on bejeweled magnifying glasses and whatever that option on the brass embassy is, and have a handful of the other card’s items.
You’re right, expeditions are good if you need it fast. sub-optimal, but tolerable. edited by Grenem on 1/8/2016