New Player Here! Got Questions.

[Enderspoons]

Yup, it's me — the gamer who was originally just intending to dip in to get the achievement for the TF2 hat before getting totally sucked in :>

That said, I do have a quite a few questions rattling around in my head that I've yet to find 100% satisfactory answers for by puttering around the wiki, so I thought I'd ask the steam forums!
some ground info about me in case it helps:

• Veteran soulsborne player (played pretty much all of them front to back), so I'm no stranger to being humbled by my own lack of skill as I die over and over and over o~o
  
• Current rank: 5-2
  
• Current preferred weapons: Blast Bomb/Blaster for general purposes, Calibur/Blaster on levels with a lot of bushes
  
• Current preferred armor/shield: Magic Hood/Magic Cloak (for the drip) + Defender
  
• Chosen Battle Sprite: Maskeraith (currently heat level 3)
  
• Currently saving up crowns to direct-purchase the Graviton Charge (as of writing: ~$13k/$35k)
  
• Possessions of potential interest: 1x Platinum Lockbox

With that preamble out of the way; Here's what I got to ask!

About Equipment

• I only just now realized I'm
  allowed to feed materials to my Battle Sprite other than shadow-themed Sprite-Food (>.<) — Should I bother feeding it other stuff? If so, what other stuff would make most sense to feed it?
  
• As a shadow sprite user, is it a good idea to opt for a smaller chunk of Dark Matter over a bigger chunk of some other mineral?
  
• I'm thinking of shooting for having the Faust/Gran Faust become my main sword later down the line. Is this a decent bet, or would I end up being cooked?
  
• I'm still undecided about what gun I should run as my main — I mainly like the default gun line for its ability to weave around enemies while still dealing damage. Any recommendations?
  
• What other potential sidearm weapons should I keep an eye on, for damage/status coverage?
  
• I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to take on The Sovereign Slime/Royal Jelly Palace just yet without some shadow weapons on hand. Are there any decent/okayish Crown farms I can try that are earlier than that?
  
• Where's a good place to farm up more Orbs of Alchemy once the mission rewards run dry?

About Multiplayer/Online

• To my naive eye it seems like Spiral Knights on the dev side of things has been in a dormant state for ages and ages, much like TF2's been. Is this an accurate take, or nah?
  
• Is the multiplayer still alive and thriving? Or is it mostly just diehard veterans left? (asking mostly cuz curious, doesn't matter none to me if it ain't)
  
• I've only done solo missions so far and have yet to try joining a party; What are the pros/cons of a joining a party compared to flying solo that I should be aware of (other than the mineral sharing thing)?
  
• Is being in a party a good enough idea that I should go out of my way to join public parties?
  
• Should I bother engaging with guilds at all?

About Other Stuff

• What's with all the cake stuff? Is there an event going on?
  
• What do the shield icons on the portraits of missions I've beaten mean? Some of them are gold and some of them are bronze — and a couple upgraded from bronze to gold after a replay — despite the fact I've never changed my mission difficulty, so I'm not sure what's up with them.
  
• As someone with no disposable income to spend on microtransactions (my steam library is built pretty much entirely on chores money), should I bother paying any attention whatsoever to Energy? If I should, what avenues would be advisable for getting some?
  
• When would it be advisable to try tackling a Danger Mission? I tried strongarming my way through Legion of Almire and made it all the way to the very last mob wave of Inner Sanctum (depleting my entire stock of revives in the process) before being met with two Almirian Shadow Guards I had no hope of chipping down due to a respawning Silkwing, forcing me to concede like a chump XD
  
• Any advice for fighting the Treasure Mimic? I had my first run-in with it today (heals/revives already spent, so not much of a shot to begin with) and died scratching my head wondering how to deal damage to it.

[Arii]

tru

[Batabii • Suikoden I&II HD]

I haven't played for a few years, but I AM at endgame, so I'll try to help as much as I can.

Originally posted by Enderspoons:

I only just now realized I'm
allowed to feed materials to my Battle Sprite other than shadow-themed Sprite-Food (>.<) — Should I bother feeding it other stuff? If so, what other stuff would make most sense to feed it?
As a shadow sprite user, is it a good idea to opt for a smaller chunk of Dark Matter over a bigger chunk of some other mineral?

IIRC, you get a better boost using shadow motes (or ideally shadow stars, if you can manage)

I'm thinking of shooting for having the Faust/Gran Faust become my main sword later down the line. Is this a decent bet, or would I end up being cooked?

Gran faust is good, but it's a bit slow, and the charge is risky. It takes getting used to, but it's not a bad choice. Just note: the gran faust charge is the only attack in the game that has a chance curse the user, so be careful.

I'm still undecided about what gun I should run as my main — I mainly like the default gun line for its ability to weave around enemies while still dealing damage. Any recommendations?

I recommend getting two different damage types, and skip the Normal damage. If your main weapon is resisted, switch to the other one. Nothing can resist more than one damage type except for very specific bosses.

What other potential sidearm weapons should I keep an eye on, for damage/status coverage?

If you mean guns, I don't generally use them for status. It's up to you if you want the speed of the antigua line, or the power of the callahan line. Pulsar line is also very popular. The Blaster line also has specialized damage types if you just want all-around.

If you mean weapons in general, the brandish line is pretty popular for powerful statuses, and the mist bombs have a wide area of effect in exchange for a weaker status. There's also lots of harder to get weapons (requiring DLC or krogmo coins) that make great sidearms. If you can't get electron vortex, graviton vortex is still great for crowd control. And the gold standard for damaging bombs is Dark Briar Barrage.

But a lot of choices will be different if you have a full team rather than solo.

I'm not quite sure if I'm ready to take on The Sovereign Slime/Royal Jelly Palace just yet without some shadow weapons on hand. Are there any decent/okayish Crown farms I can try that are earlier than that?
Where's a good place to farm up more Orbs of Alchemy once the mission rewards run dry?[/list]

I usually grind orbs in the arcade, because doing the same boss 100 times in a row is boring as hell. I don't know if it REALLY matters in the long run though.

To my naive eye it seems like Spiral Knights on the dev side of things has been in a dormant state for ages and ages, much like TF2's been. Is this an accurate take, or nah?

Oh you don't know the half of it. IIRC, they've basically added nothing but cosmetics since 2018. But they stopped updating the patch notes page on the wiki in 2016 so I have no idea anymore.

Is the multiplayer still alive and thriving? Or is it mostly just diehard veterans left? (asking mostly cuz curious, doesn't matter none to me if it ain't)

Pretty sure it's mostly diehard veterans, but I don't know for sure. The last time I played arcade, nobody ever joined. You might find more people in firestorm citadel, that's where a lot of endgame players grind (via the 9-3 mission, but it's also in the arcade)

I've only done solo missions so far and have yet to try joining a party; What are the pros/cons of a joining a party compared to flying solo that I should be aware of (other than the mineral sharing thing)?

A lot of people don't even seem to know about mineral sharing, and some will just ignore minerals entirely to the detriment of the party. Aside from that, bosses have more health with a larger team, but I don't know the exact statistics. Sometimes 4 people is easier because you can spread out. I think there might also be more spawns in a party, but I'm not sure. There used to be HP revives, which was a bonus of having a team, but now everything is energy, so I don't really consider it that helpful unless a whale decides to join you.

Is being in a party a good enough idea that I should go out of my way to join public parties?

Probably not, but it's kind of nice to have someone show you the ropes for areas you've never done before.

Should I bother engaging with guilds at all?

Other than a few diehard players, I'd say no. Honestly, aside from the advanced training hall you have to get an upgrade for, there's no real advantage to having a guild, and upkeep costs money whether you play or not. My last guild just kind of disappeared and nobody played anymore.

What's with all the cake stuff? Is there an event going on?

Yes! It's the anniversary event. Check the daily missions for one called "total caketastrophe". You can earn tokens to obtain (unlocked) anniversary prize boxes, IIRC.

What do the shield icons on the portraits of missions I've beaten mean? Some of them are gold and some of them are bronze — and a couple upgraded from bronze to gold after a replay — despite the fact I've never changed my mission difficulty, so I'm not sure what's up with them.

As far as I remember, it's the highest difficulty you've beaten that mission on. Some missions that don't involve battles give you gold automatically. I always play on Elite, because that's what I'm used to. The game used to only have one difficulty, and that setting became the current "elite". And don't be fooled, "normal" is actually EASY. And elite gives the best loot drops.

As someone with no disposable income to spend on microtransactions (my steam library is built pretty much entirely on chores money), should I bother paying any attention whatsoever to Energy? If I should, what avenues would be advisable for getting some?

Elevators used to cost energy but now, you can basically go through the whole game without ever using any. HOWEVER that will make grinding for orbs a lot more tedious. Instead, keep an eye on your crown total, and you can use it to buy energy from the market, which can then be used to purchase orbs directly. Orbs drop painfully rarely from chests blocks. It would also be good to plan ahead what gear you want, and try to stick with one "set" that would fit most situations, at least at first. This is why I recommend not using the Cobalt/default line of gear. Sure they give you the recipes for free, but they're just not very good, especially in endgame. You'll want to save your orbs for gear that can be upgrades into top tier equipment.

When would it be advisable to try tackling a Danger Mission? I tried strongarming my way through Legion of Almire and made it all the way to the very last mob wave of Inner Sanctum (depleting my entire stock of revives in the process) before being met with two Almirian Shadow Guards I had no hope of chipping down due to a respawning Silkwing, forcing me to concede like a chump XD

There's no real penalty to taking on danger missions (as long as you don't waste energy on revives) and iirc you can attemp them multiple times. That said, the only real reward is basic loot. And note that Prestige is purely cosmetic, as far as I know. They never bothered to add any rewards for it.

Any advice for fighting the Treasure Mimic? I had my first run-in with it today (heals/revives already spent, so not much of a shot to begin with) and died scratching my head wondering how to deal damage to it.[/list]

Can't help you there, I genuinely don't remember most of the fight. Maybe there's a youtube video guide?

Hope any of this helps.

Originally posted by Arii:

tru

What was the point of that? You didn't answer a single question. And most of your replies are just one word.

[Enderspoons]

Thanks for the words, kind stranger!
edit: is there anything else you think I should be given a heads up on?

[Batabii • Suikoden I&II HD]

Originally posted by Enderspoons:

Thanks for the words, kind stranger!
edit: is there anything else you think I should be given a heads up on?

Not off the top of my head. The wiki is semi-helpful, but largely out of date.

[FULLMEATALVAPIRE]

I usually grind orbs in the arcade, because doing the same boss 100 times in a row is boring as hell. I don't know if it REALLY matters in the long run though.

Wait were the bosses a good place to farm orbs? I rarely had luck in the arcade

[Batabii • Suikoden I&II HD]

Originally posted by FULLMEATALVAPIRE:

I usually grind orbs in the arcade, because doing the same boss 100 times in a row is boring as hell. I don't know if it REALLY matters in the long run though.

Wait were the bosses a good place to farm orbs? I rarely had luck in the arcade

There's vaults and battle arenas and stuff, I don't exactly remember the details. Basically places that have a lot of chests.