Life at the end of the map - a discussion

I had an interesting week at the end of the map this week. Based on suggestions in this thread, I waited until Friday to start running the new levels. I ran just one episode race and then stopped because there weren't any super color bombs. It's so hard at this level without them! Still I was able to watch enough ads to play only "free" boosters and still get through all the new levels. I watched more ads the rest of Friday, and was able to finish the other 30 levels on Saturday still with "free" boosters (ones obtained by watching ads). And this time, since I started a couple of days later, my game actually gave me all 3 episode races, so I won a bunch of gold bars from that this week! So my gold bars have been slowly but steadily growing the last few weeks at the end of the map, which is nice.

I've tried to make a run at the Ready Set Win mini-tournament. I'm in second place out of 50 this week, but I don't think I can take first place without spending some gold, and I'm still trying to convince myself I can survive without spending gold bars at the end of the map. So far it really does seem possible to do, if you watch lots of ads. The Star Tournament makes it possible to be quite competitive in these mini-tournaments without spending any gold bars, which is one of the nicest things about being at the end of the map.

@Colleen Companion Welsh While there are some disadvantages to being at the end of the map, there are some advantages. The Star Tournament is an interesting, relatively stress-free experience, since you don't really ever have to win anything. All things told, I'm really liking being here at the end of the map so far.

Well, I was wrong about Ready Set Win, I WAS able to win it!

After midnight, I was able to use lives from friends to play more Star Tournament levels, and the algorithm started letting me win without using boosters (other than color bombs and striped/wrapped, which I have more of than I'll ever need). So I caught up and won it after all! I gained about 200 gold bars all told this week while at the end of the map. I will probably keep waiting until Friday or Saturday before playing new levels so I can continue to have episode races.

@Colleen Companion Welsh I would love to try the Pins event, but so far it hasn't shown up in my game. I don't know if that's because of being at the end of the map, or if it's because of my just not being in that particular test group.

@michimune Yes, what you are saying about the gold bars is probably right. But I do understand the desire to hoard them - I have it too. It was important to me once I reached the end of the map to guarantee that I could keep the gold bars increasing rather than decreasing. One reason was to make sure I can stay here indefinitely, and not worry about the bank balance bleeding down over time. Another reason is the possibility that it might actually be possible to make a good run during All Stars even from the end of the map. I kind of doubt there is any real chance to make it to live finals from the end of the map, but it seems like it might be possible to make it to the final online round at least, and I might try to do it. But that will probably require something like 20000 or 30000 gold bars to be competitive. 😀

@Colleen Companion Welsh It's fine to stay where you are, I'm sure. @christinewupp has commented that she thinks that the levels are easier when they first come out than they are a few weeks later, so if she's right, it might be possible that you're playing harder levels by hanging back from the end of the map. But if you're still able to get through them okay, I think it's fine to hang back - it seems like a perfectly good alternate strategy. Good luck with it!