Hive is full of fantastic and unique plot games, as of yet, we hardly have any AAA title games as some other blockchains have seen. A great example of such would be Blankos Block Party, the first-ever blockchain AAA game by Mythical Games on the EOSIO blockchain. Acknowledging our shortcomings though, we are bold to state that we have among the most unique blockchain games yet. In this post, as you've judged, I'm gonna be talking about just one of them; Rising Star, a Musical Blockchain game unlike any I've ever seen before.
Before we delve deeper into Why's and What's this post has to offer, I want to give or rather share my thoughts about this special game because I may not have another opportunity to.
Can you remember that musical, [plain music games] I mean that you played in your childhood?
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Uhh Ok, give it another try, Adulthood? Of course not, I do not mean games like Piano Tiles and Tiles Hop. If you have one in mind, I'd love to hear about it in the comments. Why? Because for me, I have never played a music game, EVER. Rising Star was among the weirdest game I ever saw - and not necessarily in a bad way.
In my first few moments of playing rising Star, I was literally dumb to its mechanics. I couldn't understand ANYTHING that was going on, and as you may agree, this is among the simplest game EVER, so Darn it!. I was screaming in my head -
**Show me the Guns?,,
**Uh no?, A guitar is my weapon then?
**Fine, I'm not really to choose (after all I'm gonna earn shit right?).
**Oof, Finally some countdown Mission,
**How do I get into the Battleground and who is my Opponent?, Typical. LOL
PS: That was an exaggerated version of the thoughts I nursed back then, but you get the idea. Huh?
So yeah, Rising Star was too unique for me to grasp at first glance and I have thought on more than one occasion; What kind of creativity leads one to think up such beautiful mechanics of a Game? Yeah - That's how much I love this game.
Back to our main subject; This post is focused on providing you with insights, gathered from personal experience in playing Rising star concerning balancing your Skill and Ego Stats while earning maximum Starbits.
The Ego - Skill Variance was a feature of the game that when I learned about a few weeks after playing, really bugged me. I didn't want to slow down my earning rate, and there was no guide I could find to explain things using a long-distance experienced view. Therefore, I learned about it in a slow-paced way, AND I'm now able to share such a guide with you.
Before we begin, I made mention of the word 'Newbies' in my Title, so it would be a total crime to delve directly into the Ego - Skill Variance of Rising Star which is something only an Average player would meet (but definitely still a newbie) AND not touch on the Newbie details of the game, for Complete Beginners that might be reading. So feel free to skip directly to the next section if these details, you know already!
Basic Details of Rising Star for a Newcomer
You Start the Game Rising Star, as a Low Filthy Busker playing Music on the Streets and Day Dreaming about the drunks who are your only Fans. Your goal is to improve your ratings and levels and rise to the top ranks, in which you then qualify for bigger and better-earning missions. In every mission performed, You Earn Starbits, the in-game currency of Rising Star, and you have Four Main Stats to watch out for that affect practically your ability to Earn Starbits. These Stats are as follows;
Fans (Stat 1); People that listen to your music. The more Fans, The more Starbits you get per Mission as you can perform higher missions that literally guarantee more Starbits tokens.
Skill (Stat 2); This affects your ability to Earn more Starbits. It basically combats the Ego Stat (which we see in detail soon) and guarantees the highest possible Earning Rate. Skill also comes into play in the Battle of the Bands modes, which you would encounter in the future. I used to think that Skill affects the randomized Starbits you earn per Mission, making it drop higher, but this as I found out isn't the case, and shouldn't be confused.
Luck (Stat 3); Luck affects how often, and the number of other stats you can gain freely every mission - The more luck you have, the faster you can gain drunk fans and also find more luck which comes in the form of clovers. It also comes into play to gain more skill in the Music Lessons.
Pizza and Coffee (Utility); These Items give you Energy to Perform Missions, and Renews your depleted energy at a faster rate respectively. You can find them randomly as you complete missions, but having both a Pizza Box and Coffee Cup enables you to store the extra you find and use at your convenience. You can also purchase them directly on the NFT Market here
XP and Levels (Stat 4); You gain XP [Experience points] for every mission completed, and this adds up over time increasing your level. Levels are also determinants of the missions you can complete as they work hand in hand with Fans. For example, You might have the Required number of Fans for A ceratin Mission, but without having ALSO attained the Level Required, you cannot complete that Mission.
Like in the image above, Saturday Headline Mission requires You to have both 300 Fans AND have reached level 20.
Now, these are the basics you need to know as you work your way up. Playing Missions, after Missions, Buying Pizza, Getting free Pizza, stacking them up, restoring your energy, playing more missions, Buying Cards to improve Stats, Levelling up, and finally Earning Starbits. You do all these repeatedly UNITL you get to Level 15 OR Reach a total of 1000 fans, whichever comes first, by which a new factor comes into play - EGO.
EGO VS SKILL as an Ambitious Musician - Which do you choose?
If I'm ever given such an opportunity to choose, I would no doubt choose Skill. Not necessarily because it is the fastest way to success as a musician, BUT because it makes people appreciate your talent (first), then those people can in turn start making a way for you(second), to succeed. That is MY Opinion, But too bad our Lowly Busker Guy thinks differently.
Apparently, he insists on accumulating Ego in every single mission that he performs!. He can't seem to control that desire, which leaves us in a scrambled position trying to Balance His Ego and Skill Stats (In other words, we must make his Skill always above his Ego. Failure, to do this - and more Ego means that you would earn fewer maximum starbits on missions. Let's begin with the different methods you can approach to combat this:
Insights on methods to Earn Maximum Starbits while Creating Balance between Ego and Skill
1. The Spendthrift - Head over to the Marketplace
Perhaps the most basic and straightforward way to approach this is simple - Buy More Cards. Lemme rephrase, Buy More Cards with Higher Skill than Fans Stats. Why?
In Rising Star, Fans are proportionately equal to Ego, the more fans you have - the more Ego that equals to. Fans can come in two ways, normal fans (that you get from cards), Or Drunk Fans( that you get randomly through musical performance). Both types of Fans affect your Ego 1:1. Buying Cards from the Marketplace that has more Skill than Fans, ensures that your Ego remains at 0 percent and you can perform Missions steadily without worry UNTIL You need to buy more Cards to keep balancing the Ego - Skill Stat.
Xample of two Cards, One with More Fans, One with More Skill
| Card 1 - Fans > SKill | Card 2 - Skill > Fans |
|---|---|
 |  |
This method is Time Effective, meaning that, it requires the least possible time investment as you are always performing mission AND earning Maximum Starbits. BUT, is it cost-effective? I don't think. Buying consistently more cards to keep your Ego - Skill stats balanced would require constant investment, and wherever this is coming from (in-game rising star balance/ external Hive wallet), you're losing more than you're Earning.
Because this is a STATS Challenge that lasts for the majority of the game, even into superstar level, You are generally going to be wasting funds buying cards focused on just Skills.
Conclusion; This method is very Time-Effective but NOT Cost -Effective. It should enable you to Level up very fast, maybe your goal is to attain level 20 and proceed into the Local Gig Circuit, I don't know. It isn't generally a bad strategy of playing the game, certainly not, I mean if you have the funds to invest(why not?). It is practically the fastest way to improve your ranks to either qualify for the daily Hive rewards OR to improve your Starbits Earned per Cards Bought Ratio (to put it that way) AND eventually start making some Profit.
2. The Croaky Frog turned Nightingale Bird - Taking Musical Lessons
In the Music Lessons section of Rising Star, there are a couple of different missions that call for your attention if you haven't already noticed them. The first thing I should mention is that these missions; [Basic Singing Lesson, Guitar Lesson, Piano Lesson, Road Crew Lesson, and others] are all Ego free and do not accumulate Ego when performed.
This is obviously a VERY good way to work around the Ego - Skill Balancing problem without having to invest a lot of funds. You can simply invest TIME into taking Music lessons repeatedly or rather say, Alternatively with the Standard Missions.
For every standard mission you complete, you are set to gain EGO, usually indicated before you start the mission. Playing a particular Mission more than Once increases the Ego it gains after completed exponentially.
This forms a second strategy (that can be consistent) in which you alternate between taking music lessons and Standard Mission, while also monitoring the Ego you're set to gain per Mission. Every Music Lesson would improve your Skill Stat with a minimum of 5 and a max of 17 Skills, and that way you can even repeat higher-paying Missions in the Standard mode a couple of times without worry!.
Conclusion; The In-game solution to balancing Ego - Skill is an Extremely Cost-effective way to climb to the top steadily BUT then again it isn't Time-effective. You would need to spend nothing less than 1 hour per Music Lesson. But when you remember that we have 24 hours in one day - you realize that you can be able to complete up to 8 missions per day without struggle. (Uh, I reserve the extra hours for stomach and bathroom activities, do you sleep? because I don't)[Vampire teeth showcase].
3. The Mastermind - Taking Advantage of the Hidden
Masterminds are people that like to beat the record, in other words, they like to go against and around the rules. Above, we have looked at two approaches( The Spendthrift and The Croaker turned Nightingale), BUT both of them come with say, an Opportunity Cost, forfeiting One Benefit for Another. Precisely, Forfeit the Benefit of Holding on to your Cash(Cost Effective) Vs Forfeit the Benefit of Levelling up Fast(Time Effective), but what if there was a way to avoid these two roadblocks?.
This guide was created with newbies in mind, those that are still playing in the Local Hometown Buskeria Level of the Game, those that haven't attained level 20 of the game to progress into Local Circuit. Therefore, our main focal point is being effective while pushing towards level 20 and the Saturday Headliner Mission, If you have reached this level AND Have progressed into Local Circuit, You (1) Probably do not need this entire guide since you have devised a system that works to have gotten you so far, or (2) Your system is ineffective, in which case these approaches are all valid even in higher districts.
PS - Just ignore my references to Level 20 moving forward
This is not necessarily the ultimate approach despite its name, because actually, it is neither Cost-effective Nor Time-effective, Let's just say it's an average of them both. This method is suited for people who do not have a lot of time to constantly play missions. Those that are free during Mornings(and mornings alone), Evenings (And evenings alone), that kinda stuff.
Have you considered the fact that we have 7 missions in total in each Game Stage, in particular, Hometown Buskeria? i.e, 6 Missions in Total if you haven't unlocked the Saturday Headliner, and so on. If you perform each of these missions once per day, you get to avoid the hassle of playing the Music Lessons AND you don't have to buy Cards as often as performing a certain mission multiple times. What's the catch though? You Do need to Buy Cards Regularly but Not Consistently AND you don't get to progress any slower than The Croaker as we saw above.
The Croaker earns more than you, AND the Spendthrift Levels up faster than You, BUT there's one aspect that both of those approaches do not consider, and that is opened, Best of All for the Mastermind to explore - It's the variety of missions.
90% of the time, most players spend their time in Standard Missions, and A few (just like the Croaker turned Nightingale Bird) would regularly attend music lessons to improve their Skill stats and Lo' to play MORE standard Missions BUT what about other missions that do not cost ANY AMOUNT OF EGO AT ALL and still give out rewards???
-In the Special Mission Section;
- GIFT Charity Giver
- Play for BEER
- StarBits Millionaire
-Festival Tour Missions
-Custom Shop; Crafting NFTs Parts Mission that can be traded afterward
Conclusion; Well, there you have it; Are you very busy? Stick to completing All Missions per day during your free time, You get to play about 6 which isn't too far off from 8, which the (Croaker turned Nightingale Bird) performs to keep up with their High Ego Rate per Mission. Are you Moderately Busy(and can push the limits)? Well, perform your missions per day, AND perform all other missions that do not Gain Ego as many times as you'd like while also earning a variety of tokens.
Final Conclusion;
All these methods guarantee you the most important of all ( Maximum Starbits earned per Mission), They also guarantee that you are always playing Missions(yeah somewhat guarantee might I add, energy issues remember?). But, don't lose heart!, because once you can develop a model that best suits you - You can literally HEAR THE COINS ROLLING IN. Feel free to apply any of my descriptive models above(that's what this post is for after all), they are not out-of-the-box ideas or anything new, they just needed some information gathering, game experience plus thoughts combination to become meaningful for you, so don't feel too thankful. BUT, I hope you are feeling too loving, share some love!