So that new promotion...

Ok, so let's talk about this new promotion that Solmare has offered players.

According to the photo posted to their tweet, for a limited time (March 27th - March 29th) they will be negating the 5AP cost for lessons 61 - 80, if you haven't already completed it. Meaning if you've cleared Lesson 61, but haven't started 62, then from 62 onwards you can attempt to clear the story without spending AP.

For those who haven't made it to lesson 61 or those who have completed the story, we miss out on this promotion and get nothing. Normally, I'm happy for everything the Dev's give out that will help people get through the story and be able to experience it for themselves.

However, the response from players was pretty unanimous and immediate: thanks, but this doesn't solve the problem.

So, what is the problem?

Battle Power Scaling.

Lessons 1 - 20 are pretty simple, and easy to overcome. But after Lesson 20, the attributes (the color and symbol attached to each card) matters more significantly.

As you go further in the game, the stronger your opponents' get, and the more strength is required to defeat them without the use of Rainbow Glowsticks.

Here's the requirements for Lessons 61, 70 and 80 just to help you get an idea of the level of unachievable it is unless you've been really lucky or have been grinding your life away for months on end. Like a certain someone. *cough cough*

I need 3 Rainbow Glowsticks to be able to pass the level easily.

That adds up to 18 Dp a battle.

You get 18 DPna day from the To Do List, so you could log in and grind until you compete the To Do List, then buy glowsticks and wait to do a single battle a day to advance--or you could grind and save until the Otaku Bootcamp comes around and then buy them and advance.

That's actually how I managed to make it through. During the downtime between last season and current season, I grinded everyday to collect DP and then bought up a bunch of Rainbow Glowsticks while I also grinded my cards up in level. Focusing on gathering items for Devil Tree and buying levels to be finished more quickly.

Sadly though, I've gone through them due to collecting all the little side stories in the Normal Route; so I could be totally done in preparation for either another Season or for Nightbringer.

Even with an almost a full hand of UR+ and UR cards, with an odd ball SSR thrown in somewhere--I don't stack up to be able to clear it without a doubt unless I add 3 Rainbow Glowsticks. I've been working on leveling up all my highest rated cards (UR/UR+) to level 100 and unlocking as much of their Devil Tree as I can without duplicates (since getting those is like finding a pot of gold).

I added it up earlier today, but Wix decided to delete all my progress when I wrote the blog originally. Basically, Solmare is just giving everyone stuck between 61 - 80 around 1,270 free AP. That's how much AP is being saved by them not charging 5AP for the first clear. Since after you clear the battle the first time, if you want to grind for a reward card like this one:

then the discount will be removed and you will be paying out the 5AP per battle.

Ok, so what gives?

Battle levels and opponent skills have been the biggest issue in OM for a while, and there's not been a power scale adjustment in over a year or more. At one point they adjust the levels due to it being far too difficult to advance, but they've not done it again.

Zombies, Frogs, Scarecrows, Paralyze and more will impact how many points you can accumulate and even if Mr. Smiley isn't crying, you could still lose if you don't manage to hit every Skill Burst or heart or star just in case.

Gathering Devil Tree items can be very tedious, seeing as a lot of them are hidden in the Hard Mode route. If you're struggling with Normal mode, you can absolutely write off Hard mode without selling your Soul to Mammon for Glowsticks. I've completed the story months ago, and I'm still stuck on Lesson 34 for Hard Mode. Some I can pass pretty easily, others I need a glowstick or two to pass.

The best way to ensure that you can pass the higher levels is to have UR's of every character, in every color. For 12 characters and 7 colors, that would mean having 84 different UR Demon cards. Maxed out. Before even thinking about your memory cards. It's damn near impossible if you don't Whale (spend a lot) during events and outside the for extra draws in Nightmare.

Unless you just want to do like me and grind every single day to get 1 battle closer to the end. For over a year.

So is it a good promotion?

Eh, its 50/50. Could be worse, could be better. It doesn't tackle the root of the issue for the players that are truly struggling, which is that the enermy is too strong later in the game too quickly. Players are spending their hard earned resources (time, grimm, dp, DT items) trying to catch up and never truly doing so.

I've written a guide on how to level your cards, to help people understand and grind themselves into being able to get a little further. But really the solutions are all the same:

Send your money to Solmare for more resources. Buy the glowsticks so you can gain the Devil Tree Items and Grimm to level up your cards so you don't need the glowsticks as often, then prepare to break the 100 level cap on your UR/UR+ cards and do it all over again.

Try not to be too discouraged if you're further behind in lessons. The game isn't going anywhere, and there is a way to make it so you can catch up. Unfortunately, it's just going to take time and the right approach.

I'm way behind and I want to catch up, can you tell me how?

Well, a too long; didn't read version of my leveling guide would be this.

• Go to your Contacts and Edit your Teams, so that you have your best cards (UR+/UR then SSR) in the lineup according to color. Blue, Yellow, Orange, Green, Pink, Red, Purple. This way you can see if you're lacking in stronger cards of a particular color.

• Now that you can see what your best cards are, you need to work on leveling them up to 100 and unlocking all you can in DT. Start with the first card and don't stop until it's totally done. That will keep you from getting too frazzled.

• Now that you know which card you're going to be working on, select the card and inspect the Devil Tree line up. What items do you lack?

• Click "How To Get" button to show where you can find them, try to aim for Normal mode as it takes less AP to get more. Work on one item at a time until you have enough to cover it.

• Repeat the Process until you have all of that color completed. Once you finish blue, move on to Yellow. That way, when you select a battle--it will automatically select the best card for the attribute requested. So if you are doing a battle that requires Pride (blue) and Greed (yellow) sins, you'll have them covered with your strongest, highest rated cards.

• This will also work for any combination of cards, so as long as you cover your bases you should be alright.

• WARNING: Please remember that you can only use 1 of each character in the lineup. So, if you're a Lucifer lover and all your strongest cards are of him, you'roe going to have a worse time than others. If your strongest Pride card is Lucifer, it's better to have a Greed card of anyone else. And so on and so forth.

• Try to have a variety of characters in your line up and DON'T NEGLECT YOUR MEMORY CARDS. Your memory cards also need the same treatment, so when you're setting up your pages for the color of the cards, it needs to apply to them too, however, if you're like me and sometimes lack cards in the UR rating its ok to double up on them.

• For example, I don't have a lot of Memory Cards that are UR, so I tend to level them up in batches, even if the color doesn't match. That way you can level them as much as possible, even when its not technically their turn yet.

Then it's just a simple rinse and repeat. Level up your cards inch by agonizing inch, hoarde all the Grimm and DP you can so you can collect Devil Tree Items (if you can, make sure you hit up the Akuber minigame and collect items there too!).

I'm not entirely sure if we will have a Otaku Bootcamp after the White Day event since Levi's birthday will be around the 9th, so just in case keep your eye on Obey Me's Twitter for updates!

Rather go in blind, leveling up your cards of your favorites, go in with a strategy and stick to it. You'll be climbing through the Lessons before you know it. I do feel sorry that a lot of us are excluded from the promotion, though.

I feel like a heap of glowsticks would have been more of a help, but then again it would just shift where everyone is stuck. Instead of lamenting around Lesson 30, you might make it to Lesson 35 and then hit the wall without the glowsticks to help you finish out the seasons.

If you've made it this far into the guide and want more detailed help on how to level your cards, I have a guide on card leveling here on my site, feel free to give it a look!

Happy Playing!