Need your advice - lab or codestones?

[lucifer]

Hi. I asked this question in my last topic, but no one answered me.
In the last few days I'm in a real problem. On one hand, I'm training my pet at the lab. The lab is pretty cruel to me - took 7 strength and 2 defence in 6 days, when raising only my movement a little bit.
On the other hand, I did some checking and figured out that the stat boosts really have some major effect when calculating the damage. That made me think again: shall I lab-train my pet, or codestone-train it?

Here are some numbers and facts.

* assuming that average codestone costs 4.5k, it'll cost me 333k just to reach level 59, which is the level where i can start training my other stats.
* raising my stats to 118 (=equal to HP) will cost me about 1.5m. both costs are max, because it is likely that sometimes i'll find a codestone for lower price or gain stats from quests/coltzan.
* lets say that i'll train my pet 3 times a day. that means 47 days of training.
* all of the above means: 39k per day wasted on training. if i want to waste no more than 13.5k a day (one training), that means 135 days of training.
* maybe the lab will raise my stats sometimes, and its totally free. but unfortunately, it could keep lowering my stats or even bring my pet back to level 1, killing every chance of future-training.
* now I have 640k and my pet has 118hp, 75 attack and 50 defence. Lets say i chose codestone-training. In the end of March 2006 i'll have a pet with approximately 118hp, 118 attack and 118 defence. in the bank i'll have like 750k.
Lets say I chose lab-training. In the end of March 2006 i'll have a pet with 155hp, 70 attack and 45 defence. in the bank i'll have like 2.5m.


TOUGH DILEMMA. Even when I see the estimated future situations, I still can't decide between high HP and lots of money or high strength and defence.

By the way, another question: did it ever happen that after 150 days of lab-training you finish with less strength than you began with? because it seems like it is going to happen to me.

I'll appreciate any advice. thank you.

[Phlameseeker]

I'd go with codestones, maybe get a second pet with the lab ray, but the lab is more likely to make the imbalance of your pet evn worse. I've got one ex lab pet on codestones and one on the lab, and the current lab pet is level 2 with 62 health and 44 strength, but just 10 defense and 13 movement

[lucifer]

thanks for the advice. maybe creating a lab-pet is a good idea...

anyway, i need more advice to be certain that i'm doing the right thing. And another question to those who'll say codestones: do you recommend taking it slowly with one training a day, or squeezing all of my money in one month and a half?

[Phlameseeker]

Depends when you want the pet to have certain stats. I'm currently trying to reach the 55 str boost before the next war, so I'm using my last 400k of my savings trying to do at least 3 codestone trainings a day to reach it. If your not bothered, then just do it as you get the money. All up to you.

[Trick]

I train my pet solidly with codestones three times a day, he started out in the lab ray but I pulled him out of that and trained his level up for pure codestone training. The thing with labs is that each one is different and may follow it's own pattern. I have a third lab map that would be great for a battle pet as it loves giving defense and strength with less HP overall. My main account lab though hates defense so it isn't worth my time. I train solidly unless I'm saving for something to get usually, all depends on what your rush is x)

What I am doing for the moment though is giving him a zap in the lab every third or fourth day as I've found the less often you use the lab the nicer it is. I usually get given strength or HP (or a gender swap/species change/colour change) from the lab using it sparingly, though I'm only doing this til I paint him anyway.

Also it is possible to get codestones cheaper around 50% of the time by sniping them on the wizard with a few extra searches each time - even a saving of 500nps will add up over time =)

[lucifer]

began training him with codestones 2 hours ago, thanks to your advice. actually i always try wiz-sniping. it saved me like 700np when i bought the 2 codestones i needed.

anyway, its very risky to mix lab and codestones imo. remember that one of the lab's possible results is "and he goes back to level 1". this will cost hundreds of k's, depending on your pet's former level.

my main problem is the money. I just can't afford 3 trainings a day... when i'll go over level 40, it'd be 39k a day. on bad days i make 10k, on good days i make 20k. even one training a day will leave me economically stuck.

Anyway, there is a good way of looking at it: I have great weapons that won't shame a 300hp pet. The whole training process will cost me about 1.8m. the best way i can use this money to purely increase the damage i do in battle, is training strength. there aren't any good weapons i can buy with that money, so at least i know i'm paying for a good reason ^^

hopefully i won't regret this decision...

[Trick]

The lab ray can only give you the back to level 1 zap under a certain level. There is debate as to whether that level is 5 or 10 but in my experience it has been no more than 5. So you're safe from that

If you are going to go to the bother of codestone training you should really consider training defense if you aren't already. Otherwise you're as well sticking to labbing really, codestone training is all about (other than control) keeping your stats balanced and defense is a big part of that.

But I'm no expert, hehe xD

[Cranberry]

anyway, its very risky to mix lab and codestones imo. remember that one of the lab's possible results is "and he goes back to level 1". this will cost hundreds of k's, depending on your pet's former level.

This isn't actually a result in itself. You know how sometimes the lab will say something like "...and he loses three levels!"? Well, let's say your pet is only level 2, and the lab randomly selects that option. Obviously your pet can't actually lose three levels, as that would put him below 0, which is impossible, as the lowest level you can possibly have is 1. So instead you'll get the "...and he goes back to level 1!" message. You will never see this message if your levels stay above 5 or so. I labbed for two years and never once got it, because the lowest my pet's level ever got was around 20.

[lucifer]

oh, thanks, nice to know that...
anyway, Trick - its not really like sticking with the labray. the labray didn't give me attack. actually, it caused me to lose 7 attack points in 6 days. I don't want my pet's stats to be so unstable.

anyway, involving lab with training still sounds bad to me: 1. lets say you lose 3 strength points, it'll cost you like 39k. 2. The lab can raise your HP out of balance, which will force you to train levels more and more.

[Trick]

Oh yeah, labbing like normal with training is a bad idea - total money drainer. But I just like to zap him occasionally, 1/3 of the time I get something bad like a stat loss, the rest of the time I get something good. I just do it for fun And I don't do it when approaching a level that's a price change at the training school.

If you've got another pet to zap I'd do that instead, only reason I occasionally zap mine is cos my others on my main account are all in the form I want them

[lucifer]

yeah, I created a second pet yesterday purely for lab. just coz i don't like to see all of the money i payed for wasting like that.

Now i'm going to create a training program that'll make sure that the process won't take too long and meanwhile that i'm not running out of money too fast ^^

edit: OMG... i just finished training - super bonus, my pet went up 2 levels. ok, now i began another training. have to pay Mau Codestone - found one for 100np when wiz-sniping.
with that luck, i'm going to love training ^^

[Zenial]

Actually, since my impatience convinced me to start labtraining besides codestone training, I've found another downside to lab training: Since my pretty scorchio was turned into an ugly buzz, he does a lot less well in the battledome. Scorchios have a inherent resistance to fire, and the buzz doesn't. So now I'm thinking about buying a transmogrification potion or whatever it's called to change him back to a scorchio. I'm just afraid that the lab will change it again the very next day

[Breene]

I started by making a pet with a good name. I had the lab so i used it for about 2 weeks. I eventually got zapped into a grey koi and I am now keeping him that way. I got some decent stats from the 2 weeks but still needed to train my level a bit. I currently have 22 health, level 12, 21 strength, and 10 def. I am training def untill i get to 21, then i will work on my level a bit more and so on.

[sirclucky]

You seem to have fallen into the same pit I did. Once your there, its very hard to claw out of. Advice to any labber: train while to lab. That produces the est results.

Anyways, the best thing to do if you really care is to increase your level as quick as possible. To do this, train, use kitchen quests, and use terror trove SC(unfortionaly, they downgraded these to only 5 a day, so this doesnt give you many levels). Anyways, I would do that until you have buitl your levle up enough, then go back to labbing, but train while you lab, and if your levle starts to sag, stop labbing and pull it back up.

[Backupatrick]

Training while doing lab might not be such a good idea because you might train 1 defence and then the lab might take 2 defence!
I would just go with lab for 1 more week and then examine your results and see with a comparison, which one would be better!