It's been exactly 18 days since my last post on this moderately addictive game RisingStar. And my post before that one happened to be published also exactly 18 days previously. Not that I tried to do this intentionally, that's just how it worked out. However, now I'm super happy to compare the two different approaches I took. To give away the conclusion right away: The theory turned out to work really well in practice, and I managed to rise through the levels fairly quickly.
Let's Look At the Numbers in Detail
When I composed my post complaining about the grind on May 24th, I was about to reach level 55, unlocking the Local Mini Tour Support mission. Exactly 18 days later on June 11th, when I came up with the new manager narrative, I had just gotten into level 58. What does that mean in terms of experience? For the three levels I needed to get a total of 8400 XP (that is 2750, 2800, and 2850 respectively). Since each Local Mini Tour Support gives me 134 XP, no more no less, I had to complete 63 of those missions. Divided over the 18 days that would mean 3.5 on a daily average. Pretty reasonable, considering it's a 5 hour mission.
Compared to that, my new approach of playing primarily Shopping Mall gigs has provided a fantastic result over the last 18 days: I managed to reach level 65!!! Now as we all know, each level requires 50 XP more than its previous one. This means, to complete level 58 I needed 2900 XP, level 59 needed 2950 XP, and the subsequent five levels 3000, 3050, 3100, 3150, 3200 XP points respectively. That makes a total of 21350 XP. Playing at the Mall I get 131 XP each time, which means I had to play this mission 163 times, giving me a daily average of 9 Mall missions. Certainly doable for a 60 minute mission, provided you have enough pizza slices.
Pizza is Key Factor
I'm sure this must have crossed your mind reading my comparison above: you can't possibly play nine Mall gigs without sufficient pizza to refill your depleted energy. I started out with two slices, and made up the difference with slices that I'd find lying around. For this reason I would give a Radio Interview or do some Illegal Busking to use up the 32% energy I'd have after each Mall mission. Sometimes I would find a pizza, but more often than not I didn't. So instead of waiting for my energy to get back to full, I'd just buy another pizza. Now I have five, which has worked out pretty well.
What About the Money?
Right! As our shrewd manager explained in my last narrative, at this point the money is secondary. So I stopped counting my Starbits, or waiting in expectation for my next 10,000 that I could spend on a pack. I didn't even bother buying individual cards any more, except for the pizza slices. At the moment I am just under 50,000 Starbits, which is okay. I think I'll keep saving it and at 100,000 I'll get myself a 12-er pack. By then I should be close to giving band auditions (I hope).
Estimations and Expectations
Talking about Band Auditions, I will need to reach level 75 for that. Following the previous scheme, I have calculated I still need to earn 34,750 XP points to get there. Applying the same parameters from my calculations before, that would be still close to a month...! But let's see if I find other ways to tweak my performance. As for Starbits... since the amount you earn with each mission varies greatly, it's pretty hard to come up with a good estimate. But let's just say that even if I barely make more than the minimal amount each time (not very likely!) that month should still be enough to reach the 100,000 Starbits. Though actually, I'm quite certain I'll get there much sooner. Maybe in just 18 days? Maybe! There may be even a new narrative by that point.