A Couple of Questions

emeraldwhale • 3 June 2024 at 4:30 PM

Howdy, I have a few questions (I read all the newbie stuff I could get my hands on, for the record)

1. Quests
Is the best way to do quests to just keep checking the shops every 10 minutes and hope they have the item? I know you can buy from other players but this seems to be much more expensive. Is it worth it to buy from other players?
2. EC
What's the best way to earn EC? Other than my dailies (including betting on racing and other things) are there any other ways to earn it? I don't mind if its a bit grindy; I'm really just trying to learn about the site. I know you can sell to other players but I don't have a good enough grip on the economy yet to start doing that.
3. Items
Is there any way to tell the rarity of an item before clicking on it?

I'll add questions as I have them 😸
Thank you to anyone who helps!

sparklefox • 3 June 2024 at 4:52 PM

@emeraldwhale - I can try and give some answers, though I'm sorry if they're not the best.

1. I'd say the best way is to do a combination of the two - check both NPC and user shops. User shops are usually a little more expensive but at the same time the EC is directly going to another user rather; whether that makes it worth it or not is up to you. At first quests may seem hard, but as you play you'll most likely start slowly gathering a collection of items in your inventory/strongroom, and a hoard of EC to buy them with.
There's also this thread which may be able to help you get some of the more trickier items.

2. The best way to earn EC, in my opinion, is to feed the coves of others. Every second Sunday of the month is "Double Feed Day", which means there's a chance that the EC you earn after each feed is doubled or sometimes tripled. There's also the click exchange if you want to feed without visiting coves - just click the "[amount] XC" button on the sidebar (or scroll down the page if on mobile).
If you want to feed faster on PC, then download an extension such as Snaplinks or Linkclump (depending on your browser) and use it to open multiple creatures at once. Then from there you can just click the feed button and close the tabs with Ctrl+W.

3. I suppose you could look up the item on the Items Database, but I'd imagine just clicking on it would be faster. I don't recall any other ways.

lexicon • 3 June 2024 at 5:09 PM

@emeraldwhale

1. For Questing I buy items even if I don't need them so that I always have at least 1 in case it's needed for a quest. Most items in shops are going to be cheaper than going to user shops in the long run but I understand it's lot of money up front to buy one of each. I've built up my strongroom enough that I rarely have to buy from players anymore but also you can use that to your advantage and buy multiples of items and then sell them in your shop for 2-3x the value for others questing! If you sell something for 3k EC for example then you can afford to buy maybe 2-3 more items and so on and so forth

2. Feeding is the most common, easiest, and grindiest way to get EC. Just pay attention to people's profiles because some prefer you don't feed their cove or specific tabs are feed only.

Another easy way is to sell monthlies you pull for free in the Cave. There's usually someone collecting/buying them and depending on how popular they are you can make anywhere from 30-75k per during the month and even more after the month is over and they are retired! You get 10 tries daily for eggs but then can go back once every 15-30 minutes for a chance. There are guides (https://eggcave.com/forums/topic/77727) that can help with value and you can also feel free to post and ask me if you're unsure!

I would also keep all your money in the bank because it earns interest that you can collect daily. Do the Site Trivia (https://eggcave.com/leila/trivia) every day, you can usually look up the answers in the Archives pretty easily and that's 10k daily for a correct answer. Signing in each day also builds EC capping at 3k each day after signing in for I want to say a month straight.

3. You don't buy an item automatically by clicking on it if that's what you're worried about! You can "haggle" which I also do to save a little EC each time. For example if an item is 1545 EC I'll usually put 1540 and save 5 EC xD. It's a tiny amount but adds up per thousands of items that I have lol!

minnie298a • 3 June 2024 at 9:53 PM

@emeraldwhale
To add to what others have said:
1 - Questing is a marathon, not a sprint. Particularly if your new. I agree with the recommendation that you should start to buy items from the NPC shops regardless of if you need them now or not. You may need them later, or can always try to sell them in your shop. Just remember that Trinket Travels and Bean Sack items are not used in Quests.

2 - Feeding is the easiest way to get ec. You get an average of 100 ec per feed (200 on Double Feed Day). Personally, I prefer to use a desktop and the Ctrl+W method mentioned above. I also have two windows open on my computer, one for feeding, one for watching stuff.

The Monthly Challenge (under Games https://eggcave.com/dailies ) is also a way to get some ec. You will need to verify your account which means handing over your phone number though. Basically you get 5 tasks every day, which when completed earns you a small amount of ec (between about 500 and 2000) and a 1 in 3 chance at an item. Complete 25 days of tasks in a calendar month and you also get 100CC. One task every day is to feed creatures. Others include things you may already be doing like betting on the Alkub races, using items and completing quests.

3 - Rare does not always equal expensive. For example the travel Firestorm Skies is r70 and costs 19,001 ec in the Travel Agency. Splatter Mess is r99 and costs 653 ec. Some items from events are also labeled as "Retired" but are actually seasonal. The retired label is because they are not available in NPC shops.