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I was so excited the first time I was able to hunt a level 2 monster.  I mean, just look at the rewards listed for them!  To be able to pull them in, even at increased energy cost, would be incredible.  And on my first hunt…I received 10k wood.

When my guild could finally take down a level 2 monster I was convinced that the guild-wide reward box would contain something of incredible value.  So we buckled down, worked together, blew some energy items, and finally had the opportunity to find out what was inside.  Again, disappointment was the order of the day.

Once I got over this disappointment I started wondering how different the rewards for each level of monster really were?  Maybe we just got unlucky on our first one or two.  And did you get a bonus for landing the killing blow?  Were rewards different based on castle level?  So I set about recording some numbers to address those questions, and was surprised by some of the answers

Method

I have three accounts, and have tracked data from all three, this time attributing a source to each record.  This will allow us to analyze any differences in rewards across level 22, 18, and 16 castles.

Monster boxes were easy.  I recorded the item type and quantity for each box I received.  Within a few days I had built up a database of over 1000 level 1 monster boxes which is a statistically valid sample size.  The process was exhausting, so at that point I stopped recording level 1 monster boxes.

Level 2 and 3 boxes are less common, as the rewards from a level 1 box is far better per energy spent.  However, my guild has been downing several each day and I’m still diligently recording.  However, my sample size is currently 366 and 16 respectively, so data on higher level boxes will be limited in accuracy.  Still, I will continue to record data and follow up with another post as a clearer picture emerges.

Monster hunts are recorded for killing blows and non killing blows respectively to track any differences.  I’ve tried to gather a useful amount of data across level 1, 2, and 3 monsters, but neither my heroes nor hunting research are high enough to go beyond that.  As hunts and kills can provide potentially multiple items I grouped items from the same hunt together, and keyed my reports to show a statistical probability of drop per grouping, giving us a clear way to make comparisons.

Boxes

Across Monster Levels

Level 2 boxes tended to drop more speedups than level 1s, and the speedup types were usually 2-3 times as valuable.  The average speedup values across the levels were 4m, 12m, and 30m respectively, so a jump of approximately 3x per monster level, despite each higher level being in excess of 10x harder to kill.

We see similar distributions in the resource items, though each jump is more pronounced (ie: 150k is 3x as valuable as 50k, and 500k is over 3x as valuable as 150k).  Level 1 monsters provide a high percentage of 10k resources (1/4 of all boxes), while level 2s split that among 1x and 2x 10ks; level 2 also contained more than 2x as many 50k and above.  Average values for resources were 8k and 20k for levels 1 and 2 respectively.

Level	Sample Size	10m >> x1	10m >> x2	15m >> x1	15m >> x2	30m >> x1	30m >> x2	60m >> x1	60m >> x2	3h >> x1	3h >> x2
1	1669	7.30%	0.10%	4.90%	0.40%	2.20%	0.10%	2.00%	0.20%	0	0
2	366	3.60%	3.60%	2.20%	4.60%	0.80%	1.40%	3.60%	1.10%	1.10%	0.80%
3	16	0	0	0	6.30%	6.30%	6.30%	0	0	0	6.30%

Level	Sample Size	2k energy x1	30k food x1	30k food x2	150k food x1	150k food x2	500k food x1	500k food x2	10k RSS x1	10k RSS x2	50k RSS x1	50k RSS x2	150k RSS x1	150k RSS x2	3k gold x1	3k gold x2	15k gold x1	15k gold x2	50k gold x1
1	1669	0.10%	7.90%	0.20%	3.20%	0.20%	0	0	24.50%	1.30%	8.70%	0.50%	0	0	8.70%	0.20%	3.50%	0.10%	0
2	366	0	4.90%	2.50%	1.60%	3.00%	0.30%	0.50%	9.00%	7.70%	3.30%	3.30%	1.90%	1.60%	2.70%	3.00%	1.90%	1.90%	0.30%
3	16	0	6.30%	0	0	6.30%	0	0	6.30%	12.50%	12.50%	12.50%	0	0	6.30%	6.30%	0	0	0

About 2.5% of the time level 1 boxes contained gems, 2/3 were 50 gems and 1/3 were 100 gems.  Only 2.1% of my level 2 boxes contained gems, but over half of these were 200 gems x2; the rest were evenly distributed between 200 gems x 1 and 300 gems x2.  So on average, level 2 boxes contained over 5x as many gems as level 1s.

Level	Sample Size	50 gems x1	100 gems x1	200 gems x1	200 gems x2	300 gems x2	monster mat (common) x1	monster mat (common) x2	monster mat (uncommon) x1	monster mat (uncommon) x2	Relocator: Random x1	Relocator: Random x2
1	1669	1.80%	0.80%	0	0	0	11.00%	0.70%	0	0	0.80%	0.10%
2	366	0	0	0.50%	1.10%	0.30%	5.50%	4.40%	2.70%	2.20%	1.10%	0.30%
3	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	6.30%

Both levels contained hero chests at similar rates.  Level 1s were almost always single common chests.  Level 2s split evenly between 1x and 2x uncommon chests.

We saw similar distributions of shields (which were very rare: 0.4% for level 1s and 1.2% for level 2s); level 1s almost always contained a single 4h shield, while level 2s contained equal numbers of 1x and 2x, 4h and 8h, shields.  Monster mats worked the exact same way.

Level	Sample Size	Hero Chest (common) x1	Hero Chest (common) x2	Hero Chest (uncommon) x1	Hero Chest (uncommon) x2	4h shield x1	4h shield x2	8h shield x1	8h shield x2
1	1669	7.80%	0.40%	0	0	0.30%	0.10%	0.10%	0
2	366	0	0	3.80%	4.90%	0.30%	0.30%	0.30%	0.30%
3	16	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

I’m not sure that I have enough data on level 3s to draw much of a conclusion, other than to say the jump from 2 to 3 is similar to the jump from 1 to 2.  My level 3s contained mostly speedups and resources (at a higher rate than the 1s and 2s), and the values appeared to be a linear progression of the 1 to 2 jump.

Across Castle Levels

Looking at the data across my three castle levels was relatively easy, given the large sample size.  I did see some variation in reward percentages, such as an increase in speedups for one level or increase in resources for another, but they all fell within the error margins.  There appeared to be no difference in the rewards at either the type level (ie: speedups vs resources), nor at the value level (ie: 10m >> vs 60m >>).

Due to my limited sample size for level 2 and 3 monsters I only did a castle level comparison for level 1 monsters.  However, I doubt we’ll see any difference in higher level monster data.  Still, I’ll come back and post an update if something does show up after further data collection.

Hunts and Kills

Across Monster Levels

Level 1 and 2 monsters seem to reward a similar number of speedups, but level 2s provide a vastly greater value (average of 7m vs 30m).  Level 2s also provide 3h speedsup which level 1s don’t.

Level	Sample Size	10m >> x1	10m >> x2	15m >> x1	15m >> x2	30m >> x1	30m >> x2	60m >> x1	60m >> x2	3h >> x1	3h >> x2
1 hunt	173	6.90%	2.90%	4.00%	1.20%	2.30%	1.70%	0.60%	1.20%	0	0
1 kill	65	9.20%	3.10%	1.50%	1.50%	1.50%	0	1.50%	0	0	0
2 hunt	46	6.50%	2.20%	2.20%	4.30%	2.20%	2.20%	2.20%	2.20%	4.30%	4.30%
2 kill	5	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Resources came out a lot closer.  The averages came out to 57k vs 82k, and average gold received was nearly identical.

Level	Sample Size	30k food x1	30k food x2	150k food x1	150k food x2	500k food x2	10k RSS x1	10k RSS x2	50k RSS x1	50k RSS x2	150k RSS x1	3k gold x1	3k gold x2	15k gold x1	15k gold x2	50k gold x2
1 hunt	173	11.60%	4.60%	2.30%	0.60%	0	29.50%	11.00%	12.10%	3.50%	0	14.50%	2.90%	3.50%	0	0
1 kill	65	13.80%	3.10%	3.10%	1.50%	0	30.80%	18.50%	12.30%	3.10%	0	9.20%	4.60%	4.60%	1.50%	0
2 hunt	46	10.90%	0	2.20%	0	2.20%	23.90%	13.00%	6.50%	4.30%	2.20%	10.90%	2.20%	2.20%	0	2.20%
2 kill	5	0	20.00%	0	0	0	60.00%	20.00%	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Monster mats were a lot more common at level 1, but only at ‘common’ rarity, while level 2s rewarded uncommons.  Hero chests worked the same way.  And my sample size was insufficient to evaluable gems, holy stars, jewels or shields.

I simply didn’t have enough data on level 3s to do any sort of meaningful analysis.

Across Castle Levels

I thought that IGG may see value in rewarding higher level castles with better rewards to maintain the value of monster hunting as you progress.  After all, while you have more energy at higher levels, it takes many times as long to use it unless you’re blowing it on a single monster.

However, values came up relatively equal across castle levels with a sample size of over 200.  So I suspect rewards do not change as you level up.

Hunts vs Kills

I wondered if there was any differences in the rewards if a hunt resulted in a kill or not, so I tracked these values as well.  While I did see some differences, they were all within error margins for my small sample size, so I’m guessing the rewards are set to be the same.

Takeaways

This data was a little surprising to me and changed the way I handled monster hunting.  Here’s some of the things I took away from all this:

• Given the relatively constant box value across castle levels, it’s clear that while monster kills are valuable to everyone, they are far more valuable to lower level castles.  So monster hunting is a great catchup mechanism for your lower level guild members.  Use this to boost your lowbies.
• Higher level monster kills do not give rewards commensurate with their difficulty.  The highest value to energy ratio is with level 1 monsters, so in terms of helping the guild focus on downing them.
• Higher level monsters give superior rewards for hunting, depending on how you value each reward type.  With less than 2x the energy required, but over 4x the speedup values and 4x the mat/chest values, it’s often personally more valuable to hit level 2 and 3 monsters.
• Due to the above two points, when I have time to do individual hunts I take down level 1 monsters, but if I only have a few seconds before work I’ll blow all my energy on a level 2 or 3 hunt which is still far better than nothing.
• As hunts and kills net the same rewards, don’t fuss over who gets the killing blow; everyone who attacks is rewarded equally and everyone gets the guild chest.