Lord of Lords, lawless kingdom but new alliance

I realize I haven’t shared any updates on my baby accounts in a while. With R2W in progress, they’ve been off the map for a while, helping my main with some extra points for T5 books and such. But with Lord of Lords on the horizon, and after leaving my original alliance from the new kingdom, I’m curious to see how well I can still rank.

My old alliance isn’t too happy about my leaving and I guess they feel like I "abandoned" them, like they were not good enough for me. And while I can't say this is not true... hey, why hold a grudge? 😀

They’ve made it clear they're upset through petty acts like not allowing me to get PO buffs, plundering my Day of Trade caravans and Bounty Operations. Even trying to snipe the Alpacas I was attacking for the Anniversary event. It’s obvious they want me to force me to either rejoin them or leave the server entirely. 

But if they think this will discourage me, they’re mistaken. Their hostility is only fueling my motivation. As someone once said "Success is the only revenge" and I plan to show them during this LoL.

After leaving them I’ve moved my baby accounts into a more structured alliance, with a well organized Discord channel and a way more efficient approach to events. While I don’t get all the perks since there aren’t other members on my kingdom, it's definitely a huge improvement. We get much better Rebel Leader rewards and overall event rewards, making it an overall win for me. I don't even care my old alliance is bitter; I’m developing my accounts a lot better elsewhere.

With LoL coming up, I’m already planning my steps. I take a quick look on kingdom to scan any competition and anticipate potential threats. I’ve started and timed some buildings and research for Day 2, but my speedups are running low. Worse, I’ve been slacking on gathering. Not only am I low on resources but I don't even have enough materials to finish upgrading my Champion’s Set. Woops :D 

Truth is, I stopped gathering because I wasn’t sure my troops would be safe. My former alliance has already been targeting me in Fiery Mines, so there’s no guarantee they’ll “allow” me to gather “their” resources either. But there’s only one way to find out. My troops are heading out for a walk right now and I’m hoping they come back in the same numbers they left.

2 Days have passed without any gathering incidents and I hope nothing will change during LoL. So as the event is about to start, I send out my gathering parties.

All my troops came back safely after a few gathering waves so I'm confident in my success in Phase 1. As usual I prepare ahead of time and send out my gathering marches timing their return just as the event starts. Basically this allows me to get 1 more wave for free.

However this time others have probably done the same thing as I barely rank 4th with others ahead of me by quite a decent margin.

I'm usually top ranked in Phase 1, but this time due to other events and the anniversary activities my gathering waves have been slow.

Coming out of Phase 1, my score isn’t exactly great. With my hesitation to gather freely, I haven’t stockpiled nearly enough resources for Lord of Lords. As soon as Phase 2 begins, both my alts instantly run dry, forcing me to use resource items. Normally, this only happens in Phase 5, and even then, it’s not an issue because I usually burn through speedups long before running out of resources.

Both my accounts are dry and gold is actually a big issue.

In the first few hours of Phase 2, I drop several spots. It looks like quite a few players on this kingdom were sitting on expensive research and cashed in today. Even with my own research and a few buildings lined up, I don’t even come close to cracking the top 10.

Just look at those points go even after I've finished upgrading my commanders😱

Phases 3 and 4 land right on my extended weekend, which means I barely get any points here. But that’s actually fine, I knew this overlap was coming. I don’t have the account power to train millions of troops like the big players, nor do I have an endless reserves of Motivation items to make a real impact in these phase rankings. Phase 4 in particular doesn’t even offer that many points compared to Phases 2 and 5, so I’m not too concerned about ranking low here.

By Tuesday, I’m back in action. Before heading to work, I check my overall ranking and the daily challenge. Research and Advisor actions in the daily? Perfect! My goal now is to hit that 3 million power threshold; not because the rewards are great, but more as a way to track my progress. I set an alarm to check back right as the event starts, making sure I time my research completions with any Normal/Elite quests and double dip the rewards. Luck is on my side in the second hour of Phase 5, and I manage to pull in nearly 1 million power worth of power, equal to 15 million event points.

Even so, it’s barely enough to get rank 27 in Phase 5, and I still can’t break into the top 10 overall.

As soon as I get home and have some time for the game, I check what gear upgrades I can finish and even take advantage of the new Anniversary castle skin to build some Fortifications. Desperate times call for desperate measures.

I’m so thirsty for points that I even cave and buy a pack to push Theon to Rare quality. The Anniversary event lined up perfectly, letting me grab several of his medals there. I was just 10 short. And despite my intention to keep these accounts 100% F2P...well, here we are.

But honestly? No regrets. Getting Blue Theon is a huge boost for my Rebel Leader killing power, plus the extra Tavern stars add a nice stat boost, especially to army size but also Combat Rating. More importantly, it brings me one step closer to that 40K Total Account Score I need for my Mentorship quest. A solid investment, even if my F2P status is no longer 100% accurate.

Over the next two days, I struggle to keep up with building and research. For the first time since starting these accounts, I run out of resources before speedups. Despite building full Mints and no Hospitals, my gold reserves are completely gone.

Gathering gold is a nightmare. With no kingdom rules whatsoever, some players are practically living on the nodes, making it nearly impossible for me to gather gold. Even using my Dragon Skill is a challenge; I can barely find a free level 5 gold node to DS.

Speaking of Dragons, I even managed to upgrade them this event. A small win in the middle of all this resource starvation.

My main dragon is now level 60. Took some time, but that's life on a new F2P account.

Even with a better alliance that kills more Rebels, giving me a steady income of speedups, I still feel the pain of this lawless kingdom. Resource starvation is one of the issues that still haunts me. Sooner or later, I’ll have to leave. But until that time comes, I can still sneak in a few more Sabrina tokens before my exit.

With some careful planning, stretching my last gold items and calculating the most efficient way to spend them between research, buildings, fortifications, and gear, I finally get back into the top 10 for both Phase 5 and the overall rankings.

Now, let’s see how Phase 6 plays out.

It doesn’t take long to see the unwanted reality. The whale that landed in this kingdom wasn’t alone; it was just a scouting party. More of their friends have joined the fun since I last checked. The moment Phase 6 starts, I watch their bubbles drop and their attack begin. Random castles nearby get wiped out and are "on fire". They’re probably treating them as HoFs, not actual players.

I know immediately: the event is over for me.

I can’t risk attacking anything without getting instantly countered. And waiting isn’t an option either.

By the time I’d be able to make a move, there won’t be anything left to hit.

I pretty much expected something like this to happen. Allowing whales to transfer to new semi-open kingdoms is a terrible experience for newer players, and it only reinforces the imbalance that drives many to quit. At this point, all I can do is stay put, wait out the next two days, and hope no one trades enough points to knock me out of the top 10.

Two days later, with a bit of luck, I can hold on. Both my accounts finish in the top 10, earning me a respectable 25 Sabrina tokens.

But every Lord of Lords event, I feel myself drifting further from the top 3 spots. The whale and their friends made sure of it, again.

That being said, I didn't even notice when Lord of Lords ended. It used to be an event I genuinely enjoyed on my baby accounts, but now… not so much. The new kingdom experience isn’t as fun when there are no rules and everyone just does whatever they want. And with a huge account dropping in, it’s clear that top rankings in any event are now out of reach for us.

Switching alliances definitely improved my experience. I can now actually talk with knowledgeable people, exchange tips, complete my photo albums, and even play events properly. But the reality is, this kingdom is still lawless, and being stuck here is not exactly ideal.

At least I played Siege of Winterfell with my new alliance, and, get this, my baby alts actually got the bubble castle skin, lol.

That will surely be a statement in this new kingdom where only the whales seem to have it unlocked. Hehe, me and the whales!

But oh well, Lord of Lords is over, and I wasn't able to get a spot in the top 3, again. There’s no point dwelling on it any longer.

Time to put all this behind me and focus on what’s left of the Anniversary Event.

There are still some nice rewards up for grabs, and I’m not about to miss out on them.

Let’s make the most of it!