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Please note: the following analyses describe the expected values for tickets won and games lost at the various games of chance. By nature of statistical statements, even after hours of playing there is no guarantee that the actual, individual results will be exactly as or even close to what has been calculated here. If you are convinced you have found a flaw in the calculations, please present the flaw as precisely as possible and discuss it in the article's talk page before changing the article.

Overview[]

The Unlucky and Lucky titles are account-based titles which are obtained through various in-game activities:

  • Playing the Shing Jea Boardwalk games Nine Rings and Rings of Fortune. These games last for certain special events and will return in the future.
  • Opening chests with a lockpick. Retaining the lockpick adds points to the Lucky title; breaking it adds points to the Unlucky title. This is a permanent feature of the game.
  • Using a Four-Leaf Clover and having 15% DP removed from the character awards 4 Lucky points. The clovers were part of the Lucky weekend event.
  • Participating and winning in the ring game during the finales of the Wintersday 2006 and Wintersday 2007 event awarded Lucky points.

Boardwalk games analysis[]

  • Nine Rings
    • The amount of tickets gained is statistically equal in every location, but more games are lost on corners (awarding more Unlucky points and the same amount of Lucky points), so the following analysis will be based on playing on a corner ring.
  • Rings of Fortune
    • All locations are equally advantageous.
Nine Rings Rings of Fortune
Cost 10 Tickets 2 Tickets
Winner 55 Tickets (Corners)
40 Tickets (Edges)
25 Tickets (Center)
12 Tickets
Runner-up 15 Tickets 3 Tickets
Length of Games 8 Seconds 8 Seconds
Length of Speech 35 Seconds 35 Seconds
Number of Games per cycle 19 Games 20 Games
Length of cycle 187 Seconds 195 Seconds
Games per hour 365.8 369.2
Loss of Tickets per Game -5/9 Ticket -1/8 Ticket
Loss of Tickets per Hour -203.2 Tickets/Hour -46.2 Tickets/Hour
Ticket Wins per Game 9.444 Tickets/Game 1.875 Tickets/Game
Ticket Wins per Hour 3,454 Tickets/Hr 692.3 Tickets/Hr
Games lost per Hour 243.9 (Corner) 230.75
Cost of Playing 3048 gold/Hour 692.3 gold/Hr
Tickets Per Gold 1.13 Tickets/Gold 1.00 Ticket/Gold

Achieving one title only[]

  • If one wants to achieve the Unlucky title with the least amount of Gold spent, Rings of Fortune is optimal.
  • Otherwise, Nine Rings is better. Notably, it is faster for either title.
Lucky Nine Rings Rings of Fortune
Charmed
50,000 tickets
5,294 games
14.5 hours
44.1 Platinum 26,667 games
72.2 hours
50.0 Platinum
Lucky
100,000
10,589 games
28.9 hours
88.2 Platinum 53,333 games
144.4 hours
100.0 Platinum
Favored
250,000
26,472 games
72.4 hours
220.6 Platinum 133,333 games
361.1 hours
250.0 Platinum
Prosperous
500,000
52,944 games
144.7 hours
441.2 Platinum 266,667 games
722.2 hours
500.0 Platinum
Golden
1,000,000
105,887 games
289.5 hours
882.4 Platinum 533,333 games
1,444.4 hours
1,000.0 Platinum
Blessed by Fate
2,500,000
264,720 games
724 hours
2,206 Platinum 1,333,333 games
3,611 hours
2,500 Platinum
Unlucky Nine Rings Rings of Fortune
Hapless
5,000 games
7,500 games
20.5 hours
62.5 Platinum 8,888 games
24.1 hours
16.7 Platinum
Unlucky
10,000
15,000 games
41.0 hours
125.0 Platinum 17,777 games
48.1 hours
33.3 Platinum
Unfavored
25,000
37,500 games
102.5 hours
312.5 Platinum 44,444 games
120.4 hours
83.3 Platinum
Tragic
50,000
75,000 games
205.0 hours
625.0 Platinum 88,889 games
240.8 hours
166.7 Platinum
Wretched
100,000
150,000 games
410.1 hours
1,250.0 Platinum 177,778 games
481.5 hours
333.3 Platinum
Jinxed
250,000
375,000 games
1,025 hours
3,125 Platinum 444,444 games
1,204 hours
833 Platinum
Cursed by Fate
500,000
750,000 games
2,050 hours
6,250 Platinum 888,889 games
2,408 hours
1,667 Platinum

Achieving both titles at the same time[]

  • It is beneficial to play both games in order to reach both titles of the same tier at the same time.
Tiers Nine Rings Rings of Fortune Total
Hapless and Charmed 4,615 games
12.6 hours
38.5 Platinum 43,588 Tickets won
3,077 games lost
3,419 games
9.3 hours
6.4 Platinum 6,410 Tickets won
1,923 games lost
21.9 hours 44.9 Platinum
Unlucky and Lucky 9,231 games
25.2 hours
76.9 Platinum 87,176 Tickets won
6,154 games lost
6,838 games
18.6 hours
12.8 Platinum 12,820 Tickets won
3,846 games lost
43.8 hours 89.7 Platinum
Unfavored and Favored 23,077 games
63.1 hours
192.3 Platinum 217,939 Tickets won
15,385 games lost
17,094 games
46.3 hours
32.1 Platinum 32,051 Tickets won
9,615 games lost
109.4 hours 224.4 Platinum
Tragic and Prosperous 46,154 games
126.1 hours
384.6 Platinum 435,878 Tickets won
30,769 games lost
34,187 games
92.6 hours
64.1 Platinum 64,102 Tickets won
19,230 games lost
218.8 hours 448.7 Platinum
Wretched and Golden 92,308 games
252.4 hours
769.2 Platinum 871,757 Tickets won
61,539 games lost
68,375 games
185.2 hours
128.2 Platinum 128,203 Tickets won
38,461 games lost
437.6 hours 897.4 Platinum
Cursed by Fate and Blessed by Fate 115,385 games
315.45 hours
961.5 Platinum 1,089,575 Tickets won
76,939 games lost
752,137 games
2,037.01 hours
1,410.2 Platinum 1,410,241 Tickets won
423,092 games lost
2,352.46 hours 2,371.7 Platinum

Lockpick analysis[]

A Lockpick has a certain chance of breaking after opening a chest. If a lockpick breaks, it will add [250 * retention rate points] to the Unlucky title; on the other hand, if the lockpick is retained, it will add 250 points to the Lucky title. The numbers are the same in Normal and Hard Mode. (The points are doubled during a lockpick bonus weekend, if you enter the zone after the bonus period has begun.)

The rate at which (Un)Lucky points are gained depends on the number of chests opened per unit time and the chance of retaining lockpicks. The chests-per-unit-time depends on the difficulty of the area, the amount of chests there and the skill of the player/team. It cannot be quantified and will be omitted in this analysis.

The calculations below are based on purchasing lockpicks at merchants for 1,500Gold; you can save money at Discount Merchants (price: 1,200Gold) or from other players (typical price: 1,250 Gold).

The following formulas are relevant to the lockpick analysis:

Let R be the chance to retain a lockpick after use. (See Lockpick for details on how to calculate R). (1-R) is then the lockpick's chance of breaking.
Unlucky points per key =
Unlucky points per chest =
Price per key = 1500Gold
Price per Unlucky point = Gold
Lucky points per chest =
Price per chest = Gold
Price per Lucky point = Gold

For the purpose of calculating in the Treasure Hunter title with the Lucky titles and when they will change R when they "level", here are some additional formulas:

Chests opened per key = = Treasure Hunter points per key if chest is "high end"
Unlucky points per key =
Lucky points per key =

Keys needed for next title = points needed for next title / points per key

These results mean the following:

  • The highest rate of Unlucky points per chest is achieved when your rate is 50%.
  • Reaching the maximum Unlucky title via lockpicks alone would require spending 12,000Platinum, if you only opened chests at a 50% retention rate.
  • The price of Lucky and Unlucky points decrease as R increases.
Lockpick lucky point price
start and end values:
At the minimum R = 0.1, 1 Lucky point costs 54Gold, 1 Unlucky point costs 60Gold.
At R=0.98, 1 Lucky point costs 0.122Gold, 1 Unlucky point costs 6.122Gold.
  • For illustration, these are the most extreme prices to reach the maximum Lucky title (2,500,000 points), starting from zero Lucky points. These calculations take into account improving retention rates from increasing Lucky and Treasure hunter title rank:
    • At Treasure hunter rank 7 and only picking Ascalonian chests on Normal mode, on average 10,600 chests have to be opened and 887Platinum have to be spent.
    • At Treasure hunter rank 0 and only picking Hard mode chests, on average 26,300 chests have to be opened and 24,450Platinum have to be spent.

Comparison to Nine Rings[]

Question: a level 20 character with rank 0 Treasure Hunter wants to farm Lucky points. Which method is more favorable, playing Nine Rings or farming Ascalonian chests on Normal mode?


  • Nine Rings can be played while AFK and requires no user action whatsoever beyond buying tickets beforehand.
  • Nine Rings awards 3454 Lucky points per hour. At 65% base retention rate, this equals opening one chest every minutes. This figure already includes breaking lockpicks.
  • At 3048Gold per hour and 3454 points per hour, each Lucky point costs 0.882Gold at Nine Rings, whereas at R=0.65, each point costs 6*(1-R)/R = 3.2Gold for chest farming. Chest farming for Lucky points becomes cheaper at R > 0.87, not considering chest drops and discounted lockpicks. Assuming discounted lockpicks and 100Gold value per drop, break-even occurs at R > 0.83.
  • Unlucky points cost 12.5Gold each for Nine Rings and 60Gold each for chest farming.
  • Chests can be run all the time, while Nine Rings is only available during special events.
  • Chest farming has added value in the sense that it also increases the treasure hunter (assuming high end chests) and wisdom titles (from identifying gold chest drops). It also potentially gives useful item drops and equipment modifications that can be sold and the proceeds re-invested into lockpicks.

The best method depends mostly on the chance to retain the lockpick and therefore mostly on the Treasure Hunter and Lucky title track. Chest running is more cost-efficient at >85% retention rates and is available all year long but requires farming with all the tediousness involved, while Nine Rings awards a lot more points per day and can be played without interaction but is only rarely available.

Notes[]

If you intend on leaving your character in a boardwalk game overnight, be sure to first reset your connection to the server by closing the game and signing in again. Otherwise you may be disconnected after 24hrs of continuous play. If you are disconnected then you will have lost some opportunity to farm these titles.

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