How to Create a Strong Order

A lot of people get frustrated at their order. They find themselves contributing more than their fair share and their order leader doesn't kick the inactive members or those being carried. It can be a frustrating position especially if you don't have the time to start, recruit, and run an order.

When done properly an order leaders job is easy to accomplish and runs smoothly, if done improperly it can seem like an uphill battle of losing a great member for every new great member you get.

Well, it isn't as tough as it seems. Oddly it parallels running a business quite a bit. First this will be a guide on how to create a good order from the start. The second part will list ways to improve or maintain a strong order while keeping it fun.

First Steps:

To begin with creating an order its important to understand that with the high amount of recruits needed in high end orders, there is little reason for somebody strong to join yours. In fact, there is pretty much no reason for somebody to join yours. Understanding this is important because it helps you appreciate the members you do get. When I see new orders with three members trying to recruit people with 85k+ and required to spend 200HP, I laugh.

When creating a post on a forum for Order recruitment it's important to hit on certain things. Everybody is putting 75-90k base as a requirement. This means that there is a huge pool of players below 75k base who are strong active players not being given a chance. These players are probably pretty annoyed and discouraged and will appreciate an Order looking for members in their range. As these players ramp up in power, they will be more likely to stay. An 85k+ member will jump ship the first time you perform poorly, keeping you in a vicious recruitment cycle. Nothing is much worse than always having to look for strong members because your strong members keep jumping ship. Eventually people will pick up on this and just not want to join.

As people join your order its important to create a welcoming atmosphere, especially as a newly created order. You do this by answering questions as they ask them and participating in chat. (Something I don't do, but I'm not the leader :P) By doing this you foster an environment of participation and as new members ask new questions, lots of people participate. An order with no messages is bound to have people leaving.

Events can make or break a new order. A player a while back posted a comment, I can't remember where and there are a lot of places. He mentioned that sometimes spending the extra HP during a Holy War, even if you won't make it back in rewards, is worth it because it increases your rank allowing you to recruit stronger players. Your first few events should be run with this mentality. It increases confidence in the members that are there, and increases your chances of easily picking up strong members down the road. (it's inevitable that some of your members will leave or become inactive, keep an eye open for these and replace as needed). If you're serious about making a strong order you will push the first couple events.

If your first event goes well, chances are you will retain strong members and can purge inactive members. If first event goes poorly, you may have a lot of recruiting to do as people jump ship but its important to find out why you did poorly. Post in chat and ask who spent what, who wasn't able to participate, etc. You do this to check for participation and effort. If a guy with a rare deck with 50k attack and defense spend all 20 of his saved HP but didn't do well because he could only attack once, that's significantly different than the guy with 75k who bought that SR card before the event leaving him with 30HP to spend. You want people who want to get stronger as a group.

Finally, make sure you have outside chat apps like line or palingro. Its necessary for quick communication since the in game chat is so limited. It also builds community.

How to Improve/Maintain an Order:

If your order is strong, chances are it maintains itself unless a big hitter quits the game in which case you have a list a mile long of replacements. If your order is new or mid ranked it can be tough to maintain quality membership.

Don't be a dick:
Do not complain or rage at your members for not doing enough. Remember you are a leader and this is a game. People get treated like shit enough in real life without having some faceless turd bitch at them. Keep your criticism positive. Don't talk about what they didn't do, talk about what they can do. Chances are people know when their decks are weak or they didn't contribute enough HP. Let them know how they can make more HP, how they can improve their deck, and what times you will be pushing for attacks. It will cut down on drama, and increase your orders respect for you.

Participate heavy:
Not only in events, but in conversations. An order that talks a lot, generally maintains members. People build connections and feel bad for leaving. It's a comfort thing.

Wtf happened to contests?:
Back in the days of Ultima Online guilds ran contests/events regularly. As games progressed it seems that the need for contests has disappeared. Instead of focusing on community, games focus on progression, gear, ranks, whatever it is, it really is a shame. Contests and events within an order though are still one of the best ways to build community.

Pay attention!:
I had an order on my alt account that didn't notice that 12 members were completely inactive for over three weeks. I had an Alliance I recently left on Marvel that had six accounts that were level 10 for a week. Your order members notice things like this. They notice people who don't contribute, they notice people that aren't playing, they notice that you don't notice. It makes you look like you don't care about your order, and if you don't why should your members?


If anybody else has any other tips, I'm sure people would be happy to hear them. That's all I have though.

Upcoming Posts

Honestly, I'm really addicted to a computer game right now and I have some work to do on some other things so I'm not going to make a full on post today because my upcoming posts actually require a decent amount of work but I'll give you an idea of some of the upcoming stuff.

-Updates to all of my Best Deck lists. Although I have been band-aiding them occasionally a decent update is needed.

-New cards released. This post will focus on several of the new cards I've been ignoring as they've been released. (I tend to only notice cards that are new leaders but there are a lot of very viable mid level power ones)

-How to create a successful order and/or improve a current order. It's not as easy as 'add stronger members'

Those are three but not necessarily in that order. I'll definitely get 1 or 2 done this week, just not today.

Blizzard of the Cystal Castle

Well, I was partially right on the Blizzard of the Crystal Castle event in that it was a boss attack event, but the variance is worth talking about.

Where other boss attack events like The Puppet Master were based purely on attack damage done to bosses, this event is based on items attained from the boss to determine ranking. Also the way rewards are distributed is different from the previous event.

Oddly, this event is based off of Marvel War of Heroes Avengers event. Considering both games are Mobage, it's not surprising to see a crossover.

So, on the questing aspect of the game I will note there is a resurgence of the 'pick your path' before a boss. This is barely worth mentioning, but is a difference from puppet master events.

The battle aspect of the game is what changed significantly. Previously players were rated purely on the damage they did but this event is based on frost shards collected. The amount of frost shards you gain are based on a couple factors.

Reasons to get frost shards:
1) You discovered the boss
2) You dealt the killing blow
3) You did enough damage to be considered an MVP
4) Damage done (amount of shards increase with amount of damage done, exact ratio unknown)
5) Big Hits - This refers to a bonus that appears randomly for me. I get bonus shards that I can collect even if the boss isn't dead yet. I assume this is a bonus paid for heavy damage.

The overall amount of frost shards gathered will determine your personal rank as well as your orders rank.

Now, on the topic of Snow Crystals.

There are three types of Snow Crystals: White, Blue, and Pink. White Crystals can be exchanged for the lowest rewards, it takes 10 to receive a reward. Blue Crystals can be exchanged for the middle tier of reward, it takes 5 to receive a reward. Pink Crystals can be exchanged for the highest tier of reward, it takes 3 to receive a reward.

White will produce randomly one of the following:
Cure Water (Personal)
Holy Powder (Personal)
5,000 Rupies
10,000 Rupies
500 Friendship Points
1,000 Friendship Points
5 Frost Shards
10 Frost Shards
20 Frost Shards
Random Card
 
Blue will produce randomly one of the following:
PREMIUM CP Claim Ticket
Frost Knight Card
Cure Water (Personal)
Holy Powder (Personal)
10,000 Rupies
20,000 Rupies
1,000 Friendship Points
2,000 Friendship Points
10 Frost Shards
20 Frost Shards
50 Frost Shards
Random Card

Pink will produce randomly one of the following:
HR & UP CP Claim Ticket
PREMIUM CP Claim Ticket
Archangel Queen Card
Devil Queen Card (ABOUT DAMN TIME THIS CARD MADE AN APPEARANCE)
Frost Knight Card
Cure Water (Personal) x 1
Holy Powder (Personal) x 1
20,000 Rupies
100,000 Rupies
1,000 Friendship Points
3,000 Friendship Points
100 Frost Shards
250 Frost Shards
500 Frost Shards
Random Card

Some Extra Notes:
1) If you wish to maximize your points, try to attack bosses with huge health pools that have high combos running. This will result in more damage and thus more crystals.
2) If you use a card that is not fully enhanced during an attack, it randomly gains experience (not really useful but wierd)
3) Individual rewards are far superior to order rewards. As a result it is probably worth it for your order to hold off on spending huge amounts for a better order ranking. If individuals want to gain high ranking let them, but don't require it of your members, better to have them ready for Holy Wars.

Finally:
Sorry about the first mispost of Crystal Castle. I didn't expect them to change the way the event ran versus previous times.

Marvel War of Heroes

Some people may have noted that I was going to do a review of Marvel War of Heroes and after playing for a couple weeks I'm ready to do an analysis of the game.

I decided I would do this in a manner where I would just compare certain elements to Rage of Bahamut. Most people who play Rage of Bahamut understand how a trading card game works and will find a lot of the aspects pretty similar.

For example, stat distribution and questing are identical to Rage of Bahamut. The HP/CW/Magic Circle are also in the game in the form of Energy Pack/Power Pack/Shield Barrier. Overall, there are a lot of things that function similarly that should be no surprise to people who have played Rage for some time.

Now, for the things I find really good about it.

1) Marvel

This is a no brainer for me. The marvel universe is filled with interesting dynamic characters. Rage of Bahamut may have monsters and scantly clad women, but Marvel has Wolverine, Moon Knight, and Iron Man.

2) Two card Evolution

In Marvel its called fusion but it's the same thing. I've always been opposed of the four card evolutions because they are needlessly complicated. Marvel only requires two of the same card to be combined. The same 5% and 10% rules are there though. A cards mastery level though will also mess with the final numbers.

3) Resources

Resources are the treasure of the game. Each resource can be completed three times. This is awesome. The first completion nets a rare card, the second completion gives an enhancement card (equivalent of angel), and the third card is a second rare same as the first. This helps a lot in players starting their decks and makes a lot more sense than one treasure completion in Rage.

4) Mastery

I found this a little confusing at first but once I figured it out I liked it. Every card has a mastery number. It starts at zero and once maxed the card will gain something around 37% of its base stats. So if a card begins with 1000, it will get a bonus 370pts once maxed. 10% of this can be carried over to the final form as well. The final form once mastered also gets the boost. For high level cards this boost can be over 1000.

5) Team Combo Boosts

This is by far my favorite feature of the game. If you have certain heroes or villains together they will get an additional skill bonus even after their skills go off. Wolverine and Captain American for example have a chance to proc Super Soldier for an additional attack boost. So when creating decks players not only need to look at the normal skill boosts and stats, but also try to maximize for bonus buffs. My only disappointment in the system is certain buffs that should exist. For example there is a buff for Wolverine, Human Torch, and Ghost Rider for "Bikers Association" or something like that, but they couldn't do a buff for Wolverine/Sabertooth called Weapon X or something?

What I find really bad about it?

1) Trading

Currently trading follows the same two week rules as Rage of Bahamut and there is no bazaar/auction house yet. This makes trading a huge pain in the ass. You pretty much have to do it within your order/team. This is partially do to the game just recently releasing.

2) Power Packs/Energy Packs

Currently the HP/CW equivalents are only personal. I imagine the devs are waiting until they're ready to release the AH to release the Packs because they don't want the market flooded with them before trading is really allowed, but it's frustrating for a player like me who like to trade to be so limited over all.

That's all I really have to say that I don't like about it other than some random things I'm going to rand about now.

RANT:

I hate it when game developers like Mobage pick up a contract for Marvel and you can tell the people creating the game are not fans of the series. Not only that, they are only informed to the absolute minimum. It's probably one of the things that pisses me off most. There are HUGE gaping flaws in card quality for characters and although there are cool card combos, the developers seem to just be creating them randomly.

Franklin Richards is my primary example. When I saw him as a one star normal quality card it just screamed to me that the game developers said "oh, it's a kid, he can be low level." They completely ignore the fact that Franklin Richards is an Omega Level and was born one. Considering he's part of a group of under ten (can't remember the exact number) mutants that are considered to have extreme powers, I think he deserves a little more than a 'common' ranking. He doesn't necessarily deserve Ultra Rare quality rankings (for several geeky reasons I won't mention) but he at least deserved to be a damn rare.

Besides that, they use the same heroes in different rarity tiers. There will be a basic level hero. Then it will be (insert modifier here) hero if you get the rare version of it. For example there's Wolverine, then there's (Adamantium Claw) Wolverine. Last I checked all the other Wolverines (in the game) have adamantium claws too. I would have been impressed if there was a (Bone Claw) Wolverine. I understand using a modifier once but in some instances they do it three times just to reuse popular heroes. I think there may be a Spiderman in every damn tier by the time they're finished.

When they make a game like Rage of Bahamut where they can just pull random names and develop the lore themselves, I don't have issues. But when you are playing with a universe that already exists, get shit right. Hollywood and television bastardize enough Marvel stuff without videogames joining in.

END RANT

Finally, if you decide to join Marvel War of Heroes, please use my referral code:

q w y 7 0 1 6 7 9

Thanks!

Crystal Castle

 **PLEASE SEE BLIZZARD OF THE CRYSTAL CASTLE FOR BETTER INFORMATION**

Well, looks like the next event has been decided and it will be Crystal Castle. The event is set to run from November 22nd until December 4th. This event was probably popped in because they didn't want to compete with an actual Christmas event they intend on running and didn't want to have a Holy War on the upcoming Holiday weekend. Personally, although I want Holy Wars to get here, I think they made a smart decision.

Chances are it will be followed up by an almost immediate Holy War which will then be followed up almost immediately by a Christmas event.

The event will follow the same structure as Roar of the Dragons and The Puppet Master. This means players will have to progress through quests and random monsters will be generated that players need to defeat. The power of the monsters will increase and there will be rewards based on defeating a certain number of monsters as well as rewards at the end of event for ranking based on damage done to bosses.

Since this event is based on killing bosses, HP is far more valuable than CW. Players will want to participate in every boss that is up because you will receive cards for participating and no matter who summons the boss your damage done goes to personal and order ranking.

Things to note:

1) You have one hour once the boss is summoned to defeat him.

2) Allies summoned will be from both order and fellows. Keep them separate.

3) The more damage a player does to the boss the more rewards they will receive.

4) Event Skill cards are made to do well, use them if you can afford them. *I don't believe there are any for this event other than previously released boss damage cards*

5) Huge amounts of skilled high normals are rewarded during the event, it's a great time to skill up your main cards.

6) Always help kill other peoples bosses if you're invited to, work together and share in rewards. 

7) There is an order rewards based on the number of bosses defeated, better rewards at higher tiers.
8) Individual ranking is calculated by overall damage done to bosses.
9) Order ranking is calculated by overall damage done by all members of your order to bosses.

*Sidenote* If you plan on blowing a ton of HP on this event, be warned that you will probably need to try to liquidate your rewards quickly in order to have HP for Holy Wars. For some extra tips read The Puppet Master Guide all the information pretty much carries over.

Alternate Accounts

A lot of people will note that I've mentioned that I have multiple accounts. Some people frown on this saying it's unfair, others accept it as part of the game. Both are kind of right.

It used to be people would make 100s of accounts the day a referral card was listed, level them all to 10 using some sort of bot, then trade all the resources to a main account. This was shady. I don not condone or support such activity because it's game breaking.

I DO condone creating however many accounts you will actually PLAY. For most people this is two to three. I myself currently have two, but will be creating a stamina account as my third. I play both accounts regularly enough to be in a top 300 Order on one, and a top 150 order on the other. Neither account is useful during stamina events...QQ.

Each account should be viewed like a business. Starting one from scratch was expensive, but is finally yielding something. To start the second one you should transfer resources to speed up its progress, accepting that although you'll go negative at start it will result in higher yields in the long run.

There are some rules I advise when creating a second account (A non stamina account):

Rule 1: Treat it as a main account.

-By treating the account as a main account, you create value for it. Your actual main account should virtually be on auto pilot leaving time available for the second account. Think of it like a business, once your main building is up and running smoothly, you go to your second to run it and make sure it runs smoothly.

Rule 2:  Do not steal from your second account.

-Do not use HP from your second account to feed your first account. The HP you earn on your second account should be used to progress the account. Sometimes you can take from your first account for your second, but you should never take from your weaker account unless it's absolutely necessary.

Rule 3: Transfer cards, HP, CW over to account number two.

-You will progress faster if you have a decent deck, hp, and cw. I'm not talking about great cards, but for example I had four DK Lucy's sitting around and two full evo rares that went to my second account. I gave the account 50HP and 20CW to start. Because I did this, there was no need for me to spend HP on cards, allowing me to accumulate HP fast on account number two. Also by having a decent deck at a low level and a willingness to blow 50HP on a Holy War, I managed to enter a decent order.

Rule 4: Friend your main account

-This gives you the ability to trade and utilize your bazaar tickets and cards to maximize profits. Pretty self explanatory.

If you do this, eventually you will have two higher level accounts that will get double rewards doing HW and the ability to transfer HP/CW cards between them to help them both.

Stamina Accounts: A stamina account is necessary for stamina based events as well as gaining feeders for your main account. Only a single stamina account is necessary as the events are so competitive that splitting your resources is expensive and difficult. Make sure to leave enough attack/defense for one attack and one defend, otherwise gaining treasures during the event are a pain.

Power Leveling Accounts:  To power level an account the easiest method is to place all points into stamina. I normally recommend getting around 300 stamina. If you push it a lot past you won't be able to drop it down to 150 easily. Use CW to level quickly.

Reallocating points: Hard way is to remove fellows yourself, suffering additional point losses if you do more than one in a day. Easy way is to have people unfellow you. If they refuse just keep sending them stupid trades for being dicks.

Logging in and out: Swapping between accounts on a single device is easily done by force stopping the application and clearing cache. You will be able to log into the alternate account. Of course the account won't be registered.

Registering a second account: I'm sure you have a parent, friend, sibling that has a smart phone or tablet that doesn't play, once authenticated, the account can be accessed from any device. There are other ways but I'm not going into them, they are shady. Google it.

The advantages of having multiple accounts should be obvious.  You get multiple login rewards, multiple HW rewards, extra bazaar tickets, and easy access to feeders. On top of this it's almost necessary in order to have an account that can do well during stamina based events. Just remember, each account needs attention.

Skilling Up Part 3

I was going to update my previous posts on skilling up cards, but after going through charts I really realized that the amount of math I was going to have to do was just too much. Also with the cost variables of certain cards not only as a base, but at certain skill levels vs skilling them youself.

Because of this I'm going to just add another area here about the times when using skilled cards seems to be more valuable.

Personally after figuring in everything, using skilled cards is not something I would do before SSR/Legend quality cards at high skill levels for a couple reasons.

1) Skilled cards cost more to skill up yourself before using. For example, Jean-Baptiste uses the example below of a Rare feeder giving 3.5% chance to skill up an SSR from level 5 to level 6. A rare feeder with a skill of 5 gives 9.6% chance. This means using 10 skill 5 rare feeders will net an almost sure skill up. Unfortunately each rare would cost about 4HP to level to skill 5. Meaning each skill five feeder has a rough cost of 4HP x 10 of them = 40HP to move from 5-6. Using level 1 Rares has an estimated cost of 20-24HP after multiple attempts.

2) Assuming you can purchase the necessary skilled cards for smaller amounts of HP, they still require a long time to accumulate with Bazaar tickets. HR will take five days to accumulate 10 forgoing all other trading.

3) The math is just wonky and I don't wanna do it. 

Now, when I WOULD use higher skilled feeders.

Levels 7, 8, and 9 of SR. SSR, Legend I would consider it. The low percentage chance from the high cost per attempt makes sense to use higher skilled feeders.

Remember that each attempt is its own unique attempt so since the chances technically aren't better each time you fail, making purchasing skilled R/HR in those situations very appealing.

Finally, thanks to all the people who let me know skilling cards before using them to enhance a skill is a viable method. Thanks to Jean-Baptiste for the link HERE that shows a chart of all the % and skill ups.

Skilling UP Posts will be edited

Well, although I said I HATE writing about skill ups. Seems I had been doing it wrong. but not really since I only ever skill up SR cards (HR changed to SR) So there was virtually never any reason to go past High Normals for me.

Apparently through skilling up cards used before hand you can drastically increase the % chance to skill up. I was unaware of this since I primarily use HN in my skill ups and went off the charts I had posted ages ago which don't reflect card skill levels.

So, next Monday I'll do the math on what it's going to take. Sorry for any inconvenience.

Skilling Up Part 2

Continued from Skill Up Part 1

 Skilling high rarity cards poses an interesting predicament. That being that technically you can purchase HR for 1HP on a regular basis, either treasure HR or event HR. Also that you can purchase rares for 1CW each if you look around. But in both cases it is a pain to accumulate large numbers of rares or HR given the limitations of Bazaar tickets. Finally, by purchasing Skilled High Normals you get to purchase a rare for roughly the price of  .4 HP per rare (which is what I consider roughly the cost of one CW) but you can attain them through feeder service. Either way, because of this my math on pricing will be done at the rate of 4HP per 9 Rares. If I use High Rares I will be doing them at the approximate price of 9HP per 9 High Rares.

*SIDENOTE* All my math is done assuming the use of 9 cards, in a vast majority of cases it is beneficial to use 10 cards, especially near the end. The reason for using 9 cards is because in feeder service you are normally only attaining 9 and most people skilling up will just use them instead of waiting for a 10th card.

*SIDENOTE* Thanks to Jean-Baptiste for linking chart and everybody who mentioned skilled cards increase chance of increase. Damn you all as well because it just gives me extra work.

Skilling an SSR (SR evolved into SSR)

Lvl 1-2: 9 Rares yielding 72% chance to skill up - 28% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 4-8HP.

Lvl 2-3: 9 Rares yielding 48% chance to skill up - 52% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 8-12HP

Lvl 3-4: 9 Rares yielding 36% chance to skill up - 64% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 16-20HP

Lvl 4-5: 9 Rares yielding 28% chance to skill up - 72% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 16-20HP

Lvl 5-6: 9 Rares yielding 24% chance to skill up - 76% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 20-24HP


Lvl 6-7: 9 Rares yielding 20% chance to skill up - 80% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 24-28HP


Lvl 7-8: 9 Rares yielding 18% chance to skill up - 82% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 24-28HP.


Lvl 8-9: 9 Rares yielding 16% chance to skill up - 84% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 28-32HP


Lvl 9-10: 9 Rares yielding 14% chance to skill up - 86% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 28-32HP


Final rough price is around 190ish HP on average but can really increase heavily during the last three levels. During this time be sure to pepper in that 10th card. It still isn't worth it as far as I can tell to use HR at this point. The reason is that using it from 8-9 for example would be roughly 30% chance of success but would cost 10HP each attempt. You'll notice at that pricing it's starting to level out on price per percentage, but its close and a string of bad luck at 10HP per pop adds up fast.

Skilling a Legend (SSR evolved into Legend)

Lvl 1-2: 9 High Rares yielding 72% chance to skill up -  28% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 9-18HP

Lvl 2-3: 9 High Rares yielding 48% chance to skill up - 52% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 18-27HP

Lvl 3-4: 9 High Rares yielding 36% chance to skill up - 64% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 36-45HP

Lvl 4-5: 9 High Rares yielding 28% chance to skill up - 72% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 36-45HP

Lvl 5-6: 9 High Rares yielding 24% chance to skill up - 76% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 45-54HP

Lvl 6-7: 9 High Rares yielding 20% chance to skill up - 80% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 54-63HP

Lvl 7-8: 9 High Rares yielding 18% chance to skill up - 82% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 54-63HP

Lvl 8-9: 9 High Rares yielding 16% chance to skill up - 84% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 63-72HP

Lvl 9-10: 9 High Rares yielding 14% chance to skill up - 86% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 63-72HP

Final rough price is about 420HP to max it. Before I went through this step by step I really didn't think I'd come to the conclusion that Devil Queens are way overpriced, but lo and behold. Devil Queens currently running for 130HP each which is absurd. That means that using a Devil Queen mimics the cost of my worse case scenarios using High Rares. Devil Queens should be 50HP each.

Unfortunately there is a time variable. Purchasing enough HR given the limited number of bazaar tickets would take some time. Devil Queens can be purchased much more easily and quickly.

*FINAL THOUGHTS* Overall I hate the topic of skill enhancement. I find it boring and too uncontrolled to be completely accurate with. Since it deals with percentages I can say that it will cost 72HP to level from 9-10 on a legend card but it could just as easily end up taking 50 attempts and then I get some angry person spouting on how I don't know what I'm talking about. I avoided this topic because it is based quite a bit around luck and only did this post because a few people asked for it. Do NOT expect future posts on skill enhancement unless something new and interesting occurs.

Skilling Up Part 1

Alright, this is mostly theory crafting based on math. If this is not the absolute cheapest way to skill up a card from 1-10 it's pretty damn close. My rough prices are based on number of attempts that should be reasonable based on eyeballing the percentages. I did not use best case scenarios nor did I use worse case scenarios. I estimated somewhere in between. I am NOT willing to start calculating probability of individual events with varying percent chances.

Special Note: No, using 1 card at a time will not yield better results. It is a mathematically fallacy that is proven even more false the more you do it. Some people have experienced success using 1 HN at a time and rave about how it's better. These people are plainly wrong. They got lucky one time and if they continue doing it that way, much like gambling at a casino, it will balance out for their loss.

Skilling a High Rare (rare evolved into HR):

Lvl 1-2: 8 Skilled High Normals yielding 96% chance to skill up - Rough Price under 1HP

Lvl 2-3: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 72% chance to skill up -  28% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 1-2HP

Lvl 3-4: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 54% chance to skill up -  46% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 2-3HP

Lvl 4-5: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 44% chance to skill up - 56% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 2-3HP

Lvl 5-6: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 39% chance to skill up - 61% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 3-4HP

Lvl 6-7: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 31% chance to skill up - 69% (giggity) chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 4-5HP

Lvl 7-8: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 27% chance to skill up - 73% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 4-5HP

Lvl 8-9: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 27% chance to skill up - 73% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 4-5HP

Lvl 9-10: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 22% chance to skill up - 78% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 6-7HP

Overall this should normally average out to somewhere around 30ishHP but could get as bad as 40+HP

Skilling an SR (HR evolved into SR)

Lvl 1-2: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 72% chance to skill up -  28% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 1-2HP

Lvl 2-3: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 48% chance to skill up - 52% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 2-3HP

Lvl 3-4: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 36% chance to skill up - 64% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 4-5HP

Lvl 4-5: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 28% chance to skill up - 72% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 4-5HP

Lvl 5-6: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 24% chance to skill up - 76% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 5-6HP

Lvl 6-7: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 20% chance to skill up - 80% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 6-7HP

Lvl 7-8: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 18% chance to skill up - 82% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 6-7HP

Lvl 8-9: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 16% chance to skill up - 84% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 7-8HP

Lvl 9-10: 9 Skilled High Normals yielding 14% chance to skill up - 86% chance you will have to try again. Rough Price 7-8HP

Overall this should normally average out somewhere around 40HP but could get as bad as 50+. The last few levels can get particularly bad.

In both rarity classes there is no reason to evolve the High Normals into Rares since the percentage increase is so small and requires four HN.