Balance

The announcement says:
 
 
It seems likely that they would include time left on your fortune cookie. I would expect them to be very careful about NC items and err on the side of customer satisfaction, since this would be a very bad time to give a bad impression of their handling of items that cost real cash.

So, our mad scientist needs supplies, and would like us to get them for him. He'll give us details after we use the portal in his lab to teleport to his ship, which implies that we'll be able to get back the same way. The question arises, then--why hasn't the scientist used the portal to come down and get his stuff, or to communicate his needs directly, rather than relying on a distorted broadcast and the random meddling of strangers? Even if we assume he has no nefarious intent, I still have to wonder why he's stuck where he is.
 
The phrasing of the message--"anyone down there" and "my ship"--suggest that he's in either an airship or spaceship of some kind. To build recklessly on the Lutari Island speculation, perhaps his machine is a weather control device, and is connected with the perpetual storm shrouding the island? (Either by causing it, or by holding in check somehow.)

Yes, I lured it into the elaborate trap, of course. (Then played the melody.)
 
Funny thing, the bit where Kell says, "You should have seen your face a moment ago!"--what face? My pet is invisible. He was speaking to an empty frame. :P
 
Oh, and now might be a good time to thoroughly explore the floor you're on, since you keep everything you have when you catch the monster.

Yes, I lured it into the elaborate trap, of course. (Then played the melody.)
 
Funny thing, the bit where Kell says, "You should have seen your face a moment ago!"--what face? My pet is invisible. He was speaking to an empty frame. :P
 
Oh, and now might be a good time to thoroughly explore the floor you're on, since you keep everything you have when you catch the monster.

Yes, I lured it into the elaborate trap, of course. (Then played the melody.)
 
Funny thing, the bit where Kell says, "You should have seen your face a moment ago!"--what face? My pet is invisible. He was speaking to an empty frame. :P
 
Oh, and now might be a good time to thoroughly explore the floor you're on, since you keep everything you have when you catch the monster.

Assume the ceiling height in each floor is 10 feet. (Given that there are dragons living down there, that seems rather cramped, but let's go with it.) Further assume ~2 feet of stonework between floors, since they can evidently support considerable weight. (Again, dragons.) We know that it reaches a depth of at least 102 floors, so that's 1224 feet deep, or just under a quarter of a mile. Well below the depth of most mines on Earth, though there are a few that goes as far as 2000 ft. You could still breathe down on the 100th floor, but it would likely be getting hot, and it would require quite a ventilation system to support all those cultists (and dragons!).

Assume the ceiling height in each floor is 10 feet. (Given that there are dragons living down there, that seems rather cramped, but let's go with it.) Further assume ~2 feet of stonework between floors, since they can evidently support considerable weight. (Again, dragons.) We know that it reaches a depth of at least 102 floors, so that's 1224 feet deep, or just under a quarter of a mile. Well below the depth of most mines on Earth, though there are a few that goes as far as 2000 ft. You could still breathe down on the 100th floor, but it would likely be getting hot, and it would require quite a ventilation system to support all those cultists (and dragons!).

Assume the ceiling height in each floor is 10 feet. (Given that there are dragons living down there, that seems rather cramped, but let's go with it.) Further assume ~2 feet of stonework between floors, since they can evidently support considerable weight. (Again, dragons.) We know that it reaches a depth of at least 102 floors, so that's 1224 feet deep, or just under a quarter of a mile. Well below the depth of most mines on Earth, though there are a few that goes as far as 2000 ft. You could still breathe down on the 100th floor, but it would likely be getting hot, and it would require quite a ventilation system to support all those cultists (and dragons!).

Assume the ceiling height in each floor is 10 feet. (Given that there are dragons living down there, that seems rather cramped, but let's go with it.) Further assume ~2 feet of stonework between floors, since they can evidently support considerable weight. (Again, dragons.) We know that it reaches a depth of at least 102 floors, so that's 1224 feet deep, or just under a quarter of a mile. Well below the depth of most mines on Earth, though there are a few that goes as far as 2000 ft. You could still breathe down on the 100th floor, but it would likely be getting hot, and it would require quite a ventilation system to support all those cultists (and dragons!).

Assume the ceiling height in each floor is 10 feet. (Given that there are dragons living down there, that seems rather cramped, but let's go with it.) Further assume ~2 feet of stonework between floors, since they can evidently support considerable weight. (Again, dragons.) We know that it reaches a depth of at least 102 floors, so that's 1224 feet deep, or just under a quarter of a mile. Well below the depth of most mines on Earth, though there are a few that goes as far as 2000 ft. You could still breathe down on the 100th floor, but it would likely be getting hot, and it would require quite a ventilation system to support all those cultists (and dragons!).

Assume the ceiling height in each floor is 10 feet. (Given that there are dragons living down there, that seems rather cramped, but let's go with it.) Further assume ~2 feet of stonework between floors, since they can evidently support considerable weight. (Again, dragons.) We know that it reaches a depth of at least 102 floors, so that's 1224 feet deep, or just under a quarter of a mile. Well below the depth of most mines on Earth, though there are a few that goes as far as 2000 ft. You could still breathe down on the 100th floor, but it would likely be getting hot, and it would require quite a ventilation system to support all those cultists (and dragons!).

I suspect that what we're looking at is a use of "magician's choice", which is a misdirection technique that provides an illusion of choice for the audience. The classic example is for a magician to let a volunteer pick one of two cards. If the volunteer picks the one the magician wants them to have, he says, "Good, hold onto that one." If the volunteer picks the "wrong" card, the magician says, "Okay, we'll discard that one." So, no matter which card gets picked, the trick proceeds with the card the magician wanted.
 
In this case--assuming we collectively influenced the outcome with our cheering and booing, rather than the outcome being predetermined--it's possible that the winner didn't just happen to be the monster; Scarlet may have turned out to be the monster because she won.

My main pet is invisible, and I rather like it, though I haven't done anything particularly special with customizations. I've found that a lot of customization items can't be put on him at all, so I generally just leave a nice, apparently empty background, and occasionally entertain amusing thoughts about it. ("Somewhere in this snowy forest, there is...a fish. And he's watching you.")

My main pet is invisible, and I rather like it, though I haven't done anything particularly special with customizations. I've found that a lot of customization items can't be put on him at all, so I generally just leave a nice, apparently empty background, and occasionally entertain amusing thoughts about it. ("Somewhere in this snowy forest, there is...a fish. And he's watching you.")

My main pet is invisible, and I rather like it, though I haven't done anything particularly special with customizations. I've found that a lot of customization items can't be put on him at all, so I generally just leave a nice, apparently empty background, and occasionally entertain amusing thoughts about it. ("Somewhere in this snowy forest, there is...a fish. And he's watching you.")

This petpage has one of the best run-downs I've seen of the abilities, with reviews and recommendations for most tiers.
 
I just got Lens Flare (entirely from bottles won in the BD and my small stash of fading bottled faeries), and it's definitely a choice goal. Icicle also looks to be a solid choice--it's the obvious upgrade from Static Cling, giving you some extra damage every round. Burrow (and everything else in Tier 100) is currently bugged; keep an eye on it and make sure it's working before you snag it. Warlock's Rage is pretty much a second Lens Flare, and the only ability in its tier that is once per battle, rather than once per day--unless something changes, it's a no-brainer.
 
Xandria, you can have one ability from each tier active, and in a fight, you select the one you want to use from a popup "tray" just like you do with weapons. The abilities in the level 5 and 10 tiers are rather unimpressive; I'd skip them unless you just have blessings and nothing else to spend them on, because you'll usually be better off just using Static Cling every round than using them*. If you do take them, though, Shade is probably the best option at 5. Positive Thinking is the best ability at 10, especially if your hit points are fairly high, but you'd probably do better to save your Light blessings for Lens Flare if you can get it. If you take Positive Thinking, use it early in the fight for best effect, since its heal is based on current HP. (I'm not sure what's up with its mirror ability; I haven't tried it myself, and that petpage says it may be glitched.)
 
*Example: For Cranky (+5% damage) to be better a better choice in a round than Static Cling, it would have to add more than 3 icons worth of damage. 3 is 5% of 60, so it would only do so if you dealt over 60 icons of damage with your weapons that round--Ghostkerbombs do a max of 30 icons each, so even a max hit with two of them would only make the Cranky damage equal to Static Cling for that round.

I will point out that we were never able to have all the abilities we had bought equipped at once. The fact that we have to choose a subset of abilities is not a change. The differences are that (1) most of the abilities at least work now, and (2) we have to expend resources to swap them. Essentially, it's like spending in-game currency to respec, which is fairly common in other games. I consider it a fair trade.

I will point out that we were never able to have all the abilities we had bought equipped at once. The fact that we have to choose a subset of abilities is not a change. The differences are that (1) most of the abilities at least work now, and (2) we have to expend resources to swap them. Essentially, it's like spending in-game currency to respec, which is fairly common in other games. I consider it a fair trade.

On the contrary, many battles--perhaps even most, historically--have been won by brute force. It's just that clever strategems and victorious underdogs make for more interesting stories than "Grog the Unwashed defeated Milksop the Puny by bashing him over the head with a small tree. Repeatedly." We hear more about the times Milksop wins by his wits because it's unusual. "When a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news." 
That's not an argument for joining the Brute Squad, however. Quite the opposite, in fact--the brute force approach tends to be boring. For me, the only redeeming feature of the faction is the Princess Bride reference. :D

On the contrary, many battles--perhaps even most, historically--have been won by brute force. It's just that clever strategems and victorious underdogs make for more interesting stories than "Grog the Unwashed defeated Milksop the Puny by bashing him over the head with a small tree. Repeatedly." We hear more about the times Milksop wins by his wits because it's unusual. "When a dog bites a man that is not news, but when a man bites a dog that is news." 
That's not an argument for joining the Brute Squad, however. Quite the opposite, in fact--the brute force approach tends to be boring. For me, the only redeeming feature of the faction is the Princess Bride reference. :D

I find most of the animations uninteresting, but I have to give them credit for this one. It was imaginative, and the facial expressions really sell it--especially the completely bemused look at the end.

This time, I decided to fight one opponent until I was sure I had truly exhausted the available items I could get from it. I picked on Balthazar because he was trivial to beat on Hard. The listing below includes NP and items from each battle, along with rarity, estimated value, and any other notes that occurred to me.
 
Balthazar, Rattling Cauldron, Hard
 
Battle 1:
300 NP
Bri Codestone (R40, V1464)
 
Battle 2:
300NP
Orn Codestone (R40, V2056)
Gigantic Balthazar Plushie (R90, V4300, challenger themed)
 
Battle 3:
300NP
Pumpkin Slice (R73, V1134, arena themed)
 
Battle 4:
300NP
Item Limit
 
Battle 5:
300NP
Item Limit
 
Battle 6:
NP Limit
Bone Dog (R82, V1230, arena themed)
Gigantic Balthazar Plushie (R90, V4300, challenger themed)
 
Battle 7:
Item Limit
 
Battle 8:
Item Limit
 
Battle 9:
Vo Codestone (R40, V1987)
 
Battle 10:
Large Grundo Toe With Lint Side Order (R74, V2456, arena themed)
 
Battle 11:
Orn Codestone (R40, V2056)
Haunted Hummus (R84, V1217, arena themed)
 
Battle 12:
Kew Codestone (R101, V0)
 
Battle 13:
Bri Codestone (R40, V1464)
 
Battle 14:
Item Limit
 
Battle 15:
Item Limit
 
Battle 16:
Vo Codestone (R40, V1987)
 
Battle 17:
Zombie Marshmallows (R82, V1472, arena themed)
Zombie Marshmallows (I did not see this appear as a reward; it just appeared in my inventory. It's also the 15th and last item I received--there could be a glitch that duplicates the last prize, or something of the sort.)
 
I fought Balthazar 5 more times after this, to be sure that was all I would get from him. Then I fought the Lava Ghoul on Medium in the Pango Palladium 5 times to see if I got anything there. I got zilch from any of those fights.
 
Preliminary conclusions:
 
1) My 15-item overall cap seems to be holding. After receiving 15 items, I got nothing in 10 additional matches.
 
2) There are 3 obvious categories of items in my results: Codestones (reds may be separate), Arena-themed food, and Challenger-themed items. I believe it is possible to get one of each in a single fight, but I did not see that happen today.
 
3) If there is a per-category limit, it's at least 6 (I got 6 spooky foods and 6 regular codestones). More likely, there is no category cap, just the 15 total cap.
 
4) You can get item limit messages and still get more items from that challenger.
 
Revised hypothesis: there are additional categories that the game is selecting from, but which cannot be awarded for fighting the challenger. This produces an empty result, for which it is incorrectly displaying an "Item Limit" message. It could be that there are categories reserved for more difficult challengers, or it could just something like selecting themed items for the wrong arena or challenger.
 
Regardless, it's obviously bugged. I suggest that you keep fighting until you get 15 items.

This time, I decided to fight one opponent until I was sure I had truly exhausted the available items I could get from it. I picked on Balthazar because he was trivial to beat on Hard. The listing below includes NP and items from each battle, along with rarity, estimated value, and any other notes that occurred to me.
 
Balthazar, Rattling Cauldron, Hard
 
Battle 1:
300 NP
Bri Codestone (R40, V1464)
 
Battle 2:
300NP
Orn Codestone (R40, V2056)
Gigantic Balthazar Plushie (R90, V4300, challenger themed)
 
Battle 3:
300NP
Pumpkin Slice (R73, V1134, arena themed)
 
Battle 4:
300NP
Item Limit
 
Battle 5:
300NP
Item Limit
 
Battle 6:
NP Limit
Bone Dog (R82, V1230, arena themed)
Gigantic Balthazar Plushie (R90, V4300, challenger themed)
 
Battle 7:
Item Limit
 
Battle 8:
Item Limit
 
Battle 9:
Vo Codestone (R40, V1987)
 
Battle 10:
Large Grundo Toe With Lint Side Order (R74, V2456, arena themed)
 
Battle 11:
Orn Codestone (R40, V2056)
Haunted Hummus (R84, V1217, arena themed)
 
Battle 12:
Kew Codestone (R101, V0)
 
Battle 13:
Bri Codestone (R40, V1464)
 
Battle 14:
Item Limit
 
Battle 15:
Item Limit
 
Battle 16:
Vo Codestone (R40, V1987)
 
Battle 17:
Zombie Marshmallows (R82, V1472, arena themed)
Zombie Marshmallows (I did not see this appear as a reward; it just appeared in my inventory. It's also the 15th and last item I received--there could be a glitch that duplicates the last prize, or something of the sort.)
 
I fought Balthazar 5 more times after this, to be sure that was all I would get from him. Then I fought the Lava Ghoul on Medium in the Pango Palladium 5 times to see if I got anything there. I got zilch from any of those fights.
 
Preliminary conclusions:
 
1) My 15-item overall cap seems to be holding. After receiving 15 items, I got nothing in 10 additional matches.
 
2) There are 3 obvious categories of items in my results: Codestones (reds may be separate), Arena-themed food, and Challenger-themed items. I believe it is possible to get one of each in a single fight, but I did not see that happen today.
 
3) If there is a per-category limit, it's at least 6 (I got 6 spooky foods and 6 regular codestones). More likely, there is no category cap, just the 15 total cap.
 
4) You can get item limit messages and still get more items from that challenger.
 
Revised hypothesis: there are additional categories that the game is selecting from, but which cannot be awarded for fighting the challenger. This produces an empty result, for which it is incorrectly displaying an "Item Limit" message. It could be that there are categories reserved for more difficult challengers, or it could just something like selecting themed items for the wrong arena or challenger.
 
Regardless, it's obviously bugged. I suggest that you keep fighting until you get 15 items.

This time, I decided to fight one opponent until I was sure I had truly exhausted the available items I could get from it. I picked on Balthazar because he was trivial to beat on Hard. The listing below includes NP and items from each battle, along with rarity, estimated value, and any other notes that occurred to me.
 
Balthazar, Rattling Cauldron, Hard
 
Battle 1:
300 NP
Bri Codestone (R40, V1464)
 
Battle 2:
300NP
Orn Codestone (R40, V2056)
Gigantic Balthazar Plushie (R90, V4300, challenger themed)
 
Battle 3:
300NP
Pumpkin Slice (R73, V1134, arena themed)
 
Battle 4:
300NP
Item Limit
 
Battle 5:
300NP
Item Limit
 
Battle 6:
NP Limit
Bone Dog (R82, V1230, arena themed)
Gigantic Balthazar Plushie (R90, V4300, challenger themed)
 
Battle 7:
Item Limit
 
Battle 8:
Item Limit
 
Battle 9:
Vo Codestone (R40, V1987)
 
Battle 10:
Large Grundo Toe With Lint Side Order (R74, V2456, arena themed)
 
Battle 11:
Orn Codestone (R40, V2056)
Haunted Hummus (R84, V1217, arena themed)
 
Battle 12:
Kew Codestone (R101, V0)
 
Battle 13:
Bri Codestone (R40, V1464)
 
Battle 14:
Item Limit
 
Battle 15:
Item Limit
 
Battle 16:
Vo Codestone (R40, V1987)
 
Battle 17:
Zombie Marshmallows (R82, V1472, arena themed)
Zombie Marshmallows (I did not see this appear as a reward; it just appeared in my inventory. It's also the 15th and last item I received--there could be a glitch that duplicates the last prize, or something of the sort.)
 
I fought Balthazar 5 more times after this, to be sure that was all I would get from him. Then I fought the Lava Ghoul on Medium in the Pango Palladium 5 times to see if I got anything there. I got zilch from any of those fights.
 
Preliminary conclusions:
 
1) My 15-item overall cap seems to be holding. After receiving 15 items, I got nothing in 10 additional matches.
 
2) There are 3 obvious categories of items in my results: Codestones (reds may be separate), Arena-themed food, and Challenger-themed items. I believe it is possible to get one of each in a single fight, but I did not see that happen today.
 
3) If there is a per-category limit, it's at least 6 (I got 6 spooky foods and 6 regular codestones). More likely, there is no category cap, just the 15 total cap.
 
4) You can get item limit messages and still get more items from that challenger.
 
Revised hypothesis: there are additional categories that the game is selecting from, but which cannot be awarded for fighting the challenger. This produces an empty result, for which it is incorrectly displaying an "Item Limit" message. It could be that there are categories reserved for more difficult challengers, or it could just something like selecting themed items for the wrong arena or challenger.
 
Regardless, it's obviously bugged. I suggest that you keep fighting until you get 15 items.

The item limit is a little odd. The NP limit appears to be global--once you get the message once, you don't get any more NP--but the item limit is not. After I got the item limit message fighting hard opponents, I swatted Mr. Chuckles to heal up, and received more items. Then I fought some opponents on medium, and got items there as well. I fought medium opponents for a while, swapping back to easy occasionally to heal. Eventually, I got item limit messages on both difficulties...then got one last item on easy, bringing my total items to 15. 
My working hypothesis is that the item limit is actually a combination of limits. There seems to be a hard cap on the total number of items you can get--say, 15. Then there are categories of items, probably sorted according to some value metric (though it doesn't appear to be strictly rarity or estimated value, since one of the last things I got was a Hairy Snowball). Each category may have a cap, and some of the categories are only available at higher difficulty settings.
 
Say that the categories are "Excellent", "Good", "Normal", and "Junk", and that N and J categories are available from easy opponents. Medium opponents add G-class items, and hard opponents add E-class. If you're fighting an easy opponent, and the item roll comes up with an N-class item after you've hit your N-limit, you get the limit message. If it comes up with a J-class item, though, you get the item. Tomorrow, I think I'll track the order of the items I get to see if there's any value pattern.
 
On a completely unrelated note: some of the challengers have non-standard difficulty progressions. Most of them go from x1-x1.5-x2, but the Down For Maintenance Pteri has x1-x10-x20 (Easy: 75, Medium: 750, Hard: 1500), and Kastraliss is x1-x8-x16. There may be others, but those are the ones I noticed. I'm not sure if they're bugged, or TNT set them up that way on purpose.