Right around the same time I published that whiny complaining post about the RisingStar game two weeks ago, I completed level 55. With that I unlocked the Local Mini Tour Support mission, which I've been playing ever since. Normally I manage to do three of them in a day, as this gig takes five hours to complete. In two weeks I've advanced to level 58 (leaving me 18 to go before I can have my first band audition), and earned more than 70k Starbits.
Money Well Spent
At first I thought I may shoot for the 12-pack option, costing me 100k, but giving me two additional packs that I would not get spending 10k on each one. But then, as I was saving up my money, I decided against buying packs all together. Though the never know what you're gonna get part had an undeniable draw, what I usually ended up getting was only rarely satisfactory. In the end I would sell most of my cards, ending up with less money than the pack cost me in the first place. This was made even worse when buying two packs right after each other, giving me the same exact cards. So instead, I thought I'd save up for the specific cards I really wanted. This is how I got The Crow to sign up with us... and changing the game entirely.
A Radically Competent Manager
The ink on his contract wasn't even dry, when The Crow started rearranging things immediately. At first we thought he was just kidding, or pulling the act of a "tough manager", but he showed us right away that he meant business.
Okay kids, you're gonna stop playing those long ass Local Mini Tour Supports immediately, and go back to playing at the mall.
At first everybody seemed to object immediately, but The Crow presented a quick volley of numbers to clear up any doubts.
I know, you like making money. You're all talented artists with expensive instruments. Hell, you even got me to become your manager. But what you need right now is not the money. You need experience points to rise through the levels as fast as you can. And the way you're going right now that ain't happening... You play what, three gigs a day? Okay, let's add a music lessons and two radio interviews to each, to use up all your energy. That's 828 XP a day, though in practice I'm sure it's less. That's 3.5 days per level, or two levels in a week, not counting the increase in XP for each. In other words, after going on for as long as it took you to get where you are now, you'd still be doing the same old thing!
A heavy silence settled on our group. The numbers clearly spoke for themselves, and we were painfully aware of this. In fact, this is what we had been complaining about, hoping to change the workings of the universe merely by appealing to the dev gods. (As if they'd ever listen, let alone change the conditions of our world at our request!) But now, this manager seemed to have figured out something.
Now think about those shopping mall gigs, you could not wait to get past back before level 30. How long did one of those take you? One hour, right? How many of them could you do in a day? Ten at least, I'm sure, provided you have enough pizza. But don't worry, that'll be the next thing you'll buy. How much XP is that going to give you? Exactly: 1310 a day. After each one you may still want to play two radio interviews, hoping to score more pizza, adding another 220 XP. And at night you can still do a Local Mini Tour Support.
We understood. Though the calculation of The Crow were somewhat optimistic, we could see where he was heading. Sure, we may not always complete ten mall shows every day, so the 1664 XP may be simply a goal to shoot for. Hard, but not unrealistic. In any case, it sure beat our measly 828, which we didn't reach every day either. Roughly speaking, we would advance more or less at twice the speed as before. All things considered, this approach may be worth trying.
Leaning back in his seat, The Crow scrutinized each one of us, as if he was thinking: I'm glad to have cleared up any misunderstandings. Now... let's see... do we REALLY need all those 1835 fans and 2325 skills? We had just taken Dean to the slave market, and we knew either one of us could be the next. Nobody said a word, and even The Crow seemed to just mull over the idea. As for us, we started warming up to playing at the mall again. It would make us feel less like stars, but at least the shows were rather quick and over soon. And hopefully this way we may start having band auditions in under two months.
I'd like to thank @shaddrak for the inspiration he gave me in this post to this narrative, and my new approach to playing RisingStar.