Calm before the storm, block explorers already deployed to New York and subway tested to get to the other side, that I mean to Brooklyn the new expansion to the Upland universe or metaverse depending on how you look at things. Strategies and planning done over the weekend didn't even think about doing their spark event was too busy doing researching on areas I would like to mint and purchase however I know my limits as I just don't have the funds to do what I really want to do and try as I may liquidate my assets I am loathed to do so.
I know people flip their properties for a profit but I am in for the long term to me that's the fun aspect of the game as the player, as the property owner makes those decisions that can make or break your bank balance! So even though I said I would not do it I was 80% glad no one brought my 300%+ markup on some of my properties over the past weekend as I really wanted to keep my properties, but, on the other hand, I needed to sell some properties in order to mint some new ones in Brooklyn, can you see my dilemma!!
** To obtain a spark meant you HAD to sell some properties in New York (more than 50,000UPX I think) so you can build on your properties at a later stage
COLLECTIONS in Brooklyn
The key to my strategy is to grab as much as I can in the collection in order to get that juicy multiplier on rent for me, one of the most ultra-rare Collection is called "Main ST" and I just need 2 properties and it gives me a massive 2.9x multiplier but this Street is short, just a total of just FIVE BUILDINGS in the whole of the Brooklyn, do not think I will get there in time.
Remember the Block Explorer is semi controllable, you zone in or send to a property, and then it can then spawn in any direction from there, in a 360 arch/direction, if it does not go in the direction you want, you will need to repeat and go again until it does what you want. But then, at any moment, it can change directions so you will again have to either choose another location/property closer to reset direction or go back to your starting point and try again. All the time you might be liable to pay a visit cost on the property you send your Block Explorer to or best to send on a property that you own as it is then free.
50% of the map opens a 9 AM PT which is 17:00 GMT which is perfect for me but not sure if its the top end that has this 'MAIN ST' collection on, and the remaining area opens at 9 PM PT which is way past my bedtime, or I have to get up early at 05:00 GMT as I am based in the UK.
*** FUTURE TIME WARP **
The opening paragraph was written before the event the time or date now is the 13th of March 2021! so a lot has happened since I started this blog/post, it is not was I was intending, and such as life got the better of me plus lots of stuff in-game to keep me diverted from doing this post, but I really do want to record as much as I can to keep my adventures alive so to speak, and in the past week or so it's been another hell of a ride in Upand!
What I had planned and what happened on the night was totally different, who would have thought the event would have gone sidewards and a bit downwards as well, I won't harp on about the evening/issues, needless to say, there were lots of technical issues for when they released Brooklyn and I also did not realize that not all areas or Collections were opened for minting, even though I did see this comment
The unlocking will be completely random, which means different collections may have different volumes of unlocked properties, based on chance.
But as soon as the flood gates were opened I found it next to impossible to move around or use the Send function to navigate to the areas I wanted, and to be honest I had no clues on which areas to go to except for maybe Dumbo area so I decided to focus my attention here, but before we start on the main event I must stress this game has made my heart racing/pumping, knowing that I invest in REAL money and NOT UPX I got from the game it made it all too real and in prep for this event I made sure I had around 600,000 UPX to play with and at this point in the game, this was the single most expensive purchase I had done (? > $, $ > UPX), I had used up all my real capital in my Bank Account(s).
Once in the game, I had issues just moving as the transactions I made did not register, and there were a few of them as I was frantically trying to move to an area for minting! here is the proof! (are you reading this Upland!)
It was very frustrating to say to least and on Discord I could see players were able to purchase or mint new properties, and then Upland servers became unresponsive and they had to shut down or cease anymore minting for Brooklyn. So again the 1st wave was re-opened again at 11 am PT, and then soon after that, this statement came out.
Uplanders, Due to unprecedented demand for minting and the overall amount of activity Upland has experienced, we have had a number of critical issues impacting Upland’s functionality. We felt it would be better to postpone all release activities until we resolve the capacity issues that have degraded player experience this morning, rather than continue and leave many players with a frustrating app experience. This includes postponing the current wave 1 unlocking and wave 2 unlocking, originally planned for 9pm PT. We deeply apologize for any inconvenience this has caused, and you can be sure that we are working full force to get to the root of the issue.
For me, it was a mega bust, issues like not logging in, and one time it was asking me to update/change my block explorer for no apparent reason and I had worn out my F5 key to refresh the browser to be able to re-log back in after the downtime of the game. Think around 400 odd players managed to get some minted properties out of 4,000 that were online at the time of me doing this event, and I felt I had just missed the boat. So the next day Upland gave players details of compensation, a limited edition block explorer or 20,000 UPX, with hindsight I should have gone for the block explorer but I opted for the UPX as I have just recently turn Pro and wanted to have or show my new custom Block Explorer very soon.
Throughout the next days, they opened Brooklyn back up for stress test, catering also for new players as well offering FSA properties. Soon another update came out which mentioned the root cause:-
We were able to confirm our hypothesis and remove a major bottleneck caused by a 3rd party logging tool.
Brooklyn Neighborhood of Canarsie
So good news for the next opening which was on the 4th of March around 10:30 AM PT and the race was ON! And this time there were 28 Collection properties ranging from Standard to Exclusive, so out came the spreadsheet, I had to prioritize my area of search as I know players will also be in a rush to get to these properties. Using Collection multiplier information I was able to see which ones were more ideal to obtain and I had plotted down the closest already minted or owned property to the address so that I can send my Block Explorer there so that it could hopefully find its way over to the new unminted property! Here was my chart I was using that evening as my attack plan!
BROADWAY Race
From the chart, my initial plan was targetting Brooklyn Heights (as I noted down all the jump zones) BUT this went very quickly so onto the next on my list 1703 Broadway, again my heart was pumping it was now a two-horse race and I had a chance to actually win and mint something! I could see other explorers in the zone or area that I went to, the player called "CROSSED" had a lead on me, 1703 Broadway was located down the road and we were both on the route going down the road! I was hoping/praying this player was offline or his/her explorer would veer off somewhere as they do!
And like my avatar/Block Explorer I was moving at a turtles pace (actually my turtles can run pretty quickly for when they get spooked!) but seeing this in realtime in Upland was painful, my explorer was going at a snail's pace, plus my angle to 1703 Broadway was slightly off and I was hoping the other player explorer would move away from their predicted path. But as many things in life I was disappointed
But in the end, another player managed to slowly get to the property first and minted it before us!
Flushing Ave race
I ported over to the closest property to 1293 Flushing avenue and was lucky enough that my explorer was heading north in the general direction of the unminted property, but unfortunately for me, one of the biggest whales of the game DizzySki was ahead of me, and his explorer was going to get their first! so I just sat and watch his explorer enter within range of the property and waited for it to turn light blue for when he minted it, but I kept watching, it wasn't turning color and his explorer was now moving away, surely you would not miss out on such a bargain property? But indeed his explorer just kept on going and I later found out that he was still at work and didn't see it! And then as luck would have it a property close by (screenshot below) got minted and brought so I instantly made a sent over to it, but I wasn't the only one.
Upland JONES player was a split second ahead of me heading towards 1293 Flushing Avenue, times like this I wished UPLAND would incorporate some sort of Nitro boast limited of course to be fair in the game to be used, and yes you guess it I lost out on this property as well!
I shared my frustration on Discord and JONES commented that yes indeed he also saw me close on his/her heels!
Atlantic Avenue Race
OK evening still young but 90% of the properties on that initial 28 lists were already gone and still had not minted anything, half the trick is to use your send's wisely as you only have a limited amount so it's all down to luck really on sending your explorer in the right direction after you jump to a property so you can't just reset it without a cost to your send limit. At this point in the evening, I think I was down to 2 or 3 sends so now it was all or nothing.
I managed to find a property close to 1050 Atlantic Avenue and again was lucky enough that it was heading south in the general direction of 1050 Atlantic ave, and whats more to my surprise there were no other Explorers on the route, and there is where my heart started pumping again. I was actually in for a chance to finally mint something, the journey down to the property seemed like ages and all the while anything could happen, another server maintenance window, my explorer could veer off in the opposite direction, so it's not all over until the fat lady sings so they say and indeed never count your chickens before they hatch.
I wasn't worried about that other Block Explorer (Face with PPE om) in the picture as it was moving away from the property, but then I noticed another explorer on the Northwest or left of the map, and NO!!! this person is also heading toward 1050 Atlantic Avenue, is this going to be another bust? I could not believe it with the end in sight and what I thought was a simple win was going to be yet another race to the finish line. And my nerves were not good, as I could feel the pressure of the evening and how I managed to lose on all the other properties, properties that I did research on in getting to them quickly and to be minted, and all for what, nothing?
I was soo stressed I even forgot to take note on who this Pro Player was, but look at the above image who do you think got the property?
It was ME! YEAH, I finally got one!! it was dame close just look this person was a lot closer than me but I spamming that buy button like mad!
What an evening, what a thrill! was not expecting this kind of stress/excitement from this blockchain game! And it turns out also I love the property, normally I would choose my locations based on real-life location/business but since it was a hectic evening I did not even look at the street view to see what I was buying, and to my surprise, it was a storage center, which is cool since I don't own one of them!
Anyways blog already far too long as I have many other events I would like to share with you but have to wait until the next episode to find out how I got on my the MOST expensive purchase I ever made, plus how the biggest whale in the game has helped me out, but for now, rejoice in my new storage center!
