Hi there! My name is Alex, and I just started playing this week. I am really enjoying the game, but I just wanted to ask a couple questions.

Firstly, what is the best method for making gold? I have been reading through the forum and I saw the thread about it, but I have really only been getting gold from chests while exploring, and it is usually 1-300 each time. Do I just need to save up for the 3rd party slot and do the dungeon?

Also, why do some battles only give me 1xp per monster? Is it just that the enemies are lower level than my Sylesties? And when in the game do I start getting essences? I don't think I've gotten one yet, and creating pets with different traits is one of my favourite parts of the game so far.

Thank you for reading, and I hope that wasn't too many questions to ask at once! :3

Hi, welcome to Sylestia!!

The best way to make gold is definitely sending your pets on missions. You can do this at the Town Barracks in Esior's Haven.

I'm not super into the battling scene but I'm fairly certain that you're right about only gaining 1xp because of the level difference.

It's rare to come across essences randomly, which might explain why you haven't found any yet, but you can get them from battling, nurturing, and opening mission satchels.

I had an extra Bulbori essence I sent you as a welcome gift :)

guide to making gold,
guide to mission pets and missions,
dungeons guide,
guide to generator essences

missions are one of the best ways to make gold. found at the barracks of esiort's haven and sanctuary of saerielle, you can unlock more slots at the town plazas until you have a total of 6

you don't need 3 pets to do nightfall bandit dungeon but it would make it easier. umbra forest and on are scaled with you having 3 party slots in mind

1exp is down to level differential between you and the enemy yes.

essences guide contains info on how to get them and the chances of drops.
You can still use the generator regardless of actually having essences- in fact the summer theme design contest is currently underway (guide on theme design contests)

I want to look into your team to give an overview of potential improvements, but I was about to go to bed (and then accidentally erased everything I had typed, so appologies if i'm coming off as a bit short or abrupt) and that's not directly being asked about. will do once i wake up again in a few hours though

Thank you so much for the essence! I appreciate it so much, Bulbori is adorable. I'll send you a message once I use the essence so you can see the pet I make :3

Okay perfect, I've had my focus on the 25k for the 3rd party slot (I'm pretty much there now), so I've neglected the mission slots a bit. I'll make sure to do that next!

That makes sense, I figured they were just rare. You are so sweet for giving me one! Thank you again :D

I definitely need to get those 6 slots. Does only pet level matter for missions, or should I be giving them all good equipment as well? I just wanted to make sure it wasn't a waste of gold to keep the equipment for all of the mission pets I'm using.

I'll probably end up trying the dungeon now because my 2 main battlers are almost level 50 and a kind stranger sent me some really nice equipment for them once I get there.

I might try the design contest if I can, I love stuff like that!

Thank you so much, but don't worry about taking time to do that for me! I do appreciate it though, I think I'm doing good with the stat matchups so far but I'm not sure which elements are best for some pets. If you have any suggestions please feel free to let me know!

what counts for a mission is the stat, so both level and gear impact those (again, check the guide for more details on how it works). Most people who spend a lot of time sending pets on missions have a minimum of 10, two for each of the five stats (hp, str, int, dex, agi) missions can ask for (one for each of the two barracks)
One strategy is to buy high leveled pets for it (since when they have proficiency points applied, a lv75 easily falls on the "exceptional completion" side of the behind-the-scenes maths).
There's fewer pets on sale than there usually are right now (people buying them up to release for patriotic event), but there's still a decent number of lv60+ pets set for sale at 1k gold or less.

On your pets, this guide breaks down some general team setup/what each element is good at/what gear and stat goes to what element

What pet it is doesn't have much affect on what element you give them, since prof points and equipment have a much larger affect than base stats in the long run (base stats do matter more once you hit the lost grove, but even that's primarily the hp since it uses different scaling for its level bonus calculation so low base hp vs high base hp ends up with thousands of hp difference)

But in brief, Orchid = air element = myrmidon (str/dex). Once you get your third slot, take the point in hp and put it in strength, or dex
Fern = shadow = illusionist (int/agi). Profs are. uh, probably fine? I don't use shadow tank so I don't feel as confident speaking on them.

Amazing explanation, thank you so so much!! I will absolutely be searching for more pets to buy now that I have a better handle on gold, I appreciate the suggestion! I will absolutely look at that guide when I'm at home in a few hours. I'm sure it will be very helpful too, but what you said already did a lot.
I will definitely switch that proficiency point over, I think I chose health due to using mid armor for a while and not realizing it lol. I fixed the armor issue now though, at least as much as I can with what I have so far I'm glad the base stats aren't super important, I tried to take them into consideration but I absolutely chose shadow for the looks and not much else lol.

Sending you a bunch of equipement I just collected on my evening run, I use none of these
You can sell them all (or keep some if you think you'll use any of them at some point when your pets lvl 60+), it'll help you get a bit of gold to spend around! :D

Thank you so so much for everything you sent! <3 That was so sweet of you! I'm keeping most of it for lvl 60 bc I'm almost there, but I sold a little bit of it for some much-needed gold.