Aug 12, 2011

Secret District: Smuggler's Haven

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UPDATE:  Due to a nerf on August 12, 2011, the job experience payouts are no longer as listed. For the new ratios on the Ruby Level, go here.
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Once you complete the Get A Grip Mission you will have access to a new Secret District called Smuggler's Haven. If you don't do the Mission it will unlock when the Mission timer runs out.
To get to the Secret District Job Page, go to your Brazil Job Page and click on the "Secret Districts" button.
Zynga explains the concept of the Secret Districts in the help mark.
If you haven't finished the Mission, the Secret District will be locked.
Once you complete all parts of the Get A Grip Mission, the Secret District unlocks. Smuggler's Haven will be around for a little under 19 days. It will unlock for all players whether they did the Mission or not in a little under 5 days.
An easier way to get there is to use the Travel Bar as the Smuggler's Haven has been added at the bottom.
There are 4 levels of mastery and each job doesn't have cool art work like Districts 1-8. We do get a all in one image on top of the jobs that slightly changes with each level of mastery.
Bronze
Silver 
Gold
Ruby
There are a total of 9 jobs and we get a skill point when we master each one and another one when we master the entire level.  Here are the job descriptions, requirements and payout for each level of mastery. For more details on mastery payouts and equipment requirements, visit the Mafia Wars Wiki Smuggler's Haven Page.
(Click images to enlarge)
Bronze
Silver
Gold 
Ruby
Three of the nine jobs require a consumable item called a Life Saver.
You will need Live Savers to do the jobs "Recover Lost Cargo", "Gain Respect From A Gang Ringleader" and "Capture A Secret Shipment".
Life Savers are made by doing the job "Infiltrate A Rival's Dealings". You will need to spend 99, 148, 297 or 594 depending on which level you are on per click. The drop rate isn't 100% like we see with the other consumables in Brazil.
Life Savers are giftable but only through the Free Gift Page. You can't put them on your wishlist.
There doesn't appear to be a cap on how many Life Savers we can collect so the best strategy is to not waste energy farming them. You want to get to the Gold and Ruby levels as quickly as possible because of the excellent experience/energy ratios. I was to gather up 51 Life Savers from Free Gift requests and links. In theory we could collect 200 a day but it's too soon to verify this limit.
If you don't feel like searching for gifts or using your energy, Life Savers are available at the cost of 2 per Reward Point. You will get the option when you run out.
Or you can buy them in bulk from the Marketplace under the Special Loot Tab.
The Mafia Wars Wiki Life Saver Page lists how many Live Savers you will need to master each level. To fully master all jobs requiring Live Savers through the Ruby Level, you will need a total of 208.
(image from the Mafia Wars Wiki)
You will also need some Brazil Real to do the last job "Bribe Officials To Ignore The Haven".
You also need to buy required equipment items throughout mastering. No new job equipment items were added to the Brazil City Store but you may find you need some additional items. This will be especially true if you sold items to cover the costs of equipment in the higher Districts.
If you look close at the above costs and payouts, you will be really happy with what you see. The experience to energy ratios are amazing. Here is the break down. The jobs are listed in the order in which they appear in the game.

Job
Bronze
Exp/Enery
Silver
Exp/Energy
Gold
Exp/Energy
Ruby
Exp/Energy
1
2.22
2.30
3.56
4.73
2
2.09
2.17
3.65
4.46
3
2.18
2.26
3.47
4.65
4
2.21
2.29
3.55
4.72
5
2.07
2.14
3.31
4.42
6
2.23
2.31
3.56
4.76
7
2.19
2.26
3.50
4.66
8
2.06
2.13
3.27
4.38
9
2.21
2.29
3.55
4.72

There are 4 new loot items that will drop randomly from doing the jobs of this Secret District. I found the drop rate to be poor and the last item (the one with the best stats) didn't start dropping until I got to the Gold Level.
I reviewed our current Top 8 Loot and found that only one these items, the Fire Breather, is better than what we currently have available. I'll ignore the first two because there are a lot of better items. The Basking Shark, with stats of 82/52,  is a attack animal that is inferior to the Golden Lion Tamarin which drops in Brazil District 7 and the Cheetah from the Fight Club.
The Fire Breather is a defensive armor item that will beat out our current fighting and job loot. It has stats of 54/96 and beats the Climber Leggings from fighting by +11 and the Rugged Tactics Vest from the Fight Club by +4.
I ran the Show Worst Items bookmarklet and found that each Basking Shark will raise attack score by +3 and each Fire Breather by +11. I still haven't purchased much Fight Club loot because I'm waiting for the next round of High End Fighting Loot to come out. I will be utilizing all of my energy on the Smuggler's Haven because of the exp/energy ratios so I hope to get as many Fire Breathers as possible.
A few things are available to help you get through the jobs faster. You can use your 2X Mastery Boosts (and 2X Mastery 2X Loot Boosts).  I have been loading up on them by collecting Mystery Boost Packs. In the example below, I also had my Strategist bonus activated. Here are my 2X Mastery Boosts prior to doing the job
This normally gives 5% mastery per click. I got 15% because one of my 2X mastery boosts (10%) was used plus the Strategist bonus (15%).
At some point the 2X Mastery Boosts stop working. It's like this in Brazil so it didn't surprise me that they were applied to the jobs on the Ruby Level. I collected a few more 2X Mastery Boosts and did the same job shown above "Infiltrate A Rival's Dealings". The only difference is I'm on the Ruby Level instead of the Bronze. The job pays out 5% mastery regardless of level. With 5 2X Mastery Boosts in my inventory, I only got 5% Mastery.
Here are the before and after screen shots and none of my 2X Mastery Boosts were used. Zynga really wants us to buy energy refills!
You can ask your mafia to help you one time per day. I chose the highest energy job, "Capture A Secret Shipment". When you are eligible to request help, the "Ask" button will appear un-shadowed.
Click on it to generate a news feed request and wait for your mafia to help. It's best to do other jobs until all your helpers have responded.
When it was all said and done, I found the job 25% mastered. At % 5 mastery, that saved me 4,860 energy and 5 Life Savers.
When you fully master each level you get a skill point and a Ballistic Bliss. This works like all the other loot with stars. You only get one item but the stats increase as you complete higher levels of mastery. If you master the Ruby Level, your Ballistic Bliss will have stats of 160/74.


Bronze
Silver
Gold
Ruby

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Article written by Jennifer Patterson, Creator of the MW Loot Lady Blog, The Mafia Wars Loot Lady Facebook Fan Page and Co-Host of The Informant Podcast.
All material is protected by copyright law

17 comments:

  1. I wonder, since all is needed are 'life savers' do you think they will come out with another needed consumable? like they did in Cuba? I had finished Cuba before the Politico Corrupto was needed.!

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  2. LOVE the Energy:Exp ratio!!! Just marvelous!!!

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  3. This event is the best damn thing ever. I LOVE THIS. It's amazing..! For the first time ever since I was lowlevel I can serial-level! I'm a hybrid so this suits me perfectly. Now I can't see how anyone could say that Zynga doesn't like their players anymore. This is like (christmas+birthday)^∞. I'm on ruby level and enjoying it fully.

    And btw, a tip if you're not pure energy player is to get at least some 100 life savers on level "0" before you go on to further levels to save energy on the good, but not as insanely good ratio levels like gold and ruby. :)

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  4. I'm getting so sick of this game.

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  5. This secret mission might be the end of Mafia Wars. Energy accounts will be able to get a ton of skill with these out of whack ratios. I was asked by a friend to hit his energy account and lost. He added 15k defence today alone

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  6. I just found a pop-up. and the message is the payout from smuggler`s haven jobs was changed.

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  7. All 4 loot item drop already in bronze lvl..,

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  8. looking at Ur picture on ruby lvl its much different that i have mine showing half less xp per job than Urs

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  9. I dont get that exp/energy ratio for the ruby level at all. mine is about half as well. Can someone help me with this?

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  10. There's been a note for an UPDATE at the very top of the page for more than a day now ...
    UPDATE: Due to a nerf on August 12, 210, the job experience payouts are no longer as listed. For the new ratios on the Ruby Level, go here.
    ___________________________________________

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  11. Does it stay open after you close Ruby level or does it vanish?

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  12. stay open......I finish it on 36 hrs, and still open the district since sunday

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  13. Anonymous said...
    I'm getting so sick of this game.
    August 12, 2011 8:52 AM

    Thanks to you I just ended my Mafia Wars account. Thanks again man, so many godamn hours wasted of my life.

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  14. Does loot still drop after you finish Ruby lvl?

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  15. got to ruby with one last tier to do, with 10mins remaining today and duh!, didn't finish it :(...why no extended timer Zynga puppy dogs???

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  16. If you re buy Smuggler's Haven and finish it through the Ruby level for the second time check your inventory to make sure you have 2 Ballistic Bliss in there. I didn't receive my second one and had to use live chat to get the loot item.

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  17. @ Paul or whoever bought in to Smuggler's heaven: Is the lootdrop worth the 35 RP you will need to buy in??? Thks!

    ReplyDelete

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