If you have been around for any length of time and hopped into one of my lives where I am writing and typing, you’ve definitely heard me talk about 4thewords. I even dedicated a chunk of a recent blog post, related to Preptober and Nanowrimo, to talking about 4thewords. 4thewords is, in essence, a game where writing words moves you forward. You have monsters which a limited amount of time to defeat them, and you defeat them by typing! Monsters have different words to time requirements, different drops, and different rewards. The quests are sometimes timed, have different words needed to complete them, and all have a variety of rewards as well. There is gear you can wear which increases the time allowance, decreases the words needed, or even gives you a better chance on reward drop rates. There are a number of different zones, all filled with fun lore in the 4thewords world. And there’s cute outfits, fun pets, houses you can decorate and design, and a forum filled with a community of other writers all trying to get words out onto the page.
When I say that this website is honestly my neurospicy dream, I mean it. I’ll feel tired and ready to just stop writing, but then I see that I only need to complete two more monsters to turn in a quest, or meet a deadline, or whatever like that, and suddenly I have another 2k words written and another chapter completed. The completionist in me drives me to tackle every quest I come across, compete in all of the events to get all of the rewards before the event ends, and earning a new piece of gear is so damn rewarding. I’ve been at it for 2.5 years, and recently earned a new set of wings for my hero, which are visible on any forum posts I make.
Do I sometimes groan and stare at my streak and think, ugh, I don’t want to write today? Yes, I do. Of course I do.
But the goal of 4thewords to maintain a streak is 444 words, and I can do that every day, and maybe then some.
BUT! That’s not what this blog post is about. This blog post is MORE THAN THAT! This post is about walking you all through using 4thewords, some tips and tricks, and give you a little guide on how to use this amazing program and tool to help you get words on the page, even when you feel no drive to write.
Please note – there WILL be a video walkthrough at the bottom with all of what I will be sharing in this post, so if looking at the pictures and reading the words feels like too much for you, that’s okay! There is ALSO so many walkthroughs available on the website, so I’m going to link those, because they will probably answer your questions far better than I can, but hey! Y’all ask for a guide from me, you get a guide from me!
The 4thewords Official Video Walkthrough
So, let’s get to it.
COST
One of the first things many people who have fallen in love with 4thewords asks me is how does the cost work. I will agree, this can be a little confusing if you’re new to using 4thewords, but once you figure it out, it all makes sense! When you start your account, you will get the first 30 days free, but after that, you have to pay. IF THERE IS NO SALE GOING ON (which we will come back to in a moment), it costs $40 USD for 540 Crystals, and 528 Crystals for a 1 Year Subscription. You can purchase smaller bundles of Crystals, and the cost of Crystals to Time does not change – if you can only afford one month, it’s not going to cost you more to purchase one month at a time with crystals than if you purchased one year.
That stated, you do get more Crystals the more money you spend at a time, but you do get more Crystals per Dollar spent, a difference of 12.9 crystals for $1 vs 16.75 for $1 on the largest Crystal Purchase. So, keep that in mind!
That stated, there are regular sales on 4thewords for Crystals, including Events, Nanowrimo, etc. I always purchase my Crystals during Nanowrimo or during the Summer Event, as they typically have bundles attached to these events as well. You can also purchase Bundles with Crystals, which give you more than just Subscription time, but also additional goodies, rewards, bonus pets, etc.
If you’re not out of subscription time, then always try to purchase during these events!
Crystals can be used for more than just Subscription and Bundles, however. There are special items in shops, everything from event specific outfit and quest items, to STEMPOS! I’ll be talking about Stempos later on when I discuss Streaks, but they are by far one of the most important items in the game, in my opinion!
GETTING STARTED
When you first start the game, you will begin on your dashboard page. I won’t show you mine, because yours will look very different! You can personalize it, change the color scheme, etc, but that’s all for later. There will also be prompts, goals, etc, all of which will help to guide you along. Do I recommend following this? Of course! But, let me lend you a little hand with getting started.
If you click on the Adventure tab on the left, you will see the first zone, and options to see other zones as you move forward.
You will begin in an area called Luciola Forest, with a few quests to start with. Your first monster will be a Wignow, which you will see a number of times throughout this game in various iterations. There should also be a quest for writing 500 words, defeating monsters, and eventually one which has you going against Aracni. This will unlock the Mama Tree Area.
Each quest area has a Main Quest Chain, which will eventually lead you to another area. There will also be side quests, daily quests, and repeatable quests. Some of the side quests will also unlock new areas.
I know, I know, it’s a lot to start! More and more will become available as you continue through! Over time, the developers have added so many new areas and rewards, and when you’re starting from scratch, it can be overwhelming. My personal advice is to work your way through, one area at a time, trying to clear out as much as you can before you continue forward! Particularly as you’re learning the game, you don’t want to end up with a quest log filled with quests from three different areas and no idea what you’re supposed to be working on. Don’t overwhelm yourself needlessly.
Follow the prompts, do the quests in Luciola Forest, move onto Mama Tree as the Main Questline allows, and start to explore more when you feel ready, using tools like the 4thewords wiki to tell you which quest chains lead to which rewards and which new areas if need be.
QUESTS/MONSTERS
A few tips about Quests and Monsters, before we get into the actual writing discussion.
You will have a maximum of 25 Quest Slots available to you at any given time. I try to stay below 20 quests personally, as there are a number of daily repeatable quests I like to do, and always get below 15 before the start of a new event. You have to be level 10 in order to participate in events, but you’ll get there eventually. You will gain experience for levels from defeating monsters and completing quests.
But, back to talking about quests and monsters!
There are three types of quests.
The first is your main questline. This questline will lead you through the game to different areas, different rewards, and follow the main lore of 4thewords.
The second is your side quests. These are all single completion quests, with many of them rewarding you with items you need, whether it be crafting material, coins, or even gear. Don’t ignore them just because they’re side quests!
The third is Global Quests. Most of these are all repeatable, and as you progress through, you will gain more and more repeatable quests. Some of these are location specific, while others are things like writing a certain number of words or defeating a certain number of monsters. Some are timed, so take note of that when you select them. Most of these gift you some of the best rewards in the game, namely, chests! Chests will contain crafting materials, coins, and sometimes even the best ever Stempos. Always try to grab your Global Quests which gift you Chests!
All of the quests you have begun can be viewed in your Journal, on the sidebar. From there, you can view the rewards, the time needed, the number of monsters you have left to defeat, and even add monsters to your monster queue.
As for Monsters, you can have a total of 10 Monsters in your queue at any given time. There’s a lot going on in your Monster Tab in the upper right corner, so click on it, and let’s take a look. At the very top is the option to START BATTLE, along with a super important option – AUTOSTART. This means when you wrap up one monster, it will go ahead and start the next monster without you prompting it. Turn this off if you only want to complete one, but I normally leave it on and just write away. If you go down a little, you will see the word count needed to defeat them all, the time needed for all of the monsters listed, and the number of monsters you have queued. Beside that is an OPTION button we will come back to in a moment.
Note, you CAN cancel your current battle if need be, to keep from “losing” the battle, but it won’t automatically go back into your queue if you do this.
And now, onto the monsters themselves. The first button with the arrows is LOOP BATTLE, which tells the game to keep repeating that same monster over and over again. Next is CLONE BATTLE, which will add the same monster to the bottom of your queue. The third button removes the monster from your queue. The drop down menu then offers you FILL QUEUE WITH MONSTER, so that you can just fill up your queue, and MONSTER INFO, so you can look at the monster details.
You can also move monsters up and down on your queue, as you wish to, in two different ways. If you click, at the very top, the OPTION button, it will have a drop down option to SORT MONSTERS based on time or by word count, up and down. The other way is by clicking and holding the six dots on each monster to drag and drop them up and down the queue.
I personally like to always start my battles with a BIG monsters, so that I can defeat a big one, and then have smaller ones to wrap up a sprint, but how you want to tackle it is up to you!
Now, like I said above, every monster has different word requirements and time limit, so be aware of that as you add them to the queue. Typically, more words means more time, but you will find monsters with the same word requirements having varying time limits, so be vigilant on that! You don’t want to be almost done with a monster, walk away and get distracted, and then lose the battle in the end.
Like I said, this game keeps me on task, because there’s no way I’m losing a big monster!
Now, to note, once you click START BATTLE, the top section of this panel will change.
You will see first the AUTO START button, which, if it’s a green pause means it is off, but if it’s a blue fast forward means it is on. Next is the LOOP BATTLE, which again, if it’s green it’s off, if it’s blue it’s on. Then comes your CONSUMABLE tab, which, you can gain potions throughout your gameplay, but I won’t spend any time on that for the moment. And finally, another set of ellipses for a drop down menu, which shows COPY MONSTER, FILL QUEUE, MONSTER INFO, and FLEE BATTLE. These are all applicable to the monster you are CURRENTLY fighting.
ALSO, if you have AUTOSTART on, you will see below your current monster that a blue circle with the label NEXT UP is around your next monster, so that you know who you will be fighting next, in case you want to move your other monsters around to change that.
Like I said, there’s a lot here, and I’m just trying to help everyone get their bearings before they get overwhelmed.
There is also another type of monster I haven’t mentioned yet, and they are not for the weak of heart! These are endurance monsters. They require you keep typing for the amount of time listed in order to defeat them. You have to type a certain number of words in a set amount of time to keep them at a certain health, but it’s a whole mathematic formula, and with lag depending on your internet connection… give them a go! They can be fun, particularly if you’re working on notes, but they always stress me out! Gear can help you out on this one, but we’ll discuss it more later.
And now, onto the writing portion of the game.
FILES/PROJECTS/EXPORTING
When you open up the Writing Tab, you will see two different sections show on the sidebar. One is your Files, the other is your Projects. Feel free to make a project now or wait until later, but stay on top of your file organization!
For me personally, I like to have one file per chapter, and then sort the files in my projects. Projects will have smaller folders, one for notes, one for each act of the book, and oftentimes even old chapters I ended up rewriting. You can sort and drag, or assign the files in the document themselves.
Once you start a new document, you name it, and can change the icon and color as you so wish.
There are also a number of formatting features, everything from bold to alignment to headers to whatever you need.
There’s lots to click and explore, so play around, but be aware that the eye hides the formatting tab, and clicking X on the File/Projects Tab will send it to the side. Click right on the same little icon for them to reappear.
Before I keep going, though, let’s talk about the … Icon.
This is your “more options” tab.
In this list, you can add file goals, add your file to favorites, which keeps it at the top of your file list, assign it to a project, look at past versions, archive it, etc… All of it is for organization, formatting, etc.
You will also find in there the EXPORT option. This is how you can take your document out of 4thewords and move it somewhere else. Now, me personally? I just copy and paste from the typing page into docs, but if you want to view your words in PDF form or just save each file, you can do that!
Whatever works best for you on that one, honestly. You’ll figure out your own system as you can continue.
One last note – the document will show at the top a blue or red checkmark – blue has been backed up, red means it’s still saving, so keep that in mind. There’s also a word count for the document and a time – that’s the time you spent working on this document.
Honestly, I could spend all day talking about the various things listed in here, but I’ll end it there! Just click around and explore.
GEAR
Gear is going to be something that comes into play the more you play the game. You will find, as you defeat monsters, that you are picking up various items. You’ll also find a number of items in the marketplace. Now, some of these items are used for crafting things, but some of these items are actually gear that you wear!
This is a side note that I won’t go deeper into – you also have a separate character wardrobe, including hair, wings, and pets. These are all items which will appear on your character for forum posts. If you click on your hero button and select Wardrobe, those are your decorative items! Enjoy playing with those!
And now, back to gear.
When you click on hero, the first tab shows your inventory, and your character with current stats. If you select battle, you will then see another menu pop up underneath, where you can select the items you currently have. Depending on how long you’ve been playing the game, you may not have an item for every slot. Again, these can be quest rewards, something you can purchase outright from various markets, or something you craft in the marketplace. Keep looking for new pieces in each new area you arrive in, and check back often to see if you have something new to equip.
The stats themselves, however, are what we are here to talk about, so each piece of the puzzle is important, because it does have influence.
Attack is, in my opinion, your most important statistic. This will increase the number of words you are getting credit for for every word you write, or in other words, the more attack you have, the less words you need to write. The formula is WORD COUNT divided by 1.(attack stat). So, if you have an attack of 15, and the monster you are attacking is 100 words, you only actually need to write 87 words to defeat the monster.
Defense is another useful statistic depending on the situation. This will increase the amount of time you have to defeat a monster. Each point in defense gives you 0.5% more time. Let’s say the monster you are fighting takes 60 minutes, and you have a defense of +10. You will actually have 63 minutes to defeat this monster. You’re probably thinking, wait, Defense isn’t very useful then? Like I said, depending on the situation, because…
Defense is the only skill to have any effect on Endurance Quests. Endurance requires you to keep typing, no matter what, and monsters start at 30 Health. If it drops to zero, you’ve lost the battle – seconds matter. And by seconds, I mean you have about 14 seconds of no typing. With every point of defense, however, their health goes up – if you have 50 defense, they have 80 health, and it gives you about 30 seconds of no typing to not lose the battle. So, like I said, in some situations, defense matters! When I’m doing endurance battles, the attack gear comes off and the defense gear comes on.
Luck is the final statistic, and this one doesn’t really have a formula. The more luck you have, the more of a chance you’ll get the higher drop from a creature. Many will have a 1-2 or 2-4 drop rate on certain items. So, if you’re trying to grind a certain creature for an item which only drops from them, and there’s a 1-2 drop rate, you’ll want to switch to some luck gear. There’s only a few items this apply to, but when you come across them and groan, you’ll know it’s time to shift to luck.
Make yourself familiar with your gear, and be aware that in many events, companions will be available with a limited number you can choose. Each of them is either Attack, Defense, Luck, or an even split of all three. Know what you already have, and make the right choice based on your needs.
STREAKS
I’ve mentioned above two things which are now going to come together now – streaks and Stempos. This is a part of the game which can be kind of frustrating when you don’t want to write every day, but there are ways around it, some which cost you nothing, and some which come with a little ouch if you forget the day of, but Stempos are there to help.
But first, what is the requirement for the writing streak? 444 words. That’s it. You write 444 words, you’ve maintained your streak.
The more days you write, the more rewards you get. You can view this on your Journal Page, and select the second tab, Writing Streak. On this page, you can view your calendar, and scroll down to see your streak rewards. One of the big ones, there are the bottom, is the angel wings. When I say you want to maintain your streak, I mean it!
But of course, some days, you don’t want, or don’t have time, to write. That’s okay! This is the page you come to to maintain your streak. You simply click Fix Dates with Stempo, click the date on the calendar you want to add credit for, and there you go.
If you click the current day, it costs 0 Stempos – you gave yourself credit, and you can come back the next day to write again. If you have, for example, a few days off, you can go ahead and schedule in advance. This costs 1 Stempo for each day. I use these while going on vacation. And, if you forget to write one day, and come back the next to see your streak broken, you can spend 2 Stempo per day to give yourself credit later on.
Stempos can drop from some creatures, come from some chests, be quest rewards, or be purchased for Crystals. As I said, they’re very important, and you’re going to want to make sure you always have enough Stempos to cover.
A note, though, before we continue – you can only edit the past 30 days, or purchase in advance the next 30 days. Any more than that, and it’s too late. So don’t forget!
MY SPREADSHEET
Now, at this point, I feel like I’ve given you probably too much information, but, I am a spreadsheet girly, and thought I would share a hot tip on how I like to keep track of my current quests, my quests available, and what monsters I need to tackle where. In particular, I like to make sure I have all of the quests for each monster before I spend the next few days attacking the same big one over and over again, and I do this all by sorting in a spreadsheet.
Is this overkill? Maybe. I don’t know. I just like to know what I need to be working on, where, and have an easier time figuring out what still needs done.
If you’re nuts like me, here’s how I set up my spreadsheet. I have one tab for current quests, one tab for the first few areas, another tab for the next few, etc. I have the number of words needed for each monster as a way to split them up into columns, and then I can easily look through and see if I have more than one quest for the same monster.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO DO THIS, BUT IF YOU WANT TO, I THINK IT’S A GOOD IDEA.
IN CONCLUSION
I love 4thewords. I’ve said it time and again, I would never recommend something I don’t use myself, and I standby that statement. I use it every single day. I’ve written millions of words in 4thewords. Pushed through so many hard chapters because I want to defeat monsters. Spent days in agony watching the timer click down, only to find the words at just the right moment. I love the events, love the community, and love typing away.
If you think this might be something useful for you, then sign up! You won’t regret it.
THE VIDEO WALKTHROUGH