Play

Allwind - Sanctuary

I want to ask,is the game still playable for free ? I mean really free,not spending one dollar on it,just grinding the in-game coins and buying the cash shop stuff with them from other players ?! And do cash shoppers have a really big advantage to totally free players ?!
Thank you in advance for the answers.

Vitenka - Dreamweaver

Yes, absolutely. All content in the entire game is available to a free player.
(Oh... actually, not quite. There's a couple of untradable mounts that are cash only. They're no better than normal mounts though.)

And yes - absolutely. The cash shop player will get better gear more quickly than a non-cash player.

XANTH_ - Heavens Tear

Yes you can still play for free. You can get anything ingame without spending any real money. Tho it will be difficult to buy cash shop stuff as gold is about 1.5-1.8mil each >.> The only adcantage cash shoppers get vs non cash shopping players, is they can get everything faster. Thats the way it is in all F2P game with a cash shop.

Allwind - Sanctuary

Thanks guys that motivated me to play a little Why is the prices so high here .. in JD they aren't (or they weren't) so high like millions Getting these is easy at high levels I presume ?! If so I'll start my sin right away ^^.
Btw is the assassin a good class to start with coz I don't know much of the game .. played like till lvl 24 and still got a veno but ill delete it coz i don't like it.
Suggest a few good starting classes,that don't cost much wep/armor repairs and don't die much.

Angel_Spawn - Sanctuary

Sins are crappy at low lvls, you will die often, but at endgame they are very strong (also

depends on your gear thou).

Vitenka - Dreamweaver

tl;dr version: Economics happened.

The longer answer is that the game lacks coin sinks. Almost all of the coin generated in the game STAYS in the game.
So players end up with millions and billions of coin - and they want to buy good stuff with it.

Which means buying gold, for dragon orbs and packs.

StormHydra - Sanctuary

Archers are pretty cheap to grind.

Amencat - Sanctuary

everything is possible if you are willing to work EXTREAMLY HARD or if youre smart enough
b:laugh

Skulla - Dreamweaver

Yes, you can still be competitive for no money at all if you can analyze markets and commit significant resources to trading (doing this isn't playing, IMO it's working).

Yes, heavy cash shop users have a nigh-insurmountable advantage unless you are a player
who can/will execute the merchant strategy.

Allwind - Sanctuary

But I don't know a thing about trading in this game .. b:laugh This is gonna be fun
So if its not going to be a sin (although I really want to be one coz they seem the most fun and the least that need pots or repairs all the time) suggest a class for a beginner ex.venomancer (got a broken sword that I can't repair so I'll delete her plus its boring)
that doesn't require much coins and won't die 30 times per hour

KennyPowers - Raging Tide

All melee classes will generally have higher repair bills than casters. And assasins require LOTS of pots or powders at the lower levels to avoid meditating every 2-3 mobs.

Venomancer is the most economical class because you have your own private tank (and you can fix your broken sword for cheap so don't worry about that).

If you like melee classes but don't wanna suck down pots, maybe try a blademaster. Heavy armor means you take less physical damage in the first place, and you get a healing skill early on that will keep your HP topped off. All you need to do with a BM is take a mana pot every once in a while to keep MP for diamond sutra (healing skill).

In all honesty, I would say try all the classes that appeal to you and make your own judgement. I played 6 classes all to at least lvl 40 before I decided to stick with one.

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear

KennyPowers - Raging Tide wrote: »

Venomancer is the most economical class because you have your own private tank (and you can fix your broken sword for cheap so don't worry about that).

yeah, that's usually true. usually.

then, this sunday, i came away from the fireworks event with an 11k repair bill. b:cry

Miugre - Heavens Tear

Allwind - Sanctuary wrote: »

But I don't know a thing about trading in this game .. b:laugh This is gonna be fun
So if its not going to be a sin (although I really want to be one coz they seem the most fun and the least that need pots or repairs all the time) suggest a class for a beginner ex.venomancer (got a broken sword that I can't repair so I'll delete her plus its boring)
that doesn't require much coins and won't die 30 times per hour

Veno is actually a fairly easy class once you get pet mechanics down, but you'd be pressured to buy a herc later on. >_> And that's actually the biggest pitfall of any class. Don't give into pressure to buy specific gear or items.

My suggestion for an easy/cheap class? Again Veno (if you don't buy a herc), Mystic maybe, or Archer. Archers start out deceptively hard, but they get steadily easier as time goes on. Just buy lv1 arrows for them (2 coins each) and you're good to go. Wizard is fairly simple, too. It's all a question of what you're naturally the most comfortable with - whatever THAT is, is what you'll die the least with. ;]

It's worth noting, though, that as a sin you take more melee damage than other melee classes due to wearing light armor. Try using Life Powder to make up for that in the low levels. If you can eat a few extra coins in repair bills, I wholeheartedly suggest making a barb - you'll NEVER have trouble getting into squads as one (as opposed to the 18 billion sins and BMs floating around).

As for merchanting... it's over-rated, I'm afraid. The only successful merchants are those who buy and sell cash shop items from other players and take advantage of sale times (and even this can take forever). Personally, I prefer items that you can get from your own time input. As a barb or veno, for example, you may have access to a somewhat steady supply of TT mats which can be sold for good amounts (depending on your server and which TT you're doing). Other choices include Pages of Fate (from doing the cube at 90+) and various Badges (speed, endurance, dexterity, etc.).

IMHO, I would suggest you consider spending a tiny bit of real money. Gold prices are so bad because (to be brief) PWE and the devs have made a series of really unfortunate decisions, many of them only in the name of profit, which have left us with the economy in this state. Particularly to many of us who remember the days of 100k gold, the current gold prices are insufferable.

The CS itself isn't a bad thing, really. The trick is just knowing what not to buy. Anything you can get "second-hand" - such as fashion, mounts, or aerogears - can be found from other players at a price far, far lower than their gold price. However, "consumables" such as storage extensions, reset notes, dragon orbs, or mount upgrades can never be found secondhand. You may find them in catshops, but this would only be if they were on sale recently and a merchant is trying to profit from them (this is frequently the case with dragon orbs).

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear

Miugre - Heavens Tear wrote: »

As for merchanting... it's over-rated, I'm afraid. The only successful merchants are those who buy and sell cash shop items from other players and take advantage of sale times (and even this can take forever).

depends on how you define "successful".

do read the merchanting guides here. your average type 2 merchant just buys and resells the same thing, at a markup, over and over; it's tedious, but there can be good profit in it.

also depends on what you mean by "overrated". it doesn't take much merchanting at all to equal the income an average player can get from farming. seeing as how you can quite easily be doing both at once, i'd say that's more than decent.

jiq

If you are patient, yes, it is free. Cash shopping is for people who want everything RIGHT NOW. :P I only spent 30 dollars on this game (got mount, flyer and fash = luxury stuff XD). Take your time to farm TT (60+) and Nirvana after 100. Make sure you do your quests, the coins they give will add up fast. Do not power lvl and do not rush to max lvl, LEARN to play the game! I saved up for my Herc with farming in a couple of months (Veno was my first main). Then I started solo farming lower TTs and merching and slowly saved up for my R8 for my Cleric (current main). Anything is possible, just be patient. It's also a good idea to start getting money with a Veno, they basically don't have potion / repair fee expenses and they are good with crappy gear, they only need a decent weapon for healing the pet. XD

One more thing, you migth have to spend money if you want to be a hardcore PVPer, because most PVPers are heavy cash shoppers with +12 gears. But I never PVP so yeah... You can get decent stuff for PVE easily.

Allwind - Sanctuary

My veno's weapon is broken and I have no idea how to repair it .. and till I reached 24 (my current lvl with it) it was hell :X Most boring class ive played .. only stay behind and watch the pet kill with a few heals here and there.
Does the assassin require much repairs at lower levels or I'll get to 30 atleast with no repairs needed ?! From what I've seen they are the most interesting class to me .. along with the mystic but that means I'll spend my money on mana pots all the time so .. no
It will be my first char after my veno (from a long time) and the prices for some things just scare me :X How much does a repair cost around level 20-30 ?

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear

Allwind - Sanctuary wrote: »

My veno's weapon is broken and I have no idea how to repair it .. and till I reached 24 (my current lvl with it) it was hell :X Most boring class ive played .. only stay behind and watch the pet kill with a few heals here and there.
Does the assassin require much repairs at lower levels or I'll get to 30 atleast with no repairs needed ?! From what I've seen they are the most interesting class to me .. along with the mystic but that means I'll spend my money on mana pots all the time so .. no
It will be my first char after my veno (from a long time) and the prices for some things just scare me :X How much does a repair cost around level 20-30 ?

if you're level 24 and your weapon is broken, go to the blacksmith and select "goods". now find the button that says "repair" and click that. the cursor turns into an anvil; use it to click your weapon. if the weapon is still equipped, you can do a "repair all" (when it says "all", it means "everything you've got equipped, nothing in your inventory") --- and you probably should do that anyway.

repair costs at that level, i dunno, maybe 10-20k for a fully broken weapon? probably less, though. i usually do a "repair all" every time i hit the merchant, and even at my level, that's only a few thousand coin at most.

if all you do is watch your pet kill and heal it, you're playing lazyveno. that's not the way to do things. at 24, you should have amp; use it --- use fox form in general, use ironwood scarab for the phys def debuff, use all you've got. a well played venomancer should keep the player busy clicking things the whole fight long. you CAN play lazyveno, but that doesn't mean you SHOULD.

Allwind - Sanctuary

20k O_O
I've got 100 g on my veno .. maybe had more but on deleted chars but not 20k for God's sake :X This game REALLY needs to lighten up on some things ..
So I guess what I'll be doing the whole game is grinding for coins so I can get good gear for the game to START being fun around 50+ ?!
If so .. PWI will have -1 players b:laugh

LenieClarke - Heavens Tear

Allwind - Sanctuary wrote: »

20k O_O
I've got 100 g on my veno .. maybe had more but on deleted chars but not 20k for God's sake :X This game REALLY needs to lighten up on some things ..
So I guess what I'll be doing the whole game is grinding for coins so I can get good gear for the game to START being fun around 50+ ?!
If so .. PWI will have -1 players b:laugh

honestly, i don't know what a fully broken level-20 weapon costs to repair. i've never had a fully broken weapon in my PWI career.

you have "100 g"? i don't know what you mean, exactly. the "g" makes me think "gold", as in the cash shop currency --- if so, you have a lot of money. but if you mean 100 coin, that's like... the coin dropped by one or two mobs? even at low levels a dozen or so mob kills should net you more, even after repairs. how could you not have more than that?

hints for making money: pick up everything that drops. EVERYTHING. if you can't find a catshop that buys it in west archosaur, sell it to an NPC. repair all, repair often. don't teleport unless you plan to spend the time saved grinding; even then, teleport strategically if you can. do your quests, they pay coin. crafting materials that drop usually sell well, if not to a catshop then on the auction house. carry a pickaxe along, harvest herbs and other materials you spot while grinding --- these too can sell. or if they don't sell, craft stuff with them.

in a very few levels you'll start getting skills on your veno that will eventually pretty much eliminate your potions use --- soul transfusion, and the mp/hp healing skills. these are good, but keep picking up potions that drop; sell them to NPCs.

when the game starts being fun depends on what you consider fun. you can start squadding with other people who're grinding on the same things as you any time; being social like that is "fun" for a lot of people. around level 40 you'll start doing BHs, which will force you to squad up, for more challenges and social entertainment. but you grow into your character slowly, and that slow growth is part of the point of the game --- i'm realizing now that i won't reach anywhere near my veno's full power until level 79 at the earliest, when i get those last three skills.

ugysekell

Allwind - Sanctuary wrote: »

My veno's weapon is broken and I have no idea how to repair it .. and till I reached 24 (my current lvl with it) it was hell :X Most boring class ive played .. only stay behind and watch the pet kill with a few heals here and there.
Does the assassin require much repairs at lower levels or I'll get to 30 atleast with no repairs needed ?! From what I've seen they are the most interesting class to me .. along with the mystic but that means I'll spend my money on mana pots all the time so .. no
It will be my first char after my veno (from a long time) and the prices for some things just scare me :X How much does a repair cost around level 20-30 ?

Don't want to burst your bubble but Assassins are only good if you get lotsa aps and that costs about 800million coins, it might take a few years to save up without cash shopping. Assassins are too gear dependent, you will be squishy unless you have good gear with enough def and HP.

If you don't like Veno, try Cleric, they are cheap because they can heal in average gear, they are needed in all squads (except for 5aps nirvana squads but they are rare) and Clerics don't have to save up for aps. I love my Cleric, I can find a squad anytime and she's my main moneymaker. aps is ruining the game, if you are not aps, people won't squad with you and if you can't afford aps you better make a character that is useful without aps (Cleric is your best choice). Sadly, the game is pretty facked up because of this aps craze.

Also, make sure to repair your weapon when you are in towns so they don't break. Do not let the weapon break so it won't be expensive, as a Cleric I have about 3 - 5k repair after 1 FCC run. Melees have a lot more (whoever takes the most damage) 20k, 50k, or even 100k+, it depends.

SoniMax - Sanctuary

just play your asassin or make a psychic = the most fun magic class, but psy tend to die a lot if you're not carefull and needs a lot of mana.
TB=winning

phenixmoon

If you don't know how to trade, pwi will be hard for you without cashop. PWI is free to play, but you gotta pay to win. (Or be a really good merchant for like a year to get all you need for endgame)

If you're just gonna stay on the lowbie lvls (99-) then is free, yea.

Kiitaro - Sanctuary

If you have the time to grind and make some money for Mana potions, go with a Mystic. You have summons (pets, basically), heals AND you're a caster. So low repair costs, usually. A Mystic's only downfall is it's mana. They eat away at it very, VERY quickly. So if you can afford it, go for a Mystic.