I have a theory.

if you've put 80 dollars in to the game and you spend it on low level gear you're not doing the right thing.
Leveling on here has become so incredibly easy, for example you can buy 5 hyper exp stones (Not with gold, you can make them with tokens. Tokens are sold by cat shops) and grind at 12x exp. You would be able to hit level 60 within a day in an hour grinding, easily.

The easier alternative which is "frowned upon" if you're a new player is; pay one of the power levelers to power level you in frost. This will bump you up to level 80 in a matter of a day or two. Then buy some low level 8x mold items, and start doing regular FF it will take you less than a month to hit 100 if you just join squads and play casually.

Then spend 72 gold on getting Rank 8, and you've got yourself a weapon, ring, top and pants.
From there on you can figure out where to go/what to do by yourself I think.

AsteIni - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I was an active player back in 2008-2009.. then i was on/off in 2010-2011. There are all these new changes and people spending crazy amounts of money.. I'm wondering if you can even play the game without spending money.. When i came back i was so overwhelmed.

Its almost impossible to find low level gear in the auction house or in cat shops. How is a new comer with little to no money to spend going to do about gear? Everything is so expensive now too.

So i propose an idea. What if we make new characters and see how long we last without spending a dime on them? Kind of like in the old days when we met new friends doing quests, feeling amazing when you defeated a boss with skill not level.

I've put about $80 into the game. I'm more concerned about new players because this game is amazing. But if new players can't get past level 20 because there's no gear, no one to help them, can't afford anything, then they'll probably turn away and say this game is stupid and not recommend it to other people.

Lets see if it is possible My goal is to get to level 80.

New players can't get past 20 roflmao b:laugh

If you have troubles getting "past lv.20" with NPC gear till 60 you're probably have no skills as a player,maybe you should play an easier game.

Explain me how's harder since all the 5aps Farmers around that solo TTs makes all TT mats(And thus TT equips)as cheap as hell.
I don't known when you're referring too but in the first year of PWI TT90 was considered endgame stuff and it was hella expensive,same goes with lower TT equipment.The only difference now is that its almost impossible to find a squad to do TTs since its not rewarding as it used to be,instead people make money in other ways and then purchase the mats farmed by someone else.

^.^ I'm a new player and i have had no issues really getting to lvl 30. people seem to be really nice in this game and the armor you first get from the quest chests has lasted this long. I am not to sure about lvl 50 to 70 tho.

I used to level when there was only a single BH/day,now players gets 3 BHs/Day + Tideborn quest chain(About 8 levels handed over for free) + Public Quest at lv.60 and they say it was easier to level back then? idk what game they've been playing.

AsteIni - Heavens Tear wrote: »

I'm not talking about myself. I'm talking about new players. Yeah you can use quest gear. Is it really the best gear in the game? No. Some pieces are pretty good.

In my more recent plays Its harder to play at level 50-70 on your own because there is nothing in the auction house. Everyone is pumping money to get power leveled.

you can always just go to a tailor / craftsman / blacksmith and make yourself armors with the mats that u got from mobs doing quests ijs.

Um... no.

I've never spent a dime on this char. Instead, I'm a somewhat successful/lucky merchant.

Merchanting does not depend on your level, nor your gear.

So your argument is moot by default.

There's plenty of low-ish stuff you can merchant: DQs for the bank quests are in the 20-30 range, then there's Element Fragments which you can sell for a high price at the Master Bladecraftsman. Those could easily be used to get you like 5-10 Gold. Then you could use that to buy Mysterious Chips or Wraith Officer's Badges and you'd quickly have doubled or triples your funds and you'd be well on your way into being a decent merchant.

Also, getting to level X is easy nowadays, with all the 2x drops and such going on.

In some sense, it is harder to get started than before. For example, a typical char by 4x should be able to accumulate 1m+ from quests and npcing DQs, that is including paying for skills and repairs.

That would've been 10 gold back in the days.

Now that's not even 1 gold. However, a lot of boutique items are cheaper too. 1* Dorbs used to cost 1 gold right? Now it's 0.27 when not on sale. Who actually uses 1 star orbs tho? Maybe if you're making 11, 12 stars...because mirages are cheaper than ever before as well. With refining aids coming from event boutique, people can reach +7, +8 without ever using the regular boutique. It takes effort to accumulate mirages yeah...but you still win out than if you orbed. You can typically get about 5-10m by 6x, that is certainly enough to get you started on merchanting say...plat charms. This is talking about classic quests and gaining levels by grinding.

Of course, it's more efficient to level quickly, in order to gain access to more opportunities (bigger DQ for one even if no one takes you to NV)

Overall, I think you can get by in this game, just as before.

Olbaze - Sanctuary wrote: »

Um... no.

I've never spent a dime on this char. Instead, I'm a somewhat successful/lucky merchant.

Merchanting does not depend on your level, nor your gear.

So your argument is moot by default.

There's plenty of low-ish stuff you can merchant: DQs for the bank quests are in the 20-30 range, then there's Element Fragments which you can sell for a high price at the Master Bladecraftsman. Those could easily be used to get you like 5-10 Gold. Then you could use that to buy Mysterious Chips or Wraith Officer's Badges and you'd quickly have doubled or triples your funds and you'd be well on your way into being a decent merchant.

Also, getting to level X is easy nowadays, with all the 2x drops and such going on.

I have had limited success as a Merchant in the past. However, right now I cannot move ANYTHING. I'm selling Hay for 11k a pop, and I've sold 2 in 3 weeks, and I sold a skill book for a 4 mil loss. Copy the shops around me, and still haven't moved an item in a month. Shop's up 24/7, nobody is buying or selling.

Only thing I had any luck moving was tokens. When token market crashed, I ended up having 2k tokens that I had purchased at 9.5k a pop. I decided to not sell them at 14k a pop, and instead use them. That has saved me a ton of coin on having to re-buy them, but... I need something new i can move in and out of my shop. Even rareish FCC Gold weapons aren't moving. I have Pan Gu's Giant Axe in my shop for ****ing three mil, and nobody wants it.

I tried to sell off my bank of TT mats before 2x a few weeks ago, and the mats, TT60-90, everything sat there and looked pretty. Undercut, match, overpriced, didn't matter. Nobody was buying, selling, or giving a ****.

So, your argument isn't really valid either, because you can't just throw a bag of vomit in a catshop and instantly become rich.

Now days new players starting out get a decent full armor set just for being logged on for so long. For free. It's timed but it's plenty long enough to get what you need done and leveled.

X_trigger_X - Heavens Tear wrote: »

People see an MMO as something they can play along with others, so when they join they expect to see people their level to play and chat to. If I was to join this game around now, I wouldn't play it long and find it difficult, simply because there is a very small pre 80 community and nobody to learn the ropes with so to speak.

I'd quickly move onto another MMO that offers more to beginners. How would all you vets like it when you joined in 2008 if there was nobody to help with your fb19, nobody to help you with darkbreed wolfkins, nobody to kill spearmen with.

Your right,I started a bm and am currently level 15 doing what the op said.seeing if I need to get money from my archer which I've spent some money on.It's lonely and boring,new players will quickly get bored of no players being around and not even replying to hello if they are around.