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Should I sub or just play free to play and buy ZEN?

gagepapgagepap Member Posts: 9 Arc User
edited January 2014 in The Academy
Hello

I'm a new player....mid-way through Commander rank and LOVING the game so far. I've bought ZEN points (spent on two extra bridge officer spots, a Borg officer and some master keys).

My question now is that should I consider purchasing a sub or would those funds be better spent on just ZEN? The question isn't the investment itself, the game deserves it....but how can I best use the investment.

Thank you
Post edited by gagepap on

Comments

  • artfulmerkageartfulmerkage Member Posts: 294 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Sub for one month, then stay Silver and buy/convert to Zen.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    Valdus | Charn | Costello | Typhus | Thyran
  • gagepapgagepap Member Posts: 9 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    artfulmerkage wrote: »
    Sub for one month, then stay Silver and buy/convert to Zen.

    Thank you for that response. Why only one month before just using ZEN?
  • artfulmerkageartfulmerkage Member Posts: 294 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    gagepap wrote: »
    Thank you for that response. Why only one month before just using ZEN?

    You get to retain some of the perks, but not the diminished returns of an ongoing subscription.

    That way you can choose to buy zen as and when needed or simply farm dilithium. For example I converted dilithium for my Scimitar, but I flat out bought the Mogh because I thought Cryptic did great work.
    [SIGPIC][/SIGPIC]

    Valdus | Charn | Costello | Typhus | Thyran
  • ursusmorologusursusmorologus Member Posts: 5,328 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    You will probably end up making bulk purchases sooner or later, no matter which way you go.

    If you think you'll spend more than a couple of hundred bucks over the lifetime of your gaming experience, and if you have that kind of money sitting around, then you are best off buying a Lifetime sub, since it frontloads the cash expense for a smaller cost, and will over time pay for itself in terms of free monthly zen stipends.

    Otherwise, if you have more time than money, you should buy one month sub to get all the unlocks (account bank, extra inventory, etc), and then pay as you need items. You can grind dilithium on a few characters and get 500 zen that way every few days.

    Paying monthly sub is the worst deal. You are basically paying a fixed monthly fee in perpuity in exchange for a monthly 500 zen stipend, which only costs $5 when you buy it outright.
    [img]http://i183.photobucket.com/albums/x57/UrsusMorologus/MechWarrior Online/Catapult_K2 sig.jpg[/img]
  • dahminusdahminus Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    gagepap wrote: »
    Thank you for that response. Why only one month before just using ZEN?

    By subbing for one month you get a respec token every 10 levels, a 500 stepend, an account bank and some other goodies I cant remember off the top of my head.

    The 500 zen can be used to buy the EC cap if you think you will reach above 10 million ec one day.

    The biggest boon is the respec tokens, they are 500 zen each. And yes, you will be wanting to respec a few times in your "career"
    Chive on and prosper, eh?

    My PvE/PvP hybrid skill tree
  • blassreiterusblassreiterus Member Posts: 1,294 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    artfulmerkage wrote: »
    You get to retain some of the perks, but not the diminished returns of an ongoing subscription.

    That way you can choose to buy zen as and when needed or simply farm dilithium. For example I converted dilithium for my Scimitar, but I flat out bought the Mogh because I thought Cryptic did great work.
    I suggest the OP go Lifetime, since he'll be able to get a Free Vice Admiral/Lt. General (depending on faction) ship at level 50, plus the Veteran ship itself, and several other perks that are really cool, like the Liberated Borg playable character (which is exclusive to the Lifetime Sub).
    Star Trek Online LTS player.
  • awlaforgeawlaforge Member Posts: 235 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    To be honest, I came in when STO converted to free to play and played for over a year. The gold lifetime perks enticed me to purchase a lifetime sub during the sale. As of now, Cryptic/Perfect World are re-paying me.
    I suggest the OP go Lifetime, since he'll be able to get a Free Vice Admiral/Lt. General (depending on faction) ship at level 50, plus the Veteran ship itself, and several other perks that are really cool, like the Liberated Borg playable character (which is exclusive to the Lifetime Sub).

    Those are the Perks, along with the faction ev combat suit, and additional character and ship slots.
  • shockwave85shockwave85 Member Posts: 1,040 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Common wisdom is to either sub for one month while leveling up in order to lock in some of the permanent perks, or to pick up a Lifetime sub when they go on sale (usually around major season/expansion releases). Which you do mostly depends on how much you want the various Veteran Rewards. Personally, I think the Vet Rewards are more than worth the $200 if you can afford to drop the money.
    ssog-maco-sig.jpg
  • captraynewaycaptrayneway Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Do Ineed a better browser th Imternet explorer in order to be able to play. it want tlet me login and start the game up ,but I can log into aarc.
  • edgecrysgeredgecrysger Member Posts: 2,740 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Honestly, i suggest you that dont buy any sub. Just spent some zen every month and thats it. Because if you sub, you will end paying the sub + zen and thats A LOT of money. And there is no need to pay the extra sub. If you see the devs are making progress fixing all the bugs, and the game goes forward (and not backwards like right now) then you can consider to pay a sub, but not until then.
  • earwigvr6earwigvr6 Member Posts: 293 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Why do people insist on sayin gyou get FREE zen from subscriptions ?

    You don't get ANYTHING for free ! What do you think you are buying in the first place ? :eek:
  • verlaine11verlaine11 Member Posts: 0 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    As others have said, if you sub for 1 month - even better is if you can find a very cheap unopened retail copy of the game

    That way by levelling up in that 1 month you get the very valuable respec tokens, also get account bank, extra bank slots as you level up, extra inventory as you level up, extra bridge officer slots, an extra character I think, 500zen to buy the ec cap with after the sub has ended, extra ship slots I think but not sure.
    When you go back to silver you get to keep all the goodies you got while levelling up so you don't really have to spend any money afterwards anymore.
  • sonnikkusonnikku Member Posts: 77 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    Answer: Neither. L2Marauder.

    You're welcome.
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  • nate578nate578 Member Posts: 1 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    If I subbed for a month would I get 4 respec tokens retroactively for my level 45 character?
  • dracounguisdracounguis Member Posts: 5,358 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    artfulmerkage wrote: »
    Sub for one month, then stay Silver and buy/convert to Zen.

    The thing is you sub for the month while you level to 50. That way you get all the unlocks, free ship at rank up and etc. that stay unlocked afterwards when you drop the Sub. Only thing that would revert is the EC cap I think. You'd have to buy that afterwards.

    If there's a month (or 2) where you have time to power level your toon(s) to 50 that's when you pay so all those leveling toons get the unlocks.
  • dracounguisdracounguis Member Posts: 5,358 Arc User
    edited January 2014
    nate578 wrote: »
    If I subbed for a month would I get 4 respec tokens retroactively for my level 45 character?

    No retroactive respecs. that's why you need to sub while leveling
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