Drop the $5 needed to make her a premium player. One time only cost
The barrier is there as an anti-RMT measure, so it is unlikely ever to change
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Not sure what this has to do with free players being unable to afford what the Devs have stated for years the game is designed around. I am fully for Freebie players getting squat until they purchase something, anything. However, for them to not actually be able to play the game? Wow, bonehead marketing move of the first order. (and I've seen some doozies.)|
Originally Posted by Catwhoorg
The barrier is there as an anti-RMT measure, so it is unlikely ever to change
|
To me, this is the first I have heard that really shows that "Free to Play" is a gigantic lie. You can play for free, for life. Of course, we balanced the entire game around stuff you cannot afford if you play free. Good Luck after 20th level my free playing friend!
It would have been a lot smarter to entice customers to move from free to premium. Forcing people to buy stuff while telling them they have a choice is a decision right up there with netFlix's recent series of brilliant ideas.
This could be fixed in a number of ways. I know the Devs are crazy busy. Changing the rewards multiplier for basic ind drops sounds onerous, but may be simple. They could either lower the price of SOs so that Free players can afford them on what inf drops normally. Or they could have contacts just give the things away as rewards for completing arcs or something. But I actually expect no changes to occur. i am sure this is not on anyone's radar at CoX's offices.
About the only thing I truly expect to happen with this issue is for this thread to disappear in 5.67 seconds and me getting a msg in my in box saying "don't do that"
Well it isn't like 8k is all she's ever going to earn before 50 but I hear you. I resisted sending money to my latest controller and got to around 15th level just selling and using what dropped and buying TO's and DO's as I could afford them. She played fine up to that point but afterwards it became progressively harder to slot meaningful enhancements or feel particularly effective in a team. Eventually around level 20 or so she got a lucky recipe drop which sold for several million on the market and things got a lot better.
I had the exact same experience on my newest dominator and he had the benefit of getting a lot of candy canes last winter so he got into the 20's before starting to hurt for cash. Then a kb protection recipe dropped for a few million and he was back on easy street until he blew most of it at 22 replacing everything with SO's.
But canes and recipes are only valuable on the market, not the vendors. I don't know what you do in the upper teens and especially in the early twenties if you don't have access to the market. Scrape by slotting only your most important powers I guess. Inventions help a lot since they don't have to be replaced every few levels but f2p players don't have that either.
BTW - this is the same experience I had when I first started the game before I finally broke down and learned how to use the market. Things haven't really changed since then.
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Email it to her.
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Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
1) how can I get her cash?
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Global @StarGeek
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Can freebies get email?|
Originally Posted by StarGeek
Email it to her.
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Anyway, when I started the game we didn't have a market or IO's and I didn't have a sugar-daddy character to fund all the rest, and yet I managed to plod my way to 50 with no problem, and had fun with it. If she's never played the game before, she won't know what she's missing.
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Your wife doesn't need real money to buy SO's. In fact you can't buy Inf with real money unless you violate the EULA and use an RMT site. She can earn inf by simply playing the game.|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Not sure what this has to do with free players being unable to afford what the Devs have stated for years the game is designed around. I am fully for Freebie players getting squat until they purchase something, anything. However, for them to not actually be able to play the game? Wow, bonehead marketing move of the first order. (and I've seen some doozies.)
|
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| To me, this is the first I have heard that really shows that "Free to Play" is a gigantic lie. You can play for free, for life. Of course, we balanced the entire game around stuff you cannot afford if you play free. Good Luck after 20th level my free playing friend! |
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| It would have been a lot smarter to entice customers to move from free to premium. Forcing people to buy stuff while telling them they have a choice is a decision right up there with netFlix's recent series of brilliant ideas. |
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| They could either lower the price of SOs so that Free players can afford them on what inf drops normally. |
I currently have 150+ characters and only 30 use IO's and none use more than the basic IO's. And I only have 100 million inf total between three separate accounts.
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Forbin, not to go off on a tangent, which seems like where you want to go, but I never said RMT. To even insinuate that I said anything close to that shows a very poor reading skill level or a disingenuous approach to this whole topic.|
Originally Posted by Forbin_Project
Your wife doesn't need real money to buy SO's. In fact you can't buy Inf with real money unless you violate the EULA and use an RMT site. She can earn inf by simply playing the game.
Pure fabrication. Players were successfully leveling up to 50 and slotting SO's for years before features like the Market, the AE, and IO's were added to the game. No one is forced to buy anything. Players can afford SO's just by selling their drops and what they earn by playing the game. Players can even disable earning xp so they can focus on earning inf and drops if they feel they are leveling too fast. I currently have 150+ characters and only 30 use IO's and none use more than the basic IO's. And I only have 100 million inf total between three separate accounts. |
To be clear, the game does not drop enough Infamy/Influence for characters to buy DOs and SOs. the Devs have stated that the game is designed around SOs. Therefore the designers of Free to Play have effectively set up a situation where the Free players either buy something from them or cannot play the game on a level playing field. Without even considering I/Os in whether it is level. Not even level by SO standards.
Now, you, and fourteen, or fourteen hundred other people can get on here and give affidavits about the good old days before wood stoves when we used to buy SOs by carrying water fropm the well 17 miles in heavy snow. I ain't buying it. I have played the game 4 years. If you cannot do any marketing you are going to have a horrrid time after 20 with the SO pricing compared to the Inf drops. Thats a fact, not an opinion.
The devs should be trying to lure Players over with how much fun the City is, and entice them with a fun playing game. They should get them envious of the Premium and VIPs for the more powerful characters and permissions. They should not be punishing them by forcing them to run unenhanced characters.
and PS, I rarely run 50 content over the last 6 months. While ToTing on a big league last week I got a drop of a purp and sold it for 600 mil. If you got less than that on 3 accounts with a hundred and fifty characters than I don't know what to say. Bad Luck? You don't know about A-merits? Not sure if you're serious?
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Really? You don't understand why the devs would NOT allow any free account the ability to hold hundreds of millions of Inf? To prevent RMT muling? That doesn't make sense to you? |
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Not sure what this has to do with free players being unable to afford what the Devs have stated for years the game is designed around. I am fully for Freebie players getting squat until they purchase something, anything. However, for them to not actually be able to play the game? Wow, bonehead marketing move of the first order. (and I've seen some doozies.)
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Besides, you make the Tier 1 25 Mil limit sound like a pauper. Before IOs, that was probably as much Inf as I earned in my entire career (due to SG mode), and I was able to get all of the SOs I ever needed from that.
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So said the freebies I emailed, but couldn't trade with. They can't send email, but they can receive.
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Originally Posted by Tidbit
Can freebies get email?
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Wow Obsidius, work with me here. I am seriously not wanting to let this be threadjacked into a RMT thread. I never brought it up, you are the second person to.|
Originally Posted by Obsidius
Really? You don't understand why the devs would NOT allow any free account the ability to hold millions of Inf? To prevent RMT muling? That doesn't make sense to you?
|
To be extremely clear.
1) it costs way more for SOs 25-50 than you get inf drops for in the game.
2) the Devs have stated for years the game is balanced around SOs
3) Free players are unable to play the game the way it is designed based on 1 & 2
I thank those of you who say I can e-mail to my wife. i will test tonight. I would like a fix aimed at that new younger player who might play for 6 months before they get birthday/christmas gift that allows them to become premium and does not have a friend in game ready to e-mail them millions.
4) I have never advocated any kind of fix that would allow RMT or favor RMT
It should also be possible to gift SOs to free players (drag over and drop)
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If I only count lvl 50 Damage SOs, the worst case scenario enhancement-wise (60k each, Schedule A (ref)), I could purchase 416 of these SOs with 25 Mil influence.|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Wow Obsidius, work with me here. I am seriously not wanting to let this be threadjacked into a RMT thread. I never brought it up, you are the second person to.
To be extremely clear. 1) it costs way more for SOs 25-50 than you get inf drops for in the game. |
Not that any character would need that many, nor that many in Schedule A (even for offensive characters) but that should also cover costs on the way to level 50.
In addition, players will be buying SOs as they level (not just in one lump sum), so they can purchase and keep earning before they hit the cap.
And as a guy who's been playing since '04, I can attest that most players should easily earn enough Influence doing regular mission between lvls 1 and 50 to purchase enough Enhancements keep up with the learning curve of the game. I did it before the Invention System (no selling salvage or consignment) and intermittently on SG Mode before Issue 6 even dropped. And I had plenty of SOs to go around.
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This isn't entirely true. It is definitely very tight up until about level 30 though. Once you get there it gets easier (especially if you make sure to sell the SO drops to the right stores).|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
1) it costs way more for SOs 25-50 than you get inf drops for in the game.
|
That being said I think you do have a point. Reducing the cost of TOs/DOs/SOs particuarly in the level 1-35 range might not be a bad idea at this point in the game's life cycle. I'm not normally in favor of reducing inf sinks but the total cost of SOs (5.6 million at level 50 IIRC) is a trivial amount to get for anyone who has market access but I can definitely see it being an issue for free players.
The other option is to have her run Death From Below a lot, you get several even level SOs from that IIRC.
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You wanted to know why this system was set up the way it was, did you not?|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Wow Obsidius, work with me here. I am seriously not wanting to let this be threadjacked into a RMT thread. I never brought it up, you are the second person to.
4) I have never advocated any kind of fix that would allow RMT or favor RMT |
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Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
2) Did the Devs turn off their grey matter when they set this up? Yes, I know they are trying to get people to spend cash on the game.
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As Obsidius said, we had to live with those prices for quite a long time before the auction house came into being. Sure, it sucks getting knocked back to the stone age (as it were) in terms of being limited in money earning potential, but them's the breaks when it comes to making sure the system is safe from those who would abuse it.
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But #1 is not correct. You *CAN* earn enough selling drops to place DOs and then SOs on a character. Can you do a mass switchout for full set of enhancements all at once? Perhaps not, I wasn't able to do that while levelling before the Market was added. But I was certainly able to choose missions likely to drop enhancements of the appropriate origin (even easierwith radios/newspapers where we can tell which enemies we will be fighting - CoT for magic, etc.) and upgrade gradually by using the drops I could use and selling the rest.|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
1) it costs way more for SOs 25-50 than you get inf drops for in the game.
2) the Devs have stated for years the game is balanced around SOs 3) Free players are unable to play the game the way it is designed based on 1 & 2 |
You ignored the large portion of Forbin's post which went over all that because you wanted to focus on the part of the post about RMT and you ignored Tidbit's post to the same effect.
Yes, it can be frustrating to run out of Inf but there are solutions in place if you want to use them - like turning off XP to get Inf instead (much like the old-style exemping which was used to build up Inf to but SOs).
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Okay, hopefully for the last time. I never ever ever brought up 25 mil. I am not for raising that number. I don't even know what that number pertains to, and honestly, I do not care. it has absolutely, positively NOTHING to do with this conversation. Start your own 25 mil thread. Enjoy.|
Originally Posted by Obsidius
I could purchase 416 of these SOs with 25 Mil influence.
Not that any character would need that many, nor that many in Schedule A (even for offensive characters) but that should also cover costs on the way to level 50. And as a guy who's been playing since '04, I can attest that most players should easily earn enough Influence doing regular mission between lvls 1 and 50 to purchase enough Enhancements keep up with the learning curve of the game. I did it before the Invention System (no selling salvage or consignment) and intermittently on SG Mode before Issue 6 even dropped. And I had plenty of SOs to go around. |
As a guy who has been playing 4+ years. Before I started figuring out how to flip money to myself thru the market in the bad old days there were many times where I had trouble coming up with cash for SOs, and this was wit selling drops thru the market istead of at stores.
So, two possibilities. 1) Either you are really just a much smurfier player than me. Or, B) It can be really really hard for a person to buy SOs for their character at times.
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Fine, everybody is a much smurfier player. Que the fourteen hundred people swearing that it is darned easy to get SOs and there is no problem. |
Originally Posted by Ad Astra
But #1 is not correct. You *CAN* earn enough selling drops to place DOs and then SOs on a character. Can you do a mass switchout for full set of enhancements all at once? Perhaps not, I wasn't able to do that while levelling before the Market was added. But I was certainly able to choose missions likely to drop enhancements of the appropriate origin (even easierwith radios/newspapers where we can tell which enemies we will be fighting - CoT for magic, etc.) and upgrade gradually by using the drops I could use and selling the rest.
You ignored the large portion of Forbin's post which went over all that because you wanted to focus on the part of the post about RMT and you ignored Tidbit's post to the same effect. Yes, it can be frustrating to run out of Inf but there are solutions in place if you want to use them - like turning off XP to get Inf instead (much like the old-style exemping which was used to build up Inf to but SOs). |
Of course, those are the same people now sitting on bank. To a brand new player with no access to funds, this type of situation (watching enhancers turn red, not knowing where to hunt origin appropriate enhancers/turning off exp) is exactly the kind of frustrating stuff that can make a game un-fun. You know what kills fun? Un-fun. But as long as you smury players got it dialed I'll let the thread die. It seems I have a solution so my wife will not get frustrated and quit before I can get her established inthe cities. I hope its true what you say, and that all the neew players just breeze along like you smurfs.
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Slot smart. Don't slot TOs, sell them. Maybe slot DOs, but probably not. Slot SOs at levels 23, 28, 33, 38, 43, 48 and 50. Sell EVERYTHING you don't need.|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
To be clear, the game does not drop enough Infamy/Influence for characters to buy DOs and SOs. the Devs have stated that the game is designed around SOs. Therefore the designers of Free to Play have effectively set up a situation where the Free players either buy something from them or cannot play the game on a level playing field. Without even considering I/Os in whether it is level. Not even level by SO standards.
|
Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Now, you, and fourteen, or fourteen hundred other people can get on here and give affidavits about the good old days before wood stoves when we used to buy SOs by carrying water from the well 17 miles in heavy snow. I ain't buying it. I have played the game 4 years. If you cannot do any marketing you are going to have a horrrid time after 20 with the SO pricing compared to the Inf drops. Thats a fact, not an opinion.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
The devs should be trying to lure Players over with how much fun the City is, and entice them with a fun playing game. They should get them envious of the Premium and VIPs for the more powerful characters and permissions. They should not be punishing them by forcing them to run unenhanced characters.
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Quote:
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Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
and PS, I rarely run 50 content over the last 6 months. While ToTing on a big league last week I got a drop of a purp and sold it for 600 mil. If you got less than that on 3 accounts with a hundred and fifty characters than I don't know what to say. Bad Luck? You don't know about A-merits? Not sure if you're serious?
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Triumph: White Succubus: 50 Ill/Emp/PF Snow Globe: 50 Ice/FF/Ice Strobe: 50 PB Shi Otomi: 50 Ninja/Ninjistu/GW Stalker My other characters
I remember the earning/cost of enhancement curve from when I first played in issue 5. I had some trouble buying DO's and had to modify my behaviour to sell regularly and monitor my drops, deleting any TOs that dropped so I could hold the DOs. Between level 22 and 32 I had a very hard time not letting my enhancements expire. After that point I suddenly had more influence than I could spend.
Its a very discouraging curve.
What happens if you log on with an existing level 50 and play with your wife? Does she get level 50 recipe drops? Because the generic IO ones are worth about 100,000 each, or 3 SOs. If you cant directly trade her money, you could do that, even if it means logging her in when she isnt there and letting her doorsit with XP turned off.
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I think "email" is the solution to your dilemma, but for what it's worth...|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
1) it costs way more for SOs 25-50 than you get inf drops for in the game.
2) the Devs have stated for years the game is balanced around SOs 3) Free players are unable to play the game the way it is designed based on 1 & 2 |
No, it does not cost way more for SOs 25-50 than you get inf drops for in the game. It costs slightly more for DOs and SOs from 12-27 than you get inf drops for in the game. At 27, you will have a hard time buying level 30 SOs. By level 32, you shouldn't have much trouble buying level 35 SOs. After that, you should be rolling in money.
Yes, the game is balanced around SOs, except for the Incarnate content.
Yes, free players are able to play the game the way it was designed. In fact, they are forced to play the game exactly the way it was originally designed.
Some money saving tips:
* Know your origin. Try to fight enemies who will drop enhancements you can use.
* Never buy or sell from your contacts. People for whom you routinely risk your life will rip you off. Complete strangers offer a better deal. Strange but true.
* Sell your enhancements to the correct origin specific store.
* Don't worry if your enhancements are yellow.
* Slot the most important powers and aspects first.
* Don't buy anything before level 12.
It can be done. Thousands of us did it for years. It's not that big a deal.
But again, I think "email" is the answer you were looking for.
Avatar: "Cheeky Jack O Lantern" by dimarie
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Your attempt to deliberately misinterpret what I said is at best childish. My mention of RMT sites was to provide the only example of when a player would spend real money on influence.|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Forbin, not to go off on a tangent, which seems like where you want to go, but I never said RMT. To even insinuate that I said anything close to that shows a very poor reading skill level or a disingenuous approach to this whole topic.
|
Quote:
| To be clear, the game does not drop enough Infamy/Influence for characters to buy DOs and SOs. the Devs have stated that the game is designed around SOs. Therefore the designers of Free to Play have effectively set up a situation where the Free players either buy something from them or cannot play the game on a level playing field. Without even considering I/Os in whether it is level. Not even level by SO standards. |
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| Now, you, and fourteen, or fourteen hundred other people can get on here and give affidavits about the good old days before wood stoves when we used to buy SOs by carrying water fropm the well 17 miles in heavy snow. I ain't buying it. I have played the game 4 years. If you cannot do any marketing you are going to have a horrrid time after 20 with the SO pricing compared to the Inf drops. Thats a fact, not an opinion. |
Quote:
| The devs should be trying to lure Players over with how much fun the City is, and entice them with a fun playing game. They should get them envious of the Premium and VIPs for the more powerful characters and permissions. |
Quote:
| They should not be punishing them by forcing them to run unenhanced characters. |
Quote:
| and PS, I rarely run 50 content over the last 6 months. While ToTing on a big league last week I got a drop of a purp and sold it for 600 mil. If you got less than that on 3 accounts with a hundred and fifty characters than I don't know what to say. Bad Luck? You don't know about A-merits? Not sure if you're serious? |
I don't give a rat's patootie about A-merits because I never use them. I also don't need billions of Influence let alone hundreds of millions because I earn more than enough just selling my drops. I frequently convert it into Prestige for any one of my personal bases scattered across half a dozen servers.
I am at best a very casual player. Just ask Impish Kat or her hubby Rangle. I'm a member of many of their SG's and they can testify to how frequently they see me.
And yet even as casual a player as I am, I still manage to meet my enhancement needs as well as my prestige needs just by selling drops, running missions, and using the tools provided so I can advance at a rate satisfactory to my personal needs.
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Firstly, the point of it is to prevent farmers from freely moving cash around using disposable accounts. If they need paid accounts to do business, it actually accomplishes something when NCSoft bans the account.|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Not sure what this has to do with free players being unable to afford what the Devs have stated for years the game is designed around. I am fully for Freebie players getting squat until they purchase something, anything. However, for them to not actually be able to play the game? Wow, bonehead marketing move of the first order. (and I've seen some doozies.)
To me, this is the first I have heard that really shows that "Free to Play" is a gigantic lie. |
Secondly, why don't you knock off the BS? Can't play the game? Utter and total nonsense. We were playing the game and buying our SO's long before inventions existed, long before the consignment house, long before we could email ourselves funds. Was it less convenient than the way it is now? Sure. Was it as bad as walking to school in the snow, uphill both ways? No.
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Quote:
You realize that your responses are coming off as you sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY OWN PROBLEMS LA LA LA", right? Obsidius used actual math, and provided a reference, of what it takes to purchase in the 25-50 game, noting that in that range influence purely from drops is enough, and you completely disregarded it. Go back and read it and try again.|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Okay, hopefully for the last time. I never ever ever brought up 25 mil. I am not for raising that number. I don't even know what that number pertains to, and honestly, I do not care. it has absolutely, positively NOTHING to do with this conversation. Start your own 25 mil thread. Enjoy.
As a guy who has been playing 4+ years. Before I started figuring out how to flip money to myself thru the market in the bad old days there were many times where I had trouble coming up with cash for SOs, and this was wit selling drops thru the market istead of at stores. So, two possibilities. 1) Either you are really just a much smurfier player than me. Or, B) It can be really really hard for a person to buy SOs for their character at times. |
Quote:
|
Originally Posted by Blue_Centurion
Fine, everybody is a much smurfier player. Que the fourteen hundred people swearing that it is darned easy to get SOs and there is no problem.
Of course, those are the same people now sitting on bank. To a brand new player with no access to funds, this type of situation (watching enhancers turn red, not knowing where to hunt origin appropriate enhancers/turning off exp) is exactly the kind of frustrating stuff that can make a game un-fun. You know what kills fun? Un-fun. But as long as you smury players got it dialed I'll let the thread die. It seems I have a solution so my wife will not get frustrated and quit before I can get her established inthe cities. I hope its true what you say, and that all the neew players just breeze along like you smurfs. |
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This is how he responds when he gets answers he doesn't like. He did the same thing in this thread.|
Originally Posted by flipside
You realize that your responses are coming off as you sticking your fingers in your ears and yelling "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU OVER THE SOUND OF MY OWN PROBLEMS LA LA LA", right? Obsidius used actual math, and provided a reference, of what it takes to purchase in the 25-50 game, noting that in that range influence purely from drops is enough, and you completely disregarded it. Go back and read it and try again.
|
http://boards.cityofheroes.com/showthread.php?t=274992
As long as the correct information is being posted the OP is free to disregard it. At least the info is there for other people that come into the thread looking for answers.
Okay, it took some magic, but my wife is in the City of Heroes on a free account. yeah. and she is having fun, yeah!!!!
I am worried. She is at 7th level and has all of like 8,000 inf. She thinks it's a lot... I am sitting there with a quick 100 mil I threw over to the alt that I made to run with her (my standard starting cash) It takes like 15 mil or so to run a character through 50 using SOs. She cannot trade, and cannot use the consignment house.
2 questions.
1) how can I get her cash?
2) Did the Devs turn off their grey matter when they set this up? Yes, I know they are trying to get people to spend cash on the game. (My wife is very stubborn, she will not spend a dime until she decides she likes it. Not cheap, she always allows me to buy more PP cause she knows I enjoy it.) My problem is she is gonna struggle using no enhancers or whatever a toon can buy off of just mission rewards. Seriously, the Devs have said for years the game was designed around SOs, then they develop a system where new people they are marketing to cannot buy SOs. Doh! Here's your sign.