General disappointment

[ReverendSmash]

To whom it may concern;

New player here, and I must say, I was initially impressed with the overall quality of this flash based game. Good graphics, good latency, and fun game play...what more could you ask for? After playing for two months, I realized the game has a huge flaw in it's economy. Leveling isn't difficult, I was able to reach the level cap in less than a week of casual play, around 12 hours total play time, and with relative ease. What do you do once you reach the level cap? Obviously, you begin the search for end game gear. Here is where the problem lies... the ONLY method of attaining this end game gear is by gambling, opening locked crates. That doesn't seem so awful at face value until you realize the insanely low drop rate of these items, drop rates so shamefully low, STS won't publish them. Of course I had to learn this first hand, by spending my money, time, and energy, only to come up empty handed. Starting with 3000 platinum, to open 200 grand locked crates of the watch, (+1200 platinum won from crates which opened 80 more crates). A total of 280 crates opened (3x item rolls per crate for a total of 840 chances) ...0 arcane items, 2 mythic items (fang of fen, sorc armor), 29 platinum prizes, 115 legendary items, 694 gold payouts (511 2K gold payouts, worst prize).

Arcane loot chance: 0%
Mythic loot chance: .25%

Everything else was total garbage, 99% of the legendary items didn't have the proper primary stat.

Summary:
Farm zones for a 1% chance of looting a "Locked Grand Crate", then open that crate for a .25% chance at good loot.

OR;

You can save up your gold for a FEW YEARS an then you just MIGHT be able to find a player who will sell his arcane maul for the low, low price of only 20 million gold.

Honestly, I would expect a game to be gratifying, instead I feel like I just lost big at the casino on rigged slot machines.

Does anyone else feel extremely frustrated, or used? I certainly can't be the only one who had such a unpleasant experience, can I?

[saiyen]

So wnna sell those legendary items? Am intrested
Ign- vegeta

[ReverendSmash]

Sure, you want the +40 INT Rogue armor? Or do you want the +40 STR Mage armor, or the super rare +40 AGI Warrior armor? I have 115 of them, and I'll sell you them all for 20 gold, please?

[faychen]

I spent on plats too. And I dont have any arcane :P. Maybe u shud try merching instead of glambing.

Sent from my LT26ii using Tapatalk 4

[xcainnblecterx]

You can also get arcane and my from elite golden pirate, warchest, and puzzle chests. Im with you on how its ridiculous these items can only be attained by gambling or forcing yourself to learn how to merch tho

[KingMartin]

Three ways how to earn money, every has obvious pros and cons:

1) Farming

2) Merching

3) Gambling

You tried the fastest and most risky option - gambling - to no avail.

Since you are a plat buyer, I recommend to buy luck lix, get best legendary gear and farm gold for mythics that you can upgrade and then farm even more. It is possible without any huge pain to farm for 3/5 - 5/5 myth within one month. I did it and some of my fellow guildies did it, too.

Get a reasonable party, have plats for revivals ready and farm difficult maps. I don't think you will need more than one (perhaps 2) full wagon of plats (1700) to became full mythic.

Of course, if your target is Maul, keep gambling. I cannot speak for merching, because I joined this game to kill and not to dwell around stores and spam chat. But certain guys made so much gold merching that they control the small economy of AL almost entirely.

[VanRah]

Well the guy has a point, cause but merching n farming lock/pets I don't see other ways to collect money...
Maybe only merching is the best solution as farming requires waste of pots (especially for a rogue char) which means constant lost of money with no garancy to loot (n if u do, there are few chances the loot is worth as much money to at least pay off for farming).
I lost more money farming in shuyal elite (where the chances to loot are even lesser)...

[Energizeric]

I have full mythic (all 5 slots) and an arcane pet (hammerjaw) and I never got any mythic or arcane items from locked crates.

If you were expecting to have the best items available in the game in only 12 hours of gameplay, then your expectations are unrealistic. Perhaps you also expected to be promoted to CEO of the corporation you work for after 3 months on the job?

Obtaining the best gear available in the game will take many hundreds of hours of gameplay and hard work. If you are just a casual gamer and don't play very often, then you should probably settle on the best legendary gear which is significantly cheaper. Mythic items are for the hardcore gamers who spend lots of time. Obtaining these items is a long term goal you have to work towards. As for arcane items, they are rare enough that even most hardcore gamers do not have them. These are very rare, and as such are extremely expensive (very low supply, very high demand), and obtaining these items will require a ton of hard work, lots of effort, and some luck involved too.

Just like real life, some people win the lottery, but most people who are successful are as a result of hard work. This game is not much different. You can spend your entire paycheck on lottery tickets each week hoping to hit the jackpot, or you can find a good skill and work hard for your success. The choice is yours.

[Vystirch]

I have full mythic (all 5 slots) and an arcane pet (hammerjaw) and I never got any mythic or arcane items from locked crates.

If you were expecting to have the best items available in the game in only 12 hours of gameplay, then your expectations are unrealistic. Perhaps you also expected to be promoted to CEO of the corporation you work for after 3 months on the job?

Obtaining the best gear available in the game will take many hundreds of hours of gameplay and hard work. If you are just a casual gamer and don't play very often, then you should probably settle on the best legendary gear which is significantly cheaper. Mythic items are for the hardcore gamers who spend lots of time. Obtaining these items is a long term goal you have to work towards. As for arcane items, they are rare enough that even most hardcore gamers do not have them. These are very rare, and as such are extremely expensive (very low supply, very high demand), and obtaining these items will require a ton of hard work, lots of effort, and some luck involved too.

Just like real life, some people win the lottery, but most people who are successful are as a result of hard work. This game is not much different. You can spend your entire paycheck on lottery tickets each week hoping to hit the jackpot, or you can find a good skill and work hard for your success. The choice is yours.

Why am I out of likes? :/

Very well said man.

-Vys

[VanRah]

Oh well they could at least make u recover the money spent farming somehow... Dunno, maybe increasing the gold in the chests opened in elite maps...
U know if there are few hardcore players n they all get top geared up, they won't be able to sell as "average players" can't collect so much money to buy good items in this game...just saying...

[faychen]

Oh well they could at least make u recover the money spent farming somehow... Dunno, maybe increasing the gold in the chests opened in elite maps...
U know if there are few hardcore players n they all get top geared up, they won't be able to sell as "average players" can't collect so much money to buy good items in this game...just saying...

Agree. Go to pier, more ppl shouting to sell while only some certain guys shouting to buy. High end Legendary stuffs expired no one buy, no need to mention mythic gears..

[KingMartin]

Oh well they could at least make u recover the money spent farming somehow... Dunno, maybe increasing the gold in the chests opened in elite maps...
U know if there are few hardcore players n they all get top geared up, they won't be able to sell as "average players" can't collect so much money to buy good items in this game...just saying...

1) More gold from Shuyal chests was promised, but I did not notice any significant cash inflow from them. But it is a good point, I will do couple of runs and see if the common loot from the map can make up for the costs at least (regular, not elite)

2) Good point with the economy - the only legendary gear that sells somehow are the weapons, because myth weapons are usually not much better, they are just different. I agree that what this game lacks is wider "middle class". Same like in many real economies. I know that vanity market is very interesting too, but because I am not into fashion, I don't understand this market at all

But again, as mentioned many times: We are just at the beginning of the new season and I am sure there are many new stimulations to come.

Optimistic as always

[matanofx]

The way i started really making gold is by farming elite gold warchests, matters not if elite gold pirate/war/puzzle they all have a nice market for them

My advice for you if you dont merch (it takes alot of auc stalking to get into merching) is start farming which ever easiest elite maps are for elite gold chests, even elite gold banded

I almost never opened the chests i sold 90% of them, but when i did open i got nothing so i can only advice you to sell it, other people made great points to i think anyone can learn alot from the comments in this thread.

[CallMeOops]

Your best bet my friend is to start farming, if it wasn't super hard then we would all be walking around with mythic gear sadly a lot of us don't haha but it the fun of the game to strive towards something. Would you really want to reach a point where you've hit super powerful & there not much left to gain?

[KingMartin]

Off the record... CallMeOops, what's your IGN?

[Wutzgood]

All that platinum bought and you didn't buy the leprechaun amulet?!? That would have given you the means to make millions if you farm.

[-no]

I feel the same. Hundreds crates opened. No myth, no arcane. Only 2 valuable items looted-depraved blades. I have spent hours/days playing elite only to NEVER have gotten a weapon or gear boss drop. Opened way to many elite gold chests, only to receive maybe two armors that were valuable. It's frustrating to have played this game since beginning of the year, and then to see brand new people running around with full myth gear AND and an arcane pet. I really don't know why I still play, I think maybe out of boredom.

[VanRah]

All that platinum bought and you didn't buy the leprechaun amulet?!? That would have given you the means to make millions if you farm.

I bought it but I can only use it on bosses, since farming shuyal maps with it on means going no where...
N using it doesn't make u drop more...

[Vertuldo]

Alright, now we're talking about the economy of the game. If I am to rate the economy with 10 as the highest, I'll rate it 5/10. The economy now is really bad that the best legendary gears are somewhat Overpriced. Bottomline is... THERE IS NO MIDDLE CLASS IN THIS GAME. If you don't have 10M gold or more with no high end gears on your stash, then, sad to say.. you belong to the 90% POOR POPULATION.

To make at least 300k gold a day or worst 100k a day: Run the Elite Rooks Nest. Rare Drop: Malison.
The problem is.. too many players are farming the malison eggs now.
Effect: Too many Malison eggs for sale on the auction. Eventually, the Malison price will drop. Why? Law of economy: "Too much resources, Low demand."

Or farm other legendary eggs like Nexus and Colton or other eggs that have prices 200k+.
The problem is.. These eggs are too rare.
Effect: These eggs are on average demand that sometimes there's nothing on sale and no one wants to buy them. If there is.. price is 200k+ that poor players could barely afford and if someone is selling them, the seller has to wait for like 2-3 days to sell it in the auction. How much tax would that be for selling it on auction for maximum of 72 hrs??

IMHO, STS is pushing its players to buy platinums for gold. This is bad... really bad as some other players doesnt have credit cards. I'd say 80% of the players doesnt have credit cards. If the target market players' age of STS is around 12-18 or 14-25 whatever their target is, haven't they thought that only players with jobs and credit cards can afford their platinums?

[Alrisaia]

I am middle class.

I have 3 pieces of mythic gear and no arcane pets.

Currently in my stash I have about 200k gold and I’m in debt by about 500k to a good friend.
I have a lot of Elite Pinks that I'm gambling on will rise in price (sort of like a commodities trader) eventually.
I have a diverse set of eggs that I think will eventually rise in price in the stash.

I farm for every piece of gold I have with the exception of a few crates I've opened here and there.
I've never gotten anything from a crate worth mentioning.

I played the entire first four seasons using second best gear. I was in fact a leaderboard player in season IV for timed runs without any mythics other than my bow.
During Season IV I ran the most difficult Eilte Maps in the game in times that were only about 20-30% slower than Leaderboard times with other players who were geared with similar gear. Once some of those members began to accumulate better gear and pets, we were within seconds of LB times.

The community is full of people who want the world handed to them on a silver platter. I never once heard of someone complaining to Rovio because the final level in Angry Birds was too difficult – why? Because that game is based on skill, with a little bit of luck.

I’m here to tell you right now that this game is no different, this game is based on strategy, skill, and teamwork. While it may be more time consuming – it’s supposed to be… With this much rich content it HAS to be.

I challenge anyone to prove me otherwise.
Strategy>Skill>Gear>

You all know the guy who has the ‘best’ gear for the sport he plays but sucks anyway? It’s really no different here. I’ve had enough of these flame threads pointing fingers at STG (the makers of this beautifully rendered game that we all love so much) for your lack of strategy, skill, and or social ability.


Oh and to the OP:

Honestly, I would expect a game to be gratifying, instead I feel like I just lost big at the casino on rigged slot machines.

During every season I felt extremely gratified playing. I've lost every time I have dropped a coin in the casino slot machine, thus I choose to hang out at the BlackJack table where there's a little more strategy involved and if I play long enough I might even be able to break even and get some free drinks out of it.