disappointed

[MetalForce]

Well, it SHOULD be engineered to give paying customers something for they're money. But I see what you're saying. Up until this event I would say its been very fair for free players vs "whales". I use the term whale because if you only spend under $20 a month you're not really buying everything, you still have to grind with all the free players. This event was the first time I went on forums to say that the plat vs non-plat is incredibly one sided. Oh, and still have yet to get a Tarlok portal... if I spent more money I could fight him 10 times a day, but since I only spend $10 or so a month, I don't have the plat right now to face the Arlor boss

[Sceazikua]

you didnt get the point, nukedwolf. What MetalForce was saying is that: you cant purchase the pets with gold before,so its impossible. and now if you have enough gold you can buy the pets with gold, so its possible. He didnt say that "you have a chance to get mythic pets with plat" but "with gold".

[Anarchist]

Sts said This event is based on a long period term thats why portals are so hard to find and i understand this it make sense to me. So organize with ur guildmates split up in different easy maps and farm portals things get easier if you do this way in 1 hrs farm u can get 5-6 portals...Trust me if u farm portals alone get prepared to have a haaaard time.

[nukedwolf]

Think you missed my point if somebody didnt use platinum to obtain those eggs they still would not be available. And at roughly 5m an egg proves my point of the rich get richer. But then again if someone didnt spend real money none of the mythics or arcanes would be readily available. So its safe to say im loosing an uphill battle, I wont post on this topic anymore since it is basically a waste of time and is an unnecessary arguement. I dont have 4 years to explain long term physics of storyboarding and balancing of consignment for the longevity of a game without effecting income.lets just say theyre limiting the potential of this game based on the ability for players to play. please understand im trying to say this without spilling the beans of how free-to-pay games work cause if I did I can assure you nobody would be happy anymore. And just a mear glimpse of that, the average price of an arcane egg based on its rarity and price to open lock your looking at about a 300 $ (us currency) pet. Now kids go ask your parents for 300$ for a pet on a free to play game, your parents will probably laugh and tell you a real animal doesnt cost that much. Just one perspective of free-to-pay

[Frohnatur]

I have never spent a dime.

I am: Full myth, including scythe. I was leaderboards (before I went on 8 weeks vacation, lol). I am guildmaster of a nice and friendly guild. I have 80+ pets (including twink pets). I have 2 twinks, endorsed with top notch equipment and the best pets I need for that level and class.

Again. I have never spent a dime.

All I have is a little more time than the average joe, because I am a housekeeping dad (with all the disadvantages that come with it, but I do not complain here).

If you dont have much time, then you use this time obviously to make money. Therefore, it is okay to spent money to save time. Thats the deal. You cant have both.

Dont blame sts. Their model is perfectly socialist, in the best meaning of the word. That a company needs to make money... I even get that in to my old east german socialist brain.

What is left to complain? Technicalities. And only that.

If you spent $90 a week and you cant move on properly, well, then there's something to consider about your play-style.

Top Positions are not buyable. Believe it or not.

[BodMaster]

They are allowing mythic eggs to be bought and traded, most gear can be bought if you grind and get good drops especially on elite maps. In fact this time Slag cant be directly bought so I'd say its an advantage for free players.

Nuked lower level players can be higher level in around a week of grinding. Sure they can't enjoy every event to its fullest due to the limitations of their level (like killing Tarlok at lvl 15) but that is to be expected. Their gear is not expensive to obtain and reaching lvl 25 is fairly simple. At this level most really good gear can be purchased for less than 10k. Also this is an add on event that makes it interesting. First the holloween and now this. You can't really say anything that justifies this being a pro pay game.

However some amount of payment for gear is also justified unless you like to work for free. This game is very balanced as far as pay vs non pay goes and I'm hard pressed to find fault with the developers. If anyone puts in e they can get all the gear from mythics to arcane

Unsure if you have read this back to yourself, but I'm in total disagreement with all said above.

First off the whole Pet Egg = Plat sales has always been the gig there's no denying that. People that like to be rich ig buy hundreds of the things and sell them when the event drops (The longer they wait the higher the value, this doesn't just go for Pets this goes for all Plat obtained and not farmed items that can be traded hence the current economy). This works for both players and StS since both are getting "rich" in their own ways. Which leaves the freemium (non-plat) players wishing they could even have the slight chance of ever obtaining one of them. Their belief would be that there should be some way no matter how small the percentage of obtaining these through normal means.

I'm not sure if you're aware but even when this model first appeared in SL Xmas event, you could challenge the Xmas boss for rewards at any level. Level shouldn't be a restriction, since it's all about the holiday spirit.

I've not been back long, but I for one can tell you it's not as easy to level and have Mythic/Arcane gear as you're making it out to be, not even Legendary. The only way I see a freemium getting this sort of gear is being at Cap when the release hits so you can farm the the Elite maps at your leisure. I'm lvl 28 (from 21) after two log ins (one being the double xp wkend) and without Plat haven't obtained a single piece of gear that is better than any of the S2 gear I have on atm. Not even a accessory or pet. Though if I was a Plat player I would have the equivalent to the top tier gear at every campaign to advance. I do not see how this is as you put it "pay vs non-pay goes" as you're making it out to be for lower levels trying to advance. Sure like I said if I was around for each Cap raise and at Elite lvl then it be just as you say for a freemium player, but not for player levelling up/trying to advance in any way, shape or form.

Since I've been back from a very long break, I can easily see how this game has become/or is becoming P2W, I had seen the signs early on, the above statement plus the feedback from well known players (Tell me as it is, no sugar coating) only proves this further.

On the portal subject, the portal's idea was well planned out, I have no issue's about that. Sure premium players have a helping hand (and also get to rudely jump in your portal run and get the chest drop and then thank you for it d: ) But it's a huge step forward from the previous games events in the sense of content for all. (2p per run, unable to run more than once a day without was dire)

Guess I have been pretty lucky, as I've come across 3/4 portals while running solo through all new maps trying to get a feel for the game again. Though I'm sure that luck would change if I was actually farming them

[MetalForce]

I wish I could "like" the last two posts

[becky_xil]

Plat spending is at ur own wil.. but this event.. naaa.. prefer form locked and elite bacj

Send using my cellphone.. yes my cellphone

[aarrgggggg]

My 2 cents, The only two things i am interested in from this event (now that the portals have 90 second timers on them, and rift drop rates seem very low)

Is the banner i will receive after i have completed 15 days and Delphinas contest.

Rifts are certainly not a viable way 2 make in game gold unless u get super lucky and get breezaga and sell it.

Rifts are like a bonus you might get throughout your normal gameplay, but farming rifts seems a bit daunting.

In short these rifts are like essences, something you will get via regular gameplay not something you should set out to farm.

With that said rifts drop rate does seem slightly low.

Yes plat spenders have a new way to make gold giving them a huge advantage yet again, but this is not new to this game.

Plat spenders have always and will always have an advantage.

[LordDravek]

The never ending battle of plat play vs free play strikes again! No matter what you think or say, just remember, this is a game... but it's also a business. The plat player advantage is what the game is built around. The free play is something thrown in, like a demo that attracts new players. Someone has to pay the bills for all the planning, coding, designing, support, servers, and maintenance... and that's what plat players do.

You have to put things into perspective:

Kid Billy plays for free all day long. Teen Dereck uses mom's credit card for a one-time deal and bought $100 of plat and plays after school. Hard working Drave pays $1000/month and plays 1 hour when the woman isnt looking. Who should have an advantage? "Lets base it all on luck and keep the market pretty!"

I think the STS team has done a great job in balancing the budget. I think they've also done a great job with allowing free players to acquire the plat purchased gear via the cs. My worst fear about these type of games are always lazy designers who have cash fever... Which we are starting to notice (different pets with same stats, plat purchasing fast track areas, new crap pink gear that doesn't do anything better than white crap, etc...) Most of us don't even recognize the white green blue junk anymore due to so much crap pink we sort through.

There's a lot of statistics involved.

[drawfflerz]

Sam, u already told that.... so... why not make platinum sale for discount? This is holiday event!

[nelson131]

yup i know that this event is free to play, but the lair spawn rate is way too low. i killed bosses 10 times and didnt even get a portal.
should slightly increase the spawn rate. thx

[Samhayne]

Thread closed at original posters request.