The cost of DL level 20

[csb]

At level 20, you will need 17670 XP to complete the level. The following are the options for completing this level.


Option 1: The free method. Grind it out daily. Takes 18 days to complete.

In this case you have to be diligent about converting energy to XP throughout the day. You can probably consume about 200 energy per day. By the time you get to the "Downtown Suburbs" campaign, the exchange rate for energy to xp is between (28/5)=5.6 and (30/7)=4.3. Running a mission is (10/3)=3.3, but sometimes you get free energy as a drop, so I would estimate that running missions typically yields (30/6)=5 if you get +3 energy one out of 3 runs. So, on average, you get about 5 XP per energy. To complete the level, you need (17670/5)=3534 energy. At a rate of 200 energy per day, it will take (3534/200)=18 days.


Option 2: Buy energy. 14 hours. Costs $165 to complete the level.

It costs $1 to refill 25 energy. To complete the level, you can buy energy, and use the instant (30/7) energy to XP conversion in the "Downtown Suburbs" campaign. The amount of energy needed will be (17670/(30/7))=4123. The cost of that energy will be (4123/25)=$165

Suppose it takes about 5 minutes to buy and use the energy. In that time, you collect one energy, so you will have 25+1=26 energy every 5 minutes. In the "Downtown Suburbs" campaign, you can press two different (6/25 : 5 minute) missions. And press (30/7 : instant) "Feed on the Werewolf" mission twice. This would give (25+25+30+30)=110 XP in 5 minutes, which is 12*110=1320 XP per hour. At 1320 XP per hour, the level can be completed in (17670/1320)=14 hours.


Option 3: Buy XP. Costs $353 to complete the level.

The cost of buying XP is $1 per 50 XP. To by XP directly, it would cost (17670/50)=$353.40



Edit: Since I finished on May 5, I guess it took about 14 days of occasional playing. Once I reached the highest level I was able to use the higher conversion rate tasks like 6/65, 9/55, 6/58, 6/40. I saved up the completed tasks and only cashed them in when ready to fight in missions (to use the buff bonuses). I got 600K gold from selling the pinks obtained during leveling.