After 1 Year and $1200 this is what I got

Bad

The only player who doesn't need to spend anything is the one playing right from the start.
Others not having the same luck, if they are competitive and they like this game a lot should had spend relatively more or less amount.
This game running for 10 years means that effectively a lot of players spend some amount, as gacha games intend to accomplish.
However making a thread stating an amount of money will make f2p feel a bit nervous, and reject it or not accepting it as the valid source of info it is.
And that new players can make their way through the dreaded "dilution" which they are always talking about.

DAZ0273

@Daredevil217 said:
Well, this took a turn…

ThaRoadWarrior

I actually am mega curious how different the new player experience is with ascension now. I feel like being able to raise 1* characters would be a huge boost to the early game. 1 jump 2 is a great farm, my personal jury is still out on other jump ups. But being stuck at the 1* tier and throwing away covers was pretty wasteful.

Bowgentle

@ThaRoadWarrior said:
I actually am mega curious how different the new player experience is with ascension now. I feel like being able to raise 1* characters would be a huge boost to the early game. 1 jump 2 is a great farm, my personal jury is still out on other jump ups. But being stuck at the 1* tier and throwing away covers was pretty wasteful.

I'm not sure it helps.
The rewards until level 144 include 6 Heroics and one Mighty token, but only 290 HP.
So if anything it might be even worse for rostering everyone if you open all tokens.

JimboJambo

This is a really interesting write up. The key thing that stands out for me is not the money you spent, but that you have been spending 5-6 hours per day on the game. That is a huge time commitment and as you have said, it ultimately leads to burn out. I'd say it is better to encourage new players to settle in for the long haul and take their time, enjoying the experience of progressing through the tiers. That isn't a criticism of your approach though - one of the huge plus points of this game is there are so many different ways to build your roster. And of course those shiny 5 star covers are what everyone wants to be collecting when they start the game.

KGB

@JimboJambo said:
This is a really interesting write up. The key thing that stands out for me is not the money you spent, but that you have been spending 5-6 hours per day on the game. That is a huge time commitment and as you have said, it ultimately leads to burn out.

This is absolutely the number one takeaway from his write up.

Yeah the money helped because roster slots meant he could keep everything he opened (otherwise he'd have gotten less from farms and have fewer champed 3s and 4s). But obviously if you (vet or new player) are only playing 1 hr a day and he's playing 5-6 a day that means he's roughly making 5-6x as much progress as you. Or put another way, if you as a new player only plan (or can) devote 1 hr a day to the game, you should expect to reach where he did in 5-6 years instead of 1 (assuming same money spent).

KGB

entrailbucket

Free to play MPQ players are hilarious -- how do you think the game will stay alive if nobody spends any money?

rainkingucd

@entrailbucket said:
Free to play MPQ players are hilarious -- how do you think the game will stay alive if nobody spends any money?

hey! I'm free to play, and the game seems to be doing just fine and uh well

Scofie

A really interesting write up, thanks @bbigler. That is a huge time investment for the game and I get the idea of starting over again and the challenges are different.

I think there are 3 takeaways for me.

1) Choices are important - finding ways to win at that point in the game aren't about the fastest way to win, it's how high can you punch up in PvE. Choosing higher rewards and taking twice as long to get them does require skill and dedication.

2) Some choices are enabled by spending money - having the breadth of characters to compete requires a load of HP that isn't available any other way at that point in the game, but that does not take away from point 1, it just makes it faster to achieve.

3) Early investment yields greater payoffs later in the game. The resource gain is more than I get after 10 years playing, but it is also the product of the time investment. Sure I could probably match it with an extra hour per day of play, but it has taken me a long time to get here. Proportionately, this feels like a lot for the stage of the game after 12 months, but it is a different game to the one I was playing 9 years ago.

Captain_Trips88

@entrailbucket said:
Free to play MPQ players are hilarious -- how do you think the game will stay alive if nobody spends any money?

Or…

Some free to play MPQ players work two jobs just to scrape enough cash together to keep them and their families under a roof and use this mobile game as a way to chill out for an hour a day to escape the slog of life.

Wouldn’t normally go heavy with a post but come on, look at the bigger picture and realise that not everyone can afford to frivolously throw money at something to receive no tangible benefits from their money other than the instant gratification that comes from playing a computer game

entrailbucket

@Captain_Trips88 said:

@entrailbucket said:
Free to play MPQ players are hilarious -- how do you think the game will stay alive if nobody spends any money?

Or…

Some free to play MPQ players work two jobs just to scrape enough cash together to keep them and their families under a roof and use this mobile game as a way to chill out for an hour a day to escape the slog of life.

Wouldn’t normally go heavy with a post but come on, look at the bigger picture and realise that not everyone can afford to frivolously throw money at something to receive no tangible benefits from their money other than the instant gratification that comes from playing a computer game

That's not what I was saying.

The reason you can play this game without spending money is that folks like bbigler do support the game financially. He's not cheating, he's literally allowing others to play this game. It wouldn't exist at all without folks like him and the money they spend.

StillMonsoon3

Anybody else shocked by the 41.3M ISO that was earned and spent in a year? I can't fathom earning even a quarter of that in one years time. As a free to play player, I just checked my milestone award progress and have spent 39.2M ISO. I have been playing 7+ years (admittedly not always optimally) and still in ISO debt at the 5* level.

Captain_Trips88

@entrailbucket said:

That's not what I was saying.

The reason you can play this game without spending money is that folks like bbigler do support the game financially. He's not cheating, he's literally allowing others to play this game. It wouldn't exist at all without folks like him and the money they spend.

I know this the classic ‘I’ve been called out on something so I’ll change what I meant’ response and I should just leave it be but really? You referred to people who don’t pay for a mobile game that can be played for free as hilarious. How is that not meant as an insult?

I believe the challenge to OP was not that he was cheating by spending money but pointing out that by spending a large sum of money it has benefitted their progress significantly. If this is a guide for new players then there is a very heavy caveat of the money spent, and any casual gamer picking this up after it’s been out for 10 years is unlikely to think that they will be spending over a grand on it

Bad

@StillMonsoon3 said:
Anybody else shocked by the 41.3M ISO that was earned and spent in a year? I can't fathom earning even a quarter of that in one years time. As a free to play player, I just checked my milestone award progress and have spent 39.2M ISO. I have been playing 7+ years (admittedly not always optimally) and still in ISO debt at the 5* level.

Well, OP said he plays 5/6 hours per day and there isn't so many content in the game, but playing LR.
If you play all LRs from Tuesday to thursday is granted a great Iso income.
And all that is there, it only takes commitment. Players competitive and commited quickly will advance over many others. That's just natural.
There are all players types. I have a family and a roof for them too and I've spent money in this game. Imo is the least I can do to support a game which has brought me millions of hours of entertainment over 5 years.

entrailbucket

@Captain_Trips88 said:

@entrailbucket said:

That's not what I was saying.

The reason you can play this game without spending money is that folks like bbigler do support the game financially. He's not cheating, he's literally allowing others to play this game. It wouldn't exist at all without folks like him and the money they spend.

I know this the classic ‘I’ve been called out on something so I’ll change what I meant’ response and I should just leave it be but really? You referred to people who don’t pay for a mobile game that can be played for free as hilarious. How is that not meant as an insult?

I believe the challenge to OP was not that he was cheating by spending money but pointing out that by spending a large sum of money it has benefitted their progress significantly. If this is a guide for new players then there is a very heavy caveat of the money spent, and any casual gamer picking this up after it’s been out for 10 years is unlikely to think that they will be spending over a grand on it

I've changed absolutely nothing about what I said.

I find it hilarious that some free to play MPQ players look down on and denigrate spenders, rather than acknowledging the fact that the game they play is only "free" because others spend.

Every free to play player should be thanking bbigler for the $1200 he spent, because it allows them to continue enjoying the game without contributing financially to its continued existence.

DyingLegend

Omg 1200 bucks...........in one year????

Jeesh? if I spent that much on a mobile game ( or any game) my wife would kill me.......

Try doing it without spending a dime. I bet the results would be very different.

Bad

@entrailbucket said:

I find it hilarious that some free to play MPQ players look down on and denigrate spenders, rather than acknowledging the fact that the game they play is only "free" because others spend.

Totally agree. It must be that they don't have hobbies or bad habits of any type and they don't waste a lot of money on them, in order to judge people spending money in this way.

JimboJambo

Guys you have just made up your own argument here. No one in this thread was criticising the amount of money spent. Tony just mentioned that spending money was a factor in progress. There is plenty to debate in this game without you needing to make things up.

Bad

@JimboJambo said:
Guys you have just made up your own argument here. No one in this thread was criticising the amount of money spent. Tony just mentioned that spending money was a factor in progress. There is plenty to debate in this game without you needing to make things up.

Thanks for your help! I didn't notice that my skill to interpret opinions was dulled.
And by the way, did you read the third post before yours ?

JoeHandle

@bbigler said:

@Daredevil217 said:
I appreciate you putting the $$ spent right in the thread title. Too many times people focus solely on “you can do X in Y amount of time!” and undersell just how much money can expedite progress- especially in the early game.

That said, 100 dollars a month for a mobile game seems really high to me. For 1200 you could buy 20 full-fledged AAA titles on release day. Or you can improve your roster in a match three game.

Well, it’s only $20 - $25 per week, which is my disposable income for frivolous things. I would never spend that much all at once.

But I want to make it very clear that hard work got me this roster, not $1200.

Ehh, the hard work gets you the stuff, the $$$ lets you keep (roster) it faster, and w/o hoarding / waste.