I've havent played any F2P game extensively, but was thinking about trying this one out.  My main concern atm is that I won't be able to compete (specifically in PvP) without purchasing items from the item mall.  Is this a valid concern?  If it is, how much would you guys consider to be essential?

You won't be able to compete against item mall customers in PVE but AFAIK PVP is not influenced directly by the item mall...

Almost everything available on the item mall is available to purchase with in-game money. So, you are at no more of a disadvantage than you are from gold buyers in other games.

There actually isn't much of a direct advantage. But indirectly, as the above poster pointed out, it's essentially like facing a gold buyer in other games. (Indeed, this game also has a lot of gold buyers).

Equipment gets to be very expensive at high levels (since it has to be crafted, I guess, divine boxes (105) are the highest I get, and those are rare.

I'm 113, and I don't even own any depraved (110) gear, much less phoenix (113). While the + of the gear doesn't really count, the tier (level) of it does. So I'm at a pretty big disadvantage, since I'm mostly outfitted in Darkest Night armor (100) with a handful of divine pieces (105) and still some conq stuff (97).

And that's not counting the uber weapons like the shotgun, sealed dragon fang, and stormbringer, which sell for 250 million each. The shotgun, in particular, seems essential for PvP (having 2 or 3 of them).

The item mall is mainly all vanity, but many of thier items can give you a boost. Unlike many F2P MMORPGs, thier item mall items give you + stats that can help you greatly in battles.

If you know how to craft you can manage all your gear by crafting and selling items . Once you can craft depraved gear your capable of making decent money . But to be elite level like any f2p game you will have to spend money or be very very good at crafting high level items as well as be very lucky with gear + rates . You will be more than capable of being very good without item mall . There are also national dungeon and guild dungeon that give you chances at getting the rare weapons and rare items .That will make you some nice money if you choose to sell and if you keep help you a great deal . Only things you will likely need at high levels is bless license and maybe a warriors pack . Bless license give you exp and power and defense bonus that you will need for national and guild dungeons . Warriors pack allow you to teleport and view creature and player health both helpful when you pve and pvp .

If you are talking about the free league, the item mall doesn't matter much because your total might is automatically adjusting in free league. But in Nation Wars there is a big difference since everything is as is. When you reach level 100 and up it is easy to earn gold anyway. I finish all the dungeons solo everyday and earn at least 60m per day from the loots.

I think someone mentioned this already, but the item mall has little effect on the pvp and atlantica is primarily a pvp game by design. Now, the major downside to the item mall is that most people use it in order to make gold. Since ori stones are particularly valuable, someone willing to spend the cash can sell them to make billions of gold in order to equip their mercs or buy harder to attain mercs such as the spartan, pirate, and elementalist. Other than that, most of the valuable items from the mall make pve a lot easier such as teleportation or 50% more damage and exp. 

Originally posted by Volture777

I've havent played any F2P game extensively, but was thinking about trying this one out.  My main concern atm is that I won't be able to compete (specifically in PvP) without purchasing items from the item mall.  Is this a valid concern?  If it is, how much would you guys consider to be essential?

PvP wise, what you may want (what makes you better at PvP):

- You want a Health Check license, to know your foes health. 30 days = $4,99

- You want Merc. Room licenses, for some mercenary flexbility (it's an extension for Merc. Storage). 1 permanent extra slot = $4,99

- You want Growth Vials and Secret Vials of Potentials if you haven't yet spent all your mercs Bonus points and Skill Potential points so you can use them at their fullest efficiency. The Growth Vials can drop off PvE but you will hardly be able to use all of your merc's points with their drop rate. 10 growth vials = $1,99, 10 potential vials = $1,99

- You want Enhance stones to improve your gear, this, like Growth Vials also drop on PvE but you will hardly be able to enhance all equipment dropped (at higher levels equipments is damn hard to get). 10 [Adv] stones = $4,99 (for level 100- equipment) and 10 [Pre] stones = $9,99 (for level 100-120 equipment).

- You want in-game money to purchase the best gear avaiable (and enhancement backups) for your characters, it becomes increasingly difficult for you to keep up with the best gear for your mercs as you level on. For this you want to purchase stuff that players like to buy. As I'm not playing I can't further enlighten you on what you want to buy for sale, but that probably involves mounts/vanity stuff, and licenses.

- You're naive if you think PvE won't greatly help you into PvP (as in leveling faster, being more efficient, licenses turn PvE into easy-mode), if you want details on PvE creditcard-power, just ask, although the best way to rule in PvP is selling Item Mall stuff and purchasing equipment and enchancing it, gear difference will often determine the winner.

for pvp. if you dont item mall. most probably youll get owned by a mall buyer, who has complete gear. though if you have good in game strategy, it will balance things up. for me good strategy > good gear. but if you just want to enjoy the game. in pve... it mostly doesnt even matter. the packages and the blessing licences will definitely speed things up. but if you really dont want to purchase. it is still manageable.

Originally posted by lm8dark

for pvp. if you dont item mall. most probably youll get owned by a mall buyer, who has complete gear. though if you have good in game strategy, it will balance things up. for me good strategy > good gear. but if you just want to enjoy the game. in pve... it mostly doesnt even matter. the packages and the blessing licences will definitely speed things up. but if you really dont want to purchase. it is still manageable.

This is totally false.

Every itemshop item is either vanity or convenience. They have NO effect on PvP (As labeled in the item stats). The only combat related things are simply PvE boosters for XP and attack power, but leveling without them is smooth and easy. The main things you might want are the licenses, which basically let you travel-teleport without paying gold fees, and health check to see how fast things are dying. The game can be easily played without them, and they are even available for in-game currency rather than real money.

You can't just buy uber PvP gear from the shop and dominate. Everything on the shop can be obtained ingame besides the vanity items.

you can still play and manage the game well even if you dont have to buy or use the item mall..

Originally posted by lm8dark

for pvp. if you dont item mall. most probably youll get owned by a mall buyer, who has complete gear. though if you have good in game strategy, it will balance things up. for me good strategy > good gear. but if you just want to enjoy the game. in pve... it mostly doesnt even matter. the packages and the blessing licences will definitely speed things up. but if you really dont want to purchase. it is still manageable.

Again, to support what somebody else said above, this guy is completely false. First off, the item mall items themselves provide no real benefit in pvp. The only real benefit obtained from the item mall is gold made by selling ori's and such. Some may claim this is a significant advantage, but atlantica's pvp balancing mitigates the effectiveness of enhancements over +4. That being said, it is entirely possible for a non item mall buyer to succeed in pvp. I for one, am division 1 in sikyon with only a lvl 109 main and I've beaten lvl 120's with red glowing weapons. Now where massing tons of gold helps is being able to buy expensive mercs without spending the effort to get them. Mercs such as the spartan, pirate, and elementalist can cost a bit of money to obtain and upgrade to hero. Selling item mall stuff makes it easier, but certainly not necessary. I sold all my pvp coins a couple weeks ago to help fund some equipment upgrades and i sold 800 mil worth of coins.

I usually used the item mall to buy some items like warriors pack and some licenses for easy quest.

This game has one of the worse item malls in F2P that I have ever tried. Its unbalanced, overpowered, and overpriced. By far ruins the games balance in both PvP and PvE.(A lot more in PvE though) Thats kinda what you get when you find a decent Free 2 play game though. Crappy Free 2 play games usually have better item malls, more balance, but shitty game play. This is actually an ejoyable game for once, but the item mall is garbage. One day F2P companies will wake up and make a GOOD Free 2 play game with fair balanced prices, and items people will flock to that game. 

Originally posted by Calintz333

This game has one of the worse item malls in F2P that I have ever tried. Its unbalanced, overpowered, and overpriced. By far ruins the games balance in both PvP and PvE.(A lot more in PvE though) Thats kinda what you get when you find a decent Free 2 play game though. Crappy Free 2 play games usually have better item malls, more balance, but shitty game play. This is actually an ejoyable game for once, but the item mall is garbage. One day F2P companies will wake up and make a GOOD Free 2 play game with fair balanced prices, and items people will flock to that game. 

I don't actually know why the item mall is crappy like you said? I'm an item mall user but I only purchase blessing license and warrior's pack. i know the item mall is a gamble, but i think that's the major part of the game. ranging from vulcanus, arena, de mere. everything is a gamble with this game. that's why it is so fun. no one can be super op...

For my server (argos), I believe the most popular server.

1) blessing license cost 15$ a month(300 mil in game gold).  pretty much all the semi hardcore people level100+ have this.

2) adventure package which let you teleport, see enemy health, auto loot, auto battle cost 15$ a month(300 mil in game gold).  I say about 50% of the level120 people use this.

3) Michael wings 50$ or (1 billion).  Or kitty bag 37.5$ (750 mil)

4) Mars rider Mount 60$ or (1.2 billion gold).  You really don't need the best mount.  A semi ok one cost 25$.

5) Class B merc spartan:  3.5 billion gold or 175$.  Pretty much every semi hardcore get this merc

6) Class B merc pirate: 2.3 billion gold or 115$.  Decent merc, not every one get it.

7) class B merc elementist: 2.3 billion gold or 115$.  Decent merc, not everyone get it.

8) Best equipment +10 phoenix on every merc: 234 billion or 11700$.  There is probably only 1 or 2 people on the entire server with +10 phoenix on every merc.  In general 40 billion worth of equipment is already decent for the hardcore lvl120 or 2000$.  

-  What I want to note is in general most the 120 level player don't even spend money on the game since they have everything already.  They farm their own gold and spend 600 milion a month to get blessing license and warrior package.  

It's not the item mall which is unbalance.  It's the absurd grindy nature of this game.  Everything cost so much in game gold.  In game gold which you can easily get from "selling item mall items'.

Originally posted by laokoko

For my server (argos), I believe the most popular server.

1) blessing license cost 15$ a month(300 mil in game gold).  pretty much all the semi hardcore people level100+ have this.

2) adventure package which let you teleport, see enemy health, auto loot, auto battle cost 15$ a month(300 mil in game gold).  I say about 50% of the level120 people use this.

3) Michael wings 50$ or (1 billion).  Or kitty bag 37.5$ (750 mil)

4) Mars rider Mount 60$ or (1.2 billion gold).  You really don't need the best mount.  A semi ok one cost 25$.

5) Class B merc spartan:  3.5 billion gold or 175$.  Pretty much every semi hardcore get this merc

6) Class B merc pirate: 2.3 billion gold or 115$.  Decent merc, not every one get it.

7) class B merc elementist: 2.3 billion gold or 115$.  Decent merc, not everyone get it.

8) Best equipment +10 phoenix on every merc: 234 billion or 11700$.  There is probably only 1 or 2 people on the entire server with +10 phoenix on every merc.  In general 40 billion worth of equipment is already decent for the hardcore lvl120 or 2000$.  

-  What I want to note is in general most the 120 level player don't even spend money on the game since they have everything already.  They farm their own gold and spend 600 milion a month to get blessing license and warrior package.  

It's not the item mall which is unbalance.  It's the absurd grindy nature of this game.  Everything cost so much in game gold.  In game gold which you can easily get from "selling item mall items'.

5)  Spartan no more than 500m for the summon

6) Pirate, get a decent level and you get it free, otherwise 600-700m

7) Elementalist 800m

8) Noone has +10 endgame gear.  +5 freezing (level 100) will get you through everywhere with ease even with a full 120 team.  Full +5 freezing is 2-3bn but many people use less.

The game is ungrindable.  You get 60 fights a day, how can you grind?  This post is total nonsence. Everything is really cheap due to a jackpot, pick an item you need and sacrifice the others to get a large amount of that license.  You don't need the item mall, i have a full 120 team and haven't used the item mall. 

Originally posted by WillClarke

Originally posted by laokoko

For my server (argos), I believe the most popular server.

1) blessing license cost 15$ a month(300 mil in game gold).  pretty much all the semi hardcore people level100+ have this.

2) adventure package which let you teleport, see enemy health, auto loot, auto battle cost 15$ a month(300 mil in game gold).  I say about 50% of the level120 people use this.

3) Michael wings 50$ or (1 billion).  Or kitty bag 37.5$ (750 mil)

4) Mars rider Mount 60$ or (1.2 billion gold).  You really don't need the best mount.  A semi ok one cost 25$.

5) Class B merc spartan:  3.5 billion gold or 175$.  Pretty much every semi hardcore get this merc

6) Class B merc pirate: 2.3 billion gold or 115$.  Decent merc, not every one get it.

7) class B merc elementist: 2.3 billion gold or 115$.  Decent merc, not everyone get it.

8) Best equipment +10 phoenix on every merc: 234 billion or 11700$.  There is probably only 1 or 2 people on the entire server with +10 phoenix on every merc.  In general 40 billion worth of equipment is already decent for the hardcore lvl120 or 2000$.  

-  What I want to note is in general most the 120 level player don't even spend money on the game since they have everything already.  They farm their own gold and spend 600 milion a month to get blessing license and warrior package.  

It's not the item mall which is unbalance.  It's the absurd grindy nature of this game.  Everything cost so much in game gold.  In game gold which you can easily get from "selling item mall items'.

 

5)  Spartan no more than 500m for the summon

6) Pirate, get a decent level and you get it free, otherwise 600-700m

7) Elementalist 800m

8) Noone has +10 endgame gear.  +5 freezing (level 100) will get you through everywhere with ease even with a full 120 team.  Full +5 freezing is 2-3bn but many people use less.

 

The game is ungrindable.  You get 60 fights a day, how can you grind?  This post is total nonsence. Everything is really cheap due to a jackpot, pick an item you need and sacrifice the others to get a large amount of that license.  You don't need the item mall, i have a full 120 team and haven't used the item mall. 

5) spartan summon + giant soul crystal + giant soul jewel + 60 skill warcry book = how much?

6) pirate summon + phoenix soul crystal +phoenix soul jewel + skill book = how much?

7) elementist + redemption soul crystal + redemption soul jewel + skill book = how much?

8) Try to ask Sarahphoenix how many +10 phoenix gear he have.  Obivously you won't be able to compete in div 1 free league with +5 freezing gear. 

When I talk about grind, I mean money grind. 

And jackpot have been nerfed/adjust the last patch.  Very few items actually make more money for jackpot now, mostly only crystal make money now.

I agree with you, you dont' need item mall.  I already said myself most lvl120 people dont' even use item mall since they already have everything, have easy access to make money, and have already spend 1 year of their life playing this game so they have enough money.

not that much in my opinion. if you just want to make the pace of the game faster, then use item mall items. if you wanna save your cash and still enjoy, its possible as well. thats the beauty of f2p games, they give you the option compared to p2p games where youll definitely shell out cash before even getting to play the game

I agree with the class bmercs that it has high in game cost. butjust to ask, why do you need to put a dollar price on everything? like i've said i just use the mall for bless and war pack. that's it. everything else i purchase in gamevia market. i have a spartan and a pending pirate. I only used the item mall around lvl 60+

unless you want to get them the easy but expensive way, sellng premium items on the market

but you can get them without even spending $, you just need to analyze your serve market on what's in demand and what's not

Originally posted by Calintz333

This game has one of the worse item malls in F2P that I have ever tried. Its unbalanced, overpowered, and overpriced. By far ruins the games balance in both PvP and PvE.(A lot more in PvE though) Thats kinda what you get when you find a decent Free 2 play game though. Crappy Free 2 play games usually have better item malls, more balance, but shitty game play. This is actually an ejoyable game for once, but the item mall is garbage. One day F2P companies will wake up and make a GOOD Free 2 play game with fair balanced prices, and items people will flock to that game. 

This is the hard factual truth. A great many AO players have to play under the the "Love the game, despise the company behind it" motto. I always see the same "kiss up" retorts to the above FACTS. Do your own crafting (yeah right, to have all your equipt skills, not to mention all the material skills) to a high enough level to craft all your gear and so forth is a 2 year endeavor and a huge costly one at that. Those without item mall items, whether purchaed themselves, or with super high gold costs in game, the facts are you will never get far, especially at higher levels, without them. NDoors is by far the most greed oriented company I've ever ran across. AT first the patches were great, expanded gameplay and seemingly player oriented inprovements and even a little balance. Then 6 months ago the Nerfing began....they have for the last 3-4 patches done everything in their power to make those who do not play shrouded in item mall purchases (tele license, uber enhanced gear, blessing potions/license ect) have a very , if not impossible, time at advanceing or competing with other players. Although I am one of those who does indeed play with a full stock of item mall items, from 100's of scrolls, tele license, mars rider, full scarlet costume, wings of light, blessing potions...ect. All i got by paying for the boxes in the item mall, i still hate seeing the stagnation and I do feel sorry for any person who comes to Atlantica (A game I love) thinking they will get very far for "free"...you wont. That is just a fact. There are those who claim they do...I think if you play for very long you will see how that statment brings up only one word in your mind..liar...lol

" thinking they will get very far for "free"..."

define "far"

Originally posted by dhrddm

" thinking they will get very far for "free"..."

define "far"

those who ask must be the first to define it ^^ lmao O_o