I really like the concept behind Atlantica Online.  Turn based strategy game with multiple characters in formation.  There is a lot to do and experiment with in this game.  It's one of the few mmorpg's I've tried in the past few years that felt different.

All of the best mounts, all the decorations and some of the mercs can only be found in the cash shop.  What a shame.  I'd be more than willing to pay my $15 a month.  Imagine all the content that would be added for the items in the cash shop.

Sure I can continue on without spending money.  My music main just hit level 100 and the gap between me and the people who spend money on items is getting really wide.  I'm having my doubts whether I should continue.

Since you seem to like the game I would just bite the bullet and buy the gear you want from the store, after all you would of been willing to pay the monthly fee if you could of. Hopefully it wouldn't cost more than if you had been paying the monthly fee of $15 a month.

When will people realize that cash shops ruin ANY game?

If you stop comparing yourself to other player, you'll stop feeling that way.

The truth is most people either spend 0$ or 500$ a month.  There are not alot of in betweens.  So really, the only people that have huge advange are the very few minority that spends loads of money through item mall.

Originally posted by laokoko

If you stop comparing yourself to other player, you'll stop feeling that way.

The truth is most people either spend 0$ or 500$ a month.  There are not alot of in betweens.  So really, the only people that have huge advange are the very few minority that spends loads of money through item mall.

I'm not comparing myself to other by choice.  If I'm losing PvP battles because somebody else buys all the best items, I can't help but notice where I'm falling short.  If we're doing a guild dungeon and I'm the first to get slaughtered I can't help but notice that my gear is inferior.  If I can't get a party invite because I don't have a teleport licsense then it is thrown in my face again.

I have no data to either support or refute your last statement.  But by simply observing the mounts, decorations and mercs the players around me are using, I'd say a lot more people are using the cash shop then you think.

I don't think that many people are spending money on the game.  They just make ingame money to buy from those that spend real money.

The others that you said may be true. But for the PVP, at least you can just try CL. I don't play FL anymore since my gears are just bad. So I play CL and I'm doing fairly well. :)

It's not so much the cash shop itself, it's what they did at higher levels (basically 110+) that makes the cash shop so needed. Blessing License, then enchanting the heck out of your gears (since they are so much harder to get past divine). And IMHO, what really ruined the game was the change to TBS. Basically all the new additions to the game have been for that. The really top players can do the battles solo, make billions in gold, and thus cause massive inflation. The first couple years inflation in the game was noticeable, but not that bad. But since TBS hit, it's been crazy. But there's really no point in going beyond 120, since it's all TBS after that.

And yeah, even the top players spend a lot of money, even though theoretically their billions they make a week can buy anything they need. But some stuff people won't sell, and I guess some just have a lot of money in real life, too.

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Originally posted by dave6660

I'm not comparing myself to other by choice.  If I'm losing PvP battles because somebody else buys all the best items, I can't help but notice where I'm falling short.  If we're doing a guild dungeon and I'm the first to get slaughtered I can't help but notice that my gear is inferior.  If I can't get a party invite because I don't have a teleport licsense then it is thrown in my face again.

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And what's wrong with that?

Some games require time to grind for competitive gear, some others require spending cash.

Just because it is not a game fitting you does not mean the game is 'ruined' by focusing on different type of players.

Then again, if item mall items are not used much, it isn't an issue to keep you up on competitive level. If item mall items are wide spread, people do support and enjoy such game setup, just the game is probably not for your you.

You can't please everyone and MMO market is large enough to care for different needs.

The cash-shop helps ruin it, but the way the game is so damn "thin" through the levelling just grinded down my will to play with the sheer monstrous & not very well disguised grind, it's saving grace could have been the PvP but the cash shop f'd that up too.

Ive been playing for a long time. The game is designed to tick you off to paying a crapload of money and to only find dissapointement becasue its a slot pull system ( that they swear is random). Since Ndoors managed it the items in a box numbered maybe15 now with nexxon theres like 35 ranging from good to crap in the box! What i do notice is people getting taken to the bank and will still defend this game. The events can be bought by anyone with  a large stash of gold. Ie the rabbio box drop, several high levels just bought the  boxes off mkt. So don't tell me that this game doesn't leave something to hate . Okay so I used to spend decent money on this game till i counted it all up. I then quit. I recently went back what used to be rich maybe 3bil is now poor.This is market  set prices by company to drive IM sales. Now you need atleast 50-100Bil. So for all the geniuses, so just don't IM, well this is like pounding your head against a wall or rolling a boulder uphill, and the IM choice isnt better either. Things you must have to play: teleport license,is a must that is not an ingame item and can only be purchsed if someone puts on the mkt. So unless you have the patience of a saint and can walk 45 min to NPC and 45 min back your going to go min warrior pkg 15 Bucks( to move around). The GM's will actually appear in chat to plead with you to buy atlas or whatever other sales they are having. If they sold an item for a fixed price No prob but its like a bad trip to las vegas without the trip.  If you think your good enough to play for free go try it and tell me about your misarable existence..lol. You all talk big and prob posts from those fruits and nut GM's in Los Angelas. Making money is one thing but this game capitalises on failure of money spent on failed boxes from  mall items. Again if you can play and be good without mall items or begging GOOD 4 U nut up your not the majority ! Go play AION or Guild wars or try something else before you wind up one night saying " I probably will win an Item from mall..NOT. Oh good point the ingame notice for won items are only the GOOD stuff , a nagging screen pops on your system to tell you so and so won this what it doesnt show you is the failed boxes 100 scrolls of eat butt! I agree with you the game is good but the management is sleezy and greedy..too bad i WOULD LIST SOME TIPS FOR THEM TO MAKE EVERYONE HAPPY BUT SCREW EM..LOL

I would pay 20$  a month for this game if i was P2P without Cash Shop.

It's such a great game with only downfall being the cash shop :/

You right, the game is great and the cash shop sucks badly. Specialy because of the "random" system of the boxes what means even if you are willing to spend the money you have no guarantee you gonna get what you want. However I could manage to play for a long time at a very low coast. Basicaly I spent some money untill I got a decent mount and that was it, I than stoped buying the frustrating boxes from the shop.

But still, people who spend money does have a great advantage, as usual F2P turns out as P2W ... That really sucks!

every once in a while i think about playing atlantica again.

conceptually it's an amazing game.  but the way their item mall is structured iss god-awful as others havce said.

it's a shame.  i'd pay a subscription for the game if they re-jiggered their items to make it work in a subscription model.  i hope some western developer sees that there is a decent sized market for this kind of game and makes a sort of westernized version with no cash shop.

i played atlantica for about a year and a half, one of my favorite mmo's.

I spent lots, and i do mean lots, of money in the cash shop. lots.

If you do not want to spend money on this game, and are remotely interested in pvp, or getting the best team, abilities, etc, just stop now. Seriously. NOT worth it.

I stopped playing when they started adding mercs to their list of cash shop items(not that it wasn't p2w before) and i was only really interested in pve at the time. Building my party any way i wanted was really what i loved. when they took that away by selling mercs, i jumped ship.

It has only gotten worse. When i was buying boxes, there were maybe 10-15 items to get from within them, and i got many mounts and wings, etc, though it STILL cost me shitons of money and luck. NOW there are TONS of items in the boxes, chances of getting anything out of them have more than likely dropped by half or more.

DO NOT PLAY IF NOT RICH lol. basiclly.

You missed out though, when i quit i gave all my stuff away. Some folks were very very hap[py that day lol. i collected everything.

EDIT: if you still dont want to heed the warning, and spend money on the cash shop, DONT BUY THE BOXES. just buy whatever is worth the highest value(what, atlas rocks these days?) and sell that, then use in game money to buy whatever is chance based. been awhile since i played but thats what i did for costumes n stuff if i remember correctly

I play this game now 10 months and i did not spend any money too this game you can get rich in the game itself,

I have a mount, no wings and 2 character both above 100, bought  no houses. a save then i spend with young generation it so they want the item and nexon is more lottery system so 1 in 3.000.000 you get the item you want. So wait a while and eventuelly buy on the market.

Originally posted by dave6660

I really like the concept behind Atlantica Online.  Turn based strategy game with multiple characters in formation.  There is a lot to do and experiment with in this game.  It's one of the few mmorpg's I've tried in the past few years that felt different.

All of the best mounts, all the decorations and some of the mercs can only be found in the cash shop.  What a shame.  I'd be more than willing to pay my $15 a month.  Imagine all the content that would be added for the items in the cash shop.

Sure I can continue on without spending money.  My music main just hit level 100 and the gap between me and the people who spend money on items is getting really wide.  I'm having my doubts whether I should continue.

I really enjoyed AO at first but like you I hit the upper levels or pvp and realized how much it would cost me to keep going and decided it was not worth it. But yes at low-mid levels it is a lot of fun but just too CS dependent and too costly for as much as you needed to buy.

Originally posted by laokoko

I don't think that many people are spending money on the game.  They just make ingame money to buy from those that spend real money.

LOL...that's a trip and half joke from the darkside. "make momey to buy from those that do"?..lol make money how, AO has went to the farthest extreme lengths of any game ever to ensure you CAN'T make enough money to do that. Sure they brought in TBS and if you're willing to give up every other part of the game and use only your game time for TBS (Which is just a typcial WOW type battle, so might as well play that and save your money) then you can make a little money. Aside form that forget it. You cannot make profit from Crafting, from mat drops, from market or any other way that amounts to anything of consequence. AO has went to special lengths to ensure this. 4+ years playing and I've spent 1000's of $ in their item mall so no whiney noob here, just the honest facts. You will never get anything of relevance without item mall, one way or another. And a lot of it at that.