You can play this game for free of course.  But later on in the higher levels,  and especially for pvp,  equipment and gear are a must for pvp!  Only those with every little extra they can get will win and  that means those with access to the Chantra shop.

"But Drithe doesnt everyone have access to the Chantra shop?"  NO!  They do not.  you have to APPLY for it.  They somehow check your account and determine whether or not you are WORTHY of doing so.

   I myself paid monthly for RF onine for 4 months.   A year later it went for free.  SO im thinking I wil have no problem getting  access to the Chantra Shop.  I was wrong.   Infact everytime I try to get an explanation as to WHY i was denied I get back just computer responses with NO explanation.

    Plenty of other people are experiencing the same problem.  At  early levels its ok.  But like I said,  when you get to level 50 trhu 70 and pvp is huge,  the ones with access to the Chantra shop have a DISTINCT advantage over everyone else.

   If you decide to play this game PLEASE SEE IF YOU CAN GET ACCESS FIRST TO THE CHANTRA SHOP BEFORE YOU EVER START PLAYING!   This might end up saving you valuable time for another MMORPG.

End of Line.

This is because there is two rmt companies operating in these games using stolen US credit cards to purchase stuff from the item shop, so all new payment options must be vetted by Codemasters to ensure they aren't using stolen credit cards or are of a high fraud possilibity.

Seriously, you have screwed banking system in the US where you can just google for credit cards.