I wanted to play this game but was just curious, is there a big cash shop in this game that u need to use real money for. OR is there a Cash Shop But Its not that big and only really there for just extras. Like Will You Find Yourself Alot needing new equipment and only able to purchase it with real money throught a cash shop?

The biggest reason I steared clear of this title when it went F2P was that I was told, and this may be wrong, that you are restricted to only playing the prefabricated builds they give you if you do not sub to the game. All the custom powerset mix match awesomeness that this title professes is gone.

Originally posted by alienbloom

I wanted to play this game but was just curious, is there a big cash shop in this game that u need to use real money for. OR is there a Cash Shop But Its not that big and only really there for just extras. Like Will You Find Yourself Alot needing new equipment and only able to purchase it with real money throught a cash shop?

Performance wise there is nothing on the c-store besides a few healing patches that can be done similarly through crafting. The main thing you miss by playing without subscription is that freeform; silver(free) players use skeletonized builds known as archtypes, which are a simplified version of CoX idea of archtypes.

 

Archtypes still can choose talents and advantages, so there is some design involved but nothing like the freeform.

 

My advice, just try it yourself and see if you like it or not.

Without freeform, can you still fully customize character & costume looks?

Originally posted by TalRasha
Without freeform, can you still fully customize character & costume looks?

 

Yes. As silver you can change everything about your character with the exception of gender. Gold, of course, has many more costume options. But even as Silver alone the costume options and combinations available are pretty staggering. That's not including costume unlocks you can find in world drops through regular gameplay. Still, if I were to pay a monthly stipend for an MMO, this would definitely be it. Just try it, it's free anyway. It's like a 3.8GB download at their website or through Steam.

Downloaded yesterday and made a character. Hardly played yet, but so far the customization of the characters looks nice.

Well the major draw to subbing and becoming gold is so you can make a "Free-form" character insted of the mostly crappy ones your stuck with as silver, by Free form I mean you can pick and choose any power from mutiple power sets to your liking. Bascally makes you totally flexible in what your char can be, it also unlocks almost everything else that you'd normally have to pay for. The game is fun as one of the pre-made chars, but to get the real experence you really have to play as a free-form char. Free-form USED to be free, till they stoped it because no one would sub, so they removed it from Silver.

Well, crappy would depend on your definition of crappy. Half my characters are AT, the other half FF. I still very much enjoy my At's because they sort of keep me on the straight and narrow with the theme of my characters. They are also a useful way to start learning the game, stats, etc. However FF is a whole different level, but I'd recommend it when you have a better grasp of power and stats synergies. FF gives you more freedom and potentially more power. But it also gives you the freedom to gimp yourself if you do it sloppy.

I would suggest when you start not to get too attached to that first character. It is very likely once you become more familiar you might want to restart with what you've learned. That is particularly the case if you are really gung ho about not spending a single cent, because you'll only have 2 slots. Also, the tutorial is ultra short and sweet. You won't have a travel power during that. But once you complete it you'll have the option of never having to do it again and simply spawn in the power house ready to get travel and other powers with all your future characters.

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Originally posted by Warzod
The biggest reason I steared clear of this title when it went F2P was that I was told, and this may be wrong, that you are restricted to only playing the prefabricated builds they give you if you do not sub to the game. All the custom powerset mix match awesomeness that this title professes is gone.

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Yes partly correct, you can't create a character with a mix of fire and ice powers, just one or the other. Also I think there are certain zones you can't access as silver.

Originally posted by sookster54

 

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Originally posted by Warzod
The biggest reason I steared clear of this title when it went F2P was that I was told, and this may be wrong, that you are restricted to only playing the prefabricated builds they give you if you do not sub to the game. All the custom powerset mix match awesomeness that this title professes is gone.

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Yes partly correct, you can't create a character with a mix of fire and ice powers, just one or the other. Also I think there are certain zones you can't access as silver.

 

 

Now, now, let's be fair:  you "think there are certain zones you can't access as silver." That implies the world and leveling zones - which is not true. Every single zone in the game is available to Silver players.  There are 3 "places" not available to silvers right off the bat: the 3 adventure packs, which have now been replaced by the comic series available to all subscribers, gold and silver.  The 3 adventure packs are not "zones" or "areas" - they are "dungeon crawls" if you will, and they CAN be purchased separately by silvers if they so choose.

Even more partly correct (in other words misleading) You CAN create a character with fire and ice powers.  If you subscribe to the game like any normal MMO.   If you choose to stay free you are restricted to archetypes.  Alright.  In other current superhero  MMO's what are your options if you choose to play free? None whatsoever.  You just don't get to play at all, you either subscribe or don't.  Getting to play the entire game for free on archetypes is far superior to not at all.  And if you choose to subscribe like any other MMO you get the variety of powers choices you can choose.

My 3 earliest characters, which I still play, are AT's, and Ihave just as much fun with them as with my freeforms (but then again my focus is character concepts).

Here is the kicker, and why many people do not like COs current F2P paradigm:  When you do finally get bored and decide that it isn't worth a full sub every month, you will drop back to Silver.  At that time you will lose all access to your Freeform and Gold Archetype characters.  There is no microtransaction that will give you access to a Freeform character, its a full sub or stick with the free archetypes.  If you want to play one of your Gold archetypes, you have to buy the archetype.

With LOTROs freemium style, you get to keep anything you unlock on your character.  They don't steal back stuff you have already earned and invested countless hours in.

Originally posted by Drevar

Here is the kicker, and why many people do not like COs current F2P paradigm:  When you do finally get bored and decide that it isn't worth a full sub every month, you will drop back to Silver.  At that time you will lose all access to your Freeform and Gold Archetype characters.  There is no microtransaction that will give you access to a Freeform character, its a full sub or stick with the free archetypes.  If you want to play one of your Gold archetypes, you have to buy the archetype.

With LOTROs freemium style, you get to keep anything you unlock on your character.  They don't steal back stuff you have already earned and invested countless hours in.

This is true, but again to ensure a revenue stream they need to keep it as such.  Otherwise, simply sub once to create free form then stay free to play.

The Archtype characters, may have a structure, but there are some benefits if you enjoy PvP.  Mainly, the arenas will be restricted to AT only characters.  So if you enjoy this, you don't have to worry about Flavor of the month or broke builds.  Even gold subscribers can make AT characters and join you.

Originally posted by Jojin

This is true, but again to ensure a revenue stream they need to keep it as such.  Otherwise, simply sub once to create free form then stay free to play.

 

If freeform is all they've got that's worth charging for, they need to get back to the drawing board ASAP.  

 

Seems to me they're completely missing the point of F2P.  This is more like a free trial, if you can't even design your own character.  Problem is, lot of us already tried the game.  It's not good enough to pay a subscription for.  Going F2P should be about nickle and diming players who just aren't going to be as dedicated to the game as a subscriber would be.  It's about getting what little money they can, from people who don't like the game enough to pay that much for it.

 

As a way to just give people a taste of the game, hoping they'lll subscribe, well that's just going to fail for the same reason the game failed in the first place.