Free to play, possibly more...

[Rekasha]

I am free to play. I was thinking of either buying the computer disc or becoming a member. What are the advantages of each of them? I have spent a lot of time playing this game before coming to this difficult question.

The major drawback I have found to this, so far, are the pay-to-play snobs I have run across. The good news is that I can CHOOSE not to play with them and buy guest passes for my friends.

However, I am unsure about the disc. What advantages over free to play does it have, if any?

What are the advantages of membership over free to play, other than ten character slots and being able to go anywhere (therefore leveling faster)?

I am only doing one or the other, so I need to know the advantages and drawbacks of each.

[xanvar]

There is no need to buy the disk, the download is the full game. VIP v/s premium seems to be your largest debate. To be honest it depends on how long you think you will play the game. If you play less than a year VIP will be your best option hands down. If you don't play very often and level up slowly with then premium might be your best bet. Either way though have fun!

[Missing_Minds]

There is no disk. You account status gets upgraded. (no idea why you thought there was a disk.)

You will find snobs in every game that you have the ability to interact with other people. Welcome to MMOs in general.

[KualaBangoDango]

If you DO find a disk box in a store and buy it, it will give you a month of VIP subscription for whatever you pay for the box (rather than the $15 directly online), so if you get the box for less than $15 you already save some money. That's about the only benefit to the box, and as others have said you don't need to re-install anything from the disk, you just need the key code.

As fro VIP pros and cons versus free/premium there's quite a few, and there's many listed on numerous threads on the topic. Do a search or look in the stickies. I'll just give you a few basics.

VIP pros: Every race/class is unlocked for you except Drow and FVS which you still need to unlock via favor or buy.
All quests are available and can be started right away on a higher difficulty setting (forget which) while free players have to start on normal first.
Free shared bank.
Best deal if only playing a few months and want to see everything.
Access to occasional VIP only deals (such as over X-mas holidays)

VIP cons: If you ever stop paying VIP you'll drop to the most basic Premium level and have to start buying whatever you hadn't already unlocked via favor, while a free/premium player will always have whatever they paid for. In other words, a VIP rents the content, a free/premium buys.

Free/Premium Pros: Free or minimum of whatever you want to pay.
All VIP content can be unlocked for free via in-game questing.
No worries about monthly charges.
May be cheaper over long term if you're careful on what you buy.

Free/Premium Cons: A lot more expensive over the short term if you pay to unlock all VIP content.
Previously mentioned quest starting difficulty levels.
Farming for free store points can take a very long time.

There's a lot more, but these are some of the basics.

[MrLarone]

i've gone the premium route due to time/access constraints (example: i didn't have a net connection in February)

my break even point (i.e. the point at which i will start saving over having been a VIP) is 15 months from when i started.

for that i'll have:

all adventure packs
monk, fvs, drow (drow favour unlocked, not interested in wf)
shared bank accounts
5 characters per server
vet
32pt builds

with vet i'd have more slots and and could buy half of the above in 15months but for me this way's better.

***edit***

fyi, that's with waiting for sale prices of 20% or better. also i could've waited to earn vet and 32pt builds (i believe) though favour, but the utility of having them sooner was preferred.

[Rekasha]

Thank you for your patience, time, and wisdom. I tried searching for these answers but there is so much content on here that I spent hours and did not find what I was looking for. I apologize for any irritation this caused you.

When you buy the 32 point character, does it go to your account or to the character? Are they one and the same? I do not understand how that works. Weapons that are bound to account cannot be mailed to other toons on same server. Does this work the same way?

Once I recieve the favor thing, for example the ability to build a drow, with a character. If I already have two characters and want to delete the character which earned the favor, will I lose the drow? If I buy entrance into a pay to play area, do both my toons gain entrance? If I have bought a pay to play area and create a new toon, will they have access to the pay to play area?

These are all things which will influence my decision. I hope I can get the answers, as I have spent hours pouring over the volumes of information here and not found what I am looking for.

Thank you for your time, patience and wisdom.
Rekasha

[Shishizaru]

Thank you for your patience, time, and wisdom. I tried searching for these answers but there is so much content on here that I spent hours and did not find what I was looking for. I apologize for any irritation this caused you.

When you buy the 32 point character, does it go to your account or to the character? Are they one and the same? I do not understand how that works. Weapons that are bound to account cannot be mailed to other toons on same server. Does this work the same way?

Once I recieve the favor thing, for example the ability to build a drow, with a character. If I already have two characters and want to delete the character which earned the favor, will I lose the drow? If I buy entrance into a pay to play area, do both my toons gain entrance? If I have bought a pay to play area and create a new toon, will they have access to the pay to play area?

These are all things which will influence my decision. I hope I can get the answers, as I have spent hours pouring over the volumes of information here and not found what I am looking for.

Thank you for your time, patience and wisdom.
Rekasha

If you purchase 32 point builds in the store, it will be applied to your account. This means on any server, for any character you create (AFTER the purchase) will be a 32 point build. The same applies for adventure packs. It's applied across servers, so any and every character you have/create will have access to them.

BtA (bound to account) items can only be transferred via the Shared Bank. VIP's get this standard, Premium/F2P can purchase it via the store.

Upon receiving Premium status, you will have access to 4 character slots, so you should have room to create that Drow. If all your slots are taken, you will NOT lose Drow if you delete the character that unlocked it.

[Freeman]

If all your slots are taken, you will NOT lose Drow if you delete the character that unlocked it.

However, make sure you complete the proper in-game dialogues to unlock Drow(Talking to the right person) before you delete the character with the favor. Otherwise, you might not actually unlock them. I always advise people to create the unlocked race/class BEFORE deleting the character that unlocked it.

[maha0201]

I am free to play. I was thinking of either buying the computer disc or becoming a member. What are the advantages of each of them? I have spent a lot of time playing this game before coming to this difficult question.

The major drawback I have found to this, so far, are the pay-to-play snobs I have run across. The good news is that I can CHOOSE not to play with them and buy guest passes for my friends.

However, I am unsure about the disc. What advantages over free to play does it have, if any?

What are the advantages of membership over free to play, other than ten character slots and being able to go anywhere (therefore leveling faster)?
I am only doing one or the other, so I need to know the advantages and drawbacks of each.
My 2 copper peaces
Im f2p im kinda new here (3 months), i roled one char to lvl 14 and i manage to buy 2 packs (stk and catacombes) and got my favor to 1000 wich unlocked me a Drow race nad Veteran status on the server, im now roling new char, coase i gimped my starter char...
and im thinkin of beacoming vip for a month, when i cant do anything elese with this new char. And when i get vip ill get more favor on this server (unlock more content) and to lvl up my char, (for f2p is possible to go to lvl 14-15 without packs)
So if you are lookin to save some money first get to that lvl (13,14,15) and then buy vip...

[MrLarone]

if You Are Lookin To Save Some Money First Get To That Lvl (13,14,15) And Then Buy Vip...

Qft