Cost of Game Play

The FAQ says: Q: So how are you going to make money from the game this time? There must be something I have to pay for? We will have in-game purchases, but they won't be required to complete the game.

After playing this game for the last 2 months, as a communality player, with culture and expansion as the goal, I must have 'many' blueprints to build more buildings. The blueprints cost E5000 each, and would definitely be required to win, or achieve any goal. It would appear that you can play this game as a 'sandbox' , but in order to actually win, many, many dollars need to be spent. $60 average per city... 5 cities.. so far about $300. Plus E1000 for each figure of enlightenment, which are required to raise the hero level. This is not a complaint, but an observation on how it looks from my perspective.

I agree.  As someone who entered willing to support the developers, I have realized that to get much further I would have to spend real dollars far beyond I had expected.  And with the increased monster levels, I am having difficulties getting around to open chests in the hope that they contain blueprints.

In future locations there will be some of those for sure but yeah.. TT2 is "pay2win"

I think you're missing the point.  In alpha 1 and 2 blueprints were very very scarce and compared to the last two phases your chances of finding and winning them is a lot better now.  So with every new phase that is released we will have even more chances of finding them or winning them or getting blue prints, figurines and ambrosia  as awards for completing quests.  And also, we are still in the testing phase so I would imagine by the time the game is released we will have a lot more ways of getting our hands on them than we do at the moment.  You don't have to max out your stone age storage, so that saves you 9 (3 for each of them) if you can get your felling and quarrying etc researchced before they hit their max level, the same with primitive workshop and siege - there is not need to max them out, this obviously wasn't the case in the last phase cause lvl 10 was the highest you could go and we were all in a rush to see what the level 10 looked like.

And also, we are still in the testing phase so I would imagine by the time the game is released we will have a lot more ways of getting our hands on them than we do at the moment.  You don't have to max out your stone age storage, so that saves you 9 (3 for each of them) if you can get your felling and quarrying etc researchced before they hit their max level, the same with primitive workshop and siege - there is not need to max them out, 

It is good to remind us to look at our concerns through the lens of the "testing phase"!

However, as new players we had no way of knowing that we could have skipped using blueprints for stone-age storage or other early buildings.  Right now it is a bit difficult to figure out what exactly is a mandatory precursor to something.  I am also fuzzy on exactly the benefits/detriments of destroying/building versus promoting. I'm sure that all of this will improve as the game matures and/or other tips/tricks are documented in the forum.  In the meantime, I have made a number of costly missteps by not knowing that I had to complete one thing before I could successfully implement another.  So at the moment I (and probably others), are struggling to advance buildings (luckily knowing about the hero reset I am saving figurines :) and you are hearing our frustration.   

However, as new players we had no way of knowing that we could have skipped using blueprints for stone-age storage or other early buildings.....  I am also fuzzy on exactly the benefits/detriments of destroying/building versus promoting....  In the meantime, I have made a number of costly missteps by not knowing that I had to complete one thing before I could successfully implement another.  So at the moment I (and probably others), are struggling to advance buildings (luckily knowing about the hero reset I am saving figurines :) and you are hearing our frustration.   

I didn't know that I could skip maxing out stone age buildings until this stage either as we didn't have access to Classical Age in alphas 1 & 2, and those of us who where lucky enough to be invited to take part in the first phase have also made costly errors not knowing that one thing needed to be completed or researched in order to be able to  build/research something else.  You should look on Alpha testing not only  as a way to help the devs find bugs and errors but also as a learning curve for yourself as a player.
No doubt in the next phase a lot of us will continue to make mistakes as we enter the Medieval Age.  Its all about trial and error for both the  players and the developers.

I didn't know that I could skip maxing out stone age buildings until this stage either as we didn't have access to Classical Age in alphas 1 & 2, and those of us who where lucky enough to be invited to take part in the first phase have also made costly errors not knowing that one thing needed to be completed or researched in order to be able to  build/research something else.  You should look on Alpha testing not only  as a way to help the devs find bugs and errors but also as a learning curve for yourself as a player.
No doubt in the next phase a lot of us will continue to make mistakes as we enter the Medieval Age.  Its all about trial and error for both the  players and the developers.

I agree with this completely. I maxed everything out in my first dwelling and domain. I had no idea that blueprints were a commodity to be coveted. When I questioned Bers about blueprints in chat he said "learn to budget", which I thought was funny at the time, but in reality it is exactly right. I learned my lesson, but it was expensive. It was also part of a learning process while playing this game. I agree with what has been previously mentioned, a hero can do well without "maxing out" most of the buildings.

You don't have to spend much money, if you are patient enough.There are items you get and find throughout the game that will help you get further.But most people want to finish the game in one day,i guess:).There is a lot more to do than only research and building.Like exploring,fighting and trading and quests.

It is hard not to spend cash on a brand new town, cause everything takes like 5 min, and you want to build build build now now now It is taking all the control I have not to spend another 100.00 bucks, I went a bit nutso last month. Now I gotta wait taper it back. Cause whenever they decide to release the game to everyone and give us our cash back, to start over, I will really go nutso then. 

I’d like to say how much I really love playing the game so far!  Thanks!  I’ve put more hours into playing than I’d admit to anyone.  I’ve already made two donations and plan on making more.  I have no issue with purchasing E Cash to support the developers and to speed up my progress in the game.  I would, however, prefer that it’s a decision I make rather than having to purchase blueprints, figurines of enlightenment, etc. to progress.  I know you’ve already addressed this issue in the forum but perhaps you’d consider making these more readily available now as opposed to later – i.e. prizes for winning monster battles, etc..

  I know you’ve already addressed this issue in the forum but perhaps you’d consider making these more readily available now as opposed to later – i.e. prizes for winning monster battles, etc..

Keep fighting Lily .. and spinning that wheel .. I have obtained quite a few figurines and blueprints from monsters and the wheel.

This is not a complaint, but a thought about the prices:

I believe that many items can be found or won, but I think some of the prices could be lowered. The speed-ups should remain at high prices, but some other items should be a bit lower: like the figurine of enlightenment, blueprints and hammers.

Hehe. Like I said, not a complaint. It's something I've experienced with a lot of "free to play" games, they end up costing much more than regular games:

When you buy a game, you pay an amount of money and you're done. For this kind of game, depending on where you get it, from 30 to 60 dollars I guess. Here, just to upgrade the hero to level 50, it costs 50'000 Enkord cash. If you're perfectionist and want to upgrade everything to max, blueprints will cost you a lot too. And yes, I'm aware that I'm not including the objects you find or win to make the calculation easier :p

So, I'm not saying it's bad, I'm saying: as it is a long term game, some prices could be lowered a bit to make a balance (so, low budgets will not be afraid to pay from time to time). It could even be balanced by raising the costs of some items (speed-ups or make the truce flags cost grow exponentially with the growth of the town) and lowering the ones that are really important for the game.

Thanks for you answer. I didn't mean to start a debate between free-to-play and other games. It wasn't even for my own benefit, but since we are testing and I could see what amount of Enkord cash could go to buy basic items, I wished to give my thoughts about that too, fearing that low budgets couldn't keep up with those who pay.

Now, your answer is reassuring: by knowing that you also give thought to those who won't be able to pay too much, I can understand the prices better :).

I have found that buying items at a lower cost, allows me to buy more.  For some reason it feels easier to do that.  I might spend the same amount of money, but feel I got more for it.  Such as blueprints - low price means I buy more, which moves me in the game faster, which means I spend more to purchase things again.  Everyone will feel different about this, and I know the developers have a lot of thought on these issues.

The FAQ says: Q: So how are you going to make money from the game this time? There must be something I have to pay for? We will have in-game purchases, but they won't be required to complete the game.

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But, back to the original FAQ post above. If you are going for a 'Wonder' victory, you need lots of ore. An ore pantry upgrade needs a blueprint. If you are going for a 'war' victory, you need a blueprint for more than 4 chariots at the colesseum. If you are going for an expansion victory, you need blueprints for Obelisks and Chamber of Commerce upgrades. Clearly the game can be 'played' but not 'won' without spending big money for upgrades. The FAQ is misleading.

The FAQ says: Q: So how are you going to make money from the game this time? There must be something I have to pay for? We will have in-game purchases, but they won't be required to complete the game.

.

But, back to the original FAQ post above. If you are going for a 'Wonder' victory, you need lots of ore. An ore pantry upgrade needs a blueprint. If you are going for a 'war' victory, you need a blueprint for more than 4 chariots at the colesseum. If you are going for an expansion victory, you need blueprints for Obelisks and Chamber of Commerce upgrades. Clearly the game can be 'played' but not 'won' without spending big money for upgrades. The FAQ is misleading.

We have been told that there will be more quests that will give these items. Just like you are given 10 blueprints now from quests. Those were not available in Alpha 1. So there will still be ways to get them without paying.