Quote Originally Posted by EaglePhoenix View Post
I will admit that, without (full) socket-ed chimera armor, it's extremely hard leveling. Even then, you still need at least hp absorption and/or DD (by the lack of AD) for certain (very low defense) classes (e.g. Scout).

Forging your own weapons with, say AD, is extremely hard to do due to forging (/drop) rates. Quite obvious, since it would make many of those spirit stones obsolete by having a very good AD weapon. For certain classes this rakes easily up to $25/month on spirit stones alone without adding any extra stones one does not necessarily need, but would still come in handy. That's also to say without any 7's and/or costumes.

Many things can be obtained in game, though 4 day spirit stones is a very good laugh considering the time investment and one needs to farm a good amount of precious time (considering you have to farm manually, unless you also add HK's to your wishlist). However, in order to farm decently, you then again need armor/weapons.
One could say it's a vicious circle.

I'm not against the need of spirit stones / crafted armors, but the upkeep costs are slightly ridicule - considering you still pay twice the amount of any other monthly subscription mmo but you still need all the other stuff as well.

A tad off-balance, perhaps.
If you're a free to play player - then I'm afraid you're in for a hard time grind. Without socket-ed chimera's, I couldn't even fight mobs 5-10 lvls below me - and if I could it was 1 mob at a time with potioning/resting in between - go figure.

pssshhhh, you know you have an alternate way to level ;D