Hi all!

I have not been around here very long, but I have noticed that there are many wonderful things you can buy in Lusternia IF you have the credits to afford them. That's wonderful and stuff, and it's great that IRE is able to make enough money to pay their hard-working staff to keep us all having fun in our free time.

For some of us though, it's simply not feasable on our budget to spend real-world $$ on game-world stuff. I have a full time job at a NPO (which does not pay very much, though I love my job), and am currently looking for another part-time job just so that I can relax and not worry about how much food I can afford to buy this week.

I am sure there are others out there who are in a similiar situation.. so for those of us who do not have the option of buying credits, what advice do you have for making the most out of what we can do in Lusternia? What are other ways of getting the things we need and/or want? What things would be a waste of IC gold/lessons to spend money on? Are there any other helpful tips we should be aware of?

Everything you can buy with credits, you can get without spending money. It just takes more time to earn gold and buy credits off the market. There's also options such as becoming a guide, winning the Bardic/Artisanal contests, becoming a mortal builder, mentoring, etc.

My favorite example to use is always Aesyra. Everything she has was gained IG, without spending real money. All but 2 skills at trans, some artifacts, aswell as Demigod status(level 100) and My Avatar.

It's very possible, Credits just save you time but if you want it, it can be done.

So, Hajamin is pretty much saying, if you spend large amounts of time in the game, and amass enough gold, you can buy the credits that other players are selling. Note that we do mean large. I don't really want to discourage you, but it was difficult before the astral plane's nodes were drained (that in turn let you spawn huge amounts of monsters, getting good amounts of gold from all of them), and now that the nodes are down to nothing, it's next to impossible.

However, winning bardic and artisanal contests are the best way to go probably, since you can win a good amount of credits from those. Only thing required is talent (which unfortunately, not everyone has, I'm a terrible artist, for example).

You can also try to be a guide, but I've personally found that hard to get into (or maybe they just don't like me ). Guiding makes several credits an hour (forgot what it actually was).

Lastly, you could code something interesting, if you know how to code. I know Thorgal makes good money from his map and combat system.

It actually isn't THAT hard to get gold. There are still some people that can make 10k+ gold an hour through just quests, or just bashing.

10k an hour, buying credits at the rate of 4k per(just to make it easier on the math) is 120 hours, or 5 RL days per trans skill(300cr). So if you play for an average of... I think player averages are around 4 hours a day that's 1 trans per month not counting lessons you gain from levels. Seems pretty fair to me, as 300cr is what... around 100 USD? So 100 USD extra a month, or 120 hours of playing a game you enjoy to get the same effect.

That's actually not too bad, if you look at it that way.

...That makes surprisingly much sense, even to me....though it's a pity that krokani are always outhunted, otherwise I could go for average 10k too....
And Kaervas himself said he makes 100k a day...I need to get to the catacombs too...

To be fair, let's not forget that you also need to spend gold on other things, not all of your income can be spent on credits. For example if you get your gold from bashing, you need to refill health regularly, and possibly also buy some sparkleberries.

The 10k credit buying power (that is 10k AFTER the cash needed for refills, herbs, healing items, ext.) is actualy pretty accurate, so long as you know the ways of earning that money (Quests, bashing creatures that sell well, other things). The trick is persistance: If you're the type that gets distracted oftain, gets frustrated, or thinks getting 50 gold for a quest is not worth it then you'll have a HARD time getting the credits.

I will say, though, getting those last few skillranks is..VERY..VERY.. PAINFUL!

I've never spent a dollar on Achaea and earned almost everything in game or through the art contest. I ended up switching guilds 5 times, having all but Vision Transed, 2 artifact swords, and a ton of herbs, comms, etc. It's just a matter of dedication and time invested.

Quad-trans and an artifact and not a credit bought! (Granted, that artifact was a present during the Anniversary, but it counts!)

Rather high level too. Wow I have no life.

Good information so far, thanks guys! Does anyone else have questions they want to add?

I am more into all of this for RP, so I don't really care too much about having superfantastic items, but I would like Peeka to do well on her skills and perhaps have her own shop for clothes or jewelry, as it suits her character. If I do get a second job (still hunting so far..), I definately will not have the time to kill weevils for a few hours every day (that would drive me batty regardless). However, I am a patient person, and I really enjoy figuring out the quests.. so maybe it's just something that will take time.

i'm a credit whore, i've never bought a credit IC. I have made a bit off selling my system but i usually blow it on race changes, or sell em cause i can't be bothered hunting for gold.

On that note, good on you if you can stick with buying credits IC, personally I couldn't do it.

I look at earning credits in game as another challenge, kind of like leveling. If I were transed everything, I don't think the game would be as fun any more for me. Earning the money can be slow, but once you learn your way around its doable. I wish I could say that I got all that I have in game, but I kinda snapped and bought 300 credits, because I really, really, really wanted to trans planar so I wouldn't lose so much experience defending Celestia Was worth the money for the skills I got out of it though.

I almost snapped and got credits during the summer sale, but my lack of a nearby post office and the fact that they are closed on Sundays kept me back. Oh, and the allure of real life money too.

personally its a constant battle for me to decide between blowing money on doing up my car and blowing money on lusternia, both bring me an equal level of enjoyment

Comparing the "money" you make in game with the real money outside, credits are incredibly cheap on hours of your life. For example, take one of the more experienced people's total time playing, multiply by minimum wage per hour, and see how much money that is. Then see how many credits that would buy.

You have played for a total of 74 days, 1 hours and 47 minutes.

74 X 24 = 1176 + 1 hour is 1177

I get 12 bucks an hour working. 1177 X 12 is $21,324

......

Well, assuming you used all of that money to buy the most expensive credits at 66 cents (you used Aussie dollars right?)...

$16,174.25 / .66 = 24,506

24,506 x 15 = 367,596 credits

We officially have no life.

The summer sale was evil! My willpower was drained during the entire month by resisting the allure of buying credits and getting bonus ones ... and then when it was extended another ten days all my willpower had already drained and I bought some.

Patience is essential, Peeka. Good luck!

Psh, you should meditate or get a maiden blessing.

Couldn't resist.