Yep, blah blah blah, me me me. Ect

Recently, I've seen a few novices who stepped out of the portal of fate (Only one, I exaggerate) And within a IG month he was 2k my might. Of course, I went WTF and deeply saw that unfair. While I know it was HIS money blah blah, that still takes out alot of the RP of what the game is.

Aaaanyways, to my point.

How are you suppose to get decent exp? I mean, getting exp from circles 1-65 is pretty fine.. But afterwards.. o_O

Does Lusty EXPECT we bought credits by then? I most likely wont. How are we to fend for ourselves when we hit the highest circles, and we cannot keep up with those around us (Cause I know practically ALL DEMI/ASCENDANTS/AVATARS/ECT have bought credits) I just see it as unfair, and wish to know if there ARE any ways to counteract this sudden loss of power to those around you at high circles.

-pant pant-

Many people have transed many skills and bought arties with IG credits. I'm not one of them, but I can name several off the top of my head. IRE games are a business, so you just have to deal with it.

86, 5 trans skills, all skills (except magic) Adept+, and quite a few at Virtuoso or Expert or what not; I bought probably 100 creds, just to keep my character permanent. I had a hard time getting gold before I left, but now its pretty easy if you just explore the Basin. I recently discovered the joys of influencing, and that looks like a line I'll pursue, along with aetherhunting, since that's just so much fun.

Plus, skill is more important than might. I can beat people who are like, 270% my might or whatever. Iunno. Just roll with it. Being an artist or bardic helps. Would've never transed Sacraments, Tarot, and Discipline if I didn't win 2 runner's up bardics and got myself 400 creds to work with.

Oh; and there are a LOT more upper level bashing places nowadays; seriously, in the old days, it was like, Inner Sea! Yay! Next up, CATACOMBS OMG WTF! You kids are spoiled!

Write bardics/draw artisanals. I suck ass at writing, but I've written enough to make a few hundred credits as prizes, and if I write something that gets at least one more merit (third place), I'll get another 200 (achieving new rank in Bardics) on top of the 50 for merit. Look into it, it's pretty easy. I didn't get to submit anything this month, I was too busy working on the second chapter of my story I submitted last month and I missed the deadline But it's really not hard.

IRE is a business, so yes, it does hope you will buy its products (credits), though at the same time it's a pay for perk type game. You pay if you want the perks.

It doesn't mean there aren't any paid positions (guiding, mortal builder, etc) or contests (Bardics/Anniversary/World Events) or even just random credit bonuses through out the year (mothers day!).

I myself have not bought credits with IRE yet, I plan to now that I'm working, but I have to work around actually getting my money to them before I can, but at the same time, I'm not doing horribly on any of my characters because I've done Other Options.

I did start playing Lusternia when I was 15, so don't give up hope.

I won't lie, I've bought credits from Lusty before. (200, 100, 40, 40, 15, 15). Anything else is from city/guild credit sales, bardics, guiding, and ... oh yes, mentoring. I think I've recieved maybe 20 credits from mentoring.

Don't assume all, or even most, high-level people buy credits. There are plenty who choose to invest lots of time, rather than money, into the game. If you are persistent and patient, time translates into gold translates into credits. The folks above me have listed all the other ways to get credits without buying (bardics, guiding, etc...).

For getting decent exp, ask in-game to your guild or city/commune. The good gold/exp hunting or influencing grounds are not a big secret - most people are happy to share their favourites. There is certainly a wall, xp-wise, but you've just got to keep at it (helpful, I know)

As to keeping up with the people who buy credits, think about it this way. You can be one or all of high-skill, high-circle, and high-talent. Buying credits helps with the first only. High circle has everything to do with consistently putting up with the monotony of hunting or influencing (and not dying), but is basically related to how much time you're willing to spend in the game. Working on the second one will also put you closer to high skill - it would be hard not to make -some- gold on your way to level 100. Last, talent counts. There are players who can tri-trans guild skills and go out and kill people who are high circle and have got all the skills in the game.

Become a mentor. That is actually how I've gotten a lot of my credits. I have never bought credits OOCly. I try to pick up a lot of little novices because.. I like novices.. and it helps with roleplay. If I bond with someone IC while training them I will probably ask them if they would like to be my protege. My current protege is a big bag of awesome and he usually follows Joli around. He's adorable. And if he buys credits.. then that's just a plus. Don't get them just for the credits. Because you'll have a lot of little newbies tailing after you wanting your love and affection and gold!

I must of gotten lucky though, because I had several proteges while I was the GA for the Aquas and two of them bought enough for me to get 150 credits. That is one of those messages you get and you go OMGGGGG! And that is how I have a house.

Heh, I feel really awkward when it comes to mentoring novices. I feel like if I offer to mentor it's like the novice will think I'm only in it for the credits and therefore it makes me feel uncomfortable. So I have to wait for them to ask me, which by the time that happens they've usually exceeded 50 hours playing time, or they don't want me/any mentor.

The people who have gotten combat-applicable artifacts and enough skills to be competitive without buying any credits are the people who play Lusternia for 40 hours a day, cry whenever someone makes their character feel bad, and ends up having to quit because their parents hold an intervention. You don't really need any credits to get to level 100 - they certainly help, sometimes a lot, but with the right race and guild and a handful of gold-purchased credits to get your guild's best bashing ability, you won't have too much trouble. As for PvP, you'll have to scrounge up 300-400 credits to get the skills to challenge anyone decent one-on-one. You can be an asset in group combat with less than that if you know what you're doing. Even if you buy 1000 credits you'll still be easily slain by any top-tier combatant, whose thousands and thousands of credits worth of artis and skills just can't be topped by anything available to a regular player. You'd might as well go big or go home... keep to the social and PvE aspects of Lusternia unless you're got an extra four or five hundred dollars on hand, or you feel up to penning novels for IRE.

EDIT: Oh yeah, I guess a lot of people have milked the mentor system for boatloads of credits. If you feel like stalking novices then you can give that a shot.

I don't ask just anyone, just the ones that I really liked teaching. Don't feel weird about it. They might actually feel more welcome in the game if they think that you really like them enough to deal with them on a regular basis. And like I said, some great roleplay comes out of mentor/protege stuff.

I haven't bought any OOC credits yet. I'm about 75% of omnitrans. I got there mostly by taking the tack of charity influencing instead of the guard influencing most people (of those who influence) seem to do.

Yes, influencing is still insanely overpowered.

I tried pulling down esteem prices. Before it went for 10,000-12,000 gold per 100%, now it's only around 4,000. It even reached a 3,000 level. But school is distracting me now and I can't generate that much esteem to make much of an impact anymore

Not really, once you start hitting the 90's you can outbash 99% of all influencers.

I bought 40 credits with cash. I've earned roughly 28,000 credits (lost count a long while ago) through investing a lot of time into the game. Don't let others' relative might get you down. Just keep at your own advancement, setting little incremental goals for yourself, and you'll get there in due time.

Over here on the real world we call that witch-craft.

That's right, you're going to hell, heathen

I haven't been into Lusternia that long but I've played Achaea on and off for 8 years. Your exaggeration shows your mild frustration of the way things are. You can quite easily be a good combatant without having bought credits at all, there are so many ways to make credits in game. Skill will always be greater than someones RL pocketbook.

Ya srsly, agree with Citrus. I checked my averages and it comes down to about 1.5 hours a day. And I can beat people just fine thank you very much, with or without 1000s of credits.(standard mage/druid exceptions apply. )

PS: Writing bardics is much more fun if you have an awesome idea and decide to roll with it.

I bought 200 credits and then I just invest in the guild/city credit sales. Then in between, I have started to submit artwork for credits. From now on, I should only be getting more credits. Thanks, art college. <>Graphic Designer!<>