What's the average /played of a hardcore F2P player? And if you are one, why do you F2P?

glancealot

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I was looking at some of the F2P armories posted in our new thread where constructive conversations take place.

I am really impressed by hardcore toons like this one. (how can this guy be F2P, that's insane man)

so this got me thinking, what is considered a hardcore F2P? how much time do people spend on these F2P toons? I am sure it stops being "i wanna save a one time charge of $15" at some point (probably related to some form of sunk cost effect with respect to time)

and most importantly, if you are a hardcore F2P (please back up your claim by providing your /played and your armory), why do you endure F2P?

I believe this deserves a new thread (sorry, it's me again, board has been quiet lately), because these people went through a lot of self-inflicted pain and that needs to be recognized.

edit: did i just become the first person that managed to rate his own post?
 
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I only have like 9 days /played on my Pure F2P toon that I haven't touched in at least 5 years or so. Ever since they released Vet accounts, haven't really had much of a reason to go back to F2P, and now I have about 40-50 days /played across 30 or so Vet tinks. If you want to see impressive F2P players, Crystalpall (not me) is probably one of the most impressive ones around here, I'd say.

In terms of strictly going F2P, it's fun having limits and challenging yourself within those limits to achieve the best. Endgame is an endless gear treadmill that goes nowhere, and if you've been playing WoW long enough, that gets pretty boring.
 
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I think this is my favorite thread of yours to date. kudos!

My /played At This Level (so since the prepatch squish) is 51 days and 21 hours. By contrast, my vets is a mere 10 days. That puts me at about an average of 4.8 hours a day on my F2P, though that number has declined since its peak of around 8-9 in feb. Thank you vaccines and baseball.

what is considered a hardcore F2P?
Most F2P tend to think of commitment in terms of achievement points, not /played. And I'd ballpark 8k achievement points as being a pretty reasonable place to separate the hardcore from us filthy casuals. Some People are pushing 16,000 which is just fucking incredible. I dont think my paid account has that many.

and most importantly, if you are a hardcore F2P (please back up your claim by providing your /played and your armory), why do you endure F2P?
I would not consider myself hardcore (though I did have the best geared F2P druid in the world in BFA. /played a bit shy of 32 days) but I do think the "Why F2P" question is a compelling one and I've had some scotch and am feeling indulgent so if you'll forgive me for not meeting the initial qualification...

There is a bit of a counter culture vibe to F2P that I really enjoy. You aren't *supposed* to play the game like this. At least not for long. Its supposed to be restrictive to the point of making you want to sub so you can really get into the whole game, what with the auction house and guilds and in-game communities and talking in chat and playing the latest content yaddayaddayadda.

So when you take those restrictions and say "naw, Im gonna lean into this" it just feels better when you get things and it adds a layer of complexity and interest to a game thats otherwise pretty straightforward. Consider, for instance, the professions juggling that a new F2P character has to go through. There's a bit of a puzzle there to figure out so you dont end up wasting hours, if not days, of your time and precious mats. Andre and I lost a lot of sleep trying to streamline that initial process and we still got much of it wrong. Its complex and involved and as such, is deeply rewarding when you do get it figured out.

There was also a sense of real pride in playing F2P because it meant not having access to powerful enchants and crafted gear and all that. That's gone now but it was really awesome to pull off wins when even a leveler with ele force had a significant advantage. Or soloing dungeons without those enchants. One of my favorite F2P memories was duo clearing scarlet monastery with Ohtis forgotten F2P shaman back when you had to duel in SM during the halloween event and then fear your toon into a little wall glitch to actually get into the cath wing.

Remember the EU kids clearing most of BRD during Brewfest? Legends.

Shit like that ruled. Not really a thing any more, sadly, but Im not convinced that we wont find more edge cases like that in the future. Folks are already pushing some pretty impressive boundaries ;)

On a more micro level, for me personally I feel like F2P WoW is a better RPG than paid WoW. It's just flat out a better version of the game. Or at least, a better version of what the game wanted to be. By removing the power creep, borrowed power systems and endless need to feel a constant state of progress of new content, the game can instead be about exploring and engaging with the world instead of treating various zones and questlines and dungeons as just a step on the way to the "real" game, they become the real game. You hit 20 and get "good 'nuff" gear in a matter of a day. And then... thats it. At least for the xpac. Now you get to really dive into the world that most people just blast through on their way to end game.

To me, thats the appeal of F2P. I can play through a game I genuinely enjoy without having to worry about a constant stream of goofy ass end game mechanics that are just gonna go away when Blizzard decides on the next Azerite or Anima or whatever. And I do it on a toon that has to be entirely self sufficient, which adds a neat layer.
 
I was looking at some of the F2P armories posted in our new thread where constructive conversations take place.

I am really impressed by hardcore toons like this one. (how can this guy be F2P, that's insane man)

so this got me thinking, what is considered a hardcore F2P? how much time do people spend on these F2P toons? I am sure it stops being "i wanna save a one time charge of $15" at some point (probably related to some form of sunk cost effect with respect to time)

and most importantly, if you are a hardcore F2P (please back up your claim by providing your /played and your armory), why do you endure F2P?

I believe this deserves a new thread (sorry, it's me again, board has been quiet lately), because these people went through a lot of self-inflicted pain and that needs to be recognized.

edit: did i just become the first person that managed to rate his own post?


Well, I have 35 days played on my lvl 20 veteran main char and I can't check my lvl 50 char, but it would be at most a day or two, I think.

Not to mention I have a lot of other lvl 20 chars...

So why focusing on lvl 20 with all restrictions... For me its same as open source libraries and software. At level 20 the game is open and free to access, its not a "sold product" that is tailored to make us play more, its just what is available free from the game to everyone.

There is freedom in that that can't be found at the payed levels. And the game is very fun at lvl 50, but the restrictions there to make one spend more and more time at some point are difficult to ignore. At 20 all the available content is ours to slowly and calmly explore and work on.
 
I consider myself as a chill F2P, started my main 3 years and 8 days ago
6vyDHWS.png

:rolleyes:

BRD runs were a really fun times, sad we don't have any dungeon of that difficulty anymore ...
Theorical time to do that run was 10-12 hours, never managed to finish it in one run :(
One day there will be the video uploaded ^^

For me F2P isn't about money, it's a way of playing and of facing challenges brought by F2P restrictions. The fact of it being free is just another reason to stick to it ^^
Lvl20 has its own "endgame", grinding for BiS, collecting bunch of stuff, etc ... You have much more than just pvp.
And if there is a "why" for all that, I'd say it's because of the lvl20 communities, because you have others to play with, to fight with, and to compare to.
Meanwhile I don't feel that at all on max level content, which feels more like a solo game with sometimes interactions with others. That's why over the past three years I've mainly played on F2P, and my sub account was just there for support over my lvl20.
 
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The only downside of a pure f2p account ( no toons over f2p cap) is no chromie time unless you had the toon made before slands pre patch. I have a few toons like that on my f2p account but I like making new toons all the time so I dont play it as much.
 
Im definitely in no way considered "hard core"(Probably the most casual player here). However I have some stuff I would like to share.
I have been f2p ever since Cataclysm, ofcoure I hardly have any proof of it since majority of my old acc's pass/info are mostly forgotten, so take that with a grain of salt. My gameplay doesnt necessarily focus on 1 or 2 toons, I tend to grow tired playing the same character for awhile, so I spend 80% of my whole game time recreating characters with different classes/race to see the difference between each and what specific racial passive work on every individual class/spec. The most recent feat I did which again isnt considered hard core at all, but I am certainly proud of redoing Broken Isles' questlines and side-quests 8 times on 8 different toons played as an Orc Warlock to finally proc 2 epic relics for my artifact weapon. Kind of hard how to calculate my playtime since I move from one character to another in such short time. Magrain, my current lock has 7 Days, 2Hours, and 42 Minutes as of now.
(And why do I f2p? I cant be asked paying Blizzard anymore more since I need to pay the bills)
 
I'm the druid from the mainpost.

Time played this level is only 19 days, 16 hrs. Druids have it easy with stealth and bear, though.

F2P is fun as hell. It was honestly a blast soloing all the TBC content and having to figure out how to get through all the profession grinds efficiently. Like a very pure and distilled version of the game.

I definitely need to get started on the achievement hunting game, now.
 
well, who else is gonna do it?

Time to step up your game and prove this guy wrong, my army of devote followers.

:wheelchair: (my gaming chair)
 
I was looking at some of the F2P armories posted in our new thread where constructive conversations take place.

I am really impressed by hardcore toons like this one. (how can this guy be F2P, that's insane man)

so this got me thinking, what is considered a hardcore F2P? how much time do people spend on these F2P toons? I am sure it stops being "i wanna save a one time charge of $15" at some point (probably related to some form of sunk cost effect with respect to time)

and most importantly, if you are a hardcore F2P (please back up your claim by providing your /played and your armory), why do you endure F2P?

I believe this deserves a new thread (sorry, it's me again, board has been quiet lately), because these people went through a lot of self-inflicted pain and that needs to be recognized.

edit: did i just become the first person that managed to rate his own post?
Most of us, f2p. Are veterans that come here to grind. Not given lootboxes. But. Big But. We dont want to pay / cant. And still want to enjoy the game. For me tho, f2p is more like "ironman" challenge. (Not the stupid wow 1 death bull...) but to see how far you can bring your toon in free to play. Its fun jorney. Thats my take on it. Dont know if rest feel same.
 
I think this is my favorite thread of yours to date. kudos!

My /played At This Level (so since the prepatch squish) is 51 days and 21 hours. By contrast, my vets is a mere 10 days. That puts me at about an average of 4.8 hours a day on my F2P, though that number has declined since its peak of around 8-9 in feb. Thank you vaccines and baseball.

wow, impressive. but now i really don't get it then bro, if you put over 50 days into a F2P toon, why do you bash me for spending less than half of that time to make gold (most of which were afk while I PvP on the other account anyway)?

like, honestly, i am sure you could have used some of those 51 days and 21 hours to make some real life money, right?

at least i am not afraid to admit how much real life money I am giving up to have fun in game, right?

You know what, maybe this is really a broader question for other hardcore F2P players in this thread too: have you suffered real life set backs or losses (especially financial losses) due to how devoted you are to your F2P toon?
 

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