The Real Costs of Playing

For weapons*

GRIND SCENARIO

Farm 150M per day with depreciating purchasing power on DZ, but equivalent WUC inflation to income parity would yield 58.4 attempts per month per character with a 105- 150 hour investment in gameplay time.

WORST CASE SCENARIO

$3.54 Per UPGRADE ATTEMPT on 169 SOULCASH PER $USD on EUROPEAN RATE at HIGHEST SOULCASH TIER using BULK DISCOUNTS on STEAM CLIENT

$4.25 PER UPGRADE ATTEMPT on 169 SOULCASH PER $USD on EUROPEAN RATE at LESS THAN HIGHEST SOULCASH TIER, WITH CURRENCY CONVERSION FEES ON CREDIT CARD,

NO BULK DISCOUNTS on STEAM CLIENT

BEST CASE SCENARIO

$1.54 PER UPGRADE ATTEMPT on 270M per 1000 SOULCASH returns on EUROPEAN RATE at HIGHEST SOULCASH TIER on STANDALONE CLIENT without AFFECTING MARKET LIQUIDITY, with CHEAP WUCS, 1.7 RATIO ANTI DESTRUCTS, 1.8 RATIO STR EXP TICKETS

REALISTIC SCENARIO

$3.00 PER UPGRADE ATTEMPT ON 173 SOULCASH PER $USD ON NORTH AMERICAN RATES at HIGHEST SOULCASH TIER using BULK DISCOUNTS on STEAM CLIENT, WITH 250M returns PER 1000 SC BUYING WUCS AT 12M or MORE PER PC

NORTH AMERICAN RATE

$99 USD = 17,225 Soulcash to 18,500 Soulcash

173 Soulcash = $1 USD

186 Soulcash = $1 USD

FACTOR 186 / 220 = 0.84 = 1.19 X MIN_EXPENSES = $1.59/UA ~ $2.74/UA IF SELL SC FOR DZ, BUY FROM MARKET; = $2.57/UA ~ $3.54/UA IF BUY SC

EUROPEAN RATE

$118 USD = 20,000 Soulcash to 26,000 Soulcash

STEAM

169 Soulcash = $1 USD

STANDALONE

220 Soulcash = $1 USD

1000 Soulcash = 170-270M = 2.15UA - 3.4 UA ($1.34/UA ~ $2.74/UA IF SELL SC FOR DZ, BUY MARKET) =

[ OR (WUC[$0.94-$1.94]+ AD[$0.82~$1.06] + STREXP[$0.40~$0.51] = $2.16-$3.54/UA IF BUY SC )

1000 / 169 = $5.91 -> 15.45WUC ~ 24 WUC -> 3.1 UA - 4.8UA -> $1.23 / UA - $1.94/ UA

1000 / 220 = $4.54 -> 15.45WUC ~ 24 WUC -> 3.1 UA - 4.8UA -> $0.94/ UA - $1.46 / UA

180 / 169 = $1.06 (ANTI DESTRUCT X 25)

180 / 220 = $0.82 (ANTI DESTRUCT X 25)

438 / 169 * 5 = $0.51 (STR EXP X 5)

438 / 220 * 5 = $0.40 (STR EXP X 5)

$5.91 / 2.15 UA - 3.4 UA

$4.54 / 2.15 UA - 3.4 UA

1 Upgrade attempt *UA = 3 WUC + (1/5 Strength Expansion) + 1 Anti-Destruct = 33M + (90/5M; 18M or 438-450sc EA) + 28M(or180-200sc EA) = 79M

Assuming a 0.5% or 1/200 chance of getting a 4* Rita or 5* Plastica / 5* Grutin card.

129 Soulcash when bought in packs of *5

123 Soulcash when in Limited Akashi Boxes

169 Soulcash per $USD on Steam European@Best Rates = 1.31 Akashi Cards per $

220 Soulcash per $USD on Standalone European@Best Rates =1.711 Akashi Cards per $

Supposing you need fodder to upgrade your cards, (1-(CARDPOOL*3 / TOTALCARDS))^PROB(NOT DRAWING) where CARDPOOL probability is cumulative probability of drawing any particular card of that grade. Another variable cost of 0.64X ~ 2.33X may be necessary.

ncr * prob(failure)^(draws-success)+prob(success)^(draws-failure).

Realistic Scenario

6.35 Hours for 17 Cards on Candus Route = 2.6 akashi/hour

Farm average 150M/day on VIP to buy cards at 1.8 ratio. = 8.33 cards @ 15m/run x 13 GCs or @ 5m/run x 40 = 195mins or 3.25hr / 3.33hr = 2.5akashi/hour

Assuming it takes a +8 weapon, with decent gear +6 rolls at an average of 13 attempts per armour piece* upgrading from +4 to +6 using anti-destructs;

and at least 2 good akashi cards; our total expenditure comes out to $275 on the weapon, $67 on armor, $160 on akashi cards, optional $75 on brooches, with a variable cost of $350 or more due to RNG factors; not withstanding, gear with good rolls which if at 250M=1000 soulcash, would equate to one piece=3500soulcash or $100 for 5 full armor pieces at $21 per piece. Doing primal in a geared party would cost roughly $677, before variable RNG costs, and half of the weapon cost or akashi can be omitted, if one prefers slower runs by a factor of 1.45X, $463; after variable costs $677 with fodder akashi cards and weapon costs, one can expect a maximum total expenditure of $1,384. In hours terms, we would need to invest 142 hours into farming to upgrade our weapon if inflation rises in parity with income level for WUCs - another 450 hours of alt farming for potential of at least a tier 3 akashi hidden card, a variable quantity of equivalent of 142 hours of farming for money to craft gear, or 300 hours if we farm all the materials ourselves. With 734 hours, we could expect to see a +8 weapon, at least 3/5 pieces of 2-lined good roll gears, good 5* akashi cards of at least 1 in quantity as a full F2P if all conditions remain suitable.

If RNG works into your favour, around 200-600 hours can be cut from farming DZ, or akashi cards, as well as blueprints and materials to craft gears; likewise up to 60-80% of the median costs can be removed if things go your way, or you can spend around 40-125% more than other players.

Quote from Weeblord

Quote from Rin

Farm 150M per day

How do I farm 150M per day

On NA, GC gives you blueprints that go for 50M, chaos fragments and curiosity go for 200-400K, high-quality cores converted from lower-tier cores go for 1-1.2M. Additionally, you can farm ECs which go for 130-150M. Anyhow, it is very do-able if you already have a vicarious set and a static party.

Its been a long time since seen a chaos theoretician.

Im playing on EN server,I chose grind way,and didnt waste that much dzenai,because I gathered them myself. It cost me 7-8 alts till the 14 level,but hey its just took 1 week arounds. And btw talking for +8 Aurith Weapon

That is great. 91 Anti-destructs for 51-hours. That is 270 WUCs at maximum. EN's purchasing power is at least two to three times of NA's with each DZ earned, meaning you get twice or three times as many WUCs per DZ earned. I also already made the disclaimer of incredible luck for +8, where costs can be literally halved or doubled depending on if you get +8 in 20 tries or 120 tries. Now add in the time to farm GC, that is 120 raids on VIP or 1800 minutes or 30 hours on an average party, and 15 hours on non-VIP. Chances are, an elite player is on VIP so we can factor in those costs in DZ or $ too.

That is 81 hours. On NA, with WUCs being doubled and the SC rate being doubled with purchasing power halved, it would take 102 hours for farming still on alts, and up to 30 potential hours per week on raiding. It is also very nice that you got good rolls, with enough BP drops, and stat rerolls. Realistically, we are talking about the median case here, and not the I got lucky within 6 crafts and 30 tries to +8 scenario. You also conveniently left out the strength expansion tickets you bought for DZ, or real $, or farmed to NED level 24 path with nearly double the amount of hours per alt - unless you had spare str expansions from playing the game previously.

Furthermore, 81 hours of working would give you more than enough income to do the same thing with spare leftover to become an elite-geared player without RNG, making it much more lucrative for the average person without that much spare time per week, who has a job or career.

Anyhow, even if you only spent your time grinding, and not purchasing anything, the cores, fragments, and WUCs you earned have an equivalent cost to DZ which can be translated to real-time hours.

Every 1 real-life hours is equivalent to 7-9 in-game hours on a per expenditure basis, and way more if you earn above average median income. This leaves, end game players with exclusively individuals with disposable income, or at least 6 hours per day, per week to dedicate themselves to playing soulworker. Nearly everyone in the GC lobby I've seen are either RNG jesus (15< attempts to +8, had easy access to alt farming back then) or wallet swipers or college students with too much free time.

It is entirely do-able, don't get me wrong. I know a friend with 20 billion DZ from just merching, but the average person is not going to do that.

Notwithstanding, I have rookie rank EXP bonus, meaning my estimates are higher for the non-swiper/alt farmers. At least 66% of the GC raiding population on NA I can observe to have A Rank Novice or higher, with the remainder to be wallet swipers 100% of the time. This already implies a time investment of minimally, 475 hours into the game of grinding, or 160 hours per month, or 40 hours per week, or 5.7 per day.

The proportion of people I sampled on the server in the GC lobby, categorized as elite* status have disproportionately the characteristics of :

- School dropout, or jobless on dependence of financial support

- Well-endowed or in a secure job with appreciable income; or expend at the top 2% range on games across the entire playerbase in relative proportion to their income level

- Median IQ of 120 with st. dev 9 points

- Are in university or college

- 17m < GC run times

- At 95% percentile or higher on the server population for all measures, playtime, expenditure on game, game knowledge, in-game wealth, etc

Elite being :

Minimally 2 Lv 9 SS

Minimally +7 or better weapon

4 pcs or more vicarious set 2-lines

3 pc accessory 2-lines decent rolls

1 5* Akashi card at tier-3, or 2 5* at tier-1 or better

A net in-game worth of 2 billion DZ in gear equity, and various items

A net playing time of 400 hours or more, median is around 820, extremes being 1,400+ range

Quote from Nitros

Any way to present that in a simpler way? I am looking at the post and everything indes me screams "nope". I am pretty sure to fully understand the post I need to investment like 30 minutest or more...

I get it's expensive, but everything else is lost on me.

Soulcash earned per dollar / Soulcash spent per upgrade attempt = Dollars spent per upgrade attempt

Best case scenario = Highest soulcash earnt per dollar / Lowest Soulcash spent per upgrade attempt (Bundled Anti-Destructs divided by 25, Bundled Strength Expansion Tickets divided by 25)

Worse case scenario = Lowest soulcash earnt per dollar / Highest soulcash spent per upgrade attempt

Steam NA Rates (less than max package soulcash) + Unbundled purchases = Worst cost basis

European Standalone Client Rates (on max package soulcash) + Bundled purchases = Best case basis

Selling Soulcash for DZ at highest returns on NA + Purchasing cheapest WUCs, Strength Expansion Tickets + Anti-Destructs = Best Case basis for expenditure on upgrading through DZ route

Realistically, prices go up when you purchase more of these on the market, and there is not an unlimited quantity of them being sold for cheap. Likewise when you spam things on the marketplace, your returns for DZ per SC is less.

Akashi Card Farming Probability of earning a 5* and upgrading to tier 3 increases with number of cards farmed.

50% Chance of getting such a card at such a tier * Hours spent per akashi card farming (purchased through DZ/or alt route/or $) relative comparison = Fixed Median Cost in $/DZ/man-hours farmed

As a meme, this is very much true; there are three classes of individuals.

- Paying users, $100 - $500; either D or C rank grey; nice brooch sets, +8, geared rolls, bound cosmetics

- Paying users, $1,000 - $10,000; perfect roll tagged weapons, +9 everything, almost always D rank grey

- Paying users, $50 - $370; rookie green rank D or above, semi-okay stats or good rolls, +7 or +8

- Freebie users, grey rank A or above; semi-okay stats, or good rolls, RNGjesus blessed or early starter advantage with WUCs, +7 or +8, 700-1,500 hours spent

- Freebie users, grey rank, dark bone gear set, aurith gear set, still wearing green/blue brooches, +6 weapons

Quote from Ephenda

Just lots of crying... Im leveling my alts in two and half hours to the 14 level. I tried 47 times from +7 to +8. Im farming raids all day,and all night. Didnt bought any anti-dest or any strength expansion.Most of WUC's 120 pieces,i dropped from raids.And other pieces gifted from my guild mates.

At the end,didnt affort any money on real,did it just by grind.So what's point of crying,if you can get your needings without spend money?

Or what,you wanna be P2W but this game's P2W is to high for you? Dont make me laugh...

No one is crying; it is simply an analysis of how many hours to get geared or real costs in $.

Gifted by guild mates does not mean you grinded for it.

11 Anti-destructs

47 = 11 x 4 = 10 hours+ 15 minutes for 3 AD + 15min x 117 runs (if on VIP + weekends 1/2 EP) = 39.5 hours/week excluding str exp. 39.5 hours is equivalent to a full-time job in most countries.

47 times is impossible, without farming strength expansions from the level 24 Candus route, you're aware of that, right? Not withstanding +5 to +7 anti-destructs and WUCs on +7.

If you bought it using DZ, that is still real time.

Farming all day and night is exactly what I just described in my scenario if someone wants to get geared if they don't want to spend money; so if anything, your anecdote is just a confirmation of what I said.

Yes, I get 10 WUCs per day farming too.

There is no winning in this game, you pay to skip the grind. You can get everything if you farming raids all day,and all night, which is exactly what my thread implies.

47 tries is within the median range of 64 attempts.

" Freebie users, grey rank A or above; semi-okay stats, or good rolls, RNGjesus blessed or early starter advantage with WUCs, +7 or +8, 700-1,500 hours spent"

Average user ≠ Player who raids all day and night and farms alt