One thing I don’t love about playing GE is the length of time I take to download the patches once a new version is out, but hey, as long as I get to try out the new features as mentioned here, I’m all good. ^_^ And they’ve done some tweaking with the GUI that makes it much easier for the players to use.
The stats and item details window is better organized, and so I don’t feel like everything’s scrunched up for me to view. This is good because my screen resolution is terrible. The beta test font even looks okay with it now.
Item vaults, Market manager, and Leonardo Espresso now have a drop down menu to allow you to show only specific type of items for different categories.
The introduction of the Peso Merchant allows players to purchase premium items for temporary usage without having to purchase g-points…except that if you want to earn peso, you have to gather specific stones from the Forbidden and Ancient Territories. Entrance to those require Territory passes that don’t come cheap. Lucky for those who haven’t spent their free passes yet, not-so-lucky if you had. ^^; Also, I hope the Peso Merchant will get a graphics change just like the item merchants and Reboldeaux Servant - she looks unfinished compared to the other NPCs.
I took some time off leveling to go around the different cities, looking for the two new NPCs and if there were new quests. Calyce is currently in the Pegadilla at Coimbra, while a spot near the Old Woman in Auch is marked with Claire’s name. And after getting stuck in the Pioneering Support Office, I spent some time screencapping for this:
Took the chance to see if I can now try to log-in because most of the world migration happened while I was at work. So far all I’ve seen is the login screen, and I must say, I can’t wait to get into Rembrandt! =)
I found this shiny new layout that reminds me of GE. Anyway, an x-trap error is getting between me and the rest of the game, I’m still downloading patches and checking on how to get into the Non-PK server. At this rate I may end up going in around Sunday, after work ^_^;;
Today I just came from RCBC and was told that they do not have any 100php cards for sale for Granado Espada in the main office. And this with still 3 days left of their top up premium. I just don’t want to go to the forums to check out if anyone already posted about this, but I thought that if they figured the LoadCentral pins didn’t last two weeks into their top up promo, shouldn’t they generate more pins in the event this could happen. People have been very vocal about in the forums and the broads in the network about this issue, but even if it’s been like this for a month, I haven’t heard of any direct word from people in e-games about it.
WTH.
So I’ve been playing Granado Espada for over two months now, and one thing that I do to ensure I can play and enjoy the game play fully is to top-up regularly. At certain quests and NPC recruitment (Irawan and Angie come painfully to mind) you may have to shell out quite a bit of money to get them. I didn’t mind at first - hey, the more characters the more variety, innit? - but then I realized that I was shelling out between 1k to 2k on GE and I have to keep shelling out more to get better options.
1k to 2k a month may not sound like much to those who’ve invested more money for their characters, but it’s not like I actually play the game all the time. Even during weekends I never play 24 hours straight (not like some people aiming for vet and expert) and weekdays I’m more often off than off Caracci. So where exactly is my money going? That made me think what do I get for each top up that I do. At my level I am more interested in stuff to make my characters level, so I got manuals, and then traded a out a bit for vis in case I needed it for purchases of equips and armors in the MM, because I’m still low enough not to need the rare elites everyone’s after. But with prices going higher and higher for premium items, the g-points I traded off decreased in value.
I began to top up more often because of the promo, just like around 80% of the players in the Philippines, and I noticed that ever since the 1.8k g-points ran out, the market prices of premium items have gone higher. The best example might be enhancement boosters that became bonus items since April with the 750 and 1.8k g-points. At the start of April you could get these items - practically necessary for a guaranteed +5 for enhancing weapons and armor - at 5-6m vis each, and you’d think that since you’d get from 1 to 3 boosters for free during top-up, and with all things remaining equal, prices will stabilize or dip slightly. Last price check they’re at 9m-10, with people offering higher for bulk purchases. And this is trading at the broads, because selling your boosters in the Market Manager (fondly called the MM) may net you 12m vis above.
Why are these premium items so expensive these days? Maybe because right now, g-points have gotten scarce in the country, but there should still be a stable pool of g-points in Singapore and other SeaGE countries. I can’t think of a reason why this inflation is still ongoing. I mean, isn’t g-points equivalent cheaper there as well? Or do encounter the same lack of sources there?
So, where does that leave me? Should I still top up? My best bet would be the 750php top up in LoadCentral worth 18k, but then I did a bit of math. According to this blog post by Futels, that 75ophp also comes with 15 search for Adelina’s Booty (or ABS) license, but then what happens if I do the insane thing and buy 15 50 php codes from LoadCentral. That may only be equal to 15×1000 = 15k g-points, but then it comes with 15 enhancement boosters which is a practically guaranteed 150m vis in trading (it can go higher if you sell in the MM) and 30 ABS licenses. Oh hay, that was hard.
But really? If I only didn’t have to get some premium items for the possibility of vetting in the near future, I’d stop topping up till they come up with a better solution to their marketing system. It’s just way too hard to top up when LoadCentral has also proven unreliable for code values. How many people got hit by the April 1 fiasco? Raise your hands! I’m going to chance it with the 15 50 codes, and if not, well good luck to the e-games rep I’ll be talking to over the phone tomorrow.
