How playable is PSO2 without AC?

[Username49]

How playable is PSO2 without spending money on Arks Cash (AC):-?

[Kondibon]

I haven't bought any at all and I do just fine. I'm also not really trying for being top tier or minmaxing either though. The game is certainly playable.

[Mekhana]

If you don't mess up your mag or skill tree you could survive.

[connor_the_kid]

playable but not necessarily enjoyable

[Kondibon]

playable but not necessarily enjoyable

I don't really know how I'd enjoy it more if I bought anything since the only cash shop stuff I'm interested in is outfits and I can buy those from players. I guess it depends on the person though.

[ashley50]

Doesn't make a much of a difference imo.

[Z-0]

I think it makes a world of difference once you get a shop. I could hardly afford anything I really wanted as a free player (equipment, affixes, grinding), but once I got a shop the meseta started rolling in and allowed me to enjoy the game a lot more.

[ScottMalkinson]

is there a list somewhere of things you can buy with AC?

[Neith]

Depends if you want 10* equipment. I've only found a couple of 10* weapons in all the time I've played. You'll also make money a lot faster if you spend AC to open a shop from my experience.

I'd say it certainly isn't necessary but you'll (unfortunately) get a lot more out of the game if you spend AC.

[gigawuts]

Shop, extra mags for other classes, and possibly alternate skill trees for your most played classes are all fun stuff. The extra 50 inventory slots are another great one, since they never expire. I've had them since july, my empty inventory slots went from something like 15 all the way up to around 60. I get to carry more costumes, and only have to send items to bank after I loot a whole lot of stuff.

You can play without all of this, but as with any F2P game the experience is going to be "better" if you do spend money.

[supersonix9]

best thing you can get is my shop, which really could change the experience. other than that, nothing's really necessary.

[GreenArcher]

For the best 'budgeted' AC plan I would recommend a month of premium when you have a stash of 10* weapons/armor you want to waste. Stock up on 10* purchasing passes, and make sure you maximize your fun points for the entire month. You'll likely end up with several 3 day shop passes, and you'll be able to purchase 10* equipment for a long time (you only need premium to get the passes, not for the actual purchasing). You can also use the premium storage as a sort of 'long term storage', as after it expires you can still withdraw items from there, but cannot deposit. This 1300 AC will go you a long ways.

Other than that, you should be fine without AC, assuming you plan your character right and don't multiclass. Otherwise you may need additional mags (300 AC each) and/or skill trees (500 AC each). +50 Inventory space is really nice (1650? AC), but if you make use of auto run you can dump items to storage between spawns. I dump all my weapons, and lock any weapons in storage that I want to keep. After the mission it's as simple as pressing left down left down left down left down through the weapons tab.

[doomdragon83]

Yeah, it depends on what you want: if you can get by with a 50 inventory space + 200 Storage space (+30 temporary), can plan out your skill tree and Mag in advance, don't care too much about costumes, additional voices, items to help you grind/affix, etc., have less client orders to take on, and no ability to trade, then you should be good to go. 3 day My Room & (especially) My Shop access can be obtained through the FUN scratch so AC isn't required for those.

That said, I recently got the Premium package, activated my 30 day Premium and now, I really plan on getting AC somehow, I can't go back to being a non-premium member. The Extra space, bonus FUN points, trading, My Shop access That doesn't expire so fast), having more than 20 active client orders really appeal to me. I'm also interested in out fits but I don't want to pay a lot of meseta for it, it would help if I played the game more but I don't have the choice thanks to work.

[DS23]

After using a 3 day shop pass and getting a ton of funds from junking various rare things I have extras of or no use for I really want to go premium at some point in the near future. Double fun and space for client orders would be nice in addition to having a shop and being able to bust into 'full' blocks.

[Alnet]

Pretty much the shop is the only major priority, since it allows you to make crazy cash in a short period. There's also the option to make My Room available, create additional characters and buy additional mags and skill trees and the like, if that's important to you. The rest is pretty much just gravy. But gravy still tastes good.

[Midori Oku]

The only thing that I would say that's a must buy is extra inventory slots. Only having 50 slots to start with really sucks. It's really helpful not to have to NPC stuff ever other run, and it gives you extra space to hold items overall.

[DreXxiN]

As someone who hates the "Freemium" model, I feel PSO2 does it extremely well and have no problem at all playing without premium, even after having it in the past.

[sabitsuki]

super playable until you get 816ed trololo. I had like 50 costumes just from all the TAco money I got

[Alisha]

buying AC saves me from having to do TA. last scratch i made 20 mil in a few hours. so i can just focus on lvling and affixing my gear.

[danielxt]

Don't recommend that people buy the AC scratch... lucky you for getting 20mil in a few hours, most people will 2% of that.

Premium is ok now. I wouldn't have recommended it before, but buying & selling rares is important. I made 50mil yesterday selling a few rare launchers.

[aug]

Not much of difference unless you are going for tip-top gears. You can still get 3day shop pass off FUN to sell off all valuables.

This is abit out of topic but, are SEGA still not allowing foreign credit cards?

[Ryock]

It's very easy to get by in this game without paying a cent. I have several friends who have not paid for any AC whatsoever, and a couple of them outgear me. AC just means additional mags, assurance, and shops for the most part. Unless you're one of those vain people like myself who actually like the room function. The only big thing I could see some people complaining about atm is the fact that premium can buy 10 star rares.

At this point too, Sega is going to start giving free resets to skill trees that get new abilities or drastic changes made to them, thus I believe we're getting one on the 10th if memory serves. So it's pretty hard to mess up your skill trees as a free player as well.

[Gypsy72]

Is there a guide out there that lists everything you can't do without AC? i just started on PSO2 and not sure exactly what is limited in free play.

Thanks!

[blace]

Why would there be a guide that tells you everything you can do without AC but a guide on what you can do with AC?

People already listed what you can do without it, and even then it's not a limiting factor and is entirely optional.

[Gypsy72]

i just wanted to be sure there wasn't something else i was unable to do that people weren't mentioning, something they assume everyone already knows.

[blace]

A list of what is and what isn't possible with and without Premium:

Trading is Premium only.
10* trade-ins for a pass to buy another 10* from player shops.
Premium only blocks.
Able to enter a full block as long as Premium space is available.
Use of Team storage(not sure if that has changed).
Premium only drinks(Campship/Hospital)
4 pages of saved Symbol Art instead of 1 page.
40 Client Order slots instead of 20.
Premium storage space up to 300 extra slots.
Those are the only major changes/bonuses you get for buying a 30, 60 or 90 day Premium pass.

[Gypsy72]

Much appreciated! :)

[blace]

Some of these are still possible without Premium, such as 3 day passes for My Room or My Shop, otherwise Premium isn't really needed for anything other than that.

[SociableTyrannosaur]

A list of what is and what isn't possible with and without Premium:

Trading is Premium only.
10* trade-ins for a pass to buy another 10* from player shops.
Premium only blocks.
Able to enter a full block as long as Premium space is available.
Use of Team storage(not sure if that has changed).
Premium only drinks(Campship/Hospital)
4 pages of saved Symbol Art instead of 1 page.
40 Client Order slots instead of 20.
Premium storage space up to 300 extra slots.
Those are the only major changes/bonuses you get for buying a 30, 60 or 90 day Premium pass.


Actually the drinks are all the same but drinks have secondary effects - some of which are boosted when premium. Like if you drink a Shifta Drink EX your the random EXP up bonus is 10% instead of 5%

[blace]

Actually the drinks are all the same but drinks have secondary effects - some of which are boosted when premium. Like if you drink a Shifta Drink EX your the random EXP up bonus is 10% instead of 5%
I only recalled something about Premium drinks, never tried them myself. Nice to know.

[EvilMag]

Another thing some friends noticed when drinking on premium they never get any lower boosts (ie sometimes when you drink Shifta Drink EX you'll sometimes get Attack up medium but you won't anymore when you're premium)

[Alisha]

im gonna laugh when episode 2 requires you to pay like 1600 AC to access. similar to how in dcuo you have to pay to unlock the expansions and their content. such as weapons and classes.

[blace]

Being free to play and DCUO isn't a great example as it has expansions, whereas PSO2's content is all downloaded without charge.

If anything, you'll have to unlock episode 2 through a series of orders.

[Alisha]

how is it not valid? both are free to play. and dcuo's expansions are not retail releases.

[Z-0]

Another thing some friends noticed when drinking on premium they never get any lower boosts (ie sometimes when you drink Shifta Drink EX you'll sometimes get Attack up medium but you won't anymore when you're premium)
That's right, that is listed here (http://pso2.jp/players/support/faq/?id=119), along with all benefits from Premium.

[Quatre52]

You can play just fine with out AC. I've played since the alpha, and only bought enough AC to get 2 new characters, and I'm still loving the game, dont feel like I'm being held back in any real ways either.

[SociableTyrannosaur]

how is it not valid? both are free to play. and dcuo's expansions are not retail releases.

Seeing as Sakai specifically stated they won't lock content away from non-payers...?