Can I "fully" enjoy AoC without paying?

[letsdance]

I had this same question. So it looks like AoC is definitely not P2W but it seems like a lot of endgame content is locked out after you hit level 80. Correct me if I am wrong. I want to play this game but cannot afford a sub. I do not want to invest my time in it and reach 80 and feel compelled/obligated to subscribe, does that sound like the typical case for most? Are there a lot of level 80s who are still F2P'ing?

If you want to pvp at 80 then you more or less need to subscribe at the moment, but there's a new minigame mode coming in a few months that will remove the gear and AA imbalance.

PvE wise you can play many dungeons at 80, and gear up with blue gear, and Epic T1 gear through raids. If you choose to go the path and get all the blue gear then upgrade to Epic, the content can last 2-3 months atleast.

[imkain]

This is good to know because I wish to stay F2P until I absolutely have to start to sub. Now I read back in the months of December that they allowed F2P members access to specific dungeons, raids, and access to all the classes. Is this not true? I also purchased Rise of The Godslayer back in the day, and managed to get for free the Turan survival pack (as I always have weapons when I create a character, when I type in /claim). Let me know if there are more raids/dungeons that I would be missing by the time I reach max level. Keep in mind that I casually am playing AoC and that I am slowly working my way to level 80, as well as playing 2 other toons at the same time. Demo, Guard, and a BS.

[letsdance]

If you intend to start subscribing and enjoy the group/raid content then I suggest you start subscribing once you reach level 80, because you'll then get access to offline AA leveling, and you need AA and especially some of the abilities from AA to start with hardmode dungeons.

These abilities take about 30 days to offline level each, or you can purchase them by doing loads of dungeons.

Normal Mode dungeons in Khitai are also a little bit more popular than the old world dungeons that you get as F2P.

Most old world dungeons are available as F2P, that includes Crow's Nest, Iron Tower, Xibaluku, and Caravan Raiders Hideout. In Raid you have access to Yakhmar and Kylikki's Crypt.

Onyx Chambers is not included as far as I know.

[stiiixy]

Specifically, the 30 day abilities Paulson is referring to are the gold ones (when you push K, each abililty is surrounded by a bronze, silver or gold border), which take 720 hours of 'cooling down' which happens when you're online or off.

You will notice there is also the AA poojnts up top (Mastery, Expertise, Prowess) and every time you cap one side (Mastery from PvE or Prowess from PvP) you get 3 points respectively plus an Expertise which swings in to either side (not just abilities in the middle)

Each point is considered 18 hours. You can apply these points to an ability that is on cool-down or not, but ones on cool down will require the hole amount. You can just slap a coupe of points on to reduce the timer.

As for Onyx, I believe it is open. It's just Vissy and afterwards (stop you from getting that cloak?) that's been disabled, and anything to do with Khitai AFTER Gateway to Khitai (20-40 zone).

[Mellaus]

If i were ftp i wouldn't rush frankly, there's just no need to pay a sub until you're ready for hardmodes and T2+ raids.

Meanwhile you can take your time playing, going to the old world dungeons, which i think are all unlocked and very cool.
You can also raid T1 and get the full set, with which you can do pretty much anything frankly.

I would also advise to take the time to work on your vanity sets. Maybe that's just me, but i can't play a character that does not look good.

[cins]

If you're wondering about what content is locked to free players:

Coast of Ardashir zone (lv50-55) and all Turan instances.
Vistrix, final Cimmeria raid.
Stygia raids (T2 and T3).
Khitai zones (except Gateway, which is open to everyone), Khitai instances and main expansion storyline (including factions).
House of Crom twin dungeon.
Dragonspine zone.
Alternate Advancement progression (virtually required for most of endgame content).

Everything else is open and free.

[Sannder]

So if I understand this right. If I want to play "full" game, I either have to pay monthly or I have to buy The Savage Coast of Turan Standard Pack + Rise of the Godslayer Expansion?

I alrdy own the basic game.

i would say pay for subscription and buy Rise of the godslayer, but you dont need The savage coast of turna.

coast of turan contains:
a new lvl 50 area, wich is fun but absolutly no need for.

2 new solo instances, wich can give you rare tokens, but you get those from all khitai, unchained instances and dragon's spine (and faster)

and a new t 3,5 raid, wich i never have done.

but if you are a new lvl 80, you should do the t1 instnces first, so no need to buy full game untill you have decent gear to do the p2p parts!

good luck!

[IncubusDragon]

I don't subscribe because there are sometimes when I just don't have time to play a lot, and it would feel like I was paying for 'dead' time.

That said, I don't have a character above level 65 yet... totally loving it (PvE playing), so I might change my mind when I finally get around to reaching level 80

[Mellaus]

Even at lvl80, you only need to sub when you want to start with Khitai.
But you've got quite many things to do before that, like all the old dungeons, which are really cool, minigames if that's your thing, for which you need no sub at all, and T1 raids, to get your epic entry set.