Been playing the last couple of days. It seems like most of the “free” stuff they give to newbies has already dried up and progress has slowed to a crawl. Usually takes longer with these types of games. Going to play for awhile and see how it is since the time commitment for this game is pretty low, but it’s looking to be on the extreme end of p2w
It does slow a lot but the time commitment is very little - its a game where you will progress and really you just need to log on and do dailies every day and log on at least once every 8 hours so that your idle exp/loot farm timer resets (fun fact: you have to log on every 8 hours, but not actually collect it, though you should collect it 5 times a day for the dailies).
As I mentioned in my original post, it's very P2W. But I do have a few friends who are able to slowly build their teams over time and not spend much and spend at best 20-30 minutes a day in it. It's actually much nicer today than it used to be. 5 star shards used to be insanely rare, but now they are pretty reasonable to get. Once Aspen unlocks for you, that takes a little more time, but the rewards are nice.
If you need to know anything, though, I know practically everything there is to know about this game, and have one of the best teams/heros in the entire game. I'm VIP11, though, so I've spent a lot, but I beat pretty much every VIP13 out there.
If you don't want to spend, it'll be slow, but I'll give you the following advice:
1. Focus on Fortress and Forest Heroes.
2. SAVE RESOURCES. Don't blow summon scrolls except in summon events. Don't spin casino wheel except in casino event. If you get a 6 star or 7 star quest in the tavern, let it complete but dont click the complete button until tavern event (like now). For F2P players, conservation of resources and spending wisely will get you really far, actually. But it just takes time. Some events, like Summon events, you're not going to complete as F2P (You need to do 650 summons to get the top reward, generally). However -
do the things you need to to complete dailies always.
3. If you have any question about heroes, there a billion tier lists out there, but screw all of them, just ask me. I know every hero in this game inside and out just about, and know what works well with others, what's good for F2P vs. P2W, etc.
4. It's possible to 9 and 10 star heroes being F2P but it takes awhile. Again, just save resources.
5. The best "starter" heroes which are really good for having a nice baseline team for a F2P player are:
- Queen
- Iceblink (Worth 10 star)
- Malassa (She's really good for Help Fight/Marauders and even better paired with a Margaret)
- Aidan (Not bad, but I wouldn't 10 star)
- Ormus (amazing healer, worth a 10 star)
- Starlight (Not good at end game, but is a good hero for F2P - don't 10 star her though)
- Faceless (again, don't 10 star)
- Groo (He's a good tank for F2P)
6. Avoid these heroes at all cost (don't destroy them, but you can use them as components for 6 star fusions, but I suggest not going over 6 star with these so they can be used in other fusions/awakenings):
- Baade
- Eddga
- Dragon Slayer
- Field
- Kharma
- Dominator
- Bleecker
- Honor Guard
- Mirage
- OD-01 (He's good but useful for -1- thing)
- Lord Balrog
- Fat Mu
- Gusta
7. Do not altar ANY heroes unless 1 or 2 star. You can altar 3 star, but they are used to make 5 stars, so make sure beforehand you don't altar ones you might want to use in fusion. P2W swims in 3 star heroes, but F2P can still go through issues with it.
8. Before buying anything (if you want) consult with me first - some shit isn't worth it, but some are decent deals.
9. Asmodal and Michelle are the best heroes in the game, period. Both Light faction, so generally unless you're P2W you won't be able to fuse them up, but I'd never get rid of Light and Dark heroes. Eventually, if you play a long time, you can do it. My friend who is F2P has an 8 star Asmodal and can make a 9 star, but he needs another 5 star Asmodal to do it.