Mid January F2P player (spent a 20 usd gift card I got from a friend). By far one of the most f2p friendly games out there if you know how to manage resources.
I'm F2P and confident I'll be able to compete with paying players. It just takes longer to get stuff
It requires solid planning. You can't constantly chase the meta -- you have to pick and choose the right people to work on that will survive meta changes and allow you to adapt. Rex becoming easily farmable in guild shipments was a huge boon to the F2P community.
I totally agree that it's entirely possible to do well in this game (particularly the arena) without dropping vast sums of cash.
However...
Recently, starting with the Rogue One toons, then the DT/Krennic packs, I feel there's been a paradigm shift in how spending will advance you. Spenders will acquire the new toons that much more quickly - and as we've seen, certainly with the R1 toons, these characters are very powerful. Powerful enough to dominate the top spots in the arena, at least. I've seen that pattern continue with the Rebels characters, who (to my probably fairly average eye) look ridiculously overpowered and almost guaranteed to be competitive in the top of the arena.
By the time these characters are released through more affordable channels, there will be a new shiny-shiny, thus, encouraging those who spent to be "on top" to continue spending, to stay ahead of the curve.
All that said, this is really only relevant to top positions in the Arena - where all the crystal prizes are. Buy the new toons, make them powerful, win more crystals, rinse and repeat. One thing that I did see was mention of an event requiring the new Rebels toons - if that's going to be a regular thing, I feel it's entirely possible that the days of being F2P and competitive at the top flight are going to come to an end.
I've spent maybe $200 total and have been playing since either late January or early February 2016.
To be honest, this is one of the easier games to not spend money in. Other games I've played I've hit a wall a certain point in where you just HAVE to spend to advance. Free playing is totally possible with this game. People think that the only metric of success is your Arena rank, and that's just silly. Are you contributing in raids? Do you get far in your Galactic War? Have you advanced your cantina and regular boards? Are you locked out of events because you don't have the required characters?
Even finishing top 200 in Arena is no big deal.
One thing this game does right is that you really advance very quickly early on. You unlock a lot of 1 and 2 star characters in the first few days, and you're working on 3 star characters shortly after. More importantly, those 1s and 2s are still useful even in the highest of levels in various ways (JC is a great ship, Royal Gaurd still sees play, etc). If you're patient, this gives you a plethora of things to work on as you level up.
If you're not patient, this gives you a lot of things to spend on immediately, and then you spend the middle part of the game trying to find new things.
It's all up to you. There's no objectively wrong answer, just what you think the proper balance of time to money is.
I totally agree with you. My point was strictly about how EA app games are very cash intensive unless you take years to build it up. I seriously doubt everyone in the upper echelon of rankings is FTP, especially given the character combinations they have.
We all know which characters are mostly gained through in game purchases. More power to them I guess.
Never spent anything. https://swgoh.gg/u/mozza/
It's very much a F2P game if you know what you're doing.
How long did it take you?
i get the feeling you will have a follow up question regardless of what awnsers you'll get.
It was a simple question, and yes, there would be follow up questions if the answer was interesting..... Not sure what you are alluding to?
that you won't be happy with the awnsers if they don't fit into your view of this game.
My views of this game doesn't alter the validity of your or anybody else's answers. Agreeing or not is not an indication of "happiness" with a particular response.
I totally agree that it's entirely possible to do well in this game (particularly the arena) without dropping vast sums of cash.
However...
Recently, starting with the Rogue One toons, then the DT/Krennic packs, I feel there's been a paradigm shift in how spending will advance you. Spenders will acquire the new toons that much more quickly - and as we've seen, certainly with the R1 toons, these characters are very powerful. Powerful enough to dominate the top spots in the arena, at least. I've seen that pattern continue with the Rebels characters, who (to my probably fairly average eye) look ridiculously overpowered and almost guaranteed to be competitive in the top of the arena.
By the time these characters are released through more affordable channels, there will be a new shiny-shiny, thus, encouraging those who spent to be "on top" to continue spending, to stay ahead of the curve.
All that said, this is really only relevant to top positions in the Arena - where all the crystal prizes are. Buy the new toons, make them powerful, win more crystals, rinse and repeat. One thing that I did see was mention of an event requiring the new Rebels toons - if that's going to be a regular thing, I feel it's entirely possible that the days of being F2P and competitive at the top flight are going to come to an end.
Just my thoughts on the matter, as I see them.
I disagree. I think, if anything, it's become easier. First, everyone is getting the new characters, at low stars, for free, and some (many?) will be viable at low stars (for example, Nihilus having the second highest protection in the game makes him viable at 3* because he can survive due to all that protection). Second, now that the price point is much higher than auridiums, only whales/krakens can really spend the money on all the new shiny toons. So it's a smaller pool of people really investing in them. There were plenty of shiny, powerful, characters that were auridium exclusive (like Rex and B2) for some period of time that gave spenders an advantage. Now, it's only top spenders instead of the mid-range spenders. Third, it takes so long to gear as a F2P that by the time you can really gear a bunch of characters, you will be close to getting to farm stars anyway.
I've spent maybe $200 total and have been playing since either late January or early February 2016.
To be honest, this is one of the easier games to not spend money in. Other games I've played I've hit a wall a certain point in where you just HAVE to spend to advance. Free playing is totally possible with this game. People think that the only metric of success is your Arena rank, and that's just silly. Are you contributing in raids? Do you get far in your Galactic War? Have you advanced your cantina and regular boards? Are you locked out of events because you don't have the required characters?
Even finishing top 200 in Arena is no big deal.
One thing this game does right is that you really advance very quickly early on. You unlock a lot of 1 and 2 star characters in the first few days, and you're working on 3 star characters shortly after. More importantly, those 1s and 2s are still useful even in the highest of levels in various ways (JC is a great ship, Royal Gaurd still sees play, etc). If you're patient, this gives you a plethora of things to work on as you level up.
If you're not patient, this gives you a lot of things to spend on immediately, and then you spend the middle part of the game trying to find new things.
It's all up to you. There's no objectively wrong answer, just what you think the proper balance of time to money is.
I totally agree with you. My point was strictly about how EA app games are very cash intensive unless you take years to build it up. I seriously doubt everyone in the upper echelon of rankings is FTP, especially given the character combinations they have.
We all know which characters are mostly gained through in game purchases. More power to them I guess.
you don't have to seriously doubt that everyone in the upper echelon of rankings is f2p. It's pretty obvious there are also alot of paying players in the upper echelon of rankings.
I've spent maybe $200 total and have been playing since either late January or early February 2016.
To be honest, this is one of the easier games to not spend money in. Other games I've played I've hit a wall a certain point in where you just HAVE to spend to advance. Free playing is totally possible with this game. People think that the only metric of success is your Arena rank, and that's just silly. Are you contributing in raids? Do you get far in your Galactic War? Have you advanced your cantina and regular boards? Are you locked out of events because you don't have the required characters?
Even finishing top 200 in Arena is no big deal.
One thing this game does right is that you really advance very quickly early on. You unlock a lot of 1 and 2 star characters in the first few days, and you're working on 3 star characters shortly after. More importantly, those 1s and 2s are still useful even in the highest of levels in various ways (JC is a great ship, Royal Gaurd still sees play, etc). If you're patient, this gives you a plethora of things to work on as you level up.
If you're not patient, this gives you a lot of things to spend on immediately, and then you spend the middle part of the game trying to find new things.
It's all up to you. There's no objectively wrong answer, just what you think the proper balance of time to money is.
I totally agree with you. My point was strictly about how EA app games are very cash intensive unless you take years to build it up.
This is a really interesting point to me. I think for me, a pretty large incentive to NOT spend is that I enjoy the collecting and investing in characters more than I enjoy actually using them. (That isn't to say I don't like using them, I just like getting and improving them MORE) Most of the money I spent was within the first few months of playing when there were just so many characters to get and work on.
I wonder to how many people the slower pace of f2p appeals?
i am 100% free to play. i have never dropped a single penny on this game. i have received $25 gift cards for birthday and christmas but that's only $50 with. other than using the 2 gift cards i have not spent any money. never will either.
i choose to invest time instead of money. i play a good 2 hours a day at least.
How do you spend 2 hours in this game each day? You are given so many crystals, cantina energy and game energy everyday. I spend maybe 30 minutes in the game and I run out of things to do. I supposed if you don't use sim tickets to play missions you already mastered that will greatly increase the amount of time you stick in the game, but it certainly won't improve your game progress any faster.
I can literally go through the activity list in about 30 minutes, and check in every few hours to drain my energy. That's the extend of my FTP on a daily basis. Some of these upgrades require 50 shards, and multiple players require the same upgrades. This game crawls after level 60.
I've spent maybe $200 total and have been playing since either late January or early February 2016.
To be honest, this is one of the easier games to not spend money in. Other games I've played I've hit a wall a certain point in where you just HAVE to spend to advance. Free playing is totally possible with this game. People think that the only metric of success is your Arena rank, and that's just silly. Are you contributing in raids? Do you get far in your Galactic War? Have you advanced your cantina and regular boards? Are you locked out of events because you don't have the required characters?
Even finishing top 200 in Arena is no big deal.
One thing this game does right is that you really advance very quickly early on. You unlock a lot of 1 and 2 star characters in the first few days, and you're working on 3 star characters shortly after. More importantly, those 1s and 2s are still useful even in the highest of levels in various ways (JC is a great ship, Royal Gaurd still sees play, etc). If you're patient, this gives you a plethora of things to work on as you level up.
If you're not patient, this gives you a lot of things to spend on immediately, and then you spend the middle part of the game trying to find new things.
It's all up to you. There's no objectively wrong answer, just what you think the proper balance of time to money is.
I totally agree with you. My point was strictly about how EA app games are very cash intensive unless you take years to build it up. I seriously doubt everyone in the upper echelon of rankings is FTP, especially given the character combinations they have.
We all know which characters are mostly gained through in game purchases. More power to them I guess.
you don't have to seriously doubt that everyone in the upper echelon of rankings is f2p. It's pretty obvious there are also alot of paying players in the upper echelon of rankings.
I've spent maybe $200 total and have been playing since either late January or early February 2016.
To be honest, this is one of the easier games to not spend money in. Other games I've played I've hit a wall a certain point in where you just HAVE to spend to advance. Free playing is totally possible with this game. People think that the only metric of success is your Arena rank, and that's just silly. Are you contributing in raids? Do you get far in your Galactic War? Have you advanced your cantina and regular boards? Are you locked out of events because you don't have the required characters?
Even finishing top 200 in Arena is no big deal.
One thing this game does right is that you really advance very quickly early on. You unlock a lot of 1 and 2 star characters in the first few days, and you're working on 3 star characters shortly after. More importantly, those 1s and 2s are still useful even in the highest of levels in various ways (JC is a great ship, Royal Gaurd still sees play, etc). If you're patient, this gives you a plethora of things to work on as you level up.
If you're not patient, this gives you a lot of things to spend on immediately, and then you spend the middle part of the game trying to find new things.
It's all up to you. There's no objectively wrong answer, just what you think the proper balance of time to money is.
I totally agree with you. My point was strictly about how EA app games are very cash intensive unless you take years to build it up.
This is a really interesting point to me. I think for me, a pretty large incentive to NOT spend is that I enjoy the collecting and investing in characters more than I enjoy actually using them. (That isn't to say I don't like using them, I just like getting and improving them MORE) Most of the money I spent was within the first few months of playing when there were just so many characters to get and work on.
I wonder to how many people the slower pace of f2p appeals?
There are times I was tempted to really drop some cash because I was so angry with the game. Case and point: Galatic battles. I can totally appreciate that it gets progressively harder, but I'm a level 62 and I get a pop in difficulty against a level 75! ****!!! I don't have 3-4 sets of loaded players to go through the entire galactic battle, and the way they set it up makes it impossible to win.
I purchase the monthly crystal infusion, and on rare occasions dropped 20 bucks on a mod in the mod store just because, but the extra 100 crystals every day really helps battle the gear wall.
I'm F2P and confident I'll be able to compete with paying players. It just takes longer to get stuff
Once you get to the same level as everyone else the playing field evens out. But it takes soooooooo long, and the purchased players offer more advantages vs the free characters that still tips the advantage their way.
It's one thing to sells crystals to help you gain level up faster vs. only offer premium players through cash. The disparity will always be there. I have not gotten a single Cherrut shard so far for free!
I'm F2P and confident I'll be able to compete with paying players. It just takes longer to get stuff
It requires solid planning. You can't constantly chase the meta -- you have to pick and choose the right people to work on that will survive meta changes and allow you to adapt. Rex becoming easily farmable in guild shipments was a huge boon to the F2P community.
I try to focus my resources only on the players I got now rather than trying to groom every character I have.
I'm F2P and confident I'll be able to compete with paying players. It just takes longer to get stuff
Once you get to the same level as everyone else the playing field evens out. But it takes soooooooo long, and the purchased players offer more advantages vs the free characters that still tips the advantage their way.
It's one thing to sells crystals to help you gain level up faster vs. only offer premium players through cash. The disparity will always be there. I have not gotten a single Cherrut shard so far for free!
You could get a Cherrut shard for free though. Crystals are technically a free resource. Crystals also translate to money, yes this is true, but they are also surprisingly more abundant then most other games would even think of allowing. I get at least 300 crystals a day for free.
I'm F2P and confident I'll be able to compete with paying players. It just takes longer to get stuff
Once you get to the same level as everyone else the playing field evens out. But it takes soooooooo long, and the purchased players offer more advantages vs the free characters that still tips the advantage their way.
It's one thing to sells crystals to help you gain level up faster vs. only offer premium players through cash. The disparity will always be there. I have not gotten a single Cherrut shard so far for free!
You could get a Cherrut shard for free though. Crystals are technically a free resource. Crystals also translate to money, yes this is true, but they are also surprisingly more abundant then most other games would even think of allowing. I get at least 300 crystals a day for free.
I know you can get Cherrut for free now, and that's why I mentioned that I haven't received one yet!
I obtain crystals through completing the activities and achievements. I don't know if that yields 300 crystals a day, but certainly not enough to change my snail pace...
I'm F2P and confident I'll be able to compete with paying players. It just takes longer to get stuff
Once you get to the same level as everyone else the playing field evens out. But it takes soooooooo long, and the purchased players offer more advantages vs the free characters that still tips the advantage their way.
It's one thing to sells crystals to help you gain level up faster vs. only offer premium players through cash. The disparity will always be there. I have not gotten a single Cherrut shard so far for free!
You could get a Cherrut shard for free though. Crystals are technically a free resource. Crystals also translate to money, yes this is true, but they are also surprisingly more abundant then most other games would even think of allowing. I get at least 300 crystals a day for free.
I know you can get Cherrut for free now, and that's why I mentioned that I haven't received one yet!
I obtain crystals through completing the activities and achievements. I don't know if that yields 300 crystals a day, but certainly not enough to change my snail pace...
Still confused; you said you can't get him for free, and I just basically said you can technically. The fact that you haven't got any yet is because you haven't farmed him yet, yes? What's your point? Every character in the game you have to use "free" resources to farm. Cherrut is just more rare and requires a rare resource. I would actually like to understand your point, but at the moment, I don't get it.
i am 100% free to play. i have never dropped a single penny on this game. i have received $25 gift cards for birthday and christmas but that's only $50 with. other than using the 2 gift cards i have not spent any money. never will either.
i choose to invest time instead of money. i play a good 2 hours a day at least.
Hate to tell you but you're not "100% ftp" if you've put money into the game. You "ftp" people are a funny bunch.
You got to rank 1 on day 3?!?! I'm not sure I read you correctly..
You don't believe it...?,haha
It easy on shard before update as Arena release since level 8
Trick is shard restart every 20,000 account so just play until to start at rank less than 2,000
Then just use refresh on arena you can easily get rank1 in day3.
I used to got rank 1 since day 2 as I start on rank about 1,000
Anyway, this trick is harder now as Arena release at level 28
Not saying I don't believe you, just don't understand how it can be done. And judging by your comment earlier you have to spend cash initially to get the advantage...
Rank 13 and usually 8-10 in December 2105 shard without spending money and never I will spend. It's very satisfactory to win players that you see they have spent a lot of many.
You got to rank 1 on day 3?!?! I'm not sure I read you correctly..
You don't believe it...?,haha
It easy on shard before update as Arena release since level 8
Trick is shard restart every 20,000 account so just play until to start at rank less than 2,000
Then just use refresh on arena you can easily get rank1 in day3.
I used to got rank 1 since day 2 as I start on rank about 1,000
Anyway, this trick is harder now as Arena release at level 28
Not saying I don't believe you, just don't understand how it can be done. And judging by your comment earlier you have to spend cash initially to get the advantage...
I played about 5 account to do that rank1 in day3
I played for a month on first account then realize that to start over is better solution.
By farm the right team and people not pay much since day1 and day2 so it is not too hard to get rank1 with Arena refresh.
Then 500 crystals per day since day3 will keep you very competitive to P2P player.
Ship arena is where spenders have the advantage. They had 7* ships from day one.
How long did it take you to get there without spending cash? Just curious. Because the way the game is setup it will take a long time playing it before you can get the gears you need to progress.
You can hit rank 1 in your arena after just 3-4 weeks of playing, and without spending.
I don't think this is true, possible yes but unlikely. Just like ship arena big spenders will easily get an insurmountable advantage. What saves F2P is that there is a cap on gear and levels.
I'd like to see a F2P under lvl 70 who is regularly getting 1, a lot of seasoned vets have F2P Alts. Anyone?
i am 100% free to play. i have never dropped a single penny on this game. i have received $25 gift cards for birthday and christmas but that's only $50 with. other than using the 2 gift cards i have not spent any money. never will either.
i choose to invest time instead of money. i play a good 2 hours a day at least.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news...you're not FTP after using the gift cards.
i am 100% free to play. i have never dropped a single penny on this game. i have received $25 gift cards for birthday and christmas but that's only $50 with. other than using the 2 gift cards i have not spent any money. never will either.
i choose to invest time instead of money. i play a good 2 hours a day at least.
How do you spend 2 hours in this game each day? You are given so many crystals, cantina energy and game energy everyday. I spend maybe 30 minutes in the game and I run out of things to do. I supposed if you don't use sim tickets to play missions you already mastered that will greatly increase the amount of time you stick in the game, but it certainly won't improve your game progress any faster.
I can literally go through the activity list in about 30 minutes, and check in every few hours to drain my energy. That's the extend of my FTP on a daily basis. Some of these upgrades require 50 shards, and multiple players require the same upgrades. This game crawls after level 60.
you answered the question yourself. i don't sim anything. i didn't find the game a crawl. i went from level 1 to level 85 in 5 months.
what you call game progress is probably different than what i call game progress. not everyone plays the game for the very same reason you do.
i am 100% free to play. i have never dropped a single penny on this game. i have received $25 gift cards for birthday and christmas but that's only $50 with. other than using the 2 gift cards i have not spent any money. never will either.
i choose to invest time instead of money. i play a good 2 hours a day at least.
Hate to be the bearer of bad news...you're not FTP after using the gift cards.
actually i am because the gift cards were not my money. so i've still spent $0.
Replies
https://swgoh.gg/u/vexim/
It requires solid planning. You can't constantly chase the meta -- you have to pick and choose the right people to work on that will survive meta changes and allow you to adapt. Rex becoming easily farmable in guild shipments was a huge boon to the F2P community.
However...
Recently, starting with the Rogue One toons, then the DT/Krennic packs, I feel there's been a paradigm shift in how spending will advance you. Spenders will acquire the new toons that much more quickly - and as we've seen, certainly with the R1 toons, these characters are very powerful. Powerful enough to dominate the top spots in the arena, at least. I've seen that pattern continue with the Rebels characters, who (to my probably fairly average eye) look ridiculously overpowered and almost guaranteed to be competitive in the top of the arena.
By the time these characters are released through more affordable channels, there will be a new shiny-shiny, thus, encouraging those who spent to be "on top" to continue spending, to stay ahead of the curve.
All that said, this is really only relevant to top positions in the Arena - where all the crystal prizes are. Buy the new toons, make them powerful, win more crystals, rinse and repeat. One thing that I did see was mention of an event requiring the new Rebels toons - if that's going to be a regular thing, I feel it's entirely possible that the days of being F2P and competitive at the top flight are going to come to an end.
Just my thoughts on the matter, as I see them.
I totally agree with you. My point was strictly about how EA app games are very cash intensive unless you take years to build it up. I seriously doubt everyone in the upper echelon of rankings is FTP, especially given the character combinations they have.
We all know which characters are mostly gained through in game purchases. More power to them I guess.
My views of this game doesn't alter the validity of your or anybody else's answers. Agreeing or not is not an indication of "happiness" with a particular response.
I disagree. I think, if anything, it's become easier. First, everyone is getting the new characters, at low stars, for free, and some (many?) will be viable at low stars (for example, Nihilus having the second highest protection in the game makes him viable at 3* because he can survive due to all that protection). Second, now that the price point is much higher than auridiums, only whales/krakens can really spend the money on all the new shiny toons. So it's a smaller pool of people really investing in them. There were plenty of shiny, powerful, characters that were auridium exclusive (like Rex and B2) for some period of time that gave spenders an advantage. Now, it's only top spenders instead of the mid-range spenders. Third, it takes so long to gear as a F2P that by the time you can really gear a bunch of characters, you will be close to getting to farm stars anyway.
you don't have to seriously doubt that everyone in the upper echelon of rankings is f2p. It's pretty obvious there are also alot of paying players in the upper echelon of rankings.
I wonder to how many people the slower pace of f2p appeals?
How do you spend 2 hours in this game each day? You are given so many crystals, cantina energy and game energy everyday. I spend maybe 30 minutes in the game and I run out of things to do. I supposed if you don't use sim tickets to play missions you already mastered that will greatly increase the amount of time you stick in the game, but it certainly won't improve your game progress any faster.
I can literally go through the activity list in about 30 minutes, and check in every few hours to drain my energy. That's the extend of my FTP on a daily basis. Some of these upgrades require 50 shards, and multiple players require the same upgrades. This game crawls after level 60.
I'm glad we agree on something
There are times I was tempted to really drop some cash because I was so angry with the game. Case and point: Galatic battles. I can totally appreciate that it gets progressively harder, but I'm a level 62 and I get a pop in difficulty against a level 75! ****!!! I don't have 3-4 sets of loaded players to go through the entire galactic battle, and the way they set it up makes it impossible to win.
Once you get to the same level as everyone else the playing field evens out. But it takes soooooooo long, and the purchased players offer more advantages vs the free characters that still tips the advantage their way.
It's one thing to sells crystals to help you gain level up faster vs. only offer premium players through cash. The disparity will always be there. I have not gotten a single Cherrut shard so far for free!
I try to focus my resources only on the players I got now rather than trying to groom every character I have.
You got to rank 1 on day 3?!?! I'm not sure I read you correctly...
You could get a Cherrut shard for free though. Crystals are technically a free resource. Crystals also translate to money, yes this is true, but they are also surprisingly more abundant then most other games would even think of allowing. I get at least 300 crystals a day for free.
I know you can get Cherrut for free now, and that's why I mentioned that I haven't received one yet!
I obtain crystals through completing the activities and achievements. I don't know if that yields 300 crystals a day, but certainly not enough to change my snail pace...
About what?!
You got to rank 1 on day 3?!?! I'm not sure I read you correctly..
You don't believe it...?,haha
It easy on shard before update as Arena release since level 8
Trick is shard restart every 20,000 account so just play a few account until you start at rank less then 2,000
Then just use refresh on arena you can easily get rank1 in day3
I used to got rank 1 since day 2 as I start on rank about 1,000 as I start over new account sometime to try new team.
Anyway, this trick is harder now as Arena release at level 28
Still confused; you said you can't get him for free, and I just basically said you can technically. The fact that you haven't got any yet is because you haven't farmed him yet, yes? What's your point? Every character in the game you have to use "free" resources to farm. Cherrut is just more rare and requires a rare resource. I would actually like to understand your point, but at the moment, I don't get it.
Hate to tell you but you're not "100% ftp" if you've put money into the game. You "ftp" people are a funny bunch.
Not saying I don't believe you, just don't understand how it can be done. And judging by your comment earlier you have to spend cash initially to get the advantage...
I played about 5 account to do that rank1 in day3
I played for a month on first account then realize that to start over is better solution.
By farm the right team and people not pay much since day1 and day2 so it is not too hard to get rank1 with Arena refresh.
Then 500 crystals per day since day3 will keep you very competitive to P2P player.
Just farm the right team and see META.
I don't think this is true, possible yes but unlikely. Just like ship arena big spenders will easily get an insurmountable advantage. What saves F2P is that there is a cap on gear and levels.
I'd like to see a F2P under lvl 70 who is regularly getting 1, a lot of seasoned vets have F2P Alts. Anyone?
Hate to be the bearer of bad news...you're not FTP after using the gift cards.
you answered the question yourself. i don't sim anything. i didn't find the game a crawl. i went from level 1 to level 85 in 5 months.
what you call game progress is probably different than what i call game progress. not everyone plays the game for the very same reason you do.
actually i am because the gift cards were not my money. so i've still spent $0.