only for the rich and famous

[DeletedUser15701]

I just started playing this game a couple of weeks ago and have already noticed it is an expensive game to play. Don't get me wrong, i love the game. But it is far to expensive to win battles, upgrade things, or even to play tournaments. I gave up trying to win battles, so on order to win at anything it takes a lot of diamonds, and i can't always afford to buy diamonds. So how do us poor people play the game without falling so far behind. Lady Ani

 

[shimmerfly]

This isn't a race, it is a slow paced game. Many never buy diamonds and have been playing for years. If you can be patient you will learn what the best way of playing suits you. Don't "break the bank"! I find that spending a lot of time reading the forum helps pass the time and you can learn from the "older" players. Take your time. Your not playing against anyone but yourself

 

[HJK84]

Patience is key. If you lack it, there are options;
stop playing
spend $ to get diamonds
come onto the forum with a open mind, ask/look for advice and/or opinions

It's a lovely game, that can be played and enjoyed without spending any money.
It's like everything else, depends on the persons characteristics.
There are more people who have spent 0 to a few dollars, then the ones who spent alot.

Keep your head up.

Good luck!

 

[DeletedUser15774]

It's only expensive if you let it be; you're the one who chooses to spend or not, and how much. However, if you feel pressured to spend money in any game, just walk away.

 

[Deborah M]

Thankfully they did not have tournaments when I started playing. A couple of months ago I moved back to my original smaller FS. Now there are plenty of newer players in my FS. My advice to them is leave the tournaments to our players who at least have established kingdoms. Just do one battle in the tournament so you will get the rewards to help build your kingdom. I've heard that with the battle system the way it is now it is too hard for new players. Catering is not a good choice in the beginning because you need to be building and upgrading and exploring the easy provinces of the map so you can get expansions. I'm not sure how players who are not at least to the point they have Tier 3 factories can cater anyway. Of course this is just my opinion! This is a slow game to begin with so if you don't focus on growing your kingdom in the beginning I think you may get too frustrated and walk away.

 

[Mykan]

@Lady Ani Welcome to the game.
A large number of players play this game without spending any money so there is no need to purchase diamonds unless you want to.

Unfortunately the battles in the provinces at the start of the game are the hardest you will face in terms of unlocking enough provinces to access the next chapter. So giving up on battles in the world map is the right strategy, for now, this will start to change around chapter 4.The reasons for the difficulty so soon is 2 fold:

• You lack access to all of the available unit types as you only start with 2 of the 5, you gain 1 in chapter 2 but the last unit types come in chapter 3.
• The enemy squad sizes are too large compared to your own armies. The system is designed that you should not be able to win a battle where the enemy outnumbers you 2:1

The good news is you still have options.

1. Catering provinces
2. Playing in tournaments to learn the combat system and gain some extra bonuses to help you progress.

Tournaments
These are an excellent learning tool for combat as the squad sizes are smaller than on the world map so it costs you less to recover from losses/mistakes. Plus the difficulty is fixed, the first round you have the advantage and the second round is an even fight as far as number of units. You also can earn some rewards to help your town progress like spells to produce more supplies or KP to learn techs faster and relics to produce more goods. If you complete at least the first province for 1 round you also qualify to share in your fellowships reward at the end of the tournament.

Catering provinces
This can seem quite costly but it mostly comes down to your town design. There are guides that go into more detail regarding this. For now a few things to work on:

• Find a fellowship so that you can trade goods (and participate in tournaments)
• With a good fellowship for trading you can focus on your boosted goods only, delete any factories for non boosted goods. It costs you the same to produce both but you get bonus free goods when producing your boosted ones. Just trade for the goods your not boosted in, tournaments can help you gain more boosted relics.
• Plan to build enough factories to cover 20-40 squares of your town, you will want to get this to 40 squares minimum for each boosted good. Don't pay attention to the number of factories as they are not comparable across races, goods and chapters. The number of squares used for factories is comparable and can stay constant all the way into later chapters.
• Not all of the factories you place need to be upgraded, as they grow in size and efficiency so you will delete some as you learn larger factories. Level a few and keep the rest at level 1/2
• Post trades regularly to balance out your goods. The vast majority of tradings likely to happen while your offline so ensure you have your trades listed for your needs regualrly, this way you always have enough goods. If you rely on others to post trades you will run into trouble from time to time.

 

[SoggyShorts]

Now there are plenty of newer players in my FS. My advice to them is leave the tournaments to our players who at least have established kingdoms.

I would agree with this except for those tournaments that match their boosts. In the early game concentrating on your boosted tournaments can increase your cities output by double very quickly. Later the increases aren't as fast, but you should be able to do more. I was quite successful going nearly broke on my boosted, then working on my city and saving up for a couple of weeks, and repeat.

 

[Deborah M]

I would agree with this except for those tournaments that match their boosts. In the early game concentrating on your boosted tournaments can increase your cities output by double very quickly. Later the increases are as fast, but you should be able to do more. I was quite successful going nearly broke on my boosted, then working on my city and saving up for a couple of weeks, and repeat.

Ahh! An advantage I hadn't thought about. Getting fully boosted ASAP would be really helpful early on. Now I kind of wish they did have tournaments when I started. Definitely passing that suggestion on!

 

[Pheryll]

To be fair, Deborah, you did have the major events give out relics as random chest prizes when you went through. Now these events give out instants instead, so tournaments are all the more vital to acquiring relics early on.

 

[DeletedUser13002]

I would agree with most of what's been posted here—particularly the most important point to keep in perspective (especially if you don't want to spend money): learn patience. I promise you, this game will teach it to you in ways you never imagined. The temptation is to want to rush through and advance as quickly as possible, but not only is that not feasible, it misses a lot of the point. Rome wasn't built overnight (the real one, I mean ... not someone's digital version). You're acting as an administrator over an evolving city here. Don't expect to go all Metropolis in a hurry.

As has been said, join a fellowship, leave combat for the tournaments, and work toward amassing goods in order to negotiate your way through new provinces. The rest will come with time (lots of it!), and with advice from wiser heads around here.

 

[dikke ikke]

True, patience is the name of the game. Players who are current last level are playing this game for at least 2 years, those who made it faster are the spenders.

 

[SoggyShorts]

True, patience is the name of the game. Players who are current last level are playing this game for at least 2 years, those who made it faster are the spenders.

Close- I finished Chapter 11 at the end of November, less than 1 year and 6 months after starting, and never bought any diamonds.

 

[bkbajb]

I have been playing for 2 years and am getting near the end Of the Orc chapter and have not spent any money on the game. People need to learn patience. When that is mastered the game is very fun.

 

[bkbajb]

True, patience is the name of the game. Players who are current last level are playing this game for at least 2 years, those who made it faster are the spenders.

Lol, I have been playing for a little over 2 years and both of my cities are almost through the Orcs. Guess I am real patient.

 

[DeletedUser3468]

I'm not sure how players who are not at least to the point they have Tier 3 factories can cater anyway.

Just wanted to answer this one point... those who don't have T3 factories can cater because the goods required are based on what level the player is at. I have just opened my T2 boosted factory in my newest city and so far haven't needed to use the goods from them to cater. I'm sure that will change soon as I level them up.

 

[SoggyShorts]

I have just opened my T2 boosted factory in my newest city and so far haven't needed to use the goods from them to cater.

I'm 99% sure the change will come based on a change in your squad size, but I don't know the magic number. Would you mind checking your squad size each week until you start needing T2 goods to cater in the tournament?

I managed to test and figure out that you need orcs to cater after 1251 SS, but making another account to check T2 & T3 is too much for a lazy Soggy.

 

[NightshadeCS]

For a long time, I prided myself on the fact that I had never spent a single dollar playing this game and had progressed fairly well, I think. It is definitely slow-going at first, but it is all relative to your expectations. This is meant to be a long game, an addition to our daily lives, not one you finish in x amount of hours and move on to something else. Now, I have spent a little bit of money, I think perhaps $10, when there were one of those wonderful 100% sales. I figured that for a PlayStation game, I would gladly lay out $60 or so for probably less than 100 hours of gameplay. As I have been playing Elvenar for over a year now, I figured an investment in my enjoyment was only fair. Also, I had played for long enough and read enough tips and tricks to know exactly where I wanted to apply those precious diamonds.

 

[Deborah M]

100% sale??? I'm pretty darn sure I don't even get 50% sales someone mentioned Not exactly a fair marketing strategy to screw your regular paying customers I get that they want to get free players hooked but still.....

 

[SoggyShorts]

100% sale??? I'm pretty darn sure I don't even get 50% sales someone mentioned Not exactly a fair marketing strategy to screw your regular paying customers I get that they want to get free players hooked but still.....

I always get the same sale "100% diamond bonus on your first purchase" unless it's a special event sale or something new like the sale on residences right now.
I read somewhere years ago that it is 6x harder to get a new customer than to keep an existing one.... if true, it explains the strategy.
Think about every cell phone or cable provider there is- "50% off for the first 6 months!" "0% off for existing customers!"

BTW if you do want a good deal on mobile/cable, either switch companies, or at least call customer retention every time your contract is up. The last time my contract was up a friend told me that they signed up with a competitor and got $200 credit, so I called my provider and they matched it. A couple hundred bones for 1 phone call is a pretty good deal. Doesn't really apply to Elvenar, but I thought I'd share that little life hack with you

 

[DeletedUser9601]

I read somewhere years ago that it is 6x harder to get a new customer than to keep an existing one.... if true, it explains the strategy.

Are you getting your business facts from The Office ?