
We had spent roughly 3-5 bucks on the chest plate, along with one or two other item, and in my head, I now owned that piece and could come back whenever I wanted. I did all this, and soon the gear was mine.Īt some point, I stopped playing Diablo 2…well, no one really ever stops playing Diablo 2, but I stopped playing for a while. This involved some black market pageantry: we first had to buy the item, confirm the purchase, wait to hear back, tell the vendor my character name, meet with the vendor at a specific time and place in game, use a cryptic message to verify I was the buyer, and only then I would own the chest plate. I spoke with my dad, and after countless minutes of presenting my cogent and thoughtful arguments (“PLEASE DAD I NEED THIS.”), he said we could buy the item. This would be the thing to take me to the next level. The piece of gear I was buying was some chest plate with a huge name, a bunch of effects, and double digit statistical gains all over the place. If I want to see the next dungeon, or defeat the next boss, or to feel like I’m succeeding at something, gear enables for all those goals to be fulfilled and my success readily measured. Gear, however, is the large cog that enables most of those pleasures. Of course, there are people who play MMORPGs for many other reasons: to be social, to escape daily worries, to explore a world, or to conquer evil or other players. Gear is what drives most MMORPG players, by and large. What I needed was something to do that: gear. But, after a while, I was struggling to succeed at the game. In Diablo 2, I played a paladin, a holy warrior sent by God to destroy all evil, which I loved.
TERA SLEIPNIR FREE
With no monthly fee, I could drop countless hours into the game worry free about any monetary constraints, although as a 12 year old, I didn’t really worry about money-rather, I felt guilty about what I asked my parents to spend and continued to play the game regardless, which is pretty close to being worried. To me, as a kid, that meant it was free (thanks for buying the game, dad, and thanks for letting me play it, mom). Now, it’s a misnomer to say Diablo 2 is free, but what I mean is, Diablo 2 had no monthly fee. The first time I bought something for a free game was Diablo 2. I have a confession to make: I’m a whale.Ī whale is an industry insider term for someone who spends lots of money on a freemium game, and I’ve been a whale for some time. Why am I spending money on something that is free? Why am I reaching for my wallet for this item? What does it really benefit me? And at what cost? This makes TERA a freemium game-it’s free, but you can pay for mounts, performance boosters, and costumes if you want. It would cost me 20 dollars to buy while TERA is free-to-play, they generate revenue by selling premium items, such as Sleipnir.

I already owned two other mounts, both just as fast as Sleipnir. I’m having fun-it’s exactly the same game I played before, the game I wanted, with no over-bearing monthly payment fee…but for some reason, I wanted to buy the Sleipnir mount, an ice horse mount that leaves a trail of cold mist in its wake. I knew I would play TERA, so for me, the small purchase out of my bank account didn’t seem like much.
TERA SLEIPNIR PLUS
Plus, because I bought the box, I also acquired the Tawny Huntress pack, a golden lioness mount plus a large chunk of in-game currency. Buying the box would afford me “Founder” status, which bestowed more character slots, a larger bank, an electrified mare mount, and much more. To return to TERA, before the game became free-to-play, I spent 20 bucks to buy the box from Amazon, who was having a sale-the game’s box is 40 everywhere else.
TERA SLEIPNIR DOWNLOAD
This week, I’m starting to play TERA Online, a once pay-to-play massively multiplayer online roleplaying game that’s gone free-to-play.įor those that don’t know what most of those terms mean: pay-to-play means you pay a monthly fee upfront to play the game for one month, usually around 10-15 dollars, typically in addition to a box price of 60 dollars massively multiplayer online roleplaying game, or MMORPG, means you play a character in a gigantic and persistent digital universe with countless other players alongside you and free-to-play means you pay nothing to play a game-all you need to do is download the product and you can play, for free, indefinitely. As someone who now works, what’s 20 dollars? I spent the money without much of a second thought. However, before I actually started playing, I spent 20 dollars on Riot Points, the currency that League of Legends’ development team, Riot, exchanges for cash which lets players buy various things in-game. A few weeks ago, I started playing League of Legends again because I finally had some free time.
