Free game? Can you truly compete without spending cash?

[Grain]

Sarcasm.

I've learned that sarcasm doesn't work very well in text form.

[Logress]

I'm sorry that Alteil didn't do it for you, Danrelei. All of us here at Alteil actually have tons of fun playing this game, and the Japanese creators as well. They play every day on our servers and theirs because they want to.
I don't know if this will always be the case, but right now most of the top 25 players have not yet spent any money. Actually, the top player as of right now hasn't spent any money. (BTW, we'll announce a ranking system and ranking page soon). I think that pretty much speaks for itself.

I have no illusions that at some point the top spots will be difficult to achieve without paying. (Although not impossible, there's a Japanese guy who makes a point of being highly competitive at Japanese Alteil without paying and he has a blog where he outlines day by day and step by step how he does it). Still, things like sealed deck tournaments will give everyone a chance at some fame.

--Sean

[DWildstar]

Now that we have a general discussion forum I've moved this topic.

[teasel]

personaly i think the same thing of the OP... while i don't really care about card rarity (i mean rare card are supposed to be rare)
or being competitive,the fact that you get only a single card out of every level (and someone even said the number decrease later) really bothers me... what if i get tired to play with the default card of the starter deck? let's assume i want to make a deck of cards that aren't in the starter deck AND i want to change color... how many games would it take to achieve that? oh and we are talking of a game where double are almost a requisite (no double/no resurrect) why it can't be 5 cards on a level up... or maybe you could have no level up but you get cards after every X game (with X maybe being a low number like 3)
it just takes too much to get 1/25 of "the new deck"
i enjoyed the few games i had but it's pointless if i either have to play the same starter deck forever or have to cough up cash...

[Ekin]

To answer the OP's subject question:

Yes, you can. I'm currently have 31 wins and 12 losses without spending a dime. I'm clearly not the best Alteil player, and I haven't ventured out of the lowbie arena, but I certainly think a 72% win rate is "competitive."

Also, I'm thrilled to hear there will be sealed deck tournaments. Draft tournaments would be great, too, but I'm not sure how well this game would draft.

[Susanoo]

I'm too lazy to write out long paragraphs so i'll make it short. as i don't enjoy having this kind of flaming-before-knowing discussion.

real money help you get rare cards : true
rare cards help you to be better : true
there are people who's blinded by rare cards and ended up losing with rare cards : also true

conclusion :
real money decides the game : exactly not true

moral study :
it actually took you your brain to win this game not your pocket, so instead of using your brain to flame, use it to win this game instead.

[Cyanide]

Yeah, it is possible to compete I think my 51 wins to 13 losses proves it and I haven't spent a dime, yet.

I may well spend some money because I am enjoying the game and just see it as more of a 'donation' than buying cards to get better.

[Nai_Hime]

I've lost to people with standard decks, and I've bought cards. It's becouse they were better then me. In the end you can only have 25 cards in your deck and 5 in your soul, and picking the right ones for the way you intend on playing is most important. Then just hoping you don't run into someone who is either a: playiing the same way or b: someone who plays a tactic that is designed to beat you.

I bought cards for 3 reasons 1) I want the little witch (the 5star rare falkow witch) and will keep buying cards till I get her 2) servers and bandwidth cost alot (especially out of Japan) 3) devlopers, translators and designers need paying.

[tdkgunghoul]

I haven't spent a dime and I still get thrilling, nerve-wracking matches against players who's leves are higher and have better cards.

[Chronomaster]

I spent money!
...
I guess I'm just a square then.

But seriously, you're complaining about a free game saying it won't be successful because there's a P2P option? Ever hear of a little game called Maple Story? I complain about that game almost daily, but even I can't disagree with its model and success. It's not rational.

And you could wing it enough to where you can make it out on top starting out on the streetz. Pointing to Logress here, maybe we'll get a translated version of that blog sometime. These guys have to make money somehow though, so I don't see it any time soon.

Point to point, it's your discretion to whether you want to spend money on this game. You don't have to. You can. You don't have to. Whatever works for you. You're free to complain too. The guys here listen. You can't even whisper something without them asking how they can better appease you. You just don't find that these days.

What I'm trying to say is don't spit against the wind haphazardly. Give it a chance. There are ways to get what you need without dropping a single buck. To semi-quote myself (changes in itals), these are the main methods to getting some Gran.

You get cards by:
1. Opening an account (these can't be recycled, see 4).
2. Leveling (Staggers in a certain fashion).
3. Treasure Battles (happens randomly, believed to happen more frequently as win streaks go up).
4. Recycling cards (gives you Gran. Beginner cards give no Gran when recycled, so don't do it).
5. Playing Mirage Master (Concentration-like game. Gives Gran once per day. Takes about 2 days per random card if you're good at it).
6. Sheer dumb luck ('Gran'ts from events and other random stuff)