I gave NTreev quite a few chances. Even as they got greedier and greedier, I stuck with the game, despite so much missing, and nothing unique being added to make up for it (sorry, but a gambling system isn't adding something, it's taking more away.) Even as I was pretty sure the gambling system would be horrible, I even waited until they released it to give them one last chance.
Now we have Gacha, and from reading the threads of people who tried it, it costs ~$150 for a pet. That is absolutely beyond anything that even remotely resembles sanity, and I won't even touch the game now. For those who don't think that's ridiculous, because it's "only a pet" and you can buy the panda for 5 bucks instead, all I can say is wait until they make the high level town, and normal cash players are blown away by those willing to clear all the towns for $150 EACH to get the gear that gives as much of an advantage to gamblers over cashers as cash gear gives cashers over regular players.
So... I'm switching to Grand Chase SEA. Having done it, I have a few things to say:
1. NOTHING is cash or gamble that shouldn't be.
2. Crystal is useful, with a much larger list of stuff to buy with it. Yes, the map pieces actually work correctly in SEA.
3. There are 4 P pets, not 1, and from what I've heard, there's other ways to get them too. They also ran an event where you had a chance to permanently win a cash pet, though of course, that sort of thing is rare.
4. Yay for Champion Mode. :)
5. The xp rate seems identical to NAGC, possibly even slightly faster, it's hard to tell.
6. Skill scrolls are available in 100, 300, and 500 charge options, instead of only the 500. Sure, you're always going to grab the 500 on firestorm, but for rarely used cash skills like Athena's Sword, the option to buy less is quite nice.
6. You DO get gp slower, but it's hardly an issue considering how much more gp NAGCers get than they can ever use, and more importantly, the fact that crystal actually does something in SEA.
7. It's nice to not be forced to pvp. As in our version, the game stops at Xenia Border currently... but the level cap is 50, not 60. Xenia Border 3 star is a level 50 dungeon. This is called not putting the cap past the content, something Ntreev USED to say was their plan too.
8. A few of their cash prices are a bit higher, but far more things are lower than higher, and nothing is cash that shouldn't be.
9. You buy cash items in SEA, not coins that MAY give you items. There is no gambling. You buy an item, or you don't - no handing them money and hoping they give you your item.
10. A lot of people don't realize it, but Singapore (where SEA is based) is an English speaking country. This means in most games, there's no language barrier. (This is the main reason I chose SEA over the many other similar versions of the game.)
11. The community varies, but I'd say overall is better than NAGC. That doesn't mean they don't have the same community problems we do, but there seems to be less of it.
12. They don't have Ronan yet. As far as I can tell, this is the ONLY thing NAGC has which SEA does not, and of course, he's coming soon anyway, once SEA gets the normal dungeon to unlock him from. This also means no storyline where Ronan is in despite not fitting, no level 10s begging for help unlocking him, and yes, no giant gaps of 30 levels with no gp gear.
13. That whole random denial of gp gear, like 20 levels with no crossbows, or (for a while) 30 levels with no Lass gear at all? Yeah, they don't do that. Also, when they give stuff like warrior weapons in event, they don't restrict it to 1st job only.
14. Quicker job changes - they do 5,20,30 rather than 20,30,40. This means you get your jobs earlier. Don't worry about not having stuff to do at high level - that's what stuff like Champion Mode is for. :) 5,20,30 is the GC standard, which most versions (possibly even all but ours) use.
So, congrats NTreev, you lost a paying customer - I will be buying cash in SEA the second they take normal credit cards. In the unlikely event you decide to stop the greed, and maybe market this as a social game again, instead of a game where 1% of your players buy hundreds of dollars of coins, and most of the rest quit, I will return, and even as a cash player. Otherwise, I will not be playing your version of GC again.
Of course, it's Ntreev's decision how to run their company and who to choose for a target customer base. It's my decision where to spend my money, however, and this version of the game most definitely is not it.
For anyone else who wants to play SEA but can't get it to work, PM me and I'll send you instructions. The main issue you'll encounter is that their sign up button is currently broken (but you can do it from somewhere else.)
Thanks to everyone here I've had fun with. There ARE some great people in this community, although yeah, most of them have already quit. Thanks for a fun experience. GMs, thanks for genuinely caring about the community, and sorry you have to work under the management you're stuck under.
I'll pop in from time to time to see what this version of the game is doing, but I uninstalled this version of the game, and will not be logging in.
In-game name: Mwrip
Characters:
Arme 46 (waiting for the quest cap to increase)
Lire 46 (also waiting for the quest cap to increase)
Ronan 28
Elesis 40
Lass 21
