Quick tips for non payers starting out?

"Han_Brolo81;526672" wrote:
Advice: Don't waste your crystals in training droids or mats again. The 74 you spent won't kill you, you'll make that back in a couple of days. But stay away in the future. Also never waste it on chromium packs unless you're just feeling ballsy/wanna give into impulse. 99% of the time you won't get anything you want. Even if you unlock a premium character you can't star it up so it's useless anyways. The best spenditure is refreshing cantina once per day and regular twice per day. That'll provide you with the most xp for your crystals. More bang for your buck as the expression goes. I'd save my leftovers for gear in the shipments. Use it for the purple gear that's a slow farm. These get your character to Gear IX (further down the road, but planning ahead never hurt anyone) which makes a HUGE difference.

Characters can be obtained in several ways:
Hard mode missions- a slow, grueling process and not something I'd recommend to my fellow F2P players. Even if it's a good character I'd stay away. Only being able to do 3 missions daily is inhibiting, and even a refresh doesn't guarantee you more shards. I do just enough hard mode missions to get my daily challenges then I farm gear.
Cantina Missions- not as slow as hard mode, but since you should be doing cantina missions anyways, this is still a decent (albeit sometimes slow) method of acquiring characters. You may as well sim the missions with character shards if you're simming missions.
Cantina rewards- earned by completing cantina missions. Every 400 currency put the rewards towards whoever you're working at, you'll get 5 shards.
Arena rewards- Earned every day at your payout time based on your rank in Squad Arena. Every 400 will earn you 5 shards.
Galactic War Rewards- earned by completing Galactic War nodes. Clearing all 12 nodes is 1200 currency along with some gems and 1-3 random shards. Every 400 currency gets you 5 shards.
Guild Currency- earned from raids and doing daily guild activities. Every 400 currency is 5 shards, however some people prefer to keep the currency for the gear.

I'd recommend putting your cantina rewards towards Qui Gon first, he's a great all around character. Afterwards Old Daka and Fives are good. Some people like Ahsoka as well. Don't go for Boba despite him being a fan favorite, he is easily a bottom 10 character. As for arena rewards I'd say Ackbar, HK, or IG88. In GW Luminara, IG86, or Phasma are all good plays. These are pretty staple characters that you'll see in a lot of team comps. Sidious isn't what he was back in the day so I'd stay away. He's good at first but you'll regret it once he drops off. Don't let the over abundance of him fool you. If you choose to put your Guild Currency towards characters then go with Rey, she's the hardest hitter there is. Alternatively, some people like Jawa Engineer with a droid squad.

I've never paid much mind to properly building up my energy because I spend a lot of time in app so I'm able to effectively monitor it. However I'm sure someone here will break that part down for you :)

Hopefully I've been of help, this has been what works for me as a fellow F2P. I've learned a lot from both trial and error (so many chromium packs I wish I had back) and the forums (thanks to everyone that's helped, I'm trying to pay it back now!). I'm no expert but I do well for myself while managing to still enjoy the game. I **** and moan a lot but at the end of the day and I have fun, that's what counts. Try to keep it fun and you'll be okay here. Don't be afraid to ask questions on the forum, overall it's a good community (even though we do get irritable sometimes). Checking here regularly is key, it helps you know what happened and what is going to be happening. Always check the updates sections and general discussion. The other categories are more specific and can help you if you have a very specific need, but otherwise you don't necessarily have to dig through all of it (although it never hurts! Knowledge is power!). Glad to have you in the galaxy.

PS- don't take anything I say as Gospel or must do (except about chromium packs, stay away from those forbidden fruits), but like I said, it works for me and I've been around since launch. Compare all the responses, and do what works for you!

EDIT: I forgot to mention. As you level, credits will become incredibly important and scarce. Complete every bounty hunter activity and any other credit opportunity you come across. You'll need them. Also, try to focus on leveling up characters you plan on using at the endgame. You'll regret the credits you spent getting Clone Sergeant to level 25 later.

Wow thanks for all the feedback. I'm doing a bit of this already! Glad my clome Sergeant isn't even level 20!

What exactly are ally points and what do you use them for? I only know of one thing and that's the bronzium data cards you can buy them for 250 probably not something I want to do unless ally points are not used for anything else?

EDIT: Also I'd like your opinion on a few toons and their effectiveness . These are a few I like

1. Darth Maul
2. Savage Opress
3. Kit Fisto
4. Aayla secura
5. Vader? Seriously better be at least slightly dependable, plus hearing sidious is out makes me sad I was eye balling him.
6.Grevious
7.Yoda
8.cad bane

Side note: not a big fan of the prequels but the villains were top notch IMHO