7 years ago
Step-by-step F2P Guide
This is going to be a journal of playing SWGOH free-to-play from level 1. I've read/watched a lot of advice for new players, but nothing that takes the player through the leveling process.
The long-term plan
1. Get to 350 crystals as soon as possible, which happens at the end of level 5
2. Buy a hero
3. If the hero isn't good enough, repeat steps 1 and 2
4. For quite some time, use the bought hero with the best available heroes for my squad
5. Save crystals and stop at level 27 until the next set of daily quests refresh
6. Gather shards for Phoenix heroes - Ezra Bridger, Chopper, Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus and Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios in that order. Almost all resources will be spent improving those five heroes, with only surplus resources to be spent on a Dark Side squad
7. Climb as quickly as possible in Squad Arena once it is unlocked
8. Gradually replace the make-shift squads with Phoenix heroes
9. When I hit level 50, spend the minimum on mods
10. At level 58, prepare for Ships
11. At level 60, climb as quickly as possible in Fleet Arena
12. Around level 65 when my five Phoenix heroes are 7*, switch to improving Resistance heroes
My prior runs
* First run, I played like a newbie. In the mid 40’s, I tried switching my arena squad from my five best heroes to Phoenix, but I was too far behind the other players to ever catch up
* Second run, I went with Phoenix and did much better but not great. I totally mucked up fleets. I bought $10 worth of crystals, bought some things in the store and discovered that was a poor use of money. I decided to write a guide, so I started over
* Third run, I started with Finn and went from #495 to #4 in Squad Arena. I made it to #1 in Fleet Arena (I started as #32). As time went on, the effect of several mistakes caught up with me and I was dropping quickly in both Squad Arena and Fleet Arena. With the changes the developers had made, I decided I needed to do another run for this guide
The importance of starting well
As this is going to be free-to-play, every resource I gain has to earned from the game. The way the game is, the better you start (by better, I mean getting a high rank in Squad Arena, being able to complete Galactic War and eventually getting a high rank in Fleet Arena), the more resources you get. A good start means more resources, and more resources means you can compete more effectively, which leads to more resources
Timing of your start
The ideal time to start or restart is the first of the month. Every day you play, you get a log in bonus and that resets on the first of each month. It's best to get a full month in the first thirty-or-so days you play because the amount of credits you get increases steadily through the month, going from 20K to 150K. Also the more of a month you play, the more shards you get of that month's featured character. I've started this journey on Saturday 7/31/18 as I'd had a lot of time on that day to play the game.
Starting and buying your first character
The game leads you by the hand through the initial levels. I cleared Light Side Stage 1 Normal, Light Side Stage 1 Hard, and Light Side Stage 2 Normal. That took me to 150 purple crystals. I connected to my Facebook account by clicking on the gear in the upper left, getting 200 more. If I didn't have a Facebook account, I could level up to level 9 and then my inbox would unlock and I'd get a mail that had 200 crystals. With the 350 crystals, I bought a Chromium Data Card in the store. On your first buy, you get one of the characters at the bottom and I think can only get Light Side heroes. I don't know how often the list changes. I want a four-star character and there are nine of those. Of those nine, my top choice is Finn and my second is Lando Calrissian. Others I've seen recommended are Admiral Ackbar, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Old Ben), Wedge Antilles, CT-7567 "Rex", Baze Malbus, Jyn Erso and Chirrut Imwe. I bought the Chromium Data Card and as it wasn’t a hero I wanted, I restarted the game and leveled up until I could buy a Chromium Data Card again. I downloaded the Ko Player android emulator and used the Multi Manager to easily create new android phones with different device ID's.
Here's who I got:
Try #1 - Jyn Erso (4*)
Try #2 - Stormtrooper Han (3*)
Try #3 - Kit Fisto (2*)
Try #4 - Lando Calrissian (4*)
I'm really happy with Lando. He's got a good AOE attack, a good leadership ability which applies to Rebels and he's a Scoundrel, which I need for the Credit Heist event.
Useful heroes and conserving resources
Again, I’m going to pour everything I can into my Phoenix team, with the leftover going to my Dark Side team. Unfortunately, I don't have any Phoenix heroes yet. So any resource I spend on my current heroes are going to be something I can't spend on my Phoenix team. So how can I not be wasteful with resources during this time?
Having played through level 63 twice, I can say I always had a surplus of training droids. Through level 49, I always had a massive surplus of credits and when I hit level 50, I started spending millions of credits. A few thousand credits is just noise. At this point, only gear is something that using on one of these characters is really a waste. Items with a white border and that aren't crafted are easily gained, so there's little cost to giving them to heroes who aren't going to be used long-term.
How useful each hero is:
Snowtrooper - He'll be part of my Dark Side squad for a while
Royal Guard - He's useful even at 1* and will be on my Dark Side squad for a very long time
Ewok Scout - Lando puts him on the bench and I’ll use him only a couple more times
Clone Sergeant - He goes to the bench as soon as I get another Light Side hero. When I hit level 60, he becomes one of my best pilots
Jedi Consular - His healing is nice, but damage is more important so he’ll be the next one benched. When I hit level 60, he becomes one of my best pilots
Chewbecca - He’ll be on my team for a while. After that, I'll use him for Scoundrel-only events such as Credit Heist
Luke - When I had Finn as my 4* hero, I sent Luke to the bench after Clone Sergeant as he was a glass cannon. Because he has good synergies with Lando, he’ll stay on my team much longer
Lando - He'll go to the bench at level 42 or 43. After that, I'll use him for Scoundrel-only events such as Credit Heist
So gearing Ewok Scout is a waste but the rest are worth gearing.
The developers mucked up levels 4 through 6
At the beginning of July when I did a similar run, I reached level 6 when I cleared Light Side Normal node 1-F. The developers made a change to extend the amount of time it took to reach level 6. I'll see some oddities because of it. One oddity is that the nodes I have to clear now (Light Side 2-A Hard or 3-A Normal) are very difficult for a level 5 player. I defeated 3-A Normal but lost on 3-B Normal. I should have done battles for gear for Lando. Another oddity is that I ran out of Normal energy just shy of level 6 and I had to wait until my energy refreshes.
The long-term plan
1. Get to 350 crystals as soon as possible, which happens at the end of level 5
2. Buy a hero
3. If the hero isn't good enough, repeat steps 1 and 2
4. For quite some time, use the bought hero with the best available heroes for my squad
5. Save crystals and stop at level 27 until the next set of daily quests refresh
6. Gather shards for Phoenix heroes - Ezra Bridger, Chopper, Hera Syndulla, Kanan Jarrus and Garazeb "Zeb" Orrelios in that order. Almost all resources will be spent improving those five heroes, with only surplus resources to be spent on a Dark Side squad
7. Climb as quickly as possible in Squad Arena once it is unlocked
8. Gradually replace the make-shift squads with Phoenix heroes
9. When I hit level 50, spend the minimum on mods
10. At level 58, prepare for Ships
11. At level 60, climb as quickly as possible in Fleet Arena
12. Around level 65 when my five Phoenix heroes are 7*, switch to improving Resistance heroes
My prior runs
* First run, I played like a newbie. In the mid 40’s, I tried switching my arena squad from my five best heroes to Phoenix, but I was too far behind the other players to ever catch up
* Second run, I went with Phoenix and did much better but not great. I totally mucked up fleets. I bought $10 worth of crystals, bought some things in the store and discovered that was a poor use of money. I decided to write a guide, so I started over
* Third run, I started with Finn and went from #495 to #4 in Squad Arena. I made it to #1 in Fleet Arena (I started as #32). As time went on, the effect of several mistakes caught up with me and I was dropping quickly in both Squad Arena and Fleet Arena. With the changes the developers had made, I decided I needed to do another run for this guide
The importance of starting well
As this is going to be free-to-play, every resource I gain has to earned from the game. The way the game is, the better you start (by better, I mean getting a high rank in Squad Arena, being able to complete Galactic War and eventually getting a high rank in Fleet Arena), the more resources you get. A good start means more resources, and more resources means you can compete more effectively, which leads to more resources
Timing of your start
The ideal time to start or restart is the first of the month. Every day you play, you get a log in bonus and that resets on the first of each month. It's best to get a full month in the first thirty-or-so days you play because the amount of credits you get increases steadily through the month, going from 20K to 150K. Also the more of a month you play, the more shards you get of that month's featured character. I've started this journey on Saturday 7/31/18 as I'd had a lot of time on that day to play the game.
Starting and buying your first character
The game leads you by the hand through the initial levels. I cleared Light Side Stage 1 Normal, Light Side Stage 1 Hard, and Light Side Stage 2 Normal. That took me to 150 purple crystals. I connected to my Facebook account by clicking on the gear in the upper left, getting 200 more. If I didn't have a Facebook account, I could level up to level 9 and then my inbox would unlock and I'd get a mail that had 200 crystals. With the 350 crystals, I bought a Chromium Data Card in the store. On your first buy, you get one of the characters at the bottom and I think can only get Light Side heroes. I don't know how often the list changes. I want a four-star character and there are nine of those. Of those nine, my top choice is Finn and my second is Lando Calrissian. Others I've seen recommended are Admiral Ackbar, Obi-Wan Kenobi (Old Ben), Wedge Antilles, CT-7567 "Rex", Baze Malbus, Jyn Erso and Chirrut Imwe. I bought the Chromium Data Card and as it wasn’t a hero I wanted, I restarted the game and leveled up until I could buy a Chromium Data Card again. I downloaded the Ko Player android emulator and used the Multi Manager to easily create new android phones with different device ID's.
Here's who I got:
Try #1 - Jyn Erso (4*)
Try #2 - Stormtrooper Han (3*)
Try #3 - Kit Fisto (2*)
Try #4 - Lando Calrissian (4*)
I'm really happy with Lando. He's got a good AOE attack, a good leadership ability which applies to Rebels and he's a Scoundrel, which I need for the Credit Heist event.
Useful heroes and conserving resources
Again, I’m going to pour everything I can into my Phoenix team, with the leftover going to my Dark Side team. Unfortunately, I don't have any Phoenix heroes yet. So any resource I spend on my current heroes are going to be something I can't spend on my Phoenix team. So how can I not be wasteful with resources during this time?
Having played through level 63 twice, I can say I always had a surplus of training droids. Through level 49, I always had a massive surplus of credits and when I hit level 50, I started spending millions of credits. A few thousand credits is just noise. At this point, only gear is something that using on one of these characters is really a waste. Items with a white border and that aren't crafted are easily gained, so there's little cost to giving them to heroes who aren't going to be used long-term.
How useful each hero is:
Snowtrooper - He'll be part of my Dark Side squad for a while
Royal Guard - He's useful even at 1* and will be on my Dark Side squad for a very long time
Ewok Scout - Lando puts him on the bench and I’ll use him only a couple more times
Clone Sergeant - He goes to the bench as soon as I get another Light Side hero. When I hit level 60, he becomes one of my best pilots
Jedi Consular - His healing is nice, but damage is more important so he’ll be the next one benched. When I hit level 60, he becomes one of my best pilots
Chewbecca - He’ll be on my team for a while. After that, I'll use him for Scoundrel-only events such as Credit Heist
Luke - When I had Finn as my 4* hero, I sent Luke to the bench after Clone Sergeant as he was a glass cannon. Because he has good synergies with Lando, he’ll stay on my team much longer
Lando - He'll go to the bench at level 42 or 43. After that, I'll use him for Scoundrel-only events such as Credit Heist
So gearing Ewok Scout is a waste but the rest are worth gearing.
The developers mucked up levels 4 through 6
At the beginning of July when I did a similar run, I reached level 6 when I cleared Light Side Normal node 1-F. The developers made a change to extend the amount of time it took to reach level 6. I'll see some oddities because of it. One oddity is that the nodes I have to clear now (Light Side 2-A Hard or 3-A Normal) are very difficult for a level 5 player. I defeated 3-A Normal but lost on 3-B Normal. I should have done battles for gear for Lando. Another oddity is that I ran out of Normal energy just shy of level 6 and I had to wait until my energy refreshes.