From Zero to Hero: A One-Year Free-to-Play Challenge (Day 3 - Let's talk real money)

If you missed the previous day, you can find it here : https://forum.gtarcade.com/topic/202815

I start Day 3 optimistic and eager to make some more great progress.

Taking the previous two days as reference, I set some nice goals from the start:

• For buildings, my Castle needs to hit at least level 20, but I’m actually hoping for 21.
• In research, I need to start T3 troops, which will take 5 days to complete. Unfortunately, I won’t be able to use speed-ups for the full duration so the sooner I start them, the better.
• No specific target for troop numbers yet, but I’ve noticed the NK event icon is present. I’ll need to have my army size ready before it starts, though I’ve got over a week to get that done, so plenty of time. I’ll also need a lot of T1s for meatshield.
• I also need more experience for my Lord Level to reach 35 or better yet 40. It's becoming important since my Lord's level is blocking my Commanders, and I can’t progress Weirwood with their current levels.
• For Commanders, once I’m no longer blocked by the Lord level, I’ll probably need to blitz a few extra stages with Hearts to get some upgrade items.
• And finally, my dragon need to grow again soon, let's aim for another growth cycle overnight.

Dragon: My little dragon returned from his overnight adventures with some essence. Just what I needed! I was only missing one for the upgrade and luckily, I had 5 Marks to buy it from the merchant. I start the upgrade to Young Dragon. 1st task from yesterday, done. Great start!

However, I am a bit concerned with the rising costs of building construction and research in both in resources and time. I realize I might not be able to keep this pace for much longer and I fear this day will be the last evolution spike.

My goal is to get as much done as possible during these first four days to take full advantage of the Lord of Light's Blessing limited event. This is a perfect event for rapid account growth if used wisely and I plan to make the most out of it. It grants back a percentage of the resources and speed-ups used in the first four days during the following four days, making it an awesome boost for early progress.

I'm looking good for the first 2 days. I only hope I can keep this up for another 2 days to get the maximum return later... and keep it up for another 4 days😏

Things are starting to get dicey. I'm not managing to evolve my account fast enough and seeing how much progress other accounts have made in just two weeks is a bit discouraging. It’s even more discouraging since I committed to not spending much money and I’m already seeing level 25 castles in the kingdom and a lot of honor token skins. It might be time to rethink my strategy.

$1 Investment... per month

I already made a minimum investment of $1 to overcome some roadblocks in the 1st day. On top of the shards I needed for Jeane, I also got Melisandre and a few other goodies.

Another thing I forgot to check yesterday was, again, in the Limited-time Event icon in the form of the wheel.🙌The "New Server Exclusive Once-in-a-lifetime" caught my eye.

I used the 10BD from yesterday and landed on 2.5. Nothing crazy, but not bad, everything helps at this stage.

I’d like to spin again, but to do so, I’d need 80BD. Hmm... I really need to think this through. That initial $1 investment is still paying off, but would it be worth recharging again? I’d need another $6 to make it happen.

There’s also another hidden gem here: Black Diamond Coupons cashback. Essentially, I can get some speed-ups or even a castle skin for free.

The first two options are decent for new accounts but nothing game-changing. The last one is great, but definitely out of reach.

The main drawback of this offer is that I’d get a coupon instead of actual BD. Since coupons don’t stack, I wouldn’t be able to maximize the BD use as effectively as I'd like. My initial hype is dropping fast. But I'm still mesmerized by the wheel and the promise of free BD. Let's see what other essential items we can get in exchange for spending $6 right now.

I'm already considering spending $1 per month on one account to see how far that gets us over the course of a year. The second account will remain 100% free-to-play. This small advantage for the main account will help show the impact of even minimal spending in the long run if done wisely.

I could go for the Honor Token. Long-term, this is hands down the best value you can get for 100BD a month. However, since I’m not planning to use it every month, there aren’t many long-term benefits for me.

Next up is the Hero Decree in the Recruitment Pass. Granted, it’s not the Legendary pack, so I won’t be getting a commander like I’ve seen other players already have in the Training Grounds😭. But I do get a castle skin, along with several other items that would really hit the spot right about now. In a recent update, the Last Hearth skin was added to the Exterior Shop. This is the best RL skin in the game. And if, by some miracle, I land on x2.5 or x3, I’d be over 200BD. That would mean I could buy the Hero Decree again next month and unlock 3 skins in total: Last Hearth for RL, a PvP skin, and another supporting skin for the passive bonuses. I’m sold, the hype is back on! I recharge the extra $6 and try my luck. Here goes nothing…

While I don’t get a “lucky” red spin, I still land on a decent x1.5, giving me a total of 125BD. Still enough for one month of Hero Decree. I immediately activate the pass for the rewards... and... omg... what have I done?

No, NOOO. It’s already the middle of the month, and I’ve just wasted half of the month’s points. NOOO.

I’m petrified, thinking I won’t even be able to get the Redemption Orders for the skin that comes at level 90. I clearly can’t get to level 90 with just the daily EXP points. These give me 300 a day, so over 10 days, that’s a total of 3000 points. Since 200 points are required per level, I’d fall way short by the end of the month.

My hopes now turn to the Challenge Quests. They’re the only thing that can save me, but are they enough? I can do all of them except the Motivation quest. I add up their EXP points, divide by 200, and... I can make it! I can make it to level 100 with half a day to spare.

I just need to get all the EXP points every day for the rest of the month. Phew, dodged that bullet, heart rate going back to normal.

Putting that emotional rollercoaster behind me, I get back to developing my account as per my initial plan.

In Weirwood, I encounter some difficulties on stage 87, Seg. Nothing a little manual intervention can’t handle. But Kevin on stage 95 is a dead stop. Higher level Commanders are mandatory. I should also start thinking about upgrading their quality, as my Lord Level will stop advancing so fast from day to day. As expected, later in the day, my Lord reaches level 35, and I can upgrade one commander. I choose Chris, since he's the only blue-quality one I have, and he’s a great tank.

Fortune has it, this is the minimum requirement for the Bounty Operation event. Just before it ends, I’m able to send out a bounty and score some research speed-ups. Yeey, the event wasn't totally missed.

Before calling it a day, I’m able to take back Moonfort, the last Rebel Outpost I wanted to clear the previous day.

Some building upgrades here and there so I can upgrade the Castle. Some Rebel Leader research so I can 2-shot level 1s... That’s a statement I never thought I’d hear myself saying and I'm very close to my objectives for the day.

Like in the previous days, I’m used to being a bit behind my target.

• I can’t quite get the Castle to level 20 so I can start building level 21 overnight. I let the wall build, but there are several other buildings required. There weren’t enough people online in the alliance to help, so I decide to pick up construction in the morning.
• Lord Level is 38, slightly behind my ideal target, but not bad. I’m confident that with the WW attempts from the stamina that will recover overnight, I can hit 40 first thing the next morning.
• Commanders are also a bit behind. I didn’t have enough Silver Medals to upgrade them to 35. Only 2 out of my 6 WW Commanders are upgraded. Again, hoping for the attempts in the morning to upgrade at least 2 more, if not more.
• I leave some T2s training overnight; tomorrow I need to unlock T3, as per the quest requirements for chapter 14.
• I am quite happy with the research situation. I managed to upgrade the Tower to 20, used a ton of speed-ups to finish Building Mastery 8 that was running overnight, AND 9 using Technology Scrolls. Level 10 requires Master Tower 23, so this will be my goal for tomorrow, provided I'll have enough speed-ups available.

Tomorrow, I plan to finish Chapter 14, which means finishing T3 research, training up some troops and starting some PvP. The timing is perfect with the Castle Siege event tomorrow. I also plan to level up my Castle to 23 so I can upgrade the Master's Tower and complete the final level in Building Mastery. Realistically, I’m probably overestimating what I can do tomorrow, like... by a lot. These objectives will likely take two days. Tomorrow I'll be starved on resources and speed-ups but the day after I'm getting back some of what I spent in day 1.

Let's see how tomorrow goes and hope for the best. I'm already used to having greater ambitions compared to my capabilities so whatever I can't do tomorrow, I'll end up doing the morning after.