Anyone competing without paying extra?

[ABeggerToo]

As an oldtime player (and cheapskate), I have only ever made the original investment for the purchase of AB2 (for me at the time it was ‘Under Pigstruction – Canada). I have yet to spend any additional money on this game.

I am somewhat interested in the expenditure versus progress ratio.

So far I am at Amethyst League league (three birds at level 7, the remainder at level 6) with just my initial game investment. I am interested in how this might compare to others.

Let me know your experiences if you wish. This isn’t about judgement, I am just interested in the return from a greater financial investment.

Topic

[wrw01]

To date I have not spent any monies on AB2. I farmed red and blue boxes on level 9 early on to get to Diamond League=8. MVNLA2 has a forum on this with the data many of us supplied. I am not sure if they changed how many red and blue boxes are now with level 9 with the new update.

I am now just starting to go back and play each level. Presently on the 3 set Bamboo Forest Eggchanted Woods.

It took over 6 weeks playing each day, many hours a day, in level 9 to obtain enough red boxes. Also obtained blue boxes who were sent to friends. Played only the first screen early on and then played both screens. I recorded my stats it keep interest in the game and also to provide a perspective on accomplishment. Also played in the Arena each day, free every few hours, too see if I could win more feathers.

I am not sure if I will spend any money on AB2. We will see when I get past a few hundred levels but right now I doubt it.

[MVNLA2]

@abeggertoo — I’m in Emerald league (got there before the new arena). I have 1 bird at rank 7 and the rest are 6. I have finished the current 400 levels. I bought the upgrade for red ($9.99) that is supposed to give you more feathers, but I’m not sure it gives you more every time you get them. I think I spent a modest amount of money a while ago, I guess to buy gems (it seems to be the only thing you can buy), and I use them occasionally to buy more birds to get through a tough level. Unfortunately I also used quite a few of them to buy extra entries into the arena and even an extra spell when I was trying to figure out how the arena worked. Good money down the drain, or at best donated to the common cause of figuring out how the game now works.
I should add that I’m not competing in the arena presently, since I don’t think the competition is fair.
As for spending a small amount of money, I view it the same way as becoming uncaged on ABN. I have enjoyed AB and other Rovio games for years, mostly for free or very nominal amounts of money. Rovio is a for-profit company, so I figure I should spend some (small) amount of money on their games,

[AndalayBay]

I haven’t spent a cent on AB2 and don’t intend to because it isn’t a one-time purchase. I might be inclined to purchase one of the bonus packs, but I’m not sure their benefit is permanent. I feel the whole system in AB2 is much like gambling. As soon as you start, you continue paying to reap the benefits. ;)

[MVNLA2]

@andalaybay @all — Are other games a one-time purchase, or do you need to buy IPAs to move ahead?

[AndalayBay]

All my other games are either one-time purchase or the in-app purchases are for something concrete. For example, the jigsaw puzzle app I like awards coins for each puzzle you complete. You also gain stars. You gain levels as you get stars and the extra levels give you more puzzles. You can buy more puzzles with the coins or real currency. So the in-app purchases, which you definitely don’t need, give you more puzzles.

The issue I have here is that the purchases are to acquire gems, not concrete items. With the limited lives, it’s hard to complete a lot of the levels. I have been stuck for long periods of time on tons of levels. I have to use spells or gems for extra birds. You wouldn’t believe how many times I’ve used all my gems on extra birds to ultimately fail the level anyway. I’m usually doing that to get a red gift or treasure.

In-app purchases should be for additional content that isn’t vital to the game. If you can’t play the game without in-app purchases, then the vendor should charge up-front so players can enjoy the game.

[ABeggerToo]

Thanks @wrw01. Those are the same two levels I have been playing to get feathers (100 at a time). The old Arena was a good source in the original format. The ‘cumulative?’ score format usually let me get in the top 1 or 2. The corrected highest score format was less productive for me (as an adequate, but not exceptional player).

I don’t see a need to replay old levels until I get all birds to power 8 and scores will be highest. The game still holds interest for me, but as a challenge to myself and I’m not actively playing against others.

I’ll check out @mvnla2’s forum.

[ABeggerToo]

@andalaybay I saw a post somewhere mentioning to change the date of your device to a day past, then reset to today’s date to replenish lives. I never did try it as somehow I thought this ‘cheated’ the spirit of my play. I must admit the ability to buy extra lives or the fact some players started with a different number of lives made me think about doing it. In the end as a challenge to myself I just play for my own interest and have never bothered posting my scores for this game on ABN. With different power-levels resulting in different scores, I never really know what I am competing against.

I just completed two consecutive Arena games playing the same rooms against the same player’s scores – their 27,000 after 1 bird is such a rare ‘accomplishment,’ it must have been their same game repeated. The 19 out of a possible 20 stars I received hardly seemed ‘well earned.’

[dmsral]

I wrote this four months ago:

How To Score 100 Million on Angry Birds 2 Without Spending Any Money

Some things are different now that the scoring is dramatically changed, but the basics are pretty much the same. Get a Facebook buddy and exchange gifts, use the video extra lives to help close out a level or get a high score, and spend some gems for the same reasons.

I have since recently bought the extra life / gem bonus upgrade. I have bought similar upgrades in other games because this type of purchase have ongoing, long-term value.

[ABeggerToo]

Thanks @dmsral. In retrospect I now remember reading this from when you posted it before. It was at a time when I was searching for ways to get past levels with just 5 lives available. It did inspire me to not use cheats or to spend any extra $.

The one thing I notice now in the Amethyst League are the number of players with high powered birds, but relatively low level-star scores (5 – 7). I thought this may be due to paying money in exchange for bird-power, but now understand they may have just been replaying lower levels to power up their birds and not advancing furthers brought the levels no getting stars. With the star acquisition levelling up component being new to the last update this makes sense.

[dmsral]

@abeggertoo: Yes, beef up your birds with packages on levels 9 and 13. Red ones for you and blue ones for a Facebook friend. They can add up quickly if you and your friend play them a lot.

The 100 million goal seems terribly outdated now that I’ve just hit 800 million points. :-p

[AndalayBay]

I’m currently stuck on the third room of a level I can’t clear, never mind scoring tons of points. Towers just won’t topple, those really annoying tiny pigs just won’t pop, or wind up in crevices I just can’t reach and the balloon pig is blissfully floating and giving me raspberries.

Extra lives wouldn’t help much really, since the level changes each time I fail.

[MVNLA2]

@andalaybay — Which level are you stuck on? There might be a walkthrough.

[AndalayBay]

@mvnla2, I look at the walkthroughs immediately – sometimes before I even toss a bird! :lol: This time the level even matched the walkthrough, but I just couldn’t mimic the shots. I finally did get that particular level and now I’m stuck on 237. I’ll get it eventually.

Back on topic, I’m still not convinced that it’s worth buying the upgrade package. I would be tempted to spend money on something like that if I thought it was worth it. Spending money to buy gems is just a black hole.

Edit: I am pleased to report that the fine tradition of ranting about your lack of success on the forums still works. After my first rant yesterday, I cleared the level I had been stuck on for two days. And now I just cleared level 237. We’ll have to start a special rant thread. ROFL

[Green Whacker]

I have never paid for the game and I got the red upgrade for free which was available for people who has downloaded AB2 on the release day. So far I’m still in gold league but has gotten as far as level 366. Haven’t gotten around to farm and gather feathers yet as I wanted to 3-star every level before I do that :-)

[ABeggerToo]

Glad you made your levels @andalaybay. I am convinced, like you and @dragonofheart73 that the extra spending doesn’t necessarily produce better results. Spells remain interesting as I never use them in the Arena – they only point at single level so almost hamper your ability to out point the other, so am waiting to use them in the levels when I am stuck on a level. I almost hate when the red present contains a spell – 100 feathers for a bird is far more valuable.

[bigbadaboom]

I havent spent any money on AB2. I’m 400/400 levels and 25 stars in arena. Birds are lvl 5 and 6. I’ve spent 5-10 min per day farming gifts, mostly to max out on daily quest gems.