Refugees from other social media platforms, talking about games and geekery.
The sounds whales make.
I just spent money on Final Fantasy Brave Exvius. Having earned my first two of the game-altering "Trust Mastery Rewards" by just running the Earth Shrine dungeon again and again when I had some NRG to burn, I want more of them, and faster.
I got the Barrage TMR (four attacks on random opponents) because I had pulled a ridiculous number of the unit that grants that, Luna, and it didn't really take that much time to do. I don't even use it anymore, which goes to show how useful it was (I just today put it on my tank to give him something to do outside of elite dungeons).
When the Lightning banner was up, I spent actual real money to have a better chance of pulling her. Wasted money, expensive lesson learned. All the other units on the banner were less special. I ended up pulling five of Ludmille, a red mage whose best feature was her TMR -- Dual Cast. Since I had plenty of Ludmille, it didn't take long to farm for her reward. I got it this morning, and my healer now can cast two heals -- or two resurrections -- in a turn. This makes her future proof for a long time.
I also pulled two Zidanes awhile back. Zidane gives the Dual Wield trust mastery reward, which doubles the power of most units. It is considered the most desired TMR in the game. I farmed a little for them, but haven't made much progress.
Recently, though, I've done free pulls and gotten two of the most highly regarded characters currently in the game -- Elza and Gilgamesh. Elza's TMR is the best spear in the game (and her best weapon). Gilgamesh's TMR is a bracer that copies the effects of the best ring in the game, AND adds Dual Wield.
I could farm for these normally. It would take me about six months. Or, I could just play the game without the items and materia. The game is meant to be able to be completed without any TMRs. One of the greatest things about the game is that it really can be played entirely F2P, and everything is obtainable. Even the trials I haven't yet done, I could probably do them if I tried. I sure proved that when I spent days preparing for and eventually completing all missions for the Maxwell fight.
I made the decision just now to go ahead and pay the money for the in-game currency so that I could continually refill my energy while farming them. There's someone out there who makes MEmu macros so it's entirely AFK. Six months becomes a week or two, and my team becomes semi-whalish. Real whales spend for the best units; the ones I have, I got for free. (Again: the money I spent for good units was wasted. A lesson I should have learned from Star Trek Online.)
But real whales then take those good units, and do exactly what I'm doing right now -- macro-farm TMRs to make their units even better. The money I spent today will make three characters dual wield, give one of them her best-in-slot weapon, and get a pretty worthwhile accessory. Elza's ATK should be over 600 when I am done, putting her into "whale" territory.
I don't plan to spend any more money. At least not for awhile. I've stopped even doing the daily pull because right now I have all I will need for a long time. At least, for this money, I'm getting something. Unlike the money spent trying for a specific character, that was lost in seconds.



