Pre-surfboard budget.

[Orean]

Just looking to collect some quick, objective feedback. Which services and commodities do you expend the most pokemoney into, prior to obtaining your 8th badge?

For the conclusional progress in the starting-region travel, the surfboard often is not immediately affordable, whereupon one obtains their 8th badge. Although it is not impossible to overcome, many struggle to do so; and are roadblocked from interregional travel, unless they sell valuable Pokemon—a solution [trading] that I believe is ideally disnecessitated for any mandatory progression. Knowing what services/commodities players are outlaying their money on can be a starting point for rectification of it, without price-cutting the surfboard.

Although I intend for this to be primarily statistical feedback, verbal feedback is, as usual, more than welcome and encouraged as well.

Note: I did not include trading in the poll, since that is a commercial activity that is independent from PVE; moreover, there is often some counterbalance in exchange for it, and the net profit/deficit off of that is immeasurable.

 

[XBOCT]

I guess before the 8th badge is buy pokeballs like a mad and visit the safari to capture valuable pokemon when I finish the 8th badges the priority is BUY A SURFBOARD

I think that those PVE Items ( Bicycle and surfboard ) should be free like in the original games of obtainable via quest, since they can't be tradeable.

 

[HitmonFonty]

I have never bought potions pre-surfboard. I put down pokeballs however move-changes must come a close second.

Even so pokeballs are needed it great quantity to ensure you are able to catch rare/valuable pokemon when they appear. And having to save for the surfboard can and does influence how many other pokemon you may catch when they appear, when catching any pokemon with full hp is likely going to cost you 20-30 pokeballs at least.

 

[Orean]

I think that those PVE Items ( Bicycle and surfboard ) should be free like in the original games of obtainable via quest, since they can't be tradeable.

In an MMO-scale game, there is an economy to consider—one of the biggest reasons why many things need to be reconceptualized into a different form than they were used as in the handheld games. One of the fundamentals for a desirably stable economy is economic consumption, which money sinkholes are necessary for; something that PWO has an inadequate amount of, until more services and items/commodities are developed.

While we don't want to be devoid of monkey sinkholes, we're still mindful to the ideal that mandatory items should be reasonably affordable. The bike is purely luxurious, thus it should be the last item on a player's budget. It's undoubtedly desirable for a mandatory item, such as the surfboard, to be more reasonable afford; which can hopefully be done without necessitating a price cut.

 

[Future~Sight]

I have never bought potions, and the amount i spent on pokeballs wasn't much as i never hunted a lot.
All my other money went to trades i'd say.

 

[pokegoons]

I Vote others. because i got 5 badge and a surfboard . working on Bike now , it is not that hard to get surfboard before your eighth badge, i personally got 100k in viridian forest. with one badge. i i got about 500 pokeballs too before buying the surfboard.

 

[Merse]

If surfboards and bikes would be free, the only real way to leak money out from the game would be closed. And you pump in more and more money with every Pokémon you kill.
I never spent much money before I finished the 8th gym, because I knew I would need a surfboard. And back then it wasn't only 100k.
I think the surf shouldn't be distributed for free for an educational reason too. It teaches the player how to manage his/her money, how to use the market, the logic of an MMO. It teaches that - if the player didn't learn it by then - that this is an MMO where things don't come for free, you have to work for them. So if your beloved Pikachu doesn't come out after 20 minutes you won't start complaining. In other MMOs there is no need for "education" like this because there is not a single player counterpart you could compare with. But in PWO the very concept of being an MMO is proven to be hard to digest for many, and the surfboard is currently the best way to make them understand that they can't except the same kind of smooth and easily advancement like in the handheld versions.

 

[HitmonFonty]

I Vote others. because i got 5 badge and a surfboard . working on Bike now , it is not that hard to get surfboard before your eighth badge, i personally got 100k in viridian forest. with one badge. i i got about 500 pokeballs too before buying the surfboard.

You must have spent a long time in Viridian Forest.

 

[Merse]

I got my surfboard after my 5th badge too. But I caught an Elekid, sold it and got the necessary money instantly

 

[Orean]

Interestingly enough, pokeballs have emerged on top of the poll by a landslide. For those that have voted pokeballs, I must ask: have you completed one of the pokeball mini-quests early on (starting points in Viridian or Cherrygrove City's pokemarts), whereof 15 free pokeballs are rewarded? Have you found this amount insufficient, and why?

Moreover, I believe it is perfectly possible to obtain a surfboard without selling any Pokemon, if one collects pokemoney rewards from most NPCs, invests at least a little time into grinding, completes monetary-rewarding mini-quests (eg: the Allen Moore mini-quest), and spends their money conservatively down the lines. However, I also believe it is worth considering loosening up spending constraints in that objective, if feasible (depending on feedback given, of course).

 

[Merse]

Yes I did. I found it insufficient because Pokemon break out from the pokeball very often, sometimes even on lower levels. One year ago when I started lowering the HP had next to no effect on the catch chance, so we were spamming balls instantly. I'm sure that increases the total number wasted, but the main reason I found was that the Pokemon break out more often than they do in handhelds. By the time I got to Cerulean I spent my 15 free Pokeballs, and I caught only a Rattata, two Nidos, a Pidgey, a Bellsprout and a Geodude.
Another half of the issue is that by the time we get to the 8th gym we may encounter some very hard to catch Pokes. In the original games you get access to better pokeballs which make catching a Pokemon easier. In PWO we have to waste sometimes 50-100 pokeballs to catch a Snorlax, Dratini, Larvitar or some other elusive Poke.
A catch rate nerfing would help a lot. It should be hard to find Pokemons not to catch them once you found it.

 

[Fionavara]

Pokeballs, oh gawd the cost of these pokeballs....I miss when we could SELL pokeball ourselfs..that cut down the prices somewhat if u had a nice friend that wouldnt mind selling below average. I also seriously miss the fact that caterpies and weedles dropped potions and pokeballs to reduce the cost of having to buy all of them...ofc when I started one pokeball was all that was needed to catch a poke...GAWD I feel old posting that..hahaha Buuuuut anyway...nothings changed...I still spend most my money on refilling pokeballs.

And NO 15 pokeballs does not take u very far since u can easily waste 100 on a poke if you are unlucky or don't have the attacks to just weaken it...
yes I know lower lvls is easier to catch then higher lvled pokes...(asfar as I noticed anyway..might be illusionary but still)...but tell that to a pika in the forest and see what he says about that!
I reconn, I spend average 10 pokeballs a poke to catch, that means 2000 PDs per poke...killing pokes without ms until u get acess to the high lvl pokes, that atleast give u deacent amount of cash..u get what, average 50PDs/poke?
well dont know if Im right but from my own expereince that's about how I feel...not including the PDs from NPC, that makes it really expensive to catch pokes...and even more expensive to grind cash enough for surfboard....ofc if you do include the NPCs then things get much easier..I get around 250k from doing my NPC run per region, that is 500k for all npcs in the game with ms...still that is enough for a surfboard even without MS, all you really need to do is wait 2 weeks for your npc reset, take out all the npc at one go and u have the money...just that not many people seem to be patient enough to do so and instead like to complain that the surfboard is too expensive cus they cant buy it the very first day.
now Im rammbling, anyway back to pokeballs, That is the huge sinkhole, u can get around paying tickets for traveling even if that makes moving around reaaaaally annoying but seeing there isnt much money in grinding before CC, MT S and DD, all money you do get from insanely killing low levels goes to pokeballs and transport tickets. cus you dont get enough doing that to save up from it.
It's kinda like working part time, you have the money for the bills and food and nessecitys, just not enough to go abroad on your vaccation and lay on the beach and surf the ocean so to speak...(to be able to do that you need to sell a kidney...perferably a shiny one)

just my view of the case but hope it helps.

 

[Boora]

i'd say pokeballs, since lowering the pokemons hp doesn't help as much and when you're new you dont have many pokes its a pain to catch pokes, so yeah pokeballs,
until i made it to 5th badge and sold off a shiny common i found ,
and it might sound stupid but asking for 100k cause you need a surfboard isn't such a bad idea to be honest , 100k is nothing really once you're few months into the game
and pwo's community is great in my personall experince, so yeah, thats that.

 

[Krowaz]

pokeballs since that's what more experienced players advise and if you by any chance encounter a shiny or HR then you can catch it and bam there's your surfboard right there

 

[Saric]

If I remember correctly I mostly spent it on potions and pokeballs.

 

[Chocobo7]

I want to bring a bit more attention back to this, or in particular before beign able to trade. What do/did you most struggle getting before that time, was it money or a items, pokeballs, potions, etc?

 

[TheWyatt2012]

I believe most of the money that I spent went towards Pokeballs, though to be honest I can't remember.

To be fair, though, I never had to purchase a surfboard. I got a bike, surfboard, and a santa hat from a friend back when they were still tradeable (like 3 years ago).

 

[DTRex]

I spend most of the money for balls. Then catch an Uber Houndoor & sold for 180k i think. Then i bought surfboard.

 

[Julio~]

[glow=red]When I started my journey I had almost no knowing about pokémon and the game. Then the only thing I spent money were pokéballs. Maybe due to my friends saying to save money for surfboard.[/glow]

 

[Iuri]

Hello:

I have the surfboard at 7 th badge, because I almost didn't spent money. I buy only pokeballs and very few. I lost some pokes because I used to weaken then to try only using one ball, and many times I killed them.