New player question

I'm starting to play now. Can I make progress on PvE without spending? I do not need to be the best, I just like to feel that I'm evolving. And how is the game population?

 

Yes, You can play without spending real money.
Game population is decent. European servers have more population. Agathon is the more popular American server. Stay away from Tegan.

 

There is no evolution here. Whatever character class you choose, you will always be. From creation to deletion (death).

 

Cynical much? Generally speaking, I am as well, but let's give the guy a few facts

Yes, your character can grow without paying a penny. Getting to Lvl55 (max level) doesn't require huge effort, just a bit of patience and time, depending on your dedication to the game (some people claim a week, but it takes me 6 months or so to hit Lvl55 on a toon, playing an average of less than an hour a day due to other time constraints).

Along the way you'll pick up new skills (major skills about every 5 levels, with sub-skills every other level or so).

Hitting max experience level is just the beginning, when you start crafting to build enough power to handle higher difficulty levels (Normal, Painful, Excruciating, etc.) and get farther in events. (Events are less frequent and less diverse these days, but in the past could give you chances to earn items that would also boost your capabilities.) Eventually you'll farm parallel worlds (essentially copies of the main world dungeons, but with a few graphic changes and some seriously tougher mobs and bosses) for end-game unique equipment to boost your strength further.

in addition to experience levels, there are knowledge levels (earned from daily quests and random item drops) which give you points to allocate to various bonuses (and a few special features), group experience levels (can't tell you much about these as I solo almost exclusively), and honor levels from playing PVP modes.

The latter has been an especially sore point in this game for several years, as various design choices by the developers have left PVP quite a mess. Supposedly a priority for the devs this year (which they've been saying for several years ).

So, yes, you can make progress on several fronts while playing at your own speed. Paying real money into the game only speeds up your progress, with very few items that cannot be obtained by a FTP-only player (discounting any investment in blood, sweat and tears).

 

Now I'm curious what items are those that you're describing... You can get the cube set from the premium they occasionally hand out through the codes, the same about buying items from the premium shop (even easier).

 

I don't have comprehensive knowledge, so there may be other items, but I was chiefly referring to the premium-related gear you referenced. Yes, BP does tend to hand out freemium 3-day passes now and then, but don't most FTP players hold onto those precious cubes until hitting level 55 when they'll contain ? So @mordeskol2 isn't likely to get any of that cube gear until he hits that beginning of the end-game point down the road.

I glanced at the premium shop once during a freemium period, but nothing impressed me; sales there are in andermant, right? I've never been tempted to buy something from a shop, other than backpack and locker space, and a few draken-priced event shop items. I've never progressed to the point where I can farm andermant, so consider anything priced that way to be a real-cash option only. Again, the OP isn't likely to be farming andermant, either, at least not in the near term, so premium shop items aren't realistically obtainable by an FTP player.

Pardon my ignorance if that's not the case. I've been around the game for several years, but always at a casual level, no higher than weak max-level.

 

Better check again. With the update, there's a plethora of things for sale for gold. Some are just collectibles which are useful for collector bag bonuses. Nothing game breaking, but definitely not just ander stuff.