You know what? I think this is it. I think I'm done.

Smurf it! No hassle, no frustrations and no $$ necessary. You can run dirt cheap gear and still be competitive if not OP using the skills and experience that you have gained. When all else fails Smurf it and Smurf them!

When you feel the need to get in the mix again, you still have your higher level account.

Obviously not. But it's questionable to sell 100m virtual silver for 100 real moneys, when the 100m virtual silver get you basically nowhere. Given the now not so new economy, the 100m silver is nothing, as we're talking billions for a decent end game hangar. Virtual "robots" for 100 real moneys are also questionable. I'd say a lot of players would be fine with the pricing, if the best items in the game were about 20 for a bot and 5 to 10 for a weapon. The elitist approach from Pixonic is 「dookie」 business: 

Imagine Toyota would sell their cars for 300.000. Would they be the large and successful car manufacturer they are? 
Would PUBG Mobile, Apex Legends and Fortnite make that kind of dough they do, if their items were priced as insanely, as the items in War Robots are?

I wonder, why you're defending their business model. Remember, their business isn't to make games or provide players with enjoyable gameplay. The very business of Pixonic is to make revenue and hand over nice reports to mail.ru and the last update to the game made that abundantly clear. 

Nothing against Doc, but this belongs in the Sunsets subforum.

Zzzzz....  The constant whining over Pixonic’s profits is tiresome.

The price is the price - if you can’t pay it, then play F2P or minnow what you can afford.  Comparing it to Toyota is silly - the two have nothing in common.  It would be great if the best in the game cost less but, newsflash - the market supports higher prices than what you are willing to pay.  I would like to see Maserati price their cars closer to Chevrolet but that ain’t happening so there’s a Jeep in my driveway instead.  I want to buy a yacht and live on the water; I ain’t got the money so I live on the land and get out on the water as part of a tour.  

Over the course of the last year, I’ve found ways to play the game within my gaming budget.  Pixonic has been running firesales and events that have enabled me to get even further ahead with minimal $$$ invested.  They made 50 bucks off me in the last month on this pilots update and in exchange I got exactly what I wanted and just what was needed to keep me competitive and having fun.  I suppose I could have gone to see a movie, eaten out, or bought a single video game to play for a weekend instead.  I chose to put that money toward a game I play a couple hours a day for a year and will likely continue to play for the next several years.  Seems pretty affordable to me.

You are forgetting the gold it costs to level pilots up, plus the gold it costs to pick the right skills.

I didn't really want to admit this, but I agree with OP's sentiments. I played five matches today, each more frustrating than the last, until I realized that I wasn't enjoying it at all and that there's no reason I should be spending time to make myself unhappy. At one point, there were three Ares and three Ao Junks at the same time on the enemy team, and there wasn't any way I could realistically take on them with a 9/9 F2P hangar. This has been the norm for me since the update, and I don't feel excited about playing the game anymore.

I'm not ready to quit like OP, but I won't be playing any more ranked matches until Pix balances Last Stand, Ares and Ao Jun, which is at least several months from now, or maybe never at all. Until then, I'll just collect my free Ag and get Au with ads and only play Skirmish, which is still fun enough on its own to justify keeping the app.

I quit back in April. Sold all my stuff and filled my hanger with cheap robots to make sure all my premium stuff was gone for good. Have not played since.

I come here on occasion to see if anything has changed and to keep current. It has gotten worse. There is no reason for anyone to come back in a month. 

Don't get me wrong, I love this game, but not in it's current state. I didn't mind spending a few bucks here and there to be competitive, but this is ridiculous. The last game I played was against a death squad. One of many I kept getting paired against towards the end of my run. Between lockdown, purple shields, and death squads, the game was no longer enjoyable for me. Now reading about pilots, more ridiculous bots, and the added cost. No thank you. 

How’s your inquisitor doing?  I finally cashed in my taran redeemers cuz I was getting smoked in mine before I couldn’t even get something in my crosshairs.

I'm liking it, i wasn't using the inquisitor until pilots. Kyle rogers just got promoted to level 11, so i blew some gold trying to get a perk that wasn't situation depended. ended up having to take adamant gunsmith, not horrible but spin gods were not kind. but ya gotta take your time aiming with the redeemer,  you can hit most stuff. kumihos/striders are a pain though. what did you switch your redeemer/tarans for?

So you think most ftp players have 20k gold laying around? We are talking a lbout a huge part of champions league players having on average level 9 bots and weapons. These are the players that have to grind to be able to afford any piece of premium piece of equipment and leveling it. You think theyhave that kind of gold laying around, that is a bit delusional...

I already said that F2P could do it in under a week spending little to nothing, or spend a little more to do it more quickly.  *I* did NOT want to grind it out, so *I* used Gold that I had saved up to do it more quickly.  Anyone who has not been saving and/or did not buy a few $10 Gold packs has no one to blame but themselves if they fall behind and drop but they can still recover in a reasonable amount of time if they are so inclined.  There have been plenty of players come through the forums that said they hit Sergeant playing F2P and if you have even 5K saved in Gold you can get there in a day or two on all 5 pilots by buying a few higher level to start.  The point is - it’s neither difficult nor expensive to remain competitive.

I have to agree to the saving gold part.  Gold has been useless for a very long time.  If it wasn’t spent on speeding upgrades or boosters, everyone should have had enough saved to at least do an upgrade or two on 5 pilots.  While I am hugely outspoken about pay to win, a lot of the disparity can be attributed to player choices.

I disagree with the under a week theory.  Not in the current economy’s upgrade times.  When I started in the OEI had a few hundred million gold saved because of cheap upgrades and backlogged upgrade times.  Other rewards have been nerfed since then too.  By the time I started pushing things to 10 it went QUICKLY.  It takes longer than a week to get a single bot and weapons to level 7/8.  Now throw into that modules and pilots?  No way.  I’d say within two months of reaching level 30, a well guided new player could have a competitive expert hangar along with one leveled meta bot.  And that is if they do everything perfectly.

However, I’ve been working on a secret project, the results of which will be posted in time.  I think your jaws will drop.  Mine has and I’m not even half way through it yet.

Congrats OP, your the 1000th pilot to receive this gif:






And for your prize, you get another gif; Pixonic sawing logs on the backs of their customers.

3 months for a new player to have an Expert League competitive hangar is not bad and sounds about right.  That said, we’re not really talking about a new player here.

If you take more than a week to get your pilots to Sergeant level - as an established player - then you’re just not playing very much.  You can EASILY run a pilot up to Corporal in a couple hours.  Earning the XP required to reach Sergeant is a little bit tougher, but not much - maybe 3-4 hours of play.  

The only issue will be Au.  Promoting your 5 pilots to Corporal is 2500Au.  That’s not a lot for most players.  Sergeant is 5000Au; that might be a little tougher for fully F2P/never-spend types.  Of course, you could buy $20 in Au and you’ll nearly have it - enough that gameplay will cover the difference.

Given the 7500Au - either saved, purchased, or a combination of both - one could easily reach Sergeant in a single afternoon of playing, buying all L1 Pilots, and thereafter using Au only for promotions.  Sergeant has 3 skills and that’s enough to provide a substantial boost to your game.

Smart players who are not spend-averse will have been watching Au deals this last month and hitting the 2400ish Au for $9.99 sales.  That means $30 and maybe 6 hours of gameplay to reach Sergeant.  The actual reality —> this could be done in a single day of play with ease if you have the Au saved up.  Players who did not prepare and are not spend averse can still knock this out quickly, but it will cost them a little bit more to do so because they have to buy the Au.  Total F2P who have no Gold saved up...well, they should already have realistic expectations about their progress in the game.

Most of the players here and in the game that I‘ve talked to, have either stocked up on Au or had it saved up already.  I expect to see most players with 5 Pilots at Sergeant rank (or higher) by this weekend.

Now, Lieutenant, on the other hand...that I do not expect to see widely for another month or two.  We’re talking 7500Au for just the promotion and leveling up to get there actually takes about a solid day or two per level.  More active players can get there fairly quickly - maybe a bit over a week - then have to deal with the Au crunch.  I think this will be the biggest issue though and it’s why I am disappointed with the cost to promote.  Right now, I am working on leveling up to Captain.  It took me 2 days of playing to go from L31-L32 (I played maybe 90m each day - not much).  The Au cost will be 10K and right now, I only have 419.  That will slow me down a little bit but I will have them all fully leveled up in just a couple weeks’ time through my regular daily play.

SO...long made short....

1 day of active play to Sergeant, buying and using Au only to buy pilots and promote them, minnow spend or F2P.

A few days to a week of active play to reach Lieutenant, buying and using Au only for promotion, minnow spend or long term F2P saver.

1-2 weeks more of active play to reach Captain, buying and using Au only for promotion, minnow spend.