It sure would be nice to be able to play my favorite game right now, for stress relief purposes, instead of its bastardized cousin.
Bastardized cousin... hmm... Red headed step-child might be closer : D
Here are some considerations from someone else who is in an unusual situation and being ultra frugal..
#1 Patience pays off.
If you're going to buy Zen, wait until they have a sale on it, and when they do have a sale on it buy it with a method that will get you the discount (PayPal, etc). I got a game card as a tip once on a job and couldn't use it with the discount.
If you are going to spend Zen, wait until they have a sale on everything you can buy with it.
Someone correct me if my brain isn't working (yet..?) but these two things will give you 30% more Zen to spend for your buck. You also get a discount the first time you buy zen but I'm not sure if that discount stacks.
If you are going to spend money, the 2 slots are a good buy I think. They are relatively cheap and can double your zen farming potential and toonspace.
Consider opening a second (third, etc) account. This will give you two more slots right away.. Sure, they are on a separate account, but what do you care, atm you're just playing the bastardized cousin of a game you *really* liked. You can use those two slots to experiment with.
Your 'main' account can contain toons that you think you will want to stick with until 40 and beyond. Your 'experimental' account can consist of toons that you are trying out. Again, patience comes into play, because, for example, you may level up a toon on your experimental account and then decide to re-create him on your 'main' account. Making double *snicker* "work" in the beginning leveling/gearing of said toon.
I'm thinking you will find at least 2 free AT's you enjoy enough to level to 40. By the time you level 2 guys to 40 on your main account, if you are farming Q at least casually, you'll have enough Zen to buy two more slots.
As for currencies. Zen, Q, G..
Zen is like real money. You can buy stuff with it that enhances the game - like more slots and powersets and stuff you can't even know about yet. Buying stuff with Zen in this way is similar to putting money down on a Lifetime Sub - due to that the stuff you buy is 'permanent'. If you spend enough Zen, you will eventually have a ghetto lifetime sub. But you will have to PLAY a lot... To earn all that Zen. Oh lawd.. The pain of it.. Thank goodness I have 'RL' to take me away from all that.
Q can buy you Zen. You can buy other cool stuff with it (gear, etc), otherwise people wouldn't trade their Zen for it, When you trade Q for Zen you are trading with other players who are fat with Zen and wanna buy stuff with the Q you farmed. Q can be earned in a multitude of ways. I personally think that Nemesis alerts, which there are tons of lately, are the easiest -especially if you have a toon that can basically run the alert solo. Patil, over next to Defender in Ren Center can give you dailies (3 alerts to complete) to earn Q - you generally want to be level 20+ to run these - 30+ is better, 40 w/gear is best for the least failures. If you see someone recruiting for Nemcons, these are good. There are other ways, too.
G is in-game money to buy in-game items like gear, consumables, costume pieces, etc and so on.
As for the bastardized cousin thing, I would say, give CO a chance to stand on it's own merits as it's own game. I look at it as a special bonus that we can relive some CoH experiences in CO like we can't anywhere else but CO is it's own game with it's own strengths and weaknesses.
As for the 'farming' references. Yeah, I farm, I've done it in every online game I ever played. I don't make it my goal in gaming life but I do find a comfortable spot for it. I like my shiny preciouses.. Just find a way to earn Q that fits your playstyle and eventually it will pile up on it's own as you are playing the game.
Just my two cents! Hope ya have fun : )
