Is it possible to compete with people who buy trophies at the higher tiers?

[Captain Shiny]

Hi all,

I started this game a few days ago and have to admit i'm finding it great fun so far. Got a win/loss of 11/11 with my first glad before buying a better one. My current glad is a lvl 9 theatrics with a win loss of 18/2 and she's in the gladiator bracket. The reason I posted the question is because both those losses were at lvl 6-7 against glads with mostly purple equipment. So, is it possible for me to actually beat people who are spending enough money on the game to completely outclass me equipment wise or should I resign myself to losing a lot of matches when I reach the higher levels?

Regards,

Captain Shiny

[Kreegan]

You'll have difficulties but it's not impossible. You'll have to swallow some losses due to inferior equipment, especially in the highest brackets (Blood God, Maximus, Primus) but if you are patient, you can equip at least one gladiator with purple gear and stand your ground reasonably well. I'd suggest not to buy purple items before you get to level 40 at least - with good initial stats of the slave and good strategy, you can maintain 70-75% performance even in the higher brackets with all-green gear - better spend the trophies on Champion's Pack which will give you extra training points, extra fights and extra gold (with enough gold you don't really need a Doctor for example). The purple items are capped at 35 trophies no matter their level so resource-wise it's better to spend 35 trophies on level 45-50 piece of equipment than on level 30 one. At one point the greatest advantage that the "payers" will have over you will be the extra equipped achievements, which is definitely in their favour but still you can win fights against them.
If your aim is the Primus throne or to become a Blood Games champion though, I guess you'll have to pay some real world cash.

[Apoca1ypse]

you can still be competitive on a budget. Wargh once sat in the top 10 with purple weapons and green armor. It was right build right time for that, but it goes to show that it is not impossible.

I'd recommend saving tokens and pick up purple weapons at lvl 40 and 50, but stay with green armor. you still get a decent stat bonus on some items, just lacking on armor. you need the purple weapons for the damage though. Your biggest hurdle will be the lack of skill points and achievements compared to other gladiators, but given time you will earn those. it's just a waiting game really.

pay cash: fast results
grind: eventually get there

[Prinny]

Captain Shiny, did you play the game Golden Age by any chance?
Just curious because i know a player from there with the same name :P

[Captain Shiny]

Thanks for the responses and advice guys, I'll take them on board and see how I do.

Prinny, I don't think I've played on golden age before, evidently it's a popular name

[Cynaidh]

Just agreeing with what everyone said, i would stay in nothing but green weapons and armor till 50, hoard those trophies! Do all your tavern fights by hand don't be tempted to spend a trophie to do them, first it costs a trophie which is bad, second if you do them yourself you have a chance to get more fight tokens or a trophie or a green/blue/purple item every fight, the chance might be low but it happens! Do the arena challenges every day, don't get too concerned if your not winning them though, when you hit 50 and you buy two purple weapons (make sure they are level 50 and not level 49 get the most bang for your buck!) you'll catch them up fast, and those are 2-3 trophies a win after the second tier, so there are more trophies for getting your purple armor. Also make sure you get a glad in each slot your can afford, even if they aren't keepers they will probably get a few kills and beat some of the arena challenge guys as they level, those are just free trophies for your good gladiators (two handed using rage gladiators are good for this, normally get a lot of kills at lower levels). The only thing i would really consider would be the 25 trophies every two weeks for "The Champion's 4 Pack Membership Special", double fight tokens and double training points really helps move the game along and the extra gold will help you build up a nice bank account before your spending a ton on repairs (purple gear costs a lot to repair), and the extra energy lets you do all your tavern fights at the same time, but i would wait on that even until you have at least 2 or 3 glads in your stable that you want to keep for awhile, that way your getting the benefit on more then just 1 good glad. Check the slave market every day, if you see something for 975g or more take a good look at it, they are hard to come by and can be exceptional gladiators.

But really its just horde the trophies till you got a keeper at level 50, then get purple weapons on him, and then go for armor.