truth. I consciously decided to invest some real money in one game - it was fun, base game was free, and I wanted to give back to the publisher a bit.

the difference in paid gameplay - the speed of upgrades, being able to keep up with players who clearly played much more or paid - was notable.

when that boost ran out, it was either pay again, fall frustratingly behind, or quit.

no longer playing that one! Or any other freemium games. It's just not a model that works for me.

yeah, there exist freemium games that aren't trying to chase this model exclusively, but you have to enjoy the challenge of making do with what you can get for free.

like, I'm probably never going to get a Buster Sword in FFRK, but I enjoy trying to cobble together a party that can clear all the content without whaling.

in PAD, I have my whale account which I've probably spent way more money than I should have on, and my no-IAP account, and they're both fun for very different reasons.