Zero Gem Challenge - Sort Of

[Ozymandius]

Made it to level 70 in 1:38:54 with no XP boosters and random luck jewelry. The challenge now will be having to continue to use 52-68 level gear until I can gradually craft better gear. The epic boxes will be most helpful, since I only have a few MoTs and no greater essences. And only 4.4k gold to work with. The good news is that once I went back to trials, I have been able to clear 7-14 in 2-3 minutes, so maybe I won't have to go back to story mode...

[Ozymandius]

That is $25k to craft one XP item. I'd rather rely on drops and salvage gear instead of paying that price...

[Tin Man]

Buddy, did you forget that you can craft a level 1 Fire Lily and Vial of the Wind Spirit for next to nothing once you get the Basic Resource Crate from the Crafting Quest or, if you do not get that quest, once you get 25k gold to buy a Basic Resource Crate?

Three hours is fine. You still have a full Gold ahead of you.

[RockDoc]

Guess I'm too slow to run with this group, it took me almost 3 hours to get to level 70.
I am also running hunter and have made some progress since level 70.

[Bali_Lenni]

please let me know if\when you plan another ZGC in the future....would love to join in the fun...

[Tin Man]

I am running a hunter. My running numbers will be here.

Time to 70 --- 1h32m
Complete Normal with CL CL 402 --- 2h23m
CL 448 --- 2h43m --- XP and AR Champion Points are at max, mostly, and just cleared TL 80 in 1:16. Time to start my first experience booster and start farming TL 85+
CL 600 --- 2h59m --- Ended up still not running my experience boosters yet. Going to start it now.
CL 908 --- 3h49m
CL 1200 --- 4h49m
CL 1237 --- 4h58m

I was unable to complete this hero and ended up never running any of the available Greater Experience Boosters though I used all but 08:17 of every other experience booster that was available without using gems.

Bounty hunters are very capable of being competitive without spending a single gem. One player cleared TL 154 while spending zero gems though not as part of this challenge.

[Ozymandius]

One hour into the event, and as expected, it has been fairly slow going with no XP boosters and limited crafting materials. I did not anticipate all of the things that I typically spend gems to collect (e.g., the three gemstone packs and the extra XP and XG boosters for only 300 gems). Mostly got by with drops and a couple of gold for gear purchases from Gornathan, however, once I was able to craft XP gear those early sources pretty much dried up. Surprisingly, most of my gear is not too far behind my current level, and I got a lucky ToS inside the chest that I got for reaching level 50. I completed Trial 6, but I was not able to survive Trial 7, so I switched back to running story mode. Story mode also provides more salvage material, though I am constantly running out of lesser fire essence.

[OldFartAtPlay]

Count me in. I'm going bounty hunter also, my toon's name is "Whatgems".

[jay clarke]

For gold and I have stopped spending gems as there is no incentive to do so, rewards are not worth it. Last gold I got to tl88 . best result tl90. Frustrating and dependent on luck for equipment, but a lot of fun too. An experience everyone should do just so you appreciate the other anb's.

[Tin Man]

I am confused. You can buy all the Basic Resource Crates that you want.

[Ozymandius]

I am in. I went with a BH, though still deciding on which gear to make for farming/push. Remembering now how challenging it is to play when you can't even buy crafting materials. Sort of like how drops are meaningful at least in the early going...

[Tin Man]

Here is the scoop ...

The Zero Gem Challenge - Sort Of

No spending gems on anything other than to unlock hero inventory rows.

No spending gems on:

- Ability Slots for Attack, Abilities or Passives
- Upgrading Abilities
- Ability Upgrade Slots
- Companion Slots
- Booster of any kinds
- Unlocking gear
- Offers from the Store or Gornathan or anywhere else
- Just flat out not spending any gems at all

You are literally only allowed to spend gems on unlocking your hero's inventory rows.

Think it will be easy? Think again at what you are not allowed to do. Have to be very strategic in how you go about this.

Optimally? Should be run with no medals but will not exclude those that have medals as participation is encouraged. This is for fun after all and not about hitting the Top 100 or is it?

Think very carefully how to approach this one. Having your crafting Mastery Level to 50 is encouraged because you will want all your crafts to be as good as possible.

Milk all the resources available to you for all they are worth.

You really can do much better than I initially thought. There are four of us currently on board.

Come join us for the fun.

You can not say that you do not have the gems to participate after all!