New but affraid

[JDS2015]

Hello,
I just purchased the 3 months of play and now after looking it all over im afraid this game is way out of my price range. Everything cost money in here and i do way to much real hunting to pay this much to hunt with no real return.
Guess ill just keep playing until what i have paid for is up and move onto another game!!

Thanks

[caledonianblues]

Welcome to the forum.

The return should be entertainment and fun. If you don't get that from the game then sure, you should definitely give some thought to whether you want to invest. I agree, the game can be expensive, but a lot of the stuff in the store is very much optional. There are loads of weapons for example, but with only 2 or 3 you could pretty much cover all bases. Waterfowl hunting can get quite expensive when you start buying decoys, but in my opinion it's a lot of fun and worth the money.

It has to be fun for you though. If you're not having fun or feel like you're being short-changed then it might be time to consider playing as a guest, or taking a look at Call of the Wild.

[HooCairs]

Welcome to the game. Enjoy the membership while it lasts and try out as much as you can. Like caledonianblues said, you can get around with little extras. You can also join MP games. Take the pump action shotgun and join a game in Rougarou Bayou for some good duck hunting.

[ronMctube]

give it ago you have it already see how you fare.shotgun covers alot of bases.

[xOEDragonx]

I definitely recommend you try playing a few multiplayer games. It's the best way to test out other players' gear or at least see it in the field and decide if it's something you really want. Take your free single shot 12 gauge and go hunt over somebody's goose or duck fecoys and I'm sure you'll have a blast! Or see if you can find someone with some bait barrels or feeders set up and try hunting over them. The game can be expensive and it definitely looks intimidating if you're new, but you don't really need anything in the store to truly enjoy the game. You can hunt -almost- every species on every map with nothing more than the free weapons you start with and a basic subscription. Minus a weapon capable of killing bison, water buffalo and banteng, litterally everything else in the storeis just an extra to enhance gameplay.

[FR_Bugs]

Hi and welcome aboard JDS2015.
Do the daily competitions, earn Em$ and buy new weapons and stuff with them.

[SoftShoe]

Hello,
I just purchased the 3 months of play and now after looking it all over im afraid this game is way out of my price range. Everything cost money in here and i do way to much real hunting to pay this much to hunt with no real return.
Guess ill just keep playing until what i have paid for is up and move onto another game!!

Thanks

Welcome to the forum!

I will give you a peace of sage advice if you feel Classic is out of your price range... Uninstall NOW!

When I 1st started playing it I wasnt so much concerned with the cost as much as the return on investment. I bought a 3 month membership & one of the bundles off the store. I think it was the Rougarou Bayou one. In any case, I vowed I wasnt going to spend another cent on this game! Then I started seriously playing it & was captivated by the nuances so stared buying more & more.
Like you I am a real hunter & a competitive shooter. What I spend on those sports annually would probably make many people shudder. I feel its money well spent & it gives me dozens of hours of enjoyment annually. What I have spent on Classic so far is a pittance comparatively speaking (I own everything the game has) but instead of looking at dozens of hours of entertainment, its hundreds if not thousands!

Take the Mrs out for dinner & a movie. You will be out $100 for 2 hours of entertainment (2hrs 30min if you get lucky or 2hrs & 3min in Rad's case ). That same $100 will get you a ton of content with unlimited hours of potential entertainment.

You really dont have to drop a pile of money up front to get enjoyment from the game. Sure the membership & one of the packages (The Trail Runner package is an excellent value) to get started & be pretty well be set. Then just a couple bucks a month buying things you specifically want would do most people fine.

Lastly there are some people that do not see the worth of a thing unless they can hold it. If you are that sort well then there if nothing for it. No amount of convincing will make you see its worth... C'est la vie

[XxStrong1xX]

Due to circumstances beyond my control I played this game as a free player for 9 years! Why? Because I love hunting but was no longer able to hunt in real life and this game was a good substitute. I loved the game and had lots of fun just hunting the weekly free animals and doing what missions and comps I could. I finally bought a membership this year and have spent a pretty decent amount of money on this game; but I am still frugal and only buy items I want when they are on sale. Is a membership better? Yes! Is it a necessity? No!(contrary to what many on here would have you believe). The free weapons and maybe a bow is all you really "need" to hunt any animal in this game. Also as has been said multi-player is a great way to try out equipment or even get the benefit of bait barrels and waterfowl setups without having to spend any money.

[TheSheWolf]

Hello,
I just purchased the 3 months of play and now after looking it all over im afraid this game is way out of my price range. Everything cost money in here and i do way to much real hunting to pay this much to hunt with no real return.
Guess ill just keep playing until what i have paid for is up and move onto another game!!

Thanks

Welcome! I assume you're fairly new to the game; if not I apologize for the following post While I agree that sometimes the store prices can get kind of out of hand, at the same time, you don't need to spend much to actually play. In terms of equipment, it will depend very much on what you want to hunt. My advice: you can hunt, as I did, with only 1 weapon, and Basic clothes. You really can. I bought a Heavy Recurve Bow and went out with no camo, only the basic caller, and nothing else. BUT, it can get very frustrating having to work your way around a moving animal (or herd of animals) without getting scented or seen, or worse, outpaced by a trotting herd. Remember that as to weapons, the default/free shotgun can be loaded with slugs for large game, buckshot for medium, and birdshot for small. The .243 is good for deer but not great; you need good shot placement, but that's what a starter gun is there to teach you! What I recommend you get, assuming you're not after waterfowl:

What You "Need:" (~$15-~20?)

- For almost anything you can use the default/free shotgun + birdshot, buckshot or slug, depending, or the default/free .243 for medium game if you prefer. I would, however, recommend one weapon of your choice. A .300 or 7mm rifle is ethical for everything from coyote up to banteng & bison; both are powerful, and the 7mm Bullpup has a 5-round magazine. All 7mm and .300 weapons take a wide range of scopes (including the most powerful). Both are very accurate at long ranges; the .300 is a bit stronger, but also heavier (more wobble and more inventory space). If you prefer a bow, any bow is ethical for any animal in the game, and anything hit with an arrow WILL eventually die, even if shot in an ear or foot. The Parker Python is very lightweight, and with the pin sight, extremely accurate out to 60 yards and even a little above. Since it's lightweight, it has very little wobble and you can hold it up for a long time fully-drawn; it also draws very fast. If you prefer more traditional, the Heavy Recurve is extremely powerful, but you have to aim by eye, and it weighs more--meaning more inventory space to take up, more wobble, and you can't hold it drawn for long at all. It's still an incredibly good, fun weapon. A single weapon will only set you back about $5-$7, or $10 with a scope.

- Callers for whatever you want to hunt, and a membership (it's just $10 for three months for the VERY basic version) to shoot everything, and to replenish your ammunition for free. Callers are relatively inexpensive, at about $1.75 apiece. The default deer bleat will call blacktail, whitetail, mule deer and sitka deer already. An elk caller will call both species of elk; you can easily hunt moose without a caller (they're loud and slow). Bear have no callers, nor do water buffalo or Banteng. You could get a predator caller for coyotes, foxes and bobcats. For individual species, there's callers for red deer, roe deer, reindeer, turkey and pheasant, but you don't need to buy these if you don't intend to hunt them--or again just join a MP game if you wish.

What You Should Consider: ($11?)

- A couple of pieces of camouflage clothing can be useful. You do not NEED it. A full set in a bundle will cost around $6-$9, or you can mix and match pieces from different sets.

- First Aid Kits for when you get hit, so you don't need to fast-travel back to the lodge; bear, boar, moose, water buffalo and gravity will all send you home if they hit you. (Gravity sucks.) A 10-use pack of First Aid Kits is $.65.

- Camping Kits for fast-travelling, IF you intend to buy tents. DO NOT make the mistake of buying the 100-pack--you cannot split it and it takes up a ton of inventory space, right up until they're all used. Buy the 50 or 15, for $3 or $.70 respectively.

What You Don't Need: ($???)

- Heavy equipment. You do not NEED stands, tents, feeders, and towers. Personally, I do have a few; I set a few in my favorite reserves so I can fast travel and stand hunt when I want to. You CAN take a single tent to carry with you, so you can place it anywhere, use it to access your "lodge" inventory, and pick it back up again. You could also carry a tree stand instead, or keep one accessable via that tent, so you can pop a stand up as you hunt. Some players spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on this game, as their hobby, to fully kit-out all the maps. That means the map limits of stands, tents and so on per map. This is usually their main hobby, and is absolutely not necessary in order to hunt successfully (even competitively).

- Duck or goose setups. If you really want to focus only on waterfowl, by all means do it! But if it's just occasional, there's usually a kind Multiplayer host willing to help, or a forum thread in Multiplayer that can direct you to an open hunt. Waterfowl setups are by far and away the most expensive investment in this game, I think. The cost of a tent, waterfowl blind, decoys and all the callers can get pretty steep all together--plus a Retriever if you want to get serious!

- Lodges - I love mine, but you don't NEED it. You can taxidermy a few rares and just hold onto them in case you ever do want to buy a lodge, later, to display them. You keep the taxidermied animals anyway.

- Dogs - You don't NEED them. Again, I love mine. The retriever is fantastic for waterfowl and upland bird/rabbit retrieving; the Pointer is lots of fun to hunt with, and the Scent Hound has saved my butt many times in picking up a blood trail I've lost. But they do not work if you aren't the host in Multiplayer (much of the time--for some people they do, for many they don't), and nothing they do cannot ALSO be done by the player (you).

- Camouflage. You can 100% hunt without any special clothing whatsoever. Will it be harder? Yes. Is it impossible? By no means! Just keep your eye on the falling leaves & rain, and move upwind when moving around. If you're calling an animal, circle so it isn't coming directly upwind toward you (so it isn't downwind from you).

- Tons of guns and sights, scopes, rangefinders, target dummies, any of the upgrades... etc. You can get a few weapons you love, and sights for them, but you don't need them unless you want to complete missions. If you're just out to hunt, you don't need anything except "an ethical weapon" and the 2 default have you pretty much covered there. The mobile target ranges are just for fun, the flags and facepaint, scent cover and so on--none of it is necessary to hunt.

Over the years I've bought almost all of this stuff, myself, but I started off with just the Heavy Recurve Bow--and that's it. Gradually I added on callers, and clothing pieces, and then set up a couple of maps for myself, whenever I had extra cash & saw sales. Then I bought dogs, a lodge, and waterfowling setups, and a few more weapons. This is all over several years, so very little $ spent at any given time. But you can start without any of it--and continue without any of it. You only "need" to buy things for fun/convenience, and to add extra depth to the game.

I hope this helps both you, and anyone else who happens upon this in the future!

[stalker270]

Hi and welcome. I also stated that this game can be expensive, but it doesn't have to be unless you choose to make it so. I had no idea what extras you get with a 3 month membership so looked it up. You should have the 12ga. pump, the .44, a handgun scope, a tent and some camping supplies. With those you can hunt any reserve and any animal. If you go to the store and look up your weapons you can see what each one is valid to hunt which animal. There has been a lot of good info from other posters that I agree with. Go out and give it a try with the equipment you have and I am sure you will have some fun. Remember, you only have to buy what you want to buy. Good luck and have fun!