Real money?

I just saw this in the SB:

[PC] Slagdar 2011-04-16 18:25
~! You have added 15000 points to the market at a price of $14,900 per point.



That's got to be like $70 USD! Plus:

[PC] Slagdar 2011-04-16 18:26
~! You have added 420 AI Cycle Bursts to the market at a price of $690,000.



That's $90 USD!

Is that the norm, though, or just an extreme outlier? I know a lot of [FAM] pirates are Noto ($4.50/month) but that's nothing compared to the massive USD-> Points-> Cargo conversion above (in my mind anyway)... Do most pirates with Dread Vs get them this way?

That is certainly not the norm, but some players spend a lot of money.

I happy about it - provided they can afford it in Real Life. It helps the game and (presumably) gives them enjoyment for their entertainment dollar.

Personally, I buy a Point Pack (or AICB pack) when I hit RL milestones. Recently, I completed my taxes, so as a reward, I bought 6k points. It works for me.

And yes, if a person has a Dread V, it's usually an indication that they have spent a fair amount of real money on the game. However, this is a bit of reverse causality - if you spend a fair amount of money, you usually buy yourself a Dread V.

Bridgeburners

I was one of those people who used RL money to buy a Dread (cost $60, 2 full packs of 6k points), although I only went to a dread I, not a dread V. I also splurged and bought a pack of AICB (~$50 gave ~4.5k base stats increase). Main reason was the timing, had some spare cash and I thought why not.

But I don't think you need to spend the RL money to enjoy the game. I'll probably spend a little bit when I do AC, but after that I can't see myself spending much on a regular basis.

I have spent about $90 - over $100 monthly depending on wars or other things. (I bought quite a few points to get to level 49 last month. )

Should work on that dread fund ....

Just in case you are wondering:

Remove AI Cycle Burst [x439] - $685,000 from [FDR] Bridgeburners

These aren't mine - I'm just doing some speculation with the [FDR]'s vault.