They were having a deal on some CE for approximately $3 so I got it. Now I have to play lots because apparently I have an elevator pass which lasts until the 10th.

Add me as well XD
cause I have that deal as well

I don't, but that's because I mostly stopped playing videogames in general a while back. Have a project I'd rather spend my time on (even if I usually end up procrastinating anyways...)
... On hopping on for the first time in a while, I also remember that having a terribly unreliable mouse button with which movement is only successful a little over half the time also doesn't help much at all.
At least as the game currently is, it'll never be necessarily necessary for you to spend money on it, if that's what you're asking. Crystal Energy will be required for crafting 3+* gear (unless one trades crowns or other items directly for it), which is required for tier 3 access, however.
Usually takes me around 5-15 minutes to complete a level, well over "less than an hour" per 100 energy unless I happen to get a bunch of really, really tiny levels (to be fair, I'm working off 4+ month old memory here, so eh. I dunno). And though I haven't gotten to 4*/t3 yet, as I understand enemies grow stronger faster than gear does, so that should only increase time.
Wouldn't "fake difficulty" make it take longer to beat levels (and thus stretch the time it takes to spend energy)?
What's absurd about that?

Post has been edited 1 time(s), last time on Dec 28 2011, 7:51 am by EzDay281.

I'm unsure about this "fake difficulty" thing you speak of as well...

If you mean the rather ridiculous limitations on how much you can play, I agree. Unless you have some friends who can support you, it'll take some time to be able to make "profit runs", where you can spend ce's to go down and still make money (so there're no mist barriers, you can play for as long as you want). But in the beginning, 10 runs per day is definitely too little.
Again, if you have a bit more patience, the game does offer some good times, especially when you fight bosses.
I just wish they'd make new bosses already.. there're only 4, and the 1st one's a joke.

Also, it is absurd b/c ce prices have been floating around 6500-7000 crowns for 100 ce's.
Well it's not "absurd", it makes sense, because the new deal is a GREAT deal.

On a semi-unrelated note, I don't see what everyone's gripe with the "1-2~ hours per day" thing is, anyways.
Yeah, inconvenient if you do nothing but play games all day, or if you only play on weekends and, well, again, do nothing but, but most people I know have jobs and/or school and like to play a little bit of game everyday. For which Spiral Knights's model seems to be... fairly perfect.

Old stats from when I was T2

Its probably the wrong trope.

Fake difficult is when a game is made impossible to beat due an element missing due to design. So I thought maybe at a point you get to a level that 'forces' you to die so much you need the energy or else you get stuck.

Most of the game is about learning how to deal with enemy attacks. Taking it slow and being strategic will almost certainly get you past any set of enemies. There is also a bit of skill involved in terms of movement (to dodge the attacks). I'd say this game is like a "Bound" from Brood War with a bit more action to it.

There is neither a point where you are forced to "die" nor a point where there is an impossible feat. It simply gets progressively harder; you take more damage while dealing less. Reviving costs get doubled each time you choose to use energy for it so that generally causes people to stop progressing. But not dying in the first place is the ultimate goal.

Oh.
Lol. I tend to think of dying as optional in this game, so I subconsciously treated its overall energy cost as 0.