The funny thing about the NCB cost (in General)

I see all this talk about how the NCB is soooooooo expensive to run and whatnot... But here's a thought, The NCB is about right where it is now (at least according to popular opinion), and is doing it's job of getting players who put forth all the effort and do it right to 95% of the top MPR (or at least it is now possible...).

"But BA is sooo expensive!!!!1!!1one!" you say. Did anyone else notice that bought BA was reduced from 1/3 of a char's potential BA expendature to 1/4 of it?meaning, you could still (assuming the NCB% is correct) NCB your way up to 70% or higher of the top MPR (currently well within the top 20, not to mention that nifty little 6/20 thing...), for the whopping price of $0, minus whatever you made from battle rewards-ammo/healing cost. Then, use the $CB savings/USD you would have spent on BA on purchasing any minions that you haven't already... If ya stay single minion, then you could likely get over 80% of the top MPR (especially of you purchased through the deadzone)...

So, I ask you this:

Is the NCB too expensive to run, or is it too expensive to run in the CB dominating fashion that you couldn't sustain anyway to the point where even if it was made cheaper, you could get a char near the top by superfocusing on CB for a few months, only to fall behind daily and constantly to the point where something else must be broken (at least through your eyes)? :P

..Wow, that last sentence was long..

I'm not entirely sure I understand your reasonings. Maybe bullet points would work better :)

The NCB exp bonus wise is probably pretty close. That said I think we need clarification from Jonathan on whether he believes that a RoE _must_ be used in order to reach the 95% or whether buying full BA is enough in an of itself or whether neither are necessary just maximizing CB throughout the entire run.

If the first is true, then I stopped using my RoE about 2.5 months early. I have only missed a few days (if that) of purchased BA. As for the CB, it is completely _impossible_ to maintain after about 850K MPR.

I have been at a -5% CB for about a week now and some of my opponents are starting to give me -6%. I still have a week and a month left on my NCB but so far I am happy with everything except the cost. I will elaborate below...

NCB Cost in a nutshell -
1. Using base items and growing them is the _only_ way to minimize your PR as you grow and thus maximize your CB.
2. The cost of raising base items as you grow is astronomical because of the growth curve of a NCB, you are practically forced to use the BS only and pay full price for all upgrades.
3. BA is priced so high after the recent re-vamp of the N*B system, that being able to purchase full BA throughout your entire NCB is in the neighborhood of 100 mil.
4. Staying single minion for a long time to create a powerhouse minion on an eventual multi-minion team is usually the way to go, so if you add in the cost to purchase additional minions you get into the 30 to 50 mil per minion price range. This could end of costing you 120 to 150 mil.
5. If you choose to raise your minion with a RoE you forgo the chance to raise your primary tattoo, thus leaving you behind the pack once you reach your eventual MPR. This becomes even more an issue when the top MPR character in the game is still able to fight effectively with a RoE.
6. I hired two of my minions earlier on to help negate some of the cost incurred to higher additional minions, but I still have one to go and it currently would cost me almost 15 mil.

So, all in all, if you run a mage NCB, it will cost you roughly 250 mil in BA and additional minion costs with another 50 to 150 mil in items depending on your strategy. If you run a tank NCB, it will again cost you 250 mil in BA and additional minions, but it will cost you closer to 150 to 300 mil in items again depending on your strategy.

Lastly, if you choose to fight with a RoE, good luck finding a _huge_ tattoo after the fact, and if you do, it will at least cost you 50% NW which could be 60 mil or 240 to 300 USD.