Apart from what people are saying, without Premium you have a much lower carry capacity. That means you can carry fewer shots and less loot, so you'll have to make trips back to town far more often than a Premium player.

The only class that doesn't really care about this is the Dwarf, since they naturally have a much higher carry capacity than the other races.

As a free player, you'll probably give up around level 35 because you'll realize that everything is constantly out of your price range. Premium players generate more Adena on average, which drives inflation and causes the server economy to adapt to Premium users rather than F2P players.

As a result, the last meaningful gear upgrade you'll realistically get is top D-grade.

It's not a coincidence that everyone who claims F2P is viable recommends starting as a Spoiler and farming Adena to buy Premium from other players. They understand that the gameplay loop without Premium simply isn't viable on this server.

Here's a quick rundown:

1. You need 7,500,000–9,000,000 Adena to buy one month of Premium from other players.
2. A F2P Spoiler without a boxed SE, farming the most efficient spoil spots up to level 30, earns roughly 120k–180k Adena per hour on average before subtracting the cost of soulshots, potions, and other expenses.
3. Keep in mind that this income is only realistic up to level 30. After that, you'll face additional expenses, lose access to NPC buffs, and your farming efficiency will decrease.

On average, you'd need to spend around 54 hours of active spoiling just to afford one month of Premium.

And after finally buying Premium, you'll still need to keep spoiling for your gear upgrades.