Market crystal is one of the most important currencies in Taichi Panda and since it's a resource that's not so easy to acquire, I thought of sharing some few tips on how to spend it wisely. But first things first, what in-game stores use market crystals and how do you even earn them?
Well, at the time that I was writing this pretentious piece of how-to-tip, there are only two stores that accept market crystals as payment, the Guild Bazaar and the Black Market. As to the ways of earning them, I can only think of three and they're through:
a. Event rewards- One good example is the Online event which grants the achiever 400 market crystals.
b. Diamond Store- I really don't recommend this but Snail would be very happy if you part with your precious diamonds.
c. Smelting purple and orange equipment/Selling purple and orange equipment shards- Now, this is the best method to acquire market crystals because it's free. You can get purple and orange equipment through rewards from events, instances, login bonuses, and of course, your normal dungeons.
Now that you know how to earn market crystals, it's essential that you also know how to spend them wisely because you might wake up broke one day. First rule of the thumb when you're about to spend your market crystals is to plan and prioritize as to the item/s that you want to buy. Basically, the Guild Bazaar and the Black Market offer almost anything that your character might need (gear, pet gear, talisman and rune shards; pet soulstones, refinement stones, ascension stones, surge pills...you get the idea).
Second, take note of the item prices from each of the two stores since their prices differ. Here's an idea, I only buy Quality 26 gear shards from the bazaar and not from the market and at the same time, I only buy surge pills from the bazaar and not the market. Why? Others may not have noticed it but the stores do offer different prices. For example, Quality 26 gear shards cost 75 crystals/shard in the black market while they cost 100 crystals/shard in the bazaar.
Second, take note of the item prices from each of the two stores since their prices differ. Here's an idea, I only buy Quality 26 gear shards from the bazaar and not from the market and at the same time, I only buy surge pills from the bazaar and not the market. Why? Others may not have noticed it but the stores do offer different prices. For example, Quality 26 gear shards cost 75 crystals/shard in the black market while they cost 100 crystals/shard in the bazaar.
Third, I only use market crystals to buy stuff that is really necessary for my character's and pet's well-being (e.g. gear shards, purple and gold surge pills, ascension stones, refinement stones). Note that I only buy the stuff inside the parenthesis in their smallest denominations because as the denomination increases, the prices of items also increase. Do the math. I refrain from buying pet soulstones (which I can actually farm on a daily basis), and rune shards (honestly, it's more efficient to just save up pvp points and warrior certificates to be exchanged later for rune/ rune shards).
So that's all, folks. Will update this post once I discovered a new way to spend market crystals wisely.