Is DCUO really free to play???

Is it possible to reach end game level without spending money?

No

With events like Starro and others, even Age of Justice for a short time offering gear progression you can get to end game without spending money.

EDIT: To answer topic question, yes and no. Yes in that you can get 100's of hours of game time for free with what is available to free players and no in that you can't play every available piece of content for free.

That is a really BIG NO.
DCUO is not a FREE to Play game and never has been.
When DCUO first went FTP that is when it was the closest to be a true FTP game.
With each episode (DLC) release and no new content for free players over time DCUO has become less & less FTP. It was not until Jack Emmert became CEO of DCUO that DCUO started trying to become a true FTP with open episodes. But............

As you can see. Where are the open episodes?

F2P was never intended to be end came capable. F2P is was implemented to give potential paying customers a taste of the game to see if they want to subscribe. Premium, the slight step up from F2P was sort of a holding pattern for those who don't want to sub anymore but want to keep playing. IMO this was the original intent of the F2P model but unfortunately ever since DBG took over, even being a subscriber gets you nothing but a few measly perks. They'd just assume everyone be Freemium and then instead of spending their money on a subscription, spend it on stabilizers and replay badges.

^^^ And to be honest, the hero/villain Level 1-30 stuff is a lot better than some of the $40-$60 stuff that's been released over the past few years.

That is garbage I am an old player took a lot year break and wanted to give it another try but up to a certain point it started becoming it's own bill. I enjoy the game, but I don't want to have to pay to win. I may end up just quitting permanently if something doesn't change.

It's what I did. I now devote most of my gaming time to Age of Conan. Has 20X more content than this game and even if you don't feel like fighting anything, there are explorations and things to locate for fun.

Wait, Age of Conan is still going?

I'm just a fanboy of DC but it may be time to let go of the money grind.

I believe you can get to level 30 without any money and tbh That's the only time you really feel part of the story. If You're really a fanboy, you will really enjoy 1-30

Just go legendary and u can enjoy the entire game without spending extra it's what I do

It's free for you up until CR 80+ and that's not counting open episodes and other special events.

It's free for you up until CR 80+ and that's not counting open episodes and other special events.

But even legendary turns into a bill after you play long enough. I believe the last dlc I was playing before I stopped was halls of power. It was at that point I had to realize I put hundreds of dollars into this game the exact amount makes me sick to think about actually.

You can't reach maximum CR without paying for content.

It is possible to reach a CR that grants you access to the most recent, highest level content, though, because of the scaling gear system introduced with Amazon Fury Part 3 and utilised in many of the free events.

It's a time consuming process and requires a good knowledge of how the system works and the CR system, too, but it's technically possible.

The downfall of getting to a high CR without paying for content is that if there's no event going on or anything, you won't have any content relevant to your CR to play, as it sits behind a pay wall.

I personally hope that the game makes all content free in the future, to encourage more people to play long term and not leave because they have to start paying to play. It also makes it easier for disgruntled, ex-players to come back, as they can come back and jump right back into where they left off without having to buy episodes or pay a monthly subscription.

actually yes, you can reach the end game without spending money, you just need to wait for content that have unattuned gear like the starro event or the seasonal event..

Do those events happen that often?

have you played this game lmao

if not walk away from it, because you dont need to get sucked into it, its a cash cow seeking type of game. If you arent willing to spend 100s upon 100s then get ready to be behind at every turn.

take this new DLC that just dropped on June 1st iirc, its now the 28th, I only have 3 pieces of the new gear, chest, legs and a ring.

28 days to get 3 pieces of gear without buying replays, this is how they design their content is around replays.