The premium currency in FR lets you get fancier dragon and dragon accessories.
Dragon "breed" and "genes" can be changed with "scrolls." Some scrolls cost treasure, which you earn by in-game activities; some cost gems, which you mostly buy. You can earn them through play, but it's very slow. (E.g. if you keep your dragons fed, you get 1 per day after the first three days. 1200-2400 gems buys a gene scroll...) Sample dragon - currently all basic (no genes) but with lots of apparel; scroll down in the "info" box for ideas of how I could scroll her up. (Almost none of those options involve premium-currency scrolls, because I'm usually not willing to pay for them.)
You can also buy some apparel and "familiars" with gems, and of course, there's an in-game economy that involves both treasure and gems.
But there are no unique gem-only items. Once players have them, some of those players will sell for treasure; current exchange rates are roughly 1000 treasure to 1 gem. I can easily pick up 100k treasure in a day (in about an hour of play, maybe an hour and a half); hardcore players who go all-out can make a lot more.
So the split between "money players" and everyone else isn't as bad as in many games; often, it's a trade-off between "money players" and "time players" who have the time for grinding for treasure.
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Dragon "breed" and "genes" can be changed with "scrolls." Some scrolls cost treasure, which you earn by in-game activities; some cost gems, which you mostly buy. You can earn them through play, but it's very slow. (E.g. if you keep your dragons fed, you get 1 per day after the first three days. 1200-2400 gems buys a gene scroll...) Sample dragon - currently all basic (no genes) but with lots of apparel; scroll down in the "info" box for ideas of how I could scroll her up. (Almost none of those options involve premium-currency scrolls, because I'm usually not willing to pay for them.)
You can also buy some apparel and "familiars" with gems, and of course, there's an in-game economy that involves both treasure and gems.
But there are no unique gem-only items. Once players have them, some of those players will sell for treasure; current exchange rates are roughly 1000 treasure to 1 gem. I can easily pick up 100k treasure in a day (in about an hour of play, maybe an hour and a half); hardcore players who go all-out can make a lot more.
So the split between "money players" and everyone else isn't as bad as in many games; often, it's a trade-off between "money players" and "time players" who have the time for grinding for treasure.