How many hours should I waste in that game before I become useful?

[Pᴀᴛʀᴏᴋʟᴏsᵀᴹ]

Everyone can decide on their own how much time they want to spend in this mod. It is true, that getting to the top levels and top gear takes a lot of time but otherwise it would get really boring for our old players. You don't need to spend huge amounts of time in this mod to get useful. You can be useful right when you start this game if you read the several guides for new players on our forum here. If you follow tricks and tips older players give you will get to a good level very soon and can help the team in a different way that before and will most likely enjoy the game much more but until then it's kind of the time where you are new and have get to know the game play a bit more. For me normal mode is the most fun mode anyway and you don't need to spend much time and you don't have to give up real life to get to a set of equipment that makes it possible to complete that mode. There my be some players that give up real life for this but most of us have NI just as a main hobby and are studying or working or going to school and meet friends in real life just like everyone else.