pay to win Archives - Alternate Image Gaming

Is it Pay to Win? Raid: Shadow Legends

November 15, 2021November 16, 2021

Welcome to ‘Is it Pay to Win’ – a column where we examine a game and decide if that game is has aspects of pay to win and to what extent. Check out Is it Pay to Win?: Defined to see how we break down the components of pay to win (p2w), such as pay for advantage, pay for convenience, and pay for cosmetics.

Raid: Shadow Legends describes itself as a “mythical RPG with hundreds of champions and 14 factions”. While it’s originally a mobile game, it is also available on PC. It features champion collection (with level and gearing of those champions), dungeon bosses, a campaign (with a story, sort of) clans, tournaments, events and more. It has a cash shop that allows you to buy most things you could acquire in game.

Scoring:

Pay for Power: 4/5
Pay for Advantage: 4/5
Pay for Convenience: 4/5
Pay for Cosmetics: 3/5
Pay to Win: 3.86

See below for a brief game play description and a detailed breakdown of how we come up with those scores.

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Elyon

Elyon Goes Free to Play + Delay

September 11, 2021September 11, 2021

Kakao announced today that Elyon was going to go free to play as well having a near month delay. While the game going free to play isn’t shocking, what is unexpected is the timing, as many assumed it would be out for a few months before that transition might occur. In this video, we discussed their announcement, the reason for the change as well as the implications of what “free to play” means to their cash shop.

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Elyon Is It Pay to Win?

Is It Pay to Win? Elyon (Ascent: Infinite Realm)

August 27, 2021August 27, 2021

Elyon (formerly Ascent: Infinite Realm) is a korean MMORPG developed by Bluehole and is being published for Western audiences by Kakao. The game has 5 classes with a large variety of skills. It features both PVP and PVE. The game must be purchased (buy to play) and has a cash shop with microtransactions.

Scoring:

Pay for Power: 2/5
Pay for Advantage: 3/5
Pay for Convenience: 5/5
Pay for Cosmetics: 5/5
Pay to Win: 3.14/5

Here’s a video discussion of the cash shop. Continue reading for a break down of the games system, an explanation for those scores and our final verdict on the game.

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Editorial Is It Pay to Win?

Is Pay to Win Bad?

June 14, 2021June 29, 2021

Games being p2w is nothing new. With the rise of mobile popularity and the expansion of the mobile loot box, gatcha game, able-to-buy-everything business model into traditional the console/pc gaming market, pay to win is definitely not going away. The topic for today, though, is how in most circles calling a game pay to win is one of the worst insults you can give. Bad graphics can be “retro” and buggy gameplay can be “early access”, but pay to win has no excuse… Or does it?

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Is It Pay to Win? World of Warcraft

Is it Pay to Win?: World of Warcraft

April 10, 2021April 10, 2021

World of Warcraft is a game that needs no introduction, but, we’re going to do it anyway. World of Warcraft or WoW is one of the worlds preeminent MMORPGs. It has a purchase cost (buy to play), a monthly subscription (pay to play), a token that can be bought with cash and sold for in game currency, and cash shop with game services and cosmetics.

Scoring:

Pay for Power: 3/5
Pay for Advantage: 5/5
Pay for Convenience: 3/5
Pay for Cosmetics: 4/5
Pay to Win: 3.4/5

Continue reading to see a game description and how we came up with those scores.

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Is It Pay to Win?

Is it Pay to Win?: League of Legends

November 16, 2020November 16, 2020

League of Legends is one of the most popular MOBA games of all time. It is free to play with an earnable currency and a purchasable currency that is used to buy their premium items.

Scoring:

Pay for Power: 0/5
Pay for Advantage: 1/5
Pay for Convenience: 3/5
Pay for Cosmetics: 5/5
Pay to Win: 1.6/5*

Keep reading to see a rough game description, our basis for these scores and our overall verdict.

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