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

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.

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.

(more…)