In recent years, experiments with the “pay-to-win” gaming model have been going on in the gaming industry. But results aren’t promising and they indicate that things will get worse before the pay-to-win revolution in the gaming industry. Although the MMOARPG Lost Ark is quite popular yet controversial, there are some other examples of pay-to-win games.
Recently, the Lost Ark came under heavy fire due to microtransactions and the launch of the Argos Abyss raid is thought to be the start of the whole scenario. The Argos Abyss was released to put the cooperation, equipment strength, and skills of players to the ultimate test. The only bad thing about this raid was the requirement of a level 1370 item.
In the start, things were good because players took the requirement lightly. Earlier, players were able to achieve the 1370 item level with a tier 3 gear that doesn’t require extensive grinding at all. But anything less than 1370 was a no for the raid and increasing the level at such point is a hurdle itself. This is where the pay-to-win model kicks in Lost Ark.
Players can’t even imagine taking part in the Argos Abyss raid if their item level is lower than 1370. Gear requirements are suggested but it is not a requirement in some other MMOs. In those games, players can queue for raids and other such events and stay motivated to meet the requirement quickly. In the case of Lost Ark, things are completely different and players have to use the built-in equipment upgrading system of the game to increase the item level to the desired point.
The number of levels of the item depends on how many resources you use on it. After some point in the game, your chances of successfully upgrading the item are very thin. Some players have reached the level 1370 for the Argos Abyss raid but they were lucky with their attempts.
Twitch broadcaster Asmongold called out Lost Ark’s developers for using below-the-bar methods on March 14th this year. Before the Argos Abyss raid, things were pretty normal because equipment up-gradation was an option at that time but now it’s rigged to its core. Some players are all set to spend their money on Lost Ark to upgrade their material and join the raid.
This will have an overall bad effect on multiplayer gameplay because players will opt for those who will have low-level equipment will be replaced with players who have high-level equipment. There is no option to survive in the game without spending a minimum amount.
Later this year, Asmongold again appeared on an online broadcast and shared his point of concern over the pay-to-win. The prediction also stated that the whole mindset about pay-to-win will change to a large extent. Due to in-game “social pressures” players who don’t spend their money will be considered inferior and looked down on by the gaming community.
At that time, everything was hypothetical but now things are getting closer to reality. 2019 recorded an incident where a middle school child was bullied by his classes mates for not buying any special Fortnite outfit and using the default outfit. The story came into the limelight when the child begged for money from his parents. This situation is known as micro transaction-based bullying and there are some other examples of the same situation here. The Children’s Commissioner for England organization conducted a study that involved new Fortnite gamers who didn’t spend any money on buying skins and were later bullied. You can buy lost ark gold at the cheapest price and upgrade your weapon to the desired level instantly.
Genshin Impact is yet another game that is implementing new methods to encourage players to go for the pay-to-win microtransactions. On the other hand, Genshin’s impact offers more characters because of more characters. Gems can be purchased with real money or earned over time and they are required to access all those locked characters. Deposit gems into the gacha system and obtain more powerful characters and characters as Lady Luck shines.
Enhance your characters by using the slot machine to get duplicated the same character. By looking at this, you can understand that more gems or money are required for the up-gradation of legendary characters.
Although monetization tactics in games like Lost Ark, Fortnite, and Genshin Impact differ, it’s difficult to overlook them. Like Genshin Impact, Lost Ark offers a luck-based upgrading system that works perfectly with monetization, and gamers who don’t utilize the cash store might be locked out of some experiences. Games hide their pay-to-win mechanics so that you may not even realize how incentivized you are to spend money Simply put, it’s becoming harder to spot pay-to-win games because the pay-to-win mechanics are becoming advanced.
Those are some of the best only pay-to-win games available. Warface is a famous example as it didn’t start as a pay-to-win game, but owing to a rental weaponry system, it gradually became one. While many pay-to-win games are =”free to play,” =recent premium titles like Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, Marvel’s Avengers, and NBA 2K22 are released with microtransactions that are steadily becoming more and more crucial in some way.
While Asmongold’s predictions may appear negative but considering the abundance of games with intrusive microtransactions and the social constraints that developers can readily impose on users, his statements are surprisingly sensible. Microtransactions in most pay-to-win games rely on poor chances or can result in social exclusion, but Lost Ark’s upgrading system and Argos Abyss raid requirements openly employ both of those principles. The game might end up becoming a testbed for how close a popular game can come to being pay-to-win without losing a large number of paying customers. Let’s hope that is not the case. If you are in search of a secure and fast method to buy currencies of a large number of popular games, MMOPixel is your best option.
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