Is Everquest Pay to Win?
Is World of Warcraft Pay to Win?
Is Final Fantasy XIV Pay to Win?
Those are questions that might have seemed silly to ask about some of the largest MMORPGs or longest lasting in 2023.
But the Box and Subscription model of the MMORPG may be dying, if it’s not already dead with precious few games left to hold the line against microtransactions. In this video we examine how games like Everquest and World of Warcraft that started as purely box and subscription games have slowly moved the line by adding in microtransactions with in-game shops, the WoW token, Krono, Level boosts, and more.
FFXIV is a bit different, unlike these other games it never really was a purely sub and box game, at least not when it relaunched as a realm reborn. Does FFXIV show the new reality for this monetization model for MMOs?
Is every MMO now going to be filled with microtransactions?
Everquest going pay to win? Perks announcement: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2frRJhBVjLk&t=
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most players in FFxiv do not buy the level and story skips.Players who do use those services are the folks who just raid and use cheats or buy raid ready accounts.They don't care about the story or the community they only care about raid content…I wonder if the Tarkov wiggle can be done in FFxiv as well?
Ngl I wouldn't even consider Final Fantasy as a "Pay to Win" game. The boosts for MSQ / Level things are things you can achive super fast regardless without spending money. It will never give you an advantage over players not buying it. Pay to win for me is when you are spending real money into something which other players cant obtain so you have a clear advantage over them. This clearly is never the case for any purchase you do in Final Fantasy.
Imo skipping the level part or even the Mainquest of an MMO is just not right, because you bought this game to play it and not instantly skip half or even more of the games playtime.
Thought provoking video. My own definition of Pay 2 Win was typically if a game allowed you to purchase better gear than you could obtain from work in the game (grinding tomes , raids, crafting, etc.) or locked significant benefits behind a paywall (Rift’s earring slots).
I can say that to the XIV boosts giving 500k gil, it may sound like a lot of money, but it’s not truly. As each patch that updates the crafted gear to catch up to the previous patch raid gear is released the crafters are making Bank when that patch launches. In the economy of the Crystal DC 500k might buy you a main piece of gear (chest or legs) with maybe enough change left to get a small piece (gloves or a helm).
Micro-transactions like glams, mounts, minions, emotes. Nah those aren’t going anywhere. The most common complaints I hear regarding them in the XIV community is for glamour armors being gender-locked, the item being undyeable, or that the entire look is fixed to a single gear slot (usually chest) instead of separate pieces for mix&match. The last time I can remember a debate about their existence was the introduction of the two seater Cruise Chaser mount in the store. Some vehemently argued this should have been a reward for the Alexander Ultimate raid. The regional promos for XIV also stir up hard feelings but nothing so far community breaking.
I will add a “micro” transaction that did put me off a game was before WoW updated their character models. Instead of giving players one free redesign if you didn’t like how the graphic changes altered your character’s appearance, Blizzard said we would just have to shell out the money for each character we wanted to fix. For my 22 characters over two accounts that was just a final straw.
You should check out guild wars 2, I just started and it seems most stuff can be bought with in game money. No sub, ftp model but more stuff if you buy the game and expansions.
I don't care as long as playing the game isn't paywalled. i.e. in order to kill boss # 5/10 in raid X you need to have 200+ fire resistance. Pay money to get 200+ fire resistance or grind for 10 years. That's effectively paywalled. It would be fine if it was like. You can buy this starter gear for 5 dollars and it will last you till you start getting gear from the first couple of dungeons but the starter gear is really not needed unless you are that bad at playing video games (yes, I'm that bad). Most games have starting quest lines that get you this starter gear now. So it's not a big deal. But I died so many times on my Palidan cause I could only ever find leather gear in crushbone. I never made it past level 14. And I'd die so much and de-level so many times. Now I'm not that bad, but I would have definitely paid for a starter set of gear back in 1999. So, really I am against pay to win, but pro, pay to die less and de-level less in the starting areas of the game.
So, Youtube comments is a rough place to have detailed discussions of things like really breaking down F2P/Hybrid/Box+Sub models and all variances thereof. So not gonna dive down that rabbit hole.
But, speaking to FFXIV specifically, there is one thing that (while I have a blast in the game) I think was missed as a big point. And, honestly a lot of folks miss it, especially if they're more casual players.
Retainers. Specifically, paying for more of them.
Retainers are not just automated fetch NPCs, they are also your combined bank/auction house capacity. So not only do high level retainers bring in potentially very valuable items from their Ventures, they also determine how much storage you have for those items and how many items in their storage you can have up for sale at any given time.
This loop is directly tied to the core of making Gil ingame, and that in turn drives things like your ability to bid stupid amounts for a house, buy rare materials from the AH, etc. Your capacity as a leveled or decently-leveled character to bring in money is tied very heavily to your Retainers.
And, if you may more per month, you can have additional retainers. It's an add-on to your sub. Pay a couple of bucks more per month? You now have 3 combined gatherer/banker/auctioneer NPCs working for you rather than the default 2. I touched on it when we played FFXIV and then did our breakdown/thoughts, and it was telling that very few people in the group noticed/knew about that, or had put that particular 2 and 2 together. It's almost sneaky in that it's not at all obvious on the surface just how much you can boost your money-making by paying more per month.
Watching popcorn . I know it's gonna be good
EQ has been pay to win a long time. You can buy your whole epic or keys to the RAID zone. This ruined the game especially with a rumored pvp TLP.
If the game has a Sub+Micro transactions I will not take it serious or play it long term. If the game has micro transactions in any way IMO it should be free2play, trying to stack a sub on top of that is just pure greed and it shows.
MMOs have been pay to win since MMOs were invented. The problem is gold / plat selling websites existed with these MMOs. Pay real money on these websites, and get in game currency traded to you. You then trade in game currency for in game items from other players. Players have been selling raid drops for in game currency ever since raids were a thing. Which is pretty much forever. If you think MMOs actually banned players for using these sites you are delusional. I know because I've done it myself. My friends / guild mates have done this as well. None of us were ever banned.
Some MMOs just got smart enough to realize they could make this website selling currency stuff money for themselves by introducing things like WoW tokens and Kronos.
The big bad pay to win is when they started adding gear and exp potions. They inflate the exp in these games by insane amounts to force you to need to buy these damn exp potions. I get the feeling they learned this from cellphone app games. Make these games restricted, very restricted. Then sell ways to unlock things faster. Selling "perks" is just another version of this as well. You pay for convenience.
Plot Twist: There is no winning in EQ……ever.
The only MMO I would play is the one that sticks to firm equal for all pay model. $20 per month is nothing for something I really like. Too bad there hasn't been a game like that for a while. A model that is free to play but sells cosmetics only, that do not affect gameplay is also fine.
I think it depends a bit on what definition of pay to win you use. The one I usually think of is acquiring meaningful advantages that you can not possibly acquire by simply playing. Forexample, you can buy a level skip and it can give you the best gear from the last expac and some money, it wont be Pay to Win by that definition, because you can acquire levels by playing, you can get the exact gear by playing, and you can get money by playing. You have received zero advantages that you couldn't get by playing normally. The moment you get an item that has just 1 more stat point than the max of any regular player though, say your best in slot raid reward gear has 205 STR and you can buy a set with 206, that then becomes pay to win.
Back in the early 2000s, I had more time than money. Now, I have more money than time. So, I don't mind a pay to win option in EQ/EQ2. It allows busy people to still enjoy the game.
WoW and FF14 are still the least egregious games as far as cash shops go. You can play and enjoy the whole game without ever spending a dime in a cash shop. There's no MTX for extra bag spaces (GW2), loot boxes (ESO), raid gear (Rift), etc. WoW doesn't have armor transmog items in the shop (unlike GW2, ESO, EQ1&2, and FF14).
I hate this video 🙁 Thanks for making it. having played all of these games since launch and seeing the creeping cancer that is monetisation, documented in chronological order makes me sad. It's 2023 and I'm still playing project 1999 because I hate all this crap so much. Let us hope that Pantheon arrives soon and it is sub fee only.
Thanks for the look-see! 👍
Yeah, it's all just a cash grab, and a blight on the reputations of some the most beloved MMOs of yore, to boot. 🤑🙄🤑
Anything that's not STRICTLY cosmetic in nature falls into the category of P2W, in my book.
I'm definitely going back to EQ2 though, and I'm going All Access (for access to the Varsoon server) but I will NOT spend any real money on their item shop (I will spend whatever 'game' currency they're doling out monthly though, for cosmetic stuff. 🤔)
And I don't care for XP potions/baubles either, and I never have. I enjoy taking my time in EQ2. In fact, I used to run my toons with leveling/adventuring XP turned OFF 80% of the time. 😆
Micro transactions aren't going anywhere because of the high ROI. doesn't cost much to make the shop item, and the money that can be made is too worth it for the companies to ignore. You can just hope that a) the money is being used well, and b) that it doesnt get too out of hand. I feel battle passes are probably the future for most games.
Lol. Back when EQ was 9.89 /month because of 989 studios
Come on, do you think a game creates itself, there has to be some money in developing a game, game developers have to eat as well