Yes, BDO is a p2w game. First you need to buy the game for 30 bucks minimum (cha ching!) Then you need:
- ghillie suit because trying to go somewhere outside the town is a respawn minigame, 30 buck, (cha ching!)
- pets are gained only from cash shop and now they give you with exchange all kind of exp bonuses (they already have loot pickup, enemy detection ... ) 24 bucks (cha ching!)
- gear customization is available only from a cash shop (which is not so problematic if it was the only issue) (30 per costume) (cha ching!)
You can bend over backward trying to explain, why stuff like this is not an advantage (apart from costumes) gained only from a cash shop but the truth is that you are either intellectually dishonest or you just don't know what p2w means. Actually it is pretty simple: you buy something that gives you advantage over other players.
Funny thing is that when the publisher is asked why the game has no gear customization they answer with: "Uh oh, guys please understand. We need to earn money in one way or another." Lmao, you force people to first buy the game, then limit the gameplay to a level that they need to buy tons of additional stuff just to not be penalized and you poor guys just cant find a way to earn money. They are such givers not a company, that Daum
They didn't waited a month to show their true colours.
p.s To people that white knighted the exp gain on costumes. Well munchkins now with pets it is 19% and I am pretty sure they will give additional bonuses to cha-ching users. Just wait a mon.. ahem week or so.
Comments
[mod edit] This isn't anymore P2W than Guild Wars 2 was. Stop overreacting.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
Like the ghillie suit - It gives you extra 300LT, means to hide your name and guild so it really not much pay to win. I mean 300LT is only 30 levels of str and it can be done in about 200 hours of running trade packs. Of course there is the keyboard rubber band trick to make that afk so I don't see a problem with it. Do you?
The pets are kind of just a bit easier to grab loot and boost experience and recovered karma if you get to trigger happy. You can spend 1900 bucks on inventory expansions it really not a problem with the ghillie suit to add that extra carry weight. Besides all calculations in combat are based on weight so it probably not wise to add to many slots and get over encumbered.
Then there is ET to always instant rez in case you die and not have any experience loss. If you miss 'v' you can always get a second chance to get away.
of course non of this is P2W it is just convince.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
As for pets they are mostly for looting since most people are lazy to pick up themselves. The bonus exp and whatnot are really useless on KR since leveling is not an issue. Some people would even refrain from overleveling as they want to farm a specific type of mob and overleveling would reduce the drop rate.
The only things worth buying are the inventory space which is not tradeable via broker, and the many costumes. The former is good to have though non-cash shop players do also get decent space just from quest rewards alone. The later is of course for eye candy, the default costume for sorceress makes her look like a hobo for crying out loud. The good thing is that most of those stuff are tradeable via broker, costumes, pets, even certain consumables.
Of course the downside is that people can and do make easy silver using that method. A costume set goes for as high as 70+m, which is a decent sum of cash to get one's character going. But then again, the tax is around 30% and the gears are really expensive, the best ones cost around 2-6 billion silvers.
The Ghillie suit adds gathering skill 1+ not LT. Get a clue. You get inventory expansions for just logging in and playing. Did someone at Daum kick your dog too? There are ways to take advantage of exp boosts without spending any money as well, and exp boosts don't stop you from becoming powerful they just make it take less time, that's convenience not over powered. Over powered is if I could spend $1k like Archeage and buy the best gear in the game and be unstoppable.
Sorry for the fan boys that are gona rage over this.For the others peace and western games FTW!
In War - Victory.
In Peace - Vigilance.
In Death - Sacrifice.
The suit makes players almost invisible in some landscapes and you can't see the person's name. I think if you have interest in this game test it out yourself cause whats good for one player isn't always good for another and everyone has a different perspective on what is good. The pets also have buffs that help out players or warn you if someone in pvp is there or give you extra xp / gathering so there is also and advantage there.
They'll loudly insist that they will be more than happy to spend money on a game if the game is "good enough". Strangely, they'll spend thousands of hours playing games that "are not good enough to pay for" !
If I look at the OP's alleged "essential item" list, then buying the game and all the required "P2W" items costs less than buying a traditional subscription MMO and subbing for 6 months. But then again, subs have been totally rejected because that expense cannot be "justified" (cough)...
In addition take a look at some upcoming Western games, some are basically money siphons even before being released selling p2w items for thousands of dollars. Yeah, Western games FTW.
Btw, from what I can tell the OP plays Tera, which is a game I also like but is far more p2w than BDO so not sure what his/her point is.
If you are interested in making a MMO maybe visit my page to get a free open source engine.
But it would be bad business to put strong advantage items in the cash shop straight away.
First let the players get invested in the game, let them get addicted, then introduce pay to win items.
People will complain, some will leave but many will stay and buy said items.
That's how I'd do it if I wanted to maximize profit off a F2P MMO.