What counts as "pay to win" is very different for a lot of people. I'd say pay to win is already "paying money to skip ahead of non-paying players". I intentionally phrased that a bit loosely. Buying transmute gems to skip the grind for gems, which are already there to skip grind for gear (but not to replace it entirely), comes down to paying for BiS gear with money. That's pretty pay-to-win in my opinion.
It's a little different for the Indrik imo, because unlike transmutation gems, tickets are limited, provide cosmetic items only (so far), and are meant as a catch-up mechanic and not a replacement (just like transmutation gems) as can be seen by the rediculous price of 250 crowns per ticket.
Since the introduction of gifting and the resulting crown exchange, we already have a pay to win situation in a way, but it is at least tied to outside conditions and willing players to pay gold. The grind doesn't disappear, but it gets outsourced and that is at least somewhat legit compared to completely skipping it.
*sigh*
p2w means you can obtain bis gear exclusively with money. Someone buying some tm stones to shortcut a wait of 10 days from rotw boxes hardly fits that definition. Or someone buying riding lessons so their mount runs faster than the speed of slow, again, doesn't fit that definittion.
They could simply adjust so that players could actually sell transmutation "stones" via guild traders. Nothing in terms of pay to win and problems solved. Simple ast that.
david_m_18b16_ESO wrote: »What counts as "pay to win" is very different for a lot of people. I'd say pay to win is already "paying money to skip ahead of non-paying players". I intentionally phrased that a bit loosely. Buying transmute gems to skip the grind for gems, which are already there to skip grind for gear (but not to replace it entirely), comes down to paying for BiS gear with money. That's pretty pay-to-win in my opinion.
It's a little different for the Indrik imo, because unlike transmutation gems, tickets are limited, provide cosmetic items only (so far), and are meant as a catch-up mechanic and not a replacement (just like transmutation gems) as can be seen by the rediculous price of 250 crowns per ticket.
Since the introduction of gifting and the resulting crown exchange, we already have a pay to win situation in a way, but it is at least tied to outside conditions and willing players to pay gold. The grind doesn't disappear, but it gets outsourced and that is at least somewhat legit compared to completely skipping it.
*sigh*
p2w means you can obtain bis gear exclusively with money. Someone buying some tm stones to shortcut a wait of 10 days from rotw boxes hardly fits that definition. Or someone buying riding lessons so their mount runs faster than the speed of slow, again, doesn't fit that definittion.
That is your definition, not THE definition.
It's amazing how many players have an extremely narrow definition of P2W either based on their experiences with other games or what the impact is to the parts of the game they enjoy.david_m_18b16_ESO wrote: »That is your definition, not THE definition.
david_m_18b16_ESO wrote: »*sigh*
p2w means you can obtain bis gear exclusively with money. Someone buying some tm stones to shortcut a wait of 10 days from rotw boxes hardly fits that definition. Or someone buying riding lessons so their mount runs faster than the speed of slow, again, doesn't fit that definittion.
That is your definition, not THE definition.
You're confused, it's been THE definition since p2w was a thing.
You can call a cat a dog as much as you like it won't start wagging its tail and barking at you.
david_m_18b16_ESO wrote: »*sigh*
p2w means you can obtain bis gear exclusively with money. Someone buying some tm stones to shortcut a wait of 10 days from rotw boxes hardly fits that definition. Or someone buying riding lessons so their mount runs faster than the speed of slow, again, doesn't fit that definittion.
That is your definition, not THE definition.
You're confused, it's been THE definition since p2w was a thing.
You can call a cat a dog as much as you like it won't start wagging its tail and barking at you.
You mean A definition in urban dictionary. However, there are better sources of information.
Transmute items are special items that allow you to change the trait on gear, but it takes time in order to obtain them. If you don't have the transmute stones you can spend months farming gear in the proper trait. Selling them outright in the crown store for money IS pay-to-win.In some games, players who are willing to pay for special items or downloadable content may be able to gain an advantage over those playing for free who might otherwise need to spend time progressing in order to unlock said items.
MovesLikeJaguar wrote: »I mean it's technically not pay to win
So upgrading that training staff to sharpened, infused or nirnhoned won't boost your damage? Or changing those training armor pieces to impen won't keep you alive longer in PvP?
Selling anything that enhances your effectiveness in game is p2w, no matter how you look at it
Really? So, precisely what advantages are conferred upon purchaser of transmute stones that non-paying cheapskates can't obtain in game?
You mean other than being able to upgrade any gear they want at will, while I wait 30 days just to be able to upgrade 1 item? Calling people who don't spend money in the crown store 'cheapskates' is a little below the belt. I still sub and buy chapters. Considering the horrible performance this game offers I don't know why, but I do.
Then maybe yo shouldn't be so frivolous in your use of them then. I have 8 characters all geared up and still am sitting on over 2000 of them.
Not really relevant though. Not p2w by any stretch of the imagination.
I mean, sure, you can grind multiple characters to get more stones, but if you play only one then you're out of luck. This blurb from althead sums it rather nicely:Games that have the pay to win system incorporated usually try to obfuscate this trait by allowing players unlock everything by in-game means. Their developers and publishers will claim that ''players can either invest their time or their money in order to unlock items or progress through the game''. This sentence is a red flag you should never ignore, as in all cases up to this point it literally translated into ''you will either cough up the money or spend hundreds of hours grinding and still be at a disadvantage compared to someone who bought progression''. Cue Ubisoft Starter Edition meme.
How often do you transmute and what does it get you anyway? I'm sitting on 200 crystals and a lot of uncracked geodes and I don't know what to do with them.
Facefister wrote: »I also want a loot chest, including monster helmets, for 1000 crowns at the very beginning of the dungeon/trial. Hey, I am going to clear it anyways so I just pay for convenience.MovesLikeJaguar wrote: »I mean it's technically not pay to win. It's convenience just like paying for your mount speed 1000 crowns at a time. With 12 characters all maxed and playable, you can get between 30 and 80 a day already, though that takes a long time. I currently have 3 characters i can do it on a day, and I get 20 on a good day when I feel like playing all 3 characters. If it's like that, they'd probably charge something like 1,000 crowns for 50 transmute stones, or possibly even just a transmute coupon that lets you transmute for free for a similar price.
Selling stuff who give an advantage and is either hard or time consuming to get is seen as P2W by most.It's amazing how many players have an extremely narrow definition of P2W either based on their experiences with other games or what the impact is to the parts of the game they enjoy.david_m_18b16_ESO wrote: »That is your definition, not THE definition.
It's a very general term based on what one considers winning to be. So to a player who is mainly interested in collecting and considers 'winning' to be collecting everything, most of the Crown store could be considered P2W.
ZOS is already sliding down the slippery slope of manufacturing inconveniences that Crown store purchases can resolve. We should not encourage them to go further down that path or the result will be even more tedious gameplay that you can avoid by paying extra.
@Merlightshaielzafine wrote: »We already have things like XP scrolls in the store to make life convenient.
Whose life?