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0 pointskryogen1c5y ago0 comments

> F2P-with-purchases

this misses the core issue. a game like path of exile is completely playable for free - and they release new content quarterly and yearly (again, for free). a game like Raid Shadow Legends is not - you very rapidly hit a paywall and it would take years of free play to acquire power equivalent to spending $100.

the exploitative nature is pay to win, where youre simply playing a different game unless you spend money.

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lmm5y ago

There's nothing wrong with an honest pay-to-win game. The dangerous part is the randomness.

hakfoo5y ago

While I agree with your sentiment, I have to wonder if it would be possible to make a non-random pay-to-win game be compelling both from a financial and gameplay standpoint.

Say you can buy max-level weapons/characters/whatever for a defined price. The meta rapidly breaks down to "this is the highest yield of power per dollar" and "the optimal build costs exactly USD 1143.76."

It's not compelling for new players to say "I know that I'm going to eventually spend eleven hundred bucks if I love this game." You can't dangle the chance of getting a super-powered item on that first 99 cent lootbox to get someone on the IAP treadmill. I'd expect the game design itself would have to feature hard breakpoints to trigger a purchase/hundred hour grind moment.

And then, how do you convince the whales to pony up 5 and 6 figures once they possess an optimal build? Fashion and equivalent power churn only goes so far.

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