is it really p2w

[Hokagefall]

is this game fully p2w

[blc]

Depends what you compare it to. You can buy heroes that require less currency to be good from the auction house. And a few pets can give you an advantage.

But if you compare it to games like Lost ark it is not even close. You don't get so much stronger by throwing money on the screen.

[VeraelHasta]

It is more like "Pay to have a 10% edge".

But the P2W feeling comes from devs drowning you in payment options. For example there is an event now. But to access it you have to check the same screen that has all the boons, login rewards etc. And there are like 10 or 15 of them at once. And I'm not even counting Battle pass (two of them in fact) and a bunch of other money draining things on other screens.

So while the P2W is not super big, the game tries to have every last one of the "EnGaGemEnT MecHaNIcs". Obviously 90% of them are random.

[Nebucadneza]

you can reach 1 billion dps without spending a cent.
spending money for other things than stash space or seasonpass is for ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥.
all the gatcha stuff doesnt give you a real advantage. its just numbers to trick your brain.
they should just reworkt the pet system and keep the cosmetics gatcha. to remove any p2w aspect.

[軒轅超人QAQ]

so yeah mebe Developer say in the about
dps nerfing something that build not perfect design.

[Mirai]

The P2W claims came largely from the fact that pets give you stat bonuses and you can buy pets, therefore the idea you can buy power but playing the game, you'll see that this really has almost no impact on the game for most players. I have one of the paid pets for .. some reason? Not sure how I got it but it just has a different stat layout than the other pets. I'm only using it right now because it has the stats I'm looking for, there are other pets that would have suited my needs almost as well or just as well if I used different gear. Even if some of the pets do provide a boost over the normal pets, it looks to be very small and would not be something you would feel until you were at the highest difficulties of the game and that is a point most people are not going to get to and thus not be impacted by it.

[Aj Cheeze]

i would rate it a 2/10 pay to win.(11 being Diablo immortal) class unlocks to me are more like extra content and replay-ability. they are not necessarily better or worse just diffrent ways to build charaters. You can unlock a few with hero emblems so if one was just Overpowered you could get it as a free player. as for the gatcha mechanic of pets. a small investment is a waste of your money, you advance further by playing the game at this level. if you invest a whale of money, sure your character can be a few % better. if your build and gear is bad, no amount of money will fix you, you should probably have been following somebodies guide to hold your hand.

[LotusBlade]

A lot of misleading facts in those answers. Yes, game is pay to win. Yes, you can reach 1b dps without paying, the problem is, this is far away from damage you need to clear late-game content, even "path of brave stage 1" requires good 250m dps and that's the easiets one.

Pets can increase DROP. And this game all about drop. VIP pass allows to auto-collect a lot more than normal auto-collect, so you spend less time on grind. Buying auction house stashes allows to trade a lot more. You cannot play newly released characters and traits unless you buy them for money OR wait 3 months and grind to unlock just 1.

[virpyre]

It is important to remember that games are what you make them. If you're content with enjoying Infinite’s game play mechanics and base loot systems, you can probably still find hours of fun in the game without spending any money.

However the game does lock new characters behind a $15 Battle Pass, the character themselves aren't pay-to-win, but it's still not a great system and one that can push people away from the F2P game. You can unlock those new characters after they've been out for 2-3 months so long as you have hero emblems to pay for them.

Additionally certain Pactspirits can be considered P2W, as they offer a huge role in your overall damage potential.

That said, as time goes on, you might feel more pressured to spend money in order to boost your damage and compete at higher levels of difficult content.

[DarkMantle]

Thanks, this whole thread made it clear to me that I should stay away from this title. A shame, I really enjoyed the previous Torchlights.

[BabyChaos]

I don't see how this thread makes you feel to stay away... Care to elaborate? I'm really curious.

Yes, "technically" it's p2w cause you can buy power in the form of pets. Realistically the devs could remove pets from the game and you wouldn't notice it. The truly powerful ones are whale bait that only 0,1% of the playerbase use. And it doesn't impact your own experience.

Same goes for improved loot pet / trade tabs; the amount of extra currency you get from those is basically irrelevant to your overall income unless you want to play the auction house or have no idea how to make currency (and therefore need every single penny you can get).

Hero Traits. 9,- for a new heo is kinda fair considering how much playtime you get out of it. You also get one for free every season. And they are not more powerful than the free ones. Standard heroes simply have a larger playerbase, so more people need the same items. If you buy an OP hero trait that is not available for free, prices for your gear will be even higher. It's a player driven economy not some crazy conspiracy by the devs to trick you into buying new heroes.

That being said, brand new heroes tend to be slightly op because I assume the devs follow League of Legends' philosophy of releasing a new character rather too powerful than too weak and then adjust later. You can still reach the same powerlevel with existing characters. Think about it differently: What if you bought the season pass for the shiny new character and it would suck? I guess, you would be dissappointed.

There's so much misconception about this game's monetization, it's actually baffling. Just recently someone in chat started to rant about how 25,- for a new character is such a massive ripoff and I was like "Wait what? That number seems wrong". I guess any discussion is a lost cause; the game has been branded as p2w eventhough it's less costly than poe or other f2p games that almost literally force you to pay at some point.

edit: just for reference:

I've beaten all content in the game, including the ridiculously overtuned event bosses, last season and this season. I also finished 17th in the Aeterna reace without even trying and I did it with a standard character both times (Moto this season, Carino last season).

Not a single penny spent.

edit 2:

To be fair, I beat this seasons boss with Thea which I bought with f2p Tokens but I did the race with Moto.

[Pibadi]

The NEW SEASONAL pet is ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ 100% P2W - this pet give a TONs of FE drop and other stuff. People who get it in day 1 - get 30+k of FE from trading and pure drop.

[BabyChaos]

"That's bait"

[LotusBlade]

So gonna add a bit more from my own experience. Since i won some real-money currency from forum event, bough VIP stash for trading and it REALLY helped me out during season. Having extra 12 trade slots is super helpful during first crucial weeks of season start.

I also switched into triple Drop quantity pets, which helped me get a lot more x3 x6 and even x10 flame elementium quite fast. So yeah, pets do matter, let alone this overpowered seasonal Aetherna legendary pet who gives you free 5-10 City Nodes every time you finish city. Combined with Benevolent card deck you get tons of FE without need for trading, which helps to transition into second month of season and still be able to generate currency fast.

Those 2 mechanics i mentioned are not "must have", but they are determinal point wether you will enjoy game from get go or struggle. Without them i would long ago quit playing.

[Sigilanda]

I downloaded it and regret it. I need real life money to unlock a champion. Picked Iris and get info that i need to pay tremendous ammount of money to just unlock it and play. It's a scam. There are better F2P games with only cosmetics microtransactions, and not such paywall. Now i know why this game have so much bad reviews.

[Mirai]

Originally posted by Sigilanda:

I downloaded it and regret it. I need real life money to unlock a champion. Picked Iris and get info that i need to pay tremendous ammount of money to just unlock it and play. It's a scam. There are better F2P games with only cosmetics microtransactions, and not such paywall. Now i know why this game have so much bad reviews.

The game is very good and you have a selection of free heroes to choose from, with the option to unlock the paid heroes later on .. however, I've said many times on the forums and elsewhere .. pay-walling heroes is a *bad* idea and it is because of this very reaction here. Finding a character you want to play can be a big part of what you gets you into a game, so for them to say "aha, not until you pay!" is a big mistake. They're just costing themselves players for no reason and really need to get their cosmetic shop in order with better options, and without the gacha slot machine mechanics.