Re: What is pay-to-win?

On 4/1/2024 7:24 AM, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:

On Sun, 31 Mar 2024 13:52:29 -0400, Mike S. <Mike_S@nowhere.com>
wrote:

On Sun, 31 Mar 2024 11:12:12 -0400, Spalls Hurgenson
<spallshurgenson@gmail.com> wrote:

 

Even then, its tricky. "Dragons Dogma 2" apparently charges for
quick-travel.

 

I do not think it does. -->
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4bwddmUOaSY

 Thank you for the update.
 Specifically, what Capcom sells is an item that lets you 'mark' a
destination to where you can fast-travel. My understanding is that the
game has two fast-travel mechanics. The first is an 'ox-cart' mechanic
where you need to find a specific NPC, and then he'll take you to a
limited set of locations on the map (think the siltwalkers from "Elder
Scrolls 3: Morrowind"). This is freely available to any player in the
game and there are no microtransactions regarding this feature.
 The second option is a magical teleport. For this, you need a special
item to 'bookmark' where you want to go; later, you can use another
item to teleport back to that spot (somewhat similar to the "Town
Portal" spells in Diablo). The items to save and teleport can be found
in game... but you can also buy them as DLC.

I'm not sure if it's the same mechanic as in the first game, but may be.   There's portal stones of which you only find a handfull in the game. They let you teleport to wherever you place them.  They can be picked up and moved though, so if you think you aren't going somewhere again you can pick it up and move it elsewhere.  You can also keep one with you so you can put it down, teleport to the city (which has an unmovable one) do some business, teleport back, then pick up the stone.
They also originally had portal stones which were single use.  Both of those were available as MTX.  The DA update added portal stone that doesn't get used up.

Is this pay-to-win? Arguably yes, since it allows players with bigger
wallets to zip around the map faster, avoiding grindy walking and
getting to encounters where they can gain XP and loot more quickly.
Yes, the necessary items can be found in-game, but they are rare
consumables, and you get definite mechanical advantage if you pay
Capcom just a bit more. The original assumption was wrong not in that
fast-travel was made into a pay-to-win mechanic, but in asserting that
that mechanic was available only to paid users.

It's more pay to progress faster (it's probably not really much faster,) and it's not that hard to get around if it works the same, it doesn't impact your ability to win fights, which is about about the only single player MTX I'd count as PTW.  The game's not PVP so you aren't paying to win anything in particular.  At least it doesn't have unavoidable repeat travel, though I would say open(er) world games are annoying just for having so much unremarkable travel to begin with.
--
-Justisaur
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