Lost Ark and the Intellectual Dishonesty of Pay to Win Denial

I'm Kephas, a legally blind guy who happens to love video games. And I enjoy sharing my gaming experiences with anyone willing to watch. So thanks for watching and supporting me by liking, sharing, and commenting!

[elsotanodelhorror]

hi, do you plan on updating your gse macros for 9.2?

[seanslayer]

how accessible is this game like is there alot of stuff i need to set up?

[morningstarxiv]

Something all these vids have been missing. You don't have to pay real money for a crystalline aura sub. Make gold on the market and use the gold to buy crystals. Took me a couple hrs to get a 30 day without paying a dime.

[Bobblybook]

Pay to win is not about whether you can obtain the same content without paying. I never understood why people try and use that argument.

If any purchase in a real money shop gives your character more performance after purchasing it (by whatever metric you measure performance.. combat power, speed of gathering world resources, better visual indicators or clarity in combat, etc..) then this is pay to win. People can argue the severity or degree of how much this effects the game, but it's a pretty clear-cut definition in my mind.

[TrainerFei]

Definitely a pay to win early game. You can technically get everything else by grinding and being free to play, but paying to win is a lot easier. PVP is an even playing field. We do not know if this will change in the future though. PVE on the other hand is very grindy and players can pay to get ahead. Free to play players just have to grind or make use of the online auction system. Here is how I see the pay to win system. The limitations that pay to win players get to avoid by paying is just like the laws that are only enforced with fines, fees, or tickets. Everyone is given a choice. You can either park in a spot that is close to your destination that would cost you a fine/ticket/fee or you could park at the free parking 3-10 blocks away that has limited parking spaces with high competition. As we can see, a person hard on cash might choose to park at the free parking, we cannot say always because people will risk going in debt to get ahead. On the other hand, a person who has a good amount of money will easily fork over the money to get things done quicker to save time because they can afford it. My wife for example will pay the $35 ticket just to park outside of her job in a "pay to win" parking spot instead of parking in the parking garage that she can use for free.

[XAnnymousX]

The problem with the argument is that everyone seems to have their own definition of what pay to win even is.

Pay to win means spending money gives you an advantage over someone that doesn't. This game is clearly pay to win

The game is still fun

[circle_it]

So as a whole I don’t disagree with your argument. But you’re setting up a specific argument and then tearing it down within a vacuum. The vacuum is created by dismissing other possible counterarguments than the one you set up in your video. An example is “Pay to Progress” or “Pay for Convenience.” I don’t find pay to progress to be intellectually dishonest. But my definition of it fits more in line with your definition of “Pay to Win.” I see Pay to Progress to be just that, pay to progress faster to the end game content, which Lost Ark is. Hence why I agree with your argument as a whole. But I define “Pay to Win” as a game that provides gear or character benefits that are not obtainable in any other manner or require hundreds of hours to obtain. It’s good that you defined your definition of Pay to Win but there’s more overlap in definitions than your constructed debate allows and no one is allowed to explain themselves because from the onset you dismiss other perspectives from the table. The sort of player you speak of being intellectually dishonest does exist but are not among the streamers.

[Doflaminguard]

I dont know about his post. Saw streamers already at tier3 f2p. If you pay for something that you can get for free then its your own fault.

[nathanjergens]

I don't think it's intellectual dishonesty to define winning as long as you're willing to concede that depending on the definition the game could be pay to win. Overall I believe pay to win should be defined as any game that implements microtransactions that are effectively required in order to progress or reasonably compete with other players. I agree that incentivizing players to pay for things on top of the game/subscription cost can feel dirty(looking at you WoW) but in other games it doesn't feel as bad(PoE). I think everyone needs to dig into the game and make up their own mind or find a content creator who's views typically align with their own.

[tysonbargenquast]

P2W to me is getting an advantage that is unobtainable without paying.

[Justaguy]

for pvp the game is pretty even, but the pve is for sure pw2, but i like the game it's fun and i like to play at my own speed anyways

[Kauko]

The game is P2W to me, when I can't keep up with players that use the shop. You mentioned WoW, here you don't have to use the shop. You can, but this still doesn't mean that players that don't use it have no chance. Its still easier and cheaper to find a guild/m+ team. In some other games, if you don't use the shop you have no chance. This is P2W. You can do all the hard work, be in great guilds/teams, play a lot yet you are waay behind... And about single player games... developers are just pathetic. And media supporting them is even worse... I don't know why players still support them/dont realize what is happening.

[yahi]

It's free to play and it's pay to win as a PvE player i don't care it's a good game.