Well it was a beautiful idea while it lasted, too bad many people didn't seem to understand how unusually non-p2w and fair the monetization system actually was. It was close to being the holy grail of a non-p2w mmo (at least these days), now it appears to be the usual p2w crap, what a turn around!
Sorry to be off topic but... What's wrong with these stalkers going on all posts from someone that did a reply clicking on "LOL" button in every single one (even on posts in another threads)?
That's just Gdemami the local village idiot. Never mind him.
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
Paying is the upgraded version of the game. Get with the program already
Only a complete idiot is surprised by this , And many tried to warn the community of this .. But we were trolls and reported and and why are you picking on my internet gf ...
Listen , some people can look out the window at the Big Backyard of MMOs to play and we see the dogpies lying out there and know to avoid them , Others need to run out in the yard yell gleefully at how great it is roll around in it , then .. " Hey! whats that .. *sniff* *sniff* Hey ! aww man it all over meh shoes .. dam the stank "
Then they need to hose themsleves off of the stank .. This thread is the beginning of the hosing
The equivalent of paying to advance faster in chess would be the equivalent of paying to checkmate your opponent as oppose to playing to checkmate your opponent.
Now that's not to say that there aren't some cash shops that are more in line with the concept of "playing to advance," but in most cash shop instances that just isn't the reality.
If these items were already on sale for money,and were not considered as p2w items,what's the difference in buying them with gold that makes the game p2w? Just because the players that sell them will make gold? So what?
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
P2W is simple - cash shops sells the most powerful gear that is FAR better than everything else in game and cannot be obtained in any other way but spending real money
That is p2w.
That is exactly the basis behind the majority of most cash shops.
so are they P2W, are they a misnomer, or is it "pay to advance faster?"
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
P2W is simple - cash shops sells the most powerful gear that is FAR better than everything else in game and cannot be obtained in any other way but spending real money
That is p2w.
What everyone is talking about is pay to avoid playing for 800 hours to get to the same point as somebody who spend 800 hours to get all the currency to buy the same gear.
It's pay to advance faster.
It's pay to fast-track but the items you get are they same as any top player in game in BIS gear.
So you end up on equal footing as other top players, the only difference is the time and money spent on getting there but once there - everyone is on same footing.
Those with a crapton of time can get there.
Those with a crapton of money can get there faster.
The final point - is an equilibrium so how is that p2w? It's pay to advance faster.
Of course this is your Opinion of P2W others will and do vary , the only correct one is what each individual views as P2W ..
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
P2W is simple - cash shops sells the most powerful gear that is FAR better than everything else in game and cannot be obtained in any other way but spending real money
That is p2w.
What everyone is talking a it is pay to avoid playing for 800 hours to get to the same point as somebody who spend 800 hours to get all the currency to buy the same gear.
It's pay to advance faster.
It's pay to fast-track but the items you get are they same as any top player in game in BIS gear.
So you end up on equal footing as other top players, the only difference is the time and money spent on getting there but once there - everyone is on same footing.
Those with a crapton of time can get there.
Those with a crapton of money can get there faster.
The final point - is an equilibrium so how is that p2w? It's pay to advance faster.
I think what a lot of us our feeling is due to the fact a cash type player didn't suffer enough to get there. I agree it isn't technically P2W but maybe it should be? If you spend countless hours grinding and suffering there has to be some validity to to it I mean if there isn't then why the hell did we waste so much time? Wait that last sentence was deep, but oddly enlightening
Thank God for edit. I hate rereading a post I made and realizing how stupid it sounded.
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
P2W is simple - cash shops sells the most powerful gear that is FAR better than everything else in game and cannot be obtained in any other way but spending real money
That is p2w.
What everyone is talking about is pay to avoid playing for 800 hours to get to the same point as somebody who spend 800 hours to get all the currency to buy the same gear.
It's pay to advance faster.
It's pay to fast-track but the items you get are they same as any top player in game in BIS gear.
So you end up on equal footing as other top players, the only difference is the time and money spent on getting there but once there - everyone is on same footing.
Those with a crapton of time can get there.
Those with a crapton of money can get there faster.
The final point - is an equilibrium so how is that p2w? It's pay to advance faster.
Define faster. When one has to grind non-stop ingame currency for 3 months in order to exchange that for cash-shop currency to buy one "very useful" or must have item, then P2W or not doesn't even matter anymore to many.
P2W is simple - cash shops sells the most powerful gear that is FAR better than everything else in game and cannot be obtained in any other way but spending real money
That is p2w.
What everyone is talking about is pay to avoid playing for 800 hours to get to the same point as somebody who spend 800 hours to get all the currency to buy the same gear.
It's pay to advance faster.
It's pay to fast-track but the items you get are they same as any top player in game in BIS gear.
So you end up on equal footing as other top players, the only difference is the time and money spent on getting there but once there - everyone is on same footing.
Those with a crapton of time can get there.
Those with a crapton of money can get there faster.
The final point - is an equilibrium so how is that p2w? It's pay to advance faster.
Define faster. When one has to grind non-stop ingame currency for 3 months in order to exchange that for cash-shop currency to buy one "very useful" or must have item, then P2W or not doesn't even matter anymore to many.
Not only that, but what he also fails to realize is that many players may not posses the skill or capability to attain the elite gear requirements to be able to compete, and therefore, win at the highest level. Buying that "elite" requirement, be it via gear or a high level toon, would, in fact, constitute an accurate example of P2W. Because without having "bought" that "elite" gear or toon, that player would not have otherwise been capable of "achieving," or "winning" those higher level encounters.
Sorry to be off topic but... What's wrong with these stalkers going on all posts from someone that did a reply clicking on "LOL" button in every single one (even on posts in another threads)?
Gdemami is just trying to raise the score of random people to get more people rare and epic. He's responsible for a large fraction of the LOL clicks on this entire forum, you know.
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
P2W is simple - cash shops sells the most powerful gear that is FAR better than everything else in game and cannot be obtained in any other way but spending real money
That is p2w.
That is exactly the basis behind the majority of most cash shops.
so are they P2W, are they a misnomer, or is it "pay to advance faster?"
Make up your mind.
I think you missed my point.
What you quoted right there is what I consider actually worthy of the label "pay to win" - lets say there ia a hypothetical game where as you spend money in the cash shop you get gear that puts you in god-mode, and the only way to obtain this is from the cash shop.
Other players who didn't spend any money in this hypothetical game can never catch up to you as the god-mode gear is not available via normal gameplay.
That is pay to win - and yet when p2w is brought up by many players what they really mean us pay to advance faster.
If these items were already on sale for money,and were not considered as p2w items,what's the difference in buying them with gold that makes the game p2w? Just because the players that sell them will make gold? So what?
This is a very good question and the answer is key as to why the monetization model was so outstanding.
Like you say the items for sale on the pearl store were basically not p2w. It was also basically impossible to buy gold through third party sites. The pvp side of the game is all about gear. The more money you have the easier to upgrade gear. Now that you can buy gold through selling cash shop items in game for gold you can get better gear by paying real money, so the player who spends more can be stronger- p2w. The next step would be to sell items that prevent gear from breaking when upgrading.
Previously the game was one of the least p2w mmo on the market. What amazed me is that many people didn't appreciate that. Everyone focused on a $40 costume that helps in pvp- classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
I think P2W is a broader term than just "Is there gear in the shop to buy with real money" to a lot of people. P2A or Pay to Advantage is a lighter form of P2W in my opinion. Many people consider anything bought with real money that can be used to your advantage in the game world over other players to be, even slightly, P2W. In a F2P game it is almost expected the publisher would allow for that. Seeing as it is a business after all. A business who's requirements to play it are simply to download it and log in. For a game that has an entrance fee or sub, I would think the majority of players would not consider that in the best interest of the game's players as a whole nor the economy of the game. This applies even more so in a game that PvP plays such a large part of. All this is just my humble opinion of course. Because as we have seen for years now and in this thread today, P2W means different things to different people.
Well said we can all put this thread to rest. Let us now move onto the next problem in gaming. We should spend more time analyzing 0's and 1's an its relationship with happiness, or lack thereof.
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
P2W is simple - cash shops sells the most powerful gear that is FAR better than everything else in game and cannot be obtained in any other way but spending real money
That is p2w.
You contradict your own post right there.
Is it P2W or is it "pay to advance faster?"
Make up your mind.
Well if you go by his definition there isn't a single P2W game out there and someone could throw thousands of dollars at a game but not buy the best items in the game only available in the cash shop.
"You CAN'T buy ships for RL money." - MaxBacon
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
I asked a question some pages ago and didn't see an answer. I still want an answer. Anyway, my question is:
Does this materially affect anything outside of the endgame? If you want to argue that there is no endgame, then does it materially affect anything outside of high level gameplay?
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
P2W is simple - cash shops sells the most powerful gear that is FAR better than everything else in game and cannot be obtained in any other way but spending real money
That is p2w.
What everyone is talking a it is pay to avoid playing for 800 hours to get to the same point as somebody who spend 800 hours to get all the currency to buy the same gear.
It's pay to advance faster.
It's pay to fast-track but the items you get are they same as any top player in game in BIS gear.
So you end up on equal footing as other top players, the only difference is the time and money spent on getting there but once there - everyone is on same footing.
Those with a crapton of time can get there.
Those with a crapton of money can get there faster.
The final point - is an equilibrium so how is that p2w? It's pay to advance faster.
I think what a lot our feeling is due to the fact a cash type player didn't suffer enough to get there. I agree it isn't technically P2W but maybe it should be? If you spend countless hours grinding and suffering there has to be some validity to to it I mean if there isn't then why the hell did we waste so much time? Wait that last sentence was deep, but oddly enlightening
So yeah - I sort of view it like this:
Imagine 2 players meet in RL - one who has all the time and very little money and one who has all the money and very little time
They are both at end game - so the first player says "I wish I had all that money, I could have gotten all this gear just by paying!" -
And the other would say "I just wish I had all that time to play games"
Haha. Very true my friend and that was a perfect way of putting it.
Good god, remember the days of $14.99 sub and nothing else. Yes that was the good old days, now people are analyzing shit till the cows come home. MMOs nowadays are shit , with shit monetizing systems. Not hard to see that.
Gamers brought this upon themselves. I vividly remember the heated P2P vs F2P debates before F2P really took hold. The majority vehemently argued for F2P, actually believing they where playing the game for free, ignorant of the mess this business model would eventually have on the MMO genre. This was before cash shops had been fine tuned to become the massive cash grabs they are today. Some of the more naive players still argue for F2P not realizing that when it is all said and done, their expenditures will far exceed $15 per month. Nowadays, even P2P and B2P games have cash grab cash shops incorporated into their business models.
We only have ourselves to blame for this mess.
Yup. Not only does it end up costing us more, but it kills the games, too.
P2W is based on paying to avoid playing the game. How can a game be sustainable with its income dependent on non-players?
In some games, you could argue that "I just want to pay to get to the good part". Problem here is BDO has limitless progression, no dungeons and the endgame is based on PVP. That means the endgame, if this change goes through, is doomed to be not much more than a wallet measuring contest.
P2W is a complete misnomer - it's pay to advance faster.
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
P2W is simple - cash shops sells the most powerful gear that is FAR better than everything else in game and cannot be obtained in any other way but spending real money
That is p2w.
What everyone is talking a it is pay to avoid playing for 800 hours to get to the same point as somebody who spend 800 hours to get all the currency to buy the same gear.
It's pay to advance faster.
It's pay to fast-track but the items you get are they same as any top player in game in BIS gear.
So you end up on equal footing as other top players, the only difference is the time and money spent on getting there but once there - everyone is on same footing.
Those with a crapton of time can get there.
Those with a crapton of money can get there faster.
The final point - is an equilibrium so how is that p2w? It's pay to advance faster.
I think what a lot our feeling is due to the fact a cash type player didn't suffer enough to get there. I agree it isn't technically P2W but maybe it should be? If you spend countless hours grinding and suffering there has to be some validity to to it I mean if there isn't then why the hell did we waste so much time? Wait that last sentence was deep, but oddly enlightening
So yeah - I sort of view it like this:
Imagine 2 players meet in RL - one who has all the time and very little money and one who has all the money and very little time
They are both at end game - so the first player says "I wish I had all that money, I could have gotten all this gear just by paying!" -
And the other would say "I just wish I had all that time to play games"
It is the first of those two people who is infuriated by this announcement.
Comments
Sometimes you say the silliest things :awesome:
You know better than that. Or at least you should.
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer
Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/Using his infamous "Chess" analogy ...
The equivalent of paying to advance faster in chess would be the equivalent of paying to checkmate your opponent as oppose to playing to checkmate your opponent.
Now that's not to say that there aren't some cash shops that are more in line with the concept of "playing to advance," but in most cash shop instances that just isn't the reality.
Just because the players that sell them will make gold?
So what?
so are they P2W, are they a misnomer, or is it "pay to advance faster?"
Make up your mind.
This has been a Public Service Announcement
Thank God for edit. I hate rereading a post I made and realizing how stupid it sounded.
Define faster. When one has to grind non-stop ingame currency for 3 months in order to exchange that for cash-shop currency to buy one "very useful" or must have item, then P2W or not doesn't even matter anymore to many.
Not only that, but what he also fails to realize is that many players may not posses the skill or capability to attain the elite gear requirements to be able to compete, and therefore, win at the highest level. Buying that "elite" requirement, be it via gear or a high level toon, would, in fact, constitute an accurate example of P2W. Because without having "bought" that "elite" gear or toon, that player would not have otherwise been capable of "achieving," or "winning" those higher level encounters.
거북이는 목을 내밀 때 안 움직입니다
Clarification noted.
That I am in agreement with.
This is a very good question and the answer is key as to why the monetization model was so outstanding.
Like you say the items for sale on the pearl store were basically not p2w. It was also basically impossible to buy gold through third party sites. The pvp side of the game is all about gear. The more money you have the easier to upgrade gear. Now that you can buy gold through selling cash shop items in game for gold you can get better gear by paying real money, so the player who spends more can be stronger- p2w. The next step would be to sell items that prevent gear from breaking when upgrading.
Previously the game was one of the least p2w mmo on the market. What amazed me is that many people didn't appreciate that. Everyone focused on a $40 costume that helps in pvp- classic case of not seeing the forest for the trees.
"classification of games into MMOs is not by rational reasoning" - nariusseldon
Love Minecraft. And check out my Youtube channel OhCanadaGamer
Try a MUD today at http://www.mudconnect.com/Does this materially affect anything outside of the endgame? If you want to argue that there is no endgame, then does it materially affect anything outside of high level gameplay?
Boobs are LIFE, Boobs are LOVE, Boobs are JUSTICE, Boobs are mankind's HOPES and DREAMS. People who complain about boobs have lost their humanity.