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Enchatment
hows the enchantment in this game p2w or not. is it broken or is it good?
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Comments
It becomes grindy for high and top tier.
You dont need to spend a single cent on the game for that aspect, cash shop is pretty much 99% cosmetics.
Don't need to pay unless you want to rush significantly.
And contrary to what people think, getting to stormcry+7 is not even close to p2w, although it takes some serious dedication.
Iirc, it gives you around 20%-ish success rate with max exp in which you still have around 80% failure rate also every enchanment failure will give you additional 3% into your success rate unlike last time. All in all, it depends how you want to play this game..if you only "bother" about your gears not the "contents" then just spend real $$ from beginning otherwise just grind it but your gearing progress might be slower if you are unlucky.
Sell Emp for gold / buy from gold sellers, buy as many mats as you want or swim in gold.
If you have gold, you eliminate a significant portion of your endgame grind. Get gold by being a rich veteran, by grinding, or buy it with money either directly through selling emp/gold sellers or indirectly through selling overpriced cosmetics and Elite vouchers (the pay2win way).
Elite status also helps with gold earnings by a significant amount.
Now, you either farm 300 bams for 10k gold or you sell a $10 costume for 20-40k gold. Or you can spend hundreds on RNG lootboxes to get rare 100k+ gold costumes (this is what BHS want you to do, they know everyone obviously won't support this business model but the small portion of whales spend enough for this manipulation to be profitable).
This is the pay2win element in Tera in a nutshell. I can go into full detail on how exactly publishers inject pay2win elements in modern MMORPG to manipulate the player spending, but that would require me writing another wall of text so yeah.... ain't nobody got time for that.
Is this game pay2win? By definition, Yes. They try to be slick with it but the element exists in Tera, granted it's not as bad (or obvious) as other F2p mmorpg, I'l give credit for that much.
The real question is, dos this pay2win element bother YOU personally? Some people don't like it, some people don't mind, some people don't care. Which one are you?
I have to disagree with this a little. With enough money, buying your way to Stormcry +7 is pretty strait forward. Once you're at this level, you can pretty much one-shot IOD bams, facetank mid level dungeons with ease, and dominate PVP players who are still on Frostmetal and below. Sure, you still have to grind to +9 your equipment, but you've already shaved days/weeks off of your time.
The F2P players that are able to get the top gear fairly quickly, treat the game as a second job. If you can devote 8 hours a day for a few weeks or a month, gearing up really isn't an issue. However, that doesn't mean that a person who swipes has to work harder.
As said, you will get everything without putting in your credit card. Stuffing money into Tera will -not- make you stronger than a free-to-play player. Besides that, "endgame gear" is not meant to be farmed in one day. That's why it's called "endgame-gear", and this is in every F2P MMO (in P2W you buy your gear in the cash shop and be the hero in 5 min).
If you can get yourself to SC, farming 200k-300k should be the same exact thing, its part of the progression.
Yes, whaling in TERA will grant you power. Gold = power and time spent. Time is money and your time is the most valuable thing you have to offer. If the developer can waste your time farming like a mad man in their game, you will be far more inclined (if you are an adult) to look for shortcuts, i.e, spend your money on their game. This is why the entire game revolves around earning gold and the player economy is so restrictive, it is this way intentionally. This is the Pay2win element that exists in the game design. Exists is the key word, it doesn't have to be mandatory. Being able to "farm it without money" has very little correlation to the existence of the p2w element in the monetization model.
There is a reason why f2p mmos feel so much different to play compared to p2p mmos like ffxiv, wow, gw2, etc. P2p mmos feel much more like complete and pure experiences. In p2p games, you don't feel like there is this greedy cash shop from corporate that's constantly looming over you, tainting your experience as a whole. The reason is because there is a lack of (or simply isn't any) microtransactions, p2w elements, and massive RNG progression systems in these games, thus they provide a much more honest and immersive experience for the player. This is why I can hardly play f2p games anymore, I only check Tera's forums every 3-6 months because I can't stomach playing the current version of it, so I don't.
I am not trying to put Tera down, just simply stating what is. it's fine if you like a p2w game (even though it sounds bad). It doesn't mean a game is bad, it just means there is an option or avenue to use real world currency to gain some sort of moderate to SIGNIFICANT edge over others. What It comes down to is your personal tolerance for it, and many people have little tolerance for it (I have no tolerance for it). For example, Archeage is a far worse offender than Tera and some people still play the hell out of that because those people can tolerate the pay2win elements in that game (however most people won't tolerate it, which is the sole reason why the game is "dead as hell"). Maplestory is even worse than Archeage, etc.....
I have personally wasted so much money on p2w games, but I have wizened up with time and experience. I will not ever defend or excuse p2w-type shite in games. Ever. Why would you? Especially in paid for games. I have seen it corrupt and ruin far too many games I could love, and I am left bitter because of it.
Fyi "Pay2Win" doesn't mean you spend money and you literally get a "You Win!" screen, insta-kill everything, or something ridiculous like that. It isn't "buy BiS gear off the cash shop", this is an extremely primitive form of pay2win that no developer is stupid enough to actually do in a PC/Console game in 2018 (except EA). If you actually believe this is the only way p2w can take form in modern gaming, then you are probably 12 years old...which is a bad thing because this is game rated M where are your parents. That or you need to make an effort to be more aware of abusive game mechanics and manipulative business practices.
Outside that train wreck called the mobile market, there are no relevant games that utilize p2w mechanics this primitive, unless they are taking the [filtered].
Just want to point out... despite the fact it doesn't "feel" this way, it honestly still exists. Even in FFXIV, WoW, etc. there's a massive gold-selling and "carry-selling" scheme just barely under the surface. The difference is, as you say, in the "feeling" because it doesn't seem like the game maker is pushing/encouraging it. (They may even take some actions against it.) But if you ask if there "is an option or avenue to use real world currency to gain some sort of moderate to SIGNIFICANT edge over others" in these p2p mmos, the answer is absolutely yes. It's just easier to remain blissfully unaware, if you want.
This is why I always say debates on the definition of "p2w" are utterly pointless. You just have to decide what sort of models and mechanics you can tolerate, and what you can't.
Nothing you have described accurately portrays Tera. Tera has little/no p2w element. You can swipe your way to Stormcry, but it doesn't make you a better player, and people will kick you when they find out you are a floormat in RKH/HH. The only things that you can buy which even impact your performance are dragons and phoenixes, and you can farm gold and buy one in a week of casual play.
NA Tera's problems have nothing to do with p2w, and much to do with content droughts and KTera's seeming disinterest in PVP (and marginally EME's seeming lack of caring about the things they do have power over, like in game merchants, player economy, pvp jackpots, etc.)
Yes Stormcry past +4/+5 is a huge materials and gold sink, but it in no way requires swiping, nor does 95% of the content in the game require more than Frostmetal. Stormcry+0 is more than enough to clear RKH/HH and you could do it in FM if you didn't mind taking much, much longer.