Gemstone is becoming Pay2Win?

[Simu]

DISCLAIMER: I’m usually on discord and the officials and not this um ‘colorful’ place. But I fear this board is probably the only place to post on this topic without reprisal by Wyrom, Simu staff, or just outright bans.

This is a debate brought up by the fast re-appearence of DuskRuin. I am not saying it is or it isn’t just curious what others are thinking and especially what your decades of playing GemStone is telling you.

If you ever played other F2P MMOs with a Cash Shop, usually what happens is a massive initial start followed by a plateau of sorts then eventual tanking of the game as the owners/developers go full on P2W.

Now the naysayers might say,

*You don’t need gear to cap.

Um but is that really true? Not the capping part although I hear even that’s changing slowly as well, but the not needing gear part. Switch it around for a sec. Is the point of GemStone really to get to cap? Orrrrr is it to get super awesome gear just like every other MMO on the market?

And really aren’t we all ‘at cap’ now? either through decades of play or access to very cheap capped characters going for as low as $250 bucks to $-12, if a monk.

*You can buy everything through silvers.

This is a big positive for the game I think. GemStone, much like EVE online’s Plex or a few other modern MMOs, has an alternate way to earn Cash Shop items. And I think Simu/Wyrom has an implied acceptance to even encouragement for this form of transaction.

But . . . this is only sustainable so long as there exists people who are willing to shell out hard earned US Dollars to Simu. Without these people this system will collapse.

Who are these people?

1.) People who’ve been actively selling gear/silvers for RL cash in the past decades or in-game rich.
- In these people’s minds the amount of RL money they’ve taken from other GS players who’ve passed through the decades is really ‘game money’ or money earned through the game. So the barrier to use this money back into the game is much lower then say someone taking the cash directly from his RL paycheck.

2.) Regular people who are not actively participating in RL cash to silvers/items market but dipping into their monthly paychecks or heaven forbid savings to keep up with all this Pay event madness.

3.) Whales.
-I’m rich bitch!

I think without #3 and to a lesser extent #2, #1 can’t exist. I think #3 is a select minority who at any moment can quit and never return, meaning they are temporary. I think #2 consistsof casuals to hardcore fanatics but are capped on their spending outside of their monthly subs and can or will suffer from burnout/temporarily quit.

So is it all sustainable? Not certain.

Overall, does this all affect gameplay? Maybe. I think the GMs are slowly waking up to the fact that players need that challenge or ‘next mountain’ to climb in order to make the mouse wheel turn. In other MMOs this arena is usually PvP or progression boss/raids. In Gemstone, it’s still a big question mark. But if it were to come and the expectation is you need certain levels of gear to succeed, has the game then become Pay2Win?

Remember what GM Elstid said. The expectation for post cap hunting grounds if they were ever to be created is definitely not 4x gear any more. Furthermore, even non-cap existing hunting grounds are getting a tune-up in challenge and difficulty.

Is the writing on the wall then? Are we headed for full bllown P2W?