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Lost Ark is a free-to-play MMORPG that involves quests and Dungeon raids. But there is a question that needs answering, Is Lost Ark Pay To Win?
Microtransactions are part and parcel of the Video game industry. Almost every release nowadays, regardless of the genre, has some sort of Microtransactions included in it. They can be purely cosmetic, or they could help you upgrade your character to make the game easier. That isn’t fair on other players who put in the time and effort.
Pay-to-win games are a real plague in the Video game industry. These mechanics ruin the entire playing experience, no matter how enjoyable it is. Lost Ark is an MMORPG that finds itself in a similar boat. But the debate whether lost ark is pay-to-win is ongoing. Let’s settle it right now.
Lost Ark is not an outright pay-to-win title, but it doesn’t stray far away from that title as well. It has a lot of mechanics that a pay-to-win title might have. But calling it Pay to win doesn’t paint the complete picture.
The Pay To Win Dilemma
To actually declare a game as Pay To Win, we first have to understand what Pay To Win is. A game can be called Pay to win if a player can overcome another player by spending money on in-game items and points. So, according to that definition, P2W is restricted to PvP, and anything outside of that cannot be called P2W, right? Well, not really.
In PvE, a player can spend thousands of dollars on upgrading their character and items, which will otherwise take months to upgrade. This accelerates the player progression significantly and thus gives an edge to the players that choose to spend money in-game. While this might not directly impact other players, it still feels wrong.
Is Lost Ark Pay To Win?
The answer depends upon how you look at the in-game mechanics. If you are considering PvP terms, and if a player can beat the other by paying money, then that’s not true. Lost Ark is NOT a pay-to-win game if you are only considering PvP, which is the actual definition of P2W.
However, there is a lot of Pay to win DNA present in lost ark. Lost Ark requires you to spend time and grind your way through the game in order to upgrade your character and weapons. But what if you don’t have the time to grind? Well, you can just pay a hefty amount of money and progress as much as you want.
Money can help you reach that same level in a matter of hours, which will organically take players weeks and months to achieve. Now, this is where the dilemma comes in. This doesn’t affect the other players directly. But, the progression and incredibly fast, and some players might not like seeing someone pay to be better than them in the game.
So, yes. Lost Ark is a pay-to-win game if you are a player that prides themselves on being better than the other players. On other the hand, if you are not one of these people, Lost Ark cannot be considered Pay to win. Despite the uncanny similarities.
Lost Ark is an excellent game, and you are in for an enjoyable time if you enjoy playing MMORPGs. Even if you don’t like the P2W mechanics that game has, there is still a lot more than the game has to offer to new and old players.
Whether we like it or not, a recent trend suggests that Pay to win in video games will only worsen in the coming years. Let’s just hope it doesn’t get to a point where the real progress is hidden behind a paywall.
We hope this article helped you determine if Lost Ark is Pay to win.
Looking for more Lost Ark content? Check out these guides:
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- How To Get The Threaten Emote In Lost Ark
- How To Get World Tree Leaves In Lost Ark
- Lost Ark: What To Do With The Tournament Champions Plate
- Where To Find Boss Maneth In Lost Ark
Lost Ark is available to download and play for free on Steam.
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