I strongly feel that term P2W/Pay to Win is misused to a gross degree in this game. I think people see gear in the store and just automatically assume this game is P2W and once people start saying it is on forums/other social sites people who have never experience a true P2W game think that what RIFT is offering is P2W and just blindly accuse the game of being so.
Firstly, let me explain what a P2W game is from my experience in playing older, F2P titles. The games where I've experience P2W usually don't offer gear for purchase, instead the gear is relatively easy to obtain, but the gear has upgrade paths similar to how RIFT end game gear is. However, the chance of success isn't always guaranteed, and if you upgrade fails, then you usually lose the item. So the way those games make their money is, they offer items to protect the item from breaking and to have a higher success rate to upgrade the item. Usually these items are not obtainable in game and are only available via cash. So players who were really dedicated or desperate to be the best would spend an absurd amount of money, some items would be worth thousands of dollars due to the rarity of success/$ spent.
Now, the reason why a lot of people disliked P2W was due to PVP reasons. Imagine being killed by someone nearly instantly because of the gear difference or outplaying you opponent but still losing by an inch due to the gear and you knowing there was no other way to even compete with that guy unless you spend an absurd amount of money. Yeah that's why P2W is frowned upon, at least from what I've experienced.
Even if RIFT was 100% P2W from a PvE point, why does that bother people? If someone in your group is geared out via $, what are they doing that affects you? They won't be rolling on any gear that you may need since they're maxed, unless they're a jerk. They're likely to be more useful that your average player for your group which means you'll likely have a higher chance of success to complete whatever event you're working on. The only thing I can think that comes to mind is a DPS meter, which isn't even a feature made by the developers of the game. Even so, is your ego that important that you would rather have Trion be less successful over something that isn't that important? That said, I don't think RIFT will ever go fully P2W, since I think that would damage the raiding community and that's why I think that the gear that is available has such discouraging costs.
As far as PvP goes, yes RIFT sells PvP gear but it still requires the prestige level and by the time you get it you should have more than enough currency to purchase it for free, if you don't you're doing something wrong. As far as the PvP boxes goes, I can understand the reasons why some people hate them, but they're available in game, and if you're a Patron, you're able to get quite a bit of them per week. I don't think they're that big of a deal personally, and consider them to be a HUGE waste of RL $ since, but hey if Trion is able to make some extra money off impatient people then I welcome them so long as they're available via gameplay.
People seem to quickly forget that RIFT is free now and while you may of not agreed with the transition it's what needed to happen for Trion Worlds to continue to grow and succeed against it's competition. I'd rather have RIFT be like this, than have it close within the
next year or two. I applaud the RIFT team for their success and while I've disagree with some of way they've done things(I'm looking at you RNG Mounts T_T) I understand and get that they need to make a profit at the end of the day. If you don't like how the game is now, why are you still here? Complaining isn't going to change the way the game is, they've had success with this model and they're sticking to it. So please, stop complaining and find yourself a new title to play since this one obviously isn't for you.
Sorry for any typos/errors, it's late ~_~
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