On September 21, the MMORPG Astellia started with its head start. Through this, we now also get a glimpse into the shop, which according to its own statement should no longer contain pay-to-win elements. But is that really the case?
How is the real-money shop structured? The real-money shop in Astellia contains two currencies:
- Bena Cash, which you can buy for real money
- Gems, which are converted from Bena Cash
100 Gems cost 1,000 Bena Cash. 1,000 Bena Cash, on the other hand, costs 10 euros. Therefore, 100 Gems have a value of 10 euros, and you receive bonus Gems when exchanging a larger number of Bena Cash.
But what can you buy for Gems and how much do the items cost?
There are subscriptions with benefits
What items are available in the shop? The real-money shop is divided into two areas:
- Subscription
- and Gem Shop
The Gem Shop offers you additional character slots, bank slots, free teleports for a limited time, and cosmetic items such as weapon, armor, or Astel skins.
In the Subscription, you can choose from three different passes that last either 30, 60, or 90 days.
What is behind the subscriptions? The first possible subscription is Norden’s Favor. It offers you:
- 20% more XP
- 20% more XP for Astels
- 30% higher rate for dungeon tickets and +4 dungeon tickets that you can collect in total
- 15% more Zender (an in-game currency)
The package costs 150 Gems for 30 days, which corresponds to 15 euros.
Karza’s Guile is the second subscription. It offers you unlimited access to all Astel costumes for 30 days. It costs 100 Gems, or 10 euros.
Niar’s Passing is the last package. This allows you unlimited resurrection and teleportation. It also costs 100 Gems.
Subscriptions also available through gameplay
Why is Astellia not pay-to-win? When looking at the three possible subscriptions, one might wonder why this is not pay-to-win.
The reasoning probably lies in the fact that the subscriptions can also be earned through gameplay. In the Zender shop, you can unlock all packages for 1 or 7 days.
You get Zender for special activities, daily quests, achievements, in PvP, or in the Avalon region. Through Zender, you can also get:
- dungeon tickets
- resurrection scrolls
- free teleports
- extensions to your bank
- Astel skins
How much Zender do you get? This question is currently still difficult for me to answer as an author. You automatically receive 10 Zender when you play for an hour each day.
In about 4 hours of playtime over two different days, I earned 53 Zender, but I also benefited from the 15% more Zender bonus as a pre-orderer. For Norden’s Favor, I would need 50 Zender per day.
However, I assume that in the endgame and PvP, more activities with Zender await me. I will later supplement the article with this information.
Does Astellia now have pay-to-win? The MMORPG offers you at least with Norden’s Favor an optional subscription that brings relevant gameplay advantages during the leveling phase.
However, this subscription can also be earned in-game, and the effort required does not seem too great. There are also no purchasable advantages that truly make you stronger when you reach the endgame or in PvP.
Westley Conner, head of the western version of Astellia and CEO of the publisher Barunson E&A, who is responsible for the western version, said in response to inquiries:
The question of “What is Pay to Win?” is something that I have been discussing since I started online gaming, and have continued to consider as my professional career has progressed within the gaming industry.
While it is very easy to get lost in the various shades of grey that plague this topic, I believe we can address the core concept clearly.
In my opinion “Pay to Win” is any system or mechanic that allows one player to purchase power for real money that gives them a direct advantage against another player.
Prices in the real-money shop are acceptable
How expensive are items in the shop? The shop offers you various skins, extensions to your bank, or additional character slots:
- A character slot costs 100 Gems (10 euros)
- 10 additional bank slots cost 10 Gems (1 euro)
- Free teleports for one day cost 1 Gem (10 cents)
- Costumes in the shop cost 180 Gems (18 euros)
- Weapon skins cost 80 Gems (8 euros)
- Armor skins cost 120 Gems (12 euros)
- Astel skins cost between 100 and 180 Gems (10-18 euros)
- Mount skins cost 180 Gems (18 euros)
The prices are overall not cheap, but also not as expensive as in Black Desert. They are roughly comparable to the prices in Guild Wars 2.
What do you think about the Astellia shop? Is it automatically not pay-to-win if you can earn the content?
