The new MMORPG Swords of Legends Online will be released in Summer 2021 in the West. It is planned as a Buy2Play game with an in-game shop. But what does this shop contain and will it be Pay2Win? The publisher Gameforge has now commented on this in a livestream.
What is in the SOLO shop? The MMORPG is supposed to have a shop that only offers cosmetic content. This includes:
- Outfits
- Hairstyles
- Weapon skins
- Accessories
- Character appearance customization
- Mounts
- Housing content
All skins that you unlock will automatically be activated for the entire account. However, there are certain outfits that only male or only female characters can wear. For weapons, on the other hand, the skins are unlocked for all types of weapons.
Will there be an optional subscription? No, there is only the shop and the cosmetic items.
What about convenience items? Most MMORPGs offer convenience items like XP buffs, level boosts, and additional inventory or character slots. All of this is not available in the Swords of Legends shop.
However, there are items that allow you to change your name or gender.
Interestingly, we will have 6 classes at launch but only 5 character slots. So you cannot play all classes at once, even if you wanted to spend money for it.
Can I sell items for in-game currency? No. Selling shop items is used in some MMORPGs to enable “indirect Pay2Win” and thus to acquire in-game currency for real money.
In Swords of Legends Online, the purchased shop items are directly bound to you. However, there is a gifting feature that allows you to buy skins directly for your friends or guild members.
How much does the shop cost? It was revealed in the stream that for 25 Euros you get a total of 4,250 Crimson Coins. This is the currency in the shop:
- Costumes cost between 2,250 and 3,850 Coins
- Mounts cost between 1,950 and 3,850 Coins depending on the skin
- Weapon skins cost between 1,950 and 2,250 Coins
- Smaller accessories for the character cost between 350 and 1,250 Coins
- A name change costs 1,350 Coins
How much does the MMORPG itself cost? Those who want to play Swords of Legends must purchase access to the game. This costs between 40 and 100 Euros depending on the package. Details about the pre-order packages and the release of Swords of Legends can be found here: The beautiful MMORPG Swords of Legends will be released on Steam in 2021.
Anyone who wants to know how Swords of Legends plays in Taiwan can find a preview report here:
Unusual shop structure and a Battle Pass
What is special about the shop? For every Crimson Coin spent, you earn a “Loyalti” point. It doesn’t matter whether you purchase something for yourself or for others.
Loyalti points can be used in another shop to unlock more skins, although this shop seems to have a smaller selection than the one for Crimson Coins. Items there cost between 2,950 and 20,000 Loyalti points. So you can essentially shop twice with your Crimson Coins.
What is the Crystal Shop? This third shop allows you to buy cosmetic content as well. However, you can earn the currency for it in the game through daily quests, events, and other activities.
However, the selection in the Crystal Shop seems to be smaller than in the Crimson Shop.
Is there a Battle Pass in Swords of Legends? Yes, in both a free and a paid version:
- In the free version, you can earn items with progress. However, these are the same for all players
- In the paid version, there are only cosmetic items
However, the Battle Pass is not supposed to be available at the game’s launch. Accordingly, only the Chinese version was shown in the stream:
Why is the shop such an important topic? MMORPGs are developed as a game that is to be supported and updated over the years.
However, these costs need to be covered, which is why games rely on either a subscription model like WoW, a shop like in Guild Wars 2, or an optional subscription model like ESO+.
Especially the German publisher Gameforge has not had the best reputation in terms of shops so far. However, the contents listed here are more than fair. If they are maintained, the shop of Swords of Legends Online will be one of the fairest in the genre, also because it does not rely on convenience items like inventory expansions or XP boosts.
What do you think about the shop of Swords of Legends? Are you now a bit more reassured and interested? Or are you ignoring this MMORPG?
In the livestream, Gameforge also talked about plans for Alpha and Beta. We have summarized everything important here: New MMORPG hope Swords of Legends reveals start of Alpha and Beta.
