With the latest Torchlight: Infinite closed beta underway, there are players saying that various systems in place are at pay to win levels. Considering the concerns people had over Diablo Immortal, people are understandably wary.
THE ISSUES
Reddit user aptly named Broke_And_P2W outlines the features they see as “pay to win” in this iteration of the Torchlight: Infinite beta:
- Pactspirits: A pet system. Obtainable from the gacha, these Pactspirits change your “Pact” which work like passive skill trees providing a variety of stat buffs including Loot bonuses. Duplicates of Pactspirits provide even more bonuses and points to further progress a Pact.
- Class Traits: Special class-specific passives, with one of them being paywalled, an estimated cost of $100 to obtain.
- Auto Loot: Purchase required for auto loot which itself comes in two tiers, one for “regular” looting and the other for rare materials.
In the official Discord, you can also find other problem spots in the Suggestions Voting channel, which includes:
- Auction House slots decreased from Nine to One, with more slots requiring paid currency
- Inventory and stash space apparently applicable to time-limited seasons and not permanent
THE REACTIONS
Once more from the Reddit thread, Broke_And_P2W talks about how people were under the impression that the paid items would be cosmetic only, and thus praising the monetization system. While the game does not have a PVP system as of yet, players simply do not want these aspects to be present in the game.
> taking the DI route is so tragic. I really enjoyed this game and i’ll be stupid enough to play it on release and watch it fall. what a shame
> taking DI route is okay, just dont price everything so freaking expensive
> it isnt okay to take the DI route. not when you advertise explicitly that you arent going to. several times
CONCLUSION?
Much like with Diablo Immortal, the act of monetizing the game itself is understandable, as Torchlight: Infinite is also free to play. Again, it’s about how far you go with it that makes all the difference.
Complete freedom comes without any restrictions. This means #TorchlightInfinite is battle-pass free, stamina free, loot-cap free, hidden caps free, gem free and crests free of course!
— Torchlight: Infinite (@torchlight_xd) August 7, 2022
This Tweet is considered a mocking jab at Diablo Immortal, so for Torchlight: Infinite to have apparent pay to win systems that are considered on par with DI are disappointing fans even more. As this is a closed beta, there will still be time to change. We will have to see if the myriad of suggestions are taken into consideration and changes are made, but for now, you can at least try the game for yourselves and see how you like it.